Monday, April 30, 2007

Tra la la la la

I had a totally awesome weekend, but only have a few minutes, so I can't blog about that now. I actually sat down, because I just finished unpacking from both this weekend and last weekend, and figured I could take a couple minutes to check my emails.

Sweetling just went tra la la la la-ing down the hallway, with ka plunk ka plunk ka plunk following along with her. I looked up to see what the ka plunks were. She had a cup of glass marbles (the kind you put in vases for flower arrangements and the like) and was strewing the marbles all over the hallway like they were flower petals.

I just turned back to my computer without asking.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Mango Margarita OR I'm a stray cat

In the past couple weeks I...

...completed my first scrapbook ever. Key word here is completed. I've worked on scrapbooks before, but you know I'm not down with this completion thing. I got the pictures in the mail for the scrap book on Tuesday afternoon. The Jedi went through them with me on Tuesday night and scanned the ones we were going to use in the computer. On Wednesday I sized some photos and did a little photo editing because the photos were old, and their quality was low. On Wednesday night (after church), I got my first double page spread completed. I did a full day of school on both Wednesday and Thursday, and then on Thursday afternoon, between 3:30 and 11:30...I got all the other scrapbook pages done. Go me. About 18 pages (nine double spreads) in all. Yay :)

...discovered that red and green really do make a yucky color together. We went, as a family, to ColdStone last week or the week before (its all a blur.) The Jedi bought a strawberry cake, which had huge honking whole frozen strawberries on top that one could break a tooth on, but not eat. Sweetling wanted a smoothie, and I through the frozen strawberries in the blender. I didn't rinse the icing off of them, because I figured, bonus sugar, right? Well, red icing and green icing results in grey smoothie. Sweetling and I drank our grey smoothies anyway.

...drove the wrong way down a one way street on purpose with a van full of little girls. I told them to close their eyes. So, maybe that doesn't quite count as corrupting a minor. Endangering maybe...

...decided that as soon as my life calms down, I really need to spend time with my friends. Realized that my life isn't going to calm down until maybe July. Maybe.

...told Telephone that I was NOT working Veteran's Day and that if she signed our troop up for working the Veteran's Day program, I was anticipating being sick that day. Telephone laughed, but she didn't sign us up for Veteran's Day.

...wore matching shirts with Telephone to church on Wednesday. Our camporee theme for the weekend was "Extreme Home Makeover: Camporee Edition." I really really really wanted a shirt. They were so cool. They were also reserved for the workers and the organizers of the event. Which, you know, I wasn't. (see above for a clue as to why). Telephone nabbed me a shirt anyway.

...discovered that getting your thumb smashed by a hammer weilded by a 7 year old really hurts and birdhouses aren't as easy as they should be to build.

...was amazed that 400 girls could spend all day working at stations learning to use tools (including some power drills) and didn't have any injuries worse than a scrapped knee after lunch.

...got my picture taken for the local paper at above events.

...went stargazing with 7 little girls after campfire. Found the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, Polaris, Draco's tail, Orion, Venus, and Saturn and was able to point them out to the girls. (Saturn involved calling the Jedi and having him run a starchart on the computer to tell me where to look and how to find it).

...was the absolute last group of little girls to get to bed.

...became enamored of Mango Margarita and want her as a friend in the worst way. Like grade-school, please oh please oh please be my friend.

...shuffled across the courtyard of the 'fort' in the middle of the night with Mango Margarita because neither of us could sleep for worrying about the seven little girls in the other room. Mango Margarita decided it was too cold to get out of her sleeping bag, so she did the sleeping bag shuffle across the grass. I stepped into my shoes, wrapped my sleeping bag around my shoulders, and through my flimpsy camp cot mattress over my back like a mutant turtle. Just outside the door of the room (which we reached after a great deal of giggling), Mango accurately observed, "We are the biggest losers *EVER*". She creaked open the door, and whispered "Girls, don't be scared, its just us." No one answered her, because the girls were all alseep. Not a single one was lying on their cot in a dark room feeling homesick, needing to go to the bathroom, or too cold to sleep, as we had imagined. Mango slept on the last cot open in the girls room, and I slept on my sorry camp cot pad on the floor. We still slept fitfully, waking up when the girls would turn over. (Which really was noisier than it sounds.) In the morning, we further proved our dorkiness because between the two of us, we couldn't get Mango's sleeping bag rolled up and back in its nifty duffle bag. The two of us were outside, trying to wrestle the sleeping bag into submission long after all the 7 and 8 year olds had rolled their sleeping bags up and packed up for the day.

...drank more hot chocolate than I even want to think about.

....have successfully made many dinners in the crockpot, which I remembered to plug in and turn on. Now I just have to work out this whole "turn it off" part at the end.

...am two weeks behind in my Beth Moore bible study. Haven't decided if I want to try to catch up, or skip it.

...am sleeping through the night, for 7-8 hours, but still feel sleepy through the day. The answer of course, is to maybe exercise to get my circulation perked up. Or something else that just isn't going to happen.

...learned that "putzed", which I've always used as a synonym for "puttered" has a *totally* different meaning.

...have been so very very glad that I didn't order any seeds or bareroot plants for the garden. The outdoors is just going to have to fend for itself this year. Its getting NOTHING from me. Nothing.

...tried to tactfully explain to Sweetling why its important that she get her foot up high enough to kick the little boy she is sparring with *above* the belt.

Next week, I'll...

...keep up the amazing progress Sweetling has made in school the past few weeks. She's gone from being behind (from missing a lot when mother was in the hospital and had appointments all over the place), to being on track to finish within the first week of June. I'd like to get finished before the end of May, but that's a long shot.

...get fabric and a pattern to start sewing Sweetling's dress for Vaya's wedding.

...hem 14 sashes for girl dancers.

...finish painting fishes on Energy's wall.

...clean Sweetling's fishtank and take her to pick out a couple new fish as a reward for the school progress she has made.

...wish I was able to celebrate the first of May properly. Nothing in our yard is conducive to that though.

...go on walks or scooter rides with Sweetling. Post our minutes on FlyLady's 'bless your heart' club to participate in her 'virtual walking tour' of America.

...make three dozen cookies for the reception after the Children's Musical on Sunday.

...call Mom to tell her about the Children's Musical on Sunday.

...get together a grocery list for May and go shopping. When I'll get to go shopping, I don't know. Maybe the Jedi can take Sweetling to Tae Kwon Do on Tuesday and I'll go while they're in class. Maybe I should do the May shopping week by week, since there's so much craziness going on. Maybe trying to go shopping every week would only make it worse.

...realize my plans for the week have a distinct lack of fun or interesting activities. Drink more hot chocolate to compensate.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Stuck

I'm writing a letter about the Jedi to someone who is very important to the Jedi. The Jedi asked me to do this, and I agreed. BUT, I'm stuck. I can't explain in a whole lot of details, because the Jedi is so very private, and I'm not sure he wants his story posted on my internet blog. I've gotten two paragraphs finished.

Stuck.

Suggestions?

And yes, I've been scarce. If it makes you feel better, I went for days without being on Webkinz either. Christopher Robin will tell you its because its spring.

Yes, it is Spring. Hooray for Spring. Glorious Spring. Wonderful Spring.

It also happens that every spring my life gets really busy. This spring is more busy than most. Now, I'm trying NOT to sound like a helpless victem of circumstance. I think that's a broken record that has been skipping along the same sorry rut in the women of my family for a while now. TPTTPTPTPPPPtttt to being a victim. I'm all freaking done with that.

But, in the priorities of my life right now, sitting down to spend time at the computer isn't high on my list. Not that I don't love all of you. Just that computer time is pretty far down there on my list at the moment.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Cleaning out my Yahoo mail

It isn't on the list, but the laundry is nearly caught up. and anyway, I have to hang out in the school room to help Sweetling not get distracted.

Anyway, I came across a Cranium "newsletter" (read graphic advertisement with a code for free shipping that's already expired.) And, being the productive, non-sucker that I am, I click on the link for their new blog site.

I read...

she asked him a couple days ago how stoplights changed color, he asked her to put forth her theory.

“I can think of three things that make stoplights change colors,” he said. “Can you tell me what any of those might be?”

“People can push the button …” she said.

“And?” Adam asked.

Lucy paused for a moment before answering.

“Gnomes?” she suggested.

And Sweetling (remember, I'm in the room so that she doesn't distract herself from school) immediately begins drawing me a possible circuit for the interior of traffic lights. Then we went on to read about the gnomes together.

Hey Vaya, check out the dress I found for me for your wedding. Go me. I should post this as an image so Christopher Robin gets to see it. No, nevermind, I need to beg her for favors. I shall not tease her with dresses.

About Completion

Just a little thought of encouragement for myself:

Getting it done IS the "right" way of doing it...NOT "doing it the right way"

I have a lot on my list. I just need to get it done, not fret myself into paralysis over getting it done 'perfectly'.

Vaya is my foster daughter. We got guardianship of her just before she turned 18, only because they wouldn't let us adopt her. But everyone assumes that we're sisters, because I look 15 at best, and Vaya looks 12 ;) Sweetling looks, um, sweet enough to eat. I think I'll go do that now. Better run little girl who is reading over my shoulder. Your stuffed eagle isn't going to save you.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Ding, dong, the list is here...

It does *so* work as a title. You just weren't trying hard enough.

Sweetling's birthday: May12th
cake
location
games
craft
party favors
decorations
invitations
snacks
guest list

Energy's room: ?
sort clothes, fill drawers
paint fish
toys?
books?
figure out what IS that STUFF on the shelf of his closet
comforter for bed
scrape vaya's stickers off the windows
items for shower: car seat, big wheel, baby monitor?, church clothes

Sewing projects:
flower girl dress
my dress
1850's outfit?
-find patterns (Simplicity 3987)
-buy fabric and notions
-shop around for dress for me so I don't have to sew one

Vaya's wedding: May 19th
procure tableclothes (9 round and 2 rectangular)
beg and borrow glass bowls (8)
buy floating candles (8)
buy ivy 3 runners, 8 circles
get plates, utensils, etc- 60 people
plan menu with Mollie
drinks, coolers, ice
outdoor seating arrangements (Christopher Robinnn....)

The Jedi's scrapbook

Girls' Dance May 7th
--figure out where in the world I put the CDs
--hem sashes
--borrow streamers from Guappa

Guatemala!!!!!!!!!!!!
-get list from NiceLady of needed items
-get said list to Office Jewel
-pack medicine bag (sounds so tribal)
-list of materials for plane ride
-get second Hep B shot (ooops, hope the first one is still valid)
-disposable cameras
-get vacation fish feeder
-ask neighbor to grab mail

Summer
--darn schedule
--Sweetling handwriting
--Spanish
--summer reading list
--scrapbooks

Garden
--move strawberry patch
--reseed lawn
--mulch under swings

Computer
--rename and save photos

School
--math
--history
--literature
--grammar
--vocabulary
--spelling
--art

Ok. I'm stopping now. I was excited when I sat down to make my list...but I can sense myself turning sarcastic. So I'll stop now. I have BIG news to share though. I put it last as a special treat for everyone who loved me enought to read trough my list....

Energy's adoption case has been approved by the Guatemalan government! Hooray! We'll all be flying to Guatemala to get him at the end of May, beginning of June sometime. Woo and HOO!

I'm editing this entry and greying things out as I get them done.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Me want spring!!!

I don't have a lot of room to complain, cause we don't have snow here...on the other hand...we have cold and mud here. Of the two, snow might be preferable. That would at least give me an excuse to send Sweetling outside to play while I did many productive things....none of them involving Webkinz. ;)

I was going to say that I have nothing to write about, but that's not true. I have plenty to write about. The truth is just that I don't feel like writing.

I want the magic house fairy to come in and clean my house. Or at least pick up and put away all my clutter. I can clean, I can't declutter. No, that's a lie. I can clean, and I don't like to declutter.

And I want chocolate. I should take five minutes and do just a few exercises. Because you know, five minutes of exercising totally negates a chocolate binge, right?

Sweetling is dressing herself out of clothes in "buckets". I had, several weeks ago, put away all her winter clothes and put out all her summer clothes. The Jedi, in his wisdom, didn't take the large storage tubs out to the garage just yet. Which is good, cause he'd have been bringing them back in from the garage a week after I packed everything up. Now Sweetling is living out of two plastic storage tubs till the weather changes back to what its *supposed* to be.

We put on music after devotions this morning and got 15 mintues of cleaning done. We did a five minute room rescue in the school room. We got math and some history done. We're having egg salad for lunch. I lit candles to bring some more cheer in...but there's still a distinct lack of cheer and enthusiasm over here.

Nonetheless, I'm being a good little girl and staying home to do school and housework instead of giving up and heading to Christopher Robins house. My reward for being good is that I get to stay home and do school and housework.

I need to pick a better reward? Do I want to reward myself this afternoon with Buffy, Malcolm, or webkinz?

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Beedy Red Eyes

This is a "collectable" dice game inside the webkinz world. Its a strategy game...you try to knock out your opponent's move dice, defend your own move dice...and at the end of the turn, each player advances...if they have any move dice left.

In this lovely photo, I'm in the process of having my sweet pink bottom handed to me by a tree frog controlled by an eight year old. Notice the beedy red tree frog eye's staring at me in mockery.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Tadpoles and Accountants

One of these two things are absolutely adorable and a blessing from God. The other is the embodiment of slow, cruel torture. Can you guess which is which?

I didn't blog on Tuesday. I should know better than to make predictions. You should know better than to believe me.

It was a beautiful day :) We had had a "spell" with mother that morning that was a bit worrisome. But, by the afternoon, she was doing much better. Smurf had come over to be with me and Mom, cause Mom's health was still a bit iffy and she needed someone with her just in case. (The anti-coagulent level in her blood was dangerously high, any bleeding or bruising or signs of spontaneous internal bleeding was cause for an er trip). But, like I said, by the afternoon she was no longer weak or dizzy, and was in fact, pretty perky. I was restless. Smurf wanted to take Sweetling for a walk. Mom wanted to go. I wasn't going to stay cooped up in the house when it was sunny and 80 out....so we took our health frail mother to the local nature preserve. That's right. But, in fairness, its not a 'rugged' nature preserve. It has a paved asphalt path and I had a wheelchair in my van, so we thought we'd go for a walk and let Mom alternately walk and ride when she needed to.

There's a little pond there, and it was *full* of tadpoles. I have never in my life seen so many tadpoles. The pond had a small wooden deck so that we could stand on the deck and lean over the rail to look straight down at the shallow edge of the pond. And that's where all the tadpoles were. Fat tadpoles lazily hovering over the rocks at the bottom of the pond. Every now and then one would slowly swim up to the surface. We who were leaning over the railing decided that they were coming up to say "hi". They were just adorable. I loved them :)

Accounting on the other hand, is a very different story. Mom is taking Financial Accounting and Business Stats. She's not very computer savy, and has trouble getting her homework to format correctly on the computer. She asked if I would type the problems up for her after she worked them out on paper. I thought, hey, I can type and use a computer. I said sure. Foolish mortal that I am. Accounting sucks. Accounting sucks so bad that even excel, which was created to do accounting, hates to format accounting homework problems.

Tadpoles good. Accounting bad.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Back to Life, Back to Reality

You know, the next time anyone hears me whining about wanting a break from my life, smack me upside the head.

I had a break from my life for about a week and a half now....AND I WANT MY LIFE BACK!

There. I'm done with my temper tantrum. Almost. Can I just say that getting excited about being able to do laundry and housework again is a *bad* sign. A very bad sign.

I got to clean my kitchen today and pick up a bunch of clutter in the living room and I am thrilled. Its like the Easter Bunny came early :) I can't wait till I get a chance to get some of my laundry in the machines. I'm totally serious. I know I'm often sarcastic, but I swear I'm serious this time!

Spring happened while I was at the hospital with Mom. Literally. I went on a walk in the hospital courtyard on one of the first days I was there, and the ground was bare and the trees had just the faintest of buds on them. I went down with Mom when she was allowed to push her IV into the elevator and go on a short walk. There were daffodils and baby leaves and sunshine and pear blossoms. It was beautiful. It could not have happened in so short a time, but it did.

I spent Saturday morning puttering outside for a little. I cut back the dead growth from last fall and did some early spring weeding. I have to move the strawberry patch though. boo hoo. The strawberry patch is directly off the back patio. Sweetling is very careful to go around the strawberry patch. The worry is that E is for Energy will go THROUGH the strawberry patch on his way to the lawn. Its a valid worry. And the lawn isn't that big, so having that area as lawn space will be better for a little boy to kick a soccer ball around on.

I'm moving the strawberry patch into the butterfly garden. Now, the butterfly garden has been, to date my most successful gardening attempts. I felt like crying as I ripped up the path in preparration for moving things around. It started to rain, and I was sitting in the mud digging up buckets of decorative rocks that were in the path. The Jedi (who had spent the morning changing the oil in the van and car) came around to make sure I had enough sense to stop what I was doing and come in out of the rain. I wouldn't have left to my own devices. Sitting in the mud in the rain digging up rocks fit my mood for most of the past couple of weeks. But I stopped. The Jedi took my trowel and my bucket away from me and put them in the garage. And I did feel much better after a shower.

The plants still need moved. They are already nearly too big to transplant. Spring happens FAST.

Lushgirl tagged me with songs, I think. I'll try to get back to that tomorow. (And hooray for having a tomorrow when I *know* I can sit down and blog.

For now, my little timer has gone off. Fifteen minutes are up. I'm going to go start dinner. (Monkey bread, bacon, eggs and canteloupe).