Random Thoughts and Stuff

I have a bunch of stuff on my mind right now. Too many things on my plate, too many things that I have to get done, too many things that I want to do, and not enough time or money to do any of it. I feel like I've spent the entire day on the phone - and I *hate* to talk on the phone. I really do.

The stress over trying to figure out how to get my van fixed is really starting to get to me. We've run into issues getting it to the dealership to get it diagnosed, but hopefully that will happen in the next day or two. Then once we know what's actually wrong with it, I can stress over how to fix it.

But on a positive note, my "garden" (which consists of two empty laundry detergent buckets and some jalapeno and tomato plants) is actually starting to produce some goodies!

I sort of started working on the sand plums last night. It wasn't really intentional, but I was on the phone last night (again, what's with the phone calls? but this one was long overdue and worth it) and I can't stand just sitting around on the phone doing nothing, so while I was talking I went through all of the sand plums and pulled all of the stems off of them. That's one of the most tedious parts of making the jelly, so at least it's done.

I don't know if Daniel isn't feeling good or what, but he fell asleep early tonight - way earlier than usual. So Alex and I hung out for a while this evening, and then I gave him a much needed and very overdue haircut.

I have spent most of the day trying to clean and do laundry and just get things done around the house. I know that the next few weeks are going to be busy with canning jelly, getting the kids ready to go back to school, trying to get the van fixed, and taking care of all of the normal stuff that I have to take care of on a daily basis. I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed right now, so please bear with me if I seem a little cranky or irritable. Not to mention the whole lack of caffeine/nicotine......blah.

I need to make some lists. But I think before I do that, I need sleep.

Time for haircuts!

We walked to the library earlier today, and every now and then the boys will actually act like they like each other....they actually held hands almost the whole way there. And I only had to carry Daniel for about the last 2 blocks on the way back.

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I got tired of the boys looking scruffy, so I took matters into my own hands tonight.

Daniel went first, and for the first time ever, didn't fight it.

Then it was Alex's turn.

They definitely look less scruffy now!

A better day

You know, it's funny. I was joking around on my facebook page last night about wearing my bathrobe to church today if I didn't get my laundry done. I said "They're used to me running in there, usually about 5 minutes into the service, gasping for air, hair still dripping wet (if I was lucky enough to get a shower)...."

Well guess what? The kids and I ran in there about 5 minutes late, my hair was still wet, and I was out of breath. But we made it. The older three were happy to go to our church for a change, and the other people there were happy to see them since they don't get to go with me very often.

After church we came home and made lunch and I continued to work on cleaning and doing laundry.

Then we went outside.

I have this corner of my yard that just epitomizes the whole ghetto-riffic atmosphere. It appears that someone in the past started chucking branches there instead of getting rid of them, and over time the pile got bigger, some beer bottles were added to it, and stuff started to grow through it. It's not a huge area, but it's big enough to be an eyesore and it's a pain to mow around (see this post for more details on this particular subject) so I decided to get rid of it.

For the record, the piles of crap behind me are not mine. Those two huge trees are the property line - that stuff belongs to the neighbor.

Jared wanted to cut something.

Something tells me that these have been here for a while.

I got a lot of the big stuff bundled up, but I need to get some big lawn & leaf type bags to put the rest of the crap into, and then I can take it all to the landfill and get rid of it, and my yard will look somewhat better - just in time for winter. But at least I'm getting it done.

I found out last minute that I had to take Jared to a Boy Scout meeting - wasn't too thrilled about doing that, just for the time factor more than anything. Ex1 and I switched some time around - otherwise the older 3 wouldn't have even been here today - so I just didn't really want to have to leave early to take him to a meeting. But I did, and then Daniel and I came back here to hang out for a while. I was going to go back outside and work, but I lost my initiative somewhere. Oops.

Alex got home shortly after we did, with a fantastic surprise for me!

Huh. He never even told me that it was loose. I just hope that the permanent one moves into the hole and lines up with all of the other ones.

Tonight was haircut night for Daniel - and it was the first time ever that he didn't scream his head off the entire time. It was quite refreshing.

He looks so much like his father here. *sigh*

Kind of hard to tell the difference in the pictures, because he's going through this I Refuse To Cooperate For Any Sort Of Pictures phase. He can be such a turd at times.

Finally, bedtime. I had to call the girls at their father's house to find out where the official Tooth Fairy pillow was hidden, but it was located, the tooth was inserted, and Mr. Big Boy went to bed with the tooth pillow stashed neatly under his pillow.

Now, just hope and pray that the Tooth Fairy remembers to visit tonight....she's been known to forget once or twice before.