Ten things I should be doing right now, and why I'm not doing them.

1. Writing one of my five late articles for my journalism class. (I'm already so far behind, what's one more day? And I'm not sure she'll accept them late anyway. And they're saved on the other computer, which is a whole twelve steps away from where I sit on the couch.)

2. Working on the essay test for my anthropology class. (Because the due date was postponed till Wednesday, and it's just totally not cool to start on an exam before the day it's due.)

3. Washing dishes. (I already did them once today.....why should I have to do 'em again?)

4. Sorting/washing/folding/putting away the four loads of laundry that are piled on the bedroom floor. (blah. I hate laundry)

5. Editing and uploading Josh's wedding photos. (See above note about distance from couch to other computer....)

6. Cleaning out my filthy stinky truck. (It's cold outside. And raining.)

7. Giving the dog a bath, because she stinks. (There's baby toys in the bathtub that I'd have to clean out.)

8. Figuring out what healthy and delicious meal to make for supper. (We're having leftovers, so there.)

9. Rescuing my daughter from her bedroom, since it seems she has absolutely no inclination to take a nap. (She's having a good time practicing her new skill of climbing into and out of her toddler bed. Why deprive her of the fun? Besides, maybe she'll get sleepy eventually.)

10. Vacuum. (See note on laundry.)

Congrats to the Ross family!

Tiffany, my best friend from high school, and her husband Troy welcomed their QUADRUPLETS to the world yesterday! Mom and all four babies are doing well. Please keep the Ross family in your prayers.

(their blog: www.rossquads.blogspot.com)

Musings, and updates.

1. Okay, so I haven't posted since April. I know, I know, the three people who stumbled across my blog have been holding their breath waiting for the next installment, right? Riiiight.

But seriously? How do so many people (moms especially) have time for this stuff? I really had every intention of keeping up with it, but I spent all summer so busy I barely had time to breathe, and now with my new job and school and stuff, things are even more crazy!

So, blogging moms out there, how do you do it? Right now, Matthew's watching tv in his room (yes, his homework's all done!) and Lauren is taking a late nap (which I'll pay for later when she won't go to bed). I should be cooking supper and/or studying. Do you just not sleep? Or are you super-duper time managers? I just barely muddle through my days, and it seems like there are moms out there who do everything right (healthy cooking, attachment parenting, cloth diapering, etc, etc) and even have time to blog about it! Am I just jealous, or delusional?

2. We're pregnant. Again. Lauren and the new babe will be 17 months apart. I'm terrified, excited, all of that. Jim wasn't too thrilled at first, but yesterday, out of the blue, he says "I don't like odd numbers." Heh. I don't know.

Along with the pregnancy comes the fact that we make too much for any type of government assistance, but way too little to pay to have a baby!

3. I have a new job. I work Monday through Friday from 10:45 to 2:45 at Matthew's school as a resource room aide. I like it - it's fairly low-stress, it works around my school schedule, and I get done when Matthew gets out of school. If only it paid more! (Most of what I make goes to day care. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when the baby's born and I have to pay for daycare for two!)

4. I'm still working on my undergrad degree...this is year six....I really should hurry up and graduate, but even making a teacher's salary isn't going to clear us much after paying for daycare for two babies. *sigh* This semester I have one class on campus and three internet courses. So far it's going well.

5. Lauren will be a year old in less than 3 weeks! She's walking everywhere now, and starting to talk, although it's still mostly babbling. She's really been working hard on the motor skills lately.

6. Matthew is in second grade! He like his teacher, and seems to be doing really well so far.

7. Jim still hates his job, but that's nothing new.

So, there you go. My life in a nutshell. Now the baby's awake, supper is long overdue, and the dog is barking to be let back in the house.

It's flipping snowing!

Mid-April in Indiana = snow.

We're supposed to autocross tomorrow.

Blah.

I have nothing to say.

Well, that's unusual. I have absolutely nothing of interest to report.

Fajitas and Margaritas

We invited family and friends over on Tuesday night for our famous margaritas and fajitas. Lots of fun was had by all!

(more videos to come, but my upload speed is sloooooowwww today)



I had the bright idea to videotape while tipsy so I could send the video to Matt, who's pub-hopping in Ireland currently, but will soon be back in Iraq. We miss you, Matt!

test: embedding video

so, we're seeing if this works.

Planet Earth

Wow. I caught part of Oprah the other day about this show on the Discovery Channel. Very cool.

Four Things About Me

I feel obligated to write a biographical post, but I'm boring, and I have a boring life. In the interests of spicing it up a little bit, here's "Four Things About Me."

(I'm not done, but the baby's awake. Check back for revisions...)

Four Places I have worked:
1. Wal-Mart (cashier - bleh.)
2. Decatur City Pool (lifeguard - best job EVER)
3. North Adams Community Schools (substitute teacher)
4. Adams Central Community Schools (middle school swim coach)

Four movies I watch over and over:
1. The Princess Bride
2. Moulin Rouge
3. Big Fish
4. Shrek

Four movies I couldn't finish watching:
1. Munich
2. Talladega Nights
3. The Matrix: Reloaded
4. The Cat in the Hat

Four underrated tv shows
1. SeaQuest
2. Earth 2
3. Everwood
4.

Four places I’ve lived.
1. Ossian, IN
2. Monroe, IN
3. Notre Dame, IN
4. Decatur, IN

Four television shows I watch:
1. House
2. Monk
3. My Name is Earl
4. Scrubs

Four television shows I've never watched:
1. American Idol
2. Survivor
3. Desperate Housewives
4. Sex and the City

Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Houston, TX
2. San Diego, CA
3. Wake Forest, NC
4. Colorado Springs, CO

Four websites I visit daily:
1. Crosswords
2. ILP message board
3. The Lactivist Blog
4. Myspace and Facebook

Favorite foods
1. chocolate-chip cookies
2. fajitas with lots of guacamole
3. artichoke-spinach dip
4. smoked salmon

Favorite beverages
1. Ice water with lemon
2. Munchie beer
3. Mountain Dew
4. Raspberry mocha cappuccino

places I would rather be right now
1. outside in a hammock
2. taking a glorious afternoon nap
3. in a bigger house
4. on a comfy couch in a bookstore

Foods I hate
1. Guinness beer
2. lima beans (does anybody like them?)
3. mayonnaise
4. Kraft mac & cheese

Spring Break, and it feels like spring!

Now, most spring breaks here in Indiana are not very spring-y. Cold, rainy, snowy, and just plain ol' miserable are more apt adjectives to describe the annual week where the kids run wild.

It's 75 degrees! And the sun is shining!

So I took the kids out to run some errands this morning, which was fun. Lauren loves the feeling of the wind on her face. It makes her gasp, and then she giggles and stretches her arms out wide, like she's catching the breeze. No matter which way I hold her, she turns her head so she's facing into the wind. (aside: Great-Grandma Sheehan would shake her finger at me and say, "Keep that baby's head covered up! You don't want her getting dysentery, do you?" I've never even heard of dysentery outside the context of The Oregon Trail.)

Anyway, we went to get Matthew's guitar, which still isn't in. Then we went to Dollar General, the credit union (keep your fingers crossed that they approve the refi on my truck), Wal-Mart (we were there two days ago, but Lauren decided she'd had enough halfway through the grocery aisles, so today we finished shopping. But I forgot milk.), and the eye doctor (but they were out to lunch).

I'd promised (read: bribed) Matthew that if he was good during the errands, that we'd go to McDonald's for lunch. But he decided it would be more fun to get our food at the drive-through and go to a park. The park by our house is right by the river, and with all the rain we've had lately, it's a soggy mess down there. So we went to the park by the city pool. Matthew found his friend Nicky to play with (Nick and his brothers spent every day at the pool with us last summer), and Lauren and I learned that she LOVES to swing. Those great big baby belly laughs are so much fun!

Then Lauren decided she was hungry and tired, so we headed for home. Now Matthew's playing Guitar Hero, and Lauren is asleep. I'm wishing that I had a comfy chair or a hammock outside, so I could be out enjoying the sunshine. But I have all the windows open and there's a nice breeze blowing through, so that's almost as nice.

How time flies...

So it's been a year and a half since I last updated this blog. I had actually forgotten it existed, but lately I've been reading some blogs fairly regularly - the lactivist and chewymom are two that I've been interested in - and I thought to myself, "Hey, self, you like to write. You should create a blog." So I tried to create a new blog, and it tells me that I already have one!

Massive brain fart aside, I thought it might be a good outlet for me. We'll see, I guess.