Fluff and Nothingness

I wish.

Sunday is my Make-It-To Day.

Then? I can allow myself to have a cold.

Until then, I will be alternately procrastinating and then freaking out to make the deadlines.

T-minus 5 days...

Stormy

Winter is on it's way!

I love walking the kids to school in the brisk morning weather, hanging onto my cup of coffee (or cider or chai tea) and a little hand and just enjoying the mountains. It's also wonderful that it takes about the same amount of time to walk, as it does to drive. And the effort is even more rewarding when I don't have to scrape the windows on the car.

We have a wind advisory today (gusts to 40 mph) and it is not looking very pleasant to be out and about. Good thing it's my day off. I plan to stamp my retreat goodie bags and place cards, spend some quality time on the computer, as long as the power doesn't go out, for which my backup plan is to read a book. Of course, I'll be catching up on the laundry and dishes too. I also declared it a PJ day for the kids.

The weekly update... I've had a good week and got a lot done, but I'm definitely feeling overwhelmed again.

Bonnie has been sick this last week, even though she was there both Tuesday and Wednesday nights last week, she wasn't at her best. So, I am now preparing to teach the Precepts Bible class on Tuesday night so that she can rest this week. She can't get in to see her doctor until Monday and she is still feeling horrible.

I have one week to get everything ready for the retreat and I'm feeling like the more I get done, the more that gets added to the list. I have to delegate more and I'll know what to pass on, after I close the registration tomorrow.

I'm now teaching my own class of Cubbies, which was more preparation than I thought originally, but the end result was great. I'm so glad someone told me, when I first started teaching Sunday School, that kids never know what they are missing, they are very good at living in the moment and are easy to please. We only had 8 kids last week and it was wonderful! No one was injured and of course, I like being in charge.

I renewed my registration for the new car and then had to make a trip to the DMV and get new license plates. When we bought the car, it only had one plate. Which is illegal. So, now I am a law-abiding citizen again and The Prince helped me put the new plates on, in the rain. I also replaced the fuse (Thanks for the tip Dad!) for my back defroster and now it works wonderfully!.

The Prince and I went to the library Friday and checked out 9 kids books. I picked out one for The Princess and she actually read to me last night and this morning. It's fun to see the light go on for her when she recognizes the word she sounded out. My favorite one right now is "and".

I did NOT make it in to finish the set up of the last wings for my paying job. It didn't help that there were corporate visits all week and Fishing Guy was working non-stop.

We met with the church couples last night for dinner and had a fun, relaxing time. I made cupcakes to take for dessert and Crafty Neighbor doubled her cream cheese frosting for me. It was Bright Orange. Hee! One of the other ladies had a birthday on Tuesday and Fishing Guy celebrates his tomorrow.

We had a Project Playground meeting on Thursday, which was fine, followed by a meeting with the Women of the Moose.

Which was not fine.

They made us (Crafty Neighbor and myself) wait for an hour. In a bar. Filled with smoke. Before they would even discuss the proposal Crafty Neighbor sent them or hear any presentation. Because they had their "secret stuff" to attend to first. The new chairwoman was lacking in about every friendly personality trait possible. We won't be approaching them again, if only because we can't imagine having a working relationship with her over the next year. What a waste of an hour and a half!

On a side note, poor Fishing Guy was at home watching all 4 of the kids during that time too. At least we left him armed with brownies.

Our Project Playground Steering Committee has already had to push back the goal design and construction dates because we can't find a non-profit to umbrella us for the financial part of the project.

I will be heading to JoAnn's this afternoon to get the last stuff for the retreat and if I'm going to make it out the door, I've got to get in the shower and get dressed!

Have a great weekend!

Alaska Day

In honor of someone for something, today is a state holiday. Which means the banks, post office and schools are closed.

Yippee!

Seriously.

What a relief to have a free day in the middle of the week.

I got up early (before 7 am), without the alarm and was almost done with my first cup of coffee by the time I got to my friend Mary's house. We met for about a half hour to pray for the upcoming women's retreat.

Today was Fishing Guy's late day at work, so he was home with the kids and enjoying HIS cup of coffee before he headed to work.

When I got home, I ended up running through the house like a crazy person, looking for my detailed shopping list, full of the things I still needed to get at Fred's, before finally deciding I can go back if I REALLY need something and giving up on the fruitless search. I put the kids in the car and we headed off with lists, each kid with a wish list for Operation Christmas Child boxes and mine for everything I could remember from the lost list.

We were very successful with all the lists, although I don't know what I've forgotten yet. The kids have loads of goodies to cram in a shoebox and we had minimal tears that those goodies were not for him. I stayed under my budget of $25 per box and we will be stopping with what we have.

Once home again, the requests for the home-schooling started. You see, when school is out for the day (or on The Prince's off days) I will do worksheets with the kids. Partly because it keeps them busy and partly because I haven't decided if I will homeschool The Princess next year. We worked for about 30 minutes and then did a craft. I was introduced to Perler beads at another blog last week and the kids picked some out at JoAnn's last weekend. They were a hit, although The Prince lost interest halfway into his hexagon (when it tipped over) and I ended up making a rainbow star for him instead.

I have my Precepts Bible Study tonight and I might end up teaching it because Bonnie wasn't feeling well last night. I'll know if she got enough rest later this afternoon. I'm just glad I am prepared to fill in if she needs the help. I haven't stayed ahead of the class and I need to get going on it again.

The retreat planning is going well. I will not be taking registrations after this Sunday, so that I can prepare all of the things I need to prepare. It is NOT the Alaskan thing to do, so I'm getting some heat for requiring people to make up their minds ahead of time. We are at 12 women signed up right now and we have room for 22.

Tomorrow will be my first night as leader of my own Cubbie room. We split the kids in half, 10 each, mainly for safety. However, last week, one of my girls tripped headfirst into a bookcase and had to go to the hospital for the resulting gash on her forehead. Thankfully, they were able to glue it shut (and it didn't bleed all over either!), but it was not a good start to the night.

I'm driving for another field trip tomorrow morning. This one is to the fish hatchery and The Prince is coming along. Thursday is Fishing Guy's day off and in the evening, I have a playground meeting. Friday evening, we are having dinner with 3 other couples (and a few kids) from church. Somewhere in there I have to work a couple of hours to finish setting our product displays.

I've got a full schedule for the week and it's only Tuesday. Sigh...

Sigh...

Evidently things didn't get republished for the post to go up this morning...

Oh well.

I'm enjoying a relatively quiet day. The Princess was the only child off to school this morning and I left The Prince here with Fishing Guy and dropped her off alone. The morning went too fast and all of a sudden it was time to pick The Princess up again. The Prince is really enjoying Daddy time and it's cool to see him pick Daddy over me.

We had lunch, I sorted some pictures and then went to get our neighbors at the airport. They just spent 10 days in Hawaii, but were happy to be home. I'm guessing that they are napping right now, as they have been flying for the last 15 hours. Yikes!

I've got three hours until AWANA. I have a craft to make copies for, a parent letter to print (and then copy) and a patch to sew on The Princess' vest. I still might get a nap before I have to get dinner together.

I came up with a few cool ideas for the Women's Retreat (with our church) and I need to get started on them this week. I'm going to do hand-stamped name cards with the schedule printed inside and they will go well with the verse cards another woman made up for me as goodies to take home. I need to shop for my craft supplies this weekend too and hope that I guess correctly on the number attending. We will be staying the night here. It happens to be about the only place locally we can have a private retreat, nevermind that the view is awesome and it is very peaceful. It's right on the water and this year I'm going to get a room with a cove view! One of the perks of planning the retreat, I guess.

I also haven't mentioned the three hour power outage we had Sunday night or the fact that I am now the Fellowship Committee Chairperson at our church. (I was approved the same night I missed a meeting. Oops!) Oddly, the two events really are connected. The Princess went with me to the evening service and we were about 5 minutes into the singing and everything went dark. Being in Alaska, several men ran out to their vehicles and soon there were enough flashlights that we could see fairly well. Thankfully, there was an acoustic guitar and we just sang hymns and songs most people would know. The service was cut short and we went straight into the business meeting (the reason I went to the service in the first place) and all of the nominations were approved. The Prince was home with Fishing Guy at the time and was freaking out. They stopped by the church 1. to make sure we were all ok and 2. so that The Prince could tell me, "that the power ran out of the house and none of the lights work." We were home about 7:30 pm, I helped find the flashlights and candles and we got the kids to bed. Fishing Guy and I played part of a game of cribbage before the power was restored. The Princess was still awake when the lights came on, so she got to listen to her radio to fall asleep. The Prince woke up Monday morning announcing that the lights were working again! Too cute.

Tuesday, October 11th

A really crazy day in my life...

Up at 7:45 am - get the kids dressed, fed and to school by 8:30 am.

Home from 8:35 - 10:10 am - cleaned the kitchen and started some bread. Fishing Guy got up sometime during this time, closer to the end than the beginning.

10:15 - 11:30 am - Parent driver for the library field trip, pick up the kids and bring them home. Head right back out the door, leaving Dad to make lunch and entertain for the afternoon.

Noon - 5:15 pm - Work at my new job, setting up the display areas and unpacking all of the new products.

5:30 pm - Come home to find I still have to make dinner and get back out the door by 6:30 pm.

6:50 pm - pull in to a parking spot at the church, dinner in hand, for my Precept Bible Study.

8:30 pm - Come home to find the kids still up, no one in PJ's and I have to do the story, tucking and prayers.

9:20 pm - Kids are finally in bed, watched the end of Close to Home and the taped shows from earlier, NCIS and Amazing Race. The tape ran out about 3 minutes before the end and I had to check online this morning which family was eliminated. I'm still surprised that they haven't left the country yet.

11 pm - Fishing Guy put in G.I. Jane and I tried to go to sleep.

Midnight - finally stopped checking the clock and fell asleep.

More Details

on the job will be coming after my meeting on Tuesday.

As far as I know, I will be taking care of one endcap of souvenirs and 8 small hanging areas. Fishing Guy said the first freight came in a couple of days ago and they are nativity scenes with an Alaska theme, ie. sled dogs instead of sheep. I'll let you all know more as I find out.

As with the majority of paying work in my life, this job landed in my lap. Fishing Guy called one day from work to tell me about it and said I would have a shot at it, provided the Director's wife didn't want it. Evidently, she decided not to take it and it was passed on to me. The pay was stated at $15/hour, but I'm not sure what it will end up at when Fishing Guy is done negotiating. I also don't know how many hours it will end up being each week. Most likely 1-3. Still, it's a little extra cash, an outlet for me in the "real world" and I can work around the kid's schedule.

I've got plans this afternoon to help a friend get her 400+ pictures off her camera and uploaded to Snapfish, then get her started on her first scrapbook, while the kids have their playdate. I might be teaching her 15 year old daughter how to make cards too. We are having dinner with a few couples from church (not here!) and the kids are going to another friend's house for the evening. She owed me sitting from back in May sometime and we are just now going out alone again.

I got some of the spring bulbs planted yesterday, before the phone rang and it started raining again. Fishing Guy is almost done with the prep work in the beds and the yard looks so much better already.

I'm busy planning the Women's Retreat for the end of the month and I'm still at a standstill for Halloween costumes. Tick Tock...

I need to make a lunch for Fishing Guy (and deliver it) and do some one-on-one work with The Prince for his "home-schooling" day. I don't think I'll be making it to the gym in time for the circuit class today. Unless I get going right now.

Warp Speed

I swear that time has gotten faster this year! We are already into October and the kids have been asking about Christmas already. AACK!!

Fishing Guy had last weekend off, so we spent Saturday doing as little as possible. I was so dedicated to the cause that I read 2 books. Crafty Neighbor and family left for Hawaii at 5 am Sunday morning and I was the designated ride giver. I came home and crawled back into bed before I had to get everyone ready for church. We all cleaned the house in the afternoon, which was much needed. We had a friend over for dinner too.

Monday started the grind over again. I helped in The Princess' classroom on Monday, both kids had school Tuesday morning and we had our Intro class for the new bible study last night. Tonight is AWANA again, thankfully without the oncoming headache.

I just found out that I will be painting *something* with the Fred Meyer crew at St. Vincent's tomorrow morning - on my last morning off this week. Fishing Guy is taking a week's vacation next week, so maybe I'll catch up on my naps then. I made it to the gym twice last week, but my chances are looking slim for this week. I tried a spinning class and the circuit training class that kicked my behind last time. I did much better this time, although I did skip it this morning in favor of having breakfast at McDonald's with The Prince. It was his treat for doing so well with his potty training.

In other news, I have been found by a not-even-part-time job working for a Fred Meyer vendor, that starts next week. I'll be able to work my own hours and the pay is crazy-good. I meet with the supervisor next Tuesday for all of the details, so far Fishing Guy has been setting everything up for me. The excitement of earning a little money is pretty cool.

The kids are currently taking forced naps, with the threat of missing AWANA tonight if they didn't sleep. They really need to be in bed at 8 pm, not 9 pm like has been happening lately. The Prince asked to go to bed last night at 8:40 pm and was asleep in about 5 seconds. We haven't been home before 8:45 pm any Wednesday since club started and by the time they are asleep, it's pushing 9:30 pm. Both kids have school on Thursday, so it becomes a dreaded morning for me.

I'm in need of some downtime too, so I'm off to rest.