Not sure of a good title

This morning started out with yet another round of rain. For the love of everything holy, my friends, the rain needs to go away for Spring Break. The mongrel we have living inside our house needs to run. Not run the length of our yard, but she needs to run a couple football fields worth for a good hour. The dog park is a muddy mess which leaves us few options to take her where she can get a full head of steam without turning into a mud covered mess. I don't mind her getting muddy except that when we wash her she turns into a crocodile who goes into a death roll. I need medical attention afterwards.

I went shopping for the boy while the hub took one to soccer and the other went to a birthday party. While he is easy to shop for, I must ask: how many Legos does one really need? I can't complain. He'd rather play with those than watch TV or play video games. They all just start to look the same to me. Oh well. He is so easy...he'll be thrilled with whatever he gets. Love that boy.

Around dinner time, we went to visit my "niece" dog Dakota. Her parents were gone for a day trip and she needed some food and time with a little boy. They were happy to love on each other for a bit. SOmething about a boy and a dog:



Instead of going straight home, we decided to go check the PO Box and see if we had any paper visitors in there. Squeals of delight came from the boy when he saw 1...2...3 letters in there. My gosh it was great! Our secret pal sent one again. The grandparents of some friends sent one. I was delighted to see that one of my three readers, A, sent one. She is the godmother of my dear friend and a frequent commenter on posts. I am so thankful for her, because it is nice to know someone really does read this thing from time to time. The boy was most thrilled with it and who wouldn't be with this on the front:



The kids are currently in discussions about who gets to keep it in their room. Uh, sorry kids, it is mine. Move on. Thank you so much for making our rainy day a little brighter!

I have been summoned by the boy to play a game of Blokus. If you haven't played it, you should. It gets pretty competitive up in this house. If you hear smack talk coming from inside, no doubt Blokus is out somewhere. Night all.
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The dynamic is off

We got to school this morning at 5:50am. 5:50AM!!!! There is something unholy about that statement. We got there and stood among similar bleary eyed faces while it drizzled and felt kind of yucky. I have been grateful today for social media and kind teacher friends who have put pictures up on Instagram so we can see what S is doing from time to time. She has been away from us before, but once a parent always a parent. I will never stop worrying about her when she is away from me. Our family dynamic is off in general. Sure, the kids fight and bicker, but they aren't quite themselves when one is gone. The dog is beside herself. She does not understand why her blond sister is not playing with her and babying her. That and the fact that I won't stop playing the new ukulele is driving her crazy. At least she will sleep well tonight.

Speaking of sleeping, I am going to get a nice hot shower and hope that it will help me sleep tonight. I need some zzzzz's. Night all.


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My dogs are barking

I have been a pretty good girl today, but it may kill me. Workouts with Dr.Pain are actually fun...it is like I'm working out with a brother. He kicked my patootie pretty hard today, but I was not going to give up. Planks in the push up position are of the devil, but I managed to get through my allotted time without giving up early or throwing up. It helps that I got a lot of encouragement...and smack talk that I was not going to let go unanswered. I left jelly legged, but on my own two legs nonetheless.

This evening we had an outdoor soccer practice which was wonderful! It was a beautiful evening and my friend and I walked...and walked...and walked while the kids practiced ball. I am thankful for good conversation that helps make the cardio go by with relative ease. My determination is strong. I will better my self and my health. This family of mine is way too exciting to leave because of poor health.

Travel mercies for my oldest who leaves at oh dark thirty tomorrow on her school trip to historic venues. Nothing says "Teachers need Xanax" like a bus trip with 8th graders. God bless all the particpants. Night all.


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Excitement in the box

Our first resident in the PO Box arrived today. The kids went bezerk, especially because of the fact that it was written to them from a "Secret Pal":



It was so very exciting. I am going to start a file in hopes that there will be more. Postally, this was a bonus kind of day. Not only did we get our first box mail, I got my new ukulele delivered by FedEx today. Isn't he beautiful:



I don't know if stringed instruments are gender specific, but I felt with his low sound he might be a guy. The light makes him look very stripey, but he is not so blatantly striped as you might think. I got to mess with it for just a bit this evening and he sounds wonderful. If I can find a way to blur out other faces on the video, I will put one up of G singing her song with her requested accompanist: me on the old uke. It was fun.

It has been a long day and I feel a sore throat coming on. Let's pray nothing is starting for Spring Break. I might have to be sad about that.
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Get outta my way

I had a bad day today. Just plain rotten. I won't go into details, but it was one that even a peanut butter cupcake(that I did not need)could fix. Nasty is contagious and I caught it and then when I picked my children up they caught it. It was not their fault. I will say that the high point of our day was going to the grocery store this evening. There were two delightful people working in the deli who were kind enough to decipher my request for "some kind of very rare expensive roast beef that my husband got on Sunday" and set us up just right. They even gave us a sample to make sure that it was the right one. They were so kind and diffused the ticking mom bomb that was about to go off and fed my new addiction for Boar's Head London Broil lunch meat. As our friend Ed once said about something he found tasty: "When you take a bite, I'm pretty sure you can hear the angels sing." He was correct. My apologies to my vegetarian family and friends. The bomb did go off when I went home. Life happens and I need to remember how to deal with things, but my free sample was wearing off faster than my patience. Thankfully we all survived several blowups and drama and mopping of floors and polishing of stainless steel appliances and vacuuming up of glue gun strings to make it to bedtime. We are still speaking to each other, I think, and the children are resting peacefully in their beds. Now it is my turn. Night all.


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Shameless attempt

Okay, friends, it's come to this. I am so anxious(as are the children) to have a blog "Mailbag Monday" or "Fanmail Friday" or "Message March" that I have taken drastic measures. I purchased 20 pre-stamped postcards, addressed them and have started to hand them out to various and sundry people with whom I am acquainted. Cheating? Yes. I totally own it. This whole process of having a PO Box has been quite the teaching opportunity for the children(and for me). I can remember being in college with a little box that corresponded with our dorm room. How exciting it was to go to the mail room and find something in our box. Heck, the ads getting you to buy 100 CD's for a penny were thrilling. AND, gasp, if there was a yellow slip in your box, you got to go to another location and get a highly coveted package. One time I got a package that had a huge jar of peanut butter, some homemade cookies and a fresh big box of Crayola crayons. I was the room to visit that week mostly, suprisingly enough, for the crayons. The peanut butter and cookies didn't last long either. Thankfully I wasn't like the next door neighbor. She got a huge amount of microwave popcorn from her aunt, decided she had a hankering for some about 3am, left it unattended for too long, caught the kitchen microwave on fire and caused a 3:03am firedrill...in February...in Virginia. She got rid of that popcorn pretty quickly after that. I think she carried the name "Orville" for the rest of our college career. The kids have now started taking turns going to check the box, each returning with a sad face. "There's not even junk mail in it!" one said with frustration. For a while now, we have struggled with getting our thank you notes written in a reasonable amount of time. The funny thing is that they get crazy excited to get a handwritten note in the mail, but fail to think that someone else might feel the same excitement when visiting their mailbox. So with every empty handed visit to the PO Box comes the lesson of "See how it feels when you are expecting something and nothing comes?". Heads drop a bit and I hear a pitiful, "Yes, ma'am." "Maybe we can be better about thank you's and 'Thinking of you' notes, okay?". So today I gave a couple out to a friend who was actually really excited at the possibilities of what he could put on the notes. He was more concerned about doing something for the kids...he thumbed his nose at anything for me. I imagine that I might receive something evil from him, but that is fine. I'll share it with all three of you...if the whole thing doesn't have to be censored. I joke. He wouldn't do anything too evil...I don't think. So I will now be like the weirdo prestamped postcard fairy, sprinkling merchandise from the United States Post Office to people here and there to try and drum up a weekly blog post to add interest. We'll see if it works. I sure hope so. There are few things I find that make my day more than snail mail.

I'm going to go a try a sneak a little tidbit of G's choir practice. I want to figure out what language they are singing. it sure is beautiful!


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Glorious day

Well...getting up this morning wasn't as horrible as I thought it might be. I would've much rather been asleep, but I took on the day with all the enthusiasm I could muster. The morning went almost smoothly and without many hiccups, so that was nice. I got sweet hugs from three children who I haven't seen in a good while...that made my day. I walked out of the building to a beautiful sun shining in the sky and almost perfect weather. I got home to find the children outside playing with the dog. The sidewalk chalk was out and soccer balls were sprinkled in the backyard. Even the air smelled good. There was a trip to the park to practice punting and lobbing and then more time in the yard with soccer balls. I will say very enthusiastically that I loved the snow. I found it wonderful and fun and it provided lots of family time that we had badly needed. I found today equally as wonderful. Lovely time outside to again be together as family. So very thankful for such a glorious day.


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