I Can Blog Again!

Not like I couldn’t blog before.  I mean, technically, for the past few weeks I couldn’t blog very easily because my laptop went toes up.  But all of the months and months before that?  I just wasn’t finding the time.

I’m not sure exactly what I was so busy doing, other than, you know, spending unhealthy amounts of time on Pinterest and spray painting all kinds of crap because, “Look!  Somebody pinned a picture of spray painted crap and it looks so pretty!”

On the upside, I started frequenting our local Good Will to find the requisite crap, and I discovered that our local Good Will frequently has brand new, tags-still-on clothing.  Actually, a couple of weeks ago, I found a not-brand-new-but-in-excellent-condition, metallic bronze, dressy, leather jacket.  For nine-ish dollars.  In my size.  I so bought it.  And then I wore it to church and got a fragillion compliments and, of course, verbally vomited to anyone who admired it that, “Oh my gosh!  I got it at Good Will for $9.99!  Can you believe that?”  Because, yeah, I’m classy that way.

Anyway, I’m saving money by buying crap to spray paint.  That’s what I keep telling the husband, anyway.

 

Now I remember why I don’t blog any more.  I thought I had a few quiet minutes just now to write something mildly worthwhile and then *BAM*!  My two oldest daughters came into the room where I am because they wanted me to settle an argument about whether or not spikes can be made out of wood or if they are always made of metal.  True story.  They are still debating.

Personally, I think sharp pointy things made out of wood are stakes, not spikes (according to A~, Dictionary.com agrees with me, thereby proving her contention that spikes are always metal).  L~ does not agree.  I am afraid to ask how this argument even started and feel the sudden need to lock my bedroom door at night.

 

So now that I have a new laptop (AGAIN!) (this one had better last longer than two years like the previous two laptops) (one of which was supposedly top of the line, and one of which wasn’t) I have all kinds of plans.  To wit:  I want to start blogging here again, at least for the winter months when I can’t easily spray paint crap; I want to start working on a novel I’ve been working on in my head for a long time – not in a NaNoWriMo kind of sprint, but in a real “I’m an actual writer” kind of way; the kids and I want to start a new blog all about our new (fourth) dog.

First:  don’t ask me about my novel yet.  That will just freak me out.  I’ve had a bunch of book ideas over the years that I’ve never done anything with, but this one . . . this one is sticking with me.  I know my track record.  I don’t deserve anyone’s interest.  Yet.  Until I get deep into it, I’m just a stay-at-home mom wannabe.

Second:  yes, we got a fourth dog because we are obviously beyond-belief bonkers.  We’re starting a blog for him so that his previous family can keep up on his adventures while they serve a church mission in Guam.  Plus?  He’s great to photograph and has a lot of personality.  It will be fun to write from his perspective.   Oh, yes!  The dog will be “writing” the blog.  It isn’t up and running yet.  Not. At. All.  But should you decide you just can’t not follow a blog about a shorkie who will undoubtedly encounter Blue Barb at some point, add http://skipperthebard.wordpress.com to your Google Reader account.  Or, you know, whatever reader it is you use.

Okie dokie.  Aside from all of that, I’ve been out of the blogging world for so long that I don’t even know what else to say.  I do need to catch up on all the blogs I haven’t read for months and months (that would be *cough* *cough* pretty much everybody’s), so be, like, SUPER patient with me if I don’t comment on your blog until sometime around November. 

Of 2014.

Oooo!  Ooo!  Ooo!  Oooooo!  It’s been, I think, six months or so since my last migraine!  The Dr. told me to toy with my estrogen dosage to see if that helped.  He thought I needed more than he had me on.  I thought I needed less, as in none.  After months of “toying” I just quit using it, and *poof* the migraines went away.  So the progesterone was helping, but not enough to always overcome the estrogen that two separate doctors thought I needed.  Moral of the story:  work with your Dr. but listen to your gut.

Sorry, just seemed like an important update (you know, in case I don’t get back here for a while).

Tewt the Newt hopes to “see” you all again.

Before 2014.

Soooo . . . I’ve Been a Bad Blogger . . .

And here is where I should commit to re-engaging, but it’s not going to happen.  Not right now, anyway.  I could commit to it, but I know that would be lying at this point

Speaking of lying, remember the let-the-kids-ride-in-the-trunk-of-her-car lady?  She has now added to her resume of irresponsibility by aiding and abetting a teen in the act of lying to her mother.  Fun stuff.  I really enjoy sending my child off to her primary class (think Sunday School) knowing that this woman is her teacher.  Oh, and I really enjoyed being the person the mother called when searching for her teen, and, upon realizing her kid had lied to her, having to tell the mother that her kid lied to her.  Yeah.  All kinds of fun.

But I sat down to update about life in the E. household, and that lady doesn’t live in my house.  Do you see me crying tears over that?  No.  No you don’t.

So . . . A~ started high school last week.  Be glad, be very glad, I wasn’t blogging through the angsty weeks leading up to that day and through my various meetings and phone conversations with the inept guidance counselor (who, by the way, doesn’t turn his office lights on, but opts for a dim lamp instead – I suppose that mood lighting is to accompany the soft, just short of “boom chicka wa bow wow” music that he has playing on the boom box which sits slightly underneath the black and white picture affixed to his cinder block wall of Alice Cooper reclining on a sofa with a giant snake) and insulting principal.  For some reason he felt the need to explain to me in very simple, slow terms what the ACT is.  When I informed him that I knew because I took it, he moved on to the elementary explanation of the SAT.  When I interrupted him to inform him that I had taken both, he rather huffily said, “Well, a lot of us have.”

Whatever.

A~ has now been in high school for just over a week and hasn’t come home in tears even once, so I’m calling it good.  She has found a group of friend to for the all important lunch 25 minutes, and she’s doing fine in her classes.  Actually, in her creative writing class, all the kids took some sort of pre-test (it’s a big thing in this district, apparently) and only missed two questions.  It was multiple choice, so missing one wasn’t possible.  Anyway, she mixed up free verse and blank verse, and got 23 out of 25 points.  A couple days later, the teacher paired the kids up according to their test scores and had them retake it together.  A~ was paired up with a senior boy who also got 23 out of 25.  As the teacher was milling around while the kids were working, she passed A~ and her partner and joked, “I expect the two of you to get 26 points this time.”

So, when they finished the test, A~ and Senior Boy decided to add another question to the test: “Who is the best teacher in the world?”  They then added another multiple choice answer:  “Mrs. [Whatever Her Name Really Is]” and, of course, answered their question.

They got 26 out of 25 points.

High school is off to a good start.  Early Morning Seminary is killing me, but we will persevere.

What?  What’s Early Morning Seminary?  Ah, yes.  That would be the scripture study class at church for all 9th-12th graders that starts at 6 a.m. so as to be finished in time for everyone to get to school.

In other news, Quinn is starting to read.  I’m not claiming great fluency at this point, but he did read an entire page in a kindergarten phonics book on his own yesterday, and it wasn’t even slow and laborious.  He also keeps spelling random words on the refrigerator and out loud.  Correctly.  Just in case there was a question about that.

In other, other news, Thor came out on dvd this week.  Happy early birthday to me!  A commercial was on tv for the release, and the whole episode (in our house) went something like this:

Shield Guy (talking to Thor):  Who are you?
Me (answering for Thor): Sex with a hammer.
McHusband: What did you say?
Me: Sex with a hammer.
McH: I am so disappointed in you.
Me:  Disappointed?
McH: I expect more from my wife.
Me: Ha!  That is exactly what you expect from your wife.  Just, you know, without the hammer.
McH:  Resignedly shrugged his shoulders in acknowledgment of the veracity of my claim.

So we’re all still plugging along in much the same way around here, just busy and trying to adjust to a new sleep schedule so that I don’t drop dead in the middle of the day.  Hopefully one day soon I’ll pluck up the courage to open my Google Reader account, which must be bursting at the seams with unread posts by now, so that I can get up to speed on how you all are plugging along.

And that promise in the last post about food storage and preparedness resources?  Umm . . . yeah.  Sorry.

Tewt the Newt still plans to get to it one of these days.

PS – I want chocolate.  It doesn’t happen often, but right now?  I want chocolate.

PPS – I’m not eating it.  I’ve stuck to my ALCAT diet pretty darned super duper well, and it has helped in lots of ways.  I just didn’t get a migraine when I’d normally get one.  That’s a couple times now that that’s happened.  Then there are all the other random times I’d get migraines that just never happen any more.  Plus there is the weight loss.  I’m now at my wedding weight, which is a couple pounds lighter than my high school weight.  Of course, it was more muscle and less flab when I got married, but whatever.  I’m working on that whole fat to lean ratio. Kind of.  A bit.

The Fruit Who Lived

Pottermelon.

 

On a totally unrelated note, I will gather some food storage resources and post a barrage of links in the next few days for those of you who expressed some interest.  In the mean time, just watch for canned goods to go on sale and start there.  Just make sure they are canned goods you will actually eat, because rotation of stored food is rather important.  So, what I’m saying is:  buy canned goods you’d buy anyway, but instead of buying one or two, think about buying 20 or more.  When our grocery store does the 10 for $10 and get the 11th free on canned fruit, I buy a minimum of three dozen.

Aha!  Fruit!  It wasn’t a totally unrelated note after all, was it?

So, there you go.  A baby step.  More later in the week.  Hopefully.

Tewt the Newt has a bit of a pottermelon tummy ache.