Once again, I have been missing from the virtual world. This time, I have a better excuse than reading books all day (see previous post). My in-laws are in town and we have been busy painting the interior of my house. They have been here a week now and will leave tomorrow afternoon. We have had a wonderful time with them here and they have been fabulous sports with the painting. Seeing as how it's already late and I'm exhausted from teaching and from the evening festivities, I'm going to make this short and crawl into bed. I promise to be back tomorrow with pictures of the newly painted living room, dining room and kitchen. I still have to paint my bedroom, William's, both bathrooms, the garage and the pantry and hall closet. Then there is all of the trim in the whole house to be painted white. I don't even want to think about that right now. The kitchen was so horrible (I'll explain tomorrow) that it makes me never want to paint again.
I have enjoyed reading all of your blogs and emails. Once again, sorry I have been absent and antisocial. Things will start to slow down this weekend - I hope. Goodnight.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Book Worm
So I get to playgroup last Thursday, and a friend of mine brought a book that she had just finished and was wondering if anyone wanted to read it. I was up for it since I was currently looking for a fun, fast book. I took it home Thursday, thinking I would read it here and there over the next several days. Well, that didn't quite happen. I read a few pages Thursday afternoon thinking it was OK. But when I began reading again that evening - I was up until 3am. Ryan came looking for me around 2am and then again at 3am. I figured he wasn't sleeping well with me out here, so I went to bed and I'm glad I did. I had to teach Friday and I was very tired.
I finished the book Friday and had a day of "rest" on Saturday. I ended up having to work at a marching band festival during the afternoon with my band - they did very well and I was proud of them. I didn't stay for the next festival because Ryan had to chaperon a church dance and both of the kids weren't feeling well. So Ryan brings book 2 in the series home Sunday from my giving friend. I finished it this afternoon and I just got back from her house, picking up book three. I did spend the afternoon (after finishing book 2), cleaning and getting my house ready to paint before I picked up the third book.
But now that I have book three, I should warn you that I will be out of commission for the next day and half. I promise to be better about writing once I'm finished with these books. They are very good and a lot of fun to read. I think Ryan is cursing my friend under his breath for exposing me to these books - but I'm loving it! When life gets dull, discouraging, or a little depressing, there's nothing like a good book to take you out of your world and into another. If you're curious about the books I'm reading, drop me a comment!
I finished the book Friday and had a day of "rest" on Saturday. I ended up having to work at a marching band festival during the afternoon with my band - they did very well and I was proud of them. I didn't stay for the next festival because Ryan had to chaperon a church dance and both of the kids weren't feeling well. So Ryan brings book 2 in the series home Sunday from my giving friend. I finished it this afternoon and I just got back from her house, picking up book three. I did spend the afternoon (after finishing book 2), cleaning and getting my house ready to paint before I picked up the third book.
But now that I have book three, I should warn you that I will be out of commission for the next day and half. I promise to be better about writing once I'm finished with these books. They are very good and a lot of fun to read. I think Ryan is cursing my friend under his breath for exposing me to these books - but I'm loving it! When life gets dull, discouraging, or a little depressing, there's nothing like a good book to take you out of your world and into another. If you're curious about the books I'm reading, drop me a comment!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Home Office and William's day
It's already late as I start this. I have to teach in the morning, so going to bed is next on my 'to do' list. I wanted to document a little of a typical day for William while Claire is at school. Here he is taking a break with his goldfish.
Playing with cars is what William does most mornings.
A little play-doh
I had more to write, but it's after 11pm, the kids are asleep, and I'm going to bed. Goodnight.
Playing with cars is what William does most mornings.
A little play-doh
And a little play-doh on the couch.
Claire's "office"
Playing in the rain Sat.
I had more to write, but it's after 11pm, the kids are asleep, and I'm going to bed. Goodnight.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Garage Sale
OK, so yesterday I held my first garage sale. I got up early, put out the sign by the highway (it was big, neon yellow with bold black letters), and got everything set up. As soon as it was 7am, I had a customer; a good start. As she was shopping, another lady stopped by. Things were looking good. But then the rain started off and on. People would come by, looking for something very specific - which I wouldn't have (movies, exercise machines, etc). One lady really wanted to buy Ryan's plants he had in the garage. He had to bring them home from his office because they had developed flies and it is not good to have tiny flies in a working lab with "science experiments" going on. So he brought them home and treated them with some pesticide. If I had sold those plants - I think Ryan would have killed me. I had another guy asking about my washing machine - I thought he was wondering what I was up to, so I told him that I was just doing some laundry - he apparently thought they were for sale; nope, just washing some sheets due to a leaky diaper. Sadly, by noon, it was raining quite a bit, my sign got too soggy to stay up and I closed my business. I guess it wasn't the best weekend to have a garage sale, but I gave it a shot. So at this point, I'm just going to sell the furniture on craig's list. I did get my garage swept out, a couple loads of laundry done, and ironed a few shirts. Not too bad.
Some good news - I sold my old clarinet. I met with the buyer in St. Louis (he lived about an hour from me). Claire was with me and we promptly went to The Container Store to buy something to store all of her art supplies in. We had been keeping all the supplies in a big, clear, plastic storage bin under her bed. It was hard to get to everything and she would make a big mess in the process. It was hard for her to clean it up and I was tired of doing it. Drawing, making plans, writing notes, etc, is her favorite thing to do around the house. So, we needed a better solution than the storage bin. Enter: The Container Store. I found a perfect solution that looks great. Claire is very excited about it. I need to take a picture of it and post it, but Claire is sleeping as a I write this; it'll have to wait until morning. So with my extra clarinet money, I bought my daughter an "office" as she calls it.
It's late and the baby needs to be held and put to bed. Hope you all have a fabulous day.
Some good news - I sold my old clarinet. I met with the buyer in St. Louis (he lived about an hour from me). Claire was with me and we promptly went to The Container Store to buy something to store all of her art supplies in. We had been keeping all the supplies in a big, clear, plastic storage bin under her bed. It was hard to get to everything and she would make a big mess in the process. It was hard for her to clean it up and I was tired of doing it. Drawing, making plans, writing notes, etc, is her favorite thing to do around the house. So, we needed a better solution than the storage bin. Enter: The Container Store. I found a perfect solution that looks great. Claire is very excited about it. I need to take a picture of it and post it, but Claire is sleeping as a I write this; it'll have to wait until morning. So with my extra clarinet money, I bought my daughter an "office" as she calls it.
It's late and the baby needs to be held and put to bed. Hope you all have a fabulous day.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Party Pooper
I told the kids this afternoon, as we were playing on the swing set, that since Dad was going to be camping with the Scouts, we would have a party tonight. Claire was very excited and William didn't have a clue. However, as the afternoon progressed, the kids started bothering each other. I had to break up a couple of fights and sent both kids to their rooms several times. Needless to say, I didn't much feel like having a little "party" tonight with these two monsters. We were going to make cookies, rent a movie and eat some popcorn. Now there aren't going to be any cookies, I'm putting the kids to bed in half an hour (at 7pm) and I'll watch the movie and eat popcorn in peace and quiet - alone. Claire keeps asking when the party is going to get started and I have informed her that I don't much feel like giving a party when she and William have been behaving so badly. Luckily for us, (and poor Ryan) these Scouting camp outs will be every month or so, so we will have plenty of time to "party".
I'm holding my first garage sale tomorrow. Ryan is really freaked out that I won't be able to handle it alone, but I think I'll be fine. I don't have a lot of stuff to sell, so it shouldn't last too long. It's also supposed to rain on and off around this area. We'll see how it goes. It's time to throw my stinky kids in the bath, read them a story and put them to bed.
I'm holding my first garage sale tomorrow. Ryan is really freaked out that I won't be able to handle it alone, but I think I'll be fine. I don't have a lot of stuff to sell, so it shouldn't last too long. It's also supposed to rain on and off around this area. We'll see how it goes. It's time to throw my stinky kids in the bath, read them a story and put them to bed.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Salsa, Shopping and Scrapes
I know, I know - I haven't written in almost a week. We had a busy weekend and I wasn't always feeling well. I have been busy teaching the past two days and only now have some spare time as I wait for Claire to come home from school. So now that I have excused myself, I have a few things to share. Our labor day weekend was filled with housework and shopping.
It's at times like these when I wish we had a bigger car or a truck.
A little mulch on the couch thanks to our gardener, William.
A friend gave us this race car bed for William. He had been sleeping on the bottom trundle from Claire's bed. William just giggled with delight when they took the bed out of the car. Here the kids are taking a little break in the frame before I wiped it down.
William loves to ride on my back. He doesn't sit up, but likes to lay down, tuck his arms under him and totally relax as I give him a ride around the house. He is a very cuddly boy.
So I had planned to write yesterday, but I stayed pretty busy. I made some salsa using the tomatoes from out garden (it was very tasty).
And I did various housework, made dinner, took Claire in for her TB test for school, went to the office supply store, taught a private student and cleaned out the attic - not in that order. What didn't help was I had planned to have 15 minuets in which to eat my dinner before I had to teach an hour lesson. Well, right as I was pulling the casserole out of the oven, Ryan called from the train station to inform me that his car battery was once again dead and he needed a jump. We didn't have time for the jump, but I quickly picked him up, ate very quickly and was off. Here is a picture of Ryan's sad face as I went to pick him up - mind you this is the third time he's killed the battery in this car from leaving the lights on. He did the same thing to my car a few months ago. Can we say, forgetful?
The last thing I wanted to write about has to do with this last picture. While Ryan and I were laying in bed, about to fall asleep the other night, we somehow got into a conversation about being clumsy. I made the point that while my family may call me clumsy, I'm no clumsier than anyone else. Ryan did not agree. So I asked him, when was the last time you hit your head on something - he honestly couldn't remember and I couldn't remember when he had either. I told him, "well I don't do it that often", failing to mention that I had hit my head minuets earlier on the book case next to our bed while I was trying to crawl into bed in the dark. Nor did I remind him of the two concussions I have received from running into doors (one of which put me in the hospital). I then started to think about all of the dishes I've broken, the amount of food (flour, vanilla, sugar, etc) that I have dropped in the kitchen making a huge mess, the many times a day I run into furniture, corners, doors, etc. "Nah," I thought, "I'm no clumsier than you or anyone else". The next evening, while I was doing some laundry in the garage, I stumbled into a sharp, metal sawhorse, scraping the skin off of my shin. It wasn't a deep cut, but I think scrapes are sometimes worse than a cut. I called out for Ryan, who was around the corner in the yard and tried to stumble to him for help with the blood now pouring down my leg. Of course it's dark outside and as I tried to reach him around the corner, I stepped off of the driveway, turned my ankle in a dip in the yard and fell to the ground. Ryan was a little startled and asked what was wrong. I called desperately, "just help me!". The whole thing was ridiculous - it wasn't that big of a deal until I about broke my ankle in the dark. I'll tell you what, if I were a big person, I would have broken my foot/ankle several times by now. OK OK, so I am a little clumsy and I did slice my finger open last night on the food processor blade while trying to wash the dishes. I admit my clumsiness to Ryan, though it hurt my pride a little. I just attribute the clumsiness to the fact that I am much more active than Ryan - I mean, how many doors can you run into when you sit at a computer all day, come on! (and Mom, if I'm not mistaken, you have pulled a few of your own in the past and especially lately...)
Ryan cleaning the threshold with his two helpers. Claire is holding her calculator - she was calculating things all weekend.
We had to do some grocery shopping Monday - the kids love their goldfish crackers!
We went to Lowes to buy a new trashcan. The stupid raccoons kept getting into ours and we had to keep them in the garage. It would get pretty smelly in there. So, we bought a trashcan that can be secured easily. The kids took a ride in it in the parking lot. We got a few looks that said, "I can't believe those people have their kids in a trash can! Is that even safe? *scoff*". Oh well, the kids had a good time.
It's at times like these when I wish we had a bigger car or a truck.
A little mulch on the couch thanks to our gardener, William.
A friend gave us this race car bed for William. He had been sleeping on the bottom trundle from Claire's bed. William just giggled with delight when they took the bed out of the car. Here the kids are taking a little break in the frame before I wiped it down.
William loves to ride on my back. He doesn't sit up, but likes to lay down, tuck his arms under him and totally relax as I give him a ride around the house. He is a very cuddly boy.
So I had planned to write yesterday, but I stayed pretty busy. I made some salsa using the tomatoes from out garden (it was very tasty).
And I did various housework, made dinner, took Claire in for her TB test for school, went to the office supply store, taught a private student and cleaned out the attic - not in that order. What didn't help was I had planned to have 15 minuets in which to eat my dinner before I had to teach an hour lesson. Well, right as I was pulling the casserole out of the oven, Ryan called from the train station to inform me that his car battery was once again dead and he needed a jump. We didn't have time for the jump, but I quickly picked him up, ate very quickly and was off. Here is a picture of Ryan's sad face as I went to pick him up - mind you this is the third time he's killed the battery in this car from leaving the lights on. He did the same thing to my car a few months ago. Can we say, forgetful?
The last thing I wanted to write about has to do with this last picture. While Ryan and I were laying in bed, about to fall asleep the other night, we somehow got into a conversation about being clumsy. I made the point that while my family may call me clumsy, I'm no clumsier than anyone else. Ryan did not agree. So I asked him, when was the last time you hit your head on something - he honestly couldn't remember and I couldn't remember when he had either. I told him, "well I don't do it that often", failing to mention that I had hit my head minuets earlier on the book case next to our bed while I was trying to crawl into bed in the dark. Nor did I remind him of the two concussions I have received from running into doors (one of which put me in the hospital). I then started to think about all of the dishes I've broken, the amount of food (flour, vanilla, sugar, etc) that I have dropped in the kitchen making a huge mess, the many times a day I run into furniture, corners, doors, etc. "Nah," I thought, "I'm no clumsier than you or anyone else". The next evening, while I was doing some laundry in the garage, I stumbled into a sharp, metal sawhorse, scraping the skin off of my shin. It wasn't a deep cut, but I think scrapes are sometimes worse than a cut. I called out for Ryan, who was around the corner in the yard and tried to stumble to him for help with the blood now pouring down my leg. Of course it's dark outside and as I tried to reach him around the corner, I stepped off of the driveway, turned my ankle in a dip in the yard and fell to the ground. Ryan was a little startled and asked what was wrong. I called desperately, "just help me!". The whole thing was ridiculous - it wasn't that big of a deal until I about broke my ankle in the dark. I'll tell you what, if I were a big person, I would have broken my foot/ankle several times by now. OK OK, so I am a little clumsy and I did slice my finger open last night on the food processor blade while trying to wash the dishes. I admit my clumsiness to Ryan, though it hurt my pride a little. I just attribute the clumsiness to the fact that I am much more active than Ryan - I mean, how many doors can you run into when you sit at a computer all day, come on! (and Mom, if I'm not mistaken, you have pulled a few of your own in the past and especially lately...)
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