Swim Little Fishy

Remember me mentioning how the boy was not at all thrilled with swimming lessons? In fact he stated that he wished he didn't have to have swimming lessons until next year and he was very pained at the very thought of having them? Today's quote, "I wish we could have swimming lessons every day!" My little bubs are quite the little fishies. The girl goes off the diving board and swims under water the whole way to the side of the pool. Boy is doing mighty fine as well. They kept him in the advanced class, but separated the boys and girls since the girls were doing much better than the boys. But boy is definitely holding his own. They are MUCH improved even after two classes. We're going to the pool 3 times this week.

But, I think the girl has cursed us all. She broke a mirror in our garage before we left for the pool this afternoon. It was an accident, her bike hit the mirror that I had leaning against a box, left over from the garage sale. I'm still in the process of packing things up for Salvation Army. So we're almost at the pool, with one street left to cross, and we had to stop for a car to go by. I lost my balance and fell right against the curb. Got a NASTY scrape over most of my right shin, with quite a bit of blood loss. Managed to walk the rest of the way to the pool, which was right across the street. Got a big band-aid from the office and got it cleaned up, but boy is there a major bruise forming on both of my legs. Then while we were locking up our bikes I accidently hit the girl in the nose with my bike lock. Don't ask how that happened, and she was alright, but it stung her enough to bring tears to her eyes. Poor little thing. But 4 hours at the pool helped her feel better. lol.

Heard from a neighbor that there is an ice cream place in McHenry called Happy Jacks. We'll be checking that out really soon. Also, I am happy to report that I found my birth certificate. I need that for the new job and I couldn't find it OR my Social Security card. One of my first purchases at the new job will be a fire-proof safe to put all those important papers in. I have no idea where they all are. Second purchase...a mini fridge to keep the chocolate in. lol. That will be a Happy Jack purchase though.

Ok, off to bed. Ta-ta for now.

Pool Day

We're off to the pool shortly. 86 degrees. Barely any rain. Watering restrictions in effect. I'll be working on some new designs and a website design contract while we're there. Ta-ta.

Just wanted you to know.

Owwww....

Darn dog! I think my dog broke my toe. I know you're wondering how that could possibly be, and I know, it's really my own fault for doing something dumb. See, we have her tethered in the back yard on one of those plastic-wire jobbers anchored to the ground. She loves to try to get us to chase her when it is time to go in so I usually walk along the wire thingy until I get to her so she can't run away. Well silly me did what I usually do, but kinda neglected to remember that I was barefoot at the time and when I got about 3 feet from loopy dog she took off at top speed and kinda took one of my toes with her. Luckily it is one of those insignificant middle toes, but man is it sore! Goofball dog.

Lessee what's happened since I last wrote....

Had the G'sale on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning. Sold most of the bigger stuff, range hood, microwave, fax machine, etc. and a lot of clothes, but we didn't have any high priced stuff, so we really didn't make that much. Kinda disappointing, but we really don't get the traffic we used to get at the old house either. Glad that is over. I'm packing it up to go to the Salvation Army or the children's resale shop. Will be nice to have our garage space back.

Got a couple more orders over the weekend, including one for a website redesign that I'm really happy about. Have to finalize the details on that one. Also some more sports bars and birthday goodie bags. I like the thought of that one. I think I put together really good goodie bags.

Speaking of goodie bags...usually we are always late to everything, but this weekend we were actually 23-1/2 hours early for the girl's sleepover party. Doh! We tried to take her over Friday night but the party wasn't until Saturday. Bahahahaha....that is a first!

Ok, time to go to bed. Gotta take advantage of sleeping nights while I can!

It's soooooooo HOT

Ok, I know I complained non-stop about the cold, but come on....now it's 97 degrees out and hasn't rained in like forever. Can't even walk on the grass it is so dry. We were up til about 1am trying to get the last of the garage sale stuff ready. Had to make signs and stuff and finish up a Happy Jack order and finish up 2 birthday presents. And to top it off loopy dog got sick in the middle of the night. That's just what we needed.

I just got home from my meeting with the job place. I'm being sent for my drug test and background test, etc. Looks like I'm hired pending those things. I'll hear back from them sometime this week. I'm getting nervous though about the hours and the sleep and stuff. Hope I am up to this. Pay is pretty good, so I think I'll just have to buckle down and deal with it. I just hate the thought of messing up the kids summer by me needing to sleep. I was so looking forward to having fun with them this year.

Ok, time to pull the garage sale stuff in. We're going to open up early tomorrow morning and hopefully close up early too. It's just WAY too hot...

Thursday=Pool

Thursday, we've decided, is pool day. So far we're still working out the kinks in our summer schedule, and I'm sure all that we've figured out so far will change if I get offered the job tomorrow. I will be spending a vast amount of odd hours asleep. But, we'll figure it out and maybe I might even be able to get a car by the end of the year. But I'm putting the cart before the horse. I'm meeting with the fine folks at the job place again tomorrow. They want to see me "for about 10 minutes" so I'm guessing that maybe that is about a drug test and a job offer - which they keep pointing out to me is a really hard job that I'm really overqualified for. Yeah, I know.

Tomorrow is also the garage sale. We have much more crap, er, stuff than I could possibly have imagined. I'm planning to spend a few bucks after the sale and get a few more carpet pieces to put in the basement so the kids can play down there some. We've actually cleared out a pretty nice sized area. And I still have a bit of a pile to list on ebay too. In my spare time, of course.

Also discovered yesterday during "Domestic Wednesday" that the kids fight over who gets to clean the bathrooms. Have made mental note to take advantage of that fact. Also am whittling down the mountain of laundry we've accumulated in the last week. We went through 2 boxes of clothes that someone at my last job gave to me, so I've got two baskets full of those clothes to wash in addition to our regular stuff and the 4 baskets of towels.

Word to the wise...never tell an 8 year old he has a savings account he never knew about. Time to start sunscreening for our trek to the pool...

Bullseye

Had my first interview on Monday afternoon. I had the kids go play at a friend's house for an hour so I could run out there. The actual interview went fine, but man the time span leading up to it and the things that are overheard leading up to it are just amazing. More about that later. I was told to come back for a second interview that night at 11pm. I went and again, after some tense time before the actual interview, the interview iteself went very well. The lady pointed out that I am way overqualified and why didn't I apply for a management position, etc. lol. But they called again yesterday asking me to come in for 15 minutes or so, so I'm guessing that may be for a drug test.

Tonight is also the second HOA meeting. Should be interesting. One of my neighbors is going around with a petition to relax some of the crazy rules we have here...including the one about no home businesses. She said a lot of people she's talked to want the HOA gone. That's a good thing.

Got an order for end of season goodies for a baseball team. Working on putting a page up dedicated to those. I don't really show them anywhere and they are really neat. I bet I would get more orders for those, and those are good all year round with all the different sports out there. I also added a generic basket page under the "Children's Book Basket" link that explains why my baskets are better than anyone elses. I thought that needed to be added too. Still working on the shopping cart issues too.

I better go check on Loppy dog. I think I left her outside. Whoops.

Sleepy....so very...

sleepy.... What a busy weekend. Patrick took off work on Friday and we got the kids registered for school, our garage sale permit, and then we went to the Lake County Museum to see the Walter Payton exhibit which closed this weekend. It was fabulous. Really very good. There was even a display with his Super Bowl ring. Very cool. Kids got to put on a Bears uniform with pads. Saturday we went to the LF picnic - successfully avoiding people I really didn't want to see, but talking to a few others. Kids had fun. We stayed a few hours, had lunch, watched some soccer, visited with some people and left. Then we were off to the Grayslake Art Festival which is always very nice. Patrick picked up lots of business cards mostly of people without websites. I was wondering why and he had to explain to me that maybe those people needed website...lol.....oh yeah....why didn't I think of that. Sometimes I'm not the brightest crayon in the pack. After that we stopped home to let loopy dog out and decided to ride bikes up to the RL festival since it is only about half-way to the pool and it was such a beautiful cool day. SO we did and it was really a dud. Too bad RL. Grayslake Art fest was much better...very lively with a band, lots of food, lots of people milling about and tons or exhibits. RL had a band, and some food, although they were too spread out, and only 2 tents of exhibitors, some rides for the kids that cost at least a buck each. We looked around and left. After that we decided to explore some paths in the newer subdivision to the south of us, so we did and boy were they nice! We're extremely jealous of the fabulous bike path system they have running through their community. But at least it is close by and someday soon we should be able to easily hook up to it from our house. While we were stopped at a park down there we decided to get a sack of tacos and go to another park we haven't been to in years. A couple years ago we used to do that on Sundays since TB used to have 49cent taco Sunday. So we did, but by the time we got to the park and ate it was almost too chilly to play. We stayed a little bit but then decided to come home. It was after 9 by that time. Sunday we slept in (well, everyone else did, I had dog duty). Patrick made pancakes and we worked on all the junk for the garage sale. Man do we have a lot. I got another table set up in the garage and started going through the boxes that were left in the garage from last year and there is a ton of stuff. We packed a dinner and went to the pool around 5 and swam for almost 2 hours, then had a picnic dinner and went back in for swimming lessons. The boy was complaining about having to go to lessons again already (a week later, lol) but you should have seen him jumping off the diving board. Having a ball. I think he's used to it already.

Today we took Patrick to the train so I can go to an interview this afternoon. More about that later. I'm not so sure I want to work for this place after I see their crummy hiring practices! But we need the money desperately.

Alright now...back to work.

Summer Vacation ...Day 5

I've all but finished up the charitable organization newsletter I work on, and last night got myself entrenched in the new Education Foundation starting up here in the district. I'll be doing the website/identity for the group. The foundation will be a not for profit charitable organization and is looking to garner some big names to serve on the board. They are also targeting some large corporations and looking for grants to support the arts and other programs here in the elementary district.

Patrick took off work today so we are going to get the kids registered for school (early registration saves $50) and pick up our garage sale permit. Then go to the Lake County Museum. I also want to try and get a few more of the job applications finished and returned. I have my resume and cover letter all ready to mail to the district for the office clerk job at Prairieview. That would be awesome. Course we'd have to figure out how to get me there...

By the way...yesterday's desserts were cinnamon cake, and blueberry muffins. The cinnamon cake was great and the muffins are for today.

Summer Vacation...Day 4

We're still alive. Buried under a ton of junk, but alive. We're getting ready for our garage sale next weekend. Kids and I have been working through their rooms and the bonus room clearing out stuff we don't need and winter clothes, etc. Today I want to get it all moved downstairs so I can start sizing and pricing. I hope we have decent weather. Last year it stormed pretty bad on one day and we had to close up. We also had the loopy puppy out on the porch last year and the kids put up a sign saying "Pet the Pup for $1" and they actually made money from one lady...lol!

The last couple of days it has really cooled off. It is back in the 60's again, which is nice. We went for a walk last night at 9pm with sweats on and it was nice. Kids and I were out earlier in the day hanging notices about HOA changes a neighbor made up and we got soaked and muddy. We were riding bikes through a new section on houses still under construction and it was raining a little, so we were a mess when we came home. I told them to enjoy it though because I don't usually let them out to ride bikes in the rain or mud. lol. We were a sight. Which reminds me, I better do some laundry.

Tomorrow Patrick it taking off work so we can get the school registration forms in, and we are also going to go to the Lake County Discovery Museum and see the Walter Payton exhibit before it goes away. That will be our Father's Day treat since we don't have any money to do anything else. And we'll be at the pool on Sunday too. Also have to get the girl over to the second sleepover party at 5pm. Have to finish up the book basket present.

Kids and I are settling into a nice routine. They watch a couple hours of TV in the morning, have breakfast, then shut off the TV and find something else to do for a couple hours while I get some work done, then I go do something with them in the afternoon. We've also started making desserts together at lunchtime. We made an ice cream Jello thing on Tuesday and banana pudding with marshmallows and bananas yesterday. Not sure what we're making today.

Ok, back to work...

Tired Tuesday

Oh man...I was so tired this morning. Got up with loopy dog at 5:45am for some unknown reason...she must be on a weekend schedule this week. Went back to bed and slept in until almost 9:30. We rode our bikes to the pool yesterday and although the temp said 93 degrees when we left at quarter to one it really didn't feel too bad. I was expecting way worse. It must have been a "dry heat". lol. Found lots of friends at the pool, so we stayed until about 6:00 and then started our ride back home. The boy protested because he wanted to stay until the pool closed at 7pm, but the girl looked tired and I was beat. Between the chlorine and allergies and bright sunshine my eyes were killing me. Oh, and shortly after we got there it did rain too, so we had the full gamut of weather while we were there. I finished a book I was reading, and got plenty more sunburn even with all the sunscreen I put on. I look like a lobster. I don't think the kids got much more than they got over the weekend. But one of my PTO friends saw me last night and cracked up. lol

This weekend is the long awaited "company picnic". No, not Happy Jack, but that is a fun idea...lol. It's Patrick's company picnic, which is also my OLD company. As you'll remember, I left abruptly last August due to the changing working conditions. I haven't really seen some of these people since then although I have been back to LF a couple times. I'm actually kind of a little nervous, but it should be an interesting day, to say the least. The kids love going to it and we didn't go last year because there was NO WAY I was going. We're making bets on who will/won't talk to me. lol

Girl has another sleepover birthday party this weekend. #2 in the series of 3 taking place this month. Getting back to the one from last week...the girl from that party was a team-mate on her soccer team. Very nice family, and they live right by where we used to live. The next corner, as a matter of fact. So when driving there last Friday we went past our old house. Remember my old house with the lilac bush...the tulips...lilies....hostas, etc.? ALL GONE! Everything dug up and leveled. Even the dogwood bushes we had in front. I almost cried. I spent so much time and money out there building the perennial garden and it is ALL gone. Even that beautiful dwarf lilac that I spent so much time shaping. I couldn't believe it. I had to drive Patrick past it too. Oh man. Makes me sick to think about it, but oh well, it isn't our house anymore.

Back to work now.

Week One...day one...

...of summer break. This weekend we had our second annual block party. It was fun. It was way hot. It rained for about 3 minutes when we were packing up the last bit, so it was a nice hot sunny day. The three minute rain felt wonderful. I did face painting, and I was busy the entire 5 hours. I kid you not...I had a couple bites of hamburger and that was it. Those kids were following me around. A couple kids I did 12 paintings on. They were running out of exposed skin area. lol. Check out the pics here from the neighborhood website.

This weekend was also the kick-off party for the park district pool. We went and it rained. We expected to be there all day but came home after a couple hours as the sky was overcast and cloudy and rather chilly, actually. After 90s the day before, Sunday was not so nice. We had to go back in the evening though for the first swim lesson class. Both kids are in the advanced class, but the boy doesn't like it because it is hard. He was in a way easy class last year, so I wanted him challenged this time.

Today we are goign back out to the pool. This time on our bikes though. We'll be leaving in about an hour. I'll have to take a watch and see how long it takes us to get there. It's probably about 2 miles or so away. It is already 88 degrees. We're also working on our summer schedule. A couple TV shows in the morning, then they have to find something else to do. Today the girl wrote her teacher a letter, the boy has basically just been a pest. But at least he's not in front of the TV...he's thinking creatively of ways to pester the girl and me. Isn't that what little brothers are for?

Block Party Day!

Today is our second annual block party. I'm lucky I live on the cool block. lol. I think we are the only one to have block parties around here. We're doing a carnival theme this year with lots of activities for the kids. I'll be doing face painting. I'll try to post some pictures later on if I can lift my arms.

So what is it with the loopy dog anyway? During the week she sleeps in til oh, 11...12...sometimes even 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Lately though, she's up before 6am!! I got up with her this morning at 5:50am. But at least I'm getting some work done. Darn dog. Here's a couple pics of the goofball...



And one in her natural state:



And one of the backyard and lake:



Ok, gotta get going now and make sure I have everything ready for the party. Still need to bring up the tables and pack the popcorn bags. Oh, and we have to go get the girl who was at a sleepover party. More about that later on.

Last Day of School!

Today was the last day....er....hour of school. lol. Girlie wore her PJs and both had donut breakfasts at school. Yesterday was the second grade send-off picnic and it was fun, but very hot. Kids handed out their candy bars to their teachers after school. Last night we also went to a going away party for the next door neighbors. New people moving in on Monday. I also had my first PTO board meeting last night. Back to today, kids went to friends house after school for a picnic lunch and water balloon/slip & slide fun day. Then they came home all crabby and whiney. Thankfully now they are watching a Star Wars movie and at least not trying to strangle each other.

I finished up a newsletter assignment I was working on, finishing up that church sample box, and have to schedule delivery of stuff for tomorrow or the next day. Also have to finish up stuff for the block party on Saturday.

Wonder what we'll have for dinner tonight. Anyone have any suggestions that don't cost money or take much effort? Hmmm...maybe Ramen noodles....

Time to make the donuts...

oh wait, they probably wouldn't hire me either. lol. There are numerous job listings posted on the D46 website. Seems administrators and teachers are bailing. Both the principal and vice principal of the middle school have resigned, superintendent, asst. superintendent, board secretary, elementary school principal, the list goes on and on. But I did notice a job as an office clerk at the kids' school so I am going to apply for that. Maybe with my art background I can fill in when the new art teacher (if they find one) leaves.

Today is the second grade picnic. And M's last full day at PV. I bet she will be sad. This was her third school in 5 years. Although looking back I had been in 4 schools by the time I hit 3rd grade. So she's right on target with me. Ok, I gotta finish the teacher gifts and get in the shower. Hope I make it through the sack race. lol

Sheesh it's hot...

Kids and I rode our bikes the 2 miles or so to the library today. This library is right next to our park district pool - where we'll be spending much of the summer - so it is good practice in what is to come. And it is freaking hot out there. 86 degrees says my computer at the moment. I told the kids just wait until August after we've been trekking all that way on our bikes all summer long. I think I will have pretty good legs by then! At least for an old person and all. lol

Whew...now I need a brownie sundae or something...

Oh and we broke the news to the kids that we won't be getting our usual Great America season pass this summer.

2 More Days

Only 2 more days of school! Today is "X" day of the ABC countdown. Xchange autographs is the boys, and X-ray vision is the girls. Boy signs yearbooks, girl wears sunglasses. Tomorrow the second graders are having a picnic, so I will be there. Wednesday girlie wears PJs for the hour they go to school.

Was a beautiful weekend, although a little rainy. We went for a few bike rides, last soccer games of the season, cooked out and ate outside, and started the plans for loopy dog's new doghouse. We also went all over picking up and dropping off applications.

In soccer news, boy's team lost their final game, girl's team won. AYSO messed up the medals, apparently they used last year's roster so the names on all of the medals were wrong. Luckily we had our goodies to give the kids.



Now we have the summer off. Pool opens on Sunday. Block party this Saturday. Company picnic next Saturday, and garage sale the weekend after that. I did just say we had the summer off, right? What was I thinking? lol.

Catching up

This has been a very busy week. We've had to cram way too much into a short week. But today is Friday...the last Friday of school. EEeegads the children will be home for summer soon. I've been working on 40 soccer baskets/bundles for three different teams, another set of soccer chocolate bars for another team, bars for the referees and board of directors of AYSO, a retirement basket, a golf basket, a sample pack for a 700-bar order proposal, and another sample pack for a youth football organization. Add in there, two soccer practices, a meeting with that lady last night, a block party planning meeting/baby shower/going away party, play rehearsal, play fundraising, packing 37 goodie bags for the block party, and my sis is coming up with the nieces to spend the night tonight. Tomorrow we have 8am & 9:15am soccer games (last ones of the season) of course on different fields, and we have team pics and goodies to hand out. This will be interesting. I'm thinking maybe I will give out the pics and goodies to the parents during the game so we can just skeedaddle after the boy's game and run over to the girl's game. Then maybe we'll head back over to the boy's field and look for the rest of the refs/board members to give their candy bars. Next week I plan on sitting my beeeehind on a lounge chair at the pool. lol

In other news...the girl has a cracked baby tooth. Didn't I say that she is following in the footsteps of her dear old mom? I had a cracked baby tooth that had to be pulled. Course mine was when I was 18. But her's is looking not so good. It is one of the front molar ones, and it is cracked horizontally across the crown, like the top part is lifting off the root. I can't imagine that is good, and she went to the nurse because it was bothering her yesterday (which is when they discovered it was cracked). So I'm calling the dentist today and see what they say. I'm betting she's going to have to have it pulled. She's not a happy camper.

That's all for now!

Testing...4...5...6...

Oh nevermind. I don't know how to do it. Another day perhaps I'll figure it out. Phooey.

Testing....1...2...3...

Ok, I'm going to try something I've been wondering how to do. Seems sometimes I get mighty wordy and thought it would be neat to have one of those "click for more" thingys so at least my posts won't scare people away. lol. Let's see how this works.

Wanna read more?
»

Here it is...more! I had to hijack a bit of code to get this to work, so I hope it does. And, well, thanks to those of you I had to hijack it from. I am knee-deep in sports orders at the moment, and have another basket to do and some sample packs to design and put together for some potential BIG orders and here I am playing with code. We also have some woman coming over tonight which Patrick set up and this is like the absolute WORST time for this. But let's get it over with. Something is going to have to give soon or we'll have to move back to the slum-land apartment. Ok, back to the test and less of my whining.

Enough already! «