Lori Bell, Seamstress….

…or maybe not. It is funny how things tend to snowball, however. The next door neighbor had a small personal crisis the other day. She's a part-time dancer, and she was not pleased to discover that her younger sister had absconded with her costume pants. She needed to have some for Saturday night, so she came down and asked me to help her make some. She had found a pattern on-line, she had the material, and she just needed somebody who knew what they were doing to turn the material and pattern into pants. I guess that was me. It took a couple hours, but I did in fact manage to make her costume pants.

Later that day, I posted on Facebook that I had made the neighbor some pants. The next thing I knew, I had a friend trying to convince me to become her new tailor, well, just for hems. So here I am trying to tell her I'm not experienced and not sure about this and she pops up with "I'll bring you my Goodwill jeans to start on and after you've gained some experience you can work on my good pants." Hmmmm…maybe.

To add to the situation, Rainbow brought me Jurnee's pants to hem the very next day. Yes, this was already planned, but still. Until Saturday I hadn't touched a sewing machine in at least a year, and then it was only for something small.

Today the neighbor told me the other dancers loved her pants. I was glad to hear they were a success.

Scouts tonight. I hope everybody is doing well…visiting family and all. Miss you Melissa!

Just Normal, Everyday Life

There isn't anything out of the ordinary going on right now. I've been playing around a bit on Facebook, which means I have too much time on my hands.

Tommy has learned how to climb out of his bed. This has been a challenge for the last two days, and I expect it to continue to be a challenge for about the next week. All you mom's out there probably know the drill: 1. Tuck child in for the night. 2. Child gets up and comes out to play. 3. Calmly put child back in bed. 4. Repeat from step 2 several times, until child stays in bed. It's exhausting.

I rented Mamma Mia today. I'm hoping to be able to watch it tonight after the kids go to bed. I am hoping to put the kids back on some sort of schedule in the next few days. Now that things have settled down a bit, they have too much unstructured time on their hands. I know they need free time to run, play, hang with friends, and be kids…but they do need to have some kind of a schedule and things to do to stay busy.

Rainbow and family should be here next week. Yay! We haven't seen them since November 2007. I hope Jurnee decides to come also, but I understand the whole visitation dilemma.

Well, there's not much to report. I posted pictures, as promised. Why is it that my kids never seem to have clean faces? Oh well. Take care everyone.

Catching Up With Those Pictures....

I know, it's about time I got some of these pictures posted.

 

Tyler's new bike, you can tell he loves it.

 

Tyler and I had our day at the zoo yesterday. We went to Point Defiance, and had a good time. It's nice to have some one-on-one time with kids every now and then.

The peacock that freely roams the zoo.

Meerkats

Lemurs

A Happy Tyler

Musk Ox

Puffin

Penguins

Silly Monkey

Tiger

Riding the Carousel

Lunch Time for the Humans

Budgie on a Stick

This was fun.

Point Defiance

So named because with guns on the Tacoma side, and guns on the Gig Harbor side, they would be able to defy the world.

Tacoma Narrows Bridges

Tommy at the park today.

We were playing while Tyler and Travis were in swimming.

The robin that Tommy was fascinated watching.

Happy Father’s Day

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there.

Beautiful Wedding, Swimming Success

We went to our friends' wedding this afternoon, and I loved the ceremony. It was simple and classy. It was very religious, but the minister didn't do a full-fledged sermon mid-ceremony. After the bride's father presented the bride, the singer sang "Cinderella" (Steven Curtis Chapman). It was beautiful; they didn't sing the whole song, just the first and last verses, very fitting. After the vows and rings, "From this Moment" (Shania Twain) was sung. It was wonderful.

We didn't get to stay long at the reception, missed the cake and all that, but did stay long enough to have a light lunch. Then we dashed off to the Scout swimming tests. Travis did great, and had a good time with the other Scouts during free time. After the swimming, the Scoutmaster looked over Travis's book and signed off the final requirements for rank, yay!

We brought Tyler's buddy, Noah, home with us again. I had to run him home this evening, but the boys really enjoy each other's company so it's worth it. I did have to tell them no for tomorrow, I don't want to drive back to Port Orchard until I have to on Monday.

I think most of the drama around here is going away, for awhile anyway. Good, I need to be able to relax at home, and to get into some kind of routine around here.

Tomorrow I'm teaching Children's Church. First we're having a church Father's Day breakfast. It should be good, but I need to get some sleep. Good Night!

Melissa!

June 19, 2009

It was good talking to you last night. Thank you for calling!

June 17, 2009

Well, there's been a lot going on, and way too much drama lately….no need to go into most of it. I was told tonight that if I feel like I need to say something to a certain female who has been taking unfair financial advantage of a certain party it would be okay with that certain party. Is that a borderline request for me to speak my piece?

Hmmm….it's been almost two weeks since I last blogged. I just checked that. Oops. Where does the time go? I was going to tell you all about the Christian Education committee meeting I attended the other day, which revolved around purchasing a full curriculum for the church nursery. The other day was last Wednesday night…time does fly. Anyway, I'm being all proud of myself. It was my first ever CE meeting, and I was a little nervous. I was on the agenda to present the curriculum I want for the church nursery. The wonderful ladies in the office had printed off my sample curriculum for me so it was ready to go, and I had apparently researched the product enough that I was able to explain what it contained, how we would use it, how much it would cost, and answer the few questions that came up. It was put to a vote, and it was unanimously decided that I should go ahead and order it. Yay! Things are coming together in there. God is good. Oh, and they also approved a nursery budget for next year. This year has been a hassle, not having any direct access to cash.

My mom bought the boys new bikes this weekend. They love them. I have pictures somewhere, but just now I'm not sure where my camera got off to. Jeff is thinking he might like to get a bike now. We'll see.

The boys are signed up for the next session of swimming lessons. Travis was skipped up two levels, because they really put him in a level too easy for him. I knew that, and so did the teacher, but she said they hadn't had the right level for him available to transfer into. Instead she paid extra attention to him and worked him twice as hard as the others. Good. He has a swim test this Saturday for Boy Scouts, which shouldn't be a problem.

This Saturday, we have a wedding to attend at 1:00, and the swim test at 3:00. We were also invited to a birthday party at 1:00 Saturday, but since it is being held at Jeff's ex-wife's house there's no chance we'd go to that. I'm so glad we have plans.

I made the deposit for Travis and me to go to camp next summer (2010). The troop is going to try a different camp, apparently a better camp, and it fills up fast so reservations need to be made more than a year in advance. Wow. I'm breaking ground in our troop, as the first female leader to sign up to go.

I had a long day today, helping my friend with some cleaning and a dump run. She drove her truck, I drove her van. We emptied our full loads and the transfer station, and headed out. Just as she was pulling up to the scales, my friend ran out of gas! Yes, she really did. Some young guys came down and pushed her onto the scales, then pushed her off and she coasted on down the hill and out of sight. I pulled onto the scales, paid, and went off to find her. She had coasted to the bottom of the hill where there was a pull-out. I picked her up and we headed for the gas station, less than a mile away, where she bought a gas can and a gallon of gas. We had no problem starting the truck again, but it wouldn't stay running. Every time she took her foot off the gas the engine would die. Eventually we killed the battery, and I had to maneuver the van into a good position to run the jumper cables. It was a crazy situation, for more than half an hour we would jump the truck, start it, and it would die. She finally called her husband to come take a look at things. Sure enough, he couldn't think of what more we could have tried. We figured we had probably gone through the gallon of gas, so we went after another gallon while he played with vacuum hoses and what-not. We had taken the vehicle he was driving, and at the store I realized I still had their van keys, he couldn't jump the truck at all while we were gone. When we pulled back up next to the truck, we were surprised to find it was running. What????? How????? I loved it when husband very nicely asked wife if she had thought to check the switch for the gas tanks and then informed her she had ½ a tank of gas. Oops. Two tanks? I never would have thought of that, I've never had a vehicle with two tanks. Now I know what else to check for next time.

Tyler has a friend spending the night tonight. They watched a movie and went to bed. We all (my mom, Tommy, Travis, Tyler, Noah, and I) went out to dinner tonight at Red Robin. Yum, yum. Thank you, mom, for watching Tommy for me today. He's sleeping well. They all are. I will be too, very soon.

There are pictures to come soon. Good Night.

Melissa?

June 17, 2009

Hey Melissa, where are you? I haven't heard from you, you aren't blogging, I miss you!

Family Day

Saturday, June 6, 2009

 

We took a little time out for a family day. In the afternoon we went out to Fort Worden. We had a good time. The kids wouldn't let us leave the cemetery until they found the oldest grave there. We knew which one that was by the name, the tombstone didn't have any dates on it. A sign outside the cemetery gave the history though, and named the first person buried there.

 

 

 

After the cemetery we went in search of restrooms, and then found the gift shop. We bought each of the boys something small, and then we bought a card game for the family. Travis picked a gray wolf that looks like one of his dogs on his Nintendo DS game. Tyler chose an eagle keychain, he has a thing for keys, and Tommy got a wind up crab that waves it's arms.

Next it was time to drive down to the beach, where the boys had fun wading, skipping rocks, and playing in the sand. We spent a long time at the beach.

On the way out I made sure to get a picture of the lighthouse.

After the state park, we went home and changed. Then we went out to dinner. We wanted to go to China Sun Buffet, but it was so crowded people were parking out on the street. So we ended up in Silverdale at the Golden Grill. The food was okay, and the red sweet & sour sauce was the best I've had since Soo Hoy, but it just wasn't quite as good as China Sun. Oh well.

We stopped and picked up a movie on the way home. I had Jeff drop Travis, Tyler and I off at Albertsons and then we walked home from there.

Friday, June 5, 2009

My camera battery has died, and I do not where the charger is since the move. Urgh! No picture of Travis at his Court of Honor last night. I will have it up and running by the next Court of Honor, which isn't until August. He should be moving up at least 1 rank then.

Last night Tyler had a little friend come spend the night. I can call him a little friend, he is Tyler's best friend's younger brother, and he's 6. They seemed to have a good time, staying up playing cars last night, video games this morning, time in the pool, pizza and ice cream, shopping in Silverdale.

A storm blew in as we were leaving Scouts last night. The younger boys were a little worried, but they were okay. I'm just glad it cooled off a little. I get tired of the heat after awhile.

Travis did a cliché good turn today. An older lady was coming up from the retirement home across the street with her walker; she had left her glasses at the doctor's office on the corner. She asked Travis to run over and get them for her. I had been in the house up to that point, and came out just in time to see him looking in the door at the office, so I called him home. As soon as he explained what he was doing I left him to it. When he handed the lady her glasses, she told him she almost didn't ask him to help her because of his appearance…long hair, basketball shorts, hoodie jacket, and baseball cap on backward. I'm glad she asked him anyway.

Rainbow, I'm waiting for you to call back. Melissa, I hope we catch up this weekend. I'll try to be more interesting next time.

Beautiful Weather

Sunday afternoon we had fun in the sun and in the pool. The neighbor girl came down, and after pool time the kids all played Play Station for awhile.

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Joshua messing around.

 

 

 

Tyler having fun.

 

 

 

Everybody hanging out.

 

 

 

Monday night is Scout night for us. Travis had a regular patrol meeting, Tyler had the raingutter regatta. I think they all had a good time.

It was my first meeting since stepping down as a den leader. I told Rainbow it was going to be nice to not have to do anything for a change, and she said they would put me to work anyway. Well.....as soon as I got there the Committee Chair from the Boy Scout Troop asked me to sit in on a couple Boards of Review after the regular meetings (8:00). Okay, not a problem. Then the Committee Chair for the Cub Scout Pack put me in charge of awards for the regatta. I managed to pass that task off to Desiree, who quickly delegated to 3 other people. That worked well, as I was chasing Tommy around.

At the beginning of the meeting, the CubMaster asked Desiree and I if we would mind taking charge of our dens for a few minutes. He was immediately informed that I no longer have a den, which was the source for many comments and a few jokes. It was also a good segue into introducing the new Webelos I leader to some parents.

 

Tyler and Friend waiting to race their boats.

 

 

 

Tyler and another friend racing.

Tyler won this race. Looking at this pic, he's on the left.

 

 

It was near 90 here today, and just beautiful! The kids spent a bit of time in the pool. I made them get out around 2:00 to eat dinner and get ready to go to their friends' house, though. Jeff dropped them off in Port Orchard on his way to work, and I picked them up about 5 to take them to swimming. When we got home from swimming, they went back in the pool, of course!

The 13-year old neighbor girl came back down as soon as we took the cover off the pool. They seem to be striking up a friendship. I closed the pool down at 9:00 and put Tommy to bed. She went home to change, then came back and hung out watching TV and stuff with the boys. Okay.

Chalene Extreme arrived today. It came in a nice box to keep all the books, DVDs, and resistance bands together. I'm excited to start it, and a little nervous. I want to get a weight-loss bible study/curriculum to do at the same time I do Chalene Extreme, and am hoping to start next week. I know that any changes I make have to be life changes and attitude changes. I want to keep the weight off when I lose it this time, not put it right back on. It has to matter.

Well, that's enough for now. Have a good week everybody!