Grrr...

The neighbor either totally forgot or blew me off completely. I left a message this afternoon about the van - which Jen said was no problem to borrow and I never got a call back. I had to empty out the trunk of the car and will try to fit everything in our car.

I didn't expect this from her. I'm curious what she'll do when they listen to the messages. Anyway, that doesn't solve my dilemma for tonight.

I have an hour to kill before I head out - the kids are in bed asleep and I will have to put them in the car and hope they fall back to sleep when we get rolling. Once we get to the airport, I'm going to have to park and call Joe's cell and wait for them to find us, unless they get through baggage claim fast and I can pick them up on the main drive. Then, I get to sit *between* the car seats for an hour while we drive back to drop off the coworker. No one else will fit in the back, not that I really do either, but I'm not over 6' tall. Once we get home, we'll have to transfer the kids back to bed and I'm guessing that Joe will not want to go straight to bed. He's got stories and pictures and rumors and, and, and...

Can it just be tomorrow already?

Afternoon, Day 10:

I'm am feeling much better this afternoon. A little retail therapy is sometimes the cure.

I went on a very long (read lost) drive to the Ben Franklin a town over this morning. I went "the back way" thinking it would be much more scenic (it was) and faster (it was not). After 2 near panic attacks, I finally got to a sign and then to an intersection I recognized. I was trying so hard to stay calm for the kids and just kept saying to myself that I had plenty of gas and the road had to lead somewhere.

The shopping was OK, not quite as exciting as it would have been if I hadn't freaked myself out on the way there. They were advertising for a Fabric Corner clerk, 33-36 hours a week. I would love the job, but I can't do it right now with Joe's goofy schedule. I bought 2 fabrics that were 30% off, 2 yards of cream for a backing and a 1/2 yard of different novelty candies because I loved it. I got 1 butterfly stamp (also on sale) and a crib size batt. We went to the bathroom once. I need to go back sans kids sometime.

Lunch was a stop at KFC. I've been craving Skipper's, but with the heat it didn't sound very good. The kids liked the "laptop" kid's meals and I got the mashed potatoes and gravy craving satisfied. We headed back home, on the main road this time.

A quick stop at the craft store in Lake Stevens was calling, so we stopped there too. I got another crib batt, 2 spools of thread, 2 yards of a purple for a backing, 1 yard of little mice driving cars and 3 half yards of coordinates. The mice will be for a baby quilt, as soon as I have some motivation to make it. After a candy necklace addition to the cart, 2 surprise bags of animal figures and 2 new charms for my bracelet, we headed next door to the new G.I. Joes that just opened. I picked up a jug of coolant, a pack of gum and 2 things of shop rags for Joe - all things we needed and the kids held hands and hummed a little song through the store. Very funny! We used the potty twice there.

As we were standing in line waiting to check out, Grace announced that she had to use the potty AGAIN. This would make the 3rd time in less than half an hour and I wasn't about to walk by the same clerk a third time, on the way to the bathrooms. We checked out, put the bag in the car and headed to the pet store. We know where the pet store's bathroom is (we've been there more than twice in the last 3 months) and a crisis was averted. We looked at fish, we looked at hamsters and we looked at kittens. No new additions to the household today.

Evidently, my threat at the pet store was enough for us not to need a potty all the way home and the little animals I got as a reward are a big hit. The kids are enjoying popsicles on the porch and I'm waiting for the neighbors to get home. I need to borrow their van tonight and I'm hoping they didn't forget. I'm off to veg on the couch for a while and watch TV.

Day 10:

Today's the day! The day I have to borrow the neighbor's van, load my kids up 2 hours past their bedtime and drive an hour to the airport, to pick up DH and his coworker. I might be getting to bed sometime around 2 am tonight.

Yesterday was uneventful. The kids played outside. We did a lot of snacking. I spent WAY too much time on the computer getting caught up on the forums. I did a load of laundry, but didn't fold it. I'm feeling like I wasted the last 10 days by not getting mounds of stuff done off my To Do list. I ran out of Mt. Dew on Tuesday and haven't *needed* to go out for anything, so I haven't made a special trip.

Survivor was last night. I got to watch the last 15 minutes in peace. Tristan decided to go hide out behind the play kitchen in Grace's room, after everyone had been tucked in for the night. It was really funny - he was wearing mittens and his cowboy hat. So, I tried not to laugh and put him back to bed. Then, I watched CSI and went upstairs to bed. I watched part of Without a Trace, and fell asleep, only to have the phone ring at 10:30 pm. It was Joe calling to let me know he was back from the boat ride they went on yesterday afternoon and that he was heading out for pizza and beer. Yippee. I was awake enough after that to finish watching the show and was asleep before the news came on.

This morning came too early.

I need to get the house picked up and make arrangements to borrow the neighbor's van. I have a list of stuff to finish, all of which are made 10x harder with 2 kids in tow and the main reason they aren't done already. Anyway, I must get going on my day...one of those stops is to get more Mt. Dew and I'm going to need it today.

Here I was. Excited to have Joe coming home in 2 days. He called tonight with the following news. He will be home Friday night as planned BUT, has to fly out again on Monday morning for ANOTHER ten days, back in Juneau.

Wouldn't it just be easier to give him 2 days off up there and change the return flight? Of course not. Joe wants to come home for 2 days. So, now I will have crazy kids over the weekend and next week will be a disaster. I'm so excited.

I think I am still battling a stomach virus too. I haven't really had an appetite all week - not even chocolate has sounded good and I've had to stay close to home today. I did get the master bathtub sprayed and scrubbed though. I made good use of the 10 minutes in-between trips to let the spray work. The shower curtain is coming down on the next trip.

We made a quick run to the library this morning and I went through the McD's drive thru for lunch. I was hoping they would still have the Dogs for the Happy meals, but Grace got a little clip-on pocket and Tristan got a little 3-D man and glasses.

The highlight of the afternoon has been the scrapbooking book I checked out. Very cool stuff! I'm hoping to play a bit tonight after the kids go to bed.

Bedtime - 1 hour and counting!

OK Snap-ah. I'll play.

I want everyone who reads this to ask me 3 questions, no more no less. Ask me anything you want. Then I want you to go to your journal, copy and paste this allowing your friends (including myself) to ask you anything.

*That is - as soon as the comments are back up. Between the forums and this, now I must go do something else, away from the computer all together.

Day 8:

Reasons I'm thankful for electricity (in no particular order):
1. the fishtank heater
2. the fridge - to keep things cold
3. the stove - to make things warm
4. the coffee pot
5. the heat will come on
6. the cordless phone
7. the TV and VCR
8. the computer
9. my sewing machine
10. overhead lights
11. the microwave
12. cell phone chargers
13. the neighbor's garage door opener
14. nightlights
15. the vacuum cleaner
16. the washer and dryer

Reasons I'm thankful the electricity goes out sometimes (again, in no particular order):
1. Silence
2. Scrapbooking
3. Time to read lots of books
4. Naps under quilts
5. Stars
6. Neighbors caring about each other
7. Seeing the whole town dark at 10 pm
8. Candles and flashlights
9. Sandwiches for dinner
10. Puzzles

We are back "on" after 15 hours without power...

Day 7:

It's overcast - finally! Yesterday was HOT. I slept with the window open last night and took a shower before bed to cool off. Well, that and to wash all the nastys off from mowing the yard.

Mowing actually went pretty well. We have a huge yard - it takes an hour and a half to mow it. There are people in our neighborhood that have riding mowers. Ours is self-propelled and when I get to use it, I really love it. Most of the time it's Joe's toy :o) Anyway, I looked at it like some bonus exercise and a start to the summer tan.

We have settled into a groove. The kids are back to their normal well-behaved selves most of the time. I'm sleeping and eating better. The only thing (besides Joe) that I miss is the digital camera.

I talked to Joe late last night and there has been no word on a job offer or any incentive to be doing what he's doing. There was talk of him having to go back up to Anchorage next Tuesday for another week. We'll see what happens.

My mission today is to get the scanner up and running. I should work on a quilt today too. It all depends on the kids.

The Latest Mindy Rant:

Mindy actually called yesterday and asked if she could send Logan down to play. I told her, "Not if he still has pneumonia!" I could almost see her hang her head and admit he still had the really nasty cough. She hinted that she just really needed a break from the constant requests for snacks and juice.

My first issue: No thanks, I've got that here. I sometimes wonder if they even thought through the whole 2 kids thing. What makes her think, if she can't handle a newborn and an almost 4 year old, that I would be able to handle my two and hers? There is a reason that we stopped at 2 kids. Nevermind, that her son loves to push my son around and that he is whinier than Grace could ever dream to be.

My second issue: Why would I want to infect my whole family with some illness on purpose? I've got 2 kids of my own to take care of this week, plus the whole house and no relief comes home from work in the evening.

Bottomline: I don't want to add another kid to the mix and I don't want us all to get sick.

I also put the car back in the garage yesterday. I know it makes her mad since she can't look down the street and see if I'm home. Oh well, I'm allowed to park in the garage we pay for.

Day 6:

I am a dork. I freely admit it. I am really excited because I found a live scanner feed from Yakima, Washington and I can listen to all of the stupid things people do all day long. I'm working on finding one for my little bitty town, but I might have to get a real police scanner for that.

I also don't want to go mow the yard. It's sunny and I have no excuses. Bummer. And yet, I sit here and type...

I think I'll go browse home plans in case we someday move, buy land and build a house. I like to be prepared for things like that.

I have a new-to-me scanner for the computer that I need to find and download the drivers for. It was gifted to me by the neighbor. I'm sure I could spend a couple of hours doing that.

I ran a virus scan this morning and found nothing. I don't know whether to be happy or sad about that. It's sort of anti-climatic. Searching for a virus, poking everywhere and looking hard, lots of whirring and blinking lights. Nope, nothing. Not even spyware. Hmmm.

I guess I better go mow the yard.

Morning, Day 5:

Another beautiful day! The sun is out (of course, it's barely up, but that's another story) and the kids are behaving.

Friday night, Jen came over for Girl's Night. We were planning on watching Tad Hamilton, but we got busy talking. The kids wouldn't go to sleep - Grace ended up staying up with us until almost midnight. She had napped so long in the afternoon, it worked out to her staying up an hour after her bedtime. Oh well. We ate popcorn and chatted until 2 am. Yikes! I haven't done that in years :o)

Saturday morning came early! The kids were up at 7 am. We went to the store and bought groceries (and donuts for breakfast) and then ended up next door. I helped pull out a couple of bushes and the kids played with their girls and kept them entertained inside. It was about noon when they decided it was enough yardwork for the day. Their afternoon plans were to meet some friends at the zoo. We were invited (yippee!) and within an hour we were all loaded in their van and on our way to the zoo.

The zoo was fun, I'm sore today because of all the running I did. Yes, you read that right, running. Pushing a double jogging stroller. Up hills and across grass. Think Days of Thunder and the wheelchair races, but with 4 small kids in strollers. We closed down the zoo and headed home, with a quick stop at Wendy's for dinner. The house was put back together, kids in bed asleep and I was out for the night at 8 pm. It wasn't even dark yet :o)

Joe called my cell phone while we were at the grizzly bears and was surprised to hear that we were at the zoo. He was really tired and I only got to talk to him for about 5 minutes. I think I confused him by being in a great mood and not being home. We had talked Friday afternoon and I was pretty depressed and lonely. After Friday night, I was doing better and yesterday has restored my spirits.

Tristan woke me up this morning by giving me a heart attack. He came running into my room yelling "Spill, Fall over, Table (and what I thought was) Fish." I jumped out of bed, put on my glasses (Tristan made sure he grabbed them for me) and we ran downstairs. I fully expected to see the fish tank knocked over and little fishy bodies flopping around.

Nope, his juice had spilled on the table. In my defense, his word for "fish" does sound a lot like his word for "juice" and I was sound asleep at the time. He has gotten really good at stealthing downstairs in the mornings to sit on the couch alone. This morning he had 4 boxes of fries and a mostly empty cup to play with on the table. The gate will be going up across the stairs tonight to remind him that he needs to come get me when he's up. Anyway, my day started with a bang at 6:25 am.

We have church this morning and then Grace wants to go to a park. We'll see if I can find one. I rather that they just play in our backyard, but I realize that gets old. We don't have a swingset, but we do have a sandbox. I am picky about it's usage though because of the work involved for me. I have to take off 2 pieces of plywood and 4 support slats, our makeshift lid to keep cats out, in order for them to play and afterwards, I have to put those back and clean up the kids. That usually involves a bath each and a clean set of clothes. I won't take the lid off if they are only going to play in it for 5 minutes. The kids don't seem to mind actually, when they play in it, it's for a couple of hours straight.

I best get going on my day. Coffee is sounding really good about now!

Afternoon, Day 3:

It is now sunny. I have taken all appropriate neighbor avoiding action. The car is tucked safely in the garage out of sight. The front blinds are drawn and all lights are off. From the street, you can not tell that we are home. It really shouldn't matter though, since no one has called today.

Tristan is down for his nap. Grace is on the couch watching cartoons. I will be crashing on the other couch shortly for a little quiet time of my own.

I stalled on the laundry, but I've vacuumed and made deviled eggs, among the rest of the days duties. I worked a bit on my Challenge quilt, but when the kids got involved, I had to stop. It felt good to at least sit down in front of the machine.

I need to run to the store tonight, maybe tomorrow, for a few things. I will have to take the kids with me (of course) and they haven't been on the best of behavior the last couple of days. I know they reflect my mood - I admit it's stressed and crappy half the time - but I'm working on being more cheerful. I painted Grace's toenails last night during Survivor and we cuddled on the couch. I took both kids out on the front porch to watch it rain this morning. It's the constant whining, bossiness, complaining and not sharing I get short with.

Day 3:

There is a God! It is raining today. That means there will be no trips to the park and I don't need to feel guilty for wanting to stay inside and quilt today.

The kids are playing very well together this morning. I made a good dent in washing the bedding already and the kitchen counter is cleaned off. I will vacuum while the kids eat lunch and I'll be all ready for a relaxing afternoon.

Still Day 2:

It's been a very long day.

I didn't have to drive into town today afterall. Tristan napped, Grace crashed on the couch and I got to lay down for a while. Grace had a sleepwalking/not aware episode that ended with her peeing on the couch. She really didn't know what was going on and felt really bad about it later. She doesn't ever have accidents.

We had cheese and sausage for dinner - kid's request and then the kids played outside. Good thing they had plenty of good snacks all day. I sat on the porch and enjoyed the evening and then I watched the 2 neighbor girls while their dad mowed their lawn. We passed them over the fence :o) It was scary to think that I could have birthed them all. All 4 and under. Poor Tristan is outnumbered. They brought over fruit snacks as a thank you and a DVD to watch later on. Good thing because I'm out of snacks right now.

Payday is tomorrow. I need to get some different food. The kids won't eat what I had planned for dinner and I don't feel like cooking a normal meal so that I can eat it for the next 3 days. I see Stouffer's in my future.

Evidently, parking in the garage is working to throw people off our normal routine. Mindy didn't call until dinnertime and thought I was gone all day. She wants to go to a park tomorrow - but not if it's windy. Jen and I have tentative plans for a chick-flick movie night after my kids go to bed tomorrow. We would have gotten out today, but the kids all decided to nap at different times all day long.

Joe called right at the Survivor vote. He talked to Grace until it was over and then she went to bed. I got to talk to him for quite a while since the kids were in bed. It will be interesting to see if his opinion about Juneau changes over the next week.

Tomorrow I need to vacuum and pick up some. I have yet to quilt and I can't see the surface of my breakfast bar. However, I'm caught up on the laundry, the dishwasher is running and my sink is shiny :o)

Day 2:

We've made it to lunchtime. A small victory. We had a scissor incident this morning and a rough potty morning. I did get a shower, but I still need to shave. I'll just have to be happy I don't stink. :o)

Tristan insisted on wearing undies AND pants until he peeped while I was in the shower. I got out of the shower to him fussing because he was wet and Grace throwing a fit because he peeped on her bedroom floor.

Grace is going through a strange phase where she won't peep on a toilet that someone just used. She went all the way upstairs and called for me to come wipe her, despite being told that she needed to use the bathroom that was two feet away. She got a timeout for disobeying.

She will end up in her room several more times this afternoon if the whining keeps up. So far, there were chunks in her sandwich (orange marmalade) and she refused to eat her sandwich. The sidewalk chalk was an issue. I foresee snack issues this afternoon since she didn't eat.

I've got 24 ounces of Mt. Dew in me and I still have a tension headache.

I have to go into town to drop off the video at the church. I do NOT want to drive 70 miles just for that. I would go shopping, but payday isn't until tomorrow.

I can't wait for the kids to go to bed tonight. I'm watching Survivor - I'm taping the CSI and Without a Trace for this weekend when there is nothing on - and then I'm going to bed.

I slept like crap last night. I forgot how light I sleep when I'm listening for strange sounds. I was awake at 6 am, the heat came on and sucked the door to the frame. I thought that Tristan had gotten up and was wandering around the house. So, I listened for him and never heard a peep. He didn't actually get up until almost an hour later and that's when I figured out it was the heat. Oh well.

I best get moving or I'll be here until dinner.

Still Day 1:

I didn't actually quilt, but I did open envelopes from 2 completed swaps and petted the fabric. I cleaned up all of the patterns I've printed this week. I made a thank you card for a friend. The kids stayed in their PJ's all day and had a ball running around the backyard barefoot. I made dinner for the kids and they cleaned up their cutting and coloring messes. I have returned the movie, on time! Mindy borrowed some syrup. The kids are bathed and in bed. The fish are fed. Joe called before the kids went to bed and got to talk to both of them. Tristan is still new at talking on the phone :o) Very cute! I need to clean up the kitchen and then I'm going to go relax, watch some TV and the video for my Sunday School session that I missed last week. Then, I will be going to bed.

All in all, a pretty good day.

Day 1:

Joe left this morning a little after 5 am. I got up with him at 4 am and finished packing his carry-on bag and added a heavier coat. We didn't go to bed until after midnight, so I'm draggin' butt today. I got about an hour more of sleep after he left, but the kids were up early and upset that he was gone. He called from the plane (I so love our cell phones) to let me know that they were set to go and will call as soon as he's got a minute in Juneau.

I made Chicken Enchiladas for dinner last night - Joe's request. I have enough leftover for lunch and dinner today. :o) We watched Open Range last night. It was OK. A bit slow. Then we watched the end of the news and some of Letterman before crashing. Four hours of sleep is not enough for me to function.

The kids thought Joe took the car with him because it's parked in the garage instead of on the street. Joe moved the pile of crap that needs to go to the dump and managed to get the car in there yesterday. I wanted to be able to keep it out of view so that a couple of choice people wouldn't know he was gone.

I have big quilting plans for the next 10 days. I need to work on a baby quilt for Graham. I have the top done, just need to quilt and bind it. I need to work on Joe's baseball quilt. I have the fleece I'm using as the backing and I just need to quilt it. I want it to be a surprise, so it's waited until he was going to be gone a couple of days. It's a queen size and I'm dreading the backache already. I have a few more tops to work on and a stuffed turtle I REALLY need to finish.

I had a 1 liter Mt. Dew yesterday and have another 6 pack of 20 oz. bottles sitting on the counter. I will need artificial strength to make it until bedtime everyday. I will have to wean myself off of it when Joe gets home. My weak coffee just isn't working this morning and I need to go make a fresh pot. TTFN!

Why is it that kids can make a huge mess, want to do something else, like play outside and then suddenly suffer from extreme fatigue when they have to pick up after themselves?

The house is somewhat picked up again and the kids are happily playing again.

I'm still irked about the baby shower yesterday. The more I think about it, the more stuff I realize. Things like, Mindy's mom never even spoke to me and I've never met her before, the Cookie Lee catalog and ordering going on, the lack of even simple introductions and the overwhelming nasty vibe through the whole thing.

My neighbor Jen called this morning to find out how it went and despite knowing the crap she'll get from Mindy for not going, she's glad she didn't go. Mindy is home today for the first day with both kids and I haven't heard from her since we got home yesterday afternoon.

I remember the first day Joe went back to work after Tristan was born. Grace was only 17 months old and Joe was gone for almost 12 hours. Mindy has an almost 4 year old and a husband that works less hours. Jen went through the same thing I did, only her girls are just 13 months apart. We are not the sympathy gallery. So, Jen and I will be planning a few day outings this next week and getting on with our own little lives.

Update on Graham Robert: He was born on 4/14/04, at 5:37 pm. He weighed 6 pounds 15 ounces, 18 3/4 inches. The hospital posts a picture on their site and he is very cute! His initials are GRR :o)

I have to figure out what to cook for dinner and we have to run into town this afternoon. Joe should be up soon so he can sleep tonight.

I've been home an hour and a half and I'm still steamed.

Church was good. We got a late start and stopped at Wal-Mart on the way in instead of going to the early Sunday School session. We got the usual diapers and such as well as picking up a package of 4 receiving blankets, 1 fleece baby blanket and a pair of baby nail clippers for Mindy.

After church, we stopped for gas, drinks and a quart of oil before heading to the baby shower. Joe dropped me off just after 1 pm and took the kids to Mc Donalds. Turns out I would have had more fun with them.

I knew no one else there. Mindy took my gift bag from me, peeked in and *announced*, "This isn't a quilt!" Ummm, nope. It's not. I put the bag with the rest and sat down in the closest chair.

*Time passes with a bunch of complaining and whining*

Mindy's sister Karen pokes her head in the room asking people if they want a drink.

My dialogue went along these lines.
Karen: "Any punch?"
Me: "No, thank you, I'm fine. *smile*"
Karen: "And you are...?"
Me: "Um, Heidi?" (I'm even unsure at this point)
Mindy: "Oh, this is my neighbor. Haven't you met?"
Karen: "Uh - no." (walks out of room)

Wonderful. I checked to make sure the ringer was on LOUD on my cell phone and started sending ESP vibes to Joe to come back and get me. That's right, I was stranded there and my ride home was Mindy because she is, you guessed it, my neighbor. To quote Snapper -- "Superfantastic."

Fast forward thru a bunch more idle gossip, two games, (I won a large Tupperware bowl! I would have won the other game too, but I think someone was cheating.) some more crap talk and a bad salad, to -- the gift opening.

There were no less than two more comments made about this expected quilt I was supposed to have made - while she opened 2 handmade blankets from her mom and had promises of 2 more from other people. It took all I had to not tell her she wasn't getting a damn quilt and leaving right then. The nursery curtains were also discussed.

It was almost 4 pm when everyone started to leave. I loaded the van with all the gifts. I went to the bathroom. I waited for a breastfeeding, not Mindy's, but the friend who was going to be following us back to Mindy's house. I finally got home at 4:45 pm with a headache and a major need to bitch at someone.

Joe was on the phone to his best friend Erik - their baby boy Graham was born on the 14th (Wednesday). I'll have to get the rest of the info later and update here. The baby has been home under 2 days and they've already rushed him to the doctors office...

I'm so thankful that raising kids seems easy for me. Both of my kids breastfed like pros, they were both in their own room, in a crib by 3 months and I have never taken them to the doctor and been told it was not necessary. I also had easy deliveries (8 hours for Grace and 7 hours (only 2 in pain) with Tristan. I had a small amount of Phentanol (however you spell that) with Tristan (in transition) that lasted about 20 minutes. Otherwise, both were natural, drug-free births. Of course, that is mostly for my own ego. :o)

Back to today, Joe was playing Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune on the computer and I ate the half-cold double cheeseburger Joe had in the fridge (screw weight loss) while we talked about our afternoons. I made the kids ramen for their dinner and Joe gave piggy back rides.

Now, Joe is trying to rest on the couch (watching Top Gun) for a couple hours before he goes in to work all night tonight. I took some Tylenol and am waiting for it to kick in. The kids are putting a puzzle together and actually behaving.

Oh yeah, my period showed up this morning and is kicking my butt today. I need to take inventory of the chocolate in the house.

It's Saturday morning and I'm settled in at the computer with my cup of Java and a ton of things on my mind.

1. Money - We're going to cancel the life insurance for now. It's just too much of a payment right now. Instead of being a relief, it was a stress to me. When/if Joe gets a promotion, we'll do it again. Joe is well covered now, so I'm really not worried if something should happen to him and the chances of something happening to me (hardly ever leaving the house) is very slim. So far I have prevented the house phone/internet from being shut off. The water is still on and we still have a roof over our heads. A very nice roof I might add! The rest will just have to sort itself out.

2. Moving - I really don't know what will happen next week. Joe has been pushing this Alaska thing for years now. Maybe he will get up there and decide it's not what he thought? Doubtful. This is the man who lives to fish in the summers and hunts when we can in the fall. I'm sure he will love it.

A little background on this. We met in Montana (the Alaska of the lower 48) and both of us love it there. I grew up hunting and fishing and camping, as did Joe. We've lived all over the West (4 states in 4 years) and when we got to Washington, we decided (I thought) that we were done with the nomad way of life. Both kids were born here and we have family here. We bought this house knowing that we were done having kids and this house would be sufficient until the kids graduated from high school. We have wonderful neighbors, to the point that one reason I don't want to move is so that we don't end up with a looney next to us. Of course, we might be that looney to someone else, but that's entirely different.

I've always struggled to make friends. Well, at least the lasting, tell everything best friends. I had 2 in high school, one from college (plus Joe) and one in each state we've lived in. I'm in touch with all of them at least with Christmas cards. We've lived here 5 years now and I'm starting to get a network of friends established. A year ago, I had to start over when we moved out to the house. Most of the people we socialized with live 30 miles away and are too busy/unwilling to drive out here to see us. I realize that we are the ones that moved and I have just pulled back from all of that. The two neighbors that I hang out with grew up here, have family nearby and it's rough getting into their schedules. I feel like a woman without a country sometimes. The thought of starting all over AGAIN scares the pants off of me.

Which brings me to the nuts and bolts of my little essay. I do most of the move myself. I pack, clean and organize everything. Joe brings home boxes and loads the truck. I cancel and set up all of the new utilities and find all of the new shopping, banking and post office type necessities once we arrive. I am also the calming force for the kids and I keep their routine going. The bad news is that I am so good at this, Joe doesn't think twice about packing up and moving.

So, we will see if he gets a great job offer while he's up there and if I have to start getting the house ready to put on the market.

Enough of that -

My usually empty social calendar is full this weekend. We have been invited to a birthday party this afternoon. I say we because Grace can't drive herself. Joe is working today and will be trying to come home early so that we can make it in time. Tristan really wants to go to the party, but wasn't invited. Joe will be trying to keep him entertained while Grace and I go do the party thing. The good thing is that they are having it at the church and there will be room to run around outside or downstairs. Of course, there's always the chance that Joe will have to work and we won't go. Then, I will have to explain why we can't go to the party.

Tomorrow, Joe has the day off (works an overnight instead) and so we will be heading to church in the morning. After that, I have a baby shower for Mindy to go to at 1 pm. I will most likely be late because of the drive from church, but I figure something is better than not going at all. As of yesterday, no one else had RSVP'd to the sister or to Mindy. I might be the only one there. We've already given her a gift, but I know she is expecting a quilt.

So anyway, Joe will work Sunday night and sleep most of Monday. He has Tuesday off and then leaves first thing Wednesday morning for Alaska. I am thinking of going to visit his sisters and our good friends in Port Angeles while he's gone. The kids will need a distraction and I will be able to go wherever I want while he's gone.

Men are babies when they get sick. Bringing in the trash bins last night was a huge effort because of the sniffles. No sympathy from me, I had two kids without drugs and have kept the house going through the flu and morning sickness. There has never been a day that Joe has stayed home from work to take care of the kids while I was sick. He did stay home for two days (when I was on crutches) after I sprained my ankle last year. Of course, we had just moved and he wanted to unpack.

Money. I wish I had a money tree. We might be losing our internet for a while. The life insurance payment will be due in about 6 weeks and I don't know how we're going to add more to the already over-budget budget. I think I'm going to have to call my mom for help again.

Alaska. Joe is heading to Juneau next week. If he is offered a position up there, he will most likely take it and we will have to move. It would solve a lot of money issues, but I really don't want to move. On the other hand, I don't see the same positions open down here. We're going to have to do something different.

I made 2 little tote bags yesterday afternoon. One for each of the kids. I need to upload the pictures to my webshots album. They turned out really cute and only took about a 1/2 hour each.

Speaking of Webshots - I need to get the rest of my quilting stuff uploaded, just in case we do lose internet for a while. I don't want to try to mess with it on a dialup.

It's finally raining :o) It started last night when I was walking around the backyard (in my socks) picking up all of the kid-toys and covering the sandbox to prevent litterbox confusion for the stray cats.

It's another quiet day so far.

Mindy called at 8 am to see if the trash had been picked up yet. Umm, yeah at 6:20 am. They are just starting to get the pickup service and don't have the can yet. I guess they didn't want to put out the plain bags with the above mentioned cat problem.

I went down there last night after dinner to help her with her announcements for Braeden.
I talked to Jen, then to Mindy and headed down there. Jen called back and I was already gone. Joe got mad and I let him have it. I figure I can spent a 1/2 hour helping out and it will prevent 3 more phone calls in the next hour.

Joe just called from work a few minutes ago and will be heading to Juneau for 10 days, starting next week. He did call to see if it would be ok with me and I know he really wanted to go. It will all be per diem and paid hotel, so we don't have anything out of pocket. As long as he leaves the car, he can go for as long as he wants! The kids will miss him terribly, but I'll think of some fun stuff for us to do.

It will be like a vacation for me too. No big dinners, not as much laundry and I can come and go as I want. I take the kids with me almost everywhere I go now, so that won't be a big change. I'll have the evenings to myself and won't have to share the bed. Hehe. I will miss him though. We will talk every night on the phone and he'll get to see places I might never get to.

I could have sworn I blogged last night... Oh well.

Yesterday was errand day. I needed to get my driver's license renewed, as it expired on Sunday. Seemed to me to be a good reason to load up the family and go to town. :o) We stopped at a liquidators (I ended up knowing the owner from MOPS) and we chatted a bit, we had pizza for lunch at Alfy's (1/2 price before 2 pm) and then bought some new fish at the pet store. We are now the proud owners of 5 Mickey Mouse Platys and 13 Neon Tetras, as well as the placostemus (sp?) from before. These guys are fast and fun. One of the platy's might be pregnant too. (That is a good thing!)

We had a pretty quiet evening. I baked my birthday cake. Put the kids to bed, then Joe and I went to bed early. :o)

Today has been an off day for me. We had such a busy weekend and I need some catchup time. I got the digital pics copied to cd for us and the neighbor from the Egg Hunt we had in the back yard on Sunday. I got the trash gathered from the house and out to the can for the pickup tomorrow. The kids played out back for a while and the rain still hasn't started... I was really wanting it to rain so I would have a good reason to sit inside and sew. Of course, it's sunny and there's no storm in sight.

Birthday gifts...I got some cool quilty coasters from my Mom (and my Dad too) and a photo tote bag from Mindy - the neighbor. The day at the Tulip Festival was my gift from Joe and the kids. I got a check from each of my grandparents and a card from the insurance agent and dentist. :o) My SIL Racheal gave me an Italian Charm bracelet when we were over in Feb. and she saw that I already had one...oops. Now I wear both! Rather quiet on the Birthday Buddies block swap - I only got 2 complete envelopes and one with just the block. Out of 11, that's not doing to well. My MIL sent a card and I got lots of messages on the boards. All in all, not a bad year. It didn't top last year, but next year will be a doozy!

Happy Easter! And a Happy 29th Birthday to myself. hehe Yes, the actual one!

Anyway, back to the boring stuff. I concluded Friday night by filling 93 plastic Easter eggs with candy. Yesterday, I hard boiled 3 dozen eggs and the kids got to dye a dozen each. I did the last dozen while we were outside riding bikes and getting sunburned with Mindy and Logan. I got to cuddle the week old baby again too. The weather was FAB and we went to another friend's son's little league baseball game about 4 pm. Tristan came home with a slightly cracked batting helmet (given to him by the son that was playing) and is in 7th Heaven! I made dinner (Mac and Cheese) and then mowed the back yard for Joe. Both kids got baths - I have to do separate ones now since the last "your pee-pee is bigger than my pee-pee" conversation. We found Tristan asleep in his closet - more on that later. I played a game of Zuma and then crashed about 9:30 pm.

Grace got up to go potty at 4:50 am and I have been awake since. I tried to go back to sleep, but no go. Could it be that I set the alarm (!!) for this morning so that we didn't over sleep the church Easter breakfast? Yep. That's what I'm thinking.

I have been up for about an hour, (Tristan got up right after me) so all I've gotten done was to run the dishwasher and check forums. I need to go hop in the shower and get the kids dressed so we can leave in about an hour! We're having the neighbor girls over for a little egg hunt at 2 pm and I'm sure I'll need a nap after that.

Some one posted at SAHP about the hours DH puts in at work. I was tempted to add my whine in there, but I realize that some have it so much worse. Joe is STILL not home yet. He left the house this morning sometime in the 4 am hour and it's now just after 6 pm. This is normal. He doesn't actually have a shift that long, he stays on his (my) own time. He should get off at 3 pm everyday, assuming a starting time of 5 am, but it will take the rivers being open for fishing to get him home that early. He is salaried, no overtime. Add to that, the fact that he works any and all days of the week and he rarely gets two days off in a row. He works midnights at the drop of a hat - usually with no notice to me. By the time he gets home from a day shift, I've had it with the kids and we eat and they go to bed. Great family time there. Anyway, just had to get that off my chest.

I'm having another productive day!

The kitchen was clean until I made muffin-tin-sized melted-down crayons for the kids. I got out the Easter box and talked to Joe regarding the candy and purchases he will make tonight. I am caught up on the laundry. I paid bills online this morning. The kids had a picnic lunch out on the porch in the sun. I talked to Jen (the neighbor). I gave Tristan a summer haircut. I peeled and cut 3 apples for snacks. I got the mail. I played Zuma for a few hours. hehe

I still need to shower, clean the fish tank and pick up the kitchen again before I try to cook dinner. It's time for Tristan's nap too.

The headache is gone!

I was up again last night about 3 am, but that was to help Grace go potty and tuck her back into bed. Joe was just out of the shower for work and seemed to want to chat. I fell back to sleep before he finished getting dressed. Oops!

The kids watched a video this morning and let me sleep until 7:30 am. I think they figured out yesterday that they don't want me to be cranky :o) There has been virtually no whining this morning and no fighting.

I watched the finale of Average Joe (from Monday) last night. I really don't know what to think. Adam went from being the most loved Average Joe to everyone being upset because of the choice he made. I really can't say who would be better for him. I see positives on both sides, but couldn't stand how Sam acted. Then again, I'm not a high-society, little-dog-wearing, latest-fashion-trend type of girl. It also seems like there is a lot that was edited out.

The whole thing made me aware of two things.

One, I am so blessed to have found someone that shares so many things in common and loves me for being me. I admit that I married for the whole package; stability, common interests, similar life goals and religious beliefs. The amount of physical attraction was an added bonus. If I would have married for physical attraction and chemistry, I would be bored out of my mind by now due to lack of stimulating conversation and lack of interests outside of the bedroom.

The second thing I learned is that I waste too much emotional energy on these shows. :o)

Well, I've got a bunch of stuff I want to get to today. More laundry, clean off my sewing table and clean up the kitchen are on the agenda for this morning. If it's sunny this afternoon, I will take the kids outside for a while.

My headache is back. Ick. I slept like crap. Joe woke me up at 3:33 am because he couldn't find his work clothes. I got up and found them and fell back into bed. That threw off my sleep cycle and I was sleeping really hard when the kids got up, thus the headache.

I spent about an hour this morning looking for a card that came in yesterday's mail. I cleared off the counters last night when the insurance guy came and thought that I had scooped up the mail in my hurry. I went through the basket by the computer - no card. I went through the recycle bins outside - no card. I looked through the stack of magazines - no card. So, in my achey-head state, I gave up and headed out to the garage to get the Tupperware cups out of the stroller from our walk yesterday. I flipped up the sunshield and the mail fell out...Voila - card! I will be laying down on the couch soon.

The insurance news - we bought a new policy that will cover BOTH of us in case of death, to pay off the house. Joe was the only one that had decent coverage before and I always worried that if I died, he wouldn't be able to keep the house. My coverage through his work was minimal - enough to pay for a funeral and a couple of months income. The insurance guy was cool - very straightforward and not at all slimy :o) It took longer than I thought though and we were hungry and tired by the time he left. We were also out of daylight and Joe will have to mow the backyard tonight.

I've got laundry on my agenda for today. I've got about 3 loads to fold and a couple more to wash. It's not out of control yet, but it might just take me all day to get motivated to finish it.

I got over to see Baby Brayden on Sunday afternoon. Logan came down to our house to play out back with the kids and I went down to visit for about an hour. He's super cute, perfect little c-section head! I got a lot of cute pictures of the 3 biggers playing at our house too. Joe worked on the yard and we were just enjoyed working on the yard and being outside.

Monday - One of my favorite days of the year! We went to the Tulip Festival and then to Anacortes for the Quilt Walk. The weather was beautiful too. I took a ton of pictures and brought home 2 bunches of cut tulips. The quilt walk wasn't as good as I remember from a couple years ago, but that could be because the big quilt show is this weekend. I won't be able to go this year.

We had a bee scare in the car on the way to Anacortes though. Joe looked over at his halfway rolled down window and jumped at this bee hanging on the edge. I used the Tulip catalog to flip it out of the window and about 3 seconds later, Grace starts shrieking from the back seat. Joe pulls over and gets her out of the car, checks her seat and all the window ledges - no bee. She settled down and we figured out that it had just scared her - not flown in her window. We drove the rest of the way with Joe's window up.

The kids are adjusting well to the time change. We have bedtime back to 8 pm and this morning I got to sleep until 8 am!!! WaaaHooo!

I'm feeling a bit like a slug at the moment - just ate most of a box of Milk Duds (You know who you are!) because they were just soooo good. Good thing I walked to the library with Jen (the neighbor) and all 4 of our kids this morning. We both have double jogging strollers now, so we hiked the mile to the library, read books and played with the kids, I picked up the books I had on hold, Grace stopped at the potty and walked the mile back home. The trip was much easier with someone trudging along with you!

Tristan is now down for his nap and I need to get the house picked up before the insurance agent comes by tonight. I need to get dinner started too.

You know the afternoon was tiring when a nap on the couch doesn't revive you and when the kids both falling asleep early doesn't excite you. In fact, it doesn't even motivate me to go to the store.

We went out to ride bikes again after lunch. More pushing and non-sharing followed and we came back inside. Tristan was ready for a nap and *that's* when Mindy called to say that Logan would be outside to ride bikes with them...about an hour after the first call. No can do. She called 2 more times, but Tristan didn't get up from his nap and Joe didn't get home until about an hour ago from work. I'm busy tomorrow, so the baby will have to wait until Monday, unless we go to the Tulip Festival that day.

I'm irritated that she won't come right out and say that she wants me to come down and visit her - just that she wants me to provide the entertainment for her other child - and I can *sneak* in to see the baby. Grace has been waiting for this baby for months, I have a stack of drawings for the baby by the door and I'm not going to just leave her outside screaming while I go in to visit. Grace wants to hold the baby and see that everything is ok. Next week might be better for that kind of a visit.

I am enjoying the fresh clean carpets. Today was definitely the day to do them because they were dry in about an hour. The kitchen is clean again. I'll be making sure I run the dishwasher tonight and get myself back on schedule. I need to figure out meals and snacks for tomorrow, maybe Monday too, and repack the diaper bag.

I feel like I've gotten a lot done today!

We just finished lunch and so far today I have: Made lunch, steam cleaned the whole downstairs carpets, went for a walk/bike ride with the kids, made breakfast, checked email and forums (twice) and was showered and dressed by 6:30 am.

I've got to remember to set the clocks back tonight!

I got out the summer clothes today. My capris from last summer fit better! Yeah, weight loss :o) Unfortunately, that also means I haven't lost as much weight as I wanted to at this point. Oh well, as long as the scale keeps going down. The temp is perfect - which means it must be in the high 60's! - and it's sunny again. My tulips are blooming too!

I've got to reinstall the software for the digi camera today and look at some of the pictures I've taken this last week. Funny that I never thought about how much trouble it would be to have a digi without a working computer. I am so used to running in and looking at the pictures on the monitor and burning them to CD right away.

I need to get it ready for pictures from tomorrow's church service. My baby will be singing with her Sunday School class for an Easter program in front of the whole congregation. She is so excited - we've been counting the days on the calendar! When I told her that Mindy and the baby were coming home this afternoon, she jumped up and down and yelled, "One more sleep until I sing!" LOL!! She has dreams of singing like Ariel in The Little Mermaid. :o)

We will most likely be riding bikes soon on the front walk with Logan, a helpless victim of Granny sequestering while Mom, Dad and the baby were in/at the hospital. She didn't let him outside at all the last 2 days, for fear that he would go to far and fast for her. This from the kid that has never made it halfway down the block alone. While he was following my fearless children, they got 3 houses away before they turned around.

I better get myself presentable...

I am back!

I have been computerless since Sunday. We had to have it reformatted and put all the stuff back on, but now it is working better than before! It only cost $67 and 2 days out of the house.

In the meantime, I finished the binding on my cousin's quilt (I've been putting that off for a couple of months!), I read one book and am well into the second, I did 34 pages in my scrapbook, I went to bed every night before 10 pm and I'm caught up on the laundry. I need to examine the time I spend on here in a serious way!

Mindy was to have a c-section at 7 o'clock this morning. I still haven't heard from them. I called the neighbor at noon and she hadn't heard from them either. At least that put the fear of "They must have called everyone else and forgotten me" to rest. Jen was told that we were NOT welcome at the hospital. I think I will just wait until she calls to invite us down.

I'm going to be taking a big step back for a while, a self-imposed timeout of sorts. I need to get over the many things I am in disagreement with right now. A person does NOT need a Boppy to have a baby, neither do they need special baby towels and wipes, nor do they need to repaint the house (I'm totally serious here) or make sure that ALL bathroom surfaces are disinfected.

UPDATE: I just got *the* phone call. Braeden Michael Ault S***** was born at 8:10 am. 9 pounds 1 ounce. 22 inches long. Dad called - good thing. :o)

I need to go fix dinner. I'll be back later!