The Longest Day

This is going to be a long day. I can already tell. It's busy at work. All the parents want something right now. And I already feel pulled in five directions at once. What a crazy day. I feel exhausted and it's only 10:30am. Ugh.

But I'm not going to dwell on it. I don't have to let it ruin my day, right?

This is the last full day of school, tomorrow's a half day. During the summer, it's a lot less hectic. Next week is Registration, though and that IS hectic. But one week, Mon-Thurs I decided. So, by next Friday it's easy sailing. By the way, the week after is my vacation week and I will be sooooo ready for it. What a great way to start summer? Come back to work for easy summer hours and dressing down. Yay!

My fireman's sick, poor guy. I've got a scratchy throat, but no sickness thankfully.
Tonight I'm taking dd to where her summer camp's going to be. She'll meet all the counselors and some of the other kids. Just a little orientation for next week. Her little preschool graduation was last night and was really cute. She got a little certificate and all. Her dad actually came! I was really happy for her. Too bad my fireman was sick and he couldn't make it. He sent his congrats to her anyway. :)

OH! And my sister and her boy will be here during my vacation week! Well, not HERE, but at my mom's house. So, we can all hang out together. And dd's birthday is that week, too. So, we'll have lots of partying. :) My fireman and his boys will be coming up for her birthday too. Lots of good times all around!

The Day of Rain

Rainy day today. The kind of rainy day where it rains ALL DAY. Kinda in a funk. DD had a field trip scheduled and I was supposed to go with her. She was all excited, as was I. Now I'm stuck at work the whole day and she's disappointed. I'll give her credit though. She woke up this morning and when I told her it was raining she made a face and said, uh oh, they're going to cancel. No crying or whining, just disappointment. They are rescheduling for next week, though. Which is really good cause next week is her last week at the pre-school. I'm putting her in a summer camp at a different place. That way she gets to do lots of really fun planned activities. I'm very excited and so glad I can do that for her. My summers were all relaxing and fun. My mom didn't work and sometimes I still feel a little guilty about it all.

This weekend I'm really jazzed! Three day weekend! DD goes to her dad's Monday night and he's taking her to pre-school Tuesday morning. Anyway, my great big happy dance is for Saturday night! My fireman and I are going to see Indiana Jones!!! I'm going to get a sitter for the first time every for just myself. Normally it's only for board meeting nights. And it's an 8th grader at the school I work at. Actually, her dad's a fireman too. She's watched dd before and dd loves her. I'm just very jazzed because as much as I LOVE movies this will be the first time we'll have ever gone to the movie theater together. Ever. And we've been together a little over two years now. Geez.

Saturday is actually supposed to be no rain, then rain again Sunday and Monday. So, I'll have to mow Saturday, plus go get groceries, gonna take forever to relax. But soo worth it for the evening.

Our new kitty, Sawyer is doing great! Got his shots yesterday and they said he's about 3 months old. Decided to get him declawed. Haven't gotten it scheduled yet, but need to soon! They said the earlier the better for cats.

Last night dd and I visited my friend, and on our way over I realized she lives right near a fire station. Ironically, MY fireman happened to be working and happened to be at THAT fire station last night. I had no idea she was that close. So, we took a little walk down and surprised them. She was so funny about all the hunky fireman. :) LOL She's asking my guy "Can you introduce me?!!!" then finally going out herself while we were laughing. So, we walked out later and she's got some guy sitting chatting with her on the front bumper of the fire truck and dd's got one of the firemen showing her inside the fire truck and all. It was hilarious. THey all took over in there. LOL! What can I say, like mother like daughter...

Have a great weekend everyone!

Crazy School

I think I'm working at the crazy school.
It really is a shame that we don't tell the parents or teachers ahead of time what day school is starting. You know, it's really tough on them to not be able to plan or prepare themselves until the last minute. I mean, really. It really is a shame. *rolls eyes*

Everyone is running around crazy and frustrated and stressed out. And they take it out on the office. It's hard to get things done when you have people running in every half hour wanting something and people calling wanting something. And then they don't ask nicely, they TELL and expect. Even though they are stepping all over you to drop what you're doing and do what they want/need. Yikes. Okay, enough ranting over crazy school. Next Tuesday, when school starts, it will be much better.

The girl's going to her dad's so it'll be quiet in the house. I love having her around too, but I like being able to do nothing and not feel bad about it. It's my little break. And I enjoy it. I think in my next life I'm going to become a hermit. I may give up speech altogether. Course, I see it now, God makes me deaf instead. Jokes on me. :)

I have a movie, The Score, I'm going to watch tonight. After I drop the girl by her dad's I"m running into Home Depot for paint for my bathroom I'm remodeling. I'm excited about getting it finished and it's nearly so. Course, then I'm going to pull up the carpet in my livingroom and hallway. That'll take some work to get done. I'm not going to worry about the sanding just yet. I'm going to concentrate on just getting it up, the staples out, and the tack strips down at the bedroom doorways. I can sand/polyeurethane later. Some other weekend when the girl's at her dad's.

Saturday morning I will have to mow the lawn and paint more, but that's only after I've slept in sufficiently. :) Then I get to go to my BF's house for the afternoon/supper. He's babysitting his little baby neice. I'm looking forward to seeing him.

Relationships

Had a really great evening yesterday. The girl and I went to supper with BF and his boys. They're really fun and his boys are so good with her. I really like that. One told her "Hey, I get to sit next to you!" I just think that's so cool that they enjoy us and that he's so open about that. They're just such good kids. I enjoy them. And to think there was a time that I didn't think we'd ever be including kids in our relationship. I didn't know I'd ever get to really know them. I'm really glad for the opportunity. And the girl loves it too. She enjoys having kids to play with, especially boys that try to teach her crazy things and she thinks they're just 'so cool.' I think it's just a really good thing all around, for everyone.

And wow do I love that man. There was also a time I didn't think I'd ever be able to say that outloud. I didn't think he'd ever be comfortable enough to consider a relationship let alone the whole love thing. Letting someone in like that. But you know, as scary as it is to be vulnerable in front of someone, to let them in and know how easily they could hurt you, it's just as scary if not more so to think about being too afraid to ever risk it and losing this chance, losing what we have. He really is a great guy, though. Every time I look at him I realize how great he is, how beautiful he is inside. It shines in him, in those deep, sweet eyes. Man, he's got a great smile too. I know, gettin all mushy in here. That's okay, though. It couldn't be over a better guy.

The girl always is saying that she wishes we could hang out with them more, I know what she means, we just always have a blast. And we do get together more and more. She just enjoys being with them. And that makes me feel good, cause if this wasn't a good thing for her too, I wouldn't be doing it, including her. These kids are so important, much more than just adults and our relationship. They are still growing and learning. You know, if the kids didn't get along or like either of us, I would completely expect us to be put on hold for times we were alone or more only on the phone. Course I don't think we'd be attracted to personalities that would clash that badly with our kids.

I am grateful for where we are, and also grateful for the journey. I've learned a lot about myself and about life/people. To talk and be open with someone like this you can really get into them and appreciate what makes them unique and read them better. I've probably learned more about myself by listening to him because he pays such close attention to me. Have I mentioned how I love this man? :) Alright, enough with the gushing.

This weekend I have my little girl. Sunday we're going to my co-worker's for her hubby's birthday (50) and my BF and his boys are coming too. Other than that, we've got the weekend to ourselves and I really want to do some fun stuff. Just us girls.

My week so far

Tonight I finally get to rest. Spend some time with Cait and just have fun. We've not had an evening to ourselves in nearly a week and tomorrow after work I take her over to her dad's for the weekend.

Monday we went to the soccer game after work. Co-worker's daughter was playing and Cait just loves to watch them play soccer. :) Hollaring her name when we got on the field. I brought a blanket and McDonald's so we just sat and ate and watched the game. She had to run off with the kids and play afterwards, she had a blast. Cait was really good, too, I told her not to go far, and she ran off, I was watching her. The kids kept going and she stopped and looked at me to see if it was ok. I nodded and she took off. IT was really good, cause she kept coming back and asking if she was too far, or coming to check in. Good kid! Then since we hadn't gotten around to groceries Sunday, just too exhausted after the class stuff, we had to go Monday after the game, so by the time we got home it was bath/bedtime. Good thing we did Micky D's.

Tuesday I had my Board Meeting at work, and since her babysitter let me know MOnday after I picked her up that she had something come up and couldn't watch her, I had to ask my co-worker at the soccer game if she'd do it. Course, she did. So, I only had an hour to feed her, so we just ran to Fazoli's and sat and shared spaghetti and breadsticks. She just loves going out to eat and has been so good lately! Not having accidents except for over night and listening. Just tons of fun. IT's great. So, I took her over there and she turned into Puppy Girl, crawling everywhere and barking, lovely. :) But she had a good time and I was able to get out of my meeting in an hour. So, that was wonderful. Course my friend's daughter was watching the first Gilmore Girls show of the season, she's a fan like me. So, I sat and watched it, while Cait ran around the house some more. Which was good, cause she didn't want to leave yet and she had a while to get used to the idea of leaving. And I got to watch my Gilmore Girls!!! :) It's just so nice to know I've made some good friends. I never had this when I was married. Seems like I stopped going out with all my friends cause he was always so jealous asking me where I was. Questioning me and being angry and accusing, when he was the one running around on me. I feel like I've really made a place for myself and my little girl.

So, yet again it was late when we got home, just after 8pm. And get this, as if I hadn't enough to do, I did 3 miles on the bike downstairs after I put her to bed. I think I had a lot on my mind, had to de-stress. So, when I fell into bed. I was out. But it was nice that my fireman called and I got to chat with him a little bit. He's still moving things, and was very tired but wanted to get it all done that night. We just chatted for a while, since he was driving between loads. Course, it's always good to say hi to him.

Last night, we went to the Wednesday night church thing. It was good, I was asked to help serve. We just did drinks. So, I left work a little early and got Cait and we ate first, since there's a supper before hand. So, we ate and then she was able to pick at it while I got drinks for people. It was nice, a bunch of people came up and said hi to me. I like that I know so many of them from work. So, then we had a little dessert and it was bible study time and I took her to her class, which she loved and I knew two of the teachers in her room. I went to the pastor's bible study, which was good and we worked in small groups, so we all got a chance for input. And they asked me to pray, and I did a group prayer. I've never done that before. Prayed with everyone's interest/from their input. I was kinda nervous, but one guy said I did a good job. It was weird they asked me too, the youngest in a group, plus there were 2 men. I know that's a sexist remark, but it kinda made me feel good that they thought I could handle that. That they let me speak on their behalf. So, that was good, and I picked up Cait and she didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay, she said. :) But we went home and I let her have a snack and bath, had to put her to bed. Talked to my mom a bit while I sat at the table, making sure she was asleep. Then I was so beat, I could hardly keep my eyes open. So, I took my magazine and went to bed and just when I was going to put it up and turn the lights out, my fireman called. He was working last night and called from the firehouse. We chatted for a bit. He's all excited about seeing me tomorrow, me too! I think we're going to watch The Lake House. I'm planning on making meatloaf and maybe collard greens, baked potato. He would like that. He may not be able to make it to supper cause he doesn't know when he's going to drop off his kids. That's ok. I can cook anyway, if he doesn't make it, I'll just eat it and have leftovers for the weekend. He has to finish moving his things out of his old place today and is so tired he'll probably fall out in the process. :) I wish he'd just let me help him, he may have to if he's not finished by tomorrow. Stubborn man. ;) Not that I can say much. His brother was supposed to help him move the heavy stuff and can't do that until tomorrow morning now. And I told him, I could help him at lunch today or if I needed to, I could have another friend from work come and help keep an eye on Cait so we can get some done. But course he doesn't want to be bothersome. He has to be "The Man". LOL I can laugh about it cause I would do the same thing. I know it's ridiculous, and yet I do it too. Maybe when I go home at lunch today I'll call him to make sure it's going ok. Good excuse to call him too. :)
I don't know if he would want to bring his bike and us go for a ride, I still never have got to do that and would like to sometime. Or I could show him how to use his sewing machine he bought a while back. He's been wanting to learn and I've told him I'd help him. I think he wants to make some curtains for his new house. That'd be fun and easy.

Busy weekend

Man it's been a busy week. I guess I should back up. I didn't talk about last weekend at all! Went to my mom's after work with my little Cait. She was all sorts of excited. My Grandparents came over after we got there for supper. So, we all had supper together and Cait was, as always the life of the party. :) She's such a booger. She dances and makes a production of anything! While we 'women folk' did dishes she played ponies in the living room where 'the men folk' sat on the couches and chatted and watched her. My mom made her famous turtle brownies. They really are amazing. And some coffee, if I can dare call it that. I mean, come on... it's decaf and it's weak. But I'd never say that to my mom. Then we all sat at the table and ate our desserts, yum yum.

Then Saturday we just hung around and went outside and walked around the farm. Looked at the porch that my dad's working on. You know, it's amazing. I'm telling you, it's like he can do anything. I joke about it, but it's so true. He just is exact and careful and will make it look like it was commissioned by an architect. It'll be a wrap around the corner, front to side door. And it's all thought out and planned. I think that's so amazing. It must be where I get my planning from. I have so much respect for that man. So cool.

Then we had lunch and went down to see my grandparents. My grandpa had told Cait that he'd take her on the dune buggy. I don't know if it's truly a dune buggy or not, but it's a little blue car with no top and a roller bar behind the front seats. Course, it comes to my chin, so if we did roll, my head would come off. Yay. But it was fun. We didn't go real crazy. I sat in the back with the little one and we rode around the field and out around town (pop. 100), tiny, but still, it has a township. It was fun, we went in a couple of ditches and Cait giggled and squealed. Very fun time. And then we got back and she wanted to do it again, so my grandpa got out his tracter. She loves tracter rides, but he let her get on it and had it in first gear, REALLY slow and she drove it around. Now, remember she's only 3 years old. She was steering this thing around his garden and orchard like she had been driving for, well, at least a year. :) He'd say, now don't run into my tree, to go around it and she'd grab that steering wheel and turn and turn it, knowing where to go. I was surprised. Course, it was moving an inch per second or something. Chug....chug....chug...chug... :) But she even parked it back in the barn among the hay bales. He helped her telling her which way to go, but she got it in the doorway (with only a foot leeway on each side) and turned it and got it parked. Yep, she's gonna be a racecar driver!! Or a bus driver.... LOL

Then we went to the Moose for dinner, lots of old people, but I have to say, old people are so much fun. They really crack me up. I don't think I realized how funny old people were until I got older. They say things that you don't get the innuendo or the back story of until you have been around a while. But I just listen to them and laugh and laugh. We had to come home after supper, though, so we drove back as it was getting dark and I had Meatloaf playing. Much fun. I do love a road trip. Even if it's only an hour drive. I like that fine.

So, we got home and put Cait to bed and got a few hours of free time. Course, I talked to my fireman. :) Did a little floor exercises. I had church in the morning, which is why I came home early, my second confirmation class, so I didn't want to miss church and getting Cait to a sunday school. Had a fun time on the phone too. Sat outside with a cup of good coffee, it was nice and cold, had a blanket, ...wonderful... :)

I have to hand it to her again. Cait went to her sunday school class without a hitch. Not like last time I tried, a few months ago where I didn't get to leave the room. Great, I prepared her and she knew what was going on and had a great time. She was confused about the school thing. She said, "Mom, I can't go to school till next year!" I said, "Yes, dear, but this is church school." So, she got that difference and it processed into sense then in her little head and she was good. :) I then had to find a class for me to go to. I know a lady that has a ladies group, but I couldn't find it, wonder if she isn't doing it anymore. So, I found the pastor and asked him (I asked 3 other people and they sent me wrong places), so he said to follow him and we went to his class in the little chapel. I was by far the youngest in the group, and one of the few women, but I dont' mind that, it was a good group and I enjoyed myself. Cait had a good time and sat through the service afterwards very well!

I then took her home, fed her and then had to take her to the cook's house (the cook from the school I work at). She's a friend of mine and watched her for me while I went back to church for #2 of 3 confirmation classes. Just one to go now. Cait was good and she didn't even mind being left somewhere where she didn't know the people much or the place at all. The class was really good, it was about your personal walk with God and personal devotion and fellowship with other Christians. I enjoyed the time and the guy leading the class really opened up and gave some great points, talking about being open, which I'm really bad at. It really made me think about how I don't like to let people in and how that is a weakness and God wants us to fellowship. It strengthens us. 2 or 3 strands are stronger than 1. THis is true. It's just so easy to rely on me only and be by myself. It's comfortable here. No let downs, you know? Well, it's something to think about anyway.

So, we had a good time. I'm going to stop here cause that's a lot of stuff. We were both tired it seemed when I picked her up we didn't do the grocery thing like I had planned. But that's okay. We got around to it Monday after the Soccer game. But I'll elaborate further later.

Friday!

What a beautiful day today is. I've been enjoying the fall colors and the cooler weather. Course it looks like it's going to rain before long, but I"m alright with that. I like some good gloomy skies! Don't know why, but a lot of time, the dark, rainy, thing is so appealing to me. It's kind of magical, you know? You can feel the energy in the air, like the world comes to life. I really love that. The breeze feels different. It's just...alive. I don't know.

A certain Fireman friend brought in Ghirardelli chocolate to me and my co-worker friend yesterday, it was really nice. Good just to see him. He closed on his house yesterday and was just so excited about it. It was fun hearing all the plans he has. I know the feeling. I love that. So much fun stuff going on. Looking towards the future. What a wonderful thing.

Tonight I"m going to my mom & dad's after work. Get to hang out there for the night and tomorrow. Probably will come back tomorrow night so I can go to church in the morning. I have my 2nd confirmation class on Sunday afternoon. ANother friend from work is watching my little one while I'm in class. And she's all excited about it, my little one, I mean. Well, my friend is too, I think... :) She offered, so I'm pretty sure it's okay. Hopefully I can talk to my fireman tomorrow night, find out about all he's done with his new house. It'd be nice to see him. Course, he's been so busy moving, he'll probably not want to take long on the phone. Moving time and all. That's ok. I know the feeling.

My co-worker tells me that I overthink everything. I know that's true. But she tells me I make a mountain out of a molehill. Probably true too. I just wish I didn't worry so much about where I am. It's just annoying cause I think I'm pretty confident I'm at a certain place. But then I worry or think that maybe I'm taking things for granted because of one little thing that happens and I think I'm being ignorant. That's probably one of my worst problems. I get comfortable with something. But maybe it's okay. WHo knows, maybe I'm just crazy. :) Yep, that'd be about right. Just can't get away from the hedging sometimes, when I'm not prepared, you know? (There's the classic "you know") I dont' know what to do with it. I have to plan these things. Which may be the problem. ack, ack, nerves, nerves, tension, stress. :) LOL Not all bad, but it does put me on edge. Cause it's so personal and hard to open up sometimes.

My sister is 30 weeks along now, gonna have a baby boy. She's so excited, has no name yet!!! I can't imagine not having planned that out by now. I had my little one's name long before she was born. That's so fun, planning for a baby. I really wish I was closer so I could spend more time with her through her pregnancy and help with the baby like she did with me. I miss her a whole lot. It is kinda hard to be that close to someone and not see them but twice a year. THank goodness for telephones and unlimited long distance.... :)