Blahs

I wish I had something fun and witty to write about today. But I don't.

I'm tired.

I have a migraine coming on.

I have AWANA tonight, 20 4-year-olds pounding into my brain for an hour and a half.

Fishing Guy hasn't been home for any of my waking hours (and some of my sleeping hours as well) at all this week. This is the time of year when I wish he had a different job.

It's rainy and getting colder, which also means the kids can not be forced outside to play.

Gah.

I just really need a break today.

Good Stuff!

At the present moment, the kids are both sitting at my crafting table, drawing cards for Daddy in complete harmony. They are discussing colors and sparkle (or not) and general design ideas. Without fighting or whining. It's a miracle!

Actually, I think it's a bonus from spending the mornings apart at school. They really do miss each other and look forward to playing together in the afternoons. I didn't drag them out this afternoon because they were so happy to just be home. I got three hours of complete quiet this morning and they get a mellow momma this afternoon.

We might just get naps in later too...

Transition

Where to start??

I managed not to sign up for anything else last week. *winks* This week? We'll see how well I do.

There is a group in town that will be sponsoring at least 10 families displaced from Katrina. They need help with supplies, food and volunteers for the office. Right now, my free hours don't work with what they need, so I'm off the hook for a little while. Don't get me wrong, I really want to help. I just will end up heading up some committee or something else that will eat more time and drive me crazy as my house falls apart even more.

I managed to go shopping and give haircuts this weekend. We have school pictures this week and I wanted to avoid the night-before-pictures-hair-disaster. Not that my haircuts are disasters, but who wants to take that chance? I'm still trying to decide if the $33 per child for 2 3x5's, 1 8x10 and 20 wallets is really worth it for us. (It is actually a REALLY good price for here.) That would be a large photo for our wall, one 3x5 to each set of grandparents and just enough wallets to send to family. The other option is to have my own photo printed at Snapfish. Decisions...

Anyway, life contines on at warp speed around here.

The Prince (and his 27* new pairs of underwear) are loving the potty trained life. He is dry most mornings and hasn't had a daytime accident in a while either. He is loving school and is seriously sad on M/W/F when we take The Princess to school and he has to come home with me again.

* Really not an exaggeration. They were on sale - Buy 2 packages, Get 1 package free. So, he ended up with 18 plain white, 6 dinosaurs and 3 Spiderman. The upside is that they should fit him for a while and I have enough to pack extra in the backpack, car and anywhere else he might need a change of clothes.

The Princess is even more of a spitfire now that school is in full swing. She was so cute last night, trying to spell words. Most of them had at least two Q's (and a lot of Z's and X's too) and were each about 25 letters long. She was heartbroken that she really didn't spell anything. I am going in to help with her class tomorrow, so The Prince will get to see what Kindergarten is all about. So far, The Princess hasn't gotten upset at sharing her class.

Fishing Guy is already working 6 days a week and I'm already annoyed by it. He has been taking Sunday's off (which is great), but half the day is taken up with church and the afternoon just seems to fly by, while I try to get clothes washed, ironed and ready for the week and he spends some time with the kids. We all have to get to bed on time, since it's a school night and Monday really seems to set the tone for the rest of the week.

I was hoping that the storm that was forecast would really hit hard, but we seem to have gotten a softer blow. The best thing about winter here is the fierce weather - which I love to watch, as long as I don't have to spend any serious time out in it. The trees are starting to get their vivid colors and it's starting to get consistently colder. I need to get my spring bulbs planted this week and then I'll be done with the yard until the snow melts in April. I dug out my extra candles and sweaters, put the down cover on the bed, stocked the freezer and the pantry and I'm ready for fall and winter.

I know, I know...

I'm here, really. I haven't posted anything in the last couple of days because everything I wrote turned into a rant about Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. I'm feeling like things are finally moving in the right direction, so on with the boring stuff of my life.

The update...

Last Friday night I was an Adult Driver for the youth group activity. What a blast! We did a video scavenger hunt and then watched the videos back at the church. I didn't get home until about 11 pm and my sides hurt from laughing so hard. I have been told I will be contacted for the next event.

Saturday was our card swap group party. The cards are great and it was fun to get together and hang out. This group of ladies is funny and we always have a good time. Crafty Neighbor's mom is in town right now, so she got to join in on the fun too.

Sunday was normal, with church in the morning. We shopped for a suit coat for Fishing Guy and then went to see how the fishing was going in the afternoon. I went to a committee meeting in the evening too.

Monday, The Princess had school and The Prince and I had the morning together. I took a nap in the afternoon, while the kids watched some new-to-us videos.

The people I got the videos from also gave Crafty Neighbor a HUGE bag of clothes last week, most of which will fit The Princess now or in the near future. It fills the gaps in her wardrobe and we have some things to grow into!

This morning, I got both kids off to school. It was The Princess' snack day and I also drove for her class field trip to the library. We were to have a playdate this afternoon, but it has been moved to next week. That means I get to get some stuff done this afternoon here at the house. It's like finding more time!

So anyway, the new stuff.

I will be starting the new bible study workbook on Genesis soon. They just arrived yesterday at Bonnie's house, so I haven't seen them yet. We need to be ready to teach by the beginning of October and that is creeping up super fast.

I was asked Sunday evening to organize a Women's Retreat and that is off and running already. I have the info dropped off to the church secretary to put in the bulletin and I have a good outline for the schedule done too. I'm just waiting to hear back about the reservation.

Tomorrow, I have a meeting with the new playground leadership team. Crafty Neighbor is heading the charge, so I got involved that way. It will be a community built playground and I'll have more on this as we get farther along in the process. I also have AWANA tomorrow night and it is The Prince's night for snacks.

Whew!

Thankfully, I'm not feeling as overwhelmed. We have a good routine going and the kids are finally at the age where I don't need to be in the room every second, so I feel like I'm getting some downtime even when they are home. The 6 hours I have to myself every week really helps too. Fishing Guy has been picking up some of the duties lately and I have been very thankful for it.

I'm also working on our Family Emergency Plan and I'm gathering information to take to the church board about community involvement. We face earthquake and tsunami threats here and I want to be ready to take care of myself and our neighbors, if needed. I already store at least a weeks worth of food and water, but I want to build that supply to at least a month.

There is an added element of difficulty when the city is accessible by air and water only. It is also getting on toward winter and if a barge doesn't come through, the whole town runs out of milk, bread and meat very quickly. That is just with normal shopping. Last winter, you couldn't find milk anywhere in town on Sunday nights. We also ran out of hot dogs and hamburger one week.

The buzzer just went off on the dryer - Duty calls!

Gah!

I know better than to spend ANY time reading opinion pieces on New Orleans.

*smacking head against brick wall*

No one will have all the answers. It won't ever be (re)done correctly. Someone will always suffer because of the choices of others. And it will always be someone else's fault.

You know what I really want to hear from all of this?

For SOMEONE to stand up and say, "It was my fault. I am truly sorry. This is what I failed to do and this is what I am going to do right now to fix it..."

There has been too much time wasted pointing fingers and standing around already.

Hump Day

I've made it halfway through the week. Yahoo!

The Princess is at school and The Prince is upstairs watching cartoons. We came home from dropping her off and made playdough for Cubbies and put together a huge floor puzzle. He's having a treat break and I get to play on the computer in peace for a few minutes.

There has been great movement forward in the potty training department. The last two nights, The Prince has slept in undies and woken up dry. He wore undies all day yesterday without an accident until after 6 pm. We were at the church and he didn't know where the bathroom was and just didn't make it in time. He's made it at school both days without accidents and hasn't pooped in his undies since last week. I put him back in diapers over the weekend and he didn't like them. I think he's finally got it!

Yesterday, while both kids were in class, I went out fishing with Crafty Neighbor and Trooper. I didn't catch anything, but probably would have if the reel on Fishing Guy's pole wasn't broken. Bummer. It was still fun to get out on the water and my upper arms are feeling the workout from reeling in. I still want to go to Mexico and fish for marlin - that was our dream for our honeymoon, but we got married at the wrong time of year and never got a honeymoon because of other reasons.

The school routine is working out well and I'm feeling better about all of the things I need to get done everyday. I still haven't made it to the gym though. I'll need to add things slowly, maybe back to Flylady.

I managed to make three trays of chicken enchiladas yesterday afternoon and fed us, the neighbors and 5 men on the mission team - for a total of 13. I still have leftovers! I really do enjoy cooking, just not in my current kitchen. I do still have a bit of a mess to clean up and another load of dishes to run.

The rainy season seems to be upon us. The kids will live in rainboots and raincoats for the next 6 months, except when we get snow. Then they will wear their winter coats and rainboots. Ha! I'm ready to tackle some inside projects and I'm ready for fall.

Labor Day

On which we all try to avoid manual labor...

It's a normal day around here. No rest for the retail workers, of course. The kids are out of school and I got to sleep in. For some reason, I woke up with a headache.

I have some (OK - a lot) of laundry to do. Owing mostly to the bedding that The Prince has either thrown up on (that was Friday night's excitement) and MY bed that he peed on this morning. Washing all the blankets one.at.a.time pushes the rest of the clothes to the side.

I have some little tasks to get done, that I have been putting off for a while. I need to sort my 12x12 patterned scrapbook paper, hole punch and file my bible study, shred old paperwork and get the hanging folders off my floor, finish my second set of cards for the card swap, find a home for the tons-o-construction paper we have and do as much prep work for this week as I can.

I am feeling stressed about my schedule, even though I am prepared and organized.

I have to make dinner twice this week for a mission team helping out at the church, I have the first night of AWANA on Wednesday to prepare for (craft prepared and make some playdough) and I'm driving/filming for a Youth Group Video Scavenger Hunt on Friday night. However, I already shopped and have the meals planned for the week, the craft for Cubbies is only a coloring page and playdough isn't hard to make and I'm really excited about the youth activity, even though I know nothing about where we are going or what we are going to have to do.

I have school every weekday for The Princess. (While I understand that everyone else does too, this is an adjustment for me.) I have school twice a week for The Prince. That means I have to know which day of the week it is. Seems so easy, but I often have to double check myself. Adding to my adjustment difficulties, we have never had traditional weekends off, so I'm having to switch that routine as well. The kids have only known Saturday is different because the cartoons aren't the same. However, the kids are already on a set bedtime and they get their clothes and backpacks ready the night before.

AWANA is starting this week. I'm teaching and both kids are going this year. It runs for the entire school year and I'm really hoping I can keep up the excitement level that whole time. I'll just have to work week by week on this.

I will have a Tuesday evening bible study starting in October. We just finished the study on Leviticus and there will be 3 of us working ahead on the new material in Genesis, so that we are ready to teach. The books and videos should be here this week. We are planning on being finished with Part 1 by Thanksgiving.

I want to go to the gym while the kids are in school, starting this week. There is a spinning class Tuesday/Thursday and the circuit class (that kicked my behind) on Wed/Friday. I'm going to need the extra energy and I need to re-lose the 10 pounds I had worked so hard on. Plus lose the 40 more left on my goal. I have no excuses for not getting to the gym now.

I feel guilty...

Yesterday, while at breakfast, I saw some news coverage on the hurricane. (We have the very basic cable right now and I don't have any of the 24-hour news stations.) The coverage sucked me right in, of course and I spent part of the afternoon searching online for more information.

I want to help. I want to host a family and help them rebuild a new life. I want to donate food or clothes or toys. However, who would want to come to Juneau? It is too expensive to ship large boxes from here, for that to be remotely cost effective. I have some air miles I could donate, but again they are only good for Alaska Airlines. I'm stuck with donating money to charities I trust and praying for the families affected.

And feeling incredibly guilty that I can type this message on a computer, while eating my fresh lunch and washing up with my indoor plumbing.

The other part of me keeps wondering what some of those people were thinking - not having much of anything ready to evacuate and/or survive at home and blaming everything on everyone else not helping them.

The First First Day of School

Both my babies headed off to school this morning!

We were up early, organized and it went so well, I kept waiting for something to happen. There was no crying, just happy kids heading off to play and learn. Fishing Guy took the day of, so we had the morning to ourselves for a little shopping and breakfast out. Ahhh!

The kids did so well, I think it was due mostly to the fact that the classrooms are rooms we use for Sunday School and the church is a familiar place. They already know where the bathroom and the playground is. Haha! Both kids have met their teachers in other capacities as well. Now if only we can keep the momentum going...