Oh, Thanks for Asking...

about my day today. Yes, I had a good day. I wouldn't say it was a great day, but good all the same. And thanks for remembering. Yes today was the first day of me being principal at our school. I get there bright and early and well under-caffinated. I arrive with a load of bags and stuff. No, I was not bringing presents, I was just returning all the stuff I took home to work on over the holiday, of which I didn't touch a thing. They all sat there in the utility room tucked into the bags I brought them home in. Nope, didn't touch them at all. I thought about taking the bags of books and laptop computer to the beach but decided that the reality was that I would take it down, lug it up the steps to the house and then not do anything with them except haul them back down the steps and pack them in the car when it was time to go home. So I didn't take them.

So, I get there and there were no major readjusting to do with the schedule. My sub didn't come in. He called yesterday and said he had hurt his back and couldn't come in. So I taught my classes and did the "principal" thing. It was busy but all got done and it was a good day.

didja miss me?

Well, I took a well deserved week and packed up the kids and headed to the beach. The man of the house stayed at home and worked until the weekend and then met us down there. It was nice, windy, chilly most days, but nice all in all. We spent two afternoons at the beach but the other days we just hung around the house, perfecting the inline skating skills (no not me, my sillies, the kids!) We played putt-putt one day and spent an afternoon at our favorite aquarium petting the stingrays. I will post a video soon of my youngest getting some good rubbing in. She was soaking wet when we finished but that is her favorite thing to do at the beach.

Yesterday, my son met me in the laundry room and asked,

"are you doing laundry again?"

I said "yup, that is what I do around here, laundry, cooking and
cleaning."

"What do you do around here?," I asked.

He thinks for a minute and then says, "play, watch TV and sleep."

'nuf said...

My girl...

Playing piano...

Nope no formal training...

Happy Easter Everyone!

And to tickle your funny bone:

LOL!!!

More Easter Funnies

I updated my Idle Hands blog. Hop on over there and check out the new card I made and also look at the goodies I just bought!

Here are a few more Easter funnies for you.

Some Easter Funnies for you!!

Our eggs will be dying on Saturday...

My Splinter

I was putting a few logs on the fire two weekends ago and I had my requisite Diet Coke in my right hand so I grabbed a log with my left hand and threw it on the fire. I felt a sharp pinch and then some mild pain in my left pinky tip. I put the fireplace screen back up and went into the kitchen where I can see better and looked at my pinky. I vaguely see a splinter or what looks like a very fine hair coming out of the tip of my finger and I call my husband.

You see for Christmas I bought him this great baseball cap from LLBean. It looks like this:

It is super cool because it has two little lights that are in the bill of the cap and they shine a nice bright light on things. He loves it and wears it everywhere.

"Honey, I need your help. Get your baseball cap and a pair of tweezers. I have a splinter in my finger." I wait.

I call my younger daughter. "Can you bring me your magnifying glass. You know the blue one you were looking at dinosaur bones with yesterday." "Yeah, that one. Bring it to me in the kitchen."

My husband returns with his gear, however, he isn't wearing his cap he is wearing his most horrendous head light with the elastic band. This is the very same light I thought he looked like a dork in and thus purchasing, might I say for a pretty penny, the headlight baseball cap.

He turns on the light and then takes the magnifying glass from my daughter and proceeds to come at me with THESE!

I pulled my finger back quickly, saying something like, "No way are you going to use those, I SAID TWEEZERS!"

"They ARE tweezers." he tries to reassure me.

"Now I know why the kids are afraid of you with those. You are NOT touching me with those." I reply.

"Come on I won't hurt you." and then he drops them on the floor. For some reason we both look down at the same time and this torture device is stuck in the linolium poking a hole, straight up! NO KIDDING!

I looked at him and said "And THAT is why you won't be coming near me with those!"

I mean, look at them they are super pointy. He says they are good for getting the splinter and only the splinter but they are scary looking. For the record, though, I still have a splinter that I couldn't get out with the regular tweezers. I am going with the theory that it will come out on its own soon.

Update on today's goals:

Okay, first let me just say that I have accomplished much today.

I have half the laundry done and put away right now. The pile is dwindling but it has now been pushed to the front door and away from the steps. This was to deter the kids from "stair surfing". Yes, your images were correct. They go down the steps on their bellies head first into the pile of clothes at the bottom.

A more reasonable goal for laundry complete will be tomorrow or Tuesday night. It may end up waiting until next weekend. We will just have to see how the week goes. I don't mind doing laundry but I like to do it all in one day. I hate doing laundry everyday. I need a reprieve so I attempt to do it all on a Saturday or a Sunday. Whatever doesn't get done in that time will wait until the next laundry day.

My desk hasn't been touched at all. That will have to wait at this point. However, I did accomplish this:

And this:

Yes, homemade donuts!! It is super easy and you will impress your friends, family and anyone else who stops by. Click here for the recipe!!

Goals for Today

Yesterday I got nothing done. Come to think of it, I am not really sure WHAT I did yesterday. Anyway, I have goals, girl, goals today!

So here it is:

This!

And This!

This morning my son was soooo helpful. He went around to everyone's room and tossed down all the dirty clothes he could find. How awesome is that? The problem now lies with me to do the laundry and get it put away. Yes, don't worry, laundry in our house is a family event. Each child knows how to put clothes away. Our youngest doesn't always get it in the right place but she can put it on her bed and I can get it put away later. The other two do their own. My husband does the towels and gets our clothes up the three flights of stairs to our room and on our bed for, yes you guessed it, me to put away later. I am estimating 13 loads of laundry. I still need to strip the beds (4 of them) and wash those sheets too. If I work diligently I can get it all done before bed tonight.

I was blog hopping and wandering over at All Moments Remembered (thanks Nicole!) this morning and I caught the bug again, which brings me to the second picture. I am in the mood to scrapbook but in the past two weeks since I scrapped last my desk has has an avalanche. So I need to dig out and reorganize before I can get the creative juices flowing. Sitting here and looking at the mound of stuff, I don't even recognize some of this stuff here. I better get the big trash can for this job.

Okay, I am NOT feeling the love

I used to have a bunch of people reading my blog and making comments from time to time. I am NOT feeling the love right now. I feel like the blog is in a rut, so to speak.

I AM blogging!! I am writing regularly. I am putting cute things up there and I thought that I was telling at least decent stories. But alas no comments.

I put up a cute letter to the Easter Bunny. Not even my sister comments. I put up pictures of the crafts I have done. No comments. I write about family events and such. NOTHING!

So what do you want? What do you want to read about? What do you want to know from me? If you comment and tell me what you are looking for then I will know how to make you want to come back day after day. Do you want to laugh? Do you want to cry? Do you want to know how much toe jam I pulled from between my toes last night? Do you need more pictures?

Any while you are at it? Check out my other blogs. Am I segmenting too much? Do you want my craft and cooking blogs to be merged with this one or should I keep them separate? Do you EVEN read them?

Be honest. I gotta know. AM I BORING? Be honest, brutally honest.

Oh, one more thing, is anyone else having trouble uploading to blogger? Pictures that is...

Letter to the Easter Bunny

This is from my older daughter. I found it today on the front porch. I think she was trying to mail it.

It says "Dear Easter Bunny, will you bring me food bunnys and chick food [Peeps] and can you make it stop raining."

At the End of the Day

I was saying goodbye to all my jailbirds and my principal comes in as they file out. He asks if he can talk to me for a minute. So I am thinking to myself, I know I haven't been into teaching lately and I have been on the computer emailing cub scout stuff a lot and oh yeah, last Friday I showed a movie to the kids (it pertained to what we were studying, I'm not that bad) and I worked on a newletter for scouts all day and then printed it out and copied a bunch of copies for the weekend.

"Yeah sure" I say. I sit down and think, Okay here it comes.

He starts out by saying, "So how was your day?" Oh man I am IN for it!! "okay" I reply.

He then goes into saying that he just came back from the surgeon about his neck and he has a titanium plate fusing three vertibrae together and one of the screws has broken off and it lodged somewhere else and that bone is growing around it and the bone is pressing on a nerve which is not only giving him pain but also making numbness in his arm. I had known that he has been going to doctors and having tests done and that he is in pain sometimes.

He goes on to say that he needs surgery to correct it and that it is going to be a relatively easy surgery, only 3 hours long, but it is a long recovery. About 4 months!

At this point I am not sure why he has chosen to dump this on me but I continue to nod my head and I respond, "yuck".

He says, "yeah, yuck! So I am going to need someone to fill in for me while I am gone." I start to think okay, Mr. **** will step in as he is put in charge when our principal goes out of the office or is out sick from time to time.

Then he says he was talking to our supervisor at the Department of Ed and her advice was to fill if possible from within instead of bringing another principal in from outside. She asked if there was anyone on staff who had administrative experience. He told her about me and my administrative experience running a private school.

So then just as I am thinking I am going to get reamed out for showing too many videos, he asks if I would be willing to fill in for him. He goes on to say that he is going to hire a long term sub for my position so I don't have to teach and be principal at the same time.

Yes, I will be teaching my best for the rest of the week.

Silent Auction Item

My son's cub scout pack is having a silent auction to benefit Friends of Scouting at our annual dinner. I am donating a handmade fleece throw with our pack numbers embroidered on it. It is a great blanket for all kinds of things including snuggling up with it while camping, putting it on your bed, hanging out on the couch. Best of all the boys can put their patches on it. The patches that they earn throughout the year don't go on their uniforms and some boys haven't bought the red vest that they can be sewn on. This way they can put their patches on this blanket and keep it for a keepsake of their time in cub scouts.

If you see it and want one I sell them too. Email me or leave me a comment with your email and I will get in contact with you. I can do them for Boy Scouts in tan and green and for Girl Scouts too.

Random Thoughts, Book Reviews and a Picture

If you haven't been to my cooking blog recently you may want to mosey on over there. Whitney's Cooking! I just put up a super great broccoli salad recipe and below that is an entry on my husband and I cooking at our church last Sunday. I think it is worth reading!! Comment away over there also. I never get any comments!

If you haven't been to my Idle Hands blog I also suggest you find a half a second and venture that way too. I have been busy with sewing and have posted a bunch of pictures of the projects that I have finished recently (in the pat two weeks).

Now for the book reviews. I have been totally in to Debbie Macomber recently. She writes series novels but you don't have to read the series from start to finish. You can pick up any book and start reading. But if you want the whole story and not just little snippets of the back stories of some of the characters it is worth it to start from the beginning. She has a lovely website with recipes, knitting patterns, and information about her books and a monthly contest.

Her Cedar Cove series starts with 16 Lighthouse Road and continues on to 74 Seaside Avenue. It is a great series about a small seaside town in Washington state just outside of Seattle. It is filled with romance (not the smutty stuff) and great stories of women and their lives, friendships, and the men they love. I started reading this series two summers ago and in one month had read all up to the end of the series. They are quick reads and I think anyone can relate to the characters.

Macomber's Dakota series is being republished now and they are cute novels about a small dying town in North Dakota called Buffalo Valley. This town actually is mentioned in the Cedar Cove series too, as one of the characters moves out to Buffalo Valley and falls in love with a man there. The series begins with Dakota Born and then Dakota Home. Always Dakota will be republished in June,2008. It is a wonderful little story about a small town and their plight to bring it back to life, of course along with love, relationships and women's friendships.

Navy Husband is a cute story about a woman who decides her relationship with a man is going nowhere. She breaks up with him and moves to Seattle where she buys a pizza and ice cream parlor. Her sister is a recent widow and has a young child. She is enlisted in the Navy and gets deployed to a ship in the middle of the Pacific. The child must go to live with the pizza parlor owner. In the midst of life changing events, both women find love and companionship in places where they least expect. This novel is part of a series but it is great on its own. I haven't read the others in the series yet.

Okay here is the picture of the day:

Caroline finding a bit of quiet in her shoe cubby to play her Game Boy!

Leap Day

I thought when I woke up today that today is like an extra day. One you wouldn't normally have. One that should be special in some way. I wondered what I would do with a special day. I thought that maybe we should take the day off and spend it as a family doing something special. I thought that would be really fun to make it a tradition (if we can remember in 4 years that it IS a tradition) and do something special. As I said good bye to the kids, put my shoes on and grabbed my coffee, I thought that today should be filled with special things. Maybe I should make something. Maybe I should celebrate the day doing something fun in the classroom with my students. Maybe we could do something as a school. I arrived at school a few minutes late and I mentioned to another teacher that today should be fun and special and we should do something neat today. She agreed with me and I went into my classroom and prepared for the day. (logged into my computer and checked my email...)The kids came and went 3 times before lunch and then came and went another 3 times. The last group I just watched the clock as I taught. I couldn't wait to leave. After they left, I grabbed my lunch bag, coat and keys and out the door I went. Grocery store and then home to fix dinner and take a shower. Now I sit here and I have not done anything special with my extra day. I think I need a do over...

There is something wrong...

WAY wrong!

Look at my weather girl. What person in their right mind would be out in THAT outfit in the rain and in 61 degree weather? 61 and rainy is downright cold. It is not weather for wearing a short sleeved shirt with the belly showing. Am I right or am I right?

Derby Update

My son took fourth in the district today for the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. He was very proud of himself and he is already talking about his car for next year. AND so is my husband. We had a bit of an upset today at the Derby.

Last year we sat next to the family who won for the age group. I sat chit chatting with the mom who seemed very nice. She gave a few hints about wheel polishing with a paper bag and that she would sit while watching tv and polish wheels at night. I said that the men were more into this than some of the kids and she agreed. What I didn't know what that she was holding a secret from all of us. The boy had used that same car as the year before. They asked her at one time while I was sitting there if it was the same car and she said no it was a different one. What I didn't know what that they pulled her son aside and asked him to and said, "scout's honor is this the same car that you used last year? " The boy's face changed like he had been caught and he looked at his mom and then turned to the judge and said, "it is a different car." Come to find out it was the same car as the year before.

So this year, I spied her right away recognizing her from last year and knowing that she was a big contender. Her son sat right next to her and her husband rotated around the room. They had another son competing in another age group this year. They both (both boys) had an identical car this year but different weight placement from last year. I noticed the car right away and guessed it was theirs and from the face of the son (who we were competing against) when he won his first heat it was definitely his. What I also noticed right away was that he was running on three wheels, which is illegal in our district. The car was FAST! Nicholas's car never ran against him in the beginning heats but we could tell from the electronic finish line that we were a close competitor this year. Of course, my husband had to mention something to the judges that the car was running on three wheels and they immediately took the car out for inspection. They later brought the car back into the race and it continued with the rest of the cars. It was much faster than the other cars racing, seeming to have an unfair advantage. My husband kept questioning the car to the officials and at the end of the race when this car took first place and Nicholas had come in fifth, the officials decided to take the car apart and inspect the axles and the wheels from the inside. They had used aftermarket axles that they had grooved and they coned a wheel so that they were not only running on three wheels but one other wheel wasn't touching the track with all its tread. They had three places where they were cheating according to the rules of the district. They disqualified the car from the race. Hmmm....

Come to find out the district has been trying to get this family on cheating for a couple years now and finally they were able to do it. The race director thanked my husband for being bold enough to question the car and he said that another boy had said something too about it. We felt good about that.

But every happy ending has a dark cloud in there somewhere right? Well this story is no different. The part that we didn't like was that the boy who's car was disqualified was in hysterics because he didn't win. He was upset and visibly so. The biggest part that bothered me was that his parents who built the car for him cheated and because of that the boy couldn't participate in a fun wholesome activity. The boy was disqualified because his parents chose to cheat and risk getting caught. How can a parent risk that for their son? I would much rather lose the race (like we did) and console my son for losing but having an honest car. It is aweful to win a race and then upon post race inspection get disqualified for his parents cheating. That to me is just not good role models.

I sure hope that in this event today two things come out of it. One his parents never do that again. I doubt that will happen but I sure hope so. And two, my husband and I remember this and continue to be well aware that our actions must always be honorable and honest for our children to learn from. This, I know, will happen!

I have to say Nicholas learned a lot from this experience. He saw the boy and he saw the father, who I might mention was very angry at my husband for outing him and his son, so much my husband thought the father might meet him in the parking lot. Nicholas learned that cheaters never win and do get caught. Nicholas learned that the honorable thing to do is follow the rules. And Nicholas learned that winning isn't everything. He was a gracious loser like usual. He was proud that his car had come so close to winning as it usually doesn't when he goes to districts. Plus he had fun competing against two of his friends!

Photo of the Day

Go ahead ... comment away....

To pox or not to pox that is the question...

Okay a bit corny but bear with me. Tuesday, my middle one came to me and said the nurse at school put some anti-itch creme on her arm for her bug bites. I asked her to show them to me and they were four big bites that looked like mosquito bites. For her they get big and swollen and they scab over usually at the site of the bite. We didn't think much of it and then the next day she said she had more. She showed me that she was bitten on her belly too. I forgot about it later, the bad mom I am and Thursday she had them on her legs, back, belly, both arms and one on her chin. Well, I woke up with these and thought hmmm....maybe it is in her bed. I stripped her bed down and pulled out all her clothes that were on the floor. I looked under the mattress for signs of bugs or ugh bed bugs... nothing... whew.

That night I tucked her in and looked again and thought maybe they are chicken pox and her body is reacting funny to them and causing them to be bigger than normal. I looked it up on the internet and found that often they look like bug bites and get a little white puss in the middle and then pop and scab over. Sounds a lot like what is going on here. My better half and I talk and decide to look at them in the morning and call the doctor. The next morning they are still there and she has another one too. We call and get an appointment. We send her to school and I go to work and as I am sitting there I start to feel very guilty that we sent her to school contageous with a highly transferable disease. I call the nurse attendant who just happens to be my hubby's aunt and she takes one look at her and tells me to come get her.

On my way to pick her up I call the doctor's office again and ask to get an earlier appointment and tell them that she may have chicken pox. They then tell me not to bring her and to treat her for them at home. I told them I wanted a difinitive diagnosis and I wanted her seen and by the way doesn't the CDC want a diagnosis and a count and aren't they doing a disservice to all the classmates who need to know if a child has been sitting in their class touching their pencils with this disease? The nurse then says to bring her in before they reopen for the afternoon appointments. Basically, please come when there aren't any patients around. They then said to tell the office worker to send you straight back to the examining rooms. Okay.

So we get there and she doesn't have the pox, she has HIVES! The doc asks if there was anything that we changed recently, foods, drinks, soaps, shampoos, detergents..... YES!!! my husband thought it would be okay to buy the generic brand of laundry detergent and I did laundry last weekend. Yes most of her clothes were in the wash and yes they were washed with the generic detergent. The doctor said that it was most likely what was causing the hives and that they have been coming on gradually all week because she has been wearing the clothes freshly washed all week.

Final answer? Benadryl and rewash all the clothes I washed last week, including all towels, bedsheets and anything that she will come into contact with.

Thanks honey for trying to save a penny....

Hello Mickey Here We Come

For all those scared of the big-eared mouse don't read on. For all those who love Mickey you can read away.

This morning my husband asked me what I wanted to accomplish today. Granted I have not felt my 100% in the past couple days and ended up at the doctors office last night, I lessened my goals. I told him that I wanted to get the laundry done (another story all together) and I wanted to clean the floors, wash, vacuum, or dust/sweep as needed. I said it should only take a little while and I wanted to sew together the three fleece blankets that I have been walking over in our room. Apparently he had a different priority.

After he had finished breakfast and while I was still eating he pulled his laptop onto the table and proceeded to sign on to Disney.com. Then he says to me where do I go to get the reservations for this year. I show him and he fumbles a bit and then next thing I know I have the mouse in my hand and have scooted the laptop over to me. Four hours and two phone calls later we have reservations for next Christmas. At one point I suggested we stay off site and in a 4 bedroom home with an indoor pool. He about cried on me and now we are staying back in the Disney Campground in our travel trailer. We will enjoy the Disney meal plan again and will be planning our days very soon.

He DID work on the laundry while I got our reservations. The floors will just have to wait until tomorrow as I am going to go get my sewing machine out.