I’m Officially An Adult!

For years this has been my purse.

 

You have served me well little carry-all

Now I’m carrying this.

 

 

Trading up

It feels a little weird.  I feel like everyone looking at me knows I’m just trying to act like an adult by carrying around a purse.  I’m looking forward to having a place for my keys when I don’t wear a jacket, carrying a packet of tissues, maybe even a chapstick!  Now I just need to find the perfect wallet.

 

It has been a fabulous weekend.  Friday the kids didn’t have school so I was able to sleep in until 8!  Friday afternoon one of my oldest friends & her family came by for supper on their way to a family gathering.  Tova was thrilled to play with girls.  Then my friend C~ from Rural City pulled in for our weekend of girl time & shopping.  Friday night we cleaned out Kohl’s.  C~ has more than the average number of kids & I had 30% off, a match made at the register

Saturday C~ & headed out to do Body Pump at the Y.  It was a great way to start the day.  I’m pretty sure C~ won’t be able to lift anything heavier than a fork tomorrow but it was still fun.  After cleaning up we headed out to the nice mall in the area & shopped & shopped & shopped.

I’d forgotten how nice it is to shop with someone other than my 2yr old.  It was marvelous to just wander.  It was fun to get a friend’s opinion on important purchases like brand new adult-looking purses.  It was delightful to go through our bags at the end of the day & compare bargains.  Only having an unlimited supply of money could have made this weekend any better.

I sooooo needed this!

K~

 

Happy Veteran’s Day

One of my favorite Veteran’s arrives home Thursday from his year in Afghanistan.

 

The fam & Aaron

 

Welcome Home Aaron!

K~

 

I Hope You Like Bullets

Even though Jason was home most of the weekend, he still wanted a blog post so he knows what’s going on around here.

My life in Bullets:

• The Proposal was better than The Hangover or Year One, but not by much.  At least is was sweet & had no gratuitous crotch clobbering
• The laptop is sort of not working.  It probably needs to have a bunch of stuff moved off it to the external hard drive but that is safely locked in The Safe Which Cannot Be Opened.
• Don’t buy a Honeydeepplacewhereyoudrawwater firesafe with an electronic keypad.  It eats batteries & when it dies, it dies.
• On the other hand, if you are a burglar, a Beenectarwell with an electronic keypad can be opened with a drill.  You have no idea how reassuring that is…
• I hate typing on the desktop.  The keys are too soft & are at an angle.
• I need a recipe for Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Soup.  There’s a restaurant here that serves it on Thursday’s & I should probably learn to make it instead of going broke buying it by the gallon.
• I’m really looking forward to Tuesday – no MOPS, no volunteer workshop at school, no class at the Y;  Tova & I might just stay home.
• Ethan is very patiently waiting for his aunt (*ahem* Jenny) to get her check in the mail so he can buy his ridiculously expensive Lego Star Wars thing.  He’s very cute about it.  Whenever he talks about his future purchase, he always phrases it “If I get any more birthday money, but I’m pretty sure Jenny said she was sending me some…”
• I was looking at ESPN The Magazine’s Naked People Edition & Tova was reading over my shoulder & singled out Adrian Peterson.  Peterson, as he’s known around here, (he even has 2 Mii’s, one is a righty & one is a lefty) was moderately dressed.
• Jason is very proud.  Not that Peterson was dressed, that Tova knew him by sight.
• I’ve decided to paint the trim in our house.  Yes, I realize it’ll probably take me a year & yes I’ll be sick of the project in a week, but it needs to be done.  The house looks so dingy & beat up, I think fresh trim paint will go a long way.
• I keep seeing more & more Rural City people at Target here in Metropolis.  A friend said that always happened to her at about 6 months post move.  Today it was you Jen E.  I have no idea why you didn’t say hi
• Facebook’s Visual Bookshelf recommended Somebody Else’s Daughter.  I read the whole thing but it was not enjoyable.  The author tried to pack way too much stuff in the book & didn’t cover any of it well or make me care for the characters at all.  I finished it but only because I hate to leave books unfinished.
• Tova’s bedtime routine now consists of a story with milk, prayers, a song (I’ll post a video of her singing it later), tucking in, & now counting to 10.
• She can also skip, just not in her bed.
• Gavin has impetigo & yes, I’ve been sending him to school all week with it, because I thought he was getting Kindergarten acne.
• I fully expect to start some sort of epidemic at the boy’s school.  We tried Hand Foot & Mouth earlier this month & we hoped to introduce the plague that has ravaged the Rural City schools, but that didn’t take, so we moved on to Impetigo.  After that, it’ll be strep or pink eye.  We haven’t had those yet this year.

How was that J?  Are you caught up now?

K~

Hand, Foot, & Mouth & The Great Escape

I earned Mom of the Year this week.  First I completely ignored Gavin when he complained about his cheeks hurt.  Then I noticed spots in Ehtan’s mouth but really wanted to do my Body Pump class on Friday so I sent him to school.  Don’t judge too harshly, he was running around the house & yelling at his brother & sister & he wasn’t complaining.  Gavin was sooo tired all week but I chalked it up to getting used to Kindergarten.  By supper time on Friday both boys were in agony.  Off to the dr. we go!  Both have lovely cases of Hand, Foot, & Mouth.  You’d think by now I’d know HFM is a virus & the only thing you can really do is treat with pain meds.  Our former dr. would give us Tylenol with Codeine.  I love Tylenol with Codeine.  This dr. wasn’t inclined to prescribe narcotics so we could all have a nice weekend   It’s going to take some getting used to our new dr.’s medicinal preferences.  Tova has been healthy so far.  I’m sure she’ll get sick so I’ll have to miss class & I’ll never look like this:

Give me a few months & I'll invite you to the gun show

I love it when the kids are really sick but I completely miss all the signs.

The only thing that got me through all the whining this past week was the thought of my weekend away.  On Saturday I drove away from the house as fast as I could after lunch for a little shopping.  I as looking for something specific but came away with this instead.

I’ve had my eye on this jacket for months.  Only I wasn’t going to fork over $80 for a rain coat.  All I had to do was wait several months & Sears eventually would sell me the coat for $16!  That’s right $16!!  I love clearance sales.  I also found some cute things for the kids but nothing like the steal that is my raincoat.

After the shopping I headed south to Rural City for a lovely Mom’s Night.  We met for Mexican food & then went to see a friend in the female version of The Odd Couple.  After that it was drinks until really late followed by crashing into bed.  Morning came too early but I did enjoy my breakfast with my friend C~’s kids.  What a great way to start the day, Panera Bagels & 6 kids talking about the fun of ‘our’ sleepover.  I love sleepovers where the kids sleep in a diffrent room than me   I love C~’s kids.

I left my sleepover & headed to our former church for our friend’s daughter’s baptism.  We’ve been waiting for years for them to have a child to baptize (& love & parent, etc) & it was a long-awaited, joyful, & tearful occasion.  It’s always wonderful to be around our church family.  I had a wonderful chance to visit with friends over lunch & had a surprise run-in with a grandma from Gavin’s preschool.  I really miss living in a place where someone familiar is always popping up.

Now I’m home & happy to be Mom of the Year again.

Fabulous

What a weekend!  The weather was perfect.  The camping was excellent.  The friends were unbelievable.

I love going home.

This past weekend was the Balloon Rally in Rural City.  It’s my absolute favorite weekend in RC.  We decided to break out the tent for the first time in ‘09 & camp at the local lake.  Things were pretty loose & we set up camp about half way between the bathroom & the playground.  Perfect.

Friday night some of our church family came out to make s’mores & catch up while the kids played ghost in the graveyard.  It was a fun night.

Saturday we went to the Old Dairy for some grilled cinnamon rolls & some supplies.  Later we caught a flag football game & then spent some time with a former co-worker.

The main event was the Balloon Glow.  Ethan & Gavin were thrilled to see so many of their friends in one place.  Eventually we tore them away so they could collect the cards from the balloonists.

Ethan & Grant comparing cards & balloons while Gavin reminds me why I need to always carry earplugs.

Sunday we went to our former church, sent the kids to Sunday School & headed to breakfast with friends.  It was wonderful to catch up with everyone & reconnect.  You have no idea how much we miss you!

The drive home was pretty uneventful.  We learned our lesson Friday’s drive & Gavin was relegated to the back seat all by his lonesome.

I felt completely rejuvenated after the weekend.  On to tackle the week!

K~

The “Last” Summer Weekend & a Catch-up

We’ve had a fabulous weekend so far & we still have one day left.  Our former neighbors came for a visit & the kids played non-stop for about 9 hours on Saturday & most of Sunday as well.  The boys were so happy to have their friends G~ & L~ around.  They all played so well together & their mom & I had ample time to shop & catch up.  I love weekends like this one.

Tomorrow we’re hoping to do some biking & napping.  Gavin is in desperate need of a 3hr siesta.

To cap off the summer I need to revisit our summer vacation.  Jason gave out awards at the end of vacation & I forgot to post them.  Don’t worry, there won’t be any acceptance speeches.

Wiggliest Sleeper – Ethan

Person who slept the longest – Gavin

Person who said ‘no’ the most – Tova, Jason & I tied for second

Person who said ‘of coursely’ the most – Gavin

Best navigator while using multiple forms of information, including GPS (Yoda), Atlas, Road Signs, Pamphlets, etc – Kristen

Person best at turning arund after missing needed turn – Jason

Person best at asking ‘why’ we just turned around – Ethan

Best Campfire builder – Jason

Tastiest person for mosquito’s – Tova

Best Sweller form Mosquito’s – Tova

Best new spitter of sunflower seeds – Ethan

This summer went by too fast…

K~

Ollivander, Gregorovitch, & Heather

What do they all have in common?

They are all wandmakers.

I hear Ollivander & Gregorovitch wands are impossible to come by, but a Heather?  They are readily available at Etsy.

This is one of my favorites.

Ruby Wand

The detail is amazing.

Skull Wand

If you’re thinking ahead to Halloween or just want to surprise your aspiring witch or wizard, visit OrderedChaos at Etsy & tell her Kristen sent you.

K~

Feeling Supported

Thanks for all your kind comments & calls after my last post.  I’ve been feeling a lot more settled so it surprised me at how upset I was at his teachers rather innocent comment.  It’s good to have a place to vent.

It’s also wonderful to have supportive people around you.  Which I have in spades.

I do think I am nearing the end of my Grief – Moving Edition.  Or at least, I’m finally working my way towards acceptance.  I’d love to move back to Rural City, but if I do, I know I’ll actually miss some of the things here, & I don’t mean Target.  We’ve found a wonderful church, and it has actually been a bonus to be closer to MN.  I was able to make it back for a funeral that was important to me & had we been in RC, it would have been a lot more difficult.  Last weekend all the grandparents & some of our sister’s met us in Minneapolis for a Twins game & a day in the Cities.  All that would have been a lot harder had we been in RC.

I won’t go too much into the things I don’t like about Metropolis as I’m trying to stay positive, but you RC people will never know how good you have it if I don’t tell you.

The major grocery chain is Hy-Vee.  I loved my RC Hy-Vee.  If you wanted something not in stock, they’d try to get it for you.  When I make Pho I need the beef cut very thin & most of the meat guys know exactly what I’m talking about because they made a point of remembering.

The Hy-Vee’s here are awful.  The race car shopping carts don’t fit in the check out lanes.  You have to walk the entire store because they put the dairy all along the back wall.  When you walk in the store, you have to battle the check out lines & then you actually enter the store by the liquor.  Now, I sometimes feel like a drink after fighting to get into the store while shopping with my 3 lovely errand runners, but I much prefer entering the store through the calm of the produce section.  So RC people, consider yourselves lucky – your Hy-Vee is ‘old style’ & the new design of Hy-Vee SUCKS!

Wow, that wasn’t supposed to be a huge rant, but seriously, I spend a lot of time at the grocery store & I have yet to find one I like.

In other supportive news, after 12 years, we have bid farewell to our bed & bought one that does not have a ridge in the middle, butt sink holes, & snapped springs.  The simple pleasures of a comfortable nights sleep…

Make sure you Harry Potter fans check back tomorrow for a truly magical post.

K~

Why I’ll Never Be A Boy Scout

First, there’s the obvious reason, the whole gender thing.

Then there’s the fact that I drove from Metropolis to Rural City, a 2.5 hour, one way trip, without my purse.  That’s pretty bad, but what’s worse, is I didn’t realize it until I pulled into my parking spot at our Rural City church.

I had taken the kids to Rural City for an Eagle Scout Court of Honor.  Apparently Boy Scouts have this thing about being prepared because they mentioned it over & over & over again.  I felt about 2in tall by the end of the ceremony knowing I was going to have to ask one of my friends at the reception to loan me some money for emergencies, like gas, on the way home.  There were lots of offers of help & only a few jokes at my expense.

I still would like to start the day over.

We’re home now.  My purse is on the counter right where I left it this morning, supposedly so I wouldn’t forget it, & the boys can’t stop talking about what they’re going to do when they are Boy Scouts.

Thanks Ben.  Because of you & the other Eagle Scouts at church, the boys can’t wait to be Boy Scouts.  Maybe then they have a shot at not being as absent minded as their mom.

One can always hope…

Congratulations Ben!

K~

It’s Officially Official

Tova is legally our daughter.  Still.

The Readoption or The Really Expensive Birth Certificate Ceremony was Friday morning & it went fine.  I’ll post pictures soon.  Jason & I had decided he would testify, but we forgot to tell our attorney so I was called.  It was nice to understand what we were agreeing to.  Our last ceremony was in Vietnamese, so for all we know, we agreed to send everyone on a ski trip & only wear red on Tuesdays.

Tova’s Really Expensive Birth Certificate will be here in 4-6 weeks.

The weekend was a lot of fun.  We were able to pack in a Mom’s Night, a Guy’s camping trip, a Skip Church breakfast, a church service, & lots of time with friends.

It was so nice to be home…

K~