Feel Good Friday! The Saturday Edition.

Holy Cow! It's freaking hot outside!

I'm currently in the air conditioning. In our room. It's too hot to be downstairs. Yes, we live in a super old house and we don't have central air. We have window units in the bedrooms and that's it. That Man worked in the heat all day, so he's pretty much broken right now.

Anyways...

Here's the Feel Good... And not all about Friday...

1. Sleeping in this morning.

2. An easy dinner last night and much air conditioning time.

3. The kitten baby sleeping in this morning, too.

4. Work things. Interesting and kind of promising. We'll see what happens.

5. That little demon kitten. He's so freaking cute. He's thriving though. Learning new things every day. Last night he used the litter box all by himself. He forgot about that today, when he peed behind the couch. Oy! Kittens! He apparently thinks I'm the feeding thing. When he crawls up on me, he starts licking my shirt. Oy!

3. The grandson telling me all about a million and a half things. He's decided to hang out with us in our air conditioning. We're watching Science shows and looking up icebergs on google. He's like a sponge and is interested in everything, even though he still doesn't believe Galapagos Turtles are real. He thinks I made them up and he still thinks my name is Becky... LOL

4. Hopefully, I am going to write in a few minutes. The grandson is making me help him make cakes in his game app, which is killing all of my available brain cells.

5. Tomorrow is K5's birthday party. Our little girl is 8 now. So weird! She's such a special and amazing kid. We have a "kid safe" texting app that we use. It's awesome to be able to send her random pictures and texts. She's hysterical.

6. Upcoming trips. I cannot believe June is over already!! Holy moly!

7. Tomorrow I will be posting a link for Discover a Cover. Participate! You could win free stuff!

That's all I have for now.. The grandson wants me to figure out a puzzle with him and I think he's totally smarter than me on this one...

Bheave!

Almost There...

Let's face it... It's been a long week.

One more day to get through...

So K4 is away at college orientation and having a blast. She's met up with a few other female students, one in her major. Last time I texted with her, she was having a lot of fun. I'm so thrilled. I've been having these "moments" of I don't even know what all day. It's kind of surreal to me at this point. I'm equal parts melancholy/nostalgic and super excited for her. And it's weird with her not being home.

I know. I need to get over it. She's taken a job for the summer where she'll travel for a few days at a time. That's pretty exciting since she'll get to see places she's never seen before. And then, in like 6 or 8 weeks, she'll be at school.

Work is work. A bunch of craziness and insanity, but that's normal.

Writing is slow. It's still at the top of the list, but it's super slow.

The kitten is growing and thriving. Though at this very moment, I have no idea where he went. He's a little ninja. I just fed him, so he should be powering down for a little bit. He just appeared and is fighting with my elbow. He's lucky he's as cute as he is. The tiny scratches I'm covered with might tell a different story.

Coming up soon, I'm participating in "Discover a Cover". It's kind of like a scavenger hunt and at the end, you are entered to win a prize. I'll be posting my clue and the link to find out more about it over the weekend. It's a lot of fun and I hope you get a chance to check it out.

Other than that... It's supposed to get super hot here. I'm not looking forward to that at all.

That is all...

Behave!

Really? Only Tuesday?

It's been a long week already....

Let's back up to the weekend...
Saturday was taking care of the kitten, household administration duties, dinner with the family - which was very nice and only complicated by my fricken back.
Sunday was lawnmower repair, a failed nap, awesome lasagna, a little bit of writing time, laundry. Oh and that demon kitten... lol

Then Monday -
Crazy day job. Had to leave early for a family meeting with the estate attorney. Grocery store. Massive and debilitating headache that had me in bed super early and dealing with the after effects this morning. Ugh.

Today -
A friend of my kids and niece lost her battle with heroine addiction. She was a super sweet girl. K1 worked with her. S worked with her and they were super close. K4 hung out with her at events. She's been at my house numerous times and I had the pleasure of hanging out with her at other venues. She was clean for so very long and doing so awesome. And then she fell...

It's tragically sad. We're all devastated. She had an eight-year old daughter. Her obituary is beautiful, but clearly states that she lost her life to the beast of heroine. Her death makes no sense. K1 called me this morning to talk about it. I told him it was okay to feel sad and angry. Hell, I'm sad and angry and was no way near as close as the kids were. So senseless. So very freaking senseless.

That's all I have for now...

Behave!

Feel Good Friday - The Super Long Week Edition

Wow! I could have sworn I posted at some point this week, but looking back, I can see why that didn't really happen...

Let's get to the list, shall we?

1. K4 being accepted into college!! YAY!!! We're not sure of anything right now! We have no details, except that she goes for an orientation next week and we have no financial aid yet. We're working on the medical stuff, but we're scrambling to find out all of the details and figure out everything.

2. Our new baby. We found a three week old kitten under my Jeep. He cried for over twelve hours (with me not making the connection to baby kitten at any point in hearing him) and we had no choice but to care for him. I'd heard a ruckus shortly before the bawling started that included cat screeching. We took him to the vet and found out he's a healthy boy. He weighs 12.5 ounces. Well, he did. I'm not sure what he weighs now. He's eating like a piggy, but not really pooping. (back to the vet for that) He's absolutely adorable and so obnoxious. Ha! K4 has adopted him as her own. His name is Max. He's currently sleeping on the couch after running around like a maniac.

3. My boss having my back, and my reps. It was a crazy week at the day job...

4. Some writing this week. Not as much as I would have liked, but lots of other writing stuff got done, so there's that.

5. Our garden looking awesome! We have baby zuchinni's, baby tomatoes, baby peppers, and a ton of dill and basil.

6. Surviving the annual street fair. We never went down, though we'd intended to go and see Simon at her book-singing. After That Man had words with a rent-a-cop about getting onto our street - the rent-a-cop told him "everyone lives here"! Seriously!? He then proceeded to take down That Man's plates (and learn, he did, in fact, "live here") And after the baby needing to go back to the vet and the insane amount of time it took me to get home from work, we were done. That niece and boyfriend were here and The Kid's other friends stopped by, but we pretty much chilled and avoided the whole scene.

7. That Man taking care of dinner tonight. Nice!

That's all I have for now.

Behave!

Happy Fathers Day

And Happy Fathers Day if you're a mom covering both roles. You rock.

I was blessed with an amazing dad. I miss him every day. He was a hard worker, and had a dry, but hysterical sense of humor. He definitely wasn't perfect, but no one is. Ever. And his good qualities far, far outweighed the mistakes.

He supported me, guided me, and was a sounding board when I needed to work things out. In my teen years, he both disciplined and helped to guide me onto a better path than the one I was on. I will never forget him hanging me up from the phone call I was on and taking me by the hand to sit and talk. He never raised his voice, just gently asked me what I thought would come of the current way I was behaving. It was what I needed to figure things out and I will forever be grateful to him for that, and other life-changing conversations. 

I am also blessed with an amazing father to my children. His love and patience for them is amazing. He always worked hard so the kids would have what they needed and showed them that hard work paid off.

And the third blessing is the other men in my life who are awesome dads. There is nothing better than watching your son parent with patience and humor, or watching your son-in-law scoop up your crying granddaughter and holding her as she sobs in fear of the big old slide. I've had the great influence of my brother, and brother-in-laws, in my life as an awesome guide to my own children.

Now I'm off to cook for my man... I'm making him a feast of grilled chicken and vegetables. (Then I will write)

Behave!

Thursday Rambling...

The week is almost done.

It's been a brutal one at the day job. I have a knot in my shoulder that is visible from the outside. It hurts real bad. I still managed to get all of my stuff done though, except I haven't written yet today. I'm working on it though. I had a lot of household administration duties to attend to, but they are done now, and I'm so freaking exhausted. One more day to get through.

I do get to leave early tomorrow for my mammogram. Yay me. Though very important to have done. Still... I'm not looking forward to it.

I also have the top down on the Jeep, which is its own kind of awesome. It's supposed to be spectacular weather through the weekend, so I'm good.

That's all for now...

Behave!

Tuesday... Oy!

Okay, so it's almost mid-week.

Here are the things:

1. The weekend was epic. Epic food. Epic friends. Epic visiting. We kept it very small on purpose because it's been three years...

2. Setting up the camper was not epic. Carpenter ants and mice in the camper. We sucked all of the ants out of the camper with a shop vac and chased the two mice out. Tore down curtains and moved a bunch of stuff. And after That Man and K4 went up today to close things up (It rained Sunday and we couldn't close the camper) we "should" be good. That Man patched as well as he could and sprayed ant spray. And did some other things to secure it.

3. Sleeping in the camper, was, however, very epic. It was cool and comfy, and our friends felt the same. We let them sleep far beyond when we wanted to take the camper down, which resulted in #2.

4. Still not able to wrap my head around the kid being done with school. She had an orthodontist appointment today and I didn't even have to remind her. And she made her own appointments for the next stuff. That's really nothing new, but with the graduation, it feels new. Weird. I know.

5. Now it's June 12... Weird. May went super, super fast. And it seems June is doing the same thing. I don't know what to think. I just keep doing my same thing...

6. Writing. I didn't write a word this weekend. In fact, That Man thought I had an aneurysm or something because I didn't even take my computer. It was super hard. Trust me. I had a panic attack at one point, but I made it through the overnight without it.

7. But I am writing again... and that's all that matters....

Behave!!

Feed Good Friday - The Graduation Edition

I'm still not over it and I still don't have my head wrapped around it...

Our fourth and final child graduated high school last night. It was an epic ceremony with 51 graduates - a lot of senior tears, parent/family tears, and staff tears. Small school graduations are the best. I love that 90% of the kids stopped to hug the front office lady. I looked for her to hug her, too, after the ceremony. I felt like we became super good friends over the past few years and I'll miss talking to her! Each student paused to get their picture taken with their awesome principal (also the awesome principal is not about hugs and got more hugs than he could probably handle ever. We know this, because it is a small school and you learn these things). Epic. Every time one of the students insisted on hugging him, you could feel the collective cringe and "awe" from the audience. Also, the guy yelling "that's my sister" from the audience was awesome.

There were eight senior speeches and they were all awesome. There was school music. Special recognition for staff and seniors. Scholarships given. And a video of senior thoughts... It was amazing. I had tears. Tears of joy and nostalgia.

We met up with K4 in the lobby after the ceremony. That Man was much faster than me in getting out of the auditorium. By the time I got there she and her dad were hugging and both of them were crying. I had to wait for student after student to hug her and then her cousin and brother, and then it was my turn. She cried on me too, or more like, I cried on her. She looked so beautiful and she was so happy. She took off to hug and cry on her friends and we went to the parking area to find we had a stupid parking ticket. (damnit!)

Then off to dinner, which was awesome, but took forever. (Second time at this place recently with mediocre service - food was better this time, and while the server was super attentive at the beginning, we didn't see her much after our meals came until it was time for the checks to be paid... hmmm. I highly doubt we'll be back there again anytime soon) We didn't get home until well past our normal bedtime. And then, of course, I couldn't sleep. Too much caffeine, too much in my head, too many memories - or whatever, but it was well into the early morning hours until I finally found some sleep.

And then up for work this morning. I should have taken the day off. In retrospect, I definitely should have taken the day off. But I did it and that's okay.

Anyway. I do have Feel Good Friday, too...

1. Above. Duh.

2. Sleeping in a bit tomorrow.

3. Living through the past twelve years with this great kid and being able to smile about it. (Trust me it was a journey that I am glad to have survived. From day one of kindergarten, we have struggled. Seriously. Some days were awesome and some days were horrific.) Yeah, it's going to take me a little bit to wrap my head around this school thing being done forever.

4. Friends from far away coming to see us this weekend. I'm so excited! It's been three years since we've seen them and we miss them so much!

5. Getting some writing in this week. I had a good few days. Then I got some stupid headache/stomach thing and lost a day. And then another day for graduation. But I am making progress. And I still have the headache.

6. Driving home with the top down on the Jeep and being able to park it undercover in my awesome shelter in case in rains tonight. There is nothing like the feeling of top down! You don't believe me, but it's absolutely true. It can take the worst day and make you feel pretty damned good.

7. Summer plans. We are traveling a bit this summer and we're so excited!

8. That Man and K4 taking care of dinner tonight. All I had to do was stop at the store for a few ingredients. Nice.

9. Household administration duties done for the week. And the f'ing parking ticket paid.

10. Looking forward to the weekend. And sleeping in. And getting writing time in. Yeah, that's repetitive, but I had to get to 10 in the extremely long post! Ha!

Behave!

Tuesday...

It's a somewhat quiet evening around here.

K4 is officially done with classes and tests and all of that. Her next step is graduation practice on Thursday.

I had a moment, okay, I'm still having a moment, of complete nostalgia. We have been in the public school system for twenty-four years now. There hasn't been a year in the last twenty-four years that we haven't had at least one kid in school. It feels really weird and I can't help but think of all of those summers I was home with the kids between grades and helping them prep for their next year of school. In a weird way, I miss those days.

I remember juggling elementary, middle, and high school events. Luckily, there were two of us to handle everything during those times. It was crazy. It was fun. It's memories of our life.

Now we're done with that phase of our lives. Completely. (except for one more step on Thursday for the actual ceremony)

Today I woke K4 up for school for the very last time. I have to say, I definitely had a feeling. Our last child graduating. Done with the public school system. Wow. I sat on the back porch before I had to leave for work and held back a few tears just thinking about the past and our journey.

That Man and I spent a lot of time texting back and forth today about the fact that very soon it will be just him and I again. Just like when we started out. It feels kind of weird and exciting at the same time. We're not sure what K4's immediate future will be. She's on the wait list for college in the fall, but we hope that changes soon. If it doesn't, she still has plans.

When K4 stopped into his work to tell him she was done with school, he had his own moment. She left his work with her car back in action.

Thursday night she walks the walk and receives her diploma. I need to buy tissues. Partly because of the nostalgia, and the other part because I'm free of morning wake ups and... well, it's a long story there. This is the kid who walked out of the first day of kindergarten and told me she's moving to the French because they don't make their kids "do this". That should be enough to let you know what a journey this has been with her. Both joy and frustration.

That is all for now!

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up!

Oy! Tomorrow is Monday! Again.

We did pack up and go to our room after we ate on Friday since it never rained. It was ridiculously hot and we couldn't take it anymore. I wrote good words and ended up talking to my sister forever. Which was super good. I slept in a little on Saturday, which was also super good.

So happy to get to a writing meeting despite having to leave early for the recital. It was awesome to get to hang out with my writing pals for a while though.

K5's baton recital was really great! Yeah, our backs hurt at the end. Specifically That Man's, who had hurt himself pretty good previously during the day, and that cut us out of hooking up with my sister after it was over. Anyway. K5 was so good and adorable. She won awards and was texting me after she got home. (We have a kid safe app we use to text. It's pretty amazing, because we get to video chat, too)

Today was chores, car fixing, and fajita making. That niece's boyfriend came down to help That Man. It rained. The food turned out awesome and That Man and I both have lunch for tomorrow. Yay!

It's going to be a crazy week. K4 graduates and her schedule is finals, finals, and graduation practice. Luckily, we think the transportation problem is solved, but we're not 100% convinced on that yet. If not, she'll have to take me to work, which will suck for both of us.

That is all for now. It's time to write!

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

The June 1st Edition...

Wow... June. May went so fast. I'm kind of scared that June is going to be the same way.

Let's get to the list:

WRITING!! I wrote last night and managed a pretty decent word count! Whoot! Awesome feeling! I'll be continuing tonight!

2. That Man picking me up from work. Due to the vehicle shortage, K4 had to take me in. It sucks being at work without a car, but leaving for the day with him waiting for me in the parking lot made it worth it.

3. Living through the brutal work week.

4. Ordering the parts for K4's car. She really needs transportation next week for finals and graduation practice and see #2. Hopefully it will be fixed by Sunday.

5. Not cooking tonight. That Man and I ran to Misty Simon's booksigning and then took care of some errands. Couldn't decide on dinner and then figured we'd just come home and order something in. Okay by me.

6. Writing dinner this week. It was great. Awesome to see and talk with my writing ladies. Good food. Lots of laughter and discussion. I kind of felt bad for the poor waiter who kept coming to the table at the most embarrassing (for him) conversation point, but he had a good sense of humor. It was very good to feel connected and part of this group again. It has been far, far too long.

7. Writing meeting tomorrow. Yay! Also has been far, far too long. I've missed every meeting since January, which is horrible, but couldn't be helped.

8. Getting to see K5 tomorrow. Yeah, sitting through a baton recital isn't the most fun in the world, especially since we have to sit on gym bleachers. But it's worth it to see my granddaughter doing something she loves.

9. The impending rain. Please. It's so stinking hot and muggy. I'm on the couch and seriously considering packing my stuff up and heading to our air conditioned room. But... I have to wait for the food first...

10. Sleeping in tomorrow. Just a little. It will be awesome! Technically, I can sleep in three hours past my normal wake up time, but I know I won't. I'll be lucky to get an hour in. But that's okay.

That is all. I think the food is here. Yay!

Behave!