Cute Kids in the Bathtub

No Title Today

I finally finished reading 'Dracula' today. I've read it before, but it's been years. I still like it, but I'd have to say that I enjoyed the first 60% more than I did the last 40%. The 'diary entries' became more like exact transcripts of long conversations. Anyway, still a good book. Now I've moved on to 'Life, the universe and everything' by Douglas Adams. It's utter silliness, naturally.

I'm oddly energetic tonight and feel like doing something. Nothing major, mind you. But I'm not in that stupor that usually accompanies the end of the day. I guess it helps that the kids and I had a pretty good day. As in, we weren't ready to throttle each other by the time Doug got home. And I successfully made a yummy dinner of Tilapia, Sauteed Bell Peppers, and Pumpernickel Bread.

Ha! I just remembered something. Back before we had kids, when Doug was working and I was at home all day (doing what?!? i can't believe i actually thought i was busy!), I would get up at 7 a.m. to have breakfast with Doug before he went to work. How sweet! Now I stay in bed until the last possible minute before I have to take over responsibility for the children. And even then I'm not really "awake".

The Real Me is Back!

Hey, look at me! I'm updating my blog regularly again! (AND i'm voluntarily making phone calls? hmm... definitely suspicious.)

[sigh] Charlie is wearing me out. He has an attitude about the new house and is taking it out on us by going potty on the carpet! Grr! I suppose he doesn't like having to haul his chunky, 10-year-old butt up the stairs every time he needs to go. He also can't slip through the bars of the stair rail like Cordy can, so he gets trapped by the baby gates. He's just about to earn himself a trip to the vet to make sure nothing is wrong and get advice on breaking him of this nasty habit! Cat Head.

I finally got a good night's sleep last night! I think my problems falling asleep have been caused, or at least aggravated, by not getting any exercise. I went to the gym yesterday and worked my body hard. It felt great! Now that I've gotten us back in a bit of a routine and life isn't so nuts, I should be able to get to the gym two or three days per week again. Hopefully that will continue to help.

Of course, nothing helps my emotional and mental stability like prayer, so I need to make sure I don't let my time with God fall to the side now that life is on an even keel again. I wander most when things are going well. Short attention span and all.

The Uncleaners Strike Again

My focus this week is on getting the play room unpacked, organized and cleaned up. As with all other rooms, I can only work on it for about 10 minutes at a time, but it's already going more quickly than I expected.

So, a little while ago, I went in and cleaned for a while as the kids played. I made a good dent in all the "stuff" that was littering the floor and felt quite proud of myself. I then came downstairs to take a break and left the kids upstairs. Lila, apparently, needed to vent some frustration.

I headed back upstairs a few minutes later and she met me at the top with: "I made a mess." [scowl scowl scowl] She then stomped off into my room, announced that she wanted to be alone, and shut the door. I explained to her that she could be alone, but not in my room and directed her toward her own bedroom. I then went to investigate the mess she claimed to have made.

Well, she wasn't kidding... She had totally trashed the play room. It looked worse than before I started! I calmly extracted her from her room and told her that she'd need to help me clean up the mess she'd made before she got to be alone. She put up surprisingly little resistance and we got the room back in order in about 10 minutes.

It's a wonder I get anything done around here!

This plant was mean to me. (stinging, itching, redness, bumps) Anyone know what it is?



UPDATE: It's a Stinging Nettle.

This post took me all day to finish.

I'm not the type to want to rush time, but I do wish that Fall would arrive. I think that Summer should only last one month - July - and an extra month should be added to both Spring and Fall. I love the cooler weather of Fall and the holidays and the decorating possibilities. Mostly, I love the cooler weather.

I wonder if we'll take any vacations this year. We had talked about taking the kids on a Disney cruise at the end of summer, but the end of summer is fast approaching and we haven't made any plans. Maybe that's how we'll celebrate after we finally sell the Forsythe house. I'd also love to hit the mountains of North Carolina again. We did that a couple of years ago and it was so beautiful!

I've been feeling a bit discouraged lately and I wonder how much of it is because I haven't taken much time to be alone. I am recharged by being by myself - preferably in a public place. I like to be surrounded by people, but not be expected to talk to any of them. I'll let you figure out what that means about me. I just get tired of people needing things from me by the end of the week. Ya' know?

Unpacking, Cleaning, and Naughtiness

I really don't mind unpacking. I definitely prefer it over packing. It's fun to pull things out and decide where to put them. It's like taking the paint off a canvas you've already painted and then putting it on a new canvas in a different way. Unfortunately, I've been spending so much time unpacking and organizing that everyday sorts of chores have fallen terribly behind.

There are mountains of laundry in three different rooms and the toys are starting to spread across the floor like a nasty rash. Today, Doug had to ask me if I could put away the clean clothes that have been sitting in the laundry room for a week because he was having to come downstairs naked after his bath to find clean underwear. And I think I put Eli's last clean outfit on him this morning. [sigh] Laundry is a disease.

And then there are thing things that happen because I have two small children. I spent approximately 7 minutes upstairs earlier, putting away clothes and toys that had migrated to my bedroom. I left the kids downstairs. Bad idea. I should have known by the way they were both laughing that something was up. When I came back down, they had scattered the food from both cat bowls all over the floor and made a big mess with the water from their drinking fountain. I was too shocked to be angry. Eli I would expect that from, but Lila knows better!

Yesterday's Title Confused People

We've been getting involved in the Gateway South campus over the past couple of weeks and it's so exciting! I find it ever so much easier to feel comfortable and connected in a smaller setting. And being in a theater (junior high auditorium) with music that is far too loud felt like the Gateway of old. There was a tangible sense of comaraderie among the volunteers as people started tearing down and packing up after the service. I'm really looking forward to becoming a part of this little family.

Oh, goodness, I did something stupid yesterday. I left my coffee mug where Eli could reach it. Thankfully, the coffee in it was cold by the time he found it, but the carpet still suffered. As soon as I heard the sound of the mug scraping across the coaster, I started jumping up and diving toward him, but Eli still managed to spill a lovely arc of coffee across the floor. [sigh] Good thing the carpet is already light brown.

I wonder if I'll be able to go to BSF this year. Lila is still young enough to be in the kids class, which I am very happy about. She learned so much the year that she was in it! Eli, however, is still too young, so I'll need to find some sort of child care for him. I suppose I'd better start looking now because I think classes start at the beginning of September...

South Phone Birthday

I wonder... now that I live in South Austin, how long will it take before I start to think that tie-dye is cool? That's one particular trend that I've never been fond of, but it's all over the place down here. Instead of taco stands on the side of the road, there are tie-dye stands. Okay, so really there are both, but I still find it odd. I wonder if anyone's ever tie-dyed a wedding dress...

My family members will be happy to note that I've started making phone calls more often! I am part of the 5% of women who hate to talk on the phone and I receive no end of grief over how infrequently I talk to some people. Occasionally, however, I tap into some vein of desire to stay connected to those I love and I resolve to actually speak to them. As of a couple of weeks ago, I made a list of six people (or sets of people) and I call one of them every day.

Lila's 4th birthday is coming up in one month and for once I'm not stressed over planning her party. That's because she pretty much planned it herself and all I have to do is implement it. Sweet! The only thing she doesn't know is what she's getting as a gift. She keeps saying she wants a teddy bear, but we're not too hot on that idea. The girl has stuffed animals coming out her ears. We have other ideas...

Update from Tuesday

I'm typing this update from the library. I had to call Doug at work and have him look up the nearest branch and give me directions. We will have Internet access again on Thursday, but for now I'm afraid to try and find any new places because I don't want to get lost. I hadn't realized how dependent I had become on the Internet for finding information and directions! No Internet and no TV means I've been doing a lot more reading though, which has been nice.

I read an Agatha Christie play (called The Unexpected Guest) that was adapted to a novel. It was a pretty easy read, so I finished in about 24 hours. Now I'm re-reading Dracula.

The kids are doing pretty well with all the chaos. They got to bed really late for a few nights, but we finally got them to bed on time last night. In fact, they had trouble going to sleep because they'd already gotten used to staying up later. Lila is having a bit of adjustment difficulty that's displaying itself in disobedience. Nothing shocking. Kids don't have many ways to cope with the things that are bothering them.

Eli doesn't care what house he's in as long as he's got people to play with and a place to sleep. Right now he's staring at all the other kids here at the library, transfixed. Actually, I should be going because we are all getting hungry. (and lila keeps trying to slip her little fingers in to touch my mouse and keyboard.)

Update I Typed on Sunday

We've been in the new house for two days now and we're all exhausted. I've hardly done any manual labor myself. My fatigue comes from still being half-sick and – well, I'm always at least a little tired, aren't I? Doug, on the other hand, has worked himself like a mule for two days and he's at it again as I type this.

Things look about as good as they can with boxes all over the place. I have the family room as put together as I can and that's where the kids and I have been hanging out. We have all our utilities going except for the gas, which means no cooking and no hot water. I just took a cold shower, which was... invigorating. We've been doing a lot of eating out, which would be great if the food were FREE. The gas should be hooked up tomorrow though. I will go find our nearest HEB and we should be cooking real meals again by dinnertime.

To add to the insanity of last week, I developed an extremely painful ear infection just as the flu finally started going away. For one day, it felt like someone was sticking an ice pick in my right ear. Now it's just clogged and ringing with only occasional, minor pain. I have felt like total wimp during this move because I can't even unpack a box without getting winded. I guess that's what happens when you are sick in bed for a week.