Weekend in bullets and a few links

Typical weekend of "stuff" here:

• Friday night was Celebrate Recovery. Brian wasn't here, but was in the air on his way home from a trip to the Washington, D.C., area (left Thursday morning, landed back in Sacramento at 11pm Friday). Because he is usually the in charge of running PowerPoint for the worship/lesson portion, he had to find a replacement. That was an easy task. But then I arrive to find out that this week's worship leader was sick and the other worship leader was taking over for him. Only problem was, he was the one who was going to run PowerPoint. So I wound up getting recruited to do that. Ordinarily, I would be singing with him, as I am on his worship team (a fairly new assignment I just accepted this week).
  
• The other glitch in Friday night occurred because this was the last Friday of the month, meaning we were having our monthly CR dinner beforehand (beginning at 5:30 instead of the usual 6:30). It's normally not a big deal, especially when there isn't a parental unit missing from the equation. But this week, Emily had rehearsal for Annie until 5pm. I had to pick her up, drop off my food at the church, take her back home, and then drive back to the church. I didn't make it there until 6. To say I was feeling a little stressed would be slightly understating things.
• Saturday was filled with our usual ball games. Thankfully , the boys' games overlapped so that we were only at the field for a little over 2 hours instead of the typical 4. I still managed to get too much sun on my face. One of these days I will remember the sunblock.
• In addition to the games, our neighborhood was also having a garage sale. There really was no way for us to get ready for it or really participate, but one of my neighbors did let me stick a few things I had in the garage over at her place. Someone bought the kennel that Rory was shipped to us in, and that was the extent of my luck. Halle sold one of her GameCube games and a doll stroller/playpen.
• Brian and I went shopping for things for the RV and house late yesterday evening. We bought some string lights for the back patio (need to go back and get one more set) and some indoor/outdoor carpet for it. Didn't have as much luck with the RV stuff. We may try to get to Camping World tomorrow if we have time. We're planning on doing another overnighter this weekend after Noah's ball game Saturday, so really do need to work on getting the motorhome more fully stocked.
  
• We went to Fenton's Creamery for lunch after church today. Mmmm, mmmm. Thankfully I remembered from our last trip how huge the ice cream portions are and ordered a "small" rather than a "regular" scoop of ice cream.
  
• After we got back, I made a trip to the commissary. While I was gone, Brian was washing his truck and using the power washer on the house and back patio. I pulled into the driveway to see Noah and his friend Beth giving Campbell a bath in the front yard. (Yes, it is warm enough to bathe the dogs outside... in the 80s.) I convinced Emily that Rory needed a bath as well. I will try to post some pictures of that tomorrow or one day this week.
• Laundry was the other main chore of the day. I have some needing to be switched around right now, in fact.

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And now for the links:

1. I may be the last person in the blogosphere to mention this blog, but just in case you've somehow missed it... You *must* read the story of Angie and Todd Smith's baby, Audrey. (Todd is one of the guys from the group Selah.) Just go back to the first post in January and read all the way up to now. It's only 38 posts, but I guarantee you will not be the same person when you finish. The latest post from Friday has a beautiful slideshow set to a song that Angie and her husband wrote. I challenge anyone to watch it and listen and have a dry eye when she/he is done. Of course, if all their story does is just make us cry, then we've completely missed the point.
   
2. Anyone else love Pioneer Woman's recipes?? I must have a list a mile long of her recipes that I want to try. The latest is her risotto. I don't think I've ever had risotto before, but her recipe sounds just delicious. I also am dying to try Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich.
   

A Death in the Family

My children experienced their first taste of death today. Thankfully, they were somewhat prepared for it. Summer (our pet rat) had seemed poorly for the last week or two and yesterday her activity level dropped considerably. We told the kids we didn't think she'd last past the night. Noah woke up at 4:30 this morning and checked on her... by his report, she was still breathing. I didn't think to check her until I got back from taking Emily to school at 8. She was gone. Of all the kids, Noah took it the hardest. He talks a good game, but he has a sensitive heart.

We waited for Brian to come home in the afternoon and he and the kids took her to a quiet spot and buried her. I would have gone, but then I would have felt like I should have sung a funeral song for her and I wasn't sure what an appropriate one would have been: When All of God's Ratties Get Home, Precious Ratties, Cheese Perfect Cheese, Precious Lord Take My Paw....?

Anyhow, that's life here. Looking forward to hump day tomorrow. I've had a tough time getting back into the swing of things after that week off, but tomorrow is a new day and we *will* get back on track!

Who turned out the lights?

We spent the better part of yesterday without power here... someone hit a power pole just outside one of the base gates and took out 2 more. We were dark from 12:30 pm till just before midnight last night. Made for an interesting day with no way to cook (electric ignition on the gas stove) or do our usual things (computer, tv). We had some errands to run in the early evening and when we came back, our next-door neighbor had an outdoor fireplace going, and a propane camping lantern hanging in the doorway of his garage. Across the street, another neighbor had his telescope out, trained on Saturn. We all had a chance to look through the telescope... it was very cool; we could even see Saturn's rings! It wasn't an extremely close-up view; our neighbor said he had stronger lenses, but they were more sensitive to wind, so it would have been harder to see. At any rate, it was a great night for stargazing, since there was very little light to be had anywhere around.

It's course selection time at Emily's school. I was able to log onto the school website just a few minutes after registration was opened up, so I am hoping she is able to get all the courses she wanted. Not sure when we will hear about it.

Next week is Spring Break. No major plans except chillaxin'.

Baseball and birthdays

It was a great opening day yesterday, despite the iffy weather. The sun played hide-and-seek for most of the day, but thankfully the rain held off until our last game was ending. Noah's team won its first game of the season 12-4; he played 3rd base and made some good catches, including one in which he made a throw to 1st to get someone out. His next game is this Thursday.

This picture is of Noah on 2nd base. The one I took just before this was of him rubbing his upper right arm, where he had taken a hit from a pitch a few moments before.




Joel's team had fun with their first game. This being our first time with coach-pitch, we are pretty new to how they do things.... it appears that there is no score-keeping with it. At any rate, Joel had a great time, especially since he was playing 1st base and caught several throws to tag kids out. Joel has to wait until Saturday for his next game.




This is Joel, just seconds before he caught a throw and tagged a player out.



Today was Brian's birthday... we celebrated by driving up to Sacramento to eat at California Pizza Kitchen, doing a little shopping at the mall there, and then grabbing some cheesecake to go from The Cheesecake Factory. Emily and I went grocery shopping after we got home, and then we all settled down for some homework. I helped Brian edit and proof some recommendation letters he needed done for tomorrow and Emily finished up her schoolwork for tomorrow.

This week is the last week of school before Spring Break.... and Emily will have her first driving lesson on Friday. I forgot to mention earlier that she passed her driver's test on Friday. Now we are 6 months away from having 3 drivers in the family!

Party on

I am uncharacteristically late to the party, but at last I have arrived! Loved last year's party and am looking forward to this year's.... just hope I have time to mix and mingle, what with all the goings-on around here. Forgive me if I have to step out for a bit, but I seem to have lost the remote control to life and cannot hit "pause" so that I can relax and enjoy the fun as much as I'd like.

For newbies here, I'll point you to my 100 things post, newly updated. As a quick intro, I'll let you know that I'm a full-time mom to 4 kids ages 7-16, plus 2 dogs, ages 11 months and almost 5 years. The beautiful face looking at you in the header is Rory, our Great Dane puppy. She is mentored by our spazztastic Wire Fox Terrier, Campbell. I've been married nearly 22 years to a great guy who is a nurse anesthetist in the US Air Force. I homeschool our 3 youngest kids, while the oldest is a sophomore at the local Christian high school.

Two big events coming up this week for us:

1. My 16yo is taking her driver's permit test on Friday.
   
2. Opening day for baseball here on base. The boys both have games, thankfully not at the same time (although that will happen a few times later this season).

Grab a Diet Mt. Dew and relax... I'll be back to check on you eventually (unless I fall asleep watching HGTV).

The week in review

Obviously I haven't had a lot of time on my hands this past week. It went fairly smoothly, even with all the running back and forth and here and there. Best part of the week was Brian coming home on Saturday. Everyone was very happy to have him back. He got home just in time to see the last half of a scrimmage baseball game between Noah's team and another team. Noah even got to pitch and didn't do half bad.

Today was a full day. Despite turning the clock forward, we went to early service rather than our usual late service (9am vs. 10:45). I had put a half-ham in the oven before we left, so that all I needed to do once we got home was make the mashed potatoes. We finished lunch just in time for me to run to a birthday party with Halle.

While I was gone, Brian and the boys did a LOT of yard work. The boys did the dirty work of cleaning up after the dogs... something that hadn't been done in a while since it is a nearly impossible thing to do during the rainy season. Our yard is slick and muddy when it is wet out, so there is no way to take care of the "stuff" they leave behind. Once they finished their job, Brian was able to mow the yard. They also cleaned out the front flowerbed. And when I say "cleaned out," I mean it. They removed everything. Not sure yet what we'll fill it back up with. It's a very sunny location, so we'll have to find something that does well in full sun.

I ended up going out again for various things... dog food for Rory, a CostCo run for stock-up items from the coupon sale that ended today, and to return movies to Blockbuster. Got home with enough sunlight left to play ball with Rory in the back yard.

Speaking of Rory, Brian said he took both dogs for walks while I was gone (separately), and said his walk with Rory took twice as long as the one with Campbell because of all the people who wanted to meet them. She does draw a lot of attention and gets many compliments because of her gentle temperament. People also notice how calmly she walks with us, rather than trying to take us for a walk.

Oh, one other cool thing from the week: Emily's select choir from school received a "command performance" at the music festival they attended this week. Only the groups that receive a superior rating from the adjudicator get to sing at the concert at the close of the festival. Emily text-messaged me to let me know and thought it was quite funny that I wasn't there to hear them sing (she had a descant duet with a tenor on their performance piece). Hopefully someone videotaped it and I will get to see/hear it.

Challenges ahead

I had thoroughly intended to post before this, but it has been an unusual week here. On Tuesday, Brian stayed home from work sick, and then on Wednesday, I was the bedridden one. (Thankfully, he was up to snuff and handled the house and kids for me.) I have no idea what I had, but I was just sapped of all energy and felt like I was drifting in and out of consciousness for the first half of the day. Ran a fever of 2-3 degrees, but by Thursday, I was pretty much OK. Good thing, because Brian had to go back to work!

Now with those challenges met, I have new ones to face. Brian leaves for San Antonio tomorrow and won't be back till the 8th. This leaves me to juggle baseball practices, choir practice, AWANA, etc. alone all week. Not usually that big of a deal, but we have something new thrown into the mix next week. Emily's choir instructor has called additional rehearsals in the evening to prepare the choir for Musicale, a big chorale event held up in Sac on Thursday and Friday. She has rehearsals on Mon/Tue from 5:30-7:30 and Wed. 4:30-6:30. Noah has moved to a new baseball team and his practices have shifted to 1/2 hour later, starting at 5:30 and ending at 6:30 now. Here's a picture of what my days look like next week, courtesy of my Entourage calendar (click to biggify):


What the schedule doesn't show is that Thursday and Friday, Emily is in Sac all day and I will need to pick her up from school in the evenings at some point. Most likely it will be after 7 on Thursday and then probably near the end of my Friday night commitment (which is very near the school, anyway).

I think I have all the conflicts worked out... just need to check with the neighbors whose son is on the same team as Noah, and with a coupla folks from church who could help get Halle to/from AWANA just to help life slow down a bit for me and save a little gas. (Now *there's* another post... gas prices here have jumped over 30 cents in the last week!) Still planning next week's menu, but have figured out what night will need to be a fast food night and which nights eating at home will be most doable.

I have a feeling by the time the week is over, I'll be wishing I had a hot tub (spa) to climb into.

What a weekend

This past weekend was no different than most of our weekends, plenty of things to keep us occupied. It began Friday afternoon with Noah's ball practice at 5 (for which he only stayed 40 minutes or so because of our regular Fri-night CR engagement that starts around 6), and ended with falling asleep to HGTV around 10:30 last night.

We had AWANA pinewood derby on Saturday (saw some very cool and original designs... Halle is already thinking of hers for next year), followed by a quick lunch at Wendy's. We got home around 3 and around 30 minutes later were reminded by neighbors of their daughter's birthday party at 4 at one of the local "jump houses" (for those not familiar with the term, they are large rooms filled with inflatable bounce houses/slides/mazes). Thankfully, we did already have a present and wrapping paper, so we were able to get ready to go and were on time for the festivities. All the families on our street with children under 13 were there, plus a few extra. I was able to get in a little visiting with the other moms, something I really don't do very often. We got home in time to put dinner in the oven.... Paula Deen's Baked French Toast. Joel said he gave it an "A." Guess that means I'll need to make it again. Watched Mr. Bean's Holiday with the kids and Brian before bedtime (it was as much torture for me the second time as the first) and ended the evening falling asleep while watching Two Weeks with Brian. The fact that I fell asleep had *nothing* to do with the movie; I was just too tired by that time to stay awake. I was up early enough yesterday morning to finish watching it before getting out of bed.

I cannot say enough about Two Weeks. I can not imagine a person who could watch it and not be affected by it. It is amazing the range of emotions one movie can provoke. The basic storyline surrounds four adult siblings whose mother is dying of ovarian cancer and what happens when they come together in her home for what they believe will be her last few days (turning into two weeks... thus the title). There are moments that will make you laugh, cry, feel like slapping someone... and make you think. Watch it. Let me know how it affected you.

Yesterday we went to church and then out for lunch at Tahoe Joe's. Brian and I split a ribeye (really, should anyone eat a 14 oz. steak?). Halle and Noah both ordered the kids' steak, which has always been very good in the past. Unfortunately, the same could not be said yesterday. Apparently they changed the cut of meat they use for it and instead of a small sirloin, it was a big thick unidentifiable chunk of meat. Halle's was so tough I couldn't cut it, and Noah's was so tasteless, he barely ate 1/4 of it. Our server disappeared on us after serving the food so that we couldn't even tell her to take it back.... we had to ask the hostess to tell our server about it. Saw her do that, but the server never came back to the table (she even walked right past us to start chatting up a new table full of guys). Everyone else finished eating, and we finally asked to talk to the manager. We politely and calmly explained our dissatisfaction with the food and service (Brian's glass sat empty for 20 minutes). The manager wound up comping us the entire meal, plus gave us a card good for 3 free kids' meals on our next visit. We *will* go back, mostly because yesterday was quite atypical for that restaurant, and also because of the way the manager responded. There have been times we have had issues or questions in a restaurant and the managerial staff has responded defensively or made excuses; he did neither of those, but just apologized and asked for a chance to make it right. I appreciated that.

Came home and finished making this week's menu/shopping list, then headed to the commissary. Came home, put away groceries, then folded a couple of loads of laundry while watching the Oscars. There will be MUCH more laundry to do today. Brian helped the boys clean their room while I was shopping (and after I got back... and they still aren't done) and discovered a huge amount of clothing that hadn't been making its way to the laundry.

On the agenda this week in the evenings:

• a ball practice every evening from 5-6ish Mon-Fri, plus at least one on Saturday morning.
• Easter choir rehearsal for me tonight
  
• play rehearsals for Emily after school a couple days (not sure which)
• Tuesday night AWANA for Halle, growth group meeting for me and Brian
• Brian's regular Wed. evening group meeting
• Fri. night CR
  

Thursdays are happy nights; only Joel's ball practice to worry about (unless I have praise choir rehearsal...)

The mother of all bulleted lists

My infrequency of posting has left many to wonder if I am still alive. The answer is unequivocally yes.... although with the schedule we'll be keeping this spring, that may not hold true for long! There is much I haven't mentioned here, but not for lack of wanting to; I just haven't found the time. But here I sit, hubby out of town, oldest daughter spending the night away, and the other three happily entertaining themselves a few steps away. This may just be the perfect time to get everything all out in the open. What better way to do it than with bullets???

• We joined the ranks of Wii owners this Christmas. It was the surprise hit of the day. As a testimony to its appeal, I saw more of Emily in the 3 days following Christmas Day than I did in the 3 weeks prior! Favorite games are Wii Sports (Joel has actually bowled a perfect 300!), Wii Play, and Carnival Games. Emily is lobbying to get Guitar Hero III after playing it on a friend's PlayStation; she says she RULES it. That probably means I would *not* rule it. I would like to wait and see if Rock Band is going to be made for Wii; my sister says it is a lot of fun. According to Wikipedia, EA announced plans for a Wii version on Jan. 31, so we'll have to wait and see if that plays out.
  
• I think I mentioned that the boys will be playing baseball this spring. Noah started practice this week. He had practice Monday and Wednesday from 5-6, Friday for about 1/2 of that, but only because we had to leave early for Celebrate Recovery, and today from 9-11. So far, it looks like the same schedule for next week, but it may change. Got the call from Joel's coach today, and his first practice is this Thursday from 5-6, with a 15-min parent meeting before that. This will be very interesting, having 2 in sports at the same time; it's a first for us. No word yet on what days the actual games will be. To complicate matters, Noah's team will have to travel to some surrounding towns 30 minutes or so away to play, and possibly even to one about 2 hours away. And then there is coordinating all this with Emily's play rehearsals, which for now are on Tuesdays and Wednesdays after school until around 4. Thankfully, many of Noah's team members live here in our neighborhood, less than a block away, even.
  
• During the sports physicals the boys had to prepare for Little League, we found out Noah needed a more thorough vision exam. So now he is sporting glasses. Overall, his vision isn't too bad, but it seems that his right eye had been doing most of the work.
• 
• Halle finished up her first AWANA book this past week. She is starting on the second one now. She probably won't be able to finish it this year, but should get far enough along in it so that she will be able to get through both it and book 3 next year, which will put her right on track with where she should be.
• Still making it to the movies on occasion. Emily and I went to see 27 Dresses a few weeks ago. Just goes to show I cannot listen to any professional movie reviewers. I loved it. Don't want to give anything away for those who haven't seen it, but for those who have, I totally was in tears in the bridal shop scene with the sister. I was feeling Jane's pain.
  
• Halle and I went to see the Hannah Montana 3D movie. I actually missed the Super Bowl to take her. We got home just moments after the last play. Ah well, I think it was worth it.
  
• Tonight, the kids and I went to the base theater to catch The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. Halle hadn't been all that keen on seeing it, but even she said it was better than she thought it would be. I appreciated the message of the story: Heroes don't have to be the biggest, bravest, or strongest. They just have to do what's right, even when it isn't easy. Good lesson for our kids to learn, and I can think of a lot of us adults who would do well to learn it as well.
• The dog training is going well. What I find almost inconceivable is how much the dogs actually like wearing their training collars/leashes. This training is not the typical food reward kind of training, so they aren't acting all happy because they know they're getting treats, that's for sure. But when they see me go get the leashes from the leash rack, they both get very excited. One thing we are working on right now is the down stay. They're both pretty good with it; one funny thing is that when I am working with Rory, Campbell will often put himself in a down stay at the same time. Then when he hears me give her the "clear" signal, he'll get up as well. What I really like doing is seeing how softly I can give the command and get a response. I can really almost whisper it. What we really need to work on now is practicing in places away from home (the park, stores... there are a few around here that are dog-friendly, like Home Depot/Lowes). I took Rory to the duck pond park here on base a few days ago and she was quite distracted by the sea gulls! the ducks! the geese! She actually pulled on the leash for the first time in literally months. She was acting more like a Pointer (not June, Anita, or Ruth) than a Great Dane.
• We have a family outing planned for Monday to go to Sacramento to see the Bodies Revealed exhibit. Unfortunately, no picture-taking is allowed. Bummer. I think it is going to be very cool. Halle really doesn't want to see it ("Mom, I'm a girl... I don't want to see dead bodies!"), but she is still coming along; Emily just plain doesn't want to go anywhere with her family unless it is to buy stuff for her, so we'll see if she goes or not.
  
• I never wrote a wrap-up post for the fall reading challenge. Suffice it to say that I did manage to read all that was on my list with the exception of one book that I traded in early on, plus several more. Since the end of the challenge, I haven't had as much opportunity to read; I'm missing it.
• To that end, I am looking forward to the unified study we are starting at church this week. As a church, we will be reading a book by Bill Hybels, Just Walk Across the Room: Simple Steps Pointing People to Faith. This will continue through to Easter; the sermons will relate to the book, as will our small group meetings. I've read the first chapter so far and liked what I read.
• Speaking of Easter, rehearsals for Easter choir started this past Monday night. Oops, one more thing to juggle on baseball practice night.
  

There... that's about it, I think. Hopefully you are still awake after all that. If I've left anything of importance out, it will probably come to me around 2am.

Help, I've fallen behind and I can't catch up!

At least that's how it feels. I have been wanting to post for what seems forever, but there just hasn't been a good time. Either that, or the body just wasn't willing. I'm fighting some kind of crud (I think I'm winning now) and also single-parenting this week. Brian is in Missouri visiting his mom and will be back after work on Friday.

I had to take Emily to the doctor yesterday. She called me from school and said she couldn't hear out of one ear and was dizzy. Turns out that ear had quite a bit of fluid build-up and was rather red as well. She's on high-dose Amoxil for 5 days (1 gram TID ... 3x a day for non-medical folks).

The kids and I went to see a free sneak preview of August Rush on Saturday. Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Arthur and the Invisibles) shows his stuff again... His character travels the gamut of emotions in this film and Freddie makes it believable. I am wondering what kind of roles he'll be getting once he gets out of the child actor years. The music in the film is wonderful. Robin Williams was scary.... he played a Fagin-esque (how's that for a new word?) character who collected street kids in an abandoned theater and had them playing music on street corners to earn him money. Once you suspend belief and get past the whole idea of a mystical kind of ESP/awareness, it is much easier to enjoy the whole premise of the movie (young boy looking for the parents who never knew he existed).

I've managed to work on that reading challenge list some more. Just one book left to read from my original list (Barefoot). I really enjoyed How Starbucks Saved My Life... it was an easy read and just made so much sense. (And if you've ever wondered what it was like to work as a barista, you'll get a firsthand account.) Other books I've managed to get through are Split Ends, by Kristin Billerbeck, and The Oak Leaves. On the nightstand: Alaska Twilight, by Colleen Coble. For the carpool lane: The Book of Jane, Anne Dayton.

It didn't hit the fan, but might as well have

Yet another crazy busy Friday evening... took Emily to pick up a friend and dropped them at the mall to see a movie, then grabbed the kids from home and got a quick bite to eat before heading to Celebrate Recovery. Brian is out of town (left yesterday and comes back tomorrow), so I was running PowerPoint for him. Left CR early so I could pick up Emily; got to her friend's house and she asked to spend the night. OK. Fine. I'll pick her up tomorrow after 1 or so.

Here's where the fun begins. To properly set the stage, I should explain that I got little sleep last night because I was letting Rory out every hour and a half or so... intestinal issues, to put it delicately. We left the dogs in their crates when we left the house a little after 5; got home around 8:30 or so. I need a HazMat team for the laundry room now. First ever episode of dirtying her crate and I know she had no control over it (no pun intended). I had to pull out her crate pad and try to hose off the solids out in the back yard (with no light to see by). Then I got her into the upstairs tub for a semi-shower... mostly to clean between her toes and clean her undersides. I used an old quilt for a towel. (I wonder what other Dane owners use to dry off their dogs after a bath?) I gave the laundry room floor a lick and a promise. The rest of the house looks like a cyclone hit it; no, a cyclone would have sucked up some of the crap.... I don't have a description for the rest of the house. My original plan was to spend some time working on it tonight, but I am ready to call it a night and just hit the bed with a book to read. The rest of the house will have to wait.

Yeah, I'll think about it tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day.

Stop the insanity

This week has been crazier than crazy. I don't think I can even begin to remember everything about the week that made it so. It was full of the usual commitments and appointments, although we did miss our Tuesday night small group; Brian and I were both coughing a bit and didn't want to subject anyone to it. I'm not sure it was something contagious, though. Mine seemed to be that usual sinus/allergy thing I do every fall/winter, where I wind up losing my voice. My voice was gone on Wednesday and started coming back on Thursday. I'm still not back to normal yet and not sure when I will be. Hopefully I will have enough of a voice to at least sing tenor on Sunday if I'm not 100%.

Because of the coughing crud, we decided to reschedule Halle's sleepover for another night. To celebrate her birthday today, we went to the movies in the afternoon and then to Outback for dinner. Her movie choice was The Game Plan, and it was so much better than I was expecting. I really liked it. I thought "The Rock" did a great job with his role. It looked like he had fun with it. The little girl playing his daughter (she plays the President's daughter on Disney Channel's Cory in the House) was fun to watch. And despite the predictability of some of the plot points, there were enough unexpected moments to make up for it.

After dinner, we went to see the football game at Emily's school the football game at Emily's school so that we could hear her sing the National Anthem. Her choir director (I'll call her Miss S) is in charge of providing the talent for this and had asked for those choir members who were interested to sign up. As Emily was leaving class that day, Miss S asked her if she had signed up. When Emily responded in the negative, she was told, "Well, do it!" Tonight was originally intended to be a duet, but the other girl could not learn the harmony part quick enough, so Emily did it solo (and a cappella). She did a very nice job. I hope she'll get a chance to do it again, although I don't think she would say the same!

I have a ton of housework and laundry to catch up on this weekend. Truthfully, I think I'd rather sleep. (Anyone who knows me IRL knows that is a totally out-of-character statement, so it just speaks to how tired I really feel!)

When it's time to change...

You've got to rearrange... (Quick, what's the origin of that phrase?)

Yes, we finally got around to the rearranging of the furniture. It involved moving around 500 or so books on and off of shelves, unhooking the cable and internet, and several unsatisfactory furniture placements until we finally reached one we liked. Now, to just get the couches cleaned off and the stuff piled on them put away. We didn't finish getting the furniture in place and the cable/internet reconnected until around 10pm, and we just didn't feel like working any longer. At any rate, I am rather pleased with the layout, although looking at it this morning, there is one change I might make... and it is fairly minor. Just switching the positions of a small bookcase and table. I will probably get my neighbor's opinion before I do it.

So what we basically did was go from having one long room here to dividing it up. It wasn't something I thought I'd ever really do, but it is growing on me. We moved the computer tables from their old spot to the corner nearest the kitchen (we actually closed the door between the kitchen and this room and have it blocked off by the computer). If you need a reminder of the layout here, here's a link to the floor plan of this house. Our house is a mirror image of the plan. The computer and printer are in that corner behind the door that opens out from the kitchen to what is labeled "dining room." I have a small 5-ft. bookcase to the right of my computer desk and then underneath that window in the dining room is a big coffee table (those are the 2 things I am thinking about switching, although the bookcase would be moved to the left of the window, rather than under it). We moved the television into the corner of the living room nearest the entry, and used the couch as a divider between this end of the room and the living room. It extends from the wall closest to the entry and is backed by the piano (which used to be on the wall where the 5-ft. bookcase is now). We took a 7-ft. bookcase out of this room (it was here in this corner, next to the "dining room" window) and moved it into the dining/school room. We had 2 small bookcases in there that we took up to the second floor landing outside the master bedroom. The loveseat used to be in front of the front window and it is now along the outside wall down at that end of the room. Once we get everything put away and hang stuff on the wall, I will try to take pictures and post them. I think the room will look very cozy when we're done.

Happy Columbus Day!

Playing catchup

So last Sunday I was ready for the weekend to be over, and tonight I am actually ready for it to start. (Although I dare say this weekend will be full of all kinds of work around the house again...)

It's been a jam-packed week of activities, none of which included moving furniture. Of course there was the usual running to and from Emily's school, with occasional stops for Starbuck's on the way. I don't think I ever told about the morning I drove through Starbuck's after dropping Emily off. Rory was in the front passenger's seat and wanted to share my hot chocolate with me. The barista volunteered a cup of whipped cream to entertain her. She *loved* it. And I was able to drink my hot chocolate in peace.

On Wednesday, the kids and I attended KUDOS (Kids Understanding Deployment OperationS) with our neighbors. The kids got were issued "uniforms" (desert-colored t-shirts with the KUDOS logo on them), got some camo face paint, and went through "out-processing", where they received dog tags, "passports," and some other gear (including a pocket Bible). They got to see chem gear, satellite equipment, and walk through a C-5 airplane (these are huge cargo planes that are large enough to carry 6 Greyhound buses, plus passengers upstairs). They learned a little bit about some military customs (coin checks), saw examples of ordnance (land mines, mortars, etc.), tried on protective gear, and manned a fire hose. All that, then they received a "homecoming" complete with flag-waving and music. Our neighbor and her children were decked out in some of her husband's flight suits, so they definitely looked the part. They were actually interviewed by an NBC station (one that we don't get here, for some reason).... I am waiting to see if there is ever anything put up at the website to see from that. One of the local papers also interviewed my friend and published a picture of our group walking across the tarmac after deplaning the C-5; one of her kids and Halle are very easy to see in it. Unfortunately, this newspaper only allows subscribers online access, so I couldn't even see the article online.

Today the kids were treated to some fire safety lessons. They got to go through the base fire department's "fire trailer," which offers a simulation of the kind of smoke you could have if your house were on fire. The kids were able to see (or not see, as the case may be) how difficult it was to see anything through the smoke (the fireman explained that "real" smoke would be even harder to see through) and practice getting down under the smoke and evacuating the trailer by exiting a window and using a fire escape ladder. In addition, the older kids were able to operate some simple liquid fire extinguishers.

And while we're on the subject of fire safety: A friend sent an article to our homeschool list about a news story about the usefulness of smoke alarms. It appears so many children sleep through them, that they really don't do the job they are intended for. If you or someone you love has children, please read this news story.

I wound up not attending our homeschool group meeting last night... I opted for praise choir rehearsal instead. This weekend, the church is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a large outdoor service and I will be helping out by adding my voice to the praise choir. We'll have to take 2 cars on Sunday, because I will need to be there at 8:30 (service starts at 10).

I was able to serve at Celebrate Recovery tonight by being part of the 3-person worship team for it. I really love using my voice like this... a few people were talking to me afterwards tonight about it and I said that I felt about singing the way Eric Liddell (the Christian runner in Chariots of Fire) felt about running. He said, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure." When I sing, I feel God's pleasure. Is there anything you do that causes you to feel His pleasure?

I guess I've gone on long enough... you know this week will be more of the same, plus getting ready for a birthday sleepover next Friday night for Halle's 9th birthday. Hopefully we will get a lot done as far as cleaning and rearranging furniture before then!

Sunday night stuff

Hard to believe the weekend is actually ending; harder still to believe that I'm actually ready for it to end. It was no day of rest today. Everybody worked in some way or fashion (although the kids finished up much quicker than the adults). The younger ones cleaned up their rooms and I worked on the living room. I managed to get my desk cleaned up and also ran the carpet cleaner. Brian worked outside, picking up the back yard and weedeating/edging, and Emily mowed. Brian also mowed and edged our neighbor's yard (her husband is deployed).

We had the above-mentioned neighbor and her kids over for dinner tonight as well. Brian grilled a tri-tip that we'd been marinating for a couple of days. Mmmmmm. It was delish.

Said friend is helping me figure out a new way to rearrange the furniture in the living room. Hopefully we'll have time to get it done next weekend.... it's possible that we could work on it in stages during the week. One idea actually involves moving the piano out of here and onto the landing between the two floors, while moving the bookcase that currently occupies that space to the upstairs landing. That would free up one wall in here. And now that we have the Macs, which are both wireless, we aren't tied down to keeping the computer desk next to the cable modem and router. That gives us a bit more flexibility with where we place them.

This week is going to be rather interesting... tomorrow afternoon the kids have an "enrichment" class with our church homeschool group in order to prepare for a field trip to Sutter's Fort next week. This event just got added into my plans today; I'd originally written off the whole field trip idea because the logistics of going to Sacramento and being back in time to pick Emily up from school were nigh impossible. However, I just found out that Emily won't have school the day of the field trip. So YAY... we get to go somewhere! (You wouldn't believe the cool field trips we miss out on because we have to be here to get Emily from school.)

This is getting so long, I'll bullet the rest of the agenda for the week:

• Monday night: Christmas choir rehearsal for me; kids' musical rehearsal for Halle.
• Tuesday: piano/guitar lessons in the afternoon (Halle and Noah), AWANA for Halle, small group meeting for me and Brian.
• Wednesday: base field trip for the kids where they will get a taste of what it is like to deploy; orthodontist appointment for Halle immediately following.
• Thursday: Base homeschool meeting in the evening.
• Friday: Celebrate Recovery in the evening... I am supposed to be part of the worship team.
  

I have a newsletter to finish up before that homeschool meeting Thursday night. All that and trying to get the week's schoolwork done.... I sure do understand why some folks advocate "better living through chemistry!"

Up and running

We bit the bullet and got a new printer today.... another HP and it is incredibly fast. Even better, it is networked so that Brian can print something wirelessly from his laptop. We were never able to do this before; we always had to unplug the printer from my desktop and connect it to the laptop. This is just too cool.

It was a nice day today. The kids all enjoyed a lot of outdoor time with their friends. I helped Brian get the shed put together and also managed to get a couple of loads of laundry folded. In addition, I got to visit with one of the neighbors and help her finish a jigsaw puzzle she'd been working on for a while.

We were so busy with all the running and doing that we opted for takeout for dinner (Godfather's... mmmm). Tomorrow instead of eating out after church, we'll come home and Brian is going to grill.

The kids are all bathed and tucked in for the night, and I will be following suit very soon.

Some day my prints will come

So I am still learning the ins and outs of life with a Mac. My old HP printer (old as in 6 or 7 years old) isn't doing too well with the Mac. I cannot use it with it hooked up to the Airport Extreme, which is sad, because we really wanted to put it on the network so that Brian could print wirelessly from his MacBook Pro as well. It took some searching to find a driver I could get to work even with the printer connected directly to the IMac, and even still, it is incredibly slow to process the print job. I think we will be looking for a new printer. I had kinda been wanting one that does duplex (two-sided) printing, but I don't want us to spend too much money on it. We'll have to see what we can find. We've always had good experiences with HP printers in the past, but I'm wondering if there are other printers that work better with Macs.

Still left to do: get all the pictures and documents off of the old Windows desktop and onto this one. We may just get an external hard drive so we can have a safe place to keep extra copies, just in case anything were ever to happen. We can transfer the files to it and then copy them to this computer.

I guess the only other dim spot in this new computer life is that Messenger for Mac isn't as full-featured as the one for Windows. It doesn't offer video chat, which was something I was looking forward to doing with my mom and my sister. It does have IChat, which I think uses AOL screen names, so if they will sign onto AIM, I might be able to video with them there. Of course, neither of them have web cams (at least, I don't think they do), so they'll be the lucky ones who get to see and hear the goings-on around here!

We had the first rain of the season last night and today. Too bad the shed Brian bought is still sitting in the box in the back yard! If the weather is nice this weekend, maybe we can get it put together. I am enjoying the cooler weather; our days are in the 70s and nights in the 50s.

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.).

Halfway through the week

3 days down, 2 to go. And Brian has Friday off. (Good thing, since he has to work in Sacramento again on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.) Today was incredibly hectic; we worked through the morning to get schoolwork done, then headed to the commissary for groceries and stopped off at the house just long enough to get most things unloaded and put away before needing to head out to pick Emily up from school. I had a little bit of free time before it was time to fix dinner, then I had to take Emily shopping for new tennis shoes. We got back with about 1/2 an hour to spare before the little kids' bedtimes.

Tomorrow is Emily's short day at school (out at 2). If I can work it, I think I will make Thursdays my regular grocery shopping day. That way I can drop everyone off at the house and head to the store *alone*. There are few things more annoying than being bombarded nearly constantly with "Can we get...?" and "Can we have....?"

Seen over at Dee's earlier today, yet another personality test:

I'll buy that. The profile also says that I "have the ability to see the forest and the individual trees concurrently, whereas most people are capable of seeing either the forest or the trees." I like that.

Over the weekend, my dear hubby wrote a very sweet post at his blog about an important date that occurred earlier this month... I have to say that I am looking forward to seeing what the next 21 years bring!

Oh, forgot to mention that last night was the Back-to-School Night at Emily's school, where we got to meet this year's teachers. She has several who are new to the school this year... actually 4 out of 7. Of the new ones, I think her world history teacher has the potential to be the best one. After hearing his methods and plans for the year, I wished I could sit in on the class! Her choir director is also new (the former director resigned after last year because she was getting married and moving away from the local area). She's a new college graduate whose mother is one of the school secretaries and whose sister is a senior at the school. Could be a potentially thorny situation, since her sister is also in the choir! But she seems very nice; I was excited to hear that she is hoping to make the spring concert kind of a Broadway showcase. Last year, every song the choir sang was some kind of sacred song , and I was wishing for a little variety. So much of last year's repertoire seemed so high-brow (either in a foreign language, very classical style, or high-church). I think it's good for the kids to get to sing a variety of genres. The other new teachers are her geometry teacher and Spanish 1 teacher. The geometry guy did not make a good first impression on me... we'll have to see how it goes with him. Emily isn't feeling the love either. The Spanish teacher seems OK. He's another fairly young one; I think he's been teaching for about a year.

Anyhow, I'm sure I'll be saying more about Emily's life at school. Tomorrow they are having a site blessing a few blocks from the campus... they are set to begin construction soon on a new high school facility. Right now, the campus currently supports students all the way from infant to grade 12. The new facility will be just for ninth through twelfth grades and they are hoping to finish it in time for the next school year. That would be great if Emily could get her last 2 years in the new school.

Another Friday night

Just another Friday night on the home front here... Our second day of school went much better than the first. No more doggie mishaps in the car (they didn't go along for the morning ride this time, but I did take them along to pick Emily up). The kids here at home were a tad more patient and were able to share me a little better today, so that certainly helped the stress levels in that arena!

I had to run to the youth center this afternoon to get Halle and Noah registered and paid up for music lessons. Halle is getting ready to start piano lessons back up with a new teacher there. She hasn't had a lesson since a little while before we moved. Her former teacher used to come to our house, but since she isn't military, that makes that set-up a bit problematic. I was able to get her into a time slot with a guy who also teaches piano to a couple of the neighbor kids. Noah is going to begin guitar lessons with him next week as well.

After that, Emily and I headed to Staples to get more of the required school supplies. Oh. My. Holy. Heck. I have never seen so much stuff! It won't even all go into a backpack. She's got 3 or 4 one-inch 3-ring binders, plus one two-inch binder. These were all *required* by different teachers.... does each one think he/she is the only one asking for this stuff?? Then there's all the textbooks. How did I manage 4 years of high school without a backpack? And let's not even talk about the tally. We still have to find loose-leaf graph paper one day this weekend, because they were sold out and I didn't feel like entering another store after we finished.

Brian has spent the evening at a meeting at church and the kids and I have been hanging here. Well, Halle hasn't... she is next door at a sleepover. I visited with another neighbor for a half hour or so and helped her work on a jigsaw puzzle before coming back home and sending her 3 kids (who were all over here) back home to get ready for bed.

This is Brian's moonlighting weekend, so he'll leave in the morning before anyone gets up and will be in Sacramento until Monday morning. Meanwhile, PG&E is doing some kind of work on the power supply to the base tomorrow and we will be without electricity from 7am to 1pm. I imagine Emily will sleep through most of the outage. I've told the kids to plug in their handheld video games so they'll be charged, and I have a stack of books I can read. The kids' main playmates will be gone for most of that time, hiking with the Boy Scouts, so if things get really rough, I may look for a movie or something to go to. I guess the bright side to it all is that I'll have a good excuse for not getting the vacuuming done!