She writes

Sorry it has been so long. My mom even called a couple of days ago to make sure we were still alive out here. Still alive; still running to and from Em's school; still trying to keep up with laundry, housework, grocery shopping, and music lessons; still working on honing our home school routine. In other words, not much has been happening worth writing about.

Until now. Don't take that to mean I have something earth-shattering or mind-blowing. It's just that I finally have something to say that isn't just a blow-by-blow of our day. (OK; you can pick yourselves up off the floor now. And quit checking the forecast for hell.)

Item Number One: If you have the opportunity to go see No Reservations, grab it. Emily and I went earlier tonight and it was so worth the time. It won't solve the world hunger situation, but it really was a good time. Aaron Eckhart was a treat to watch (when isn't he?) and his scenes with Catherine Zeta Jones were great. The soundtrack was awesome as well. Michael Buble's rendition of Sway, plus lots of the late great Luciano Pavarotti, including Nessun Dorma.

Item Number Two: I came across a blog post a couple of days ago that really struck me. What's funny is that it's one of those passages that conjures up a lot of different emotions. Have you ever read anything that both convicted you and made you kinda mad?? I suppose the whole mad thing is just because it forced me to admit all kinds of unpleasant things about myself... and who likes to admit those kind of things?? I don't want to copy and paste it here; you can find this passage on any number of blogs, so I think it would be redundant for me to do that. I'll just give you the link where I read it. Please go read it, especially if you are a mom. And if you're not a mom, I still think you will take something away from it. Even though the person who wrote it was referring to the job of motherhood, I think it applies to us all... whatever we do in life.

Now, for those of you who tune in because you love hearing about our days, weeks, and months... Brian is gearing up for yet another TDY, this time to Virginia. He leaves in the morning and will be gone until Thursday. Emily leaves for her high school retreat on Wednesday and returns on Friday. The rest of us aren't going anywhere (unless crazy counts as a destination... no, wait; Scratch that. I can't go there and leave the kids alone.).

Ready for the weekend

These last 3 weeks have been rather crazy, what with Brian being gone for 13 out of the last 16 days. The kids' playmates were also gone for part of that time, which makes for longer days as well. But all is back to normal (or some version thereof) now.

See the pretty flowers Brian sent me yesterday for our 21st anniversary? I love the colors.... the flowers are actually a little more purple than they look in the photo.

He got home a little after 8:30 last night. The 3 younger kids were spending the night next door, so we went over to see them before they headed to bed. Our house was rather pleasantly quiet after we got home, since Emily was the only one here besides us. It was kinda nice not having to wrangle kids to bed or wrestle them out of ours.


The dogs are doing so well. I took this picture of them napping together yesterday.


Of course, they don't spend all their time together napping:

This is one of their favorite pastimes, tug-of-war. You never know which one will initiate it, although Rory is probably the main instigator. Sometimes she reminds me so much of a child, the way she will get a toy and just go over and dangle it in front of Campbell as if to say, "Look what I have..." I have as yet to get a really good picture to show how much she has grown and how much bigger than Campbell she is now. Earlier this morning she was standing on top of him and his back was fully underneath her... he only had to lower his head. I wonder how long it will be before he can just walk under her without even brushing her stomach?

Rory went to the vet at the beginning of the week. She was just under 40 pounds. That was a weight gain of almost 15 pounds in 3 weeks! Her puppy class graduation is this Sunday evening; she'll get to show off what she's learned, including her new trick we have been working on this week. She now does a "high five" or "gives paw".

If any of my regular readers remember me talking about my friend Jenny (the one we met on our second Disney cruise, and who met up with us at Disney World last Christmas), she has finally joined the blogosphere. Go give her a look-see!

Don't know what this weekend will bring. It is our last weekend before Emily goes back to school on the 23rd. Hopefully we'll find time for some fun.

One more picture of the puppy before I go:

Movie time

We're heading out today to see the latest Harry Potter installment. I'm not expecting as much from this one as the others, mostly because the book was so different from the first 4. I did not reread the book this time, so most of the essential omissions won't be glaringly obvious to me. I'll be sure to post my impressions later today or tomorrow.

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It pays to let companies know when you're not pleased with their service/product. Last week, I opened a package of dog treats (a "Buy One, Get One Free" pack) and found *5* pieces in one package, 13 in the other. I called the number on the back of the package, was able to talk to a live person fairly quickly, and in less than 5 minutes, was promised a coupon for free product to atone for this package that did not meet quality standards. The coupon arrived within the next 2-3 days. Can't beat that.

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I'm still planning that giveaway for readers. I just need to dig out from under a little more here before I can get started. There will be a dozen or so titles offered; hopefully a little something for everyone.

Color me done

OK, this is what you get until I have time to really work on this. I didn't care much for the colors this template started out with. Maybe these aren't much better, but I wanted something a little brighter. I'm sure Emily will come up with some kind of snazzy design for me once we are settled in the new place. She's a Photoshop pro and has taught herself CSS, so I know she can come up with something nice.

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Halle got her first braces on yesterday. She has 4 brackets on top and 3 on bottom for now. She did very well with the whole thing and hasn't complained at all. Tomorrow, she and I are having a mom/daughter date and going to watch the new Nancy Drew movie.

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I'll try to find time tomorrow to post some links I've been saving up. We're a bit under the gun to finish up some cleaning/organizing before the landlord does his walkthrough on Sunday. It doesn't help that avoidance is the middle name of almost everyone in the house this week.