Vacation.

Starts tomorrow. At noon. I will leave work, pick up my husband and then pick up my child. Then? Then, we're off to Florida. An 8 hour drive. I haven't packed. I don't have diapers/pull ups/whatever. I'm not using cloth while we go on vacation. I don't feel like lugging every diaper we own to Florida. I expect that I'll pack between the time I leave work and pick Andrew up from daycare. Tonight is the last night of VBS at church and we won't be home until probably around 9:30. Since I'm planning on picking up dipes this afternoon between work and picking Andrew up then we'll probably use disposables at daycare tomorrow. That means diaper laundry doesn't *have* to be done. I can get it started and if I fall asleep before it's finished, then I can finish it in the morning and take the dirty clothes I want to wear next week to my parents' house and wash them there.

We may have to change our plans as far as the Blue Angels show goes. Mom told me today that their paper is telling people to plan on being at the beach ALL day and to expect traffic jams once the show is over. That alone would be enough to make Clayton not want to go. Only part of the beach is open still. Ivan really did a number on the island. I doubt we'll even try to go. I am planning on calling the canoeing place this afternoon to find out what day would be best to plan to go. I'm thinking either Monday or Tuesday.

Is it soooo bad?

Is it really that bad to only have one working bathroom? I mean, really? I grew up in a house with only one bathroom for 4 people. We survived. Yeah, sometimes it was tough if you really really had to go and someone was in there taking their precious time, but we survived. In fact, I'm going back to that house next week where there is still only one bathroom. There will be 4 adults and a 2.5 year old to share the one bathroom. We'll make it work. I just don't get it when people complain that one of their two bathrooms isn't working. You still have ONE, right? At least that's something. Sure, it's an inconvenience for people to go tramping through your bedroom to get to the toilet in your bathroom, but it's not going to kill anyone. Besides that, it's only for a couple days until the plumber can get out there on MONDAY (today is FRIDAY) to take care of the toilet that is running. It's not overflowing, mind you, just running. People seem to think that their problem is the biggest (not to mention the only) problem in the world. I mean, come on, do you really expect a competent plumbing company to have an opening the same day that you place your work order? Well, do you? I certainly don't. When I left this place yesterday, I had a full schedule for all of my plumbing technicians. (I've scheduled these guys for 4 years now, so I suppose I can call them mine). I just think it's insane to expect plumbing service the same day. Yeah, we advertise quick service for emergencies. And we usually get it done. I can only work with what I've got, though.

Back to work

It's been an interesting week. I was out two days last week (without pay) because my youngin' was sick. I picked him up from daycare Tuesday and his teacher asked me if he had pink eye. I hesitated and told her that I didn't think so. I looked at his eye and sure enough, it was pink. So, I got online and checked it out. Made the decision to take him to the doctor the next day. We got to the doctor's office and not only does he have pink eye, he also has an ear infection. In both ears. The left one was pus-y. Yuck. I think the infection moved from his ear to his eye. Anyway, we stayed home Thursday and put drops in his eyes and sent him to daycare Friday. As of today, his eyes are clear and his left ear is pushing wax out. Another yuck. He's had half his medicine for the ears, so only 10 more doses to go. I really hope this works. I hate it when my baby isn't feeling well.

Saturday was fun. We went swimming with a friend and had a great time. If I can get Andrew to be comfortable not hanging on to me when he has his swimmies on the we'll have an even better time. We'll work on it as we plan to go swimming with these friends as many Saturdays as possible. Clayton and I had a Sunday School party that night. We did some running around before we dropped Andrew off with the babysitters at the preacher's house. (The preacher's wife is in our class). We had dinner at Miyabi Japanese restaurant and played putt putt golf at Frankie's Fun Park (http://www.frankiesfunpark.com/) and then had ice cream at the Cold-Stone Creamery (www.coldstonecreamery.com). It was a great, relaxing night without kids.

Father's day was uneventful. We let Clayton sleep since he had to work both Saturday night and Sunday night. I can't wait until the department goes to 12 hour shifts. He'll have every other weekend off. We'll have more time to do things as a family.

Yesterday was bad.

Just bad. I started the day with a negative HPT. Big surprise there. Next issue. Andrew and I were supposed to go swimming with some friends. They never called. Correction. They called at 10:30 to say that they had forgotten that their oldest had a swim meet that morning and they had decided not to go back to the pool. Fine. Andrew and I go to Wal-Mart for a bed rail and some other stuff. We needed the rail because he fell out of his bed again Friday night. We get home, I put Andrew in bed because he fell asleep on the way home. I eat, bake a chocolate pound cake, and take a nap. I get up and wake Clayton up so he can shower before the picnic. We wake Andrew and head to Camp Croft for the picnic. We're driving along and get to the State Park, go in and drive around. We had just about decided that we were in the wrong place and were heading out to find the right place when I noticed the date on the invitation. Not for Saturday the 11th, but for SUNDAY, the 12th. Yeah, I feel dumb. (Not that the invite said Saturday OR Sunday. It just had the date, but still...) So, we drive around for a bit. Clayton takes us to a dam that has a set of stairs so you can get down to the shoals and the river. We go down there and sit for a little while. Decide that we should have an asado for supper. Go to Wal-Mart (again) and pick up bratwurst, pork loin, and some steak. Get home and grill all that meat. Oh, and provolone cheese. We toss that on the grill, too. Eat. YUM. Good food. Andrew goes to bed. I get my feelings hurt. Perfect end to a perfect day. Yeah, whatever.

Exhausted.

I don't understand it. I'm exhausted. I'm getting enough sleep...I would think that going to bed between 9:30 and 11:00 each night and getting up around 6:15-6:30 would be sufficient rest for me. I tend to do best with 6-7 hours of sleep. If I get much more, I'm a grump for the rest of the day. Less, a zombie. So, *why* am I zombie-like today? And yesterday? And the day before? Should I dare hope that it's a *symptom* and that I'm finally pregnant? I haven't yet POAS. For once, I'm scared to. I am actually afraid to see a negative this time. I have one hpt left at home. I want to save it until I'm late, but I don't know what late is anymore. Is late day 27? Or is it day 32? That's almost a whole week difference, people. A woman can go crazy in less than that amount of time. I'll test Saturday (only 2 days from now). That will be day.........counting.........27. Wish me luck!

Here comes the rain....again.

It rained Monday. It's raining now. It's supposed to rain tomorrow. And Friday. Whee. At least this will probably keep us out of a drought this year. I can't remember it raining so much in the summer (or almost summer) in the 6 years I've lived here. Monday it rained so hard and so much that one of the roads I take to get home was covered in orange water. It was lovely. By the time I got home, it hardly looked like it had been raining. Some of the streets were even dry. My BIL was at my house and he said that it hadn't rained much at all at the house.

Woohoo! Vacation has been planned...sorta. We know when we're going and where we're going. We have an idea of what we're going to do...just not on what days. We will be leaving the State of SC on Friday, July 1 probably around 1 or so. I will be taking the afternoon off so we can make it to Pensacola FL in time for Saturday's Blue Angel (www.blueangels.navy.mil/ )show. Clayton has never seen them perform, so if we can find a place to park at the Ivan ravaged beach, then we'll be there. Other plans include going downtown to the fireworks show on the 4th, going to the naval museum (http://naval.aviation.museum/home.html), going canoeing (www.adventuresunlimited.com), and possibly going to the beach (again, if we can find parking). Room and board will be free since we're staying with my parents. My brother and SIL will probably try to drive down from Atlanta for a little vacation time as well. I am looking forward to being with family and hopefully just having a relaxing time with NO work!

MOPs

I'm hooked. I went to my first meeting last night and had a blast! Our speaker gave awesome ideas on how to instill trust and giving in our children. I'm planning on putting them into action. She had 3 boxes, each with a different label. The smallest box was labeled "Quiet Time." The 2 bigger boxes were labeled "Adventure Box" and "Blessing Box." The quiet time box is to start winding your child down for a nap/bed. It contained slips of paper with things like 'blow bubbles,' 'sing,' etc. The adventure box is for collecting 'treasures' while outside. You, as the parent, are to collect things and give them to your preschooler for safekeeping. When you go back inside, you put all those treasures in the box. The speaker said that this comes in handy when the child is throwing a tantrum. You can pull that box out and start looking through it and distract their attention from the tantrum to what you are doing. The blessing box is to be filled with things to give away. The child picks something out of the box to give guests in your home whether they are older guests or children. By doing this, your child learns that he/she doesn't always get a gift. They learn how to deal with that situation. She also talked about cooking with your children. Letting them help make a meal or dessert. I LOVE (most of the time) letting Andrew help me make cookies. In fact, the last time we baked, I let him help dump the flour and brown sugar in the bowl. He loves to help.

I will definitely be going back. I loved the craft and the fellowship. I loved the nuggets of wisdom that the speaker gave us. And the food was good, too!

Stalling.

The weight loss thing has stalled. I was motivated for almost 2 weeks. I lost 2.5 pounds. I was doing good. And now? Well, now, I seem to have gained those 2.5 pounds back. I've not paid attention to what I've eaten this last week. I've pretty much eaten what I've wanted to eat. Time to get back on track. I'm thinking a salad from www.zaxbys.com would be good. Maybe the Caeser with bacon in it. YUM. Too bad I don't have a book. I like to read when I go to Zaxby's to eat.

Tonight starts the first night of the 'summer' schedule at church. I get a break from working with the kids until VBS and then again until school starts. It is a much needed break.