Morning alone

Wow, a morning alone. Don't even have the radio playing. Just quiet. Amazing how peaceful and yet how lonely. My folks took Mallory to see her cousin, Abby. Michael took the boys to a basketball tourney, and I have 2 cakes to decorate and about 300 roses to make for a wedding cake next weekend. Yet, I just can't get past how quiet it is here.
The two cakes this morning are for first communions. I got some sugar crosses like we use at the grocery store, so I'm really excited about how those will turn out. I'm doing one in chocolate icing, so I think that will be really sharp. I did an open Bible Easter cake last weekend for my Grandma Rose. I think she was impressed.
I'm really excited about next weekend's cakes, too. We have a grand opening for our new church addition and they wanted cake for 225 people. I think the easiest way to do that is a stacked wedding cake, so I started making plans toward that. I can't believe how that gets my blood going. Some things are just so exciting you can't stop thinking about them. This is one of those things for me. Then a couple days ago, Michael ordered a cake for 100 for the Friday of this same weekend. He's going to get the same thing! I thought it would be easy, but one is Friday and one is Sunday, so there will have to be some coordination. It will be nice to have the smaller one for practice first. But I plan to get a serious number of roses done for them this morning, so I'd best get going on the project. I just wanted to take advantage of the silence. It's not the most frequent sound around here anymore!

Countdown

Countdown to what? Sanity? Not sure, but I'm counting. I was a little shocked to see my blog was still here. Thought they'd have booted me by now. We've just been so busy. The first weekend in April was the homeschoolers' conference, and wow, I was just really taken by it. It was really settling to get next year's curriculum all decided and ordered in one weekend. This usually takes me months and can even change my mind several times, but this time it's a decision I'm going to live with. Stop second-guessing myself. I looked through everything Friday, then brought Michael to help me make final decisions on Saturday. What was really nice was just to talk it all over out loud and let him know how the kids do best. So those have been arriving bit by bit and I've been getting them organized and ready for next year. We also learned so much from the workshops. I was really ecstatic to have him along. One thing that I pulled from a speaker has settled many a fight around here. Mallory has always done all dividing and passing out of anything that needed split. One of the little tidbits I learned was to let one child split and the other child pick. That way, things look more fair to all parties. It really has been fun and I see them work together more.
Ok, anyway, back to the countdown... we just found out that the bank that has been making us jump through one hoop after another and made us wait until our banker got back from vacation before returning any of our calls, really didn't want our loan anyway. They didn't like how much of the job we planned to do. Fine, but did we really need to get Federal flood insurance and wait 3 weeks for you to call back and tell us this? When I don't plan to loan someone money, I simply tell them "no," which is something else I've been practicing. Another speaker at the conference spent a lengthy amount of time on the simple linguistics of saying "no." For instance, did your teacher take knucklehead calls from CitiBank while you were in class? No, so don't answer the phone. Put the answering machine in the basement and take care of its business after class. Easy. Did the church call your second grade teacher during spelling class to see if she could bake six dozen cookies for tonight? No, and lack of preparation on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part. Well, that didn't really have anything to do with the bank or its rudeness, but anyway, my head is just swimming and I thought I'd just get some of it out!
We had a really wonderful Easter, and I was going to attach a photo of six of the cutest little girls one family can produce, but I think I better get back to my class before downloading this weekend's photos. 2/3 of my students seem to be outside somewhere and I think I'd best channel some of their excitement towards higher learning. At least 1/3 is almost done!!

Little break

Well, I wondered if I'd ever get a chance to get back to this. I've been very dedicated to getting a couple things done and had decided that this had to wait until at least three things got done off of my "100 things I have to do today" list. (See previous post... around New Year sometime.) So I got my "little sister's" pillow project as far as I could get it, I got Michael's album for the Ambassador done, and last night... woohoo... the taxes are filed!!! It's amazing that something that nets me an extra $3000 can be put off so long. I started them as soon as the last document rolled in, but little did I know that I'd also have to come up with closing papers from 5 years ago and a plethora of other documents that I didn't even figured normal people saved. (Yes, I have been touched with a bit of OCD, and many documents and statements are just impossible for me to toss.) Glad that finally paid off!
So now it's back to normal stuff. The boys were really anxious to go play in the snow before it melted, so they had all their school done before 8:15 this morning. Normally, you can't even get my attention on such things before 8:30, but when there's the reward of getting them out of here, situations can change!! Mallory wanted to go out, too, but she also had the reward of a quiet day at school. She seems okay for the moment!
Well, they will be back in soon, so I should help her get out of here before they decide to quit. Have a great day and try to remember that it really is spring!! Time change in less than 2 weeks!!!

Happy Birthday!

Well, today is Michael's birthday. I'm trying to "help" him get to work so I can get school done and pack for the crop tonight (yes, leave him on his birthday--bad Mom--but it's my girlfriend's birthday too!!). He's still steamed 'cause I was steamed that he didn't take the kids to Tae Kwon Do last night. Funny how he can fuss about the irresponsibility of his employees but not do everything in his power to instill responsibility in his kids. Oh, well. I guess he was expecting me to be more steamed, but it just tells me that if ya want something done, git yer rear in gear. Anyhoo... nothing can get me down today!! Let's get going, kids, I have packing to do!!!

Gold... in online shopping!!

So what happens when a man attempts to mess with his wife's cropping time? Well, after tonight and the loyalty of my computer, I find that he might crash the entire internet. Michael was trying to get the kids to the circus, and the "only possible time" was Friday night, during my cropping time. Knowing that he'd probably only return with one, if any of my three kids, I started booing the idea of him taking them himself. He proceeded to secure tickets online to this "only possible time." Somehow, he got booted twice. He said he had somehow timed out. So after a few minutes of hostile pacings and fridge-door-slamming, I decided to give it a go. After all, when it comes to shopping, I and my computer are one. So I tried my new Firefox browser, knowing it wasn't as junked up and probably a bit faster, and just tried searching circus attractions and tickets. I soon found the circus that had him all fired up and started looking at show times. Sure enough, besides the "only possible time," was a perfect one on Sunday afternoon. Now, I may be a bit sleepy after an all night crop, but this is doable. So he starts hassling me, standing right behind me, about how fast you have to type or you'll time out. OK, I'm ready. You have one minute to fill in your name, address, and crap like that. Seems easy enough. My name hasn't changed for a while. Then, on the next window, you have 3 minutes to fill in all your credit card info. 3 minutes? Do you know how many things one mom can do in 3 minutes? His only question was, "Where's your card?"
HAHA, baby, I don't need no stinkin credit card. I've had that memorized for years. The only time I pull that out is to pay for gas. I go burning up the keyboard and have that done in 30 seconds flat. Actually, I think I scared him. Anyway, the confirmation screen came up and everything was peachy and my family awarded me the GOLD. What a night!! Mom comes through!! Now I'm thinking there are a couple more things I need to order before he changes my credit card number. I'll have to finish this later...

Weekend Success

What a fantastic weekend!! Our church's winter retreat was Friday and Saturday, and we just had the best time. The speaker was so completely exciting, and motivating, and REAL!!! And my dramas went really well. I can't believe how much I forgot... well, actually, I can... what a ball of nerves!!! But since I was the only one who knew how much was missing, I think it was okay. It was so clear how the Lord was in control of everything. The two dramas I had chosen, long before I had any topic information, were so perfect for the speaker's train of thought. I'm so glad that the Lord takes over some of those decisions, because I just couldn't have done so well! She even referred to them several times in the final sessions. There were also so many new faces this weekend. Making so many new friends and learning so much from Judy... oh, the accomodations left much to complain about, but the Spirit just did not let us dwell on that!! Thank you, Lord Jesus!!

Recovery

Ok, so I'm starting to recover from Christmas. I decided to start a "100 things to do in my life" list. Not really a New Year's resolution or anything, I don't see the need to start a list of things at which I can fail miserably, just a list of things I'd like to do or get done. However, it seems to have turned into a list of "100 things I have to do today." Great idea, eh? This can easily turn into a list of "100 things that can be put off until tomorrow." Oh, well, the idea was good when I saw it in the magazine. Ah, the magazine... Real Simple. How addicting!! It's the first subscription I've had in years. A Real Splurge for me. Now if it only had a few Su Doku puzzles each month, it would be the perfect publication. But for now, my Washington Post Online will have to do. It's enough for now. Ok, have to see what's to be put off until tomorrow.