Life in bullet points

I can't seem to get anything enlightening composed about my life right now. I'm seeing things as tasks and accomplishments. So here's my life as of late in bullets.

• The kids had Veteran's Day off on Thursday and spent the day at my Mom's house.
• Living in a military town, I saw many a flag flying at people's homes. I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED seeing that display of support for our veterans.
• The kids also had the day after Veteran's Day off. The school district decided to give the kids a 4-day weekend.
• Do these people realize that the kids will have TWO 4-day weekends this month?
• What's crazier is that the kids have half days all this week because of parent-teacher conferences scheduled for every afternoon.
• Thankfully, I was able to schedule my kids' conferences for the same day so I only need to leave work early once. My son's is at 3pm, while my daughter's is at 3:20pm. 
• Living in a military town, I saw many a flag flying at people's homes on Veteran's Day. I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED seeing that display of support for our veterans.  
• I talked to the kids about how their Papa (my Dad), their Tata (my FIL), their grand-Uncles (my FIL's brothers), their uncle (my BIL), their psuedo-uncle (my BIL's BIL) and their father all served in the military.
• I think it's important to remind the kids of how their own family has supported our country.
• I actually got all the laundry done yesterday. Usually I've got lingering bits that I end up doing on Sunday. But I guess that's what I can get accomplished by spending an entire day basically at home.
• Work has been a bit crazy. The genius decision makers chose NOT to replace the lead in our group. Her job has been divided in between the 3 of us that reported to her. 
• When the lead was here, I just had enough time to get MY work done. Now I've got 1/3 of her workload to carry. I've definitely got to talk to management to let them know that I've got to log in some overtime EVERY week to get things done.
• The kids and I visited a new grocery store this week. The chain store that's near my Mom's house is nice. The same chain store across the freeway from where we now live isn't quite up to the same standard. It was a bit dirty. The lighting was dull. The produce wasn't up to par. Even the eggs weren't stocked. I don't think I'll be going there again.
• I did find one great buy though. A value pack of stew meat. It was only $13 and it had enough beef to make 4 meals for us. 
• I rinsed off and portioned out the meat when I got home. I left two bags of meat as is and threw them into the freezer. I cut up the rest of the cubes into smaller strips and put some Teriyaki marinade into the other 2 bags.
• I bought 2 big cans of pumpkin pure and 4 cans of evaporated milk. That's enough for four pumpkin pies! I can also make some pumpkins pancakes or pumpkin bread/muffins. YUM!
• I found some powdered Pumpkin Spice non-dairy creamer that I'll use at work to bring a bit of the holidays into my environment to hopefully keep me sane.
• I can't bring any refrigerated flavored creamer into work because we've got awful people who USE things that don't belong to them. Yes. We've got THOSE kind at work.
• Two guys I know are running a half marathon this morning. Both inspire me. They're both fathers with busy jobs and still have time to train!
• My sister is already planning on what half marathons she's running next year. She wants to do SIX of them with the first one in January. 
• While we were having lunch my sister was trying to figure out how she was going to fit in her training. With Daylight Savings it's WAY TOO DARK after work to go for a run. 
• I looked at her and told her that she should plan on bringing her stuff in and run at lunch every Mon/Wed/Fri and take her long/hill runs on the weekends. She decided to start with Tues/Thurs runs at lunch. I'm glad I'm supporting her in her endeavor. 
• I made the kids cinnamon rolls for breakfast. They're now playing Wii for a little while before we all get ready for church.
• We're going to spend the afternoon with my younger sister and her family at the park.

So how has YOUR week been? Has it been a bull-point week for you as well?

Thank you for your service

Today is a special day.

Today is one where honor our military.

Some people might think today is an inconvenience because they have to figure out what to do with their kids (whoa re out of school).

But me?

I find today to be one where I will continually be thinking about our military.

The men and women who keep our nation safe.

Those who help maintain the freedoms we so enjoy.

The ability to browse forever at the neighborhood book store.

The ability to run to the nearest Starbucks and get a drink however you want.

The ability to go to the mall and pick up a needed item or frivolous want.

Those men and women who are in the military sacrifice their lives so that we can lead our way of life.

So that we have a CHOICE to live our lives the way we want.

Today?

I take a public moment to praise all those who have served in military.

To praise those who are currently in the military.

To praise the families of those who serve or have served in the military.

And deep heartfelt appreciation to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice to our country.

I wave a flag on my balcony to honor you all.

My heart goes out to each and every one of you for what you do.

Getting rid of that sweet smell

Tomorrow I am going to be hefting a huge bag of candy with me into work.

Yes.

I'm going to "off load" my Halloween stash onto my co-workers.

We had a vendor that came by on Friday and dropped off a little black cauldron of candy.

The cauldron is sitting on the file cabinet just outside my cube.

It was full on Friday.

Today?

It's barely got anything in it.

I caught the VP digging through the dredges looking for something "good" and he walked away with a [sigh]. He couldn't find anything he wanted to indulge in.

So?

I'm going to re-fill it in the morning.

With the stash of sweet smelling candy that's still sitting in my kitchen.

Jolly Ranchers.

Twizzlers.

Hershey bars.

Twix.

Now if I left all this candy in my house?

One path would be that I'd just end up eating a bunch of it.

Another path would be that the bowl would just sit there and go bad.**

So rather than waste the money and let it sit?

I'm going to share it with the office staff.

And make sure all that sugary goodness doesn't end up on my hips and thighs.

And possibly wreck havoc on my skin.

What are YOU doing with all the extra candy from Halloween?

Trick or Treat

The kiddos had a great time tonight going out into our neighborhood. Since we just moved here just before school started in August, this was our FIRST Halloween here.

What made it even MORE fun tonight? The kids got to go out with their littlest cousin. Tonight was HER first official time out trick-or-treating. Last year she was just a few months old and she only went to each of her Grandparents houses. So tonight was the first time she got to walk around holding a pumpkin.

And what pray tell is my son doing in this first shot? He just got his costume on when the National Anthem started at the World Series. He (of course) stopped all activity and stood with his hand over his heart. Isn't he the cutest?

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How to celebrate a birthday

We try to get together with family when someone celebrates a birthday.

My youngest nephew recently celebrated a birthday.

His wish? To have a birthday celebration the beach.

Can you imagine a beach celebration in October where you live?

It definitely looked like a bad idea.

We had a week of cloudy skies. Drizzly mornings.

And then on that Sunday of the party?

The SUN broke out!

It ended up being a beautiful day. B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L !!!!

Not only was there a bit of just plain talking to each other, we did some other things.

 
The kids took advantage of being at the beach and built a fort in the sand.

I took the opportunity to go stand-up paddle-boarding for the first time and so did my niece. My sister does this ALL the time, so she was way far out across the bay.

Volleyball and soccer were played as well.

Thankfully we all did get out that Sunday. Because the next few days were cloudy once more. Ugh! But we so thoroughly enjoyed probably our last truly comfortably warm day for 2010. It'll just continue to get colder from here on out.

But don't you think it was a fabulous looking day?

School spirit and athletic pride

My oldest nephew is athletic.

He's been in football since he was about 6. He was a running back when he was in pee-wees. Now he mainly kicks. He's one of the few juniors on the varsity team.


He's been in track since he was in middle school. He used to do the long jump, but now focuses on the shot put and discus (for his school), while he does the javelin for track club.


And you know what he just got last week?


He got a letterman jacket!




My sister was the one who got the catalog and she didn't stop at the first few pages. She looked through the ENTIRE catalog and saw all the available options. And it turns out that extra bit of browsing resulted in a very unique design compared to his teammates.

Is he wearing the jacket now?

Nope.

It's at a seamstress right now. For the next 10 days of so.

Why?

Because he's getting all of his stuff sewn onto his jacket. His letter. His club sports patches. His name embroidered onto the back. It's going to look totally awesome.

I'm just SO proud of my nephew!

We've been busy so I've been absent

Being here alone with the kids has kept me very busy.

And the rain that's been going for the last 10 days didn't help a bit.

But this hasn't kept me and the kids from getting out and about.

That's a HUGE statement for me. A self-professed homebody.

We attended a couple more football games. My younger nephew's held on Saturday mornings.

My older nephew's Friday evening games at local high schools. Yes. We attended varsity high school games. It's been super fun. I love cheering! We like to sit together but that's not always possible. At one game we all did happen to find space together. Let me just say that we all cheered. My older nephew told my sister that his friend said "Dude, I was sitting near your family and they are LOUD." Was that embarrassing for my nephew? No. He knows that we're loud when we're at games.


We also attended a birthday party where all the kids enjoyed playing games. And they really enjoyed the cake and ice cream as well. Can you believe that my kids didn't want to have anything to do with the root beer floats? Nope. They don't like root beer.

In October, where else would we visit but a pumpkin patch? Right?

The first place we went to was very small, so we went to another one! Yes. ANOTHER pumpkin patch! The kids got to feed some goats, a pig, and some chickens. There were a TON of pumpkins. Even some HUGE ones!

And then tomorrow we're headed to the beach for another birthday party!

Yes. Weekends have been busy.

But it's a good busy. Spending time with family doing fun activities. What can be any better?

Fun weekend for all

The kids and I were out and about this weekend. As a self professed homebody, spending most of the weekend away from home is quite a big deal.

HUGE!

Friday night, the kids and I went to my oldest nephew's football game. The game happened to be playing at a high school about 15 minutes away from our house, so we HAD to go. Unfortunately, my nephew's team lost but they showed some GREAT sportsmanship. When one of the other team's players was injured, all the kids on my nephew's team took a knee. The other team? Their sidelines remained standing, as did the guys on the field who were standing about 10 feet away from their injured friend. Not one of them took a knee. NOT. ONE. A while later, another of the other team player's went down. All the boys on my nephew's team took a knee. Maybe three boys on the field from the other team took a knee. Seriously! But it was really nice to see that my nephew's teammates all showed respect for the other players.

What's crazy is that bright and early Saturday morning, we headed back to that same high school. Why? Because my youngest nephew had his own football game at 8am. It was a beautiful morning. Even my youngest niece went to the game. Whenever she got restless, they kept her busy walking around the stadium. She had a SOLID nap after that.

We went home to finish up some chores and then headed out again. My sister, my youngest nephew, and my niece went with us to the annual Air Show. Instead of being in the massive throngs of people who attend during the day, we opted to go to the evening show. It was sheer chaos trying to get INTO the base since there were tons of folks headed OUT of the place. They actually tried to EXIT us out of the base. When I stopped and asked one female Marine who was directing traffic, she told me to continue to go straight down the road and then she yelled "Wagon wheel, ma'am!" What the heck? Wagon wheel? What was THAT supposed to tell me? Anyone? Anyone? I finally opened my window as we started to look like we were headed to the bundocks and asked "Excuse me?I'm trying to get IN to see the night show????" The Marine took pity on me and let me turn left onto this curvy road that led us STRAIGHT to the parking area. Woohoo! We got to see the evening parachute team, the Robosaurus, a Harrier take-off, and fireworks. It was loads of fun, even after the parking drama.

I expected to stay home today since we were out so much yesterday but....we finished up our chores for the weekend. And I wanted to get the kids out on such another great day. It was a little overcast, but it was warm. There was a centennial ride going through our community, so we walked over to where our local Farmer's Market is held every week. That's where the last water stop for the ride was located. It was just 9 more miles from the end. But it was a much needed stop. We had water, fruit, and pbj's. We even had a couple port-a-potties and I can't tell you how popular THOSE were.

I had such a great time with the kids this weekend. And I really think the kids enjoyed themselves as well. Yes. They did fight a bit. I couldn't escape that. But the good totally outweighed the bad moments. You know?

So what did you do this weekend?