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!