I got the job I interviewed for with the Fed. Gov't. I couldn't be more excited! I get to work and still enjoy time with the kids doing their respective activities and just playtime. :oD
I start the Monday after I get back from my trip to Ireland. I'm so excited!!!
My Beth is 13. I'm not sad, I do wonder how the time has flown by. I'm excited to think that she's still speaking to me (I wasn't much into talking to my mom at this age). She had a wonderful party, received fantastic gifts (lots of gift cards which we went shopping with yesterday). And is now officially a teenager. I'll pretty much keep doing what I've been doing as far as parenting goes and hope it continues to work.
So I had planned to mow the yard, trim, edge, weed, and plant my allysum. BUT I'm an idiot and turned the sprinklers on as I left to take the girls and Drew to school. DUH.
So after dropping all off at the appropriate spots, I came home to wet grass..I choose not to mow wet grass. And mine is only 1/4 grass it's 3/4 weed. So I got the string trimmer (weed eater in my family) out and used it to edge the yard area. Then I pulled the remaining crabgrass and planted the allysum where I want it. Mom gave me a break by visiting, then as she left I saw them.. the training wheels for the bike for Katie, the ones I PROMISED I would put on the bike today before getting her. So I got the bike, it's Beth's old bike (really old), hosed it off, wiped it down, and proceeded to attach the training wheels. Dispite one very stubborn nut it's done. I'm thrilled!!! Katie will still think I'm a good mommy.
My Dad called to let me know that HRServices from Virginia called to verify my employment. So that clues us that my application for THE job is still in the works. YAY!!!!! I really want this position, and I REALLY want to start working soon!!!
Time to go get my girls. See Ya
These are some random phrases my kids have said recently that I need to remember.
Drew. when cold states we will all become pocksicles.
Drew. At an Elevator, he exclaims that HE will push the buttons on the Alligator.
Katie. the Moteconretrol is missing (remote control).
Drew. after saying Bless you for each sneeze, if you say thank you, he says My Pweasure.
Beth. has learned the fine art of teenage mumbling. 3/4 of the time we've no clue what she's said.
Tori. said when asked to finish her homework, what's next rocket science?
My mom and I did some shopping yesterday to prepare for our impending (and rapidly approaching) trip to Ireland. I needed a new pair of jeans, She needed lots of stuff. I came home with the new jeans, and (thanks to mom) a new travel purse, new shoes, new gaucho pants (in black) a new black top, and 2 pairs of wool socks. (its going to be cold in Ireland). I am ready for Ireland. :o)
We also got Beth her bday gift, but I'm not mentioning it here as I think she might read my blog. But I will say I'm thrilled and cannot wait for her to open gifts on Saturday.
Today I got the car serviced, bought a new zipper foot for my sewing machine, to finish the dresses, and now I'm off to eat some lunch and collect my girls for the afternoons activities. :o)
After Saturdays campaign trail we headed to a birthday dinner for my gf's ds. IT was crazy, but fun.
Sunday after church the Jr. high youth rode their bikes to the beach... I volunteered to ride with them as an adult. WHY did I do this? WHAT made me think I could.. oh yeah, I figured it was less than 4 miles to the beach, yes, that's a one way trip. We spend about 3-1/2 hours AT the beach where I got totally sunburned. Then we rode back.....Ok. I admit I had a blast, I got to visit with some other moms who I don't normal get to chat with and I got to spend some fun quality time with my eldest DD. But now I can't sit normally. My poor "sitting spots" are all beat up and bruised. I'm guessing I need a new seat for my bike.
Today is back to the normal stuff in life. And as I've sat long enough that I'm sure to be stiff. I must go and move about.
And so my jaunt into the realm of elected office begins. I'm running for school board, in a rather big race. I'm not part of a slate of candidates, not endorsed (yet) by any "big" names like Teachers Assoc. or CSEA (classified employees). BUT as it may turn out, this is good. Today I interviewed with VPAC, The Vietnamese-American Public Affairs Committee as well as the National Women's Political Caucus. I answered a bazillion questions, and my brain is tired. But I had fun too. Elected or not in November, I will be proud of what I've done and how much I've learned in this experience.
I don't know that I mentioned this, so here it is. My brother is getting married, Oct. 28th. I am sewing the flower girl and junior Bridesmaid dresses, all 5 of them. My dress, and a dress for my mom. :oD I do love to do this, but it can be a little stressful. However I'm delighted to say that 2 dresses are done, except for zippers, which will be added last after all the other dresses are finished (these are the flower girls, 4 of them).
So, that's the dresses I keep talking about. The final product for the girls is a black velvet top with cap sleeves and a scoop neck, with a Scottish Tartan (plaid) skirt that is ankle length and full (netting). Beth's dress (jr. bridesmaid) matches the above but she has what is called a cow neck on her dress, it droops, and the skirt is straight, not full, and will be slightly longer. My dress is solid black but the skirt has a black lace w/ sequins overlay, the neckline is crossover straps that tie in back making a knot look in front just above the bustline. My mom is wearing a blue skirt with black velvet top with a silver paisly print over jacket. Both mom and I are wearing Tartan sashes pinned to our shoulders and draped over our backs. I have heels for the ceremony, and black satin slippers for the reception. :o)
I've no clue what the girls are wearing for shoes.. we have to figure that out next.
But the cuteness is just beginning, while I'm not making it, I will say that Drew, as ring bearer is wearing a kilt. Yes, my boy is wearing a skirt. LOL, so is his Dad, Grandpa, Uncle, and several friends of the family. the entire male section of the wedding party are wearing kilts. :o) Drew will have black biker shorts on under his (to be safe) and for those who know the song the Scotsman, a blue ribbon will be attached to the biker shorts at the appropriate location.
And now, I'm off.. to sew of course.
Yesterday started our full week one. So far so good. Katie LOVES being a 1st grader and getting to enjoy the "bigkid" playground. Tori is happy or at least content with 3rd grade, she does love her teacher! Beth, it's 8th grade, I'm lucky she's still speaking to me. Then there's Drew.. I found a preschool associated with a Methodist church en route to work for both Tim and I, yay. Bonus, two of the teachers know sign language, which Drew still uses if he's tired or feels he's not understood. HE LOVES his class, he's already made a new best buddy and they are daily asking to play at the other's home. :o)
Yesterday sent us back to ballet for Katie, but a switch, she's now at the studio where Beth takes her classes.. this is a step up from the parks and rec's program, they require specific things, like hair in a bun, pink shoes, tights, and black leotard. It's more formal, but still fun. She came out beaming, sweaty, and tired, declaring that she really worked and it was awesome. She was TIRED though, she barely made it through dinner.
Today's Beth's class, the new thing today is that we'll drop her off and come home, as Dad will pick her up on his way home from work. YAY!!! This way dinner can be cooked and the girls can do reading time/ homework while I cook and then we can all eat when Beth/Tim get home. It's all very good.
Now I'm off..I must finish the dresses...
When I got the new computer I had to install AOL, no biggie, I grabbed a free disk from Wal-mart and here I am, all upgraded to 9.0 and everything.. for the first few days I had no favorite places, so I was replacing them as I could.. today they're all back.. wohoo, except for the duplicates I just did. Oh well.
Ok.. brain break over, back to the sewing table.
We drove for 9 days, 2895 +/- miles. We stopped the first night in Sacramento having gotten a later than hoped for start. The hotel was gorgeous and wonderful, and the best part was the time frame now gave us chance to tour our state capital. Of course, being the political goof I am I was all excited. We get out of the car at the capital and Drew states with arms outstretched; "nobody panic, if you get lost hug a tree!". We did the tour, the kids did "sort of enjoy it." Both the Assembly and Senate were in session, THAT was cool. After that we hit the road, on to Vancouver, Washington. This is a Suburb of Portland Oregon. And the home of dear friends, who allowed us to invade their home and sleep. J made us a yummy yummy pancake breakfast to send us on our way. the 2 miniature pinchers, and 2 slightly larger flufflier dogs gave the kids TONS of entertainment. The visit was wonderful, but too short. On to Canada though.
We crossed the boarder about 2pm. It was easy enough, we were asked where we came from and where we were going and why. We stopped at the info center for a more local map and directions and exchanged our funds into Canadian.. oooo foreign currency, there's a some entertainment. silly, but true, my mom and I oogled over it. We found our way across the bottom of Canada to the Ferry terminal in Tsawwassan. Boarded and were on our way to Vancouver Island. We had a yummy dinner on the Ferry. It was an adventure for us all. Victoria is beautiful!!! The buildings are pretty, the surrounding scenery is gorgeous and the people are really friendly. Our arrival was late so we just slept. The next day we got up and drove to Butchart Gardens. It was beautiful.. we enjoyed and walked all of it!!! We stopped at the Butterfly Gardens after that, and my mom was in heaven, she LOVES butterflies, and so it was perfect, especially since one landed on her. After that a brief stop for ice cream, a park playground for the kids to run about and it was time for dinner. We were HUNGRY.. we found an English pub called the Sticky Wicket. It was yummy, and fun!!! Back to our hotel for swimming, baths and bed!
Day 2 in Victoria was spent in the downtown where we rode a double decker bus for a guided tour, saw the undersea gardens, the Royal British Natural History Museum, The Parlaiment building, and dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. The bus tour was my favorite. Our guide was a great person who fell in love with Katie and Tori. More swimming, jammies and an after dark adventure. They light the parlaiment buildings at night and both mom and I wanted to see, so with kids in jammmies, we loaded up and drove down to take a look and pictures.The kids were funny about tromping down the street for the pictures at first. And then to bed.
Day 3 of Canada was short in B.C. as we had to catch the earlier Ferry to Port Angeles, Washington. Customs was easy enough with passports and Birth certificates for the kids. Due to food in the car we did have to do a secondary inspection, but no biggy. Back in the USA... ahhh, road signs in MPH, not Km/hr. We drove hwy 101 home. I'd forgotten how slow one must drive hwy 101.. but the bonus was getting to view the gorgeous scenery!
We spent the night at a lovely little hotel in Southern Washington. No swimming, it was late and we were all pooped. We got up early-ish and headed out to breakfast, the Trees of Mystery, and Bandon Boat works. :o) Fun!!!! The kids had a blast in the Trees of Mystery, Tori, Katie, and Drew were each given their own disposable camera. I'll share pics. as soon as I get them back.
The next day we stopped in Tillamook, Oregon at the cheese factory, had a fun little tour and stop, then headed on south. By this time even my mom and I were ready to be home.
We stopped in Monterey hoping to hit a couple of the historical sites, but no luck, they were either tour only, or closed, and I didn't want to wait 15mins. for a 45 mins. tour I wanted to get home. We stopped at the Dennis the Menace themed City Park and let the kids run about.. unfortunately the steam locomotive enigine "bit" Drew's head and we had to make a hasty departure. He's fine, but he hit the back of his head on one part and bounced up to bonk the front, which gave him a black eye. Poor boy. We got home Wednesday night about 10pm, surprising Tim with our early arrival.
Look for pictures soon. :o)
everything? It all aches.. it's my own fault.. I'm the dingbat that declared the front of the house (yard) must look pretty and neat and such for tomorrow.. tomorrow is my brother and his fiance's couple's wedding shower, it's here. 50 people... maybe only 40-45, I'm not sure.. we set up for regrets only on the RSVP thing and that leaves me wondering and a little nervous. But anyways.. my front is now almost really pretty. I can't fix the last problem in 14 hours, the grass is dead. For some unknown reason Tim turned off the sprinklers. I do not know why. but there it is. I've turned them back on, and hope to have some greenery soon, obviously not tomorrow. I do now have a beautiful potted mandavilla, two red tea-roses, a white tea-rose (there's about 3 in the bowl), and a big pot of decorative Ivy that I split into two medium and 2 small pots. A wall hanging shelf for the front porch that Tim will hang in the morning, and 2 pink/purple chorleas (something like that).. they're pretty and do well in sun. I also got 6 cacti for the top of the corner tier planter, but it needs more love than I've time to offer before planting for tomorrow.. so the cacti will live in their pots for a few more days.
In the meantime I have to finish cleaning the inside now. Thankfully we were gone for 10 days following Drew's bday party and then only home 3 of the 4 before school started, so the house is not totally trashed, it's actually pretty good. Some quick picking up, vacuuming and wiping counters and we're set. The kids are now doing their rooms with the understanding that at 8:30 I'm vacuuming, if it's in my way then it's mine. Evil maybe, but they move!!!
Wish me luck tomorrow.. after all this work I may fall asleep before the party's over. hehe
We left late, but still made it to the boat in plenty of time. We were in the commadore lounge, so we got nicer seats, above a level from regular seating, and a free drink. MMMmmmMMM. We "landed" gathered our gear and began the trek to finding our hotel. Settled our gear there and headed out for a drink. we went to Katherine's first, it was ok, but we were old compared to the rest of the gang, so we left there.. walked by the karaoke bar, and into Luau Larry's... think Jimmy Buffet West coast style. Perfection. We hung out for 3 drinks, and as neither Tim nor I drink fast, we stayed a while. Walked "home" and slept. Up fairly early Saturday for bkfst, then to the undersea tour, you sit in a semi-submersible we're underwater, the captain is above. It was cool, we saw lots of fish, but not being able to see where we were going or feel a breeze on me, I got nauseaus. Out on deck I was fine again. After that we had lunch and a drink then went on the in-land bus tour. It was cool, we got to see Wrigley ranch which is still active, with beautiful horses!!! Then dinner and a drink (hehe, see a trend), and then to a moonlight bus tour.. the lights were gorgeous!!!! back to town for dessert, and a drink (at least we ate with each drink), then to bed. Sunday we got up arranged a late checkout, went for our intro Scuba dive, that was THE coolest part of the trip for me. I'm hooked and cannot wait to get my open water certification!!! It was absolutely amazing!!! After that, shower, change, store gear at hotel, and lunch (at the Buffalo Nickel, where they sell a drink called Buffalo milk, Tim's in love, I stuck with my beer). After lunch we headed over to meet our boat for parasailing. WOW! It was sooo quiet, and airy, sounds lame, but it's the floating, it's just amazing. Something I would love to do again. After survivng scuba diving AND parasailing we decided we needed to celebrate ( afterall we did live through both).. so we went back to Luau Larrys (great place), and had a couple drinks w/ nachos and oyster shooters. Yummy. Then sadly we had to get our gear and head over to the boat to come back to the real world. It was an amazing trip. The best way to celebrate our 14th anniversary.
It needed a whole new modem.. that's the short version of a rather long and frustrating saga. But, I'm back now, and glad of it.
First off, I'll update the Catalina trip, Bug's surf camp, and Tori and Beth's trips to GS. camp.
I'll do these separately so I can do them well, which will mean a little at a time. :o)
