where did i go??

mood: perky
listening to: hillsong live
last read: kimi's blog

jack is still sleeping?? i dont think this kid has slept this late in his life (which will be 1 year on friday!)

we went camping at Dripping Springs on saturday/sunday. it was filthy, but fun. the campsite is really only good for a day. there is just nothing to do there. however, it was a great spot for our first family camping trip. i liked the security of being only 7 minutes from Ralph's(which trevor had to go to when our smore's chocolate bars melted pre-smore making) and only 9 minutes from home.

heading off to dallas on thursday morning. very much looking forward to a break. will miss my hubby and kids sorely after two days probably, but i think it will be a good trip. the girl i'm going with is very energetic and adventurous, so it should be a good time.

after dallas, i have a HELLISHLY busy week full of fun stuff and then it's off to the cleveland national forest to go camping (again) with the inlaws. we found a campsite that seems a little more "foresty" than most So. Cal campgrounds. i think camping might be my new addiction. dont know what my old addiction was?? travelling on credit?? probably. but that was years ago-- pre-trevor(a.k.a pre-living financially responsible... oh the fun i had).

off to make kindergarten snack and get the baby out the door. may stop at jenn's to try this infamous pumpkin latte.

cya

holy moly!

mood: nauseated?
listening to: feist
last read: email re: birth announcement of a friend's 4th girl (so jealous!!! i just want to put bows in my little girl's hair and hug her and love her forever... im working on coping. sigh.)

the parents rolled in late friday night. i was up until 1230 making this cake:

(yes, that is a sour blueberry licorice moat!)

got up the next morning and welcomed 13 knights and princesses into our own little land of narnia. that was a raucous hour and a half. i was dead tired man. we had company all day long, and then at 7pm round two of partying began as we hosted our housewarming party.

we had friends from many different facets of speer-life. it was a blast and humbling-ly awesome to have so many people share in our celebration of the undeserved 2,950 square foot blessing the Lord has bestowed upon us. i still have not gotten over it. to those of you who were able to make it, thanks so much for truely blessing us with your presence. there were 17ish kids and another 20ish adults. full (loud) house man.

we had so much food left over. so much. brett and molly (friends from australia mission project in 2001) closed down the party and helped us put away all the food. we had to get creative as kimi threw away most of the bags/containers the food came in and i had no ziploc bags or saran wrap and only a smattering of "tupperware" containers. good times.

i finally hit the sack at 1230 and was so tired i felt like i was going to vomit. literally. but i didnt.

i've got a busy few weeks coming up. gonna go take a nap in preparation.

fatigue

mood: blank
listening to: Yael Naim
last read: address for a bill i owe (sorry jessica! i forgot to send check part deux... it's on it's way!)

my parents are driving down from the bay area today. they didnt leave until like 11... which irked me. not sure why. then i was even more put out that they stopped at casa de fruta (only an hour into the 7+ hour trip). again, not sure why i minded. probably just because i am impatient and i'd rather have them here sooner rather than later.

dropped noah off at school and shot over to winco. then home in time to meet kimi and go to costco. then back home, put away groceries and then pick noah up.

the other day a meat sales man came to our door. it was straight comedy, yo! will blog about it later. gotta go feed jack.

thursday dash

mood, listening to, last read: dont have time to fill out

gotta get to the grocery store to buy fruit and formula. then drop noah at school (was late picking him up yesterday. oops!!! score another one for mommy of the year.) then it's off to MOPS steering. i feel a little ill prepared, but i am usually over prepared. so i think everything will balance out. besides, im not afraid to say "i dont know" or "i'll get back to you."

then it's home to babysit a friend's daughter while she anniversary-s with her hubby. congrats!

and then sometime between then and bedtime i need to make 6 crest/shield posters and shop for birthday cake decorations. wooo...

see ya

pondering

mood: great
listening to: zilch
last read: house warming party list from kimi

tiffany called this morning inquiring about my blog poll and the meaning of the question. more specifically, we dialogued about what exactly is meant by "God forsaken right." i think we came up with that it means that God is absent of our right to love, and so she would disagree with the statement as she knows that God has not forsaken us.

then i got to thinking, maybe the lyricist was going beyond the words at face value. maybe he/she meant more that God's love is so perfect and so pure and so complete, and that kind of love has been forsaken. meaning that "love" as we know it, or think we want it is nothing like what God offers. so we have forsaken God in our interpretation of love. probably not. its probably more probable that the lyricist was being blasphemous. who knows.

not me. just a theory that i have spent way too much time thinking about.

good night

what the...?

mood: cranky as all get out
listening to: DMB
last read: monthly budget summary 2008-9 (that's not why i'm cranky though)

baby woke up at 530 this a.m. im not at all pleased to have this crack of dawn rooster crow lately. he is not liking it either. his whole schedule, my whole schedule, is thrown off. we are both cranky.

have mops park date today( and then home to paint for noah's party decorations. mops planning meeting tonight. then bed? maybe...

burning eyes

mood: soooooooooooo tired
listening to: coldplay, johnny cash, jason mraz
last read: innisbrook fundraiser bonus prize flier

woke up this morning at 4am and could not get back to sleep. my stomach hurt. felt like i was going to hurl but did not. trevor swears it is because of the pizza i had at 9pm last night. i denied it. no such thing.

took noah to school and then went to henry's. ran into the shorter half of the sturgess union. bought a bolthouse farms perfectly protein mocha cappuccino with whey protein bottled smoothie. they are sure yummy. no sugar added, and no artificial sweetners. it is sweetened with apple juice. who woulda thunk-- coffee and apple juice. btw, the lady didnt put my milk in a bag. it was only a the half gallon size. i thought that was weird.

came home, unloaded groceries and sat down to reply to too many emails. too many emails.

man... the state of our economy. rough man. just rough. i won't get all tiffany on you =), but it sure feels like we are just heading further and further down a desolate road.

unrelated, see new poll at right.

deposit check

so, we moved out of the rental on 7/24... it is now almost two months later and we have yet to receive our deposit refund. a little irked. supposedly "the check is in the mail." state law says that lessors have 21 days from the date the lessees vacate to refund any security deposit. we are just too nice. im hoping the refund amount is reasonable. i do not want to have to fight that battle.

dresser

mood: on edge
listening to: noah sitting in the corner, whimpering because he was just sent to a time out
last read: jenn's blog about felt flowers. cute.

the inlaws came down on friday night. we went out to el torito and then came home and put kids to bed. noah and papa slept in the tent. trevor and i crashed at like 930??? we're getting old man.

on saturday we chilled around the house. then rocky, noah and i went to noah's classmate's birthday party. it was cute. he is so shy i can hardly stand it. but he had a good time.

then we went to the pottery barn outlet and my MIL bought noah a new dresser! yippee! the one he was using (that is now in jack's room) is probably 60 years old. it was cute, but not so easy for a little one to operate.

i love the new dresser! it is really our first piece of "nice" furniture (aka.. non ikea/second or third hand furniture). trevor was so impressed on how structurally sound the dresser is. we still need to get baskets or canvas for underneath, but that can come later.

went to church this morning and then bunco for boobies afterwards. there is a team of ladies from trevor's work/spouses who are walking the 3-day walk in san diego. i am envious, as i wanted to walk with them. but with the toe fracture from last december, a 60 mile walk was ix-nayed by the doctor. it takes three days to get the feeling back in my foot after i have been on it for more than an hour straight, so i guess he was wise. aye aye aye!

yesterday

mood: the edge is off (thank you starbucks)
listening to: leona lewis, jason mraz
last read: steering/dgl phone ticket

yesterday was noah's birthday. he turned 5! i got to take popsicles and pencils into his class. they sang happy birthday to him while he stood in front of the class with his hands by his mouth(his shy tick). then we went to chic-fil-a and then home for naps. then we woke up and went to walmart for birthday gift shopping. then to the pizza factory for dinner and home to crash. he had a fun day.

today lori is coming over for coffee. the inlaws are coming down around 4ish. so between now and then, i need to make my house inlaw-ready.

found out that the K teacher(s) thinks that we should be prepared to hold noah back. this is one of the biggest stabs at my pride to date. in my head, i KNOW he is fine, intelligent and just young and un-preschooled. however, it makes me want to cry. oh motherhood--. angela is really a good person for me to talk to about these things. she's so supportive and sympathetic and has a way to make me realize he's ok and im ok. im grateful that God put her here in my life for this experience. thanks friend!

off to rake before lori arrives! have a happy friday=)

sunday

mood: relaxed (really! i know!)
listening to: chris tomlin
last read: noah's party invitation

we had our first homeowner debacle yesterday-- our kitchen sink is leaking. apparently it has been for sometime (woops!) because the cabinet underneath was caked in grime and stunk like puke. i dont know how i missed it though. i open the cabinet every day to get dishwasher soap out. whatever. THANKFULLY, auntie tiffany's hubby is a plumber. so he will be coming over this afternoon to check things out. yay for friends with mad skilz.

we went to church last night. the message got a liiiitttle too textbook/college lecture style for my particular liking, but it was amazing nonetheless to see just how amazing God created our universe and how seemingly insignificant our "litle" galaxy is. the point- we are really not that big of a deal so get over ourselves and revere the Lord Most High.

kimi, chris and the kids came over after white lime. we had a pow wow in our tent. the kids thought it was cool. kimi got punchy. it was quite entertaining. noah then went and spent the night at their house. i had no idea it was 1130 when they left. woooo! late night for this mama! it was great!

trevor is at church driving the shuttle carts. jack is sleeping. noah is still with kimi. we are going to meet them at church for miss jen's daughters batism. !!! so precious. so so precious.

ok, im off to check out sitemeter and then get ready for the day.

living room camping

mood: still a little groggy
listening to: baby einstein santa's workshop soundtrack
last read: comments from tiffany and T

we camped in the living room last night. i got a tent from my inlaws for my birthday in july. it is quite large. we all, sans jack, slept in it last night. i slept surprisingly well. hopefully we will get to take it in to the great outdoors soon. here's a pic:

trevor is laying mulch in one of the front beds. man, what a difference some shredded bark can make. i am off to do dishes and floormate the tile. have a fantabulous weekend all!! (ok.. coffee's kicking in...)

really... seriouslly?

mood: about up to here
listening to: silence, blessed silence
last read: email about MOPS registrant

my morning has been just one of those mornings. between the time of 8:05 and 8:25 this is how it went:

Noah was getting dressed for school. Jack was playing in the family room. I got noah's snack together and went into the front room to pack it in his backpack. then i heard the sound of ceramic on tile. i discovered jack in the middle of three of my taste of home dishes he had pulled out of the cupboard, one broken. so i locked noah and jack in the guest room so i could clean up the shards. went to get them out, and noah had unraveled all the wrapping paper from their cardboard rolls and was playing "swords."
my patience was just about as thin as it could be without breaking. i then herd them out into the family room to finish packing noah up. i am getting together all his stuff (homework, scholastic order, check, wednesday envelope, worksheets) and jack pulls a 1/2 empty yogurt container out of the trash and proceeds to smear day old yogurt all over himself.

and i hadnt had any coffee yet...................

on the plus side, noah finally got wolfie yesterday (class mascot). he had fun with the "pet." he took his nap with wolfie, took wolfie to play at auntie tiffany's. then we took wolfie out to dinner at panda express. i lost track of wolfie experiences after that because i flew to coop and went out to BJs with tiffany, kimi, and jenn for some much needed decompression. i may need another night of it!

phermaldahide

mood: perrty good
listening to: fan blowing gas out of the house (some little 1/2 pint turned the knob on the stove....)
last read: email about K birthday treats

had a meeting this morning at church. there was also a funeral service going on at the same time. i left our meeting room to go check on something and as i walked down the hallway, i was hit with the aroma of phermaldahide. i almost vomited in my mouth. i knew the funeral was going on, but it didnt dawn on me that the body would be there. i was just a little blindsided and wanted to run. i still have a green tint to my face.

really... im going to bed after this thought

a good friend called me conservative the other day. it made me sad. (no hard feelings) my comeback was less than stellar. dont know why it bothers me so much when someone calls me either republican or conservative. hmmm...

(this is all sarcastic of course. i mean, it happened, and yes i was bothered, but i am not trying to be introspective. ok. this is too long... goood niiiiiiiiiiiiiigggggg.......

about to pass out

mood: super duper tired
listening to: laundry dry
last read: email about MOPPETS roster

been consumed with MOPS business this week. is it the weekend yet?

i am having a hard time that noah's school work gets returned to me in droves with red pen saying "please correct at home =)." both trevor and i were super star students, and it makes my bottom lip protrude that my sweetheart terror of a boy is not the star student. i know it's only K. i am thinking we should have done pre-k or waited another year. this is very hard for me.

tuesday

mood: jittery (yet i had no coffee today???)
listening to: nada
last read: email regarding event planner for mom's night out

dropped noah off at a friends this a.m. b/c i had a meeting at 830. she took him to school.(thanks angela!) is that sad that i am too busy to take my child to school every day? ive been thinking about that. but he was all amped up to go over to her house this morning and was very proud that he listened to her.

trevor has been getting on my case about the amount of personal info i blog about. he thinks it's unsafe. maybe it is. hmmm.... maybe when i have spare time i will go back and edit out names. that just sounds like a lot of work. and pointless unless all my friends do it too. hmmm....

had a great weekend. spent all day at the community... er i mean hoffman pool. i did not get burned! VICTORY! i even ventured into the water and was grateful that kimi didnt make a big deal of it.

we went marathon grocery shopping yesterday. we are on the modified cash system now with the mortgage and all. so we had zero dollars from like 8/25 till yesterday. we have been eating the most random meals. i got emotional yesterday as i was unloading a half full TJs bag when i thought, there is more food in this bag than half the world gets to eat in a whole week. i felt grateful.

i am hoping God has something impactful on the horizon for our family. my urge to GO has been getting stronger. just cant figure out the logistics. if any of you know of an organization that allows family service trips, lemme know!

okay, back to the MOPS grind!