Don't faint

Yeah, here I am, just a mere 2 days after my last post. Can't believe we are just 3 days from Christmas. No pictures taken here, no cards sent out. I won't make excuses like "too busy" or "no time"... fact is, time got away from me and I just didn't think about it enough. Maybe there will be some New Year letters/cards sent out after the 1st.

I think I finished up the last bit of shopping needed to get us ready for Tuesday. I imagine there will be quite a bit of wrapping left to do Monday. Brian has several items in his truck... we took my van in for an oil change earlier this week and had to transfer all the stuff I was hiding in it into his truck beforehand; we never got the chance to move anything back.

The kids and I went to see Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium at the base theater tonight. It was a cute film. I probably wouldn't pay full price to see it, but base prices are OK ($4 adult, $2 child).

Oh gee, I forgot some of the best news. We *finally* bought a new mattress set this week. Actually bought it Thursday afternoon and had it delivered late yesterday afternoon. Oh my holy heck, it sleeps great! It is a Sealy True Form and I am amazed at how comfortable it is. It is similar to the Tempurpedic in that it is a memory foam mattress, but doesn't carry the same hefty price tag. Brian also felt like the Tempurpedic was not as comfortable. In addition, we got a few memory foam pillows and are hooked on them.

One last item... go look at Franklin's blog and read his last few posts about the experiences he is having with his youth group in Omaha. Talk about keeping it real and taking it to the streets!

Looking forward to a fairly quiet day here tomorrow, just church and hanging out at home.

I'm losing my mind

Or at least parts of it. These days I can't seem to remember things for very long.... things that make me say "Oooh, I need to say something about that on my blog!" I think I've had that thought at least a half a dozen times this week, but when I try to remember what it was about, I come up almost empty-handed. I'll just have to see what does get dredged up from the gray matter and try to make it worth your time to read.

The adult choir's Christmas program this past Sunday went well. From the conversations I heard afterwards, one of the most talked-about songs was a gospel number called "Go Tell." It was mostly a solo with choir backup... and it really was an awesome number, if not for the sole reason that until the day before, the soloist and choir had never practiced the number together. She is a college student in Fresno and drove home for the weekend just to sing this with us. She'd been working on her part down there while we practiced with a CD here. She totally nailed it, ad libs and all.

The choir took our show on the road the following night and sang a few songs at an assisted living facility where one of our members is the activity director. We are also slated to sing at the local Six Flags this Saturday afternoon. (I am not sure whether I will be making that trip or not.)

The rainy season is upon us, and large portions of our back yard turn into small lakes. This makes for no small chore when the dogs need to come inside from their many trips out. Rory absolutely hates having her paws cleaned and dried off, but she is learning to submit (in a fashion... if you call trying to drag me out of the room while I have one back paw up and in my hands). The Swiffer Wet Jet, she is becoming a dear friend. That, and my Hoover Steam Cleaner. Of course, it wasn't mud stains that I had to drag it out for this past Sunday afternoon. No, it was chocolate pudding mix stains. Rory snitched a box out of the pantry and opened it in the living room. Rory is certainly all girl. She loves chocolate (yes, I know it isn't good for dogs) and leather. Unfortunately, she isn't content to carry leather, she prefers to chew it; I find myself removing Joel's baseball glove from her mouth several times a day.

Seen at Kerflop earlier this week: Holiday gift tags to print and use. I totally love these! I could picture using them when the kids are older. I especially like the one that says "Shopping for you is so hard, you should give me an extra gift for even trying. I mean that in a loving way."

Speaking of shopping, that is pretty much done for, except for a few stocking stuffers. I should be able to get those taken care of in the next couple of days.

It's off to the races now.... or more accurately, time to chauffeur Emily to school.

Alive and well, just busy as....

You fill in the blank. If you're the rhyming sort, feel free.

It's been a long month since my last post. I've been swimming across an endless lake of creamed corn, but finally reached the other shore. Let's hope there are no more of those in the future!

We have two Christmas performances down (Halle's children's musical last Sunday, and Emily's choir concert this past Tuesday evening) and one left to go tomorrow. Tomorrow morning is the adult Christmas choir's turn to sing. We had our last rehearsal today. I think it will be awesome. I'll have to be there at 7:45, and with Brian in Sacramento today/tonight, he probably won't make it home until then at the earliest. This means the younger kids will be getting up early to get ready and go with me. Won't that be fun!

I'm almost done with my fall reading challenge list. I am finally starting the last book. Of course, I've been able to pick up a few extra along the way as well, so that is always good. Books not on the list that I finished since the last update are:

• Alaska Twilight, Colleen Coble
• The Book of Jane, Anne Dayton
• Joshua's Family, Joseph Girzone
• In Search of Eden, Linda Nichols
• Bachelor's Puzzle, Judith Pella
• Crimson Eve, Brandilyn Collins
• After the Leaves Fall, Nicole Baart
• Searching for Eternity, Elizabeth Musser
• Pushed: the Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care, Jennifer Block
• Mosaic, Pieces of My Life So Far, Amy Grant
  

Wow, makes it look like I've done nothing but read for the last month, but that is certainly not the case! In addition to that reading, I designed and printed graduation invitations for my husband's senior nurse anesthesia residents, as well as programs for their graduation ceremony held a little over a week ago. I also did the newsletter for the base homeschool group and uploaded it to our group site. Aaaannnddd... I designed the program for the school's Christmas concert, to the point of even making last-minute changes the day before the event. That last little job at least earns me "service hours" towards the 20 hours we are required to do a year. It's 20 hours or $200 (or $10 an hour for every hour under 20 you don't get in).

The tree is up and several presents are wrapped and under it. I was worried how Rory would handle it, but once we moved the one ornament she seemed most interested in (and it was a puppy ornament, go figure), she has seemed to pretty much leave it alone. I was afraid I wasn't going to get into the Christmas spirit this year but it seems to have arrived at last.

Tomorrow afternoon is a cookie exchange for the ladies at church, but I am doing a rare thing for me and opting out. I tend to be one of those people who tries to do everything.... not that I can't say no when it's something I don't want to do, just that I like doing as much as I can. But after being gone last Sunday night for 3 hours at the annual ladies' Christmas dinner, I think I will just stay home. With the running I've done today (rehearsal, groceries), I think I'll need to be home to get some laundry taken care of tomorrow anyhow.

So there you have it. Just a couple of hours left in the evening before I need to start getting kids bathed and ready for bed. I'm sure there are plenty of other things I should be doing other than this.... but they can wait a little while longer.

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.

A chance to win and reading challenge update

New meme seen at Jenni's... First 3 people to comment and leave this promise on their blog will win a little something from me sometime in the next few months. Kind of a "pay it forward" thing, it seems. You'll need to give me your contact info (mailing address) if you are one of the first 3 (I'll check to make sure you've posted your pledge before notifying you and asking for an address)... so if anonymity is important, this giveaway isn't for you!

In other news, here's an update on the reading challenge. First, my original list:

1. Oceans Apart, Karen Kingsbury
2. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe.
   
3. The 5-Minute Face, Carmindy.
   
4. When Faith Meets Fame, Guideposts.
   
5. Blameless: A Novel, Thom Lemmons.
   
6. Alpha Girls: Understanding the New American Girl and How She is Changing the World, Dan Kindlon. I actually gave up on this one. It was a total snoozer.
   
7. Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin', Paula Deen.
   
8. The Sleeping Doll, Jeffrey Deaver.
9. Sunrise, Karen Kingsbury.
   
10. Life's Healing Choices, John Baker.
11. It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff, Peter Walsh.
    
12. How Starbucks Saved My Life, Michael Gill.
13. Down River, John Hart.
14. The Other Mother, Gwendolen Gross.
15. Keeping the House, Ellen Baker.
16. Barefoot, Elin Hildebrand.
17. 74 Seaside Avenue, Debbie Macomber.
18. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold.
19. Still Summer, Jacquelyn Mitchard.
20. The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards.

Books I've read not on the original list:

1. Abide With Me, Elizabeth Strout.
2. A Family in Full, Vanessa Del Fabbro.
   
3. Miss Invisible, Laura Jensen Walker.
   
4. The Next Thing on My List, Jill Smolinski.
   

Loved the last 2 books... definite recommendation from me. I'm currently working my way through The Oak Leaves, by Maureen Lang. It's my carpool read, so it's taking a little longer to get through than others. I may wind up bringing it in the house this weekend, since I'll be finishing up everything I have in the house to read. Oh wait... I have 2 of the books left on the original list waiting for pickup (unless I ran out of time on one.. ack). Maybe I can get to the library today to pick them up. I also have one impromptu book ready as well; the last book from the original list is still pending (I am number 3 in the holds list). I guess I will get a lot of extra books read waiting for that one!

More than just a laundry list

So tonight I actually have more to say than just a laundry list of the weekend's activities. Maybe not a whole lot more than that, but at least something more. We've had our usual share of activity, including Noah's flag football game Saturday afternoon. A little trip to the mall with Emily (thankfully she was spending *her* money, not ours!) and a whole lotta housework this afternoon.

Tonight Brian and I played a game with the younger kids called Kids Battle the Grown-Ups. We've been trying to find time to play it for a while now; Halle and Joel got this game as a birthday present from friends back in Omaha. Let me tell ya, it really was fun. The game is a virtual tug-o-war between the adults and the kids, with each side getting to pull the "rope" closer to its side of the board with each correct answer (or incorrect answer from the opposing team). There are cards designated kids/adults, containing 3 trivia questions on each. There are also "Who Knows?" cards that are opinion questions, giving everyone a chance to see how well they know the others in the family. Some of the "Who Knows?" questions we got tonight were: "What famous person can you imitate the best?", "Who was the best President of the United States?" and "Who is the hardest working person you know?" By the way, the kids beat us. I'll challenge them to a rematch soon.

I pulled 21 movies out of the kids' rooms this evening. They are forever taking movies upstairs to watch before bedtime, but for some reason, most never make it back down here. Latest favorite DVD is Meet the Robinsons. I keep finding myself humming Little Wonders, by Rob Thomas. I foresee an ITunes download in my future.

I caught the last half of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition tonight. What a gorgeous house! I love stone on a house... What really got me was the room they built for the dogs. A while back, I told Brian I thought when we built our house after settling down, it would be neat to build a dog-friendly room... a place the dogs would enjoy being in when we weren't at home, with access to the outside. Brian thought I was crazy. Well, maybe I am, but obviously I have company. That's exactly what the design team came up with for these folks. It was almost like they read my mind. (OK, I will admit I would never have thought to put in toilets for the dogs to drink from. But I guess you wouldn't have to worry about them running out of water, would you?)

Hoping the fact that the clocks went back an hour last night will mean the kids fall asleep faster tonight and wake up more rested in the morning. Maybe that will work for me, too.

November already?

Wow... hard to believe there are just 2 months left in the year. 2 more months and I will have a 16yo. Pass the Geritol.

The kids had a great time last night. I stayed home to hand out candy while Brian made the rounds with the boys and some of their friends. Halle went around with one of her friends and her mother. Amazingly enough, I had candy left over. There really weren't as many kids here as I expected there to be. I think a lot of kids go to their church "fall festivals". Our church had one, but the kids wanted to hang with their friends here, so we didn't go. Maybe next year. It really sounded like it was going to be a great time.

Favorite costume(s) of the night: a family who came as Shaggy, Daphne, Velma, and Scooby. (All they needed was Fred to make it complete.)

When I walked down the street to pick up Halle from her friend's house, I arrived just in time to meet her coming out the door in tears, headed to find me. She had gotten a new wire at the orthodontist yesterday (this time going all the way to the back teeth instead of just on the front 4) and popped it out chewing a tootsie roll. Her dad and I were able to get it put back into place, but I'll be calling the ortho this morning so he can check it out. She doesn't have braces on any teeth on bottom besides the front ones and the last molars, so these wires aren't attached anywhere else along the sides; makes them easier to pop out. She's finally going to have to place some limits on the types of foods she eats.

Flag football game tonight at 6.... I missed Noah's last game because of choir practice, so I'm looking forward to this.

No excuses

Yeah, yeah, yeah.... I know. No excuses here. I just haven't had a whole lot to say or a whole lot of time in which to say it. Now that Noah has started flag football, we have just one more thing on our plate. Actually, I guess that would be at least 2 more things, sometimes 3; one night of practice, plus 1 to 2 games a week (Thursday evenings and/or Saturday afternoons).

So to ease back into this posting thing, I'll go with something easy: an update on my fall reading challenge progress. I'll post the original list with the completed books in strikeout:

1. Oceans Apart, Karen Kingsbury
2. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe.
   
3. The 5-Minute Face, Carmindy.
   
4. When Faith Meets Fame, Guideposts.
   
5. Blameless: A Novel, Thom Lemmons.
   
6. Alpha Girls: Understanding the New American Girl and How She is Changing the World, Dan Kindlon.
7. Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin', Paula Deen.
   
8. The Sleeping Doll, Jeffrey Deaver.
9. Sunrise, Karen Kingsbury.
   
10. Life's Healing Choices, John Baker.
11. It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff, Peter Walsh.
    
12. How Starbucks Saved My Life, Michael Gill.
13. Down River, John Hart.
14. The Other Mother, Gwendolen Gross.
15. Keeping the House, Ellen Baker.
16. Barefoot, Elin Hildebrand.
17. 74 Seaside Avenue, Debbie Macomber.
18. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold.
19. Still Summer, Jacquelyn Mitchard.
20. The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards.

11 out of 20 books read so far. I am working on Alpha Girls right now. UGH. We'll see if I finish it. That's the one by my bed (it is good for getting into a sleeping mood, that's for sure). I have a new book not on my list in the van to read in the carpool line... Abide With Me, by Elizabeth Strout. Carrie recommended it, so I added it to my request list at the library and got it almost immediately. I just started it today during the kids' music lessons and am over halfway through it. I only have 3 other books on my list that are actually here at the house, plus 2 waiting to be picked up at the library. I guess I'm still in line for the other 4.

Oh, and before I forget... notice the header? I won it in the Dog Days of Summer giveaways back in the summer. The giver was a bit backed up and wasn't able to work on it till last week. It's a definite improvement over the one I improvised in Paint.

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!)