Hey there... remember me?

I know, I know. It's been awhile.

School started. Life got busier. Stuff happens. Sadly, it's the blog that suffers.

My baby girl turned 3 last week and we went out to eat twice to celebrate (once by ourselves, just me, the hubby and the kids, and yet again to accommodate the mom-in-law, who called after we returned home from the first celebration, reporting that she'd sat in her house all night, dressed up, waiting for us to call and tell her the plan... but there wasn't one.... and no one had mentioned there being a plan... she just assumed...)

Here is Lillian enjoying (?) her birthday serenade at the Olive Garden:



Life is good. I'm enjoying Mondays and Tuesdays with Lillian and Quinn. They actually play together nicely (save the occasional pinch and scratch session). They will entertain one another for stretches of time so I can get things done. Then we eat lunch, spend some time together reading or playing or running errands, and then we go fetch the big kids from school. I love the structure of the school year. We all function so much better when there is a routine. I love summer for its freedom, but I love the school year for its structure. Go figure.

Everyone goes to school on Thursdays and Fridays. I'm cherishing those stretches of time that I have to myself. I'm t-r-y-i-n-g to use them just for things *I* like to do, like catching up on TV programs I've recorded, shopping ALONE or scrapbooking. I love ME time. Last week I actually had lunch dates with two different people to whom I am NOT related on two different days. I had fun with both ladies. I need to do more of that. I actually laughed, and it wasn't because someone farted. I actually laughed at grown-up stuff!

We went apple picking last weekend. We didn't actually pick any fruit off of any trees; the winter's freeze made for slim pickins, so we just bought bags of apples that someone else had picked. But, we had fun anyhow. We took a hayride, fed some ducks and geese (one of 'em hissed at the hubby when he ran out of food!), were cursed at by goats and got to use some stinky Port-a-johns. Good times.

The hubby ripped up all of the carpet in the basement over the weekend. His ambition was to stain the concrete; halfway through the project and sweating profusely, he decided that he instead wanted to paint the floor. Once the carpet was gone and loaded onto the back of the truck bound for the dump, hubby decided it was best to get a professional to put linoleum on the floor. Wise man, that one.

The reason for all of that hard work? The cats keep pooping on the carpet. I gave up trying to clean all of the spots and was instead pouring piles of baking soda on top of the fresh poops because it killed the smell. The basement started to look like a salt mine with all the piles of white. Gotta love those pets. Well, not really, but evidently there is some law against cruelty to animals.

So that's what's going on around here lately. Pretty mundane stuff, but it's my life, and I like it. I couldn't ask for a better one!

Oh, and Save the Ta Tas!

Thank you! And don't forget to tip your servers!