where ya been?

some favorites.

Good Saturday morning...

Sausage is sizzling...english muffins are toasting...eggs are about to be fried...homemade mc muffins are a hit around here.

Chris scheduled today a "work on the cars" day...change wiper blades, tighten the bed on Seth's truck (it's loose? what?), possibly change oil.

I don't know about that last one...seeing as how this month is breaking records for most days of temperatures over 90. Come on Fall...I'm waiting on you.

The week's are slipping by...days revolve around getting up early, turning on the coffee maker, hopping in the shower, taking a bit of quiet time before turning on the very loud blender to whip up some smoothies. The mornings are quite structured...it's nice that everyone has to leave at a different time. This way showers are staggered, bathroom time is staggered...it's working out pretty well.

I am still loving my job...so much. I work with amazing people. Honestly. I feel very blessed to have this job. I do wish there were more hours...and benefits, of course. But all in good time...

I am technically off at 11:15...but usually end up staying a bit longer to finish up whatever I had started. Then there's usually an errand or two to run...pick up milk, exchange someone's pants or shoes or something, pay a bill. By the time I get home it's just enough time to grab a bite to eat, get a load of wash started and run the vacuum or wipe down the bathroom before the boys get home from school.

Then there's the flurry of hungry boys making noise (oh, and food) in the kitchen. They are starving after school. Honestly, they are starving all the time.

Speaking of which, I've been making weekly meal plans for the past few weeks. I am always amazed at how helpful it is to make a weekly menu. Matter of fact, I think I'll work on that today.

It's Saturday...and so far we're off to a good start.

All in all...life is good.

catching up.

Sweet Bear.



Wow...life sure got a hold of me, now didn't it? I've been away from this little space for almost two weeks! Good things have been happening...and I'm just trying to keep up with it all.

I am loving my new job. A lot. I feel very blessed to be working in a nice place with such nice people. I look forward to going to work every day. I don't necessarily look forward to getting out of bed at 5:30...but once I'm up and showered and have my coffee, I'm good to go. I even have time to make each of the boys a smoothie and get lunches together.

The garden is done. And what a mess! The beans are brown and ugly, the zucchini plants are white with powdery mildew, the tomato plants are wild and gangly with a few straggler tomatoes clinging to the vines. The season is coming to a close and I have yet to plant anything for winter. My intentions are good...but my follow-through needs work.

I didn't preserve one thing this summer. No dilly beans. No pickles. No jam. No tomato sauce. Nothing. I am already regretting it.

We have one tomato left...sad, isn't it, that we have to wait a whole year for garden fresh tomatoes?

Today is a home day...cleaning, laundry, getting ready for the week to come. I made a meal plan for last week's dinners. It's always so helpful to have that little list posted on the fridge. It removes one thing from my mind for the day...I look at the plan in the morning, get whatever I need from the freezer and then I don't have to think about it until it's time to cook.

Making a weekly menu is so helpful. When I don't make a plan I think about what to make for dinner all day...and I weigh out all of the options...and I think of this combo and that combo...and then when the time comes, all I've done is THINK about dinner and then I still don't know what I'm actually going to MAKE for dinner and then we end up eating something like mac and cheese or quesadillas or...cereal!

And there's nothing wrong with mac and cheese or quesadillas, as long as it's on the plan. (Cereal is pushing it, in my opinion. :) Mac and cheese could be a great side or even a main dish if you make it from scratch. And quesadillas are great when you add fresh guacamole and a nice salad on the side. You know...turn it into a meal.

Sheesh. Sometimes it feels like all I do is think about FOOD. Part of being the mom of the house I suppose.

All in all, life is good. I feel like things are as they should be and that we are headed in the right direction. I feel confident and hopeful...it's a good feeling.



Can you say...lazy?

Man. I have been so stinkin' lazy this whole weekend. I took this 3-day weekend seriously! As did the rest of my family.

And you know what? It felt GOOD.

I got another job...already. I am now a secretary at a local charter high school.  I feel bad that I was at the Health Clerk job for such a short time...but when I took the job, unbeknownst to me, it was a substantial cut in pay. So when this secretary job came open I applied as it would get me back to what I was making before. A little bit more actually. (Just a little.)

I actually applied for three positions...and finally got the third one. Persistence...it pays off, I suppose.

So, I start tomorrow. I have to be in the office by 7:30am. That is ea-ear-ly for this lady of leisure. (Ha!) For so long now I haven't had to report to work until 9 or later. Now I'll be the first one leaving the house. Well, second. Seth is the first one to leave at 6:40...but that's by choice so he can get a good parking spot in the school lot.

It'll take a while to get used to my new morning routine. I've been able to get everyone else out the door...with lunches and smoothies and such...then get myself ready, just me and Good Morning America. Now I will get ready before everyone else.

Like I said, this will take some getting used to...I am not really a morning person. I don't hop out of bed ready to greet the day. I sort of ease into it...grumbling a bit along the way. I think the saving grace is that my job is part-time, which means I will be off at 11:15am. Not bad, eh? Still plenty of time to run errands and to get a few things done around the house before everyone else gets home.

But...we still have some time left to this long weekend. I will do more laundry (one of the few things I did do this weekend), do a little ironing, maybe bake some muffins to "grab n go" in the mornings, make a little dinner...and slowly gear up for the coming week.

It will be nice to settle into a job, finally. I feel like my job situation has been in such limbo for so long...having something permanent is going to be really nice. I am grateful...

feeling quiet..

The Journey by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice—
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.