Spring Preview

As soon as the kids got home from school today, we headed outdoors to enjoy the warmer weather. While it reached 56 degrees today, it was still a little on the cold side.

Ryan and his friend that comes over after school played a game of baseball.

Both of them impressed me with how well they were hitting each other's pitches.
Both Ryan and his friend are moving up to machine pitch baseball this year, so this is very promising to see.

Ryan slams one out of the backyard.

Running to second base.

This kid is ready to learn how to slide!

Quick "cheese" for mom.

Chloe was happy to get outside for awhile, too.

She is determined to graduate to the big girl swing.

After Ryan's friend got picked, Ryan and I took Chloe and the dog for a walk.

Camera oops.

I tried to get a picture of Ryan and Chloe walking, but the dog had other ideas. Every time Ryan would get ahead of Chloe, she would run with her arms out, trying to catch up with him, yelling "Eye-an!"

After dinner Ryan really wanted to see if any of his friends were out playing so we went for another (much longer) walk. No one was outside and now the sore muscles are really kicking in. I may have overdone it today, but I really needed that second walk after taking a second helping of spaghetti tonight.

Is it bedtime yet? It's all hitting me now.

Someone Finally Heard My Prayers

It is a beautiful 56 degrees and sunny outside right now. I can't wait for my kids to get home from school and for Chloe to get up from her nap so we can head on outside until the sun goes down. (I guess I'll have to feed everyone at some point, though.)

I forced (no exaggeration there) myself to go to Body Step at the gym this morning. It was 60 minutes of pure evil torture. OK, it wasn't that bad, but by the end of the class I was in a world of hurt. I never thought I'd see the day that I did classes like this. Two years ago my friend (hi, Em!) joined and somehow managed to talk my stuck in a treadmill and elliptical routine butt into going to one of these classes. Now I'm hooked. There's no way I could go and work out for an hour on one of those machines and not drop dead from boredom. So, now I'm back to going and hopefully won't start slacking off after two weeks again.

I came home and had a banana to tide me over until lunch, which consisted of 2 chicken ceasar wraps with grated parmesan cheese - oh so yummy and only 8 points. Yummy, but not all that filling. I'm now eating Girl Scout Lemonades straight from the box from the freezer where I thought they'd be safe. Hm, who knew they were so good frozen?! I am in so much trouble here. Thank, God the box isn't full!

No More Excuses

I have been a nonsmoker for 3 months and 1 week. It sure seems like it should be longer than that though - a good thing, I'm sure. I really don't keep track much anymore. The only reason I knew I had passed the 3 month mark is because the little ticker over there to the left told me so. I'm down to taking just one Chantix pill in the morning and am ready to go off. I still can't remember to take the darn things and I'm tired of the headaches, nausea, moodiness and being tired. It's time to get back to being myself again.

So now with 3 months under my belt, it's time to stop making excuses for gaining weight and not taking care of myself. I've put on 15 pounds (and trust me, I didn't need it to begin with) since I quit smoking. It's been forever since my last visit to the darn gym. Between sick kids, school carnivals, time changes and being sick myself, it's time to go back. Body Step tomorrow morning at 9am. No excuses.

To give myself a little jump start and some motivation, I dragged out the stack of Weight Watchers books from the back of my kitchen cabinet, dusted them off and recorded my points for today. I've been watching what I've been eating today and was pretty excited to see how I was doing. Apparently, not so well. I have 3 points left for dinner. Not good.

Almost Celebrities

We were this close to being on the local news this evening at 5pm! Ryan's Tiger Scout Den had a field trip to our local news station and got to sit in and watch the 5pm broadcast. It was really neat to see how they go back and forth between the news anchors and the pretaped segments. If they had enough time, they were going to show us on air, but it didn't end up happening. Bummer. We did get recognized by the meteorologist, though! I also didn't realize it, but the screen behind Chuck Collins when he does the weather is nothing but a green wall. They add it in digitally. Definately a fun experience. I think the parents got more out of it than the boys did, though.

We Call That March Around Here

It's been awhile since my last post and I still don't really have anything interesting for you. I seem to have hit a temporary little "blogger's block" here. That and I spent so much time on the computer in the weeks up until Rock The House that I'm just a bit computered out. I went from being insanely stressed out and busy to - nothing. My house is clean, the laundry is caught up as well as the DVR. It's like the calm before the storm. It's what we call March around here.

March is the month where there is nothing going on. March is still too cold outside to do much of anything, but it does give you a glimpse of what's to come - a spattering of days here and there that are springlike where you spend the day outside with your kids only to come back inside at night, exhausted and worn out, saying that you are so not ready for every day to be like today.

March eventually turns into April and your kids and their Spring sports swing into full gear. Spring sports turn into Summer sports and then there is no time to breathe again until summer is over - well no time except for those lazy days at the pool.

Which brings us back to March. We're already into the second week of March and we need to seriously get on this teaching Ryan how to swim thing. Last spring we enrolled him in swim lessons, only to have that end in major trauma. This spring I am determined to have this kid get over the fear of sticking his face in the water so he can learn how to swim before summer gets here. With Chloe able to walk this summer, I really need him to be able to swim on his own or our trips to the pool may not happen very often this summer due to high stress levels. So I shall be enrolling him again and will be praying for the locker room door to behave itself this year.

March also messes up the internal clock. We got up this morning and it was after lunch before we realized that we were suppose to set the clocks forward. By bedtime I couldn't figure out why the kids were so NOT tired when I realized that for them it was like being put to bed at 7:30pm. Now I'm sitting here at 10:40pm and am the furthest thing from tired, which means that I'll be dragging tomorrow morning.

Soon enough March will be turning into April and life will become hectic again. For now, I think I'll enjoy the break.

Another Day

Thanks to everyone for all of their support and positive words. I started this off as a comment and it eventually turned into a post on it's own.

It took me awhile to comprehend it myself yesterday. When I first got the phone call, it was like at first I didn't understand and then the panic took hold. For fifteen minutes, I had no idea how bad the situation was. Thankfully (even though it still angers me to no end) it seems to have been a false alarm.

There's been a lot of media coverage on school shootings in the news lately. In Peoria we've had two lock downs since last week and then there were the NIU shootings. Nonstop media coverage and we wonder where kids are getting the idea from. Only in yesterday's situation at Ashley's school, it's being said now that a parent called it in and that 4 individuals were questioned but nothing came of it. That is unacceptable to me - someone should be held accountable and I really hope they get to the bottom of this.

On the flip side though, our school handled it very well. Ashley said that the principal made an announcement that the school was going into lock down and within seconds, everyone was in position. She said at first no one knew what was going on and thought that maybe it was another practice drill. After a half hour passed, they started thinking it was real but didn't feel like they were in any danger. For the next hour they sat in their corner talking quietly with friends until the all clear was announced.

I do feel confident that were this a real life threatening situation, or if one were to arise in the future, that our kids would be safe and taken care of. That's what gave me the strength to send her back today.

The Moment Time Stopped

I got a phone call this afternoon that made my blood run cold. A friend of mine informed me that my daughter's school was in lock down due to a gun threat. She didn't have any other information than that. A gun threat at a middle to upper class middle school that parents send their kids to for a better, safer education. For fifteen minutes I knew nothing other than that. I called my husband and told him all I knew and to get to the school as fast as he could.

Many phone calls between many people later, it was learned through the news that it was reported that a gun "may" have been brought to school. The school was put on lock down - kids were locked in their classrooms with the lights turned off, huddled in the corner until the all clear was given.

The gun was never found and the students and staff were eventually dismissed. Ashley's phone paid for itself when she called me from the bus on her way home to check in with me. Unfortunately, during the lock down it was turned off and in her locker.

Everyone is safe here at home now and life goes on, but it's going to be hard sending her out the door in the morning. What is wrong with this world?! How are you suppose to send your kids to school after something like this happens? I just have to remind myself that it could have been so much worse.

Are You Serious? Another One?

I could barely get through the last one, it was so bad. And if it's not bad enough, they've had to look outside of the good ol' USA to find a guy that might possibly not screw up this time? Whatever.

Ready To Check Out

It's been a long day and I'm ready to stop being "mom" for awhile. One kid is in bed - one still left to get there. The kids are I started dropping like flies last night and this morning.

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Yesterday had turned out to the a beautiful day - 70 degrees - and the kids and I walked aroung the outdoor mall helping Ashley spend her birthday gift cards. The day flew by and we settled down together later last night to watch the first Indiana Jones movie. (Ryan's soon to be new obsession, I'm sure. He's already drooling over the new Lego's that are out.)

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Towards the end of the movie it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was freezing cold at first, and then boiling hot with a headache fast approaching. I took my temperature while Bret put the kids to bed and found it was 101.5. I took some Advil and then headed off to bed where my body couldn't decide if it was warm or cold.

*

By 5am, Ryan was in our bed burning up with a fever, too. I got up and gave him Tylenol and then Bret and I spent the next hour and a half trying to convince him that it was still the middle of the night and he couldn't get up and play Webkinz on the computer. He did fall back asleep and was still out when I woke up at 10am, achy and just feeling yucky.

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Ashley woke up soon after at 10:30am and was already starting on her fever and headache. At 11:30am I went in and started waking Ryan up so he'd be able to sleep tonight. There may be no hope for me in that department since I dozed on and off on the couch while he watched Star Wars movies this afternoon.

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So yes, we all sat around today all lazy like and got absolutely nothing done. Chloe stayed home today and will be home again tomorrow so we can make sure we're not passing this stuff back and fourth. It just seems like we've been sick on and off since January. I'm over it already - I don't have time to be sick.

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At least we got it all together this time, instead of taking turns over the next couple of weeks.

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*Blogger is being a non double spacing brat again.

Tagged

Just when I was coming up blank on what to blog about today, Maggie came to the rescue.

THE RULES:

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

1. Take my diet coke away from me and it won't be pretty. I was able to give up the cigarettes, but my diet coke addiction is another thing.
2. Everyone always comments on how organized I am and how clean my house is, but the truth is, I can be just as big of a slob as the next person. Open my closet and cabinet doors at your own risk.
3. As much as I'd love to be, I am not the fun, playful parent. I am the one the kids come to when they are sad, hurt or angry. I am the one that makes sure their day to day life stays on course. This tends to happen during the school year when things get busy. Then summer comes and it's all about playtime. That's something I need to work on - the balancing act.
4. My guilty pleasure is forgetting about the outside world and losing myself in a good book. There is nothing better and it's been too long.
5. My favorite way to spend an evening during the summer is parked in my red Dick's Sporting Good's chair, watching my son play baseball or my daughter play softball with a large diet coke from McD's in my hand.
6. I tend to be impulsive. I get an idea in my head and have to act on it immediately.
7. My vocabulary digresses more and more every day. You don't want to know how long it took me to come up with the word "impulsive" in number 6. I know what word I'm trying to dig out of the cobwebs in my brain, but it takes forever for it to come to me. I get stuck and someone usually has to finish my thought for me. That tends to happen when your main conversations during the day are with a one year old. Hm, early stages of Alzheimer's?
8. Ooh, ooh, ooh - I just thought of one more. I have an obsession with purses. With some it's shoes, but not me. I can't walk through a store and not look at the purses. Luckily, I'm happy with your average Kohls or Target brand or it could become a problem.

Now I'd like to tag Jamie, Teri and anyone else who wants to play!

Spring Fever

I'm not sure what to do with myself. I've spent the last week getting my PTO binder in order, updating all of the paperwork in it and making sure it's ready to go for next year. There are only a few receipts left to come in and it's looking like our profit is going to be $14,600.00.

I could (and should) spend the day doing laundry and housework, but it's too hard to get serious work done around the house when everyone is home and sitting in front of the TV - makes you want to curl up and take a nap. The downstairs area that the girls spent the night in is a total mess. I should really do something about it, but am pretty much unmotivated at this point.

It's hard to snap back to normal daily life after being so consumed by RTH. There are a million things I need to do now that I've got the time, but I just can't seem to focus. I'm looking forward to Spring when we can get out of the house with the kids and have some fun. I'm getting sick of being cooped up in the house all the time.

I've got our zoo membership application on the counter and ready to be sent in. The Peoria Zoo is undergoing a major renovation right now and by Spring it's suppose to be completed. There is also a huge wooden park with mazes and tunnels next to the zoo that the kids love. Our membership will get us into any zoo all the way from St. Louis to Chicago and more for free. I'm thinking some road trips are going to be in order once the weather gets nice.

So, no more snow and ice. I'm done and over it. I want to see trees and plants bloom and come to life again. I'm ready for Volleyball matches and Baseball and Softball games. Bring me cool spring nights with friends, bonfires and Margaritas. Please, bring it soon!

The Big Hamster Wheel In The Sky

It's not a good thing when your daughter has 5 of her friends over for a sleepover and when they go to get the hamster to play with it the next morning, it has passed away. Rest In Peace, Lil' Pirate.

4 Hours Til Lights Out

Poor Bret and Ryan are on their way home from Grandma & Grandpa's house. They have no idea what they're in for. All five girls (1 didn't show, 1 is in Disney and 1 is sick.) are upstairs waiting for Bret to get home and hook up the DVD player to the new TV so they can watch The Nanny Diaries on the big TV.

Ashley scored pretty big with gifts earlier. You know your daughter is growing up when she gets all gift cards for her birthday from her friends. Tomorrow we'll be shopping at Aeropostale, Claires, Target and the new mall. Sweet.

Partytime

Two years ago when Ashley had a sleepover party for her birthday (it took me that long to recover), my friend Em made Ashley's name out of sugar cookies since my daughter is not a cake lover. This year I was on my own since Em moved away last summer. You gotta love break and bake. Only this year I stopped at "Ash" because two years ago the girls were so high on sugar that they didn't go to bed until 4am. Ouch.

The girls are all here now and they have the camera so there should be plenty of interesting pictures to share.

She's Growing Up

Ashley's 12th Birthday is today and we had Bret's side of the family over for Pizza and Ice Cream Cake. She didn't know that we had a huge surprise in store for her.

She opened her presents, unsuspecting that her biggest wish was soon going to become true.

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She's been wanting a tote for school badly since her backpack broke. I found this really cute one at Aeropostale for my Grandma to give her.

Bret's parents bought her a much needed new bike. Her legs must be longer than mine already, because it was quite hilarious seeing me try to swing my leg over the seat.

Ryan got his traditional "Pity Gift". We were going to buy him this movie anyway since it got deleted off of the DVR. It's his all time favorite movie. Uncle Grant may have had a little too much cake.

Mitchell was quite the little helper opening up Ashley's gifts.

So now we come to the unsuspecting big moment. Ashley thought she was done opening her gifts and was cleaning up all of the wrapping paper when Bret told her to go look in the drawer in the front hallway. Inside the drawer was a note that told her to ask everyone to be quiet. As everyone quietly listened, the faint strains of Happy Birthday started to play from her new cell phone that was wrapped and hidden in the breakfront cabinet. (Tip: If you want to be able to hear the phone ringing, don't wrap it and hide it in a cabinet. It will confuse the heck out of the birthday girl.)

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She did find it - and I've never seen her look more excited before than at this moment...

Lucky for us, her best friend also has a Verizon cell phone, so they can talk for free until the battery goes dead on them.

One happy almost teenager.

We're pretty laid back here. Cake in the living room? Sure, why not.

She got all 12 on the first try.

Ok, we're not THAT relaxed around here. In the kitchen, messy ones.

Yes, you're all still pretty cute.

Happy Birthday, Ash!

(This weekend I'll be questioning my sanity when I have 8 girls overnight for Ashley's sleepover party with her friends.)

Must Sit Down And Write Post

You'd think that with the school carnival being over, I'd have time to breathe. I've still been pretty busy tying up loose ends and trying to figure out our profit. I swear, you can tell people until you're blue in the face to get their reimbursement forms in on time, but there are always some that don't listen. So, I still don't know what our profit is yet. I keep trying to get numbers from our treasurer, but she's not done yet and it's frustrating. Until I get those numbers, I can't even come up with a rough estimate. So I wait.

Saturday night couldn't have run any smoother than it did. Everything went off without a hitch. Many parents and teachers have said that this year was more organized than ever and that the kids finally had enough to do to keep them busy. In the past, it's always been about making money through the Raffle and the kids ended up bored because they haven't had enough to do to last the whole night. This year we added all kinds of activities and games and it was a huge success. The kids had a blast and the parents were impressed. That's what matters.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my family and I did pretty well in the Raffle ourselves this year. We won the iPod Nano Video (that is now mine after finessing it out of my daughter's hands), a Picnic In The Park classroom basket filled with all kinds of fun stuff, a Cold Stone Creamery Gift Basket (which reminds me that I have to order Ashley's ice cream cake for tomorrow), ice skating passes, a small gift bag that included a $15 gift card to Anecdotes, a small gift shop here in Peoria, and a bunch of free kids meal at Chili's. My mother in law won a Remote Control Helicopter for the kids to play with at her house. I'd say we all made out pretty well.

While Bret and Ryan enjoyed the carnival, Ashley and her friend ran a booth all night. They worked their butts off. The only moment I got to sit down was to eat dinner with my family for about 15 minutes. I had Bret go through the line and get all of our dinners and met up with him and the kids at the table. My reasoning was that the carnival had me all night, but I was determined to eat dinner with my family. Once dinner was over, I did indeed run around all night, making sure everything ran smoothly and keeping the DJ on track. It was a lot of fun, but when I did finally get home and into bed, the wheels in my head were still spinning at a hundred miles per hour.

There have also been some new developments since all this started. A week before the carnival, our PTO President announced that she and her family are being transferred over seas to Australia for 3 years through her husband's job at Caterpillar. He leaves this weekend. She and the kids leave next month. It's going to be really sad when they go because she has done so much for the school this year. I'm now preparing to learn how to run the PTO for the remainder of the year in her shoes. Will someone please knock me in the side of the head to see if my common sense returns?

Throughout all of this, I've remained smoke free. Over the weekend I did have some really strong cravings to smoke. I got through them, but it wasn't fun. I've been trying to get back on the Chantix since my doctor's appointment, but I just can't remember to take it - or my other medicine. Life should start to calm down now this week, which might help, but I'm not sure what to do with the Chantix. I don't want to slip up, but I just can't remember to take the darn stuff. Without it, I do notice more cravings so it may be best to try and discipline myself into taking it.

Ok. I'm off to try and get my poor neglected house back in order. Everyone is about out of clean underwear here and I've been trying to get the bathrooms clean since last Wednesday.

Oh My!

Wow. That went really fast. It's all over and done with and was a HUGE success! I'm going to go drag myself down the hallway and find my bed.

I'll share all the details tomorrow, but will leave you with this: We only have a rough estimate at this time, but we made more money this year than any other year.

Plus Ashley won a classroom basket and we also won an iPod Nano and 4 other prizes in the Raffle! Whoo hoo!

I'm beat, but man was it awesome!

Rock The House Decorations

After 3 more hours at school this morning the decorating is done and we are READY to ROCK!

This is the quilt that all of the first graders made for our Silent Auction. I want it bad!!!

Ryan's square:

To see all of the decoration pictures, click here.

Preview

Guess who's son was the top seller of Raffle Tickets in his classroom? Ryan was super excited and very surprised during school yesterday when he was announced the winner.

Yesterday was pretty much a whirlwind of chaos and fun. The big night isn't until tonight, but we were at school until 7pm setting up last night. I snapped a few pictures in the gym, but the lighting isn't very good in there and I have no idea what setting to put the camera on. We're suppose to meet back up at school this morning to blow up balloons and finish up the decorations. I'll get more pictures this morning because I stopped taking them last night when I realized I was going to have to take new ones today when we were done. These are just a few of the booths in the gym. Wait until you see the commons area where everything else is. It looks awesome, if I say so myself.

Margarita, Anyone?

Well, well, well. Would you look what I found while cleaning my kitchen this afternoon. I forgot I had this baby. Does this stuff expire? LoL.

I am READY for this carnival to be here. As of today, we've made a profit of at least $9000.00 and the carnival isn't even for two more days yet. And that's just an estimate from Raffle and Dinner Ticket Sales sold so far.

Ok, back to cleaning my house. I have got to get it done so I can get back to it!

Stop The Clock

I just need a few more hours in each day. Can someone make that happen for me? Between taking care of the catering order, redecorating ticket cans, painting Plinko boards, drinking Margaritas at TGI Friday's (yum), carting kids to and from volleyball and tutoring, collecting dinner ticket orders daily, keeping tabs on 20-some committees.... I'm ready for this thing to be here already.

Today was the final day for raffle and ticket sales. I spent most of the school day going through and filling orders and am happy to say that our dinner ticket orders have officially exceeded last year's total. Adding the gondola option along with the original Spaghetti dinner that we have catered in paid off. Our raffle - which is our major money maker - is only $600 away from last year's total. And the carnival isn't even hear yet. I think I may have pulled this off after all.

The kids are excited, which is the best part about the whole thing. All day today, as we worked through 3 lunch periods, we had kids coming up to us and asking us who the top winners were. It was great to see them so into it. My son doesn't know this, but he is one of the top two sellers in his classroom. His classroom also sold the most tickets. (Don't look at me - another kid in his class sold over 800 tickets and we weren't even really trying.) The funny part is that they win a pizza party and my son doesn't even like pizza. Ha! He'll be really surprised and excited on Friday when he finds out he won. Maybe I'll bring him a Happy Meal the day of the party instead.

*Sigh* In 2 more days it'll be here. (Friday pretty much means it's here because that's when we start getting the school ready for Saturday night.) The most relaxing 25 minutes I've had all week were when I sat in my van drinking a White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks while I waited for my son during his tutoring session. Chloe snacked on graham crackers and juice and I sipped away in a relaxed haze. And then it was over before it began and it hasn't slowed down again since.

Two more days.... And you bet I'm taking pictures that night to share!

Back From The Brink

(I have no idea what is up with Blogger and their line spacing problem these days!)

I'm back. Did anyone miss me? Does anyone still come here? It feels like forever since I've posted.

I'm still not smoking. How, through out all of this stress I've been under the past week or two, I've managed not to smoke is beyond me but I'm still going strong at 10 weeks and 3 days. I had an appointment for my annual physical on Friday with the doctor that prescribed my Chantix. She was proud of me, which in turn made me proud of myself. I told her that I've been weening off of the Chantix and even then am still not remembering to take it. She told me that she recommends patients to take the Chantix for 2-4 months longer than the recommended 12 weeks to keep them on track and to keep them quit. I've got a prescription to extend it, but am not sure what I should do. I do still get the tuggings, and while I get through those tuggings just fine, I am wondering if I should stay on the Chantix. The only reason I had stopped taking it was because I couldn't remember to take it routinely, so the nausea had been a real problem. We'll see.

In less than a week, the school carnival will be here. Friday the craziness will truely start and by Saturday evening it'll be all over with. I pray that it's a big success. As long as it makes as much money as it's made in the past and the kids have a great time, I'll be able to sleep at night again.

Below is our baby. My co-chair's husband made this Plinko board for the carnival. The kids have all complained that there weren't enough games in the past, so we've loaded them up with lots of choices, but this here below is our baby. I've put many, many coats of paint on it and am ready to add the letters and numbers to it now. (My house looks like a mini carnival with a Plinko board in the living room and a bozo type bucket game in the hallway.)

Along with planning the school carnival, Ashley has thrown a birthday sleepover party in the mix for the following weekend. She decided that she wanted Dance Dance Revolution for the game system downstairs to use during her party, so my mom and brother went in on it for her birthday. Bret has it playing through his stereo system and she's been practicing all day. I tried it - it wasn't pretty. LoL. But with that and Karaoke, I think she'll be set for her party now.

Ryan's Blue & Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts was tonight. His Den made a dragon costume to go with the whole theme they had going on. It was way to cute to see them trying to keep up with each other while they walked around the room.

Ryan earned his Tiger patch and 5 belt loops. (Guess I have to go buy the belt now.)

As soon as the banquet was over, we headed over to catch the rest of our Niece's birthday party.

Where they had trick candles. I love those things.

It's been a long day and I'm ready for bed. Last night we had friends over for dinner and drinks and I'm really dragging now. I'll try not to be such a stranger, but it may be difficult until after next weekend.

The Day After My Almost Breakdown

Today has been a much better day than yesterday. I got my van back this morning and am so glad that the whole curb nailing nightmare is behind me. Teri, my co-chair for the school carnival got a lot of things taken care of on the school front over the past two days while I dealt with a lot of behind the scenes stuff that piled up over the 5 day weekend. I've determined that the 5 day weekend may have contributed to much of yesterday's stress. Yesterday pretty much felt like Friday, Monday & Tuesday all in one. I was in bed by 9:30pm last night and got a really good night's sleep.

There is still a lot left to be done for this carnival, but I feel like we've gotten a lot accomplished in the last two days. I just have to remind myself that I'm doing this for my kids.

I'm sorry I don't have much else for you, but if you saw my kitchen table (and the rest of my house for that matter) you'd tell me to close the computer and get back to work.

The Countdown To Insanity

9 days. That's all that's left. The school carnival is in 9 days. I'm stressed out and ready for it to be here and gone. The sad part is that I probably won't even be able to enjoy any of it because I'll be running around the whole night like a chicken with its head cut off.

This event has taken up so much of my time and patience that there just isn't enough left in me for anything else. I just about broke down today. There were so many things going on this morning that I thought I was going to lose my sanity.

My van is done ($1800 later), but getting the check from the Insurance company has turned into a nightmare. Apparantly it takes more than 6 hours to print out a check. Now I'm here at home with 6 kids so it's not looking hopeful that I'll get my van back today.

I should have known this was going to be a difficult day when I rolled over to turn off the alarm clock this morning at 6:13am (already running 13 minutes late) and rolled over my son in the process. I have no idea when he climbed into bed with me, but he was there when I woke up.

I have no idea where I'm going with this, other than that I am exhausted and just want to sit down and spend time with my family and have no other obligations beyond that.

I apologize for ranting - I'll try to be in a better mood tomorrow.

Finally

But I'll be seething mad if Journeyman is dropped!

Smooth Move

Last May, at the end of the school year, the school PTO sponsored a Teacher Appreciation Week. Each day the students brought in a gift for their teacher, based on the day's theme. One of those theme's were fruit. Instead of bringing them an apple or an orange like everyone else, I got the teacher's ingrediants to make yummy smoothies.

I just found an extra packet in my pantry and thought a chocolate banana smoothie sounded really good. I made it. It tasted great. Ten minutes later I was in the bathroom. (I know - TMI) My tummy is still not doing well.

The real kicker? I've already got dinner simmering on the stove....a big ol pot of chile. I don't know how my tummy will be able to handle that later.

I wonder, now - nine months later - if I inadvertantly gave my kids' teachers banana smoothie poisoning.

Coming Off Of The Chantix

It's time folks. I can no longer take the nausea and the moodiness. I have 11 days worth of Chantix left. Over the past couple of weeks, I've forgotten to take it more times than I can count. When I have taken it, my system isn't use to it since there hasn't been a constant level of it inside of me, and I'm overcome with nausea within 5 minutes. So, I've taken my last 1 mg dose of Chantix tonight. I've cut a week's worth in half and added them to other stuff I take daily. (Yes, I should really be 30 years older than I am.) I am now going to try and remember to take a half of pill twice a day for the next week and then just one half a day until they are gone.

I went back and forth with the idea of just not taking them anymore, but am a bit nervous that the tuggings will get stronger or more frequent as the Chantix leaves my system. I also worry that as spring approaches and I'm outside with the kids a lot again, it may be harder to stay quit. That was one of my major triggers. Being outside.

However, I really think at this point that is up to me to continue to stay strong. I'm proud of myself and have no intention of ever starting back up again. None of my friends smoke, my husband is still quit and you can no longer smoke in public places here in Illinois. So, this time is for good.

My neighbors will probably thank us when spring comes and they aren't smelling the smoke that drifts their way with the warm breeze.

Event Of The Year

I must have lost my mind, or may have just chosen to forget how bad it was the last time we attempted this.

Ashley is having a Birthday Sleepover Party the last weekend of the month. We gave in and did this two years ago with 13 girls and were still feeling the pain and lack of sleep from it last year (hence no party last year) but are giving in and doing it this year. I put my foot down and said 4, maybe 5 girls total. We're now at 8. Bret and Ryan are going to be out staying with Bret's Grandma that night while his parents go out. That leaves me alone here with EIGHT 12 year old girls. What was I thinking?! Maybe I can con a friend or my mom into being here that night.

Last night, Ashley and her friend, Danielle were filling out the party invitations. When it came to the date, they wrote down Feb 29-30. On all of the invitations. That would be my straight A child there, too. Do you get it? If not, ask someone else, because I'm still too busy laughing about it.

Now I'll be planning a sleepover party on top of a school carnival. It's no wonder why I'm so sick this week. I haven't told Ashley this yet, but my goal is to decorate downstairs, where all of the girls will be, with blown up pictures of all of funny pictures of Ashley from birth to present. If they get to have all of the fun that night, I can at least have some fun planning it.

Maybe I'll get to her Birthday DVD slideshow this year.

T.G.I.F.

I'm not sure how I've made it through this week. It's been a long one. I woke up Monday with a horrible cough. A cough so bad that I was holding a pillow to my ribs everytime I had to cough because they hurt so bad. By Tuesday the cough started to break up a little bit, but my ribs and my abdominal muscles still felt like they had been run over by a semi and I was beginning to run a fever. On Wednesday, my day went to crap before lunchtime even got here. I was still running a fever, my cough was determined not to go anywhere and by now my sinuses must have felt left out because they decided it was their turn to make me miserable. I was tired, cranky and just wanted to crawl in bed and hide under the covers.

Instead, I got in my van and made the trip to school while the snow started to come down. I nailed a curb, got stranded, had to call a tow truck and now we still don't have a total estimate of repairs, but were up to a grand, not including labor. That curb is going to hear from me, darnnit! (Ha, we're not going past $4.25 today.)

Last night was our second school carnival planning meeting and everything went fine, thank goodness. I think I may have the hang of this now. Went out for an appetizer and drink with my co-chair (Thanks, Teri.) to go over everything that had come up during the meeting so that we were on the same page. Felt like crap, so I went home and watched Survivor with Bret and Ashley. Toss and turned, got up to pee, choke and blow my nose all freaking night long and now I feel like a zombie with three kids to take care of. My ear hurts, my glands are swollen and now my throat hurts. I should have gotten that flu shot!

Can someone maybe clone me and send in my replacement so I can take a nap?

$1.75, But It's Not My Fault!

Ok, it is my fault. I agreed to pay myself a quarter every time I say a bad word, but at the time I didn't know that I would soon be dealing with the effects of winter and my own stupidity. *Sigh* My minivan is sitting in the middle of a parking lot right now, waiting to be towed to the car dealer.

At 10am this morning, the snow started coming down and I thought I could get up to school in time to collect the dinner ticket money before it got really bad outside. I loaded Chloe into the van and away we went - until I wrecked the van going a wimpy 20 miles an hour. Just kidding - I didn't "wreck" it, but I slid making a turn and we nailed a curb. The wheel and rim were dented, but it seemed fine, so I continued on to school.

Ten minutes later, I was leaving school and noticed that alignment was way off and there was a rubbing (I'd say grinding - but it wasn't that loud) noise coming from that area of the car. I pulled over into a parking lot and called my husband. (I am so in the dog house right now!) Remembering that the warranty included road side assistance, I called GM and put in a request for help. I probably could have driven on it, but with my luck the wheel would have fallen off and we'd be *#$@ a creek. Or in a ditch.

So, I'm sitting in a parking lot with an 18 month old in the car who is crying and unhappy while I'm trying to figure all of this out. I have no car seat to transfer over to another car because she is in the car's child integrated seat, so requesting a loaner is not an option. (We don't have coverage for that anyway.) I have no diaper bag - because I'm an idiot - so all I have to bribe her with is my iPod. This makes her happy for awhile and we sit and wait for my friend, Teri, to grab a car seat and diaper bag from my house and pick our butts up. The tow truck wait is 3 hours and I am so not sitting there for that long with a toddler who hasn't had lunch or a nap yet.

We're home now and I'm really wishing that school would dismiss early because it's getting considerably worse outside. I should receive a phone call when the tow truck gets there. Hopefully the van will still be there since I had to leave a key inside. I'm really not looking forward to getting the bill for this.

I Voted Today

Did you?

I changed my mind three times while standing there, but I do know which two candidates that I don't want to win.

I don't consider myself to be a very political person, but this morning my vote was based on what the candidates stand for, since the candidate that I wanted to vote for is no longer in the race.

Don't just sit there, go vote now.