Hard Work Often Pays After Time, But Laziness Always Pays Off Now

My new mantra.

Hard to believe there is someone else out there who shares my philosophy and had the wherewithall to make a picture of it.

Christmas is progressing along nicely. I've wrapped about 7 presents and have 30 more to go. Christmas cards are being shipped here waiting for me to get the letter written and the stamps bought. April 15th seems like a good deadline for those. I made a wonderful white chocolate popcorn concotion. I'm sure that will be gone by Wed. I've come up with 2 projects that should only take a week or so to finish. So you see things are right on schedule.

On a serious note, we had major fun Friday night. We rented a 14 passenger limo bus to go look at Christmas lights. It was so nice to be able to have the whole family together to do it. It wasn't even about the lights. Of course I didn't take a picture nor did Scrapbook Amy. I hope the kids will have a wonderful memory of it anyway.

For some reason bed is calling my name. I think I'll listen to it.

First Big Snow

I wish I had taken pictures yesterday. Grady had such a good time playing in the snow. He would find an apple and then throw it in the air. Then he would dig to find it and start the process all over. Of course for a dog any excuse to dig is a good thing.
We had 4 inches of snow. Just the right amount if you ask me. Enough to turn everything white, but not enough to stay forever if we get some warm days. Snow's great if it doesn't last all winter. I hate it when we get a big blizzard in November and then the snow stays until March or April. Makes for one long winter. This is just perfect. It adds the right touch for the Christmas season.
Speaking of Christmas, I seem to have lost the umph. I finally put all the decorations on my tree and Steve put up my village, but otherwise I'm not psyched to do much other decorating.
I hope I haven't hit that old age, Christmas bah humbug age. I always thought even if it was just me I'd still do all the Christmas hoopla, but sometimes it really does seem like alot of work for such a little time. I haven't even worried about the shopping. Now that's a good thing actually. Sometimes I obsess over that too much.
At school we go to Sertoma tomorrow and then we're taking the kids to the mall. That should be interesting. When we used to go to Target with all the kids that always put me in the Christmas mood. So hopefully this will too.

Hello again

Another ordinary day in an ordinary life. I took Kyra to Special Edition this morning. I love doing that. It seems like a weird thing to have to leave home 40 minutes earlier than usual and actually look forward to it, but I do. First off I get to spend some time with just Kyra. Second I usually go to Starbucks, so that's a treat in itself. And thirdly I get to see some of the most amazing things. Like the sunrise this morning. Even if I had stopped and tried to take a picture it wouldn't have done it justice. Absolutely breathtaking the way it broke through the clouds and shone through the parking ramps downtown. Definitely one of those never to be repeated moments. By the time it took me to go about 8 blocks the clouds were coming in and obscuring the view. You had to be up and out early this morning or you'd never know what you missed.
I haven't knitted in about 5 days. I'm not exactly sure why, except that I haven't had the urge. I need to get back to it though.
Otherwise this was just an ordinary day in an ordinary life. Just the way I like it.
Good night all.

Where does the time go?

I wish I had some cool pictures for my long lost blog, but alas I've been neglect on picture taking along with blogging. Haley just informed me she has a blog now. Maybe that will be what I need to get back to blogging.
Back to school tomorrow. Where did my 4 day weekend go? Well Friday I went to the doctor in the morning. I'm not sure what I did the rest of the day. Oh I did go to Walmart with Amy later in the day, but overall it was a wasted day. Saturday I babysat Haley, Hannah and Will. Poor Will was sick so we didn't get to do anything, but hang around the house. Sunday Amy and Kyra and I went to Starbucks and Target. Nothing too exciting there. Today Steve and I worked outside and played with Grady. Later in the afternoon Amy, Kyra and I went to Hobby Lobby looked around downtown. Love Zandbros. I should do all my Christmas shopping there.
Speaking of Christmas shopping, I should write down all my ideas and just go shopping. If I set my mind to it I could probably be done in a day. Unfortunately I always try and second guess myself and end up spending way too much time shopping. Christmas should be interesting with Grady and all his shenanigans.
I'm watching dancing with the stars. I don't think there is a really good one in the group this time. It really is more of a popularity contest this time.
Hopefully I'll get back to blogging more regularly.
Goodnight all.

Fall

Today was an absolutely beautiful fall day. Too bad it's already the first of October. Somehow I think Christmas will just sneak up on us this year. It was 75 degrees today with crystal clear blue skies. Not much wind, which considering this weekend is absolutely amazing. We went to KMart tonight and it looks like it is clouding up a little. That's fall though one nice day, one not so nice day. Eventually the not so nice days take over.

I'm in the mood for fall. Fall decorations, fall food, fall clothing etc. I love fall. It always has been my favorite season. Back to school, cool evenings, sweaters and all that. I loved it since I was a kid. I don't even mind that winter comes after. I don't mind winter all that much it just gets so long. I should probably live in Denver where they have winter but it isn't as severe as ours.

Not much is going on around here. Grady is still in his terrible whatevers. He is a counter surfing fool. Nothing is safe anymore. He doesn't even wait until I'm out of sight. Tonight I made french dip sandwiches. I sliced the foccacias and was getting the roast beef ready. I was right there (my kitchen isn't very big) and within a split second he grabbed one of the foccacias and was going to snarf it down. Oh no I thought, you're not going to have a morsel of this. I grabbed him and fished my hand down his throat and retrieve my foccacia. Of course it was inedible at this point but he didn't get to enjoy it at least. I just hope he lives long enought to enjoy his old age.

Happy Birthday

Fall is definitely in the air.

I can't believe that the last time I wrote was July 24. My has the weather changed. It is downright chilly today. I put socks on for the first time in months and I'm really contemplating turning on the furnace.





I spent the day cleaning house. Steve spent the day at work doing inventory. I haven't had a Saturday home alone for a long time. It was really nice in a way. My upstairs is nice and clean. I put a Yankee Tart Fall Festival on and the house smells so good. I just wish I had put some soup on. That would have made it the perfect fall day. As it is I have no supper plans, so we'll probably just order pizza.





Yesterday we were talking about the Germanfest that is taking place downtown today. I had thought that it might be nice to go. Have some brats and a beer and walk around downtown, but brrrrr!!! it doesn't even appeal to me now. Even with socks on my feet are cold. I'll bet my feet haven't been cold since March.





Speaking of socks, I'm in the mood to knit again. I have put it on the back burner all summer. I think I would like to try socks. Something challenging. I tend to get bored easily and if I've done something too many times I seem to lose steam for the project. I do have a sweater for Will I should finish before he totally outgrows it.





We had Grady neutered on Monday. We had a nice quiet puppy for a day. Now he's become brat puppy. Doctors orders were for no walks, to keep him on his leash and no jumping, etc. Well let me tell you a 5 month old puppy has a lot of energy to get rid of. If he can't use it up going on walks and running around the backyard, he's going to find someway to use it. Grady seems to think that taking things and having me try and get them back is the best way to use up his excess energy. Not fun. At least not for me.



School is going well. I think this could be a good year. The kids are good. I'm working with a good teacher. My old teacher retired last spring. So hopefully it continues.

Well I hope it isn't almost 2 months again before I post to this thing.

That time already??

Do not hit enter everytime you want to move down the page. I'm the worst offender of that and im'ing Amy has really proved that. Let's see what has happened in July so far. Three birthdays and the 4th of July all in one week. Steve's brother Bill came from Norfolk Ne to help his dad. Bill and Lori cooked a bunch of meals for them to put in the freezer. The weather has been hot and humid and no rain. The lawns are brown and my flowers are sad. But otherwise really not much has happened this month. Grady just keeps getting bigger and in more trouble. In fact I'd better check on him now. Maybe I'll post again tonight.

WOO HOO!!!!

I figured out how to change the banner on my blog. All by myself, I might add. Of course I used a premade banner from Shabby Princess but hey a girl has to start somewhere.
Well summer is more than half over. Time to get serious about all the things I wanted to get accomplished. Check - lose weight nope! Check - cook more Nope again. Check - read more books - I'm reading one now does that count. Check - have fun and be lazy. O yeah I've got that one down. Starting Monday it's the new and improved me. Going to get real serious about the losing weight. I'm thoroughly disgusted with myself. You know that feeling when even your skin doesn't fit right and your own bumps and bulges are getting in the way. I really know how those 600 lb people get that way. You can easily get to a point where the only thing that is easy to do is just to sit and eat. Everything else takes too much energy. My biggest challenge is going to be exercising. I seem to have developed a hip issue that really bothers me if I over do it. I know that losing weight will help that, but its hard to want to exercise if you know its going to hurt later. Hopefully Monday, Amy and I will get out and walk around the school again and Steve and Grady and I will get out again in the evening and walk around our block. It's a fair sized block and its uphill half of the way. My goal this weekend is to layout out my menus and buy groceries.

That's enough about that. It's been a fun week. Kyra and Haley's birthdays, a quiet 4th of July and lunch at the mall with Amy and the kids. Kyler's birthday is Monday. Summer singer has its last week of practice and it's last concert. I have a hair cut on Thursday. After that I have some relatively quiet weeks. Hopefully I can get some projects done. I've really been in a groove with scrapbooking this week. I hope it continues, but allows me to get other things done too. I tend to be an all or nothing girl.

Grady has been a little terror this week. He is starting to get into things. He chewed up 2 CD's. He loves books and papers. We really didn't puppy proof the house. Silly us!!! Over all though, he's a good puppy. He's very smart and seems to catch on quickly. He knows our schedule. Every morning while Steve is getting ready for work. Grady and I lay on the bed and talk to him while he's dressing. So today at 7 something Grady starts barking at the bed. Excuse me dog but it's Saturday. He also thinks Steve should get at 7 every day. Bark, bark bark. Grady could be a good thing for us, as sleeping in can't be good.

Well must get ready for the day. Kirby has a ball game at 9. I'd love to see his team win this mini tournament but that would mean playing all day. It's supposed to be 90 some degrees. Yuck.

Good Sunday Morning Trouble Dog

Back again so soon. Twice in one week. Whoa!!

It is such a beautiful morning. We have had the most amazing summer weather. Most days are warm and the evenings and mornings are just delightful. Today and tomorrow they are promising to bring back the heat and humidity but by the middle of the week it should be milder again.

Grady is really a very good puppy, but he is most definitely a puppy. His favorite thing to do in the morning is to go into our closet and take Steve's shoes out to the living room. He then tosses them all around and chews on them. We've yet to see a tooth mark on any though. Yesterday morning he had five shoes out. It's really quite cute but needs to stop before he starts that puppy teething. His other favorite thing is chewing on baskets. I have quite a few baskets around. I put magazines in them, yarn, dog toys, potatoes, whatever. Quite handy little things until you have a puppy. I now have baskets up on top of TV's, chairs whatever. One basket in particular that's in my den is his favorite. He's chewed off most of the handle. (It was broke anyway.) It's full of magazines and not that easy to move so I bought some bitter spray. This morning I'm in here playing on the computer and he starts chewing on the basket. Ah ha I remember I have that bitter spray. I come back with the spray and start spraying the basket and the magazines in it. He goes nuts. He really wants that basket now. I'm like "wait until you taste it dude." I put that basket down and sure enought he goes over to it. But instead of backing away he starts licking it all over. Stupid dog likes the taste of bitter spray. Wouldn't you know. Allergic to his shots and likes bitter spray. I really know how to pick them.

I spent all day over at Scott's yesterday. It was a good day. The girls played really well and Will was very good. Kyra came over later to watch the kids after Will went to bed. She brought a bunch of things from her room. She's been cleaning. They had a makeover. We have next weekend off. Yeah. Hopefully we can get more things accomplished.

Again so soon!!!

See I knew I wouldn't even make 3 days in a row. This is still better than once a month or more. We had a great weekend. We didn't have to babysit on Saturday and the weather was soo nice that we accomplished a number of outside tasks. We often aren't very motivated and we get sidetracked so easily that it was surprising we finished almost everything on my list. There's still lots to do and with babysitting this Saturday nothing will probably get done this weekend.

Grady is doing great. He is such a puppy though. Everything goes in his mouth. It's really fun to watch him though. Life is such a great adventure to him. It's like having a kid. Some days you want to keep them little and some days you can't wait for them to grow up.

Went to watch the boys ballgames last night. Wednesday is the last day of the regular season. How did that happen. Summer goes by much too quickly. Just when you get the hang of it school starts. I think the kids are getting bored though. Wish we could take them back to my childhood. I'm sure we got bored too, but there was so much more freedom. My brother and I and our friend Chip spent everyday outside coming up with one adventure or another. I'll have to blog about all the great things we used to do to pass the time at a later date. Oh the good ole days.

We have had such nice weather this summer for the most part. Yesterday and this morning are hot and humid but overall it's been good. It is firefly season. Last night in our backyard there were literally hundreds of them. When our kids were little we used to have to drive out in the country to see them. I would never see more than one or two in our front yard. City growth must be driving them into town.

Well I have to get ready. Another day of hauling kids and then babysitting this afternoon. Not much will get done around here. Can't complain though. Summer singer ends soon too and then I'll probably get bored staying home all the time.

New puppy!!!!

Time to blog again. Wish I could make it a habit. I so believe in journaling everyday, but I can't seem to get into the habit. 3 weeks to a habit they say. What if you can't make it 3 days?

New puppy. Yeah!!!!!! I've been struggling ever since Sam died. I can't explain it. Common sense told me that being petless was really the right thing. Both Amy and Kirby have allergies. Pets tie you down. We just bought new living room furniture. I could make a list alright. But after a few weeks of being home this summer I found myself obsessing over getting a puppy. And Amy didn't help matters she showed me this cute maltipoo. While the maltipoo probably would have been a smart choice I just couldn't find an adult small dog that I liked. So here's my new puppy Grady. 18 pounds of golden energy. What was I thinking!!!!

OK I'm an idiot. I forgot to rotate the picture. Just tilt your head you'll get the idea.

Other than training Grady, all I've accomplished is transporting grandchildren and going to ballgames and babysitting. It's all good. Summer is just going by way to fast.

Maybe if I make my blog entries short I'll do them more often. Yeah right!

Phantom Blogger Returneth

Last post was the first week of March. Whew time flies when you're having fun. It is true that April and May are extremely busy months but come on now. And you'd think with all that fun I'd have pictures to post. Nope. I do have pictures but there is something about posting month old pictures that doesn't seem right to me. So what has happened in almost three months. St Patricks day, Easter (which by the way was such a none holiday this year), Will's 1st birthday, Steve and Scott's birthday's, Mother's day, a plethora of school activities(go Kyra almost a 4.0 student), the end of the soccer season and the beginning of the baseball season, Hannah's birthday, and school getting out.

Let summer vacation begin. I haven't started a plan. I'm just enjoying the do nothing part of summer. The weather has been cloudy and rainy the last few days so that doesn't help. Today's plan is to clean up the spare bedroom, the kids this weekend totalled it. Do some scrapping. That's been on hiatus too. Hopefully the weather will clear enough for the boys ballgames tonight. I also plan to get some quality reading time in.

Goals for the summer:
Read more.
Lose weight.
Get rid of all old clothes.
Scrap lots.
Take lots of pictures.
Get better at taking pictures.
Cook more.
Be more organized.
Blog every day.

Wednesday Wonders

We went out to eat tonight at Red Lobster. Wonder when the last time was that we had been there. They had remodeled. It was lobster fest so of course we had to have something that has lobster in it. I don't know how people who eat out all the time do it. They give you so much food. Our seafood came on a bed of rice pilaf but we also had a baked potato and those cheddar biscuits. No wonder people are getting fat these days.

I wonder how some people get so much done in one day. Even when I stay home I don't get everything done I want to in a day.

I wonder why the practice of foot binding was done. I wonder who decided that to be a attractive woman your feet had to be as small as your big toe. I'm reading a book Snow Flower And The Secret Fan. I'm only 50 pages into it and it's already making me sick thinking about what they used to do to those poor women.

I wonder how Amy can do 3 layouts in one night and it takes me 3 nights to do one.

I wonder if I'll ever be able to stay on a diet for more than a couple of days.

I wonder if when the weather turns nice, I'll actually get out and walk.

I wonder if I can stay awake past 9 tonight.

I wonder if this is enough of I wonders.

TTFN

10 Things I did today

1. Took Kyra to school
2. Stopped at Starbucks
3. Took pictures at school (Photographers make more money than me, I need to change professions.
4. Emailed my husband from work ( first time )
5. Listened to Gordan Korman the author. He wrote his first book at age 12. I need to change professsions.
6. Talked to Amy
7. Bought cool new products from Funky Playground
8. Made a good supper of fish, asparagus and Texas toast
9. Made cinnamon struesel muffins.
10. Blogged

Monday, Monday

Well for a Monday today went fairly well. The kids at school were quiet, not yet back to their usual selves. That always happens after a break. I started WW again. It's only 6:30 tonight, but so far I'm still in my point limit and a snack planned. I was even going to exercise after school, but my right hip, leg whatever it is that is giving me grief, wasn't up for it. I'm hoping by losing some weight that it will help that issue.

I did come home after school and put a ton of CD's on my Zune. I'm really sick of TV and my CD player in my den has been acting up. I know I could put a CD in my computer but I don't want to slow my computer down when I'm scrapping. I don't know if that would do it but just in case. Tomorrow I have to take Kyra to school by 7:00. Love doing that. I don't know if it's because I often go to Starbucks or I like driving through downtown when hardly anyone is there. I also like being at school that early even if I don't have any work to do. Being there when it's quiet is just so nice

Boy did I do some major damage digi shopping this weekend. I did find a few things that were free too.
Of course I had to buy the Lilypad's spring collection.

And my daughter's Teen Extreme Collection. And that was just the beginning. I have this need to own all the digi stuff. Sad but true.

That just one of the Teen Extreme kits. There are 3 kits for boys and 3 kits for girls.

But I could have easily gone to the mall yesterday and dropped a few hundred dollars. So I look at it as saving money. Good logic huh. The really sad part of all this is - even though I have 6 grandchildren - I look at all the layouts of kids doing just normal everyday things and I have to create play dates to do that. Oh really I'm not complaining, I like my quiet little life. I know!!! I should get a puppy. That would give those day to day pictures. Not this year though. Maybe in a couple. I have been looking at Schnauzer web sites. No shedding, small, intelligent. But my heart still really belongs to Golden Retrievers. I'm nuts.

Must go do something constructive. TTFN

Quiet Sunday

Here's another view of the snow from our deck. This was taken yesterday when the snow was still pristine. Today it is 33 degrees and the snow along the roads has become brown and yucky.


Now we can endure a couple of weeks of slop. Unless of course we have another 2 day blizzard. I was hoping that this no school would continue for a couple of more days. Oh well 2 and 1/2 more months until summer vacation.





I can tell you one thing though. We are definitely lazy people. I have become perfectly content to just sit around all day in my pajamas. I did do alot on the computer but somehow that really seems more like playing than working. And it's just sitting. Gotta get more exercise. I heard that to really lose weight you have to workout 60 to 90 minutes a day. Ok one more reason to quit my job. Tomorrow being Monday time to start the ole Monday diet thingy. I can not seem to get my act together on that. But I'm really uncomfortable in my own skin these days so something has to give.

I did another layout today. I'm hoping to develop my own style here one of these days. I'm also hoping that it won't be another 2 months before I scrap again.

Here's a the layout I did today. I finally got one to move to where I want it to. S

Steve's vacuuming. I should probably look like I'm doing something. Hey I cooked today. That should be good right!!

TTFN

The Phantom Blogger Returneth!

This is the view from my front deck. We have been snowed in since Thursday morning. A real true 2 day South Dakota blizzard. I have not ventured outside (minus the 2 minutes it took to take a few pictures) since Thursday morning. Can we say yeah no school for two days. A four day weekend. The wind is still blowing and it's only 15 degrees so I see no since going anywhere yet. Tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 20's or 30's. Tomorrow would be a good day to go somewhere.

So what does someone do for 3 days? Well they sit in front of the computer most of it. I did me some digital scrapbooking I did I did. Since yesterday morning I've done 5 layouts. Go me!! I keep saying I'm an all or nothing girl and I guess this proves it. Anyway it really is an amazing hobby. No matter what I do I can't get blogger to put a picture where I want it in my blog. I'll have to get some advice from Amy.

I just talked to Scott. He was on his way to work to clear out a little snow there. He can't seem to drive anywhere without talking on his cell phone. They have fix up house fever at their house. They bought paint for their bedroom and I'm sure that Wendy is home painting. I can have paint for weeks before it gets done around here. In fact our bedroom needs painting and I have looked at paint chips but haven't picked a color yet. I might change my mind.

I'm really liking this being home thing. Work has been awful this year, with next year not looking any better. Makes me think that early retirement might not be so bad. I'm sure I could find a job where I would only work a couple days a week. Heck a grocery clerk wouldn't be terrible. Actually a job share in a little office somewhere would be good. One with summers off. If I could just give up my summers, it would be easy to say goodbye to my job and find something else. But oh I do like my summers off.

Must get back to scrapping! TTFN!!!!

Good Morning

I crawled in bed last night to watch NCIS(my favorite show) and though I didn't fall asleep until close to nine I didn't get up to write in my blog. Since there's no rule on when a person can blog maybe I should blog in the morning. I'm more of a morning person anyway

All right already. I'm sick of winter. I'm tired of the cold but even more I'm tired of the mess of snow. You know that dirty salt ridden snow that is all over the streets. My car is a mess. Everytime you come in from anywhere there's tracks of it all over. Yuck. Yesterday I took 2 of our students grocery shopping. Love taking the kids shopping. You learn so much about them away from school. BUT we have to take a taxi. Not that romantic New York version you see in the movies or on TV. The ones where the taxi's are all clean and the drivers charming and comical. Oh no we have the dirty as in ooo don't touch anything dirty and the drivers well lets just say charming and comical are not the two c words I would use. This year in particular we've had some doozies. I can't imagine if you didn't drive in this town how often you would get out and about. I would definitely think long and hard about my trips if I always had to take a cab.

Do you know how you can tell it's winter in South Dakota? There's a table set up in the living room with jig saw puzzle pieces all over it. Yep we got one.

Friday is Kirby's birthday. I am at a total loss as to what to get him. 9 year old boys should be relatively easy. It must be because it's still so close from Christmas. I just am not ready to do the money thing yet, but it's getting closer and closer.

Must get ready for work. Good morning all!!!!!

Another cold day.

All winter I was thinking I'd feel cheated if we didn't have some good ol' South Dakota winter weather. Well we've had about 5 days of bitterly cold and now I'm thinking maybe I wouldn't have felt cheated after all. Really even though it's plenty cold I think it could and has been alot worse. We really haven't had much wind with this cold so it's tolerable. Hard to believe a month and a half ago it was Christmas and I don't think I was even wearing a coat most days. In another month and a half it will be toward the end of March and we'll be thinking spring. I'm not sure I have all my spring and summer clothes put away. Time really does fly when you get older.

For a Monday today went really well. Sometimes I think it all has to do with me and my attitude rather than all the things happening around me. Duh! The teachers at school in our Cluster program are getting stressed over the Dakota Step tests. The hoops that they have to go through to test whether our kids are proficient is unbelievable. And the time lost out of the classroom surely will lead to more kids not being proficient. Those who make these rules never come out and see whether they are actually practical and if its worth all the effort. They sit in their offices in some capitol somewhere and decide what will or won't work. It should be required that all policy makers should have to go into the field and implement those policies on a regular basis. Oh well so much for my soap box. But it is frustrating.

I cooked again. I made chicken tenders. They were quite good and really simple. I got the idea from tv this weekend. First you roll the chicken tenders in mustard and then in seasoned bread crumbs. Bake until done. Easy peasy and good. By the way who started that easy peasy thing anyway.

I've also done 3 layouts in the last day and a half. I did one of Sam tonight. Tears through the whole thing, but it was good to do one. I'm really in search of some good vintage elements. I have so many old pictures that I would like to do something with but I want the elements to fit with the picture. So many are elements from now made to look older or they are old things that aren't fitting with the style that I'm looking for. Someday I'll find something. I tried talking Amy into designing something for me, but it's not really her style. Too bad.

I need to take more pictures. I like blogs that have pictures in them. Note to self. Do something exciting so there's some pictures. No we're not buying a puppy just so I have something to take pictures of. But don't think that hasn't crossed my mind.

Goodnight all!!!!

Another cold day.

All winter I was thinking I'd feel cheated if we didn't have some good ol' South Dakota winter weather. Well we've had about 5 days of bitterly cold and now I'm thinking maybe I wouldn't have felt cheated after all. Really even though it's plenty cold I think it could and has been alot worse. We really haven't had much wind with this cold so it's tolerable. Hard to believe a month and a half ago it was Christmas and I don't think I was even wearing a coat most days. In another month and a half it will be toward the end of March and we'll be thinking spring. I'm not sure I have all my spring and summer clothes put away. Time really does fly when you get older.

For a Monday today went really well. Sometimes I think it all has to do with me and my attitude rather than all the things happening around me. Duh! The teachers at school in our Cluster program are getting stressed over the Dakota Step tests. The hoops that they have to go through to test whether our kids are proficient is unbelievable. And the time lost out of the classroom surely will lead to more kids not being proficient. Those who make these rules never come out and see whether they are actually practical and if its worth all the effort. They sit in their offices in some capitol somewhere and decide what will or won't work. It should be required that all policy makers should have to go into the field and implement those policies on a regular basis. Oh well so much for my soap box. But it is frustrating.

I cooked again. I made chicken tenders. They were quite good and really simple. I got the idea from tv this weekend. First you roll the chicken tenders in mustard and then in seasoned bread crumbs. Bake until done. Easy peasy and good. By the way who started that easy peasy thing anyway.

I've also done 3 layouts in the last day and a half. I did one of Sam tonight. Tears through the whole thing, but it was good to do one. I'm really in search of some good vintage elements. I have so many old pictures that I would like to do something with but I want the elements to fit with the picture. So many are elements from now made to look older or they are old things that aren't fitting with the style that I'm looking for. Someday I'll find something. I tried talking Amy into designing something for me, but it's not really her style. Too bad.

I need to take more pictures. I like blogs that have pictures in them. Note to self. Do something exciting so there's some pictures. No we're not buying a puppy just so I have something to take pictures of. But don't think that hasn't crossed my mind.

Goodnight all!!!!

Long lost blogging!!!

Will I ever get to everyday blogging? Hard to tell. I think about it just about everyday but don't seem to get to it.

Well one of the reasons I haven't blogged is because it's very sad at our house. We had to put our dog Sam down last week. He had cancer. He seemed fine at Christmas but shortly after I noticed he was drinking more than usual. Pretty soon he was drinking all the time and drinking so much that he would vomit. We took him in thinking he might have diabetes. Not uncommon for a dog his age. They ran all sorts of tests and finally did some xrays and found a mass between his heart and his lungs. It progressed really fast and we just didn't want him to suffer, so last Thursday Steve took him in. It has been extremely hard. I should have known it would be bad since it's just been the three of us in the house the last almost 9 years. It is the first time Steve and I are truly empty nesters.

On to some brighter topics. I had a very productive weekend. I got up early Saturday and cleaned and then proceeded to make two batches of soup and some muffins. Today I made another batch of soup and a casserole. We took over three containers of soup and half of the casserole over to Steve's folks. I've been meaning to do that all fall and winter and this is now the first that it happened. The soups I made were a beef and barley, Rachael Ray's double chicken stoup and Bree's tomato lentil. I may be the only one who likes the tomato lentil one. The casserole was a chicken tetrazzine. So now I have some meals for the week and Steve's dad won't have to cook much either.

I even scrapbooked some. I've buying all these cool digi scrapping things and thought maybe I should use some before I convince myself I need to buy more. My daughter and her new store could put a dent in my budget. Like I told Steve though, it's cheaper than going to the mall, which I used to do about every other weekend.

It was really cold this weekend. Down in the 1o below zero range. We're just not used to that. It's been a very mild winter until now. The weather people said it's the coldest it's been in about 10 years. Yeah global warming.

Well it's half time of the super bowl. Should watch a little of the half time show.

Goodnight all!!!

Whatever happened to regularly scheduled posts?

I had such good intentions. Oh well, last year at this time I wasn't journaling at all. So really this is still an improvement. Not much exciting since last Monday. School was much better than I expected. Sometimes that full week back goes so slow. Kids were good and the much needed break from the coworkers helped. My dog is still sick. He's peeing up a storm and drinking all the time. He also seems to think that his dog food isn't any good anymore. He'll eat canned food and the hamburger rice mixture I make him. The vet was supposed to call today with the blood results, but Steve and I realized that with the holiday, they probably won't get the results back until tomorrow. Other than worrying about him making it all day without a bathroom break, he seems fine.

I scrapped today. I posted 3 layouts at DST even. And I commented on a couple of layouts that I liked that didn't have any comments. Whoa! Look at me go.

We finally got some snow. Steve got to play with his snowblower. Did I take pictures? No!!! It was too freaking cold to go out there and take pictures. Really it is very cold.

Back to last week. Kyra made the play at school. She's just in the general cast but it's soo cool that I'll get to take her to more early morning practices. It makes my day and often gives me an excuse to go to Starbucks. Last Sunday we took Amy and Cameron to Royal Fork for supper. Saturday we took Scott and Wendy. Seriously the grandkids are going to think supper at Grandma's means Royal Fork. We went over to Steve's folks yesterday. Grandma seem to have a good day. She talked to me. Grandpa said he had some health issues. Scares me to think about if something should happen to him. His kids really need to sit down with him and talk about some things.

I have to sit through an all day inservice tomorrow. What fun!!! At least it's closer to home than some of them have been and they're providing lunch. At least we won't have to go out in the cold. But since everyone else lives on the other side of town, I'll have to drive there by myself. Whine Whine!!

Well, I really haven't done much in the housework department this week. I should probably dust and vacuum. Then a nice hot bowl of chili sounds good.

Goodnight all!!

Ramblings

I tried to post a couple of times in the last few days and blogger was just plain weird. It wouldn't let me put periods in. I lost my typing a couple of times, so finally I just said Oh forget it. I really had intended to blog everyday.

Well the first day back at school wasn't too bad. The kids were good for the most part. Mr. W. had to wail when we took his music away before lunch, but that is just par for the course. We go a full 5 days this week and then there is a 4 day weekend for the kids. We have inservice on Tuesday. January used to be the longest month but not anymore. March has taken over that title.

I made a very good supper tonight. Hearty minestrone with barley, kale and beans. Quite tasty and very healthy. Of course we had to have texas toast with it so I'm sure that negated some of the health benefits. We took Amy's family out for supper last night to our favorite place. A buffet. But everyone can have what they want so it works well.

I've been organizing all my scrapbooking things in ACDsee. What a overwhelming task!!! I just got through all of Corina's things and I think I'll call it a night on that. Maybe I'll knit awhile. There sure isn't anything on TV.

I had to take 2 full anti anxiety pills today. I'm not sure what's up with that, but if it keeps up I'll call the doctor and see if I can go on Zoloft. It's no fun to feel like your heart is going to beat out of your chest all the time. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to them either. I can be home or out. Doing nothing or at the mall. Weird, huh? Oh well it's always something.

Think I'll call Amy and see if she's home yet. Wouldn't be a complete day unless I talked to her. Goodnight all!!!

SIMPLIFY

That's my word for the year. I bought this black word SIMPLIFY at Hobby Lobby a while back. It is sitting on my piano now. Amy told me about Ali Edwards having a word for the year. I thought what a cool idea. At first I thought balance, I definitely need to balance things. I tend to be a all or nothing person. Then as I was looking at my newly reorganized pantry I thought simplify. Do I really need six different shapes of pasta? No it really needs to be simpler than that. SIMPLIFY!!! When I want to knit something, I don't need to buy 26 different yarns. Pick a project, get the yarn and do it. SIMPLIFY. When I want to scrapbook, I don't need to buy 26 new digi kits, pick one of the many I have, a picture and do it. SIMPLIFY. When I want to cook supper, it doesn't have to be a gourmet meal, a simple meal would be just fine. SIMPLIFY. How many clothes do I need? Pick 10 or so outfits and definitely find ones that are flattering and get rid of the rest. SIMPLIFY. It sure sound good on paper. Just the fact that Steve and I are cleaning out the closets in the basement is a good start.

Well Kyra got braces today. Two years of metal ones and three more years of the invisiline ones. That will make her 18 when she's done. That just can't be possible. In 5 short years she'll be 18. How can that be, my little Kyra girl!!! It wasn't that long ago that I was 18. OK maybe it was a few years back.

Kyler has strep. Poor guy. He wasn't feeling to well yesterday. Amy took him into Acute Care last night. 102.9 was his temp and his throat looked nasty. The quick culture came back negative, but they always seem to anyway. The put him on antibiotics. Hopefully by tomorrow he'll be feeling better. We want to go to Charlotte's Web.

I actually cooked supper tonight. Skinny turkey spinach meatloaf, roasted potatoes and baked squash. It tasted so good. Finally a home cooked meal. The meatloaf came from Cooking Light and was actually very good.

Well I've actually blogged everyday so far. Now if I can just add some pictures for interest I'd be doing good.

Think I'll go knit a little tonight. Goodnight all!

Worrywart!!!

I've come to the conclusion I'm a major worrywart. My dog drinks more than usual and throws up in the middle of the night, I worry he has some deadly disease. My grandson has a fever and a sore throat and I think he has influenza. I have anxiety attacks, but somehow I'm still not so sure there isn't something terribly wrong with me. Sure the anxiety pills cure it right up but I still worry. I worry about what people think. I worry about my kids everytime they go a trip. I worry about big things and I worry about small things. Is there anything good about worrying? I really don't think so. I need to learn to let a higher power take care of things that I have no control over and I take care of the things I can do something about. Now there is a new years resolution!!!!

I can't say I accomplished much today. Worked a little more on my pantry. Found more of my kitchen. Hopefully tomorrow I can actually cook supper. Of course I went over to Amy's to see all of my grandchildren. Tomorrow we might go to the movie Charlotte's Web. It will depend on how Kyler and Kyra are feeling. Kyra is getting braces tomorrow.

That's about it for tonight. Goodnight all!!

January 2, 2007

I'm on a roll. Two days in a row. Could this be a new year's resolution I can actually keep. Did you notice my new blog header? Cool huh! My most amazing and talented daughter did that. And the papers and the elements are her own designs too. I am soo proud of her.

Steve and I had a almost productive day. We started cleaning out our pantry. With what we threw away we could have fed a small African country. There were things in there from 1999. I could bake cookies for at least a year with all the chips. Chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips even cinnamon chips. What were we thinking? Neither one of us was born in the depression. I definitely need to cook more this year. Add that to my new years resolution list.

I meant to take a picture of my living room today. It looks so nice with the new furniture and all the Christmas things down. The upstairs of the house is looking good. Now we need to work on the basement. Another new years resolution!

I had to put a snowman in my blog header because we sure don't have any snow. This is the most unusual year. It is supposed to be in the 30's the rest of the week. Maybe a slight chance of snow again on Friday. I'm sure it'll rain like it has the last few times they've talked snow. I'm not sure whether I really want snow or not. If we don't get any, we'll feel like we've been cheated. Oh well.

Good night all!

Happy New Year!

A resolution for the new year. Blog more. Eat less. Now one does not have anything to do with the other, but if I accomplish those two things I'd be quite happy with myself.

We had a very nice Christmas. Nothing too special, just nice to get together. We had fun with Steve's brother and family. They always come with new games to play. We played Set and Quiddler and Catch Phrase 2 nights in a row. We laughed so hard at Catch Phrase. They are definitely some must have games. I'm hoping Set and Quiddler go on sale at a Christmas kiosk in the mall.

Last night we had the kids over for New Years eve. It's becoming a family tradition. We eat snacky things and play a few games and then the kids go outside and do poppers. Last year we still had streamers in our tree in July. Everyone goes home early 10:00 or so. Works well.

I did a little digi shopping today. Amy's store opened today. Had to go buy out the store there. It could become dangerous as they have ridiculously good stuff. If I knew how to get pictures of the things I bought in this blog I'd do it. Maybe another day. Hint hint Amy come over and help your old mom with that and a few other things in the computer world. I also did some scrapping yesterday. Now that Christmas is over I hope I can find a balance between knitting and scrapping. Might have to stay up later, when the bed starts calling your name at 8:00 it doesn't leave much time for getting things done.

Put the house back together today. As much as I love Christmas, this year I'm glad to have a normal house again. New furniture might have something to do with that. It looks really nice and all the furniture seems to fit well. It was a good choice to buy it at Christmas, so we would know if there was still room for a tree. That's important you know.

Thanksgiving vacation

5 whole days off. Of course 3 of them already spoken for, so in reality it's just a plain ole weekend. Tomorrow of course is spent cooking for Thursday. Thursday is spent with family and eating. Friday is up early and shopping. And I hope to get my new tree up and decorated on Friday too. But even with all that Thanksgiving is becoming my favorite holiday. It's just about being with family and food. There's no pressure to give the perfect gift. No unrealistic expectations, except maybe the food. ( And quite frankly if you serve what you've served for the last 30 years everyone is pretty much happy.) This year even the weather is more like Thanksgiving. No snow on the ground and above average temperatures. Perfection in my book.

I coming along with my knitting projects. Four down and 2 more to go for the grandkids. Maybe some surprises along the way for others too.

I went looking last night for electronic drumsticks. Cool idea but maybe not such a cool thing to find. I just started though. Goal for the weekend. Majority of shopping done. List of things to bake written and house decorated. Can she do it? Tune in Sunday night.

Hark I still do know how to get into blogger! Since the last post was September I figure it's about time to do it again. Life is pretty much the same old thing. I need to put a new blog header and a new blog agenda in place and see if I can't stir up some excitement in the blogging area.

This is the last weekend before Thanksgiving. How did that happen? We are going to go over to Steve's folks. Of course we'll have to bring all the food, but every year I think it might be the last so I don't mind. I do need to call Steve's sister and make the final arrangements. I'm looking forward to Christmas. I feel like like I'm more ahead of the game this year, though I'm sure next week I'll be complaining about being so behind. See I'm never happy. Amy and I are going to the Festival of Trees tomorrow. We've been doing that since Kyra was still in a stroller. Helps get us in the mood. Steve is off all this week and I hope he gets the Christmas lights up. It's projected to be in the 5o's. Can't beat that.

I've been knitting up a storm, though today I'm being super lazy. I'd take pictures and post except that some are presents. Wouldn't want to spoil that surprise! Scrapbooking has been haunting me. I still want to do it but can't seem to find any inspiration. Maybe I just need to get in there and do it.

Well this might be a boring post but at least I posted. Good night all!

Once a week blogging!!!

Once a week blogging. Better than nothing I guess. I need blogger motivation. A new template huh Amy. Fall pictures to post. Layouts maybe. I know I need to be a stay at home grandmother. I could start a new trend. Be there with cookies and milk after school. Haul to practices and such. Volunteer at their schools. Unfortunately I like to spend money and buy things I think I need, so working is what I'll do. It does get more tempting every year to say hello retirement.

Where did my weekend go? Yesterday Amy, Kyra and I spent the day hanging out. Starbucks and shopping. We didn't even spend too much money. I can't believe all the Christmas things out already. Tomorrow is the 25th, so that means there is only 3 months until the big day. Why do I feel like I'm already behind schedule? Why do we succumb to the pressure anyway?

Today I spent all day on the computer. I'm making a mini album for Wendy for her birthday. I used Shabby Princess Olivia album kit. For procrastinators like myself it's great to be able to do 12 quick layouts in a day. I spent some money digi shopping too. I bought some new things from Shabby Princess and Gina Millers new things today. I'm such a sucker for all these cute things and they seem so cheap. I'm sure when the credit card bill comes I'll think differently. O well, that's why I work, remember.

Here's a couple of the layouts. I hope Wendy likes them. I do but then anything with my grandkids in it warms my heart.

Desperate Housewives is going to start in a few minutes. Have to see if it's going to be worth watching this season. I hope to stay awake long enough to see the next show with Sally Fields. It looks good too. Night all!!

Wow 2 days in a row. I don't have much to blog about tonight. Just a typical day in the neighborhood. I put a Marie Callendar meal in the crockpot this morning so it was nice to come home to the aroma of supper already cooking. I've been in the mood to bake so I went to the store and bought some ingredients to make a few things. I made pumpkin muffins tonight. They're quite good, not low calorie at all, so hence very good. Maybe I'll post the recipe tomorrow. I also bought ingredients to make brownies with caramel frosting. I ran out steam tonight so I hope I can bake those tomorrow after school.

Do you ever have one of those times when you think maybe the stars aren't aligned right in your galaxy? When school started a student stomped my right big toe and bent the toenail way back. Major pain. Then a couple weeks ago while cooking I cut my finger fairly deeply. Went through a half a box of bandaids. Well tonight, sitting at the kitchen table in my barefeet of course. I turn and go to push my chair back and whack! I hit my left big toe on the table leg. Double major pain. I don't think I broke it, but it still is letting me know I have a toe. Klutz, Klutz!!

I was going to scrapbook some tonight but it's getting late and I want to watch CSI Miami. Maybe tomorrow.

And remember - Really important stuff my kids taught me quote of the day: Making your bed is a waste of time.

A Layout, a recipe and much to do about nothing

It's blogger time again. I'm such a bad blogger. I can spend all weekend on the computer and still not find time to blog. Well no more. "Ha", the crowd says! "We'll believe it when we see it." Of course my crowd consists of my daughter Amy. Hi Amy.

I really did spend the weekend on the computer. I think I could spend the majority of my time there, between surfing the net and digi scrapping, is there life outside this. I spent most of the time working on layouts for this album I'm doing about the family reunion we had. Actually it's more like a memory cookbook. I'm not sure how it'll turn out but I'm enjoying the process. I did about 5 pages and 4 recipe cards. I think I've found my niche though. Recipe cards. Quick, simple and useful. What more could you want.

The weather has taken a delightful turn to the cool side. Bring on the crockpot meals and hot apple cider. We went to Sam's today on our way to the in-laws and I bought a variety package of apple cider. Maybe I can wean myself off of so much Diet Coke. Doubt it. I've also been in a mood to bake too. The trouble with that is who's going to eat it. Me and Steve of course and we need it like we need a hole in our heads.

Blogger thinks I want my layout and recipe at the top of the page. OK. Why not?

Thought for the day from "Really important stuff my kids have taught me." There is no good reason why clothes have to match. Think about it who made up that rule anyway.

OK I have to start bloggging on a regular basis. I can blab about nothing without any trouble most of the time. Surely I can do the same on a blog.

Had a great weekend. Accomplished some things. Did alot of nothing too and still have today left. I'm hoping to go shopping with Amy and Hannah later. Amy if you're reading this this morning call me I don't want to wake up everyone. That is why I'm blogging now in hopes that Amy is on the computer and will see this. She is the only one who reads this anyway.

Later dudes.

Well since no one reads my blog anyway, it probably doesn't matter that I haven't posted in a while. I could explain but that would be a waste of blog space.

Today was a good day. School went well for the 3rd day. After putting the wrong kids on the wrong bus last night things just had to go better. New bus drivers are so fun. They assume we know what we're doing and we assume they know who should be on the bus. I don't think there were any reprecussions from it. Otherwise I think we are getting the kinks out of the schedules and getting the kids and us trained to where we should be.

Steve's dad is doing much better. He had cream soup and toast for lunch. He may actually go home Friday or Saturday. Steve spent the day with his mom today and will for the rest of the week. I think it was an eye opener for him. One of the things that I love the most about him is his patience and understanding. (I'm not sure our kids would think the same thing.)

Well this is going to be a short blog. I'm pooped and just want to veg out in front of the TV. Goodnight all!

Just a short post. This is my last hours of summer vacation. While I'm ready to go back and have a structured routine, I'm sad to see my freedom go. I've had a great summer vacation. I spent time with the grandkids, learned to digitally scrapbook, cleaned out a few closets and rooms and even put on my swimming suit. All in all I feel like I accomplished alot. Hopefully it won't all come to stop now that I'm back to school.

We went and saw Steve's dad at the hospital tonight. He's doing really well. With any luck he should be out of the hospital this weekend. It's Steve's mom that I worry about. You could tell tonight she was lost without grandpa at home. Luckily Mary is here and can stay with her until Sunday. I'm not sure how they will manage next week when Steve's dad gets home. I'm sure it will all work out but I know it's on everyone's minds.

Well I've laid out my clothes for the morning and my hair should be good tomorrow. I love that I only have to shower and shampoo my hair every other day. See there are good things about growing older. I have to remember to get some cash from Steve for lunch tomorrow. We get to eat out these next two days. A treat since we never have a chance the rest of the school year.

Goodnight all.

Finally I have internet back. We have had more problems with wireless. You'd think we lived in a huge house. Hopefully Steve has the problem permanently fixed. It's very frustrating not to be able to connect to the internet. I know there are people out there who never log on to the internet, but I'm not one of them. I use it to find recipes, answer questions, connect with the outside, and get new ideas. I am totally lost without it.

Blogger has finally let me upload a picture too. This is my finished office/den. It just makes me happy to have a space to work and not have to work around the kitchen table. Next project is to get our bedroom painted and maybe a new dresser. We think we can downsize our clothes and share a dresser. With our small rooms, if we can eliminate a piece of furniture or make what we have work more efficiently it would be a good thing.

We went to the farmer's market today. It is the perfect time of year to go. I bought tomatoes, red carrots, purple potatoes, and orange beets. We also bought a dozen ears of sweet corn. So tonight for supper we had a nice steak, sweet corn and sliced tomatoes. We even had a glass of 3 buck Chuck wine. It was a perfect simple meal. I also bought at the farmer's market the most beautiful bouquet of flowers. There's this beautiful family that raises organic vegetables in Iowa and their daughter grows the most amazing flowers.

I also did some scrapbooking today. Hopefully blogger will be nice and let me post another picture. I think it turned out ok. I want to have some pages done for the Meyer reunion. Ok so I'm not so good at placing pictures in my blog, but at least it's here.

Goodnight all!

MY NEW FAVORITE ROOM

Well my room is finished except for the picture hanging. It took me all day to clean out the closet. It's amazing how many craft projects I have/had unfinished. If the road to heaven is paved with good intentions then I'm there babe. But my closet now is totally organized and hopefully this winter I will work on some knitting and embroidery projects. At least when the urge strikes I'll be able to get to them. So tomorrow it's on to the bathroom and linen closet. That should be a quick job. It seems I do the linen closet every year. I blame it on having a small house and the linen closet gets to be a catchall. Hopefully there isn't anything that needs to be thrown away. The garbage can is full and the trash haulers don't come until Monday.

Just finished watching 2 hours of Grey's Anatomy. I can never seem to stay awake during the school year. Hopefully with it going to Thursday nights I'll stand a little better chance of seeing it. And if I can convince Steve that we need to have DVR I can watch alot of shows.

It looks like we could get some thunderstorms later tonight. After just checking the radar, though, it looks like it could just split around us. I hope not, I like a good thundershower.

I'm going to give blogger a few more minutes and then I'm posting without a picture of my room. I don't know why it has been giving me problems lately. Oh well I guess it doesn't want my picture tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Goodnight all.

GOTTA LOVE THAT WALMART!

OK it's 9:30 at night and we need ends for our TV cable that we had to move from one side of the room to the other in my new den/office. Well back in the day, we would have had to wait until tomorrow after Steve got home before we could finish hooking up our cable and that would have put me another day behind schedule. (Of course if I had started this and all my other projects the end of June I'd be ahead of schedule. Some year I'm going to have everything done before school gets out.) Yeah right and toads jump backwards. But I digress! Walmart of course is open 24/7 and they carry everything. I've come to the conclusion that if Walmart don't have it you don't need it. Really think about how much simpler life would be if the whole world shopped at only Walmart. No more jealousy over your neighbors designer jeans. Hers would look just like yours. There would be no comparison about who spent more for this or that, everyone would just get a good deal at Walmart. I think we could end the war in the Middle East by just giving everyone there $500 gift cards to Walmart. They would all be so busy shopping they would forget all about the fighting and hatred. Walmart are you listening I have some time between 5 and 6 in the morning, I could freelance for your advertising department. What I really like best about Walmart though is people watching. You don't see people like that anywhere else but at Walmart. And especially at 9:30 at night. Did you know there's a whole society of teeth missing people out there? Evidently they must hold their weekly meetings on Wednesday night and the meeting must get over about 8:30 or 9:00. Then of course where else would you go after that but to Walmart. Seriously I was at the mall today with Kyra. I don't think I saw one toothless person. Is there some unwritten code out there I am unaware of? I really need to know these things because I'm missing one molar and if I loose any more am I going to be banned from the mall?

Well tomorrow I hope to finish this room. The closet is a major disaster and all the things that need to go on the new bookcase is laying on the spare bed. If I can get this room done tomorrow, I can clean the pantry on Friday. Then if I can get Steve to clean out his closet and dresser drawers, I might actually feel ready to start school. On that note I'm actually making out some menus and they looked pretty doable. One can hope anyway.

Just for you Amy! Goodnight all!!!!

10 THINGS I DID TODAY

1. Walked on the treadmill for 25 minutes. I was hoping to do more but just couldn't do it. Sometimes the body just won't cooperate. Or maybe my mind didn't want to do anymore and the body said hey that's alright with me.

2. Cleaned out my refrigerator. How 2 people can end up with so many condiments. Explain to me why we need 4 different kinds of mustard.

3. Stripped the bedding on our bed and washed it. Should have done another load or 2 of laundry but that bedding took so long to dry. Well at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

4. Went over and played with Will. Actually I come over and he yells at me. He just screeches in a most happy way when I hold him and talk to him. I call it yelling, but I'm sure he's just voicing all his requests for when he gets bigger.

5. Went and bought hamburger and taco seasoning for Amy. Who knew Old El Paso made a cheesy taco seasoning.

6. Made supper (Mexican shrimp, mushroom rice and fresh green beans. 2 days in a row I've stayed in my point range. I have to undo the damage I did over the weekend. Why does it take 2 weeks to undo 3 days of overeating. That's just not right.

7. Went through recipes on wthe Cooking Light website to make ahead for school. Would like to have a bunch of go to meals in the freezer for when I come home too tired to cook.

8. Babysat Kirby and Kyler while Amy took Kyra to the eye doctor. That is such a tough gig. If I had left the house I'm not sure the boys would have noticed.

9. Talked to Scott on the phone and told the girls goodnight. Scott has had a bite on his leg for over 2 weeks and it's getting worse instead of better. He just needed some mom advice.

10. Helped Steve move furniture in my den/office. Boy do I need a bigger house. Oh well I don't need House Beautiful just efficient use of space. It'll definitely be cozy. No matter what I'm enjoying my desk.

I wish I could say that I've been too busy to blog, but that just wouldn't be the case. I have been busy but definitely not that busy. With just a little over a week left of my summer vacation, I'm feeling like I have to cram a lot into this last week and a half. I always do this. I play most of the summer and then at the end I try to get all the projects that I've had planned for the summer done in the last possible moments. I have no regrets this summer. Oh sure I would have liked to have done more with the house, but I wouldn't have given up all the grandchildren time for anything. Of course if I wasn't such a TV junkie I probably could have done both, played and worked on projects. I am excited that I now have a desk for my laptop and printer. The kitchen table can now be a kitchen table and not a desk. Steve and I can actually have dinner together without looking over the laptop. My den/office is still a huge mess and we still have to move out a bookcase and replace it with a new and larger one. I'll take pictures when it's all done. Of course a smart person would have painted the room first and maybe even refinished the hardwood floors but this tiny room has so much furniture in it that I'm not sure we could even clear it out to do that. My goal for this week is to finish this room and start on reorganizing the pantry in the basement. Good goals but not likely to be finished in one week.

Tomorrow morning I have to go over and stay with Steve's mom while his dad has a colonoscopy. I'm not looking forward to it and I'm not sure why. I love her like she were my own mom but I guess I'm not sure how she is going to react to Steve's dad being gone for 3 hours and I haven't had to be alone with her since she has had Alzheimers. I can handle 30 special needs kids in a room by myself, but one woman in a house has me a little stressed. I need to get over it though. I'm sure there will be many more challenges ahead as we deal with this disease with her. They have to find a cure for Alzheimers there just seems to be more and more people out there with it. I think I'm also a little stressed that Steve's dad is going to be dropped off and have this procedure with no one there with him.

OK blogger is being weird so I going to quit now before it loses my post again.

You just don't get sunsets like that anywhere but here on the praire. I've seen beautiful ocean sunsets and mountain sunsets but nothing compares to what we have here. Clean air, wide open vistas and a scattering of just the right clouds. PERFECTION!!!

We went to Nebraska yesterday. I don't think I'd been anywhere since last year when we went to California. It was time to get out of Dodge. Amy and Kyra came with us and it was just a very enjoyable day. We left around 8 in the morning and was home by 10:30 that night. We saw Steve's sister in Omaha and his brother in Norfolk. Unfortunately we didn't call ahead. Not a way to makeit into the Who's Who of Miss Manners. Hopefully we didn't bother anyone too much. We had a great time and plan on doing it again. Only next time we'll call. We spent alot of time in the car, but when you spend it with the people you love it's very nice. The sunset picture was taken on Highway 81 from Norfolk NE to South Dakota. I keep saying this but I have to keep practicing taking pictures. I want to consistently take good pictures and know what I'm doing. I want to know what to set all the setting to for great pictures under all kinds of conditions. Someday.

I jogged again on the treadmill. I am going to work up to at least 5 minutes. I ate what I should have ate today. I was a good little WWer today. Something's gotta give at some point and I'll start losing weight at a regular pace.

Kirby and Kyler started swimming lessons today. I was so impressed. They are ones who never get their faces in the water. They did today. Let's hear a round of applause for them, because the look on their faces this morning when they got in the pool, well lets say they were hoping for alien abduction. And guess what? They're going back tomorrow. Woohoo.

Steve's on vacation this week. I made him a honey do list for today. He actually did quite a bit of it. He might have got more done if he hadn't gone and sat downstairs every time I left today. Tomorrow we're painting the spare bedroom. We've only had the paint for over a year. We don't like to rush into anything.

Must go and make my honey do list for tomorrow. Goodnight all!!

TWENTY YEARS AGO

I read a blog the other day where she was reflecting on what her life was like 20 years ago. I thought it was an interesting concept, realizing that I'm not sure I can remember exactly where, when or what I was doing back then. I gave it a go and here is what I came up with.


1. I had only been married 14 years.
2. I was 34 years old. Oh my, that's only two years older than my daughter is now.
3. Amy was 12 years old.
4. Scott was 10.
5. We lived in the same house we live in now.
6. Steve drove a green Honda wagon I think. I'm not sure it had air conditioning because we rarely bought cars with airconditioning or radios to save money.
7. I drove a brown 76 Maverick that we bought when we lived in S. California. That car was out to get me. It did things while I was driving that it did to no one else. Like die in an intersection and not start again. Or get in the driveway at home and you couldn't turn it off. The neighbor up the street, thought I just didn't know what I was talking about until he tried. He had to unplug the spark plug wires to turn the car off. By the way it never did it again. Not for me or anyone else.
8. I weighed about 150 pounds and thought I was fat. I'd like to weigh that now.
9. I went to aerobics 3 to 5 times a week.
10.I think my hair was permed. Think afro for a white woman.
11. I cooked supper every night.
12. I watched Golden Girls, St. Elsewhere, Family Ties and Cagney and Lacey.
13. I did aerobics to Phil Collins, Whitney Houston and Madonna.
14. Books that I remember I've read from that year were It by Stephen King, Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy and Fit for Life by Marilyn and Harvey Diamond. ( Bill and Joy were following their diet and losing weight. Gave it shot but it wasn't for me.)

Well I think I can see why I gained weight. I quit going to aerobics when I went to work full time. And we started eating out and going to fast food places all the time. Conclusion: Going to work full time has made me fat.

Wow what a terrific day I had!!! I got out of bed about 6:30. Sat at the computer, which has become my summer routine. Read blogs and worked on a layout until 10:00. My time flies when you're having a good time. Completely forgot I was going to take a shower. Oh well. I hadn't worked out so I wasn't all smelly and my hair was acceptable (which at best is all I can say about it this summer anyway). I got ready and picked Kyra up at 11:oo and then went and picked up Haley and Hannah. We had a girls day out. Can we say that it was definitely a day I hope becomes a regular thing. Though maybe not always spending so much money. Those girls are just fun to be around. It started with lunch at Valentino's, a definite favorite of Haley and Kyra. Hannah is just happy anywhere. Then we headed to the mall. First stop is Claire's. I think we could have just stayed there the whole time. It wouldn't have been any cheaper though. $75 later we head to Maurices's, a clothing store Kyra likes. She and I both like this pair of jeans and they had them in her size. I found a shirt as I was walking back to see how she was doing and she liked that too. $68 later we head to Limited too. First I have to tell how weird I've become. The last time we were there a girl was trying on dresses and asking her friend what she thought about a particular one. I just butt right in and give my 2 cents worth. Well today I did the same thing . Some girl was trying on tops and asking this boy sitting on a chair in the dressing room what he thought. I butt right in again. Turns out he was her brother and really didn't care but still who made me the fashion maven. I'm sure Kyra was thinking man my grandmother is great, but really couldn't she just give me the money and stay home. We got out of Limited too with maxxing out anything, but then we headed to Childrens Place. Whoa!! They know how to market to Grandmas spending money on granddaughters and Hannah is the queen of accessories. Where she learned that I'm not sure. Her mom dresses nice but she's not a big accessory girl. Anyway Hannah is picking out hats and hair things and socks and anything else that would go with her outfit. She's only 5 now, what will she be like when she's 15. Hope I get to go on that one too.

And then the day got even better. Amy wanted to go to Sam's with us this weekend. Tonight worked out the best. As we're leaving her house, I say "Let's go to Walmart and get me a cell phone". Sure how long can that take you ask. Only a hour or so. Poor Amy didn't think she was ever going to get to Sam's. We did get there with only 20 minutes left to shop. Amy hadn't hardly been out of the house all week. She finally gets out and I hijacked her to the electronics department of Walmart. She did get everything on her list I think but I'm sure she would have liked to have had time to wander around Sam's. After Sam's we went to Michaels next door. They had the cutest little 2x3 Laura Ashley albums in their $1 rack. Had to have them. I think they might even make great gifts. A very productive shopping day.

Last but not least. I came home and played with my cell phone. I actually put in numbers for speed dialing. Like Kyra is #3. I even put an appointment for Monday in there too. WOW who knew I was that quick.

Well I've written way more than I thought. Good night all! (Just for you Amy)

Well it's Thursday night diet night! Weigh in didn't go as I had hoped. I stayed the same. Now really what do I have to do to break this pattern? I exercised 3 or 4 days this week. 3o minutes at a good pace. I ate according to the plan. I drank my water. I told the scale lady that maybe my body is taking it slow so my skin can keep up. Personally I rather see the weight go at a little faster clip. O well sooner or later. The one consolation is that I feel soo good and feel so much stronger. I can walk at a good pace without getting out of breath. I even did 3 full sit-ups this week much to my surprise. I am going to go for 15 sit-ups eventually and walking 3 miles a day.

I did something today that I haven't done in about 2o years. I put on a swimsuit and went to a public pool. I took Kyra and Haley and Hannah to the pool. I have said for years to anyone who would listen " Don't let self consciousness keep you from doing things you want or should do". Of course I haven't followed my own advice until now. So back to the pool story. We were there right at one 0'clock when it opened, a few kids and a few young moms were the only ones I see. I'm feeling pretty comfortable with that, so I pull of my t-shirt and take off my shorts revealing my o so not sleek body. I go over and sit on the edge of the pool. So I think "OK I can actually go in the water. " But wait my feet don't touch the floor of the pool. (We're only at the 3 foot end.) So I sit on the edge a little longer working up my confidence. Finally I have to go in. I'm the biggest cheerleader to my granddaughters. I'm always saying, " It'll be ok. You can do it. Don't be afraid.", but here I sit on the edge of the pool. Finally I get in. I'm in the water for about 5 or 10 minutes when I look over to the entrance. Who do I see but a teacher who works in the same building with me. Luck I tell you. If I didn't have this kind of luck I'd have no luck at all. I digress. When she walked by I said hi like I do this all the time and she came and sat next to me and we talked for quite awhile. By the way she didn't get into the pool. The water was too cold for her. Mark one for me. At least I got into the water. So anyway every 50 minutes the pool has a 10 minute rest break and everyone has to get out of the pool. Well if you thought getting into the pool took some thought from me, getting out was equally a mind provoking ordeal. Remember it's been 20 years and a few pounds since I last visited here. I'm sure back then I just hopped up and out. Now at almost 55 I'm thinking this ain't goin happen. OK sure there's a ladder over at the edges, but I'm not sure if the steps are going to be anymore graceful for me. But remember my pep talk. "It'll be ok. You can do it. Don't be afraid." Well damn if that pep talk doesn't work. I went over to the ladder, climbed up as gracefully as you please and got out. Whew!! Now 1o minutes have past and what do you think this new found courageous person does. Why she sits on the edge of the pool for the rest of the time. I say don't push your luck.

Goodnight all with all the fun I had today I think I need to rest.

Yesterday morning we broke an all time morning low record for the date at 52 degrees. Today it feels like New Orleans (0r so my husband says). As they say in these here parts " If you don't like the weather just wait a day or so and it will change. In my experience, that only occurs when the weather is nice. If it's extremely hot or extremely cold, it stays that way for too long. So much for the weather. I'm starting to sound like an old codger.

Well today wasn't very productive in the house department. I spent the morning exercising, showering and then giving myself a manicure and pedicure. Then I was over at Amy's 3 times this afternoon. She will be so glad when I go back to school. Hubby and I went to Applebee's for supper and then to Walmart. Love that Walmart. If Walmart doesn't have it you don't need it. Not to mention the people you see there. That alone is worth going. It truly is a whole "nother" world out there.

I think I could have a good weigh in tomorrow. So far it looks like I might be down a pound. I have been a good little WW'er and even exercised this week. I have to start going down at a regular clip sooner or later. I'm hoping that going this slow will give my skin a chance to keep up. When you're almost 55 it just doesn't jump back to it's original place. Especially after being stretched for so long.

I've done some more scrapbooking. When I was over to Amy's the second time, I took my camera to try and get some pictures of the grandkids. At the end when I was trying to get a group shot, my son, the professional photographer, came. I handed him my camera and said do your thing. Hence the group shot in the layout is his work. I would not have thought to stick the three boys in a chair and have the girls stand around. Guess that's why he's the professional. I did get some good pictures of the kids and hope to get layouts of them for a book I can take to school.

Well bedtime is calling.

Boy it's been another hot day! I'm not sure what the exact temperature got to, but it was definitely hot and humid. It's supposed to be cooler tomorrow 90. I hope I don't need a sweater. We ran around this afternoon in my husband's car. The air conditioning is not exactly working up to speed. If it's 98 outside, I think his car blows 90 degree air. It was a good afternoon anyway. I found new curtains for our bedroom and I finally have my new printer scanner. I'm still working at the kitchen table. Hopefully I'll get around to getting my den in shape for some new furniture so it can become a den/office. If Steve thought getting new curtains was expensive, wait till he sees what I want to do in there.

Well this dieting thing is going quite well. I've stayed on the plan for 3 consecutive days. I did another 30minutes on the treadmill this morning. If I'd known that blogging my goals would have had that effect I would have done it sooner. This morning I was actually down on the scale. Four more days until the official weigh in at WW. Hope this stays on track. One of the things that has kept me on track so far is making smoothies at night. I bought a whole big bag of frozen fruit at Sams. I mix a cup or two of that with some diet 7-up. Whip it up in the blender and you have a very tasty treat.

I played a little with my camera today. I understand aperature and shutter speed, but getting it right is not easy. Yesterday's pictures I had forgot to check my white balance and my ISO. Will it ever just come naturally to me. I hope so.

I could post another layout, but I'm not sure I'm completely satisfied with it. Maybe tomorrow.

We are in a heat wave. I don't think we've had heat like this for a number of years. Pierre set an all time high of 116 degrees. We hit 98 or 99. And the wind blew. Nothing like a hot dry wind to make everything look like brown and dried out parchment paper. I can't imagine no air conditioning. I know when I grew up we didn't have air conditioning. I also remember playing outside all day. Now we keep our kids in because it's too hot they might get heat stroke. I don't think I ever had heat stroke and we played hard. Nights like this when I was young if my dad was home, after we had taken a bath (or not once a week back then was good) we would go to A&W for a icy cold mug of root beer. The mugs were kept in the freezer so they had this coating of frost on the outside which helped to keep the root beer nice and cold. The root beer had a nice bite to it too. And after playing outside most of the day evenings seemed quite pleasant and that rootbeer tasted sooo good. One of my other summer memories is going to the outdoor movie. There again we would get in our pj's and mom would make popcorn and we go and watch a movie. Funny I don't recall any of the movies we ever saw but I do remember it was a good time.

I am such a bad photographer. If I don't do anything else worthwhile this year, I am going to learn to take better pictures. (Without using the dummy mode.) I'm not sure taking a class is what I need or to hire my son the awesome photographer to teach me. Amy is such a better teacher but she is just learning to use her camera too. We need to go out together maybe (with our books and figure this out). I'm also not feeling too competent in the scrapbooking department. After I looked at the layouts I posted last night, I wasn't happy with them. I redid the one of Kirby. I'm a little happier with it. It doesn't help that my daughter is so awesome at it.

On the dieting note, I had another good day. I didn't exercise, but I ate well. I woke up this morning with a headache so I couldn't get my self on the treadmill. Start slow they say. I can follow that advice.

I decided it was time to post a couple of my layouts again. I can't wait to get a new printer so I can print out some of these and see them on paper. I am really enjoying this. It let me be creative and there's no mess.

Well day 1 on the "let's diet for real plan" has been a success. I journaled everything I ate. Even the leftover piece of pizza I had for breakfast. I walked at a good pace for 30 minutes on the treadmill. I drank my water. I bought some good food at the grocery store and at Sam's. Right now I'm enjoying my fruit smoothie, which finishes out my points for the day. If I go to bed without eating anything else, it'll be a perfect diet day. Yeah me!

Tomorrow I have to watch Scott's kids while they have a wedding shoot. Last time I took my laptop and camera to help pass the time. This time I think I'll just take my camera. And maybe a book. The girls have me play Barbies for what seems like hours on end. I know that it won't be too long and they'll be beyond the Barbie stage but frankly I can't wait. Luckily it'll be a short day. 11:30 to about 5:00.

I need to get back to posting a quote for my blog. I enjoyed looking for a quote to put on here.

I've decided that Thursday's blog will be diet oriented. I have been going to Weight Watchers since January 30th. I've lost 16 lbs. Not rocket speed. For the last month I've been playing at dieting. I've maintained for the month. One week up down the next. I need to get serious about this. Maybe being accountable to my blog will help. Those people at WW are too nice. Oh you gained a pound. You'll do better next week. If they yelled at me though I'd have quit. So that wouldn't work either. So here are my goals for the next week. And I'm starting tomorrow, not Monday or Wednesday.
1. I'm going to journal everything. If I bite it I write it.
2. 30 minutes of exercise everyday. It may be 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there, but the days total will be 30 minutes.
3. Water Water Water. Less Less Less Diet Coke.
4. I'm going to make a tenative meal plan for the week. I need to practice this for when school starts anyway. It's the only way I'll be successful.
5. I will eat 5-7 servings of fruit and vegetables. 2 servings of dairy. And measure all my food.
Pretty ambitious, but it needs to be done. I've been very lackadaisical about this dieting thing.

Next week for the first time in 6 weeks I don't have to take anyone anywhere. I love being part of my grandchildren's lives, but for a person who is easily distracted when it comes to housecleaning - that and scrapbooking have really raised havoc on my to do list. Let's see what I can accomplish next week. Or what other excuse I can come up with so it doesn't get done.

It is so dry in this state. The only good thing about a drought is that there is no water for mosquitos. We haven't been too plagued by them so far. See there is a silver lining in everything.

It's a given that what you say and do while your children are growing up will affect them for the rest of their lives. We as parents like to think that all the positive attributes our children have are due to our skill as parents and all the negatives must have come from outside influences. I think we think that because in reality we are so desperately insecure about our skills as parents. Even though my kids are 32 and 30 I still feel desperately insecure. My mother dying when I was 16 left me being a surrogate mom to my sister who was only 10 at the time. My sister turned out to have lots of problems and has suffered with many emotional issues. I think all my adult life I have felt responsible for the way she has turned out. It has influenced how I parented my daughter. Feeling inadequate I was always scared that my sister turned out the way she did because of me and that my own daughter would turn out the same. Only in reality I know now that so many things influenced my sister and that it wasn't just me, but that doesn't relieve my insecurity when my daughter calls in true desperation and I can't offer her any help. In fact I probably made it worse. I referred her to being like my sister. She is nothing like my sister. She is a wonderful and caring mother and person. She thinks of others before herself. She's beautiful inside and out and even when she goes a little bonkers she's still nothing like my sister. You see my sister may have emotional issues but she is also only concerned about herself. She was not and is not mother material. But when I call my daughter my sister's name it's my own insecurity speaking. I wish I could go back in time and make my daughter realize what an amazing person she was and still is, but I can't. I can't even take back what I said today or do anything to make her forget that. The best I can do is try not to keep making the same mistakes over and over. What ever reference I made all those years ago, were never meant to damage her the rest of her life, they were only my way of trying to be a better parent. Life's lessons do they ever give you a break.

On to a cheerier subject. Scrapbooking! Where have I been all those years? This digital stuff is just so addicting. Not only do I get to be creative, but there is no mess! Well my computer might beg to differ, but my house isn't filling up with even more stuff. I feel like I'm learning and using my brain. I just can't wait until I get good. I'm afraid it'll be awhile, but it sure is fun in the meantime. Hopefully I'll still get some other things done this summer. But I can't complain this has been a great summer so far.

I thought this dreary blog needed a picture. Spring flowers were the best I could do. Maybe I should get some summer flower pictures. Ya think!

I haven't posted in over a month. I think I'm enjoying summer too much. I've spent much too much time playing and not getting things accomplished. All that is ok except when school starts I know I'll be wiped out and not have the energy to do all the things I want to do. Summer is the only time I have to catch up. But! Summer is so much more. Summer is about having fun, enjoying the weather, enjoying the freedom to do whatever I please. Well I've accomplished that. Time to get a few things accomplished too. If I do that it could be a perfect summer. Today I went with the girls to swimming lessons and then Amy and I took 5 of the 6 kids (Will at 10 weeks wouldn't appreciate a movie) to the movie Cars. Love Pixar and Disney. They can make a movie that a 5, a 13 and a 55 year can all appreciate. I also did 2 more layouts today. I really enjoy that process. I'll never be as good as my daughter but that's ok too. I'll post them here, but since no one but Amy reads my blog I won't put any credits on. O never mind I don't remember what I have to do to them to make them web ready. Maybe tomorrow.