Front Porch Pictures

Audrey made some paper jack o'lanterns to go with our pumpkins that we have on the porch. I took the picture of Audrey, then the kids took the rest. Enjoy.

Catching Up

Here's the scoop on what's been going on at our house lately.

1 - Audrey is sick. She has a tummy bug that's laid waste to the population of her elementary school. The worst part is that she feels fine - she just has nasty symptoms. I'm pretty sure I have it, too, and that Julie is next on the hit list. So far Caleb, with his sensitive gut, hasn't' shown any symptoms. But my tummy sounds like a garbage disposal after I eat anything. Eww.

2 - Steve was out of town last week for 7 days. Sunday through Saturday. It was hard, but we didn't have any major issues.

3 - Last night I dropped a full gallon of milk and the carton SPLIT open. By the time I got it picked up, there was a healthy puddle of the stuff on the kitchen floor. While I was pouring the milk into another container, the kids gleefully threw clean kitchen towels on the mess. But since the milk went under the fridge, I felt a compulsion to pull it out and clean underneath. I've been meaning to do that for 4 years, but have never gotten around to it. Until last night. Today I can rest in the fact that the only part of my kitchen floor that's clean is the 4X4 area under the fridge.

4 - My ambitious goal of writing 50,000 words (or thereabouts) in the month of November is about to begin. The National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) begins on Saturday. I have to write 1667 words per day in order to be on track to hit the 50K goal. I've been thinking about my story and doing some background reading on one aspect of the story, so I'm getting ready. I'm cracking my mental knuckles.

My tummy hurts now. I think I'm going to change out of these jeans (size 14s, thank you very much!) into some stretchy knit pants.

-A

P.S. I haven't been running in over 10 days. I'm ready to hit the road, but have to wait for healthy children or the time change. I don't mind running at 5-ish a.m. as long as it's not pitch dark. That's a bit creepy.

Thank you notes

Just for you, Nana and dc!











I really need to upgrade my video camera.

Good Morning

So it's Saturday morning. We have a relatively busy morning ahead of us. Steve is leaving in a couple of minutes to go uptown to pick up a bunch of breakfast burritos to bring back down here to church for a deacon's meeting with the youth pastor candidate that's here for the weekend. The kids and I are going to go to a resale sponsored by a local daycare. Poor Caleb needs new pants. He looks like he's wearing little man-capris in his current pants. The kids have some of their own money and I know there will be toys, so I told them they could shop.

Then we're meeting with the rest of the youth pastor search committee and the candidate for lunch. And then our relatively busy morning ends. But then I need to go grocery shopping and we need to bathe stinky kids.

I ran 6 miles yesterday. It was tough. And I ran 5 miles on Wednesday and 4 on Monday. I went to bed at 8:45 last night because I was so tired.

Anyway - here's a picture of Caleb. He's lost some more teeth and he's cute. And Steve got his braces off and looks fabulous, so here's a picture of him, too.

Stupid computer stuff. The pictures are supposed to be at the bottom instead of the top. When we wiped the hard drive, we changed a few things, including my web browser. So things are a bit different. I'll get used to it.

Preparing for the scary

We're getting ready to wipe the hard drive on the laptop. We're hoping it will buy us another year before we have to purchase a replacement. I've been backing up the laptop stuff - documents, pictures and videos (especially the pictures and videos), music. We'll see if it works. I'll keep you posted.

A Rare Occurrence

Both big kids are napping and Julie is awake. Julie is, in fact, in her bedroom with the door shut, playing in a laundry basket. I told her she needed to be in bed reading books or else I would shut her door. After a quick trip to the living room to get the basket, she shut her own door. It's like she's saying, "So there, Mommy." Fine by me.

I'm going to clean the kitchen, work on dinner, and do a little laundry and picking up now.

Hiya

First of all, Audrey asked this weekend if she had to sign her name on a birthday card "in curses." Steve about split a gut laughing at that one. She's persisted in saying it all weekend, oblivious to the hilarity of it. Steve tried to correct her once, but I told him to can it because it's so cute and appropriate.

Next thing: Steve was trying to get the kids to brush their teeth before church yesterday. They were complaining that they didn't have their cups because I made them put the cups in the dishwasher on Saturday night. Steve came in and grabbed a couple of cups, then returned to the kitchen a few moments later laughing. He told me Audrey refused to use the cup he gave her because "it smells like dog." Turns out 2 things had happened: 1 - the dishwasher hadn't been run yet, and 2 - he grabbed the cup I had been using to scoop cat food. He was very amused by this.

Something else: I think my shoe sensor is off. I drove the route I ran earlier this morning and the numbers didn't jive. So I need to figure out how to fix this. I did 4 miles this morning...I think. Actually it was probably closer to 3.5. Oh well. Forty-six minutes of jogging is 7 points according to weight watchers.

Finally: I am going to write a novel in November. Yes, a whole novel. It will only be the first draft, therefore it will be very messy, but it will be a novel. At least 50,000 words. It's part of the National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo as it's called. If you want to check it out, go to www.nanowrimo.org. I'm telling you this because it's how I plan to hold myself accountable. If I don't get the novel done, or don't get to 50K words, I will look foolish. Although I can count on you, my fabulous friends and family, not to think me foolish, I will imagine that, secretly, you *do* think me foolish.

That's it for today. I need to get my hind end up and do something productive.

Remind me never to do this again

I went running yesterday with Julie. She had a bit of an upset tummy, so I kept her home from school. But I needed to go run, so I got the stroller ready, got a few things to keep her occupied, and we took off. I knew it would be hard, but it was downright tough. We went 5 miles and some of that was uphill. Of course, some was downhill, but even that was hard. My pace dropped 40 seconds/mile. My pace on my last run was 11:33/mile, but was 12:12 on this one.

It was awful. Not horrible, but hard enough that it hurt. I thought about using my inhaler again when I came home - I normally only use it before a run. But 5 miles is 5 miles. I did it. I just don't want to do it again.

This morning

Boomp3.com

That link should take you to my devotion from this morning. Give it a few moments at the beginning because the sound is off but then it comes on.

Here is what Tardie Sue looks like:

Quick Update

Good afternoon!

I'm back from Bible study. I did the devotion this morning. I talked about time management. It wasn't as boring as it sounds. I have a recording of it and I'm trying to find a place to post it so you can hear it. Very funny, I was told.

I'm over my sinus infection and am up and running (literally) again. Feels good to be healthy.

Julie is starting to potty train. Candy corns are her reward. So far, so good.

Not much stuff...when something interesting happens, I'll post it here.