Warning- I Have My Mom Hat On!!

Tomorrow I will be the mother of a 1st grader.

Tomorrow I will be the mother of a 1st grader who doesn't want his mom to take him to his first day of school... he wants Daddy to take him. Ultimately, I think this is what is best, considering that last year he cried every morning and sometimes had to be physically taken to the classroom which broke my heart every single day. If he goes with Daddy, he will give him a "See ya", and be off.

Please don't think I'm a horrible mother who is sending her son off into the great unknown of the 1st grade. I did get to go to visit the classroom, meet the teacher, and sit through school wide, mandatory 40 Minutes of Torture "K-12 orientation". The classroom is really cute, his teacher seems super nice- she even greeted him by name when we walked in the classroom!!, and he already has friends in the class. The reality of it is he is 2 doors down from his class last year, and this feels like old-hat to him.

Why am I even spending time on this? I think because it's going to be way more dramatic for me than it is for the Boy. Shoot, it already has been!

It Could Happen

I've had a day. Yes, it's only 1:56pm, but it's still been "a day".

I've considered posting an ad on Craigslist.

Wanted: Caregiver for 2 children who may or may not listen and obey as they will not listen to their mother or to one another. Some dog supervision will also be required for the prevention of lying on blankets that have been pulled into the middle of the floor followed by ingestion of coasters, old Leapsters, books, wall decor, and cardboard boxes. Duration of employment has yet to be determined as it is dependent upon how long it takes aforementioned mother to recover from nervous breakdown. Position available immediately.

Think I'll get any takers?

Well...

To say that I've greatly neglected the blog would be an understatement.

It just wasn't something that was even on the radar screen for a good while. Then it had been so long I was starting to feel guilty about it. Then I felt silly about feeling guilty- it is just something floating around in cyberspace that very few, if any, people even read. Then I thought I would get back into blogging, but didn't have a clue as to where to start.

Here we are today... I have need for a creative outlet, but don't have the time or space to really get stuff out and be physically creative. I have decided that I am over all the other stuff and am just going to dive in as if my last post was yesterday. If I mention anything that has happened in the past that you are unaware of you have 2 options; a) play along and pretend that you know what's going on b) shoot me a question and get ready for an appropriately lengthy response so that you are "in the loop". How you'd like to handle the potentially awkward situation is up to you!

Having said all of that... I Really Ought To Be Doing Something Else... but then what would you be doing?

Hello World!

Okay, so I didn't follow-through with my hermit theory.

In fact, I spent much of last week out and about- doing many things that were not strictly necessary. I have made progress on the list of stuff though!

All it took was a list. Ahhhh, glorious lists!

Just Call Me Hermit

I informed Husband today that I am going to cancel everything for the next week. I'm not going anywhere unless it is strictly necessary.

My brilliant plan is to use this week long block of time to get all of the little projects done around the house that have been bugging me.

Things like folding 13 loads of laundry; Cleaning out the closet in our bedroom so that we are no longer attacked by the exercise equipment "resting" there (my theory is that since we are not moving it, it is trying to move us... how's that for a creepy thought??!); Vacuuming the outdoor carpet on the screen porch; Scrubbing the funny looking spot at the very top of the 9 foot high wall in the hall; Cleaning the little ledge on the tops of all of the baseboards. Okay, so you get the point.

Do you know what the problem is with my brilliant plan? I have already had not one, but two weeks of having everything cancelled.

Did I get any of these things done? Not one! But I did get to hang out with my kiddos and The Hubs and make some really cool family memories.

I guess 2 extra weeks of wearing protective gear when venturing into the closet was worth it.

Not off to a better start, am I?

So I guess I wasn't better about posting yesterday. I do have an excuse though, and I think it's pretty viable.

I was either terribly tired or terribly distracted yesterday. Can't figure out which one it was. Either way, not the best time to blog.

How do I know that it's not just some lame excuse to try and weasel yourself out of the guilt that you may or may not feel about saying you were going to be better about posting and then not following through? (That's probably what you're thinking to yourself- or at least what I would be thinking to myself- right about now...)

My simple answer is this. I closed my own face in the refrigerator door last night.

Now, honestly, aren't you glad that I didn't post yesterday?

Harsh Realities

I realized that it had been a while since posting.

I realized just how long it had been once I had to hack into the account because I couldn't remember the password and all of the 14 guesses that I made were wrong. Oops!

I suppose I should be better about blogging!

Starting... tomorrow?!

Just So You Know...

When coloring your own hair, if you should choose a color called "Navajo Bronze", be ready for more Bronze than Navajo.

When trying to cover said color with "Suede", be prepared for not just Suede, but- yes, this color is my own custom color creation- Suanze. That's right, some Suede and some Bronze together.

Although, not an altogether bad color, not really what I was going for either. Glad I wasn't brave enough to go with the permanent color!

Hello?

Yep, I'm still around.

We've had several sets of visitors, yard sale-ing (as previously mentioned), new schedules, and school starting. At this point, I'm just trying to make it through the rest of the week! As we get settled into our new routine, things will move much more smoothly, and I will be able to function a bit better. I have now had to retype about 15 words... apparently something else that has changed is my ability to spell.

More updates after I re-learn how to spell or have the common sense to use the spellcheck function, which I really didn't even think about until just now.

Sailing, Sailing...

OK, it really should be sale-ing, but that isn't a word and even if it were, I think it would be pretty bad in the grammar department.

We're getting ready for a yard sale around here. Next weekend we will be having a "Large, Multi-family Yard Sale"... at least that's what the signs will all say. Some girlfriends and I are going to be having a yard sale together on Saturday. For this week, that means a messy house... or at least a messy garage. Husband pulled bins down from the attic for me to go through and sort and I have been through the kids' closets.

It's amazing how much stuff there is around here! I discovered that most of the items that we had in the bins in the attic are clothing. Lots of kids' clothes. Like, all the clothes except the clothes worn in the first 3 months of Son's life that the kids have ever worn. Eek.

Let me just leave you with this to ponder... what am I supposed to do with the 21 pairs of underwear- all the same size!!- that my son has outgrown? More to the point... why did he even have 21 pairs of underwear to outgrow?

I Really Have Lost My Mind

What was I thinking?

Son's birthday was yesterday. Happy Birthday, 5 year old!! How did we celebrate? First I made a cake for him to take to school with him (he's doing Parent's Day Out over the Summer, and LOVES it!!). Spider Man was the choice for the school cake. Then he needed a different one for his family "home" birthday cake. Batman was the preferred superhero for that cake. Mix in presents, Husband and I spending the morning filming a segment to show at church, building a backyard obstacle course, 200 water balloons, and a trip to fetch pizza for dinner in a crazy storm, and you've got a pretty full day.

Today is Son's birthday party day. We started by being at the pediatrician by 8:00am for his check-up and immunizations. A rude way to start the day, I must say. Follow that with a flurry of quick trips in and out of a couple stores, home to set up the previously mentioned obstacle course, and cleaning-up the backyard and you will approach lunch. I now have just over 2 hours before a dozen 5-ish year old will descend upon my house, rapidly followed by a trip to Montgomery to fetch my parents who will be here for 10 days. I am still needing to fold laundry, dust, clean the bathrooms, steam the floors, and clean the kitchen. Yesterday is sounding pretty good right about now.

Now, I need to go finish the Transformers cake for the party. First I think I'll have a break-down. Excuse me.

It's That Time of Year...

Every year around this time, I feel the overwhelming need for change. And not just wear-a-new-color-of-eyeshadow kind of change. I mean change.
I think it's the Army wife in me. When we move, every 2-3 years, it happens about this time of year. When I have had both of my children, it has been about this time of year. Well... this year we are not moving, and I am not having any children.
Last year when I was in this same situation, I pierced my nose. This year, I have decided that we need to have all the carpet in the house replaced, the back porch screened, and the furniture in the family room rearranged. Guess what?! That's a whole heck of a lot of change to pay for! I decided that moving the furniture is easily done, and free. That was accomplished last week. The porch will be done in the next couple of weeks, so that will be fantastic! We will be able to go out and sit in the back without being attacked by bugs! Yay!! I priced out having the carpet done... I decided that I would go with having it cleaned for a small fraction of the price of replacement. Maybe it will just look like new.
We'll see if this will satisfy my need for change. If not... how do you think my eyebrow would look pierced?

Feelin' Hot, Hot, Hot

It's hot. That's about all I can wrap my head around right now. It's hot. I went to get something out of the bug and I almost melted onto the driveway. It' hot. I now need to go out and get the mail. It's hot.

By the way, did I mention that's it's hot?

Silly Songs

"The donkey on the bus says; 'He, haw. He, haw.'"....
"The man on the bus says; 'What are you doing here? What are you doing here?'"

Brought to you today courtesy of Daughter.

Ugh!

Sometimes it really stinks to do the right thing.
Especially when it backfires on you!

Shhhhhhh...

It's Thursday morning and all is quiet in my house.

Son and Daughter are at school, Husband is at work, and I am home alone. There are only the dog and her snoring to keep me company.

This hasn't happened in quite a while. I love it. I think I might take a little nap.

I Really Ought To Be, But I Don't Want To...

I am procrastinating right now. I really don't want to dust, vacuum, or clean the bathrooms. Instead, I'll share a short little story with you.

We were at the gas station yesterday and pulled up behind a convertible VW bug from the early '60s. Son told us that we should get a car like that. Husband told him that we already have a car like that.
Son's response? "No. One without a lid."

And now... I will dust.

I Did It...

I now am on Facebook.

Maybe I'll be better at that than I am about posting here! Don't bet on it though...

Food On A Stick Friday

Each Friday we have some sort of a family night. Previously it has mostly consisted of pizza and a movie, but the circumference of my waist was beginning to object we decided that it was time for a change. No pizza tonight, and probably not for many Friday nights to come. We have decided that it will be food on/ with a stick Fridays around here. Meaning, of course, that the whole meal will consist of food that is either served on a stick (see tonight's menu) or eaten with sticks (usually of the chop- variety). Our menu for tonight...
*Corn dogs
*Apple squares on a stick
*Cheese kabobs (cheese hunks on a toothpick, but cheese kabobs sound so much classier as if classiness were a factor at a meal whose main dish is a molded meat-product shoved on a stick, dipped in mushed-up dried corn, and then fried...)

I have to say, I think it was the most popular meal that I've made in quite a while. Long live Food on a stick Fridays!!

Wow! That's Wonderful Wednesday!

Today's Wow! That's Wonderful Wednesday...

Check this out... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

I know that it's a bit long, but be sure that you watch all the way to the end. It really is wonderful!