I'm feeling Harried

School's just about to come to a close (as if you all didn't know already!) and I'm staring at the calendar and wondering what fun things we can do that a) won't cost a fortune and b) can be enjoyed by everyone with the least amount of tears. I'm also wondering when I'm going to get to the projects that I want to do - like the cross-stitch I started for Jason before I began blogging; finishing up my recipe project; my picture collage project; the Emmeline apron I bought fabric to make back in April. I'd also like to spend some time at the pool with the kids - hopefully we'll be able to do that a little easier this year now that Sarah and Jason are older.

Of course, the picture collage and recipe projects are on hold until we resolve the issue with my old hard drive. I do NOT relish the idea of spending $600 (or more!) to get the data off that thing. I highly recommend you get some sort of backup going regularly, if you don't already. The external hard drive that was sitting on the floor in it's package next to my PC did absolutely no good where it was.

I have a very hard time finding the balance between spending time (quality!) with the kids and needing down time for myself. I'm used to putting S & J down for a nap after lunch and having an hour or so to myself while William entertains himself for a little bit - which makes me feel guilty that I'm not devoting that bit of time to him - and next year he'll be in school all day and that little bit will be gone for good. My whirling dervish (aka Evie) finishes up on the 12th, and I am anticipating everything being taken up just another notch. Not that I'm pointing fingers, but there is a lot more refereeing done on my part when she's at home as well.

I have a feeling I will be running a lot :-) it's a great stress reliever, and hopefully will allow me to enjoy some of the homemade ice cream I'm planning on making this summer - YUM! You all will also be happy to know - Baby Face is on patrol this evening, we can all rest easy in our beds - Mayberry is safe tonight!

Mamarazzi's Favorite Things - my swap arrived! :-)

I want to thank thank thank Tammy at Home in Virginia for my terrific swap! Just look at all this good stuff - Lemonheads (LOVE them!) and Life Savers, a yummy smelling sugar scrub, Avon body wash and lotion in banana and coconut milk, some hand-made soaps (how lucky am I?!) and wax melts, a Country Sampler magazine, AND a Gordon Ramsay COOKBOOK! I heart cookbooks! I am always looking for a new cookbook to try, and this one looks fantastic. Yay!

This was my first swap and it was a lot of fun. Mamarazzi at Dandelion Wishes hosts these frequently so stop by and keep an eye out for the next one. Then you too can get a box 'o fun in the mail :-)

So here's the story about the cop.....

We live here in a small town and in the last year there have been some problems with kids (we assume) doing some vandalism, breaking into cars, etc. So the police have stepped up the patrols, which we REALLY appreciate! Apparently, however they can mistake 6 adults walking down the sidewalk for hooligans up to mischief! :-)

We (2 neighborhood couples and ourselves) have formed a small 'club' if you will, which we have affectionately named the 'DRT' (Drinking Round Table). It's a small, exclusive (lol!) club and we 'meet' once a month to relax and enjoy adult conversation and beverages. Usually this takes place at one of our homes, but on Friday night we decided to have dinner at a local restaurant (yum!) and then see where the evening went. Since we live 1 mile from said restaurant (gotta love small town life!) we prudently decided to walk.

After dinner, around 10, we left the restaurant to go across the block to the only other place in town with a 'bar' to enjoy the local scene. After having our hearing destroyed by "Olds Kool", the band 'playing', we were walking home past the old Tasty Freeze (I told you it was a small town!) when a patrol car cuts us off by pulling into the parking lot. Old habits die hard I guess, my first thought was Crap! I don't have my ID! Baby Face (as we referred to him later) proceeded to inquire as to whether we were drinking (to which we replied, yes, that's why we're walking) and wanted to know where we were going. It took him a few minutes to recognize that he was talking to 6 adults aged 35 and up (and I'm sorry, we weren't dressed like teenagers!), and that we weren't up to 'mischief'. In the meantime the backup patrol car arrived to provide 're-inforcements', should they have been needed, I guess. As you can imagine, we had lots of fun laughing about this whole incident as we finished our walk (stumble?) home.

SO - that's the story of the cop and the DRT! I can't wait to see what happens at next month's 'meeting' :-)

A LOT of miscellaneous stuff!

Ok, so I'm back! Did you miss me? :-) I think I was a little burned out on blogging there for a bit, and then there was Twilight, and then my computer crashed - but I think I'm over all that and I have a lot of stuff to share! So here goes:

Matt and I had our first night away from the kids in well, ever, last Sunday. We went to Bedford Springs Resort in Pennsylvania to celebrate Matt's 40th birthday - and let me tell you, oh, what a fantastic place THAT is! If you are anywhere near it and want to get away, I highly recommend it. We had a package that included credit for each of us in the spa, whatever we wanted on the dinner menu, and breakfast the next day. It was FABULOUS. I've been spending a fair amount of time since we got back hunting for bathroom fixtures/vanities/tile so I can re-create the spa-like feel of their bathrooms in my own home (and since it's MY bathroom, it's the one room in the house the kids won't destroy!) Here's an example of one of their guest rooms and bath - our bath looked like the one you can see from the guest room - I love the marble tile, dark wood, subway tile, all of it!


Our room was on the front side of the resort and we had a door that opened onto the porch that ran all the way across the front of the building. Unfortunately, it was only about 55 degrees so we weren't able to sit out there much, but I did read a little bit in the sun Monday morning while waiting for Matt to finish his turn over at heaven the spa.



We drove back home Monday afternoon and then went to see Evie move up from being a Daisy (Girl Scout) to Brownies! It's weird, she put that sash on and it's like she aged 2 years right before my eyes! How is it that she will be 8 next fall? I'm baffled.



Tuesday evening I mentioned to William that it might be time to try riding his bike again - we took the training wheels off last fall and he was very gun-shy of riding it after falling a few times - and he was surprisingly willing! So out we went, and let me tell you, he got the hang of it just like that - I guess it's one of those things where when you're ready, you're ready and you catch on in a snap. I'm so proud of him! Although now I've created a monster who can't seem to get it through his head that he needs to listen to Mom and stay on the sidewalk, not ride up people's driveways, and STOP if there are people in his path. BEFORE you plow into them! oy. At least now that he can ride and Jason's big enough, we can go bike riding as a family - something I'm REALLY looking forward to! Yay!

Yes, he has a helmet, I had to buy him the next size up.

Evie & William racing

Sarah and Jason enjoying the beautiful afternoon

Sometime late in the week Matt ran outside with the camera after seeing this really cool rainbow in a cloud! He says it's from ice crystals and it was really amazing to see - I've never seen anything like that before!


and finally, after a long weekend of fun, including dinner out Friday night with friends followed by drinks and being stopped by a cop while we WALKED home (Have you been drinking? Yes, that's why we're walking!) and lots of chores, including Matt tearing apart the dryer to figure out why it smelled like fire (I am NOT buying a new one until I have room for a front loading pair!), Matt took William outside to work on a project and was soon joined by Sarah and Evie who wanted to paint too. All while Jason rifled my craft box which had been left open on the kitchen table. A good time was had by all!



So that's it for me for now, this weekend gave me a small taste of what life will be like in 3 weeks when school's over - the challenge of keeping 4 kids occupied while trying to keep up with the grass and outside schmutz that gets tracked in, the laundry, and general upkeep of the house. I have a feeling it will be exhausting - but I have our beach trip in August dangling in my mind like a carrot to pull me through what I'm sure will be a summer filled with plenty of blog fodder. So stay tuned!

Need an Edward Fix??!

So I've finished the books and watched the movie (!) - now what do I do to satisfy my craving for Edward-y goodness? (Thanks Erin, for that particular phrase - it's been in my head all week!) Why, read Midnight Sun, of course! For those of you who aren't aware of this, Stephanie Meyer had started a draft for a novel of the Twilight story from Edward's point of view - all that good stuff that was going through his head in the first book that you couldn't see from Bella's point of view. It's about 264 pages and you have to read it on the PC, but a little discomfort is a small price to pay, no? Here's the link to her website page about Midnight Sun, you can get to the PDF file at the bottom of the page:

http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/midnightsun.html

Unfortunately, according to her page, she doesn't intend to finish this one, as too many 'pirated' copies were released. Thankfully, she did publish this 'official' draft for us all to enjoy. (Sigh) Guess I'll be in line with all the teenagers when the next movie comes out in November...

Please bear with me! :-)

So I'm really bleary eyed from staying up WAY to late reading the Twilight books (sorry I've been neglecting you all!) and I come down this morning to find my computer all torn apart - EEEK! Matt went to check the weather this morning and it wouldn't wake up - he went to restart it and got "hard drive failure - hit F1 to continue" OMG what a disaster! I have about 2 years worth of pictures on there that are NOT backed up (baby Jason's whole life!), MS Money, all our tax returns, blah blah blah. Now, we're not completely stupid, we were AWARE that it should be backed up, but Matt was never able to get my PC to back up to the server and just didn't pursue it (because, as I'm sure you are, we're busy with other things too!) Not 3 weeks ago he bought a 1 terrabyte external hard drive that was sitting on the floor right next to it. Lot of good that did, huh?!

Anyway - hopefully the data is recoverable (please God!), it's not like it was in a fire or anything; and Matt's ordered a new hard drive that should be here Tuesday. But until that arrives and he can install it/an operating system/all the applications I need, I am dead in the water except when he's here and I can borrow his laptop. But hey! Maybe I can get some projects done while I wait, since I can't blog and I'll be finished the last Twilight book by tomorrow (hee hee!) Matt and I are off tomorrow afternoon for our 24 hour get-a-way, so I look forward telling you all about the resort later in the week when I get back. CYA!

Do Not Disturb

I've fallen into Forks with Bella and her friends. See you when I come up for air....