Living in the "now"

I've been doing a lot of living lately. I'm trying to be happy in the moment too.
I am so busy but I step back and think that I LOVE this busy!  This is a good time - my kids still need me and want me.

I've been taking walks and hikes regularly.  It helps so much to have a "buddy" that I know will be waiting for me on the corner. 

I've been cooking a lot (I should try to post more of my weekly menus again since I've looked back on them for inspiration for current meals) and trying new things.  My latest addiction is bread. I've been making a lot of homemade bread.  People, do NOT be afraid of yeast!  I've made baguettes, English muffins, french bread, crusty rolls, dutch crunch rolls... all sorts of stuff. 

My son is thriving in his new school.  His grades are great and he's happier.  The only problem is they have NO fun.  It's SO dammed serious all the time.  HE is so dammed serious all the time that I wish they forced a little fun on him like his old school.  Oh well.  I guess I can't have it all.  His psychologist finished up his intelligence testing so we can know where we/he can help him.  Um, yeah. Scary numbers, let me tell ya!  Freaky scary numbers.  No wonder he didn't do well in "mainstream school".  Can you spell B-O-R-E-D? 

DD is doing well in school too.  She is smart like her brother but in a different way.  She is an excellent student but much more social.  She just finished up her first season of volleyball and LOVED it.  I need to go sign her up for basketball.  I've already signed her up for the spring season of volleyball because she asked me to.  She is tall and beautiful and happy.

FG is working away like crazy but the balance seems to be ok.  I quit my job to help him but, well, working together is not always a smooth road.  I finally told him I am not going to do a part of the job he originally wanted me to and I will help in a bunch of other ways. So I am.  I feel a huge relief.  I don't know how he feels about it and quite frankly, I don't care!  It was NOT going to work out the way we thought it would and it was going to lead to more problems personally and professionally.  Hopefully he realizes that too.

I'm enjoying my role with DD's elementary school PTA.  It's challenging and wow, dealing with personalities is an interesting education.  I'm being told often that I'm doing a great job.  I've been asked a few times to take on the role again next year but I will stick to one term.  Though I don't know what I'm going to do with myself next year!!  DS's school needs help and so does my sorority alum club so maybe my volunteer efforts can go there.

Speaking of volunteer efforts - I have sitting next to my computer applications for volunteers at the Humane Society.  DS wants to go pet the cats.  He has major OCD with our cat and cannot walk past her without petting her.  He will go out of his way to go to her if she is in the same vicinity.  We dropped off some old towels and blankets for the animals to use at the shelter last week and a sweet kid volunteer took us in some of the cat rooms.  They are great if you have never seen them.  They are like cat apartments!  They have furniture, scratching posts, cubby holes for curling up, a sun room, a tv with birds and squirrels, plenty of fresh water, food and blankets for snuggling.  DS was in heaven!  He loved that the cats were so happy to see him and jumped in his lap when he sat down.  He visited many of them and had to be reminded that they are not all as tolerant as our crazy cat. So he wants to go volunteer to visit the kitties. 

I'll try to share some menus more often.  Last weekend I made French Onion soup from homemade beef stock.  We got another 1/4 cow and with that comes several packages of soup bones.  So I roasted them then simmered them and made stock.  Then I made the soup from the stock.  I also had homemade croutons on it because when you make as much fresh bread as I have been, you end up with a lot of stale bread and there is nothing easier or tastier than making homemade croutons!  A little melted butter, a little olive oil, some salt and spices - mix and toss cubed day-old bread with it.  Spread it on a baking sheet and bake in a low oven stirring every 15 min or so until they are done they way you want them.  Easy peasy and yummy!  So for my soup I was proud to say it was 100% homemade!  It took all damn day but it was good.  FG and I enjoyed a bottle of good wine with it and played dominoes with the kids - just trying to enjoy living in the "now"!

Changes. The norm for our household

Ah yes, nothing is ever the same for us, is it?
But it's all good news! I promise.
First, FG's business is going along well.  So much so that the two work projects that take him out of town will take him out of town more often.  (Boo on being gone, yay on more work=more $$, well and the whole validation of a job well done thing too, I guess).

I looked at him awhile ago and said, "I cannot keep up this pace and if you are going to be gone more, I REALLY can't keep up that pace! I want to quit my measly little part time job."  So we did what normal people do and sat down with the finances and the calendar and I gave my boss a month's notice.  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

But that doesn't mean I get off without working. Oh no.  Time for me to concentrate on OUR business and work for ourselves.  FG has taken that as, "Oh finally I get to give up a whole lotta stuff!"  My list of duties grows by the day and I haven't even left my measly part time job yet!

Now that I'm the new PTA President (yeah, I went there) I've been super busy with that too.  But you know what, it is such an ego boost!  Well, until I had to run my first real meeting this past weekend and HOLY BALLS WHO REALLY LIKES TO HAVE ALL THOSE PEOPLE LOOKING AT YOU AND LISTENING TO EVERY WORD YOU SAY?!  not me. The ego boost part comes when I call people up to recruit them to help and I hear, "I'm so glad you are our new president!  I will help you with whatever you need. I never wanted to help when _________ was involved but now that you are there leading the way, I'm in!"  Awwwww.  Seriously, I have gotten such awesome response it's so cool!  When I had our first meeting the other day, it was just the officers and the committee chairs (the people who do all the REAL work) and I basically told them to play nice or else.  I won't put up with any gossipy bullshit and I won't have one single person in our school feeling un-welcome or afraid to help out because either they feel like they don't have enough time to devote (I'll take whatever you want to give - 1/2 hour or 20 hours a week, whatever will make you feel happy about contributing!) or that the PTA is just a "clique" (I'm not part of any clique so hopefully that impression goes away with the previous officers).   I am lucky that the people with the most issues (i.e. the ones people didn't want to work with) have bowed out and are not wanting to help any longer.  I don't get it why some people want to be toxic or unhappy.  It makes no sense to me!

DS is going to start at a new school.  We are moving him to a charter school that focuses on science.  I'm nervous but I think it will be good.  It will definitely be a change!  We went to pick up uniform shirts and I saw many different ethnicities.  We talked about how awesome that is.  How expanding one's mind and being open to other cultures and ideas can only make you more intelligent.  Our elementary school is a great school - the best in our state according to test scores - but with that comes a very white-bread, upper-class population.  So a little mind-expansion is excting for me for my son.  He's never had a problem with anyone different than him but it will be nice to have some more in-depth exposure for him. 

I know, I know... I'm the PTA President of one school and decide to pull one of my kids out of it.  I see the irony.  Thankfully anyone who has met my son knows that he's not a typical kid and it's not because I don't like our school.

I'm counting down the days until these changes take place.  I'm excited as for once in a long time, they are positive changes!

I'm hoping to start menu planning again too.  Summer is tough as we are a lot more relaxed.  Starting next week though, I'll have one kid in school so we'll need to be more regimented.  Being done with my away-from-home job will help too!  I can't wait for thar part!

Update on the last post....

The boy is off his meds.  Turns out it was all in our heads and they didn't help.  In fact, they made things worse.  He was getting angry and aggressive - VERY unlike him.  So we stopped them and he seemed to think they were helping.  So I started giving him fish oil pills but not telling him what they are - just that they are supposed to help him focus but not make him angry.  He's not convinced.

It's been up & down the past few weeks in pretty much all aspects of my crazy life.  Busy with school stuff (THE vote happened and it was unanimous - I'm now the PTA President), spent 4 days in Vegas for the state PTA convention, this week is insane with happenings at school, work has been busy, FG has been busy and the new season of his fishing show is starting up, DD is busy with her social activities, friends and writing books.  I'm impressed with them too - for a 2nd grader, they are excellent! 

That's all I have the energy for right now.  I've been trying to keep up reading my favorite blogs but feel like I've been absent.

I will say I've been cooking some dang good food lately though!  One of my favorite meals has become grilled chicken tacos that I squirt with lime juice, topped with mango/avocado salsa in a corn tortilla warmed on the grill.  YUM!  I also made the most delicious grilled pork chops with a sweet pineapple sauce topped with grilled fresh pineapple slices. Hmmm, maybe I'm just liking grilled food?

One of those, "Doh! Why didn't I think of this years ago?!" ideas

I've said it before - I like to do laundry.  It is my favorite chore.  In the summer I love hanging all of my clothes on the clothesline.  Living in the driest climate ever and we generally have a breeze (gale force winds more likely) my clothes dry super fast.  In fact, in the summer I can get my weeks worth of laundry done in a couple of hours. 

In cooler months I still like to do laundry in as little time as possible.  It takes longer because I have less drying space and clothes take longer to dry not in the warm sunshine & wind.  I have always used a drying rack.  It could be 3x the size it is for what I hang dry.  Until I figured something out....

A few months ago I bought the kids all new hangers.  Their clothes were getting too big for the kid-size hangers and falling off constantly. It was an annoying battle every laundry day when I took their baskets of clean clothes to their rooms and attempted to neatly hang their shirts.  When I got them new hangers I got them different colors because they were with  me and wanted it that way.  Fine, whatever.

THEN I realized a short while after this purchase that I was using various random hangers in the laundry room to hang up some clothes (because the drying rack simply wasn't big enough!).  Then I would take the dry clothes off those hangers, put them in a basket and re-hang them in the kids closets.  Here is my Ah-ha (you idiot!) moment!  Why am I transferring hangers?! 

Now each week when I empty their laundry hampers I also take all their empty hangers to the laundry room.  As I take their clothes from the dryer to hang dry after their initial "fluff", I simply hang up each child's clothes on their own respective hanger color.  Then when I take the dry clothes upstairs to fold & put away (or leave for them to put away), their shirts/dresses are already on the hangers, ready to be put directly into the closet. 

This simply system has cut down on laundry time or at least on my least favorite part which is putting the clothes away. 

Add that to the weekly hanging shelves for daily outfits and my time spent with children's clothes is about 1/3 of what is used to be. 

Kid-you-not every week when I do laundry I ask myself why the hell it took me so long to figure this simple thing out. 

We survived the week of FG's cooking

Actually, he did well.  The French Dip Sandwiches didn't come until a few days later and I ended up making those.  I convinced him that it was a better idea to eat the London Broil just as it was and then use the rest later for French Dip sandwiches.  He agreed and was happy to not have to go grocery shopping for any more ingredients.  All in all, the week went pretty well.  I did end up in the kitchen quite a bit, guiding and teaching, but he did it all and he learned.  I'm kinda sorta hoping this happens more.  I think I'll talk him into being in charge of dinner at least once a week - from start to finish.  But I'll still do the dishes. Do any guys you know suffer from Male Dish Blindness?  It's similar to Male Refrigerator Blindness but applies to dishes.  When FG does the dishes, without fail, he leaves at least one dish out.  No, it's not left on the other side of the kitchen or on the island, it's left immediately next to the sink.  When I've asked him about it, he is genuinely shocked that there was a dish left and he honestly does NOT see it. Weird. 


Oh how I adore Anne Taintor!



My Sweets Party went well. I woke up with a helluva migraine that day.  It would not go away for anything either.  By the time the party rolled around, I was running  behind and so doped up it wasn't funny.  I made a lot of new things this year too.  After 16 years, it was time to shake things up a bit.  FG mixed some yummy drinks too.  My favorites had to be the Homemade Snickers Bars.  Ohhhhhhh myyyyy gooooodddneeeesssssss.  Heaven in 9 x 13 pan.  Homemade Snickers Bars.  They were not hard, just time consuming.  And I hate to unwrap caramels.  Damn I really hate doing that!  I just took my time with the bars themselves and made sure I did them step by step without rushing to the next.  They were really so delicious!  And my kids hate peanuts!  Whoohooo!!! More for me!

I've been busy at work and really wondering why people just can't be competent.  Is it really that difficult?  I'm also about to be elected our PTA President for next term.  Uh, yeah, I went there.  I wasn't planning on it but it came about and I thought for days on it.  I had to do it.  Now I'm scared to death.  I do know that I must be involved in my children's school.  I've directly seen the payoff between having a good relationship with the staff and teachers and my kids getting what they need.  I've seen the opposite too :\  PITA parents who think their kid does no wrong, deserves everything blah blah blah and are just not pleasant does not generally go over well or bode well for anyone involved.  Nope, do my volunteering, be reasonable and understanding that my kid is one of many who all have the same rights and be kind and my kids have reaped the benefits. 

So I guess I will continue to have 4 jobs for awhile.  Those are ON TOP of wife, mother, daughter, friend. 

This a test. This is only a test.

This has been a challenging week.  My attempt at a regular schedule with my menu planning was thwarted by a last minute work trip for FG.  DS ended up staying home from school after getting his Herbst Appliance installed.  He probably didn't need to. He was ok and could have gone to school but I it was nice to have him hang out with me.  I took him to In & Out Burger for lunch - his first meal with the metal in his mouth..  He did surprisingly well! He's talking well now too. 

That was challenging because he is my baby and it was tough to watch him get the stuff installed in his mouth.  The girl installing it wasn't very warm & fuzzy either.  She was a bit harsh with him and I really wanted to tell her off.  But she had sharp instruments in his mouth.  I figured it was better to not say anything at all.

While he & I were driving to lunch it was complete chaos.  The wind was blowing sand & dust everywhere.  Vice President Biden was here giving a speech at the High School by my house.  There was a big rig turned over on one direction of the freeway.  The other direction was closed because of the VP.  We had to go a crazy back route.  We finally got on the right path and we see crazy clouds.  As we keep heading in the direction, we smell smoke.  Living here, we know what a wildfire smells like.  I looked it up while eating lunch. Sure enough, there was a wildfire.  And the wind was blowing like crazy toward our house.  The fire was heading toward out house.

I didn't worry too much - it was a ways away.  Then we get home and I sense something is missing.  Yep. The metal structure with the vinyl cover that goes over our boat was GONE.  I go around the house to the backyard and it is a destruction zone.  The metal is mangled and leaning in a tree.  The tarp is still partially tied to it and the straps are scattered around the yard.  My two 4x4 post clothesline poles snapped and are laying like dead soldiers on my lawn.  I snap a pic with my phone and send it to FG.  Just so he knows what I'm dealing with.  I call a bunch of neighbors and the ones I'm able to get a hold of come rescue me.

Meanwhile, the smoke is getting thicker and thicker.  We are coughing and the wind is blowing dirt into our eyes. 

After we got that all settled, we were glued to the TV.  The fire was moving closer.  I started to wonder if I should pack anything up.  I grabbed some bags and grabbed the photo albums and the cases with all the discs in them - all of our pictures on disc.  I grabbed the computer hard drive.  I sent FG a text and asked him what he wanted me to pack of his. I didn't really worry too much.   THEN I saw flames on a nearby ridge.  THEN I went into protective mom mode.  I stayed calm.  Amazingly calm really.  I packed clothes.  I packed important papers.  I took pictures of every room in the house.  I gave the kids bags and told them to pack up a few things they wanted in case we had to leave.  We got the Reverse-911 call telling us we were under a Voluntary Evacuation Order.  I loaded the car.  The kids kept trying to take their shoes off and I kept making them put them back on.  I watched the ridge with an obsession.  But outwardly, I remained calm.  I reassured the kids things were most likely fine but I'd rather be loaded and ready to go if they told us to leave. 

Finally the flamed died down.  The wind started to subside.  I fed the kids dinner and showered them and read DD a bedtime story.  I tucked them in and kissed them goodnight and told them all would be ok.  I was 90% sure of it.  They snuggled in and went to sleep.  I dozed sporadically.  Even with the fire subsiding and the news reporting that it was no longer growing I was still uneasy.  I got up several times.  I felt exhausted.

I just kept thinking that I feel like I'm always being tested on how strong of a woman I am.  The chaos in my life.  The constant changes.  The crazy things that happen when FG is out of town and I get to take care of.  I went into labor in the middle of the night with my daughter.  FG was 2 hours away and I had a 3 year old sleeping soundly in his own big boy bed.   I couldn't wait 2 hours for him to get home - she was coming. I could go on & on. Things always seem to happen when FG is out of town and I have to stay strong because, really?  What other choice do I have?  I don't know if it's a reminder, a confidence builder or a test.    Just one small request though.... can it please stop?  I'm strong. I get it.  I can handle issues and scary situations alone.  I am a strong mama for my children and remain calm in intense situations.  I GET IT.  I can live without a reminder for awhile, ok universe?

Family Logistics are never ending

So um, yeah, that menu plan?  Um, uh, forget it.  As per the norm in this house things changed.

FG now has to go out of town to, get this, a hunting/firearms/law enforcement trade show.  Yeah, you can stop laughing now.  Along with learning all about fishing this year, he's now learning about waterfowl hunting.  Thank God the only thing he shoots with is his camera.

I also forgot that poor DS is getting his Herbst Appliance (also known as Mars Bars) on Thursday morning.  He's had spacers in the past 2 weeks and he's off the gum and anything sticky.  Today was like a junkie getting his last fix before heading off to rehab.  The tech told him last week that he could have a "gum & soda party" the day before his installation.  So after school he ate gummy bears and had some soda (a rare treat as it is) and can chew all the gum he wants.  Literally, the junkie getting his last fix.  For a kid with SPD, gum chewing will calm him down a lot of times.  The oral sensation feeds the sensory craving he often needs to calm down and get his homework done.  He also has a family trait that I'm hoping will now go away. He chews on his tongue.  Just like his father and his paternal grandmother.  They all sit there and look like damn cows chewing and it's ugly and annoying.  Well after getting those wonderful hinges in his mouth, he won't be able to move his jaw sideways so he won't be able to chew his tongue!  That's a habit I hope to see broken in the 18 months he'll have his Mars Bars on. 

As you can imagine, he won't feel so hot after getting those on.  So he's not going to be eating much.  Since FG will be gone, I'm not cooking a full on meal for only DD and I to eat!  Especially when it's something that she's not that wild about.  So we'll have some soup and a milkshake for dinner. The skinny boy will hopefully adjust quickly so he doesn't lose weight! I'm going to stuff him with mashed potatoes, oatmeal, applesauce and ice cream. It's reminiscent of the tonsillectomy.

Anyway, because of all of these changes DD is spending the night at her friend's house Wednesday. Her wonderful best friend's family offered to take her for the night. I asked if I could drop her off early Thursday morning and they suggested she just spend the night so I didn't have to get her up super early on top of all the other running around I have to do.
I forgot I'm playing Bunco on Friday night and we always have dinner there.  So um, yeah, another night the plan changes.  I also forgot while I was making my plan that DS has Debate Club on Tuesday nights. He got out really late and it pushed dinner really late.  I wasn't going to start cooking at 6:45.  The plan of a beef roast in the crockpot just fell through completely and I planned to switch the pork chops around but not at 6:45. 

Tonight is on track.  We ARE eating the pork chops and some rosemary & garlic roasted potatoes.  We'll be eating LOTS of potatoes.  I order organic fruit & veggies weekly to bi-weekly and they are delivered on Wednesdays.  In my last order, my red potatoes went rotten really fast so they replaced them for me this week.  I also had some russets and some golden potatoes in my order.  PLUS I had some yams left from my previous order too.  I'll be searching for good potato recipes.  DS's favorite is always potato pancakes and I like that because I do about 1/2 shredded zucchini and 1/2 potatoes. 

So at least I made an attempt to make a good menu plan for the week.  Maybe I'll have better luck next week.

Need to clean this place up!

The aftermath of Christmas....
The house in general....
This blog!

Maybe now that I have my new laptop I can be better about keeping this thing up.  I looked at my sidebar and it's pathetic!  Most of what is on there is outdated and needs to go.  The picture at the top is years old.  I haven't posted a recipe or a menu in AGES.  I'm going to start trying to find time to get my act together and take care of some of these things.  I miss it.  I definitely need some menu inspiration.  I need some downtime and an outlet such as this little virtual place.

The house, well, it's in need too.  I'm done with the Christmas tree.  I want it and all of it's falling needles out of the house now.  I like to look at it but it's time has passed.  The rest of the decorations can stay up for just a bit - we're having friends over to dinner on Friday so I'll leave the house all decorated at least until our guests leave.  That would so be FG and I - our guests walk out the door and we start un-decorating the house!

I'm off to a job interview in a few minutes.  For freelance work of the same nature of my former career.  I'm just not sure what I would do if  I ended up with anything "regular" that had benefits and a 401K plan.  *sigh*

Our holiday was very merry.  Mostly great gifts all around! DD got a karaoke machine from my parents.  It should have come with ear plugs.  She isn't a bad singer but she certainly likes it LOUD.  DS is thrilled with everything he received.  Yesterday, the day after all the crazy present opening, we cleaned out old toys.  I'll have to remember that timing!  They were very willing to part with so many old things.  Clearly they had outgrown them but my kids always have trouble parting with things.  DD hesitated about a few items and I made her a deal, we put the doll stroller and accessories away and if she doesn't touch them in the next few months, they are getting donated.  She was ok with that. 

My parents gave us a GoPro.  FG is all excited.  I wonder if I'll ever get to use it?!  He already uses two of them on his outdoor show shoots but now he's excited to have his own.  I think we'll use it more for the family next summer when we are on the boat & take it on the tube.  If I manage to get up to the mountain this winter, maybe we'll take it skiing.  First we need some serious snow.  No snow here - ugh!

Alrighty, wish me luck on this little interview.  I don't know how it will work out but it will be a nice change. I'll try to get back to menu planning.  I have been REALLY bad about it.  I need to take some time and get back to researching recipes.  I think that will come with updating my blogroll too - get some new blood going into this lifeless thing!

Not a full time job but still working like a mad-woman!

As usual, a lot has changed.  Really? What is consistent? I didn't get the full time job.  Oh well.  I did take the part time job and it has become more interesting than I expected.  The pay is still low but the woman I am working for is wonderful!  She is so flexible with my work.  It's just her & I and I am helping her start this new business of hers.  She already has a sucessful business and this is an off-shoot of it.  I do a lot from home, which makes up for the low pay.  Hey, I can get paid to get stuff done AND do my laundry! 
FG moved his office home for awhile until he finds a place to land.  His office situation became less than ideal and he figured why pay rent when he could move home for awhile and have the same set up.  Plus he can be here when I need him!  So far I'm liking it.  I just can't get his last dang Christmas present wrapped!!!

My kids are more excited for Christmas than I ever remember.  They are funny, they didn't ask for hardly anything.  DD got DS the Hot Wheels camera car that he wants so badly. She is the most excited about giving him his present than anything.  It is hilarious.  I thinks he gave it away too.  I'm pretty sure he knows what is in the package yet he's being a good sport and not telling.  They are both completely questioning the Santa thing too.  I'm pretty sure DS knows the truth but he's too afraid to say anything - like he won't get presents.  Really though the things they asked for were inexpensive and fairly easy.  There aren't many presents under the tree yet they are completely thrilled.  I'm praying it doesn't change on Christmas morning.  I'm praying they don't say, "where's the rest?" 

Merry Christmas!!!

Lot o' time on my hands....

My life is just never the same, never really "boring" or normal.  FG spent nearly 3 weeks in S. America completely out of communication.  He lived on a boat in Brazil on a tributary of the Amazon for 7 days.  Then he was able to email me a bit after he had been gone for 10 days and they were en route to Uruguay.  There he lived in a remote fishing resort, if you can call it that, for another 7 days.  Then due to volcanic ash in the air from a volcano errupting in Chile, he was delayed getting home and had to fly to Argentina to get a flight back.  A little crazy?  Yeah. A little nerve-wracking for me?  Yeah!
The day he was supposed to come home but was delayed, I lost my job.  The Bitch fired me!  Well, actually, she made some really stupid business decisions and couldn't afford to pay me any more.  She cried. She hugged me a little too long. She had the balls to ask me to take care of a project after she let me go.  I did it because I cared about where the project was going and who else it would affect.  I'm not the type to take my toys and go home.  So I followed through but I charged her mileage for driving down there & back to take care of it.  So there! 
Now I'm looking for work.  I've found something very part time and low paying.  I'm thinking of getting my substitute teacher license to supplement.  Then I also interviewed for a very promising FULL TIME job.  Ey yi yi.  Am I crazy?  I'm going to have heavy shoulders of guilt.  I won't be here when my kids get on the bus in the morning - FG will.  I won't be here when my kids get off the bus in the afternoon - Grandma (hopefully) or FG will or they will have to go to the after-school program a few days a week.  I don't know why I'm stressing so much about it, I haven't been offered the job!  But the positives will have to outweigh the negatives.  The job will be interesting and it sure would be nice to have things like a good paycheck and benefits.  FG promised me that with that good paycheck we would start having fun again instead of stressing about every cent going to a bill.  So just tell me that my kids will be ok if I end up getting the job, alright?  The part time gig that I am supposed to start next week just doesn't really interest me.  Yeah, it's super flexible and it's easy but it's not interesting to me.  I have a project I'm supposed to start working on this week and I don't have an ounce of motivation to do it.  I think I'm too focused on the full time thing and if it happens all the changes it will bring to our lives.  I can't wrap my head around anything else except how I will have to do certain things differently - silly things like packing lunches and laundry. 

Wish me luck.  I'll be sure to post the outcome.  It's going to be awhile, unfortunately.  The job is corporate so there's all that corporate bullshit to deal with to get hired.  I am definitely qualifed and I know the manager I would report to.  I know a few of the co-workers I would have too.  That's how I got in there in the first place - it came to me.  After I met with them last week, they pulled the job posting off their website.  That's a good sign for somebody and honestly, I'm hoping it's me.

Side notes:  Both kids are doing excellent in school.  DS is having a 1000x better year than last and his teacher is great.  His report card was an amazing 2 A's & 3 B's.  For him, that's awesome.  He saved up enough $ so we went and bought him his ipod touch as his reward.  He paid for it but we decided he earned it.  DD is too freaking smart.  She's also boy crazy.  And boys are crazy for her.  Oh help me.  She's a very tall, blond boy-crazy girl.  She's reading and writing well above her grade level.  Math, poor girl. She is so like me.  She is doing fine in math but it's work.   And the best news, FG doesn't have any crazy trips planned for awhile.  Hopefully not until next spring.  Next up are Nepal, Vietnam and Ireland again.  They talked about Columbia but I don't want him going there.  Or Russia to some crazy remote place where they have to fly them in on military helicopters.  For 2 hours.  Nope.  I'm going to protest those two as much as I can!  They just aren't going to tourist spots!

Bullets for a glimpse...

That's all I have time for!  I miss blathering on about what is happening with me, around me, to me et al. 

• I'm a bit more disenchanted with my job.  6 mo. and I've realized it's a HUGE uphill climb. Pushing a giant boulder.  I see potential but I cannot do it on my own. It is not my business.  If it was, it would be run very differently.  The F-bomb would not be dropped at every available moment either.  I finally told my boss yesterday that I am having a hard time because if I'm going to be the only one who cares, I can't handle it.  I'm not just a "paycheck collector". I CARE.  I strive.  I attempt. I feel like the only one too many days.  All I can say is Thank God it's uber-flexible.  It's certainly not the pay that is keeping me around!  It's the fact I can come & go as I need to and that I do still see potential and I am given a very long lead to do my job the way I know it should be done.
• FG had a grand adventure in Alaska.  A bit too close to too many bears for my taste!

Yeahhhhhh.  That's too close to a mama and her cub!

He had a quick trip to Oregon and next month he's off to S. America for nearly 3 weeks.  Good times, good times.  ARGH!

• During his little trip to OR, he forgot a crucial piece of equipment.  Given that he was IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERESVILLE he called me very panicked.  What's a good wife to do?  Arrange for the kids to be watched all day and hop in the car.  uh huh. I did.  I drove 500 miles to save his sorry butt.  It didn't even need to be said that he owes me big time.  And the massage he gave me two days later doesn't count because we all know what "massage" translates to for a guy. 
• School is going well for my kiddos.  They are enjoying 2nd & 5th grades.  DS has a MUCH better teacher this year and DD has the same teacher DS had for 2nd grade.
• Today was my first day helping in either classroom.  I went to DD's 2nd grade class and did the same thing I did when DS was in there.  So it was easy and she was happy to not have to walk me through the whole process. She is very particular about how things are done. 
• My stuff for PTA is going along.  I'm just trying to not feel guilty about not devoting a gazillion hours to it.  I should be working on some stuff right now but I don't want to. I wanted to read some blogs and write on mine. :)  I have been giving of myself so much that I have learned to take care of ME a bit more sometimes.  The knot in my neck and the headache are usually good indicators that I need to take some time for myself or I am no good to anyone.
• Our cow is almost ready!  Hopefully next week!  We're starting with 1/4 because a whole cow is around $2,000.  I'm excited!!  The kids love red meat but we don't eat it often.  This is going to be so much better for us!  And it's much cheaper per pound to buy a 1/4 cow.
• I'm still happy with our organic fruit & veggie delivery!  I think they should give me a discount with all the people I've referred.  It's not a CSA so I can "shop" from my computer and then it gets delivered.  This week I was supposed to get some chard.  Uh, I would be the only one to eat it.  So I had that taken out and will exchange it for something else - probably some grapes that I know the kids will eat.  So glad I've started it and it's going well for us. 
• I need to get back into menu planning.  I have been kind of doing it but not regularly.  It's tougher when FG is gone.  I found a new recipe for Orange Chicken that DS loves.  I haven't really been baking too much but a few of the "regulars" here & there.  I have been eating a boatload of salads. 
• I should take a picture of the kids clothes organizers.  I broke down and bought the hanging closet shelf things.  I have never seen two kids so excited about organizing!  I think it had more to do with going back to school and the fact that I started those and got new backpack hooks right before school started.  I tell ya, it has been wonderful though!  Especially  now that I have to get myself ready & out the door shortly after they leave.  We pick out the clothes for the week on the weekend and they know what to wear every morning.  There's no looking for socks, mismatched clothes or wrong "temperature" clothes.  We look at the weather and decide together what to wear for every day of the week.  DD knows she can't wear a dress on PE day and that she must have tennis shoes.  So yay! There's no more fighting over the clothes every morning or the night before.  It's once a week and done!

Life is good

It is. I feel like we have emerged from this dark cave into the bright sunshine.
I'm sitting next to my parents pool watching my kids play. They are getting along and laughing. Last night we had the clients over from the new fishing show. One guy lives in a town near us, the other lives in Ireland. They are such nice people and they like FG a lot. In their honor, we opened a 48 year old bottle of Canadian Whiskey. FG figures his parents have had it since they got married in 1963 and when they got divorced in 1996 we ended up with their liquor cabinet & bar glasses. So we pulled out the 1960's highball glasses & cracked the paper seal on the whiskey & toasted to a great partnership. FG and I felt it was worthy. I agree. It's all part of what is making 2011 so much better than well 2009 AND 2010.
My son has been pretty darn good lately too. Yeah he still gets nuts from his SPD and he's still a space cadet at times but he has been helpful, responsive, cooperative and responsible. I have praised him a lot for his behavior. His sister, well, she's still tough, doesn't give a darn if she gets in trouble even when I take away her precious TV (no, she does not have one in her room, she just loses the privilege to watch theirs in the playroom). But he was like that at 7 too and I expect that by the time she's 10, she'll behave a bit better.
What I am not liking is FG being gone so much. The guys broke it to me last night that they got ANOTHER TRIP planned & paid for in August. At this rate it's a trip once a month! But he enjoys the work & he's getting paid so it's better than the alternative!

I'm still alive

Very very much alive.  Very very much busy.  Yeah yeah, I know that's terrible grammar.  Get off my back. I'm going crazy here!

Summer is half over - wahhhhhh!
Since I've been good with bullets, here's some more if you care to get caught up.

• FG got a new gig.  It sort of fell in his lap with 2 weeks notice to be out of the country on a project for 2 weeks.  He is now producing a new show that involves fishing and travel.  So he went to Ireland for 2 weeks to work.  Right now he's in the Northwest on some lake following the guys around.  In October he's going to the Amazon. As in the RIVER for 2 weeks.  Next spring, back to Ireland and then a month or so later he's going to Nepal.  They will be bunking with some buddist monks.  And he GETS PAID to do this.  Frickin' amazing.
• My job is going along swimmingly.  My boss loves me.  I do the job well and I work hard for the 4 businesses I'm doing marketing for.  It's amazing what I can get done in 15 hours a week and just how much 15 hours a week pulls me away from other things.  I do not miss the toystore one tiny bit!  I heard the manager was badmouthing me.  Yeah, probably because I busted her for being a grouch and was sick of her shit so I left.  I heard business is really slow and it doesn't surprise me at all.  They have the wrong person in there as manager.
• I pulled the kids out of school a week early and we flew to the midwest.  My cousin got married.  I'm the oldest cousin by 15 years so they have always been little kids in my mind.  Now they are in their early 20's and getting married.  Freaked me out when one of them got me a beer.  Then we spent a week in N. WI where I grew up vacationing.  My kids LOVED it.  They keep asking to go back. I thought for sure DD would hate every second of it but she decided to prove me wrong and adore fishing!
• DD and I flew home to finally see FG (our trips overlapped so we went 4 weeks without seeing each other).  DS stayed behind.  He couldn't get us on the plane fast enough and have his aunts all to himself.  I can't blame him, I did the same thing as a kid. I spent all summer with my grandmas and my aunts.  DS stayed 99.9% of the time with my aunt who is his favorite person on earth. 
• DD went to Girl Scout camp in the middle of the woods.  FG and I kept driving and looking at each other like, "Are we seriously leaving our 6 year old here?!"  She couldn't wait to kick us out of the camp.  (What is it with my kids?!  Do they hate me?  Lie to me and tell me they are just well adjusted and secure knowing they can be away from mom and survive.)
• With both kids gone for a week, FG and I reverted back to being DINK's.  We enjoyed ourselves.  Actually I think we kept ourselves busy so we didn't think about the fact our kids were all over the place.  One day we worked from 9-5, had a client event at 5:30 which was Family Night to see Cars 2 (we snuck out since we didn't have kids and saw Green Lantern), then we went out to dinner together at a swanky bar downtown and didn't get home until after 10 pm.  I don't think we've done that since we have had kids!  Then we spent a few days in San Francisco before picking up DD on the way home.
• DS came home 2 days before DD's 7th birthday.  He was not happy to come home.  He had a blast but I was more than ready for my kids to be back under my roof!
• DD turned 7. She had a nice party. She got her ears pierced. 
• Now I'm doing the kid-juggle every day for work.  Thankfully one grandma will take them on Mondays.  A friend who's kids play with mine takes them some Tuesdays.  Wednesdays I work with FG so they just come to the studio with us and then Thursday they have been spending the day with my dad.  I'm off Fridays. 
• Last Friday since they had been shuffled around so much all week without much fun - lots of errand running with the grandparents etc - I decided we would have a super fun day.  We went pottery painting, had a picnic lunch, watched a play, made pizza at home then went mini golfing when FG got home from work.  They had the "best day ever!"  I explained to them that is why Mom works and they have to go do not-such-fun things sometimes.  I think they are old enough that they got it.  They seemed to  understand that the things we did took money and mom has to work for money.   Of course the next day they were at each other's throats all day and I punished them by making them pull weeds.
• I'm trying my damndest to get us to eat better and having a bit more income is helping that.  Tomorrow I get my first delivery of organic fruits & veggies - as local as possible.  We are going to get 1/2 a cow this fall.  I'm starting to get local fresh eggs.  For the past year I've been giving us local raw honey for allergies (works ah-maaaaay-zing!).  I'm anxious to try the fruits & veggies.  It was pretty inexpensive actually!  Almost as cheap as what I pay for non-orgainc stuff at the grocery store.  The cow I'm excited about too.  It won't be ready till fall but they are fed the grains from a local brewery and alfalfa.  No steriods, no hormones, no pesticides.  Happy drunk cows! 
• We may be the only people in the country paying off our debt.  As sucky as it is at times, when we look at where our bills started to where they are now, we are proud of ourselves.  Business is improving, FG's new project doesn't hurt either!  We are still fairly broke and still watching every penny but we could have easily said screw it, and walked away from all the bills.  I know it's taught our kids a good lesson and FG and I have survived through I think the worst of it. 
• I'm getting the house cleaned every other week and FG is no longer speaking to his dad's wife.  If you've read any of my posts over the past few years this will all make sense to you.  FIL finally saw first hand that she is a selfish, money-grubbing bitch.  I don't know that I've ever met anyone as selfish.  But now we are done paying for them to get their house cleaned every week and me working essentially 3 jobs (PTA/School stuff can take up as much time as my paying job!) and scrubbing my own house.  I told FG that if the whole thing went away, fine, he could sell that space and we would at least get income for it.  I only want it because it's there and it's dumb that we are giving it away to his dad's bitchy wife every week.  So yay me! 
• 2011 so far is 1000x better than 2010!

Well Hot Damn! It's been awhile!

Let's see... I'll give you a little run down in case you care.....

• I turned 40. gulp.  FG had a great party for me. It was 80's themed and everyone got into the spirit. It was fabulous and over too fast and I didn't drink enough because I was up at 7:30 the next morning cleaning the kitchen.  Now I'm 40.  whoa.
• DS turned 10 (before I turned 40, thank you!).  I got to experience having a bunch of little boys around for 2 days straight.  I gave him a great party - complete with the chocolate fountain, no cake.  I am C-R-A-Z-Y.
• We've had some bumps and bruises at school. Not the literal sort.  Thank God we have an amazing principal and counselor at our school.  The teacher is not worth a whole hell of a lot.  Fourth grade is tough tough tough anyway.  But this teacher has one foot out the door of the school since she's been there 25 years. I was about ready to kick her butt the rest of the way.  We had a big meeting. FG got to play Bad Cop, I got to play Good Cop.  The principal got to play even Badder Cop and the counselor got to play mediator.  We got what we wanted, DS seems happier and all is going much better. 
• I've been kidnapped by the school PTA.  It all started when I volunteered to help out with the first book fair of the year.  Our party-loving librarian decided to have a Girls Night Out as a thank you to everyone who volunteered.  That included teachers, parents and the principal (thus getting to know her better).  Yeah, so that was great and all but becoming friends with a 50 year old librarian with no kids who likes to have parties and do-do-do and go-go-go has not been good for the relaxation part of my life.  Now I'm do-do-doing and go-go-going because she ropes me into stuff.  It's fun though so the social part of my life has been busy. And really, how many people can say they hang out with the school principal and drink wine and gossip?  I've learned SO much from being around these other parents and the more out-going, social teachers who aren't afraid to hang with the parents from the school.  It's helped (see above about the Big Meeting). 
• This has also caused me to volunteer to take on the membership chair for the PTA next year.  Miss Librarian and I did the nominating committee for next year's board.  Now suddenly we are signed up to do all sorts of (fun) stuff and going to the PTA convention.  I told FG they have a PTA store there and maybe I'll come home with a cool fanny pack or tote bag to show the world I'm a PTA member! He called me a Goober.  But really, for membership I have a ploy to fill people's bellies with wine and yummies so they'll volunteer for more stuff. I'm sneaky that way!
• I quit my job at the toystore.  My last day is tomorrow.  I decided that I was done with it all.  I do not like the manager. She is negative.  I mean, we work with toys! It's supposed to be FUN.  She was such a downer every day.  She "hates" everything that comes in and thinks it's all "stupid". She's just not pleasant and honestly, sales are showing!  My boss, the store owner, dragged it out of me yesterday so I finally gave her the full scoop.  I told her that is what prompted me to start looking for another job.  It took a few weeks but I found one that will be challenging and fun at the same time. 
• Now I have to find stuff for my kids to do over Spring Break and in the summer.  My new job, a Marketing position for three businesses under one umbrella, is flexible and it's still part time but I do need to go to the office. I don't want to start and say, "Oh by the way, care if I work from home all summer?"  yeah. not a great way to start off.  She's cool, she's flexible but she's still running a business.
• Today I am sorting and tagging a gazillion things for a large consignment sale coming up.  It's all kids stuff and it seems like DD suddenly got too old for so many of the toys & games we have.  So shortly after Christmas I ruthlessly cleaned things out.  Now I'm going to consign as much as I can and what doesn't sell will get donated to charity.  I drop it all off on the 24th and will never see it again! Then I just have to sit and wait for my check.  I'm really hoping I get a decent amount so I can go buy the little girl some new clothes.  She is a weed, I tell ya!  She's sooooo tall!!! 6 years old and needs a size 8, at least.  Some of her shirts I have been getting in a 10! 
• DS has been playing basketball. He's a little guy. Doesn't play very well but dang he loves it and gives it his all!  For a kid who doesn't like people too close to him, he is right in the middle of the game.  It's awesome to watch!  He's totally bummed that the season is ending. :(
• One amazing thing the principal did for my little sensory kid is she got him a sensory cushion!  This boy has not sat down in a chair in class in 4 years.  Now, he sits.  He says he likes the bumps on it.  AHHHH-MAZING!
• Other than all of that, I am still plugging away with my coupons and bargain shopping.  I've done really well lately and it's been necessary.  I've even dragged FG with me and he gets into it too. :)  We are still no where close to the "extreme couponers" but I have saved our family a decent amount of money!

All geared up for the food holiday!

I'm excited. I'm in a good mood.  It's snowing like crazy and I made my kids ride the bus.  No wimps in this house!
2 days until the big food day!  I think I have experience on my side and thankfully this year, time.  The fact that I have roasted many chickens and done now quite a few Thanksgiving dinners is putting my mind at ease.  I know what I'm doing.  I know what it takes. I know what to expect.  I know that I will get up early and work on the bird.  I know I will chop the fresh herbs and mix them with other seasonings into the butter and slather that sucker inside & out with it.  (I do the under the skin on top of the meat with the herbed butter thing and it makes for a yummy bird!).  I will mix the stuffing up to the right consistency without really paying too close of attention to measurements. 

Having time on my side this year is so helpful too.  I worked at the toystore yesterday but am off for the next week.  Holy Moly how did that happen?  The paycheck will hate it. I am going to try to enjoy it and not think about the lack of funds coming in a couple of weeks.  So I already started on some of my T-Day prep.  I made the red cabbage on Sunday.  As I stood over the pot, stirring and watching the color change to such a beautiful purple, I closed my eyes and was back in my great-grandmother's house.  I don't have a fabulous memory except of many things when I was small.  I can picture her house - details of her house - at any time I want.  The red cabbage smell just intensified the memories.  We had many Thanksgivings there when she was still spry enough to cook for a huge family. 
Today I'm going to work on the dining room and if I can get FG to put the leaf in the table, by the end of today, my table will be set for Thursday.  I cover it with an extra table cloth and then that's that.  I can take my time cleaning out the crystal glasses and making sure the silver isn't tarnished. 
Tomorrow I will clean the house and make the mashed potatoes.  I started doing this a few years ago - I make them a day ahead of time, adding cream cheese to them when I mash them.  Then into a large casserole dish they go, only needing to be baked after the turkey comes out of the oven to rest.  The result is fluffy, yummy, creamy potatoes that have gotten rave reviews.  Really?  Mashed potatoes?  They are such a staple in this house anyway and have been all my life - we ate them (and do now) regularly with weeknight meals.  But honestly when I make them like that people can't seem to get enough of them.  I'm just happy it's such a huge time saver!  I'll make the pies tomorrow too.  Pumpkin.  My mom is bringing lemon at DD's request (the girl loves lemon flavored anything except chicken picatta - weird).  MIL is bringing pecan at FG's request.  Everyone is bringing wine!  Yay!!!  But me, I could eat an entire pumpkin pie by myself.  I have.  Not all at once.  When it's here, I eat it for breakfast and dessert.  MMMMMM! So I'm making two. One for me and one for everyone else. 

Now, I'm even excited about leftovers!

Thanksgiving dinner cost - It's not as bad as you would think!

We are hosting Thanksgiving dinner again this year.  I usually do because 1) my mother doesn't like to cook 2) my MIL isn't a fabulous cook (she's a "let's get it done fast cook")  3) my MIL likes to make Christmas Eve dinner and my mother makes Christmas dinner.  So I get Thanksgiving.  Since I enjoy it and really don't find cooking a turkey all that difficult, I am fine with it.  FG and I were talking about how inexpensively we really can feed everyone on the big day focused on food.  This year we'll have 9 people with the possibility of having a few more.  We have a couple of open invitations out there to a few people.  One being a girl (woman?  it feels weird calling someone in her 30's either doesn't it?) in FG's office who's DH is a fireman and is working that day.  As long as I know before we sit down to dinner, I'm fine with it if an extra or two show up. I'm not changing the way I cook or the amount - there's always plenty!

So my breakdown of food and costs, not including the staples like flour & sugar and spices that I keep on hand anyway is this:

• Turkey  18.94 lb - $6.44 (my store sells them at $.34 per lb w/ a $50 grocery purchase)
• Red cabbage (a German tradition in my family) - $1.83
• Canned Pumpkin  - $1.58
• Evaporated milk - $.68
• 2 boxes of cubed herbed stuffing that I will "doctor up" - $2.78
• Large bottle of Raspberry Lemonade - $2.78
• Black olives (appetizer plate) - $.98
• Sm. carton of Whipping Cream (no cans here! gotta whip it myself!) - $1.43
• 10lb. bag of potatoes - $.97
• Cream cheese (for the mashed potatoes) - $.98
• Frozen corn - $1.76
• Canned broth - $2 (4 cans, I like to save my homemade broth for soups)

That brings my total for dedicated Thanksgiving Dinner purchases to: $24.39

Sure, I'll use my eggs and my flour and my sugar and celery and onions but the above is strictly dedicated to that one dinner and leftovers.  I'm having others bring things as well.  My mom will make cranberry sauce (no cans here!), rolls and maybe another pie made with Splenda for my dad, my MIL will bring a burned pecan pie and her boyfriend will bring some nasty Chardonnay (FG and I are "ABC" people - anything BUT Chardonnay!), SMA will bring a bottle of Fume Blanc because he knows me better.  I might go purchase some asparagus to roast.  I didn't want to get it too early and have it go limp. 

Thanksgiving really doesn't have to be such an expensive meal!  If you break it down and round up to include the staples I'll be using, I'm spending about $3 per person! (and as usual, the dog will get a good meal from the giblets!)

Goodbye Bubba

FG's cat died today.  His mother is a mess.  Bubba lived with her.  There was some shared custody after FG's parents divorced but for the most part, Bubba was the companion of my MIL.  He was a cranky old cat, with good reason.  FG got the cat in 1991 a few months before we met in 1992.   Thus, we stared calling him "Yoda" because he was so freakin' old.  He used up all of his 9 lives in the first few years - he was 1) attacked by a dog and nearly killed - he had a notch out of his ear as his battle scar
2) Shot.  That shattered his leg and it was rebuilt.  He had a funky external cast thing on for awhile that looked like a handle sticking off his leg.  I think that was on there when FG and I got married.
3) right after he got his "handle" off, he jumped and broke the same leg.  Literally days later.  He had more surgery and got some metal put in there.
4) he developed kitty diabetes and had to have shots of insulin daily

I think there's a few things I'm missing because it seemed like that cat kept the Vet in a Mercedes. 
He was obnoxious when he was younger too.  He sat and tried to take food off my fork when I would eat dinner.  Why he bothered me I have no idea.  But always me.  He would swipe at my hand while I ate.  He also "felt me up" regularly.  FG would pick him up and hold him like a baby. He would reach out one paw and always put it on my boob.  When we were first dating and FG was still living at home, I would spend the night even though I wasn't supposed to.  We managed to keep it a secret in his little twin bed and MIL would come in and put the cat on FG every morning.  As we hid under the covers trying to look like one person, she plopped the cat on us.  We finally told her a few years ago and she swears she had no idea.  (Yes, she really is that clueless sometimes).

The funniest thing about him is the past few years he had a "gang" of old men cats.  I have never ever seen a cat go to another cat's front door and meow until the other cat was let out.  Bubba had two friends who did this regularly.  They came to his door and waited until MIL let him out and then off they would go - grumpy old men.  I think they swapped kitty war stories...."Then the dog, enormous with giant sharp teeth, had me in his clenched jaw...." 

MIL will be very sad for awhile. It's hard to have a cat that long and not miss him.  FG will miss him too.   My kids will really miss him too.  DS does not do well with the animal's deaths.  So I lied. This morning before school I told him that Bubba was sick but still alive.  At that very moment, he was but the vet was on her way over to change that and I knew it.

Whoa! Slow down Time, just a little bit please!

Yikes! October is well upon us.  What did you do for 10-10-10?  I went to a baby shower.  It's been awhile since I've gone to a baby shower.  Baby Showers and Wedding Showers seem to be abundant in your 20's & earlier 30's.  By the time I hit my mid 30's the Wedding Showers were rare and now that I'm, gulp, in my late 30's approaching 40 Baby Showers aren't happening every week either. 

Since I only blog on my PC but can do just about everything else on my ipod I haven't been on here at all. I feel so behind catching up with Bloggy friends!  A few little highlights have been:

• I chaperoned a field trip for DS's 4th grade.  We had to take charter buses and we left school at 9:15 am and returned just before 6 pm.  It was 95 degrees outside and we were in the middle of the desert with NO trees.  It was hot, dusty and sticky.  LONG day that wiped me out.
• I covered for a girl who was sick at the toystore the next day.  It was busy and we are training newbies.  Not fun on a super busy day.
• Last week was Walk (bike) To School day so I helped herd along 9 little children walking to school from a park.  (Our house is a bit far.  Maybe next year we'll attempt it!)
• DD whipped out a poster on Safety about 3 minutes before we left to meet others at the park.  The school was having a contest.
• DD came home from school that day saying she won a new bike & helmet.  I didn't believe her so I called a few people and the PTA President confirmed that she indeed won the bike. 
• DS was very upset.  I do not know how to make this kid happy. I seriously want to take him to a psychologist and find out why he seems to thrive on being unhappy.
• I have been helping out in DD's classroom too.  So. Many. Kids.
• I switched out my summer clothes/shoes for the cool-weather ones over the weekend.  This was after I spent my ONLY day off in a couple of weeks scrubbing down my house.  It was 80 degrees outside while I was packing away shorts and flip flops and pulling out sweaters.  It was definitely a conundrum but I know I won't be wearing the linen pants until next spring anyway.

Now here's my menu

• Sunday - Soup & grilled cheese
• Monday - Roasted whole chicken, rice, veggies
• Tuesday - Kids will get their choice. FG and I have to go to the parents night informing us what they will be teaching our son for the sex-ed program they start in 4th grade.  Lord help me!
• Wednesday - Pork chops, roasted red potatoes, veggies
• Thursday - Grilled tri-tip steak, noodles, spinach salad
• Friday - no idea. I'm hoping FG and I get a date night!
• Saturday - Homemade pizza

Last week I made a chuck roast in the crock pot, chicken fajitas (I had mine on a salad instead of in a tortilla), bacon wrapped stuffed chicken breasts, hot dogs.  It wasn't an overly exciting week!

Today

• I have the day "off".  Meaning I don't have to go to the office, I don't have to go to the toystore and I don't have to volunteer in either classroom.
• Yesterday I attacked the Little Princess' room with the vacuum.  I also too the opportunity to clean up all the little crap.  I think every kid seems to collect copious amounts of little crap!  The dust is gone, her room is cleaner and more organized.  She was happy and didn't even notice the missing "treasures".
• Today I am stripping both children's beds and washing everything - comforters, blankies et al. It felt so good when I washed our bedding last weekend that I decided to share the wealth with the kids.  Must be because the nights are getting cold.
• I am counting down the hours until Saturday morning!  We are going to wine country!  We're driving the big car and bringing another couple with us. We got a great deal on a B&B and where we go, the tastings are all free.  Tomorrow I'll be baking fresh bread & cookies and maybe making a little Chinese Chicken Salad.  I'll hit the cheese counter for some yummy cheese & slice up some apples.... I have been looking forward to this for weeks.
• The biggest downside - my mom is just getting back into town so I didn't ask them to keep the kids. Instead they are going with my FIL and his wench.  I hate it when my kids spend a lot of time with them. They just do NOT respect the fact we are their parents and we have certain parameters.  FG explained it to his dad this way - it's like borrowing a car and returning it dirty, no gas and with a flat tire.  Sure the car is really OK but it's not how you loaned it out.  Same with the kids - they are always returned to us dirty (literally), out of gas and with flat tires.  They let them eat nothing but crap, let them stay up WAY WAY too late and don't even bother to change their clothes.  So we may be very lucky to have a night alone when the kids go with FIL but we pay for it several times over the next day.  I decided awhile ago it wasn't worth it until FG had a talk with his dad and his dad seemed to get the car metaphor.  We're giving them another chance & we'll see how it goes.  Then my parents will have the kids all day on Sunday since my mom will be home. I realize we are super lucky to have family around willing to take the kids but I also think the kids are super lucky to get to spend so much time with their grandparents!
• Right now I'm procrastinating working on the "Go Green" committee for our school.  Somehow I got named the committee chair.  Lucky me.  Now I have all these wonderful volunteers emailing me all their ideas.  Thankfully, I'm not half bad at delegating and when someone says, "How about this?"  I reply, "Great!  You seem to have a good handle on it so far so go ahead and run with it!"  hee hee hee.  Nope, not gonna be the one to have all the ideas thrown at me and have me execute them.  You have an idea, you better research it and get to work on it!
• I also need to clean out the junk drawer.
• I also need/want to clean out my makeup. - All these little things I always say, "If I had a whole day to myself I'd get that done!"  I hope to accomplish some of it.  And a nap. :)
• I think my arch fell slightly and my ankle has been KILLING me for two weeks now.  I'm taking a ridiculous amount of ibuprofen because my whole leg aches.  I have to go get some decent inserts for my shoes.  I think wearing all the cheap flip flops and flats have really made me pay.

If you had the whole day at home to yourself, what would YOU do?

Back to school prep

This week I've been focused on getting everything ready for the kids to go back to school.  As I mentioned before, my shopping reflected it. FG and I also spent a little extra and hit up Costco today for some lunch items and I went to the "regular" grocery store and stocked us up on fresh fruits & veggies among more back-to-school foods for all three meals of the day.  It went a bit beyond my normal budget but we were able to swing it so it's all good.  I got the kids involved so they could pick some items out for lunches too. 
Speaking of that, did you see pigs fly today?  While at the deli for FG and I, DS was looking in the case and said he would like to try the peppered turkey.  The girl gave him a sample slice and he gobbled it up (I snagged a bit of it for DD to try too).  They both asked me to buy them some.  Uh, yeah!  So I was looking all day for those flying pigs.

Here's what we've done so far to get ready for the big transition next week:

• Kept the supply list in my purse so when I would see something cheap, I knew what I needed.
• Marked off what we already had on hand at home so I didn't double buy (really? DS does not need a new pair of scissors every year. Crayons, yes, because there's something about starting off with a brand new box of crayons, colored pencils & markers.  Scissors, backpack, pencil box, ruler?  Not necessary to waste money on every single year!)
• Bought supplies when they were super-cheap a couple of weeks ago. Can't beat $.15 for a notebook!
• Cleaned out the backpacks
• Cleaned out the lunchboxes
• Divided up the supplies into each kid's backpack and checked the list. I do have two more small things to pick up.
• Started to re-read The Out of Sync Child so I can help DS as much as possible and not sound like an idiot when I try to explain his "quirkiness" to his new teacher.
• Checked the ice packs for leaks in case I needed to buy new ones.
• Bought DD a Thermos though I haven't given it to her yet.
• Bought the kids new shoes since they live in flip flops all summer and those are a No No at school (not that I would want them in flip flops on the school playground anyway)
• Went through the kids clothes to assess what will be needed.
• Splurged and bough DD a new outfit for her first day of 1st grade
• Organized the pantry so it's easier to grab breakfast items and lunch items.
• Made breakfast for dinner tonight so I could make a quadruple batch of waffles to freeze for school mornings. (My kids don't know Eggos.  Mine are so much better anyway!)
• Started getting them to bed earlier and getting them up earlier.  sniff sniff. HATE this part!
• This morning had them do a "run through" as if they had to get to school so they did their morning routine the way it will be during the week.  DD has never had to do this as she went to afternoon kindergarten.  It's more for her to get used to it and for me to see if I need to make some changes to make it go smoother.
• Turned down the first request for help in DD's classroom.  I have to work during the day now so I had a decent excuse but dang, school hasn't even started yet and I got asked to stay the first day to help out.  Sometimes that good reputation as a helper isn't a good thing!
• Took a walk with the kids on their bikes and enjoyed the cool evening air!  Soon it will be homework time and earlier sunsets and cold temps!