I had random kids in and out all day today. 
#4 didn't have school today and had a friend over for most of the day. I don't really mind having him over, but he's a vegetarian, and our eating style isn't real conducive to feeding a vegetarian. Every time he eats here, the poor kid gets either mac and cheese or a PB&J.
We adjusted fairly well to the change in the morning bus schedule today. At least no one missed the bus, so I would consider it successful. Picking them up this afternoon was a little bit of an adventure. When I was trying to drive past the beach, there was a guy lying in the road in the middle of the other lane. Using my deductive reasoning, I don't think he got hit by a car. I'm pretty sure he was in a fight and someone slugged him, resulting in him landing in the road. but luckily not getting smushed by a car in the process. The kid picked himself up and jumped on the back of someone's moped and they took off. All in a day's adventures.
#2 and I discussed her job situation. The other day, she'd decided that she didn't really want to take the band trip to DisneyLand in the spring. When our kids want something that we feel isn't something we isn't really necessary to their well-being, we expect them to kick in a portion of the expenses. Well, #2 decided she'd rather keep her $150/month and use it for something else. Since she already had a month's worth saved up, we talked about putting that money toward gas money. Remember, turning down the job she was offered at the library was because of all the driving back and forth we'd have to do. We did the math and figured it cost us about $4 to take her to and from the library. So she's going to pay us $4 each day she works. I'm not looking forward to driving her back and forth all the time, but I'm happy she gets to take the job. I told her that when she gets a little more skilled on the moped, she can take that back and forth to work. She informed me that she's already a 'mo' bettah mopeddah' 
but I think she needs a bit more experience before she goes downtown with it.
ps Hey Sarah, thanks for stoppin by! 
Our town has a traffic problem. They're slowly working on it, but as things are now, it's always slow trying to drive into town coming from the north. Today, we were coming home from a gospel meeting around 4:30 and were stuck in traffic. There was an accident at one intersecting and while we were getting around it, I noticed a couple joggers. Slowly, we got about a mile or so down the road and I saw the joggers again, they were slightly ahead of us and were going into a conveinence store. A little while later, I saw them pass us again. In the space of about 3-4 miles, we got passed by the same joggers 3 different times, and they'd even stopped to get drinks! Sometimes, you just get places faster on foot, I guess.
The new cats seem to be adjusting well. They've been chasing each other around the house like kittens will. Mouschi still isn't too sure about them, she just sticks her nose in the air like she's above it all. She also pulls an attitude and won't come in the house at bedtime if she sees the other cats in the room. She's a kitty with a 'tude.
Today was the day I girded myself for battle against the bus company. As of Monday, all kids need a bus pass in order to ride. The catch-22 in the situation is: since my kids live outside of the district where they go to high school, they can only ride the bus if there's room, and they told me they wouldn't know if there'd be room until the end of the month. I went to the bus office today and parked myself in the seat by the desk until I was sure my kids had riding priviliges, which, after an hour, they got. But..(and there's always a but, isn't there?) they could not ride the bus from the stops they've been using this school year. So, they'll be picked up and dropped off at a spot about 3 miles from our house. This is closer than the bus stop they've been going to now in the mornings, but the bus comes 45 minutes earlier. So, instead of leaving here around 7:20 to take #4 to school then the older 2 to the stop, we've got to leave here at 7, take the older kids to their stop, then get #4 to school really early. The afternoon isn't going to be as easy anymore either. Though they've been getting off at a spot about 5 miles from home, through a series of manipulations, I only have to pick the up about a mile from the house. Now I've got to get them from a stop 3 miles away. The crudiest part of the whole thing is that, because of the different bus schedule, #2 can't take the job she was offered at the public library. She's pretty bummed about it all. I brought her to a nearby shopping center today and she put in applications at a couple different places, so hopefully she'll get something there. In the words of Roseann Rosandana "it's always somethin'"
No school for the kids tomorrow, it's Statehood Day...whatever that is. WE went to spend a couple nights at a friend's, so it'll be pretty quiet around here, since it's the two boys together that make most of the noise in the house. #4 also has monday off for some reason. I'm sure when the other kids are hauling their butts out of bed in the morning, she'll be enjoying herself getting her gloat on.
WE's changed his kitten's name already. He kept Justice for a middle name. So its name is now Bonsai Justice. Bonsai seems like a perfect name for a cat owned by WE, imo. #4 still hasn't come up with a name for hers, but is leaning heavily toward Chole or Pixie. Both cats spent most of the day hidden under WE's bed hiding out from Jake, the wonder dog, who was busy sleeping, but apparently, a lazy sleeping dog is pretty intimidating to a cat. Chole/Pixie is getting a bit braver and is doing a bit more traveling around the house now, but Bonsai is pretty shy.
#2 got a job working at the library. She'll be there shelving books after school and on Saturdays. She needs the money if she wants to take the band trip to Disneyland in March, we told her she had to pay for half the trip. She's pretty excited about the job, I hope she enjoys it. How can you not enjoy playing with books all day?
#4's cat disappeared about a month ago and never returned. Sunday she asked if we thought Kie was ever going to come back and I had to tell her the truth and say no. I told her that someone who really wanted a kitty probably found her and she's now living a life of luxury with some little grandma lady who needed a cat to love. Well, there were tears and hubby caved. Next thing I knew, he was at AdvoCATS.org looking to find cats needing homes. He sent the to the site and she was hooked. After calling the cat rescue lady, she made arrangements to go see what she had. WE has been wanting a cat for quite a while also and there are frequently catfights over who gets the cat at night. Hubby called me this afternoon to see if maybe WE would like a cat too. Dummy me, I mention it to WE and the kid was dancing around the room he was so excited. So, we now have two new cats, WE named his Justice and #4 hasn't come up with a name for hers yet. It looks exactly like the cat that got lost, except reallly really tiny. It's only about 2 months old. WE's is about 5 months old and is totally freaking out right now. Not that I blame it. I would to if I was suddenly dropped in a house full of over-excited kids and a scaredy-cat dog. Mouschi, #2's cat, is still wandering around outside and hasn't realized that her spot as numero uno cat of the house has just been lost.
We go to church in a kind of remote, redneck area. Instead of a road, we take a single lane path that has two strips of pavement for a vehicles tires with grass growing in between. There's some interesting people living there. Today, as we were leaving, I see this guy walking around, he had a gun in his hands. First it was propped on his shoulder, then he dropped it down and he was kind of passing it back and forth between his hands while he was talking to somebody next to him. His tee-shirt read: Safety First I just hadda laugh.
Yesterday, hubby and I went out to lunch. Just the two of us. He'd been craving fish and when he mentioned it, I had only one thought 
Fish Tacos at LuLu's! 
Can you tell I love LuLu's fish tacos? LuLu's has some interesting things on their menu, including the Double Flusher Cheeseburger and Big Sweaty's BarBQ Pits, but the fish tacos are what you have to order when you're there. It's not like a traditional taco. It's grilled fish, shredded cabbage and chilpoltle sauce all wrapped up in a spinach tortilla. It's absolutely delicious! Afterwards, we had a romantic shopping trip at Costco stocking up on groceries.
Just to explain my title, Hawaii's statewide area code is 808, so we were just a real eightsy kind of place here today.
I finished writing my second Moxie book about 10 minutes ago. I'd started it back in November, but had left it sit for quite a while. I'm glad to say I finally got it to the word count I as aiming for. My next step is to break it up into chapters now, then write a synopsis and sent it off to my editor. Then it's out of my hands, people.
I didn't fall off the wagon today and nary of drop of Mountain Dew crossed my lips. I have unbelievable willpower when I want to. Nerves of steel and all that stuff, ya know?
I picked hubby up at the airport this afternoon. Now he's home, all safe and sound. He went to my family reunion when he was up in Wisconsin. He loves my reunions almost as much as I do, he thinks they're a real hoot. He took a bunch of pictures of my family - I've got a big family. Since I haven't seen most of them in 3 years, I didn't even recognize some of my younger cousins and cousin's kids, and since he doesn't know who half of them are, he couldn't tell me either. He just took random pictures to show me how the day went.
My friend Krista came over yesterday to help me brainstorm the book I'm working on. We're giving ourselves goals this week and counting on the other person to keep us on task. At the end of the week, if we've been good, we're going to reward ourselves. Anyway, through a roundabout brain trail Krista started, I came up with bringing 3 piglets into my story. So, in honor of Krista's help, I'm going to name one of the piglets after her. She's so pleased.
Actually, it's hubby and he's stranded in Chicago. But Stranded in Chicago isn't on the Grease soundtrack, so I had to make an adjustment. Anyway, bad weather made the plane in the first plane of hubby's flight home from the mainland 3 hours late, which made him miss his flight home in Chicago. So, he's in Chicago when he's supposed to be here. The joys of travel. That's why I prefer to just stay home, it's much easier that way.
Talk about Grease. #4 got her hands on a collector's Barbie doll catalog. These are the expensive, $200 Barbies. They've got Grease Barbies, Sandy, Frenchie, Rizzo and Cha Cha, and they actually look like the people. Most Barbies that they have that are supposed to be a real live person just look creepy - have you seen the Mary-Kate and Ashley dolls? The stuff nightmares are made of.
When we were little, my sister and I had a lot of dolls posing as real people. We had Donnie and Marie, the original Charlies Angels, Starskey & Hutch and Vinnie Barbarino. I don't know why we didn't have the rest of the Sweathogs, it doesn't seem fair to just have Vinnie. Actually, I think my dad may still have that whole crew in a box in his basement for the grandkids to play with. He probably does, next to my Leif Garrett and Andy Gibb record albums. They save everything over there. About 5 years ago, he brought over a bag of clothes he found in the garge to see if my girls were interested in them. They were my clothes from when I was about 10 years old. Why they were in a bag up in the roof of his garage is anybodies guess, and why only my clothes? None of my siblings clothes were in the bag. They were different sizes too, some from 3rd grade while I also recognized the skirt I wore to my cousins wedding when I was in 8th grade. Very mysterious. I wonder what other secrets my father's garage holds???? 
Today is the first Sunday of the month. We meet with a small group of people for church on Sunday. About 20-30 of us meet at a home. There are 2 homes that have church meetings on this side of the island and 1 on the other side. On the first Sunday in the month from about May to October, we have a Union Meeting, which means that everyone on the island meets together for church. I enjoy doing this, it's nice to be with the Eastside people, we don't see them often. The problem with this is that we take turns meeting on opposite sides of the island every other month and this month we met on the east side. That means a 130 mile drive, which comes out to leaving around 7:30 am to make 10:30 meeting. I had a real hard time rolling out of bed this morning knowing I had a 2.5 hour one way drive ahead of me. I was planning on sharing driving with #1 so I wouldn't have the whole 5 hours to drive myself (hubby's on the mainland right now and will be flying home tomorrow).
Well, I got myself and the kids out of bed and did pretty well I thought, since we were all in the car at 7:35, only 5 minutes past when I'd planned on leaving. I was going to take first shift driving, so I turn the key in the ignition. *click* Dead battery. #4 hadn't closed the van door tightly last time we used it. We hop out of the van, get the car running and pull out the jumper cables. We got the van jump started, I hopped back in the drivers seat and we were on our way. It wasn't until we were about 5 miles down the road that I realized that my spedometer wasn't working. No matter how fast I went, it stayed at zero. Too late to do anything about it, so I just played it by ear and hoped the car in front of me wasn't speeding - or if he was, that the cops would go after him instead of me. A lot of the time I was all alone on the road, so who knows how fast I was actually going? We were about 20 miles from home when WE decided he was feeling car sick. He spent the next 30 minutes holding a grocery bag by his face in case he barfed (he didn't) while I was zipping along the road at an indeterminate speed. I'm happy to report that we made it to church with 15 minutes to spare and with no traffic violations. Yay me!
Heather, I know what you mean about kids growing up fast. We were sorting pictures the other day and found a bunch of when all you girls spent the night at our house when you were little and were jumping in the haymow in your underwear. I can't believe how little you all were and now you're all married with most of you mothers! I'm old 
Bravenet is evil and I'm tempted to switch over to Blogger, but it requires an effort I'm not willing to extend at the moment, but don't be surprised if some day you find I've moved on.
#1 is 16 today. It's hard to believe that a child of mine is that old. I was obviously a VERY young mother. I'm also a very bad mother, since it wasn't until this afternoon when I was writing the date on a deposit slip at the bank that I realized that I forgot to make him a carrot cake for his birthday. I dashed across the street to the grocery store and picked up a chocolate cheesecake instead, but he was disappointed that I didn't make him the carrot cake. I make a killer carrot cake.
The kids enjoyed their first day of school...as much as you can enjoy school, that is. I discovered why WE took chorus for the 2nd year in a row. I always kind of wondered, since he doesn't really seem to be a chorus kind of kid. But today he told me the boy to girl ratio is 1:6, so now it's all starting to make sense. He likes the odds in his favor.
And, for your viewing enjoyment, I give you the link to Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog: http://www.hulu.com/dr-horribles-sing-along-blog
You need the right kind of sense of humor to enjoy this (a bizarre one works best). #2 and I both busted a gut laughing and have now started quoting lines from it. Those of you with a normal, mainstream sense of humor might just want to skip the whole link and watch something like Arrested Development or old episodes of Cheers or something.
#4 off to school and I didn't want it to put me out so deeply I didn't hear the alarm ring or something. So, I skipped on the sleeping pills and finally, around 2:30, I finally fell asleep. I didn't take a nap or anything today, so I'm pretty tired and I still have a little bit of last nights headache hanging on. So I'll probably take an asprin and a melatonin (I bought some today) before I even crawl in to bed tonight. I don't want to wake up late tomorrow and not get the kids to school, I've been looking forward to getting rid of them all week.
It's really been hot and humid here the last week or so. My clothes are all sticky and I feel sweat and clammy. It's not in the 100's like it gets up in Wisconsin, and the humidity isn't as bad as it gets up there either, but we don't have air conditioning to counter-act it all either like most people do up there. It's 9pm and about 85 degrees outside, which means it's about that, or hotter, inside. It's making me sluggy and lazier than usual. And it isn't even the hottest time of the year yet! I'm NOT looking forward to September.
But, on the flip side, I am looking forward to tomorrow when the first of the angels heads off to school. It looks like I'm going to have to go to the high school tomorrow and get the older kids bussing situation straightened out again. This has become a yearly event, with me trying to find a rational person working in the public school bussing division. It ain't gonna be pretty.
I decided to clean my stove top today. It was getting pretty nasty. We have a friend who has a company that makes commercial cleaning products for restaurants and places like that and last time I was in Wisconsin, I picked up a quart of his degreaser, which is the best stuff in the universe. I even love what they named it Turbo 818...because it's twice as good as Formula 409. Get it? I chuckle whenever I think about it. Anyway, my stove looks almost as good as when it was new...back in 1973.
I've got a rant. To people who have yappy dogs who bark at people walking past your house. PEOPLE DON'T LOVE YOUR DOG!!!! Yes, shocking, isn't it? People don't go on walks to get chased down by your yippy little rodent dog. My dog doesn't like being attacked and have his back legs nipped at. If you want a dog, that's fine. But the rest of the world does NOT want to hear it barking at 6am. You wandering outside AFTER the fact and saying in a whiney voice "bad dog" does not help. You know what would help? If you'd obey the leash laws and tie that sucker up and keep it quiet. Or, better yet, shoot the dumb thing and put us all out of our misery. [/rant]
The s are enjoying their last days of freedom before school starts again. #4 goes back on Wednesday, the rest on Thursday. They've been getting on each other's nerves lately and doing a lot of fighting. I think they're getting sick of vacation too. #2 made the insightful comment that I must have a lot of 'last nerves' since I keep announcing that they're on them.
The girls have been playing Sims today, and, besides the fact that I don't understand why people spend a whole bunch of time online living pretend lives, they just creep me out. #4's Sims have 6 kids and I'm finding it rather humorous that she's sounding a lot like me. "Why don't these kids go to sleep?" "Oh darn, they're home from school already." "My toddler is playing in the toilet." All right, I haven't said that last one in quite a while, but you get the idea.
I stopped by the computer store where #1 works yesterday to pick up a computer and his boss was telling me what a good worker the is and how when he asked him to dust the shelves, he didn't just fling a rag around, but took everything off the shelves and did a good job. I THINK they were talking about my kid, but he sure wasn't sounding familiar. It was kind of weird, while I was there, I was talking to the boss and his secretary about old movies and got on the subject of the Phantom of the Opera - the 1920's original version. Then I went into a consignment store a couple doors down and the sound system was playing the soundtrack to the Andrew Lloys Webber Phantom. To make things even weirder, I was looking through the movies they had there on the shelves and what did they have? The 1920's version of the Phantom. It was just a Phantom kind of day I guess.
The kids have been playing 20 questions ever since we left Bible study tonight. They were playing it in the car on the way home, then continued after we got home. WE keeps picking weird things, like chlorine and deer hearts. The girls just kicked him out of the game since the thing he picked was fruit fly, but they guessed it too soon, so he changed it to "hedgehog fly" then there was a huge debate if there was such a thing as a hedgehog fly. Someone has a picture on Flickr they labled as a hedgehog fly, but that's the only mention of one we've found on the net. Needless to say, WE's out of the game.
I took the girls shopping for school clothes today. I'm too cheap to buy clothes at full price, so we hit the clearance racks and scored a few things for them both. Both girls got new swim suits, #2 grew out of the top on hers and #4 literally wore hers out since she wears it constantly. I have to buy her a new suit every 3 months or so. They both got a couple new tops and #4 got 4 new bottoms. Tomorrow, we're going to clean out her drawers and get rid of all the outgrown and never worn clothes she's got crammed in her drawers.
Ever since we've moved here, they've been working on a stretch of highway coming into town. Last week they finally opened the finished northbound lane. We'd all been driving both directions in what is now the unfinished southbound lane. Anyway, tonight was the first time I'd driven on the finished northbound. It was kind of disorienting. I knew I was going in the right direction, but things just seemed different. Kind of like when you go to a McDonalds when you're on vacation. It's got the same menu as your McDonalds at home does, the same general stuff, but it just feels a little off. Or am I the only one who feels that way?
#4 disappeared on us today. I got home this evening around 8 and she was nowhere to be seen. She's supposed to be home by 6, which she was, but then went back out for a bike ride. I went to all her friends houses and nobody'd seen her. I started driving around the subdivision hoping to see her or her bike somewhere. A couple of her friends parents were also out helping me look for her and it was one of them who found her. She was playing at a house at the end of the street, somewhere she'd never played before. I didn't even know those people had kids. she got a major butt chewing as well as an explanation as to why everyone was freaking out. She was totally clueless as to why everyone was so worried. Is it any wonder I'm going grey?
Tanya, it's not just KMart that runs out of school supplies, Wal-Mart ran out too, just like they did last year. You'd think someone would figure out to just order more stuff? Instead, I've resorted to going to our local drug store chain for notebooks.
I worked at the office today. Our office is located in a group of buildings that are much like the storage units they have on the mainland. There's a large garage door and a smaller, people door to get in. The office is in an upstairs mezanine area. The guy in the bay next to ours tends to play his music really loud. So loud, I don't/can't play music of my own when he's there, I'm stuck listening to whatever he listens to. Most of the time, it's not too bad, he'll listen to the same radio station I'd be listening to anyway. But some days, he listens to some other weird stuff....today was one of those days. The guy in the bay across the drive also was listening to music and in order to hear his stuff over the sound of the other guys, he needed to crank his radio. Walking outside between the buildings, one side of me was being hit with Hawaiian music while the other side was blasted with some weird emo stuff. I wish everyone would just agree on one station.
After work, I went to KMart to pick up some school supplies. Well, I tried to anyway. School starts in a week and a half, and there was practically nothing in the store - nothing I was looking for anyway. I needed wide ruled looseleaf paper. They had 3 pallets of college ruled (I am NOT exaggerating) but not a single package of wide. None of the folders they had in yesterdays sales flyers were there and the other kind of notebooks I needed were $1.50 each - way more than I was going to spend since I knew a different store had the exact same thing on sale for $.63. I picked up a few spiral notebooks and some clothes for the girls off the clearance rack and left. I think I'm going to just find the basics right now and get things as they need them during the school year. I'm skeptical that they even use all that stuff during the year anyway.
My cell phone got wet the other day and now my ringer plays really soft. Even though the volume is maxed, I can barely hear it ring. Most of my calls are just annoying interuptions anyway, but I would like to at least have the option of answering it if it's actually something important.
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