You know what they say about the size of a man's hands

You'll have to excuse my recent absence. I do have some viable excuses for it, at least. I've been working ferociously on some fingerless gloves for my dad. They were intended to be a Father's Day gift, but I just partially finished the first glove and tested it on Ron's hand. Let's just say the recommended size stating "Fits medium-large man's hand" did not exactly describe my creation. Ron suggested that I finish making the pair and sell it to one of the local Cavalier players. So so funny. Anyone have a friend or family member with freakishly large hands?

Bible Belt

"Forbidden Fruits Create Many Jams"

Don't you just love those catchy little phrases on the church billboards. They are rampant here. If they want to guilt people into going to church then just be blunt about it. Don't try to be sneaky and creative. The funny part is, there is probably a little book that they have that somebody created and sells to churches everywhere. I imagine this person to be some type of recluse who has never stepped their foot into a church, ever. I hope it is at least. Don't you think this is a better way to guilt people into believing in the Lord?

"Get your ass to church or you will burn in hell for eternity"

This Mom is Very Thankful

Mother's Day was wonderful. My day started off with breakfast in bed. Oh yeah. The kids and Ron managed to make me feel very special and loved and, get this, the kids didn't complain too awful much when I made them go for a bike ride. We went to one of the local parks where they have a partially paved/partially gravel trail. The weather was perfect and even though it was pretty crowded, it was really enjoyable. I may just have a new activity for my Friday mornings that I don't work. And if I manage it well I can get a bike ride in AND make it to a $1 movie. Score!

Not only did I get the 2 CD set of Hall and Oates Greatest, but (BUT!) I got some very beautiful flowers. And they're not the kind that die after a few days. I get to plant these in the ground and enjoy them for more than one season. To top it all off........drum roll.......I got a freaking apple tree! I'm so stoked. Yep, I just used the word stoked. It will be so fun to see how it grows each year. I wonder how long it will be til we get to eat some yummy Braeburns.

I almost forgot, I also received a very lovely personally made e-card. Not one of those cheesy premade ones either. The sender? My new mom-in-law. :)

'Tis a Good Day

Got a few yard sales lined up

Returning stuff to the store to get money back and clear a few spaces in the closet

Gonna watch "Reign Over Me" at the $1 theater

Oh yeah, AND IT'S FRIDAY!!! (with Mother's Day coming soon where I have an excuse to sit on my butt all day and make everyone serve me.)

I won't send this but I wish I could

Note to daycare parents:

I'm not a confrontational person. In fact, I avoid it at all costs. Therefore, please do not put me in the middle of divorces or any such dispute that exists in your relationships outside of my home. Please do not try to get out of paying me on time (or at all) and causing me to confront the other parent only to be told "She's the one not paying you."

I absolutely hate that part of my job. If I could afford to hire someone to take care of all the paperwork and billing junk, I would. It makes my day much less stressful when parents show up with their check or cash on time and I can concentrate on the important stuff. Paint, playdough, outside time, naps, snack, cuddles, helping friends to hug and make-up, and belly laughs.

Thank you for your understanding,

Your loving daycare provider

It's Official- Part 2

Thanks to everyone for all the great "things to do" ideas. Some of them we'd already thought of and tucked away on the mental list.

After a somewhat emotional discussion about spending money on extras and who deserves to be happy and treated special, we have booked the trip to NYC. I guess we decided it's kind of a way to make up for last year's anniversary. Remember that one? At the time I was ok with not doing anything for our 15th anniversary. I was just happy to have Ron home and attempting to get back to some normalcy. We've never really done anything for our anniversary any other year, so why should the 15th be any different?

Anyhoo, I used Hotwire.com to book the hotel. Even though we didn't intend to, we may end up sharing a bathroom and sleeping on a double bed. The rooms look decent in the pictures though. We'll also be staying right in the heart of Times Square (I've always wanted to say that....no not really). All of that for a mere $109 per night + applicable taxes and various fees. Hot wire is actually a great way to get cheap(er) hotel rates as long as you don't like the element of surprise. You get to choose the general location and the rating of the hotel. You then commit to the purchase and then they immediately tell you which hotel you have just agreed to stay at. It's somewhat nerve-wracking clicking the button, but I like to live on the edge! (not really)

Amongst the things that we'd like to do while we're in town:

Natural History Museum
At least one art museum
Times Square
NBC studios (maybe)
Empire State Building
Broadway or Off Broadway show (we might check into the tickets you can buy the day-of at a 25-50% discount)
Brunch with Bearette :)
Fireworks-hopefully with a good view
Greenwich Village (to check out all the hip people)
Central Park

Things that we're going to pass on this time

Statue of Liberty

Shopping 5th Ave. (I could really care less about $5oo handbags....I just bought a brand new one at Goodwill for $2 :)

FAO Swartz (we'll probably save that for when the kids are with us)

David Letterman or any of the other shows (it would be kind of fun to be in the guest audience, but I don't know if we want to take the time to do it)

It's Official

We finally bought plane tickets for the kids' trip this summer. Within the past few days, we (I) came up with the scheme of sending them first to stay with Grandma Donna. She is, to put it mildly, ecstatic. They will spend three full days with her and then take the 12 hour drive to my parents'. They are both very excited. Jesse can't wait to meet Donna's dogs (kids) who are a male and female jack russell terriers. She will keep them very busy as she lives near a large city (to remain unnamed) with lots of stuff to do.

Even though it's nerve wracking as a parent to send your kids off on a plane cross country, I'm really excited for them. They will not only build lots of self confidence from this trip, but this will be one of those trips that sticks in their memory forever.

We paid the extra $40 each way ($80 roundtrip for those of you counting) for the airlines to assist the kids during their trip. Even though Nate will be 14 and is considered a young adult, we figured that they will need the extra assurance that someone will be there to take them to their next gate. The extra 80 bucks also allows one person to get a gate pass, allowing us to pass through security and escort them directly to the gate. The same goes for the receiving end. It makes me think of the old days when you walked off the plane and got immediate gratification from whatever loved one was picking you up. Now you have to maneuver your way to the baggage claim before getting to have that long awaited hug. I guess one positive is that you get a chance to use the potty before becoming engrossed in conversation and what not.

Now that we have the kids' trip squared away, it's time to concentrate on making plans for Ron and I. We will have three full weekends (count 'em...3!) without the kidlings. We are more than seriously thinking of booking the trip to NYC (and looking forward to yummy donuts!). Bearette, if you're ok with it, I'd love to have any insider tips on visiting the city. We already know of a few things that we definitely want to do, but would love to get some first-hand advice.

Another possibility we were talking about is a "hike in and camp" trip. I've always wanted to try this as the only camping I've ever done is in State & National Parks, KOA (which is not really camping, and various private RV parks (ditto). What I would really love to do, is take one of those 3 day river rafting/camping trips. But since Ron is deathly afraid of bodies of water, I'll have to wait til I can talk one of the kids into going with me.

The third thing we've been wanting to do for quite some time, is visit a family friend in Cincinnati. She used to be really good friends with Ron's adopted mom and lived with them for a few years. It will be fun to visit and catch up with her. If anyone knows of any fun stuff to do in the Cincinnati area that is preferably not kid friendly, let me know. Since most of our trips involve finding stuff that's fun for both us and the kids, we'd like to fill our time with all those activities that would most likely receive a "this is sooooooo boring and sooooo stupid" rating from the kids.

FUN! FUN! FUN!