those darned kids...

koren claimed herself on her taxes this year...we still could've claimed her as a college student, & got a little tax break, but oh, well.
kj has suddenly become a teenager (he's almost 16!). to make a long story short, the fish tank is in his room. his fish died long ago, now katie has a fish in the tank. she wants to visit the fish. he needs his privacy. she shoves on one side of the door, him on the other. he picks her up & forcibly removes her from his room. she starts pushing on the door again...all I ever had to do to resolve this (besides threats & screaming) was move the damned tank. it is on a cart on wheels, even. no biggie. finally today I had enough, yanked cords out of the plug in, wheeled it back to its original spot in the diningroom, & told kj if he wanted the years of dustbunnies cleaned up, he better do it himself, as I didn't want to interrupt his privacy. and his stack of clean laundry will now be placed on the floor outside his door, instead of in his room on his trunk for him to put away.
I decided that today was the day to take the Visiting Brownie Flat Stacie pictures so I can get film developed & get them mailed back. katie thought it would be too embarrassing to pose for these pictures holding laminated paper dolls herself, she invited a friend, who wanted to bring her big sister. they're playing in katie's room waiting for the pool to open...they posed by the Welcome to Iowa sign (danielle lives in lineville, she's on the missouri side, but what the hey, we were that close...just a few more blocks to the Iowa sign), the Welcome to Missouri sign, & the Welcome to Mercer sign. will also do pictures at the Calamity Jane Roadside Park, Stacy Center Pool, & Calamity Jane marker on the Princeton square.
have 2 more nagging phone calls to make about cookie order sheets, I'd like to get them turned in tonite since Kevin has to be in des moines for surgery tomorrow @ 12:15.