Obligatory Apologetic Post

I really hate reading those "sorry-I-haven't-posted-for-so-long" posts. I've often (not every time, mind you...certainly not when I read your post...*wink*) felt that it's a little vain to presume that people have noticed your absence.
I have found, though, that when I have judgment in my heart against something, however small, I am going to eventually wind up being on the other side of the it. I don't ever get away with anything. SO...
SorryIhaven'tpostedforsolong.
There. I said it. Don't judge me. I'm not vain enough to think you've noticed, anyway.
Now for the lame excuse:
I'm feeling small and dull as of late. You'll know when I have something to say. It'll probably happen when I have found time to think.
Maybe I should call this an intermediate apology....it hasn't been that long since a post, but it has been a while since one of any substance and it will surely be a while before another one hits.

DAILY BLISS: a knit-cupcake pattern from Julianna which will make the perfect favors for Emma's cupcake-decorating birthday party

Happy Autumnal Equinox!

Yet again, my pleas for crisp, cool autumn weather have gone unnoticed. Instead, I got this:

Rain. And lots of it. But we won't let that stop our party! We set it up in the carport:

We went for a pot luck this time. With 20 people or so in attendance, I just couldn't pull off the full meal this year. I did it last year. It like ta' near kilt me.











My favorite part of the party was the chandelier. I know that sounds silly, but someone found a chandelier in their attic last year and thought I'd like it (much to my hubby's chagrin), but look how wonderful it is when stripped of its old wiring and fitted with candles!

Here's me being the princess of autumn:

And me with a toothless woodland sprite:









She wrote a poem for the day...
Fall Poem (with original spelling and line breaks)
Leaf colors
change. Trees
start loseing
leaves. Fall
is my favorite
season. pumpkins
out. Leaves dry
out. I like Fall.
Do you?
-Emma Sallee 2007

I wasn't sure if I would really enjoy the party this year. I baked and cooked all the stuff I usually make, but can no longer eat. So....I had to make myself some "special" chicken and naked sweet potato. But you know what? I still had so much fun! Baking is great fun, even if you don't get to eat it, and the party was wonderful just because so many of my dear ones were there and talking and eating and drinking wine in the candle light.

DAILY BLISS: Cinnamon tea that tastes sweet, even when it isn't, gold fairy dust on my cheeks, and that big hole in my little girl's smile. She lost that second front tooth yesterday.

Wonderful Things

I'm back home, and wonderful things are afoot!





Tomorrow is one of my favorite days of the year.

A Case of the Hiccups

I haven't much exciting to say. But I do want to point out that yesterday, while I was driving home from work, I drove under the overpass that I drive on top of when I'm going to work in the morning. For the smallest time, I felt almost like I was passing right underneath myself. Going to work and driving home all at the same time. A hiccup in the space/time continuum, if you will.
It seems that the repetition of daily life wears on me after a while.
It had nothing at all to do with the fact that I was listening to Pink Floyd at the same time.

DAILY BLISS: casting on a blankie to knit for my nephew-in-the-making (he should arrive sometime in late November)and a good, soaking, tropical rain

My Poor Baby

Now, ya'll know how much I love my house. Imagine your sweet darling looking like this:

It's a little disconcerting. I suppose that right now, my house is wondering what it did to deserve this - abandoned and desolate, without a stitch of food or provision within its walls and sequestered under a big orange blanket. Yech. It must be stuffy under there too.
I'm tempted to drive by it tonight in the middle of the night and whisper sweet comforts to it. I'm sure it will understand, even from the required distance.

DAILY BLISS: a cup of apple cider, even though it isn't anywhere near cool and crisp here (more like overly warm and humid) and putting tomorrow's dinner in the crock pot tonight - it's wonderful to look forward to an easy afternoon in the kitchen!

Displaced

I'm writing from my mom's house now. We have officially moved out in anticipation of our termiate extermination. We've been bagging up everything in containers (food and toiletries and medicines) and organizing and trying to make the best of this while I still feel crappy.
On the bright side, though, I have been working on setting up a little shop on etsy.com like I said I would. That's been fun. I promise a link will be here when I have it set up to my liking!
Meanwhile, we will be enjoying as much cable tv as we can handle and the absence of the bothersome chores of home as we camp out at my mom and dad's house. The kids have their own air mattresses and the birds are tucked away in the office here, safe from the bug poison.

DAILY BLISS: a cute new green shirt and delicious strawberries

Breathing Room

This week has whizzed past me. I feel like I'm moving from event to event, from task to task, like following a series of knots on a never-ending rope (probably in the dark). I'm just tugging along, stopping only to drop into bed when necessary, and never with the satisfaction of coming to the end of the rope. Hm. Maybe that's the wrong metaphor. It seems like coming to the end of one's rope usually is a bad thing.
Anyway....
Chris is home now and I mailed off the last of my lotion to Becky's huge retreat. I am still looking at packing up the house in the next couple of days for our tenting event (the one that was supposed to happen a few weeks ago, but we couldn't get the gas shut off in time) and the annual Autumnal Equinox party is only a week away, and then Emma's birthday comes two weeks after that and...the ands are endless. But for tonight, I will breathe.
I saw an alternative health practitioner (!) last week who did some blood work (she's a real doctor too) and put me on a very restrictive diet for a few weeks, until tests for food allergies and other things come in. Can I just say that I feel like s*@t? No coffee and no sugar either! I already had a laundry list of things I couldn't eat before that....but the added restrictions coupled with some medicine I'm taking are making me feel just terrible. It should get better in another couple of days. But still.
Now, in the interest of saying something interesting, I will tell you what interrupted my Dreary March of the Tasks the other morning. I had noticed the most precious little bird sleeping in the eaves of my back porch the night before. In the morning, I went out to switch some laundry and must have shut the door pretty hard. It scared the little bird. He flew right into the open back door that leads to my bedroom! Poor thing was terrified. I jumped up on the bed (which is amazing as my bed is very tall) to shut off the ceiling fan. We turned off lights hoping he'd head outside, but it was still too dark for him to see that it was outside. Through some chasing and general trickery, I did get him out the back door. It probably took five minutes. It felt more like forty-five. But not in a bad way. I just wanted to put him on my finger and talk to him a little while and I felt so bad that he was so scared.

DAILY BLISS: Hanging out with my family and iced Passion tea from Starbucks

Of Hair and Mess and Sleep

To appease Mary (all pregnant women should be appeased, not teased), here are some photos of my gun-holster-scissors hair guru from last time I brought Emma. I forgot my camera this time.











So, here is my new hairdo:


I took a lot of goofy photos of it because the DH is still gone and needs to see that he has a new woman waiting at home. I do love getting my hair done. I've never been timid about that stuff - I usually sit in the chair and when I'm asked what I want done, I say something like, "I don't know - whatever you feel like doing today." I've never been tooooo disappointed.....
So, Friday night, I did stay up until 4:30 AM making lotion for Becky's women's retreat! Ha! I grossly underestimated how much time it takes to make stuff for 300 women! But I had a lot of fun doing it and it gave me something to complain about the next day and isn't that all we girls want anyway? So, got the hair done and barely made it through the day. I tried to nap, but the sleepies never approached me. They must have known that I was desperate and sleepies don't like desperate people.
I have to say, though, that my children and my house have been neglected during all of this holding-down-the-fort-while-hubby-travels business. By this morning, the entire house was trashed. I had to do the grocery store thing because, well, we had to eat, and then I madly cleaned up and sat down to eat some supper while I tried to read the chapters in the book we would be discussing tonight at church, only to have church people start to arrive way before I was done with my reading. So, at least I had gotten the living room cleaned up. I went to hack my way through the Kitchen Mess Jungle in pursuit of my coffee pot. I apologized for the condition of the kitchen and my room - it's atrocious. I'm not that concerned about housework and making false impressions on others. They know that my house isn't perfect and neither am I. But it was really bad. In fact, when I went to wash my hands after making coffee, I found my underwear on the floor from my shower earlier in the day. I know for a fact that at least two people had to step over it to use the bathroom before I got in there and found it.
So much for keeping up appearances.
But at least I have a great haircut.

DAILY BLISS: washing dishes after everybody left - "Fat Bottomed Girls" (Queen) in my iPod, and a Fufu Berry Jones Soda.

What I Want To Do

I am nearly there! This will be a long night of accomplishing things, hopefully followed by a long morning of accomplishing things (and sending my Aunt Claiborne some sugar scrub) and then I go to get my hair cut tomorrow.
Many of you get hair cuts on a regular basis, but I do not. Why? Because I see a hair guru. He is master of my tresses. He is expensive. Well, not unreasonable, but expensive for me. But he is soooooo worth it. So, you see, I hope to have my list done in order to bask in the loveliness of what Jimi Bob (Yes, really. Jimi Bob. He carries his scissors in a gun holster.) is likely to do to my hair. Without having to break a sweat and ruin the spell. My sis-in-law and my daughter will be joining me (and probably my son, who will rue the moment he woke up), making the afternoon even better. We will stop at Anthropologie and the yarn shop I've been dying to check out. This will really ruin Andrew's day. Maybe I'll let him bring his Nintendo thingy along. Then, you know what? I'm going to go to bed on Saturday night. And I'm going to sleep and sleep. That will be wonderful.
For tonight, I'm going to put on my purple polka dot pajamas (I know I've mentioned them before) and my iPod, and set to work: killing the ants that swarmed my kitchen today and making some things and putting some things away and, and, and.....(yawn!)

DAILY BLISS: Impressing Julianna at work today with my mad database skills (I have an absolutely geeky love for organized information) and wearing red pants.

Two More Weekdays To Go

I'm already ready for the weekend to get here. Not that it will be a restful one, but if I can have a good day of accomplishing things on Saturday, my head will be so much more empty. That will be very nice. Things get stuck in my head and cause clouds and mists and general confusion when I don't have time to empty them out.
Time....I haven't even been home since Sunday but to sleep. I think we've turned in all the homework and I made it to the doctor with my paperwork today and I even managed to pack lunches instead of copping out and buying the school lunch today...but I could work the night through and not even finish all the stuff on my list today. So what am I doing? I'm telling you about it. Maybe that's not the most efficient use of my time. I'd better go.

DAILY BLISS: A nurse today asked me if this was my natural hair color. Seriously? Look at the smoochie picture down below. I would be concerned if anyone came out of the womb with this color growing out of their heads. But I did pick a different bottle of color this time (well, I always pick different bottles and mix them together, but this one was a couple of shades over from where I normally grab)....Red Hot Hot Red indeed.

Monday Tuesday

I knew today was going to be an "off" day. I had trouble waking up, but I guess that's my own fault for staying up late. But, I knew it was bad when I squirted Emma's fresh pigtails with, not hairspray - no, Febreeze. At least noone knew she hadn't had a bath.
I hadn't taken the time to fix/remove the peeling blackish-eggplant nail polish that was left on my overgrown fingernails, and I accidentally flipped the gas pump level too many times and stopped the whole transaction before it even started.
I spent all sorts of time on the phone today with insurance companies and stuff because I have a big medical appointment tomorrow - with someone (gasp!) outside my network. And the best I could do as far as the day's sound track went was hearing my favorite Metallica song on the radio this morning. Yeah, I have one. But it only made me feel more angry. Well, there was also the moment that I heard John Fogerty (CCR) ruminating about who would stop the rain. My mind dramatically turned to the people being pounded by hurricane Felix. That didn't lift me up exactly.
But tonight - oh tonight. Chris is staying at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando for work (so, he's not tooooo far away, but has enough work to do that it isn't worth it to come home). So, we went to hang out with Daddy for a while. Now, I have been there and absolutely adore the place, but we've never brought the kids. They have this huge atrium right in the middle with waterfalls and little rivers and fish and alligators. We even caught the evening alligator feeding while we were there. Super-cool. So, thought I've already posted quite a bit today, I'm going to put all sorts of pictures here:

It's hard to get boys to sit still for photos:










But little girls are always happy to pose:













This one's for Nana. Don't know why, but something tells me you'll love it:





Happy to see Daddy:




Most acceptable shot of me -ugh.







Also happy to see Daddy:)



Look what Emma found! In case it's too small to read, that sign says "Spa Club":

Speaking of the A-Team...

My savvy sister-in-law sent this to me after reading the previous post. It had me falling out of my chair with laughter! Enjoy.

Truth, Justice and......Safety

Introducing the Captain of Safety Patrol Team A.
He will be known from here on out as the Captain of the A Team. I may even sing the theme song to him in an effort to solicit fantastic eye-rolls.

A Hard Row to Mow

I just finished mowing the lawn. Ugh. On a Sunday morning, no less.
Let me back up.
Normally, the DH mows the lawn. I do the grocery shopping. That's how Saturdays go around here.
I have been badgering him to take me on a date. We haven't been out on a date since, uh, before Christmas. There is no small amount of shame in this admission. He left yesterday for a pretty long business trip and Thursday night, he said he had a proposition for me. I took this to mean something else entirely. But he said no, in fact, he wanted to offer me a deal. The lawn had to be taken care of, but if I would do it Saturday, he would take me out on Friday. Deal.
So, we went to dinner on Friday and saw that Pirates movie at the $2 theater. Whoop-de-feakin'-do, you might think, but it was nice. It's what we have money for right now and, truthfully, I don't care whether a movie has a plot or not, as long as Johnny Depp is dressed like a pirate in it.
Did I hold up my end of the bargain? Well, I had a friend that was moving Saturday, so I helped her out with that and by the time I was done, the afternoon rains had rolled in. So the mowing did not happen yesterday.
Our church has moved its meetings to Sunday nights for now, leaving this morning wide open, so I had to mow this morning. Why did I have to, you ask? Because the grass gets super-tall here in a week's time during the rainy season. And because of the type of mower I have. Last year, when I was not working outside the home and had time, I convinced Chris to buy me a little push mower. You know the kind? No gas, no starter, just man power; reducing our carbon footprint and all that sort of thing. I love my little mower, but our life circumstances have changed a little and the responsibility has fallen back to Chris. But self-propelled? Not so much. This baby is propelled by my cardio-vascular prowess alone. Which is not that impressive as princesses do not like to sweat. And the taller the grass gets, the more work it is to cut....you can see where this is going.
My mom called to ask if we wanted to go to church with them this morning. Normally, I would have said yes, but I had to mow. "You have to mow?" she asked. "Yes," I answered.
So I did.
I got stabbed in the scalp by a Spanish Bayonet in the front yard, and I ran over a large anthill in the back yard, spraying my bare shins with angry little beasts. I had to mow north-south and I had to mow east-west, due to the sheer depth of the lawn and multi-directional growth. It was arduous. But I did it.
Now I have to clean the house. Sigh.

DAILY BLISS: Well, it's pretty early yet, but I really enjoyed my coffee this morning. It was exceptional.

Bragging

I haven't felt like writing much this week. I still don't. So, instead I'm going to brag about my kids.
As school has gotten underway, they have opportunities to sign up for various things and undergo lots of assessments. One of those assessment is a reading test which gives you a Lexile score. There is a wide range of scores possible for each grade level, but you can get a pretty good idea of where your kids sit by checking out the median score per grade level. This also helps parents pick out developmentally appropriate books (lots and lots of children's books are assigned a Lexile number). Drew's was 1190 this year. This falls pretty much at the far end of the 12th grade range, though they caution you against applying grade levels to the scores. His has always been high, but....wow! Emma took her first test this year (most first graders don't get the test right off the bat) and her Lexile is "around 700 or something." I didn't get the actual score sheet yet, but that's what she said. That puts her in the middle of the fifth grade range.
Also, Drew is captain of his Safety Patrol squad! I could not be more proud. We have always called him Mr.Safety and referred to him generally as Safety Patrol. As in "Hey! Safety Patrol! I AM putting my seat belt on. I haven't pulled out of the driveway yet. See? I'm doing it right now!" So, while this is not surprising, he has waited a long time to get to fifth grade and be on the Safety Patrol.

DAILY BLISS: The allergen-free brownies that I am about to eat (they're expensive, so it's a rare treat) and pulling out the big-volume Winnie the Pooh book and reading a bit. That really is my favorite thing to read of all.