Just random fun and happy stuff...

I don't really have anything profound to say tonight....but I do have some fun pictures....

One of the best things about fall...

The Dude took me, Daniel, and Alex out to eat the other night. It's always an adventure...

Guess what? It's been raining! Ok, not a lot, and not enough, but it's been raining off and on all day. And it's glorious. And I love it. And it needs to just keep coming down...for about a month.

Sarah had volleyball games tonight. That girl amazes me every time she serves a ball.

Her glasses, however, were less than impressed with the game (new ones are already ordered).

Beautiful sunset on the way home from the games though.

Looking back over these pictures from the last few days just reminds me once again that life is good.

Yardwork...again.

Just in case you missed it yesterday, I had a little bit of a run in with Weird Neighbor, who decided for whatever reason that he needed to mow my grass for me.

Now, before anyone decides to rip me to shreds and talk about how grateful I should be (again)...let me summarize.

~Alex has horrible allergies. He can't be around when I cut the grass.
~I planned to cut it this morning while he was at school in order to avoid him having an allergy attack.
~We pulled into the driveway after church to find Weird Neighbor mowing MY grass, unasked and uninvited.
~Alex wasn't even out of the van before he started coughing and horking and sneezing.
~Momma Bear instincts kicked in, and I basically told Weird Neighbor to get out of my yard.

There's more to the story than that, but those are the highlights. If you'd like to go all Judgey McJudgerson on me, please take the time to read the entire thread that I linked to up above - and make sure that you read all of the comments, including mine. Make sure you understand that I have been having issues with this man for a long time, up to and including him attempting to look in the windows of my house.

Also, make sure that you understand that I understand that he was most likely trying to be nice - but as a single mother who lives alone with her kids, I prefer to keep men that I barely know off of my property.

Anyway.....my pissedoffedness (yes, that's a word) went away a bit yesterday, although every time I looked at Alex's bloodshot eyes or heard him sneeze it came back. Then this morning, I went outside, just to see what Weird Neighbor did.

Remember the other day when I went out and busted my butt to clean up a bit outside? Particularly this - what my the sidewalk beside my house looked like until yesterday....

Yeah. I was pretty proud of that. But then he decided to mow Nice Neighbor's yard - including all of her day lilies that border my sidewalk - and this is what I was left to clean up today:

Then I walked around to the back side of my house, and I about lost it.

I have this flower bed back there. It's full of day lilies and irises. The day lilies were there when I moved in, but I brought the irises from my old house. I dug up some of the lilies and rearranged them and put irises in between and busted my butt to make that flowerbed look decent.

Until yesterday, all of those plants went the whole way to the sidewalk. That is, until he MOWED THEM DOWN. Granted, it's the end of the season and I will be cutting them down shortly - BUT he had no right to mow my flowerbed (or my grass). How did he know that I didn't have something else planted in there?

What would possess a person to go onto someone else's property, uninvited, and then mow down their flowerbed? This just boggles my mind.

Anyway....I had to get my mower out and get it fired up and running so that I could mow everything that he missed...

Now, before anyone gets all judgey again and says "OMG look at how tall your grass was!!! No wonder he had to mow it for you, you little Ghetto Queen!" let me explain. The ONLY tall grass in my yard was this stuff right by the curb. Don't ask me why. I don't know the physics of grass-growing. But literally - the rest of the yard was maybe 2" tall, then there were these random sprouts that shot up after the rain - probably something about the curb retaining water for them or something. That's beside the point.

See all of those clippings in the street? That's enough to get a citation from the city around here. So not only did he trespass on my property, but he also left crap in the street that *could* get me a ticket.

Do I think they'll come and try to nail me for it? Probably not. Point is - they could.

(Side note: See that camper in the street? It's been parked there for probably 6 months. He has someone living in it. Seriously. Someone is living in a camper with no running water and no electricity. In front of his house.)

Anyway.....enough of him. I cleaned up the yard (I didn't sweep the street though and I probably should) and I mowed what he didn't and I cut a bunch of branches and I did what I needed to do to make my yard look decent. And hopefully I got my point across that I do not need or want his help with it.

End of story.

Now, for the fun stuff...

Daniel wanted to ride his bike while I worked in the yard but the tires were flat. I couldn't find the pump, and then it dawned on me - I have an air compressor in the back of my van! I just figured that out recently (would have been nice to know about it during TMOART:12 when we were trying to blow up the air mattress) and I got out the owner's manual and figured out how to use it.

Serously? Best. invention. ever.
He played while I worked and we just had a great time spending the afternoon outside.

And of course, a day outside wouldn't be complete without some random wildlife visiting...

I was prepared to walk over to show him to Daniel, until he jumped off of my hand and somehow landed between the left lens of my glasses and my face - and then I immediately busted into some ninja-like moves to get him off of me. Ick. Bugs are cool and all, but not on my eyeballs.

The rest of the day was spent doing the usual laundry and cleaning and whatnot, and then Alex had his first "real" Cub Scout meeting tonight, which was fun.

After we got home, the boys went straight to bed - and then Alex's father showed up. As usual, out of the blue after being MIA again. Blah blah blah, excuse excuse excuse, I yelled at him, he made more excuses and promised to do better, lather, rinse, repeat.

It gets old. It really does. And the only person suffering for his selfishness is Alex.

But that's a whole 'nother story and I just don't feel like going there tonight.

Random shots - because my computer is stupid.

I am having some major problems with my computer right now, so I'm just going to toss up a couple of random pictures from the past few days - partially because I've been meaning to post them, and partially just to see if I *can* post anything.

This computer is on the verge of being drop-kicked through the window. Seriously.

Sarah's newly patched (again) kneepads for volleyball. I swear we are going to make them last for one more month...

The boys found a friend to play with during Sarah's games the other night. Too bad this little girl wasn't there for the entire 4 hours, because they got really bored after she left.

Emily's first games (yesterday). She's in the back right, just in front of the line judge in the orange shirt. They won one match and lost one.

Daniel tried so hard to watch part of the race with me last night, but he just didn't make it.

Promotion Sunday at church today. Jared received his Bible engraved with his name. They do this for all of the third graders every year - this year, he was the only one in the entire church!
Hopefully, I'll figure out what is going on with this stupid computer, and then I can get back to normal again (whatever normal is around here)...but for now, I'm just going to see if I can even post this or not.

What is a good life?

The world lost a wonderful man a few days ago, and I was able to attend his memorial service today.

A poem that he had written during the last few days of his life was read - and despite the fact that it was about the pain that he was suffering, his humor showed in his words.

Stories about his life were told, and there was a lot of laughter in the rooms in the funeral home.

During the last few days of his life, this man looked at his beloved wife and told her "I lived a good life". He was so loved and cherished by so many people.

The pastor read from 1Corinthians, and while I am not the type of person to quote scripture, it was so fitting:

13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

This really hit me today.

Life really means nothing without love.

The pastor asked us what living a good life meant to us. Did it mean having lots of money? power? material possessions?

The answer for me is no. None of that stuff matters to me. Seriously. I have no money (surprise). I have no power. I have no material possessions that are worth more than a couple of bucks.

But I'm happy.

Why? How can I be happy when I don't have all of that stuff?

Because I have love. I have my kids. I love them with all of my heart, and then some. They are happy, they are healthy, they are active, they are smart and funny and aggravating and wonderful. I have my friends and family - and although I don't tell them enough, I love them. And of course, I have The Dude - and anyone who has read this blog for more than a few days knows how much we love each other. And perhaps the most important one of all...

I love myself.

I've made mistakes in the past (haven't we all?) but there are very few things that I would change if I was given the chance. Most, if not all of those involve being able to tell someone how I felt about them before it was too late and the chance was gone forever. Yes, there are things that I could improve, because I am not perfect (far from it, actually). But I love myself. It's taken me a long time to get there, but I'm there and it's a wonderful feeling.

We might not have a lot of "stuff" but we are not lacking in love around this house.

I have a good life - because I have love.

Adventures in walking

So I went walking today after I took the boys to school.

5.8 miles to be exact.

I went the opposite direction from how I usually go, and it was amazing to see everything from a different perspective. It was a good walk, although the humidity was higher than normal and by the time I got home, I was definitely sporting a special breed of stink on my body.

I did accomplish something interesting on my walk though. I've walked past this apple tree several times, and I've drooled over the apples each time. It's on a deserted piece of property that was for sale a few years ago, but to the best of my knowledge it didn't sell. I wasn't sure who owned it, but I wanted to see if I could get permission to pick the apples. (I'm too much of a chicken to just go pick them without asking.)

So I stopped at city hall and asked who owned the property, and explained why I was asking. The lady might have thought that I was nuts, but hey, I've never been accused of being sane. She gave me the information and told me where I could find the gentlemen who owned it, as they own a local business. After I got home and got showered and picked Daniel up from school, we took lunch to The Dude at work and then we went to that business. I introduced myself to the owner and explained that I would like to pick the apples. He laughed and said that he didn't even realize that there was an apple tree on the property - and gave me permission to pick as many as I want!

I did promise to deliver a couple of jars of apple butter to him after I get them made - he was happy with that deal.

The rest of the day was spent doing the usual. Cleaning, laundry, one more batch of jelly, a quick run to the grocery store....the older 3 didn't get home until almost 9pm because of volleyball and church, so we went through some of the goodies that we got from freecycle and I started their laundry since Sarah has to have her volleyball jersey for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is going to be an insane day - lots of running around and lots of stuff to do and then a volleyball game in the afternoon.....with a run to the doctor with The Dude's mother and kneepad repair thrown in the middle somewhere. I already figured and it's going to be a 100-mile day - yet another reason why I am so thankful to have my van back and running.

Hopefully I'll still have a little bit of sanity left by the end of the day. Only time will tell.

Yardwork and stuff....

I actually took the time today to do some work outside - something that I really haven't done all summer. Thanks to our lovely drought, I haven't mowed the grass in well over 2 months (seriously - no exaggeration there) and it really doesn't need it yet. But, I think I'm going to do it in the next few days anyway because the stupid trees are coming up in the front yard and it looks awful. Figures that the drought can't kill those too....

Anyway...

I started out by "de-ghettofying" my front porch. For whatever reason, crap has just been accumulating there ever since we returned from TMOART:12 in early July.

I give you "Exhibit A":

You might have to click on it to enlarge it and see my silly captions.
Most of this crap just needed to go into the garage - you know, that little building with the crappy roof that you see in the background of the picture? Yeah, see how far I had to go to get it off of my porch and out of my sight? Yet it took me 2 months to do it.....but the good news is that I at least put it in the garage neatly and didn't just chuck it all in there in a huge pile like I usually do.

So after about 30 minutes (and a lot of sweat - I didn't realize it was actually hot outside) I ended up with this:

Actually it looks even better than that because I brought the blue bag inside (why in the world was it on the porch anyway???) and I *think* I brought the bucket inside too - I need to scrub all of the buckets just in case we decide to go pick fruit again. If I didn't bring the bucket in, I'll be doing that on my way back in from taking the trash out tonight.

Then I wandered over to the side of my house.

*sigh*

See all of that junk on the sidewalk? Especially the pile where Daniel is standing? Those are walnut shells. For whatever reason this year, the squirrels have decided that they need to break open my neighbor's walnuts and leave their shells all over my sidewalk. And let me tell you as someone who does NOT like to wear shoes EVER, those shell fragments might as well be razor blades when they are embedded into the sole of a foot. They will even embed into the sole of a shoe, to the point that they have to be pried out with a screwdriver.

So yeah, I got the broom and got busy. I dragged the picnic table and the trash cans out of the way and swept that entire area. I know that it's a losing battle, especially since the trees haven't even started to lose their leaves yet, but at least it looks better for now, and if I keep up with it, it won't be so bad to keep it clean going forward.

And of course we found some *ahem* treasures...

Now all I need to do is trim some branches, pull the trees out of the flowerbeds, and mow the grass. I was telling Nice Neighbor today that I'm going to try to get both of our yards cut this week - and at this rate it'll probably be the last time that I have to do them this summer, unless we actually start to get some rain (wishful thinking, I know).

The rest of this week is going to be crazy. I'm planning to go run tomorrow morning and Friday morning while Daniel is in school. Thursday morning I'm taking The Dude's mother to a doctor appointment. Sarah has an away volleyball game on Thursday afternoon and an away tournament all day on Saturday plus Emily has two away volleyball games on Saturday morning (and of course they can't all be in the same city - or even the same county for that matter). And then I have a funeral on Friday afternoon. But at least I have my van back so I can get everywhere that I need to go, and The Dude and I can tag team on a couple of things to make sure that everyone gets everywhere on time.

Something tells me that if I don't strap my mind inside my head, I'm going to lose it by the end of the week.

You asked....I answered...

Every now and then, I like to get people on my facebook page to ask me questions, and then I answer them in a blog post. This is my easy way to get around the whole I have no idea what to write about tonight problem that happens every now and then....

Tonight's questions...

MissAmber asked: well i am a step mom and have been wit my husband for 3 yrs we jus had a baby what are some good bonding things to do as family

Family things - there are so many things that I can come up with here, but not knowing the ages of the stepchildren might make it harder. So I'm just going to toss out ideas.

I'm always on a tight budget, so I like to do things on the cheap. We try to get a zoo membership each year so that we can drop everything and go there at a moment's notice. (We haven't done it lately though.) We pack lunches and go and spend the day. We also go to parks and playgrounds, or to the library, or even just make a really super simple meal (sandwiches and chips, anyone?) and eat outside at the picnic table. Remember, you don't have to spend lots of money to bond - the key is to spend time together as a family.

Another thing to remember is that all kids need one-on-one time too. Make it a point to spend time with each of the kids doing something that he/she enjoys, even if it's just for a few minutes.

Kerry asked: What's the craziest thing you've heard one of your kids say?

That one's easy, babe. It would have to be any one of the kids asking "When are you and [The Dude] going to get married?"

They're insane, I tell you. Totally insane. I don't know where they come up with these crazy ideas - but I make sure to put them in their place whenever they ask.

I mean seriously, a zombie t-shirt with the tutu? I love you and all, but....I have to draw the line somewhere.

(Remember, I love you!)


Robin asked: Do you ever do ANYTHING that is JUST for you? Not the house, not the kids, not the Dude??? You work too hard, Mom.

Well.....I was thinking about this earlier this evening as I was sewing together a charity quilt, and I don't get a lot of time to myself yet, so there isn't much that I do just for me. Although my blog and my facebook page are my outlets at this point, because even the crafty stuff that I do is usually to sell in order to get money to support the kids and the house - but I enjoy doing the crafty stuff.

However, when the littlest munchkin starts going to school full-time and I have 7 1/2 hours to myself every day....I might start enjoying myself a bit more!

Amanda asked: My fiancé and I are getting married on the 22nd. He does everything around the house and loves my boys unconditionally. Can you suggest something nice I can do for him? He's a gamer nerd and never thinks of himself. What have you done for the Dude?

First of all, congratulations! I wish you nothing but the best! Sounds like you got a good guy there, and we all know that those are hard to find. As for something nice to do for him - I don't know much about the gamer stuff, but I would definitely suggest that you go and visit my good friend over at Life on Pause - he is the guru of all things game-related and he can definitely give you some ideas!

As for what I have done for The Dude - I love to cook, so making a meal for him is always a treat for both of us (especially since he helps to do the dishes). Or it'll just be the little things - grabbing something to drink and stopping by his house or his work to give it to him, sending him cute silly notes online, leaving him notes on his van. It's just goofy little stuff, but it makes him smile (I think - either that, or he thinks that I'm totally weird).

Juliet asked: Mum of 6 here, just wondering if u do get any spare time with nobody home and nothng 2do, do u sleep? Lol i know i do!

Six kids? Wow! You beat me by one!

As of right now, I get about 3 hours to myself each day while my youngest is in kindergarten. However, 3 hours just isn't enough to really do much of anything. I'm always afraid to take a nap because I'm worried that I won't wake up in time to pick him up, and I don't want to be THAT MOM who forgets to pick her kid up from school (no, I only forget to take them TO school). Instead, I usually go walking/jogging, or I come home and clean or play around online. However, once he starts school full-time (In 29 days. Yes, I'm counting.) I may start scheduling naps for myself!

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So there you have it - answers to tonight's questions. Don't forget, you can always ask me anything. Leave it in a comment here, post it on my facebook wall, email it to me, whatever. It's fun, and it gives me ideas when I can't think of anything to write about!