Mikey is getting baptized on Sunday, June 24th at 7pm. We would have done it Saturday, but Grandpa Skembo could not have made it that day. He is excited. I am glad, too because it probably would not have happened if Mike had gone to Iraq.

The four kids are with Grandma Carruthers still, except for Isaac, who I had to pick up last Saturday so he would be able to go to scout camp. Tragically, he is the only one from the ward who is going, but there are some people from the other ward that he knows. I had Mike take him at 3:30 Monday morning, since I had to work that day, but I should have just done it myself because it ended up that I had to go and sign a form that we had missed. I guess I was really nervous about Isaac's first year of camp--which is really out of character for me--because I kept waking up, and after I got back from sending him off, I had really wierd dreams about him (and about not being able to go back to sleep before I had to go to work, but I woke up and realized it was a dream.)

Mike is on his way to Scout camp now because they wrangled him into being an adult leader for the second half of the week. It is less than two hours away, but he left at rush hour, so we'll see.

This week, so far was pretty nice. Lexi and Mikey stayed the weekend and left this morning (Wednesday). We played board games, played together at the park and watched a few movies. Yesterday was our first really hot day--yes, I'm still in Texas--and the kids really wanted to go swimming, but we had already spent our swimming allotment. They asked me what friends I had with a pool. My good friend, Arren Quigley just got called to be Mikey's primary teacher and he asked me if she had a swimming pool. Since she lives in an appartment complex, I took a shot at it.

Mike was getting home from his job interview about that time so we all spent the evening in the pool. Arren, her husband Scott, his brother James and his two sons had a great time. We got hungry by 9:00 and decided to pool our food resources for a bbq at our house. Then we watched Emma, with Gwennyth Paltro. The kids were asleep early on, Scott complained about the lack of shooting or sword fights--even though the young Obi Wan was in it--Mike enjoyed it but prefered to complain for Scott's sake.

There's more to say, but I don't want to keep MaryAnne from her homework after a long day in a mail truck.

A Date

Random tidbit, the drought in Texas is over. (It never felt like a drought to me.) In the entire month of May there were a total of nine days without rain in the Dallas area. That does not mean there were 9 sunny days.

Therefore, my plans to go on a picinic with my husband on Memorial day (a re-enactment of our first meeting one year ago) were foiled.

I was supposed to go out with my husband last night as well, but he got an email invite from a president of a publishing, marketing, and distribution company he has been working with. He and another friend are putting together a magazine for car enthusiasts. I was really disappointed about cancelling our plans, but I want him to seize every opportunity. He didn't get home until almost 11 and I made him stay awake until 1 so I could talk to him. I have a lot on my mind lately, but I don't often get to express it.

For a month now, I have been trying to explain that we need to set a date for getting positive word on a job and pray about it. He has insisted that the "We pray in our time and the Lord answers in his." He was opposed to setting a demand like that on the Lord. I insisted that that was the entire premise of the church missionary program, and it was doctrinally sound to reqest specific answers at a specific time.

So, finally, last night we set a date and prayed about it. We'd like to ask everyone to do the same on our behalf. We have asked that Mike be gainfully employed in his chosen carreer field--have confirmation of it, at least, by June 15th. Thank you in advance for your prayers.

If our prayer is answered in our time, the kids and I will see you all at the beginning of July.

A Little Honesty

The kids are out of school and off to Austin to visit their grandma on Matt's side. I had a Claire-and-Mommy sleepover with Claire before they left, since she will be having her birthday at Grandma's house. It wasn't as fun for her as I would have liked it to be. We went to Olive Garden (which did not taste at all as good as I remember) and went shopping at Old Navy, the only problem was that a friend of mine came along and Claire and Mommy was not the focus of it all. I was with her all the next morning, but was at a loss for something to do with her. We would have gone swimming, but it was early, and still too cold. She was bored. I hadn't planned anything in particular. I'm just not good at making special times out of everyday moments.

I was so looking forward to this summer travelling with the kids. Those are special memories that will always last. I was able to scrape those trips together when I was single and living off of child support, but I wanted to be able to splurge a little more and let the kids enjoy a little more. I promised them last year that we would go to Disneyland this year. With Mike's Iraq job, we would have had plenty of money to do that. It looked like we would be living high on the hog, now we are back to wallowing with them.

Mike and I got in a fight this afternoon (mild compared to some others) until we both broke down crying because we realized we were both experiencing the same frustration and struggle. I'm so tired of feeling tossed with the waves. I told him, "We're going to be together a long time--because if we can make it through this, we can make it through anything." This has been the most difficult year of my life. There was a one-month blip when I got a divorce that was a magnitude of difficult, but it did not require the patience and endurance of this year. The whole period between divorce and remarriage did not seem to have this degree of uncertainty--or, oddly, this sense of alone-ness. I used to talk on the phone for hours. Nobody calls me anymore. When I call (not that often) the conversation doesn't last and/or I keep it shallow. I called Jodi the other night when I realized I just couldn't handle it anymore by myself. That was such a huge help. I was reminded how important it is for me not to bottle up.

It may sound like I'm really depressed, but I am actually doing better than I was at my last posting. Being grateful was an attempt to push away the worst of my feelings. Now I am far enough away from it that I can talk about it.

It's gonna be okay, 'cause something's gotta give.

Isaac's School Project

Look! New Post!

It is nearing the end of the semester for a certain seventh grader. That means there are a bunch of project and assignments due. Of course, Isaac has avoided telling us about these things, or has puttered around so much that it is like waiting till the last minute. For english, he had to make a five-page comic, which I didn't have to be on him about too much. I can't even remember what the other two projects were. He has been working all sememster on his County Project for Texas history. There were 11 projects. He had done them, but some of them were not so good. His teacher made a deal with him that if he redid all of the projects and tidied it up, he could up his grade on those assignments. I had been trying for weeks to get him to redo a project every night. Monday before they were due, on Tuesday he ended up having to complete three of the projects.

His drama project was due that day as well, but I asked his teacher for an extension because it was a music video, and I had left my video camera at a friend's house. She was shipping it to me and it would not arrive until the due date. So we spent tuesday night making the video. I sent Isaac to bed and ended up staying up until 2:30 editing it. I had never done such a thing. We had to use two different editing programs to put it together because the one that was malfuctioning for final edit was the only one that made it easy to cut clips to paste into the timeline. It was actually really cool.

I have never done homework for a child, but I don't think I robbed Isaac of any learning experience that he will not be able to make up in the near future. It was just drama class anyway.

I was asked a couple of weeks ago to do a skit for Relief Society Enrichment meeting. I was to be Dorothy in the Wizard of Aahs. The skit was something some goofy mormon woman in some distant land had posted on the internet. It was horrid. I was trying to memorize it last night in the last hour before Enrichment meeting, and Isaac informed me that he had to be at the school for his band concert in 20 minutes. I tried to call the RS President and the enrichment counselor to let them know I would be late, but they were already at the church setting up, I guess. I knew that our number was the opening, so I would mess up a lot of things if I was late.

Isaac's concert started at 6:45. I left in the middle of the last number at 7:00 and left Isaac to walk home. Mike was at a friend's working on his computer. I called and asked him to pick Issac up. He got dinner for the boy, and I made it in time to run over the play in the bathroom with the other two sisters who were in it during the opening song and prayer and announcements. We blundered through it and our audience had a good time. I don't know if they understood the message. Fortunately, they had a cooking class that amounted to a meal, because I was starving.

That almost sounded like a Kim, posting, didn't it?

Second Coming

Yes, my husband has returned. The company did not submit his security clearance right, and so he became ineligible for the position. We don't know how long is will take to correct the situation, so we are looking into other jobs that do not require a security clearance. The objective is still Iraq. We feel good about going. Maybe with a month's delay, the timing will be perfect, we will have averted some risky situation, like my dad did during the Vietnam war. He was sent to the less volatile Korea because of the Pueblo incident. He had opted out of officer school and remained enlisted or he would have been in the thick of Vietnam.

Anyway, maybe we will find a position with a better company or salary. It was devastating to have that job fall through, but nearly a week later, I am grateful and hopeful. We have fasted for a solution by the fifteenth of this month. The other company already paid us for one week of his training and are going to pay us for another week. That will get us through the month nicely, but doesn't get us out of the hole that we got into to get the job.

Now I get to brag on my honey. W0rd got out that I didn't have a washing machine. One of the ladies in the ward had one that they had tried unsuccessfully to repair themselves. It is the same model as my old one, but 5 years newer, at least. You guessed it, Mike fixed it. It was completely different from my old one, mechanically, but he said it was easy, and that he could do it again, knowing how, in less than and hour. It is so thrilling to have a man that can get stuff done.

Our home teachers gave us their old dryer. I have now washed alll of the laundry I had gotten behind on. It feels great.

If everything works according to our faith, we will not have to change our summer plans, except, perhaps, to condense them. It will take a miracle, but I believe in those things. I hear about them all the time. Sometimes they even happen to me.

Time to take Isaac to scouts.

PBS and Mormonism

I watched most of the Frontline episodes of the American Experience that explored Mormonism. No publicity is bad publicity. I did not really like the way they treated many of the subjects and cut off the remaining sentences of Dallin Oakes and Elder Packard. Really, four hours is not enough time to treat such a complicated subject as our faith. I, myself could talk about the subject endlessly.

I think what bothered me most is the persistence with which they implied that we do not think for ourselves because of the church's emphasis on obedience. That's not the church I belong to. Obedience is based on the principle of free will. They emphasized that free thinking was suppressed, and intellectualism denied a voice. How is it, then, that I, a hyper-analytical, nothing-inside-the-box person, could feel so at home and be so accepted and appreciated when I raise my hand in Sunday School or bear my testimony on Fast Sunday?

Still, I am thankful for the program. Hearing contradicting points of view and challenges to my faith, my mind easily reverts back to the hours upon days, year after year that I have spent in study and prayer, trying to understand my faith, my relationship with God and the place of the Church in all that. I really began to have a testimony of God's power and truth because I heard the arguments of opponents.

More than once in my life, everything I hoped for and perceived as reality was shattered. Holding on to faith in those circumstances has been like the struggle of a novice swimmer in a rolling ocean--one who is determined to make the shore. But the waves of doubt and conflict, are what I use to carry me to the shore.

Tonight, my hurting heart remembers when my faith was not so feeble. Remembrance of knowledge that once filled my mind pours in. Truth remembers this soul who loved it so dearly. They are only words. Flowery eloquence doesn't satisfy. God is my Redeemer. He is real. He reveals truth to the hearts and minds of those who seek. I have found--again.

The Lone Ranger

Here I am again, one woman alone. It has not even been a year since I got married and now I am sleeping alone again. I think it is pretty much the anniversary of the time I first called Mike--because he sent me his resume. I called him for strictly professional reasons.

Anyway, this is how the weekend went:

Saturday

Mikey's b-day party was at a place I can't remember the name of. It just had a bunch of inflatable obstacle courses and moonwalk-type stuff with some party rooms to serve the food you bring. Before that, Mike and I were collecting things and packing for his trip. Afterwards, he bought a laptop and got a case from his friend that works at Microsoft (Erik mentioned in previous a post). As soon as he got back, we met our photographer friend from church at the park for the family portraits we have never gotten. There must have been something else we did, but mostly, it was all about getting packed.


MaryAnne, stop reading now and take a break.

Sunday

I dropped Mike at the airport early enough Sunday to get to primary, where I teach the 11-12 girls. Of course, the only ones there were the two I brought--Lexi and Emylie. Mikey was really upset that we had to go to church because he wanted to get to his mom's house right away. We had left from his birthday party on Saturday and his mom went the other direction with his presents. He was very disappointed that he didn't get to play. But at least he got his Birthday song and pencil in primary. That helped a little bit.

I left directly from church to drop them off to appease the boy. We made the drop around 12:30. I actually talked to Lisa for a little while. There was some tension between us several months ago and we hadn't really cleared the air. Everything is settled and clear. The kids are welcome to come over whenever they want to, and they will go with us to see Mike's parents in Missouri. Lexi had said she wanted to spend the summer helping grandma at the store. (Take a look at the store on the Far West link at the right to see the store.)

After the drop off, I called Matt to see when he was going to meet me because I was already halfway to our halfway meeting point. He was helping his girlfriend, Julie move into here new house and was planning to meet me around 7:30. Rather than go home, I drove around the Rockwall, Wylie area looking for houses. I have decided (with the counsel of my husband) that we will be moving out there as soon as we get back from our trip. I will be moving out of this house before I leave for the trip.

So after all that I got home at 9:00. I barely had time to be alone or feel alone. I did delay going to bed. I was able to be in contact with My Love (that's the way it comes up on my phone). He arrived safely in El Paso (Ft. Bliss proximity). He will be in country until Friday evening, at which time, cell phone service will be disconnected--oh and transferred to me for those who don't know. Devanie will have my cell number and I will have Mike's.

Hey, I'm gonna stop typing now. Stop reading.

The Last Days

I have a lot to do today to help Mike get ready for his departure tomorrow morning. We will be going to Mikey's birthday party, which his Mom invited us to. She has been especially nice since we told her that Mike was leaving. But then, there was also a very large child support check that has probably contributed to her sense of friendliness.

We did the shopping we needed to do yesterday, for the things he needs. Now we need to pack everything. I have a few pants to hem for him, and I really should do my laundry, but he will probably have to take some dirty clothes with him. That is fine since he will have a laundry service while he is there. My guess is that they offer that because of the scarcity of water in the desert, and it is more efficient to do laundry in bulk.

For the past two days, the reality of his leaving have hit me really hard. I like being alone, and I look forward to being able to focus my time on things I have wanted to do for a long time. But it has only been a year since I found the love of my life and decided that I could spend the rest of my life with him. But now he is going to be gone. We have such a good time together, but now we have to be apart. I'm going to be fine, and I am not worried about anything, but it is good to feel a little angst now and then. Loving will do that to a person.

Social Novelties

Just wrapping up a great weekend. Saturday we had a friend of Mike and his three children come over for a lunch BBQ. The kids had a great time together--and so did the adults. We ate our lunch and then all of us went to the park near our house. When we came home, it was time for the ward picinic, which had been postponed last week because of the rain. Our friend Erik (this is the guy that was helping Mike get interviews with Microsoft--I know I never told you about it, but he's the guy) was not planning on going to the picinic with us, but since he had nothing to do, he came along. It was a great day. I like doing things with other people. Sometimes I forget that I am not a hermit. I have become so introverted over the years. It is nice to remember now and then that I love people.

After church, the kids had lunch, the we listened to 3 of the conference talks while we played conference bingo since none of the kids were with us that weekend. Then we let them play while Mike and I relaxed. I went to choir practice, and then we had a make-up ward picinic with a couple of people from church that couldn't make it the day before--trying to fellowship with some new kids in the ward whose parents are just separating. I got there in a really bad mood, no reason behind it, but got over it soon, because I love socializing.

Today I will be taking the kids back to their dad since they had a random day off. On the way I will visit a few friends--and see if there are anymore roadside vendors selling $2 rose plants in Tyler: the Rose capital of Texas. Mike will be at home working on his 40 hour training course so that he can leave on Sunday for Ft. Benning, GA. He will stay there for a week, the ship to Iraq. The anticipation is the worst part of it--anticipating a paycheck, that is. Two months of having "a job" and not getting paid is tense. We eexpect it to be worth the wait, but we keep getting further and further behind, so getting money doesn't seem like it will do anything but keep us floating. I'll be singing a different tune, of course, after our first full paycheck, but who knows when that will be.

My monitor went out on my computer, so I am using Mike's. (I get the flatscreen for myself next week so I am okay for now.) He is anxious to get his work started for the morning. Have a great day.

Brighter

Someday soon we will get paid. Mike has his official orders. His date was pushed back a week--again. But this time it is in official writing. He will be training for a week in GA beginning the 29th of April. He will leave for Iraq from there. We really needed that extra time, though Mike wishes he could just go and be done with it. He is tired of the anticipation and the stress of preparation.

We have an awesome home teacher who served in Iraq through the national guard. He has done all sorts of things to help us in our planning and prep. It is all a little overwhelming, but it is great to know where the whelming begins.

Mike had a really cool experience last night. A friend of his is a drum rep in Houston but was sponsoring a drum clinic at one of the music stores here in town being taught by Billy Cobam, a world renowned drummer. Mike was late for the clinic because he had forgotten about it as dinner was coming out of the oven, but he went to dinner with Billy and his friend the rep afterwards. Billy lives in Switzerland most of the time. Mike mentioned that we were going to be meeting in Europe midway through his tour in Iraq. Billy suggested we stay at his house and gave Mike his home phone and email. Pretty cool.

Mike has a tendency to bump into people like that. While he was working at the music store just before we got married, he had developed a great rapport with Don Henly who would often come in to the store and ask for Mike. He would just hang out and talk sometimes.

It is funny the things I have discovered about my husband--bits and pieces at a time. For example, as I was cutting his hair one time, I was singing: "I turned the radio on/ I turned the radio up, and this woman was singing my son/ lovers in love and the other runs away/lover is crying 'cause the other won't stay..." and he's singing with me. And he knows every word. I had to stop what I was doing.
"Why do you know the words to a Lisa Loeb song?"
"She's a sweet girl."
"Okay?"
"Well I did some studio work for her when I was in high school."
Apparently he was on the call list for Sony studios when they needed a drummer. It is fun getting to know the man. He has all sorts of surprises.

In other news, Isaac's bike got stolen from school yesterday. The officer gave us hope that it would be recovered. He asked us if we wanted to file a police report. I said, "A rorice rerort?" No, I didn't, I just put that in there for Dove. Anyway, if it doesn't turn up by Friday, I will file an official report.

Time to do what I haven't done since February--pick up Isaac from school.

Distant light

Mike is out for the moment at a repair shop who can tell him how to fix my washing machine. It was working beautifully for a while. He replaced the belt on it. Now it is full of a load of my whites in their dirty water and totally stuck. It won't spin or drain. It just growls at me.

I have our home teachers coming in a few hours, I need to make dinner, and I need to clean up my disaster of a living room and hallway, which is all about laundry at present. It is so frustrating to not have what you need to do what you need to do. Hopefully, Mike will get his first paycheck in the next week or two. I could buy the whole Washer/dryer set in one paycheck, except that we owe some people money, and have a bunch of traffic violations to take care of. I am wanted in the state of Oklahoma for failure to appear, and because I applied for my TX driver's license name change they did the check on it and are going to revoke my driving privilege in the next couple of days here if I don't get it payed.

Still, I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

I told my store manager at Bed Bath and Beyond yesterday that my last day of work would be my kids' last day at school because I was going to hang out with them for the summer--but I will be hanging out with you too! I am really looking forward to seeing you all again. The three people who were there when I made my announcement looked physically wounded when I told them. I really do like my job. Rosie said I totally ruined her day--like three times. I told her that if there were more hours in a day, I would work there just for the fun of it (and the continued discount, I suppose). She said I should stop with the sarcasm. I explained that I wasn't really being sarcastic. I hadn't had time to hate my job, or working in general, since I hadn't done it for 13 years. I really do like being with people. But this was never something I intended to be a career. Sure, I could fast track it with my management education background, but then I would have to work more than 20 hours a week, and not from 7-1 Monday through Friday. People complain about my "sweet schedule."

Look at all that I wrote. I must be avoiding what I really need to do. Better get to it. Keep moving forward and the light will grow brighter.

The world is upside down

Happy Easter!!!

We are doing our Saturday celebrating. All the kids are here. They have been through their baskets but we have not had our egg hunt. I really do not want to go outside because ITS SNOWING. IN TEXAS!! This is a Carson City easter--not a Texas easter. Did the world flip its axis while I was sleeping? It was 85 degrees two days ago. It has been spring for over a month.

The kids and I watched an eleven year old video of easter at Kim and Lee Joe's when they were still in the single wide. Amber and Kelsey is all there was. Emylie was in a carrier car seat and Isaac was two. He quite stubbornly refused to put the easter eggs in the basket. Instead, he proclaimed "Ball!" and threw the eggs into the air. Good reason to go with plastic. That was the year Amber's basket broke because she had so many eggs in it.

*Flash to Present*
Mike is supposed to leave on the fifteenth for his one-week orientation in Ft. Bragg, NC. He may have to wait until the 29th if his passport doesn't come through on time. He had to go to Houston this past week to get it expedited. It is going to be a busy week if he ends up being able to go next Sunday according to schedule.

Tuesday was Mikes Birthday. We went to Parma's Italian Resturant where he has fallen in love with the Chicken Cody. The alfredo sauce is fabulous. It is just a little mom and pop shop, hole in the wall. Then we went to Golf Galaxy and bought him a couple of shirts. He went to work out and we had cheesecake when he got back.

Tuesday was also Andrew's birthday, but he was with his dad. The kids had no school on Friday so we picked them up on Thursday.We celebrated it yesterday. We went to Downtown Dallas and saw and I.M. Pei fountain court, which it was too cold to enjoy, though Claire ran through the nearly waterless sidewalk when the timed fountains gushed all over her. We had to go back to the car and change her so she didn't get hypothermia. It was also very windy. The we went through a little asian art collection. Then we rode the Trolley for about 30 minutes.

Then we came home and had Jell-O cake--raspberry Jell-O poured into the white cake and chilled to set with chocolate pudding on top. I think I need to go get some. Because I am much more like my mom than I am like Devanie, I overlooked candles and ended up lighting 7 cinamon tealights for Andrew to blow out. Then we watched Harry Potter, by which time it was late, so most of us--the adults, anyway--were asleep by the time it was over.

Now it is time for an egg hunt--probably an indoor one.

I changed my setting so you can posts comments again.

Job at last, Job at last!

After four months of being unemployed, Mike has a job. He got the official offer this morning. He will be a Department of Defense contractor, doing network support, and who knows what other technical stuff--in Iraq. He will have to be there eleven months, with no setting foot on American soil so that his entire salary will be tax free. It will be a huge leap from where we are now. I will continue to work at Bed Bath and Beyonduntil I have satisfied my need to refurnish my home accessories, etc. We hope to find a new house and be moved-in before he gets back--before the kids start school again, since they will be with me next school year.

All of this means that I will not have Mike with me--again--for the family reunion. Neither will I have Mikey and Lexi. However, I had promised my kids when I was single that we would start saving money to go to Disney World. Mike was planning on going and bringing the other two kids. However, last summer they went to Disney land and SoCal with their mom, so they have been to Disney Land. I could take the four there before or after the family reunion and do the whole Magic Mountain, DL, Knotts Berry Farm, Universal Studios thing. Anybody want to join me?

When Mike gets back, we would do the Florida trip.

Old pictures

Here are a couple of pictures of the kids at the park by our house for your viewing enjoyment. The other boy in the tunnel is our next door neighbor, Vuk, whose parents are from Poland or something like that.

We had a great time on our trip. We went to Colorado (Denver) to the wedding of Mike's cousin, Kristy. She has been dating this guy off and on since they were in high school 15 years ago. He wasn't a member for most of that time, and she knew she wanted to be married in the temple. And now she has.

Colorado was beautiful. It was just beginning to be spring. There were crocuses and daffodils blooming in many a flower bed. The small piles of dirty snow in the parking lots were flowing into puddles. Mike has decided he wants to retire to Montana, where it will never get above 100 degrees (37.7 celsius for my international readers-ha!)

We met Mike's brother Matt, his wife Melanie, and their kids, Callie, Coleman, Cara who had her first birthday while we were there. We also met Mike's sister Marla and her nine-month-old daughter, Eva. Mike and I absolutely fell in love with her. She had the most enthusiastic smile for anyone who would look at her--maybe it was just us.

We went to the Denver Temple and took care of all the kids on the grounds, except for the two babies. Callie is the shorter blonde, and Coleman didn't want his picture taken. Andrew had some very specific ideas about how he wanted to be photographed.















We managed to get a flat tire and found out the trouble with having an all wheel drive vehicle. If you replace one, you really need to replace the rest, or you could mess up the differential, and eventually--soon even--have to replace the whole system.

By the way, my washing machine, that did not work for over a month has been repaired by my magnificent husband. He replaced the belt on it. He felt good about himself, and I felt all warm and tingly about him. I spent the days leading up to our vacation doing laundry. It seemed pretty endless. Now I have vacation clothes to wash. The joy of it is; I CAN! Life is good.

More breaking news pending. Stay tuned

Summer planning

Devanie posted about the plans for the family reunion. I commented on it. for those who haven't seen it, here it what I am thinking.

As far as the sealing, I think Friday afternoon would be better so that it doesn't overshadow Hailey's baptism. I was also thinking about how much fun I have dancing with my husband--or even dancing with myself--oh, oh, a-oh--and wouldn't it be great if we had a place where we could just turn on some music and yak and snack with each other while the kids dance like goobers and the gooberest best of us join them.

I don't know how many will be able to stay for that full week, but even it the Leavitts had to come back for the second weekend, its only like four hours away, right? I would be delightfully shocked if Leonard stayed for the whole time, don't know if Thomas would be able to get the full time off. If he could though, I nominate him as the sound man. If not, my husband is more than capable. It just isn't customary for the groom be the sound man. Don't know if we have anyone who would be willing to be the official photographer.

By the way, I lost my disc of the family reunion pictures, which is rather an aggravation. I would be overjoyed if someone could get a copy for me. I can make contact with aunts and uncles for further arrangements, since Devanie was asking.

Love y'all

Spring is here!

Last week I saw a Robin redbreast. They are migrating in east Texas. I am confident that we will have no more freezes. I planted some bulbs last week and expect to see them peek their blades up soon. The weather has been gorgeous for the past week except for two days ago when a horrid wind brought in dust from west Texas and made the sky brown for a couple of hours. A number of our neighbors have pieces of their fence missing. God pruned our trees and gave us some firewood with all the limbs that broke off in our front yard. The wind was just ridiculous. Come to think of it, it felt like an afternoon in Washoe Valley--or stagecoach--except their were trees to get their limbs broken.

I have two more days left of my night shift. It has been pretty easy to get through the nights. since the first week I haven't been drowsy during shift at all. I have had a lot of fun with the people on the team. Sometimes I get in trouble for talking too much--it is kind of like kindergarten that way--because if we are talking, we can't be counting. They give out awards for the most units scanned and for the most accurate scan of a $5 gift card for a convienience or fast food place. I have no hope of recieving such a thing.

Numbers and I just don't get along. When I took accounting, I would often have the right numbers in the right places but when I checked them, the columns never totalled like they were supposed to. It didn't matter if I was using my head or a calculator, it just didn't come up. I don't know what my actual figures are, but I know that whether I am auditing a section or someone is auditing a section I scanned, at least two per night of each fail to match up.

Time to get dinner made so I can eat before American Idol and be ready to leave for work as soon as it is over.

Love y'all!

One Down 2 to Go

I make it through my first week of night shift. We are busy throughout the night, and most of the nights we got out early than expected, so we went home about the time everyone was dragging. They have bowls of candy at every supervisors station to keep our energy up, I think is the premise. For me it totally backfired because I had too much of it the first night, and by the second night, I had a major sore throat with muscle fatigue and chills. I worked a lot slower than some of the others, but I kept on working. I pumped supplements and fluid and slept the entire day and felt better when it came time to work that night. I am still phlegmming and fighting, but I continue to do what needs to be done.

I mentioned to one of the guys I am working with that I had too much candy and, hence a sore throat. He noticed the same thing, himself a day later. He already knew about how high sugar content in foods immobilizes the immune system. I asked him how he knew. He learned it in a College biology class. Something to think about for those fighting illness. Still, there are caramel squares in the candy dish. How can I not take advantage of their availability?

I just need to make it through the next two weeks of nights. I think it will be just fine. I am kind of irritated, though because we are not getting overtime like they said I would. Our team is just too efficient. There will be less people on it this week. Maybe it will be harder and take longer.

Midnight Blogger

It is 12:21 as I begin my blog. I hope to stay up for some number of hours more. Tomorrow night, for the first time in my life, I work a night shift. I will be doing that for three weeks. I volunteered for the Bed Bath and Beyond inventory team. It pays overtime, and still allows me to be home when my kids are here--most of all it is only temporary.

I was hired part time, but I will have been paid overtime for two consecutive pay periods already because they need a lot of hours for inventory prep. I have been waking up at 4am for nearly 3 weeks already. I either work 5-3 of 6-3. I actually advocate 5 because, to me, there is no difference. 7 is a much better deal, because then I get to wake up my son for school. 8 is great because I get to wake him up AND take him to school, and make it to work with time to spare.

Extra hours and extra money is critical at this point, since Mike is still unemployed. We are excited however at some of the prospects that are developing. He has had a whole series of successful interviews with Microsoft. The benefits there are awesome.

For the first time since New Year's all the kids were here together. Speaking of New Years, Christmas was a disappointment to me. My kids were here until Christmas eve morning. Mike and I spent Christmas eve alone--which was actually really nice--and then his kids were here Christmas afternoon. New Year's eve I wanted to have a party for all the kids, including some friends over, but I didn't have time to organize it. By that night I was absolutely exhausted and we let the kids celebrate while we slept. The previous night, he and I had been up until 3am at a 25th wedding anniversary ball, put on by Theresa who took me on the cruise last spring. Mike and I had a fabulous time together. We laughed and he got along great with the rest of the cruise gang. We will certainly be joining them on future cruises. More than anything, I love falling in love with my husband. I was dancing like a crazy woman--forgetting that I was not 17 at a church dance. When they started playing Footloose, and my husband joined me like a fool, everyone knew we were a match made in heaven.

This weekend there was a primary activity. After that, we tried to get the kids to watch Superman Returns with us (11:30am) because it had to be returned. Nobody wanted to. They all wanted to go to the park, or a friend's house or skateboarding. It was a gorgeous day, so we didn't force them to watch TV. One child asked to play the xbox, another asked to play world of warcraft. Both were denied. We finally watched the movie at 6:00. Two of the kids were out before the first 1/2 hour of the movie. It was a nice weekend.