Good Afternoon, My Lovelies!
Nancy -- It is amazing how they know the moment you sit down. I can be running around all day Saturday, try to sit for 10 minutes -- and that is the precise time DS appears and wants me to do something for him. It's uncanny...it's like they have radar which tells them we might do something not totally devoted to them
Your trip to the new
Disney store sounded fantastic. I love buying baby goodies, particularly the really little ones
I think you had a great day.
Lindsay -- I have a Mount Washmore from all the loads of towels I have made. The thing is, every time I "throw in the towel", I just get more and more unhappy, and then I end up trying to dig it out of the pile, and it's yucky and gross and I just want a fresh one...so my advice is if you need to throw in this towel, do it! Grab fresh one and feel good about it.
Mine just came out of the dryer, and I intend to take a long mental soak, dry myself off with my hot clean towel, and start fresh! I'm so glad you found childcare. There really isn't anything that is more nervewracking...Very nice of you to roll out the red carpet for the MIL. The last time dh had company coming and I really didn't have time or inclination to do anything, he made a real effort to clean the areas where they would be. I think he could see that I was just not going to do it. I took ds to see POTC4 instead, and I think I made the right choice. I'm not necessarily advocating that strategy, but you never know...I admit I did go back and do a few things, but I basically let his standard be good enough.
Rose -- I would have been laughing, too. Car repair done on the side of the road with duct tape is inherently funny, and it's good to see the humor in the situation. No one got hurt, and that was a big dose of taking responsibility because you're on your own right there! I think it is good for him to get a sense of life not being a continuous free ride. On the other hand, you don't want to make it too daunting. I don't know how my ds internalized this (ok, probably has to do with his cousins who left home at 18 because they didn't like the house rules), but he's under the impression he needs to be saving for an apartment now. We keep telling him he's probably going to live in a dorm when he goes to college, but he wants to be able to have everything he needs. He saves 80% of his allowance every week, in separate accounts for an apartment, car, etc. I know that is good, but trust me, he's very free with our money. It's only his he holds on to!
Kathy -- I am so glad ds is done with organized sports! I just wouldn't want to deal with all those crazy coaches, and some crazy parents, and
Oh Kathy, the mom stuff is so hard...it just comes and goes. it's been almost 10 years for me, and sometimes it can feel like yesterday
You just have to do what you need to for you so you can be ok. Sometimes that takes a long time to process through. And that's fine -- there is no timetable, and no reason not to let yourself be sad. You can also feel the comfort of warm memories at the same time.
Taking a moment to sit, read a book, and enjoy your life is a great way to deal with stress. I'm so glad you were able to do it, and I hope you have many other opportunities soon!
Lisa -- The full moon Tuesday explains so much...Sorry for the drama.
Sometimes they need a little reminder they were not born in a barn and you expect them to act like a momma raised them instead of wolves. My birthday fun will actually be this weekend. I let dh know that I wanted tickets to West Side Story for my birthday. We're going to a matinee on Sunday -- 11th row Orchestra, I can't wait! I know it's Father's Day, but he bought the tickets...it's actually not bad because he really doesn't like to celebrate. It also gives us a great excuse to get out of church quickly after Children's Sunday, which can tend to drone on
I also just got new shoes, I haven't even worn them yet! I'm an Asics girl, I have gel nimbus 12s. I went for black and purple this time, instead of my usual raspberry and white. I like them, they look like serious business!
Taryn -- So glad you were able to get out and run! I know I feel better when I do it, too. Sometimes I fall back into that fantasy, where I get to be a trophy wife -- I wake up whenever I want, then I can have a nice run, leisurely lunch, maybe do a little light housework, have a nap, and then wait for my dinner to be served. Ok, I do get to do some of that (I can even do it all on Saturdays, sometimes), but I really do think I would run more if I could sleep as much as I want and then do it
Then I think about your schedule, and I know I am actually lucky. I know it sounds weird, but I am so glad I didn't have a clue what to do when I graduated from college, so I just went to grad school! I cannot imagine trying to juggle a family, job, and school -- you totally
Whenever you can fit in a run, I say just go for it!
Ok, so the party....dh and I ordered a full sheet cake, and then we were told the number of people was doubled. So, we added another half sheet, cupcakes, and three trays of cookies. We got to church early and immediately started helping. Although the youth were supposed to come early to help, my ds and the 3 teens who were the children of our chef were the only ones who showed up. The kids helped with cooking (as did dh), and I worked on setting the tables. The woman who volunteered to cook (not my favorite person, but she certainly is a willing worker!) made two kinds of quiche, ham, french toast, norwegian pancakes with blueberry or apple filling, and a ton of sliced fresh fruit. The youth minister who was in charge of decorating did an amazing job. She spent far less than I would of and everything still looked very nice (she shopped at some discount places that would have been too much effort for me, I'm not driving all the way from my house to the Christmas Tree Shop -- closer to
Kathy than me!)
We were working through most of the service, which was fine with me, they were counting down the 10 favorite hymns of the congregation, so it was sing, sing, sing
After the service there was supposed to be a receiving line, but the pastor didn't move to the hall entrance, so she just kind of ended up greeting people as they left church. We got people seated, did the blessing, and called them up table by table to go through the serving line. The youth served, which made it much easier than people trying to take portions. It quickly became clear that although we had set up for 72, it wasn't going to be enough. My dh and some others set up more seating, and we sort of made it work. After most people were pretty much done eating, we started the entertainment, which was supposed to be a roast. In actuality, it was a few people talking about how much they would miss her -- it didn't get too heavy though other than when one of our very elderly people got maudlin about not having the pastor to pray with her anymore...luckily she was almost done and we could move on before it became a funeral instead of a retirement party. Would you believe they didn't even eat all of the full sheet cake? We ended up freezing the half sheet for coffee hour next week, and giving the cookies and cupcakes to the local homeless shelter.
Anyway, afterwards clean-up went pretty well. I had plenty of help from the youth and other committee members, and the pastor was quite happy with everything. Now all I have to do is get the welcome basket ready for the next one this week and place an ad for a new office manager, conduct interviews, background and reference checks, and hire someone by the end of July. Hopefully the rest of the committee will be somewhat helpful...
I went home and I was mentally exhausted. DH could not understand why I was so worried about what people thought. I wish I could have his attitude. Anyway, I'm going to write Thank Yous to the three principle people who made it happen and consider the party done.
I have to admit I have been celebrating my birthday with food continuously, I plan to stop soon
This weekend I caught myself eating because I was nervous, rather than hungry. That is a slippery slope for me. I also haven't run since last Tuesday. I need to get moving again.
I stayed up way too late last night reading a book, and I feel quite "blah" today. But, on the bright side I have started getting the Flylady e-mails again, and I'm doing a few things to get the house back on track. It's a good week for me to start FlyLady. She's in the bathroom this week, and that's one of my better rooms to work in. I can always wrap my mind around doing the task and they're not too unmanageable. When she's in the kitchen I always have trouble
I hope you guys are all having a Good Day, Sunshine!
Maria
So he had to stop a couple times to pop things back together. Around Versailles, KY (about an hour from here) he had to stop and use a string to tie things back together and finally he found a gas station with a small roll of duct tape and taped things up and made it home.
Good luck with the doctor today. 
The smoking would make me crazy. I don't want anyone smoking anything around my family! 
every night, even when I'm not hungry. I just want to eat...
Is there anything in particular you are looking forward to? I plan to do the new Star Tours the next time I'm there 
Hopefully I'll have lots of posts to read on my Blackberry, I just won't be able to respond much. Anyway, hopefully you didn't find too much waiting for you when you returned and it's been a smooth transition. 
You will love AKL. Sanaa, the restaurant in Kidani, is very good, too, but all those meals at Boma are hard to beat. They have wonderful South African wines there, too. Hang in there vacation will be here before you know it!
