Success!

Today, I had two major chores on my list: clean out the garage and clean off the pool table. While I certainly didn't get both of them done, I definitely consider today a success. Initially I cleaned out a corner of the garage and reorganized the shelves. I was absolutely shocked to discover that the 72 pints of strawberry jam I put up has been reduced to 15. Fourteen if you don't count the one that got opened today. Apparently I'll need to do that again sometime soonish.

From there, I moved on to the attic. I spent a good portion of today up in the rafters sorting through totes of clothes, marking boxes, consolidating and reorganizing. I was able to move quite a bit of stuff up into the attic, and some stuff (more shorts that actually fit Little Dude) down. After sweating considerably, I moved on to the rest of the garage. While I still have much work left to do in the garage, the fact that the car (for the first time in months) fits back into it's spot in the garage is enough for me to call today a success.

The pool table, however, still needs significant attention. I've been purging pre-school items, consolidating my school collections and streamlining my storage and "treasures." It's an intense process. I did manage to put away 3 boxes from around the pool table in the process of cleaning out the garage, so I believe there is still hope. It's just another one of those big, thankless projects that gets put off far too long.

My motivation for all of this comes in the form of time. I have precisely two and one half weeks until my big trip. While I'm gone, two college age kids will live here. I need to get the house back in order. It was April when the roof leaked and things generally fell apart. It's high time I get my act together and put things back where they belong.

In other news, I may have signed up for the craziest schedule known. Today went something like this:

3:45 drop 1 off to teach karate
3:50 drop 3 & 4 off for swim lessons
4:15 pick up 1 from karate
4:20 pick 3 & 4 up from swim lessons, start them changing
4:30 drop 1 & 2 off for swim lessons, drive like mad to other side of town
4:30ish drop 3 & 4 off for karate
5:00 pick up 1 & 2 from swim lessons (other side of town from karate)
drive back to karate dojo to...
5:30 pick up 3 & 4 and drop off 1 & 2 at karate
run errands
6:30 pick up 1 & 2 from karate

Thursday should be slightly less crazy because Little Miss won't have to teach karate before swim lessons. Wednesday and Friday should be just peachy since no one has karate after swim lessons. There is a reason for all of this madness. Swim lessons for 2 weeks are just $20 for each kid. The times lessons are offered aren't ideal for our schedule, but for $20, I'm willing to go crazy for a couple of weeks. And perhaps by the end of the summer, we'll have 4 strong swimmers instead of 2 1/2. :o)

San Onofre Beach - Camp Pendleton

This weekend was a chance for me to get out of town, out of the house, and out of my routine. It was a wonderful and welcome break from the upheaval of last week, and I'm so grateful we went! When we got there, it was a little overcast, but still beautiful. We set up our tent, arranged our campsite, and then headed down to the beach to play for a bit.


San Onofre Beach - Camp Pendleton, originally uploaded by Miska195.

Later we returned to our campsite for dinner and s'mores. This was the sunet...



Saturday we spent the entire day at the beach. We were briefed by the head life guard about the rip current, the shore characteristics and other safety items. Then we headed out for some boogie boarding. It was a beautiful day and we all had so much fun! Little Dude insisted on trying a bit of boogie boarding. He learned quite quickly that waves bigger than he were not to be trifled with. After being swept away by two consecutive waves, he opted for the safety of burying himself in the sand.





Otherwise, the day was a huge hit with the kids. They all thoroughly enjoyed the day with the rest of our Scout Pack and playing in the ocean for hours and hours. All told, we were in the surf and sand for 8 hours! Little Miss spent the entire day in the water...but then took a two hour nap before dinner, heh. She was exhausted!





I wouldn't mind doing something like this again. It was so much fun, and I even discovered that I really enjoy boogie boarding! I think I'll try a beach with a little less surf next time, so Little Dude can get out without being attacked by the big waves! Maybe the gentle slope of North Island will be a good start. Life is good!

Getting ready

I've been trying to get things organized all week, but have been frustrated by unexpected events popping up. My brother dropped in Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The fence mysteriously showed up a couple of weeks early on Tuesday. And since I'm the sponsor for a Cub Scout camping trip to Camp Pendleton this weekend, I've had to field numerous questions and help people figure out how to open, print, sign and return waivers.

All I want to do is get the garage cleaned out! I don't want to tell people what they should pack for camping. I don't want to plan their meals. I don't want to plan what toys they bring for their kids. Honestly, people! REALLY??? I have 4 kids of my own to figure out these things for. Act like a responsible adult, not like a poor little lamb, bleating and uncertain where to go or what to do! It's camping. You need to eat, sleep and play. Figure out what you need in order to do those three things, and go from there.

I've taken to telling people they should be sure to bring their tent, a sleeping bag and some clothes. Maybe if I'm sarcastic enough, they'll get the idea that I'm simply getting them on base, not volunteering to hold their hand and come pack for them. Sheesh. Anyway, I feel better now that I've aired that little vent. :o)

Today was the last day of this session of swim lessons for the kids. They've been at MCAS Miramar for the last two weeks. Little Miss moved up to Level 4, Monkey Boy will remain at Level 3, Mighty Man passed Level 2 and will join his brother in Level 3, and Little Dude is this close >< to passing Level 1. Yesterday the whole swimming thing clicked for him. He went from blowing bubbles and bobbing, to doing 10 yards of superman kicking followed by 10 yards of kicking with arms (front crawl). It was so cool to see him "get" it out of the blue! The only thing he hasn't mastered quite yet is floating on his back. He can do it, just not quite long enough.

Next week we'll move to the local high school for another 2 weeks of lessons. I'm hopeful that Little Dude will be a bona fide swimmer after that session! It's so nice to see them finally becoming the little fish The Lizard and I have always been. All in good time, though.

Is it too early?

I have a question that has been bouncing around my noggin all day. Is it too early to start a "honey do" list? The Lizard has been gone 3 whole days. There are just a few items I'd like to start with.

• reinstall the downspouts in the back yard
• reinstall the Bose surround sound in the living room
• get a few things down from the attic
• put a few things back up in the attic
• give me a back massage

Normally, I'd throw "do the dishes" on there as well. However, I think I've found an acceptable alternative to having The Lizard do the dishes...have Little Miss do them. She even leaves a comparable amount of dishes out, so it's just like having him home to do dishes. :-)

Today did not go the way I planned at all. I got a phone call while I was out at swim lessons. The fence guy called to let me know the fence was made and maybe they would come to install it today. What he really meant was "the fence is made and my guys are already coring your cement for the install." Yipes!

All in all, the install went well and I like the new gates. We had one installed on each side of the house, to go with all of the back yard construction, new retaining walls and new fences. I'm glad to have that done before leaving. Now we just have a small part of the fence to finish before we have our backyard privacy back. Hurray!

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The rest of today, I decided to hang out inside instead of walking back and forth from the shed to the garage and getting in the way of the fence installation. So I worked on getting the living room back in order and excavating the pool table. April 24 was when our roof leaked and things went crazy inside. I suppose it's time to starting putting things back together! I finally got all of the pictures rehung today. It looks a little less bare in here now. I also went through 4 boxes of stuff and purged a bunch of it. I think there's hope that we may eventually "fit" into the new furniture arrangement. There's been a lot of purging and cleaning going on here recently, and it's very freeing to do that.

Tomorrow I should pack for camping. I should also start preparing for my next belt test. It was supposed to be tonight, but I ended up staying home from karate. Somehow my children seem more important than a belt test. Mighty Man needed some special time to reconnect and find his way back to his "green zone." I'm glad to be able to recognize the need, and put off "important" things for the truly precious and fleeting moments our children desperately need me.

The birds...

So yesterday one of my myriad of errands was to take the two youngest boys to the doctor for their well kiddo checks. Poor Little Dude was accosted by a needle wielding nurse and jabbed 3 times. This morning, I woke up to a pitiful, sobbing little monkey next to my bed. He was warm, uncomfortable and unhappy to be awake. I gave him some motrin and pulled him into bed with me.

Tonight we were talking as I tucked him into bed and learned what woke him up so early. The birds. "Mommy, the birds were making so much noise, it was giving me a headache. They just.wouldn't.be.quiet." I had to laugh. Recently we've been having mocking birds chirping away in the morning. They are rather obnoxiously loud, but it never occurred to me that they might be responsible for waking up my baby!

Right now, I'm on a mission: to clean out the garage. We cleaned out the shed when we had some yard work done. Well, now I want my garage back. I'd like to park the car in the garage again. Which means I need to sort, clean, purge, organize, and otherwise create room for the car. I think I need to make another run to Goodwill. And donate books to the church. And give some clothes away to friends. So much to do, so little time!

The hubby

The hubby, originally uploaded by Miska195.

Just for giggles, I thought I'd post a quick picture of my dearest. This is him at 0530 the morning he flew out...all dressed up and ready to tackle the world.

Day 2?

I think I'll need to stop numbering the days. I've got nearly a billion (give or take) to go. I think I'll stop numbering them so it doesn't seem like so many.

Today was another extremely busy day. I thought I ran just about every errand known to man today. However, I feel compelled to note that Little Miss adeptly pointed out that we simply could not have done that today. After all, we didn't buy a horse, nor hay or a suitable barn in which to house said horse. Therefore, it follows that we did not run every errand known to man. I stand corrected.

I'm starting to stand up, brush off, and get started again. I'm running on a high of energy, fueled by my knowledge of how fast time will pass. Soon, our first trip will be upon us, and ready or not, we're going.

Mid August brings our next karate tournament. Shortly thereafter, I plan to head up to Nevada to visit my parents and brother (with family) for a week. That will be followed by a week or so at Lake Tahoe, followed by a week or so in Lassen, followed by a week or so at Diamond Lake/Crater Lake. Then I'll throw in a wedding for good measure and then head out for the bulk of my trip: Washington, Canada (BC, Manitoba, Saskatchewan), Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and eventually I'll wind up back home.

So before I leave, I've got to get my schooling stuff in order. I'll need to pack for both warm weather and cold weather. And of course, I always bring along a healthy sense of adventure.

The first day...

I decided today needed to be a day that was completely full. Not just busy, but really FULL. I think I succeeded. We started out the day by going to mass at 8:30, which was interesting and different.

It was interesting and different for two reasons. Reason number one: the church is being repainted, so we had mass in the Social Hall. This shouldn't normally be a problem. However, reason number two, today the early mass was packed. And when I say packed, I mean to say that there were no more than 2 seats together anywhere. I guess people were leery of the bona fide summer temperatures we've been having lately, so they all hauled out of bed early for the first mass to beat the heat...which meant the 5 of us had to figure out how to sit in 2 folding chairs. Fortunately, one lady was kind enough to move and let us have 3 chairs together, so with Little Dude happily hanging out in my lap, the other 3 could share 2 chairs.

I guess I should say that the kids are good, but not necessarily angels. I eventually had to send one child to fend for herself and sat between two boys with LD in my lap to prevent the inevitable poking and prodding siblings seem compelled to subject each other to. I'm thankful it was different and an adventure. It was a great way to start off our new year.

The next thing we did was take a 5 mile bike ride. We stopped at a playground about 2/3 of the way through and I let the kids play. We're so fortunate to have the Santee Lakes only two blocks away! Lunch was rather mundane, but afterwards, we played Mario Kart for a bit until it was time for a meeting.

Normally, I don't do a whole lot of "work" on Sunday's. It's my rest day. No laundry, no chores, no housework. I enjoy having one day a week where I don't feel obligated to do anything in particular. However, today's meeting was on a whole different scale...it was the camper meeting for the summer camp LM and MB will attend in 2 weeks. It was fun and the kids ate lots of cookies...I'm pretty sure one had enough to ruin his dinner, which helps explain his mysterious lack of evening appetite.

After our meeting, we headed over to the neighbor's house to cool off in the pool for the rest of the day. It was a good way to wind up a wonderful day. And if the kids don't sleep in tomorrow from all the activity today, I think I'll find another job. I'd like to see my hard work pay off some dividends!

And so the adventure begins...

This morning my loving husband flew to the east coast where he'll commence three weeks of training before heading overseas for a year. To say that last night and this morning were rough would be a tremendous understatement. I don't remember the last time I cried this hard and this long. I'm tired, but this is only the beginning.

The tough part about the next few weeks is his training regimen. It sounds reminiscent of Plebe Summer...no cell phone until after hours, long training days beginning between 4 and 5am and ending between 7 & 9pm, no weekends. It's the way to go with training, IF you're 18 with no family. It's miserable for a family who is used to being able to talk to him after working hours.

So we'll see. Maybe it won't be as bad as it has been made out to be. Maybe we'll be able to text and chat from time to time. Maybe I won't hear from him until his first day off. We just don't know.

Up next: the plan. What I'll do for the next few weeks at home, and then what I plan to do once I leave in mid August. But here's a hint: I'll be packing for both winter and summer!