The last thing I need

Ugh...I just checked my paypal account and noticed 2 unauthorized charges made using my Paypal debit card. I spent all morning on the phone and think I've got it all figured out, card cancelled, etc. But, it'll be a while before the money gets back in my account. And, I need that money! I've got to turn my mood around and not let this bog me down.

Update-a-thon

Yeah, it's been a long time since my last post. Gone are the days when summer was a time to relax and the pace was slower than during the school year. This summer seems to have disappeared before my eyes and I'm not ready to send these kids o' mine back to school in three weeks. But, alas, that's the case...and the next 3 weeks are busy as usual.

Patrick is home from our church's Mission Trip to Lewes, DE. He got home last night at midnight. He worked fixing up homes of underprivledged people. Sounds like he had a great time...but I'll know more when he wakes up from his impromptu nap and we can actually have a chance to talk. He's going to a program called Freshman Advantage at the high school starting tomorrow. It's designed to help incoming freshmen adjust to high school life. I think he's actually looking forward to it....although it could be that he's just looking forward to seeing friends.

Rachel will spend the next three weeks in a ballet intensive workshop for 3 hours every morning. The ballet company that she's a trainee with holds these workshops every summer and bring in instructors from all over the country. It's a really awesome experience for the kids to grow their technique and learn from renowned teachers.

Alison is going to go to a new program at the elementary school called JumpStart which is kind of like the program Patrick is going to, except it is aimed at kids that didn't qualify or need to go to Summer School, but could probably use a little extra help getting back into the school mode. She seems excited with it...although she won't want to get up in the morning. I bought her a 3rd grade math workbook at the store yesterday and she immediately sat down to work on it, so that's encouraging. I've been praying all summer for a good teacher for her in 3rd grade. We didn't care for her 2nd grade teacher all that much and I really want a good match for her this year.

We have decided that we need to try to find a good home for our Siberian Husky, Mia. She is an amazing dog, but she really needs to live somewhere where she can have more room to run. If we accidently leave the door open or answer the door and don't watch carefully, she'll bolt out and just run and run and run. Our town has a strict leash law and we've been fined several times already. So, I placed an ad on petfinder.com about her. Thankfully I had read on their forum to beware of scammers, so I didn't fall for the inquiries about her from far and wide that are written in broken English requesting to know how much we want for her. Apparently, the scam goes that they then send a "Cashier's Check" to you for more than the amount, tell you to deposit it, and send them back the difference. Obviously, the check bounces (assumably after you've sent them the money) and you're out the money/fees. I am savvy enough not to fall for such a scheme anyway, but it breaks my heart that people are feeding off of people in such a disgusting way.

Yesterday I came downstairs and Thornton said, "Are you cooking something?" I told him that I wasn't, but that I'd made some tarts, so maybe that was what he was smelling. He said, "Oh, something just smelled really bad". I thought to myself....nice...if something smells bad, he thinks I'm cooking? But, then, he capped it off with, "Oh, never mind...I think Mia just farted." I told him that I forgot, and that I really was cooking farts and that dinner was ready! Seriously...I wasn't sure just how offended I should be....LOL!

I'm not meant to be single

Thornton and Patrick have been down in St. Louis since yesterday (Wed.) morning. They won't get back 'til Friday night. I can't stand not having Thornton around. Of course, when he's here, he drives me nuts, but that's normal, right? We probably talked on the phone 8 times yesterday. Granted, 4 of those were during Patrick's baseball game to get updates (I probably hate not being at his game just as much as I hate not having them home, but it just isn't possible to be down there all week).

But, the girls and I will survive. Maybe after their dance classes tonight, we'll do something girly. Whatever that means...LOL!

World Series

Patrick's baseball team is playing in a 14U World Series in St. Louis this week. They started play on Sunday and continue play through Saturday. Sure...this is a great experience for him. But, fact of the matter is, all I can see are the dollar signs associated w/ it. Most of the team are actually staying in a hotel for the whole week. We....are not. We live in a fairly well off community. But, let's face it...our family is not well off. Thornton works for our church and I own Cleanse Your Soul. We do OK...our children always have clothes on their back and we live in a nice house. But extras...well, those are few and far between. And, I'm OK w/ that. I don't need the kids to have every whim their heart desires. Thornton and Patrick will be staying w/ a cousin in St. Louis for the rest of the week. Hopefully, they will be eating cheaply. Other than that...I just need to get over my disdain of the money that gets thrown around so casually, as if everyone can afford what most can, and realize that this is an experience of a lifetime for Patrick.

Next week he leaves on a church Mission Trip. Yup...that's crazy expensive too. But, that experience has the power to change his life and mold his young Christian mind in such a positive way, that I'd gladly shell out the money.

It might be a difficult year...

...for little Alison. Patrick will be a freshman in high school and Rachel will be in 6th grade (so, Middle School). At church the high schooler and junior highers do a lot of fun activities together. Today, both Patch and Rach are at Six Flags in St. Louis. Now, if I were an adorable little 8 year old, I'd be angry that I didn't get to go. But, Alison handled it really well. She hasn't complained once today (well, not about that, at least! She did complain royally when I told her it was time to go to dance and she deemed herself too tired to go, despite having spent the whole afternoon at a friend's house...but that's another story!).

My brother is two years older than me and I well remember always being "too little" to do the things he did. Believe me...it made me mad! So, I think Thornton and I will have to have some special time set aside for just Alison when Patrick and Rachel are off doing their fun activities.

Only I....

Only I could get an injury painting pottery! I took the girls to one of those places where you paint pottery and then they fire it in the kiln for you and you get the finished piece in a week or so. I was painting this intricate coaster...it had lost of tiny little parts that needed to be painted. Well, I must've had my neck cricked in a certain way, because by the end of the night, it started hurting me, but when I woke up this morning, I was in big time pain. It's much better now, but I think it's hysterical that I pulled a muscle painting pottery.

The pottery (I keep typing potty...LOL...) painting thing was part of a church group, so we were with a bunch of people last night. It was so interesting to see how different people tackle creative projects. Some people were the dive right in kind of painters. They picked their project immediately, had no trouble picking colors and just started painting away. I fall into this category, as did both my girls. Alison must've used every painting technique and color available on her piece. Can't wait to see how the finished project turns out. Other people had a very difficult time choosing what they wanted to do and then were almost afraid to choose colors, for fear of making a mistake. But, really...you couldn't make a mistake. One person had such a hard time, that she ended up painting her pottery piece using a sample piece as her guide. She did it exactly the same, using the same colors and everything. I commented to her that it was funny how children just dive right into project, whereas adults seemed to have a harder time. She said that she was exactly the same as she is now as a child, so that blew my theory.

We had a great evening, but next time I think I'll take some Tylenol first!

I'm tired!

Patrick's team played in the State baseball tournament this past weekend. The games were played up in Bourbannais, IL, which is 2 1/2 hours from our house. They played two games Saturday (won 1 , lost 1) and then had to wait around to see when they would play on Sunday. We had to leave to get back home for church on Sunday, so Patrick stayed up there w/ a teammate's family in a hotel. He called Saturday night around 9 and told us that they didn't play until Sunday night at 8 p.m.! ACK! He could've come back down w/ us, if we'd known. Thornton and I weren't going to go up for the Sunday p.m. game because it was single elimination, so if they lost, we'd have to come right back home, but if they won, we'd have to find a hotel for the night. We figured it would be easier to wait and see if they won or lost and then go up on Monday if need be. But, when Patrick called, he said, "And it's great...because it's so late, you and Dad can come!" Yeah...what were we to say to that? So we left the girls w/ Thornton's parents and headed up for his game. We got there at 7:45 and the game before them had just started. Patrick's game didn't even start 'til after 9:30 p.m. After 6 innings, the score was tied and the time limit had expired. So then they do this tie breaker thing where they start a runner out on 2nd, there's one out automatically and each batter has a count of one ball and one strike. Obviously, this is meant to speed up the end of the game. The two teams battled back and forth and Patrick's team finally ended up losing the game in the 3rd extra inning. What a disappointment! By this time, it was after midnight. We didn't get home 'til after 3 a.m.

Now...here's the kicker....we travelled all that way to the game and ended up playing a team from Springfield, which is 15 minutes away! How frustrating is that??