Daily life.....

Not a whole lot going on, right now. Just a bunch of little things that add up to one's daily life. Work every day. Spelling words at night. Hockey practices, favorite tv shows, and cold weather. Annoyances with my little Sis & niece. Annoyances with dogs, with daughter, with coworkers. Anniversary "celebrated".

The soup didn't turn out very well..... Not horrid, but it certainly didn't look like anything worth taking a picture of. After the stock was done, the meat seperated and poured back into the stock, I added things like tomatoes (a can of chopped), canned corn (didn't have any frozen), a bit of frozen green beans, chopped onion & celery, the leftover mashed potatoes & last bit of gravy, and seasonings. Like Mrs. Dash, and extra chicken buillion, and bay leaves. Then I tossed in some wild rice & some brown rice. Evidently I let it boil too long with the wild rice & brown rice in there because they kinda super-hydrated & exploded & looked rather like maggots. Eeewww! And then I poured in the extra-wide egg noodles. The first night (Saturday), the soup was ok. A little on the bland side, according to DH & DD (they each added a good strong dash of Tabasco sauce), but ok. Popped the covered vat of leftover soup out on the back step to freeze (no room in my fridge). A couple of days later when brought back inside & reheated (Tuesday night), the egg noodles started getting toooo overcooked & somewhat mushy. DD refused to eat it, and had a turkey sandwich instead. After DH & I each had a bowl-ful & agreed that it was very uninspiring, the entire vat got recovered & set back out on the back step to re-freeze. It's not getting warmer than 10 above zero, it's cold enough to keep it from going bad, out there. I should have taken a page from a friend's book & seperated the stock & meat into a couple of seperate freezable containers, so I could make a smaller batch of soup now (Saturday), and save other stock/meat for other soups later in the winter. I didn't. We usually like the soup more than we did this year. Usually I have spinach to add, and it's got more flavor. Not sure what I did wrong this time. Now I've got a huge vat of the stuff sitting out back that I REALLY don't want to eat, much less by myself. *sigh* Talk about wasteful. And I feel horrid about it. Why didn't I plan better? What was it that I didn't put in, that I usually do? Is there any way I can salvage it??? I wish I knew.

So, no photos of the non-inspiring, boring soup. Sorry. Just couldn't bring myself to take one.

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DH & I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary yesterday. As DD & I were sitting in the kitchen yesterday morning, getting her breakfast & lunch eatten and made (respectively), I mentioned to her that 9 years ago DH & I got married, and she was there. She was at our wedding with us. 2 months old, in a white christening gown, held by her adoring grandma. She asked if she could share that in class yesterday. I told her, sure.... Why not?!?!

I had to chuckle at my mom, though. (Sorry Mom!) She called to wish us a happy anniversary & commented about "what if DD tells everybody that SHE was at your wedding?!?!?" I kinda had to ask, so what if she did? DH & I have now been married 9 years, which is a lot longer than a lot of people seem to make it these days. Who in her class can really criticize because we got things a little backwards (baby first, then marriage)???? What are they going to do, nine years after the fact.... String us up by our toes???? LOL Mom agreed that I had a point.

DH sent me a bouquet of 9 long-stemmed red roses at work. All the ladies loved it, and Oooooh did they smell fabulous!!!! Got them home in one piece & now I've got this huge bouquet on my kitchen table. LOL Ahhh, but they're lovely. We didn't do anything else, special, though. DH doesn't get paid till Monday, and half of my paycheck has to go to the daycare today, the other half to bills. So, no fancy dinners out for us this year. *sigh* I've been craving Escargot & Creme Brulee. Guess I'll have to hope for my birthday, instead. *wry smile*

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In little more than 2 weeks, DD has managed to lose a brand new pair of gloves (lost them on the first day she wore them to school, we strongly suspect somebody saw them on the bus seat & noticed how nice & new they were, & took them), a hat, a scarf I knitted (a spare I'd made, learning to use my knifty knitter), and now her snow pants. Now, bear in mind that DH gets off work at 5 pm, picks her up from day-care, and gets home before I do, as I get off work at 6 pm. So, this morning at 8:27, she comes out from her room & asks me "Mommy, did I wear my snowpants home from school?" Dh said he didn't see them in his truck this morning, which means they didn't get left there. I, of course, would have no way of knowing if she wore them home from school. Which means she either left them at school, or at day-care. Either way, she left the house this morning wearing ripped out jeans (because she didn't want to put on non-holey slacks), with another spare hat, scarf & gloves, sans snowpants. These snow-pants are soooooo badly worn & ripped out that if somebody stole them, I'd be greatly suprised. No sign, at all, of the scarf or hat, either. We've ransacked the house, looked in the school lost & found, and asked at the daycare (they don't have a lost & found). No sign of them. I'm about ready to strangle DD. She hasn't been this absent minded with her outdoor gear since first grade, when she lost 8 pairs (yes, EIGHT) of gloves in one winter. I'm about ready to stitch her gloves the ends of the coat sleeves, and staple her hat to her head. (Literally about the gloves, joking about the hat.) I don't know how to get through her head that we cannot afford to be purshasing new outdoor gear constantly. A decent pair of gloves (more than those thin little stretchy gloves that are 2.99 a pair) costs about 20 dollars. A hat, the same. Snow-pants, if you can find them, run between 40 and 60 dollars..... The scarf may have been home-made, but that doesn't mean I've got the time to whip them out every few days, either. *sigh*

On top of that, when she loses something she doesn't look very hard for it, but instead gets into a bit of a snit & starts making comments like "well, FINE, I won't WEAR gloves then..... I'll let my fingers FREEZE!" Ye Gods!!!!!! If she wasn't the one LOSING them, she'd HAVE them to wear. I don't know HOW she honestly thought that I'd be able to materialize a new pair of snow-pants for her this morning in the 5 minutes before her bus came. That or she thought I'd run right out, start my car & take her immediately to town for a new pair in the 25 minutes before school started. *rolling eyes* Her attitude is OFF THE CHARTS when something like this goes wrong, and she doesn't seem to get that IT'S HER FAULT!!!! Instead she starts griping at DH & I like we're responsible & should be able to fix the matter. *sigh* Really, don't know if she'll survive her teen years, at this rate. I mean, she's 9, she should know better than to lose all her gear, and she shouldn't be this darn teen-angsty, yet. Oh well....

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I've decided that from now on, my baby sis & my niece will only be recieving GC's from me. I'm sick & tired of putting effort into their gifts, only to be called cheap & have the gifts thrown (almost literally this time) back in my face.

Took me a couple of days to register the actual condecension behind my sis's attitude on Thanksgiving, considering how tired I was that day.

Within 10 minutes of her coming into my house, an hour early, she was standing behind me as I was working on making TG dinner.

Sis: Kati, I brought you your bag back.

Me: *back turned* What are you talking about?

Sis: I brought you your bag back.

Me: What bag? *turning*

Sis: This bag! *holding 15$ library tote bag I got niece, along with a brand new hard-back copy of a book that reminded me -nicely- of niece, for her b-day*

Me: *still not understanding* That's not my bag, that's part of K's birthday gift.

Sis: *snidely* Well, you use this kind of bag all the time. I thought you were giving K. that book in one of YOUR bags, and that you'd want it back.

Me: *incredulous* Nooo.... That's part of K's birthday gift!

Sis: *rudely* Well, I thought you were just using one of your bags, and that you'd want it back! (At which point she turned & stuffed her stuff into it.)

So, evidently I'm now cheap & selfish because I purchased a new, canvas tote & hardback book for my niece's b-day present. It's not "Disney Princesses", so it MUST be cheap, right??? I mean, come on, just because it was a good 30 bucks out of pocket altogether..... It wasn't plastic & purchased at W-M, so it really MUST be cheap!!!! And, since I didn't purchase a (expensive as hell) paper gift tote to put it in..... Well, again.... I'm cheap, what can I say?!?! Here I thought a real canvas library tote (local library's cute snow-man logo silkscreened on the front) & hardback book (personally chosen for niece) were a GOOD gift for a 4 year old little girl. I mean, most little girls like bags to carry things in, right??? My daughter does, I do, most women/girls I know have a thing about never having enough bags/purses/totes.

Nope, evidently I'm cheap & selfish. Unfortunately I've already picked out a christmas gift for Sis that she should like. I'm not counting on it, though. If I hadn't already shown the gift to Dad, I'd be keeping that gift myself (it's more Sis's style, but not something _I'd_ turn my nose up at) & get her a GC to W-M. And that's all I'm getting niece. If they think I was being cheap at Niece's b-day, I'll give them cheap. From here on out it'll only be $15 pieces of plastic for the local junk-store. And the 8 place settings of plastic Disney Princesses table-ware as a wedding gift sounds more & more a possibility. Or, maybe I'll be generous & send Sis & her hubby a 25 dollar GC to W-M. *sigh* I'm soooooo sick & tired of her. I hope the fiancee marries her spoiled butt & hauls her to Michigan before I really burn bridges with Dad & publicly tell Sis where she can shove her holier-than-thou attitude, or offer to shove it "there" for her.

Anyway....... Can I crawl back into bed now????? The last couple of weeks have been frustrating, and exausting, and I just want a vacation. (To answer my own question: No. I can't just crawl back in bed. I've gotta be at work in an hour & a half.) Oh, and sorry I never did take pictures.

Have a Blessed Day.

Sorry to say.....

I did NOT get pictures of my Thanksgiving dinner taken. By the time it was all made & dished I was soooooooo darn tired that I totally forgot. Then afterwards, everything was in a shambles & I REALLY didn't want to take pictures of that! Heck, by the time I sat down with my plate I was so exausted that I sat there looking at it for 5 minutes before I remembered what I was supposed to do with it. *wry smile*

I was responsible (by my choice) for the majority of the dinner. This is the last year that my dad & baby sis are going to be in town (if everything goes as planned), and while I DO gripe about them both rather frequently, it does also mean the last Thanksgiving with any of my family (as Mom & middle sis are both living in different states already). So, for the past several years (I think this made year 6), we've had thanksgiving dinner at my house, so my family & the inlaws could come over. Christmas has always been spent at the inlaws, with just a short (1 to 2 hour) stop in at Dad's house. But this way DH could see his parents & I could see my family. Won't be the case next year.

So, anyway.... I was up till after 1 am Wed. night cleaning house, then was back up at 7 am yesterday morning to get the turkey in the oven in time (it was a 23 pounder, we ALWAYS do big turkeys). Dinner was set for 1 pm (didn't get finished till 1:30, though). After getting the turkey in, because it REALLY was too early to start anything else (and the Pumpkin Gooey Butter cake was already made), I sat down & watched some TV for an hour. Finished cleaning house then started on more dinner preparations. Baby Sis & niece got here at noon (on the dot!), because Mom told her that I was angry last year when she was over an hour late. (I WAS peeved, but mainly because Dad needed to get home & get some sleep before having to work. That's why we have dinner so early, in the first place. And she'd left his house -where she was living at the time- BEFORE Dad. On top of that, she wasn't answering her cell phone, so we had no idea what had happened to her.) So, this year she decided to show up VERY early & DD got to "enjoy" the company of her darling little cousin for quite a while longer than we'd thought.

Dad showed up at about 12:30 (I DID jump on the pc for about 20 minutes between 11 and noon, just to check my emails), and I was already starting to get frantic about the rate at which I was getting the side dishes ready. Now, Dad brought the Green bean casserole, so I didn't have to make that, but it also wasn't quite hot through yet, so it had to go in. The turkey came out at 12:30, went back in at about 1 as the Inlaws got here with Older Nephew (4-1/2 years) in tow.

Kids headed to DD's room to play, and Niece & Nephew (who'd never met prior to yesterday) actually got along fairly well. Niece seems to get an inordinate amount of joy out of pestering & hurting DD, though. At one point DD came out & said Niece stuck her tongue out at DD. I asked her if that in any way harmed DD or DD's property, she said no, I sent her back to play with directions NOT to be a whiny tattle-tale. DD came out later saying Niece had hit her, and baby sis decides she's going to use the same tactic (as I was in the kitchen working on dinner) and ask DD if Niece in any way hurt DD or DD's property. DD said yes, it hurt to get hit. To which Sis said "Oh, she's HALF your size, how could SHE hurt YOU?!?!" DD went back, without recourse (DH & Dad were also in the kitchen helping me, and MIL & FIL were keeping quiet unless Nephew (their responsibility) was involved. Niece got off without even a scolding for that one.

So, dinner was finally done & set out to serve @ about 1:40. All kids & women in the kitchen around our tiny, six-seat table (technically seats six, really seats 4 comfortably & six with little room to spare). Dad, FIL & DH were seated in the livingroom with TV trays. Didn't have any of the meal items ON the table, all were arrayed around the kitchen counters & on the stove-top, with rolls left in the now-off oven. Next house we buy WILL have enough room for a larger table & a side board! *wink*

So, finished dinner & stood/sat (only have 5 seats in our house, 1 computer chair that was pulled to living room, 3 couch seats, 1 rocking chair) around watching hunting shows. (Dad, FIL & DH enjoy these, and as a rule, WHO controls the remote control??? It wasn't me!) There was this show with enourmous log lodges that came on. We all (adults) sat/stood around commenting on the size & luxury of these. (Guys were Ooohing, MIL & I were commenting on how sucky it'd be to clean one of them, and Sis was bragging about how HER custom-built-house that her fiancee is going to build her -in her wildest dreams!- is going to be about "that size but not look like a log cabin!").

DD came out & said that niece was hiding in the closet (so THAT'S what that thumping sound was!) & wouldn't come out. Our closets are too tiny & have too much stuff in them for children to be playing in, so I went to the door & told Niece to come out (with hotwheels cars all over the floor, I wasn't going IN unless I had to). Saw Niece peaking out at me, so I went back to watching the log-houses show. Minutes later DD comes out again & says that Niece STILL won't come out of the closet & NOW she'd kicked DD when DD tried to pull her out. I DID go in, this time, and told DD right off that she needs to have a GROWN UP do the removing of cousins from closets, from now on. Then I found Niece almost stuffing herself under the bed in an attempt to hide. So, I told her that not only are we NOT allowed to play in the closets in our house (a second time, saying this to her) but that since she's kicked DD, she needs to either apologise or go sit on her Mama's lap. She refused, I reiterated & made her stand in front of DD (Nephew was -ironically- politely ignoring the going on's and playing with the cars). When she refused, a third time, to apologise to DD for kicking her, I picked her 30 pound self up, and took her out to sit on her mama's lap. My Sis didn't look all that pleased to be interupted from playing with her nintendo hand-held, but DID coax Niece to apologise.

The next time Niece did something (I'd sat down in the kitchen to read, by this time), I let DH take care of it. Niece is so timid around him (he's six foot tall & built like a line backer, she's esp. intimidated because she KNOWS he's not wrapped around her little finger) that his standing at the door & telling her to knock it off (while Sis pointedly avoided doing anything to chastise her own daughter) sufficed to stop Niece's actions. After which, Sis decided that she'd had enough, and started her car to leave. That was about 4 pm. YEAH!!!!!! Dad left about a half hour later. DD then called her best friend to see if she could go over & play (BF lives right around the corner, then left herself.)

The inlaws stuck around till about 5:30 before they decided they were ready to leave. Nephew was fairly well behaved, except for the fact that he couldn't seem to calm down & he kept chasing the dogs & niece (when she was here) around the house despite repeated directions to STOP running (wouldn't normally be an issue, except for how packed our house was at the moment). Got to the point that all adults would put their feet up to stop the running, as the children tried to run past. Even your most agile 4 year old can't dodge that many adult sized legs in that small a living room. *wink* Oh, and all Nephew ate (Niece at very well, actually) was his mashed potatoes, 2 rolls, and a piece of cake. Can we say "Carb overload"?!?!?! Sis helped herself to 1/4 of the remainder of my honey for her turkey and crap-loads of ranch dressing & bacon bits for her potatoes. She loads SOOOOO much butter, ranch & bacon bits onto ANY form of potato she has that it really can't be considered potato any more. It's more like ranch & bacon thickened with potato starch. I was smart, though, and put about 1 cup of bacon bits into a small jar (only partly full) and hid the huge thing of bacon bits, so that when I DID see Sis with the jar, I could comment that this was all we had, so please go sparingly. (Ok, so I lied, but I don't belive in waltzing into somebody's house & making rude demands & using up all their supplies. As it was, she used up about 1/4 of what honey I REALLY DID have left -I use it in tea, and mixed with ACV when DD is sick or I feel I might be getting sick- then got gripey that it was partially crystalized & she had to microwave it to get it runny.)

After that.... DH & I sat around watching TV all evening. DD got to spend the night over at her BF's house (their parents hosted THEIR TG party this year, and have a huge family, have a "the more the merrier" point of view, and a LOT bigger house than we do). Finally, after watching ER with DH, we both headed to bed. I'd planned to sleep till 10, but Dad got me up at 9:15. DH was up at 4 so that he could be at the big W. in time for their 5 to 11 morning-after-TG sale. FIL had conscripted DH to pick up MIL's & DD's Christmas presents as well as a new computer (a FIRST computer) for MIL & FIL.

DH winded up at GameStop, purchasing a new (Gently used, New to DD) Nintendo DS-some-thing-or-other & 2 games as DD's primary Christmas present. Need to find a couple more things (I'm thinking a couple of books and a bathrobe) for her, and a hand-full of stocking stuffers. Dh is of the opinion that the Nintendo thing cost enough ($119, on sale, and gently used) that DD doesn't need anything more. I tend to follow the rule "Something you want (nintendo thingy), something you need (a bathrobe), something to wear (bathrobe also fits this rule), and something to read (a book or 2). That way we don't go overboard & DD doesn't get so much that she can't appreciate it. And in our house, Santa only fills the stockings. I've already got her a few of those rubber slogan bracelets (a six pack from www.thehungersite.com, one from each of the 6 charity sites there). I'm thinking a cd or two (Kelly Pickler?), maybe a thing of nail polish, lip gloss..... We don't overdo Christmas here like my parents used to. (Sorry Mom!) In DH's family they only ever got 1 or two gifts each. In my family there were so many gifts (ok, so there were pkgs of socks & new PJ's, but mostly just "stuff") that we never could remember what we'd gotten. (Though, Mom & Dad only ever gave us 1 BIG gift a year.) We figure 3 or 4 for DD, and 1 or two each for DH & I (DH gets one from me & one from DD, I get one from DH & one from DD) is plenty. And DD's got her stocking that Santa fills. That's plenty. (Though, it IS always funny -when I take DD for her Santa pictures- to see "Santa" look shocked when DD asks him for small things like hotwheels cars & lip gloss. No way to explain to him in advance that in OUR house Santa only fills the stocking.)

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Well, let's see...... Other than that, did you know that Harry Potter & The Order of the Pheonix will be out July 13, 2007? Yep. Here's a link:http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1808475612&cf=info with pictures (AWESOME!), a trailer (FUN!) and lots of other info. I was hoping it'd be out at Christmas, like most of the past movies have been. What a bummer that we've got to wait till next summer to see it!!!! Here I was thinking I had something to look forward to in the upcoming month!!!! (Christmas tends to be a bit of a let-down for me. So much anticipation, ending in such an anticlimactic day.) Ahhh well..... One more reason to look forward to summer (other than the fact that winter in Alaska is freaking cold!). I guess in July, when the weather is either miserably hot or raining, I can anticipate sitting in a cool theater watching a kick-ass movie. *grin* Yep, there's something to anticipate.

Ok, sorry that I don't have any pictures of yesterday's supper to share. I've got the carcass on the stove, simmering away to make stock, so when I've got the turkey veggie soup made, I'll try to remember to take a pic of that to share here.

Have a Blessed Day!

A VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Wishing you all a great Thanksgiving with Friends & Family. May your turkey be moist, may your mashed potatoes be creamy, may your pies taste perfect, and may all your blessings be counted!

Pictures to come tomorrow.

Have a Blessed Day!

More Sweet Puppy pics....

Actually took these a couple of days ago, but forgot that they were there on my digital cam. So, had to share, finally. Poor Puck will put up with wearing the rabbit ears (DD's had them since she was about 2), but only for a few minutes, and I had to coax him into letting me take a pic. Jenny hates, hates, hates these things, and it took several tries to even get a pic of her in the split second she'd leave these on, before shaking them violently off her head. *wink* Ahhh, but they're just too cute NOT to share!

Now, off to clean house. I've fortunately got Wed. & Thursday off for Thanksgiving (as well as my usual Friday & Saturday weekend), so any last minute, freakazoidal cleaning can hopefully be done on Wednesday. I've got Dad & baby sis & niece coming over, and FIL, MIL and older nephew. It'll be the first time that my niece (from MY side of the family) and my older nephew (from DH's side of the family) have ever met each other. There's only about 5 months seperating the two, Nephew being the older. It'll be interesting (to say the least) to see how they interact. MIL did say that Nephew has been asking frequently lately when he'll see DD. Turns out he misses her immensely. And at this point, he is DD's favorite cousin. He's not badly behaved with he's with MIL & FIL (though when SIL is around, he's a little terror), and he's finally old enough that he & DD have fun playing together. Fortunately SIL & younger nephew (sweet, but 2, and poorly supervised, generally) will NOT be coming over. But, still, MIL will be here which means my house (the visible to guests parts) must be spotless!!!! *wry smile*

Have a Blessed Day!

If I could do ANYTHING????

I snagged this from Steph (http://mygreendream.blogsome.com ). She asked: if money, ecology, time, and pride were no consideration, what would I do???

I would....
....have a degree in Archaeology, and be on some fascinating hunt for human herstory
....would be able to Irish Step dance
....be a Reference Librarian (Someday!!!! This one IS achievable.)
....speak Gaelic, French and German fluently, and be able to read Egyptian hiroglyphs (sp??)
....share my home with (almost put "own") a cat
....Travel the world (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, France, Toledo Spain, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Egypt, India, Thailand, many others, and many places here in the States.....)

I, too, feel like this is an awfully short list. Have all my dreams disappeared??? It seems that I had more, when I was in middle & high school.

I DO speak minimal German & French, but also get them frequently mixed up, which doesn't help matters.

I can't dance to save my life.

With a child & a husband and a job that I DO love, the chances of ever having that degree in Archaeology, and going on fascinating digs, is very slim.

Someday I WILL be a reference librarian, but for now that dream is put on hold while all my time is put into my job (as a library page) and my daughter's dreams (playing hockey in the Olympics).

With my husband's allergies to cats, that dream is unachievable as well.

As for the traveling, I WILL travel some day. DH keeps telling me that I will never be able to afford it. I tell him that come hell or high water, I WILL travel some day and he can darn well stop shooting that dream down!!! And first on my list IS Ireland. Has always been Ireland, and probably WILL always be Ireland.

So, if you had NOTHING holding you back, what would you do?

Have a Blessed Day!

Lazy dogs.....

Just sitting here, reading through email & browsing the web, and I turned around & see my two mutts laying there behind me, asleep. They both opened their eyes, of course, when they saw the flash, but it was still kinda funny. DH & DD have gone off to watch a hockey game & left me here, home alone, with my mutts, for a quiet night. Ahhhh bliss. Going to get off & do a bit of crocheting, pop in a movie, have a couple more hours of peace to myself.

Oh, and DD's team WON their game today. The final score was 6 to 3, one of our team-members had a hat trick (one person making 3 goals in one game) plus 1!!!!! It was awesome, and all of us proud hockey moms wound up with sore throats from yelling & hooting & screaming encouragement to our daughters. It was fun!!!! And it was a fun game, all in all. A well played game. No penalties. No crying as the kids (ours or theirs) came off ice. They were pretty evenly matched, except for this one little girl (the one with the hat trick) who's one seriously tiny power-house. I mean, the girl is 8 years old, tiny, fast, great with the puck handling. Yep, we were some pretty proud mamas. And it was rather funny, listening to them troop into the locker room, about 4 or 5 of them halp-hazardly singing "We Are The Champions", missing words & out of sync & out of tune, but funny!!!!

Anyway, just had to share a pic of the pups (and please pardon the mess, this is our computer/"storage" room, the catch-all area of our house), and post a quick note about how DD's latest game went.

Have a Blessed Day!

It has started.....

Four months ago, yesterday, to the day, I went off my Depo Provera (birth control). And, exactly 4 months to the day, I got my first period. Wow!!!! I'd forgotten how unpleasant those can be. And it was a short (the entire thing in one day!) period, for that matter, and a mild one. Bled only the tiniest amount, had a nasty little back-ache, a bit of queasy-ness, and a LOT of pissy-ness (bone-head patrons at work didn't help that!). But, by the time I went to bed, it was over. I'm guessing I won't be quite so lucky next time. *wry smile* Whenever that next time rolls around. The Dr. told me, prior to having my surgery, that it could take about a year for my body to get back to a normal cycle. (Back??? I don't know that I EVER had a normal cycle!!!) So, for now that means carry-ing a bag-ful of supplies with me to work, every day! I do have one friend who was on the same kind of birth control (for only 6 months, at that) and took a few years to get back to a "normal" cycle, and says now she's got 2 days a month of misery, and it's over till the next month. Not an EASY cycle, but a short "normal" cycle. I think I could handle that. I hope that's the route my body decides to go. Until my cycle reaches "normal", I'll be taking herbal suppliments to encourage my body to a healthy rhythm, drinking herbal "women's health" tea (nasty flavor!). Because I really, really don't like the thought of a year-long PMS-fest. And neither does DH. When he found out that this could take a year or so, he asked FIL (mostly jokingly) if he could move back in. FIL's response was that MIL is going through menopause right now, so maybe the two of them should just take the truck & camper & not come back (mostly seriously!).

I told DH that I'll try to give him plenty of warning and will do my best to not lay into him & DD, but that it would not be a bad idea if he took that warning seriously & gave me plenty of room, help & chocolate, when the warning has been issued. *wink*

Have a Blessed Day!

So, here are some recent pictures. The first two are the lot directly across from my house. Only, really, it's only about a 3/4 lot. Used to be a little pump shack sitting on top of a little, man-made hill, smack-dab in the middle of that lot, that served the neighbourhood water supply. When the roads were re-done last summer, a new shack was built at the top of the street, this shack was abandoned, then removed, the hill demolished & now the family who owns that land has decided they're going to plop a full-sized house smack in the middle of what used to be a nicely wooded (even if it was only willows) little lot. The last of the trees in the neighbourhood. Or, the last of the "unplanned" trees, anyway. Except for our next-door neighbour, who's been in his house for over 20 years and has a couple of huge birch, a few choke-cherries, and some willow & cottonwood in the back yard, the rest of the trees throughout the neighbourhood are scrawny, transplanted little birch that just can't dig through the hard-packed ground well enough to really spread & grow. And even those birch that do produce nice canopies are short, multi-trunked things that never get any real height. Even our little gangly birch, transplanted last year, is still a scrawny little guy that doesn't look like he'll ever "flesh out". So, here I have been, watching this lot get razed, then dug out, over the last 3 days. And it pisses me off, and it makes me sad. The houses in this neighbourhood are all packed in like sardines. Our next-door-neighbour (the one who's lived there for 20+) and a neighbour across from him, have triple & quadruple sized lots, but because they bought 3 (and in J's case, 4) lots before the rest of the lots were developed. Even if my husband and I DID want to purchase another lot, adjacent to ours, there aren't any. The two neighbours directly across from me COULD have bought this spare little lot & divided it down the middle, and each had a larger lot themselves, for extra space, but they didn't.

But, it just irks me that these folks who own this property can't see how homely, how unattractive this neighbourhood is, with no attention paid to landscaping, with no attention paid to house placement. That each house literally sits feet away from it's neighbour..... Between my house & my next neighbour over (not the one with the 4 lots to his property), there are maybe 12 feet. TWELVE FEET!!!! That's 3 feet off the side of my house, and another 9 for her vehical, then her house. I hate, hate, HATE being packed in here like sardines. I WISH we could afford to purchase a new house. Not even a larger house necessarily, but one with a bigger lot. (Well, with 1170 sq ft, 1400 or 1500 sq ft would be great! And I really don't want to have to clean something much bigger than THAT. Though there was this beautiful little 1800 sq ft log cabin we looked at that had THE MOST INCREDIBLE custom wood & counters & a wood-stove with a slate surround.....)

Anyway, had to gripe a little bit, show the damage done to those trees. Mourn a little bit for their loss.

The other picture is obviously, my daughter. All dressed up as a vampire for Halloween. She did have some black lip-stick that got smudged all over her face (actually, as much as I hate to admit it, that was black lipstick left over from my "goth" days in HS). And black nail polish. That wig is hilarious (and a disaster). The hubby tried it on, but I didn't get to the camera in time to snap a pic of him. I'm trying to talk him into letting me take a pic so we can give it to his mom for her photo albums. He's not falling for that reasoning. He knows I wanna show it to my friends. He looked like he belonged in an 80's hair-band, with the wild, black & maroon hair, and his very prominant nose. It was adorable. And DD looked adorable (when she looked fresher, instead of at the end of a long night, when this pic was taken).

Ok, there ya are. Some new pics.

Have a Blessed Day!

A Question for your more experienced bloggers....

I have been looking all over on my little "dashboard" on this thing, and I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to list my favorite blogs on the right side of my screen. I see other people do it, so I know it's possible.... But HOW???? HELP!!!!! *grin*

Will get back tomorrow, hopefully, with pictures from this past week.

Have a Blessed.... Um, Night. (it's 6:33 pm already!)