Kitty school

Mary's Snakes

That's her coat they're in.

Snakes for Daddy

When I picked the girls up from daycare today, Mary informed me that she had snakes in her pocket for Daddy. Two problems with that, Internet. 1) There was something alive in her pocket, 2) Daddy isn't coming home until tomorrow. I realize that these things happen, but I thought it was boys that picked up nature and dragged it about with them, not girls. I don't mean to pigeonhole, but really, who would have thought? So I peeked in her little coat pocket and saw a pile of wet worms squiggling around. Hm. Worms. "Those are the snakes for Daddy", she said again. Hm. I'm still not sure at this point what I want to do with worms. Well, I said, those snakes won't live in your pocket until Daddy comes home. Mary persevered. Let's let them go back with their Mommy and Daddy, I suggested. No, she said, the Daddy snake is right here - then she pointed to the largest -by far - worm in the pile. His name is Daddy Snakey and he is with his little baby snakes. (I think later his name became something pronounceable only in Vulcan, but I failed to write it down phonetically and can't remember it now). So we argued all the way home (an amazing 4 minutes) about how to get the poor worms out of Mary's pocket (now smashed under her lap belt) and into the ground. She finally agreed that I could take a picture of them and send the picture to Daddy. Another half an hour discussion ensued after that agreement (negotiation talks are always Hell) about letting the worms go. We finally figured it out and I have a picture that I will upload tomorrow. Right now I'm off to bed.

It Figures

Well, Internet, it always happens. Hubby goes away on a trip and the house cannot hold itself together. It was nothing horrible and Earth shaking, just miserable and annoying. Yesterday the ice maker died. I'm not sure why - I stuck my head in and pawed around to see if it was jammed (that has happened) and it wasn't. It's been making some really argumentative noises for a week now and I think it just gave up the active protest and refused to work at all. This is sucky because I'm on a huge iced tea kick, which involves large quantities of ice to make (hence the "ice" part of the name). So for now I'll leave the empty iced tea container in the fridge (that used to get me into trouble back at the parent's house - sorry, Dad!). And, speaking of what's in a fridge, I found this interesting web site while trying to do lesson plans yesterday (in case you didn't guess, I wasn't ver successful with the whole lesson plan thing). So, the ice maker is protesting. And the phone died. Not just any death, but a sudden, silent death. I came home today to find the phone acting like it was unplugged. It wasn't. So it was off, having not heard even one call that might have come in today. Internet, let me remind you that we are trying to sell our house. That is important and requires the availability of a phone. Also, I have been waiting for WEEKS for a call from the school I worked for last year because they have a job to offer me. According to the principal, I was supposed to receive the official offer soon. TODAY, actually. The day my phone died. After messing around with it for a while, unplugging and plugging it in, moving it to a new plug, making the appropriate cajoling noises to get it to comply, I finally - FINALLY - got it to work. But it still did not record any messages. Fortunately for me I have voice mail (which I normally despise) which saved the day. There was the call! The only call all day! And it was saved with a return phone number! Unfortunately for me, the 20 minutes it took me to figure out the phone also caused it to be past time when I could call them back today. Phooey. And for a grand finale, the pumpkins we had waiting for Halloween rotted all over the floor. As if they just couldn't hold themselves together for a minute past the time Hubby left the house and country. Practically melted on the spot. Not only is that smelly, but it is mushy and of great interest to two little girls who are not very supervised while Mama is messing with a phone. Let's just say YUCK, and what a nice bath was had by those little girls. I can only imagine what tomorrow brings.

End World Hunger, One Grain at a Time

Yes, it can be done! Improve your vocabulary and rice is donated. Big words! Rice! What could be better? Try it at this site:
http://freerice.com/index.php

Now I'm sesquapedalious and peckish. Hm.

Teacher desk

Apple and all!

At the mall

Celebrate!

15 happy years of marriage...

Done!

Iron Girls Diane and Ann

Ready to Race!

Our race bibs- with our names!!!

Cider Mill Day

Welcome, autumn!!!

Teacher's Store- Saturday trip

Science section!

Teaching

Back to school! Project day poster themes!

Celebratory Dinner

Movie afterward, all husband's surprise for me getting a new job!

The Empty Park

This is how we spent nap time today, after many aborted attempts at
sleeping children.

Da Bomb!

Yesterday was fabulous. Here's how my day went:
1. Dropped off kids at daycare
2. Came home and took a shower without anyone busting in while I'm soaping my hair
3. Went to a job interview
4. Accepted a good job offer halfway through the interview
5. Came home for lunch with my husband
6. Went to a scheduled massage (ahhhhhhhhh.....)
7. Visited my good friend Trica and sat for an hour while her daughter was down for a nap and looked at her awesome craft stuff
8. Went to the scrapbook store by myself, with no one to pull stickers off of the rolls while I was in there


I've decided that if we had only received an offer on our house it would have been the Best Day Ever. Unfortunately, it stopped short just there. It was still an awesome day!

Corn Roast with the family

Race Day!

Had an indoor Triathlon this morning (the run part was outside); Swam 1/4 mile, Biked 12.4 miles, ran 3.1 miles. Total time: 1:32:45. Personal best! Check out the stats on my training blog (Tri to be Fit). Jim brought the kids for the end, and each time I looped the lake (a total of 7 times) they all chanted, "Go Mama! Go Mama!" It was so cute!

New restaurant

Jim decided that it was too late after working out to wait for me to fix a dinner, so he stopped at a new little Mexican restaurant on the way home. Upon sitting down, Mary poked me on the arm and said, with her hands clasped in sincerity, "This is my very most favorite restuarant. Can we eat here forever?"

Hmmm. I'm not sure whether it was the waterfall sculpture as we came in or the promise of endless tortilla chips that had her at hello, but it was love at first sight. The food was fresh and excellent, not acutally like eating at a Mexicna restuarant at all, which made me like it, too. And it was CHEAP! Not like Taco Bell cheap, but cheap enough to pretend we ate at home and did not affect the monthly budget. We are always affecting the monthly budget. There were haircuts this month, and dog grooming, and, GASP!, I suggested I might like to get a massage after my race on Saturday! That last one, according to the family CFO, would tip the precarious balance into certain ruin. So, after figuring out we were poorer than Uncle Tom, we ate out. Too bad massage appointments aren't ruled by the stomach like dinner is.

Emma-before