Promised Pictures from our Childless Night and Morning.

What we look like after we jog.














What we did at "Shooters"













With...

Law School and Halloween

So guess what... Eric got a letter that states that he IS eligible to take the Patent BAR so he will hereby be spending some serious $$$$ to spend some serious time studying for the exam that it is recommended 6 months preparation, crammed into two months (for some reason there is a deadline or he'd have to reapply. We did not know this.)!

SO.....goodbye baby, I love you. I'll lend you to some ridiculously expensive test prep. material, but you'd better come HOME as soon as your through, your family needs you! P.S. Study hard baby, we've got your back.

It should be illegal to charge that much money for study material for a test. Don't those lawyers know ANYTHING about money? It doesn't grow on trees!!! (I think they figure that if you take it and pass you'll make the money back quickly enough to not be a problem. I think they are just a rip-off.) And people wonder why lawyers are so expensive, they have HEAFTY school loans to pay off!!!

Meanwhile...we're still figuring out Halloween costumes (I know it's tomorrow!). Eric has the day off work tomorrow and we'll probably carve pumpkins then. I bought some candy to put in a bowl to work on the "honor system" so our whole family can go trick-or-treating together. Our neighborhood is so big it's not even possible to hit all the houses in 2 hours. Yeah, trick-or-treating has rules I NEVER knew about when I was a kid. The rules where we live are that trick-or-treating starts at 6pm and ends at 8pm. And so it goes that, promptly at 6pm the streets are swimming with goblins and ghouls and princesses and everything in between and at 8pm they vanish into thin air (or so it would seem). I'm thinking of putting the video camera on the bowl just to see how honest people are. Am I too curious? It's just that when I was a kid someone did that and I took "one" and my brother suggested that we get more or the whole bowl (I don't remember exactly what he said but was shocked at him.) The idea never occurred to me that they wouldn't know and when he explained I still wouldn't do it but that idea never left me.
I don't know about you but have you noticed that not that many kids say "thank you" when you give them a treat? I know some little ones are scared and tired, but I mean the ones that know better. What are these kids learning now-days? (There is one particular group of middle-school kids that came by last year and almost all of them said "thank you" and I wanted to give them extra candy for being polite. Is it just me, or shouldn't politeness be expected?

Okay enough of that.

What are you doing for Halloween?!?

I don't know what this means exactly. I haven't read any of the books but...


Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Our Camping Trip

We went camping in Hocking Hills, OH Friday night. It was shivery cold and we forgot the air mattress so it was a pretty looong night but we had fun. We went on a hike to some non-existent "falls". I say "non-existent because they were all dried up. Everybody was walking around in the riverbed. There was hardly any water at all. We got to see "Old Man's Cave" where an old hermit used to live back in the 1800's. It was pretty cool. After a hard night and about 5 miles of "hiking", (basically walking with a little ups and downs till the end where it went up a LOT of stairs) I was pretty tired and not very excited about the 3 hour drive home (or however long it took).
I was happy to see Mary Jane in my yard when we arrived home and get to here her laugh and giggle and give her some hugs. She stopped by to pick up the last of her belongings from their move. Sadly, now she's ALL gone. At least she blogs.
We turned the heater on when we got home, had nice hot showers, (I blow-dried my hair so I wouldn't get cold again), and went to bed in our nice, warm, comfortable beds. What a relief.
I'm learning things about being prepared. It seems that no matter how many times you "learn" something, until it is excercised and becomes habit you do not perfect it. Case in point, forgetting air mattress, extra blankets, butter, ketchup... Butter, by-the-way is $3.69 when you're desperate (ie. camping), Heinz is $2 for a little bottle in the same situation. Sleep is sporadic and your body tricks you into thinking it's warm when you get cold enough (I find this VERY strange and unnerving). When you are 31 it hurts to sleep on the hard ground however when you are 12 and under you have no problem with it. When you remember the fuel and not the lantern you still don't get light. Batteries are hard to find (even at the rip-off shops for desperados). I'm so glad it did not rain. Freshly chopped wood smokes a lot and doesn't burn wonderfully. Old phone books make pretty good kindling (there's plenty of paper to get a fire going). Matches are wonderful tools (don't leave home without them). A nice, smooth, good-sized rock would be a good idea to put in your freezing cold sleeping bag (after being warmed in the fire. We didn't have one). Long tongs would be good for the rock. Pot holders are a good idea. Paper towels or napkins would have been helpful. Germ-x is great. Pillows are soft but somehow very cold. Hats would be a great idea. Tissues would be nice.
I loved being with my family, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, making Smores, poking sticks in the fire...ahhh...it was great. The kids were great on the hike, too. Most of the pain came later and a hot shower and a good soak of the feet did the trick. We're all back to normal including school, tantrums, and all. I love my family.

My Childfree Night with the Hubby (hubba bubba)

Before I forget the details I want to say that when we left Ikea and got past the "Now what?" "I don' know. What do you wanna do?'s" Eric suggested we go to Wal Mart and pick up a treat, go home, run, eat treat while watching Iron Man. So basically, we did. Got TP, butter, tortilla chips, ground chuck (we keep that around for making chili. YUM!), cereal, pizza (Eric was hungry. He didn't get enough to eat at Ikea), and a sleeping bag for Emily's birthday from her grandparents (hopefully she'll get to use it this coming Friday when Eric is taking a vacation day YAY!), and a Symphony bar (for our treat). I think that was all that we got. Anyway, got home heated oven, let Lilly (our papillon) out, cooked the pizza, let dog in, went for jog, showered, Started the movie, Eric ate pizza, I ate Symphony, Eric ate Symphony, I ate pizza, Eric massaged my back (all of that was YUMMY!). Got ready for bed (brush teeth, floss, use bathroom, have prayer (together), read scriptures, have prayer (personal), in bed at 1:ooam on the minute. 7:??am open eyes, dread that eyes are open so early, brain rushes that I should get up and make the chili for our ward party, I tell brain "not yet", close eyes for more zzzzzz. 7:16am eyes open. "Thank you (thee) Heavenly Father, I know I need to start the chili." I roll out of bed, down stairs, let dog out (and in, and out and in again while doing next task), made chili (seriously, the details of that are too long). 8:16am lie back in bed, thinking "I need to make the seating chart for the Primary Program. I forgot to get that drink of water (I was thirsting for) while I was down stairs. I need to work on that talk-thingy for Young Women's thing tomorrow. I'm thirsty." Dog barks. "What is her problem?" I roll out of bed again, let dog out, work on aforementioned things, Eric gets up (around 9:40am). He gets breakfast (cereal) and on his computer. I eat breakfast (cereal) while finishing seating chart. We shower get dressed and go to Shooters where we shot many rounds of bullets from three different guns with lots of "BANG!!!" and a bit of "KICK". I learn (again) that I don't like "my" gun (.38 special). It makes me flinch because the trigger is so hard to pull that the anticipation is too great. Eric's Kimber .45 is SWEET and his newest "nug" is surprisingly LOUD and powerful (it looks like an old toy gun and it's very light and small. It likes to jam. That stinks.) It was horrible to realize that I'm not as good at shooting as I used to be but now that I have a Shooters club card I can change that (as long as we can afford the ammo). Why is it that we can litterally "blow" (get it? You can smile.) through that much "dough" on ammo, but I can't get that $ for extra food? Conundrum... Guess entertainment is pretty important, too. I like it.
Anyway... We got home, ate lunch, packed up the chili, drove to Ikea (worked on a crossword puzzle), picked up kids.
The end.

Their aunt is SO nice to them! I wonder what they were like to her. She looked tired (though she denied. Maybe she's just missing her Superman. I don't blame her.) THANK YOU!!!

(you know me and pictures. I took some but they'll have to come later.)

Child Free!!??

Are those the faces of parents on vacation or what?!?
My sweet SIL (siter in law) is going to take all of my kids overnight tonight. Now what? What to do with my main squeeze with no kids around on a Friday night...I hope I remember the camera to document how adventurous (or not) we are. Knowing us we'll probably just come home and watch TV...the end. but who knows, maybe we'll think of something out of the box. I'll keep you posted (most likely). We're meeting at Ikea to let go of the kids and eat dinner; I'm sure we could find something to do while we're out.
I do need to get some groceries, but that is lame. I don''wanna. Guess we'd better get some cereal, though.
How do I feel about sleepovers? Weelllllll...I think we'll keep it to the family. While I know they can be a LOT of fun I also know there's the possibility for a LOT of mischief. I don't want the kids to beg and plead to stay with one friend or another and cry about why one can and not the other so we're keeping it to family (or emergencies). So...we all know the rules. The big question is, do I trust my children? Uh...uh-huh, I think so. But they'd better behave or there will be no more (except for aforementioned "emergencies").
So...what are you doing tonight?

Presents and Misc.

My "A" button just popped off of my laptop. It's interesting to see how they put the little buttons on the keypad. Before I worked at FPI on an assembly line, I thought everything was magical. (Well, except that I learned that a plane was put together with screws and panels when my dad took me to Hill Air Force Base). I never thought about the way things are actually put together. I like to solve puzzles but I'm not the type of person that wants to take things apart to put them together again. If it ain't broke, don't fix it; if it is broke, have at it!!! (but don't make it worse, if you can help it). Then there was the time that Chase got himself stuck in a chair. I tried to get him out (forward and backward) to no avail. I thought about calling the Fire Department and about what tools they might use to cut the chair to get him out and I thought about the price tag of that "service" and about how embarrassed I would be and how scared Chase would be etc. etc. Then I came back to reality and thought, "how did someONE assemble this chair?" I found the screwdriver and... VIOLA! Chase was once again a free-to-roam-the-house little boy. (And I had to give myself a mental high-five for figuring it out on my own.)
I've been wanting a new laptop for a little while now. My screen keeps blacking out and I have to press the little button that gets pushed when you close the laptop to get the screen to turn back on. It's annoying and very sporadic. But hey, at least I have a laptop.
Now I'm going to see how many times the "A" button gets pressed while I try to fix the thing, here goes:
aaaaazaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
well that wasn't too long of a fall. I dunno...a few seconds maybe? Still I wouldn't want to fall that long. 50 a's and one z. I didn't actually press "A" that many times butit took that long getting the button set in it's hooks.
I've discovered that I'm grateful for these button covers because it would be annoying to have to hit each tiny button "right on" to get the desired letter.
Am I boring or what?
What else can I write about? It's a cool, rainy day.
Her grandparents would be happy to know that they got Emily a "Snip It" book that lets her cut and stick colored paper on pictures, she got a pencil box for all of her "stuff", "Go Paint" with pad (like the magic markers), and a Magic Marker pad to use her markers on and more to come later (I'm thinking a sleeping bag but we'll see)... They would also be happy to know that they got me a pair of capri's, a skirt and two shirts and more to come later. They helped Eric get his gun, and (although the desire was to get some snorkling gear, which will have to wait til that sort of thing becomes available again) they got Chase a Lilkinz Webkinz that he named "Edmund" (You made him very happy with this). We all thank you SO very much.
I know that pictures are worth a thousand words but my laptop is so old that it won't work with our new camera so I have to wait til photos are downloaded to the PC so I can get to them and put them on here. I'm just not that motivated in that department. Maybe someday.

For Mary Jane

This is for my friend Mary Jane who used to be "the girl-next-door".
Hi Mary Jane! I miss you. I miss you laughing at yourself and being funny! I love how ALIVE you are. I miss the smell of your house and clothes (I think I found the type of detergent you use, is it the Lillies kind of Purex? If not it smells good anyway.) I want you to tell me how you cook your beans and cornbread (you know I can never remember anything).
Did you have a good day?
I actually made dinner after coming home from piano lessons today. (It's so hard to stay motivated. Why??!!) I let the kids put together a puzzle of the United States today for Geography. The more they see and do that puzzle the better they'll learn it (where the states are and the puzzle itself).
I got Eric off to work and then went back to bed til 8:00 then I was in and out of sleep and had that horrible froggy-groggy head most of the day (I hate that). I was determined to do something so I'm glad I made dinner.
I haven't seen the new owners, though the kids have caught a peep or two through our port-hole. I still can't believe you're not here!
When we got home from piano lessons Emily said "the wind blew it over!" (talking about your basketball hoop that's laying by our house. She thought it had been windy... I think she's hitting the 4-year-old defiance (boundary-testing) head-on! I have got to learn to be calm and quiet, my throat is going to get sore!!! (She really wants to be her own boss). She is still so cute.
I just can't think of anything funny right now.
I would love to soak in a hot-tub (in the cool night air, with my hubby, in the dark). Doesn't that sound wonderful?! Oooh, I would love that. You don't have a hot-tub, do you? If so, you are SO lucky.

Tidbits.

It's been a little while since I wrote anything so I'm trying to come up with something to say. I guess I'll give tidbits of life lately.
Eric got to see President Bush in person yesterday! I thought that was kinda cool.
Chase earned himself TWO stamps yesterday! That was WAY cool.
I got to watch General Conference on my TV! That was totally cool! (We have satellite now).
Eric got the gun he's been wanting for months! That's cool. (I get the same amount of $$$ that he spent on his gun-out of our account, not b-day money- for food storage!!! That is super cool!)
I wrote a recommendation letter for Eric for the Navy JAG and writing all that good stuff about my hubby is VERY cool!
I got some new jeans that fit my curves and that's cool! (Levi 529 curvy jeans).
They are size 8 and that's way cool! (I haven't fit in that size for YEARS)!
This is Eric's last year of school (it had better be) and that is SO WAY MORE than cool!
We are healthy and safe and that is ALWAYS SO cool!
I am LEARNING from the scriptures and I love it. That IS cool!
I AM grateful for SO many things. And THAT is cool!