School Supply Shopping

School supply shopping has officially begun.

This is the first year I've had to actually buy pens, because apparently, 4th grade is serious business.

There's a great deal to be had at Target right now.



Papermate pens are $1.02 for a package

And, you can score a $1.00 off coupon here

Making these pens nearly FREE! Just 2-cents per package. :) Now that's a deal!

Say Cheese!

My handsome little man brought home his school pictures today. I knew they'd be at home waiting, as when I read Melissa's post about her daughter looking like the Joker, I figured I'd have a set of pearly whites staring back at me from matte paper as well.

Sure enough! (And yes, I took a picture of the picture, and YES, it looks bad, but I was feeling far too lazy to use the scanner)



So, I quickly went to work cutting and sorting because it just so happens that I was getting ready to print and mail the invitations for his family birthday party, so now I can just stick everyone's photos right there in the envelope! I love when things work out this way. Simple pleasures!

The invites and photos are stuffed, addressed and stamped, so now I've got the task of writing out my Christmas card list to see just how many cards I need to order this year. Once that task is completed, I'm heading off to watch the tube before heading to bed.

Is it the weekend yet?

Totally Pawsome!

My son has been in kindergarten just shy of a month now. He's needed to turn his card to yellow a few times, and just last week, he had to turn to red. This warranted the second phone call home this school year.

It wasn't that he his misbehaved so badly that he needed to turn his card to red, it was that he talked out of turn (didn't raise his hand) and when the teacher asked him to turn his card to yellow, he wouldn't. He didn't want to, and was upset that he needed to. She explained that if he didn't turn it to yellow like she asked, then he'd have to turn to red, which upset him even further so that he stuck his tongue out at her.

Needless to say, the next day he was instructed to go to school, and to apologize for misbehaving AND for sticking his tongue out at his teacher. He did this, and was behaved enough that he came home that next day with a Pawsome card.

Being a Wildcat (school mascot), this was their way of using 'paw' and 'awesome' together.

He did well the rest of the week, and imagine my surprise today when he came home with TWO Pawsome cards in his backpack.

I just hope he can continue to improve and keep enjoying school. Despite flipping cards or having the teacher call home, he's always very anxious and excited to go back to school the next day. And when the weekend rolls around, he's asking when it's time to go to school again. I know that won't last forever, but it's nice now!

Sputterings and Mutterings

It's been quite awhile since I've written. I find that many evenings I'm too tired to conjure up anything worth reading.

I've been the general manager for 4 whole weeks now. Hardly seems like it's been that long, but I've made it through 2 payrolls. This past Friday I had to do the entire payroll myself and I was extremely nervous about it. Apparently I wasn't giving myself enough credit because it all went extremely smoothly and all the payroll checks printed and I have happy employees. The old general manager is out of town in California now, and my bosses are actually out of the country on an anniversary trip in Italy. I'm flying solo with only brief communication by cell phone or text messages to the old GM. She still needs to go over sales tax with me, which needs to be done by the 20th of this month.

Other than that, the other big happenings in the household was the start of two things for the kids. B started kindergarten, and 5 days in I got my first phone call home from the teacher. His friend down the street rides the same bus, and they are in the same class together as well. Apparently they are like Frick and Frack, getting into some trouble together. They've been separated both in class, and on the bus, along with flipping cards to yellow while in class. (sigh) They are FIVE! (though, B would interrupt and say, "I'm five and a HALF!") K started ballet class at our community rec center. She's gone two times now, and is just adorable as she prances along. It runs for 11 weeks, so she'll be busy doing that every Saturday until the middle of November.

So - that is that - just keeping busy and watching the weeks fly by.

The dog days of summer

Summer is quickly coming to an end, I'm afraid. Of course, being that it is August, temps have jumped up into the 90's. With this latest heat wave, the ice cream man has stopped coming around. Every other time he came by, we weren't ready for him; no cash on hand, or right in the middle of eating dinner, or just finished with dessert. So, just when I say fuck it, he stops comin'.

I'm just grumpy....can you tell? It's a bad case of PMS. Though, I can't blame it on PMS now, right, cuz I'm not in the "pre" stages anymore.....no, now the annoying wench is here for her monthly stay, but I'm still CRABBY. AS. HELL. Where's the chocolate?

I can't even focus enough to sit here and write, it's like hormonal induced ADD. Huh? What? Are you talking to me?

Got a letter yesterday from my son's school; he'll be in the PM kindergarten class. There's like 4 weeks or something left til school starts. Someone, get me the kleenex!

Okay, seriously .... I've gotta go. Once I can focus more, I'll be back.

Where have I gone?

Yes, I know. It has been quite awhile since I've posted.

I know there have been questions about my health, and how the medicine seemed to be working. The medicine ran out, I never got anymore and I haven't had anymore of those symptoms. I honestly don't know what it could have been. There have been a few "attacks" which I always blamed on IBS in the past, but it was nothing like the crushing, overwhelming chest pain or sharp pain that seemed obviously like it was my gallbladder.

So, I'm feeling well in that respect, but now it's the time for allergies. I've been dealing with the sneezing, the congestion, the itchy throat, the sore throat, the coughing, the itchy eyes and skin. Some days it's bad, some days it's tolerable and some days it's REALLY bad.

Mike is still out of a job. It's been 4.5 months. We're hoping that this long period of time is just needed in order to direct us to the right job. I'm really trying not to get worked up about it -- I thought I was doing well with that, but maybe that's why I was having such health problems. It is stressful, and I do worry, but I'm really just trying to take it one day at a time, and hope that there's something out there that hasn't presented itself yet. We'll keep searching.

On the kid front - they are growing like weeds. My little boy, my firstborn; he graduated from preschool last week, on May 23. I've got a memory book of many things he's been working on throughout the school year, lots of pictures of him during class and their special events (fire safety, Halloween, his birthday, bike safety trail, etc). I can't believe my baby boy is off to kindergarten in the fall. High school graduating class of 2020!!!!!!

And my little princess. Getting ready to turn 3 the end of next month. THREE!!!! Already!!!!! She'll be having a My Little Pony party, and it's about all she can talk about. She's a bundle of energy, very much like her big brother. They both keep us very busy!

This Memorial Day weekend the rec center finally opened in our community. So there have been visits to the pool, and trying to workout on a somewhat regular basis.

Plus this time of year always brings a calendar full of events. Went to the Sox game last Friday, and this Sunday we'll be going to the Cubs game. We're seeing Michael Buble live in July, and I'm hopefully going on an overnight girls getaway in Galena in August. Not to mention the BBQs, birthday parties, Wii bowling nights, girl's nights, etc that are planned throughout the summer.

Busy time of year, but I sure do love it.

Let's Get Physical!

Braeden had his 5 year visit and school physical today. He's growing well, passed his vision test, blood tests all came back A-OK. He got 3 shots and handled them so well ..... he was such a BIG boy, and I was so proud! But, when the doctor had him bend over to touch his toes, he examined his spine and I've been thinking lately that it looked a bit weird to me - almost curved. Well, the pediatrician told me to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't complain about back pain. That it doesn't necessarily mean anything, but it could be the signs of scoliosis.

He didn't seem very worried, so I'm trying not to be, but part of me wants to cry. I mean .... what do you mean my little boy is not perfect? I don't want my children to have any sort of health ailment. I've only read a little bit online about scoliosis, and I'm afraid to read further because I know alot of times the world wide web can be a mass of awful information.

So, all in all, he's healthy and he's up to date on vaccinations and all aside from going to the dentist -- he's ready for kindergarten!