Post Christmas Blues

Ahhh.....December 26. Christmas is over. I slept in. And I mean waaaaay in!! Unfortunately that was coupled with waking up grumpy. What's that you say? I'm always grumpy? Why yes, you are correct. Silly me.

Today I should start taking down the Christmas decorations. I know, it's a bit of a Bah Humbug attitude, but didn't we just agree on my perpetual grumpiness? I thought so. I've actually spent the past four or five days looking at our Christmas tree and dreading taking the ornaments off. Maybe I should bookmark this particular entry and read it next November/December as a reminder not to decorate. My house always looks messy anyway, then I add decorations and a gigantahuge tree. Where does it go???? I have a laundry basket full of Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah books and all my cute Little People toys can't seem to find a home. I need baskets!! And someone to follow behind me constantly picking up the stuff that falls in my wake.

I think the girls succeeded in playing with every one of their Christmas gifts except for the volcano and chemistry sets. And that was only because mom and dad put their collective foot down! Justin bought the three of us girls a laptop. Yay! Tomorrow I'll go to the store and get a few things for it: mouse, wireless internet stuff, whatever else Justin marked in the Home DepotMax ad...... So much to do! And so little desire to do any of it.

This week I need to work on our Christmas letter. I have the rough draft written, just need to get it on the computer. I even have the pictures developed. I want to print labels for the backs of the pictures. Maybe by the end of the week I'll be able to mail them. Guess I should change that first sentence to read "New Year" letter. But I'll get them out, I swear!!

I can't wait til January 1st so I can use my new Anne Taintor calendars. One for the wall by my desk and one for my purse. I went through my other wall calendar and made sure I put all that info in my two new calendars. Takayo sent us a beautiful calendar as well. Need to figure out where to put that one. I do need to make a change to all my calendars---the last day of school as been moved from June 15 to June 19 I think. Snow days. Gotta love 'em.

Any bets on how much I'll get accomplished today? Especially considering it's 2:03 pm already. Justin helped me realize that all of our Christmas dishes will fit in our uppermost kitchen cabinets. Whew. That frees up an entire storage tub. That will make my task a little bit easier. Probably should get a start on all of that. Keep my mind off eating too. Although I did just eat a big lunch.....you'd think that would be enough to keep me away from the snacks. I realized the other day that the three month subscription to Weight Watchers online was probably expiring and if I didn't put an end to it I'd get charged again. Then I decided that I really should keep it and use it. What a concept! So if I lose just two pounds a month I can have my new tattoo before next Christmas! Wish me luck.

Another task to tackle: any clothing hanging in my closet that has a layer of dust on it can go to Goodwill. Makes sense, right? Too bad that doesn't get me any money to purchase some new clothes. Sounds like I need some shopping trips to the thrift stores! After the girls are both in school.

Yikes! Dog is barking like mad. Ah, dog in backyard. Hmmm, not sure who's it is. Nice looking dog though. Might belong to somebody working on the house next door.

Really. Getting to work now. I swear! Thanks for reading the world's most boring blog entry.

Next to a circus there ain't nothing that packs up and tears out faster than the Christmas spirit.
-- Frank McKinney Hubbard

Ding dong the witch is dead!!

Ya-hoo!!!!! He's been caught. He made about 50 calls over the last month or so and now he's been caught. Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is there anything more for me to say? I think not.

I wish he'd stop

Yep, it happened again. But now there's a trace on my phone. If he calls again I just have to record the time of the call and contact my phone company within 24 hours. The phone company will then fax the info to the sheriff. I almost want him to call one more time so the call can be traced/tracked.

Mostly I just want this to end.

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night with a weird dream in your head? Then you lie there and try to figure out how you can manipulate the dream when you fall back asleep. I had that over and over last night. But the harsh reality is that it isn't a dream. I can't suddenly become a kung-fu kick-boxing majorette with attitude and beat this guy senseless; then have that tingly feeling that even though it was a dream it still feels real (like the mornings I wake up mad at Justin because he cheated on me in a dream). I have to try and go to sleep every night knowing that some guy is out there who may call again. And say horrible things again.

It's got to end.

Frightful Night

I know what you're thinking "golly, I try to read Joy's blog, but it's so boring"! Well, maybe a recap of my morning will help that a bit. Or maybe not.

1:24 am
Phone rings
Joy: Hello?
pause
Whispery Man Voice: Joy?
Joy: Yes.
Whispery Man Voice: I wanted to know if I can come over and %$&# you.
Joy hangs up
Joy calls Justin (because of course this type of thing would only happen if my husband wasn't home)
Joy: I think I'm going to call 911 and open the gun cabinet.
Justin: Why would you open the gun cabinet?
Joy: Well, I'm obviously not going to shoot anyone, I just want something heavy to smack someone upside the head with.
Justin: OK, your best bet is the 12 gauge. You don't need to shoot, the noise will scare the hell out of anyone.
Joy calls 911
Joy calls Justin to tell him she called 911
Sheriff calls Joy
Sheriff: Is your name in the phone book? The same thing happened to somebody last night. Try to get some sleep.
Joy calls Justin
Joy: I think I'm going to call Dan.
Justin: I'll call him for you.
Justin calls back
Justin: I left a message for him. Wait, he's calling me back now.
Dan calls Joy
Dan: Are you OK?
Joy: Yeah, I think so. I'm clutching my baton. I figure I can kick some majorette ass with this thing!
Dan: Do you want to come over?
Joy: No, I think I'm OK now. It was just a prank call.
Justin calls Joy
Justin: Did you talk to Dan?
Joy: Yes. I think I'm OK now.
Nancy calls
Nancy: I can't sleep. I'm sending Dan over.
Joy calls Justin
Joy: Dan is coming over.
Audrey: Mommy, will you come in my room after I go potty and tell me why you're holding a baton?
Joy (still clutching baton) waits for Dan while staying on the phone with Justin
Dan arrives and conducts thorough search of perimeter.
Dan: All secure, but I found a really big footprint. I think it's Bigfoot. Let's call Grover Krantz.
Joy: Grover Krantz is dead.
Dan and Joy sit in the kitchen talking for a while.
Joy: Well, it's been an hour. I think I'm OK.
Dan: Do you want me to stay on the couch?
Joy: No, I think I'm OK.
2:45 am
Dan stays on the couch.
3:15 am
Joy realizes that if Dan is on her couch, then Nancy doesn't have Dan with her. Joy is too freaked out to tell Dan this and make him go home.
3:50 am
Joy is still awake. But no longer has baton in bed.
Eventually Joy falls asleep.

And that, my friends, family, and random strangers, was my early morning.

Worry gives a small thing a big shadow. Swedish Proverb

Pointless quiz time!

Hey! Check me out!

I'm a Mazda RX-8!

You're sporty, yet practical, and you have a style of your own. You like to have fun, and you like to bring friends along for the ride, but when it comes time for everyday chores, you're willing to do your part.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Better hardly ever than never?

OK. I'm back again. Sorry it's been a while. I've actually kind of been busy! Well, OK, not really. Just haven't felt like taking the time to blog lately.

What's been happening? Had school conferences with both girls' teachers. They are doing very very well. No real surprises there. Although I was quite happy to hear a lot of good things about Audrey and her behavior at school. The way she fights her homework I was getting concerned about her working in school. When she throws a fit though, I do tend to ask her "is this how you act for Mrs. Moller?"

During conferences the PTA had a Scholastic Book Fair. It went very very very well!!!!! Each classroom teacher got to pick out $80 worth of books and the library gets around $1600 in books as well. Unfortunately I was just at the school and Scholastic has not picked up the books yet. The principal does not look thrilled to know they are still there cluttering up the hallway right by the front doors. oops

Just read another good book. Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts. She wrote Where the Heart Is, y'know, the Wal-Mart baby story that was made into a movie. She also wrote The Honk and Holler Opening Soon. I liked Shoot the Moon best out of the three. I really enjoyed it. It kind of made me think of Jodi Picoult's books a bit. And we all know how much I like her books!!

I'm on book two of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books. (Yes Laura, I am reading them) When I was picking the first one up from the library I noticed another of her books on the hold shelf. Yay! It's the next book in the Barney series!! So I'm in the hold line for that one too.

Have you read the Bridget Jones books by Helen Fielding? Pretty funny, right? Well I just finished Cause Celeb yesterday. It's a great book, but make sure you're not expecting Bridget Jones bumbling humor. I checked out another book by her at the library yesterday.

I really need to branch out into more authors. Any suggestions? Or should I just start going through the random books on my shelf that I've found at thrift stores...

Guess what Friday is......yep, the opening of the movie Happy Feet!! Oh, yes, also my eldest child's 8th birthday. I'm taking her to see Happy Feet! The movie's website has some great previews/trailers for the movie. And you can also go to a live penguin cam from The Maryland Zoo. Happy Feet Movie

Justin is back from his trip to Alaska. They had a great time even though they didn't even see a deer let alone shoot the 4 each they could have. He had a week of relaxation and that's what is most important.

I'd better get a little work done. I'm due back at the school at 11:00 to publish books in Emma's class. It's fun. The student comes up with the story they have written and I type it. I got to see Emma's all done at her conference. I'd been the one to type it, so I knew the story, but her illustrations were new to me and absolutely hilarious!! Can't wait to be able to have it here at home.

"Of all the things I would like to do during my life, my greatest dream is to go to Antarctica and shake hands with a penguin!" - Larry Mester

She Lives!!!!!!

Don't worry, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. The worst thing is--I know we've done some bloggable stuff lately, but now I don't remember what all it was.

I'm going to have to cut my nails. I have always coexisted nicely with talons, but I'm not as used to them now and they are getting in the way of my typing. Not to mention learning how to play the guitar (the one languishing in the corner) which I said I would do while I had both girls in school.

Yesterday we went to the funeral of Justin's grandmother, Kathleen. It was a very nice family service. The most beautiful flowers too! I told Justin that now he needs to remember that I want the song Pardon Goddess of the Night played at my funeral and I want the exact flowers from his grandmother's funeral as well.

Books. OK, books on the brain here. Between reading like crazy (nothing new there) and the upcoming Book Fair at school. Whew! Books books and more books. I've read my first book by Janet Evanovich, Metro Girl. It was a fun read. I like how she writes just as I would talk. (but not in a rambling, lost track, got back on but had been so far off that nobody knows I'm back on, they just think I'm further off) I'm looking forward to reading the next one in the series. My friend Karin loaned me Metro Girl and also a book by Jerrilyn Farmer called Killer Wedding. It was good, an enjoyable book, but didn't do tons for me. Wanna know the big one? Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot. What a great book!! And it's the beginning of a new series!!!!! At first I thought, why is she starting a new series?? She already started a new series with Size 12 Is Not Fat and I need to read more of those. But after reading Queen of Babble I want more of those and she can just give up on her Heather Wells mysteries. Perhaps I feel more empathy for Lizzie the "queen of babble"? This is BabbleJoy talking here! Then again, Heather Wells spends a lot of time educating people that she does not work in a "dorm" but rather a "residence hall". sigh When will people learn??

Today is Audrey's class trip to the pumpkin patch. I should probably get showered and dressed so I can meet them there. Need to run some random errands too. And type and copy the PTA newsletter to go out to students tomorrow. Wish me luck!

People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
-Logan Pearsall Smith, "Myself"

Forgot to put a quote earlier

From The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert (my favorite movie by the way)


Adam/Felicia: Oh for goodness sakes, get down off that crucifix, someone needs the wood!

I am passive-aggressive

But you knew that already didn't you? I found out a few years ago when a member of our extended family informed me that I was passive-aggressive. That person was correct, but it still hurt! Wish there was a nicer term for it. Or is that just being passive-aggressive?

A difficult thing about being passive-aggressive (OK, let's just call it p-a from now on) is that even when I think I might be able to stand up to someone and tell them how I really feel, I can't because I won't ever get over it. I think the more straight-forward people can tell it like it is and then it's all over. It's out, it's discussed, it's over, let's move on. I envy people who feel that way, I really do! But for me, even when something is out, discussed, and over I still can't move on.

Let's say Becky Sue (not her real name) has an issue with me and she tells me about it and we work through it. Once that is over she is just fine with us and figures I'm fine with us too. Now, pretend I have the issue with Becky Sue and finally get the guts to talk to her about it. We talk--maybe she's even proud of me for finally saying something-- and in the end everything is fine. Or is it? She's feeling fine. We got it out in the air and now we're done. Good. But for me, I'm not going to let it go. It's not that I don't want to, I just can't seem to! My mind just doesn't work that way.

Now here's where I really become p-a. Someone is saying things that frustrate me. Instead of saying something to that person and seeing if we can work something out or agree to not discuss it again, I start feeling like I just want to avoid that person. I want to avoid the inevitable---the topic that always seems to come up. And it feels like the only way to do it is to avoid the whole situation---which includes that person. The topic isn't one we are likely to agree on, nor are either of us likely to sway the other. Unfortunately, I always feel like the bad guy in these discussions--that I am at fault due to association with the topic.

Arrrgghhh!

So the next time it comes up, can I just say, "y'know, whenever we talk about this I get uncomfortable. Can we just agree to not bring it up around each other?" What do you think? Will that work? Or will she want to delve even deeper and try to discover why I feel that way. Because that would just bring to the forefront the problem I have to begin with---my inability to confront.

I'm just not going to win here am I? No matter what I'm going to make myself feel bad. Bad because I won't confront it and bad because I'll let her continue to say things that (unknowingly to her) hurt me.

OK, so somebody just tell me it will all be OK! C'mon, hurry up!

Sorry, I know it's been a while

Not really too much to say, but I thought I should update this anyway.

Sara and Amelia were here last weekend. We had a good time. I didn't have anything "planned" while they were here (sound familiar?). They arrived Saturday afternoon and left Monday morning. Amelia is just waaaay too cute. Holy cow!

Sunday afternoon was the annual neighborhood party at Paul & Erin's. Great people and yummy food. Have I mentioned before how wonderful this neighborhood is??

I finished a terrific book. The Ship of Brides by JoJo Moyes. It's about 600 Australia war brides traveling to England at the end of WWII. They are traveling on an aircraft carrier---alongside it's entire (male) crew. The story focuses on four women who are roommates on the trip. Each one is unique and has very different experiences on board. I highly recommend it!

I need to get my PTA act together. We put out another newsletter today and our first general meeting is next Tuesday. Yikes. I need to put together my binder so I'm ready for everything. Hopefully I can be totally different from normal and get stuff typed and filed right away. We'll see how it goes......

Audrey will have school on Friday this week. It will be her first Friday so far. She's looking forward to it. That evening is Bingo Night at school. I think the girls and I will try to go. Tomorrow (Thursday) I will help in Emma's class.

Have you been watching Dancing With the Stars? We tape it and then watch it when we can. For last week, that meant we didn't watch it until yesterday. The girls only saw half and I watched the rest late last night. Somehow the results show tape didn't work last week. But I did accidentally turn the TV on right at the very very end so I know who lost. Hopefully it will tape properly tonight. I haven't watched it yet, but it looks like last night's tape worked. Whew.

My back is hurting, so I think that's all I'll do for now. I need to go through the girls' playroom and reorganize stuff now anyway. There's a kids only garage sale through Burlington Parks & Rec in early November. I told the girls they should have a table for it. We shopped at the one last spring, but this time we'll try and sell stuff. Get rid of a bunch of toys, puzzles, movies, that big stupid phone from the magazine sales fundraiser last year..... The usual.

Do I need a focus??

I read a blog today that's just about one person's opinions on wine. I've seen blogs that focus on just one topic: a tv show, a celebrity, an item......do I need to focus on something? Or am I just some middle of the road thing. Yeah, middle of the road. I'll take that.

I just finished watching Grey's Anatomy. I really like that show! However, I started watching it late. I have the first season DVDs on hold at the library though. Eventually I will get caught up! Tonight's episode was the end of last season (I've seen clips from it for weeks now!! I'm glad I finally got to see it) and I cried. How many tears can I shed in one day??? (wow, how dramatic is that????? when you call my girls "drama queens" you will know where it comes from now, won't you?) Emma, Audrey, and I went to see the movie Barnyard today. I read reviews of it on www.epinions.com the other day so I knew some of the plot. I chose not to mention some of it to the girls since I figured Audrey would decide it would be too scary and not want to go. So we went to the movie and we (and by we I probably mean I) shed a tear or two. Not a bad movie. And then there was Grey's Anatomy. More tears! My goodness. I really should get a life!

Did I mention that I need to lose weight? Fall is here and my jeans don't fit. I have a feeling, however, that popcorn from a movie theater is not terribly points friendly per Weight Watchers. I figured that all I'd eaten before was an egg cooked in salsa and I ate nothing after that (drinking, however, is another story) so my points are still somewhat within range. We'll see how this goes. Remember, if I get back to my goal I can get my tattoo redone!

So writing that made me feel like I should have another window open showing my blog while I write on this one. I know I've mentioned the "weight loss equals re-do tattoo" thing before. So has everything else I've written been mentioned before too?

"Lord I was born a ramblin' (wo)man...."

Did I tell you the horrible horrible news from last night??????? I had a meeting to attend and figured I'd be back around 8:00 at the absolute earliest. So I set the VCR to tape Dancing With the Stars on the tv upstairs. That meant that House would be unwatched until I arrived home and got the girls to bed (damn priorities). I tired to set the VCR downstairs. I really did!! It's a crap DVD/VCR player. We've known it for a while, but this really solidified my opinion. House did not get taped. A week without Robert Sean Leonard????? Good thing I have Dead Poet's Society and Much Ado About Nothing on tape.

As of 4:00 today the Burlington-Edison School District bond had not passed. Feck. Any bets placed on whether or not this will pass will go directly to the B-E School District to offset the next school bond. That's fair, right? Send in your money now!



I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I can't stop eating peanuts. ~Orson Wells

So far not so good

As of 8:28 tonight the Burlington Edison school bond was failing. There's still time though! It is huge. $74 million. But the crowding in the schools!!! I shouldn't fret. Tomorrow is another day.

Anybody want some eggs? Our chickens are producing quite well and really the only time we eat eggs is on the weekends. Although I did have some scrambled eggs/egg whites in a tortilla for dinner. I'm trying to lose weight again. Not so much for getting my tattoo redone, but more for fitting into jeans since fall is coming. It's been a long long long summer......

Bring on the rain

Emma and Audrey were playing outside when the sky opened up. They ran in to get their raincoats and umbrellas. Boy did it pour!! In the picture they're standing under the eaves at the front door. The rain just cascades off when it's raining that hard. It's the second time in a week that it's rained like that. Sure, now the rain comes, after I killed all my plants....

Fortunately Emma and Audrey are well enough to go to school. Both girls worked on homework yesterday. Emma got the bulk of hers done (it's all due Friday) and Audrey finally completed hers. It's no wonder Audrey doesn't know her alphabet yet. She will not sit and work on something!! Now, read the girl a book and she'll remember facts from it for eons. But sitting down and working on something is near impossible. And to make matters worse she has my personality. The whole "I can't do it" "I'll mess up" thing. I made her get up and do 5 jumping jacks each time she said she "can't". It still took hours for her to write her name 6 times. She hasn't learned lowercase letters yet, so I had her practice before she actually wrote on the homework paper. Sheesh! You'd think I'd named her Catalinamagdalinahoopensteinerwalendinerhoganboganlogan. She complained that Audrey was just too long. I'm not sure I'm going to make it through this!!

My sister is married. Who knows, maybe she even reads my blog, but she already knows I'm not happy about it. Last week her boyfriend/fiance text messaged her that they were breaking up and he was getting back together with his ex-wife. And his divorce had just been in the paper that day! (I didn't know he was married---they'd talked about getting married this summer. Kind of hard to do when you already have a spouse.) Then last night she calls and tells me they got married. I asked her why. She said "because we love each other". Huh. Sure as heck didn't sound like it last week!! When I talked to her the day he broke up with her she said she wanted to talk to him. I told her fine, but if he wants to date again or whatever would she please promise me that she wouldn't do anything for a month. She promised.

A while ago my brother told me that he liked my blog. (Yes, I was shocked and amazed that he would even read it.) I told him that I didn't have much to talk about, and some things I would want to talk about I couldn't because family and friends would read this. He suggested that I just write it, but change the names. Thanks for the tip, "Les"! I won't mention your wife though, don't want her to get used to seeing her name in print! Maybe I should start another blog and not tell anyone. Then I could vent all I wanted without fear. Until some random person found it and started circulating it and then I'd wind up on www.snopes.com and I couldn't even just move to get away, becuase it would be on the internet and everyone would see, not just family and friends, and I wouldn't be able to go anywhere without people pointing and staring, running away from me with distrust in their eyes, worrything that they would be the next victim impaled on the sharp spike of my blog.

I have a PTA board meeting tonight. I'd better start gathering together my stuff so I'm not running around in a panic at 6:00.

Well, as I always say, a family of freaks is better than no family at all. "Family Guy" 

I think it's Autumn

I'm chilled and I've turned the heat on in the house. I think that means autumn is here. Yay!!! My favorite season and home to my favorite holiday---Halloween. I suppose it's too early to start decorating for Halloween, huh.

I have sick kids at home today. Both of them have colds. Blech. Emma had a high temperature last night. Today she's coughing and blowing her nose like crazy. Ah, but she's still well enough to yell at her sister. Maybe I should intervene.....

I just wrote a long email to our family, so don't really have much to say that hasn't already been said. And badly at that. Let's see, here's a recap: sick kids, Audrey rode the bus, I went to Curriculum Night last night, our anniversary tomorrow....

I found a reason to watch the news today. My friend was making salads last night to take to her mother's rehearsal dinner. She finally finished and sat down to watch the news. She found out that some spinach had been recalled due to e coli. Guess what she'd made. Yep, a big ol' spinach salad! What luck! It would be so easy to have just gone to bed instead of watching the news and here she got some important information. Weird how that happens. Kind of like when I bought a copy of Good Housekeeping magazine and in the recalls section found info on a slow cooker being recalled. Hmmmm.....the handles break, my sister-in-law's slow cooker broke that way! Sure enough, I gave Sara the info and she got a new slow cooker. OK, so maybe Nancy's brush with e coli poisoning is more impressive, but it's my blog dammit!

Mmmmm....lunch time. We should have eggs. Our chickens are laying pretty consistently! And some of the eggs are gigantahuge!!! The carton doesn't even close. We've had some eggs break in transit, so I bought a cheap basket for the girls to use when they gather the eggs. No more baseball gloves or Barbie jeeps. We also have some eggs that are broken in the coop. Some just cracked slightly, and others will holes poked in them. It's fun having the chickens. But does anybody want a rooster?? The girls have renamed him Dinner.

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~George Eliot

First day of school pictures

Audrey's first day of kindergarten. She started out with a chilly, foggy morning and ended with a hot, red-cheeked afternoon. Happy and exhausted. Yea! Stuffy nosed. Boooo.
Emma's first day of second grade last week. Might as well put these pictures together, right? She's lovin' second grade, her teacher, and her friends. Yea!
My school girls. Wow. How did that happen?

Emma and Audrey are enjoying Bay View Elementary School. It was so weird today to have both of them gone all day. At around noon it really hit me. With preschool I'd be picking up Audrey around that time. But when 12 o'clock hit I realized I still had 2 1/2 hours before any kids were home. And on Thursday that will change to 3 1/4 hours since they will be riding the bus. Audrey wasn't too happy that I picked her up today. There were a ton of kindergarteners in line for the buses. She'll be one of them on Thursday!

When I picked up Audrey her face was beet red. I could feel the heat coming out of the room. Yowza. I sure wouldn't like being in there. But in a few months it'll be cool. The principal was in the room helping the kids get ready to leave. She called Audrey over when she saw me, and told me that she'd been calling Audrey "Emma" most of the day. She said Audrey finally told her, "I'm not Emma. I'm Audrey." Now what amazed me is that the principal even knew Emma's name to confuse the two. I'd been a bit of a fixture at the school last fall during the Book Fair and again in the spring. And I'm on the PTA board, but I'm still impressed that she recognized my girls and had their names figured out. I'm still not used to this whole "big school" mentality! Add 10 or 12 students into Emma's or Audrey's class and you have the size of my high school graduating class. Will I ever wrap my head around the vastness of this district? Many people I'm sure would laugh at me considering this to be a huge school. But it's sure huge to me!!!

I need a haircut.

My mouth doesn't hurt anymore!!!!!!! Gah, it was awful. It's so nice to be able to talk. And eat. And drink without a straw. I was better yesterday, even able to have a two hour phone conversation with a friend.

We all know where my priorities lie: the television. Just a few minutes until House is on. Robert Sean Leonard. Yum. Emma and Audrey are watching Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls. They are hooked on the show. Tonight is also the first night for Dancing With the Stars. I'm taping that while watching House. What a busy night. Don't even try to call me.....

I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book. Groucho Marx

I often read while watching TV. What does that say about me?????? 

Marian Keyes does it again...

I just finished Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes. I feel like I should reread Watermelon and Sushi for Beginners. Did I love those books all the way through? Or did I feel like they were hard to get into at first, then got tired of them in the middle, but muddled through and loved the end? 'Cause that's the way I've felt about Rachel's Holiday, Anybody Out There, and now Last Chance Saloon. I remember getting hooked on Keyes' books a while back. And now I'm rehooked having read a few more. But what drew me in to begin with? The writing? The characters? (I want to be Mammy Walsh some day.) The language? Or, should I say, the fecking language? Is it "chick lit" with an edge? An international edge? An Irish edge? Or am I just enamored with books?

Tomorrow (I can still say that for two minutes) Audrey starts school. Oh boy is she excited. Ecstatic. I'm surprised she went to sleep well tonight. I'm looking forward to coming home tomorrow morning and just staying around the house. No wondering "is the other mom tired of the playdate and sending my kid home", just coming home and knowing that at 2:30 I need to run out and pick up the girls. Wow! What will I do with myself? Mmmmm.....nothin'. You were right.

Readers are plentiful: thinkers are rare. Harriet Martineau

Um. I think I'm a reader......

The Canker Chronicles

My mouth still hurts. A lot! A doctor friend last night suggested rinsing with a mix of Benadryl and Kaopectate. Yummers! That did help for a while. Another friend asked if I was taking Lysine. Remembered I had some and have taken a few. That and the Aleve with an occasional rubbing of Orajel and I'm good to go! For less than ten minutes.

The worst part? I'm not losing all that much weight despite this "diet".

OK, that's not true. The worst part is the pain. Hurts to eat. Hurts to drink. Hurts like heck to talk.

grrrrrrrr (said through tightly clenched teeth)

Blog as big sticky note

Remind me the next time I'm whining on and on about canker sores to go back and read yesterday's blog entry. Let me tell you, rinsing my mouth with hydrogen peroxide sure helped! Made me gag a bit and my tummy felt funny for a while, but it worked. I also rinsed once with Benadryl, not quite as icky. My mouth feels much better today. On the way out to the school bus this morning I was asking Emma questions about school and she said "I have a question for you. Is your mouth feeling better? 'Cause you sure are talking better today." Yep. Much better. But talking with Emma for twenty minutes while we waited for the bus did irritate the sores a bit. Time to be quiet. Until Audrey wakes up again of course.

Sounds like Emma had a great day at school yesterday. She knows quite a few kids in her class and one of her good friends from last years class is with her. Also a girl she's known since they were less than a year old and another who is a neighbor. And then there are the boys.....

Emma talked about one of the cool jobs in the classroom. Somebody is designated to be the phone answerer. So if there is an adult in the room and the phone rings the appointed student asks for permission to answer the phone. Emma sounds nervously excited for it to be her turn. She said it looks like she's library person this week.

Justin, Audrey, and I went in to meet Audrey's kindergarten teacher. Coming in with us at the same time was a girl we had met at a couple of birthday parties and knew she'd be in the part-time kindergarten class too. Looking at the names on the board there's also the daughter of some friends of friends of our, and one of the moms in class looked really familiar--the daughter-in-law of some former neighbors. Her daughter will be in the same class.

Have I explained Bay View kindergarten? There is a full-time class. Monday through Friday all day. For the low low price of $250 per month! You guess right, we're not in that one. There's also an all day Tuesday, Thursday, "every other" Friday class. That's the one Audrey is in. A couple weeks ago a second part-time kindergarten class was added---all day Monday, Wednesday, "every other" Friday.

Bay View Elementary School was built to hold 450 students. This year enrollment is 575. The sixth, seventh, and eighth graders are all out in portables behind the school. I'll be voting YES on the bond issue this month. Of course I don't want my property taxes to be even higher, but I also don't want the schools to be that crowded. Kids are being shuffled all around. Before I left the school yesterday morning someone came in with three kids who had gone to the wrong school that morning and were supposed to be at Bay View. Silly kids, they went to the school they'd gone to last year! What were they thinking?? (did you detect a note of sarcasm there? good.) While we still lived in Anacortes I was stressed about which school I wanted to send my kids to. My understanding was that you could request any school. Which one would I choose? The closest one? Or would I let other people's opinions cloud my judgement? And we left there when Emma still had one more year of preschool to finish!! And now I'm in a district that is so overcrowded kids are getting shuffled all over the place regardless of where they live. Maybe if I stay active in the PTA they won't move mine.....

Uh-oh. The computer is telling me that it isn't connecting to blogger. I'm going to post this right now in the hope that I won't lose this entire thing. I'm sure there are typos and misspelled words, but I'm not going to fix that now.

Hydrogen Peroxide. Yum!

I have canker sores under my tongue. Owie. Ouchie. It's hard to talk, eat, and drink. I know I need to lose weight, but is this really the right way?? I finally went online to find out if there's anything I could do about them. (Other than put alum on them. That hurts so much!) (Oh wait. These canker sores do too.) I read that pretty much anybody can get these sores, but it's higher in women in the teens and early twenties. Nope, not me. Some ways to help the pain include: taking acetaminophen or ibuprofen (just did it), swishing the mouth with equal parts milk of magnesia and Benadryl, swishing the mouth with diluted hydrogen peroxide (just did it). The pain is a little less right now, but I've also not been talking for the past 1/2 hour or so.

Boy, what a whiner!! Yup, that's me!

Emma had her first day of school today. Justin picked her up after school. Poor girl was exhausted. She practically stumbled into the house. I haven't had much chance to talk to her about it yet. I'll get some info out of her later and report back tomorrow.

Audrey met her teacher today too. Justin and I took her to her classroom so we could fill out some paperwork and look at the classroom. Two kindergarten classes will share this room. One meets Tuesday, Thursday and every other Friday and the other is Monday, Wednesday every other Friday. It will be interesting to see how it works in the one classroom. I still haven't looked at the schedule to see what Audrey's Fridays are. I'll do that later and get them on the calendar.

Emma and Audrey have friends over. I'd better go downstairs and keep an eye on things.

You have a cough? Go home tonight, eat a whole box of Ex-Lax - tomorrow you'll be afraid to cough. ~Pearl Williams

School is creeping up on us...

Emma and Audrey got cute haircuts yesterday! I convinced Audrey to go a bit shorter this time. I wasn't sure how she'd like it, but while she was having it cut, I peeked in the mirror and saw that she was smiling. Yay! Emma's looks nice and fresh too. Guess they're ready for school.

School starts next Wednesday for Emma. She has her supplies. She did her summer homework. She has some new clothes. Guess she's ready! Wow. Second grade....

Wednesday afternoon Audrey will meet her teacher and see her classroom. She'll have her first day of kindergarten the following Tuesday. She's so excited! We just got her supply list the other day. I'd already bought some of the basic stuff, just need to take care of the crayons. Emma's list requested a box of 48 crayons so that's what I got Audrey too. But the list I have from her teacher specifies a box of 8. I may just pick 8 primary/basic colors out of the big box for her. That works, right? I bought Audrey a couple pair of jeans yesterday. Jeans are something she doesn't have much of and are kind of hard to fit. Fortunately I found some yesterday that fit great. And they were buy one get one free. Yay! So I think she's pretty much ready now too.

I'll go to the school today and help put together PTA packets. On Tuesday morning I'll go in to help with the PTA bulletin boards. Everything is happening so fast!!!! Yesterday I bought more books for the kindergarteners. In the spring we used book credit from the Scholastic Book Fair to get 60 books for the incoming kindergarteners. As of this week we have 72 kindergarteners. Yikes! They added an entire class! So I went to Borders Express in the mall and before I paid I asked about a teacher discount. He asked if I'd signed up and I explained my dilemma to him. The manager was standing there on her way out and authorized the discount. She said it was pretty obvious that the pile of books I had weren't for my personal use. That was very nice and I gushed my many many thanks to them. See, I used to work for a great company!

How boring is this blog entry?? Pretty mundane stuff here.

I'm back from the school. The other people I was scheduled to meet weren't there (just got a call---they were still printing stuff for the packets), but we dropped off the kindergarten books. Got to meet Audrey's new teacher! I'm sure she'll have a terrific year. Emma and Audrey said hello to Mrs. Tolf, Emma's teacher from last year. Before we left they wanted to say goodbye so we went down to her room and on the way back we talked with Emma's teacher for this year Mrs. DenAdel. It was nice to visit with her for a while and Emma got to see her new classroom. The girls are so excited for school to begin!!

If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers. ~Edgar W. Howe

Today's topic: Discomfort and the Urinary Tract

Ha! If that title doesn't send you running and screaming, what will? Guess you know what's going on with me now, huh?

What's been happening? Tonight Emma gets to sleep in her own bed for the first time in more than five weeks. Poor kid. On the day that Takayo left, my mom, sister, and other sister's son arrived. They left that Thursday, and Emma and Audrey went to Justin's mom's house that day and are returning today.

What did we do while Mom, Laura, and Andrew were here? Um... Not much really. Some shopping. Some eating out. Went to the park. Swam in the pool. Gathered eggs. I'm afraid I was too worn out from the previous weeks to do much entertaining. Hope they didn't mind too much.

I told Justin the other day that I want a tattoo. Don't know where, don't know what, but I want one. Probably not the best reason to get one, but it's actually better than the reason for my first one! I have a tattoo of a gecko. Thought it was cute. However, didn't realize it was a "Gecko" as in logo for clothing. What a dork I am! So I want it redone/covered. I talked to someone and she told me to think about what I want, not what I think this can be turned into, but what I would actually want as a tattoo. I'm thinking trees. Justin suggested willow tree ala Willow Creek Angus. Sounds good! So now it will be the reward for losing weight. You'd think having clothes that fit would be reward enough, but I guess not.

I finished reading a Marian Keyes book this morning. (it's due at the library today and I can't renew it since somebody has it on hold) I think Anybody Out There was the title. Still a funny, highly enjoyable book by an author I love, but also a tear-jerker! Sheesh! I hadn't liked Rachel's Holiday as much as others but kept reading it anyway and in the end loved it. So I figured I'd better chug on with this one even though it made me uncomfortable. Good book. Won't say too much about it--no spoilers here!

One great thing about books by Marian Keyes is the language. I learn the best words! Feck, yokes, gobshite... great words! But not likely to make their way into my daily vocabulary. Or will they??

I have another book by the same author checked out, and I also have one on hold at the library. Add to that the other books lying around the house that I'm in the middle of: Devil in the White City and Coroner's Lunch. Good thing the girls are starting school soon! Um, I mean, I'm sure I'll be, uh, doing housework and stuff, um, while they are in school. No time to read! No sir! Just work work work. Yep. That's it.

Oh! Good news! The front walk is just about done. We put in a flagstone walk to the front of the house. It's been sitting there not done all summer. Justin and I worked on it this weekend. Yay! Now all the stones are set in place, even, not rocking, and filled in with topsoil. I still need to reset a few of the stones that are wiggly and then plant the groundcover in some of the spaces. So nice to finally have it done. Why the heck didn't we do it sooner? I dunno.

“The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination.” Elizabeth Hardwick

A teary morning

Takayo left this morning. We were the first to arrive at the church (have I ever been early/first for anything?? I think not) and Takayo's suitcase was packed tight and her carry-ons all legal. Whew! Everything was going well until it was time to load up the bus. That's when the tears came........

At the farewell party Friday night each student read a letter they had written to their host family. Most of the girls cried while reading theirs, but Takayo was very strong and didn't cry. I have to admit, that it made me wonder if maybe her time here wasn't as special to her as it was for her classmates. Guess I was wrong. As we started heading to the bus Takayo started crying and crying. There were so many hugs between us all and so many loving words. Emma was pretty stoic for a while, but as soon as the bus pulled away her tears started to fall. And they haven't stopped yet. Audrey is sad too, but in a different way. Emma and Takayo had a great relationship and played a lot around here. They were getting much better at communicating with one another too. It was wonderful to see them both grow in that area.

Takayo and Emma weren't the only ones crying. Yep, yours truly shed some tears too. I hugged Ayako and Ran too, a couple of the girls we got to know a bit better than the others. Ayako and Takayo became very close friends so she spent a little more time with us. And Ran's host family and ours carpooled, so we got to know Ran as well.

I smell a delicious breakfast being cooked by Justin so I will stop for now. I can't believe I'm up so early.....

Why can't we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn't work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos. ~Charles M. Schulz

Farewell

I know I should write. And I will! But right now I wanted to get this picture on my blog. It was taken last night at the Farewell Party for the Okinawa students. Tomorrow morning we need to have Takayo at the school no later than 5:30 am. Yuck! Both "yuck" because it's so damn early and "yuck" because Takayo is leaving and we will miss her! 

Look! I'm a Zwinky!!

"Ya can't roller skate in a buffalo herd"

You may not be able to roller skate in a buffalo herd, but you can sure drive your car through one and feed the animals bread! The Olympic Game Farm is so much fun!! Although we did come home with a scratch on our door from somebody's horn/antler.......
There's a petting farm too. The girls had fun petting the goats and sheep. Emma picked one to take home. Yikes! Looks like Audrey is enjoying petting this goat.
Yep. That's a bear in the background.


We went to Silverdale this past weekend and stayed with Barbara and Del (Justin's mom and step-dad). We had a great time visiting, enjoying thier incredible garden and view, and showing Takayo around. Emma and Audrey were especially excited to show Takayo the big swing! On Saturday we went to Sequim to the Olympic Game Farm. We'd been there once before and it is one of the most fun places to go! Lots of pictures, lots of yelling and screaming, a very dirty car--inside and out--and oh so much fun!

Today Takayo is going to Issaquah. One of the other moms picked her up this morning and will bring her back this evening. Easy day for me! I think I'll take Emma and Audrey school supply shopping today. I signed up to bring water and snacks for the students tomorrow, so might as well run a few other errands at the same time. If I didn't need to pick up those things, I'd probably just stay home all day. Recover from a busier than normal week last week!

Hmmm....not really a whole lot to report today. At least not yet. Erg, I think I hear my puzzle table being moved around downstairs. Hope I don't have to pick up 1000 pieces going overboard. Poor Emma and Audrey, the table must be blocking their view of the tv from the couch. Don't you just feel so sorry for them?? Time to kick them in the butts and run our errands! If we go soon they'll have lots of time to play in the pool later today.

Ya can't roller skate in a buffalo herd
Ya can't roller skate in a buffalo herd
Ya can't roller skate in a buffalo herd
But you can be happy if you have a mind to
Roger Miller 

Viva!!

"Viva" is what is screamed each day at Vacation Bible School whenever the bible point for the day is mentioned. Jesus is our Friend; Jesus is our Life; Jesus is our Leader; Jesus is our savior. I wonder what tomorrow will be???? (seriously, right now I can't remember) Emma and Audrey seem to be having fun at VBS again this year. The theme is Fiesta! We have Sing and Play Ole, Grande Games, Hot Bible Adventures, Chadder's Theater, [mucho] [macho] Munchies, and Cactus Crafts (that's me). Part of me misses not being a crew leader. As a station leader I get to see most of the kids every day, but I don't get to find out what's going on with the bible adventures or Chadder's theater. But it is fun to excitedly ask the kids attending crafts what is happening in other areas that day. They sure get a kick out of telling me. So far everything seems to be going well. A few obnoxious kids but not as many as I swear I have encountered in the past.

What else has happened this week? Monday afternoon Takayo and the other students cleaned up the Skagit County Fairgrounds. Tuesday was Holiday day. The students learned about different (American) Holidays and then we had a surprise birthday party for them. When we did the initial sign-ups for activities I signed the girls and I up for that one. It was quite fun. On the sign up sheet it listed that the host families would be bringing a $10 or less wrapped gift for their student that day. I remembered that. More or less. But we didn't hear anymore about it until Monday. And since I have busy mornings and another host mom is dropping off Takayo I don't get any written reminders until 4:00 pm. Obviously, even if you get the written info it doesn't mean that the host family reads it right away. I wonder how many families were thrown into a panic Tuesday morning when they were asked about their student's gift? That's another thing for me to try and remember for the evaluation. Let us know before the weekend if we need to buy something. I hate shopping with crowds---and that includes weekday evenings. I'd like to do that kind of thing during weekdays. Also, I assume that some working families would have appreciated knowing that they need to buy something prior to the weekend. But I digress, don't I? Or is it "I bitch, don't I?" Either one works I think.

Overall, the birthday party went well. There were a few games outside and a pinata. Everyone got to play--and eat! I got some really good pictures of everyone. Before my camera batteries started dying...... The girls and I had lunch with Justin at A&W after VBS and before heading to the birthday party.

Wednesday. Takayo went to Seattle---Space Needle, Seattle Center, and Pacific Science Center. Emma and Audrey went to a birthday party at the neighbor's. I stayed for a while and then left to pick up Takayo. I brought her back and we hung out at the party for a while before going home. Justin was in Ephrata, so dinner was, once again, a very casual affair.

And today is Thursday. VBS in the morning, and the Skagit County Fair with the Okinawa students in the afternoon. I decided to go ahead and go to the fair--and then we woke to rain this morning. grrrrrr Do I really want to do this? Hmmm....I'm not fully committed so who cares whether or not we go? Um, Emma and Audrey do. Fortunately the weather cleared up before noon. This is a pretty darn small fair. I saw a couple exhibitors I know and a few other fair-goers as well. I think Emma, Audrey, and I will go to the fair in Lynden on Monday. We didn't quite see everything at the fair today, but enough. And it was enough to make me think we should go ahead and go up to Lynden next week.

I bought Mexican Jumping Beans!!!! Did you know they jump because there are moth larvae inside the bean? Kind of creepy.....

Tomorrow is the final day of VBS. Yay! Or is it awwwwww? Not sure which emotion holds more power here. Takayo has half a day---only school in the morning and then home with us in the afternoon. We'll be packing tomorrow afternoon for our weekend in Silverdale with Justin's mom and step-dad. We'll stay with them and on Saturday we'll go to the Olympic Game Farm. Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! However, I realized this morning that I did not pre-approve this particular weekend trip with Compass USA. I am supposed to email the coordinator who will then contact Japan officials who will then ask Takayo's parents if it is OK for her to travel outside of the Seattle are with us. I'm assuming they'll say yes, but we still need that info before we go. Maybe. But it's not like we're going that far....... We'll probably go no matter what. It's only 50 miles from Seattle. As Kim Possible would say, "no big".

Next Friday night is the Farewell party for the Okinawa students. Wow. Can't believe it's almost over already! Emma said today that we should have an exchange student every year. We'll see about that!

Time to go to bed so I can be up early for VBS. And everything else I need to do but never seem to actually do when I should. Ack! I think I am too filled with hormones and self-loathing to write this tonight! Definitely time for bed.

Some praise the Lord for Light,
The living spark;
I thank God for the Night
The healing dark.
Robert William Service, "Weary", first lines

A surprise birthday party--complete with gifts--for the Okinawa students! Takayo likes Lisa Frank so we bought her some Lisa Frank school supplies. A fun party!
Audrey? Center of attention? Wha??? Takayo looks like she's having fun with her "baca" little sister.
Seafarer's Memorial Park, Anacortes. 

I want my nose pierced

At least I thought I wanted my nose pierced after shopping with three teenagers last Thursday. I spent waaaaay too much time in Hot Topic and was looking at the body jewelry. Let's see.....no way am I going to open up gigantahuge holes in my ears; tongue piercing? I mumble too much as it is; the dreaded belly button? I wish!!!! So the nose. Nah.

Last Thursday I took Takayo, Ayauko, and Briana to the mall. In Bellingham. (ooooooo) (ahhhhhhh) It's a bit different shopping with three teenagers (two of whom are Japanese and haven't seen many of these stores) as opposed to with my seven and five year olds. Couldn't tell you which one is better.

Friday Takayo went to Seattle all day with the group. Pike Place, Uwajamaya, and a Mariner's game. She had a great time and was very very tired.

Saturday Emma had a birthday party in the morning and Takayo went to a movie and shopping in the afternoon. A pretty low-key day overall. We went to Allen and Laura's to see the puppies. Everybody say "awwwww". 'Cause they are so darn cute!!!

Sunday morning found us at church. We hadn't actually explained communion to Takayo. Let alone the fact that Justin and I would be going up to take communion. Takayo came along with us and took communion. So does that help me get a place in heaven or am I now going straight to hell? Guess I'll find out later. Sunday afternoon one of the host families had a get together at their beach cabin on Samish Island. Very nice. Got to talk a little to some of the other host families and watched some of the students play badminton. I'm kind of starting to put Japanese names with Japanese faces. Kind of. A little. Oh who am I kidding? I can pick out four out of the eleven. And since two of the remaining are guys I'm only lost on five of the girls. Not bad. Too bad there's less than two weeks to go.

After we got home it was badminton time at our house. Justin and I played together for a while. Why yes, I did kick his butt, thank you for asking. Takayo and I played and Emma popped in and out too. CJ and his friend Derek came by to use the pressure washer and we roped them into playing as well. Good thing too, because I was exhausted and quite happy to give up my racket and just watch. A later night than we would have liked, but very fun nonetheless!

VBS is this week. I'll have to write more about Monday and Tuesday later. It's after midnight and I need to sleep. Takayo goes to Seattle again tomorrow. She's being picked up here around 7:40 in the morning. ick I suppose I should make sure I'm up in time. Especially since I need to fix her lunch! Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some time to write more and maybe even post some pictures. I have over 100 on my camera right now so I really need to upload them to the computer. I almost never have that many on my camera at one time! Only during the hawg roast and our vacation at the Suiattle cabin last summer.

If you can remember dreams of flying and soaring like a bird, or dancing, or singing more perfectly than you ever thought possible, you know that no second-hand account of such events could ever give you the thrill you felt in the dream. Gayle Delaney

Is this week over yet?

Technically it is Thursday morning. And I should really be asleep. But I'm not, so let's discuss what has happened lately.

Tuesday. Emma, Audrey and I went roller skating with the exchange students. Fun! Emma is becoming a very good skater, and Audrey did far better than I expected her to. She is a full body skater! Legs and arms pumpin' like there's no tomorrow! Emma is suddenly a fluid skater. She has the whole "I'm not doing anything special, just skating....." look to her. I requested a song. Well, a band really. J Giles Band. I mean really, what person in their thirties can be at a skating rink and not have "Centerfold" running through their head? Can you believe that the person I talked to could not just quickly say, "oh yeah, here is their cd. which song do you want?". Instead he said, "ooo, I don't know if we have that....". Don't you think every skate rink should come equipped with "Centerfold"???? Don't worry. They had it. Complete with video!

Wednesday. Nothing too exciting. I finally finished the donation item for the auction this weekend. whew. Now to get it to the powers that be and I'll be done. At 4 pm I picked up Takayo and Ran and headed out of town. Dropped Ran off at her house and headed to a meeting at church in Anacortes. Next week is Vacation Bible School and I've said I'll help with it. I had great fun last year leading crafts and said I'd do it again this year. The guy in charge of it all, Brent, wound up being admitted to the hospital that day with chest pains. Yikes!!!! I haven't heard anything more so I hope all is going well for him and his family. The VBS training meeting was a bit weird since the guy in charge wasn't there. I'm confident it will all go as well as usual next week, but it still feels weird the week before.

Justin went sailing tonight with our friend Bill. This is his first time in a looong time and he really enjoyed it. After my VBS meeting the girls and I went to McDs and got some food to take to Seafarer's Memorial Park and watch the races. Who knows what boat Justin was on, but it was pleasant to watch. The three girls had fun on the beach. Audrey's shoes got wet, and she later fell and bruised her thigh. I was wandering around trying to take pictures, when suddenly something hard hit the back of my shoulder. And Takayo is running toward me apologizing. Uh-oh. Her attempt to throw a rock into the water didn't work as well as planned. It hit me instead. At least it wasn't my head!! I got a few good pictures. Still need to get them on the computer.

I have an irritation on my upper lip. (this is when the people who are only here for the exchange student stuff should stop reading, this is becoming "the life of Joy"). The woman who cut my hair last week also did some waxing. I knew she'd wax my eyebrows and chin, but slathering the wax on my upper lip was a surprise. And now I have a bump. grrrrr We'll see how it turns out.

One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few. Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Belated Hawg Roast Pictures

Preppin' the pig
In she goes!!
Mmmm....that's some pig!
What great friends!!! 

Aha. Figured out the "title" function

It's been bugging me that on my blog the title listing is the beginning of my entry and not an actual "title". I figured out how to fix it. Yay! Not a big deal of course, but I knew there had to be a way.....

OK, Tuesday. What's been happening?

Sunday was a lazy day. Ahhhhhh...... Takayo spent a lot of time in her room. She said she had some Japanese homework to do. She'd been so busy this past week that I figured the best thing for her would be to relax.

Monday. I picked up another student and took the girls to school. Only 5 minutes late....... Our neighbor Cassandra is running a Camp 4 Girls this week. Girls ages 3 to 8 can go and they have a theme each day, a craft, snack, and bible lesson. Emma and Audrey went yesterday after dropping the other girls off at school. They had a great time! It's from 9 to noon this week except for today when it will be in the afternoon. Too bad, since we are signed up to go roller skating with the exchange students. The girls are a little upset but also looking forward to skating.

Monday afternoon we went bowling with the Japanese students. I'm finally realizing that that may be the reason my stomach muscles hurt! I bowled with Emma and Audrey and we had bumpers!! No gutter balls!!!! I eventually won (with a 94) but Emma was ahead for the most of the game. Audrey did pretty well too, but got very very cranky near the end. Takayo was a couple lanes over and did super! She had quite a few strikes. We all had fun.

David is here for a couple of days. He met us at the bowling alley. I asked him to take the girls home and Takayo and I went to the grocery store. We were out of milk, cheese, and bread. Having Takayo here I need to have a lunch for her and breakfast so being out of those essentials wasn't good! Hmmm....three things and I spent $100. Guess I needed a bit more than that!

I think Takayo is feeling more comfortable here. We talked a bit more on the car ride home. She mentioned that she wants to go to the post office soon and her request was in very good English. She played outside with Emma and Audrey---badminton, jumping on the trampoline. Looks like everyone is having more fun now!

I should probably get in the shower. I'm trying to finish up a donation item. Last summer I donated some of my beaded handled serving pieces to a children's hospital auction. A few months ago they emailed me to see if I'd be willing to donate again. I said I would. The auction is this Saturday. And I'm not done yet. I decided to make a set of a butter knife and six tiny forks. They are turning out well, it's difficult tying off the ends. If only I could bead it and leave it. One of the forks I need to take apart and redo. I started it up too high on the neck and it definitely looks different. I'm thinking that I should take some time and just make a bunch of these things again. That way if anybody wants to buy one or have me donate I will be ready. That whole procrastinating thing doesn't work well in business. Golly, maybe that's why I don't have a job!

Success for me is having ten honeydew melons and eating only the top half of each one. Barbra Streisand

Takayo, Audrey, and Emma.
Audrey, Emma, and Cousin Mike on the Gator at Centralia. 

And now it's Sunday.....

Last time I wrote it was Wednesday. Has this been a busy week? Oh yeah!! Let's see.....

I can't even remember what happened Wednesday evening. Aha! I got a haircut Wednesday afternoon. The girls played with Ellie and Adam. After I picked up Takayo from school we got the girls and went home. Then I think Emma and Audrey went straight into the pool. And Alyssa and Gracie came over. Gracie stayed and even spent the night. Obviously nothing monumental happened that day.

Except for Emma losing another tooth! She went to Big Scoop with Ellie, Adam, and their mom Anita and Emma's tooth came out in her waffle cone. She was so busy with Gracie that she forgot to put her tooth in a glass for the Tooth Fairy! Fortunately the Tooth Fairy came anyway. What a smart and resourceful Tooth Fairy!

Thursday was a loooong day! We went with the exchange students to Birch Bay Water Slides. Everybody had fun, but boy did I get a sunburn!! Right at my straps so wearing a bra really hurts and carrying my purse is torture! Audrey had a ball on the kiddie slides and eventually felt comfortable enough there to tackle the big slides. This was great progress for her, but the downside meant Mommy had to get wet. We got to the top and I asked the life guard what the best slide would be for Audrey's first time. We got in line for the Corkscrew. Just as we were ready to sit down Audrey screamed "no". Surprised? I think not. I talked to her a little and we watched some people go down and decided to give it another try. She sat on my lap, I hugged her tight and down we went. Lots of fun and we didn't go under at the end. So you know what that means! Yep, back to the top. We ran into Emma and Gracie and they decided to get brave and join us. They had been going on a wide slide that they could link arms and go on together. I guess they figured if I could do it, so could they. They were a little nervous, but both of them tried the Corkscrew (they really wanted to go on the Snake, but decided to stick with what Audrey and I were doing). This time when Audrey and I went down we went under at the end. Audrey thanked me for getting her up. What else would I have done? Audrey and I went on the Corkscrew two more times that day and the final time we nearly ran into the kid who had gone before us. After someone goes, you are supposed to count to 15 and then go. I counted to a very loooong 15 before going. You should have seen the look on this kid's face! He started paddling to move faster and Audrey and I started reaching out to try and slow ourselves down. Yikes! I can only imagine how panicked Auds and I looked. Emma and Gracie did finally go on the Snake one time before we left.

So this was an Exchange Student activity, so where is my student? Out having fun with her friends. One Japanese and that girl's host sister. Takayo had a great time. We went to the beach right after that. I got left behind! I hadn't found out any leaving time and when I asked the plan I was told "we're leaving within the next 10 minutes". Oh crap. Luckily the students were all riding together in the bus! I had no kids with me and all four of us were in our wet suits. I found Audrey and then surprisingly ran into Emma and Gracie. whew! We changed and all four went to the bathroom--I knew it would be an hour before we got home so this was essential! We got done as quickly as possible, but when we got out everybody with the group was gone. Hmm, maybe they're still in the parking lot. Nope. OK. They went to the beach. I can see water from here, let's go that way. We got to the end of the street. Left or right? Since the UPS truck behind me was already heading right we went left. You guessed it, wrong way. We turned around and started heading to the other side and there was the bright blue bus. Just as I saw it my cell phone rang and it was Dayle from the program. I pulled into a parking space as she was apologizing. Oh well. The students were supposed to spend a little while on the beach but their teacher vetoed this because she didn't want them getting sick. I think she was afraid of them being out in the sun so long. We got in the car, along with Takayo, and headed south. By the time we reached the north end of Bellingham, maybe even by Ferndale, I was the only person awake in the car. Four worn out girls!!

And then there was Friday.......Take Takayo to class, stop at Target for Emma to buy a birthday gift, go to Anacortes for TGIF, McDonald's drive-through for lunch, home long enough for Emma to wrap the gift and for me to frantically pick up the house in preparation for the housecleaner coming -- oh, right about now! --, and then racing out the door to get Emma to the skating rink for a birthday party (yep, 10 minutes late), and then pick-up Takayo (now 25 minutes late), then to the mall so Takayo can shop, then pick up Emma, then to the mall again. Exhausted? Oh yeah.

On Takayo's info sheet she lists shopping as a favorite activity so I thought some time at the mall would be fun for her. She didn't buy anything, and I don't know if it's because she didn't find anything or was uncomfortable with me. The second time into the mall I asked her if she wanted to shop alone or have Emma, Audrey, and I with her. She said she wanted us with her because she isn't familiar with American money yet. Boy did I feel old going into some of those stores! I'm too young to feel that old!!!!!

Ready for Friday night?? Passion Party at Nancy's!!!!! What were those drinks Colleen was mixing? Chi-chi? Shi-shi? Something yummy anyway. The guys all went to the Edison for steak night. And the ladies learned about sex toys. Wow! The beginning of the presentation was on lotions, lubricants, powders, etc. The consultant told us to pick an edible arm and a non edible arm. As she talked about the various products she would put some on our arm---hence the edible vs. non-edible. And then there was the stuff for the nipple. Edible, but not by us at the time...... Did I buy something? Yes. Will I tell you? No.

I'll give the abbreviated version of Saturday: drove south. Stopped in Des Moines for Justin to see his grandma who had a stroke last week. Went to Centralia to Aunt Helga's house for a family party. Grandma, Bud, and Louise were there too. Nice time. One of the guys there speaks Japanese so I asked him to talk to Takayo for a little while. Hope she liked that. Hope he didn't mind it. Very tired. Very very tired. I got out of bed around 10 am. I didn't wake up at all until 8 am. Now it's 1:50 and I'm about to take a shower.

I've been taking some pictures. I need to put them on this blog somehow. It looks like I can only put one on with Picasa's Blog This or I can set them up on a hosting site and get them that way. I suppose neither way is too difficult, but still. Just takes time I guess.

Never underestimate the power of passion. Eve Sawyer

Our student is here!!!

Today is the beginning of our second full day with Takayo, our "daughter" from Okinawa. Monday at 5 pm we picked up Takayo from her orientation and brought her home with us. The students had been traveling for about 20 hours at that point and in Japan the time would have been around 2 am. Wow! We came home and gave Takayo a quick tour of the house and had dinner (spaghetti with crab in Alfredo sauce---good first American dinner, right?). After dinner we went outside for a little while so she could see the area around the house. She seemed impressed with how much property we are on. Emma and Audrey were tossed, fully clothed, into the pool and had great fun playing for a while. Takayo had kind of caught a "second wind" and wasn't tired yet. She didn't go to bed until after 10 pm! Tired girl!!

Tuesday morning Emma, Audrey, and I took Takayo into Mt. Vernon for her class at Christ the King Church. (note: this is not a church-based exchange. the area coordinators have access to this church for use as a classroom. it appears that many of the host families are Christian and know the area coordinators through church.) Class begins at 9 am. In the afternoon, the students were taken to downtown Mt. Vernon to go to the bank and post office and walk the downtown area. Emma, Audrey, and I ran a bunch of errands and didn't get home until 2 pm. Just enough time to get the girls ready for Carissa's birthday party across the road. After dropping them there, I went back to CTK to pick up Takayo at 4 pm. I was met at the door by Dayle, one of the coordinators, who told me that my daughter was not just tired, she was TIRED. Uh-oh. I had been asked to take another student to her host family's house on my way home. Whenever I looked in the mirror I could see Takayo slumped forward sleeping. As soon as we got home I sent her to bed. The downside to this shadily is that we had to be in Mt. Vernon at 6 pm for a Welcome potluck. How much good can a one hour nap be for this girl?? We wound up letting her sleep a bit longer and didn't leave home until 6 pm. I'm hoping that I remember at the end of the program to recommend the Welcome party be on their second full day instead of the first. It would have been much more fun for everyone. When we arrived home I helped Takayo with her homework---American money identification and a questionnaire about the family to help her understand some of our rules and whatnot. A slightly earlier bedtime last night.....

So now it is Wednesday. One of the other host moms took Takayo in to town for me today. She will have class in the morning and then in the afternoon the students will go to the mall for shopping and a learning activity. After I pick up Takayo today we'll go to the grocery store and see if we can figure out some foods that she likes. We'll try and keep this evening as low-key as possible.

Takayo's English is pretty good. We were told at the orientation that the student's conversation skills will be much lower than their reading/writing English skills. During homework last night Takayo was able to read pretty much all of her questions and needed help with spelling only a few words. It's difficult to get into the habit of speaking more slowly and clearly and using fewer words to communicate. Today I'm going to work with the girls on that. Once they are able to grasp the better way to speak with Takayo they will have even more fun.

Emma and Audrey were quite nervous Monday evening. They are really enjoying their new big sister though! They take turns sitting beside her in the car. We received some wonderful gifts from Takayo. The girls got little juggling bean bags, origami paper, and gorgeous festival clothing. Audrey has been asking every day to wear it! (I took a picture, let's see if I can get it on here.) Justin and I each got shirts from Okinawa and a beautiful calligraphy that she did herself. It's a kanji which represents "Good Luck". She also gave us local cookies and candy and a set of Shi-Sa. Little "lions" for good luck. The owner is supposed to display them by the front door. Ours are up above it (and I need to dust up there!!). Takayo is very sweet and courteous. Tomorrow we will go with the exchange students to Birch Bay Water Slides. Should be fun!

We added two new additions to our family on Monday. Takayo and a rooster. I can hear him cockadoodledooing right now! Our neighbors (with 16 chickens) were surprised to have three of their hens actually turn out to be roosters. So now we have one of them. He's beautiful and looks a bit like our Silver Lace Wyandottes. We have two eggs so far this week (since Saturday when we'd eaten all the previous fresh eggs). Still only one--or none--a day though.

Still a lot to do around the house and I have a much needed haircut appointment in two hours. Yay!!

We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance. Japanese Proverb

I smell puppies!!!!

Ten of the cutest little three week old puppies were just at my house. Oh my goodness!! How can anyone not fall in love with a three week old Golden Retriever puppy??????? Then again, there's a fine line between "falling in love" and "taking home". Cute? Oh yeah. Living with me? No way!

Monday afternoon we meet our exchange student. I can't wait for her to actually have a name. A personality. A presence. Unfortunately, for now, she continues to be "our exchange student". Even though we know her name; I'm still not using it in this. No good reason. I kind of feel that until I know how to pronounce her name, I don't feel comfortable writing it Her name is Takayo. I'll find out how to pronounce it Monday night.

Sunday morning we will go to church. (second time in two weeks. unfortunately that's a record this year.) Emma and Briauna will get their certificates and pins for the God and Me class this week. Good reason to go, right? We must get back into the habit. But why? Hmmmm.....I think that's for another day.

My turn to brush teeth and get ready for bed.

No quote tonight. Too tired. Joy

I am so not a morning person!

Emma has now had three days of God and Me. She and Briauna are really enjoying it. Yesterday I had Briauna's sister Carissa with Audrey and I and we went to two parks in Anacortes. I think the girls had fun. When we got back home we all went to Dawnell's for lunch and the girls played in their pool. I ran some errands in the late afternoon and the girls didn't come home until just after 8 pm. They were beyond exhausted. They hardly touched their dinner and actually admitted to being tired! The good news is: they went right to sleep. The bad news is: they didn't wake up until 8:30 this morning. Not too bad except we have to leave here around 9 am to get to Anacortes on time! We made it though. Audrey went with Carissa's family to a movie and we swapped kids at the mall. Whew.

Yesterday I picked up the info on our exchange student. She says she's looking forward to shopping and making American friends. She's had four years of English, so hopefully we will have a workable language barrier. The girls are getting more and more excited. I guess Justin and I are too.

PTA
I think I might actually like this PTA Secretary thing. The one board member who made me more nervous than the others seemed less scary the other night. There's so much to do! I kind of volunteered myself for something awful----the Bay View PTA website. I guess someone got it up and running a few years ago, but nothing has been done to it since. Since this person is one of my neighbors, and I'd love to see the site actually updated and usable, I said I'd contact him and see if it was something I could learn to do. We'll see how it goes. I still haven't emailed him about it. Wonder what that says about my level of commitment to that?

The girls and I were out of the house waaaay too long today. I can't believe it's almost six o'clock! I'd better help Emma with her God and Me homework and feed the girlies. And straighten up. sigh Justin and Dan are crabbing tonight. Good thing Dan just bought a boat 'cause we're still hoping to sell ours! According to Justin it sounds like we have three or four people coming to see it between tomorrow and Friday. I sure hope we sell it! Sad to see it go, but the money will be nice to see.

When a naked man is chasing a woman through an alley with a butcher knife and a hard-on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross. -- Clint Eastwood (Dirty Harry, 1971)

Hmmm....I don't seem to be doing a very good job of keeping up with this blog. Guess I'll just have to accept that I'll jump in and out of it as I move along.

Justin and I went to the Host Family Orientation. This is going to be quite the experience!! We still don't know anything about our student. We found out the next day that the area director---who was in attendance---had the paperwork but didn't give it to the coordinator until after Justin and I had left. grrrrr I should be getting it tomorrow some time. My guess is that once we have our student here I'll be writing a bit more.

Emma started going to God and Me at church this week. Neighbor Briauna is attending too. Audrey and I were treated to drinks at Penguin Coffee (yay Nancy!) then we browsed/shopped at Read Me A Story before picking up the girls. We should have gone to a park, but didn't quite get there. Next time. Um, which would be tomorrow I guess.

Tonight is another PTA Board Meeting. Could someone tell me again why I agreed to be Secretary? Oh well. I'm sure it will be good for me. Maybe give me a little more confidence in myself? Maybe make me not quite so afraid of the dreaded "Bay View Moms"? Oh who am I kidding? At least one person on the board scares me to death and a couple others frighten me a tad. But golly, I'm sure by the end of the school year we'll all be just best buds! (that was sarcasm)

Speaking of friends.... Boy do I love this neighborhood! And I love that we've become pretty good friends with most of the neighbors. Of course I do have the irrational fear that one day the niceness will cease. I guess I just can't imagine people--especially those living in close proximity--can be friends for so long. This is yet another thing that I have not had exampled to me (exampled is the wrong word, but maybe I'll remember the right one). My mom never really had any long time friends that she still spent time with. And anybody I could recall as her friends when I was in school also aren't around anymore. And my dad..... Same thing really. It's too bad that I'm already feeling--only three years into living here--that there will be a time when it will end. And I'm not thinking of people moving, just of friendships dying. And of course I'm only picturing mine. Everyone else will still be friends, but I'll be way off on the edges. OK, Stop It! Enough of this.

Time to straighten up the house before Justin gets home. I need to leave in less than one hour so he should be home in 45 minutes or so. Plenty of time, if I get moving.

"We call that person who has lost his father, an orphan; and a widower that man who has lost his wife. But that man who has known the immense unhappiness of losing a friend, by what name do we call him? Here every language is silent and holds its peace in impotence."
Joseph Roux

Exchange

Well, tonight Justin and I will go to an orientation meeting for host families. Through Compass USA we'll have a Japanese student stay with us for a month. Sounds like we'll get more information on her tonight, all we know so far is that she is sixteen. The girls are really looking forward to this experience! I think I'm excited too, but I'm also pretty nervous. Mostly concerned that she'll be bored out of her mind when she's not at her classes or sponsored activities, and then there's my cooking..... How much spaghetti will she be willing to eat?? Hopefully she won't go back to Okinawa with bad feelings about the USA.

Emma and Audrey are working out right now. They have a Belly Dancing video in and are doing it. Much cuter than when I do it!! I really need to do some sort of exercise. Something! And eat less. A lot less. sigh

I think that may be enough for now. Time to feed the girls and myself.

I prefer Hostess fruit pies to pop-up toaster tarts because they don't require so much cooking. Carrie Snow

Hawg Roast 2006

We tried and we succeeded!!! A grand time was had by the 30 or so adults (and a gaggle of children) in attendance. 104 pound Becky Sue was lowered into a hot pit of coals close to midnight last Friday. We were eating her up around 6pm Saturday. Wow. Justin learned a lot about hawg roasting prior to the event and learned even more throughout it. Here's pretty much what went on.

Dig hole with Allen's backhoe. (insert Tim the Toolman grunt here) and place rocks in the bottom.

Add fire.

Wait for fire to become hot coals.

On a table, lay out a piece of chicken wire big enough to wrap around the whole hawg. Lay banana leaves on that. Reverently place hawg on top of banana leaves belly side up. Season hawg with rock salt and pepper, shove onions, garlic, and apples into belly cavity. Sew up the cavity.

Wrap chicken wire around hawg. Tie chicken wire encased hawg onto long metal pipe.

Move hawg to the pit and set down so the hawg dangles above the coals and the pipe rests on the ground on two sides of the hole.

Cover with metal roofing. Cover roofing with dirt.

Wait.

Periodically check the temperature of both the hawg and the pit.

When hawg temperature reaches 150 or so (remember trichinosis is very very bad) remove hawg and let dangle in it's chicken wire home for one hour.

Lay hawg on table and unwrap. It's just like Christmas! Pull that pork and eat!!

Continue eating BBQ pork sandwiches for many many days following the event.

What was even better than the food? The friends! We had friends from the neighborhood, from work, and from just about everywhere.

Now let's see if I can figure out how to add pictures of this event. Wish me luck!

Grrrrr......this whole posting pictures thing isn't working as well as I'd planned. Wonder where the five pictures it said it uploaded have gone.

So What Else is Happening?

Hmmmm.....What Else indeed. Justin's birthday was yesterday. We all know I'm not very good at doing stuff for other people and this was one of my worst! I did nothing for the poor guy. He had a big weekend (the hawg roast was kind of his birthday party--with cake and pie even thanks to the kindness of Kristi and Nancy). And he bought himself a great gift. No way could I have come up with that! Maybe his 36th will be better. Justin's dad did come up yesterday though and it looked like the two of them had some good talks. David is heading south to Sonoma and then to Mexico and will be gone nearly a month. Wow! He certainly needs that vacation.

Audrey won a raffle prize at the library yesterday. During the Summer Reading Program kids can enter their name into a drawing when they read over an hour in a week. There are a bunch of different gift certificates to choose from and she chose one for a free doughnut from Krispy Kreme. No, we did not use it right away. Last night Audrey woke around 1am in a horrible mood. Holy Cow! She was at that incredibly tired point when everything is magnified. In this case it was her anger and frustration over her jammies. About half an hour later she was done crying and I could go back to sleep. Today she made me a card with a penguin on the front of it. Very cute. She pointed out one of the feet where she had to add a couple of toes. Otherwise it would have looked like a hoof. She was right! Those little cutenesses make up for the nights of insanity.

Emma is a reading machine! She's pretty fickle though. Well, kind of . She loves the Junie B. Jones series of books and doesn't have an interest in reading anything else. I'm trying though! The last two times we've gone to the library they haven't had any Junie B.'s that she hadn't already read. whew. I convinced her to start Charlotte's Web the other night. Here's where her fickleness comes in. She read one chapter of Charlotte's Web and the next day we went to the library and she checked out a new book. Charlotte's Web has been pushed aside and she's read the first chapter of this other book. I think it's called Dear Mr. Whiskers. She has also partly read Elevator Family and Only Emma. She gets a new book and starts it, leaving the other one behind. I think she and Gracie are also reading a book together but don't know how far they've gotten in it. Emma gets obsessed with the number of chapters in a book. If there are "too many" chapters she isn't interested in reading it. I've tried to tell her that if she's worried about the length of a book she should look at the number of pages not chapters. I even showed her a book I read with 10 chapters but well over 400 pages. Nope, not gettin' through. Funny kid. I've noticed she is a bit like me in that now that she can read well she reads pretty much anything with words that she can see. Yay!!

It is very easy to forgive others their mistakes; it takes more grit and gumption to forgive them for having witnessed your own. Jessamyn West