Expectations Met...

...and how often can you say that? I had a wonderful weekend trip. The seminar I attended was eye-opening (to say the least - I think my mouth dropped open so far that I drooled on my shoes) and full of useful information. Now I just need to start in on actually using it. The scrapbooking bed and breakfast was delightful. The innkeeper and I turned out to have a lot (and I mean A LOT) in common and breakfast was really good...fabulous crepes with this orange custardy filling, along with coffee, fresh juice, tons of fruit, and these reeeaaallllly good caramel roll things that I wanted to eat all of (darn that wheat allergy!). I was stuffed! I stayed up until about 3:30 working on scrapbook pages, and was beat the next day, but it was worth it! The scrapbooking room was well set-up and fully stocked with supplies and snacks. I highly recommend a stay! Then on the way home I stopped at a nice fabric store and found some fabric for Big K's Easter dress, which she loved. Another miracle! I haven't had such a good weekend in a long time.

Dress Shopping...Bah, Humbug

It's time for my annual struggle to find Big K an Easter dress. Ugh. The kid is 10, but already 5 feet tall, and her measurements just zigzag wildly across any size chart I've ever seen. We spent yesterday morning at the mall trying on dresses here and there and couldn't find anything cute enough or modest enough in her size. Why exactly, when a little girl graduates from a size 6X, do clothing manufacturers consider her to be all grown up...or perhaps ready for the world's oldest profession? We did find one dress that we both liked at Macy's, but it had an u-g-l-y belt and it didn't fit quite right. So then I spent yesterday afternoon looking at patterns and fabric online. I think I can copy it and make it better. Somehow I have to fit that in before Easter!

Anticipation...

I'm heading across the state in a couple of weeks for a seminar. "Well", thinks Me to Myself, "there's no way I can drive home after that. It's really just much too far. I'll have to stay in a hotel... all by myself... without kids... alone. Oh, darn." So I got to thinking a little more about how I could maximize this outing. "I could take my scrapbook stuff", I think, "and scrap in my hotel room. No, wait. I could find a scrapbook store with a late night crop and stop there before going to my hotel." So I set out online to find said scrapbook store. Well, lo and behold, instead I stumbled upon a bed and breakfast for scrapbookers in the vicinity of the seminar. And they're totally open for that night. Can you say Providential? I sure can! Here's the website: http://www.lastingimpressionsbb.com/
I've made my reservation, and I'm looking forward to both an informative and fun evening. The anticipation alone will get me through the next couple of weeks!

Wednesday Night

Our Wednesday night program at church has been working through the 10 Commandments. I'm the director for the K-2 kids group, and for some strange reason I can't seem to get a lot of people to share the teaching duties, so it's usually my turn. So last night we finally got to "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery". And you can guess who got to teach that one. I came at it more from the angle of Keeping Promises and I think I only mentioned the word "Adultery" once in the middle of a very fast sentence, leaving no room for any of the kids to jump in with their ever so helpful questions or explanations. Whew...I'm glad that's over! And I don't think I'm going to get any calls from parents! For anyone else teaching such a lesson, Horton Hatches the Egg is very useful - and time consuming!

Spring is Coming!

I'm happy to report that the first robin of the year was spotted in our backyard this afternoon. I can't tell you how much joy this brings me! Just a few more short weeks until I can send the kids outside to play. I'll bet our neighbors are looking forward to it, too. Tee hee.

Fridays at IKEA

So Friday is art class day for my girls. On a good day when I have my ducks in a row (and quite frankly sometimes when I don't, like today) I drop the girls at art and J-Man and I make a bee-line for IKEA. The kid loves Small Land, and I love an hour to drink coffee and read a book without paying for a babysitter. Everybody wins. So today I wandered the store for awhile before I settled in with my book, and I ended up coming home with a new toilet seat. (I bet you're wishing your life could be as exciting as mine, aren't you?) When we got home I deposited said seat on the floor by the door and ran upstairs to take care of something. When I came back, the kids had taken the seat from the package and were trying it out on the living room floor. Which makes me wonder a couple of things....what's wrong with my kids....and who else's rear end has touched that seat? Lysol, here I come!

Hello!

To the small handful of people who may be reading this post - Hello! I've been a wife for almost 14 years and a mom for 1o. We homeschool our kids, and with that comes almost a daily string of fun, frustrating, wonderful, annoying things. Along with the normal daily life stuff that we all deal with, of course. I created this blog mostly for someplace to share and vent. I'll refer to my husband and kids with generic terms: I have a 10-year-old girl (Big K), a 6-year-old girl (Little K) and a 5-year-old boy (J-Man). I also have a cat, who doesn't care about her privacy, so we'll just call her Emily. Thanks for dropping by!