Back to the grind.

Today is the kids first day back to school.  The house is very quiet.  It should be a good day to do some baking.  My boy wanted bread with his dinner the other night but I had NONE in my freezer.  Tonight is spaghetti and meatballs so I think some garlic bread may be in order. 

Not spewing venom today.  It's a kinder gentler OGO.

Back in the saddle

School is back in and we seem to be back in to the swing of things.  Since CCB got promoted he has better hours and is able to take my daughter to school most mornings.  That's a big deal because it allows her to sleep an extra hour and get up at 5:45 am!  My son appears to be getting lots of homework but some how he's getting a lot of it done before he gets home so I mostly have to check it.  He hates homework.    My daughter has honors classes and it appears that it's going to be a challenge for me to be able to help her when she needs it.  It's just been so long!  I'm gonna have to sharpen my skills! 

My husband and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary.  I can't believe it's been that long already.  We have been together 19 years now and I realize I've been with him for half my life!  I like that stat.  It's comforting to know he's always there.  He's seen me at my best as well as at my lowest, and he hasn't gone running for the hills yet! 

In the kitchen I tried my hand at baking Ciabatta bread.  It came out pretty darn good.  Not very labor intensive, no kneading or anything.  It just took lots of TIME.  My recipe said to mix up the starter and let it sit over night.  Then add in the rest of the ingredients and let it rise for 3 hours.  Then form it on your baking sheets and let it rise 30 more minutes.  Easy peasy just takes a little planning, or in my case a timer!

I finished my first tow up sock.  While I like the process I wasn't excited about the sock.  It wasn't the patterns fault though.  I believe it was the yarn I was using.  I used the left over yarn from my knitted tank top.  Matching socks right?  Yeah well, not so much.  I have made i-cord bracelets for everyone in the house and finished up an old beaded bracelet.  Inspiration struck but I didn't have what I needed to put them together so the other ideas are just jotted on a piece of paper.  :(  I feel compelled to knit but I have no project picked out.  ACK!

Busy

I've been a little busy this week.  Got all the stuff done for my sons return to school.  My daughter's supply shopping won't be attempted till the first day of school.  No lists given out early in High school.  Nope.  We got her schedule and we got the names of her teachers but no lists.  SO the entire high school will be out in force on Monday afternoon.  Wiping out the shelves of all the local stores.  I unfortunately will be right in the middle of it.  I like to get things done early so I don't have to be in the mess but the just won't let me!

I've also been busy "relaxing" with my honey.  He couldn't take a full week off because they are short handed at work so he split his last week of vacation up and combined a couple of days with his days off.  It's been nice having him home.  I think I've taken a nap every day!  Come Monday everyone will be off to work or school and I will go from busy bustling home to silence.  I'm a little sad about that.  On the other hand, my husband gets one day off during the week when the kids are in school and we use that as our "date day".  It's a day I look forward to every week.  :D  So back to school is bitter sweet.

We went to see Captain America at the theater today.  (It's my husbands birthday.)  I went in to the bathroom after the movie and the first stall I entered had a wet seat. BLECH!  Come on ladies!  Have some respect.  The next stall had no latch so it just swung back open after I entered.  Finally I found a suitable stall but it took some searching!  I don't know how people can leave a place that we all have to share so gross. 

Teaching myself to knit some socks from the toe up.  I think I like it better than the other way.  I've completed the toe and am working on the mid part of the foot now.  It will be interesting to see how working the gusset is from the other direction.  Found a site online that has some great tips.  It disturbs me how much I enjoy learning new techniques by reading or watching videos online.  SO much to learn!

My belly is full of birthday cake and I should go change into some looser pants.  CCB requested a spice cake but they had no mixes at the store.  I found a recipe online and whipped one up but was worried since I had never tried it before.  I didn't know if it was going to be like he was looking for or not.  I lucked out.  Trial run was a hit!  I need more notice for special requests!  Hee hee!

I hope you all have a great week!

Dis and Dat

Talked to my dad this morning.  Doesn't look like he's getting out of the hospital today after all.  He sounds like his old self but it seems his blood pressure is bouncing up and down so they want to monitor him and see what's causing that.  At least he's where he needs to be for care.  He doesn't like to go to the doc so if they sent him home he probably wouldn't follow up on it.  In the hospital he has no choice! :)

I'm working a knitting project.  Up till now the only things I'd done were scarves and socks.  LOVE knitting socks, it gets a little tricky but I like a challenge.  So I wanted to venture into other things I could actually use.  I have more afghans than I can use and don't need any more doilies or hot pads.  (crocheted them ages ago)  So I settled on a project I could wear but wouldn't take ages to do.  It makes me practice increases and decreases which I need to do.  It's a tank top.  I know! A knitted tank top.  Sounds kinda weird.  It's cute in the picture though so I'm hoping I can do it justice with my newly acquired knitting skills.  I'll post a picture when it's all done.

Almost school time again.  I have most of my sons supplies stashed away and just need to focus on uniforms. As luck would have it most of the kids stuff still fits from last year.  THAT is a blessing.  They only need a few things to fill in the gaps.  I have to hem a pair of my sons pants from last year and make them into shorts.  His waist is the same he just shot UP.  :)  I'm glad I finally learned how to hem.  I have saved lots of uniform pants this way.  Yet another skill I picked up from the trusty Internet.   HA HA!

I'm off to get my knit on.  Hope you have a wonderful day!

Update

Well, it's a little dusty around here but I'll see what I can do to tidy up. Hee hee!

Last time I posted it was about having a first grader and a freshman. Wow it's been a while. My kids are now going into 2nd and 10th grade. I can't believe how the time is flying. We're still in our apt which will be our home for at least another year. I hate apartment living but it serves a good purpose for us so I guess we'll just have to suck it up and deal with it a little longer.

My son waffles on whether he likes school or not. He HATES to get up on school days, his alarm goes off just before 7. On his days off however he is up by 7 bright eyed and ready to go! Funny how that works. I think over all he likes school, he just doesn't like how much of his day it eats up! He's doing really well so I'm a happy mom.

My daughter has done extremely well in the transition to H.S. She got nearly straight A's and has a new best friend. She is taking all honors classes this year and managed to be chosen to be apart of the Art Academy. I'm so proud of her.

My husband got that promotion he was after. It worked out really well for us. He gets to stay where he is until they open a new store where he wants to go. Keeps my kids in the same school a little longer and eliminates one move for us. I couldn't be happier.

As for me, well I'm doing the same ole thing. Still a stay at home mom though I'm feeling a little less needed around here. With both kids in school my days are a little emptier than they used to be. Some days I think I want to get a part time job to bring in some extra money and other days I can't even entertain the idea of upsetting our routine. It's nice to be off when my husband is off and be free whenever anyone needs me for meetings, to deliver keys, or to pick them up when they are sick. I'm not sure what will happen on that front. We'll see how I feel when the kids are back in school.

My honey and I are still very much in love. I can't imagine my world without him. Next month we'll celebrate 17 years of marriage. I've been with this man for nearly half of my life!

So that's us in a nutshell right now.

Thanks for swinging by to see me!

First grader and freshman!

Thursday was the first day of school for my kids. In preparation for this day I checked the school website to find out when their buses would run and where they'd be picked up this year. The site wasn't working right so I called the transportation office. The lady informed me that the High School bus would pick my daughter up at 6:38 in the morning. WOW! That's early right? She also told me what she had to get the site to work for my address. I checked it out on my own computer to confirm what she told me and make sure there weren't any changes. THEN the day before school I called the bus driver to make doubly sure. OVERKILL? Perhaps. It's the first time we needed the high school bus so I wanted to make sure. The bus driver sorta made me feel like a dork. He seemed surprised by my call, but he told me that he had no changes to his route.

Fast forward to the first day of school. My baby girl gets ready and heads out into the breaking dawn to catch her bus. She was early for extra precaution. A little after 7 I hear her pounding on the front door. "MOM, the bus had already left before I got there. Some lady told me the bus comes at 6:05!" High school starts at 7:15am. We grab my sons breakfast and throw everyone in the car. I race to her school and we are very close to the tardy bell. A fella there assures me that they are giving a grace period for all the new freshmen. WHEW! We say good bye and rush home. Hoping to make it before my Son's bus gets there.

We get home and see another little girl that rides his bus at the end of our road. We must have made it! I get my little guy some more juice cuz the muffin he had in the car has left him parched. We go to the bus stop only to hear the little girls mom holler to us..."The bus just went by before you pulled in!" My sons bus was also earlier than the transportation office said it would be! We jumped back into the car and race to the elementary school. He made it on time as well.

Put in some calls. The bus driver said, "Yeah, the website is wrong." WHY couldn't he tell me that when I called the day before? UGH.

Day two was much better.

Anxiety!

I woke up this morning from a bad dream.

The first day I could hear the bus coming, my son was no where near ready to go. I let the bus pass and drove him to school when he was dressed, fed, and ready.

On day two he was close to being ready, so I hailed the bus and she waited for him. WHEW!

Day three. I heard the bus coming and I was putting on MY shoes to walk my boy out to the bus stop when I realized he wasn't awake yet! I went out to talk to the bus driver and when I stepped onto the bus so she could hear me, she shut the door and started driving! As if I was one of the kids she was picking up! I sat down and waited till she stopped at the next stop and got off to run home to my boy who was all alone in my house. When I got home I got him ready and drove him to school. Of course he was late. When I went to the office to sign him in the secretary gave me a stern talking to.

You'd think back to school fears would be over when you have been out of school for nearly 20 years!