um... who's coming for Easter????????

Oh yeah, half of the state.  So first we had us (6) and my parents, that's 8. No biggie. With the very maybe of my brother and sis-in-law, as she's due to pop my niece or nephew out any minute. so maybe 10. Not a big deal. We've now added, C. and her kids, VERY COOL! I'm excited to spend the afternoon with her, and have the kids here to play, it's been too long. So that's 14.  And Tim's parents, sister, brother-in-law, and our nephew. 19.  Two friend, 21.  Do you see where this is going??

I've done the final tally. We're up to 25 confirmed, possibly 30.  I'm fine <twitch> no really. I LOVE having gatherings like this. The more the merrier (and the less it's noticed when I escape to the swings for a breathe of fresh air, hehe).

The house is coming along nicely, I should be all done by this afternoon.  Now to keep it looking "company clean" for a couple weeks! We're having a couples bridal shower for C. and her fiance on the 28th. I know I CAN, it's just a matter of putting forth the daily effort, and that is where I'm seriously, sadly, lacking.

OK.. Time to take Drew to speech and then start cleaning (again).

 

Holy week

or should that be wholly ?  Because I'm wholly convinced I'm not going to be ready for the arrival of the family to arrive at 2pm Sunday.  I did get some good start-work done today.  The family room WAS ready for vacuuming before I got the kids home (he he). I did find the kitchen, we all knew it was under the clutter from last weekend. It's now clean enough to eat out of. I started the menu. And cleaned the main bathroom, which I'll be re-cleaning tomorrow as Tori and Katie played in the grass today and have a serious need for a bath tonight. Oh well.

I also practiced my solo for Friday evenings church service. I'm singing a gospel-ish version of Were You There only 2 verses though. It's a gorgeous arrangement, and I think I'm sounding pretty good.  I'll get the service tape copied for the family to see. Tim's staying home with the kids, Mom and Dad will be at the pub having dinner/waiting for the rest of us to come in later, my two invited friends both have other commitments.  Hopefully one of my 3 dear friends from the congregation will be there for me to focus on while I sing.  How can I love it so much, and yet, be so afraid. I'm a nutcase, I know. Oh well.

Tim is at golf practice tonight, so I'm on my own with the kids for dinner, bath, bed. The upside to that is we get to have whatever we (I) want for dinner. So Beth and I are having broiled Salmon with homemade mac N cheese, and salad. The girls and Drew will have the mac n cheese and salad. :o)  Everyone is happy.

Oh and I called the church I interviewed with for the part time administrative assistants job, they have not yet made their decision. Don't these people know I'm NOT a patient person... sigh.

ok.. I think the noodles are boiling, time to go finish cooking dinner.

 

We have gas. hehehe

Oh stop it, it was too funny.  I have kids, one is boy, anything having to do with burping or farting is funny.

ANYWAYS, the gas company man arrived at 7:45. I was not up, or dressed, but he graciously acknowledged my sad jammied self and got clearance to enter the side yard. I got dressed. He restarted us, lit all pilot lights, and went on his merry way by 8:30am. WOHOO. Beth and I went for donuts, and wal-mart for stuff. Now she's finishing the movie she started this morning and then will shower for her afternoon of playing with friends. My mom will pick us both up, we'll drop Beth and then head to the bridal store to get my dress for my girlfriends wedding in June. (Please let me NOT look 5months pregnant!!!).

Not too much else, I was sadly disappointed with the Easter dress selection at Wal-mart so I'll hit Target and Khols Monday, if nothing strikes my fancy I'll go get material and make the girls their dresses. I have the patterns already to go. :o)

Two cools and an aww shit with lesson learned

Unpleasant first.  I goofed. I didn't pay the gas bill. We got shut off this morning. I went and paid the gas bill. I didn't know I had to call them to restart service, so I got home from the day and no gas. Called,  at first it would be Monday. I burst into tears. No heat, no dryer (hello, 6 people no laundry for 2 days ACK!), no hot water (see laundry whine), no food-can't cook on a gas stove or in a gas oven with no gas.   So sometime tomorrow my gas will be turned back on.  I told Tim.. he took the "you get a cold shower in the morning" as well as can be expected.  Lesson learned... the gas company is NOT the utility to let run to shut-off.

So my day was spent shuttling Drew to the dentist, x-rays and an exam later, and we go back next Friday for (poor boy) 2 root canals and crowns.  His primary molars are degenerative. There was nothing to them, and they are gone. My poor baby. He was great today. Next week we're using nitrous, and I'll be praying a lot that he does well. We're hoping to do both teeth at once. We'll see. Dr. Hannah is AMAZING so I know she'll stop with one if he's not doing well.

After that was done I went to Beth's school as I signed up to chaperone the string orchestra to festival. Deja Vu for me, while not a string orchestra, I did festival for our concert band when I was in jr. High and Sr. High.  I arrived at the appointed hour, to discover a totally stressed out director.  The busses weren't coming. After much work on his part, we had 1 bus coming.  30+ kids 1 bus, with 8 basses, 12 cellos, etc... not going to fit.  So I volunteered immediatly to help drive instruments. I stashed the car seats for the littles in the Principals office dropped the seats and loaded the basses first. Thanks to the many months of playing dishwasher tetris with my friend C. I've gotten good at putting many things into a confined space.  I got 4 basses and 6 cellos into my minivan. We were on our way.

The kids were AWESOME! They received an Excellent rating, only one stop above that (Superior) which I believe they would have gotten, but the violins went out of tune waiting for their turn to go into the theatre to play. These things happen. 

We're home, the gas drama is dealt with, and I'm off to figure out what I can serve for dinner that doesn't require my normal use appliances.

 

Open House

Tonight was Open House at the elementary school my daughters attend.  The first 30mins. is supposed to be a PTA/ informational meeting.  I've been PTA president twice.  This was the worst organized "presentation"  I've EVER attended, and I've attended a lot. @@  I was not pleased.

But finally, it ended, and off we went to the classrooms. YAY. Tori first,  she had her stuffed cat on the wall, her picture and autobiography, and a VICTORIA- V is for vigor, etc.   Cool stuff. Then her class gave a short presentation. It was basically a long poem broken into smaller parts for the kids to recite. But there weren't enough parts for each child, so Tori was the Roar of the Lion. She Roared very well. :o)

Katie's class was pretty awesome. She made a large tarantula out of paper, and painted with sponge stamps. Above that she wrote a short report about them. It was quite good. Her science notebook looked awesome, and her flower in the "garden" had 4 ladybugs on it, hehe.  She's the only kid in her class to have NOT lost a tooth, and that is a big problem for her. :o(   But she's the tallest in her class at 49-3/4 inches tall. Her soybean plant didn't grow as fast as the other kids, and not even Mrs. H. knows why. But it's OK, as I explained to Katie, as we as a family have a track record for killing plants the quickest. She laughed at me (as usual).

After that we hit the kindergarten room where I am hopeful Drew will attend next year. I have to register him this coming week, and I will request Mrs. G and hope for the best. She's an awesome teacher, and I know Drew will do well with her. HE had a blast looking at all the cool stuff, and pointing to things he recognized. He threw us all off when he exclaimed something about the cool groundhogs. None of knew he knew what a groundhog was. Surprise.

Beth is now as tall as both Mrs. H and Mrs. G. which makes all of us feel older. She was in reading in Mrs. G's kindergarten so many years ago. It was fun for her to get to see her teachers from the past.

The only problem to the event was that I didn't realize that with sunset the temperature would drop another 15 degrees.. add a windchill, and i was literally freezing.  But I'm the dork that wore the long skirt, shoes with no socks, and only a light sweater, so it was a deserved frozen-ness.

I'm off.. We have a fire in the fireplace, and I have about 60bazillion books to clean up from our afternoon of reading, as noone had homework.

 

Back again, so soon

Don't fall over dead. It's just my boredom kicking in. Actually it's not, I'm waiting for a kid to finish her homework project so I can finish my skirt.  Yes, I'm sewing again.  No making a billion dresses for a wedding a mere 4 months ago doesn't count any longer. Besides there's no "set" timeline. It's MY skirt, I want to wear it tomorrow so I'll work tonight to finish it, but if it's not done, it's not like the day will be ruined. :o)

A fun tidbit, most of you know I've been working (sort of ) hard to lose the last baby weight, since the last baby is now 4-1/2 seems time. Well I'm pleased to announce real progress. Attending a party for a friends' one-year old this past weekend I discovered my one-piece swimsuit is too big.  It's a small. That means I must move to (gasp) the juniors section for a suit. (insert wild happy dancing here).

The above gives me hope that I will not look competely foolish in June when I wear a gorgeous but unforgiving dress to my dear friends wedding. I am a bridesmaid/ matron? I hate matron, I'm not old enough. I'm sticking with maid. :o)  Picturs will follow, eventually.

 

I hear papers shuffling, as if going into a folder... if the skirt is finished for tomorrow I will photograph. It's going to be beautiful, but what a pita to make! 10 tiers, with gathers. @@ What was I thinking????

 

WHEW

Some days I think I should just give this up, I'm not here anymore. But I can't. It's good for me to have this place to come throw my random thoughts. Here's another update.

My birthday was fantastic.  33 is no different than 23 was, but for the extra kids I have now. :)

Katie turned 7 in February, and had a BLAST at her party at Pump it up. I can't believe my little Bug is 7, I don't wish her smaller, it's just an awe to me how quickly the time has gone.

My brother and his wife are due to have baby 1  ANY day now. I'm going to be an Auntie, again. I'm very excited.

and <drum roll> the biggest news, I quit the icky job. The people I worked with are amazing! The hours were killer, and the stress of the policies of attendance, and such were literally driving me insane.  My last day was 3/16. Yes I partied well on Saint Patrick's day to celebrate.

I interviewed with the church on Thursday. They started with 39 applications, did 12 interviews. We'll see if I make "call-backs" if they do them, or get hired. I'm staying hopeful.

There's more, but of course, I can't remember any of it now.  I'll be back though with more update, maybe even some pictures. :o)