Crazy Days

It seems like there's been a lot going on lately. Or at least I've been extremely busy, but I'm not sure there's been a lot happening that's very interesting. Let's see...school started a couple of weeks ago. My class is horrid - ok, I take that back, four members of my class are horrid - and they exhaust me. It literally seems like we've been in school for months already. Me thinks that does not bode well for the year. Ah well, hopefully someone will invent Ritalin that comes in a plug-in form and we'll be right as rain before you know it.

To add to my stress, we've been dealing the last two nights with some kind of @#$!%! hoodlum teenagers vandalizing our cars that we park on the street. Sunday night they must have stolen a 5+ pound granite landscaping rock from some other neighbor and drove by and chucked it at our cars. It hit the top of one and then flew into the back of the van and damaged that too. (Thank God our deductible is low or I'd really be screaming.) Then this morning at 3am the doorbell rings and it's the police AGAIN, this time they (and I'm assuming it's the same lunatics because we really generally do live in a safe neighborhood) had taken ours and our neighbors recycling and dumped it on top of our car. Luckily there seems to be no damage from that (but glad I didn't put out the glass and aluminum!!!) Seriously, if I wasn't afraid of being ate to death by mosquitoes, I would sleep on my porch with a shotgun. (Yes, in case you're wondering, I am a country girl at heart.) Not that I would shoot them, but it would be worth it to watch them piddle themselves. Though it wouldn't be safe to have a loaded gun because at this point I think I would be too tempted.

So you can see how between kids at school and delinquents in my neighborhood I'm having a week. And it's only Tuesday :(

On the upside last week, my friend Holly turned me on to this great book series - it's called "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer. I started reading them last weekend and the last book in the series actually came out this weekend so I zipped through that on Saturday and finished it Sunday morning. It's hard to describe - kind of a vampire romance, teen novel, fantasy type book. They were easy reads and pretty good. I especially liked the last one, mostly because the themes are a little more adult and were easier for me to relate to. The only thing I didn't like was that they were too predictable, at least to me. I'm used to Harry Potter, you have to figure it out-kind of books. But they were definitely enjoyable and I highly recommend them if you like those types of books. (And I have all four of them if anyone living near me needs to borrow them!)

Single Parenting

The vast majority of the time, I don't know how single parents do it. Especially with infants...I would go crazy. But this week I've had my own little foray into doing it all on my own and it really hasn't been that bad. The husband has been gone all week for a work thing, and it has really been a less stressful week than usual. Which I find more than a little depressing. Not that I don't miss him, I do - but it's actually been nice only having to keep track of and pick up after two people. And sadly the two little ones are much better about actually doing the things that I ask them to do to help out or can be at least be cajoled into it. It probably also doesn't hurt that my expectations for them are lower! Or that I'm still off work this week, although I have been in to school every day since my school starts back on Monday. But still, it's sad that my husband leaves town and my stress level drops dramatically. I can only think that it's because I have one less person to become frustrated with.

I don't hold out too much hope that my relaxed mood will last though. Hubby comes back tomorrow and the closer it gets to school starting, the more anxious I'm bound to get. I'm really excited to be changing teaching positions for next year; I'm just not very big on change in general and I really want to be prepared and have everything go well next week. The beginning of the year sets the tone for the school year, and for a variety of reasons I'd like the year to go smoothly!

Shopping Spree

Well, the family all seems to be healthy again...at least for the time being anyway. This weekend we went on a semi-shopping spree. We got the girls a new bed. The little one hasn't turned 2 yet, but she was trying to climb out of her crib and in the process kept getting her chubby little legs caught in the spindles. We debated whether to get her a regular bed since they share a room. We finally decided on a trundle and found one that also has storage at the bottom. They both seem to really like having something new that they're allowed to climb on!

I also finally convinced my husband to let me buy couches. Our old sectional had recliners in it and literally had gouged a huge hole in the plaster in my living room. We're looking to hopefully be moving in 2-3 years, so I'm really getting into "fix up the house" mode. It didn't make sense to fix the walls until we got something new that wasn't going to tear them up again. So now that I've got new furniture, we can re-paint - but I have no idea what neutral color to paint the walls or what good color scheme will go well with chocolate brown couches.

So if you have any good ideas, please let me know! Once we paint, I'll need new curtains and possibly a new rug - my husband will be so thrilled. He hates to spend money on things for the house. Or rather, things that are not electronic. In our 100+ year old house, I am just excited to get a room to the point where I can decorate it, as opposed to worrying about fixing plaster, putting up drywall, or stripping wallpaper. Have I mentioned our kitchen is also under minor renovation too? I think just about the time we get everything looking good, we'll be moving!