Still gimpin' along

Sorry to have flaked out and been AWOL for so long. It has been an incredibly hectic couple of weeks and I don't think I will even attempt to tell you anything of why. Suffice it to say we have had plenty of things to occupy our time; most good, a few benign, and a very few unpleasant. I guess ranking in the unpleasant is the fact that my knee surgery had to be postponed because of my cold/allergy symptoms I was having. Haven't rescheduled it yet, but it will probably be in October. I am going to start taking a glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM supplement to see if it is any benefit, since I have so long to wait.

School starts for all my kids on Tuesday. The Christian school Em attends built a new building  for the high school, and Em will be there. She got to see it this past Friday when she went in to get her locker assignment and picture taken. It is very nice... big rooms, lots of technology, bigger lockers (inside this time, instead of outside, like at the other school). The other three will be in the same place as last year (here with me). My goal for this weekend is to get the bookcase in the dining room cleaned out and organized for our school year. I need to remove some books and add new ones. We are trying something new this year in our writing. We're subscribing to My Access, an online writing teaching/evaluation system. I think the kids will enjoy it. 

Today we spent time getting ready for the cable guy to come tomorrow afternoon. We've had HD TVs for a little over a year now, but didn't have HD cable receivers. That will change after tomorrow. We'll have 2 HD receivers, one of which will also be a DVR. Yeah, we're finally entering the 21st century in home video recording. Anyhow, you know how TV areas can be really dusty. Add to that a bunch of JUNK and you have a big job to do. The downstairs is a real problem because the kids' computer and the Wii are both there by it and the kids spend a lot of time there. They had to get a lot of their gunk out of the room and I had to dust and vacuum so the guy won't be grossed out.  I still have to do the same upstairs in our room, but it will mostly just involve moving some things on our chest and dusting. It won't be the time-stealing production the living room was.

So there you have it. Still gimpin' along with the knee, getting ready for school, and cleaning for the cable guy. Don't know if I can stand any more excitement. :)

Waiting....

Hubby comes home today. The kids and I have been scurrying about to make the house a welcoming place for him. It has been a crazy week or so since I posted last, what with all the running about and then just holding down the fort while Brian was gone. I managed to contract a cold/allergies in the last few days, which has made the evenings/middle of night less than enjoyable. Lots of coughing/sneezing/leg-crossing/nose-blowing. (Sorry if that was TMI.) Thank goodness for 3am Olympics programming. 

Took the kids to see Wall-E over the weekend. Eh. It was OK. The last part of the film was more enjoyable, but I really am getting tired of movies with agendas. Can't we just make stuff to entertain anymore?

Then yesterday I went to see Tropic Thunder with Emily.   She was supposed to go with a friend, but the friend canceled at the last minute and she didn't want to go alone. We'd already Fandango'd her ticket so I wound up being her second choice. The main reason she wanted to see it is that she is a big Robert Downey, Jr. fan. In my opinion, he was the best part of the film, other than one small part involving a little Vietnamese boy. Other than that, I really wouldn't recommend the film. It was crude, full of f-bombs, and just not my cuppa. 

OK, break time is over. Joel just put on Emily's accompaniment CD for Annie and is busy working to the tune of "Hard Knocck Life." Gotta love him.

*Tap, tap, tap* Anyone still here?

Sorry for my extended absence. No excuses, really. Other than not wanting to bore you to death. But then again, perhaps that is what I do even when I post.... But truly, the only thing of note that has happened since my last post was that Halle had to have a tooth restored at the dentist. Funny thing... the incident that made this necessary actually happened before we left on The Great RV Road Trip of 2008. She and the boys thought it would be fun to throw empty 20-oz. soda bottles at each other. The ever-wise and prudent mother suggested that it was not a good activity, but the participants insisted they were "having fun." Said fun ended rather quickly when Halle wound up with a split lip when one of the bottle missiles hit her in the mouth.  It wasn't until  about 2 weeks later, at her monthly orthodontist appointment (just a few days before we were due to leave town) that we found out more was split than her lip. When the orthodontist removed her rubber bands and wire, off popped part of her tooth. It had broken straight across about halfway up.  Of course, it wasn't  a baby tooth, either. The only thing that could be done for her at that point was just a protective sealant until we returned from our trip.  Then last week, the dentist built up the remaining portion of the tooth with a composite material. She'll have a more permanent tooth made for her once she is all done with braces.

August is one of our busiest months of the year. Brian always has at least one week-long TDY; usually it is two. This year is no different. He leaves Friday to go to the AANA conference in Minneapolis.  He'll return the 14th, only to leave again the 18th for San Antonio. Then he comes back on the 20th, in time for my meniscus surgery on the 22nd.

Meanwhile, this week is VBF (Vacation Bible Fun, as opposed to Vacation Bible School). Halle and Joel both went today and had a great time. Joel wasn't sure he wanted to go; in fact, it was only threat of a pleasureless existence at home that convinced him to go without me dragging him by his heels. Once again, the mother's wisdom was boundless... he can't wait to get up and go tomorrow.  However, our schedule here at home is so crazy that I had to enlist the aide of a neighbor who goes to church with us to help me get the kids there tomorrow and Wednesday. Noah is getting his braces off tomorrow, but his appointment begins about the time I would normally leave here to head to the church building. Then on Wednesday, my pre-op appointment in the orthopedic clinic is scheduled for the start time of VBF.  Thankfully she had no problem with being able to take the kids, and if she hadn't been able to, I had at least 2 other folks who probably would have been able to fill in.

If that weren't enough, I'll have to pick them up just a little bit early tomorrow because VBF doesn't end until noon.... which is when Halle and Noah's music lessons begin. And on Wednesday we won't have time to hang around afterwards because I have my other pre-op appointment at 1. 

Also on the agenda for the week, another appointment at the ortho for Noah to pick up his retainer (Thursday morning), a birthday party for the boys Friday afternoon, one for Emily Saturday evening, and if I get the timing/transportation for Emily worked out, I want to attend this guy's comedy show Saturday night:

Next week should be a bit calmer...