hi! today has been a flurry of activitiy. i've been busy working on my etsy site, i walked a couple of miles in this wonderful heat/humidity. i actually made a yummy breakfast for jack and his friend and now i'm going to pick up kate and then go to the post office. kate is dying to go shopping for school clothes. i'm putting it off as long as possible. ugh! yuck. the one who needs clothes is jack, not kate. trying telling kate that. its not fun. hmm. i guess that is about all. don't think we're going to make it to the pool today but def. tomorrow! oh and joe got his teacher letter. he is excited!

1) its hot
2)i love it hot but its really hot!
3)registration today for jack!
4)trying to design fun new ceramic pieces!
5)must walk!
6)i've already tried posting this once

kate and mia. :) sooo cute!

kate and pals at freshman orientation.

Hi Everyone. Another Monday is upon us and we are quickly closing in on the end of our fun fun summer! :( We've had a wonderful summer and I'll be sad to say goodbye to it. So hopefully this week we can go to the pool everyday, live it up and soak up the sun before we have to put real clothes on. Joe won't know what to do. Seriously, he wears his bathing suit 24/7. I don't even care. Summer is all about easy breezy and fun and casual. Soon, he'll have to wear socks and shoes and undershirts and shirts and maybe even brush his teeth and wash his hair with shampoo in his own shower and not the pool shower. We had a nice weekend. Friday night we hung out at our neighbors whom we adore. They just got a brand new yorkie. OMG! He is precious. Sooo tiny. You know Ralph is bff with their other two dogs. Mac who is 13 and Ben who is 8. Donna wanted to get a puppy before Mac got too old b/c he is such a help with them. He is the one who really trained Ralph. Anyway, let me just tell you that Ralph's nose was out of joint all weekend b/c of the new puppy. He wanted nothing to do with the little thing and wouldn't even look at Donna whom he usually loves and attacks with kisses. Well, we knew this would happen when they finally got a puppy. Ben did this to Donna when we got Ralph, he hated Ralph, wanted nothing to do with him when he was little. Now, Ralph and Ben are totally buds b/c they are hating the puppy together. lol. It is really funny to watch. Saturday it rained all day long! So not typical for a summer day in Alabama but it did. We drove down to another lake to check out lots and to look at the lake. 1. kate was there and we said we'd just pick her up. 2. we had never seen this lake. It is more affordable than other lakes around us. Being from the midwest, it has taken me five years to really grasp the idea of lakes and lake houses. It is a very different concept than the cottage in michigan. people in the midwest just don't own lake property b/c i guess lakes aren't everywhere there like they are here. i would say over half the people we know here have some kind of lake house or beach property. some are fancy, most aren't. they all go for the weekends. it is just part of the lifestyle here. i know my northern friends don't really understand but i think you have to live here awhile to grasp it. i know i did. we would like something that can be in our family a long time. a place that is small to begin with that we can work on as a family and a place we can add to as time goes on. something that our children can bring their friends to through highschool and come on weekends when they're away at college and then eventually they can bring spouses and grandchildren. Anyway, we saw a fun cottage but we'll see if it works out. rick usually shies a way from any sort of work that has to be done on a house but i think it would be fun and we could do lots of things with it. we'll see. if it is meant to be, it will, if not, well then i'm not going to worry about it. we've just started our search.

yesterday, i had to go grocery shopping. we had nothing in this house and i'm saying that! i can usually find something to eat, i'm very much like my dad in that way, i can scrounge for whatever, i don't really care. yesterday, there was nothing! it was super hot out but rick and i walked the whole neighborhood yesterday. it felt great to get out and walk the hills. i went to 5pm mass which i love! kate finally came home around 9:30. i was beginning to really miss her. :( she was tired and grouchy but home nonetheless. i mentioned earlier that we were going to pick up kate and her friend from the lake but i told them that they were not going out when they got back here so they opted to stay there another day.

today, we are hopefully going to the pool all day. joe's swimmers ear is better and i bought the wax to stick in there so water can't get in. rick is in atlanta til tomorrow. he is really excited to start working with his new team on a reg. basis now! yay!

have a great day. hope you didn't get bored with this super long post.

This is the very scary blk grasshopper that I saw at the lake yesterday! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

hi. we are finally home from our long day up at lay lake. we left around 2 to look at some lake lots. lay lake is much more in our budget than smith lake even though smith lake is very pretty. anyway, i'm tired and going to bed. :) night.

haha, i'm lol right now b/c my dear friend Shawn just wrote the best thing ever in regards to Obama. Boil on the butt of humanity!!" I love that. It is true but I'm not going on and on right now about him b/c the day is young and I'm going to be happy in my heart.

I just got home from taking Joe to the Dr. He has swimmers ear. :( Poor Hobie. We went to Publix to fill his prescription. You, know I love grocery stores, nice ones anyway and Publix is great. Everyone was there working hard in the deli making the chicken tenders which Joe had for breakfast and the bakery was busy busy and the people were stocking all the new fresh bread and the sushi guys were making sushi. Sooo yummy!! Anyway, we got Joe's drops for his ears and he is on the road to feeling better. He said he is not going to the pool today so we will go with out Joe. We haven't been for a couple of days. I'm having a little withdrawl.

I'm feeling great about having Kate and Joe registered, Jack's is on the 29th. I'm very excited to see what hall he is on and I love that I know what to expect at his school. Being at the highschool yesterday was a little overwhelming. It's sooo big! Kate is very excited though which is great. I remember I was just so not knowing what to expect or anything when I was her age. She is so much more together than I was. I remember we had orientation in the day and there was a pool party in the evening. Seriously, what 14 year girl wants to put a swim suit on in front of all new people? I've always thought that was really stupid.

Have a great day!

Hello,

I'm not quite sure where to start this post. Hmm. I think I'll start with last night. It was around 10:30pm and I was asleep. Rick came in and turned the light on, check book in hand, asking me questions about things that I've debited. Now, keep in mind that I really don't buy frivolous things. I mean, yes, the quizno lunch was a bit expensive and Kate's little shopping trip to the Summit was a little pricey but she paid for some of it and she is paying us 70.00 on Tues when she babysits. He was totally freaking out. I just closed my eyes and told him to turn the light off. Now, I was just putting off the inevitible. I knew that he would start off in the morning on the same topic. This week has been expensive. The boys had football camp, never cheap in Hoover, Joe had registration and today was Kate's registration. All of that plus the Summit and gas and food and everything else just about put him over the edge. Imagine my sweet funny Rick contemplating selling his truck b/c he was just freaking out. He does this every August. School time is worse than Christmas around here. I just put my ipod on and the ear buds in my ear and went on with my business b/c there wasn't anything I could say to make him feel better. Its just the way it is. Every year! Next week is Jack's registration and that will be around 200.00 too. I love Hoover, love love love it but it does expect a lot of it's citizenzs. I don't really think everyone that goes to Hoover schools can just plop down 200/child for registration. I know it doesn't compare to private schools but we aren't talking private schools. I haven't checked out other public school fees. They might be as much, I don't know. Thinking about what I paid for Kate, I guess, 60.00 went to the activity card which will get her in to every possible event at Hoover and 55.00 went to the enormous year book they put out so that is over half of the fees. It isn't mandatory that those be purchased. I think we live in a bubble here, which I love and I don't plan on moving any time soon. So I'm done complaining.

Okay, I have another thing to put out here. This year at registration we had to prove that we are residents of Hoover. Ok, no problem, I am and that is fine. The requirement for kids to go to school in our system is very straight forward. The child's parent/guardian must be on the recorded deed and the power bill from the last two months. I think its great, do not let anyone sneak into our schools, we pay taxes for these institutions! It is very common for the hispanic community and other poorer communities to live in apartments or houses with multi families. The only children allowed to go to the schools are the ones that have their parent/guradian on the paperwork. I have a couple of friends who wondered about the really poor families that live together. What happens to the children who do not have a parent/guardian on the paperwork? I don't know. I guess it is not enough to live here to be able to go to school. I don't usually see things blk/wht. I'm always the one who is like, well, okay, I see both ways but with this one, I just don't. Stop mooching off us! Just stop. I'm done with it! Life is expensive for all of us, and I'm tired of people mooching! I'm sure if there are special situations, the board takes those into consideration.

Soo, this leads me to my last thing to write about. Why the @#$%^ is Obama in freakin Germany? I'm so over this candidate I could scream! Seriously. He is so fake, I think I want to slap his smile off his face! The dog and pony show must come to an end before we all get sick! The media is whooped and the honeymoon is almost over , I can feel it! Sooo Annoying

remember its my blog and i can say what i want. :)
xoxox

Hi. Well, Kate is at orientation! I hope its all going well. I'm trying to imagine all the kids there! She looked very cute. She wore a cute blk sundress, one she bought yesterday. I've filled all the paper work out and I'm trying to figure out the fees. I'm not quite sure which ones pertain to me so I'm going to hold off on filling that one out until I meet up with the fee person.

Just came in from my walk. It isn't super hot out right now and maybe its going to clear up but I'm not sure. Oh well. I don't think we'll make it to the pool today anyway. Just too much else going on.

Guess that is about it. Hopefully I'll have some cute pics of orientation to share with you later on this evening! Have a great day. :)

well, i think there is another storm approaching. we've definitely had lots of rain this summer which we really need! boys finished football camp today, i took them to quiznos for lunch and it cost me almost $30.00! do you believe it. we all got the smallest sub possible, two fountain drinks and one gatorade. that is ridiculous! kate babysat then i took her shopping for something new to wear tomorrow. i found a really fun little dress at urban outfitters and some fun pink nail polish. rick and jack are at the movies, i took kate to jimmy's and then picked joe up from a birthday part at our pool and then took him to his friends to spend the night. whoosh! i really need to work out but i'm thinking maybe i won't. i'm sort of tired. tomorrow is the freshman orientation and registration which will no doubt be a total nightmare! wish all of us freshman parents luck!

Hi. I just popped dinner in the oven and I have a min. to write. We are experiencing a little thunderstorm here and I'm sure I'll lose power the min. I'm ready to post this. haha. Boys had a great day at football camp, Kate went to Maddies and the boys and I went to the pool. I know, something different. Gotta run before I lose power. xo

hello,

well, i had sort of whacky day. i took the boys to football camp this morning and then i was going to just run by joe's school and register him really quickly. i get there and the doors are locked b/c i was there too early so i sat on the brick retaining wall and i was going to fill out his paper work. i brought the wrong paper work with me so i ran home and did some things around the house, filled out the paper work, grabbed the deed and phone bill and headed back out to the school. i get there and my first stop in the gym is the verification table. i didn't have the correct deed. i needed the recorded deed, so i leave again and go pick up the boys at the high school from their camp. i almost got in a wreck at the highschool. a lovely teenager in a very fun green jeep pulled out in front of me, never looked to the right. thankfully, i was able to stop and we didn't collide. :) whoosh! anyway, i got the boys, they were very excited b/c kate's boyfriend, jimmy helped with the camp. they thought it was very cool to see jimmy there. we went home and i went to work on locating my recorded deed. thankfully it wasn't a big deal calling the office at the courthouse and the lady faxed it over to me. the boys and i went to the pool for a while, jack went to a movie and joe and i went back to the school for the 3rd time and registered him! yay! kate is at jimmy's and i have to go back and get her in about 45 min. crazy!

hi. we were up bright and early this morning. today is the hoover football camp. joe's first time. jack went to so he can just get back into the swing of things. i made jack's school physical apt. and i'm getting ready to register joe for 3rd grade. i love that we have to bring our deed and utility bill to the school this year. i think its so whacky that they have to do that so people will not sneak into our school system! if you don't live here, stay out! i know that one of the neighboring suburbs is cracking down with this too. you can only have one family per apt or house going to the school. each adult has to show proof of residence so the child's guardian has to be listed on the deed/lease and utility bill. yay!!! thank you!!!

we had a great time at the lake. smith lake is really pretty. since we were gone on sat. and went to the pool yesterday, i really need to organize the house. yikes. its not looking so good. i'm just sort of over it b/c i know in 2 weeks the kids are off to school and i'm a little sad about that. we've had a fun summer. i know the fall will be fun to with football and all the festivities it brings with it but i kind of like just hanging at the pool. haha. all good things must come to an end. :(

Check out my Slide Show!

Hi!

We are off to the lake in a few min. I always love how Rick tells people we'll be there at a certain time and then gets mad when we aren't there. I understand that concept, you tell someone you're going to be there and then you're not, yes, that is annoying but he totally forgets that it isn't just he and I walking out the door. We have to get everyone up, fed, ready to go and we had two friends to take home. I hate being rushed! hate it! We'll still be there the whole day, that is enough time on the lake. ugh! Now the beach is a different story, I always want to get there as fast as I can. haha. Love the beach. I'm tell you, someday, we'll have two houses, one on a lake and one on the beach.

Hi! Happy Friday. I ended up having a really nice day but it started out just a little sad. I don't know why, I had no reason to be sad at all I just was. Anyway, I feel great now, we ended up going to the pool this afternoon and it was really fun. Nothing special but we had a lot of fun hanging out. kate went with me and Jack and we sat with friends and then Joe came and we all got in the water even the moms. :) I came home, got my walk in, just made a little dinner and I'm thinking about going up to my office and painting a little bit. I got a cross order from etsy which I love! so fun to do the crosses. tomorrow we are going to smith lake for the day so i'm looking forward to being there with randy and donna and ralph can be with his bff's! yay!

Ha, just have to tell you this little story.

sooo yesterday, i noticed there was a package on the front porch. it was sort of big and very heavy so of coure i'm thinking, oh, it must be my new isabel bloom for my birthday! i start doing the little i have a birthday present dance as i open the door and lift the heavy package. finally i get it in the foyer and rip the tape off the box and think, i wonder which one it is, maybe the girl with the sunflower maybe the ballerina and as i'm opening i see white folders and realize it is not an izzy bloom, it is a stupid thing for rick from dsi. bummer. :( oh well. i know it will show up eventually!

Hello. Just got in from my lovely walk minus my newly downloaded itunes songs b/c for some reason, my library and rick's library on itunes won't work together so I couldn't get mine to work. Ugh! It was annoying and we'll have to work on it later. I had a sweet blk lab follow me up big bertha, (our huge hill). Kate is babysitting up there so I walked up to see her and the the boys she is watching. They are really cute. I had my hair pulled up in a bun thingy on top of my head and I had my blk visor on and the middle boy was standing on their porch when I was walking up the drive. i'm waving to him and saying "hi boys" and he is yelling for kate saying "kate there is a lady coming to our house and i don't know who she is." haha, it was me. Anyway, it is sunny today and i DON'T think rain is in the forecast! The plan is to go to the pool today but I'm not sure what time we're going b/c this evening we are meeting some friends there so I don't think I want to be there 8 hours. Maybe we'll go around 3 or so. That might work. But then I will miss seeing my other friends there that go earlier. Oh, maybe we'll just go for 8 hours. haha.

Two weeks from today, the buses will be filled with children! Yep, school starts in two weeks. Just thinking about having to get Joe out of bed at 6:30 am scares me. I'm going to have to give him sleeping pills at like 5pm so he will want to be up so early. lol. (not really) you know they'll be up really great like the first two days and then boom, honey moon is over. Football camp is Monday-Thurs for the boys and Joe's school fees are due Monday and Kate's are due Thurs. I will have no money left! Somebody please order something from me!!! haha. just kidding. well sort of.

Umm, let's see. I was doing my usual poking around some sites this morning and saw that Obama is having a little trouble closing the racial gap. Hmm. I'm not surprised. However, I personally don't have a problem with a black president, just not him. Colin Powell, Condi, I'm all for it. :) OHh, and I also saw an article out of Nevada about a company that owns 11 McDonalds restaurants and they have been fined one million dollars for knowingly hiring illegals from Mexico. They provided them with SS cards from other people. Some of the people in the case are still here waiting for the case to end and most of the people went back home. It is time that we as a country take some action and a million dollars is nothing to laugh about. Hopefully business owners will take note.

Guess that is about all. I really need to get some pictures up here. Kate had my camera all week in MI I need to get it back from her. Have a great day. :)

SOOOOOOOO, I have mastered purchases songs off itunes. Ahh, that is very fun and satisfying. I went to the teen mass on Sunday and I loved all the songs the song people sang so I kept the hand out sheet with the songs and lyrics on it and purchased them off itunes for when I walk. Now, I just have to figure out how to upload it to my little green shuffle. :) So my ipod is very diversified. I have the nasty version of Sexy Can I? and I have my praise and worship on there. FYI, I didn't really want the nasty version of Sexy Can I? it is just what was in our account.

songs i bought today,

go light your world

here i am to worship

seek ye first.

Hello. Okay so today was a weird day b/c it started out sunny and then it got cloudy and I wanted to go to the pool early so we could just get out of the house. so we did go to the pool even with the clouds. just b/c it is cloudy does not always mean rain and just b/c it rains for 20 min. does not mean it won't be sunny afterwards. So we went to the pool and it was fairly empty which is fine, no big deal. Of course it started to rain so I went under the covered area and the boys stayed in the pool and swam in the rain. it wasn't thundering so they were okay. it finally stopped raining so i went back to my chair and read my book. we left right before the second rain. we did get two hours in though. not bad for a rainy afternoon. ralph looks great after being groomed, i've gotten my walk in and a few sets of squats and butt lift things. yuck! rick is on his way home with kate and maddie. i'm excited to see kate. i know she is excited to see jimmy. ha. oh well. :) oh and it is sunny and hot out now. :) welcome to blogging in bama.

HI! Well, I was super happy earlier b/c the sun was out and it was beautiful again but it seems the clouds have decided to visit today as well as some humidity. i thinkl clouds and humidity go and in hand. anyway, i think we are going to go to the pool early today, like maybe noon and come home around 3ish. I willl walk when i get home instead of now. I just don't feel like walking now. Ralph is at the groomers this morning. Oh, how he hates going there but he will look so beautiful when he is done. Guess that's all. Nothing new to tell you.

Hi! It's another beeootiful day here! Whoo hoo. I really need to walk now b/c it is so nice outside. I was just poking around some news sites and saw that Brett Favre is saying he retired too early. What? Seriously? How old is he? I mean, he has to have enough cash for 50 life times. Move on, and do something else, I'm sure his body will thank him.

Guess that's about all I have to say. Oh, one more thing. It looks like the election is heating up, not that it wasn't hot enough but McCain is making some serious progress in the polls. I need to locate a McCain sticker for my 'burb.

Have a great day.

Hi! We had a great day today. It was soooo beautiful outside. Not a cloud in the sky, low humidity and a nice breeze. We finally got to the pool around 2ish. Joe took his friend, Sam and they had a great time. Sam came back to the house with us and we had tacos for dinner and then I took them back to Sam's so they could go to Sam's church for vbs. Jack is spending the night at his friends and Kate is still loving Michigan! It's amazing how much gas I save when she isn't home but I do miss her and am ready for her to be here. She just called to tell me that I have to wax her eyebrows when she gets home and she wants to know if Jimmy can come over around 8 on Wed. Ha, the child doesn't miss a beat. Anyway, I'm about to send out little cards to my little twos who are now three that I had last year. I always love sending a little note in the summer. I think tomorrow is supposed to be as pretty as today so it's more pool time! We are going to soak it all up b/c school starts three weeks from Thurs. We'll all be ready by then, well, all of us except Joe. I mean, the boy sleeps til noon every day. We better start the whole early to bed early to rise routine next week.

ok. here is what is happening here. are you ready for this? i know you're going to be shocked!!!!! THE POOL!!!!

Hi. Sunday is coming to a close. We had a nice day, didn't do too much but I did make it to church this evening. It was a very nice mass and I loved the sermon and the Gospel reading. The music was great too. I'm getting ready to wash my face and put my jammies on and go to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a pool day! That's it, it has to be. The boys have camp at the high school too which will be good too and Rick will be here so at least Jack won't be embarrassed to have his mother take him b/c I'm a girl and girls do not go to camps. haha. whatever!

My Weather Pixie is Back!! Whoo hoo!!

Hello. Happy Sunday. Ha, you all know Sunday is my least favorite day of the week. blah! Anyway, I just got in from my walk, I only did a couple of miles b/c it is really hot and I just didn't feel like walking up our huge hill, big bertha! So, I'm here writing to y'all. :) RIck and Jack are golfing. I think they had a tee time for 8:45 or close to there. I hope they're having fun. Our dinner last night was sooo yummy. We went to Ocean's which is a really fun and hip restaurant in a fun and hip part of town. I felt so movie starish. lol. I ordered the tuna and it was FABULOUS! I'm actually craving it right now. we had sushi and shrimp and fried green tomatoes for apps. It was so good. Not sure whats happening today. I was thinking maybe pool, but we'll see. I don't know. I'd like to get to church at 5 tonight. We have not been very good about going this summer. :( I know, Jesus loves us all the time and his sacrifices go all year long, not just in the fall and winter, thank God! Hopefully we'll get there tonight.

ps. i was reading about sunscreen yesterday and guess what? ha, this really makes me mad. there are ingredients in there that not good for our skin and may potentially cause more skin cancer. ugh! annoying! The following is a list of ingredients to be aware of
and avoid:
ocryl-dimethy-PABA
Octyl Methoxycinnamate
Homosalate
4 Methyl-benzylidene camphor (4-MBC)
Benzophenone-3

okay so this is typical of my life! i'm getting ready to take a nice bubble bath before we go to dinner tonight. before i can actually take my wonderful bath, i have to clean the tub b/c i had to give ralph an emergency butt bath in there. ugh! yep. i don't have a utility tub in my laundry room so ralph gets his not so pretty butt baths in my tub. :) i still love him though.

oh and rick did not find his deer. he said he went over to the processing plant but all of the guys thing were gone. secretly you know i'm not crying b/c we did not need another animal hanging in his office!

haha, okay, this is sooo sterotypical of alabama. rick just left to go find out where his deer is. yes, you read that correctly. he has been trying to get ahold of the taxidermist that is creating his mount of the deer he got last winter and for some crazy reason, rick can't get ahold of him. he says his cell phone is turned off and the other number leads him to the voice mail of a woman that never calls him back. lol. soo, he is driving to the small town near his lease to see if he can locate his deer. i mean i'm getting a visual of like a town with about 20 houses, an old gas station and maybe a pay phone. hahaha. what in the world. that is soo rick. cracks me up!

Hi. Happy Saturday. My house is very quiet right now. Joe is of course still sleeping b/c its only 9:15am, Jack is over at a friends house, Kate is in MI, Rick is at the gun store. Ahh, just me and Ral hanging out on the computer. The sun is out today so maybe we'll get a little time in at the pool. I need to get my walk in this morning but I really don't feel like it which means I need to get out there! I am really loving my ipod, it makes all the difference in the world for me and walking! We are going to dinner tonight with some of Rick's coworkers so i actually have a reason to dress up a little bit and look nice. I love that.

I saw that Tony Snow died this morning. :( I'm sad for his family and for our country. I really liked him and I think he was so good for the gop. He was so young and had a young family. I'm sure heaven is happy to have him and his soul is probably the same charismatic soul that entertained and informed us here on fox news, from the white house and later on cnn. Bye Tony. You'll be missed!

Hi! I got tons of grocery shopping done today and even went to the library. It was raining like crazy when I was leaving Wal mart so i sat in the lawn chairs in the lawn and garden section and waited for it to pass which it did like 10 min. later. Crazy weather. Anyway, we are getting to the part of our summer where it is just nasty out! blah. hot and sooooo humid!! The annuals are soo done, I mean, they've been planted since the end of March.

the girls braving the cold lake up north! they are used to warm lakes and hot and humid days.

Hello. Well its Friday and I think its supposed to rain again today. Blah! Okay, I'm a little over it! haha. yes it is good for our drought but its not good for the pool. :( I guess I will go to the grocery store and run to the library. I know, sooo exciting. Well, it is exciting to have groceries in the house. :)

Kate and Maddie are having lots of fun in Michigan, well, I say that but I think they are still sleeping. I think they're having lots of fun snuggled in their beds in the cool, quiet cottage. :) Rick took the boys and myself to dinner last night. It was fun. We were all in a good mood and it was ladies night so I was able to enjoy a yummy glass of wine with my dinner for half the price. I love that. I noticed that the pet store next to the restaurant is most likely closing. That is where we got Ralph. :( I guess with the economy, people don't have tons of cash to drop on a puppy. Oh well at least I won't be tempted to get a new puppy every time we go there.

Got my walk in this morning, its a hot one! I'm officially addicted to sending flair to my facebook friends. I do not need another computer thing to check but I secretly love it!

ttfn.:)

Hi. wow, what a day. Kate, Maddie and I were up very early this morning so we could get an early start to Atlanta for the girls to catch their plane to MI. Kate and Maddie got to sleep on the way, how nice for them. I was sooo sleepy but managed to get there just fine. I was actually really impressed with the Atlanta airport. It wasn't too hard to manuvere around. The girls got checked in and through security and to their gate just fine. Rick has talked to Kate and she said that she and Maddie jumped in the lake and woke up all of MI b/c it was soooooooo cold. They got out and ran up stairs to take a hot shower. They are used to warm lakes and hot hot weather. I know they're going to have a great time. I came home from taking the girls this afternoon and crawled back in bed. I was so tired. I haven't slept well all week and that was about all I could take. Rick is home from Chicago and he took the boys and I out to dinner. yay! Love Bob's Wings. :) Even though I never get the wings. It's been cloudy and rainy here all day which is great for our drought but it can be sunny tomorrow, fine with me. :) Thats about it. talk to you later. xoxox

So, the boys and I were discussing the "Having to learn Spanish" in the car on the way to the pool this afternoon. We all decided that if we were moving to another country, let's just say France. We would speak English at home but we would learn French b/c we were living there not just visiting. I don't think you should have to learn a language or be fluent in a language of a country you are just visiting. If you're going to live there, yes, learn it! I'm all for that. I think it is great to know lots of things and it definitely makes a person more marketable to know lots of things, languages included but having to learn Spanish in our country in absurd! We just don't speak it here so there isn't a reason to know it to live here.

Okay, You all know me, I do not like conflict one bit, hate it hate hate it unless of course it is my sweet husband snoring and then I don't mind whacking him. Anyway, I was just poking around the news and came across the Obama video where he talks about everyone learning Spanish. In the video he mentions that the spanish speaking people here should learn English but he also says that we should learn Spanish. He goes on to say that people from other countries know at least two languages, English and their own. Okay, I understand that , he also goes on to talk about Europeans and such and how they all know English. I just don't believe we all need to be speaking Spanish. He doesn't say we need to learn French, or German or Latin. He says Spanish. Nope. I don't think we should HAVE to learn it. If you want to, fine. Is knowing a second language a nice thing, yes, I think it is. But having to learn Spanish is ridiculous! If the Spanish speaking people are going to live here, they must learn English, because that is what Americans speak, but we do not have to learn their language b/c they are here.

Maybe some movement with the dems on drilling. finally.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A top U.S. Democratic senator said in a newspaper interview published Wednesday that he would consider supporting opening up new areas for offshore oil and gas drilling.
"I'm open to drilling and responsible production," Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin told The Wall Street Journal, adding that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could also support the move.
However, Durbin said his support for opening new areas to drilling was contingent on setting requirements that oil and gas companies begin production within a specified time frame on acreage they have leased from the government.
The spike in oil prices to record highs above $145 per barrel has prompted calls for the U.S. government to allow energy producers to explore for oil and gas off the East and West Coasts and in the eastern region of the Gulf of Mexico. Those areas are currently off limits to exploration.
Republicans say their efforts to open up new regions for exploration have been stymied by Democrats.
Democrats say energy companies are producing oil and gas from only about a quarter of the 91.5 million acres currently leased from the government.

Hello. Just got in from my walk, ahh, there's nothing like a nice long walk in the middle of summer! haha. It is sooo humid out. Anyway, Im glad that is out of the way. As I was walking, I was thinking that we are in for a lot of football this fall. We got an email from jack's coach last night, and he is really excited about his team. We haven't heard from Joe's coach yet but I'm sure we'll hear soon. So, we'll have Jack and Joe's practices and games which will start in about 3 weeks and we'll have the freshman games, they are really good so we'll want to see them play plus, all of kate's friends will be dancing, playing and cheering so it'll be fun, then if Kate is still dating Jimmy, come football season, we'll probably go to his games which are j.v. and then of course we'll have the varsity games on friday night and then all the college games. Oh my goodness that's a lot of football! GO BUCS!!

I think we'll go to the library today and probably the pool. Kate is babysitting and then getting ready for her trip to Michigan!

Hi. Just checking in before bed. Our day was sort of backwards today. Kate babysat all day, I did stuff around the house, took Kate to a little party around 6pm, picked up subway for the boys and myself, picked up jack's friend, took the boys to the pool for a night swim which was actually really nice. dropped jack's friend off at his house, went back and picked up kate, came home, took ral out, and now its bed time.

night.

Boys just got home from camp and they loved it! yay! They're going back next week.

Hi. Wow, I'm just now sitting down to write. Had a good day today. I got a great walk in this morning. I LOVE my ipod, rick bought me for my birthday. I'm sure i'm the last person in the world to get one but I love it! I can walk fast and farther with my favorite tunes. :) I took the boys to the pool this afternoon. It was really hot out today! Kate went to another pool to be with her friends. the boys are at a camp at the high school right now. It is one of three camps held by the new football coach. I think it will be really good for them to learn the fundamentals. it's also fun for them to be on the astroturf at the football field. Anyway, rick is in chicago at a meeting. ralph is sitting by my feet wanting me to take him outside. :) I'm wearing my new blousy shirt kate bought me with her own money for my birthday. I love it! she did a great job!

Hello. Today was actually a very nice relaxing sort of Sunday. I finished reading my book, which I have put on my blog. It was really good and entertaining. I got lots done around the house and finally finished all the bowls from Margaret's party. I'm hoping to deliver them tomorrow. That's about it. I'm ready to get ready for bed and start a new book. :)

So, this is always a problem after a birthday party. The cake, the yummy white cake with white butter cream frosting on it sitting on my counter! I did have a piece of cake last night and i just had a little one a few min. ago but here's the deal. It's going to have to go bye bye to the world of the trash. I know, it is a crime to throw away such yumminess but if it sits, I will pick and pick and pick at it.

Jack and I took long naps this afternoon. it was so nice! Hopefully tomorrow we can get our booty's to church!

Hi. We are home from the Lake. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed every min. of Smith Lake. Actually, around 3:30 we had a little storm come in and then it cleared up and then it rained again around 11. Not really a typical hot hot July 4th . Here are some pictures.

Fire Cracker Baby!

Hi. Had a fun day at the pool but I have to say, I'm just worn out. I don't think I slept well last night and I just woke up with a yucky nagging headache this morning. It is still there. I bought some tylenol pm for tonight so I will for sure get a good nights sleep and be ready to celebrate my birthday. I walked this morning with my new ipod which I really love! It is so much better walking to my favorite songs. I went to the grocery and bought lots of yummy things for tomorrow. I'm looking forward to going to the lake and enjoying some more fun in the sun!

okay so jack and rick and i were just watching vh1's top 100 80's songs/videos. haha. omg! what in the world. all the one's rick liked, i hated and vice versa. he loved ratt, metallica, ozzy, and all those yucky big hair bands. i loved inxs, duran duran, the police ect. too funny though. i mean, boy george. ha, what in the world, he did actually really scare me. there were some really whacky bands and one hit wonder people. how about gary numan, he sang the very synthesized song, cars. that was a really strange video and they were all so low budget not including duran duran. rick and i did agree that we loved the beastie boys but fight for you right to party was not our favorite song. i also remember, funky cold medina and wild thing by tone loc. haha those were fun songs! oh and yes the nkotb! ha. i know rick didn't like them but i thought they were really fun. :) ahh, the 80's. ah, a very strange time in pop culture history. lol watching the show made me remember that i loved a couple of bruce springsteen songs, glory days and another one which i've already forgotten and i also love lots of john mellencamp even though i don't agree with either of their politics. oh well, nothings perfect.

Hi. just got in from the pool. It was really beautiful today, lots of sunshine and even a nice little breeze. I took Kate to another pool today and Joe and I went to our pool. Rick brought Jack after they played golf. Jack is loving golf and Rick is sort of enjoying it too. Not much else is going on . the boys are just chillin out after wearing themselves out swimming. rick and i are going to walk when the sun goes down a little more. Its still a little warm. Hope everyone is gearing up for the 4th! I know Rick ordered me a birthday cake. How sweet is that and its even the kind i like, white cake with white buttercream frosting. yummy! yay me!

Hi! Let me see, I think it's Wednesday. I always lose track of the days when it is summer time! My kids are still snoozing, which is so wonderful. Today is pretty much a carbon copy of yesterday. Hang here for awhile and then head to the pool. :)

Happy July! I love this month. Not only is it my birthday month, July is really summer. Hot hot hot! Love it!

It is really pretty here today. I guess we'll just go to the pool this afternoon. I know, its a hard life but someone has to live it. :)