Campin Mom

Alright, I'm back!

2007-05-15T09:20:00.000-05:00

Wow! It really has been a disgracefully long time since my last post. I've been so insanely busy, which isn't going to change anytime soon, as I'm hoping to go full time at the studio just as soon as I'm certified. It really won't be much different from what I'm doing now, full time at Kiddie Kandids is 30 hours, unless you are the studio manager. So if I go in for 4 pm (instead of 5 or 5:30 like I do now) four days a week, and then eight hours on Saturday, I'll have my 30 hours. Anyway, I'm just hoping to get certified soon, because I'm already past my deadline. I just want to get on with it now.

Anyway, camping season started a few weeks ago, and we've really been enjoying it. G built our new deck over the course of the past two weekends, and it's all but finished. He miscounted the number of posts he would need to finish putting the rails on, so he ran out of wood before he finished doing the rails, but we're taking a long weekend up there this week (going up Thursday night), so I'm sure he'll finish it on Friday.

So...what else is new? Oh, I finally got my family into my studio for a sitting. I wanted my friend Biggie to shoot it and it was hard to work out the logistics, because we usually work together, so we had to find a night that I was off and he was working, but it was really alot of fun once we got it together to get in there. Anyway, they came out great, and I'm posting my favorites here now...

I'm really happy with them. Big, you did a fantastic job. Now it's your turn to get your family in there for me.

Alright, I'll type more later, but I wanted to get the pictures posted. Take care....

It's Almost Time!

2007-03-02T14:12:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess Spring is on it's way. It's absolutely beautiful outside, and my kids are out there playing. I'm getting so excited to go up to camp. I found that they made a website for our campgrounds. Up till now, they only had a page with directions and pricing and all that, all very boringly listed. Now they have a really cool site. If you want to check it out, click here.

We're all just getting so siked to go up there again. I can't tell you how much I've missed it. I know it'll be a little different this year with having to come back on Saturdays to go to work, but nothing I can't handle. I'm so happy with the way everything is working out. I feel like my whole outlook has changed around, and I can really look forward to things again.

Also, I'm really really hoping to be able to go here. I think things are looking like I might just be able to, if I have room mates, so for all my croppy friends out there (Jen, Patty, Dawn) I'm hoping we can pull this one off. It'll be so much fun.

Other than that, I'm just trying to summon the energy to start emptying out my house. We aren't moving or anything, it's just that we've officially passed our maximum capacity, and in order to be able to put anything away, and be in any way organized, we have to get rid of a bunch of stuff. I'm sure we'll be a lot more comfortable afterwards. I know I will be any way.

Oh, I do have some great news to report. R finally made it into the band at his school, and his teacher feels that if he keeps up the good work, he'll make All-City Band this year. It seems he finally crossed over the hump from where it's a pain to practice to where he enjoys it. So we're really proud of him and very excited too.

Anyway, I guess that's it for now. I have to do some laundry and some other stuff before it's time to get ready for work. More soon...

Coming Up Roses :)

2007-02-19T10:57:00.000-05:00

I was nearly finished writing this post and all of a sudden, I got some news that changes it, so I guess it's best to just re-write the post, so here it goes.

As some of you had heard, my job at Kiddie Kandids was suddenly in a bit of danger. The studio manager, Alicia, took over the studio where I work, right before Christmas. A bunch of the staff had left when they heard she was taking over the studio. Don't take that the wrong way, she's an absolute sweetheart, but she expects things to be done to her standards (which are high) and she makes her associates work, and I guess they had heard about her reputation for doing that and they pretty much all quit. So of course, she had to staff the studio, so she hired about nine people. About two weeks later, she had a visit from the regional and district managers who informed her that they plan to switch our studio from having three camera bays to one, and that she also was waaay over staffed and they told her to fire seven people. So, needless to say, I was a basket case about it, because I really really need this job, or at least "a" job, and since I really do enjoy working there and it pays quite well, I really didn't want to lose it. She did tell me that she wasn't going to let me go, but then it seemed like the demands from the district and regional managers seemed to be getting more insistent, and after all, I'm still not finished training on camera. I thought "How can I compete for a job I'm not completely trained to do?" As far as I could tell, I couldn't, so I had a bunch of sleepless nights where I just couldn't turn my thoughts off, and I finally told myself that if this is where I'm supposed to be, I'll be staying and if not, then there's something better waiting and that one way or another, we'd be alright. So I kept going to work, doing the best job I possibly could (turns out I'm rather good at creating different things with the pictures and selling them)and I waited it all out. So anyway, last night, Alicia says to me, "So do you want to hear the bye-bye list?" I said "Am I on it?" to which she just started laughing, and then told me who is going to be leaving us soon. I said "You'll never know how scared I was that I was going to go." She said "Are you serious? Kim, I told you in the beginning, I wasn't going to let you go." So basically, all that worry was for nothing, but I guess I showed her something in the way I was doing my job, because when the district manager asked who from her staff she could see being a manager eventually, she gave my name (mine and Hazel's, who is currently the assistant manager), and now they want us to take a leadership assessment. So that's sort of exciting. I don't really think it'll happen anytime soon, but it's definitely something to be proud of. So, needless to say, I'm pleased with how that all worked out.

So basically, things are definitely looking up. I feel a million miles away from where I was just a few days ago, and hopefully with that, I'll be more in the mood to post. I didn't want to scare you guys away. Who wants to read a bunch of whining, after all? And right now, I just feel so good. But as to the blog itself, I'm wondering about how blogger is making people sign in to comment now, because someone commented on the previous post and said they could only sign in as "anonymous". So please, if there's something different, let me know what it is. The way I sign in now is essentially the same as is was with the old version of blogger, I simply have a different sign in name now. But I'm wondering if switching to the new blogger made it more of a pain in the butt for those who don't have blogger accounts to sign in. So if you could please let me know what's different about it. I don't want you guys to stop commentating on my blog. I have an idea for a game we can play, but I have to find out how to make it happen, and I'll keep you posted as to the details.

Oh, and the other great news... Mike S. (not my brother-in-law, the other Mike S.) is buying a house here in town, after living away for quite awhile. I can't tell you how excited I am about that. The house is right near R's school, so it's really only about a half a mile from here. Yay!!! I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that it will go through attorney review alright.

Anyway, I'm going to go because Princess K is sleeping, and it's coming up on time to pick R up from school.

More soon....

Shots from the Studio

2007-02-13T13:43:00.000-05:00

I know it's been awhile since I've posted but I took the kids to that wonderful studio I love working at and had some shots taken of them. I'll write a real post soon and let you all know what's been going on, but I wanted to get these posted. Let me know what you think of them. I think they came out great myself, but I'd like to hear your opinion. Of course, haikus about my beautiful offspring would be a nice addition to the blog. ;) Anyway, more soon, I promise. Till then, enjoy the pictures....

My New Job!!!

2007-01-12T22:40:00.000-05:00

So, I started training at Kiddie Kandids last night, and I have to say, I think it's the coolest studio EVER!! The training is really extensive, and they have alot of policies in place that are really designed to make them the best. When I worked at Sears, they taught me to use the camera and the computer to sell the pictures and that was it. At Kiddie Kandids, everyone has to become a Certified Photographer, and the training really is set up with that in mind. Everything really makes alot of sense, and I'm sure everything is going to go very smoothly.

I already have gotten to be friends with the studio manager and assistant manager. They are both really nice and we really seemed to click. I could really go on and on about it, because I learned so much just last night and I'm so excited to work there, but I also don't want to start sounding like a commercial either, so I figure I'll just suffice it to say I love my new job. Oh, and check this out. I am so excited about that little item, I can't even tell you. I just can't wait till I have enough points saved up to bring R and K in there and get their pictures taken. I think this is going to be the second best job I've ever had. But don't worry, Deb, I'm not leaving you. You know Gymbo has my heart forever. The cool thing is, I can do both. Besides my Gymboree paychecks now have a new and very special purpose. It's going into a savings account so G and I can keep our promise and take the kids here in 2008. The plan is to go for K's fifth birthday, and I'm really getting excited about it now, even though it's still sixteen months away. At least as I'm actively saving up to go, maybe that will help the time pass. I know I can come up with the money by then.

Now that the holidays are over, I'm also starting to get antsy (that's antsy, Jen, not Auntsy, lol) to get back up to my mountain and be the Campin Mom I claim to be. Especially since the weather has been so mild. Last Saturday, we hit 70 degrees!!!! My cousin, Kelly was here for the weekend and we took the kids to play in the park. That was alot of fun, but all I could think about was being up at the trailer. I know my new job will make camping sort of dicey, but maybe she can give me a middle of the day shift on Saturdays during camping season, say like Noon to 8 pm. Camp is only an hour away, and I can go up Friday night with G and the kids and come back for work and then still be done early enough to go back and have some fun by the campfire. Then Sunday, we'll just stay up there till 5 or so, instead of heading back in the middle of the day.

Anyway, I think I'm going to close this now. I'm using the computer in the basement, and honestly, it's sort of cold down here. I really hope you all start posting comments again, I really miss that. I know I had sort of a lot of lulls in the posting, but G took over the upstairs computer and I couldn't get a post in edgewise, but now I'll be able to post again more regularly. Also, I'm working on posting some pictures soon. My pictures are on the upstairs computer at this point, but since this is the one I can use, maybe I'll start uploading them onto this one too. Then I can post them from here. But now I'm really freezing, so I'll say goodnight. Goodnight!! ;)

Lots of "News"

2007-01-10T11:16:00.000-05:00

Well, I realize it's a bit after the fact, but since it's my first post of 2007, Happy New Year! So, what's new? Well, since I took the plunge recently and converted the blog to the "New" Blogger, I guess that's part of what's new. So far I like it, although we'll see how it goes, I guess.

Hmmm, so what else is new? I suppose you could say, sort of a new attitude. I've decided that my New Year's resolution should be "All-around self improvement". This year, I want to lose weight, organize my life a bit better and just stay more on top of things. Over at Jenny's site she's been speaking of being productive (Or rather un-productive) and I guess lately that has definitely fit me, although, as I said, I'm working on changing that.

And now for the huge news? I got a new job!!! I know some of you have heard about that already, but I'm so excited. I'll be starting tomorrow night, training as a photographer here I'm really so excited. I'd wanted to avoid the mall, but that was mainly because I thought it was sort of crazy to be just starting a job at the mall at Christmastime, but now that's all over with. I really really wanted a portrait studio job, and I was so excited the Saturday before Christmas when I made a quick stop to pick up Cinnabons for Christmas breakfast and saw a help wanted sign in the window of a studio I hadn't even known was there (I don't usually park in that area, so I hadn't seen it before). Anyway, it pays way better than the one I interviewed for at KMart (overnite stock) and needless to say the hours are way better too. So I'm really excited for it. Tomorrow will be tricky because I'll have to do my Open Gym here and then pick up R and take him to get these. I'll stay there with both kids till G arrives there to meet us, then I'll drop K with my mom and dash off to my new job, while G helps him choose his new frames and then brings him home. It'll be a crazy crazy day, but what can I do, I had the appointment before I had the job.

Also, I think today, I'll be shopping for a new one of these as mine is really having issues and G thinks it's best to just replace it. Actually, I really like the one shown in the link, and since I can't afford a pair of LG twins like Jenny has, I think this will do nicely.

Alright, that's all the news, except for one other new thing... my other new year's resolution is to see all my loved ones on a more regular basis. So I need all of you to help me make that happen, okay.

That's it for now....

A Post-Christmas Hello

2006-12-27T17:55:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to say I hope that Santa brought all your Christmas wishes. I know he did here, although he found our town a bit dark. To hear that tale read the poem in the post below this one. I'm sure you'll find it amusing.

My cards are going out late this year (I'm mailing them tomorrow), so please don't be upset that you've not received one yet, because no one else has. This holiday was a tough one to prepare, because I was my mom's sole driver for all her shopping, plus, I had my own to get in. I'm not complaining, she needed to shop and I'm the one who is local. It just made it a tiny bit more hectic that's all. But right now my kids are with her (probably for the night) so I'm going to go make some dinner and relax for a while.

Hope your Christmas was fantastic and please accept my best wishes for a very happy, healthy, 2007.

Love to all,
Kim

A (Very Interesting) Visit From Saint Nicholas

2006-12-26T09:17:00.000-05:00

'Twas the night before Christmas
We came home, and I straightened our wreath
Then sent my little darlings
Upstairs to brush their teeth.

My dh was a bit
On the happy-happy side
He'd had some beers at his sister's house
So to get us home, I drove for that ride.

I sat down to check email
The kids were upstairs brushing
With Santa coming they knew
That off to bed they'd soon be rushing

R finished his teeth
And went into his room
K was brushing hers
And so would be joining him soon.

When suddenly, with a pop
which startled us all
The computer blipped off
and the light in the hall

In fact every thing was off
For this Christmas Eve treat
We looked out the window
and saw darkness all the way down the street.

The street lights were off
Not a Christmas light shone
At that point my dh let out a groan

"Power Outage!" he exclaimed
"It's not only us"
And at that point my little one started to fuss

She was in the bathroom, alone
As you may recall
But now, in the darkness...
"R! Don't let her fall!"

So her big brother rescued her
Then found the flashlight
G had gone down the basement to find it
Buzzed and now without sight

But I'd gotten some candles
from my dear sil
What a lucky gift that was
Words cannot tell

So we snuggled up on the couch
All four of us, with candles lit
K was still a bit freaked out
So for a while I let them sit.

Then R remembered that
His dragons he could light
Their battery powered, fiber-optics
Might chase away K's fright

So G lit them up to R's room
And tucked them into bed
Soon with dragons on the job
Sugarplum visions filled their heads.

But of course we had to wait now
To be sure they were asleep
Before we could do the "Santa" thing
So in a little while, upstairs I'd creep

It might have been a lovely time
With G and candles glowing
But as we snuggled on the couch
I felt his breathing slowing

I can't blame him, I must admit
Because soon I dozed off too
An hour later I snapped awake
Still in the dark and we still
Had oh-so-much to do!!!!

I tried to let him rest there
I went down to get their stuff
I overloaded my arms and lugged it
Up the stairs with a huff and a puff

I dropped it when I reached the tree
(Thank Heaven nothing broke)
Then looking at my flashlight
I saw a site that made me choke

The flashlight would soon be going out
It definitely was dimmer
How would I make all those trips
up and downstairs without it's glimmer?

So I woke up G; I needed his help
There was no other way
He lugged the gifts while I arranged them
Which really saved the day

I think he made the last two trips
without benefit of light
I arranged them all by candlelight
I was sure they'd be quite a sight

And as he set the last load down
Beside me by the tree
Suddenly the room burst into light
The power was back! Whoopee!

But then in a flash I realized
That when the lights had blipped back on
R's room, the hall and bathroom lights
were now blazing clear and strong

So, another stressfull moment
While G crept up to their room
He turned off the lights
And left the kids in sleep-conducive gloom

I had light to fill their stockings
and then I crept to bed
At 6:45 I heard their voices
Seeping into my head

"Santa came Mom & Daddy!
Let's get up!" they said
But G and I just couldn't
clear the cobwebs from our heads

"Come here, K..." he grunted
"R go back to bed,"
"We need a little longer
to rest our sleepy heads"

So K climbed into bed with us
and soon was sweetly sleeping
R went in and checked out all
the stocking stuffers he'd be keeping

At 8:15, he came back
This time I said "Okay."
"G, wake up, he can't wait anymore.
Let's start this holiday!"

So we went downstairs
And watched our darlings open all their stuff
It was a crazy night but somehow we still
pulled off the "Santa" bluff

We've had alot of memorable
Christmas Eves so far
Ear infections, no wrapping paper,
caused late-nite trips to the store in the car

But I think this one will have to be
Among the most memorable yet
Playing Santa in the pitch darkness
Is something I'll never forget

Crazy, Crazy, Crazy

2006-12-22T18:07:00.000-05:00

I know I'm getting really bad about posting. Not entirely my fault, as my dh has sort of monopolized the 'puter for the past several weeks, but tonight I'm getting a reprieve. A guy on his Dad's Friday night bowling league/team was unable to bowl tonight, so they asked G to sub. Also, my Mom has offered sort of a reprieve too. She's taking my kids overnight tonight so I can get done with all the Christmas preparations. But they're still here which means I can't start yet and since I can't do anything while they're here, I figured I'd try to do a post.

So, what's been going on? I'm still waiting to hear about the overnight job. I called the lady today and she said she has to wait till the budget frees up a bit, which I guess means the first of the year, but right now waiting for their budget to free up, is causing a definite strain on our budget. Oh well. You know what, I have complete faith that we will get through this, and that everything will be alright, but now we just have to figure out how we're going to get through it. Times like this I could really, really use a hug from my Dad. I can't believe he's been gone nearly 17 years already. He had this amazing way about him. When he hugged you and told you everything was going to be alright, you knew it would be, simply because he said it would. And you know what, it always was. But anyway, I do feel very strongly that this is all temporary and that we'll be fine. Hey, without faith, what's left?

But in spite of all that, I'm getting excited. Today was, of course, the last day of school before Christmas. I made R's teacher's gift, a Harry Potter Themed Altered Clipboard, and it really came out nice. She wrote me a thank you email right away after he gave it to her and she really loved it. I also made one for R and one for his friend, as well. The three of them (his teacher included)are huge Potter fans, and they all really liked the clipboards. They're addicting though, I just did three and I'm already wanting to do more (like I don't have enough to do in the next few days). The pictures are of the one I did for R's teacher and if you click on them, they should enlarge for you The ones for R and V were essentially the same, I just used different paper for the bottom halves of the clipboard on each of theirs. I found all the embellishments on eBay and attached them to an old CD to make the element.

Oh, and guess what! I can now officially say that I have removed a door from its hinges! Princess K went into the bathroom the other day (the other news is that she's finally potty-trained! Yay!) and locked the door. The lock is old and sticks a bit and once she locked it, she couldn't get it open again. I called G and he was about 90 minutes away from home, so he told me to get a flat headed screwdriver and a hammer from his toolbench and told me how to get the hinges to unhitch. It took some work, because once I got it unhitched, I had to sort of pry the door out of the doorframe using a big screwdriver like a crowbar, because there was nowhere to pull it from and she didn't get what I was telling her when I told her to push on it. But anyway, I managed to keep everything under control, even with her in there crying. I got her calmed down and told her to hold on and I would get her out as fast as I could, to which she sort of sniffled and said "Hurry Mama, I'm all alone in here." And then I got her out and got to be the hero for a change (Daddy usually gets that title from all of us). So I was pretty proud of myself. It was really very empowering!

But for now I've gotta run. The clock is ticking and I need to get a move on. Let me know what you think of my clipboard. I'll try to post again before Christmas.

A Quick Post To Say I'm Still Alive

2006-12-10T13:24:00.000-05:00

As the title suggests, this post will be brief, but it's been so long since I posted, I thought I'd better get something posted. Thanksgiving was nice, but after that, my mood sort of plummeted. My birthday was horrible, till G saved the day by surprising me with going out to dinner. I had an interview on Friday for an overnight stock position at a store nearby and it went really well. The store traditionally does two interviews, but I expect to be called for that either tomorrow or Tuesday, and then hopefully an offer will be forthcoming. I'm not thrilled by the idea of working all night, but the job itself sounds fun and I'm sure once I'm used to it, it'll be fine. Really it'll be nice to work in a store and not have to deal with customers, as the store will be closed when I'm there. I have to say I'm a bit sad at the prospect of how the new schedule will affect my time spent with G and the kids, but we have to do what we have to do. As the song from the old Christmas special goes, "Even a Miracle Needs a Hand".

Anyway, we put up the tree yesterday and I'm about to jump in the shower now and then I'm off to shop. With this job in the works, I feel really under the gun to get finished with the Christmas preparations before I start. I know the first two weeks will be the hardest, as I'll be getting used to the schedule, and after all, by the time that's over, Christmas will be over already. So, with that in mind, I guess I'd better go and get busy. The clock is ticking... More soon.

By Special Request... A New, Though Delirious Post

2006-11-23T00:54:00.000-05:00

Alright, alright, I know it's been awhile, and Jenny so kindly requested a new post, although she hadn't commented on the last one to let me know she'd even read it. Honestly, between the whole wife/mom/Gymboree teacher thing, (not to mention the daughter/personal chauffeur thing), I've been just a little wiped out this week. I'm thinking from Jenny's post that she must've hurt her back, and I'm hoping she's alright. But anyway, apparently, she needs to be entertained, soooo here is a new post.

Nothing has been too exciting around here, at least nothing to top the hawk story. G has since spotted him again, with yet another squirrelly snack. It's funny, cause we were wishing there would be a way to control the squirrel population in our neighborhood (the wooded area behind the yard is crawling with them), so maybe the hawk is the answer to our wishes. I've been job hunting very diligently, and also trying hard to get my shopping done. Tomorrow we'll exchange names as to the nieces and nephews and see who we're shopping for. I might be nuts enough to try to shop on Black Friday. If I can go without the kids, I'm there.

You've probably guessed I'm gracing my family by not cooking our Thanksgiving Dinner. Actually, we are doing the turkey, but that's because my mom's oven at her new apartment is sort of smallish; a bit too small for an 18 pound turkey. Mine is huge and has this nifty temperature probe so you know when it's reached optimum doneness. But other than that, I'm not cooking, a fact which I'm sure, the whole gang is very thankful for. I did dress AvaKimmy up for the occasion, though I didn't place her in the kitchen, as that would sort of be a lie, since I'm not cooking, and it might cause my siblings not to come, if it led them to think that I was, in fact, cooking the feast.

I'll try to post again tomorrow night. Right now, I'm going to bed. I have to pick up the turkey at mom's early enough to get it into the oven no later than 8 am.

Nite-nite

A Very Eventful Saturday Afternoon!!

2006-11-12T07:33:00.000-05:00

I guess it's been a while since I've had a really cool story to share with you, but yesterday we had a crazy day around here, which actually turned into something blogworthy.

Let me start this off by saying that on our ride to the trailer every weekend from April through October, we've seen hawks soaring in the sky and they really are quite a breathtaking sight. And, no kidding, I said to my friend Susan just the other day how beautiful they are and how much I miss seeing them since camping season is over and we won't be taking that ride for awhile. Well, I guess one of them heard me and decided to pay us a little visit.

As I said, yesterday was a crazy day right from the start, because we bought R a new bed and we had to dig out the mess which is his room to be able to disassemble the old bunkbed and bring up and build the new bed. G was waiting in his ever so (im)patient way and R and I were trying hard to sift through the stuff that was no longer wanted or needed. So anyway, while we were doing that G decided to clean out the gutters on the house and to try and fix one that has been leaking. While he was trying to do the repair he asked me to come out and hold the ladder for him as he had to be above the gutter to be able to see what he was doing (a bit higher than he would've needed to be just for cleaning them) and he was afraid the ladder might kick out at the bottom with him so high on it. As I've grown fond of him through all the years we've been together, I, of course, was happy to help him with that. So I held the ladder while he did the repair, and those of you who know me are probably well aware at how freaked out I was with him being so high up there, but we got through it. I went in to finish digging out R's room and G moved the ladder over to continue cleaning the gutters, promising me he didn't need me to hold the ladder for him anymore, because he didn't need to be up quite so high and was confident from that height that the ladder wouldn't kick out on him. R's room faces the backyard and we have an above ground pool with a deck and then behind our yard is this wooded area with a little branch of the river running through it. So R happens to look out the back window and he says "Hey, what's Daddy doing back by the pool?" I think I sort of growled at him to let Daddy do what he's doing and that he should be staying focused on what we were doing. I sent him downstairs to take out a bag of the stuff we were throwing out and when he got down there, G said "Hey R, come out here quick!" So of course he went outside, and I'm sitting there waiting for him, getting aggravated because I thought the kid jumped ship on me and then G calls up to me "Kim, hurry up and come out here!"

I go out there and there is a huge hawk sitting on a dead branch in the wooded area behind the house. It seems it had swooped down and grabbed a squirrel and flown back up again, nearly knocking my beloved off of the ladder. It went to a tree behind the house, and of course G ran for the camera and started snapping away while the hawk enjoyed its snack. I'm posting the least gross of the pictures, but this hawk was terribly obliging, because it actually took it's meal (aka victim) to a closer branch after awhile, so G was able to take even better pictures. Oh, and btw, I figured out how to post pictures so that if you click on them in the post they will enlarge for you, and with these I recommend that you do that, they really are quite something. To get an idea of the size of how big the hawk was, click on the photo below to enlarge it. A Blue Jay landed on the branch just below it, and you can use it as a reference. That hawk was huge!

So, it was a very eventful afternoon. We did eventually get R's new bed put in and he slept there quite snugly. As to our "visitor" thank Heaven G saw it coming toward him, or instead of running out to look at a hawk I'd have been calling 911. And to whatever hawks might be reading this, I've had enough visits for awhile and I'll happily wait to see you soaring in the sky on our way to camp next spring.

Like Sands Through The Hourglass...

2006-11-09T17:16:00.000-05:00

I'm typing this actually from G's laptop (his laptop computer, I'm not actually sitting on his lap)because he started playing an online game called World of Warcraft with some of his friends, and now I'm lucky to get a minute to check my email and check for comments on here. Occasionally I get to run past Jenny's or Spanky's sites, and drop them a note saying I was there. It wasn't a big deal while I was sick, but now that I'm feeling better, I've been waiting my chance and it seems like it never comes so I decided to steal his laptop and get busy. I am feeling lots better in general, but I'm still a little run down, so I've been falling asleep fairly early.

Anyway, while I was sick, I was able to have alot of tv time, so I spent it getting caught up on episodes of Days of Our Lives... I love that show, but I rarely get time to watch it, so I dvr it and for awhile our hard drive was nearly full, and I had about three months worth of episodes to watch. So I started watching them and as of today I'm all caught up!!! Of course last week I did have a really crazy dream. It didn't have any of the Days characters, but it did involve disappearances, faked deaths and memory erasure, and I'm sure any of you whose ever watched the show would agree, that subject matter had DiMera Plot written all over it. But it was a really cool dream. It was one of those dreams where you watch it like it's a movie and you know the whole time that it's a dream, although the "you" in the dream doesn't know it's a dream. But it really was cool, and I was very very upset when I was awakened by a certain 10-year-old boy just as it got to the very cool resolution. Anyway I guess it was the combination of the cold meds and watching so many episodes in a row, but it was a really great dream.

On the reality front, I'm currently looking for a part-time job. I'm still at Gymboree and have no plans of leaving there, but I need to make a bit more money, and although there are hours available at Gymboree, they aren't available at times when I have someone available to look after K, so I've been looking for something part-time and retailish. Which is why AvaKimmy is all dressed up to go on an interview, but is standing in the mall parking lot. I'm actually trying to avoid the mall. At Christmastime, it's so impossible to park that by the time you find a spot and get to your store, you feel like you've done a full days work. Anyway, there are some little shopping centers in the next town, and I think I'm going to try to get something in one of those stores.

Anyway, I have a very very cranky, tired little girl here, so I'd better go see what I can do for her. She feel asleep in the car between my mom's house and here (literally 4 blocks away) and then curled up under the computer desk and went right back to sleep. I told R to practice his saxophone before he started playing video games and she started freaking out. G made her go upstairs, till she calmed down, but she's still pretty upset, so I'd better go see what I can do for her.

TTFN

Under the Weather

2006-11-02T09:24:00.000-05:00

Hi again everyone. This will be brief, I think, because right now my head feels like it's going to explode. R came down with a sore throat and he toughed it out through a marathon day of Trick or Treating on Tuesday. He stayed home from school with it on Wednesday, and that afternoon, I started sneezing and I've been a mess ever since. I really feel awful, so I'm going to get my little girl fed, then I'm going to try to get some rest... not easy to do while caring for a three year old.

"Hello, Little Girl!!!"

2006-10-25T10:39:00.000-05:00

Camping season has now officially ended. G went up last weekend while I was up at the Cape and got everything closed/covered up tight for the Winter. The sheets of plywood are on the roof to protect against falling branches and the tarp is covering the trailer and secured tightly with bungee cords. Inside the water has been completely pumped from the lines and antifreeze has been run through the lines to keep them from freezing. Everything inside has been covered with plastic dropcloths, and all the towels/sheets etc. which weren't brought home have been packed into space bags and stowed in the various storage compartments inside the trailer. Of course all the food has been removed and I honestly think we have enough bags of chips and cans of soup and Chef Boyardee pasta to live through the Winter on. We've also removed all liquids, our neighbors told us you'd be surprised at what will freeze.

So that's all done, but I did save a few pictures I took up there a few weeks ago. Seems there was this little girl skipping around the mountain wearing a red hooded cape. She was happy as could be till a wolf started following her around, and I assure you, he was definitely of the "Big Bad" variety.

We've wanted the kids to do costumes that went together for Halloween, but with their age difference it was tricky coming up with something. Then one day I was reading K the story of Red Riding Hood, and she said "Can I be her for Halloween?"
I told her she could, and R, who was nearby, said "Well, I'd be the wolf, as long as it was a cool wolf costume." So anyway, we found a cool wolf costume at Target of all places, and K's was custom made by a woman on eBay, and I can't believe the beautiful work she did. I got it uber fast too..., especially since she didn't start making it till I emailed her with the size, and I had it within five days after sending that email. Anyway, she has alot of costumes and I think I'll order from her in the future. If anyone is interested in checking out her eBay store, email me, as I don't want to post it here.

Anyway I thought, in light of what their costumes are, I thought it might be fun to have a photo session up on the mountain, so a few weeks ago we did one. I hope you enjoy the results. The kids really had a fun time posing and really played their parts well.

Alright, I guess that's it for this trip into Storybookland.... Later!

Home Again!!!

2006-10-24T13:23:00.000-05:00

There were so many titles I thought of using for this post, but I guess this one says it best. In case you're just tuning in to my blog, I just returned from attending a Scrapbooking Retreat up on Cape Cod. It was the first time I went to a retreat, and let me just say, it was a blast. If you are into cropping and haven't been to one, you should. The tables were set up so we could crop all weekend long, all night long if we chose to, which incidentally, I did. I met alot of really nice girls, and got so much done. I mean, a whole weekend to crop and not to have any responsibilities to take care of. They even had a masuese come to give us massages if we wanted them! I didn't do that because I tend to find them painful, but Jenny had one and said it was great. There was a store there selling supplies, so if you needed something, you just had to walk ten feet and buy it. At one point I was blank as to an idea for a layout and I went over to the store and found some paper I liked and came up with an idea, and that is now one of the best pages in K's book. I did for the most part finish it up there. I cropped thirty pages, and most of them are among the best work I've done. I'll be posting some of the pages I think. I also took classes that Jenny taught and learned how to do altered clipboards and a really cool layout using patterned papers and chipboard alphabet letters. She has them posted on her blog if you want to check it out, use the link on the sidebar for "Crops-A-Lot".

The best part of all, of course, was seeing Jenny and (for a little while) her family. I've always loved her kids because they're hers, even though I hadn't met the boys at all and hadn't seen her daughter in so many (too many) years. Now, I love them all because in the short time I was with them, I fell in love with them. They are just such great kids. And A & M, if Mom reads this to you, remember my promise, I will see you soon. As to seeing Jenny herself, it's so great to have friends with whom the bond is so strong you can actually go years without seeing them and yet the friendship never fades away. I've been blessed to have a few friends like that, but Jen is the one I grew up with (since we were three).

Anyway, it was a great time. The food could've been better, and I don't know how I survived on so little sleep, but it was still so great. I won two prizes... One for traveling the farthest distance (from NJ to the Cape) and one for staying up the longest to crop. Since I've been home, I've been going through withdrawals.
I dreamed I came home and Gabe said he had a surprise for me and he took me up to our attic and there was the cropping room from the retreat, complete with the store and everything! What can I say? I dream big!

The pictures are, obviously from the retreat. One of our table of crazy people, and one of the beautiful view from the balcony of the cropping room! I'll post some of my pages that I did up there soon, but I wanted to get this posted. Okay, I'm off to AC Moore!

Stay Tuned (or check back periodically)

2006-10-12T22:08:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to let everyone know I'll be gone for a little while. Tomorrow we leave for the last camping trip of the year, then on Thursday, I'm traveling up to a cropping retreat on Cape Cod. I still have so much to do to get ready with the projects I plan to work on there, and I need to take the time to do that, so between all I have to do, I think it's safe to say I won't be blogging for a little while.

When I come back I know I'll have lots to say and show you. Hopefully my ABC book will be completed up there, as well as a present for R. Anyway, I'm really beat and I still have lots to do before tomorrow to get ready for camp. How does that line go? Oh yeah... "And miles to go before I sleep" (story of my life) ;)

Take care....

My Baby Is Turning 10 !!!!!!

2006-10-04T23:14:00.000-05:00

The other day, my darling son, who's always been off the charts for his height, said to me in complete seriousness, "I guess I'll be able to get my driver's license in a couple of years." I was taken sort of aback, but really wanted to hear the logic behind this thought. There's always logic where R is concerned, even if it's sort of twisted around a bit. So I asked, "Why do you say that?" So he gave his very simple, logical answer. "Well, I'm so tall for my age, how are they going to know I'm not old enough? They'll never know the difference." He was disappointed to hear that you actually have to show proof of age (17 here) in order to obtain said driver's license. He really truly believed that he'd be able to get it sooner simply because he's tall. But I guess I understand where it came from. His whole life, people have always assumed R is older than he is, which can at times cause some amount of trouble. I mean, the fact is, you can't expect a child to be able to behave the way an older child would, even though his height makes him appear to be older. But since it seems people have always mistaken him to be older, I guess he wanted to use it to his advantage. Smart kid, he just wasn't counting on the proof of age requirement.

I don't really know who said it was alright for time to go by so quickly, but my darling boy is about to celebrate his tenth birthday. We're taking a long weekend up at the camper to celebrate, he decided to skip the whole big party thing this year and just let us give him the money we would've spent on the party. Again, smart kid, right? But honestly, I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around this whole "ten" thing. I think it's been harder for me to take than any of my own birthdays have been (and I'm now officially waaay past the age I once considered old).

Anyway, I've told you all about my campin man, G, and about Princess K, and since his birthday was coming up, I saved telling you about R till now. He's a great kid. Being his mom has always been a bit of an adventure. I remember once when we went to visit the mausoleum where my grandmother is interred. My sister-in-law, Patty, and my mom's boyfriend, Ed, took R for a walk so my mom and brother and I could have a minute alone there (it was our first visit after the funeral). Anyway, as we'd walked into the building, I noticed that one of the floor level crypts was open, and the chapel had been prepared for a funeral service. Anyway, Patty and Ed came back with R after a few minutes and had these really funny looks on their faces. Used to the way things worked with my boy, even then (he was about sixteen months old at that point) I asked "What happened?" Patty wouldn't tell me. She just said "Kim, you really don't want to know." That was all she needed to say, because I know my boy, and I guessed. "He climbed into that open crypt back there didn't he!" Well, yeah, he did. Like I said, it's always an adventure.

When I was pregnant with Princess K, I had some serious blood pressure issues and was put on bedrest. After a while, my blood pressure had stabilized enough so that the doctor lifted the strict bedrest order and said I could be up and about for short periods as long as I was careful not to overdo it and stress myself out. I was so incredibly bored by then, and also fretting about not having bought anything for the new baby yet, so one day I picked R up from school (he was in Kindergarten) and went to Walmart. I was looking at the baby clothes and he wanted to look at some kid's sunglasses on display on the other side of the aisle. I told him to go ahead, but to stay there or come right back to me. In other words, I told him not to wander off. Well, guess what he did. So I'm looking at the baby stuff and I look up and he's not there, and he's not next to me either and I looked up and down the aisle and he wasn't in either direction. So I started calling him and walking toward customer service. I saw a girl who worked there and asked if she'd seen him and she took me to customer service. I have to say, you can say what you want about Walmart's customer service and all that, but in this instance they were great. She took me strait to the counter (no line waiting) and told the one in charge there what was going on. Within a minute, they had the store in lockdown. If someone had taken my boy they weren't going to get out of the store with him. Additionally, they had every employee who wasn't currently busy on the registers search for him. They found him, within six minutes he was back in my arms. It seems something in the display next to the sunglasses caught his eye, then something in the one next to that and the one next to that and soon, without realizing he was doing it, he'd wandered away. I walked in the opposite direction that he'd gone, which is why I didn't find him myself. Anyway, they found him in the bike department, trying to pull down a bike off the display. He'd realized he was separated from me and thought he'd find me faster riding a bike. (I told you he is a logical thinker!) I asked him why he didn't go straight to one of the people who work there, as I'd coached him to do about a thousand times and he stuck to his point that he found this bike and thought he'd find me faster that way. I personally think he just wanted an excuse to ride the bike. Anyway, thank God it ended well, but so much for staying stress free. After that ordeal, I happily went back to my bedrest till K was born.

That wasn't the first time I lost him, though. When he was two and a half he got out of the house alone (G thought I had him and I thought G had him and he went out the front door unnoticed by either of us). G found him as I was on the phone with the 911 operator describing him and what he was wearing. He "decided to take a little walk around the block" and was jumping in puddles. He observed the rules, he didn't cross the street or anything, he just walked around the block. Of course, we'd never told him not to leave the house by himself, so as far as he knew, he wasn't doing anything wrong. I mean really, who thinks their two year old is going to even have a chance to leave the house alone, and we were always on top of him. That one was as much our fault as it was his, but like I said, it's an adventure.

Since those days when he was little, so much time has past, but he's still the same great kid. When he was little he was a Thomas the Tank Engine fan, now he loves reading, especially Harry Potter, who, coincidentally, he rather resembles. We dressed him up as Harry one year for Halloween, and he just looked so great.

He also loves stories about dragons and knights. We've done both the NY Renaissance Fair and Medieval Times a few times each and he's loved every minute of them. This past summer, he and I read one of my all time favorite books, Stephen King's Eyes of the Dragon" together, and he really loved it. If you haven't read it, you should. It isn't really scary, although some parts of it are a bit on the creepy side. (I believe I read once that Stephen King wrote it for his 13 year old daughter because his other books were too scary for her liking). If you are a Potter fan, I think you'd probably enjoy it a lot. Anyway, reading that together was a real treat for both of us.

He's played on the P.A.L. Baseball league in town every spring since he was five and I have to admit, he's turned me into a baseball fan. Those of you who know me personally know what a feat that was. Oh, and the new song on the blog is dedicated to him. Listen to the words to it once all the way through, it's really something.

Also, as you probably guessed R is quite the campin guy himself. What you might not realize is that he's practically grown up on our mountain. We started camping there before his second birthday and have been there for at least a couple trips every camping season since. He loves fishing. His dad and Papa used to take him when he was little, now his Dad takes him to the lake near the campgrounds, which is always a lot of fun for them.

I don't mean to say he's perfect. He's far from it.... he sometimes has an incredibly fresh mouth, he breaks into a rash if you mention cleaning up his room and last year he was a bit lazy about his school work, although thankfully so far this year, that has greatly improved. He's convinced I love his sister more than I love him. I wish I knew what to say to make him understand that although, yes, I adore his sister, I couldn't love her more than him, because it's impossible to love someone more than I love him. Yes, I love her just as much, but as much as and more than are two different things. Anyway, he's got a heart of gold, he's so incredibly smart and he's got this insane sense of humor (at least when he's not trying very hard to be funny. When he tries hard he over-does it). He loves antagonizing his little sister, but he also loves her, and I know he'd protect her to his last breath if he had to.

Anyway, forgive me for rambling on about my boy. It's just that as he gets older, he seems to think that because I don't baby him and mush him as much as I used to, it must mean that I don't love him as much as I used to. I needed to show him in a very big way just how much he means to me. He is absolutely, my pride, my joy and my heart.

So happy birthday, Buddy. I can't tell you how much I've loved sharing your first decade on the planet with you, and how much I'm looking forward to the next one and beyond.

Little House On The Mountain

2006-09-26T18:05:00.000-05:00

Okay, imagine this, you turn on your television flip channels for a few seconds when your attention is caught by the image of a dirt road that curves through a field, where several deer are grazing. They stop and look up, but do not run away. The picture then rolls along following the road which continues across the field to where it enters the woods. It's darker in here, but still beautiful, with trees that seem to reach the sky, and the camera continues to follow the road which begins to climb a hill. Soon, the camera turns a corner and begins to climb another, steeper stretch of road. Finally you come to a place with a bit of a clearing from the trees, and at the top of another hill sits a beautiful 30 foot trailer. The door is open, and through the screen door you see two beautiful children, a boy of about ten years old and a girl of about three and a half, smiling a greeting through the door. They open the door, and the show begins.

Alright, alright, so it's not the opening sequence for one of the shows in the new fall television line up, but it sounds like it'd be a good one. What it is, however is a description of the road from the entrance to our campgrounds to our site, which now boasts our new trailer. I have to say, it really is so wonderful to have so much space, and it's so beautiful inside. I admit, it felt a little like staying in a hotel, something that you enjoy, but it still feels a little strange because it's not a place your used to being, but that feeling will go away, I'm sure, as we get used to it. I mean, so far the kids and I have only spent one night in it, for Heaven's sakes. But we really had a great time last week, I can't get over how easy everything is. I mean, closing up for the week used to be such a chore, but now, with this trailer, it's a matter of turning off the water connection (I know how to do that now heheheheh), turning off the water heater, turning off the lights and locking the door.

Which means, opening it for the weekend is that easy too, just reverse those processes. The fan, heat, and A/C controls are on a panel on the wall. I have a double sink in the kitchen which makes doing dishes a lot easier, and a stove with an oven inside the trailer, which opens a whole realm of possibilities for meals and desserts. I know I mentioned the amount of space already, but I put so much stuff away on Saturday, and there's still a ton of space left over. That's quite a treat for a mom who's family has outgrown their house and who has trouble at home finding a place to put things, simply because there's just no more room.

With this trailer we also have more sleeping space, which means, there's room for an occasional overnight guest. My mom is actually joining us this weekend, and she's never stayed over night before. I think the pop-up was too much like a tent for her, and Mom is definitely not a camper. The kids are real excited that she'll be joining us.

I'm so sorry it took so long to get this post up. I've had a crazy week, my house is a wreck, and I think my DH is reaching the point of getting mad when I blog when the house is a wreck. And honestly, I could go on about the trailer all day, so to keep from boring you, I'll stop myself now. I wanted to get the pictures posted, as promised, before Spanky calls and yells at me again to get them posted.

Before I go though I want to thank everyone who contributed original haiku's to the comments on the "poetry" post. Such wonderful, poetic, strolls down memory lane. Keep them coming, I love them.

Anyway, your all welcome to come see our new digs sometime soon. ;)

AvaKimmy Isn't Sad Anymore

2006-09-23T13:28:00.000-05:00

We're officially on our way. I'll be posting pictures of our new digs later!!!!!

TTFN

I'm surrounded by poets!!!

2006-09-22T21:44:00.000-05:00

As you can see from AvaKimmy's facial expression, attire and surroundings, I'm not overly happy to be at home this evening. I'd much prefer to be up at camp right now, but I have to work tomorrow, and gas prices being what they are, I felt it was better to stay home tonight and go up right after I get done tomorrow, rather than to drive back and forth again. So AvaKimmy is a bit sad tonight, but she'll be fine tomorrow afternoon, so don't worry about her.

Anyway, for your reading enjoyment, I was originally going to post the text to my ABC book for K, but decided against that. Maybe later, after it's all put together, but not yet. For now, though, it's been so much fun remembering times during our childhood, especially things that Jenny and my brother have brought up lately, and since I've been inspired by their poetry, Here are a couple of my own. The first is by special request of my brother, who came up with the idea to go on a camping trip years and years ago, and G and I, though a bit unsure of what we were doing or whether we'd like it, followed along and the three of us went on an excursion to the sporting goods store and spent I don't' even know how much money on camping supplies. So, this tribute Haiku is for my brother, who started it all.

"Let us camp," he said
"We'll have fun among nature"
So we bought a tent

Many years later
We're eternally grateful
For his suggestion

I'm not sure if that is everything a Haiku should be, but it does follow the 5-7-5 rule.

Okay, here's another, for all of you who mean so much to me

Fond memories shared
With friends who are family
Bring back childhood's joy

And now one final one

Off and running now
A busy day awaits me
At it's end, away

No more poems now
Must finish packing, then, teach
The new trailer waits

~Hugs ;)

Changes On The Wind

2006-09-14T21:25:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, some noticeable changes began up at our Mountain Paradise, and I'm not strictly referring to the colors of the leaves. Also, it was an extremely busy weekend, filled with packing up, taking out, cleaning up and breaking down the trailer. Maybe it seems a bit early for that, seeing as the season doesn't end till nearly the end of next month, however, it really isn't early, because...

WE BOUGHT A NEW TRAILER!!!!!!
Okay, so it's not really a new one, it's used, a 2003 model, but it's new to us. I'll wait for next Monday to show it off to you, because it is being delivered to the campsite on Wednesday, and believe me I'll be taking lots of shots of it when we go up on Saturday. I really can't tell you how excited we all are. As I said above, it was really an exhaustingly busy weekend, but we got alot done, and got the pop-up cleaned out and towed out and dropped it off at the dealer last night. So our site went through some big changes. On Saturday, I helped G take down the carport we had covering the pop-up to give us added protection from the rain then took the kids out to lunch and shopping for a couple hours while he carefully disassembled our deck (so he can build a new one using the same boards)then cleaned the outside of the pop-up so it would be all shiny and nice.

Then, on Sunday, I had the pleasure of emptying out and cleaning the inside of the trailer. The emptying part wasn't too bad, although it would've gone more smoothly if my boy would've been a little more helpful, but what can you do. I guess it means he's a nearly ten years old. Cleaning was abominable, because it was hot inside the trailer, and it was just such a lot of work to do. I had to vaccuum down the whole trailer, the bunks, the insides of cabinets, everything. The vaccuum cleaner tore a hole in the mattress cover on the kids' bunk, and then when I had it on top of the counter top to help me reach the rest of their mattress, it fell off onto my leg and the brush gave me a horrible rug burn type thing on my leg that was all seeping and oozing and all that gross stuff (like a big blister with the top ripped off of it). At that point I broke down in tears, because the hole in the mattress cover (and G's reaction to it) and the hole in my leg happened within 10 minutes of each other, and I just couldn't handle it. I just said "I just don't know what I'm doing!" and broke down crying. At that moment, my darling friend Lisa from across the road came into the trailer. She saw I was crying and just said "What happend?" So, I swallowed back my tears and told her about the hole in the mattress cover and that G was upset (he didn't yell or anything, but I knew he was upset) and I told her about the vaccuum shredding me up and I showed it to her. So, she took charge of things. She told me not to worry about the rip in the mattress cover, because the dealer would probably be replacing that anyway. Then she very calmly told my son to go find the first aid kit, and she sat there and fixed up my injured leg as if I was four years old, which, at that moment, was exactly what I needed someone to do. She even blew on it when she cleaned it out so it wouldn't sting. Then she showed me the reason she'd stopped by. She had bought me some beautiful Jolee's stickers of trailers, one of which looks alot like our new one. She hugged me and said she'd be back to help me later and went outside to where G was watching the football game. She's an Eagles fan, and G has loved the Giants since I've known him. She asked if he wanted some company, and they watched the game together and he got all in a good mood from having someone to watch with and also because the Giants came back to win it, and then when the game was over, Lisa came back inside by me and said, "Okay, let's get this done." She helped me get everything finished till it was all shiny and ready to go. She's such a great friend, and both she and her husband, Tim, have been such a huge help to us up there. I don't know what we'd do without either of them.

So when Lisa and I were done with the cleaning, G started to close it up. We did have one more injury at that point because as G was pushing the bunks into the main part of the trailer in order to close it up, R decided to go inside and got his arm pinched when the bunk was pushed into it. G was pushing from the side, and the door is on the front, so he didn't know R had gone in. He pushed it in and R yells "Dad! Pull it back out! Pull it back out!!!" G said "Why?" R said "Because my arm is stuck in it!" Arrrgh! It looked painful (as I'm sure it was) but once we got home and the pinched up skin had smoothed itself back out, there was only a tiny scrape, so it was really no big deal.

Anyway, after the weekend of blood, sweat, and tears, we dropped it off Sunday night at the dealer and Monday G went back to the dealer and signed all the papers. They're still giving us the amount they said they would for the trade in, so I guess Lisa was right about the hole in the mattress not mattering. Sorry for the lack of photos, I promise I'll have bunches of them after next week, but I figured I'd better get this up here. There are, after all a few people who weren't told yet what we bought. But anyway, if you guessed a new trailer, you guessed right! Stay tuned till next time!

I Love This Song!!!!!!!!!

2006-09-14T08:15:00.000-05:00

Hey are you proud of me or what?! I not only figured out how to post AvaKimmy all by myself, I also taught myself how to make my blog sing! As I said in the title of this post, I do love this song, it's one of my favorites. If you don't happen to be a fan of it, scroll down to the very bottom of my page where the video is playing and click on the square stop button to turn it off. Of course, if you do like it, watch the video, it's pretty cool.

Anyway, enjoy it. And don't forget to comment and try to guess what we bought!

You Bought A What????!!!!!

2006-09-13T20:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was G's birthday. He took the day off, and we went out shopping. Believe it or not, we made a purchase, something we've both been really longing for, and we got a really good deal.

I'm noticing that none of you ever seems to post comments, the exeptions being Dawn, Jenny and my new friend Spincerely. C'mon guys you're making them do all the work to make this fun for me. It's free to sign up for an account, and no, you do not have to create a blog of your own to be able to post comments. The comments are half the fun of blogging, for me and for you, so in an effort to get you post comments, I've decided to give you a challenge. Jen is running a guessing game of sorts on her blog right now and I think I will too, just to see if I can get you to post comments.

So, the challenge is, can you guess what it is that we bought? If you are among the handful of people whom I've already told, you can comment (please do), but don't give away the answer please. If you think about it, it shouldn't be too hard to guess.

Also, check out my lovely Avatar. Her name is AvaKimmy and she's my very own alter-ego. I'm working on making my site sing, the way Jenny's does (sorry to be a copycat, Jen. Look at it as you're being my inspiration.) ;) I'm just excited that I figured out how to post her without your help.

Bookcases, Bowling Balls and Nasty People, OH MY!!!!!

2006-09-11T22:16:00.000-05:00

Arrrgh!!!! I've just had the most aggravating day in the history of the world. Well, probably not really the most, because a lot of days can be pretty aggravating. But it was really a bad one. I do have to say that even though the title talks about nasty "people", I really only encountered one of those today, when I was at work. I guess it really should read "A Nasty Person" but that didn't seem to pack the same punch as the plural did. And as a bit of a disclaimer here, I need you all to understand that even though my mother does enter into the story at one point and she was the indirect cause of a bit of the aggravation, I need you all to know that I do not mean to insinuate that she is nasty. I mean, sure she can be, but don't we all have our moments? I can't think of anyone I know who doesn't have the capacity to get testy now and again. (See Jen, it's okay to be grouchy sometimes.) But the point I'm trying to make here is that the woman you see in this picture with my beautiful offspring number two, is absolutely not the nasty person referred to in the title of this post. Are we all clear on that? Yes? Good. Alright, here we go:

Today my Art classes at work began and when the time for the last class came, a woman walked in who gave new meaning to the word nasty. All she did was rant and rave at me because her kid was the only one there, and why hadn't I called to tell her that he was the only one. I tried explaining that he wasn't the only one enrolled, and that our enrollment doesn't close when classes start, that we take registrations continually throughout the session so more kids may yet enroll, but she wouldn't let me finish a sentence before she was off and ranting again. Anyway, she stormed out, dragging her little boy with her, and I assure you that he wanted to stay, the poor kid. So, my darling boss, who's also one of my very dear friends came in and I told her all about it and she made me feel better about it. I really didn't want to be that woman's kid's teacher anyway if she was going to be like that. Turns out, she had tried our program out last spring and pulled a similar thing, demanding a refund. So whatever. It's her loss. Her kid's loss too, actually, but that's her fault, not mine.

So my workday ended and I went to pick up my mom and K because I had promised to take my mom, who doesn't drive, to run some errands. We went to the bank and the post office, then picked up my son at school and headed out shopping for a bookcase for my mother. We went to a store not too far away. I actually thought of going to another location of the same store that I like a bit better, but decided to go to the closer one, figuring that whatever one would have they all would have. Well, she did actually find a bookcase she liked rather quickly, but of course, it wasn't in stock. She asked one of the people that worked there if they had it and he said no, but to check with customer service as they could check nearby store's inventories to find out which stores had it. So she did that, and they said that the location I'd thought briefly of going to did, in fact, have it in stock. Mom said she'd like to go get it, and I was going to give G a call while we were in the parking lot and tell him what I was doing, but by then it was nearly 5:30 and I told her that I was tired and wanted to get home to see G before he left for bowling but I'd be happy to take her tomorrow. She seemed like that was fine, although she didn't say anything, but when I was nearly home she said "I can't go tomorrow, I'm on the senior bus, so unless we can go first thing in the morning so I'm back for 11, I can't go." I had planned to get my car tuned up tomorrow, so I said "Okay, let's just go now, then, because I can't do the morning." I did sort of wish she'd told me before I'd left the parking lot of the first store, because my handsfree set for my cell is broken and once I'd left the parking lot, I couldn't call G, as I was driving. But I figured, he's going out, and I spoke with him earlier, so it's no big deal to go get this bookcase now.

This other store is about a fifteen minute ride from the one we'd been at and due to the hour, we hit traffic, so it ended up being closer to a twenty minute ride. So we went inside and found the bookcase, which was, in fact, in stock, and just then my cell phone rang. G said "Where are you?" I explained where I was. He said "Hon, you've gotta come back, my bowling bag is in your car and I'm supposed to start bowling in ten minutes!" I said, "I'll be right there!!!"So I left my son and mother at the store, raced to the bowling ally, which seemed to take forever, to bring him his ball and shoes, then flew back there to pick up mom and R. That was a pain, but the bookcase was heavy and bulky and wouldn't fit in the cart, so we had to wait so someone could bring it up to the front of the store for us, and there just wasn't time for that. I suspect he missed out on warming up as it was, but I know I was there before 6:30 and that is when warm-ups end and play begins, so I guess he wasn't really late after all. Anyway, my mom called later to let me know that the bookcase is perfect and she thanked me profusely for doing all that running so she could get it, and as you can probably guess, I'm really, really wiped out by now. But I'll leave you with this shot of my princess. She can always bring a smile even on my worst day. And the best part of all is, now this awful day is officially over and I can go to bed. Nite-Nite! ;)

Reflections on life with a camping man

2006-09-09T10:05:00.000-05:00

Alright, another Sunday, another camping trip finished. This week we did have a bit of an exciting start to our trip. First of all, by some small miracle we got out of here by 4 pm on Friday and arrived at our mountain paradise a little past 5, so that was great. The love of my life was on the cell with his buddy and ended the call because he needed to try to fix the leak he'd discovered as we packed up to leave last weekend and wanted to get it done before dark.

Now let me qualify here for a moment, by saying that, while I do my fair share in taking care of all the laundry before and after each trip, doing the dishes while up there (I have a lot of modern conveniences up there, but they don't include a dishwasher), making sure the bunks have proper (and clean) bedding and keeping the trailer straitened up and making sure the kids are clean, I do have to admit that my dh does pretty much everything else as far as chores when we are there. In a trailer, among many other things, this includes lighting the water heater so I have hot water to do my dishes with, and making sure the water and electrical hookups are indeed hooked up. Let me also say that in the year+ that we've had the campsite, I have never, for any reason had to do anything involving the water hookup. That said, I can proceed in telling my story.

So, as I said, when we arrived, G immediately set about trying to track down the source of the leak and I kept the kids and the dog outside so they wouldn't be in his way. Well, I was sitting at the picnic table reading a magazine, Princess K was playing on the swingset and R was playing with the dog when all of a sudden I hear this sound of water gushing (not running mind you; gushing) and G starts yelling "TURN THE WATER OFF!!!!!!" "Where?" I called back. He said "Where the line connects to the hookup!" Huh? I had NO CLUE where he meant. So I said "Where is that?" Well, he lost it. He ran outside and turned the water off, and I must say he really did look pretty funny because he was dripping wet, all red in the face, muttering amidst a myriad of swear words "How long have we been campin here that none of you know where the *&%$# water connection is? We've got six *&%$# inches of *&%$# water in the trailer!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I have to say I felt really bad, because it seems like I should've known where the water connection was. But at the same time, as I said, I don't ever do anything involving the water connection, so how could I have known? But G is a good guy, and later on he actually apologized to me for getting so mad. He said "It's just that I was standing there, and the water was gushing out of two different places and I was trying to keep both of them covered with my hands to keep it from coming out and I had to let go to come out and turn off the water." Then, we laughed about it, because the mental picture of him trying to keep water from gushing out with only his hands really is rather funny. Sort of like the old story of the little boy who stuck his finger into the hole in the dam to keep it from flooding his village. And really, it wasn't as bad as "six *&%$# inches of water in the trailer". What water there was, was pretty much limited to the shower area, and so even though our bunk got splashed a bit, most of the water was contained and drained out easily enough.

Anyway, though, we had a good laugh about it. We really do have a lot of fun up there, and this season especially has brought us really close together. And see, I did find a picture of myself...Albeit an old one, but it is a picture of me, and a camping picture at that. I definitely need to get my butt on a diet, because looking at all these old pictures I was just digging through, it seems like as we age, the better G looks and the worse I look. But, I'm working on that too. I think I'm going to try the Special K challenge... It even has my initial in it. I've heard it can work, so maybe I'll give it a shot. Of course dieting would be easier if he wasn't such a damn good cook.

So, I guess I'll end this here, with a picture of G in his "happy place", which basically means on our mountain with a cold beer in his hand next to a roaring fire. This shot is another "oldie" so it isn't at our site, but it is, in fact, on our mountain, from the days when we used to tent camp. I hope you've all enjoyed this glimpse into my weekends away. If you can join us some weekend, let me know. ;)

A bit of help, please....

2006-09-06T09:21:00.000-05:00

This weekend, once we'd cleaned up from the fall out from the storm, I had a chance to sit down and begin planning on a cropping project I'm planning to work on when I go on my retreat in October. My little one is absolutely gaga over the Disney Princesses, and I thought I'd make her a Princess ABC book. I've got all sorts of great stickers and paper and even a Princess album to put it in. But I figured, being a book, as opposed to a scrapbook in which I would journal, it might be wise to get the text (which will rhyme) written and printed out ahead of time. It is rather a big project and if I'm to have any hope of finishing it that weekend, I need to have as much of the prep work done as possible. That means, poems written for each letter, pictures chosen and ready to go for each page, and layouts decided upon. I really did pretty well too. I got most of the little poems written. They might be a bit corny, but hey, they are being written for a three year old, after all.

So here's where my request for help comes into play. As I said, I did pretty well coming up with "princessy" words to begin with each letter, but, there are a few I just went blank on. I still need some words for the letters "I", "J", "N", "R", "T", "X" and (of course) "Z". I would appreciate anything you can come up with. They don't have to be babyish words, as she really has quite a vocabulary. Just as long as they are, well, princessy. I'll handle doing the poems, I just need some help coming up with the words themselves. To give you an idea of what I'm doing, for example, for the letter "E" I came up with "enchantment", "excitement", and "eyes". So the way the poem worked out was: "E is for enchantment, where all magic lies; E is for excitement shining in your eyes". For H all I came up with was happy, so I wrote: "H is for hapiness, as happy can be, a princess lives happily ever after, you see." I guess you get the idea. Anyway, if anyone out there can come up with any ideas for me, that'd be great. Thanks alot.

Things You Should NEVER Do On A Camping Trip

2006-09-05T21:02:00.000-05:00

Alright, I figured, in light of the name of my blog, it's about time to have a post that's actually about camping. I took a few days last week and practiced preparing and posting pictures and after a couple phone call lessons from my dear friend, Jen, I managed to be able to post a few, along with this list of things you should never do when camping.

If at all possible, try to avoid camping when a tropical storm is ripping it's way through your area. It makes for a very sleepless night, with all the cracking and banging of falling tree limbs, etc.

If you do actually go when said storm is a-blowin, don't be unwilling to assist in clean up efforts afterwards. Instead, try to follow the example of the cheerful young lady in the photo above.

Don't forget to take the time during your trip to check out the local wildlife. It can be really be a thrilling experience, especially to younger members of your group.

And never miss out on the magic of watching them watch the wildlife.

Don't forget that boys will be boys and that some boys (men too) will just need to mess with the campfire, and try to be okay with that. Also, try hard not to freak out when you see a photo of just how close to his shirt said boy decides to hold a flaming stick.

Follow these guidelines, and I'm sure you and your happy campers will all have a wonderful time.

2006-08-28T22:06:00.000-05:00

I have to say this summer seems to have been one of the fastest in history. We did a trip to the beach, a trip to the boardwalk and outside of a whole lot of camping trips, that was pretty much it. I just simply don't know where it went. And you know, the thing is, everywhere you go, people are saying the same thing. I just can't believe how fast it went this year.

We went shopping for school clothes for my son today and actually bumped into his teacher from last year, which was pretty cool. Shopping itself was sort of awful. In the dictionary, under the word torture it should say: v. jean shopping with a nearly ten-year-old boy. I still don't know if we got the right size of anything because after awhile he stopped showing me how they looked, and then flatly refused to try anything else on.

You know, summer vacation really is sort of an enigma, because from probably the middle of March, I so look forward to it, just to be able to have time to really reconnect with my boy. I think of all the fun stuff there is to do in the summer and how great it's going to be, then it gets here and it seems like I spend more time yelling at him to clean his room, practice his sax, do his book reports, stop antagonizing his sister, etc., and so on, than anything else. And all the fun stuff I dream of doing during the Winter doldrums doesn't seem to happen. If we get to the beach once, it's a lot. And the saddest part of all of it is that by the time we get to the last week of summer vacation, I can't wait for school to start, so he'll be out of my hair for part of the day. I wish there was a way to keep the magic of those dreams of summer, and to keep those high hopes of reconnection and then to make them really happen. But there's no point in worrying abou that now. Summer is officially kicked in the pants and it's time to start thinking about Christmas. ;)

Anyway, I guess that's all for now.

A Blog Of My Own

2006-08-28T20:42:00.000-05:00

Alright, I figured I'd try my hand at blogging. Actually, my darling friend Jenny started one, and hers is so cool, I thought I'd give it a go. So, it's just going to be me, babbling observations on my life. I hope you'll leave comments, and I hope you'll find it entertaining enough to stop back and check it out periodically. So, I'm going to try posting this now, and then I'll try to do some more exciting stuff like posting pictures, etc, soon. Anyway, let me know what you think and stop back often.