Observations from the day

Today has just been one of those days when I kept seeing things and saying to myself "I should write something about that" but then when it came right down to it, I couldn't come up with the words. So instead, you'll just get my random thoughts and a few pictures.

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For whatever reason, whenever the sky looks the coolest, the stupid panoramic feature on my phone camera refuses to work. So instead of getting a really cool panoramic view of this....

I end up with this kind of garbage....

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Facebook is such a funny place. For real. I enjoy it most of the time, in spite of the haters. But it's so ironic that I can post things about having a glass or 3 of wine when most people know that I'm the only adult in the house and no one bats an eye (having one right now, thankyouverymuch) but when I post a picture of a lightbulb, it sparks intense debate (not just tonight - every time I mention that I use CFLs it happens).

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And this one....this one might just be my most favorite observation of the day. It would have been cooler still if I had noticed it two days ago, but still - I'll take it.

Randomness

I dumped the pictures off of my phone tonight, so that's what you get. Random shots of the past couple of weeks or so.

Trip to the dentist.

Doesn't even bother him a bit.

Do you really need an explanation? 

Chocolate chocolate chip muffins - one of the kids' favorites
for breakfast.

Enjoying some froyo.

Compare their heights - does it really look like there's 3 years
between them?

Sunset tonight.

Waiting patiently for food.

Also waiting patiently.

1. Why I will never buy New Balance sneakers again, and
2. Why I splurged on a new pair of sneakers tonight.

So....we're supposedly getting something like 7-10" of snow tomorrow (according to just about everyone on facebook). I think we might get *some*, but I don't think it's going to be that much. And yes, I am well aware that I'm going to have to eat my words one of these days, but in 15 years in Kansas I don't think that I've seen one single winter storm live up to the hype before it hit. So for me, tomorrow is business as usual, although it will actually involve a trip to the grocery store - not for storm supplies, but because we are out of just about EVERYTHING that is necessary right now. And it's driving me insane.

Of course first, I have to meet a kid at the doctor's office for a potential toenail removal....

And I want to go through the boys' clothes to get rid of a ton of stuff.....

Wednesday night chaos....

Yep. Business as usual.

Pool party....sunset....and other stuff.

The kids were all in a summer reading program through our local library, and for finishing all of the requirements for that, they earned tickets to go to a pool party last night.

Unfortunately, although Jared earned the ticket, he couldn't go. Remember the other day when we all went plum picking? Somehow he apparently managed to find a patch of poison ivy. And apparently he lifted his shirt and rolled around in it. OK, maybe not, but that's what it looks like. He's miserable, and he's covered in the stuff, so he didn't get to go swimming.

That's Emily coming down the slide.

Wow. They're actually getting along with each other.

Alex got 2 nosebleeds - one as soon as we walked in, and one as soon as his feet touched the water. The lifeguards felt bad for him and gave him a snowcone. :)

They love this frog slide.

And then of course, I had to start playing with the effects on my phone...

When we got done at the pool party, I had to take the girls back over to Ex1's house. On the way back, the sunset was gorgeous - so I couldn't resist taking pictures. And of course, I had to play with the effects on my phone again. Hey, it was a dirt road with no traffic - I wasn't being stupid.

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Now, the other stuff.

I feel weird even talking about this. I've vented already about the situation with my van. I looked at a couple of other options today - the garage that I usually go to used to be able to do payment arrangements - but they don't anymore. And they used to have a credit card deal for big repairs - well, they still do, but again, my credit wasn't good enough to get it. So while I was using The Dude's van to take his mother to the doctor, he and a friend of ours went down to the dealership and towed my van back home. So it's sitting in my backyard again, just waiting for a new transmission.

I've had a bunch of people who have asked how they can help. And this is hard for me, because I don't like to ask for help. Not for me, anyway. I can ask for help for other people all day long, but I don't like to do it for myself. I look at it as "I got myself into this mess and I can get myself out of it".

But frankly, I'm kind of stuck right now. School starts in just over 2 weeks. I have to run kids back and forth every day. I can walk Alex and Daniel to school (especially since they'll be in the same building this year *happy dance*) but the older 3 go to school 13 miles from here. The Dude just started a new job, and he needs to get back and forth to work. It's going to be too much for both of us to handle with only one vehicle. Add to that the fact that my van isn't even paid off yet, and you'll see some of my frustration. I have no choice but to fix it.

The good news is this though...my garage gave me a better estimate than the dealership (go figure). And just to prove it....(Sorry, but I blocked out the identifying stuff. I might not be totally anonymous, but I'm not going to just hand out all of my personal info, you know?)

This is a local garage, who I trust. They've done 95% of the work on my vehicles over the past 8-ish years and I've never had a problem with them so I feel confident going there. Plus, they're local - so if there's an issue, it'll be easy to get it back there to get it fixed again.

Anyway, like I said, people have asked how they can help. If you want to throw a few bucks into the "Transmission Fund" you can send it via PayPal to non-stopmom(at)hotmail(dot)com.

And before anyone says that I'm looking for a handout - oh hell, if you're going to say it, just say it. I can't change your opinion of me. Just know that I am doing everything in my power to get the money myself. I have a few odd jobs lined up and I'll be selling anything that I can sell and taking orders for stuff and going through all of my junk to see what can be sold at a friend's garage sale in 2 weeks. I'm doing what I can, and honestly, if this had happened at the beginning of the summer, I wouldn't be so stressed - but with school starting, the pressure is mounting.

So if you want to help, great. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I honestly do, and I appreciate it.

If you can't help, that's ok. I understand. Honestly, I do.

And if you think that I'm a worthless piece of trash for even putting this out there, that's ok too. I've been called worse. Really.

Just know that I will continue to pay it forward, in any way that I possibly can.

A dirty day

Daniel didn't have school again today, so he and I spent most of the day with The Dude, running around and doing errands. The first place we went to was this little garage that sells used tires. This place was totally old-school - it's owned and run by a man who invited us out to the garage while he took the old tire off of the rim and mounted a slightly-less used one on it. Daniel and I wandered around the garage and took a few pictures while The Dude watched the guy change out the tire.

My favorite shot of the day

After that, we went and paid some bills, grabbed some lunch, and while I went and shopped for some plants for my house The Dude took Daniel to a dollar store and a video game store nearby. Daniel came out with a "treat", but I'm not sure which one of them enjoyed it more!

They had to trade hats...

After that, we went back to The Dude's house and hung out for a little bit until it was time to go get Alex from school, and then the boys and I ran to the grocery store to get a few things for supper before we came home. Then we went outside and started playing in the dirt. While I have a yard that is more than big enough for a garden, I have no outside water source (stupid ghetto-esque house) so I just got a few tomato and pepper plants to put in buckets on the porch.

I also got some strawberry plants to put in my hanging bags to see if maybe, just maybe, I could grow them this year. But when I got everything planted and ran inside to fill the watering can, I realized that I had a problem.

Figures. Guess I'm adding "watering can" to my next shopping list.

Alex found a pet

After we were done playing in the dirt in the front yard, we went around back for a while so that the boys could make sure that they got dirty enough to be happy.

While they played, I sat on the back steps and surveyed the yard and realized what I am going to do for the 6 hours that I am totally kid-free tomorrow (Daniel has a zoo field trip)...I'm going to be cutting the grass. Yay me.

After that we came inside, the boys got baths, we ate supper and watched TV, Alex pooped on the floor, the boys went to bed, I mopped the living room and worked on laundry.....

Yep. Just another day.

Random pictures

It was another busy day. Besides running kids back and forth to school, I went over to The Dude's for the afternoon to help him get some things done. I changed a couple of burned out taillights on our vans and mowed the grass while he worked on getting my weedeater started and worked on his other car for a while. We got a lot accomplished, but boy do my arms feel like rubber now! The older 3 kids came home and left for church and came back again, and for once there was very little drama in the Wednesday evening category. This is their last week of Wednesday night church, so things will finally calm down a bit now.

I went through my phone and dumped a ton of pictures last night, and so I thought that I would just post them since they didn't really fit in with any blog posts (or, I forgot to post them).

Who needs a pillow when The Dude is nearby?

I don't feel so bad about the condition of my van now.

The boy loves to wear glasses.

For those who worry about me forgetting to take out my trash....I now have assistance with that (and he's going to kill me for posting this here).

Lessons in shoe tying :)

Randomness

I finally got around to dumping the pictures off of my phone today, and just thought that I'd toss a few of them out here...(in no particular order)

The boys walking to kindergarten roundup last night...

The results of our shopping trip tonight...

Daniel having an absolute blast in the waiting room at The Dude's chiropractor appointment. He *loves* to go there now!

Some more Easter fun...

Daniel and The Dude, hanging out...

I think I might have to rethink my running trail - it seems to be getting a wee bit overgrown...

And last but not least, have you ever seen a tree growing out of another tree?

And last but not least (yes, I'm going to keep harping on this one, because it's important) if you haven't read THIS yet, please do. And please, share that post any way that you can. Post it on your facebook wall, tweet it, email it, send it out by carrier pigeon if you have to - just please share it all over the place! The more people who read it, the more chances we have to raise money and awareness for both of these causes. And no, I don't get any special prizes for raising money - I'm doing these walks and promoting the issues in the hopes that cures can be found!