Post Season (Fall!) is Here!

I have a love/hate relationship with Play-doh.  It can make me really happy when my kids find the new play-doh I bought them in the basket, and they *play* all morning (and I get to sleep in!)...yet, the mess is undeniably the most horrible ever.  I'd almost rather clean splashed oatmeal up.  It's just moist enough that I can't sweep it-it rolls, then it's dry in spots, and it won't come off the floor-especially after it's walked on!  And the tabletop?  It's a sea of crumbly bits.  I don't even care that they mix colors-that's no big deal compared to the mess.  I have learned a couple things:  1-If you wait a bit to clean the floor, the rolly bits dry enough to sweep or vacuum, and 2-use a dry paper towel to wipe the crumbs from the table, and 3-wait till the squished-into-the-fabric bits dry, then scratch them off.  Yes, all this for some sleep-in time.  But, yes, it was worth it!  (And when you come over, please don't mention the bits dried in the grout-I haven't figured that one out yet.)
We've had a ball the last few days!  I had a friend who shared her friends-n-family discount for Gymboree-50% off full-price stuff! (Woo-Hoo!), so I've been there twice, and called in an order to the outlet!  I was SO excited.  I now have ALL the gray/pink/leopard line-seriously!  I'd just gotten some with my gymbucks, so I really needed nothing.  I also got more of the Holiday Panda from the outlet, and the red poppy and Dance Rocks lines from the regular stores.  Whew-I'm done for the winter!  I even got the kids' Christmas outfits: the red plaid dress and shirts!
So, yes, there is life outside Gymboree..we had two baseball games on Saturday, swam every day, had *fun* at a World Card Making Event Saturday night, and here are a few cards I made:

A cute one with glittery candies

A birthday card with sparkly cupcake!

So glad I learned to "mask" and use the aqua painter to color these!

Today, we finally got down all our fall decorating tubs!  We had to go back up and look all over-I'd lost a couple pillows, but all's well now.  I found my pillow covers and fillers:

Then, it was getting close to the kids' bedtime, so I only did one more area-the entry:

Here's a closeup of one of my favorite pictures of Mary Claire when she was little-it's a picture of a picture, but the original is on Ches' computer.  She was always so adorable in pigtails!  I think this was the first year we were in this house:

I found this big sign-hanging thing I made last year, but it was all wrinkly from being in the attic.  I sprayed it down with water-I hope it'll lay flat again!  I don't know if I can iron paint...

And here we go into the week.  It's the first week of ticket sales for the Husky Hoedown-so I don't know how busy it'll be-I'll go in Tuesday to trade money for tickets.  Ethan will be with me, but he can play with Trevor! : )

Ok, the Phillies game is so loud, I can't think anymore.  They are doing so well, and Ches is pumped.  They are his team, and holy cow-they might go aallll the way!  They have finally beat the Reds for the third time-(including a no-hitter game at the first game!)!  He's so excited.  I'm really glad we went to watch them at spring training.  It's hard to get tickets in season, but spring was easy-and they've gotten even better!  I hope they win the world series!  It won't be that much longer. . . (and we had Philly cheese steaks yesterday just for them!)

Italicize, it's good for you!

I have a love-hate relationship with my pillows.  They are feather-filled, and angst-causing.  I don't like synthetic pillows (no, not really biased, I just like to squish and contort my pillow when I sleep-you know, sleep-on-my-face, and cause as many wrinkles as possible, but oh, I sleep well..), so I live with pokey feathers.  The problem is they slowly creep out, and POKE ME!  Ouch.  I just had one stab my back as I sat down to write.  Yes, I'm in bed.  It's Ches' fault.  He got me this great new laptop, and it's so much warmer and cozier in bed.  Except for the pillows.  Err..I mean the feathers!
If you can imagine, there are a few areas of my life that I don't write about, and they got a little haywire today.  So just imagine..if you know all the crazy stuff, imagine what you don't know! : )  Consider yourself lucky!
Other than that, I got lots done.  I finished cleaning my desk, paid bills, and got my tax stuff ready! (this is alone a HUGE accomplishment! I have to tell you, so you'll know.)  I normally don't have much to do with our taxes.  I print out tons of reports and do all the fun chart-making, etc. but Ches does the actual prep work.  But, this year our accountant (yeah, we go back and forth with even having one, but this is our second year with this one, believe me, we need one now!  It gets hairier every year!) and he sent us a packet (small book) full of questions and blanks to fill out, and I did pretty well.  Only had to ask Ches a few questions, but we did it.  What a massive relief.  I have been dreading it, but I can sleep well tonight.
I have figured out (in the desk cleaning) that I have triple-booked appointments this Friday morning, and double booked appointments on March 8th.  I have got to get it together!  My brain is fried. (or boiled?)  Speaking of, I'm eating eggs every day now.  MMmm, good!  Two egg whites, "fried" (in Pam spray) on toast.  Yum.  I know my cereal has 100% of almost 20 vitamins and minerals (Multigrain Cheerios), but eggs are...yummy!  Polka-dotted with pepper like crazy, of course.  Anyway, I've got to make some calls on Monday morning to get all my appts straightened out!  I want to be at ALL of them, but I don't have a brain calendar.  (Note to self: get a brain calendar)
Mary Claire got almost mauled by a pit bull today.  It was not full-grown, maybe 6 or 7 months old, but it jumped up so high, it scratched her neck, and clawed at her shirt, and caused shear panic!  She ran back to Mom's house, cried, and was so scared!  It was okay, and you can't see the marks now, so all better, but so scary!  The sheriff came out to check it out, as they do with all pit bull cases, and long story... If it's out again, they'll take it away, but the lady had it out as soon as he left!  I think she's just pushing her luck.  Sometimes the dogs have the character of their owners (same with parents' children?), and the owners have gotten specific breeds because of their character. (see how I learned how to italicize, and I am not afraid to use it?)  I think pit bull owners want you to stay away, be afraid of them, and aren't so much social people.  Ok, this is totally biased, and yes, it's my opinion.  Take a look at the people you know with pets, and do a little analysis yourself! (such a fun Saturday activity!)
Tomorrow is back to family time.  PRE, church (will he or won't he go to the nursery??), lunch out, deliver some cookies to lucky buyers, and I'm thinking I just may have a meeting at the church tomorrow for Mary Claire's first communion that I just this instant remembered.  Oh, to take it as it comes.  I'm trying!  I've got to use my calendar more. (as much as I use the italics button?)

ps-if you were wondering, Target is STILL sold out of Zhu Zhu pets.  You can still get the tunnels, but oh, so boring if you don't have a little fake hamster to run around inside them.