THE END

30 days
30 different posts
One each day
Holy shit, what a chore!

But I did it, I stuck it out, I even did it on vacation. What a trooper! Never again. It was good, but ... never again.

Another thing I won't do again (anytime soon that is) would be all the drinking I did last night. Oh boy. And then we got woke up at 6:15. And then we had to pack. And then we had to drive home with a squeaky Styrofoam cooler in the back rubbing against the window, or the tailgate or whatever it was. I had to have My Honey pull over and I put a blanket around the stupid thing so it wouldn't squeak. And then there was the getting home, unpacking, getting laundry started, getting stuff ready for tomorrow, all that. Thankfully I don't have to work or blog tomorrow! Thank goodness for December 1st.

Unfortunately, it was rainy the whole weekend and I didn't leave the house so there are no pictures of Guemes with the exception of the booze. Sad, I know. And yes, we nearly finished it all... Also sad. But I did get to learn to play a new game "Cranium" I was the big loser, but that's what happens. I didn't care, it was fun anyway.

Happy endings NaBloPoMo. See you in December

Leftovers

We always bring too much food to Guemes! We even took pictures one year to remind us to bring less the next year. Ha ha ha....

This year not only do we have a TON of leftover food, we have a shit-load of leftover booze! Holy cow! No need to worry though, we are going to go through as much as possible tonight.

Over Memorial weekend when we were here there was a masseuse. She was fabulous! I tried to call before we arrived this weekend to make reservations for us to get massages, but the website doesn't have a phone number on it?? What the hell? Anyway, I thought of it yesterday, checked at the office and what do you know? They had a couple openings. YAY! I booked the two open slots and told them if there were any other cancellations to let us know. Turns out three of us were able to get massages. Ahhhhh! So nice. And they hire quality people too! I love a good massage! Love it!

So our plans for the last few hours here: relax, drink and eat. Perfect.

We made it ...

Ahhhhhhhhhh. I would like to say I ate and ate and drank and drank and then slept sooooo good, but that would be an outright lie.

I did eat, it was good! I did drink, my step-brother bought a variety pack of beer from our favorite brewery so we had to try several last night, but when it came to sleep it was a bust. The four of us are sharing a room and once a kid woke up (AT 4AM) we were done. So it will be naps all around and early bed time just in case we have a repeat and a three-peat the next two nights.

I am thankful to be here though. Its quiet, no TV, no phones (except our cell phones), who wouldn't love that? Plus the ocean is right in front of me. Its a bit of a stormy day, but what do you expect in November at the ocean?

Miss I has taken to calling the buoys "humpty dumpty's" which is funny beyond belief to me, Bubba is having a blast doing the craft stuff we brought along, I have all kinds of time to sit and do nothing (as if I don't take enough time to sit and do nothing at home) and My Honey can relax a bit too.

I am thinking that we will probably go into Anacortes tomorrow, check it out.

Not likely to play!

We're ready. Leaving soon. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

You Are Chess

You are brilliant and shrewd. You can often predict what people will do in the future. You thrive in complex situations. You deal with contradictions well. You can have many streams of though going on at your mind at once. You keep track of things well. You are very patient. You have lots of endurance, even when your energy dwindles

Crimaney sakes

We are going out of town tomorrow!!!

I have so much to do!!!!

Actually, I'm not that stressed about it. Maybe because I had a massage this morning? What a better way to start my vacation! I did get all the stuff that could be set out to be loaded in the car (snack foods, toys, arts & crafts stuff) put in the garage, ready to be packed after the suitcases and stuff. Once they're packed it shouldn't take too long and then we're off first thing in the morning. Hopefully no later than 9.

Miss I, my mom and my aunt went to lunch together on Monday. She thought the sparkly thing on her straw was THE BEST! The look on her face was so cute I took a picture. Isn't she adorable? Our time in Starbucks is paying off, she almost made it through lunch! Used to be I couldn't take her to a restaurant because she had no manners. So I thought to myself "how do I teach her manners?" Take her to restaurants right? So we started small, 10 minutes or so at Starbucks. We are up to a half hour now and she did really well on Monday. Persistence pays off.

Time to pick up Bubba. Only a half-day of school today. Think I will take the kids to McDonalds for lunch.

Another mass-accomplishment day

I feel like it should be bed time, but I have several more hours ahead.

Here is what I have done so far today:

• Work from 3-7 am
• Stop at Safeway for beef and the last few supplies for this weekend
• Wash/put away dishes
• Brown beef for the feast at school tonight
• Get Bubba's breakfast
• Get crock pot and misc supplies ready for school feast
• Make lunch for My Honey
• Get Miss I dressed
• Kids to school
• (get a latte)
• Help at school from 9-11

This included peeling and slicing potatoes and carrots
Overseeing the 1st graders doing the above
Cleaning up some of the dishes

• Appointment at 11:30

And now I am home ready for a nap.

Still left to do:

• Dinner
• Dishes
• Oversee homework that is due tomorrow
• Laundry needs to be folded
• Maybe start packing
• GET SOME SLEEP

Miss I is still at grandmas, they weren't home when I went to pick her up so, I am going to try and catch a nap. Wish me luck, the phone will probably ring in the next 30 minutes ... Ahhh, there's my phone now... Miss I is on her way home. Whats the chance she needs a nap too? Cross your fingers!

** update about 7 pm **

• Dinner ended up being at the school. My volunteer time was spent helping to prepare for a beef stew family night feast. We went to partake. I gotta say, not too many of the helper moms ate the stew. Its not like we were picking up the stuff off the floor, but we knew how many kids hands had "helped". Kind of unappetizing.
• Dishes - well, there were none :)
• Homework - done!
• Laundry - still on my to do list
• Packing - still on my to do list
• Sleep - check! Miss I and I took about an hour nap this afternoon.

And thus ends my day.

I was checking in on my gal DW, she kindly reminded all her readers/stalkers/followers that it's only ONE MONTH UNTIL CHRISTMAS. Thanks. Just thanks. She also posted some great pix of her kids.

Ahhhh, the things I can accomplish when I set my mind to it!

I re-arranged the living room today. Between the time I wrote that last post and this one. Granted the living room isn't that big, but I did a good vacuum job and moved nearly every piece of furniture (2 chairs, ottoman, TV/DVD player, bookcase, coffee tables, couch, plants, lamps) so that counts for something! AND theres even room for a Christmas tree if I can find a new home for a pile of kids toys. Maybe the Goodwill? Maybe their bedrooms? AHHH, novel idea isn't it?

I made a nice place to watch the fire, I put the TV in a new place that I like better because we can watch it comfortably from the couch and I was even able to leave a little table/chair thing set up for the kids to draw. Not bad.

Like I said, when I got home yesterday My Honey had moved a chair over in front of the fire for me, but what I forgot to mention was the sign Bubba made for me. It reads "Hoetel! of! Pees! quieit" (hotel of peace and quiet) He's really got the silent e thing down if you ask me. Not sure why all the exclamation points but it was cute. Very thoughtful.

Cherish

You know how sometimes you're "on" with someone, and sometimes you're "off"? Sometimes they're "on with you and sometimes they're "off"? And sometimes you're both "on" and sometimes you're both "off"? ... Yeah ...

This past week we're both "on" and I feel blessed beyond words. We've had our challenges and the fight ain't over, but we're getting there.

I suck at being able to express that really deep-inside part of me, but I am trying. Most of the time he knows what I need and tries mightily to give it to me but I fight it or ignore it or don't think its "good enough." What the hell is "good enough" anyway? But this past week I couldn't fight it, I didn't even realize I hadn't fought it until right now. I just let it be and I am blessed for it. Really blessed. And it was all perfect, all wonderful. Exactly what I needed.

Have you any idea how wonderful it was to come home to a roaring fire? To a cleaned up living room? To a chair set up by the fire with the computer and a beer ready to go? It felt wonderful. I felt cherished. I let myself feel loved. I need to do that more often, let myself feel loved.

Hmmm, I really hadn't meant to do this, but that's what I have today. I am thankful beyond words for My Honey.

Cuz I am lazy

You Are a Powdered Devil's Food Donut

A total sweetheart on the outside, you love to fool people with your innocent image. On the inside you're a little darker, richer, and more complex. You're a hedonist who demands more than one pleasure at a time. Decadent and daring, you test the limits of human indulgence.

What Donut Are You?

... interesting...

Shew!!

It's almost over.

This work week has seemed to last forever!

Tomorrow, a short OT shift on Tuesday and then it's vacation time again.

I am really looking forward to going to the Islands. It's quiet, on the ocean, secluded, uninterrupted, non-rushed, all that stuff you look for in a getaway. Well, the stuff I look for anyway. I hope to read a good book or two, try a new wine or two, eat a good meal or two and do some much needed computer updating (did I mention that there's wi-fi there?) You know, little stuff like backing up years worth of files, updating my whatever subscription for getting virus' out. That kind of stuff.

I came home from work today wondering if there might be a fire burning because it was kind of chilly. Sure enough, I pulled into the driveway welcomed by a thin stream of smoke from the chimney :) And the house was cleaned up! Living room put together, dishes done, it was very nice. Thanks kids and Honey for getting it all cleaned up for me.

Miss I's fever broke. I was a little concerned when it topped 104 degrees last night, so I called the doctor. He gave me the usual "if shes acting okay and the fever goes down with motrin/tylenol, then I won't make you bring her in tonight. But if her fever is over 100 tomorrow morning, I want to see her." Thankfully when he called back this morning (yes! he actually called to check on her this morning) the fever was just at 100 and she was acting like a new child. Eating, drinking and being merry. She took a long nap and hasn't had any medicine since early this morning. Yay Miss I! Now lets just pray that Bubba doesn't catch it. I better remember to take the meds with us on Thursday just in case.

Time to order Tai, get eating and get to bed, I have to work at 3 am again tomorrow.

....

Still struggling to think of things to write every day.

Miss I is sick. Fever for the past 3 days. Am I a bad mom because I went to work anyway? One will never know. She sure seemed pissed at me today tho!

One more 12 hour shift starting at 3 am this week. I may have talked someone into taking the last 2 hours tho. .. maybe, he'd rather be hunting tho.

Lets see, what else? Nothing. We are going to watch Wall-E tonight. I have heard it is good. So far Bubba is engrossed and Miss I could care less.

Another day come & gone

Ugh! Its been 3 days in a row of getting up at 2am.
My plants need water.
My kids need hugs.
My carpet needs to be vacuumed (or my girl Friday needs to visit).
And I need sleep, so off I go.

G'nite

... only 10 more days

First things first

I am totally cheating by getting this ready for Wednesday. Not only that, but I had it already from some time ago! But hey, I will have a post right? And I am so going to post it before I go to work at 3am.

1. Who was your FIRST prom date?
I never went to a prom
2. Do you still talk to your FIRST love?
No
3.What was your FIRST alcoholic drink?
Wine Coolers
4. What was your FIRST job?
A newspaper delivery person
5. What was your FIRST car?
Ford Pinto
6. Who was the FIRST person to text you today?
No one. I’m not that cool or popular
7. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning?
Which time? My alarm went off at 2am, I wasn’t thinking much.
8. Who was your FIRST grade teacher?
Mrs. Graff
9. Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane?
Haiti
10.Sneaking out of your house for the FIRST time, who was it with?
Hmmm, lets see … It wasn’t with anyone, it was to meet someone.
11. Who was your FIRST best friend and are you still friends with them?
Mindy. Yes.
12. Where was your FIRST sleep over?
Grandma’s
13. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today?
Miss I woke me at 1am with a low grade fever.
14. Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time?
Mindy’s
15. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning?
Hit “snooze” on the alarm
16. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to?
Sandi Patty (it should have been Rick Springfield)
17. FIRST tattoo or piercing?
Piercing, 12 years old, special birthday present. No tats yet. DW might talk me into one, unless she talks me into boobies first!
18. FIRST time you were really upset?
That I can remember? I have no idea. Most recently, last Wednesday (my birthday), I had a(nother) problem with administration. I have an issue with authority sometimes.
19. When was your FIRST detention?
Middle school, I think. And it was a dress code violation. Sweat pants anyone? What else do you do when your best friend has a broken leg? She shouldn't have to be an outcast just because she can't wear jeans!
20. What was the FIRST state you lived in?
Washington. Sadly, it’s the only state I have lived in
21. Who was the FIRST person to really break your heart?
I think I was usually the heart breaker, but the first time someone broke my heart? High school, his name… big secret, I don’t think he even knows.
22. Who was your FIRST roommate?
Other than my sister? I can’t remember her name … Andrea? Alicia? That was it, Alicia. It sucked when we both liked the same guy!

*** update ** well, its 3:45 (pm) and I am posting this between school getting out and Karate class. Good thing it was ready, I have another 3 am shift tomorrow!

Fog

It's been foggy for the past couple days. Not my kind of weather. At all. I could not live where it is rainy and gray, it just makes my body ache, makes my head feel stuffy. So I started a fire to cheer me up. Well, its not only the weather, I have been up since 2am. I worked another one of those 3-7am shifts today. What was I thinking? "Do my share." "Be a part of the solution, not the problem." "Choose, rather than be assigned overtime." And finally, "Its good practice." I was thinking all those things.

It is Miss I's actual birthday today so I stopped at Safeway on my way home from work and bought her a balloon and sprinkle donuts. I couldn't bring myself to give her a sprinkle donut in front of Bubba when I knew I wouldn't give him one so the donut still sits on the counter. Maybe we should have a morning treat? ... yep that's exactly what we did. mmmmm

----------------------------------------------------
I was so stressed about getting everything done yesterday, right?
I got Bubba from school, dropped off Miss I at Grandmas, took him to his eye appointment - he has to wear glasses all the time now - we had a few minutes before Karate so we went to the Y and saw My Honey, got to Karate with just enough time to change and ... something was wrong.

We walked into the DOJO and I noticed right away that there didn't seem to be enough pair of shoes. The kids leave their shoes in the entry during classes. Odd I thought. Actually, I counted the pairs of shoes - 6 when there are usually closer to 20- and thought to myself that it didn't seem like enough, but maybe everyone was sick or something. We walk into the class room area and that's when I notice the quiet. There's no noise. Karate isn't a quiet sport, its quite noisy when there's two classes in full swing and yet ... nothing.

I send Bubba to the bathroom and changing area and I see a mom I know who is looking at me like I am crazy. And then it dawns on me ... we are EXTREMELY early, just as she is saying "you guys are REALLY early." Uh yeah, like 45 minutes. Yeah, 45 minutes early to class! So when Bubba was finished in the bathroom we took off across the street to the shopping center (it used to be a "mall" but now its just a half-dozen stand alone stores) and perused the craft store. I had been thinking of getting some stuff for next week when we are at the Island so the kids would have something to do and it was nice to have Bubba's help, now I know he will do the activities!

Anyway, it was pretty funny to be all stressed out about getting it all done and then we ended up with so much extra time!

Just a little time

I have a few minutes right now where I can squeeze this in instead of fixing Miss I her lunch. Priorities, right?

Speaking of priorities, I totally didn't get any laundry done yesterday. Want to know why? I was lurking around other blogs instead. I have no idea how long I was online wasting time, but when I finally realized what I HADN'T done yesterday I was a little appalled at myself. Oh well, its not like it happens every week...

Today Bubba has an eye appointment at 2:45 so I have to pick him up from school early, take Miss I to grandmas, get him across town to the appointment, then high-tail it to Karate, pick up Miss I, get home for dinner (which I really need to work on soon), bedtime and stuff. Its going to be a busy afternoon.

I had fun in Bubba's class today. I should have taken my glasses though. I was threading a thin gold thread through a small wire loop, talk about blinding. I can't do that stuff anymore without my spectacles. Sad isn't it?! I should be thankful, I got away without wearing glasses for 35 years and I don't have to wear them all the time (although that day is probably not far off).

When I get to the school, they are usually working on some kind of writing project. These past couple weeks they have been writing a "Thankful" paper using "transition" words. Ex. First I am thankful for .... second I am thankful for .... last I am thankful for... It is very cute to see what the kids write. Of course, Mom and Dad are on most lists, one little guy was thankful for God, another for the ocean, a few were thankful for sisters or brothers one for her cousin. Very cute.

I like how they are teaching the kids to use an idea sheet before they start their papers. The Thanksgiving idea sheet had 4 boxes where they can draw a picture and then they write words or sentences to remind them why they are thankful. Then they write complete sentences on another sheet of paper. Its hard to imagine in first grade that they are already learning about topic sentences and brainstorming. I swear it was high school before I learned that stuff!

Nut Bar

My kids are so nutty sometimes.

This morning, when I finally went in to get Miss I out of bed (she is still in a crib - why ruin a good thing?) she was lying in the total darkness talking to herself.

This isn't that unusual, but when I turned on the light I noticed she had her hands in front of her face. "What are you doing?" I asked her. "Reading a book" she tells me. And then she starts to tell me names, which I assume were people in her book, only she is pointing to objects in her crib, "this is Mama", (showing me her right hand) "this is Daddy", (showing me her left hand) "this is Grandpa" (she points to her foot) "this is Harry" (she points to her wind-up toy thing)! Hi-larious!

So much creativity in such a little bundle.

Well I am off to tend to the outdoor fire. I love a fire in the fireplace or outside in a pit. Nothing like it. Cold beer, warm fire. Great way to end the weekend. (Although its only in the 40's out, so I may opt for hot coffee, maybe add a splash of Kahlua.

PS WE'VE MADE IT HALF WAY!!!

Bravery

(deep breath) I did it. I went to the planning committee meeting. I waited in the car until I saw someone else going in so I didn't have to go in alone, but I did it. I also took on an assignment - find out the liquor laws in plain English. I am pretty sure I can handle that one since I talk to cops every day.

The rest of the day was alright. I woke up and started to feel kind of yucky so I tried to sleep in, which worked a little. My Honey had to work so we all met up for lunch at Red Robin. We don't take the kids out together very often, they get a little wound up, but we braved it and they did very well! I was very proud of my little kiddles!

After lunch Bubba spent some time with Grandma and Grandpa. He misses them a lot since he is in school all day now. Used to be he spend 1/2 of the day with them and now he hardly sees them so he calls and asks if he can come over. Its pretty sweet if you ask me.

While he was away and Miss I was sleeping I went out for a little retail therapy. It was nice to get out for awhile. And then later was the steering committee meeting.

So it was a pretty full day. Oh yeah and I got TWO posts in today!

It got away

Yesterday just got away from me. Failure.

I got off work, did the pick-up-the-kids-at-school-and-grandmas-thing, went to Costco and Safeway (we were so out of food) came home, put away groceries, made dinner, My Honey came home, we got ready for a date, babysitter arrived at 5:45-ish and we were off for dinner.

Dinner was very good. There's a nice little place called Smoke Blossom where you can get a nicer dinner in a pretty good atmosphere. Unfortunately there aren't many places left where you can go and sit in a nice comfy booth to enjoy dinner, everywhere has tables and chairs - saves space, you can squish more people in that way I guess.

My Honey had a tenderloin that was pretty yummy and I had barbecue ribs. I love me meat on the bone. Bring it on, but don't expect me to use good manners. I like to enjoy things like that in a messy way. But since we were in a restaurant, I was a little less gross than I would have liked to have been. But boy were they good!!!

Then we went and played cards at one of the casino/card room places in town and then home. I was too done to write.

So that was yesterday. Too full to fit in one more thing. Today is way less full, its my long weekend which means I should have some free time. Tonight is a planning committee meeting for my 20th class reunion which I am considering going to. It is here in town, I do live here, there really isn't any reason not to.

At a loss

Really, today I am at a loss.

Uuuuummmmm .....

I got nothin'.

My Honey and I get to go out to dinner tomorrow night. I wonder if he has an idea where he wants to take me or if I need to do all the thinking on that? Most likely I should have an idea (or two) ready.

Work is ... fine.
The kids are good.
Really, that's all I got. Oh, wait, I just remembered, only two more weeks until I get another extended time off work! Yay for holidays and vacation time!

HBD2ME

"Be nice to me, it's my birthday."
I said this more than once today and I was asked how old I am more than once and I made people guess every time. I don't know if they were just being nice or really think I look 32, but that was the median age people guessed. When they got all the way to my real age (38) they acted genuinely surprised. That's the kind of stuff that makes a girl feel good. Thanks everyone!

(look closely, the cake decorator put "38" on the cake too)

Oh three to oh seven

There's this shift at work that goes from three in the morning until one in the afternoon (03-13). I worked the three am to seven am part of that this morning (and last Tuesday, and next Tuesday and the Tuesday after.) EXHAUSTING.

The thing about it is getting ample sleep the night before, eating enough during the day and getting to bed early the night of. So far I have failed all three. I have gotten a few little naps today tho, so that helps, but I feel kind of bad for Miss I. I got home at 7 and she was still asleep so I left her in bed while I took a little nap ... even after she woke up. Then I made us all take a nap/rest time even though I was the only one that napped. Sad, I know.

It is good practice. I switch to the 03-13 shift soon and I work it nearly all year.

Follower

I noticed something new on my dashboard today "1 follower".

What the hell? So I followed the link to find out what it was. It says something to the effect of "show off how popular you are by asking people to follow you." Well, I will let you decide if you want to be a "follower" or not. It sounds kind of creepy if you ask me ... I don't think I will tag myself as followers on anyones blog. But Then again, I never thought I would have a blog. You just never know.

LK is still in town, its been a lot of fun for the kids. I have had to work so I didn't get to spend much time with her. This morning I took Bubba to school, did the couple hours in his class and then met LK, Miss I and Little Boy Cousin at the play gym. I am pretty sure I need to get Miss I into a gymnastics class, if only because it was what I always wanted to do and what kind of a mom would I be if I didn't make her follow my dream?

Then we took the kids Downtown. Once upon a time, when I was maybe 10-15 years old, Downtown was pretty cool. Then, for a decade or so it was kind of crappy, but now its back to cool. There are a few good clothing stores, a couple great antique stores and a great coffee shop. Oh and that little place I love to have lunch.

It was a beautiful day, sun breaking through the clouds, 50 degrees, very nice. The little kids did pretty good even though we made them walk about mile! At least they will sleep well tonight!

Happy B-day to her

This was Miss I's cake and her "its all about me" face. Cute huh? She loved it that we sang to her, that she got to open presents and she was the center of attention. What a fun night.


That's the blue-haired boy. Cute isn't it. The stuff we used lasted for days! And it didn't stain his hair either.

I used the same stuff in my hair, only in red for Halloween. It was just around my face and on the ends. It was pretty cute if you ask me. If I get the courage, maybe I will have it done like that the next time I get it done... Probably not. If I had the courage I would post the picture you can kind-of see it in. But I probably won't do that either.

... Day 9! ...

Skin of my chinny chin chin

I nearly forgot.
I am all ready for bed, just go the kids down - or so we think.
I was getting all my stuff ready for tomorrow and I saw my laptop sitting there and remembered.

So here I am.

LK made it into town! We had our birthday party (pics to follow). One more day of work.

The boys (almost 7 and 3 1/2) are trying to sleep in the same room. It's probably not going to work. They are so excited and excitable and sugared up with birthday cake that its nearly impossible to get them to calm down enough to get themselves to sleep. Do you remember staying at a favorite relatives house? (You like how I just called myself/my house a favorite?) And you are just so excited you can't sleep? Well that's what it is. These boys just adore each other. So, for their own good we may have to separate them. We shall see.

A Prost:

I like a Widmer Brothers brew called "Drop Top". They are pretty clever and put stuff on their bottle caps.

The past couple caps I have popped have said
"A Prost: To Pete's Sake" because what would we do without it? And
"A Prost: To Sleeping In." Now THAT one I can drink to!

It was an exciting day at work today. Apparently drinking and driving is a favorite past time lately. The last two nights almost all our law enforcement agencies have had a DUI arrest or two. But this is what happened that made it kind of an unusual day today.

We are a quick acting lot and trained a local camera to the river to try and find our jumper. Then we watched the rescue boat yard him out of the water. They FLEW to the boat launch as they worked him. Unfortunately not every story in my job has a happy ending. In fact, very few do. Sometimes I wonder how I handle it. Pretty much its a sick sense of humor that gets us through. Not everyone can handle it.

On a brighter note, we bought Miss I a birthday gift today (a Dora chair all for herself!) I wrote up a menu and shopped for the next week or so, the house cleaner came and did her fabulous job, laundry isn't too far behind and .... My sister is coming over tomorrow! All in all its going to be a great weekend!

What to say

How many ways can I say I don't have anything to say?

But I am committed, so I will write something. Plus I kept notes today just in case. I know, how pathetic is that? I actually had a to-do list on my desk today and at the bottom I kept notes of dumb things so I would have something to write.

My to-do list was this:
"DC2"
"Rebecca - clean"
"Homework - SPELLING!"
"bills (send)"
"eye doctor 66....."

There are check marks or times after nearly every item! Homework - Bubba is still working on that. I am teaching him to be just like me - wait untill the last minute. Its due tomorrow! And we/he is struggling mightily tonight. I don't know what his deal is, he actually got into trouble today at school. A "refocus" they call it. Kind of like a time out, only they have to write a note to mom and dad telling them what they did wrong. Of course, it was because he wasn't paying attention. No big surprise!

My notes look something like this:
"rained"
"snowed"
"b-day party scheduled!"
"cleaner sched!"

The first two are obvious (well to me) it rained and we watched it snow in the higher elevations. Nothing in town. I got Bubba's birthday party scheduled (that was DC2 on my to-do list) and the cleaner scheduled.

I am spoiled rotten. We have a cleaner come in every other week. She does all the things I don't like: tub, shower, toilets, kitchen & dining room floor. I love her! She is coming on Friday and I am relieved because we are having company this weekend. LK is coming to town! Yay! She encouraged me to get Miss I's birthday party planned which turned into getting Bubbas party planned too! Thanks sis!

Miss I, my MIL, my FIL and I all have birthdays in the first 18 days of November so we are going to do a everyone party on Saturday. It should be fun!

Mercy me. This child. "Quit writing on your hand, put your pencil on your paper and get your homework done." (You should have seen the look on his face when I told him to quit writing on his hand ... the classic "how did you know?" look. Sometimes being a mom is fun. That's kind of naughty isn't it?)

Trying ...

I've had ideas all day, but they are gone now that I have a few minutes.

My Mondays and Wednesdays are tight for time. I get off work at 3, pick Bubba up at 3:25, head home, get him a snack, changed for Karate, drive across town for class at 4:30. After Karate, I pick up Miss I at grandmas and then head home for dinner, getting ready for tomorrow (set out my clothes, make lunches for me and Bubba) dishes, visiting with My Honey and eventually bedtime. It can be a whirlwind. I usually try to throw a few minutes of homework in there for Bubba too.

When I arrived home from work today there was a little box on my porch.... My camera arrived safe and sound from my dads house! Yay! I don't have to go without anymore. Now I can post the picture of Bubba with blue hair!

Rain, rain, go away

We get about 20 days of rain here per year. Maybe. And by "rain" I mean "sprinkles" that usually last an hour or two. Today is not one of those days. It started raining sometime late yesterday afternoon or early evening and it hasn't let up yet.


UPDATE: 1:05
The rain stopped around 10-ish, the clouds lifted off the mountains and guess what? SNOW! Not in town, but on the mountains. It's not a great picture, what can I say, I only have my phone right now. But if you look toward the top of the mountains, right under the lightest part of the sky, you can see the white stuff. (For the locals, that is looking west on Stevens St, WHS is directly in front of me.)


I should save this one for another day, but it just cracks me up! I took a picture of this sign in a dressing room at the mall. The store is Gilly Hicks, which is quite a treat if you get to one. It is nothing but lounge wear and pretty bras that are too expensive, not to mention too big, for me, but beautifully displayed none the less! And clever signage.

That sign sits on a dresser (or maybe a "bureau") full of bras in the dressing room. Each drawer has black bras of a certain size in it. All you have to do is find your size (if you're lucky enough to have boobs) and there is a drawer full of the different styles of bras they carry for you to try on so you can find the perfect fit! Then you go out into the color-coordinated, perfectly stocked sales floor and pick out the one or ten you want (at $35 or more each.) Now, if I had boobs, and could have such nice choices for myself, I might like this store, but as it is, it left me kind of bitter over my flat-chested lot in life! My Dad's wife was kind enough to buy us all a foo-foo lotion and body spray tho. MMMMM its yummy.

Okay, so day 4, pretty good. I am 1/7 of the way there! I go back to work tomorrow though, not sure when I will fit this in. I keep thinking about it ... What if I got up 15 minutes early and did it before work? That would be at 3:45. IN. THE. MORNING. I don't think that is going to happen. So that leaves me with after the kids go to bed, before I go to bed. Hmmmmm.

Day 3

So I had this great idea that if I couldn't write, I would post a (new) picture. Guess what? I left the camera in Issaquah. So much for that. Unless I make a special trip over there, or they send it to me, which I really don't think I want them to do, I wont see it until Thanksgiving. Boo hoo.

The colors were so beautiful driving from Eastern Washington to Western Washington on Friday, I wish I had had a little more time to get some photos. Unfortunately, I didn't. Then I had hoped to take some pictures on the way home, but that didn't work out either. I left the camera and it had rained (and snowed!) for two days so the leaves were all fallen off the trees and it looked kind of messy.

We were all excited to see the (very light) snow on Blewett Pass. Just enough to get us in the mood for winter. Miss I was hollering to make a snowman, ("meek now man") and Bubba was hollering every second he saw snow ("Lool! There! LOOK!") and I was just wishing they would be quiet for a few minutes.

The drives to and fro are always the worst. My kids don't sleep in the car and they don't shut up either. Its talk, talk, talk, talk, talk all the way where ever we are going. Grocery shopping, Karate, church, where ever. On a drive more than 90 minutes I am totally exhausted by the time we get there! We tried a portable DVD player which works for about an hour, but guess what I did when I was installing it last week? Dropped it on the ground. Now both screens don't work. UGH.

Oh well, we are home, safe and sound, ready to sleep in our own comfy beds! The trip was nice, the Halloween event was fun and the grandparents loved seeing the kids!

Fall Back

Fall back ... where?
Fall back ... into?
Fall back ...

I am a little jealous of LSL's new blog design. (Okay maybe a lot.) So I think I will do some hunting around and see if I can find that one that is "me". I had also been thinking about the NaBloPoMo and thought I would give it a shot.

am I going to fit it into my day? I have no idea, but that's the point right? So here we are day 2. I am 100% so far!

Trick or treat

Duuuuuuuuuude


We had fun! When we arrived at my Dad's the kids dug through the costume box and Miss I had a little dress up fun with Auntie Dani. Then we got into our "real" costumes, turns out her dress up costume was much cuter huh? Maybe next year!