OK, so I lied...

...not about being too busy, just about not posting anymore. See, I told you I was in a mood :~)

The kids are home safe and sound. I am really happy about that. Overall, they said they had a good time, and I am glad. We were all sort of anxious about the trip so the fact that everything turned out ok really makes me feel better. There were some bumps in the road during the visit, but nothing earth shattering.

I really am not myself when the kids are gone.

While the kids were gone I was able to get Aaron's side of the boy's room cleaned and organized. That is a chore I have been putting off for quite some time. I also got some other much needed housework done. The weather is starting to get nicer so I really want to get the house all taken care of, you know, spring cleaning and all, so that we can spend time outside making things nice to enjoy being out there. There is so much space that we can make it a pleasant place to eat and visit and play. I love the sunshine and being outside!

I am going to buy some planting soil and get some nice flowers to put on the deck and front porch. I think I can keep them alive and pretty. I bought 2 poinsettia plants between Thanksgiving and Christmas and they are both still alive and pretty. I also bought a tea rose in January, and it's also alive and blooming. My thumb must finally be turning a bit green :)

Good Bye

I have gotten into a mood. I am not sure why, but I have.

With 3 children, a full time job and 99% of the responsibility to make enough money to pay bills, along with all of the household chores to do with only the help of my children, blogging is just something that I cannot justify the time for.

To the very, very few of you who actually read what I write, I am sorry. I can't imagine that what is written here is terribly interesting, anyway.

I may, in the future, find the time to re-visit this place, but for now it is good-bye.

I would welcome any e-mails and do actually write letters with pen and ink to those who care to receive them.

I wish you a very happy spring. I know that I am certainly looking forward to some warmth and sunshine.

Kids...

The kids left yesterday (Friday) morning to spend spring break with their dad. They had mixed feelings about going. They want to go to Idaho to see grampa and sara and any of their friends who may be in town over the break, but they weren't too excited about going with their dad and they were really not looking forward to having to spend time with his girlfriend (they really don't like her much).

Anyway - one would think that having the kids all day every single day, with no breaks and no time for "me" and no time for Darren and I to be together, just the 2 of us, that I'd be more ok with the kids being gone - but I'm not. Since they left on Friday, I feel completely lost. I have no idea what to do with myself.

Today I did some laundry, worked on a blanket I'm making for Patrick, read some more of my book and watched a bunch of Netflix on my computer... pretty exciting stuff, huh?

I do have a bunch of stuff to do. I want to make the boys' room a little nicer for them - I think I may get some stuff to make some shelves for the wall so they have more room. They share a room and it's divided in half with their dressers - and neither of them have much space. If I get really ambitious I may even paint it for them -- but I think I'll work on just getting it cleaned up for them first. Emi needs some help in her room, too. Her closet is all shelves so she can't hang up any of her dresses. So I am going to see if I can get Darren's screw gun and take some of the shelves out so she can put some of her things away better, too.

Yep -- lots to do to keep me busy while the kids are gone. But first, I need to get out of this funk...

I thought things would be different here...I thought I'd be happy -- but really, I just miss home...I hope I can handle being here without the kids for the summer. It's just so lonely...

Thank God for Family

First things first...tomorrow we will be "off line" to "uninvited" readers. So, if you'd like to continue to keep up on our oh-so-boring life here in Oregon, you'll need to send me your e-mail address so I can add you to the list....

So, on to the point of today's blog. Family.

Last November or December my car died. I mean, completely died. One day it started the next day it didn't. Considering it has nearly 250 thousand miles, I can't complain. But for the last few months I have had to depend on different people to get me back and forth to work. Darren was having to get up early, take me to work, go to work himself and then be off early enough to pick me up. It was interesting trying to orchestrate it all. Sometimes it would end up taking him 2 days to do one days worth of work in order to pick me up in time. The last couple of weeks he hasn't had a lot to do so I've been taking the car. The problem with that is, if someone calls he can't go right away but has to schedule for the next day.

Anyway, Darren had some work to do at his aunt & uncle's house. They called to see when he would be back to finish. He explained the transportation problem. And, bless their hearts, they said we could borrow one of their cars until he has the work at their place complete. HURRAY for family!!

I don't know what we will do after that -- go back to the orchestra, I suppose. It will be awhile before we can get another car with his work being so slow right now. But at least for the next week or so we will both be able to get where we need to go when we need to get there :) Like I said...thank God for family!

e-mail addresses

I am planning on making the change to invited readers only this week. I have had a few of you indicate you'd like to be able to continue to follow our silly adventures.

In order to make that change, I need to "invite" you to the blog - meaning that I need your regular e-mail address.

You can send that to me at
darrennkate@yahoo.com

Thanks :)

I look forward to hearing from you.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

That is one of the stories I remember reading while sitting on my gran'ma's lap. My other favorite was the one "in a mouse house". I have many fond "Dr. Seuss memories". Today is his birthday, for those who may not have elementary children to remind you.

The elementary school that my younger two children go to had a Dr. Seuss celebration on Friday. Today they were treated to a special surprise. The entire school (around 100 students) got to watch "Horton Hears a Who" during their regular reading time. Another treat they received was to have "Green Eggs and Ham" read aloud to them... in LATIN :) yep -- I was asked if I'd mind reading it to the student body while they were getting the film (just dated myself) ...I mean, movie, set up. I was happy to do it.

I took Latin as my foreign language requirement for my BA. I have several children's books in Latin. They are very fun to read, especially the Dr. Seuss ones. They are difficult, but quite fun and a real workout for your tongue!! You could win any tongue twister competition hands down after a little "Suess in Latin" warm-up!!

I also went to my oldest son's middle school and read to his homeroom class and then in the "reading room" with several other classes. It was especially appropriate for them as they have been studying Greek and Latin roots in their Language Arts classes.

It was a fun day spending time with my children at school. And they all thought it was pretty cool that their mom can read in a language that none of thier friend's moms can ;~) I really miss being able to be a "traditional mom" where I am free to help out in my kids' classrooms at any time. At least my job allows me to be home until they all go to school and we all get home about the same time. My boss also is flexible, giving me time, like today, to go to their schools. They are also able to come to work with me on days when they are out of school, but we are not. It's a pretty good compromise. I am pretty lucky.

For breakfast in the public school the kids all had "Green Eggs & Ham" and at the private school I work at, they had it for lunch. The ham was just sliced breakfast ham. The eggs...well, they simply added food coloring to the scrambled eggs. I tried it ('cause you just won't know if you like it if you don't) - and I have to be honest - it wasn't that bad. Could have used a little salt...

Other than that, nothing terribly exciting has been going on. Our quazi-house guests have finally found a place of their own. I am a bit sad; that much time (since before Thanksgiving) that close together has put a bit of a strain on our friendship. If they had spent a little more time in "their" space and not so much time in ours, I think it may have been ok. But every day, all day long with 9 people in one house, in just one or two rooms- it got a little crowded. If they'd have just been over during meal time and clean up - and a little to visit, play cards or whatever, it would have been very nice. But the just "hanging out" all the time - we were beginning to feel like we couldn't do our own normal routines. Even the kids were beginning to feel a little put out. I couldn't afford to include them in everything we did and I didn't want to leave them out - so we ended up not doing a lot of our normal things.... anyway... I'm sad my friend is gone, but I'm glad to have some of my "space" back.

There is a lot more to the situation that made things hard, but not worth mentioning here. Let's just say that, hopefully after they get settled into their new place - the hard feelings will soften and she and I can work on being good friends again.

On a much happier note -- 18 days until Spring Break -- HURRAY!!