Day 208 - The Dress

My friend Melissa and I had a great and successful trip to the mall today. It is a splurge to go out there...it is nearly a 1/2 hour away. But, the dress for the reunion was going to be there, and it was our job to find it.

After a yummy lunch (priorities, right?) we hit the first department store and 10 dresses later, I had the one I had envisioned. Long sleeves (to hide my Linda Hamilton arms), brown, and stretchy. I even got the kind of wrap look I was going for.


We both thought this dress would look super awesome with a pair of brown boots. So, that will be the next thing to find. And jewelry. It never ends.

Next, I head to Florida to get that late summer tan, and I'll be ready.

Thanks Melissa for entertaining the baby while I played in the dressing room today! I owe you one!

Day 207 - Precedence

Luke kept me up half the night (from 3:30 on) because he couldn't sleep. That totals me up with roughly 10 hours of sleep in the last two nights. I'm fried.

As tired as I was, I wanted to pack. Pack for Disney that is. I could've packed my bag weeks ago (especially since we haven't needed warm weather clothes around here since...oh, 2008.)

But, I am being a responsible business owner by working on the stack of tags which so patiently wait for me to finish them so they can go to Greece. The tags will get done and sent...then I'll pack. (Hopefully tomorrow?)


But first, the cleaning lady is coming...so I need to clean. You know how that is.

And that dress for the reunion still needs to be found...maybe a trip to the mall tomorrow...

Can someone make a clone of me? I'll make her do all the work...and then I can pack for Disney.

Day 206 - Running on Empty

Last night I put in a solid 4 1/2 hours of sleep. Solid. The rest of the night was sketchy thanks to Elise.

That put my one day a week of alone time at a serious disadvantage. But I trudged along and got some things checked off the to do list.

First stop was getting my hair highlighted. I actually fell asleep under the dryer. I guess the episode of Golden Girls showing on the salon's t.v. was not captivating enough to keep me awake. I have a sassy new do...no more pony tails.

The rest of the day is a blur. 8 more stores in 5 hours.

The main goal was to find the outfit for the upcoming high school reunion. No luck.

I bought Luke a pair of sandals and a winter coat. How's that for a weird combo?

I also got all of Luke and Elise's birthday gifts taken care of. A big necessity since their birthdays over lap our upcoming vacation.

5 more days...be warned! You'll be hearing a lot about Disney!

Days 203 - 205 - The Weekend

Chris' parents were here this weekend to babysit for my craft show. Friday night was crunch time getting everything ready...finishing, packaging, pricing, etc.

Saturday was a cold, misty day. Perfect for an outside craft show? Sure.


Yummy ham and bean soup, hot chocolate, homemade caramel corn, and peanut butter bars. I ate my way through the day.

We had a great turn out and had a fun and profitable day. It looked and felt like fall, but the thing we sold the most of were Christmas gift tags!

I wish I would have remembered my camera...thanks Paula, for letting me borrow these pictures!

Today is recovery day. Time to check the inventory and get ready for 3 more of these shows in the next 2 months!

Day 202 - I'm a Dork

Between shopping with impatient children and my self diagnosed ADD, I made the biggest shopping blunder ever today.

I went to Lowes to buy indoor/outdoor carpet for this weekend's craft show. It is an outside show, and our spot is typically very dusty, so I thought this would help.

I expected to pay about $10. I had purchased some in the past and remember them having pre-cut rolls of them, but they were out of those this time of year.

So I found where they can cut them for any size you want. Indecisiveness set in. Green or brown? How many feet? This is what happens when there are too many choices.

The price tags (about 8 feet off the ground) made me very happy and I splurged for the brown since it was slightly more expensive. But for 53 cents a foot, I thought I was getting a GREAT deal.

It was after the nice guy happily cut off 8 feet for me that I re-read the sign. 53 cents a square foot. I let that soak in....square foot. Then I realized, a little to the right of the giant 53 there in little print was the $5.?? a foot. Well, crap.

So, I am the proud owner of $50 worth of brown indoor/outdoor carpet.

I need to go and craft now. I need to make some resemblance of a profit...

Day 201 - Crafting Like Crazy

I have a craft show this weekend. I have more ideas in my head than time. My kitchen and dining room are now officially "craft central" and the piles on the table only get moved over when we eat.

For the next 36 hours, I will be finishing everything I've started. Finishing is my weakness. I love, love, love to start stuff.

Here are some of my projects that need to be finished, packaged, and priced.

My scrap paper heart ornaments. They need to be sanded, sealed, have holes drilled, and jute inserted.

I made 16 of these Halloween cards with vintage images on them. I would love to make more cards...but I am running out of time!


Hundreds of tags are waiting for me to get holes punched, strings put in, packaged, and priced. I've been bringing stacks of these with me in the car to work on while I wait for the school bus, (or for a stop light...shhhh...)


Here is the one set of things that are ready to go...small pillow boxes filled with caramels. I took a trip all the way down to Office Max to get clear stickers to close up the ends. Guess what? They are not sticking so well. Go figure! They are going to have to do...

Off to get more crafting done!

Day 200 - 1/2 Way?

Are we there yet?

Today, despite it being a fairly easy and productive day, took a sharp turn for the worse when I took all 3 kids for Luke's yearly checkup. All 3 of them were off. And I mean off...as in wild. Wild. From the waiting room to the exit. Baby screaming, Luke pulling the paper on the table, Maria dressed up in paper that was previously torn off the table pretending to be a bride, my purse being dumped all over the floor...I'm going to stop describing it...my defense mechanism for trying to forget the whole ordeal might be compromised.

I couldn't tell if the doctor had the "get these people the hell out of here quick" look or the "I feel for you" look. I'm surprised he didn't write up a prescription for a little something-something for me...

October, November, December, January, February, March, April = 212 days
Days left in September = 8 days

The math is not working in my favor here is it? I guess we have 10 more days until we are at the half-way point. Crap...

(As a side note...today was the first day I told the Marine Corps to kiss my ass - in my head of course.)

Day 199 - Jeans!

Cold day. Dreading trying on my pre-pregnancy jeans knowing the pooch would hinder zipping.

But the planets, moon, and fat cells were perfectly aligned. And I was comfy.



Check out that pedometer.

Day 198 - Love/Hate

My kids fight. Luke usually starts it by being annoying. Maria usually whines about whatever Luke is doing. On and on and on like that all day long.

But sometimes they are unbelievably nice to each other. And that usually takes me by surprise.

Last night was shower night. They were both told to check their bathrooms for towels BEFORE they started their showers. (You can see where this is going already, can't you?) Luke, of course started yelling immediately after turning off his water that he needed a towel. I was thinking that this was a perfect opportunity to have him figure it out himself. But, Maria rushed to the linen closet and pulled one out for him and delivered it. (That was nice...but he really needed to get his own towel.)

After hours of thinking how lucky Luke was to have such a nice and caring sister, it was his turn. The kids were outside on the swing set while I was inside making cookies. All of the sudden I could hear and see Maria on the ground crying. For the first time almost ever, I saw Luke come over to her to check on her. WOW! Turns out she tried to do the monkey bars by herself. She of course fell, and has since been told over and over how lucky she was that she didn't hurt more of herself than the little scrap she earned.

I think Luke had a little more to do with it...but for now, I'll treasure seeing him crouching over her giving her a little comfort.

Day 197 - Signs of Fall

It was a beautiful day here. Maria spent the entire day running around in her swimsuit splashing in the neighbor's pool. We all had our last hurrah with the ice cream truck.

But the signs are everywhere. It's coming...


Time to break out the apple cider and sweaters!

Day 196 - Sick

Did you ever send your kid to school with a cough, just thinking it was a dry-throat kind of cough, and then half way through the day you get the call that your kid is sick with a fever and has to go home? So you show up at the school to pick up your sick kid and the secretaries all kind of give you the evil stink-eye which insinuates you knew he was sick before you sent him to school, but sent him anyway, and how dare you contaminate the entire population of children here just because you needed a little break.

Yeah.

That happened to me today.

Honest...I thought it was a just a dry-throat kind of cough.

Day 195 - Eye Doctor

See the bump? That is a dermoid cyst. Today we had the pre-op appointment to have it taken out. Never mind today's 2 hour wait to see the doctor for 15 minutes of consultation and consent form signing. The two hour surgery is going to feel much longer.

Maria and Luke have a lot of questions and probably know too much already. Knife? Mask? I think Maria was about in tears as the doctor explained (and showed me pictures) of what he was going to do.

Scheduling is a little tricky and isn't finalized yet. We are going to Disney in a couple of weeks, and the opening they had was just a couple of days before we leave. Probably not a good idea.

Then Elise's birthday is on the 10th of October. I would love her to have a black eye and scar free picture of her enjoying her first piece of cake.

But she is on the fast track for surgery. They want to see what this thing has inside of it. As for scars, he said by age 5 we wouldn't even be able to tell she had anything done.

Day 194 - OOPS!

This morning we woke up at 5 am to take Chris to the airport. With the kids in pj's, we had lots of hugs and goodbyes at the curb, and then we drove away.

The next ten minutes went something like this...

(Maria sobbing uncontrollably)
Luke: "Maria you don't need to cry!"
(Luke starts to cry.)
Luke: "My heart is broken."
Maria: "My heart is broken too."
Luke: "I'm so sad my heart hurts."
Maria: "I'm so sad my blood hurts."
Luke: "I'm so sad my whole body hurts."
Maria: "I'm so sad my stomach hurts."
Luke: "I'm so sad my brain hurts."
Maria: I'm so sad my skin hurts."
Luke: "I'm so sad my bottom hurts."
(Insert about 50 more of these with everything imaginable...including "internal organs."

So, we took a quick side trip to Dunkin Donuts which made everyone perk up.

But after we got back on the highway, I felt the heavy doom of knowing I had forgotten to do something very important. I checked my wallet, and sure enough, it was still there - Chris' driver's license. Yesterday's hairy passport fiasco had made his license end up in my wallet.

HUGE FAIL.

And then of course, we had just dropped him off at the curb. If we had gone in and waited with him to check in we would've both realized it. I had a bit of relief knowing that he had a military ID to get himself on the plane. Of course he couldn't get a hold of me because I never have my cell phone charged up. (Another big fail.)

Other thoughts going through my head - "Will he be able to rent a car? Probably not. I think he has a ride. Maybe I can fax the license to the car rental place. I'll have to overnight the license to him. Does he have an address to send it to? I know he is going to leave my at least 2 grumpy "you failed me" messages." On and on the whole half hour back home.

I don't usually mess up, but this time I did a massive job of making his life more difficult.

Days 192 & 193 - The Last 2 Days

Yesterday and today Chris and I tried to get a lot of little jobs wrapped up since he'll be leaving again tomorrow for another 7 months.

Elise had her first day of daycare yesterday. Having her go once a week will help me get things done (like grocery shop, go to the doctor, get ready for craft shows, etc.) It will be good for her too. She loves being around people and needs space to roam and play, so this will work out well.



Today was bittersweet. It was Chris' last day. We took Luke out of school a little early and went downtown to get passports for a fun cruise when Chris returns. (That was fun.) Then we got ice cream, took a nature walk, and hit the candy store.

Tonight, Chris took Luke and Maria outside to play. I thought I'd sneak in my last walk with only the baby. I only got a little way down the street and turned around. The sound of their laughter and screams made me want to go witness this scene one more time. I'm not sure the next time I'll hear them that happy. Their dad brings it out of them.


Tomorrow will be the hardest day, but I'm ready to get this over with.

Days 190 & 191 - Out of Touch

I think I know what my replacement for Chris has been...my camera. I've hardly taken a picture since he's been here. I guess that is because he is seeing everything I am seeing.

Yesterday was a fun, but busy day. In the morning we went to Lake Michigan and enjoyed a perfect sandybeach/blue sky day.

Then in the evening we had some friends over for drinks and food. (I should've taken pictures!) I think the kids out-numbered grown ups which made for a rowdy time. Thank goodness our friend Kirk was here with his balloon animal skills to keep the kids sidetracked.

We finished the evening with a great fire out in the backyard. The sky was clear and every star in the galaxy looked down on us. It was amazing.

Next year, when things are normal again...we'll need to do more of this.

Days 188 & 189 - Out of Whack

We are enjoying Chris' visit so much and will hate to see him go this Wednesday. Keeping up with this blog has been hard to do since we are keeping so busy. I'll catch up on here later!

Days 186 & 187 - School Days

Tuesday was the first day of school for Luke. Maria's first day was on Wednesday. We are now in full backpack/folder/lunches/homework/gym shoes/water bottle/alarm clock/race to the bus stop mode.

Here's Luke getting on the bus on his first day.

Luke in the line of "doom". He wasn't too excited about all of the girls.


Here is Maria looking as cheerful and confident as ever after her first bus ride to school.


Here is Maria entering her classroom for the first time! She's ready to go!

Day 185 - An Adventure

Today is both Labor Day and the last day of summer vacation. My mom watched the baby all day so that Chris and I could take Luke and Maria to Michigan's Adventure.

We spent the first part of the day in the amusement part of the park. Luke and Chris did the more extreme rides like the roller coasters and the log ride, while Maria rode all of the kiddie rides.


Next we went to the water park. Luke was fearless on the water slides and in the wave pool. Maria loved the kid pools and smaller slides.

(You are going to have to use your imagination here. There is no way I'm bringing my camera to a water park.)

We dried off, then hit the coasters and rides some more. Luke rode Shivering Timbers 3 times, Mad Mouse 4 or 5 times, and Zac's Zoomer once.



I got to go on the Tilt-a-Whirl 3 times. The third time we finally had a crazy whiplash type of ride that I crave.


Maria went out of her comfort zone and rode this wild ride. She liked it so much she made me ride it with her too.

It was the perfect way to end summer.

Days 184 - 185 Cookin'

I like to cook, but when it's just me and the kids, we try to keep it simple. The faster the meal is made, the better.

But now that Chris is home...oh, did I tell you Chris is home? (Whoo-hoo!) He's home (and his parents and brother are visiting) so I'm cooking. And cooking, and baking, and cooking.

I think I've used every dish and utensil in this house twice in the last 24 hours.

Here is the list of everything I've made in the last 36 hours.

Homemade soup, lasagna, beer bread, banana bread, blueberry sour cream coffee cake, fried potatoes, chicken salad, 2 loaves of meatloaf, a veggie tray, and chocolate chip cookies (with white chocolate pretzels in them).

All of this cooking should feed us for the next week, so that I don't have to spend any more time in the kitchen! I'm going to savor every minute of Chris' long (but short) visit.

Day 183 - Eggs

Luke and Maria are such opposite eaters. Everything Luke likes (eggs, nuts, beans, artichokes, pickles, mustard, olives, avocados) Maria does not. Maria's short list of watermelon is something Luke won't touch. That's pretty much turned me into a short order cook.

Luke loves eggs. Today, he had 2 for breakfast, and one more for his snack before bed.

He loves them sunny side down with a side of toast with homemade jam (to dip in the yolk of course.)


Tonight I made him a yummy fried egg sandwich. (It's so wrong that Maria won't eat one...they are so yummy!)

Fry up an egg, slap on some "cheese", and put it on some toast. I should have made one for me!

Day 182 - Great Day

4 reasons today was great.

1. It was sunny and warm.

2. I got to go back to the scrapbooking store and buy more stuff (at 50% off!)

3. I got a big special order from etsy seller Aranwen at etsy. She's been using my tags to dress up her beautiful things. I'll be busy making her tags for the next couple of weeks!


4. Dinner and a great bottle of wine with a friend tonight.

Day 181 - Caddy Shack

It is the beginning of the battle with the moles.

They are so not going to win with Dirk on my team. He comes over everyday (sometimes more than once) to watch the paths, examine the holes, and carefully set the traps.

I don't think enough beer could ever pay for how Dirk is taking care of our yard this year. Gotta love that guy.

Day 180 - Deployments

Deployments bring good things...for instance, it gave us Maria.
Maria is our war baby. We brought her home from the hospital 9 months to the day that Chris arrived home.

She is starting Kindergarten next week. Time sure does fly. But it also makes me realize how long this stupid war has been going on.

I have 2 things to say about that:

Our kids have never known life without our country being in a war.

Our kids (and our general population) don't really realize there is a war going on.

I don't think about war everyday, but I soon will be.