not a good planner...

I have a friend that we'll call Janet, well that is her name! Janet is a dear and wonderful woman who... well... She commits to everything, and follows through with nothing.
I have been invited over to her house at least 6 times in the past year and she has canceled each one. She drug me to church to join a small group, and then 3 months in to it, quit coming.
I personally don't mind a single one of these things, because I stopped holding much weight to her commitments, but then she made a commitment to my daughter. She said she would bring her girls over to swim with my daughter and backed out. In an attempt to comfort my daughters sadness and dissappointment, I explained to her that Janet is not a good planner. She wants to do alot of things, but can't and then has to cancel.

So last night was Open house to the elementary school. I found a display of writings that the kids had done where each line started with:
I see...
I hear...
I pretend...
I think...
I understand...

Little P wrote "I understand that my mom's friend Janet is not a good planner"

I laughed to hard, I was in tears....

Fugative has been apprehended

We caught Speedo. He was behind the piano... he dodged, and hid and made a break for it, hid in my closet, but we had him cornered... He is now behind bars.

In other news...

Being the first day of school yesterday, I had a boat load of paper work to fill out last night... you know the same ole, same ole, emergency contacts, understanding of school policy's... and lastly the reduced or free lunch form... I have never in the past even glanced at this form, but last night I did...

We Qualify! You know, I thought we were doing ok, I mean we have cut out expenses to the bare bones, and we are making ends meet... We have been fine... Not vacationing anytime soon, but grocery shopping consists of more than ramen noodles... So we are good, right?

We qualify for reduced lunch... I. can. not. believe. it.

I don't feel poverty level... I was even disillusioned to think I was "middle class" lol...
Guess not.

First day of School

I really thought Iwas an old pro at the "first day of school" thing. We purged bedrooms, extracted old clothes that didn't fit or weren't cool anymore... We rearrainged bedrooms to symbloize the fresh new start of the new year. We laid out our new outfit, stuffed our new backpacks with our sharpened pencils, and new binders.

We got dressed, I asked for a couple pictures, Little P happily obliged, Preteen A rolled her eyes. I told her the pictures would go on facebook, she she'd better look normal.

So I asked my new middle schooler (preteen A) do you want me to drive you on the first day or do you want to take the bus? I don't care, was her response... "I don't care" in preteen means, I want to do the uncool choice, but PLEASE don't make me admit it.

Elementary school starts first so off we went... My little P is about an inch and a half shorter than her teacher... Preteen's old teacher asked me if I was "ok"... yea? I'm thinking, why wouldn't I be? First day of school... psssht, that's old hat.

Off we trek to the middle school... we pull up to this HUGE school, I am totally cool... we say our goodbyes, she gets out of the car and starts heading up the grand staircase to the front doors...

As I pull away I glance back... (don't glance back!) and what do you know... I'm stinking crying!

Good Grief. I really had no idea that 'd cry, really. I can NOT even image what High school or (gasp) college will bring... basically a basket case for a mother.

Fugitive among us...

This past spring Little P's hamster Smoky passed and some how that resulted in acquiring a gerbil named Mike and a Robo Mini Hamster very appropriately named "Speedo" for Preteen A. Last night as I was settling everyone down for bed preteen A comes to me and says "I need your help".
Now in case you have young children, or all your children have grown then you don't necessarily realize that preteens, teens or young adults know everything there is to know and no longer need the assistance of parents.
I am trying to look calm because I know for her to actually ASK for help means that she has tried everything known to man prior to asking... I carefully walk in to her room, apprehensive of what I might find... and then I see it...

An EMPTY hamster cage

The Robo Mini has escaped, he is very fast, and only 2 inches long... We have no idea how he got out, where he could be or if he is even still alive... I told preteen A that we would have to put food out and hope we see him come to it and catch him... Before the dog finds him!
So last night hubby got up around 3:30 am and had to, uh... tinkle. As he was standing in our bathroom, Speedo ran between his feet. Being in mid-stream, hubby was unable to capture the fugitive, but we have at least had a sighting... He is alive, and in the house...

There is a apb out with his description...
Brown Hair
2 in long
3 oz
Very athletic
will not answer to the name Speedo...

Watch for him on America's Most Wanted... if you see him, you can leave a message here on the tip line.

Book Report - The noticer

Title - The Noticer

Author - Andy Andrews


Description: Poverty. A failing marriage. Old age. Lost Dreams. A failing business. An unsure future. To the residents of Orange Beach, Alabama, these desperations are dead ends. Hopeless, barren places with no chance to change.
But an old drifter named Jones with a gift for seeing what others miss, there is no such thing as a dead end. It only takes a little "perspective" he says, to recognize the miracles in our moments, the seeds of greatness tucked in our struggles.
As Jones mysteriously makes his way through this coastal town and into the searching hearts of its residents, he offers simple wisdom and sound hope.
"My contention is that you are right where you are supposed to be. This may look like barren sand to you, but nothing could be further from the truth. I say to you as you lay your head down tonight, you are sleeping on fertile ground. THINK, LEARN, PRAY, PLAN, DREAM. For soon you will become."

My thoughts: This was one of those books that didn't just entertain me. It touched me. Do you ever look are a situation from the outside and the solution seems SO obvious, but when you are among the situation you can't see anything clearly? This is the "perspective" that Jones gives people. One thing in this book that really spoke to me was, it said we often judge ourselves by our intentions, but others by their actions. I intended to take a friend dinner after her surgery, and I intended to write a thank you note, and I intended to visit a lonely neighbor. After all my intentions, It's amazing I have a moment left to my family in any given day. But I never did any of them... So then all my friends sees after her surgery is that no one cared or bothered to bring by a meal for her family while she recovered, or the lonely neighbor is once again reassured that she has no value or purpose for someone to give her a few moments of time. I think "It's the thought that counts" only counts when you have taken action, that didn't maybe turn out as good as you planned. The thought only would have counted if I HAD taken my friend dinner, only to find out that they couldn't eat specifically what I sent. It's the thought that counts of the thank you card came a little later than it should have. It's the thought that counts, if I can only visit for 20 minutes, because 20 is better than nothing at all.
If you life is a mess, it is only a mess up until this very moment. You can change, Right now. Change doesn't take time, it can happen in an instant... what will take time is your reputation and people's opinions of you. You can tell people that you are different all you want, but they will need to SEE the change in you.

ok I could go on and on because I really liked this book, so I will stop before I give everything away... Go get this book now, I promise you will not be disappointed.

Snail Mail and of course Poison Ivy

Today I brought my 11yrs old daughter with me to work... She is keeping busy with and NCIS marathon on, but I thought I woudl give her a little task to break up the day.
Prepare envelopes.
No biggie, right? She's 11, and a half, going in to middle school and a straight A student.
She returned a little while later... with the return address stamped next to the lines in the upper left hand corner, the TO: address directly under where the retuen should be... the postage was the only thing properly placed...
She was never taught how to address an envelope! Never! Can you believe this? She says she learned how to properly write a letter... and then what? E-mail it? Obviously we are in a new day and age...
I love NOTHING more than to recieve snail mail... (that isn't a bill or junk)
In fact... I just may sit down and pen some snail mail letters to some friends... That is what you find a box of in your grandma's attic... old letters from thier friends and loves... what are our grandkids gonna find? printed off e-mails? My blog??? yuk. They should be able to see my hand writing.


I think I could write a whole seperate blog about poison ivy... My Little P has it right now, and she cried out to me this morning that it was "sobbing" and "leeping" she's just so close to the right word... seeping... yet so far away.

What I did on my Summer Vacation...

My babies left June 4th with my mom to Florida looking like this:

When I got them back 2 months later... they looked like this:

ok so maybe I am exaggerating a little... Gosh I have missed them...

So hubby and I hiked the smokey mountains... two trails Abrhams's falls and Rainbow falls...

I got poison ivy (yes AGAIN) I'll spare you the pictures...

we went boating/fishing

We swam... (I'll spare me that embarrassing picture)

Then Aunt Jenn and I took the girls to their very first concert ever. The Jonas Brothers.

It was a fun filled summer, I am glad to have my family back home and for things to settle down and get back to normal...