Mumful

When Sunshine was younger she would say "mumful" instead of "wonderful". It's an expression we've kept in our family's vernacular partly out of nostalgia & partly because it's uniquely ours.

I blog about Hunter when it's Father's Day, his birthday & Veterans Day. He is mumful. He is truly mumful.

But there are days when he drives me stark raving mad. It's partly him & it's partly PTSD/TBI issues. All couples have days like that & it's completely normal.

But really, I'm not at my best when you've driven me stark raving mad. No one is. But I'm especially nutty.

Hey, at least I admit it!

Today was one of those days. I won't go into detail, but suffice to say it was a bunch of little things & that whole possible March 4th government shut down that had him in a tizzy. He shuts down when he's in a tizzy which bugs my need for family interaction at dinnertime. I told him to go outside, have a cigarette & try to relax. I got Sunshine to bed & that's when all hell broke loose.

By "all hell" I mean our toilet. A bolt broke because well, 20 year old bolts on toilets do these things.

But do they really need to happen at 8pm? When we're tired & cranky? Murphy says, "yes!"

Hunter runs out to Lowe's to get a replacement bolt & starts his after hours plumbing work. We have water on half of the floor in the bathroom, there are towels all around the base of the toilet, I'm standing on them while holding up the tank so Hunter can replace the bolt.

How do men have these innate skills? Because I know I'd be spazzing out while looking up plumbers in the yellow pages.

Not my mumful husband. He fixes it & helped me heft the 700 lb laundry basket (10 drenched towels & 2 bath mats) into the laundry room.

I'm lucky to have such a mumful guy. I try to tell him how mumful he is but I don't know if I do it enough, despite daily efforts to do so. So Sweetie----you are SO mumful & I love you bunches!!!!

Don't judge & stuff

We went to North Georgia over the weekend for a couple days---something Hunter & I have been wanting to do. I'll admit, I just want to go to the North Georgia Premium Outlets whereas he's wanted to go panning for gold & to visit Helen, GA. Sunshine just wanted to stay in a hotel!

So off we we went. Friday afternoon was spent shopping. Many good deals were had & we did our part to stimulate the economy. Thank us later.

Saturday morning we woke up & headed to Gold n Gem in Cleveland, GA for some panning & grubbin'. North Georgia is very rural, but very pretty---the mountains remind both of us of home. Hunter settled into a routine panning though his 2 gallon bucket (he would find $300 worth of gold within 4 hours). Sunshine & I stated with a 1 gallon bucket & found lots of sodalite, adventurine, amethysts, & various quartz. We then moved onto a 2 1/2 gallon bucket & founds emeralds, more amethysts, obsidian & this rock. Which we dumped out. One of the men who works there walked by & examined our dumped out rocks on the ground. He picked this one up & handed it to me. It's a corundum. Sapphire AND ruby. It's about the the size of a jumbo chicken egg & is currently on it's way to being made into a 5 ct ruby ring for me. (Happy Mother's Day!)

Sunshine and I were using the gem chart behind us at the sluice yet didn't recognize this stone for what it was. I'm grateful for my stone savior who stopped to examine what we'd dumped out. Subsequent bucket dumps were examined more closely!

I have finally recovered from Book Fair & feel confident in saying that I'm mentally ready for the BOGO fair that is held in April. I know what needs to be done 2 weeks out, I know what goes on during the fair & how to close it out. Amazing what a little (very little!) experience will do for someone! And best of all, we have THE NOTEBOOK to help us!

My 365 project is coming along. Some days are easier than others---it depends on what inspires me. Or doesn't inspire me! Several people have suggested that I have it printed out at the end of the year as a reminder of the project. I just might do that.

Today we're enjoying a quiet President's Day at home---laundry from the weekend, helping Hunter with the back yard, organizing the massive amounts of Barbies in Sunshine's room. I'm toying with the idea of going to knit tonight, but also want to be in bed early tonight so maybe that'll wait until next week.

TGIS

Thank God it's Saturday!

And I survived Book Fair! And, may I say---we blew it out of the water?!!! This was our first ever mini-fair so our goal wasn't outrageous. Realistic, I'd say. The first day, we had done about 75% of our goal. Friday, we managed to beat Thursday's figures and that was just from 8-3. We did a good bit more in the two hours we were open during the Father-Daughter dance! We still have Monday so I'm sure our mini-fair's ending totals will be amazing!

And to think, I was nervous!

I was exhausted & spent part of this afternoon enjoying a two hour nap! I managed to take naps Thursday & Friday as well after coming home from school! Next week we have to break down the fair in order to send everything back to Scholastic on Weds. and then do the financial paperwork. THE NOTEBOOK is safe at in the school library in case you were wondering.

After our naps today, we went furniture shopping & picked out a beautiful chocolate brown leather sofa & love seat. They'll be delivered the first week of March----YAY!! Now to find a new coffee table!

iphone-y goodness

I'll admit, I was one of the lemmings who were up at 3am on Thursday to order their iphones. I was giddy as I selected our 2 phones, paid & received confirmation of the order. It took me an hour to fall back to sleep.

The next day, LeslieJ sent me a message on Facebook saying she'd received an email saying her phone was being shipped. The NEXT DAY! Insanity! I finally received the same email & the crazy really began. Where was the phone, would they really be here Monday by 3? What case am I getting???

Sure enough, today our phones arrived around 11:40 am & the fun began. I have to say, it was very easy to set up on itunes. Almost makes you wonder why it would take the Verizon people so long to sync phones back in the day.

Apps have been downloaded, contacts updated & ringtones downloaded. So much fun!

This week is Book Fair at school & I'm back to being a little panicky as I'm fighting a cold. I think I'll be okay as long as I have plenty of water while I'm there as well as cough drops. And commit to going to bed at a decent hour. I know several of you are laughing over that one. It does happen on occasion, I swear!

Have a great week---I'm off to play with my phone some more!!!

Friiiiday

Isn't Friday such a happy day? It doesn't matter what you've got going on, it's FRIDAY! And at the end of the day, you're done 'til Monday. You have two days to sleep in, hang out in comfy clothes & if you choose, do nothing!

I'm feeling better about Book Fair. I'm still a little spazzy about the actual fair itself but it'll be what it'll be & that I can't control. But the preparatory work is done (writing & copying letters home to parents, stapling to the flyer, distributing to all home room teachers, invitations & classroom wishlists for all teachers & a sign up sheet for teachers to come to the fair with their classes). Really, the most time consuming work is done. Next week is set up, the fair itself & then the weekend. We're extending the fair 'til Monday the 14th since pick up won't be until the 16th. Let's hope the extra day helps us!

I think part of my stress level about the whole thing is the notebook (now known as THE NOTEBOOK) is missing. The old co-chair (the one I replaced) gave it to our mutual friend who had been her co-chair. It contained all book fair info, as well as AR celebration week info. Co-chair that I replaced is incredibly thorough. Incredibly. thorough. When we went to FL back in April for our girls' weekend, she wrote up a shopping list prior to the trip so everyone knew what they were responsible to bring. So, during AR Celebration Week in December, the other co-chair left it at school. She thinks. It was a really busy week for everyone, regardless of what they were doing. Final week of school before Christmas break---utter chaos. Plus, she works (she was Sunshine's PreK teacher---Sunshine still gets giddy when she sees her), has children, a husband & a house to run. And that's just a normal week. So, THE NOTEBOOK is lost. No blame, just ugh!

Yesterday we got together & wrote out the letter to send home. Spent quality time with the copier & stapler. Today I finished the 4th & 5th grade classes & got them distributed. Phew. Got the teacher's invites into their boxes. Phew, phew!

Luckily my need for organization & copious notes means that I am starting a new notebook, complete with copies of letters, wishlists, a time list of when to start doing prep work, contact list of volunteers. My type A/obsessive/compulsive is coming out & I'll spare you that! Suffice to say, by the time the book fair is being sent back to Scholastic we'll have a new THE NOTEBOOK that will NOT leave my greedy little hands. Until I hand it over to a new co-chair somewhere down the line.

After that, they're on their own!

Have a great weekend!!

Where did time go?

So it was 2 weeks ago that I was diagnosed with a sinus infection & a week since I was re-diagnosed (what? it's a word) with a sinus infection & random-fever virus. And I just now feel fairly normal. I'm still really tired, but can run errands without wanting to collapse on the couch for hours afterward.

Which is a good thing since Book Fair week is coming up. It's just a mini-fair (2 days) but the first time we've done a mini. I'm excited as it's my first fair. I'm also nervous. The old Co-chair is a friend of mine & had the most successful fair ever last fall. It was a 5 day & during Grandparents' Breakfast, but still. I'm feeling pressure. We have the benefit of having the Daddy/Daughter dance on the 2nd day so let's hope the Daddies don't spend too much money at dinner before the dance so they don't come see us in the library!