Scattered!!!

oooh I HATE this time of year!

Darly's birthday is coming up. First that means that I have to get her homeschooling paperwork done and turned in so we aren't considered truant. That's not a big deal really...I just have to get off my duff and do it.

Next comes the fun of planning Darly's party. She wants a Webkinz party with a sleepover. So today I had her decide what all she wants to do for her party. One of the kids she is inviting has food allergies, another one is a picky eater and the last child while not picky doesn't care for pizza...but I don't think the allergic child can have pizza anyway, so maybe that isn't a big deal. I emailed the allergic child's mom and I have to wait to hear back from her about what foods she can have to plan the menu.

And then when to have the party. Since we all homeschool, we don't have to have the party on a weekend...but there is the issue of DH getting enough sleep if we do it on a week day. So I've got an email in to DH to see if he was planning to take off for Darly's birthday. If he is then we can do the party on the day before her birthday and it won't matter about the sleep thing. update: DH emailed me back. NOPE! DH can't take off for her birthday. He wanted to take off for her birthday, but something came up at work. He says we can do the party then anyway, but I'm gonna try for another date first. He's such an awesome dad & husband.

But if we do the party on a Friday night (so DH can sleep) then I have to wait until my friend decides which Saturday she is going to reschedule her coop class that we signed up for. Hummm I could do the party on the original date of the coop....oh CRUD! no I can't, DH has to work that Saturday. hummm

Are you totally confused by all of this yet???

now for even more scatterbrain-ness...

My Brother & SIL are expecting their second child any time now. (SIL has already served my new nephew with his eviction papers! hee hee) My brother thought it would be a great idea for my Mom to be here for the birth...but she couldn't stay at his house since his MIL will be there...so Mom was going to stay with me. I hadn't heard any updates on when Mom was coming so I emailed my brother. Turns out that brother has now decided to wait until June to bring her out here. YAY! I get a reprieve until June. Darly might be at Girl Scout camp then, but I don't have to clean my house until June (don't tell DH that! hee hee!)
Then they are planning on having the baby baptized in July up in Aspen. that's fine except July is prime camping weather. But it's far enough out that nothing is planned yet. SIL is working out the baptisim date...so hopefully we'll have that all worked out soon.

So we can all keep it straight...

I need to file Darly's homeschool paperwork by April 1st. DONE!
My new Nephew will be here soon - he's due next week.
Darly's birthday is on the 15th - don't know when the party will be yet.
Friend is trying to reschedule a coop class that we want to take.
oh crud!
I have to set up the next coop schedule for April. glad that I just now remembered that. DONE!
Need to find out if Darly's friend can go to Girl Scout camp so we can get our paperwork for that turned in and see when we will be going to camp. DONE! Just need to drop it off by the GS office tomorrow.
June - Mom is coming
June - trying to schedule camping trips
July - new nephew (yet to be named) will be baptised.
Dec - have lunch with Ladybug! excited about that.

Ice Update

Well I've signed Darly up for Ice skating lessons at the district ice rink. She'll start next Monday. I decided to go for the evening lessons even though I would prefer for her to go during the day since she can start right away instead of waiting until summer for the daytime lessons.

I figure if she likes this and wants to continue that we'll be at level 3 by the time summer comes around.

And Carmen mentioned to just put her on skates and let her learn by falling on her butt...we've done that route. She would like to learn more now.

If she likes this, I'll start looking for skates for her. We have a friend who should be a pretty good resource for where to find good skates. I have noticed that if I get the right size that the rental skates are pretty good, so I'm not going to worry about skates too much yet.

And for some excitement this morning. I was starting this post when I heard a siren barely on and a very large vehicle coming up to my street (I live near the corner). I opened my blinds in time to see a fire truck followed by a police cruiser going up my street. I ran upstairs to see if I could watch everything from our only real front facing windows and it turns out that I could. The fire truck stopped in front of a neighbor's house across the street and a few houses up. There was already an ambulance parked there and another police cruiser.

I told Darly that I hoped for L's (the wife) sake that it wasn't K (the husband) again. Unfortunately it was! Since we have lived here I do not think that K has "been able" to work because he keeps getting into accidents. See K is one of those adrenalin junkies and is pretty clumsy too. First he messed up his back then almost as soon as he was cleared to go back to work, he messed up his leg. I don't know if he was ever back to work after the leg thing, but now there is the current problem. The paramedics took him out of the house on a stretcher. K was alert and talking so I think that he just hurt his back again. I'm sure that someone will fill me in on the story later (small street ;) ).

I just feel so sorry for L as she has been supporting this family (who seem to have pretty expensive tastes in boy toys) since I've known them. I know that I wouldn't be happy to keep supporting such an expensive habbit.

I'm freezing but I can't find any Ice!

skating lessons that is.

Darly would like to learn how to ice skate. And one would think that in Colorado...the land of snow that we would have plenty of ice skating rinks. One would think that. But we really don't have that many rinks...and the ones we do have like hockey more than learning to ice skate.

The closest rink to us is a district rink, but we don't live within the district...so we have to pay out of district rates to use it. GRRR! Why is it my fault that I don't live in the district???

My lousy town did discuss putting in an ice rink...they would LOVE it if someone else put it in and payed for it. As it stands they put in a field house instead at our taxpayer expense...but it has no ice. Instead it has an indoor roller hockey rink (we already have two other roller hockey rinks in town!!!) I must assume that the town did not want to incurr the expense of an ice rink. I guess they haven't ever heard "If you build it, they will come." Because I KNOW that if they built an ice rink (or filled one of their precious roller rinks with ice) folks would come and pay for it. Oh well.

So back to the out of district rink...they do offer lessons and the rates aren't terribly bad. But the scheduling is! And I totally understand that the reason they put the times at the hours they do is because normally most children would be in school so the times wouldn't get filled up. BUT I live in the home of our statewide Homeschooling group. I know that there are TONS of homeschoolers here...shoot my homeschooling group has over 60 families with the average size being 4 kiddos. That's loads of kids home all day who could learn to skate, if they offered the time during the day. Instead I get to choose from evenings or Saturdays. I did find one session that will offer times during the day.

I need to discuss with Darly if she wants to sign up for these classes as it would mean that she would be double booked...Ice in the morning at 10am (that means her waking up early...LOL!) and Gymnastics in the evenings at 5:30pm. I think that she can do it and the ice is only 6 weeks long...unless she wants to continue. but we can deal with that when it happens.

There's another ice rink we could go to. The prices there are a bit lower and she would get 8 lessons instead of just 6. However the rink is about 30 min away and the lessons are twice a week...30 min each. If we lived closer, I wouldn't have a problem with it. But that's a long way to go twice a week for just 30 min on the ice. sigh!

so I'll talk to Darly when she gets off the phone with her friend and see if she wants this.

My Easter Tale

well first we attempted to go to bed early on Saturday night. We were suposed to go to bed at 9pm but didn't actually get there until about 9:30...sure beats when Darly & I normally go to bed around 1am.

So I'm tossing and turning a bit but eventually sleep comes...and the next thing you know Darly is in my room complaining that she can't sleep! I tell her it isn't my problem...and it takes me another good half hour to an hour to go back to sleep.

Since I knew I would be having to get up early it was a fitfull night for me...I beleive that I woke up at least twice to use the bathroom. I then woke up 5 minutes before the alarm was set to go off. But determined to cram as much rest in as I could I went back to rest instead of getting up.

5:10 the alarm goes off. I hop in the shower.

I don't know exactly when the Easter bunny showed up

I came downstairs and let out Lilly and got my coffee going. I also started getting my hair done.

Dh got up to get his shower at 6:30 and that woke Darly up. She came down in her PJs with two eggs in her hands. I told her that she needed to get dressed first. So she came back dressed in virtually no time at all. I had to remind her to comb her hair.

While she was hunting eggs, I went back upstairs to iron my dress. Luckily the dress was linnen so I could just blast it with a hot iron.

DH for some reason thought that Church service began at 8:30. Okay I understand his reasoning...but it aint so. The service we normally attend begins at 10:30. So he realizes that instead of having plenty of time we are now running late. So we zip off to Church and are suprised to find that there is plenty of parking...although the spots closest to the doors are full. Unfortunately my shoes were not meant for walking and let me know this almost immediately!

I had Darly off to the pastor because she had to acolyte and it was her first time. At that time it seemed as if there might be enough room in the Church for Darly & the Assoc Pastor to sit near us during the sermon, but that quickly changed. Spots filled up quickly.

Darly's very cute Easter dress was covered by an Acolyte robe that was too long for her...she stepped on it every time she had to climb stairs, but other than that she did an awesome job at being an Acolyte. She lit the candles and didn't set anything else on fire. She carried the cross and got it in the stand without making a loud noise, and she carried the offering plates just like a pro!

It was a wonderful service and the message was awesome, as always. Pastor remarked that for the prayer vigil we had over 122 prayer requests. I'm not sure how those who pray during the vigil do it, but I'm sure glad that they do.

A lady who sat near us remarked that Easter was not a service that they should have used a first-timer for, but Darly did a great job. I am hoping that perhaps the Pastors will talk with the Acolyte coordinator about using a more experienced person next year...hopefully that doesn't mean Darly again. *eyeroll!* A friend with older children lamented to me that since hitting acolyte age that her child has had to fill in numerous times when the scheduled acolyte didn't bother to show up. I sure hope that doesn't happen to Darly...I know that she can do it. I just get perturbed that others leave it without scheduling their own replacements. I'm also hoping that the next time Darly is scheduled to acolyte that she has grown taller so the robe fits her. lol

After the service we had fun trying to get our coats from the cloak room as it is in the same room as the pancake breakfast. DH wanted to go to the breakfast but Darly & I weren't really hungry...and Darly was anxious to get back to her egg hunt!

So we get home and changed and the egg hunting resumes. I'm not sure but I believe that DH & I helped fined at least 1/2 the eggs and one basket that included her long awaited Webkinz. I had to go get the basket with the chocolate bunny (she has about 6 baskets to find!) because when I mentioned that the door to the china cabinet was open DH said that it was open the previous day...so Darly ignored it!!!

There's no way to know if Darly found all the eggs. Luckily we do not use real eggs so there won't be any smell.

After noon we packed up our leftover dinner from Saturday night to take to MIL's house for dinner. I had made Ham, potatoes in cheddar cheese sauce and aparagus...they all reheated perfectly and it was like having a regular dinner w/o so much work! MIL was tickled since she got a lovely Easter dinner and all she had to do was make a pie.

As we were sitting down to dinner we teased that the phone should be ringing any time now as SIL almost always calls when we are having our dinner...but she didn't call. Someone else did call (I forget who now) and SIL's call did not come until after dessert. MIL had great fun telling both her daughters how she had a "catered" Easter dinner.

I ate way too much food! MIL sent home pie with us...I guess my diet won't begin until that's gone as I cannot resist Creme De Mint pie! Oh and there were a few times where I was VERY TEMPTED to have a Pepsi. I am just used to having one at MIL's house and it didn't help that DH & Darly had left theirs on the table. But I was a very good girl and stuck to just water!!! YAY ME!

We went to bed at 12 and I slept in until 9:30 today...wo do not need to be anywhere until 1pm.

I do hope that you and yours had a Wonderful Ressurection Sunday! Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

I guess no one likes...

my Spam post. Oh well...you can't win them all.

I should run to the store to pick up some potatoes today for tomorrow's dinner... DH volunteered me to make dinner at his mom's house cuz she didn't want to cook but did want us to come over. So I'm making the dinner here and then we'll just reheat it there.

I also need to empty my dishwasher...or talk Darly into doing it. LOL!

see, my real life is boring.

LOL Spam!

Here's a copy of what was in my Spam folder this morning...

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Well as you can tell, I find my spam very funny. Are there really enough folks falling for this stuff to make it profitable? I suppose that if it doesn't cost them anything to send it, just one answer makes it profitable. Bummer. I sure wish that it was illegal, course I wish everything that I hate was illegal. ha ha that would outlaw a ton of stuff. The world would be perfect if I ran it!

Well what has been going on here?

not a whole lot. Our week has been relatively slow compaired to normal...in fact looking at my calendars (I have two on the wall March & April) April looks much more busy than March.

Sunday was a unit test for my Sunday School class...only 8 kids showed up. Although we did run into one girl and it turned out that because her mother's Sunday School class wasn't meeting (they do that between units) she figured that the kids weren't meeting either. So it looks as if I'll be giving the test to the rest of the kids when they return from their 1 Sunday Easter break. Wondering if I should grade the tests for the 8 who did show up. Oh and one girl didn't know the answers to the only two fill in the blank questions "because I wasn't here that week." See me rolling my eyes as they two questions were on the 23rd Psalm verse 1 and the 51st Psalm verse 10. If she had done the homework she would know them...the homework for that week was to study for the test. What kills me on the 51st Psalm is that we sing that EVERY WEEK in worship. Okay I'll quit about that...

Monday we went to our friend's house for a St Patricks Day party. That went really well. Loads of yummy foods and lots of good visiting. The girls played quietly downstairs and hardly bothered us at all.

EXCEPT for Darly coming to me when she got hungry, instead of going to the kitchen where all the food was and helping herself. I don't know what was up with that. Weird kid...brain must have disconnected. The only meal I make for her at home is dinner.

Yesterday we did pretty much NOTHING. Loads of reading going on. And Darly had gymnastics class. It looks as if the coach finally got around to filling out the evaluations that are like 2 weeks late on these kids. I'm looking forward to seeing how she did as she's had a different coach this session. If she has fallen back, I'm gonna be very disappointed as I haven't been all that happy with this coach. Her coach has a serious chatting problem...she spends way too much time with the girls on floor exercises because she is busy chatting with the other coaches. And then she spots Darly on stuff that I know Darly can do already...in fact Darly does them better w/o the spot. *eyeroll!* If her scores are low, I'm gonna be in the office looking for a meeting with the head coach. grumble grumble..."look out! Momma Bear approaches!" LOL!

Today Dh is home because he has a doctor's appointment to check how his new medications are working. He finished up his class yesterday and passed, so that's a huge relief. I hope that he is able to start and finish our taxes as he hasn't even looked at them (no, I'm not allowed to look at them as he doesn't feel I can do them at all. LOL! can't wait until I have to do them myself, that should be fun...NOT!)

sorry to bore you all with this post...if my life gets exciting, I'll be sure to let you know.

FOR HEATHER: My Beer story

When I was about 3 years old my mom thought it would be a good idea for my dad & me to spend some time together...bonding and such! My father had plans to go fishing...alone! So against his will he puts me in the truck and off we go. We get to the lake and get in the boat with his cooler and the fishing gear. And we're fishing...well he is...I'm pulling things like sticks up into the boat. We're out in the middle of the lake, it's hot and sunny. We've been out there who knows how long and he popps open a beer and takes a drink. I'm hot and thirsty...all he has to drink is beer. He gives me the beer, I spit it out and he gets all mad that I spit out good beer. i don't know how much longer we stayed out there, but I was hot and thirsty the entire time.
Ever since then I've hated the taste of beer.
When Dh & I were dating we went to Busch Gardens and stopped by the hospitality house...they give out free samples of beer. He picks out a "really mild" one for me to try. I spit that out too!
Flash now to my last beer EVER... it was at my wedding. There is this tradition in Dh's family where the bride & groom have to chugg a beer. DH promised that my glass would have champaigne since he knows I hate beer...well we get there and mine is beer. probably on purpose, the one who finished chugging first is supposed to wear the pants in the family. Well I can chugg with the best of them and of course I won...then I marched straight off to barf up that vile stuff...but I didn't really barf it up. My mom reminded me that I might get it on my dress. So I spent the next hour feeling like I was ready to hurl. Oh and there was never any chance of DH wearing the pants in this family...LOL!

Easter is next week!

yikes! Easter has snuck up on me once again! I guess it really doesn't matter when Easter is, it seems to just sneak up on me. I just had an awesome idea..I hope I have all the ingredients. I want to make some pretzels. How did I jump down that bunny trail? Well in MIL's family they always had a pretzel bake during Lent and I miss that. If I had been thinking clearer...I should have organized a pretzel party. Oh well.

Anyway back to Easter...

I'm not sure what it is about this time of year but for some odd reason, it doesn't matter when Easter falls...it sneaks up on me. As does Darly's birthday which is coming up in a month. How did that kid get to be 10 so fast?

So our Easter plans are not really made. Somehow I've got to figure out how we will manage a VERY EARLY Easter. Darly has been selected to be an acolyte at our Church service for the 8am service!!! For those of you who do not know me, we aren't usually out of bed at 8am on Sundays (well I am, but just barely...DH & Darly usually sleep in until 8:30.) So this will be interesting...as there are other things to consider... like when are we going to hunt for Easter Eggs???
We are pretty much resigned to the fact that the Egg hunt will have to wait until after Church service. I am really sure that SOMEBUNNIES are going to be very tired when we get home...somebunny might fall asleep during Church. I mean Darly! It is quite normal for her to catch a nap during Church...so waking her up early is going to be fun. And the poor gal is going to have to go sit up front with the Pastors during the service...and this is the Traditional service as well. We normally attend the Contemporary service. I just hope my poor child can stay awake.

I've already decided that Darly should make sure to get her shower on Saturday night...that will save us some time for Easter morning. I might have to have one then too. (ooh, I need to press my dress too! gotta a week to go for that though.) I doubt that anyone will want breakfast that early...well maybe DH as he is kinda used to being up for work.

Somehow I have to get Darly to go to bed early on Saturday night. Any ideas?

Frozen Grand Central

just made me lol!

Here's the folks who did this http://improveverywhere.com/

check out some of their other stuff...it's all a hoot!

They just don't care!

and nothing I say or do will make them care about this.

Yeah, I'm frustrated!

When I lived in TX and volunteered at my Church in the office I heard pretty much the same thing out of my Pastor. At that Church the Pastor taught the confirmation classes himself. He had one student who didn't show up on a regular basis and never did any of the lessons...Yet his mother wanted him to be confirmed with the rest of his class. The Pastor said that he could not be confirmed because he hadn't done the work to prove that he was indeed confirming his faith. And the mother threw a fit, trying to get her way. (I won't go into all the other carp this same mother did...she was one of those who felt the world owed her and her family a living.)

Now go to 6 years ago when I first begain teaching Sunday School at our Church. There are some great kids who love to be there and love to hear the stories and are just a joy to teach and teach with as they help with the lessons as well...And then there are those kids who just don't care. They are only in Sunday School because their parents are using it for free babysitting (someplace else to stash them while they go do whatever...one mother sits in her car and reads during class, another goes grocery shopping!)

My biggest problem with the kids who don't want to be there is that they are disruptive in class. They think that class is just time to sit and chat with their friends...and I know that some will say that for them it is because I haven't done anything to prove different to them. But you see, I feel as if my hands are tied. I don't feel as if I have any recourse.

Our Church's current confirmation program includes daily Bible reading, devotions, turning in homework and quizes on the previous lesson. However, as far as I know (since I was told at the beginning of the year that homework and quizes weren't going to be required...only they didn't give me any curriculum to teach without using the homework & quizes.) the homework and quizes don't mean much. There doesn't seem to be any consequence to the kids who don't do well on these. Oh and the reason that the homework & quizes aren't required is because the older parents & students complained about having to do them. So apparently my experience in TX back in the 90's wasn't out of the ordinary.

I just don't see how the kids can be expected to learn and be ready for their confirmation if they don't bother with it. I know that the kids aren't learning from me...they aren't supposed to. They are supposed to learn their faith (or Catch their Faith) from their parents. But the parents seem to not care or they're expecting the Church to teach the kids for them.

Today was just sooooooooooooo frustrating because when I got to class the kids all started in with their excuses: and yes my comments in italics have been told to the kids!

I couldn't do the homework because I wasn't here last week so I didn't know what lesson to do. um, it would be the lesson after last week's...they all go in order!
I couldn't do my homework because I was too busy doing my school homework. really? you mean to tell me that you had absolutely NO time this week to do your homework? So your poor video games and TV were never turned on at all? I find that HARD to believe!
I dropped my book and the pages fell out so they aren't in order any more. You haven't bothered to sit down for 5 minutes to put them back in order? They are all numbered.
We shouldn't have to do this homework as it kills trees. the trees are already dead, you adding your answers to the page won't make them any deader.

As you can tell I'm heartless.

Today in class we went over the questions that will be on the test they have to take. Let me say first that the tests are incredibly easy AND they've seen all the questions before in the previous quizes ...here's an example:

David Psalms:
____1) Who wrote the Psalms?
____2) What instrument did David play?
____3) What are David's most famous Psalms?
____4)
____5)

A. 23
B. Lyre
C. 139
D. David
E. 51

Well the good news is that next year my Church is switching the confirmation curriculum. I won't find out until March 30th with everyone else what they are switching to. I sure hope that it is something that the kids will want to do.

Dh is home and other stuff of non-importance

Dh arrived home yesterday at around 4pm and he was starving. The fact that I had decided to make beef stew in the crock pot and the whole house smelled yummy didn't help matters at all. He munched on some pretzles to tide himself over. The stew was yummy by the way. Darly only ate the meat. Since DH & Darly wont eat celery or onions, I pulled them out before putting in the flour. I may make some rice to go with it tonight.

I think I picked up a cold last Tuesday at the Gym. I don't know how as I didn't touch anything...but I know that before the gym I felt fine and the next day my nose was running. *eyeroll!* It seems content to just hang around my nose, but it's not pretty. I'll spare you the details. I'm now packing hand sanitizer in my purse...I feel as if I'm turning into my 5th grade teacher who used to put pinesol on her hands all the time.

Thursday we went to the mall with Heather, her friend K & the kiddos. I found out later that the kiddos were driving Heather up the wall so she thought that running around the mall might help to get the extra energy out of them...and her little house really isn't big enough for that many kiddos.

I finished reading "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and then started and finished "The Reluctant Journey of David Conners" I have to say that the second book was a much easier read than the first one. I finished it in one day and it was so compelling that I didn't want to put it down. I found "Cuckoo's Nest" to be a very hard read, it was confusing and very harsh...I didn't care for the language. And before you tear into me, yeah, I get that it's about a mental ward and they have a rough life. It's told from the point of view of a "Chronic" mental patient so you spend a bit of time trying to make sure he isn't halucinating.
Oh both of these books were read for book discussions...and the gals heading them up both read my blog. LOL! Oh well, they will know how I feel going in.

that's about all I know...

oooh, notice that I've been without Pepsi for over a month now. I've also decided to give up soft drinks all around. It hasn't been too hard. Thursday Darly & I had lunch at the mall and I went to the Greek place. I wanted the #1 combo meal, only w/o the soda & with water. They guy at the register had a problem with that..."no, it comes only with these drinks." So I told him I wanted what comes in the combo only with water instead. Every other place has no problem with this as they have the register set up that they plug in each item and then take the discount off...but no such luck here. Oh well, next time I'll get just the Gyro and order fries & a drink elsewhere cuz their fries weren't any good. blech!

DH's update: & other stuff too

Dh called me late last night (10:40pm) and let me know that he had arrived...but had just got there.

His flight out of Denver was delayed because the plane was late getting to Denver from Phoenix. So luckily he decided to eat in Denver before leaving at 6 something...his flight was scheduled to leave at 4:20pm.

Once he got to Vegas, baggage claim was forever (like always! I think that we waited an hour 20 last time I was there.) Then he went to the shuttle and had to wait forever for that to show up (normally they shuttles are waiting on the people, don't know what was up with that!) and then of course the shuttle has to stop at all the hotels and DH's was last on the list.

He said he still had some paperwork to do before his class started so I don't think that he bothered with any gambling...especially since he doesn't like the action at the hotel he is in (it isn't on the strip.)

From DH's previous visits to this hotel the food is pricy and not any good...so he packed poptarts for breakfast and will be heading out for all his meals. There's a place near his hotel that serves a $1.99 breakfast 24/7 that he plans to have a few times while he is there...although I'm not sure why as his meals are reimbursed. I suppose it's the thrill of the deal. LOL!

Darly & I went to a class on how to knit a hat using a Knifty Knitter , it was a lot of fun...so much so that we went out and bought the kit you see in that picture! In our class Darly just made a headband (didn't finish making a hat) but I immediately started it back up to make a hat. I had to finish the hat at home but it came out great. Then I started another hat for myself...don't know what I'll do with the first hat...Darly is eyeing it though.

And after much delibration and a change in how to get more cookies, I've decided to end our cookie sales for this season. Darly surpassed her goal and in order to get to the next prize level would need to sell another 95 boxes. (the way they set up the prize levels is totally weird!!!) but anyway...so after I pick up the 4 boxes of cookies that were mine, but Darly sold them we will be done except for the paperwork. That shouldn't be too hard as I've done it before...I just need to make sure everyone turns in the money and that we pay for our cookies. Then we're done. And I think that I'll shop around for another person to do this job next year...maybe I'll help too.

That's about it...our week is looking empty except for gymnastics class. Oh yeah, I have no leftover dinner...oops! Looks like we'll have to go out again...bummer.

Hi & Bye!

Last night my DH returned from a week long trip to Florida...and no he didn't have a bit of fun. He brought me home stories of horrible sleeping conditions, bugs and terrible food (some with a hair in it!) He also had his back acting up and the transportation there (4 hours flight) was in a military plane with barely any room for the passengers who were stuffed in there like sardines sitting knee to knee.
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imagine each < is a person and each > is the person facing them. blech!

I made leftover chicken for dinner and DH declaired it the best food he had all week. *sniff!* It's great to get the compliment but I sure wish that they would feed him better...I know he's picky but he eats normal food (doesn't care for fancy stuff.)

anyway this week should be better for him. He is on his way to Las Vegas this week to teach a class. He'll be in a comfy hotel (vs. the temporary plywood building w/ no heat) and have a bed instead of a cot with a sleeping bag and he'll at least have decent meals. And the flight there should be more comfortable.

In the mean time "while the cat's away...the mice will play!" ;o)

Reunion of sorts...

Thursday I got a call from my SIL but I missed it. When I tried to call back no one answered. I tried her cell phone, it went to voice mail. I tried the house again...still no answer. I know that she was home as she had just called me from the house phone.

Finally I called my brother's cell phone and he answers "I don't know, do we really want to talk to this person?" I answered back in a not so friendly voice "Well obiviously not since no one there will pick up the phone!"

Sorry for that bunny trail... turns out that SIL was on the house phone with her dad and had just told my brother to call me...and the reason for the call was that my oldest brother was in town and they wanted to schedule a get-together with me before he flew back to Tampa.

So arrangements were made. Darly & I would go there at 6pm on Friday. We would also bring my middle brother's girl scout cookie order.

{I need to come up with some way for you to tell my brothers appart and we all have the same initials so using initials won't work. LOL! Okay here is our cast of characters: Me, Darly, Nephew, B#1 is my oldest brother - the one in from Tampa, B#2 is my middle brother - the one who lives here, and SIL is B#2's wife - also nephew's mom...oh wait, I need B#1's wife too...she'll just be B#1's wife as she wasn't really there}

So Darly & I had a Leap Day party to go to Friday afternoon. Then a bit of time to kill before I headed up to B#2's house. We asked Heather if we could visit at her house for that time. Darly was very sad to leave there when it was time for us to go...and I really couldn't blame her. I mean she was leaving her best friend's house to go to her least favorite uncle's house. Not my idea of fun either. B#2 likes to tease Darly.

Originally I was going to give myself an hour to drive to B#2's house from Heather's...giving myself time for traffic. However, Heather convinced me that I could make it in 1/2 an hour and she of course was right...although it was cutting it really close. We arrived at B#2's at about 6:05 which by B#2's standards was EARLY as he is NEVER on time...even before Nephew came along. For me that was late, but I didn't say anything about it and neither did they.

B#1 answers the door and he looks JUST like my father! It was so shocking. It was also a reminder for me that my father used to be a very good looking man. I just hope my brother chooses to take better care of himself so that his face doesn't turn into my grandmothers...BLECH! She was not pretty in her old age.
B#2 looks just like my father's twin brother & my grandfather's...he'll need to take care of himself too.
I look like my mother in the face, but since I bleach my hair, I look more like my aunt with brown eyes instead of blue. And I should mention that up until about a year ago my mom was in great shape and looked good. But her illness has aged her and she knows it.

Okay back to time with my family. Dinner was...well it wasn't great. SIL doesn't cook things the same as I do so Darly was not very interested in what she was serving (normally one of Darly's favorite meals!) but she had marinated the meat in red wine vinegar which gave the meat a flavor that just wasn't what Darly was used to. Darly then tried the potatoes...oops, SIL had put sour cream in them. I didn't bother trying the salad and asked if we could get some bread. Darly ate some dinner when we got home.

B#1 & I told SIL some stories about B#2 as a kid. She was very shocked. hee hee

We visited for well too long. Darly, the silly girl...she was bored and wanted to leave right up until it was Nephew's bed time. Then she was happy to stay. course it was a HUGE help that B#1 had let her use his digital camera. She had a blast snapping loads of silly shots of herself. SIL says she will give Darly a camera for her birthday (I suggested with B#2's help, that a used camera would be just fine!... we have gotten into this giving the kids used presents lately...recycling them. For Christmas I gave Nephew Darly's old toy bbq grill...he loves it! and B#2 & SIL have tons of now upgraded electronics they are happy to pass along to a good home.)

During dinner B#1 had snapped a picture of Darly with his cell phone (blackberry I think...had tons of buttons and a stylus, but I realy have no clue as I'm not a gadget gal.) He sent the pix to his wife who kept texting him back. She had a silly story about B#1's son that none of us really got. B#1 showed me pictures of his kids. His daughter is now almost 15 and has turned into such a beautiful young lady! It's really amazing. His son still looks the same and is still just as crazy as ever.
B#1 was in Afghanistan for a year last year. When he came home his employer had terminated his position (that is supposed to be illegal, but they were tricky in that he could still work for them, just not in that positon...Jerks!) And a week after he got home his dog died. Poor guy. So a few weeks ago B#1's wife & daughter loaded the family into the car and drove to an animal shelter where they adopted a puppy. B#1 wants to KILL THIS DOG! And it's so not the dog's fault, he is a bored little puppy that they aren't paying attention to. I can forsee either B#1 taking over the care of this critter or the dog finding a new home.

B#1 was out here because his friend was moving back to Denver. So B#1 being without a job, flew out to help him move...and while he was here he went skiing with B#2...B#2 ended up injured...not too badly though. But he is flying home today in just about a half an hour.

It was great to see him again. He has grown up a lot.

As we were going home Darly asked me how I ever survived living with those boys. LOL! Poor Darly, B#2 takes great joy in teasing her to no end. I've advised her that if she stops showing that it bothers her, he will give up. But at her age that is really hard to do.
And how did I survive? Well when I was a kid I was bigger than they were...and when I was smaller than them (I'm the oldest and the shortest) they were too busy to bother with me...except for the time they taped me to the phone.

okay, you're gonna want to know how they taped me to the phone.

I was on the phone talking to my boyfriend. My brothers were bored and there was a role of masking tape sitting nearby. So they start taping me to the phone and at first it is funny as it was just masking tape, I could get out of it...right? well I thought so, but they continued to add more and more tape. By the time I finished with my phone call I looked almost like a mummy and could barely move. They had taped my free arm and my legs as well. My dear brothers were now long gone. I don't know how long it took to get myself free, but my brothers had very wisely decided to Leave the House...so that is the only reason they are still alive.

ah memories!