That's a Snowball?

So, we finally get a wee bit of snowfall during the day while the kids are at school. Big, heavy flakes dropped from the sky. When it was over, we received MAYBE 1" of snow. With that in mind, tell me how my kids created these snowballs?

Weekend in Lexington

So, I just finished up my bi-annual weekend in Lexington cropping away and preserving my memories in the kids' albums. The nice along weekend usually begins on Thursday mid-day. Unfortunately, I had to attend a meeting, so I didn't end up leaving town until around 4ish...so I arrived in time for wine & appetizers. I think all "get-a-way" weekends should begin this way. I quickly unloaded my stuff, claimed my favorite bed (as we all typically sleep in the same arrangements), tossed my supplies at my spot realizing I left all my paper & memorability at home, then headed over to the kitchen to have a drink of whatever was being poured. After a couple of quick calls, my paper tote was going to arrive via Yvonne the next day. So I settled into my chair, keeping my glass & others full as Kathy & Joanne made artichoke dip & stuffed mushrooms. Needless to say, we didn't need to heat any more appetizers...new plan...save those for Sunday lunch. So after about 2 hours, a couple bottles of wine, and many mushrooms later, it was time to head back to the cropping area to see what I can do on my albums. Kathy graciously offered the use of her paper until mine arrived. So, I went to work.

When packing up on Sunday, I determined over the course of the weekend, we put together a plan for Emily (my daughter--no she wasn't there) for her organization, received the cure-all for teenage acne, determined it was okay to drink wine at lunch time if we didn't have a Bloody Mary at the beginning of the day, got Kathy's iPod working so were could listen to more than the music of Andrew Lloyd Weber, Johnny Mathis, Journey, Barry Manilow, & the soundtrack from Bridget Jones #2...after we got it working, Kathy received the download tutorial to add more songs via iTunes & cds, we proceeded to skip the other songs as we had listened to them 6 times, except for Barry...there is never a such thing as too much Barry. Other things from the weekend, I found out what song will be played at Joanne's funeral, that keeping a daily journal is a "MUST DO" for the interest for future generations, and NEVER download Photo Shop 7 from the internet as you have no instructions to follow and the online tutorials require subscription maintenance fees.....No, I am not the one using Photo Shop...I use Creative Memories digital photo line of products....but it was interesting seeing a "teeth whiting" enhancer and a "blue skies" enhancer tool...the question was "how do you use them?"

So in the end, after many bottles of wine, several Bloody Marys, and a Long Island Ice Tea or was it two, I cruised along utilizing 1 roll of Photo tape, 3 rolls of Tape Runner and completing all of 2007 in Andrew's book, and made it to Halloween 2007 for Emily, completing a total of 63 pages altogether...a new page completion record for me. Boy, I love those Power Palette as well as those late nights staying up until 2:00 a.m. I wonder if that is why I've needed mini-naps this week...hummm.

Now I return my attention to my digital album of Scotland (already on page 31) and then I'll start prepping for my next retreat in January where I hope to complete as much of 2008 as possible.

A Leafy Type of Day

So, here is what happens when the weather is nice, the breeze tumbles down a bunch of the leaves from your tree, and you have a little artist in the family.

Just a bummer for Richard who is on leaf duty....maybe a big wind will come tonight and blow it all into the neighbors....humm hope my neighbor isn't reading this :)

Halloween

So, imagine if you will, Halloween night...trick or treating hours between 6-8 pm for our town and we head out when it's still daylight for the first hour of trick or treating. On top of this when I walked out the door at 6 pm, the thermometer read 68 degrees. First Halloween in a LONG time that I wasn't bundled up wearing gloves.

This year the bobsy twins (Emily & Emma) decide to be Mimes. So for the past couple months, Emma's mom and I had been working to complete their outfits. We were very successful with finding needed attire...of course all at various stores. They didn't win the prize at school this year, but they had the best Mime costumes compared to others. Come to find out, there were 7 other girls dressed up as Mimes. I thought that was highly unusual until I asked them if they mentioned what they were going to be....of course they were telling people...hence the reason why there were 7 others.


Andrew got his wish this year and was the Evil Jester. The headpiece was still a bit big but with some cardboard and extra tying around the neck :), he was ready to go. Of course with the temperature being warmer than usual, the mask and headpiece were off before we made it to the 10th house. I told him next year, no masks....I have been carrying them for the past few years. I think he really wanted the Jester stick that went with the costume.



Of course the third member of the family, Cubbie, couldn't be left out. We took him T & Ting with us, which that isn't going to happen next year, and he had to have his own little costume too. So being the little piggy that he is, he was a Pig...and we called him Babe. He pleasantly marked his territory all over the neighborhood, who knew a 9 pound dog had that much liquid in him.

Haus Frau List

My list is now full for a few weeks at least :) At least it will keep me out of trouble, or will it? I'll be busy and not staring at the Halloween candy at least, but needing to go back to Lowes for paint & supplies....humm, I'm sure I'll want to add new tasks to my list (& spend $$) just by walking through the aisles wondering about how this or that would work in my house :) I love Lowes.

(1) Basement Storage Area
It's back to the basement for me. Since we did a lot of work before the basement was finished & when we didn't know how we'd use certain items, some of the boxes or leftover furniture was just pushed up against the new racking system so the contractor could do his thing & build walls for the finished basement section...and still sit. So, now that it's time to bring in the patio furniture & the chairs need to go into the storage area, it's time to pull out the leftover stuff & finish the organization.

(2) Nail Hole Filling
Well what can I say, I didn't finish my job last spring. Still need to fill in the nail holes from all the trim in the family room & some of the trim in the dining room.

(3) Kitchen Drawers/Cabinets
Time to go through that spice rack again, see what's ready to be discarded...of course that's after I make my next couple batches of Zucchini bread (this feel like deja vu). Then it's time to tackle a couple of drawers that seems to have too much in them...all the phone books, note pads, school phone books, etc. Still think I have the school phone book from when Emily was in Kindergarten.

(4) Grout Sealant
Time to apply the grout sealant to the tiles floors...keep all that winter yuck out of the grout. Guess that means I need to bleach out the kitchen floor grout first, which means I have to scrub the floor versus just move the Swiffer around...no wonder why I've been putting this off. I think I just paid the cleaning lady extra to do it last time it was done.

(5) Painting
It's time to dust off my paint tray, and shake up my paint cans. For something that I really got into the swing of things before my "break", I have been procrastinating ever since.

• Need to finish prep work & paint the doorway areas of all rooms.
• Need to paint the Basement door, the Garage Door, & the 1st floor Bathroom door & trim.
• Need to paint other side of the staircase going to the 2nd floor
• Need to paint the 2nd floor hallway

The painting really doesn't stop there. It really also goes into all the bedrooms too, but that is something not added to the list yet. Need to see how long it takes for me to get to this spot first.
Further down the list is all new trim for the 2nd floor too. Maybe that can be another winter time project...or maybe I'll have my contractor come and do it for me :)

Well, since I only have 2-4 hours of workable time a day & weekends are pretty booked, I'm hoping to have the basement completed next week, fill the nail holes, spend a day or two in the kitchen, then onto the grout sealant, which isn't really time consuming, it just needs time to dry so entrance & exit strategies need to be reviewed. Then I'll be ready for painting. I'll aim to have my list completed by Thanksgiving....just in time to go do work on the other house :)

And just think, I get to do all my other Haus Frau activities as well....laundry, clean, grocery store, dinner....maybe it's time I think about going back to work, it might be easier :D

Taking A Reading Break

Well, I've been on a reading frenzy over the past few months. Mainly because books that I have on reserve at the library finally moves to my place in line, so I've got to read them...don't want to have to wait in the long reservation line :) I am also wondering if its just the change in the season & the quiet around the house with the kids back in school.

So based on my goals, I've read 46 out of 50 books to date. So for me to take a break shouldn't be too bad, but then again we have a softball tournament this weekend, what will I do with my spare time in between games. I better pick something up at the library tonight. I've cleared my reserved book list, I'll put those on hold for maybe even next year. If anyone has any recommendations, just shoot them over to me. I've got to start building my list for next year.

If you are in the mood for a tear-jerker, pick up any Nicholas Sparks. The couple I have recent read really got the tears flowing...if you wanted to choose just one, I recommend The Lucky One.

Today, I'm going out to lunch with Richard, bringing the note pad along, to get the list flowing of the "haus frau" activities that I need to complete....or really the extended "haus frau"
items like painting, hole filling, etc. At least I finally bought the painters putty I needed last week :) Time to get back to work :)

Oakland Cobras

Emily is now an Oakland Cobra. We finally broke down and joined a travel team.

In August, Emily tried out for a few travel softball teams and after being invited to join a couple of them, we decided to go with the Cobras as they were the Rochester team (less travel time for practice).

So, now a month later, we have our first all-day tournament this Saturday. Unfortunately we do not have our uniforms yet (hence no pix to post). I'm still wondering if they have been ordered. I chuckled at one of the emails we received, indicated that they keep negotiating with various vendors and the uniform price goes down. I chuckle mainly because I'm thinking to myself "Hello, this isn't a new club, why hasn't this been done already." But then I think, bummer on the previous years, as no one ever called around for competitive bids on the uniforms. Works for me as the price goes down.

Now, I'm entering the how many fundraisers do we need to do stage. Can I have a choice between fundraiser vs. just writing a check to cover Emily's cost? So faced with our first fundraiser: Squares on the MSU vs UM football game, I'm wondering what happens when we don't sell our "allotment". Neither Richard nor I are in front of colleagues all the time anymore to push the Squares. Do we have to buy them if we don't sell them? I'd rather write the check to Emily's account versus write a check to have 1/2 the money applied to Emily's account. Of course if we win...the payouts pretty good.

Of course at the parent meeting, I made the fundraiser suggestion of Scrips, with which some people are familiar. This is a nice passive fundraiser. You purchase a prepaid card for Kroger, which Kroger gives back a percentage to your organization. Hey, a girl's got eat! No extra cost for me to just do the weekly (sometimes multiple times a week) grocery shopping and voila, my organization gets $$. For some reason, people didn't understand this topic & thought Football squares & Bowling parties are great!

So, needless to say, get your football square here ;)

And all she wanted to do is play more softball....