Sorry People

for not updating the blog sooner. We have been plugging along here very nicely. Nothing major to talk about and I think that is just why I haven't updated in a while.

My older daughter is taking horseback riding lessons now. She is actually learning on a pony. So do we still call it horseback riding lessons or ponyback riding lessons? Anyway, she looks very cute in her black helmet and her paddock boots. It is giving her more confidence and something to do that her siblings aren't doing too, yet. Yes there is that yet there. You saw it too. The younger daughter will be taking lessons too as soon as she turns 6 and that is in 6 weeks!! She is very excited but that birthday just can't come quick enough.

On a crafty note, I have been working on scrapbooking our Disney trip. I think we took way too many pictures but you tell me what you think. On average we took between 135-200 pictures a day and we were there for 7 days. I developed over 800 pictures and so far have only weeded out about 40 and I am on the start of day 4. I just can't seem to leave out any cute smile. And since they are my kids' cute smiles and it is my album I am putting them all in there. God help the person who says, "can I look at your pictures from Disney?" LOL I will be bringing out three huge albums and plopping them on their lap.

Okay for all of you faithful readers, you are probably wondering about my garden. Well we have two rows of potatoes in the big garden and they are doing quite well. They have been there for about a month now and have nice little green leaves coming out. Thankfully the deer leave them alone. We are so distraught at the fact that all our hard work will go to the deer that we have been thinking up ways short of shooting the whole clan to keep them out of the garden, hence the garden hasn't really started yet. I did plant some peas a while back and they are about a foot tall but they are in our little garden here at the house and the deer don't know of this lovely place. I also planted a fe cabbage plants but they turned out to be broccoli and they all bolted (grew really tall really fast and have little yellow flowers on them). I sware the label on them said cabbage. Oh well.

Check back again soon as I will post some great pictures of ponyback riding and the garden.

Toodles!

Summer Camps

It is way past time to begin thinking of summer camps, however, I have just begun to think about it for the kids. I am not sure why I wasn't on top of things a few months ago but I have found that this summer the registration for camps have been slow around here which is in my favor.

So far here is the run down:

Son, sailing camp and then a craft camp maybe and a sailing camp revisit at the end of summer, reading tutoring all summer.
Daughter #1, horseback riding camp and craft camp
Daughter #2, bug camp, craft camp, and maybe horseback riding.

They will all be swimming on the swim team for our pool as well. We have opted out of the summer enrichment program at the school this year. It just seemed like too much and I didn't see any real benefit from it in the past couple years.

Did you notice the horseback riding? Yes, daughter #1 has been saying she wants to take lessons so my mother, bless her, took her up to check out the stables. Now this is the daughter who doesn't like dogs or other animals much. Before I signed her up for this expensive camp I wanted her to look at a live horse face to face, eye to eye and see a real horse. So my mother took her to the stables yesterday and daughter #1 was a bit timid (if that is the right word) with the oldest horse out there and while she touched the horse she used her sister's hand to pet it. Yes it was like hand over hand petting. Daughter #2 isn't scared. In fact she is mad because you have to be six to start lessons. Because of this timidness with the horse it was suggested that she start lessons right away and not wait until summer. So they signed her up for private lessons starting Saturday! No time like the present, right?

A little Disney for you

I have been very good and not really posted anything about our Disney trip back in December. But today I need a little Disney magic! It has rained non-stop for the past two weeks straight every day except two, today and last Wednesday. I am becoming a sun junkie. Today it was cloudy all day. I need some sun. No, I NEEEEED some sun! I need to feel it on my face, in my bones, I need to be warm. I have been cold to the bone for the past several days. One of those colds that just doesn't go away. I almost ache from being cold for so long.

So, If I can't have some sun then let me think about something nice and fun. I relayed this story to my sister today. It is a bit ironic because as much as I neeeeed the sun and warmth right now, this was the coldest day we had at Disney World and while the sun was out it didn't warm you much.

We were at Animal Kingdom for the day and then going to have dinner at Narcoosie's at the Grand Floridian Hotel and then see the huge gingerbread house they make every year in the lobby. We left Animal Kingdom two hours early in hopes to get to our campsite and clean up a bit before our fancy dinner. It took us an hour to get back to the campground and another half hour to get the bus to take us to our campsite. We decided we didn't have enough time to get to our campsite and then change clothes so we would just go as we are. We were clothed enough for them to let us in. Men had to have a collared shirt and women no flip flops or shorts/t-shirt items. So Kenneth had a collared shirt on and the kids looked mostly presentable except their hair needed to be done. So we stayed on the bus that took us to the boat to take us to the Magic Kingdom to catch the monorail to get to the hotel for dinner.

We have to wait for the boat and it was a 15 minute trip across the lake to the Magic Kingdom. So by the time the boat docked it was 5 minutes until our reservation. they say that if you are 10 minutes late for the reservation then they give your table up to others waiting. We were worried that we wouldn't make it and I didn't know how crowded it would be. We get on the monorail and end up that the monorail only goes one way and the hotel we need is the last stop. So we stop at three other stops before ours.

We get to the hotel and I find the reservation desk for the hotel and ask where the restaurant is. The lady says it is on the other side of the pool in the round house on the other side of the grounds. Oh no!! We aren't there yet?

Caroline (our youngest with right sided muscle weakness caused by a stroke in-utero - long story...) can't walk anymore she is tired, hungry, and her little legs just can't make it. I pick her up and ask the lady if she could call to the restaurant and tell them we are on our way and not to give up our table. We are now 10 minutes late and have at least a 5 minute walk before we get there. She says no she can't but I could ask the concierge at the end of the desk. We go down to the concierge and looking quite haggard we tell them the story of calling down to let them know we are coming. The head concierge says we will do better than that, we will drive you down there. So they pick us up in an 8 person "station wagon" golf cart and drive us to the front door of the restaurant. The manager of the restaurant opens the front door and speaks to us by name. Mr. and Mrs. *******? Your table is ready for you.... now that is service.

This is a picture of my husband's dessert. It was a cheesecake with whipped cream and the back is a piece of candy that has Cinderella and Prince Charming and the castle on it and says "2007 Year of a Million Dreams"

Why I don't go to the Mall anymore...

Not that there is anything wrong with this....

We went to the mall this evening to eat at our favorite restaurant Qdobas. The entrance to the restaurant is outside of the mall. So by going to this restaurant you are not technically 'going into the mall'. It is sort of like lurking on the outside. Anyway, while we are eating I tell my husband that I want to go in the mall and go to a store that is closing/moving and they are having a big sale. He agrees and after we finish eating we walk to the entrance of the mall and walk in. We aren't in there more than 50 steps and I see two young men(not teen agers more like early 20's) walking towards us both wearing khaki pants and pink polo shirts. They are holding hands and talking to each other as they walk by. I at first notice that they BOTH wearing pink shirts and then I notice that they are holding hands. Then the next thing that pops into my little pea brain is that it must be a blatent joke and that someone put them up to it. But then quickly realize that, no, they are a couple and just enjoying each others' company as they are shopping. They walk past us and my husband quickly gives me a knowing glance and I give him 'eyes' back letting him know that yes, I saw them too. Then my middle daughter says, "mommy, did you see those men?" (uh oh) "yes" I say and she says, "they must work at the same place because they were wearing the same uniform." (whew) "yeah, I guess they do", I reply.

I am NOT ready to have THAT conversation with her yet...

When to stand your ground

I love the fact that I am not in the classroom right now. I desperately needed some time away from teaching and this position, though temporary, is beginning to give me just that 'vacation' I craved. However, I can't believe how some teachers are quickly seeing how far they can go. I know that when kids are growing up they are constantly testing the limits. They don't come when you call them the first time, second time, and then learn that when you get to the third time they are in trouble. Kids try to not wear a coat outside when it is cold just because you told them they needed to and when their little hands and noses are bright red with cold and they are shivering and you mention that coat again to them they say, "nope, not cold, don't need it." They push their curfew as they grow older and see if they can get out of their regular chores. All these tests are lessons they learn and help them move into adulthood. But then why do adults push the envelope too? I mean, really, didn't they learn when they were younger that the babysitter told the parents everything anyway and that they would just get into trouble later?

I come to my point: two of the teachers today tried to push the envelope. One said to me,

"You were so busy this morning that I didn't have a chance to tell you that I have to leave early on Friday, so I asked Mr. So and So to cover my last period class."
I respond, "oh, okay, thanks for asking him. Sometime today fill out a leave form and stick it in my box."
"It is just 45 minutes!", she screams at me(more tone than volume). "It isn't even enough time to put in for. Mr. (principal out sick) wouldn't have worried about it and just let me go."
"Fine", I say, "just fill out the form and I will ask him what I should do about it. If he says rip it up I will but if he says send it in I will need the form to do so."
"No, I will just take a half a day then", she says. "Just fill out
the form", I say.

Please, lady. Do you really think I am going to just let you go without any documentation? Did you think because you had already gotten the class covered that I would say "oh thank you for doing MY JOB and I will let you go early and just keep my mouth shut."? PLEASE, give me a little credit here. I am not new to this position or the authority. I am NOT going to just let you do what you please and turn a blind eye. AND if I HAD let her do that then who else would be trying to take advantage of me.

Well, I knew I would be tested and I was prepared but what blew me out of the water we when she half stomped into my office to fill out the form, she said, (and I quote), "don't worry about it. It actually works out better to take a half day and it isn't like I don't have any time to take I have 92 days sick and annual leave." OH MY GOODNESS! You did not just say that you had 92 days leave and you were bitching about a freaking hour!

So it doesn't end there. We had parent/teacher conferences tonight during visitation so we are all there this evening and one teacher is complaining because he had to get up and go have blood drawn today and he is so tired because he couldn't sleep in like he had previously arranged to do (another story all together) and come in late to work today. So his sleeping in time was taken up by going to get blood drawn. He says that because of this he will just not set his alarm clock tomorrow and wake up when he gets up and not worry about it. So I say,

"you'll be late then." He doesn't really respond so I figured I was correct. Then he goes on to say something about writing in a kid's file on Friday when he gets here and I say "you mean Thursday (tomorrow) when you get here."
And he says, "no, Friday! I am not coming in at all tomorrow."
"Oh", I say, and then say, "just fill out a leave form when you get in on Friday then."
He says, "oh no, I have a deal with [the sick principal] that he doesn't turn in those forms to human resources because they wouldn't give me all my time I didn't use when I had my heart attack in the fall."
Oh here it goes again. "I remember you saying something about that and I will ask [the sick principal] what he wants me to do with it."

And then he moves on to say that when he gets home tonight he will take his water pill and then until 4 in the morning he will be running back and forth to the bathroom and he won't have any sleep at all and he isn't coming in. I asked him if he could take his pill earlier in the day so it doesn't keep him up so late. Oh boy did I open up a can of worms. He goes on and on and on and there was something about a little stream of yellow on the floor and on and on and on.... The whole time I just wanted to put my fingers in my ears and say "TMI!!!!! TMI TMI TMI!!!"

Just because I wanted him to follow the rules...

The People Who Make me Laugh

Today is.... National She's Funny That Way Day, a day to pay tribute to funny women by listing ways the women in our lives make us laugh (sponsored by Brenda Meridith of Winchendon, Massachusetts, 978-297-1820).

In honor of She's Funny That Way Day I will now list those who make me laugh...

But before I do that there are some that I laugh at and others that make me laugh because they are funny, girlfriend (said in a nice southern drawl). Please note the difference.

1. my sister, I totally laugh at her sometimes but most times she is just downright funny. Her blog cracks me up and the predicaments she gets herself into .... oh I just can't go on... somehow though she always comes out smelling like roses. I kid you not.
2. my youngest child, she doesn't need words to crack me up. It is her expressions that get me. All she has to do is flash those expressive eyes and it is all I can do not to laugh, particularly when I am trying to scold her. The night before Easter my husband was trying to get her to put her pajamas on and she wouldn't go and wouldn't go. So he threatened to call the Easter bunny and tell him not to come. Well, she took off like a bullet up the stairs. She gets halfway up and then comes back down and pops her head in the kitchen again and says, "you can't call him. You don't know his number!" And then runs back up the stairs.
3. Nicole. She is just so funny and well you just have to read her blog!
4. My old college roommate, Zebrafeet. She and I disagree on most things political and well, I just have to laugh. She is a great friend and I love her.
5. The "Yarn Harlet". There are times where I read her blog and laugh so hard I am crying and can't breathe. Even if you are not a knitter I think you will find her blog very entertaining.
6. Hilary Clinton. Yes, this one I laugh at! I just don't understand her sometimes, no, at all. There is just so much here, I don't know where to start. Why did she stay with Bill after the Lewinsky thing? (yes I am sure it was "political", but come one women, we would have kicked his you know what to the curb a long time ago) What was that crying thing in the pastry shop interview/speech a couple months ago? No one really believed it. Why ..... oh I just can't go on.
7. Rosie O'Donnell. I used to think she was funny and I laughed for entertainment, but in the last couple years she has just gotten weird.
8. my neighbor, she cracks me up. She is super anal about everything. Wants to be perfect and ends up being controlling in the process. We all laugh at her in our women's group. And she takes it in jest. She just can't stop and we love her for it.
9. I would be remiss if I didn't include myself in this list. ME! I make me laugh. I crack myself up in the most inopertune times. Usually it is a thought, other times it is because of something I have done or said. And...

Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be
amused. - Anonymous

So who makes you laugh?

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!