Zapped

I would love to have something witty, funny, interesting or inspirational to say-or even to vent. But I honestly don't have the energy or brain power. This career change is perfect but at the same time emotional exhausting. Don't confuse that with me being stressed or worried, I can honestly leave my work AT work. Which completely surprises me considering I can worry myself sick about nonexistent things that haven't EVEN happened. Pretty crazy huh:) Anyway 5th grade son is making me proud. After three weeks of some very discouraging grades on spelling (don't get me started) he kicked it in gear last week and came home with an almost perfect paper-he is the type of kiddo that needs to have the branch hit him in the face once before he figures out to duck the next time. He figured it out-studying and sweat=success. He also opted to retake a social studies quiz over for a better grade. The teacher part of me fundamentally disagrees with numerous things his teacher does but this will be an excellent lesson as middle school comes up roaring around the corner.
With the chaos of everyday life my exercising has gone out the window, amazing how one or two less days a week can make a difference for me-these extra 3-4 pounds and 1 inch I have gained back for the first time in 2 years is driving me crazy. I have resorted to cutting calories, which for some reason never works for me grrrrr and always makes me crabby. Or maybe it is just the PMS
Gee well see there I did have something to write

Saying hello to Fall

The weekend was spent catching up on a gazillion errands that have to wait until Sat/Sun such as laundry, groceries, supplies and straightening the house. We did manage to squeeze in some fun and relaxation-ok maybe not relaxation...

The pics went in backwards:)

Picture 3-painting the fort (the newly remodeled version) I convinced small fry to paint it the same color of the house so it would be camoflauged with the house (he wanted rainbow-ummm don't think the neighbors would approve)

Picture 2-Homemade caramel apples, we were going for "gourmet"

Picture 1-Homemade pepper jelly-you know the kind-you spread it over a block of cream cheese and spread on crackers-can't wait to try it. We HAD to do something with all the peppers hubby planted.

My crazy week

Hubby has been gone and it hasn't been a super crazy week but enough that it starts to get annoying by Wed. On Monday the boys sleep with me and youngest coughs off and on all night, this means 2 things 1) We may be heading for a nasty cough and 2) I didn't get any sleep. Sure enough the wheezing begins the next day, I have to leave work early. I make an appt, the nebulizer treatments every 4 hours begins. I love getting up at 2:00 in the morning...

I have a meeting this morning and have visions of getting the boys to their ride early and stopping for a coffee-first I can't find anything I like to wear, my new hair cut is not styling the way I want it and at 7:10 youngest tells me he wants school lunch, the school one is "gross". Out the window goes the coffee and I do some furious texting to find out where the meeting actually is! I have also forgotten for the second day to reschedule the orthodontist appt that we had to cancel Tuesday morning because of early AM orchestra.

I plan to unwind with boot camp, pull up to the Y and realize I don't have my y card or driver's license to get in, decide to take very overdue movies back instead-check the case and one of the dvd's is NOT in the case. Uggggg

I come home exercise, help with instruments (half hearted attempts at best), homework, sign papers to go back to school, which were supposed to get sent this morning, get kids ready for bed and try to catch up on blogs and relax. By the time it is all said and done I have snapped their heads off for not quieting down when I NEED them to quiet down and I have about one hour to myself.

All this occurs mostly before and after my work day away from the house

Oh yeah, gotta send lunch money.....

The Fort

I didn't get a picture of it but the last two weekends the boys built a lean to fort against the house with old weathered wood and mud. Yes mud, like "survivorman" would use to make it waterproof. It was quite a sight. Due to mom "safety" regulations dad helped build a little bit more solid kind and it was quite the hit for the day. We had boys and girls alike come over, a girl from Big Fry's grade declared she was going to make it "homey". She was here for the first fort to, and no objection from him. This was the same girl, who last year who came to see his bearded dragon and as she was leaving told him, "don't you dare tell anyone at school that I was in your bedroom, either" with a pointer finger in his face for emphasis. Hmmmm funny what a difference a year makes. By the way the fort is right under our bedroom window so I can hear EVERYTHING that goes down in there:)

Life is not fair

My mom called today
My favorite aunt who has been a cancer survivor for 11 years and just had a clean scan in June went in with stomach ache and found out she has cancer in multiple places...
My heart is absolutely breaking....
Does anyone ever not have this nasty beast NOT come back? are all survivors like myself and hubby destined to have the other shoe drop sometime...

What I learned in school so far...

I have learned in this first month of school:
I love being a principal-meeting new kids, more kids, and having them say hi to me
I will NEVER remember all the names of the kids I am meeting or all their parents
I do not like 5th grade homework thus far-trying to have my spelling challenged child spell "disappointment" is more than I can handle
Hearing my same "discouraged" (his words) 5th grader play "Amazing Grace" on the violin-not great but recognizable makes me HAPPY
I have learned that constantly filling other people's "cups" with positive thoughts is joyful and more exhausting than I had imagined
I have learned to be flexible
I have learned that being accountable and wanting every child to get the best education they can and take it personal-is exactly that-personal, sometimes the thought is overwhelming
I have learned from just the few "issues" and "discipline" I have dealt with that in the scheme of things that my small fry and big fry are GOOD KIDS, with GOOD HEARTS

One of those days

It was raining, raining today, so I took advantage and cooked. Made fresh from the garden tomato soup, warm apple topping in the crockpot, and baked beans for the block party that was cancelled. We have plenty of food for the evening. I totally ignored housework and laundry but did make it to bootcamp and school. I played with the blog for awhile-I could look endlessly at all the backgrounds and finally had to just pick ONE. I also found out how to remove labels from wine bottles so I can make a cool framed collage for right above my pantry door out of cool wine lables. On the other side of the coin...,
It is one of those days though where the "doldrums" just kick in and you never know just why. Ok well I know why-since honesty with self is something I love. I LOVE my new job and it is going well-I am sure curve balls will be thrown my way. So with that starting well and not worrying as much about it, the other worries start to creep on their little feet. Worries about my health, as winter approaches, always gets me (Silly I know, but that Feb timeline always starts to lurk). Worries about younger son who has, I guess unoticed to me, stutters from talking so fast that someone mentioned it me and asked me when he will "grow out of it". This included my speech therapy friend who HAS noticed and didn't mention so she wouldn't alarm because in her words, "he just needs modeling and it isn't the bad kind of stuttering" other words totally fixable. I KNOW it is he just talks super fast and has super fast ideas, hmmm I think talking fast runs in the family somewhere I am sure...
Just one of those days where things are going SO well that the thinking something is going to go wrong start to creep in...AND they will creep out

7 Loves

I will have you know (Karen) that I don't love chain letters or being tagged, but I will do this one just because its you:)

1. Deep friendships-I am not a people person BUT I love deep, genuine, meaningful relationships. The kind where no matter how many years apart you can see and talk to those people and it feels like home. I love the unique stories, heartaches, joy and laughter that comes when there is a no-holds-barred give and take
2. Clay-I love the sticky, warm gooeyness of clay especially on the pottery wheel. There is nothing like taking a big block of warm brown mud and spinning it into something beautiful.
3. The lake, I love the lake, the warm soft sand and sun. I can just throw my towel down and lay there forever soaking up the sun, it makes my bones and muscles feel warm and relaxed and can make the worst day the best.
4. Children-I love children and not just my own...I love their giggles, smiles, amazing pearls of wisdom that comes from their mouths. There is nothing better than a word or gesture that takes one small moment on my part but I know makes that one child's whole day.
5. Sleeping children-I love sleeping with my children-and not just because they are quiet. I have always loved hearing their breathing, seeing their long black lashes agains their cheeks and their warm brown skin next to mine. I could lay there forever.
6. Honesty-I think this comes with the deep relationship love back at number 1. I value above many things honesty. Honesty from and with others-which some could say being brutally honest could be a fault of mine. But mostly honesty and trueness to myself, what I believe in and what I believe about myself
7. Sunrises and Sunsets-Each day I am given a gift-the rising and setting of the sun. I love these not only for the colors but the uniqueness each one brings-you will never see any two the same. For me the sunrise and sunset simply the beginning and ending of one more day we are given here to enjoy all the loves we have.

So I think because I am NOT a people person and because Karen has pretty much tagged any people I could tag to pass this on...I will just let you enjoy

greenhorn photographer:)

Greenhorn gardners

Wow, we came back from Aberdeen and new we would have to harvest but had no idea! We are "harvesting" early there are some sluggy things and guessing grasshoppers who are waging war on our tomatoes. Nothing like going to pick a tomatoe and it is already half eaten ewwwww.

Things I learned form gardening:

Tomatoes are squishy when you step on them with your barefeet

All kinds of insects flock to your yard and thrill your children

Less will be better when planting tomatoes

Eggplants are beautiful

Fried green tomatoes are just as good as the movie

Jalapeno plants have OODLES of jalapenos on them

I am not meant to be a farmer-that harvesting is back breaking work

I am not meant to be a canner THUS

I have loved passing out baskets full of tomatoes to neighbors and having neighbor kids come and pick them for themselves

Did I mention tomatoes are squishy when you step on them?

Photographing vegetables is much easier than kids riding on really fast bikes, wish I had more time to photograph them-hmmmmm maybe now would be a good time:) See ya!

Anyone up for a run?

Check out the link below, think some of you will recognize the name. Breaks my heart and admire her strength...
Anyone up for a run next weekend:)

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/09/07/news/top/doc4aa3e396826de992390114.txt

Not as Dusty Aberdeen

This was our second year going to the BMX state race in Aberdeen. It was a fun weekend and the weather was so much less dusty and windier than last year. We have gotten to know all the families and that made it more fun we could all cheer for all the kids. The boys did well, they both made it into the main races each day-a great accomplishment for the big Fry. He had many parents comment on how well his starts were and didn't just fall back from the pack like he usually does. Small fry was third in the state final and found a boy to give his "friendship" trophy to pass on. The little guy was in the race with him and hadn't made it to the main. Thank goodness small is very visual and remembered what the kid looked like. It is hard to find one out of 200 brighly colored jerseys and helmets, but he did. I got a cool toe ring out of the weekend, small fry won it in a game. I also woke up today with no voice from screeching and yelling-small fry told me I couldn't do that anymore it made him nervous as he came by, I tried I really tried.

Now I am procrastinating getting back into the groove and getting caught up, better get to it