The Curve Ball: Revealed

WHEW!! Finally! I can blog freely about what is REALLY going on in my life:

We are moving again. Actually, we've moved. I've been in Wisconsin the last month, so the kids could start school, (we bought a house in Lake Country and everything) and now I'm back in Denver, supervising the movers as they pack up our house. We still haven't sold it, but we're getting lots of good showings.

It's a bittersweet thing, I LOVE Denver and everything about it, but I also love the area where we bought our new house in Wisconsin, and we have an ACRE lot as opposed to the .22 acres we have here in Denver.

Hubby starts his new job on Monday, and things are running more smoothly than I thought. The Curve Ball was born the day we realized that we were going to move.

Hence the true reason I have been stressed out and crazy these last few months. But things are looking pretty bright for us.

They are loading our boxes onto the moving truck as I write this, and I am a little sad, but we've made a good decision. And can I just say, I get my very own office in our new house, JUST for writing? It won't be a Craft Room/Office. I will have my craft room in the basement, and my very own office. I am pretty stoked about that.

We are embedded pretty deep in moving, so I won't have much to blog about, but I'll get back to it on Monday. Take Care, everyone!

Lara

I Am a TRENDSETTER.

Today was raining, hard. I have started a trend...rather than make my kids walk one block in the rain to the bus stop (the bus is so unreliable...they could be waiting up to TEN minutes) I put them in the car and park myself right where the bus picks them up. Well, I did this last time, and all the other kids took shelter in my car.

THIS time, there were SIX parents in cars parked around the bus stop. It was hilarious. Hey, I don't want my kids sopping wet, and there's no shame in driving them 100 feet on a rainy day! One lady, the bus picks her kids up in front of their house, but she had them in the car, waiting. A car is an extension of your house anyway, right? I have a feeling I'm going to be doing this a lot on blizzard days.

Thing One was so funny today. She has been begging me for a denim skirt forever, and I finally found one at Target with built-in bottoms, that wasn't at her crotch. What is it with the 7-14 sized clothing these days--looking like it belongs on a ho in a rap video? I mean, these are young girls wearing these clothes. I for one am not letting my daughter step outside the door looking like pornography for some dirty old man to ogle. Or young boys at school, for that matter.

I teach her to dress modestly, and there isn't one thing wrong with that.

Back to the skirt. It's actually just above her knees, and I made her wear opaque tights with it. Well, she was all dressed up this morning, thinking she was all that, and as soon as the bus came, she saw all the other kids in jeans and motioned for me to roll down the window. When I did she said to me:
"Drive me home quick, Mom, so I can change. Everyone else is wearing long pants and I'll feel stupid!"

I looked at her for a moment, then told her to have a good day and rolled up the window.
I'm sorry, but that was the most ridiculous statement I'd ever heard from her. She's got to stop thinking like a sheep. Just because she's wearing a skirt with leggings and everyone else is wearing jeans, she wanted to risk being late to school so she could "fit in."
Perhaps it was a tad unfeeling of me, but she had BEGGED me to get her this skirt. And it's not like she's going to freeze, it's just raining.

She'll be fine. Although we are going to have words about the crusty look she gave me when I rolled the window up on her.

I have many errands to run today. In the rain, UGH. And I'm feeling queasy, as normal. I've already eaten enough saltines and yogurt to kill a pig, I need to think of something else.

Have a good weekend, all!

A Shout Out to Michelle:

Who is closing on her first house on her own today---a hefty CONGRATS! You did it! And may your home always be a place where Love lives!
Way to go, Mik!

Caught a Break...

Thanks, everyone, for all your well wishes. At least I can talk freely about the baby now. But I promise to keep complaints to a minimum. Complaints, you ask?
Yes, complaints such as "okay I am sooooo sick and not just in the mornings it's ALL DANG DAY" and "yes, I am SO looking forward to the day I have Cankles again."

Yeah, those kinds of complaints.

Well, we had a break in the weather. It was crisp and sunny this morning, so I did my three miles and I feel great.

Last night I sat down and pulled up all my WIPs, and broke them down, by which one I should work on the most, which one was the most marketable, which one shouldn't see the light of day, etc. The clear winners were EMMA AND FINN and THE PRINCESS COOKBOOK TEST. Although THE SECRET OF ELLIE CRUMB was a close third. I think I'll just work on all three as I feel like it. I get bored with stories quickly (aka STUCK) and so it will help that I have three I'm working on. I'll just write what I feel like on them.

So, mission accomplished. Now I need to figure out how next week is going to work. It's going to be interesting, to say the least. Ooops, I almost spilled the beans! Not yet. The time isn't right. But when the time is right, I'll spill.

Lets just say that life is going to get REALLY crazy really soon. I welcome the craziness. It keeps me on my toes.

And now I'm going to welcome a shower...

A Small Announcement:

Okay, it was even COLDER today. And since we're at the top of the hill, the wind is unbearable. It cuts like a knife. And my kids have FOUR recesses. At least they play hard, that will keep them warm.

I've got the heat on in the house now. I went as long as I could without it, but 68 degrees is too cold for me. It has to be at 71, MINIMUM. Luckily I have a sunroom for an office and I can camp out back there, where it's all windows. :-)

I have made a decision. It's time to get serious about my writing. I only have seven months of freedom before this baby comes, and I want to crank out at least two middle-grade novels. Oh, and yes, by the way, we're getting an addition to our family. Thing Four will be making it's appearance sometime in late April.
Yes, I am absolutely nuts. But I am excited too.

So, back to the writing. I have been doing everything half-assed, and not really trying. I think I am scared of failing, more than anything. I watched the movie "Akeela and the Bee" the other night (VERY good film--watch it) and there was a quote by Marianne Williamson that started like this:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond imagination. It is our light more than our darkness which scares us. We ask ourselves – who are we to be brilliant, beautiful, talented, and fabulous. But honestly, who are you to not be so?"

That really struck me. It's not that I'm afraid to fail at writing. I'm afraid to be successful. (Maybe because it's MORE work!) Kidding. But it all made sense to me. But I have to admit, fear of failure has been a major issue in the writing department for me.

But the only way I'm going to really find out my limitations, is to test them, and see where the chips fall.

I tossed and turned all last night. I tried drinking warm milk (ew--never try it) I tried computer solitaire. Then I realized that I am wasting my time, and I should be writing. I went back to bed after that, with a new determination.

Guess I'd better start...

My Kids go to the Stepford School...

Okay, so it's 48 degrees. That's still COLD compared to lately! I feel horrible because Thing Three came home from school yet again without his jacket, I had to run to the Walmart down the street and buy one for him.

Their school is weird. And I mean WEIRD. They won't let parents inside, for any reason, unless they are there for a conference or as a volunteer. They lock all the doors so you have to go into the office and wait to speak to someone, and I told the office person I was dropping off a jacket for my son, and she took it from me and said she'd get it to him. She said they don't allow parents inside the school because it "disrupts the class flow."

Okay, that is just strange. The two other schools my kids have gone to, parents were able to sign in, and get a badge, and at least wave at their kid if they were dropping something off. And if the teacher was nice, the kid got to walk their parent out and give them a hug.
Not at this school. It's run like an Army Base, and there is ZERO clearance unless you have an appointment.

I guess in a way I should be glad, but it's annoying when I just want to say hi to my son, and hand him his jacket, you know?

Not here. No disruptions. Zero tolerance on just about everything. And they are dead serious about curriculum. And they have very rigid traditions.
My eight-year old daughter, Thing One, told me this morning that she doesn't like school so much.
"Why don't you like it?" I asked.
"I don't know. It's weird there."
"What do you mean by weird?"
"They're uptight about everything. And it's just...weird."

Not sure what she meant by that, but I had to laugh when my middle son's teacher called home the other day and reported to me that my son had "blown a raspberry" at another student and that kind of behavior was unnaceptable. I about laughed her off the phone. Blown a Raspberry? What happens if he REALLY spits? Does he get expelled?

Okay, I just need to stop. I appreciate what schools do for my kids, but RELAX, already! This isn't STEPFORD, people!

I am freezing. Time for a pot of Postum!

Late Post

I had some computer problems today, so I'm posting a "tad" late. (Not that many people read this crap, anyway!)

I've been feeling a little overwhelmed lately. Lots of stuff I can't go in to, but I'm getting tired of all of it in a HURRY. But I have to keep going. I have to keep my head up. If I don't, I'm beat. And I'm not ready for that status, yet.

Thing One was rifling through my old CD's today, and she put in Enya's "Shepherd Moons." I was immediately transported to the Other World that my 19th-century heroine visits in the first novel I ever wrote.
I wrote that entire novel to Enya's Shepherd Moons, and Watermark. Just hearing the music again made me sad. It was the story that landed me an agent. It came thisclose a few times to wowing a couple of editors.

Ultimately, it never impressed an editor enough for a sale. So it sits on my virtual shelf, collecting dust and mostly forgotten. The first novel I ever wrote. And edited for ten years off and on. Rest In Peace.

It's not an easy thing, realizing that you are a great storyteller, but a mediocre writer. I read Kristin Nelson's blog, and she even said once that it's pretty sad, when a story sounds great in the initial query, but the writer doesn't have the ability to write it well, and she ends up disappointed with the partial.
I think I have some great ideas. Maybe I'm just not the one to write them. Reality can be a beotch, sometimes.

Well, I'm ready for this day to be over. Tomorrow has to be better...

TAG, I'm It!

I've been tagged by my friend Devon so here goes:

3 Things That Scare me:
-Dark Water
-The thought of one of my kids getting taken
-That plunging sensation on Roller Coasters

3 Things I Hate Most:
-People who are self-righteous/judgmental
-people who talk during the movie
-Any bug that crunches

3 Things I Can’t Understand:
-why whenever I put a "bad" movie in my shopping cart I run into someone from Church
-Why people feel compelled to hunt
-Calculus

3 Things I Want to Do Before I Die:
-Buy a villa in Italy
-Write a Blockbuster
-Travel the world for "research"

3 Ways To Describe My Personality:
-Bubbly
-Kind
-Impatient as heck

3 Things I Can’t Do:
-Crochet
-parallel park
- the Splits

3 Things I Think You Should Listen To (because you might enjoy it):
-Maidens of the Celtic Harp
-Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Requiem." (The one with Placido Domingo and Sarah Brightman.)
-Five for Fighting

3 Things You Should Never Listen To:
-People belittling you
-Hilary Clinton
-The Theme song from Disney's animated movie "Robin Hood" because that damn whistling Rooster stays with you all day and you can't shake it...(grrrrrr).

3 Things I’d Like to Learn:
-How to make authentic Italian food
-A foreign language (other than "Baby Speak")
-What editors love

3 Favorite Foods:
-Sushi
-Ribeye Steak
-Canneloni Al Forno

3 Beverages I Drink Regularly:
-Chocolate Milk (I'm boring)
-Postum
-Orange Juice

3 Shows I Watched as a Kid:
-The Bugaloos
-Land of the Lost
-Captain Kangaroo

3 people I'd like to tag (Okay, oops, FOUR):

-Brenda
-Pamela
-Karen
-Mik

Arguing over SHOES.

*This is a rant. Consider yourself forewarned.*

Thing One, my eight (nearly nine) year-old daughter, and I really got into it this morning. She wanted help picking out her clothes. It is supposed to be in the seventies today, but this morning was chilly. So I opted for a short sleeve shirt, and long pants. These cute CK green ones that were a tad long on her, so I told her she needed to wear her brown shoes, because they have a heel, and any other shoe would make her pants drag on the ground.

This explanation was apparently lost on her, because she "refused" to wear the shoes (yes--the exact same ones when I showed them to her in the store she begged me to buy) and I looked at her and said. "You are wearing the shoes. End of story."

Well, it wasn't the end of the story. She tried EVERYTHING. During the course of the morning she told me the shoes were too small, which I know they weren't because just a month ago we carefully found the size that fit her.
Then she said she was going to get blisters and I told her I'd give her band-aids for her heels to carry in her backpack.
Then she said they were too painful to wear and she couldn't walk in them (which I knew was rubbish because she had a pair just like them last year).
Then she pulled out all the stops and started SOBBING and saying I was mean because I was making her wear ugly shoes to school and they were going to give her blisters and a list of other assorted atrocities I was committing. I ignored her.

She kept whining, and I kept getting angry, and finally, five minutes before the bus was supposed to pick them up, I told her that I was the boss and she was going to wear those shoes or she was going to go to school NAKED.

She wasn't naked when she got on the bus, so you can tell which option she chose.

We were all standing at the bus stop, and she was standing ten feet away from everyone else, arms folded and in a huff, facing away, and one of the moms asked me what was wrong with her. I said "Shoe Squabble." and she just laughed and patted her eight-year old daughter on the head. Apparently she had the same problem, and knew my pain.

Of course when the bus came I was talking to one of the moms and I felt these arms around my waist and it was Thing One, apologizing and telling me she loved me. So, she ended up fine and I ended up thinking she's EIGHT, and we're having this kind of problem, over SHOES?

So what happens when she's sixteen? Who knows. Until then, I'm the boss. I certainly have more fashion sense than an eight-year old. 98 percent of the time she doesn't like how I do her hair in the morning and when she comes home from school she thanks me because of the compliments she got.

Where does she get this? When I was growing up I didn't care what I looked like, until I was in the 8th grade. Seriously. I was a hopeless tomboy with stringy long hair and I had maybe two pairs of shoes and not a whole lot of clothes and I didn't care. My mother would beg me to take a shower. So, why do I have a daughter who is already, at the tender age of eight, so High Maintenance? She says all the girls at school have perfect hair and clothes, and that stuff wasn't even on my RADAR when I was eight.

Times sure have changed. We definitely have become a more materialistic society, and it's affecting our kids, who are destined to be shallow and materialistic when they grow up. Its a double-edged sword, really. You want your kids to be cute and popular and have nice things, but then you risk them becoming "all about clothes" and there's SO much more to Life than that. Then they start to become judgemental of others, and the snowball effect continues.

Sure, we're arguing over SHOES. But what will we be arguing about tomorrow? I'm actually worried.

...Of course, maybe it's because she's a girl. My boys couldn't care less if they went to school in a potato sack I bought at Walmart and I didn't comb their hair EVER.

*sigh.*

Tidbits...

I have a new love: Balsamic Vinaigrette. I loooooove it on salads. I always order it in restaurants, but I got a bottle at the store, and mmmmm. Now I'll eat salad every day, just to be able to have it. Yummy!

Okay, don't know why I wrote that, but it's a slow day, people.

Apparently, J.K. Rowling was quoted as saying she had written "750 pages on the Seventh Harry Potter novel," and she was only "half way through." Of course this rumor was immediately debunked on her website, but I couldn't help but think, I would LOVE it if that book was indeed, 750 pages and only half finished. As would any die-hard Harry Potter fan.
Heck, I want to have to haul that thing out of the bookstore on a crane. I want to have to build a special standing book holder just so I can read it. Bring on the Monster Seventh Book! It could be the size of a baby elephant and her fans would eat it up. I mean, doesn't she realize that?

I had to put Thing Three on the bus without a coat. He apparently left his only coat at school (in my defense when he came home last night without it I thought it was in his backpack) and so I'm panicking. I called his teacer and begged her (in a message) to call me if his coat is not found, so I can buy one and run it to the school. It's COLD today! And the little tyke has four recesses. I am not having him outdoors without a coat, no Sir.

I was tucking him in the other night and he told me that there's this girl at school who likes to kiss him. I stopped smoothing his covers and said "What? He said:

"There's this girl in my class and she always kisses me. I don't know why."
"WHERE does she kiss you?" I asked, nonplussed.
"On the cheek"
"How many times?"
"Today it was once in Music class, once at recess, and once in class."
"What do you do when she kisses you?"
"I say "Thank you."

I then explained to him that this little girl, as nice as I'm sure she is, should lay off on the whole kissing thing. I didn't make a big deal out of it, I just told him next time she tried, put his hands up and say "NO THANK YOU." And that was that.

Cut to last night, I was tucking him in and he said "I did what you said, Mom."
"What's that?"
"That girl tried to kiss me again and I put my hands up and said, "No Thank you, ew!"
"What did she do then?"
"She said "Okay."

That's what I get for having a cute kid, I guess. :-)

How to Squish Fried Worms...

Well, kidding about the fried part, but it rained all day yesterday so I couldn't do my 45-min. walk, so I stayed inside and brought out one of my old workout videos: Cindy Crawford's Next Challenge.

Okay, yes, this video was purchased in the early 90's when I was in college, but damn, that Cindy (with help from Radu) can make you sweat!
I ached like HECK all last night and even a hot bath didn't help.

So, it rained all night, which kept me awake (as well as Thing One's panic attack at 2am because she is deathly afraid of throwing up and she thought the burritos she had for dinner were going to make a reappearance) and I was VERY tired this morning, but it wasn't raining, it was "misting" so I decided to go on the walk. Little did I know what I was in for.

It was as if every earthworm that ever existed had decided to wiggle out onto the streets of my neighborhood. Big fat earthworms, long skinny earthworms. And lots of smashed earthworms. It was like dodging Worm Pate on the road. I had to force my morning orange juice to stay down whenever I misjudged and slid along the road on a squished earthworm.

EEEEEYYYYAAAAAHHHHHHH. Squished worms are not exactly my thing, if you haven't guessed by now.

But I made it. I did the full walk, and I survived.

Although if it's still raining tomorrow I might opt for Cindy Crawford over squished worms...

In Remembrance of 9/11

They say everyone knows where they were and what they were doing the day JFK was shot.

Well, for my generation, it will be 9/11.

I'll never forget that morning. It was a non-school day, and the kids and I were all at home. We'd seen Hubby off to work and I decided to make pancakes. It was going to be a good day.

I hadn't been on the computer yet, and I don't turn the TV on during the day, so the kids and I were getting dressed when the phone rang. It was Hubby, at work, and he told me to turn the TV on. "A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center" he said.

I was horrified. What a terrible accident. I turned on Fox News and there it was, one of the Twin Towers, with a big cloud of smoke and debris around it.

"How could this have happened?" I thought. Airplanes have such specific flight routes. And to crash right into a building?

I was mesmerized by the TV reports coming in. And then it happened. The second plane hit the other tower, and I saw it on TV. I screamed and sat down on the coffee table in shock, and my kids came running, asking me what was wrong.

How could I even explain to them what I was just realizing? One plane into the World Trade Center was an accident--TWO planes was clearly intentional. Who would do such a thing? Little did I know how my horror would grow, as later on both towers collapsed, one after the other.

I can't put into words my feelings that day. I was numb from shock, beside myself with grief for New York City, and angry--angry that these terrorists would dare come into MY country and think they could commit such an act of Genocide.

Now, five years later, I remember my feelings on that day. I remember talking to people who knew people who perished on the planes. I remember the horror of hearing about the Pentagon, and Flight 93.

I've told my children, in limited terms, about that day. Although they were very young, I want them to remember. The greatest disservice we could do to all the victims of 9/11, would be to forget.

I know I'll never forget.

Picture Day Woes...

Okay, what was up with the entire UNIVERSE being against Picture Day, today?

School Picture Day: It's the one day that you send your kids to school, actually worried about how their hair will hold up during four recesses, and whether or not they'll get a blob of peanut butter and jelly on their shirt right before pictures. So you take extra steps, and give them extra instructions, to keep their cute selves "cute" for pictures that will be immortalizing their cleanliness, or messiness, as the case may be.

I mean, SHEESH! What a lot of fuss for a picture!

So, I set the alarm this morning for 6:30 (bus comes at 7:45). I wasn't taking any chances.
Well, lo and behold, my alarm didn't go off. I was laying in bed, thinking "wow, I woke up early" so I glance at the clock and it read 7:20. SEVEN FREAKING TWENTY!!!!!!!

Which meant I had overslept and now had exactly 25 minutes to feed the kids, pack all their lunches, help them with their hair and clothes and get them on the bus.

The next fifteen minutes went by in a blur. I was in Power Mommy Mode. I felt like I had eight arms. Somehow, (probably Divine Intervention) I got them all dressed and fed, and looking cute. Luckily they'd had a bath the night before and I had put out their clothes they were to wear.

So, 7:45 rolls around, and we're frantically stuffing backpacks, and I told the boys to head out to the bus stop one block away, because Thing One was trying to decide between two pairs of sandals and a pair of shoes (and to MY CREDIT, she ended up going with the ones I originally picked out for her, so THERE) and my boys came running in.

"Mom, it's pouring rain outside."

Words that will strike fear in any mother's heart on Picture Day. (Right up there with "Mom, you love me, right?")

I wasn't going to have my children's perfectly coiffed hair ruined by rain, no Sirree! So I told the kids to hop into the car and we'd wait by the bus stop in the car! HA! Take that, Mother Nature!

Well, let's just say it's a good thing I have a roomy Expedition because I ended up waiting at the bus stop with half the kids from the neighborhood squished inside, avoiding the downpour, because their moms were worried about their hair. I was the HEROINE of the hour, let me tell you!

And the bus came, and they loaded up, and I sighed a big long sigh of relief. (Along with all the other moms.)

I'm now thinking things went a little too smoothly. I'm actually a little nervous.

Picture Day isn't over yet...

My Everest...

I'm getting a new routine in the morning. I get the kids on the bus, and then I grab my Ipod and my Treo phone (gotta stay connected--in case the school calls and tells me Thing Two has fallen off the Monkey bars again) and I head out for a morning walk-jog. Wog. Whatever. I do that for 45 minutes and I'm set. Although I've only done it two days and I have a MAJOR blister on my right heel, I'm excited to do it. Because it's so beautiful and green here, and the trees rock. They're huge and everywhere. LOVING it!

Working out in nature is so good. Who wants to stare at a blank wall on a treadmill? I'll be doing that soon enough, when the snow is four feet deep outside and it's 20 below. I have to say though, there is a hill on my route that is killing me. I call it my "Everest." Let me explain:

My subdivision is on a hill. My house is at the top of the hill, and when I go walking, it's downhill pretty much the whole way until I even out at the bottom. Then I circle around for a bit, and start the treck back up. There is a street that takes me there, but it is such a steep grade I'm surprised they made it that way...especially since we get snow and ice here.
About halfway up, I begin to lose steam. I have to play my "victory" music while going up this hill, because, I tell you, by the time I get to the top where my house is, I feel like I've just climbed Mount Everest. I ran into my next-door neighbor at the top (she wusses out and just walks around the top) and tried to talk to her, but I couldn't speak. I was too winded.

So, of course I've figured that if I go down the hill and up the hill twice, it's 45 minutes, give or take. I'm going to do it every morning until it snows. Go Me!!

I've been writing every night. It's been good. I'm not on fire, or on a roll, but I am doing it and that's what matters. It helps me get out all the stress of the day.

Now its time for a shower. Climbing Mount Everest makes me stinky... ;-)

I Almost Made It...

I put my baby, Thing Three, on the bus this morning for his first full day of Kindergarten. I won't see him until 4pm.
I was fine with it. I knew it was going to be OK. He was so excited, and playing with the other kids at the bus stop while I chatted with the moms, and then, when the bus turned the corner and started coming down the road to us, he immediately made a beeline for me, wrapped his arms around my legs and said "I'm going to miss you, Mommy!" in his sweet little voice.
I put my arm on his back and patted it and said "I'll miss you too, sweetie, but you'll have so much fun today!"
And then he held hands with his older brother and got on the bus. I waved at them as they waved from the windows, I chatted for a few minutes longer with my neighbor, and then I walked into my empty house, sat down in the living room and promptly began bawling my eyes out.
I called my Hubby, cried some more, called my mom, cried some more, and then wanted to slap myself silly for being such a NINNY.
But there is something about putting your "baby" on the bus, knowing that he's been in your care for nearly six years of his life, and now, he's out in the world and for the next seven hours, he isn't yours, and you can't protect him.

Yeah, I rant about being ready for the kids to go to school, and being rid of them, but it's moments like these that I realize how fast Life goes.

Okay, gotta go. The tears are threatening again...

First Day of School!

Well, the kids are on the bus and on their way to school! Thing One was a little reserved (as she is when she's petrified) but we stood at the bus stop with all the neighborhood kids and she loosened up real fast when she met some girls her age. Thing Two got right on the bus with a new friend, and Thing Three, who is in Kindergarten, has an orientation today and his first day of school is tomorrow. So it's just the two of us today. Exciting!

I've been doing the happy dance all morning. It's so nice to have some peace around here. I think there is just something about the last week of summer break, it seems to drag and the kids seem to be even MORE bored than usual.

I have a list a mile long of things to do, and one of them is to buy some shirts for Thing Two. We bought him a bunch of shirts in size small (8-20) and for some reason they are huge. So I washed them and tried to shrink them, to no avail. So I have to run to Target or some other place to get him a bunch of size 7 shirts. Why is the jump from size 7 to size 8 so distinct? I mean, he looks like he's wearing his DAD'S shirts!

I guess that's the peril of being truly in-between sizes. Thing Two has grown so much he's like a monster second-grader. A really skinny monster second-grader. :-)

Well, I'm off to spend some quality time with Thing Three. He's really excited and we're going to hang out before his orientation. I just can't believe that tomorrow, I'll have an empty nest!

:-(

I'm Getting a Book Urge...

I have to admit, I've been good for a while. In the last three months, I've only ordered ONE book online (A.S. Byatt's Possession, because I loved the movie and heard the book was way better), and I have made ZERO trips to my Home Base: Barnes and Noble.

When I lived in Wisconsin, my home base was always the Half Price Books in Brown Deer. That place was...awesome. All the research books you could want, for 3-6 dollars each. Even big picture History books, for $9. I mean, I LOVED that place!

Now that things have calmed down somewhat, I've been writing at night, and I'm itching to have books around me again. Lots of books. STACKS of books. They're like loyal dogs: always there when you need them, and they don't care what you look like when you get out of the shower. (But you don't have to feed them or take them potty--which is a perk.)

But I digress. I am ITCHING to go to Half Price Books. Or to any bookstore, and pick up one or two, or five. OR ten. (stop it, Lara, stop it!!!)

Well, the weekend is upon us, and I am going to take the kids to the lake for a picnic Saturday, and let them ride around on their new bicycles. They'd outgrown their old ones, and luckily kid's bikes are cheap. Except my daughter has graduated to a 24-inch bike and those are NOT cheap. What joy is mine. I can't believe my first baby is going into THIRD grade!

Have a fabulous weekend, and Enjoy Labor Day. And don't wear any white shoes afterwards!

(unless you're a nurse...)