Sledding :)

Lemonade out of lemons

Here in Virginia, we've had a crapton of snow over the last month and half. December saw us getting a snowstorm of 2' right before Christmas. Last weekend we got another 11" (in our new house, woot-woot!) Schools were closed Monday, 2 hour delay yesterday, and closed again today with the 3" or so that fell last night!

If you don't know me, you may not know that I'm not a an of snow (to put it lightly.) I don't mind watching it come down, but dealing with the icy slush that results for the next couple of weeks makes me insane.

So, I decided to make the best of it. A trip to Target found these in the 1-spot.



Just add water and food coloring:



And you can make rainbows:



Oh, and the prediction for Friday/Saturday? Possibly 2 more feet of snow.

Holiday Mail for Heroes

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.redcross.org/holidaymail"><img src="http://redcrosschat.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/holiday-mail-for-her_38b518.jpg" height="200" width="170"></a><br class="khtml-block-placeholder">

The girls and I might sign a few cards here soon. :)

It's hard being a lady of leisure

Zelda sure is having a hard time adjusting. (Click for the full picture. :)

mommy & checka lunch @ noodles & co.

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The dog

I should update on this, too.

I finally decided that I don't need to keep putting my life on hold until our house sells, so I put in my application for a retired racing greyhound in the middle of August. I had my phone interview a few days later, and then we had our home visit last weekend. It was really informative, and it was long enough for me to remember the questions I had had. &nbsp;I feel like the rescue group is really dedicated to making sure that the right dogs go to the right homes, which includes making sure that the home is ready and able to care for the dog. (Not just monetarily either.) &nbsp;They advised me that the haul coming in the middle of September was full, but that there should be one at the end of the month too.I was thinking it would take some time to find a greyhound that was cat/kid-friendly AND would do okay in a house without a fence. So I didn't even have my hopes up too high for that haul. (Besides, I've been waiting a year to even apply, so a few weeks were no big.)

Tuesday we spent the day in Fredericksburg, and when I got home I found a voicemail from another woman at the rescue. Turns out they had a dog coming up on the mid-month haul who meets our needs, and would we like her? So, yeah. Now we're scrambling to get everything together, but it looks like it's going to work out. They let me know that I don't have to bring the kids to the adoption event, which is really nice. I will be able to concentrate (well, as much as I ever am. ;) I ordered the collar last night, but I chose just to put our last name/cell phone number on it. (And, yes Alice, I realized after I hung up that I could've embroidered my own. Dur.) We're definitely going to change her name, and we have a shortlist, but I want to meet her first. I've seen pictures, but I want to see her coloring in person. She's 4 years old, and she's being vetted today! &nbsp;I have requests out on Freecycle for some of the stuff we need, and we're going to Costco/Petsmart/WallyWorld for the rest of it. Oh, and we need to put something up high to keep the kids from being able ot open the door and let her out, since we don't have a fence.

3 days until school starts!

We had kindergarten orientation yesterday. Charles got back from his meetings out of town in time to meet us there. (As in, we arrived at the same time and got to park beside each other.)

Adia's teacher is brand-new, which is kinda cool, since it's just like Miss Binney in Ramona. :) A was painfully shy and opted not to play with the toys while the teacher talked to the parents. (She stayed with us.) Unfortunately we hadn't gotten the heads-up that they would be offered the chance to take a practice ride on the bus. I say unfortunately because that meant we didn't have any time to prepare her. She flipped and declared we would be driving her to school everyday. (No.) So her first experience on the schoolbus will be the first day of school.

I gave the teacher a heads-up that Adia is reading on at least a 2nd grade level already. I'm not sure she believed me, but she said they do evals a few weeks into classes, so I guess they'll find out then.

Overall, I'm pretty sure we're making the right decision to put her in school. The academics of homeschooling her don't worry me, but the socialization does. I know most kids are fine being homeschooled, and I'm not knocking it in the least. But Adia really needs to have the chance to get out there alone and learn how to socialize with her peers. (And new adults too.)

Playing in the fountains at C's house

cutie pie on the playground!

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Is there anything cuter than kids in glasses?

I think not.

We took the girls to get eye exams today.  Adia was already at 20/30 at her 4yo checkup last year, and she apparently has pretty significant astigmatism.  She was all excited to be like Mommy and Daddy until we were looking at frames, when she decided she can see just fine and doesn't waannnnnaaaa wear glasses.  (Tough cookies, kid.)

She's getting some awesome pink frames with bling.   Sleeping Beauty glasses.  ("Lipstick Pink", if you'll put your feminist rage aside for a moment.)  They're not what I would've picked -- the Barbie wire frames were more flattering and have a better warranty -- but I'm not the one who'll be wearing them.  ;P

Oh, and remember how glasses used to be dorky?  When did that change?  Francesca is begging for glasses.  I may order her a frame with no lenses just so she'll chill.  She's probably going to need them by the time she's 5 anyway, according to the optometrist.  Three cheers for genetics!  Her left eye also has a tendency to pull inwards, so we might be looking at vision therapy too.

They totally rocked the exam, by the way.  The glaucoma test was no big deal.  (The one that makes me cry half the time.  The puff of air in your eyeball one.)

bday girl & sister having pancakes & oj

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Earth Song

If this was never released in the US, then why do I remember hearing/seeing it along the way somewhere

Panic Time

Because I always need a reason to do that, right?

I called the university today and found out from admissions that I could potentially start classes Spring '10.  Eeeeek!  So now I have a lot to accomplish in the next 6 months in addition to the "taking care of the kids" and "moving" stuff.

- Fill out the application
- Write an essay for the application
- Fill out the "guaranteed admission agreement."  This, beyond my 4.0, guarantees that my community college degree will get me in to the university.  It also waives the application fee.  (Which is $50 now?!)
- Register for my last community college class
- Figure out how to work that into my RCC transcript.  (It will have to be at a different school, since mine isn't offering an online Intro to Western Civ class this fall.)
- Order transcripts from: SVCC, HSC, LU, and RCC
- Find daycare/preschool for Checka
- Find aftercare for Adia

See? Panic.

Of thunderstorms and puke

My parents are here for a few days while Charles is out of town. They're helping me put more stuff in storage so we can fully declutter the house and hopefully sell it! (We have had a few people come through over the last week -- yay!)

So last night we went out to dinner at a local seafood restaurant that pretty much sits on the water. A storm rolled up while we were sitting there, and it was a lot of fun to watch. The power went out for a couple of minutes, but we already had our food. So, whatever. There was a break in the storm for our drive home. When we got back here, there was a limb on the deck rail and our trash can was halfway down the neighbor's yard. There were limbs down all over the neighborhood too.

A couple hours later it started up again. We couldn't do movies on the Roku, since it needs internet to work, so we started watching "Silent Movie." It was actually a decent "Steph Netflix" pick. (Those words are usually associated with seriously crappy movies.) 1/3 of the way through, or so, the TV just cut off. I could intermittently get a red "standby" light to come on, but that was it. Charles' computer was beep-beep-beeping like it was on battery power. It took us half an hour to figure out it was a brownout. We had partial power, but not enough to power a TV or computer. Overhead lights flickered and clock lights were dim. Not long after we figured this out, everything turned off. I think the flashlight is in my car, and it was still storming hardcore. After a few minutes of using cell phones for light, I remembered I had a bunsload of candles around.

Mom and Dad and I headed to bed (and I slept in Adia's bed because the dark was scaring her.) When I woke up at 7, we had power again.

I went to nurse Francesca (who was wandering around the house) and found chunks of something in her hair. She told me it was chicken nuggets. I checked her bed and... ew. I came back up to the living room and told her "You threw up in your bed!" Her response? "I did?!" The sheets are drying, the comforter is in the wash, and Miss F now smells like body wash. She seems fine this morning, and she's had a bowl of dry cereal.

It's Friday, must be time for another post.

(Seriously, look back at my pattern over the last few weeks.)

I've been spending a lot more time over at Twitter and facebook these days, but that's the way it goes.

Let's see.  We've dropped our contract on the old house. (The status of which is dubious in the MLS.)  We put a contract on a fixer-upper, and we've had it accepted.  We were also approved for a rehab loan, so now we get to do building-lite.  We need to pick out paint, flooring, appliances, and heat pump.  We also have to pick out all of the people to do that.  And all on a budget.  This house is freaking huge.  I'm not as thrilled with the location, but it's a good location for what it is.  (Does that make sense?  It's not downtown like I wanted, but it's still a good place.)

There are four bedrooms, so each girl will get their own.  The last bedroom will be a guest room.  The former two-car garage is a one-car garage and the area they made a room will be the playroom.  I'm kinda excited about having just one room for all of the junk.  There's also another room that I'm planning to use as an arts and crafts room for both me and the girls.  The backyard is half-fenced, so I'm expecting to finish that after we sell our house.  (The rehab loan won't cover it.)

Now I'm working on everything that goes with buying a house.  Setting up appointments, packing, cleaning, procrastinating... heavy on that last one.

On the plus side, we should be in the house in time for Adia to start school in September!  She's excited, I'm excited, it's all good all around.

I adopted a cat back in March, did I ever mention that?  Her name is Sparkles and she's a Siamese mix.  Heavy on the "mix" side of things, I think, but she's a fabulous cat.

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so brave she got a purple dino bandaid!

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