Well, it certainly has been a long time since I posted. I know I have been in here meaning to post but things just didn't get written down. I was agog when I noticed the date on here; two weeks has certainly been the longest I've ever gone between posts on here. So, lets see here.

James has left on a big road trip with my mother; I won't see him again until after September 7. All in all, he will have been gone over three weeks and they're making a huge trip up through Saskatchewan and back down through the US to New Mexico and other states; perhaps even a quick dip into Mexico as well. So he'll certainly have a trip to remember. I didn't bother sending homeschool stuff with him. I did order books from Bargain Book Closeouts but unfortunately they didn't come in on time since I didn't realize they were coming from Canada. But hey, considering I spent $65 after shipping, and the books were all worth over $115 original retail, I saved a pretty bundle. They're all awesome books that I can't wait to add to the shelves. They were pretty much books just for James to look at on the trip but they include some great nature books and children's encyclopedias. The place mat size laminated maps I ordered for him also didn't come in. :( Those I was upset about since they were intended to go with him to mark his trail. However, my mother was going to buy a journal and he's supposed to dictate to her everyday his adventures. He's also supposed to draw pictures in it. That in itself would be something he could look back on years from. So yeah, my baby is really far from me right now and it's scary but this was such a huge opportunity for him.

My bike went in for it's 6 month tune up. I can't believe that I've had it that long. I scrubbed out our bike trailer. I should have done it sooner but it's nice and pretty now. I was amazed at the amount of debri that had piled up in it as well as the basic little kid junk that always piles up such as toys, mateless shoes, empty sippy cups, etc. Another few motns and it will be time to store it and our bikes for the winter. This year has really gone by super fast.

Success by 6, a child oriented center with some good programs for little one's ages birth to six as well as their mothers, had a yard sale last week. I volunteered to help out. I figured since my kids take part in the activities and stuff that it would be a good idea. It's pretty much one of the few ways I can help since I usually have four little ones hanging off of me. All of the items were donated by the community and they were sold on a donation basis. So sometimes people paid more than their stuff was worth, and others didn't pay near what the amount they should have but that's what made it so fun. We still pulled in over $1K and that's not counting my donation, which I have yet to turn in. Especially since I did get some stuff, including a really cool doll house for Deedee that I need to clean up for her. I'm going to give it to her for Christmas.

Carey's cousin Jordan started school at the University and I was dissapointed to miss seeing his family while they were here getting him settled in. :(

Kitty is getting really good standing although she still isn't into walking yet. Ah, well, soon, I hope. She's talking more and more though, which is awesome. And she's getting used to the little potty chair. She's forever taking off her diaper, and when I found out she had such good control of her bladder a few weeks ago, I decided it was high time to start helping her remember what her natural functions feel like. Deedee herself is only two and a half and has been potty trained for over half a year. It tould be nice if Kitty could be trained by next summer. She is also gaining weight, so we're over that scare. At least, I hope we are.

Charles and Deedee had their Happy Visits to the dentist. Charles was a little reticent, but Deedee hopped right up in the chair. She had fun letting the special brush tickle her fingers, and picking out the flavor of her toothpaste. The only thing she balked at was when the hygeinist tried to lean back the chair so she wound up having her teeth cleaned sitting up. LOL She was so comfortable that I was able to leave her alone when I went into the next room with Charles when it was his turn. I had to sit with him on the chair at first, but I slowly moved out from under him until I was able to sit next to him, and he was perfectly happy. Deedee had beautiful teeth, with not a spot on them. Charles, however, has several cavities that need to be taken care of, poor little guy. I really like this dentist. The guy is really nice and it helps also that Carey went to school with him. Also, today the kids each received a little letter addressed to them from the dentist welcoming them to the office, and stuff. Each one also had a special little sticker. I thought that was really neat.

Charles scared the hell out of me. He went on walkabout, was literally gone only 15 minutes from the time he took off until the time a neighbor chased him home but he was down at the street so a concerned neighbor called the cops for unsupervised children. Sigh..... the house of course was a mess. I mean, there's still boxes everywhere, and this was 8 at night so I hadn't had a chance to pick up after the three little tornados that had blown through that day. I really didn't like how the cop treated me, as if I was deadbeat mom that totally ignored her kids and let them do whatever the hell they wanted to. :( He yelled at me for the laundry piled up everywhere and straight out said it looked like I never did any although the washer was full of a just finished load, both laundry racks were full of stuff drying and and there were three baskets full of clean laundry. He yelled at me for the sink full of dishes although if he'd bothered to count, he would have seen they were from that day only. He yelled at me about the alchohol that was on the highest shelf possible and that didn't even belong to me; it's Carey's (Who of course, wasn't home. He was still at class.) It also didn't help that his partner was one of the same officers that talked to me last year when James went to school with a black eye gratis of Charles and blamed it on Carey. That was really bad. I felt like we were just leaving that behind us and here it is all over again. GRRRR..... And the looks on the cops faces were really bad when they were talking to Charles about it and he decided to say "Mommy gone". Of course Mommy was gone when he got home; she was off looking for his little butt. So we've really cracked down on him. Whereas before I would let him venture out a little on his own as long as he stayed within a few feet of the building, he does't go outside without me anymore so it's severly hampered him (at least in his mind.). I'm still not sure how this is going to affect James. Carey and I are still talking about it but James is pretty responsible when it comes to sticking pretty close so he might be okay by himself.

I've updated my Sister Woman page to a harvest theme.


One more reason to really dislike Wal Mart. OOOHHHH........... This just makes me so angry. I have been Wal Mart free for almost a year. The thought of Wal Mart exploiting these people to make an extra buck is just sick, especially when it's children. >:( When ever anyone tells me that they "can't afford anywhere else" I want to laugh. If a full time student on only one part time salary can afford to live without Wal Mart, then why can't someone who works full time? You just have to take better care of where and how you spend you money. In the end though, you have items that mean more to you, they're better made and last longer. I'm tired of the "Me" mentality of this country that has people buying something just to say they bought it or because of the name splashed all over it.


Charles is getting better on his bike. The last few nights I and my neighbor Patti have been taking our boys across the street to a parking lot and letting them ride around a bit. She has two boys, one Charles' age and a 9 year old. Her youngest, Michael, has gotten really close to Charles. They call each brother and spend a lot of time together. Of course, the first thing Charles does when he's on his bike is try to kill himself. There is an incline outside our house that veers to the right and if you keep straight your run into the little recycling shed and mail boxes. I must have been a sight chasing him down trying to get him before he runs into it because of course he wasn't steering to the right; he stayed straight. I got a hold of his shirt and yanked him off of his bike just as it hit the shed. He of course, was just fine but I mashed my hand. :( He got quite upset at me for ruining his fun.


Tonight, we didn't do that though. I wound up taking a nap because of a sinus headache and didn't wake up until late. Today was a very busy day for me. I rode my bike on 16 mile round trip. My friend Patti and I rode on a bike trail between here and Pullman. I felt really bad because it was my fault she wound up wrecking. A woman was passing us, didn't leave us much room and I got too close to Patti. Her front tire caught on my baby seat and she wasn't able to stabilize herself before she fell. It didn't help either that hers is a racing bike, and had the special buckles on the peddles so she wasn't able to get her foot down on time. Her husband surprised her with the bike a week ago but she really doesn't have the proper shoes for it yet. So she got a scraped knee and a dirty shirt. I'm glad that she's ok. We pretty much dinked around on the way there. This was the first time I'd ever been on the trail, and a few times we stopped to read the little signs and stuff. We also stopped and watched what was either a coyote or a fox. I'm not really sure which. It was far enough away that I really couldn't tell except that it wasn't a dog. We rested a while at the end of the trail. However, we made excellent time on the way back. Including the two times we stopped to talk and rest, it was just under an hour when we reached the end of the seven mile trail. She's talking about doing it again next weekend and it would be interesting to see how much faster we could do it. Her husband is making fun of her because not only did she get hurt but because it took us so long to do it. He's really into biking and he can do that round trip in about an hour. It took us all afternoon. Of course, we also stopped at the mall to wander around a bit. We checked out the new Bad, Bath and Beyond and Old Navy. They both just opened this month. B, B and B had some cute stuff and reasonable prices. Old Navy had some cute little kid stuff, but most of their women's dresses were super ugly. The cuts as well as the patterns just seemed like they would be really unflattering.

One more thing I did today was apply for a job. Yes, me. The one that didn't even want to think of working, that hates being around a lot of people. Well, I heard that a local yarn store had a couple of positions opening up, so I screwed up my gumption, put on a nice outfit, wore a necklace that belonged to my great grandmother for luck, and off I went. It would be 20 hours a week, including Saturday which would be ok since Carey would have no problems watching the kids. It's during the week that I would have to worry about but I have several leads for that, including Carey's father offering to send Charles to Moscow Day School. My application wasn't the prettiest. Their in house feline Blanche took a liking to me and decided that she would like to lay right on it. So I had to keep nudging her out of the way and by the time I was done it was slightly wrinkled, and there were a few spelling mistakes because she kept getting in my way and I hope they take that into account. I've always wanted to work at the this store. It's got such a wonderful comfy feeling and I enjoy going there even if it's just to get my feline fix with Blanche. I miss not being able to have cats and now that the little strays that were living under our building are gone I don't get to love on one very often. So when I found out that they were taking applications, I jumped on it. Even if I don't get the job, that's ok because I know I tried and obviously I just wasn't meant to have it right now. The extra money would be nice, if only to fund my addiction to yarn and homeschool supplies. :D Oh, and the beautiful vintage style bike that I fell in love with at the bike shoppe.