1) 100 pictures from the Mother-Son Dance uploaded, edited & off to be printed.
2) Checks written to painter (our little gift to the school---we're renovating the conference room), mom who handled the aforementioned dance, PTA VP for postage, PTA President for paint for aforementioned painter of aforementioned conference room.
3) Paperwork for aforementioned checks logged in to excel & filed appropriately.
4) Part of Sunshine's birthday present paid for.
5) Trash taken to curb.
6) Hair appointment for tomorrow confirmed.
Now it's time for lunch & some quick picking up before I pick up Sunshine at school & bring the PTA Pres.' kids over for an hour while she ties up loose ends at work.
Tonight is knitting & the yummy Cobb salad with avocado!
Monday, January 28, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Purge, Purge, Purge
When we bought our house, we purged so much stuff. Remember the 4 bags of VHS tapes?? Moving in here, I felt good about the things we brought with us.
Now, 3 years later, I find that more stuff has found its way into our house. The buying & selling of AG items has meant there are boxes & mailing envelopes that I'm keeping so I can reuse them. Sunshine has celebrated 3 birthdays & 4 Christmases in this house---that's a lot of new toys. We try to donate/sell where we can but my girl's holding on to a lot of stuff for her future children. Certain things I'm fine with but not every single item.
The past few months I've been taking stock of my yarn stash. I have a lot of yarn. I know, no big surprise, but it's true. There's a 56 qt. bin filled with cotton, another that was filled with wool, two more smaller sizes with sock yarn & Koigu KPPPM. Yes, Koigu gets it's own container.
As I've been on a purging rampage lately, I decided to tackle the guest room closet this morning. After we moved in & started hanging pictures/art work, we found we had several (a lot) of large size frames & mats. Rather than immediately bringing them up to the attic, we kept them in the guest room closet in a box. Not the most attractive thing but it's the guest room closet. My stash was in there as well so hopefully that would draw people's eye away from the monstrous Home Depot moving box filled with frames.
The box is now in the hallway as I'm waiting for Hunter to get home from an appointment so he can 1) decide what he wants to keep/throw away & 2) help me get the box into the attic.
But, the stash? Totally culled. I have a bag of yarn to sell/swap the next time my knitting group does a sale/swap night. Some of it's on Ravelry for sale in the interim. I have 3 grocery bags filled with various size balls of yarn that either are missing their wrappers or were used in some way shape or form. They'll go to our school's Art teacher for future projects. BTW, ask your child's art teacher if s/he is responsible for the supplies for projects or whether the school district supplies them. I've mentioned several times how much we love SuperAwesomeSchool but our school district? No love from me there.
Since I'm purging stash, I'm also on a self imposed yarn diet. If I find I need to buy yarn for a specific project, then I'll buy it. Hunter & I have a certain amount of money that we use monthly for fun stuff. For several years, my "allowance" was spent on yarn/knitting accessories. Well, I just don't need to do that. Sitting on $1000 (more probably) worth of yarn is ridiculous. I know, the me of 2006 would have thought I was insane for saying that.
Our Treasure Box Day went off without a hitch, as did the House Celebration on Friday. We could have used more volunteers on Friday for the hair paint, but the 2 moms who came out to help me & the teachers who jumped in to help got it done. This week I go into Book Fair prep. for next month. I need to get my letter home written today so I can make copies tomorrow. I also have to walk the grounds with the owner of a local bouncy house company. Our final House Celebration is going to be insane---we're going to have a bouncy house, water wars, water slide & one more inflatable. I need to start lighting candles to Mother Nature!
Lastly, I am going nuts with anticipation today! Sunshine has an AG doll (Lanie)who needed to go to the doll hospital due to bad hair. She was an ebay purchase that we fixed up together. We washed & curled her hair. Re-curled it when the initial curling didn't take & then steamed it to get it to take. Sadly, it was too far gone & we realized it had been cut (luckily I didn't pay too much). Before Christmas, Sunshine decided that she wanted to send Lanie for a new head. Shameless mommy brag---my daughter is great about saving money. And she'll do chores to earn money. Last year she bought herself the AG Girl of The Year, McKenna ($105) & her Beam & Bar Set ($87) with her own money that she earned & saved. If she knew I was bragging about this, she'd scrunch up her face at me & say "motherrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" in that annoyed way that only kids can do. Anyway, she was saving her money for something & decided that she'd pay for Lanie's head.
We dropped Lanie off last Saturday while we were at the AG store in Atlanta & found out that she'd be arriving here today. Fed Ex dropped her off this morning & it's everything I can do not to open the box!!
Maybe my Mom's right---I might be a bigger kid than Sunshine is!
Now, 3 years later, I find that more stuff has found its way into our house. The buying & selling of AG items has meant there are boxes & mailing envelopes that I'm keeping so I can reuse them. Sunshine has celebrated 3 birthdays & 4 Christmases in this house---that's a lot of new toys. We try to donate/sell where we can but my girl's holding on to a lot of stuff for her future children. Certain things I'm fine with but not every single item.
The past few months I've been taking stock of my yarn stash. I have a lot of yarn. I know, no big surprise, but it's true. There's a 56 qt. bin filled with cotton, another that was filled with wool, two more smaller sizes with sock yarn & Koigu KPPPM. Yes, Koigu gets it's own container.
As I've been on a purging rampage lately, I decided to tackle the guest room closet this morning. After we moved in & started hanging pictures/art work, we found we had several (a lot) of large size frames & mats. Rather than immediately bringing them up to the attic, we kept them in the guest room closet in a box. Not the most attractive thing but it's the guest room closet. My stash was in there as well so hopefully that would draw people's eye away from the monstrous Home Depot moving box filled with frames.
The box is now in the hallway as I'm waiting for Hunter to get home from an appointment so he can 1) decide what he wants to keep/throw away & 2) help me get the box into the attic.
But, the stash? Totally culled. I have a bag of yarn to sell/swap the next time my knitting group does a sale/swap night. Some of it's on Ravelry for sale in the interim. I have 3 grocery bags filled with various size balls of yarn that either are missing their wrappers or were used in some way shape or form. They'll go to our school's Art teacher for future projects. BTW, ask your child's art teacher if s/he is responsible for the supplies for projects or whether the school district supplies them. I've mentioned several times how much we love SuperAwesomeSchool but our school district? No love from me there.
Since I'm purging stash, I'm also on a self imposed yarn diet. If I find I need to buy yarn for a specific project, then I'll buy it. Hunter & I have a certain amount of money that we use monthly for fun stuff. For several years, my "allowance" was spent on yarn/knitting accessories. Well, I just don't need to do that. Sitting on $1000 (more probably) worth of yarn is ridiculous. I know, the me of 2006 would have thought I was insane for saying that.
Our Treasure Box Day went off without a hitch, as did the House Celebration on Friday. We could have used more volunteers on Friday for the hair paint, but the 2 moms who came out to help me & the teachers who jumped in to help got it done. This week I go into Book Fair prep. for next month. I need to get my letter home written today so I can make copies tomorrow. I also have to walk the grounds with the owner of a local bouncy house company. Our final House Celebration is going to be insane---we're going to have a bouncy house, water wars, water slide & one more inflatable. I need to start lighting candles to Mother Nature!
Lastly, I am going nuts with anticipation today! Sunshine has an AG doll (Lanie)who needed to go to the doll hospital due to bad hair. She was an ebay purchase that we fixed up together. We washed & curled her hair. Re-curled it when the initial curling didn't take & then steamed it to get it to take. Sadly, it was too far gone & we realized it had been cut (luckily I didn't pay too much). Before Christmas, Sunshine decided that she wanted to send Lanie for a new head. Shameless mommy brag---my daughter is great about saving money. And she'll do chores to earn money. Last year she bought herself the AG Girl of The Year, McKenna ($105) & her Beam & Bar Set ($87) with her own money that she earned & saved. If she knew I was bragging about this, she'd scrunch up her face at me & say "motherrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" in that annoyed way that only kids can do. Anyway, she was saving her money for something & decided that she'd pay for Lanie's head.
We dropped Lanie off last Saturday while we were at the AG store in Atlanta & found out that she'd be arriving here today. Fed Ex dropped her off this morning & it's everything I can do not to open the box!!
Maybe my Mom's right---I might be a bigger kid than Sunshine is!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Forget 99 Red Balloons
I'm talking about 233 silver balloons!
AR Celebration Week is upon us, having kicked off today with our Bi-Annual Balloon Parade. I cannot tell you how crippled my fingers are after filling 233 silver balloons (Since our 4 houses at school are red, blue, green & yellow, I decided that silver was neutral. A couple of the male teachers commented on how it was ironic that they were NE Patriots silver. ) with helium & tying off at least 1/3 of them. I was thrilled to have 5 other moms take time out of their days to come help out. We managed to complete our task in one hour!
The parade was fun, chaotic, but fun. A couple years ago I explained my theory about the Balloon Parade here. Today, Sunshine helped me lead the parade. I normally walk with her in the parade as our Super Bookatarian leads the kids but today she's in her boot & isn't able to walk at parade speed. So, I broke one of my PTA rules--my kid got preferential treatment & led the parade. In true Sunshine fashion, she skipped through the hallways. I may or may not have entered the 3rd & 4th grade hallway in Gangnam style.
Tomorrow is Treasure Box day for the top 3 readers in each class. Sunshine is #4 in her class. There will not be preferential treatment so she will not participate. Friday is looking to be crazy as our normal Hair/Face Paint event has been tweaked to the Yellow house only as they had the most points at the end of the marking period. I need to round up some volunteers as there are roughly 150 kids who will receive time on the playground (para pros will supervise them) & hair/face paint.
It's been a dreary, rainy day so I'm thinking about crawling into bed early tonight & reading my kindle.
AR Celebration Week is upon us, having kicked off today with our Bi-Annual Balloon Parade. I cannot tell you how crippled my fingers are after filling 233 silver balloons (Since our 4 houses at school are red, blue, green & yellow, I decided that silver was neutral. A couple of the male teachers commented on how it was ironic that they were NE Patriots silver. ) with helium & tying off at least 1/3 of them. I was thrilled to have 5 other moms take time out of their days to come help out. We managed to complete our task in one hour!
The parade was fun, chaotic, but fun. A couple years ago I explained my theory about the Balloon Parade here. Today, Sunshine helped me lead the parade. I normally walk with her in the parade as our Super Bookatarian leads the kids but today she's in her boot & isn't able to walk at parade speed. So, I broke one of my PTA rules--my kid got preferential treatment & led the parade. In true Sunshine fashion, she skipped through the hallways. I may or may not have entered the 3rd & 4th grade hallway in Gangnam style.
Tomorrow is Treasure Box day for the top 3 readers in each class. Sunshine is #4 in her class. There will not be preferential treatment so she will not participate. Friday is looking to be crazy as our normal Hair/Face Paint event has been tweaked to the Yellow house only as they had the most points at the end of the marking period. I need to round up some volunteers as there are roughly 150 kids who will receive time on the playground (para pros will supervise them) & hair/face paint.
It's been a dreary, rainy day so I'm thinking about crawling into bed early tonight & reading my kindle.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Back To The Grind
After a semi-shaky start to the new year, things are settling down into our normal routine. Sunshine started back to school this morning. Getting her in bed at 8 was beyond difficult. Keeping her in bed was worse. I knew I should have started getting her up earlier this past week but honestly, I was enjoying sleeping in too much. Bad mommy!
6:30 came early this morning. Luckily she was in a decent mood despite it taking her an hour & a half to fall asleep last night. Sunshine's funny in the mornings--she's either like me when she wakes up (awake, cheery & ready to go) or she's like Hunter (think cranky bear). I was grateful for no cranky bear this morning.
Yesterday we spent a few hours at school working in the PTA closet folding a new order of shirts for the Spirit Store. I designed a new logo for our shirts this year & it's been popular. We went with a girl's version & a boy's version. We ran with it & made a teacher's shirt. And this past month we decided to go with a long sleeve version of the kids shirts & teacher's shirts. They'll roll out on Friday at the store & all board members & their kids will wear them tomorrow. Sunshine is less than thrilled because 1) the shirt is charcoal. Never mind that she has a charcoal shirt & pants. It's "light black, Mommy. I don't wear light black". And 2) there is no pink in the shirt whatsoever. The logo & writing on the back are green & yellow. I may have to pay her a buck to wear it.
This morning has been busy with doing December's Financial Report, writing some checks for Teacher Grants & a bad check letter. I hate the bad check letters. I always feel awkward when I see the people afterward. And I'm afraid that they'll key my car.
Sunshine & I are going to American Girl this weekend in Atlanta with a friend & her mom. I know she received gobs of the stuff for Christmas but she has a gift card from my brother & sister in law & is itching to use it. I'm kicking myself for not buying an extra box of Lake Champlain chocolates while we were home to bring to our Personal Shopper. Now I need to find something to give her. I wonder if she'd like a Koigu KPPPM mermaid cowl that I made last year? Hmmm.
6:30 came early this morning. Luckily she was in a decent mood despite it taking her an hour & a half to fall asleep last night. Sunshine's funny in the mornings--she's either like me when she wakes up (awake, cheery & ready to go) or she's like Hunter (think cranky bear). I was grateful for no cranky bear this morning.
Yesterday we spent a few hours at school working in the PTA closet folding a new order of shirts for the Spirit Store. I designed a new logo for our shirts this year & it's been popular. We went with a girl's version & a boy's version. We ran with it & made a teacher's shirt. And this past month we decided to go with a long sleeve version of the kids shirts & teacher's shirts. They'll roll out on Friday at the store & all board members & their kids will wear them tomorrow. Sunshine is less than thrilled because 1) the shirt is charcoal. Never mind that she has a charcoal shirt & pants. It's "light black, Mommy. I don't wear light black". And 2) there is no pink in the shirt whatsoever. The logo & writing on the back are green & yellow. I may have to pay her a buck to wear it.
This morning has been busy with doing December's Financial Report, writing some checks for Teacher Grants & a bad check letter. I hate the bad check letters. I always feel awkward when I see the people afterward. And I'm afraid that they'll key my car.
Sunshine & I are going to American Girl this weekend in Atlanta with a friend & her mom. I know she received gobs of the stuff for Christmas but she has a gift card from my brother & sister in law & is itching to use it. I'm kicking myself for not buying an extra box of Lake Champlain chocolates while we were home to bring to our Personal Shopper. Now I need to find something to give her. I wonder if she'd like a Koigu KPPPM mermaid cowl that I made last year? Hmmm.
Monday, January 7, 2013
One Week Down
Phew, it's nice to be home. After two weeks of being gone, 2520 miles driven (give or take--Columbus to Virginia to Vermont to Virginia, to the ILS in VA & back home), packing & unpacking the car, gah--I'm tired reading about it, much less living it.
I'm always nervous when I return home from a long road trip---I worry about whether the house will still be standing. Seriously. The last thing I do when leaving is to set the house alarm. And say a prayer as the garage door goes back down. I'm a worrier by nature, but you knew that. We always leave a key & the alarm code with a neighbor. And we let a couple other neighbors know that we're going & when we'll be back, but still. I worry like some people breathe.
Our house was fine & in the same condition in which we left. When we got home on Friday (Hunter in his car, Sunshine & I in mine--ouch the money we spent on gas!), we were beyond tired so there wasn't much done in the way of unpacking. Saturday morning, I went grocery shopping & did several loads of laundry. Until I started hearing a gurgling sound coming from the kitchen sink while the washer was running. Kind of odd. Then the tubs backed up. And it was stinky. It was at that point Hunter called our home warranty company & was told a plumber would contact us.
Home warranty company lied, people! The plumber didn't contact us. Several hours & several phone calls later, we discovered the plumber they called wouldn't be coming until Sunday morning. Oh.So.Frustrating.
Fortunately, he came, the problem was fixed & we were back on track with laundry but added the fun task of bleaching the tubs, sinks & showers. Ugh!
So, here we are, enjoying the last few days before Christmas Break is over & Sunshine goes back to school. I sort of feel bad for Hunter & Sunshine as I'm in full on Spring Cleaning/purge mode. Today I went through the sideboard in the dining room & the one in the living room. Tomorrow's cleaning plan is to reclaim the coffee table in the living room from the Legos & other small toys that have invaded. And cleaning up the dining room. And running clothes to GoodWill.
Tonight's dinner was Chinese takeout. My first fortune of the year? Life to you is a dashing & bold adventure.
Well played, fortune cookie, well played!
I'm always nervous when I return home from a long road trip---I worry about whether the house will still be standing. Seriously. The last thing I do when leaving is to set the house alarm. And say a prayer as the garage door goes back down. I'm a worrier by nature, but you knew that. We always leave a key & the alarm code with a neighbor. And we let a couple other neighbors know that we're going & when we'll be back, but still. I worry like some people breathe.
Our house was fine & in the same condition in which we left. When we got home on Friday (Hunter in his car, Sunshine & I in mine--ouch the money we spent on gas!), we were beyond tired so there wasn't much done in the way of unpacking. Saturday morning, I went grocery shopping & did several loads of laundry. Until I started hearing a gurgling sound coming from the kitchen sink while the washer was running. Kind of odd. Then the tubs backed up. And it was stinky. It was at that point Hunter called our home warranty company & was told a plumber would contact us.
Home warranty company lied, people! The plumber didn't contact us. Several hours & several phone calls later, we discovered the plumber they called wouldn't be coming until Sunday morning. Oh.So.Frustrating.
Fortunately, he came, the problem was fixed & we were back on track with laundry but added the fun task of bleaching the tubs, sinks & showers. Ugh!
So, here we are, enjoying the last few days before Christmas Break is over & Sunshine goes back to school. I sort of feel bad for Hunter & Sunshine as I'm in full on Spring Cleaning/purge mode. Today I went through the sideboard in the dining room & the one in the living room. Tomorrow's cleaning plan is to reclaim the coffee table in the living room from the Legos & other small toys that have invaded. And cleaning up the dining room. And running clothes to GoodWill.
Tonight's dinner was Chinese takeout. My first fortune of the year? Life to you is a dashing & bold adventure.
Well played, fortune cookie, well played!
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