Random 5 Friday - Decay

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Some of my favorite trains are these old rusty ones that are just waiting to be used for scrap and parts. The decay reminds me of my pal JM's series @ Lisbon Daily Photo.

Now some randoms:

1) Remember last week when I told you I was stressed? Well it was because I had a couple of skin conditions that were really scaring me. I had a sore on the side of my nose that just wouldn't heal. I had had it for a year and was by now too terrified to go see a dr. (I know, not good, go to the dr.) Then I had these pinkish things coming up on the backs of my hands and then a bump formed on the top of my head. I am fair skinned and spent too much of my youth laying out in the sun in Southern California. Then as I got older, tanning beds. I've gotten better at applying sunscreen by now but alot of damage has already been done. Anyways this has been consuming me, fearing the worst, for a year now. I finally told my husband last Sunday how freaked out I was getting. Monday he made me an appointment with a dermatologist for last Friday. I was scared to go. He went with me. As soon as my dr walked in, Dr. Jason, he asked me what was bothering me and I broke down and cried and pointed to all the things that were scaring me. He just calmly told me that it was ok, none of them are serious and I would be just fine. I had 2 very common forms of skin cancer that he was able to just freeze right off, right then and there. What a RELIEF. I can't tell you what a weight that was taken off my shoulders and like I have a new lease on life. He was the NICEST dr I've ever been to and if you are in the Roanoke area, need a dermatologist, I highly recommend Dr. Jason @ Virginia Skin & Vein.

2) I've been listening to Johnny Cash Radio in the mornings after everyone clears out of the house. I love that music! When I was a kid my mom always called him my boyfriend. I went to a JC concert with her and my grandma and I got to go up on stage and get a kiss from JC. I don't remember this so I must have been super young, I only remember through the story my mom always told ;)

3) I'm ready for spring. Spring is my favorite season.

4) And the thought of spring just NOW reminded me that I need to sign the boys up for baseball. Today is the LAST day. Completely slipped my mind. Writing myself a note right now to attach to the computer!

5) Basketball season ended on Monday but tomorrow we start the tournament. Double elimination. Our first game is a team that's pretty tough. We lost once to them by 1 point in overtime and then won our last game with them. But it's hard. This team plays dirty. So good luck to our Greenfield Thunder!

Have a great weekend :)



Linking to Nancy's Random 5 Friday

Signs, Signs - The Chessie Corridor

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and a bonus:

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More from the C & O Railway Heritage Center. Confused? Back track to Monday and catch up! Linking with Signs, Signs.

ABC Wednesday - G is for Gadsby's Tavern Dining Car

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My favorite part of the train tour was the George Washington. Our tour guide was very informative but my memory is very limited so I'll put out there what I "think" is correct...the rest is up to you to Google it lol....so anyways, again, I "think" that she told us there were 3 of these George Washington trains. Each named after a tavern he frequented. This one is the Gadsby which is located in Alexandria. You can visit their website HERE . The other 2 are the Michie, which is in Charlottesville and has been on my list to go see for a couple of years...it's only a couple of hours away but it's just one of those things we keep putting off for another weekend. You can visit the Michie Tavern HERE and lastly is the Raleigh in Williamsburg which you can visit HERE.
The only one at C & O is the Gadsby. I don't remember if she told us if the other 2 are somewhere to tour.

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Luggage and hats. They actually have old hats in the hat boxes!

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The baggage car..

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Sink in the restroom. Notice the details!

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Pictures hanging of all 3 taverns.

And I think I mentioned before, you can rent this for parties! More info HERE

More tomorrow!

Linking with ABC Wednesday

Ruby Tuesday - The George Washington

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No fear, Braden and Dalton are at the controls....

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A couple of unruly passengers...

Lunch time!

About the George Washington:
The George Washington, first started as a heavyweight train in 1932, was C&O’s premier passenger train with the best service and sleepers. It ran from Washington to Cincinnati, with sections splitting off at Charlottesville to Newport News Virginia in the east, and at Ashland NC to Louisville Kentucky in the west. Through service was offered to Chicago west of Cincinnati via New York Central. The George Washington was completely upgraded with new cars in 1950. The Pere Marquette railroad merged into the C&O in 1947, and the C&O took control of the B&O in the 1960s (and eventually merged it in 1976), hence the presence of B&O cars in C&O trains toward the end of the George Washington’s streamlined era. Read more HERE , HERE , and HERE .

Tomorrow I'll show you more details inside! Linking with Ruby Tuesday

The Greenbrier Presidential Express

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Since the weather was in the 60's this weekend and sunny, we decided to go to the C & O Heritage Center in Clifton Forge.

The train above is the Greenbrier Presidential Express. This train was supposed to carry folks luxuriously from DC to The Greenbrier and back. The plan was initiated in 2011 and then cancelled in 2012 due to numerous issues.

Tomorrow I will show you some of the inside!

CLICK HERE to visit the Heritage Center, CLICK HERE to read more about the Presidential Express.

Random 5 Friday - Love Locks

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On the bridge along the Percival's Island Trail.

Ashlyn texted me last night that a boy from a nearby high school committed suicide. He was the victim of bullying. Schools say they have zero tolerance to bullying but that's not true. A friend of mine has a high school age daughter. She went to the other high school in our county. For 2 years she was bullied daily by the same group of girls. My friend was at the school almost daily to talk with the principal about these girls constantly tormenting her daughter. They just ignored it till one day my friend's daughter had enough and turned on one of her bullies and attacked her. Then of course the school was interested in this. Not with the bullies though, they were more so interested in my friend's daughter and suspended her for fighting. The bullies walked away. My friend's daughter had to change schools to get away from the abuse.

I hate bullies.

Here's 5 facts on bullies:

1) Over 3.2 million students are victims of bullying each year.

2) 1 in 4 teachers see nothing wrong with bullying and will only intervene 4 percent of the time.

3) 1 in 7 students in grades K-12 is either a bully or a victim of bullying.

4) Over two-thirds of students believe that schools respond poorly to bullying, with a high percentage of students believing that adult help is infrequent and ineffective.

5) Harassment and bullying have been linked to 75 percent of school-shooting incidents.

Visit Do Something to see how you and your kids can make a difference.

Visit Nancy @ A Rural Journal for more randoms.

Signs, Signs - Nude Bathing on the James

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We spotted this sign while walking along the Percival's Island Trail in Lynchburg. This is on some private property on the James River. For more info on the James River, visit James River Association and for more signage, visit Signs, Signs.

This is a stressful week. I will be happy when it's over!

ABC Wednesday - Piedmont Flour Mill in Lynchburg

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This old mill provided flour to the Confederate troops during the Civil War. It operated into the second half of the 20th century. I read that it was sold to a developer who plans to do a multi million dollar renovation.

Look at more "F" photos @ ABC Wednesday

Oh, and the basketball game last night? We won, and we ALL behaved! ;)

Ruby Tuesday - Ozzy and Snow

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Ozzy spies something "ruby" in the snow. I don't know what that is....looks like someone forgot their jacket. I've kinda got snow burnout. Today is supposed to warm up to nearly 60. I can't imagine the mess of mud that awaits under this heap of snow though! The boys have a basketball game tonight. It will be exciting to say the least. The last time we played this team, it got kind of heated. I will behave though and just take pics ;)

Linking with Ruby Tuesday

Monday Mural - Summer Harvest Goddess in Pittsburgh

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"The Sprout Fund provided the information for Summer Harvest Goddess:
Summer Harvest Goddess exemplifies a very site specific Sprout Public Art mural, in that Kelly and the South Side Local Development Company wanted to have a mural that referenced the weekly farmer’s market that runs in the summers in the area adjacent to the wall. Carolyn chose the classic image of a woman holding a cornucopia as the mural’s central figure, showing the bountiful harvest of produce available at the farmer’s market. She also snuck in a few Pittsburgh references, like a dinosaur and a Steelers scarf, to localize the image. The mural reflects the style of Kelly’s personal illustration work, but achieving this required some inventiveness on her part. She wasn’t able to get the precise stroke that she wanted from a normal paintbrush, and decided to dip an ear of corn from the farmerâ??s market into her bucket of paint to create a more graceful line! Kelly’s striking color choices and signature illustrative style can also be seen in her 2009 Sprout mural in Troy Hill."

Info from Pittsburgh Murals

Linking with Monday Mural

All our snow has been melting quickly...school is on a 2 hour delay this morning...ugh...Monday!

Valentine's Day, Some Randoms and Snowy Skies!

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Wednesday about noon. I'm heading to Kroger to pick up some fun snow foods. The sign on the road says "winter storm warning"....it started snowing at about 2 or so and never stopped till Thursday morning and we thought it was done...

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Went out to shovel the steps and the snow started back up:

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And snowed and snowed another 6 inches!

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And then the snow stopped and the sky turned pretty in pink!

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Check out more skies from all over the world by visiting Skyley!

Now some randoms:

1) Wow, that was some snow event! It was the 3rd highest on record! You can read about that HERE

2) Ozzy absolutely LOVES the snow:



3) For breakfast I scrambled 2 eggs with some diced tomatoes, onions and fresh spinach...then topped with Feta! I love, love, love feta and this is so incredibly yummy!

4) I think I have taken over 300 pics/videos of the snow...so fasten your seatbelts, I've got lots to show you ;)

5) Happy Valentine's Day. I confess to being the worst mom on the planet. I forgot to pick up Valentine's for the kiddos and we're snowed in! I did make special pancakes this morning with sprinkles for them and will make a chocolate cake a little later...hopefully that will make up for it...then I can go to Kroger tomorrow and score on VDay candy at a discount haha ;)

See more Randoms by visiting Nancy @ A Rural Journal

Happy Valentine's Day and have a great weekend!!

ABC Wednesday - E*&*%$ What?

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Found on an old pump house along the Percival's Island trail in Lynchburg.

As I sit here getting this post ready for Wednesday (it's Tuesday evening) they are calling for snow tomorrow, lots and lots of snow. (E)pic amounts of snow (see what I did there? I used the letter E again ;) !) We may get 10+ inches. Supposed to start tomorrow (Wed) afternoon and continue through till Thursday. I'm pretty excited. We all are! We haven't had snow like this since we first moved here a few years ago. It tricked us. I thought all winters were like that. NOT...sooo...we are anxiously awaiting to see what happens. School has already decided to dismiss 2 hours early. I've got a few goodies to pick up at Kroger so we can be fat and happy and snowed in. We just had some more wood delivered in case we lose power...cross those fingers that we don't! I'll keep you abreast of the situation as it unfolds!

Linking with ABC Wednesday for the letter E! :)

Ruby Tuesday - Love

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On Sunday we went to Lynchburg to walk the Percival's Island trail. When we pulled up we were so happy to find a LOVE sign!

From Virginia Tourism: "We’re out to prove that "love is at heart of every Virginia vacation" in a BIG way by having giant "LOVE" artworks pop up in many different and unexpected places across Virginia."

Click Here for a list of more LOVE sign locations.

Linking with Ruby Tuesday

Monday Murals - Lynchburg

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Yeah so it's not exactly a mural per se, but it is a positive kind of message. My boys love basketball so this caught my attention. Painted on the old Piedmont Flour Mill in Lynchburg.

Linking to Monday Murals

Random 5 Friday & SkyWatching - Campbell Ave

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Traveling down Campbell Avenue, heading downtown. See that Coke sign to the left? That's a little restaurant named Aesy's. I wonder if it's good? Usually those kinds of places are. You can visit their Facebook page HERE.

Randoms:

1) Stayed up past midnight last night reading....I'm paying for it now....yawn...

2) Snow has been in our forecast for the weekend all week. All week I've been monitoring it. They've moved it around anywhere from Friday to Sunday. I was really hoping it would be Sunday night. Of course I have the boys birthday party planned for Saturday and now that's the biggest chance of snow. NOOOO.

3) I found a "taco shop" online that recently opened in West Virginia. They claim to have San Diego style taco shop food. They are also San Diego transplants who really miss our great Mexican food. Yes, we are going to try it out...SOON...sure it's almost 200 miles away...if it's the real deal, it's so worth it!

4) Olympics anyone? My husband will have it on but I really don't watch it. I like some of the events like downhill skiing which seems really scary to me. I like the events that are fast and risky. I don't like to be fast and risky but I like to watch it :)

5) I'm on day 35 of my new workout P90X3...I'm liking it. It's challenging for sure. But man, my nutrition has been awful. I've been such a piggie. I really need to do better with that.


Visit Nancy @ A Rural Journal for more randoms and visit Skyley for more skies!

Have a Happy Friday!

Signs, Signs - Garage

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This is where I got my car worked on last week. Someone referred us to them when Ashlyn needed a new engine for her car last year. They did excellent work at a great price...so we've been back a few times since. Located on 11th in Roanoke.

Linking with Signs, Signs

ABC Wednesday - Doctor It Up

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Next door to Saturday's house. Linking with ABC Wednesday...Happy Hump Day!

Ruby Tuesday - Plaid Man Walking

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While waiting at a red light downtown, this interesting fella walked by...and I had my camera :)

Linking with Ruby Tuesday

Monday Mural From Pittsburgh

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While in Pittsburgh last year we noticed this public restroom. Thought it was pretty cool, never seen one like this. Unfortunately it was closed for use. One night while leaving an establishment right up the street from here, we saw a man doing his business right on the sidewalk...number 2 might I add. Christian named him the "Uni-Pooper". When he finished he just hiked his pants back up and took off running across the street. Had the public potty been opened none of us would have had to go through this experience...or maybe not...

Linking with Monday Mural

A Birthday, Groundhog Day and the Super Bowl

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Today is the birthday of 2 special boys that I love so very much! Braden and Dalton are 12 today! Yipppeee!

It's also Groundhog Day and dang that Punxsutawney Phil predicts 6 more weeks of winter...boooo! He sure is cute though ;)

And, it's Super Bowl Sunday! Nick is out shopping for vittles because we like to have lots of snacks and drinks during the game! Ashlyn and her boyfriend will be over and Christian is going to go pick up his girlfriend. We have loads of fun on Super Bowl!

Have a happy Sunday!

February Theme Day - Entry

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This was my view yesterday. If you read my post yesterday you would know I had to get my little mini-van, Betsey, (yes, she has a name) serviced. I had to go downtown. I brought a chair and sat out in front with my camera and a book because the weather was perfect! Sunny and 50's! 10 minutes later they were done with my vehicle and off I went! That was FAST!

So anyways, for those that don't know the drill, first of the month is Theme Day for the City Daily Photo Group and the theme for this month is ENTRY. To see other interpretations of the theme, visit CITY DAILY PHOTO :)