Where does the time go?

First of all, I would like to say Happy Anniversary to my dear husband - not that he reads this (although he would be a darn sight better off at Christmastime if he did).

Okay, I'm not actually that secretive or complicated. Anyone could figure me out. But if you ask me what I want, I'm not going to answer. I'm not trying to be difficult, I promise, but you can't ask for a gift. Then, it's not a gift anymore, is it? It's a favor. I prefer gifts to favors.

Back to what I was actually talking about. It doesn't really seem like I've been married for 9 years. I suppose that's a good thing. 9 is a funny number, though, and doesn't come with any fanfare or anything. It's just the one before 10. Well, I'm going to be optimistic and say that it's the beginning of a very pleasant year. We already did our fancy celebrating last week. Today I am making a new recipe. It's so rediculously simple, that I will probably give it to everyone I know if it is a success. It is a pork tenderloin in the crock pot recipe.

I miss my grandmother. It's awful that I don't have a good time to visit her. Even though we have the long weekend for Memorial Day, I have taiko on Sunday, and Abbie has dance on Monday. I think. Maybe I'd better check on that. Will they still have it since school is out?

Speaking of taiko, I need to learn the helicoptor twirl for Miyake. And I need to finish my new bachi - the old ones got trashed at the end of practice last night. I also got a lovely new blister because of the humidity, and a blood blister because I forgot to take off my wedding ring. Well...I was having a Rosemary Can't Get It Right kind of day even before that.

Oh! I forgot to tell you about Sunday.

Well, as luck would have it, the one time when I wouldn't mind a little rain, it was clear. Because of that, Josh went off to go fly, and I was suddenly stuck with the kids, and a meeting to go to for taiko PR. The kids had to come with me, and I brought them books and toys and such and instructed them that they needed to play quietly while I was at the meeting. ...And they did! Thank goodness. I was pretty nervous about that, actually. After the meeting, we went with the PR committee to have yummy lunch at Steak N Shake. Mmm. It really made me want to do something fun with my lovable taiko friends. Like....a barbeque. Or karaoke and drinks (my other, other favorite thing to do in the evening). Still waiting on that to be possible.

I had to get something Josh needed at the mall, so we stopped on our way back to Warrenton. I love Abbie. We hadn't even parked yet when she asked, "Oh, Mommy? Can we go to the tea shop and get some bubble tea?" Why, yes. Yes, we can.

I got a Jasmine and Strawberry bubble tea. The kids split a strawberry one, with no bubbles this time. Abbie informed Nick at the counter, "I've had enough bubbles for one day," as if she'd been chewing on tapioca pearls since dawn.

Then, of course, we went to the Play Place. They were good this time. I, however, was having less fun, as a man was attempting to convince me to have family portraits done at Sears. The coupon really was outstanding, but to get it, you have to give them all your contact information. I was not born yesterday. (Just ask Abbie. She informed me today that I have "old lady marks" on my cheeks, but she still likes me.)

We usually just drink our tea and leave, but this time the kids wanted to look around in the stores. So, we spent a half hour smelling candles in Bath and Body, and looked at scarves in the import store, but I was pretty sure Josh wouldn't dig that, so we left them and went off to get Josh's stuff. As we were leaving through Penny's, Abbie was admiring the Grown Up Girl Clothes. And then I noticed that a shirt I already have two of because it is a great cut was on sale for half price. New color? SURE! Why not? Then Grant found a skirt that matched. Well, we can at least try them on, just to amuse the kids. Well...then it sort of turned into a real shopping trip. We only did the sale rack, but I ended up taking to the dressing room the following collection of items: 2 shirts, 1 skirt (long-ish), 1 tea length dress - black. I tried stuff on and the kids were so funny! Grant would tell me how beautiful the clothes were, and Abbie would say, "Mommy, I'm just gonna put this in the 'YES' pile, okay? Okay, Mommy?" And I agonized, of course, but I burst into peals of laughter when Grant very seriously broke in with, "Are you all stressed out now, Mommy? It's okay! Daddy won't be mad at you." That did it. We bought the clothes. And at the register, I got an extra 20% off. Yay, me!

Josh laughed at me.

Monday was great, too, because I found a new resource to assist my job hunting. HERC - Higher Education Recruitment Consortium. I can hunt for jobs at area colleges and univesities, and they can hunt for me, too. Not that I have much that is eye-catching. I will have to do the bulk of the searching. Still, I'm happy. The only bad news is that it is not as national as I had originally been lead to believe. It operates in certain chunks of the country. If you are in one, I highly recommend its use.

Josh is behind me looking at jobs, again.

I'm not really minding the rain. I mind the tornado warnings, but I have nothing against rain. I never did. Josh claims I would die if I lived in a rainy climate and never saw the sun. Well, okay, I'd have to see the sun sometimes... The worst part is really having dogs that track mud in, and smell bad.

I've been getting recipies lately from my friends. Jenn send one, and told me another, Andrew sent me one, Missy sent me one, Heather sent me one... The one I'm making today, I actually found on my own. Don't know which of the new ones I'll make next, but I'm excited. More recipies!!!

But..I think I must go. First of all, I need to do some serious laundry around here. Especially since I'll be going on a beach vacation soon. Time to dust off my hot weather wardrobe. I'm missing my extra bathing suit, too. Spent 2 hours looking for it yesterday.... And second of all, Michelle very sweetly lent me a pile of books!!! MUA-HA-HA!!

Love to all of you. Were any of you at my wedding 9 years ago? It was a great day, wasn't it? I might have to dig out the pictures for the occasion. Have a great day!

Ahh. Friday.

Hi. It's cloudy and humid today. Everything is wet, and dark-ish, and lazy and still. It's a good thing it's Friday. I don't have to get ready to go anywhere.

I don't know what to read. Maybe back to Agatha Christie?

I really worked hard at taiko this week. Probably no one could tell, but it felt nice. But my time isn't my own, and so the scheduling continues to be weird. I've signed up for a couple of performances with my fingers crossed. We'll have to see if babysitters are required. I almost signed up for a performance today, but realized in time that it was the day we come back from vacation, and I wouldn't be at any of the practices.

My mom and dad came back from their vacation yesterday. I saw them briefly, when they came by to get their dogs. Mere hours later, I picked up Vinny on my way home from practice.

Wednesday, we decided to go to the zoo, as a family. Grant didn't go to school. I almost didn't agree to that. I don't take my kids out of school lightly. If they are sick - yes. And maybe for a rare family vacation or special out of state visitor. But then I stopped to consider: This kid doesn't see his dad on the weekends, and who is more important than that? A perfect day presented itself, we were available, so we took the kids and went to the zoo. And the weather really was perfect. We used Abbie's Build-A-Bear card at the zoo Build-A-Bear (very sweet place, U must say) and we saw the sting rays and the penguins and the elephants and the children's' zoo with the otters and such. Then, we used an old gift card at TGIFridays. Yum. And what do you suppose was right across the street? Oh, yes. Cold Stone Creamery. It was a great day. Then, Grant had T-ball, and Josh had fun watching that. All good things. We were sort of celebrating my wedding anniversary. Josh won't be so available next Wednesday. Anyway - 9 years! Next year I'm going to the place that made our wedding cake, and getting a little one of the same type (family sized, not wedding sized.)

Today, I spent looking at real estate. Josh is applying for a job in South Carolina. What an unfortunate time to realize that I secretly want to move to Eugene, Oregon!

This haze is making me feel tired! I think that's cheating.

I've been having unhappy dreams lately. Two nights ago, I was dreaming that my mom's family were fighting and I was upset, no matter where I was or who I was with. Well, kinda. It was vague. And last night I dreamed I was somewhere and stormed out, angry. Then I was shopping or something, and Abbie wouldn't stay where I asked her to. It was as bad as a cartoon - I kept putting her back, and she kept running off, and I kept getting mad.... So why am I having unhappy dreams? Josh says maybe I'm stressed out, but I'm not. I mean, no more than usual. I don't have any new things that I'm stressed about. I'm still frustrated that I can't get my family into a nice synchronized schedule. And I'm worrying about what I can and can't do for the taiko guys. And I'm worried about finding employment. And I worry about my grandmother being alone and still insisting to keep her bedroom upstairs, when she never had much of a sense of balance. (Well, not since the fever she had when she was little.) And I worry about my brother becoming cranky and reclusive because he lives alone and never has to compromise. And I worry about what my children will become someday, and how much of that I can help with, or should be doing different. And I worry about the school systems. And the finances. And if I should cut my hair before we go on vacation or after. And the laundry piles that I'm not getting washed.

I want bubble tea.

I don't know what I want to make for dinner, but it certainly isn't in my freezer. I think maybe....maybe it's fried shrimp.

We should watch movies tonight. Wish I had some new ones. We kinda took a long time getting our last Netflix back, so nothing is on the way yet. Boo. I'm excited, though. Our next shipment should include Despicable Me. Me and Josh will be the ones watching it, of course. I doubt it's Kindergarten friendly. But-it's something I've never seen, at least!

Well, off to get ready for Grant to come home. And I'll have to cook up some non-shrimp for dinner. Wish me luck.

Happy, happy, happy weekend to you!!!!!!!!!!

Not so Bad

Okay, well, at least I found out that the font button doesn't actually change the font in this particular site.

I tried to get a long with yesterday, but there was more fighting, even after I posted to you. Last week Abbie left her ballet shoes at the studio. We noticed long before we were home. I had planned to retrieve them last night, but...they were no longer there. The infuriating part is that, since I knew I would have to take Grant to T-ball and since it was Abbie's first time "flying solo" if you will, I had put her ballet shoes on her before leaving, and asked the instructor if she would help Abbie changer her shoes. She said yes, so I left Abbie's tap shoes in the actual classroom, and not in the dressing room. So now I have to wonder if Abbie misplaced them, or if the young instructor did. Worse than that is the fact that both teachers are feigning memory loss about that conversation, and neither they nor the owner have seen any extra ballet shoes lying around. At first I thought maybe Abbie put them in the wrong bag and someone else ended up with them, but the other moms seem to think they have the right shoes. Don't know how to handle this one...if they make me buy new shoes right before recital (especially since I have absolutely no intention of her continuing with this group next year) I will be seeing red. Maybe she can borrow. Let's hope.

And then Abbie wasn't feeling well in the evening. Long night. Josh isn't feeling well today. I still plan to go to taiko, though. Especially since I have no idea if I will be able to on Thursday. I almost definitely won't be able to next Thursday.

I almost forgot to mention - Abbie's dance costumes came in last night. Very fancy!

Not much else is going on. I love my mom's dogs, but am ready for them to go home now. I actually talked to her a little while ago. All is well, they are on the train back to Colorado. It's running a little late, but they should still get to Brother's place tonight. They are probably staying at his place tomorrow and tomorrow night, and then they will make their way back to MO.

The end of the school year is approaching! I haven't decided how I feel about that just yet. But there are so many surprise end of school requests and expenses. I really wish they could give us a little notice. Today, Grant is having a pretend camp out during library time. We were told to provide a large bag of skittles. Not exactly gonna break the bank, but I don't think I was ever asked this sort of thing when I was little. And we didn't provide snacks once a month for the class, either. I'm starting to feel extra annoyed with the public school system again. The fund raising thing still makes me see red, too. Why would a state government bother to give money to a school that goes out and raises its own? And I still insist that my child is learning nothing of value by being told sell worthless crap door-to-door. More importantly than all of this, is the fact that a real educator could teach children with nothing but an empty room. I've seen it done. So all this excess is less about teaching and more about looks, and that just pisses me right off. And how am I supposed to teach my children that if you can't afford something - you do without, if the school is sending them fund raising papers and telling them to have their parents be sure to take them to work?!?!!?!?

Do I think the schools should get more money? Yes. Do I think it should go primarily to the teachers? Yes. Do I think that a little fund raising three times a schoolyear is not a big deal and teaches unity and helpfulness? No. No, no, no. And - NO! Fund raisers are for the volunteer members of an extracurricular activity. As long as school is compulsory, you will NOT be sending a begging form home with my kid.

Did I mention that I don't approve of child-powered public school fundraising?

We are all fine, today. Well, except that Josh doesn't feel well. It's been a quiet day. And I got a little bit of photo work done for taiko.

Pretty soon, I ought to go and shower and stuff. It's nearly time to feed the herd of dogs and get ready for Grant to come home and dinner and all of that.

Hope your week is a good one.

One of those days.

What does this font look like? I don't know.

Okay, first I need to promise that I was in a happy and cheerful mood this weekend. Being around a zillion dogs is starting to get to me, especially since there has been so much rain. My house seriously STINKS. But I have a plan (of course). I'm going to somehow get a hold of a steam cleaner and purify the carpets after the extra dogs leave.

I did actually get to go to practice on Sunday - a good thing. I also convinced the holder of the pictures that emailing them to me in JPG format would make my day. She didn't get around to it until evening, but at least she did send them!

Now for today.

I woke up with a headache. Actually, my day starts long before that. First of all, Josh was snoring so loudly!!! And around 2, the dogs suddenly got all restless. Around 3, Abbie wandered into my bedroom. After she was asleep again, I put her back, only to discover that Dixie was sleeping on Abbie's bed - and that's Callie's spot. No wonder she was ghosting around and poking me with her nose. So, I put Dixie on the floor, and Callie hopped up and went right to sleep. I went back to bed. By now it was almost 4. I went to sleep and had weird nightmares. Then, the dogs all woke up at 5:15 and wouldn't go back to sleep. I got up with a headache. Josh slept until about 10:30.

While he was asleep, I worked on sorting through the taiko pictures, and renaming them so that they would be easier to put into galleries in order. (Have to load them each one by one, and they were given to me in complete random order.) After I separated them into songs, I started adding them to the website. I've made decent progress, but need a break. When I finish the gallery, I will add them to facebook, then start over with pictures of our new space. Yikes! A lot of computer work.

My next news was from Josh when he woke up. His parents are leaving this weekend to go to Florida. No one thought that this might affect me, so I wasn't told. So, no babysitter while they are away. Oh, and it gets better. They plan to leave their dog with me.

Their dog.

Then, I found out that even though I paid my UMSL parking ticket and received a statement saying that I have a ZERO BALANCE, they have resurrected an older ticket, and applied late charges. I tried to call them, but they don't care, and apparently have the authority to do this. Can that be legal? Plus, they are applying it to Josh's old student number! He's NOT a student there. Hasn't been for years. Wasn't even driving the car.

And it's pretty likely that I will be driving all over town to get everyone to his/her Monday obligations. I guess it would just be too convenient that the field would be too muddy for T-ball today, since I have a horrible headache.

Gave Abbie a bath and cleaned the bathrooms, and I ran the dishwasher. I tried to pick up a little around here, but it's still terrible.

And today is so nice, too. Except that I'm wearing 2 shirts, long pants and thick socks but am still cold. Tomorrow, I think, is going to be pretty near perfect.

I hope it gets here fast. I am not a fan of the way my today is going.

Wait a minute...

...What happened to the post that I wrote and successfully published on Wednesday? It's not even in my Drafts. I can't say I'm thrilled about that.

Well, I feel like I spend all my time letting dogs in and out and feeding things. But the week has been good. I wrote all about how I had plunged head first into learning a physically demanding song for taiko, and how I was pleased with myself for that. Then about how I was irritated that I had another obligation on Thursday and couldn't go back to practice.

Then, this morning Josh posted an advertisement for someone to watch the kids during practice on Sunday. That's how I found out he is unavailable. Damn it. I need this. I'm so irritated I really could throw something. But if no one takes him up, or if it isn't the right someone, I am going to be home AGAIN.

I'm just about over my cold.

I'm going to make pork chops tonight. And something else, but I don't know what.

Did I mention my house is filthy? It is probably the most disgusting it has ever been. Firstly, it's hard to clean around 4 enormous dogs. When they are all inside, it's very claustrophobic in here. Also - I was sick. Nothing got done. So, naturally, with dust on everything and clutter everywhere you look, a friend of ours stopped by yesterday on her way home from a job interview. I am so ashamed. It's haunting me, and making my stomach queasy.

Dear Someone I Know Who Is Abandoning Her Old Blog And Starting A New One,

I hope you don't change your mind on where the new one is; I just bookmarked it. ^_^

Well, I wish the post I'd already written hadn't disappeared. And I hope you are navigating this Friday the 13th carefully! Hugs to you all!

p.s. All that Blogger maintenance, and the PUBLISH POST button still doesn't work. *sigh*

Muppets Are Cool.

Hello!

I'm getting over this cold. It was a bad one for a few days, but cleared up quickly. Well, now that's not entirely accurate. There are aspects of head colds that I find unbearable, but once I get past that part, I don't much mind having a cold. As long as I can breathe enough to sleep, I can carry Kleenex and the like, and life is still okay.

Mother's Day was wonderful, even though I was still sick. Josh made cinnamon rolls and the kids brought them to me "in bed". After Josh left, we went to the mall for sushi lunch. The kids both love white rice, and Abbie really loves pickled ginger. Oh, I wish I were kidding... Anyway, we got bubble tea, too. I got strawberry-jasmine, and the kids split a strawberry one. Abbie got the half with the "bubbles". Grant doesn't care for them. And wouldn't ya' know! A book sale was right outside the door of the tea shop!!! It was FATE, I tell ya'! I nearly collapsed when I saw the section of hard back young adult mysteries from the 50's and 60's! It was just exactly what I had been looking for. I got a Nancy Drew book for Abbie, a Tom Swift book for Grant, and The Happy Hollisters and the Castle Rock Mystery just for good measure. Perfect. We also played at "the play place". As we were leaving to go to the car, we noticed the absence of Abbie's blue toy car. Back we went to the bathroom, the book sale, the tea shop....finally the car was recovered at the food court, where a kindly cleaning staff member had found and saved it. And that was good, because I was wearing "cute" shoes, and it was definitely time to go limp to the car.

Monday was Grant's first real T-ball game. So cute!!! Most of them couldn't remember what direction first base was, and when they were in the field and the ball made it bast the pitcher, there was an instant dog pile on the ball. The rough part is that Abbie has dance on Mondays. We had good luck, and the game was pretty much right across the street from the dance studio, so I just walked over and got her when she was done, and we watched the end together. I even got her to yell, "GO GRANT!" Next week, though, I'll probably spend the whole afternoon driving back and forth getting everyone where they need to be.

Tuesday we went to Costco, and I would like to say that trips to Costco are the closest things to dates I've had since last summer. I also went to taiko. We were (re)learning Hachijou. I had never really embraced the learning of Hachijou, because of my back, but Tuesday I just grit my teeth and said, "I am never going to get stronger by NOT doing it." So I decided to do what is commonly referred to as: SUCK IT UP. And what do you know! I did fine, and felt great. I'm medium sore, but just in the usual way. My back is not even complaining. I'm actually looking forward to trying it again.

Except...I can't go to practice tonight. Very disappointing. It's okay, I guess. It's for a thing at Grant's school. Why don't they ever give us any notice?

And...I don't mean to complain (okay, I do mean to complain) but I'm tired of all the scheduling complexities of a single mother with none of the privacy!

Once again, scheduling at Josh's work has been mentioned. He came home furious the other night because they had announced that the days off he requested were being given to the scheduler's friend, who has been there less time than Josh, and also has a recent write-up, which Josh does not. Just when he was resigning himself to this recent unfairness, they decided NOT to change anyone's schedule just yet. So, why do I listen to any of this? It always comes to the same thing. Nothing good.

Abbie and I are watching The Muppet Show.

Link Hogthrob: What happened?!

Dr. Strangepork: I must have blasted into the 5th dimension!

Link: Well, thank you.

Strangepork: Don't dimension it.

HEE!

Probably I had something deep and meaningful to say. But I can't remember. My brain is deteriorating. I read Twilight again. I'm sure that accounts for it.

Did I ever say anything about The Mysterious Benedict Society? I meant to. It's good. The Pseudonymous Bosh one is....a little....snarky. It is funny-ish, but does stuff like tell kids how important it is to be a good liar. Not right for the ages of my kids. That's why I was excited about the Nancy Drew and such. They'll need to read a few real mysteries before they can find the humor in those unconventional ones. The Mysterious Benedict Society, however, is good quality stuff, with a sophisticated writing style, consistency, interesting characters, a fascinating story.... It is a little obvious in places, but possibly not for a young reader. I approve; I recommend. I don't exactly recommend the Five Senses series. At least, not for actual young readers.

Well, anyway, I am too distracted by funny singing puppets to really write anything. Hope you area about to have a good Thursday and a good weekend, too!!!!

Extra friend hugs to Master Awesome, who claims that he still reads this. Poor thing. Let's all indulge in a moment of heartfelt sympathy for the poor man. On the other hand....don't you ALL have something better to do? :P

Happy Friday Eve!

You Guessed It!

Yep. I am sick. Well, I did tell you. It's a bad upper respiratory thing with fever. Abbie seems fine, but still congested. I'm a mess. Not getting any sleep at night. Sometimes in the mornings. Well, it can't last forever, and I'm doing all I can to recover. Josh bought me jell-o.

My kids have never done the Mothers' Day thing before. Well, why would they? It's mommies who make holidays, and I wasn't about to declare a holiday for myself. It's against my principles. Besides, I have no opinion of Mothers' Day. Actually, that's not quite true. I have several opinions of Mothers' Day. When my grandmother was small, Mothers' Day was a day for anti-war demonstrations - led by the mothers of fallen soldiers. She told me about it. I think they didn't celebrate Mother's Day in her family because they thought it unpatriotic. That last part is a guess. Also, my mother doesn't really believe in Mother's Day, mainly for the reason that if you don't appreciate your mother, one day's worth of apology a year isn't going to make up for it. If you do appreciate your mother, then why do you need a holiday to tell her so? So, with that as my Mothers' Day background, I became a mother. Since I don't declare holidays for myself, it's mostly on Josh and his views to decide if Mothers' Day will be celebrated in our house. So far, it has not. But this year Josh has to work overtime on Mothers' Day. That, at least, he noticed. He and Grant brought me flowers and Cadbury chocolate, and Grant also made stuff in school, and showed it to me very proudly. Love that. So, since it's just us tomorrow - since I can't go to taiko anyway - I think maybe the kids and I should go out. Abbie has been feeling left out of the Mothers' Day preparation. Maybe we could go and get some bubble tea at the tea shop, and I'll let her pay. What do you think?

A co-worker of Josh's gave him some tiger lilies. I'm going to try to work up the energy to plant them today, in pots. We also got some freesia for the kids to plant in little pots, too, but that's already been done. The pots are, of course, because I'm tired of wasting plant life be sending it to my clay yard to live. Besides, we can take stuff with us when we move if it's in pots. Orange isn't my favorite color for lilies, but Josh is excited.

The kids played very cutely yesterday afternoon. Today they are in the basement. The dogs are all outside. They're still getting along nicely, but Raphael ate an ant trap this morning, and I'm worried he might be sick. He looks fine, but he's a big dog, and that would be a LOT of vomit. Best they stay in the yard for a while.

Behind on bills and laundry. I am either going to start that today or Monday. Tomorrow is not looking good.

Last I heard, my parents are enjoying their vacation! May really is my favorite month. Love and good health to you all!

Between

I had better hurry and write something. I'm done with the cranky, but Abbie has a very contagious-looking cold.

So! Did I tell you about Josh and the car? Well, he bought a 2002 Honda Civic, and today it is getting aligned and inspected, and with any luck, licensed. It's the same color as my Honda. Josh loves it already. It has a moon roof and a fancy stereo and the interior was already a mess, so he doesn't have to feel bad about not keeping it nice. (He freely admits that he won't.)

AND...the dogs have arrived. So far, so good. 4 dogs, and none of them small. As of this moment, they're all lying down in various places. It might be a rocky few weeks, but we're off to a good start.

Yesterday, I finally got some eel, which I'd been craving. We went to Kitaro for lunch. So, so very fancy. We had sushi, and it was super yummy. I would like to point out that two extra fancy sushi buffet lunches, plus tea, plus Abbie's bowl of her favorite white rice cost less than the tank of gas I bought before leaving town in the morning. Very sobering. (Or does that give me permission to agree to Kitaro every now and then...?)

Abbie started getting a cold yesterday, and had a rough night. I'm sure I'm next. So I decided to say a little bit of a hello between the cranky and the sick. I hope none of you feel neglected in the coming weeks. I plan to be at most taiko practices, and take Abbie to dance and Grant to T-ball, but otherwise, I'm going to be pretty home-bound being a good hostess to my doggy guests. One would rather do too much than too little for someone else's animals, you know?

Have a good week, everyone! I'll talk to you after my head cold gets settled in. ^_^

Grumble, Grumble.

First, about Osama Bin Laden: Everyone is using this event as an excuse to get a dig in for his/her side of the President Obama popularity pole. Half the people I hear triumphing and gloating at his non-supporters, and the other half pointing out that since he was for taking the troups out of the middle-east, this is a victory in spite of his holding the office of President. Well, you can all stop crowing, because A> This was an act brought about by Special Forces, not any politicians of any kind, and B> Why are you so happy? All that has occurred is the death of a man who was so busy running from us that he was no longer leading rebellions, and all that is GOING to happen is an increase in violence as a reaction to the announcement of his death. Our specialized military has completed what must have been a frustrating and difficult hunt. They were successful. Good job, guys. That's really it. And why do you want so badly for it to be something more, or something else entirely? So much arguing even in the face of what is inaccurately considered to be a victory.

One other note about President Obama. I've said it before, but do you really think he got all the way to Presidential candidacy without someone asking to see his birth certificate? Get a new hobby, please. The man's trying to do his job, here. It's a little late to be wondering about his qualifications, even if you were the person responsible for scrutinizing them. He was elected. He is President. If that bothers you, vote for someone else next time.

Yeah. I'm feeling cranky. My beautiful sunshine has been replaced by gloomy clouds, I'm cold again, I'm not feeling very well in the tummy, and all my projects are thwarting me.

I want to make the galleries of taiko performances at Japan relief benefits, but the files I can get a hold of are some weird kind, and though I asked for copies of them as JPGs, it would seem that is too much to ask. Josh is downloading a file converter. But still. I'm grumpy that this duty has mutated from "Send Rosemary emails of pictures and she will put them on the web page," to "Post pictures somewhere and Rosemary will hunt them down, download them, convert them, and then put them on the web page."

Also, I have been working on an application for the last several days. I'm finally at the point where I am supposed to include my resume (despite the fact that in the 25 page application, they have asked me for every scrap on it and much more) but I can't edit my resume, because the template that was on my computer a month ago is suddenly gone, and I don't seem to have an electronic copy of it anywhere!! How did that happen?

See? Frustrating.

Grant lost his first tooth on Friday. In order to get to my performance on time, I had to pick him up at 2:30 from school. So, Abbie and I left the house at 2:15 and signed him out. Then we had to wait at a park while Michelle got ready. On the way, Grant's tooth came out. VERY exciting stuff, you know. We picked up Michelle when she was ready, and headed over to Ryan and Jennie's. They weren't home yet, but came soon. Then, the kids stayed there, and Michelle and I went to help load....but we were 10 minutes late. I was informed by a senior group member that, "If you had read your email, you would know that we were supposed to meet at 5:30." Well, if my time were my own, I would have been on time. But it's not. And in case I haven't made it clear already, I re-arranged my whole day just to get there at all. I think that comment was unnecessary. Especially from anyone who knows me at all. Then, off to the performance. I lead Kagura, and it was mostly a success, I guess. I did a super job at Ashura, if I do say so myself (and I usually don't say so, but I did), and a less than super job at Tenchi. Well, I was exhausted from Omiyage, so that might explain it in part. We all were. But I didn't make any "wrong" hits, or do anything particularly noticeable from the audience. I hope. The workshop was fun. Kids are fun. Then, we loaded up, I hurt my back, we unloaded (I was useful in holding a door open), I picked up the kids, dropped Michelle home, and drove back to my house. Josh works an hour away and gets off at 11, and he beat me home, if that tells you anything.

The funny thing is that I kinda wanted to go out. But with all that waiting for me, still left to do, it was less tempting. Then, when my back started to swell, I knew there was no point.

Oh, and I was hungry.

Anyway, all water under the bridge now.

Grant lost a second tooth this morning while brushing for school. And Josh bought him new tennis shoes this weekend, even though I was planning to wait until fall. It's good to be Grant this week.

I guess it's good to be me, too. I got bubble tea from RealiTea three days in a row. So decadent. But we know the owners, and want to contribute to their staying in business. So, can I count it as a good deed and not just gluttony?

I still get to wallow in self pity, though, right? Right?

Tomorrow I shall be cleaning my entire house, in preparation for my month. This month, I will be watching my parents' dogs while they go on vacation with my brother. They have an extra large Irish setter, and a springer spaniel. So...cross your fingers for me. All our dogs get along....but that's a LOT of dogs.

I must go. I am wanted elsewhere. I have GOT to get this resume re-created. Really not happy about that.

Hope your week is starting off well. Sending hugs.