it's beginning to look a lot like xmas...

I cleaned out a spot for the tree, drug the tree parts in, then got sick & went to bed. Kevin & Kate put it up & decorated it. I took a nap, got up, felt ok, now back to being sick again. Life just doesn't get any better than this...
Koren isn't coming home for Thanksgiving. Katie is upset. I am, too, but I have to be strong for Katie. I assure her that Koren misses us as much as we miss her.
Got a photographer for the Brown Family Xmas, she can't get there till 3:30, though. Hopefully everyone will stay for this wonderful opportunity. Or they can gather in a corner & grumble about deb & her wonderful ideas...

ball games...

Kate & I went to the home junior high basketball games last nite & tonite to sit @ the Athletic Boosters table & sell Mercer Cardinals shorts, shirts, & duffle bags. Last nite I tried to watch some of the boys game, I am evil, if my kids aren't on the team, or cheering, or playing in pepband, I really don't give a flying f*** about the game. I finally wandered to the old gym where Kate was playing with her friends. Tonite there wasn't a teacher willing to watch them in the old gym, so she was bored, I was bored, & she consented to go home, where I can have fun putting away laundry, counting Girl Scout $, & doing dishes. She won Rice Krispie Treats last nite & lemon cookies tonite in the 4-H raffle.
Kevin had a rough nite @ work. For starters, the break room is up 2 flights of stairs. That's pretty much out. He's in a lot of pain. Hopefully it'll get better. I was being a bit impossible & telling him if he could deer hunt, he could do some laundry & some dishes. But now he's back to work, so I'll back off & do it all again. I'm such a martyr.
Left a message with Jody of Jody's Little Photoshop to see if she was available to take a group shot @ the Brown Family Xmas, haven't heard back from her. I finally decided it was what I wanted to do, but she may already be booked.

kevin's 'vacation' comes to an end....

dr. released him today to return to work tomorrow---he'll work 4 hour shifts the first 2 weeks. the limp is better, but it still swells if he's on it awhile.
kj had HDC band tryouts today.
katie is avoiding her homework.
trying to plan the brownie xmas meeting---the girls voted to xmas carol in mercer. I have pipe cleaners & jingle bells for them to make bracelets.

it's almost bedtime...

& another day has come to an end. the kids were late getting home from school, they had a subsitute bus driver, & the town kids got to ride the whole route. Kevin went to Des Moines to pick up his new shoes & inserts the foot dr. made 4 him, then Katie & I walked a lap at the park with him, & Kate shot hoops, it amazes me that she can make them in the basket that is so far over her head!
we're thinking of headin' east this summer, if $ allows....Tennessee. Graceland, civil war battlefields, Ripley's Aquarium, Memphis Zoo....
KJ has HDC band auditions Weds.
Kate & I have a Brownie meeting tomorrow after school. I'm taking my half day off. I feel like I've earned it! Pigs can really run you ragged.
Kevin goes back to dr. Weds. to see if he'll release him to return to work Thursday. His limp is barely noticable now.

Fred Claus

the perfect holiday movie! after I got home from work & Kevin rested up from deer hunting on his still sore ankle, we hustled around, ate supper @ Pizza Hut (KJ & I love stuffed cheese crust), saw Fred Claus, did a famous deb "what the heck we're this close to the grocery store" Hy-Vee run, then came home. we got home 11ish, so put away the freezer stuff, the rest can wait till I get home from work today, unless someone gets bored & does it. (same with putting away laundry & cleaning floors!)
I got The Nativity Story on dvd, I wanted to see it last Xmas, but no one else wanted to go with me, so will try to watch it this holiday. We bought the Betty Crocker gingerbread mix so Katie & I can make a batch of cookies when we get around to it. This summer I bought the seasons of Futurama & Family Guy on dvd that had my favorite xmas episodes on them, will have to find them & watch them, too....plus all the holiday essentials....The Christmas Story, Nightmare Before Christmas, Christmas Vacation, Jingle All The Way, the Santa Claus movies, Unaccompanied Minors, Badder Santa, & Deck the Halls when it comes out on dvd.
I'm ready to throw up the tree & decorate, there are already outside displays up in Mercer, but Kevin & the kids protested. KJ reminded me that Thanksgiving is the next holiday. We'll just see....(but 1st I really have to clean those floors...)
I even bought a xmas seek&find book---I keep a stash @ work 4 my breaks...the mindless activity keeps me from thinking (much like my mindless job), but now I have one for home when I'm drying cast iron skillets on the stove, cooking, etc.
the school xmas concert is shaping up, too, the band is working on music, the kids are learning songs....something about Elfis. (Elvis).
KJ's wreck book is coming along 4 drivers ed....a few more pages of unfortunate vehicular crashes & he'll be set. We're at the point now that I'm happy to see a bad wreck...usually the worse it is, the longer the clipping is. It seemed like we had a million clippings, but you start putting them on 8x11 pages, & they don't seem nearly so impressive!
should take my handful of nutritional supplements & cold meds & hit the highway. I have always thought of "going to school" to get another job at some point in the vague future, I had always thought nursing, since that is a job I could get in the area, but have lately been thinking more of computer/business....also a job I could possibly get around here, with better hours & possibly holidays off. (like I'm ever going to go to school anyway.....might as well dream creatively...I'd really like to be a history teacher or an archeologist or work in a book store!)
There is a cool old building on the Mercer square that you'd probably have to win the lottery to make usable, it would be a cool site for a book store, but I don't think a town of 3oo some has much need of a bookstore...it'd probably be hard to convince authors of note to come for book signings, too....

a busy week....

last nite was a mandatory "3 hour" benefits meeting, starting immediately after work, so I didn't get home till about 8:30p.m. not my idea of a fun day---but did the mature thing & signed up 4 insurance & 401k & extra life under the new plan (our company was bought 4 the umpteenth time) like a good mother---kevin said kate was really wanting me---she went to bed on time---all was well---till she woke me from my triaminic cough & cold grape haze with the flu---she had a rough nite---then stayed home today & rested. after work today kevin & I went to princeton & picked up the girl scout candy order---then he sorted & kate & I double-checked. by the time we were done, it was too late to call some of the moms since I knew some of the girls go to bed at 8p.m. will call from work tomorrow. there is an athletic booster meeting tomorrow nite---I missed the 1st one since there was a GS leader mtg @ the same time.
yesteday kevin went to des moines & got fitted for a brace of some kind. he wants to take kj up there & have him evaluated, too. then kevin bought a huge lightup grapevine buck deer & snowflake lites. he has also been working on my car. kj worked at the student council blood drive yesterday, & kevin donated.
need to clean up the remnants of kate's bday party & get ready 4 the "sew much fun" brownie meeting here next tuesday...am seriously thinking of putting up the xmas tree while I'm in the mood.
finally got a chance to peek @ the My Twinn doll we got kate 4 xmas---it has her hairdo, almost her eye color, the sprinkle of freckles, the little scar on her lip---can't wait 2 have her portrait done with the doll @ jody's---just hope she is happy with it!

Happy Birthday Garrett

Katie's last party guest left a little after 11a.m, a couple of hours later we picked up Kelsie & Breanna & drove to Corydon to their classmate Garrett's party. Katie bowled a spare! Then we went to Pamida & Hy-Vee & let the girls play at the "castle park" for awhile. Garrett was happy with his big bag of gifts from Katie---a re-inflating whoopie cushion, squeaky rubber chicken, silly string, flarp, fuzzy dice, etc. His mom came into the hospital in labor the day we took Katie home.
Katie has definitely had a loooonnnnggg weekend. And throw in daylight savings time on top of everything else...