Old Pictures

So!  Yesterday I decided to tackle my scanner to put some old photos up on my Facebook.  And...wouldn't ya know it?  The vacation photos are already downloaded!  But!  Since they are up on the uber-slow computer, I really don't have the patience to try to download them to blogger today.  I WILL put up the photos I put on Facebook.  Why not subject folks to the SAME photos in two different spots!

This is a series of family photos from the years.  There are all out of order on FB, and I can't figure out how to rearrange them there.  *sigh*


Feb '00.  Mary is 9 wks old

May '02.  Keith, 3 mos; Mary 2 yrs



X-mas, 2003.  Keith, 1.  Mary, 3



November, 2004.  Mary, 4; Keith, 2; Izzy, 6 days

X-mas, 2005.  Mary, 5; Keith 3; Izzy, 1

April (?) 2007.  Mary, 7; Keith, 5; Izzy, 2

June 2008.  Mary, 9; Keith, 7; Izzy, 4

Hmmm...just realized that I forgot to scan one from the X-mas of 2002.  Meh...maybe next year!  (This rainy/cold weather is wreaking havoc on my productivity.  Hey!  I still got a LOT done today...but I think I'm DONE.  At least, for now.)

OCNJ and Earl

So!  We went on vacation!  A REAL one with sand and beaches and seashells and...it was just lovely.  We haven't been away for more than a few days as a family in several years, so it was well overdue. 

We rented a house in Ocean City, NJ (and got it kinda cheap since it was the last week of August and considered "out of season" and the original family that was supposed to rent it backed out, and we ended up not going through a realtor but getting it directly from the owner).


I should probably start this off by mentioning that the Saturday prior to leaving, John and I went on our very last concert from our Summer of Concerts/Fun/Actual Dates and saw My Morning Jacket.  I am not as familiar with the band as John (I sorta recognized two, maybe three songs), but I still enjoyed the show--and of course the opportunity to get out of the house and enjoy an evening with my husband.  You know, I really used to adore that guy before we had kids, and we got all tired and grouchy and business-like all the time.

So!  The very next day, we had to leave for Ocean City.  But first!  I had to finish packing!  Cuz, I was painting all week and after all that and trying to get some of the house back in order for the baby sitter and all the laundry caught up for the packing and distributing the pets to kennels and friends' houses, I kinda of did not have time for some of the actual packing.  I mean, all the foodstuffs and beach paraphernalia and kid-entertaining backpacks and toiletries were done--I just didn't have most of the clothes in the actual suitcases.

The sitter watched me in awe (she stayed the night to make it easier on all of us), and she helped keep the kids out of my hair by playing Mario Cart with them while I ran around matching shirts and shorts and then just throwing stuff in Izzy's bag (ending up with a bag full of mis-matched clothes for her, half of which we didn't need).

The house was a block from the beach path.  It provided everything--including beach towels and toys and tags and a washer/dryer and two bathrooms and five beds (and even a pull-out couch) and a whole nice note full of tips of places to go and places to eat and even movies and games (although a bit outdated), and I even saw a whole closet full of baby stuff--pack 'n' play, high chair, stroller.  Oh!  It was perfect!

Monday we went to the beach and the boardwalk.  We ate lunch at this Italian place that had the BEST wood-fired pizzas.  I cooked slightly overdone hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner.

Tuesday we went to the beach and packed a lunch and then got home and got a bit grumpy with each other (too little sleep and long drive catching up on us, I suppose), but then we played a game of outdated Pictionary.  I made spaghetti for dinner (I should write a post on that later...).  I took the kids back out to the beach that evening where the low tide provided all kinds of WHOLE shells to their glee.

Wednesday we went to the beach and the boardwalk.

Thursday we knew that Hurricane Earl was going to start wrecking havoc with the waves, so we decided to go down to Cape May instead of the beach.  We went to the Zoo (Free!  and puts Local Zoo to shame!) and the lighthouse where we discovered that Mary has some sort of phobia with those iron stairs with holes in them.  Huh--who knew?  We also discovered that John and I are waaaaaay out of shape (that we BOTH knew).  We went out to eat at a pricy seafood/steak restaurant where I had an awesome bowl of clam chowder--and couldn't finish my crab cake.  Keith discovered he likes scallops.  We bought some NEW games and played them.

Friday Earl got downgraded to a tropical storm, but we still felt its effects as it was overcast and rainy most of the day.  We still went to the beach.  We dipped in our toes and watched the HUGE waves (the beaches were closed for swimming, not that we would have gone in, anyway).  We realized we probably could have brought the skimmers we bought the kids.  We realized we should have gone ahead and put them in their bathing suits as Keith and Izzy got completely soaked just playing around.  We went back to the boardwalk to say our goodbyes.  We played another one of our new games.

Saturday I cleaned up the house, and we packed up the car, and then we walked around the corner to a donut shop where they had the most heavenly donuts!  I'm not a huge donut fan and I wanted MORE.  Silly John only bought 6 donuts.  WHAT was he thinking?

We then drove to Philadelphia and checked out the Liberty Bell, which was kinda cool.  Then we got back in the car and headed home.  We got in right around 7:00.

And now for some bullets!

• This is the first vacation where I've actually UNPACKED my bags and put all the clothes in dressers for everyone.  It was great! 
• With the washer/dryer, I did laundry every day.  We only used the one set of towels.  I had hardly any laundry to do when we got back.
• That means that I overpacked.  I could have gotten away with probably three outfits a person since that's about all we really wore all week.
• I kinda wish we'd gone to the beach on Thursday.  We were nervous about the Earl waves, but we probably could have at least let the kids dip their toes in like we did on Friday--and maybe actually use the skimmers we bought on Wednesday!  How cruel to buy your kids beach skimmers and then not USE them while actually on a beach!  I'm still glad we went to the zoo, but we were too tired to go out to the beach after we got back.
• We need to plan a Philadelphia trip.  You know...if we can ever afford to take another real vacation again.
• I ended up arranging for a friend to pick up Zuko from the kennel for us on Saturday.  The kennel normally has Sunday pick-up, but changed it to Monday due to the holiday.  Not only could I just not stand the thought of our poor little puppy stuck in the kennel that long, but we would have had to pay for two extra days when we were HOME!
• Poor Zuko ended up with a touch of diarrhea Thursday.  We all think he was just stressed out from being away from us for so long.  Poor little guy!
• Izzy will actually TAN when in the sun.  This amazes me since the other two and I just basically burn.
• SPF 85 was my friend that week.
• We acquired three more stuffed animals and a plastic brain with eyes that pop out. Seriously?
• Mary was silly enough to bring one stuffed animal to the beach on Friday (HOW did she sneak that out without John or me noticing?), and he just about got carried away, along with our shoes, when one of the BIG waves came in.
• John did not get into the water until Wednesday.  Izzy would not go into the actual ocean until Wednesday when Daddy finally brought her in.  She would only go in if she was held--but she still had a ball jumping the waves in our arms.
• I could stand living a little closer to the beach.
• I really, really want one of those donuts right now.

Pictures are scattered between two cameras--the majority being on the new one I don't really know how to use yet.  Maybe I'll take some time to figure it out next week....

Back to School! 2010

Ho boy.  This school year has just been creeping up on me all summer.  And now we're finally to the Big Day.  John and I really did attempt to get the kids to bed at a decent hour these last few nights, but it seems to be getting more and more difficult as the kids get older.  Why is that?

So, after dinner, setting out clothes, showers, packing now THREE lunches (gasp!), and the surprise "last night of summer ice cream treat," and the stalling, and the nervous tummies (Mary), and the slight allergy attack (Keith), we did finally get the kids to bed probably around 9:00 (although Keith's sniffles kept him up much later than that).

This morning I forced myself out of bed early (I so have been dreading the early wake-up call much more than my kids), showered, and actually COOKED BREAKFAST for my children (Seriously--this is a big deal for me!).  Due to our preparation the night before (something I SWEAR I will make a habit every year and never quite manage), we had a pretty non-chaotic morning.  The kids were all ready and waiting for the bus in good time (Bah!  Just remembered that I forgot to have them brush their teeth!).

I was able to handle all three of my kids' first days of kindergarten with mostly excitement and anticipation just tinged with a hint of anxiousness and sadness.  This year is the first year that I saw them all off with a bit of a lump in my throat.  Now ALL THREE are in school ALL DAY, and I'm just really sad about that.  No little Izzy to greet home for lunch.  :-(  All the babies out of the house.  Even the thought that I can now go to the grocery store just whenever and not have to plan around a mid-day school bus pick-up/drop-off is making me feel morose. 

Clearly, I need a job.  The babies do not need me anymore.  (And frankly, the pocketbook needs the stimulus, too).  :-(

Waiting for the bus!

Show us your grade!  Three!  Five!  One!

Bye!

Mom and Dog feeling a little lost....

 (Seriously!  I keep thinking I have to go get Izzy off the bus now.  This is just so....weird!)

I hate painting.

One more coat on two walls, and I'll be done (well, except for the "oops" touch-ups on the ceiling--heh).  And actually, I must admit I'm "enjoying" the painting this time much more than the painting of my children's bedrooms.  Frankly, John and I just didn't really know HOW to paint back then.  And the results showed it.  The paint is PEELING in Mary and Izzy's room.  And Keith's room is WAY too dark--and still not technically done as both John and me just sort of gave up after a while.  John is talking about re-painting the ceiling in Keith's room.  Well, he's more than welcome to it.  I don't want anything to do with that room for a LONG time!

Anyway, the creamy-tan-yellowy color is looking pretty nice in the living room/dining room.  Too bad we have to put up with horrible pink carpet and college kid-worthy/crappy furniture for a while.  Ah well.  Bits and pieces--we'll do what we can do when we can do it.

A school mom called today to chat for a minute and reminded me that I'm leaving for vacation soon...and here I am spending all this time painting instead of fretting over what I need to pack for this family of five--and do we even have enough luggage for that?  I don't think we've taken a full week's vacation somewhere since there were five of us--what all is this going to entail?  Are we going to have enough room in the back of the mini-van?  (John is seriously considering getting one of those luggage cap thingys). 

Oh!  Forgot to mention in my catch-up post yesterday:  Keith has had a pretty memorable summer.  He has FINALLY learned how to ride a two-wheeler, WITHOUT the training wheels.  I feel kinda guilty that he learned so late.  I mean, shouldn't he have mastered this years ago?  (Come to think of it, shouldn't this be something I should be teaching his little sister now???)  I don't know.  There are no sidewalks on our side of the road.  And when I was working, I never had the desire to take him out on the weekends.  And...just plain bad, lazy parenting, no?  Well, I was determined he would learn this summer.  But most of the days have been horribly hot or rainy, and...next thing I know, we've only got a few weeks until school starts!  So!  I finally pumped up his tires, took off the training wheels, and got out there with him.  I tried him on the grass first, in case he fell a lot, and held the back of the bike up for him.  Then we moved on to the driveway.  Then I think it started raining....  Then I took him out a few days later and drove him to a park down the road that has a really nice-sized, usually-empty parking lot.  It didn't take long at all.  Maybe 20 minutes to get it down?  Oh!  Such exuberance!  ...And then the chain kept falling off the bike.  No worries.  Mom carries a Swiss Army knife in the glove box--one of these gadgets should help  (I'm SO awesome)....  Still, that's kind of a pain.   Anyway, we've been out one more time--where he ended up having to share the big pink bike with Mary since the chain on his STILL kept popping off.  (I think it's time to just buy a new bike, no?)  Anyway, John is so excited, he's thinking of bringing the bikes on vacation.  Wait--a luggage cap thingy AND a bike rack?  I guess I should go out and buy those little family people sticker thingys, too.  LOL

Blog? What Blog?

Whoops!  I guess the summer is getting away from me.  I didn't mean to slack off here so much.  But, you know...summer, right?

We took a very tiny trip to Indiana to see my BFF from high school (whom I've not seen in about four years) and another BFF from high school and wow--my brother also happened to be in the 'hood!  And since my Grandmother has not felt well enough to see us, I went to see her.  Wish we could have spent more time there....

Out with my Dad.

 

BFFs!

Grandma and her great-grandbabies.

Gaggle of kids (Hey, where's Mary?)

Pathetic that I still don't have all the pics downloaded yet.  Although the camera was away from me for part of the trip, so I only got one pic of my brother and none of my mother.  :-(

The kids finally got their school lists and teacher assignments, and we spent a morning at Target digging out the last of the purple folders.  Since I had a stash of a few supplies I'd been picking up here and there, I actually managed to get it all done in just one trip!  *sigh*  I get a lurch in my tummy every time I think about how now my baby will be gone ALL DAY.  I miss her already!

We spent three days one hot week mooching off a friends' pool.  Izzy seems to have lost some of her confidence in the water.  I guess that's what happens when you don't go swimming very often--and then you go in an above ground pool which has a depth just over the top of her mouth and nose!  Once we settled her with a noodle, she was fine.  Just a few more months until she's six and can move up to the first level for swimming lessons.

John decided to put in a new back patio door--we're hoping it will cut down on the draft in our living room in the winter.  That caused a problem.  New pretty door in an old, atrociously-decorated living room/dining room.  Gah!  So we got our our rollers and brushes, and yes, after FOUR YEARS we are FINALLY painting our living room.  I took a few days and primed and painted the ceiling last week.  Then I started on the walls.  We had issue with the first color we tried (thank goodness we only bought a sample!), and we finally agreed on a tan/creamy color.  Half the room is done now (and boy, are my arms...and legs, and back tired!).  John told me I could take a break today (hence, finally blogging!), and I'll try to finish it tomorrow or the next day.  I HATE painting!  But wow, the living room already looks SO much better!

It's feeling like fall around here already (where did the hot weather go?) and John and I are nervous about our big trip still to come.  If the weather's icky....  Ah well.  It'll be good just to get away for a few days.

I'm getting ready to brush off the ol' resume again now that summer is coming to a close.  That ALSO leaves a funny lurch in my tummy.  Amazing what the inability to find a job will do to one's self-esteem.  Ugh....

I can see my torso!

The venue from the concert the other night posted some pics on FB.  I see ME!  Well, PART of me, anyway.  Oh, and John, too!

Summer Bullets

• I finally set up the tent a couple of weeks ago, and the kids and I tried to sleep in it.  Way.  Too.  Hot.  One by one the kids started bailing on me.  And then Izzy woke up in an apparent night terror and would not stop screaming/crying for over an hour.  Yeah--that was fun.  Never mind.
• We tried again a week later when it was much cooler, and once again, kids started bailing on me.  And Izzy was the only one who stuck it through and slept all night in the tent with me.  She's my Camping Girl!  I was awakened at six AM with a downpour hitting our tent.  I can safely say that there are no major leaks in our tent.  Yeesh!  I woke up Izzy and said, "Let's make a run for it!"  She was all for sleeping in more, but we had stuff planned early that morning, so I didn't want to sleep in (no clocks in the tent, so I didn't know it was THAT early).  We wrapped our sleeping bags around us and ran--now THAT was fun!
• We had visitors this weekend!  Our good friends Jeff and Paula came and brought little Josh.  Of course, their timing was a bit off.  John and I had ANOTHER concert to go to Friday night (next bullet).  If we'd known they were coming ahead of time, we would have bought them tickets, too.  As it was, Jeff and Paula got to drive all day just so that they could babysit our kids!  Sweet!  Saturday, we were all kinda slow getting up, but we did finally make it to the children's museum to show little Josh the sights.  It was fun to see it in a "new" 2-year old perspective again!  He had a ball running around and playing in the exhibits (as did our three, really).  We had to stop for lunch, and then the little guy was tired (Ah yes, the afternoon nap!  We forgot about planning around those!), so we came home.  Saturday evening we were hoping to go see the waterfall downtown, but it started pouring down rain.  So instead we bought some sushi and cooked steaks on the grill, and just enjoyed each other's company.  Sunday they left, and we all missed the fun of the little guy.  (Too bad Zuko was just a little too playful around him and scared the dickens out of him--the puppy spent a good chunk of their visit in his crate.)
• So!  Friday night!  John and I went to our Penultimate Summer Concert Experience!  This time we went to see the Black Keys and the Flaming Lips.  I knew as soon as I saw the confetti guns and the big bag of giant balloons that THIS was going to be a FUN show.  The Black Keys were outstanding.  The Flaming Lips were just FUN.  Great sound.  Most enjoyable concert.  We were only four rows back from the front. 
• Here's a video of Wayne surfing the crowd in his "Space Bubble Thing."  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXMVD5yRu6o
• Did you notice my dash and five and six keys are working again?  Tech Support sent me a new keyboard, John installed it, and viola!  Working keys again!  Yay!
• I just now took down the tent that has now been up for two and a half weeks.  Well, a little rain did pool in it, and I was hoping it would dry out in the sun.  No such luck.  Good thing I have three kids I can send in there with some towels.  heh
• We have a lot of things planned here and there the next few weeks before school starts up again.  Basketball camp for Keith, soccer camp for Izzy, a mini-trip here, a bigger trip there.  I guess I shouldn't be worrying so much about these "down" days where we all just seem to be sitting around the (cool!) house all day....

More Amusements

Sunday night John and I had another installment of our "Summer of Concerts" and went to see Weezer.  Again, a great concert.  Great sound, great performance.  And hey, look!  There is already a pirated video out there!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgg3h4V--2I

(WHY IS MY DASH KEY NOT WORKING???)

Well, I had to call around to three girls before I found a babysitter, and it ended up being a friend of ours who lives over twenty five minutes away, so I arranged for her to stay the night (not sure why our usual sitter did not answer her phone?).  So!  I had to drive out of my way to get her (and then we ended up leaving Mary there to stay the night with her sister), then hurry back home to feed everyone McCrapFood (urp), and then we had to rush to the concert.  Only, we found out we didn't actually have to rush, since the concert didn't start until 8:00 instead of 7:00, as John thought.  *sigh*  We get in the gate, and then John realizes that he locked his ID in the car with his wallet (DUH), so we tried to go back to the car to get it.  Oh, can't get back in if you leave the gate.  Well!  Good thing John's gray hair tells his age...the guy at the ID table gave him a beer bracelet without it, so it all worked out.

(OMG now my FIVE and SIX keys are not working!  ...Hmmm...maybe it's from the coffee I spilled a couple of days ago?  I swear only a DROP hit my computer!  My legs got the brunt of it.  Youch!)

Anyway, Monday Mary had plans to go to the local amusement park with a friend, and I decided to just bring the whole gang to avoid any jealousies amongst the kids.  So!  I had to get everyone up early and dressed and fed and then out the door.  First stop:  the ATM to get the sitter's money.  And...I could not remember my pin!  I guess I hadn't used my card at the ATM in a while (I couldn't remember the night before at the concert, either), so I came back home and woke up John and grabbed his card and got his pin and tried again.  Then I had to drive back home because I forgot my just=in=case=I=get=lost GPS (and to return John's card).  THEN I had to drive across town to take the babysitter home and pick up Mary.  THEN we had to drive all the way back across town to get to the amusement park.  The friend's mother I swear said the place opened at 10:00, so I figured we'd get there a little late.  We got there around 10:40...and it was like out of Vacation:  EMPTY parking lot!  We ended up being the very first people there!  Wow, I guess to get my family ANYWHERE on time, folks should just tell us the wrong time to get there!

We had a great day.  I spent more than I should have on lunch (Nine dollars and fifty cents for a grilled chicken sandwich combo?  I expect that out at Cedar Point, but LOCAL PLACE?  That's a bit much!  Sheesh!), but the lines were pretty short, the weather was hot (but cooler than last week!), and the water park was great.  Fun.

This morning I could barely drag myself out of bed.  Too much amusement in too few days.  The kids and I did pretty much nothing all day, even though the house is a scary mess, and we have no food in the refrigerator....  Actually, we did TRY to go to the store, but I made the pet store stop first, and then we got a torrential downpour, and it was just too crazy to do anything but drive on home.  I made the kids promise they wouldn't complain when I made spaghetti (the only edible option left in the house) for dinner tonight.  And what's one more day without fresh fruit and vegetables?  Really?

Gosh it's hot

Our intended vacation for last week got rescheduled/rearranged a bit, but since John had the time off anyway, we decided to go ahead and take the kids to Cedar Point.  First, we had to figure out what to do with the puppy.  What. a. pain!  After a few phone calls and mild panic attacks, we finally found a pet-friendly hotel and brought him with us.

Cedar Point has a Pet Chek where for $15 a day you can take your dog.  John found this information online.  Great!  We can take him and then ride the rides and then....  Oh.  We found out why it was so cheap.  It's not a kennel in the traditional sense of the word.  It's an air conditioned room with crates for the animals.  They do not walk the animals or give them potty breaks--it's all up to the owners to take breaks from their fun to go let their pooches out of the crates.  Ahhhhh....  Well, good thing Zuko is basically crate-trained.  (And at least they give the animals water and food.)

It was HOT.  Brutally HOT.  (As an aside here, when I saw the forecast, I tried my hardest to convince John to go to the Kalahari--water park--instead, but he was determined, and two of the three kids were determined, so....UGH.)  Anyway, it was HOT.  I slathered on the sunscreen multiple times on myself and the kids.  I was wearing two layers of tank tops, and I eventually had to remove the top one because I was so hot.  This was unfortunate, since the bottom layer was black, and as John kindly pointed out, helped make me "of ALL the people here, the pastiest and whitest."  Yes, I'm a pale person.  I burn quickly and badly, so sunscreen is my FRIEND, hence, I STAY pasty.

Despite the heat (and yes, the slight sunburn that we all STILL managed to get even after multiple sunscreen applications), the kids were pretty well-behaved and really seemed to be having a good time.  John and I split our time between taking the older two to the roller coasters and at Camp Snoopy with Izzy--where there was never a line, and she just got to ride rides ALL DAY LONG. 

I guess the biggest pain on our trip was not getting to sit down at a nice restaurant since we had the dog.  John's sister and her family were in Sandusky (at the Kalahari!), and we couldn't even meet them for breakfast.  We saw them for about 10 minutes in a parking lot! 

So...as nice as it was to bring our new baby on our trip, it was kind of a pain in the butt.  It was a last-minute trip, so it was a bit difficult to make any other accommodations. Zuko is a good traveler.  Long car rides don't freak him out, and he's a pretty quiet dog, so he doesn't disturb other hotel guests.  I won't mind bringing him on future trips, but I'd prefer to try to locate a "real" kennel while we're at non-pet-friendly attractions--or at least a hotel that allows us to keep him in our room alone--in his crate, mind you--while we enjoy a nice meal in a restaurant for an hour or so.

And now, for some bullets:

1)  Mary, who does love a good roller coaster, still does not have the patience (despite finally having the HEIGHT) to wait in line for the Millenium Force OR Top Fuel Dragster.  This is our third year going to CP in three years, and John and I have STILL not been able to get on these rides!

2)  Izzy, the littlest, is probably the bravest when it comes to rides, and it'll probably be a good two or three years yet before she can get on most of the big ones.  :-(

3)  I lost count of how many times Izzy and I (let alone John and her) rode the Woodstock Express.  It's a pretty fast little ride for a kiddie coaster--and if we waited at all, it was only for about one ride's length of time.  Once we got to ride it twice in a row.  There was no one waiting in line to get on, so the operator ran it again for those of us on the ride!

4)  Mary still insisted on playing games at the end of the day, despite the fact that she always gets uber-upset when she does not win, and we have to deal with her attitude/grumbling about it the rest of the night.  Yes, we explained to her, repeatedly, that those games are MEANT to be lost!  Yes, we picked a game (the water-shooting one) where we thought ONE of the kids would have the best shot.  Unfortunately, Keith won--twice--and got a Pokemon stuffed animal--and that just threw her overboard.  Yes, we took her to the gift shop and bought her a freakin' $20 stuffed animal (Keith's cost $18 total to win, so really, what were we out?) to help appease her.  Yes, she still grumbled.  No, there is no way to win here unless we DON'T play those games at the end of the night when everyone is tired (but then if we win we have to cart crap around all day), OR just not play games....  And no, we probably shouldn't have bought the $20 animal, but....*sigh*

5)  Everyone slept surprisingly well both nights we were in the hotel (maybe because we brought an extra air mattress?). 

6)  Poor John drove us home Thursday and then had to leave immediately to go play a round of golf in his golf league.  In that intense heat.  Gosh, I'll bet THAT was fun!

7)  How we got out of the no-eating-in-restaurants problem:  Tuesday night we picked up food and ate it in a park by the Lake (Well, we ate in the car with the air on since it was so bloody hot, but then we got out and played on the play ground and skipped stones into the Lake and Izzy got to experience a really, really nasty latrine for the first time.  She did pretty well--especially considering she still goes into screams if she sees an automatic-flush potty.)  Wednesday night:  pizza in the hotel.

Meh

I got a gift card to Barnes and Noble from one of my GS troops, so of course, I used it all up (and then some), and I've been READING for the last two weeks.  Therefore, I have tuned out of everything else.  While I love reading, it does make me quite lazy and morose.  I think that once I finish this last book, I'll put the books away for a while again.  It's SUMMER, and the kids are home from school, and Mom doesn't need to be on the couch with her nose in her book all bummed out....

But I haven't been all bleh this whole time.  Oh no!  School is over and with it ended the base/softball season (yay!), but it also started a volleyball camp, and a weekend of three parties (WT...HOW did we get so busy?), and a couple of playdates.  And...I've been shopping.  I have been on a quest for some comfortable shorts that aren't frumpy-looking and nice enough to wear in public--I didn't really succeed until today.

AND I offered to babysit the sister of our puppy.  Yes, friends of ours adopted Zuko's litter-mate, and we got to reunite them this week when her family went on vacation.  Jasmine's a bit shy, but she really did take to us more quickly than I think the owner imagined she would.  I think our house-training may have taken a step back due to the flux of puppies around here, but it sure was fun to see them play ALL DAY.  ...Until it finally got annoying, and we had to put one or the other in their crate every now and then just so that we can maybe hear the TV--or have a conversation.  Yeesh!

(The "fluffy" one is Zuko.)

With the end of school we also have the end-of-year report cards with absolutely NO surprises.  Mary = awesome.  Izzy = awesome.  Keith = smart, but goofy, non-listening boy.  *sigh*  We bought Mary and Keith a DS game for their hard work (at least Keith did well academically despite his need to work on his listening skills).  I took a moment in the mall to bribe Izzy with ice cream if she would just get her ears pierced.


Yep...she fell for it!  She did pretty well with it.  She psyched herself all up for it (At one point practically hyperventilating while chanting something along the lines of "I can DO this!"  Made me think, "SHOWTIME!"  LOL).  The first ear was pierced with hardly a flinch from her.  I'm not even sure she would have known it was done if she wasn't told so.  But then the lady took FOREVER to load up the gun again to do the second ear.  Izzy's game face fell off--and she started tearing up.  The second ear finally got done.  I picked her up and held her.  She dried up her tears, and said, "I did it!"  Yes, my dear, brave girl!

Now I must go pick up Mary from yet another play date.  And then we'll perhaps have an Avatar marathon tonight (Um...the Cartoon Network one).  I feel like watching me some silly TV.

Ut Oh, Wan out of Buwetts....

• Sorry it's been so long, but along with the chaos of Spring sports and the new puppy, every time I logged in with my husband's computer, it wouldn't let me create a new post!  
• My husband has STILL not put the protective software on my mini-lap top, and he won't let ME touch it.
• I am FINALLY done with both GS troops!  But I do have another GS recruitment event to help run this week....
• Both girls went camping with me with 400 other Girl Scouts.  Izzy just for the one day, Mary and I were there the whole weekend.  Both did great (except for the 2:30 A.M. "cabin party" from Mary's troop, and the constant bickering all hot day between Izzy and her friend). 
• At camp, Mary's troop NAILED the closing flag ceremony.
• Keith got to pitch at his ball game the other day.  Not only was he consistently throwing strikes, he actually struck out TWO players!  Apparently getting grounded from his DS from not doing his classwork IN class helped free up some major practice time for him!
• Mary has basically lost interest in softball.  When pressed for why she doesn't want to play anymore, the only response we get is because the coach hasn't let her play third base or pitch yet.  Well, yes, Mary, but maybe your coach likes you at second base because she realizes you are pretty darn GOOD at second (although, yes, she's good at third, too), and well, it's hard to let you pitch when you haven't shown ANY desire to TRY or even to PRACTICE--and since they moved the pitcher's mound back a little this year, you can't quite get it across the plate YET (although you could with PRACTICE).  Sooooo frustrating.  We don't know whether to keep trying to encourage her to do (and practice at!) something she's pretty good at to help her boost her confidence a little, or just let her drop out so that we're not forcing her to do something she truly doesn't want to do.  Hard to read this kid, really.
• I inadvertently got my "selected" and "non-selected" confused with the camera--and managed to delete ALL the pictures except for the ones I WANTED to delete.  Good thing a good chunk of them had already been saved on the computer.  *sigh*
• Mary is finally passing Book 1 for her violin.  (She really should have passed it a year ago, but hey, we're still pretty excited!)  She has a concert next week where she (and the others who have passed) gets to play EVERY song from the book.  Then she (plus every other kid who has passed) gets to play a solo from the book.  And guess what?  Her instrument/book is not the only one performing.  It's going to be a loooooooooooooooooong concert (and the instructor was FIRM that no one is allowed to leave in the middle of it!).  
• For Part 2 of the "Q Summer of Fun," John and I went to see Les Claypool perform two weeks ago.  Freakin' AWESOME!  
• Entertaining a puppy while trying to type a post in the cramped computer/junk room is not an easy feat.  So! Many! Temptations! for puppy!
• Just over one more week left of school!
• Keith's best friend moved to Dayton yesterday.  Not only are we missing him, but his mother was my co-leader for Izzy's GS troop and just an awesome person and good friend.  Great family, and I'm just depressed about the whole thing.  :-(
• All is still quiet on the job front.  No interview since February.  The only phone calls I'm getting are from staffing agencies.  I don't mind going the staff agency route, but when I talk to them, I certainly get the feeling that they do not have that many jobs to place.  My unemployment is running out this week or next (unless an extension gets voted in).  I do have a lead on a possible summer temp job, but I know for a fact that the pay would not make it worth the day care expense.  :-(
• The puppy is doing a pretty good job with crate/house training--as long as I'm not packing two lunches while mopping the floor and brushing Izzy's hair and sorting through laundry for a pair of matching socks.  *sigh*  95% of his accidents are from when I've "just stepped out for a mo."  The good news:  he IS starting to go to the door when he needs to go...about 50% of the time.
• A friend of Mary's adopted Zuko's sister!  She's is ultra shy while Zuko is the adventurous one.  I may get to watch her when the family goes on vacation...!
• Zuko has already GROWN.  No fair.
• I am trying to reassure myself that my scale is wonky--surely is isn't possible for a person to gain five pounds in a day and then lose five pounds the next???  I have NO clue how much I weigh right now.  I'm keeping myself in check with the "my clothes still fit, so I can't weigh THAT much" rule.  (Probably should lay off the Shrek Twinkies for a while, though.)
• I FINALLY finished the quilt for my girlfriend whose baby is now officially six months old!  Well, you know, I got INTIMIDATED by the whole thing.  I was going to do this awesome "how I did it" post, but um, accidentally deleted all of the pictures.  I will say that despite the um, blatant flaws on the thing, she was completely, totally thrilled with it (or at least that's what she SAID!).

Zuko

All Crazy All The Time

I am looking at the dawn of this groggy Monday morning wondering just how on earth I made it through the previous week without having a heart attack. So! Much! Going! On! And all at once! It was unreal.

On Monday we finally got to celebrate John's birthday. At least, that's what *I'm* calling it. Two months ago, John made the executive decision to use a portion of our tax refund to buy tickets to see Pearl Jam!!!!!! (And since I couldn't think of any gift to top it, I'm calling that his gift!) We were both beyond excited since a) it's one of our favorite bands, b) John hadn't seen them in concert since 1991 when they gave a spectacularly BAD show in Indy [not exactly their fault, as the sound in the venue was horrible--and this was about three months before they hit it HUGE, so no one knew who this opening band for the Red Hot Chili Peppers was!], and c) John and I are averaging a date about once every 18 months, and we're totally DUE!

The logistics of finding folks to watch my kids and also cart them to their activities that night was um, NOT FUN, but hey, it got done, and I owe some people BIG TIME!

The concert was AMAZING. John's been to loads of concerts, but I've only been to a handful (Is there a correlation in the fact that he stopped going to concerts after he met me? hmmm....). This was easily the best concert I've ever seen. Pearl Jam is just amazing live. I'm so thrilled that we got to go!

John had a few too many beers, so I got to drive home (I got one beer at 7:00 and nursed it until 11:00--kinda guessing I may be the one driving home). An hour's drive is no big deal--unless you'd been up really, really late a few nights prior, and you're up way past your bedtime now. But I found some gum in my purse, and then it was all good! We got home around 1:30 in the morning.

Tuesday I was completely wiped. I put the kids on the bus, and I went back to bed. I didn't get up until Izzy got home, and I probably didn't wake up properly until around 3:00. I got Mary ready for her softball game, and then I had to help slacker Keith with his homework (TWO assignments he didn't finish in class! Plus he was behind on his reading journal!). John takes Mary to her game, and Keith and I get back on homework. Then, around 7:30, my GS co-leader calls, "Aren't you coming to the Service Unit meeting tonight?" Meeting? WHOOPS! It wouldn't have been a big deal, except that I was supposed to bring important stuff for the meeting. Izzy was already in her jammies, and Keith still had homework to do, but we all got our shoes on, went out to the garage, and...John had the mini-van. The mini-van in which I put the important stuff so that I wouldn't forget it for said meeting! And he and Mary were 20 minutes away at her game. Crap! Can you say LOSER? Yeah--my portion of the meeting just had to be skipped.

The next few days are kind of a blur. Along with baseball/softball going on every night, I was also putting together a Daisy event for my Service Unit for Saturday. I spent the rest of the week making sure I had enough crafts, games, songs, and supplies to entertain 50-55 kindergarten and first graders. I had a nightmare Tuesday night (after the important meeting faux pas) that we were all at the event, and I forgot most of my supplies, and I had to keep leaving the event to go make trips to Wally World. Yeah--stress much?

Well, I made my list and checked it twice, and thrice, and yipes! I couldn't help feel every time I bought more stuff that I didn't have enough stuff! (And I started buying for this WEEKS ago!). LOTS of shopping got done. Lots of emails/phone calls/visits to my co-leader for sanity checks. The last thing on the list: go get the keys to the church where we were having the event. No problem. I remembered! Got my keys! Everything looked good!

Saturday afternoon I made a last minute trip to Wally World to buy MORE crayons and MORE markers and MORE scissors in another panic attack of not-having-enough-STUFF! I got to the church 45 minutes before the event started...and the keys would NOT FIT IN THE DOORS!!!! It's like a bad joke, right? I'm all prepared, and I'm early to the event to get things set up in a timely manner, and....

Well, Mary and Izzy were with me (Izzy to attend--Mary to help until John came to get her for her softball game). I told them to stay in the mini-van while I went around the church trying more doors (these keys have got to open up SOMETHING, right?). Well, it's a pretty BIG church since it's also a school. I kept going around and around the perimeter and finding doors and trying keys and trying my darndest NOT to cry!

I finally got to the other side of the building where there is a playground, AND another one of my older girl helpers playing on the swings (wonder how long that poor dear was there waiting for me?). Another mother on the playground said she thought she saw someone go into the main office. REALLY? OhThankGoodness!

The main office was open (yes!). I found a live body (YES!). And she confirmed that yes, I indeed had the wrong keys (GAH!). She gave me the key right off her key ring, and then we walked through the building to open that door so that I could collect my children and start unloading my stuff. As we're trying to unlock the door, Mary runs by it holding Izzy's hand, and Izzy is in hysterics! OH! The poor dear started freaking out when Mommy didn't come back to the car right away! (Oh! Mom should have brought them with her, but Mom didn't realize it would take THAT LONG to get inside the church! BAD MOMMY!) At this time, my Daisy co-leader has shown up with HER supplies and HER kids. We get Izzy calmed down, and then we hurriedly start setting up for this thing--starting thirty minutes later than we intended. Within a few short minutes, the annoyingly PUNCTUAL people start showing up. Thank heavens many of them were GS leaders and mothers and others who are willing to lend a hand (and actually, I asked for all these folks to stay and help ahead of time). (And BTW: we couldn't figure out how to keep the door OPEN, so I had to finally set up an older girl at the door to open it as folks started filing in.) We finally had all the craft tables and supplies set up, and got things started.

It was chaos--but "organized" chaos. I know that you can't keep five- and six-year old still for too long, so my mantra for this thing was to KEEP. THEM. BUSY. And, yeah, it was noisy, and yeah, a bit confusing, but yeah, I still think they all had a lot of fun. Of course, I spent most of my time be-bopping between tables making sure everything was moving along, and moving ahead, and what-happened-to-the-volunteer-who-was-teaching-this-craft????! I'm still amazed everything ran as smoothly--and timely!--as it did. My rough schedule was pretty-much followed, and everything was done, and every kid picked up, in quite a timely manner! Um...wow?

After that ordeal, my co-leader and I had been asked by the church to set up tables and chairs for the next event scheduled. No problem! I mean, the church let us use their space for free, it's the least we could do, right? Well, I had no idea the tables and chairs were so HEAVY. And we had to set up an extra 12 of them (with eight heavy chairs at each table). And we had our little girls running around under our feet. And...well, if I'd known, I would have asked more adults to stay--or at least found a husband to help! It took us over an hour.

Calming down after all of that was not easy. My heart was still racing when we left. I took Izzy to get something to eat (STARVING!), and then we went to the pet store. And we looked at puppies and kittens and puppy products (oh! good grief!) and even puppy training classes. And we talked about our new little guy and what kind of toys he might like and how we'll have to keep the house extra-special clean for him, and...I just can't wait for him to get here!

Yo Mama's Day--again

This turned out to be a better Mother's Day than I expected--since it's not such a big deal to me, and I try to enforce to my husband and the kids that fact. I'm pretty happy with the little hand-made gifts the kids make at school, and I couldn't care less about going out to dinner or anything.

Well, the celebration really started Thursday with Izzy's kindergarten class presenting their Mother's Day Garden Party. The kids sang to us and served us a snack (pudding cups--oh boy!), and we got a pot holder with the kids' handprint on it, and a little story they wrote. Very cute!

Mary talked to my garden-savvy neighbor the other day and walked away with a little fern which she potted for me (in my own pot, but hey, it's never had a plant in it, so she truly was giving me a gift!). She did this a week ago, and the plant has been thriving (while I've been carefully "ignoring" it there on our back porch!). She also weaved a little basket in school. It's a little lop-sided, but still cute.

Keith's class has been studying poetry this last month, so he wrote me a poem. Then the teacher had each kid record a podcast of their reading the poem and put it on the school website!

John surprised me most of all. He decided to get me my own little laptop! Now, it's a tiny, little thing, and it doesn't have a lot of memory, and it wasn't costly, but I'm thrilled all the same. He's been meaning to get me my own computer for a while now, and Mother's Day seemed a convenient time to get me one.

Really, the best part of my day, I already knew about and was in on. John and I decided to FINALLY get our kids a dog. OK, really, it's going to be OUR dog as we know the kids aren't really old enough yet to handle the responsibility, but since I'm home, it really is the perfect time to get a puppy (watch me finally find a job now!). Anyway, today we drove out to a breeder who lives about an hour away--and picked out this adorable little boy Miniature Schnauzer! I held and petted the puppies for an hour and didn't break out (well, I did have one itchy spot on my neck, but that could have been from my hair tickling me--but still it wasn't a BIG patch), and neither Keith nor I got sneezy or watery-eyed or anything. Picking a puppy out was almost impossible since they were all similar-looking and all really sweet and seemingly even-tempered. We finally picked the one boy that was available. The whole house is just a-buzz with the excitement of this new purchase. We will get to bring our new baby boy home probably Memorial Day weekend or the week after--depending on how he's maturing. I keep thinking, "Oh, WHAT have we done?!" but I'm also thrilled that we will have an adorable pet that won't make me sneeze and will be a good companion for us and the kids....

Here's the four-week picture of our new baby. We're still debating names. Right now "Zuko" seems to be the favorite:



I'm not sure if I've ever seen white Miniature Schnauzers before--pretty unique, I think. (And CUTE, of course!)

Happy Mother's Day to all my favorite Mamas out there!

Opening Day Follies

I don't even know why I bother going to the Base/Softball Opening Day, anymore. In fact, John was smart and skipped out of the Opening Parade. He dropped the three kids and I off at the ball park and scooted off to Target "to buy some t-shirts." The man has TWO dresser drawers FULL of t-shirts!!! WT.... Well, whatever.

Anyway, I must admit that the day actually started out sorta OK. We all got up and dressed in a timely manner, and the three kids and I were ready well ahead of time (as opposed to years' past). Mary was a bit grumpy, AS USUAL, but she didn't sleep well the night before, and despite many, many recitations of the parade and game and events of the day the night before, the grumpy gus still managed to act SURPRISED that I had to drag her out of bed at 7:30 on a Saturday morning (really, kid? really?). Well, we got to the parade on time to actually get Mary and Keith lined up with their respective teams instead of shoving them in place as the parade went by. Go ME!

I got fooled by the weather, though. It's always cool in the house, and I have not wizened up to the fact yet that the temperature in the house does not necessarily reflect the temperature outside. Izzy and I had on jeans and sneakers and fleece sweatshirts. Immediately upon arriving I discovered my gaff--that it was a horribly humid day. Well, Izzy and I waited along the parade route (We got a GREAT spot this year--punctuality WORKS! Huh!)...and that's just about when all the fun got taken out of our day.

Izzy started whining. And Whining. And WHINING. She was hungry (they already had the free hot dog stand set up for the players and she wanted one NOW--at 8:45 on the morning, just an hour after she ate her breakfast--or her life was just OVER). She was thirsty. I'm assuming she was hot, but surprisingly, she didn't whine about THAT. And since I was there without transportation (it was at Target, remember?), I couldn't even drop off the fleece sweatshirts and had to lug them around with the whiny Izzy and my coffee (what a GREAT idea on a hot day) and my purse and my camera. And well, the whining was driving me NUTS.

Keith's team went by, and he was so clustered in with that group of goofy boys, that he didn't see nor hear me. The girls' team is always way, way, WAY at the back of the parade (last before the high schoolers!), so we had to wait and wait and WAIT until we finally saw her. She didn't wave at me, and I had no idea if she even saw me. *sigh*

Izzy and I then toddled off to the Opening Ceremonies--which seemed more lengthy than ever on this lovely humid day. I took pity on the Whiny One and got her a water bottle from the hot dog stand. Well, it just wasn't good enough, folks! Oh no, the whiny quest for the hot dog continued NON-STOP through all the speeches, the opening prayer (really? what year is this?), more speeches, and the national anthem, oh, and another speech). By this time, John has come back from Target (with a sharp, cool shirt, BTW--am jealous), and he's getting exposure to the blessing that is our lovely third child. Oi vey.

After the ceremony, I stuck John with Izzy and the fleeces while I searched through the hundreds and hundreds of sweaty kids and parents for my own two kids. I managed to find ONE--a very faint Mary who was just DYING of the humidity (oh! the drama!). I reunited her with her father while I kept up the search (Other mothers passing me by, "Have you seen my kid?" "No, have you seen MINE?"). The crowd has thinned out by now, so I met up with John again to finally see Keith getting deposited there by his coach. Whew!

We all head up to Mary's game, but Mary is still being the FOUL, I-had-to-get-up-early-and-now-I'm-hot-and-I-don't-want-to-play mood. John is helping to coach her team, so he got the brunt of it. My darling daughter has a tinge of the Stubborn Gene in her (thanks, Mom), and she was determined she was NOT going to have fun, and she was NOT going to cooperate with her father. Oi.

Meanwhile, Keith is popping heads off dandelions and getting grass stains on his brand-new uniform--and jumping off the highest step of the bleachers. Izzy.... Oh, God. She just...she got WORSE. The first inning of the game I got every rendition of "I want a hot dog!!!!!!!" and also "I want ice cream!!!!!" thrown in there, that she could muster.

Is this one of those times when a Mom should just give in? To let her hot, humid child have a hot dog at 10:00 in the morning when she just had breakfast and lunch is just a ballgame away? I decided to try to reason with her (b-der! idiot!)--to even cut a deal. "We can go to the concession stand after the first inning. I just saw Mary bat, I want to see her play second base. We will go after this inning. No, Izzy, just after this inning. Izzy, NO. We WILL get a hot dog, I promise, but can I PLEASE see your sister play second base?????" AUUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!

And that's when my head exploded.

I grabbed my hot Izzy and my hot self and told John, smellyalater, and Oh, guess I'd better grab Keith, too, and we went on our merry way home, Izzy crying and screaming the WHOLE way.

Oh God. WHY do I even bother??? One simply cannot enjoy one's kids' ballgames with one's OTHER KIDS IN TOW.

We got home. Cooled down in the cool house. Changed into cooler clothes (except for poor Keith, who had a game later), and then I extracted a promise from Izzy that her whining was DONE for the day, and we went back. All told, I got to see probably about two full innings of Mary's game. *sigh*

After the game, I find out about the nasty attitude Miss Hot Thing exhibited to her father, the coach. It was NOT pretty. John was NOT happy.

We made it down to the concession stand (FINALLY--the WHINY ONE got her @#$% hotdog! But NOT ice cream!), and we all actually had an enjoyable lunch. We went home and hung out for a little bit before Keith's game. John made the very WISE decision of taking Keith on his own and leaving me home with the girls. I really did want to go to Keith's game, but I was NOT going to sit on those bleachers with TWO whiny daughters. NO WAY. So I took them to buy some cheap summer sandals, and then we crashed at home.

Keith enjoyed his game, but he got very upset when he struck out all three times at bat. The poor guy got hit in the face with a pop up during practice a few weeks ago, and now he jumps back at oncoming pitches and is hesitant with his catching. We hope he grows out of it soon.... (Mary STILL won't take full swings from when she got hit by a ball, what...three years ago? URGH!)

Well, anyway, it was a very, very long and hot day. And I am bummed as it's pretty obvious that I will probably be missing quite a few games do to the Izzy Problem. (But what am I supposed to do on Thursday nights when Mary has games, and John has his golf league???????) Ah well.

Pictures:

I dunno--I think this might be Keith's team:



I mean, can YOU find him in this gaggle of goofiness?



Grumpy Girl--I caught her smiling!
(Yes, she did spot me, but she said she couldn't wave because she was HOLDING THE FLAG, MOM--DUH!)



The Local Celebrity made an appearance!!! I haven't seen him around the ballpark in three years, and THERE HE IS!!!! This was the best pic I could get of him without running back and making a total @$$ of myself. (He's holding a cute dog, BTW.) Anyway, HOW COOL IS THAT?



(Edited.... Hope I fixed that link.)

Spring Crazy

The madness is upon us! Baseball and softball and Girl Scouts, oh my! It kinda helps a little that I'm unemployed and have a bit more time to deal with it all, but I find that all is still not getting done in the best way. I mean, I'm home, and we're still eating McCrap food 2/3 times a week due to practices and such because 5:00 rolls around, and suddenly I go into a panic attack about how the CHILDREN HAVE PRACTICE IN AN HOUR AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S FOR DINNER.

Really, they've been practicing for a couple of weeks now, so I'm starting to get it down better (as long as I'm not distracted on the computer with zero-gratifying job searches and FB), but this has been a particularly crazy week since I somehow-or-another volunteered our house to host two different events two days in a row. D'oh!

Crazy or Super-Genius? I mean, it was absolutely insane--I did loads of cleaning over the dead-dull spring break (WHY aren't we GOING anywhere? Because Mommy doesn't have a job, and we're POOR!). I dragged out the REAL vacuum instead of the Bissell and vacuumed up all the dust and cobwebs (hey, maybe it'll be an allergy-free sping!) and got ALL my craft/GS clutter out of the living room, and even shampooed the rugs. (And you saw my debacle with the attempting-to-hem-the-curtains so that my den wouldn't look QUITE so trailer-park with one curtained window and one blinded one...!) But the GENIUS of it was that by the time I was done Monday afternoon (cuz, let's face it, there is NO POINT in cleaning the bathrooms until the last second since I have an eight year old boy in the house who has STILL not learned how to AIM properly yet), then I was basically ALL SET for the Tuesday gathering. Just a bit of sweeping of crumbs and...wow! My house STILL looks great!

In addition to all of that, I've been super busy helping to plan two major events for Girl Scouts (not to mention leading the two troops), and well, I think I've taken on just a wee bit too much. I was soooooo busy with all the cleaning and planning and getting parent registrations for one of the events and baseball/softball-readying of the children that I forgot to ask my own kindergarten troop's mothers if their daughters were coming to one of the events I was planning!!!! The event *I* set the deadline for! D'oh!

So, yes, things are crazy right now. And is it any wonder that I've yelled at the kids a tad too much lately? (Oh, goodness, I just HOPE they FORGET about all this, or at least UNDERSTAND when they get older!)

Showing My Roots

OK. I can't believe I'm admitting this on a public forum here, but I am a total idiot. Totally.

It started with Mary trying to pull down the blinds in the den--and ended up pulling them down off the window. *sigh* John bought a set of curtains to put up, but they were too long. "Can you hem these?" Sure. I've seen Trading Spaces. I know how to work a sewing machine. I can DO this!

So, I did it. I took the set of curtains, figured out what length I wanted them, measured them, cut them, ironed and pinned them, and sewed them--and they looked great! I was soooo stinking impressed with myself!

But...now the problem is that there are TWO windows in the den. So....after a brief period of time, we finally got around to buying a second set of panels for the second window. OK. Same curtains for the same sized window in the same room bought from the same store. No problem. I used the same measurements I'd used before and went to work.

I hung up the first panel of the second set and....it was blatantly SHORTER than the panels on the other window. Um...huh? How'd I do that? Oh! I must have measured wrong--18 inches instead of 16 (don't ask me how I figured on the two inches--it's just another case of dumb blondeness....).

I then took a several month hiatus trying to figure out if I wanted to a) completely rip seams, re-measure, and re-sew the two longer panels, b) just say to-heck-with-it and sew UP the edge of my hem two inches (the "magic number" I figured was the difference), or c) say to-heck-with-it and buy another set of panels to hem to the first set's length or d) ignore it, and see if it would go away.

Option "d" obviously did not work, so the other day I FINALLY pulled out the sewing machine again to shorten the first two panels and finally hem up the last.

So...I cut off 18 inches of the last panel and hemmed it up (you do know where this is going, don't you?). I hung it up next to that tricky third one and...it's SHORTER THAN THE ALREADY TOO SHORT PANEL. WTF?

I now realize that the ORIGINAL panels is where I mis-measured. I was apparently measuring longer than the 16 inches I calculated with them. I did it RIGHT the third time.

FINE! (Good thing I cut the first two so long, and these curtains are still covering window space!)

So...I hemmed up the first two panels another four inches and I hemmed up the third panel another two to match them all up. And then hung them up.

NOW, the first two panels are STILL longer than the second (now-matching) set. WTH?

And why no, I never bothered to actually compare panels together. WHY ON EARTH WOULD I WANT TO DO THAT??????? GRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a sneaky suspicion here. I think...I think that when the curtains were bought at different times and after the packaging of the first set was thrown away...I think a different LENGTH was purchased the second time. I think...that instead of focusing on how much length was getting cut OFF, I should have been measuring how long I wanted the curtains to be in the first place. I think...I think I am an idiot.

And...I think that the first set now match. The second set now match. And...I think I'm DONE hemming curtains for a while.

Dumb Ideas During Spring Break

1) Taking all three kids to the mall as they all need new spring clothes. Gah! (Exit with NO purchases and permanent scowl.)

2) Trying to complete any errands in general. Bane of their existence and apparently a cause for mutiny.

3) Propose going to the movies only to find out that the only movie out there that is appropriate for the kids' ages is that wonderful Dragon movie that you LOVE, but you can't possibly afford to see again. Foul temptress!

4) When the kids WHINE about how it's SPRING BREAK, so we should be going SOMEWHERE, do NOT propose YET ANOTHER trip to Niagara Falls. Oh! The horror!

5) Suggest they finish their homework or practice their string instruments. YOU EVIL WOMAN!

6) Hmmm....apparently EVERY suggestion is the WRONG ONE. Take a shower? Ignored. Go outside? Not when MOM suggests it--only when it's DINNER TIME, apparently.

7) Completely clean the house the weekend PRIOR to Spring Break. Makes for demolished house in less than 24 hours and extremely put-out/frazzled Mom.

8) Baseball/Softball practice. WHO DO THESE COACHES THINK THEY ARE?????

Gah! It's only TUESDAY!

Pain

The weather is wreaking havoc on my sinuses, and I'm spending my days with varied degrees of headaches--from "annoying" to "teeth-hurting" to "drugs-won't-touch-it." Needless to say, it's not helping my moods much. The poor children. The poor, poor children. They just must think I'm a monster with all the mood swings and the yelling and the "OMG, PLEASE STOP WHISPERING--MY HEAD, MY HEAD!" followed by Apologetic and Ice-Cream-Giving Mommy. ugh.

Today took the cake as I was distracted and making some phone calls, then applying for jobs and then helping my poor panicked mother with her English paper at the same time that Izzy and her her little friend were here playing.... They asked if they could water my plant. Well...sure! After I finally got off the phone (I wonder if my mother got anything out of that conversation since I was trying to construct a job-specified cover letter at the same time?), Izzy runs upstairs with a PIECE of my plant. "We were ripping off the leaves and R broke your plant!" Um...WHAT? Down to the den I go, to find that those giggly little girls had REALLY watered my plant--it was monsooned in water and soil which had spread out all over the fireplace and the floor. The plant was completely BALD with just half of the stalk sticking out of the pot.

Now, really, I'm pretty terrible with plants. Especially since I've had kids (and--oh, when we had cats!), I can't keep them alive for anything. But THIS plant--this particular plant!--was the only surviving plant leftover from the ONE TIME my husband ever sent any kind of greenery to me at work--and it was from ten years ago. Yes, it survived the cats. It survived the kids. It even survived ME (mainly due to the fact that it stayed at my desk for most of those ten years). So...the brutal KILLING of a plant that was a rare plant-like gift from my husband (He sent it to me for Father's Day. That's right, Father's Day! And the note said, "Thank you for letting me be the father of your baby." AWWWWWW--am I right?) did NOT go over well.

I laid into those girls. And I made them clean up the mess (as well as five-years can clean...will be going back over that later, *sigh*). And I put them in time out. I admitted it was partly my fault--these girls have gotten into some messy mischief before when I was distracted, and I should have known better than to let them water a plant unsupervised--but I also realize that even five-year olds KNOW BETTER than to water a plant THAT much and to pluck ALL the leaves off of a plant!

I guess the worst part was having to admit to the little girl's dad that I yelled at his kid when he picked her up. You better bet I told him because who KNOWS what tales this kid might bring home without my knowledge or chance to admit/defend my actions! But...there's reality. It's bad enough being a yeller with your own kids, but it's even worse when you do it to kids that do not belong to you. Bad Parent to the Nth degree. And now it's Public Knowledge.

Crud.

And no, the drugs have STILL not touched my headache today.

Because my Grandma made the girls matching dresses

She's not just a quilt maker!







(She sent Keith a truck--and he enjoys it very much, thank you!)


And...a picture of the adorable "Wall-E" dress my friend and neighbor made for Izzy for her birthday!



And...a few pics from our recent (sad) trip to IN:

Keith and John



The two Keiths! Oh--and Monica and the girls and Brutus, too.



Stair-step children:



(My son is now OFFICIALLY shorter than my gf's son--who is a year younger than he is. My poor "barely average" boy.)

If it's too good to be true...

Nothing is more frustrating than sorting through junk/crap job postings and finally finding a posting for a job that sounds somewhat decent--only to discover it's spam/slam in disguise. And that it has almost the same exact typeface/heading/job description as the spam/slam posting I JUST saw! I'm getting pretty good at identifying them now, but YEESH.

I did miss out on a job interview/opportunity because of my father-in-law's funeral, but that cannot be helped. And except for another opportunity where the employer ended up finding an internal candidate, it's been all quiet on the job front.

Now I have two major events to plan for GS, and I really can't put it off much longer. I did take one step today of making a phone call that I've needed to make for ages--but the person didn't answer the phone. Great! That just means that I still have the same amount of work to do later!

And John's 39th birthday is tomorrow, and I am once again perplexed about what to get him for a gift. I know what I WANT to get him, but it's a tad expensive for our current means.... It may just be an "IOU--when I finally find gainful employment." Or--"Those concert tickets you just bought? Yeah--THAT'S your gift."

I'm in too much of a depressed fog right now to post anything else. The weather is supposed to get gorgeous in the next couple of days, so maybe that will help cheer me up a bit.

RIP Dad W

Bad news has been all around us the last couple of days. A friend's father died, and then an old acquaintance's daughter went missing, and well...it didn't end well. And then, my father-in-law passed away early Monday morning.

Dad had heart problems about 15 years ago, and about a year ago he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He lived in Florida, so we hardly ever got to see him. We were never sure if we was giving us full disclosure about his cancer treatments, but I guess he didn't want anyone to fuss or worry over him.

I'm sad he's gone. I wish we could have seen more of him.

SUN!

We've been enjoying some lovely, sunny weather 'round here. We still have huge piles of icky snow to dodge, but the SUN! and WARM air! AHHHH!!!!

It must be the weather that is helping me--somewhat--get out of my winter funk. I'm getting organized and writing lists and planning GS outings and GS events and cleaning out the basement and making some annoying phone calls I've been putting off and just GETTING STUFF DONE. (I think the fact that I finally finished Bowser's Inside Story may have opened up a bit of free time, too--heh.)

I realized yesterday that this is the longest I've ever been unwillingly unemployed. And THEN! I went and cleaned out my bedroom! Yes, MUST keep myself from the depths of despair, folks! Even it it means distracting myself with menial household tasks!

What else has happened? Hmmm....well, I took Izzy in and cut 10 inches off her hair. Oh! She looks lovely (and WHY does my camera never seem to work when I need it to?). I miss her long hair, but her medium hair is very nice, and she seems very excited about it.

The kids got their report cards, and they all did very well. Keith went down a notch in "organization," but I was surprised the teacher rated him so highly the last term and even told her so at our last conference. (I think she gave him a bit too much of the benefit of the doubt last term!) Izzy's teacher just couldn't stop singing her praises. Keith's teacher (despite his lack of organization) also only had really nice things to say about him. We won't have Mary's conference until next week, but her report card indicates another pleasing conference to come (she's...she's just kicking BUTT in fourth grade!). John and I couldn't be more proud and let them each pick out a new (*cough* USED) DS/Wii game to reward them.

Oh and I made an ass of myself at the dentist's office the other day. Really, though--those folks up front need to give me the WHOLE picture of what is going on with my son's teeth and the cost instead of giving it to me peicemeal and then try to force me to sign a statement of "refusal of treatment" when I was most certainly NOT refusing treatment, I just wanted to know ALL of my options before my husband and I made a decision. ANYWAY, after I got ALL the information, I had to admit my own foolishness and schedule the poor boy for a baby root canal. GRRRR!

(Frankly, it didn't help that I was already in a "dither" with those folks. You see, Keith's one front tooth was coming out of his gums practically at a right angle due to the already-dropping adult tooth pushing it out. Well, the boy refused to pull it, and he wouldn't let John or me touch it. Since I have already traumatized my oldest child about her teeth, I let it go. And I asked the dentist to pull it when we got there for the cleaning. WHY was I thinking this person would be kind and just yank out this little, innocent tooth for FREE? After insurance, I had to pay $28 dollars for this guy [new dentist, ours apparently hired a partner] to yank a tooth that was DANGLING in my son's mouth. So, yes, I was already in a pissy mood when the subject of the baby root canal came up. I HATE DENTISTS.)

Ah. Well. So! Um...I'm happy spring is making a bit of an appearance. Living in Western NY, I know better than to accept it as the full-blown spring season. SURELY we'll get another snow storm this month--it's only inevitable! But! I'm enjoying what I can, and I'm trying to channel that rare solar power into my own work drive. Got a LOT done yesterday in particular. We'll see if I can keep it up.

SNOW DAY!

We got a ton of snow last Thursday and Friday, so school was canceled on Friday morning. The district now has one of those robo-calling machines, so we got the call at 5:30 in the morning. I actually didn't mind--it was nice to know. And now I don't have to worry about school getting canceled, and I don't know about it since I haven't bothered to turn on the TV!

That was all fine and good--but the kids and I all had dentist appointments starting at 8:00. I looked outside at 7:00 and determined that it wasn't really that bad. It was still snowing, but the road in front of our house was well-plowed and looked quite drivable--and the dentist is only about eight minutes from the house (if that). I called the dentist around 7:30 and said we'd be about an hour late. The kids and I all got up and got ready, and then we piled into the mini-van. There was about 4-5 inches of snow in the driveway--still should be doable, right? Well, I forgot about the END of the driveway, where snow accumulates in great, gargantuan proportions due to the speeding snow plows? (HOW could I FORGET?) Yeah--we got STUCK.

John was working from home--but he was REALLY working. He was on an important conference call that he could not get out of. So I hustled the kids into a quiet room (Shh! Daddy's on an important phone call!) and suited up in my boots and snowpants and started trying to shovel the mini-van out (my wrist = OUCH). The neighbor across the street was shoveling out HIS car, too. He came over when he was done and started helping me out. Then ANOTHER neighbor saw my dilemma and brought over his snow-thrower. Oh! We're in business now!

The guys helped push the mini-van out, and then I parked in my neighbor's driveway while he finished clearing out the driveway for me. I did tell him he didn't have to help anymore. "John's gonna be so EMBARRASSED! He right in the house! He'll come and do the rest of the driveway just as soon as he gets off the phone!" But, my neighbor is just too nice of a guy.

Well, with about a quarter of the driveway left, John finally made it outside. "Hey! Stop that! I want to use my snow-thrower, too!" The two finished our driveway, and then went over to ANOTHER neighbor's house, and removed the snow for him, too.

Meanwhile, the neighbor's wife brought over their kids, and we had all five of them playing in the snow in our yard. The snow wouldn't support the sleds, but the kids still used little shovels to try to clear a path for the adults to drag the sled down the hill. Mary spent most of her time attempting to build tunnels in the snow. She actually had a neat little network of tunnels going--but they kept collapsing as the snow just wasn't quite packing right.

After all the snow plowing/fun, we all went to the neighbor's house and had hot cocoa with marshmallows, kisses, and mint M&Ms (the sugar! gah!). John and I invited them over for pizza and Rock Band that evening.

Well, we never got around to Rock Band again. Just too much chaos with all those kids in the house. Besides, the Globe Trotters were on TV, and we were all having fun watching them (especially Keith). (We're seriously thinking of getting a sitter for all five kids for the one house while we play with our Rock Band toys in the other house!)

It was an awesome snow day.