Solly,
We built our home 8 years ago and once we moved in the time whizzed past. The kids were 8 and 10. Now 16 and 18. Dh is going away to college. He has been accepted (and we have made down payments!) to The University of Kansas. He'll study political science and history and plans to go on to Law School. It is so strange to get things in the mail like the Student Linen Service. A selection of linens that can be purchased to fit the extra long twins they have at school.

Going to work at 3:00. Don't know what I'm eating today. But need to get by the bookstore so may grab something out.

Have a good weekend all,

KayeC

KayeC: Did I read that right...that your husband is going to school? Cool!

Fillese: I'm looking forward to you being able to be around more often and being more regular, too!!

Monet: Hang in there...walking and exercise is NEVER bad for anyone and will only benefit you in ways you may not be seeing right at the moment, but you will sometime.

Munch: I don't envy you being in charge of a recital like that...what a nightmare that has to be!! My yard looks like I'm growing rice (from the standing water)...how's yours?

Bob: I'm like Solly...nothing's better than a restaraunt salad. Hope you feel better soon

Gator and Talitha: I LOVE ceramics. I used to go to a GREAT studio and the instructor/owner was wonderful. I would get the greeware, clean it, then they'd fire it for me during the week and the next week, I'd do my decorating. I had my own tools and brushes and would use studio paints and glazes. The instructor was wonderful in the way that I'd describe what I wanted to do with a piece and she'd not only know what I was talking about, but always had an interesting way for me to achieve it in an even more creative way. I did a plaque of the last supper for my mom and I wanted it to look like wood, but she talked me into making the actual people on the plaque look metallic with metallic chalky rub stuff. Each person is their own 'metal'...some are gold, some are silver, bronze, etc. Very cool.

Thunder: I don't even have my tomatoes IN yet...we have too many 'iffy' nights in May around here and things still can freeze or get frost, so I wait till the last week of May/first week of June.

So, anyhow...Derek's at a job interview today for Noritsu...two drawbacks to the job are: 1) they said that if he gets the job and takes it, they will most likely want him working in Rochester or the Finger Lakes region (which is south of Rochester and towards Syracuse). We JUST MOVED from there five years ago. I didn't really move from there because I LIKE it, either...I moved from there because I DON'T like it there. 2) Derek will probably take about a $10,000 a year pay CUT and the taxes in Rochester and surrounding areas are so high, it borders on plain old RUDE! I mean...a little personal here...we pay about $1200 a year here for all of our taxes...in Rochester, all of the houses are about $5000 a year in taxes!!! Maybe that's low for some, but for us, we nearly fainted when we saw it! So, we're looking more into a place called Honeoye Falls and Livonia where we saw the taxes aren't quite so high. Bottom line is both derek and don't mind moving so much for our own sake, but we really dont' want to relocate our kids from their friends. Especially Shelley. She has a real 'posse' of really nice girlfriends and I would feel so guilty taking her away from them. In fact, she's like, in the popular crowd. You know how there was always two types of popular kids? The nice ones and the rude, stuck-up ones? Well, Shelley is one of the nice popular kids and her friends are, too. Such nice kids. I'd hate to have her have to make all new friends. Anyhow...if we must, we must. There's no stopping fate and if that's our path, then that's our path...as the mom, it'll be my job to be sure the transition is as easy as possible for the kidlets.

Today I subbed for the preschool teacher. There is one little girl that breaks my heart. We're doing Mother's Day stuff at the moment and every time we do this, little Kelsy just gets a really mean look on her face and come to find out, her mother is a drug addict and spends a lot of time in jail and when Kelsy goes to her house, she ends up with bruises and gets abused. She's being raised by her father and his mother. So, the grandmother told us that she may have some problems iwth this and if we could go with her flow, it would be nice. So, we were making Mother's Day cards and I was showing them how to write I love you, Mom and she said she wanted to write I love you Dad...so I showed her how and she wrote that on her Mother's Day card because she's giving her dad her mother's day present and card. So, I let her and her grandmother was thrilled. I felt a little weird, like I was getting involved in things I should be getting involved in, but she just looked so darn proud...like every single letter she wrote had to be perfect because it was for Dad. So, that was sad, to say the least...to see so much trauma for such a little girl just breaks my heart.

Okay...I was going to mow the lawn again yesterday, but I had to grocery shop and go over pictures for my mom and dad's anniversary collages and by the time I got to it, it was starting to rain...and it TEEMED all night and now my back yard looks like a lake...and the lawn is growing like CRAZY. So, next time I get to mow the lawn, it'll be all green staining clippings all over the place. I hate that.

Well, must get some lunch...talk to you guys later on!!

Hello.... So sorry I haven't been on this week. I've had allot of problems with my sprained foot and also been as busy as a bee. Can't believe this is Friday already. I'm busy doing laundry so I can have the week end free. We're going out to a nice restarant for lunch on Mother's Day. We have reservations so I can't wait. DH got my a wonderful anniversery band for a gift. Its being sized now. Also got a nice pot of tulips yesterday. They're dark pink and cream stiped, sure does brighten up the kitchen. I read my 3 fat chicks book last week. It just took me a couple of days. I enjoyed it and it gave me some good inspiration. To bad Sugar Busters wasn't in it. We're having a wonderful sunny day but the wind is blowing. If its nice tomorrow I might put my tomato plants out. They need out so bad but we've had 14 inches of rain since the first of May. Well better go get the chicken off the bone so I can fix DH and I lunch when he gets home soon.. Have a good Friday everyone.

Rachel is home from her trip and is taking a nap which she desperately needs. We went to Wal-mart to get "one hour" photos and hers ended up being Two and one half" hour! They were having problems with their equipment..
THEN they messed up our order! She had three rolls and they printed one of the rolls twice, and one got missed, so I still have to go back tomorrow to pick up the corrected pics. This type of thing is why I will not get Rx at Wal-mart anymore and I guess I will look to the drug store for pics now also.

Munch- Rachel's recitals are on the 20th. She is in the junior company and performs in both shows at 3pm and again at 7pm. She will be doing two ballets, a hip hop, character and tap dances as well. Two of those are repeated in both shows plus she is a teacher's assistant in two little kinderdance classes, so she'll be helping "in the wings" for those. We have dress rehearsal next Friday too! I'm taking Friday off from work and going for my Yearly checkup that morning, then buying flowers, etc so I can just relax the rest of the day till rehearsal. Who wants to sit at work all day then sit down at the high school for another 5-6 hours?

Monet- I don't worry so much about measurements. I know I must be healthier with what I'm eating compared with where I was a couple of years ago. Though I wish the pounds would fall off just a little faster!

Tech- A couple of years ago we had a little girl who was going to visit her daddy.. "he lives in a big house..with bars on the windows and everything!" Some of the home situations are really sad. It makes me grateful for the kids and family that I have!

to all I missed and hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thin: the thing about Kelsy that I feel really good about today is that she ended up writing I love you, Dad on her mother's day card and on the front, they put their handprint, with a stem at the bottom and a flowerpot, as if their hand was growing out...and then they drew two flowers out of the pot with the handprint and Kelsy's flowers both has smiley faces on them and one had eyelashes and she told me they were her and her dad. I showed this to her grandmother, along with the sheet where I had her practice writing I love you, Dad with a picture of her and her dad holding hands and smiling and her grandmother said how pleased her dad will be to see this because up till that point, all Kelsy does is draw sad, mad or faces with a straight line for a mouth...that this was, literally, the first time she'd seen her drawing smiley faces. How sad is that...and how proud am I that I was the one to drag the smilies out of her?! The poor little chicka...

Monet--So what was your gl after the Cheetoes? I LOVE Cheetoes. The way the electric orange "cheese" sticks to your fingers when you eat them, the crunch, the taste. Do you know that if that cheese stuff was not on them those puffs would be stark white. Ugh.
We went out for dinner tonight, sort of to celebrate some decisions re the house remodel. What exactly to have done, as the builder has suggested a ton of stuff, all of which would look really nice, but that we are not sure we want to spend the money on. We have decided to continue with the porch, and the master bath the the family room and the 1/2 bath, as originally planned. Then we will add on some cosmetics to our bedroom and the hall and our studies. Then, if we want and still have any money left, we will add crown moulding to the dining room and LR. We also will have everything painted. My DH is excited about everything. Considering that we have been in this house 34 years, I guess it's OK to spend a little money on it.

Talitha, we probably will be here in September, because we think we are not going to Canada then. Instead, we will stay here and enjoy our new porch and my DH will enjoy the fall bloom of his roses, that will be peaking then. We also decided that tonight.
I had 2 drinks, some duck breast with veggies, a wonderful frizee salad, and a small dessert.

Hope everyone has a great Saturday. We are going on a rose viewing trip with some friends.

GATOR: Actually my sugar levels were great after the cheetos! It was the low carb potato I had baked for dinner last night that made it go up. So, low carb potatoes are on the no no list. I wish I had a good picture of my New Dawn to post for you. I am SO proud of it! It has about 1000 blooms on it right now. It is truly amazing. My roses look awful. I am such a horrible rose mommy...I should spray and weed and feed them, but I am too busy with more pressing things.

I feel like someone pulled a plug on my energy tonight, so I am heading to bed in a few minutes here;

Sweet dreams!

Hey My Friends!!

I see that my last visit was March 10th - how pitiful!! I hope all of you are doing well. I am happy to report that I have lost 21 pounds this school year and I don't know how! HAHA! I'll take it!

I'm coming here because I need advice and MANY of you know my baby situation. So, here I go! I told y'all how we got Alexis in October. Well, we still have her and she's now 10 months old and doing great. She is delightful! Well, the judge has ruled for termination and told the parents that it will basically take a miracle for them to get her back. SO, they would have to do some MAJOR MAJOR things between now and September/October (that's when the trial is) in order to get her back. Well, I'm not worried about that happening - they haven't done anything yet and they won't. So, it looks like we will get to adopt her and we are thrilled!

WELL - today we got a call from OCS and they have a 1 DAY old baby boy that needs placement. This woman has had her 3 other children taken away and rights terminated. So, this seems like it will be an open and shut case. The parents are drug addicts and have a horrible track record. We need to make up our minds by Sunday. We could get the baby Monday. WHAT SHOULD I DO?!??!?!?!?!

Any of you have kids 10 months apart? How hard do you think this will be? I need your opinions and ASAP!!!

Thanks!!

Missy

MONET: Thanks for the thoughts! We are still up in the air and don't know what to do. I have to talk to OCS today and get more information and hopefully that will help make our decision! Thanks again!!
Missy

Fruit-My kids are 2.5 yrs apart, so I can't help you much with the closer in age question. I do know, however, that these things happen for a reason. Look deep into your hearts and then just go for it!

Rachel and I are going out for a haircut this morning. I'm ashamed to say we have not been trimmed since Christmas! We both have shoulder to upper back hair and no bangs, so we can really go a longtime before we look shaggy! I think we will also splurge on a pedicure! Yay for girls day out!