Me time

It's no secret here that I am a girl who needs her alone time. March has not been so accommodating of that. 

I love that my boys are involved in extracurricular activities -- one in track, one in dance and singing, one in Model UN this year -- but it has me feeling more than a little stretched right now.

This month, with its Mayo Clinic visitors, a kid in driver's ed, and me at the center of a church service for today (which went off without a hitch), has been busy.

So busy that, aside from the new Cosmos, I haven't seen much TV -- even the news. So much that I still have not even downloaded the book group book. So much that I vowed to dye my hair on Thursday, and the box sits on my bathroom counter, as yet unused.

I am ready for some me time -- preferably with a book. We all choose how to spend our time, but with my job , the boys, church, friends and a wet basement, I have had few choices. It's, frankly, been a drag.

March has been cold -- today's high was supposed to be 62, but a stiff breeze and cloudy skies left it feeling colder. We are all frustrated. I am looking forward to a trip tomorrow, the first college visit. Just me and Garrett, in what I hope will be fun and eye-opening and inspiring for him, as I guess all parents hope when they embark on such trips. We 're not going south, but a change of scenery will do me good regardless of the temperature .

March. There's one day left of you, and somehow I have a vague, unsettled feeling that you'll get your licks in until the last possible minute. You have not been pleasant, and I will be glad to be rid of you.

I just hope that whatever you have up your sleeve is something I can handle.

April, come on in. Bring your showers, as long as temps are closer to 60 than 30. I'll take it -- and my camper (and a few good reads) are waiting.

Mine field

March has been a mine field.

When my boys were small, we had several years (5 at least, maybe more) where March was nothing but one runny nose/cold/stomach flu after another. I would have sick kids, each bringing home a different illness, then sharing it with his siblings, so that we had a round-robin of disgusting symptoms coupled with fights over taking medicine and kids so clingy I couldn't go to the bathroom alone.

Fortunately, we are done with that phase, and things have been calm the last few Marches.

But this year. Oh my, when it hit, it hit hard. A friend's mom with a scary diagnosis and a decision to move in with said friend for access to docs here at the Clinic. Temporary. to be sure -- just a couple of months. But it throws things off to have a houseguest for weeks, especially if said guest is maybe not feeling well. Would any of them do it any other way? I think not. But that doesn't make the hard parts less hard.

In the midst of that, the loss of a beloved pet. Because, why not face mortality on 2 fronts, right? Tough days for that family, for sure.

Then, extended family members and the loss of another beloved pet.

Another friend is in a leadership position in an organization that is facing some challenges that are shaping up to be a battle. Unnecessary, unpleasant, and stressful for me on a different level because I am part of the organization.

Extended family in town for tests at Mayo.

Friends of friends here for the same reason, now extending their stay to 2 weeks or more, hoping for answers.

I am trying to be a good friend, to be supportive without being prying or intrusive, to accept whatever information people feel comfortable sharing. But I feel like I am standing in a mine field, and my friends are walking all around me, and every few seconds something else blows up.

And Sunday night, my own explosion. After a long and painful separation, difficult but necessary, I will have the opportunity to reconcile a relationship, exorcise some demons, and provide comfort (I hope) to someone I love.

This morning? A friend I have known for nearly 10 years online lost her dad.

Seriously?

Life is a mine field. We are all, I guess, dodging fireballs and hoping we can navigate our way through with as little damage to ourselves as possible while still providing support to those around us. I hope you and yours are well, if you're reading this, and if you're in a mine field of your own right now, take comfort that you're not alone, and remember Winston Churchill's words, "If you're walking through hell, keep going."

Cryptic

Don't you hate it when a blogger is cryptic about something? I mean, either say it or don't, but don't put it out here halfway so that I (the reader) am left wondering what the heck is going on. Am I right?

Yeah. Totally annoying. However.

I used to have a job. I didn't talk a lot about it here, but it was as the Coordinator of a little thing known as a timebank. You can find more information about timebanking here. It is a wonderful concept that I believe could change the world. I LOVE it. If you are looking for more details on timebanking I am available to consult. My rates start at FREE (if you want to Skype and ask a few questions) and go up from there to an hourly rate (perhaps to present to a group live or via Skype) or a one-time consulting fee to help prepare, launch, or jumpstart an existing timebank. I am flexible, friendly, and far less expensive than you imagine.

Anyway. As the timebank Coordinator I was employed by a marvelous nonprofit social services agency. I was proud to work with such a committed, caring group of people who strive always to make the world a better place and make sure that those of us who have less at least have all they need. Good work. Good people.

But in June there was no more funding for my position. This was not a complete surprise; I had known all along that there was a larger plan (and budget issues) at work. The end just came sooner than I expected.

So this summer I have had the opportunity to do some freelance writing/editing/audio production work. FUN, more than work, to tell the truth.

And it looks like this little gig is working out even better than I had hoped.

So ... great things are here and on the horizon.
My professional life is terrific.
My family is healthy ( a huge gift that, after 2 weeks where i was LAID FLAT by a back injury, I do not take for granted).
And ... (cryptic post alert) ... I have details and links to share about the happy things in my work life, just as soon as all of the "i"s are dotted and the "t"s are crossed.
Cryptic, but happy.
Annoyed? Sorry -- but I hope this means you'll come back in a week or two to get the full rundown.
It is good stuff.

Lifelong learning

I believe in lifelong learning. I believe in intellectual curiosity. I believe in critical thinking.

That's why I chose to homeschool my son this summer to make up a World History credit rather than sending him to summer school. We are covering a semester of work during our summer break. I obtained a teacher's edition of the school district's chosen textbook and we are beginning to work through it, starting with the Byzantine Empire.

 I have always respected teachers for their dedication. My grandmother was a fourth grade teacher. I saw the preparation, the thought, the time that went into organizing a classroom, planning lessons, grading papers ... I thought I understood the level of work that my children's teachers went through. Then I began this project. I want to do the history, but I want to incorporate all the fun stuff -- the personalities, the art, the literature -- and there just is not enough time. We have 16 chapters to cover in 12 weeks. That doesn't account for breaks we may want to take, say, over the 4th of July or when we go on vacation in August.

 The good news is that he is learning. Developing critical thinking skills. Understanding that adding "and other issues" at the end of a sentence is a method of BS that Teacher Mom will not tolerate. Learning that random capitalization is a path to self-destruction in this particular classroom. And I am learning. This lesson of how difficult it is to fit in all the necessary stuff and find a way to fit in the fun and interesting stuff, too. How much time it takes to craft a lesson and then really discuss it so that it is clear the student is taking away something useful. How much I want my kid to succeed, and how far I am willing to go to help make that happen.

So much of life is an exercise in finding balance. I struggle with it every day, especially in the summer. Finding my 16 hours of work time in amongst my real life is challenging. I know I am lucky that I only work part time, but I sometimes feel that if my job was more hours and/or less flexible, it would be simpler. I would have fewer choices to make.

So I assign reading and head out the door to the office. I come home, throw in a load of laundry, and read the Section Review and vocab. We talk Byzantine art and architecture while unloading the dishwasher.

My own World History course was taught by the hockey coach, and he was, shall we say, not up to the challenge. I am learning right along with my son, about balance, about the world, about him and about myself. Lifelong learning. We may not always enjoy this experience of homeschooling, but I hope that my example of learning, sticking to it, finding balance, and high expectations will make a difference someday.

And if not, well, then I guess that in itself will provide another learning opportunity.

My life is moving faster than I am

The title is thanks to my friend Susan, who summed up my existence thusly on Facebook the other day.

The period between Easter or Spring Break and the end of the school year is hard for most people, I think. When I was in college my friend Lucy labeled the crazy weeks of term papers, final projects, performances, exams, and social events collectively as "Hell Week"s. She wasn't far off, as I recall. So many students had days that started before dawn and ran into the evening, trying to fit in classes, study groups, time at the library, and the host of other tasks that are required of a college student.

Now, as a parent, I realize that the same kind of craziness takes over in elementary, middle and high school, but it is different to be one person in charge of all the stuff than it is to be the parent of (ohmygod) a high schooler, a middle schooler, and an elementary student and responsible for getting them to the myriad church youth group/school/extracurricular/sports activities.

Of course, in the midst of it I have evening work commitments. Never my favorite, although I love my job, and just one more thing on the list. Our church rummage sale is this weekend and I simply don't have the time to volunteer to help set things up like I have in the past. It is too much. Thankfully I did get some things cleaned out of my house thanks to the sale, though, and it is happily ensconced at church waiting for a new home. If you have read this blog more than a few months you know I do love the opportunity to jettison the things we are not using anymore.

My oldest is doing Coming of Age this year -- it is the UU equivalent of Confirmation. With that comes the inevitable planning of family gatherings, sprucing up the house for company, and figuring out what will be on the menu. Usually I love that kind of stuff but thus far I have taken little pleasure in it. I hope to pull my house together this week and weekend and perhaps then I will be a little more chipper about the stuff that has to be done.

Today I am home -- at least for the morning. I am straightening and organizing, not really cleaning, but putting together my craft room/office space which is out of control. I am making progress, and I know I will be in a better frame of mind when I see just a little improvement. I hope to see more than a little. In the chaos of this time of year, I find a morning spent in solitude, doing mundane tasks, centers me. I move deliberately, I focus on small areas and move methodically from one to another in a way I seldom do either here or at work. Somehow it becomes a little meditative, and I walk away refreshed, ready to tackle the tasks and days ahead.

What do you do to find peace in chaos? How do you slow down even in the mad rush of spring recitals, soccer practices, and senioritis?

I can use all the help I can get. :)

Shiny, shiny

I found a "before" picture. Gold, shiny, a little too everything. I loved it anyway. But the "after" is spectacular if I do say so myself. I bought this lamp on eBay years ago and it hung over the dining table until we took it down in the spring of 2010 when we put the house on the market. I love it, but I do realize that the brass and gold tones and the general frou frou style are not most people's favorite. We put in a respectable (read: boring) fixture and stored the vintage swag lamp. And I was sad.
As we've cleaned out the storage unit (4 days left) the lamp came out and I was eager to have Rob hang it back up. Until I started thinking about all the vintage chandeliers I've seen redone with spray paint. And I thought about it, and I ran the idea by a friend who likes vintage crap, and I decided to take the plunge, and I purchased "Ocean Breeze Blue" high gloss spray paint.
Rob fixed some broken pieces, I hit them with multiple coats of the paint, and he installed a new cord and bulb housing (the originals from the 40s left a lot to be desired), and he hung it up yesterday.

Since I snapped this shot I found the missing crystals, so all 20 are now back where they belong. And the lamp is FAB, is it not? I am so happy with this funky, happy piece. The lamp itself was about $80, so not cheap, but the spray paint was less than $5, so if you already have a fixture hanging around that you don't really love, a little spray paint could be just the thing.

Spring cleaning

I LOVE spring. The crisp scent in the air, the mud, the deceptively sunny days that are surprisingly cold when you step outside.

I made it through this winter, and it is somehow more and less of a surprise than I expected. I wasn't on any medications this year. When my doctor suggested I taper off last fall, I was terrified and told him no. Mere weeks later I discovered that I was suffering from side effects and he changed my medicine and I went crazy. Okay, perhaps that is a little harsh. But the new med, it made me sick. It made me feel like I was wildly careening from sane to batshit crazy and back again in seconds. And, frankly, the withdrawal from that drug was worse than the drug. So bad, in fact, I told the doc I was ready to go it alone.

And it was fine. I felt the normal ups and downs of winter, although I suspect they are more intense than most people. Still, I was ok.

Now it's spring, and I am feeling the sunshine. My mojo is back -- at least until the next cloudy day. I am cleaning, organizing, purging -- eliminating all that excess stuff from my life. The church rummage sale is in 3 weeks and I hope to bring an entire van load. Or two.

Tomorrow Evan and I will paint his bedroom, and Tuesday all 3 boys and I will hit the storage unit to clean things out, find some of our treasures, and begin emptying it, because by the end of June I want to be done paying that ridiculous $100 a month.

What went today? About 4 dozen 3.5 inch floppy disks. A box of photos to be mailed to my aunt. Another box, this time of scrapbooking supplies, to go to a charity I love. About 50 textbooks (Goodwill takes them and nothing goes to waste so if they don't sell them they are recycled). Several cardboard boxes. Rob cleaned up his work room, purging who knows what. It feels good.

This week, I will find stuff in storage -- shoes I have missed, art from the living and dining rooms, kitchen towels I stuck in storage to free up a drawer but that I need now, the magnet boards we bought the boys to keep their ever-growing collection of travel souvenirs, sheet sets that will immediately go the the rummage pile, an antique settee that I miss and want back in my living room -- but only the stuff I love and need comes back.

I am still in mourning for my grandma and her stuff. Things are not the way she would have wanted them. But they are the way she chose for them to be. I learned a lesson in this. Avoiding difficult decisions does not mean that the decision points won't someday arrive; it just means that someone else makes the decisions.

I decide. Difficult or not, I am the decider. It's started -- I just have to carry it through.

Sigh of relief

I am on a couple of different committees at church. Both do valuable work; both have a lot of people I really enjoy being around. But one of them requires a week at a time of substantial time commitment, including daily trips to church. It isn't ordinarily a problem but right now it is TOO MUCH. Especially with Rob being gone for school a lot of weekends. Didn't seem like it would be too hard for me, but it turns out it is just too much.

Tonight the group met and I took a leave of absence until after May. Everyone was so kind and concerned that something was really wrong, and they were relieved that all is okay, my life is just too full right now. (I do realize this is actually a blessing, believe me.) So they told me it was fine, to come back when I could, and they made sure I would still attend the (very fun and delicious wine and food-filled) social events they have periodically.

I am so grateful for their kindness and so glad I was able to step away to take care of myself and my family without hurting or angering anyone. I feel so secure in my church family and so glad someone led me there 8 years ago.

Thinking ahead

I haven't made a list in a while and lately I've been coming up with all kinds of ideas of stuff I want to accomplish this fall when all 3 of my kids will be in school full days (ah! the day I have dreamed of for so long! so why am I a little sad, too?)

It is humid out today but I decided I had procrastinated long enough and I finished the touch ups and the edges on the door frames ('cause I painted those, like, last October).

There are always home improvement projects underway around here, but we know there are some things that HAVE to be done because Rob anticipates the MBA stuff will continue to suck all of his spare time this winter (and, it turns out, it's sucking most of his Saturdays, too. blech).

- finish installing chain link fencing on north side of yard
- buy some annuals and put them in the big pots out front
- finish installing patio blocks
- pull out dying arbor vitae in front; replace with a new, healthy plant
- install a gate between house and garage (this may have to wait until next year because I want an arched gate to match our arbor)
- paint window of garage (because Rob replaced the window and left it white...)
- make curtain and 2 valances for our bedroom (how long has THAT been on the list? I know, I know...)
- find rods for living/dining room and make curtains (I think I found some online at IKEA)
- make slipcover for chair in scrap room
- make table skirts for scrap room
- empty genealogy closet; catalog, organize, enter data into computer
- purchase new genealogy software (I know what I want, but that $59 is not a NEED, so I keep putting it off)
- get chimney fixed (got an estimate yesterday: TWELVE. HUNDRED. DOLLARS. Whatever.)
- paint hallway
- get photos for hallway border; get laminated. (again, since it's not a NEED, it just keeps getting put off)
- have Rob cut the molding we bought to frame the bathroom mirror; paint and install
- beat dog within an inch of her life because she was barking and got kenneled and now is frantically pawing at her kennel door (of course I'm not going to beat her, but we are definitely at odds right now...)

Honestly, it's not as bad as I thought. And the best part is I'm not obsessing about how quickly I can get it all done. All in good time, grasshopper....

Have a good weekend.

Weekend

We had a great visit. Pedicures, a baseball game (or 3 if you count G and E's games), dinner at Famous Dave's ... Dad, Rob , Garrett and Spence made it to the car show. Evan had a stomach bug Thursday in the middle of the night and really didn't feel well for most of Friday. Luckily, no one else got sick and he was fully recovered Saturday.

We had a great dinner tonight ... tri tip and jumbo shrimp on the BBQ, steamed green beans, fruit salad, spinach and cranberry salad, Tastefully Simple Beer Bread, wine for the grownups and sparkling cider for the kids. We drank to my parents' 40 years of marriage and enjoyed every bite of the meal.

I got everybody in the back yard for some pictures ... here is a representative sample.


The SSP is done, as is another project that's been rolling around in my head and finally got started yesterday and finished today. Pictures tomorrow.

And in other news, I signed up for another Rolodex swap and the dang cards have to go in the mail Thursday because we have a lake weekend and some vacation coming up. Guess who hasn't started her cards? *sigh*

Lest you think otherwise

Aforementioned retired neighbor is a nice guy. Honestly, he has never complained about my weeds (at least not to my face). Having dealt with the neighbors from hell in California, I can live with this guy.

And I sold out today and used a weed killer. (I know, corn gluten. Whatever.) I had the stuff in the garage and the means to do it. ***Miraculous occurrence ahead*** We moved into this house in 1997. That's 11 years ago. When we bought it the outside spigot on the front of the house had no handle. It had to be turned on and off with a wrench. Rob told me it was no big deal and we bought a replacement spigot the day we closed, in the giant $500 Menard's shopping spree that included paint, drop cloths, and our wonderful Weber kettle grill. I mentioned it last night as I was leaving for a meeting, kind of in a teasing way. Since we already had the evil chemicals I figured I could use them. (And to be frank, there is really no other option. The whole yard is clover, dandelions, Creeping Charlie, and crabgrass.) The container hooks up to the hose, but I hate fiddling with the wrench. Lo and behold, when I got home I discovered my darling husband had installed the new spigot. Never mind that he was congratulating himself as though he had found a cure for cancer or a way to lasting world peace, he did get the job done. LOL

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Here's a recap of my week:

Monday: chaperoned Evan's class trip to the Minnesota Zoo, Evan had soccer in the evening
Tuesday: volunteered at school in the morning, spent the afternoon in the driveway vacuuming and cleaning out the minivan. (It looks amazing!), Garrett had baseball in the evening
Wednesday: volunteered for DFL in morning, tried to clean a little in the house and finish up the car, Evan had soccer in evening
Thursday: volunteered at school in morning, had lunch out with Rob and Spencer, spent the afternoon supervising field day for the K-3rd grades at a park near the school (and got sunburned despite the hat, sunglasses, 50 SPF lotion, and standing in the shade for most of the day), Garrett had baseball in evening
Friday: ran to the library, dollar store and grocery store with Spencer this morning, then had a volunteer thing get canceled (woo hoo!) so I ran to buy a storage thing for food when we camp (the 60 gallon Rubbermaid tote wasn't working so well), and found tires for the camper. Installation was FREE (helLO), so we had them put on and ran to get covers for the tires (the sun is really hard on them). While out we stopped for lemon garlic chicken kabobs at our favorite butcher and tzatziki sauce at a little place nearby. Rob fired up the grill when we got home, I made some rice and some veggie kabobs, and we had a lovely dinner. A quick walk on the shores of Silver Lake helped us wear the boys and the dog out. We still try to practice the physical exhaustion theory of parenting. LOL It works.

So there you have it. A week in the life. It feels good, though -- a less busy week is ahead (not as much volunteering, I hope). It's a good thing because I have lots to do in preparation for the inaugural camping trip of 2008. Hard to believe it's only a week away.

I DO say no

Sorry about the whining yesterday. I am still tired, I have a cold, and I am still sore (Bruce, do you hear me? Dude, I LOVE you but next time how about an intimate gathering in, say, my living room? An acoustic guitar, a bottle or two of wine .... Clarence and Steve can come too, and Patti as well, if the kids aren't raising 10 kinds of hell, but I am too old for this stadium rocker stuff ... I'm just sayin'.)

Anyway, I DO say no. Honest. Here is what I am NOT doing this year:
*teaching Sunday School
*serving on the Church Council
*serving on the church nominating committee
*chairing anything for the giant annual fundraiser at my kids' school
*serving on the main campaign committee for a local candidate

And, to be clear, the teachers did not ask me to put in time in each classroom each week. That was entirely my decision -- a decision I have not regretted until this week. I just felt a little overwhelmed. Today went fine; in fact, for the first time all year I handed out 24 blue slips in 4th and 5th grade today, indicating that all their work was turned in. This left only 3 orange slips. As an incentive the teacher has been promising an extra outdoor break if at least 21 blue slips were handed out in a day, so when I announced the number there was a raucous celebration that included the teacher turning on some disco music and some happy dancin' and booty shakin' ensued. It was awesome -- just pure joy. Reminded me of the Peanuts gang. LOL The weather was nice here today (we're expecting 6 inches of snow tomorrow) so it was wonderful that they got 20 extra minutes outside.

All is well, I am tired but fine, and the kids will be in bed before too long. Rob left tonight to avoid the snow and the traffic messes in the morning, and the evening will be quiet and peaceful. The morning will be spent at the Book Fair -- I really do enjoy that-- and my friend Jen will be stopping by to shop a bit with her little one, Lydia, and I always enjoy seeing them.

I'm good. My friends are awesome, and life is rolling merrily along. Now if I can just get spring to come ....

I have no one to blame but myself

yet I will still whine about it here. LOL

Today I am just tired of being the go-to girl. I volunteered this morning for 3 hours. Got some good things done so I felt good about it.

Came home and fed Spence, got him on the bus, and made dinner. (Three bean hotdish, aka Calico beans. One of my faves from childhood that I make about once a year because it has a pound each of ground beef and bacon. Yum.)

Took a rest for a bit and made a trip back to school to take care of the book fair money. Ended up being a useless trip because one of the other volunteers misread an email (or is more of a control freak than me, or both) and came for the same purpose. I tried to be nice, but I was really peeved.

At home, we ate, Spencer went to a birthday party (who on god's green earth plans a birthday party for a 6 year old on a Wednesday night, for Chrissakes? whiskey tango foxtrot again).

I just finished making a 6 quart crock pot full of chicken enchiladas - (thank you, Cori, for that amazing recipe) - for the record, that is 36 enchiladas, and I made my famous gazpacho salsa that has been wowing potluck goers for years now. Turns out the treat I volunteered to bring to the teachers' lounge has now turned into a


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Post was interrupted by Evan's voice, from the kitchen, yelling, "Bird! Aaaaaaaaah"

I went out to inspect and it was a winged creature but it had more of a batlike look to it for the second or two I saw it. We closed off some doors but couldn't find it upstairs or on the main floor. Thank goodness Rob came home just then and found it down in the basement bathroom. It was, indeed, a bat. We have lots of them in the neighborhood and generally we like them because our mosquito population stays pretty low relative to other neighborhoods.

I don't love them, though, and I especially don't love them in my house. Yikes.

Rob knocked it out of the air with a broom, scooped it up into an ice cream pail, and returned it to the great outdoors. It wasn't hurt and likely will have quite a story to tell its little friends tonight.

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Anyway, so the treat has turned into a full meal of chicken enchiladas, tortilla chips with gazpacho salsa, and possibly some Mexican rice (don't tell anyone but I've never made it before, but I called my friend whose last name is Lopez hoping she can steer me in the right direction LOL).

And I am just tired of being the one who everyone can take advantage of count on. I love what I do most days. Right now, though, I need a vacation. I'm actually looking forward to spring break just so I get a break from school. I want a few days to just do MY stuff -- I have sewing to finish, some prep work for a 2 day crop I'm attending in April, and putzing around in my room.

Well. That post turned out to be more interesting than I expected. LOL

Going to clean the kitchen now. It looks like a bomb went off in it. LOL

Still got it!

I went over to a house today to cut an audio track for a phone recording the DFL is making for delegates. This guy is retired and has a nice set-up in his basement. I had a script ready, we tweaked it a bit, I did it on the first take (it was only 25 seconds), and when he listened to it, he said I had a great voice.

As Spencer and I left he said he would be calling me for other projects if I didn't mind.

I hope that somehow it could translate someday into real voiceover work.

It is so much fun to go back to the radio and TV days -- I love it. Now, back to reality -- laundry, dishes and the book fair. *Sigh*

Now it's your turn

I am calling parents to ask them to volunteer for the Book Fair. My kids attend a school where it is made clear to ALL parents that we are all responsible for our children's success and that each family is expected to contribute to the overall success of the school by volunteering in addition to being exemplary parents who do everything right. Okay, so I actually fail miserably on that second part, but I try.

The point of this is simply to say, "If there is an expectation that you will contribute some volunteer time and you are allowed to CHOOSE which events you will be contacted about, please do the poor woman on the phone a favor and let her put you down for 2 lousy hours."

I'm not calling everyone, just the people who have already expressed an interest. I need 40 time slots filled and right now I am at 19.

Pray for me.

Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

We all know that I volunteer a lot of my time.

Last night I got an email from a committee I am sort of on, asking if everyone would be available for a meeting today at 4:30. As I am (I think) the only person on the committee who is not on someone's payroll, I responded immediately and said that I would make it work in my schedule if everyone else could make it.

I do have a busy week, but the other stuff keeping me busy is volunteering. So I'm flexible.

I volunteered again at school this morning, then came home and logged on to check if there was a meeting update. Nada.

Got Spencer on the bus and settled in to make a spreadsheet, make a couple of phone calls, do some data entry, and answer some other emails. I was on the computer for 3 solid hours. My home phone was on the desk next to me, my cell phone was here too. I was wired up, baby. Available to the world to chat. (Why, oh why, did Bruce not call?)

At 4:38 my cell phone rang.

It was the chair of the committee, wondering why I was not at the meeting.

Ummm, maybe because you FREAKIN' forgot to tell me it was on. Seriously.

So this is the end. I will not do it again. Next time I will take my 2 hour slot and move on. I won't be in charge of anything.

I may "only" be a volunteer, but my time is worth something, and if you can't have the courtesy to keep me in the communication loop, I have much better things to do with my time.

Why, yes, I am, thank you.

Crazy, that is. I must be, because we bought paint today. Honestly, I don't know what it is. Rob stained the baseboard molding over the weekend and he was prepping the bathroom walls so we could install it. There had been 4" tiles up before so the mastic needed to be scraped off, the walls sanded and primed. Once he had done that I said that I had never been very happy with the color of the walls in there (a generic tan that is on the soffits in the kitchen and looks fine but for some reason looked very peach in the bathroom). A trip to Menards and a gallon of paint later, Rob is taking out the toilet tank so I can paint in there. Bless him, he did all the taping and the prep work on the ceiling (which was peeling and desperately needed doing). All I have to do is paint the walls tonight. He'll do the final coat on the ceiling tomorrow and we'll put it all back together before we have to put a bird in the oven. Whew.

Kindergarten is so much fun!

The kids were so funny this afternoon on our field trip. They had a ball and played "scientist" very well. The teacher was awesome -- very patient and encouraging. Definitely a fun day. Much better than this morning, wherein I checked in assignments for Garrett's 4/5 class. Am I smarter than a 5th grader? Apparently not. But the teacher assured me it gets less confusing and easier over time. I certainly hope so, since I felt pretty confused there for a while.

Tomorrow I am taking Spence to our local ECFE (Early Childhood & Family Education, aka PAIIR) in the morning. School doesn't start until 11:15 but Rob will stay home with the big boys so I can go have some mommy time. I am totally looking forward to it. This is my last year with a kid who's eligible, so I am contemplating borrowing children somehow so I can keep attending. LOL

It's all about change

We are on the way out the door to my brother-in-law's home for a family dinner ... I am doing my best to be flexible and NOT whiny. Argh. I would rather be home, but I am sure we'll have fun once we get there.

And I just remembered I am the sexton at church this week, so I have a daily stop there to make sure everything is clean and secure. So much for limiting my volunteer hours. LOL

Okay, I am outta here.

If I had a hammer

Oops. I mean, I DO have a hammer. I am removing tile from the bathroom. Thank goodness it's little. (The bathroom, I mean. Not the tile. The tile is ... oh who cares?) Pray for me.