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.

my 4 day weekend...

the kids had another snow day yesterday, but back to school today. I took today off to get our taxes done, tomorrow is the big Make It Try It meeting where we'll make Brownie Soup, cookbooks, & Flat Stacies here,& Monday is Kevin's surgery.
have already done some scrapbooking & laundry this morning, I have 1 1/2 more hours until I have to head to Bethany, who knows what I could get accomplished? The world is my oyster....

another snow day...

kevin got to fight the roads taking me to work...the kids got to sleep in...
then when kevin came to pick me up from work he got to pull one of my co-workers out...

winter sucks...

kids got out of school @ 11:30...
snow, rain, thunder, snow, rain, sleet, slush...
on top of mud ruds...

When The Mississippi Ran Backwards

Empire, Intrigue, Murder, and the New Madrid Earthquake
by Jay Feldman

Finally finished reading this book...it had lots of interesting stuff in it, & ended with the 1990 predicted earthquake in December. We were living in "the zone" then,we bought earthquake insurance, I didn't let Koren out of my sight just in case. And nothing happened. According to this book, there was no chance of that December quake, the guy had nothing to base his prediction on, & real scientists were debunking him, but the media caused a frenzy & then it all kind of went away. I remember watching the news, a guy on a bridge was singing a song he'd written for the earthquake that never happened.
Just brought back some memories I forgot I had...

unbelievable

I got one of those phone calls tonite...usually I just hang up or listen a sec & say "not interested" & then hang up...but for some reason I let her do the routine of how I'd won this fabulous internet shopping spree with no obligations...she was doing a survey & asked what my occupation was. I said, 'farming.' She asked me several more times, so I switched to the more professional sounding 'agriculture'. She responded with "huh?" So I said, "I work in a pig barn." She starts laughing uncontrollably. Then she asked me if I was raising the bacon or making it. Ha Ha Ha. Like I don't know how ridiculous my job is without some paid phone hack laughing at me.
One day I know I will snap & I will quit my job. I might even briefly run away. Being a responsible grownup is dreary. I gave Kevin notice...I had told myself I would quit & go to school when Kate started kindergarten. Wasn't an option. Told myself I'd quit & go to school after KJ graduates. (2010). Today I made myself & my husband a promise...I will quit on my 50th birthday. So he has plenty of time to take the insurance. I figure that will give me a year or two for school, & I'll still have 13+ years to have yet another career.

Friday

Kevin met the ankle specialist today---surgery on Feb. 11th---they'll put in screws, he'll have a plaster cast. He is the one condemned to hopping on crutches forever again---& all I can think about is how this is going to screw up my life...
am I some kind of a wife or what?