Happy Birthday, Alison!

Today is Alison's 7th birthday! I just can't believe she's so old already. I know it seems cliche' to say this, but it really does seem like just yesterday that she was born.

We were driving back from Patrick's baseball game last night and I had a terrible sinus headache. I had snapped at the girls to be quiet because they were being a bit rowdy in the van. Then, out of nowhere, Alison says, "I want to go to France." She always knows how to make me smile! :-)

Judy vs. Jimmy Buffet

Today I received a 6 page cease and desist order from Jimmy Buffet's lawyers. Seems they are a wee bit ticked off that my itty bitty little company had a scent named "Margarita-ville", and Jimmy owns the copywrite on that name. I was demanded to change the name or face a big penalty. Seriously 6 pages of scare tactics. Good grief...I changed the name....no big deal. They could've asked nicely. :-) It's now called Margarita Dreams. Now I'm developing a scent called "Parrot Head"....just kidding!

Summer musings

I stepped into the shower this morning and found 2 quarters lying on the floor. How did that happen? Were they stuck to someone's skin? I mean...you don't empty your pockets in the shower, right?

The other day I knocked over a whole box of Cheez-Its into my huge box of packing peanuts. Cheez-Its weigh more than packing peanuts, so they sunk down into the box. Can you imagine how hard it was trying to fish all the crackers out? So...if you get a package from me w/ a stray cheese cracker in it, now you know.

I think the kids and I are getting into a good routine finally. I still have to remind them that I *have* to work sometimes, but I also have been much better about dropping what I'm doing and watching the play or the dance they've made up or going swimming with them.

Rachel and I are going shopping later for Alison's birthday presents. She turns 7 on Sunday. It's hard to handle that my youngest child is that old. I sometimes miss having a really little one in the house. (and no, honey...if you're reading this...don't freak out....I don't want another baby!)

I've been loving watching the College World Series w/ Patrick. To me, this is pure baseball. The players are great, and they play w/ full-bore enthusiasm. They'll dive after foul balls that they have no chance of getting. It's great!

I admit....I used to watch Days of our Lives in college. Once I started working full time, I didn't watch anymore. But, now that I'm home, I often have it on while I'm working. Big mistake! Patrick was in the room the other day when the show was on. He looked quite bemused. I had no explanation as to why I was suckered into watching such a show...but yet...I can't stay away. It's a drug, I tell you!

Two chickies home now

I drove up to Bloomington to pick up Patrick from camp (a day early). His baseball team has an 11 a.m. game in St. Louis tomorrow morning, so we needed to get him a little early to have time to throw and hit today so he wouldn't pull a muscle or anything. It was amazing to see how close the kids get to each other in just a week at camp. Patrick talked the whole drive home about how amazing camp was. I love that he gets a week in the summer to be a complete kid. No pressures of baseball or anything. Just fun.

I saw Rachel while I was there, but she was very clear that she was NOT leaving w/ me (not that I was planning on taking her!). She was reveling in getting to stay at camp for the whole week this year, since she was finally old enough. So, back up to Bloomington tomorrow to pick her up. I could have someone else bring her home, but I just can't do that....I want to get her!

Then, I'll have all 3 chickies under my roof again. Well, unless Patrick's baseball team ends up seeded 2nd in the tournament and stays in a hotel in St. Louis tomorrow night (he'll have to stay w/ a teammate, since Thorn and I have to be in church on Sunday morning). But, I KNOW for sure that Sunday night I'll have all my chickies under my roof again.

Thornton has had a fever of 101 for the past 2 days. It seems like what Alison had...although he says that his whole body aches. He's feeling a little bit better now, but that might just be because the Motrin is working. I sure hope he feels better soon!

15 years

Today is Thornton and my 15th wedding anniversary. Just having him back from camp was present enough for me. So the card and flowers were a bonus! It's amazing how over the past 15 years, though good and bad times, our love has grown. I can't wait to grow old with him.

Missin' my honey

I miss Thornton. I don't know how wives do it if they have husbands that travel a lot. Thornton and I are rarely apart and that's just the way I like it. He's only been at camp since Monday morning and he'll be home tomorrow afternoon, but it just doesn't seem right in our house w/out him here. He did manage to break away this afternoon and called Alison and me. Ali was very happy to talk to her daddy! Funny...she hasn't mentioned missing her brother and sister at all. Whatever could that mean? :-)

Alison and I took our dog Mia for a walk tonight. Unfortunately, as I was walking out the door, I dropped her leash. She took off running, dragging her leash behind her. I expected to be in for a long chase, but some neighbors just a couple of streets over caught her and held onto her 'til Alison and I got there. We then continued our walk and the neighbors that live across the pond from us had their dog out front unleashed. Their dog jumped Mia (despite being less than 1/2 the size) and got a hold of her hind quarters. Thankfully, I didn't find any broken skin.

Alison is currently making Gobstopper dispensers out of paper. You attach the tube of paper to a box of Gobstoppers and then when you put the tube to your mouth, it dispenses Gobstoppers down the tube and into your mouth. She's quite pleased w/ herself, so who am I to stop her?

One more night w/out my honey.....I can make it....

Wanna buy a railroad tie?

Apparently my cell phone number was mistakenly listed in a classified ad selling railroad ties today. I've gotten 3 phone calls asking for information. One guy was really upset, seemingly with me, that I wasn't the correct person. Yeah, like I wanted people calling me and asking me questions that I haven't a clue the answer to.

Alison is a bit better today. Her temp was down to 100.5 with a sore throat. She's been laying low today, which is nice. I had a good reminder from a friend that when a child is sick, it's OK to slow down and just spend time taking care of them. So, I did.

We sent off a care package to Patrick and Rachel at camp. Sure hope they packed their toothbrushes, because they have lots of candy to share w/ their friends! I hope Thornton calls tonight, if he gets a chance, because Alison really misses her daddy and wants to talk to him. He doesn't have his cell phone w/ him, so I don't know if he'll get to call.

Been a LONG time!

I guess I can't really call this blog "A DAY in the life..." since I haven't posted in like a week. It's been an adjustment having the kids home all day and trying to get my work done.

Patrick was at baseball camp all last week in the morning. It was kind of humorous, actually. He's a tall kid for his age (13) and this camp was supposed to be for 11-14 year olds. The first day he and I were standing waiting for the camp to start and all these little kids...must've been 11 years old...but seriously they were little...were staring at Patrick with a glazed look on their faces. He towered over them! Turns out there weren't any 14 year olds there and Patrick was taller than anyone by quite a bit. It turned out to be a good camp in the end, and I think it didn't hurt his self esteem at all to be the "Star" camper.

Rachel and Patrick are leaving tomorrow morning for Camp in Bloomington, IL. They'll be gone 'til Saturday. Thornton is going as a counselor for the "first timers camp". He'll be at the same camp, but in a different area. He'll just be gone until Wednesday. It's been pure chaos trying to get everyone ready to go today. And expensive! I have had to purchase everything times 3. 3 bug sprays, 3 flashlights (why can they never find the ones I bought last year??). Then, there's the snacks.....the camp I went to didn't allow you to bring snacks. But, at this camp, you can, as long as they're sealed in a container. I'm so glad they're excited to go. Our kids have always been really secure about leaving us...and I guess that makes me proud that we've grown them to be secure, confident kids. But, it makes me a wee bit sad that they don't need me *that* much!

Alison came home from church today and took a 4 hour nap. I should've known she wasn't feeling well....but at church she seemed OK. She woke up from her nap literally screaming bloody murder. She said her head hurt. She was burning up, too. I took her temp and it was 103.5. Tylenol has brought her back to normal, but I'm worried about when it wears off. She doesn't quite understand that although she's feeling better now, she still needs to lay low.

My in-law's got back today from Georgia. We dog and cat sat for them while they were gone. Their German Shepherd must've pooped in our house 10 times! We'd take him for a walk, he'd poop, then he'd come home and poop again. Ugh...it was gross.

So, Alison and I will be on our own for a few days. She and I were supposed to go up to Chicago to visit w/ my parents tomorrow and Tuesday, but that's put on hold 'til she is feeling better. Unfortunately, her best little friend is going to Germany w/ her parents (who are from there) for a month. I hear lots of whining in my future!

Busier than usual

You can tell the kids are home, because I haven't updated my blog in a few days. I keep thinking about it, but then it just doesn't get done. Our pool will finally be up and running tomorrow. The girls spent all day swimming at a friend's house, so they are extra tired tonight. Alison is snuggled down in my bed and my guess is that when I go upstairs, she'll be asleep. Poor Rachel is at dance right now and I'm sure she's dragging.

Patrick had a baseball camp this morning, then he came home and mowed the lawn. Then he hugged me.....ewwww....stinky man-boy! I told him how stinky he was and he said, "OK...I'll go put deodorant on". As if that would help!

Patrick's baseball team won their tournament this past weekend. They played so well! Patrick pitched the game they needed to win to get to the Championship game. He did really well, but I could tell he was wiped out after 4 innings. It was hot!

We're going to be dog and cat sitting for my in-law's for the rest of the week. They have a German Shepherd. That will make 2 cats, a German Shepherd and a Siberian Huskey in our house. It works out fine until they all decide to play chase in the middle of the night. It sounds like a herd of cattle are barreling through the house. Their dog loves to swim, too....so we'll have to watch the pool.

Summer!

The kids are done with school (as of Wednesday morning). Of course, it rained all Wednesday and Thursday, so that kind of stunk for them. Today has been beautiful, but our pool isn't opened yet. Thornton has been crazy busy getting ready for the grand opening of our church's new sanctuary on Sunday, so he hasn't had time to finish getting it open. He thinks he'll have time tonight.

The kid's report cards were good. Rachel has been recommended for accelerated math and language arts for next year (5th grade). These are very hard classes, but she wants to give them a try. Patrick got his first C (language arts), so he's going to be reading a ton of books this summer. And, no, I don't feel sorry for him one bit! Alison was recommended for reading intervention next year, but I honestly feel that once we get her ADHD figured out, she's going to do just great.

It's cool again!

We ended up leaving town since our air conditioner couldn't get fixed until today and it was 90 in our house. My in-law's have a house on a private lake about an hour from here, so we headed over there after church on Sunday and got back today. It was wonderful! The kids swam, fished, lazed around...and I got a 2 hour nap! We got back this afternoon and our new air conditioner is now up and running.

Of course, now I'm feeling the pressure to get all these orders out, since I've gotten a bit too far behind, but I'm going to work hard on it now that it's cool. I just couldn't bear to work in my hot kitchen when I was dripping sweat.

The stupidest present ever

Two years ago on my birthday, Thornton forgot to get me a gift. Well, actually, he probably didn't forget, he probably just didn't get me one. He's not a big gift-giver (despite the fact that I love presents!). So, that night he and the kids happened to be at the grocery store and decided to get me a joke gift. I explained to them that usually a joke gift is followed by a real gift, but that was not to be the case. Anyway, they bought me a SpongeBob SquarePants ice pack. Well, let me tell you, that present has probably comforted 100 boo boos in the past 2 years. It's always in the freezer and whenever anyone gets hurt, they get to use SpongeBob. Well, last night, when I went to bed, it was 90 degrees in our house. I love my husband, but I was not sleeping next to anyone when it's that hot. So, he gladly slept downstairs. I laid in bed hot and miserable for a while. Then....a brilliant thought hit me....get SpongeBob! I grabbed the ice pack out of the freezer, climbed back in bed and put SpongeBob behind my neck. Wow...instant relief from the heat! So, SpongeBob slept with me last night....until he wasn't cool anymore and I threw him on the floor.

The air conditioning repair guy is going to "try" to make it today to fix the AC. Otherwise, it'll not be until Tuesday. And it's going to be in the 90's the next few days. Wonder where I can get more of those ice packs.....

It's always something

Recently our weather has turned much hotter, so we turned on the air conditioning for the first time this season. And, nothing. It didn't kick on. So, I called the repairman this morning. He just told me, very non-chalantly, that our compressor is shot and since the unit is so old, it wouldn't help to fix it. We have to replace it, to the tune of $1650. Ummm....yeah...sure, no problem. But, we have to do it. It's 85 degrees in the house right now.

Sometimes I hate being an adult.

Idol thoughts

Caught the finale of American Idol last night. I didn't really have any strong thoughts either way about who I wanted to win. Maybe that's because I didn't catch many of the episodes this season. In their last performance show on Tuesday, I had to cringe many times at how off key both of the singers got at times. Even Rachel (who actually has near perfect pitch) would turn around and look at me in the kitchen w/ this look on her face that said "ouch...that was a bad note".

The highlight of the show, however, was when they brought this guy onstage to sing who idolized Clay Aiken. He had auditioned for the show and was horrible. He even dressed like Clay. While he was singing (off key, of course), Clay walked out onstage singing. This guy freaked out. I mean FREAKED OUT! It was priceless. I am still chuckling over that image.

They had some famous artists on the show too. After Prince sang Rachel said to me, "so who decided this guy should be famous?" Touche.

Swoon

Monday night Patrick came w/ me to pick up Rachel from dance. He had just finished a baseball game. Rachel's face lit up when she saw him sitting out in the waiting area. One of the girls asked Rachel who that was. And Rachel proudly answered, "that's my brother." The girl said, "whoa...*that's* your brother??!!" Then that little girl (OK...she's 11...but to me she's a little girl...) proceeded to come out into the waiting area 4 times in 15 minutes to blow her nose....each time staring at Patrick. It was hysterical! Rachel just rolled her eyes.

Now, if any of Patrick's friends ever start thinking Rachel is cute...then we have trouble.

Who broke the recliner?

I just looked over at the recliner in the family room and the legrest part is up and at a very strange angle....kind of hanging there...definitely broken. No one is home to grill about who did it. But, my guess is that no one will confess. Of course, this chair is the dog's favorite sleeping spot, so maybe we should just blame her.

It so quiet here. Thornton and Patrick are at Patch's baseball practice. Rachel and Alison are both over at friend's houses. I'm not used to it being quiet!

Prayers for my mom

I just got off the phone w/ my mom. She was just admitted to the hospital w/ cellulitis (a very bad skin infection) and abscess in her arm. She has bad excema and thinks she must've scratched too hard and it got infected. She saw her doctor today and he apparently freaked out and sent her immediately to the hospital to be admitted. They have done cultures and are hooking her up to IV antibiotics. She sounded in pretty good spirits. I'm going to wait and see what the infectious disease doctor says and then decide on whether I'll head up there (they live near Chicago). My dad doesn't like to drive in rush hour and they live about a half hour away from the hospital, so I'm not sure how he'll manage. Having aging parents really stinks.....

One more week

After tomorrow, the kids only have one more week of school. I cannot believe that another school year is over. It seriously seems like it just started. Why does the year go by so quickly for my kids, but when I was a kid it dragged by so slowly? I'm going to have to get in summer mode now and motivate myself to work my usual hours even though the kids will be home now. These kids really are spoiled, because Thornton's schedule is so flexible and the church he works at is only 2 minutes from our house, so they really have both of their parents available this summer. Of course, that doesn't mean that we'll be at their beck and call, but I'm glad that if they need to be run over to a friend's house or whatever, I'll be able to do it. And then, I'll get right back to work! Promise.

My cuties!

Rise and Shine!

My alarm clocked stopped working recently. Actually, it still worked, but you couldn't reset the time the alarm was to go off. It was permanently stuck on 6:30 a.m. That's not a huge deal, since during the week we get up at 7:00, but it was getting to be a pain. So...yesterday the girls and I went shopping for a new clock. They picked out a clock for me that had various sounds that could wake you up. You can choose from: buzzer, rooster, birds, seagulls, waterfall, crickets or seashore. I thought it would be nice to wake up to the sound of waves crashing over rocks, so I bought it. When I actually stopped long enough to read the directions, I realized that the waterfall, crickets and seashore sounds were to fall asleep by...you couldn't choose them as alarm sounds. So, I was stuck w/ either the rooster, birds or seagulls. Or the annoying buzzer and really...I don't want to start my day listening to that. So, I choose the rooster. I figured it's the sound that's been waking up farmers for generations, so it should be good enough for me. Not quite as soothing as a waterfall, but it'd have to do. But...I'll have to wait 'til tomorrow morning because Patrick woke me up this morning about 15 minutes before it was to go off to tell me that he was awake. Why does a 13 year old have to wake his sleeping mother to tell her he's awake?? Apparently I've taught him nothing in his time here on earth.