Happy New Year!

Still really sick. Can't concentrate long enough to put up pictures. I haven't forgotten though.

Have a safe and happy New Year!

Aftermath

Christmas was great! Hope you all had a wonderful day. I made it a little more exciting this year. Devan had to do a scavenger hunt to find his gift. We sent him out to the dumpster then back inside then to the mailbox and a couple more stops before he found out his gift was under the tree! :) He had fun with it. Jordan got concert tickets so I wrapped them as they are then hid them in a HUGE box full of shredded paper. She had fun throwing the paper all over the floor to find the gift. I'll download the pictures later.

Oh, besides my presents under the tree, I got something else...a cold! Yeah, I'm totally coughing, have the sore throat and slight fever. It's great let me tell you (NOT)!

We just dropped my mom off at the airport. She was very glad she got to come out here. She hadn't planned on it but when I was talking to her she said she didn't know what she was going to do for Christmas. She said she had already cried thinking of not spending it with me and the kids. It would have been her first Christmas without the grand kids.

Hi

mom's making me type something but i don't have anything to say so....... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Finally, a turn in the right direction

Okay, things are looking up. The one day job was boring but it definitely helped my status with the temp agency. I had an interview today that went really really well. The lady was going to call my references then she wants to meet with me outside the office one more time to get a feel for how we would get along. She claims she is "high strung." She seems like one of those people that you either love them or hate them, there is no in between. Thanks to all of you sending me the "get a job" vibe. It's totally working... :)~

It's almost Christmas...are you done shopping? I have to take the kids out tomorrow to get my gift. They have been procrastinating. Ugh, I don't want to shop tomorrow, it's going to be crazy busy at every store!

We finished decorating the tree. They have the wonkiest trees here. We normally like a nice even shaped Douglas Fir but they don't have them here. It was a choice between a pine tree and some other thing. We opted for the other kind. It's short and really round. I'll post pictures later. We miss our trips to the tree farm, running around hugging trees to find just the right shape, kneeling in the mud to cut it down, yelling "TIMBER" at the top of our lungs, and hauling the tree back to the car to then return the saw and get a Styrofoam cup full of hot chocolate or cider. Aahh, the mud on our knees and the sweating in the cold from dragging the heavy tree - there's nothing like Christmas in the NW! *wistful sigh* It's just not the same driving up to the Walgreens parking lot and picking out your tree in a short sleeved t-shirt, jeans, and your sunglasses. *another wistful sigh*

Boring

Oh, I am so thankful that I haven't had to accept a job as dull as that! So far all my jobs have required some neurons. This one today was so lame it almost felt like I was working in a mail room. The only good thing about that position is that I got to earn some money.

As we wrap more presents and receive packages in the mail we are getting more and more excited for Christmas! The kids and I decided to start a new tradition. We are having an ugly ornament contest each year. We made a stocking for the ugly ornaments. We each put our initials and the year on the ornament, wrap it and put it in the stocking. After we have opened all our gifts but aren't ready to disperse to do whatever, we will open the ornaments. We will vote on who wins for the ugliest and they get their picture taken with their ornament. We even have a special tree just for ugly ornaments. We are having fun with this so far. It should be fun through the years to save and display our ugly ornaments! :)

One Day Job

I have a one day job! Yeah me! (yes, that was dripping with sarcasm.) It will keep me busy for a day and some money is better than none. Plus, it's a great place to get noticed since it is about 2 miles from my house and it's a payroll service.

I've got a couple resumes submitted for jobs that won't be hiring until after the 1st of the year. Just keeping my fingers crossed that something will turn up soon. I've sent out lots of resumes and my recruiters are working hard for me so hopefully it won't be long until I am a full time employee again.

Jordan has finals this week. She is totally stressed. Devan has one more final to finish up but so far he has been doing great. He got the highest test score in his class in both history and language arts. They are both totally excited for the break and keep asking if they can be sick so they can stay home. :)~

We finally had two days of rain and guess what I saw...a worm. Yeah, I forgot there were such things. It's typically dry here and there hasn't really been a saturating rain to bring any worms out. The worms are little though. They are these thin little things not like the big juicy ones we were used to in the NW.

Here's hoping you are having fun with the shopping and the wrapping and keeping your sense of humor through it all. I have to say that I appreciate that the woman at Michael's craft store still had hers since I dropped a bag of bows on her head the other day. Luckily it was only a bag of bows so it's like dropping fluff on her head but she laughed as I apologized profusely.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Thanks to the wonderful ladies in accounting at Neil Kelly! They sent a fabulous wreath so not only does it pretty up my apartment, it smells like Christmas pine. It's great!

Devan is knee deep in finals and Jordan has hers next week. The kids are both very anxious for the break.

We are finishing up our shopping getting ready to mail everything. I'm rather proud of myself for getting done so quickly. I guess since I've got nothing else to do at least I can stay on top of Christmas gifts.

Oh, it's getting colder and we might even have a storm blow in this weekend. Rumor has it there may even be snow. Keep your fingers crossed! I have to find our winter clothes tomorrow. We have the best hill if it does snow. Well, not to drive down, but to play on and slide down. Here's hoping... :)

Lack of a Christmas Vibe

It doesn't feel at all like Christmas. I'm not super busy at work (understatement of the year). The sun is shining and it's 67 degrees. We don't have to make a trip to my mom's for Devan to climb up into the attic to help get her decorations down or to help her hang her Christmas lights. I'm not mentally preparing our holiday schedules and worrying about how to keep the kids busy during the holiday break. And did I mention it's light sweatshirt weather?!

I've rearranged the furniture to make room for a tree and will put up some decorations tomorrow so that will help. We will probably get our tree toward the end of the week. I watched Elf, tried to watch Polar Express but it's too much Tom Hanks and he doesn't resonate Christmas, then I played Christmas music and it helped a little, but still not quite there. I'm really putting a lot of pressure on my decorations to make it feel like Christmas. I'm not sure those inanimate objects I'm going to hang up can handle that sort of pressure. We'll see tomorrow. I think I'll bake some cookies and see if that helps since there is such a strong connection between smells and feelings/memories.

Hope you are all getting in the Christmas spirit! I'll keep working on it here. Hugs.

Country Music Convert?

This evening I went to a fundraiser concert for a program called Daystar ministries. It was held in Nashville at Chaffins Barn. I went there in the summer to see Smoke on the Mountain. It's a great venue with only 100 tables (three tiers) in a square. In the middle is the stage so the farthest seat from the stage is probably 25 feet. We were a little closer than that, I'd say maybe 15-20 feet from the entertainment. The program is called Evening in December. Yes, that is also a published Christmas song by Tricia Walker. She wrote the song specifically for this fundraiser concert. Okay, okay, I'll get to the good stuff...our emcee for the evening was none other than the super talented Harmonica master, Buddy Green! Okay, I didn't know him for his harmonica skills either - but, any of you who have heard any religious Christmas music will recognize the song "Mary Did You Know." He wrote the music for that song. He sings a mean Irish Bar song though and he can rock his harmonica! What? He's boring you say, can't I come up with some better talent than that to volunteer for this fun filled night of music? Okay, how about Sawyer Brown. They sang a couple songs one of the songs being Dirt Road or Dirt Driveway. Cool song. That's enough attitude, so Sawyer Brown isn't that huge anymore, just for your information, they produced Casting Crowns, the Christian group. If Sawyer Brown doesn't excite you then neither will Kim Hill, Ashley Cleveland, and Karen Staley, all of whom are very established in the Christian music scene. I do have to say, there was this song that was pretty cool and I have to admit I had heard it a couple times on the radio, it's called "As If." Anyone impressed yet...any country music fans out there...you know who I'm talking about then. If you didn't get it by that song, how about "Suds in the Bucket." Okay, got you hooked now don't I? Yes folks, we had a four song performance (remember 20 feet away, with maybe 500 people) by the one and only, Sara Evans!!!!!!!! She was a total cutie patootie. She also sang a couple Christmas songs. They all sing with only a guitar and/or keyboard, or accapella if they are brave enough. It was a really fun evening and now it feels a little more like Christmas.

BTW (by the way) the kids are good, not looking forward to finals but excited for the break coming not soon enough.

I wasn't ignoring you

nor was I busy. I just forgot to update this since there is nothing going on!!!!!! My life is pathetically boring.

We had a great Thanksgiving at my Mom's cousins. It was fun, the food was great, and we sang songs. It was hilarious. As we sang a few Christmas carols I had to laugh because I'm sure that if their Grand Piano was set up and tuned, we would have been gathered around it belting out our songs. We all wrote down three things we were thankful for and one thing we were NOT thankful for. We each read other peoples cards from serious to silly, it was definitely entertaining when you've got siblings and teenagers and 90 year olds who aren't thankful for wrinkles. :)

No, I did not participate in Black Friday. I've been avoiding the mall area. I'm trying to get creative enough with my Christmas gifts so they won't involve anything from the mall. I have found a few little shops/boutiques that I really love.

Oh, Devan and I have a new favorite restaurant. It's a pizza place called Guido's. It's New York style pizza and you can order straight off the menu or you can order a personal pizza. When you order the personal pizza they bring you pan with the dough in the bottom with the pizza sauce on it and you get to put your own toppings on at the topping bar. It was really fun. Devan used pepperoni and Canadian bacon to make a face complete with hair. Then you hand off your pizza to the cooks and go back to your seat and enjoy the atmosphere. When your pizza is done they bring it out to you. Now that is definitely a personal pizza!

Actually this week I have been a little busy assembling cards for the cousins and sending out resumes. I have two meetings tomorrow and I'm going to hit up a few retail shops that have signs in their windows.

School is going well for the kids. I got Jordan's progress reports. She has all A's with her lowest grade being a 93%. I don't have Devan's yet because the school had issues printing them. I expect his any day. He is doing well though. Last time he had A's and B's with one C. The grades here are higher though. In Oregon an A was 90 or above. Here it's 92 or above and it works that way all throughout. To get a C you have to get above a 74%. I know it's been a difficult transition for him since the schools here are so strict but he's doing well. I reward him with trips into Nashville to the skate parks. :)

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope you all enjoy your day with family and friends and good food.

Love from the south. :)

Christmas Shopping

This weekend Jordan and I went to the craft show at her school. It's huge. They have really good stuff there, it's not like the cheesy homemade crafts that came from the directions in a book. There were some really cool things there. I picked up a couple little gifts. It was fun. There were probably 200 booths there so it took us a while pushing through the crowds, the ladies with strollers, and the old women who recognize someone and stop in the middle of the hall.

We also visited a couple boutiques in town. I bought some really cute cards at a store called Hot Pink. It's the greatest shop ever!

Today Devan and I cruised around town looking for Christmas cards. I didn't love anything we saw so I'll continue my search tomorrow. I have a couple stores to stop at before I take Devan into Nashville. He spent a couple hours at the skate park in Franklin today and tomorrow we are going to a skate park in Nashville. It's supposed to be a good "street" course. Wednesday we are going to the skate park in Hendersonville. Hopefully I can find the Christmas cards I want before we go to the skate park tomorrow then I can walk and work on the cards while Devan skates. Wish me luck or you may not get your Christmas cards in time. :)

Soccer banquet

Tonight was Jordan's soccer banquet. She got a little participation certificate. There was some sort of certificate that some girls received for getting a 3.5 or better GPA during soccer but Jordan didn't get one so I need to ask her coach. The parents of the seniors put together a scrapbook and present it to them at the banquet so I want the merit award to put in her scrapbook.

Devan doesn't have school at all next week so if I'm not working by then we are going to go around to the skate parks in Nashville and surrounding areas. He will be totally excited about that and it'll get his butt out from in front of the TV.

I am making progress in the job search and keep sending out more resumes. My name is getting out there and I'm using all social opportunities, like the banquet tonight, to network and get references. I will definitely have a job before Christmas even if it's at Target. :)

Nothing

So we did absolutely nothing this weekend. Hope you were all more productive than us.

They're ba-ack

The kids are back. They had a fun time visiting everyone. The flights went well. Northwest seems to run on time each time the kids have flown. This time the flight back home came in 15 minutes early. Of course I gave myself an extra 15 minutes then got stuck in traffic so the kids had to wait 20 minutes for me. The good thing is that the dramamine really works so there wasn't any use of pukey bags. Jordan did have fun watching the lady next to her. The lady was falling asleep and was doing the head bob but instead of it falling forward, her head would loll backward. Jordan said it was as if her chin was stuck so as her head rolled back her mouth would open farther and farther until she would bob awake again.

Although Devan was sad to leave Oregon he was very excited to see that there is a new skate shop that just opened over the weekend.

I have the worlds best insurance agent. So I found a local guy to get my insurance through. He's great. He used to coach his daughters soccer teams and he used to be a recruiter. He gave me two job referrals in 24 hours! I'm definitely getting my resume out there so it's just a matter of time now. I'm getting really bored so I need to make something happen soon.

Quiet Weekend

The kids are in Oregon and I am enjoying the peace and quiet.

Jordan and Devan were so excited to go visit their friends. They are staying with their grandma but have barely seen her. Devan has spent quality time with his friends skating and hanging out at the mall. Jordan didn't even make it to Grandma's house, she went from the airport straight to her friends. Then she spent the day walking around Gladstone visiting everyone and is spending the night with a friend again tonight. Tomorrow involves visiting Grandpa and Grandma Elise, Jordan has an orthodontic check up, visiting their schools at the end of the day, skateboarding, mall, and visiting another family friend. This should sustain the kids through the holidays. We'll aim for another trip to Oregon at the end of January. Flights will be cheaper and they will be early in the new semester for school so won't miss much.

The kitties miss the kids. They are following me around more than normal and Einstein keeps wandering into Jordan's room and meowing "hello." He has this meow that sounds exactly like he's saying hello. It's hilarious.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I didn't get any trick-or-treaters. :( I didn't expect to being in the apartments even so, I was hoping I would. I miss having the house at Halloween time.

Jordan and I stayed home. Devan went trick-or-treating with his friends. There was a group of about 7 that went. He dressed up as Slash. For those of you who don't know who Slash is, he was in Guns N Roses, he is the one that wears the really tall Abe Lincolnish hat. Devan got a lot of loot and had a great time. He covered a lot of ground so his feet are sore and he willingly went to bed early.

Hope you all had a great safe night.

I forgot to update during the week

After the party and playing tour guide last weekend this week seems boring.

We got the replacement piece for Jordan's bed so we put that together and then we made a couple stops at the bookstores.

I just finished reading In An Instant the Lee and Bob Woodruff story. It was interesting and informative. I would have liked it to address more of the medical processes and what sort of things he had to do in therapy. I'm also curious how he's doing now and what sort of limitations he still has.

Oh, I did find the website to buy Snoqualmie Falls products online so my mom doesn't have to be my personal shopper anymore.

Since this is so lame and there isn't much to say I'll leave you with a couple of my favorite websites.

http://www.foundmagazine.com/

http://www.postsecret.blogspot.com/

http://www.theonion.com

It's All About the Country Music

We ate lunch at a place called Monell's. It's family style southern food. They have tables that seat 12 and they just seat everyone at one table until it's full then they move on to the next table. You don't know who your going to be seated with except those in your group. We were with a couple ladies who had come from west Nashville to visit the farmers market and the restaurant and a group of four women who go there often because they work nearby. The salads are already on the table as well as the drinks and biscuits/cornbread. They bring the hot food out once everyone is seated and then you get your serving and pass it to the left. It's totally fun and the traditional southern food was great. Oh, except the corn pudding, I really don't like that stuff.

Next stop, the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum. It was pretty interesting. It's got some great history of country music and a few cool pieces of memorabilia. There was Elvis' gold Cadillac and Webb Pierce's (?) silver dollar car. One of the displays had Trisha Yearwood's applications because she worked part time then moved to full time at the Country Music Hall of Fame. It's funny because she wrote on her application that her ultimate goal was to be an "entertainer." We also got to see Loretta Lynn's dress that she wore to someones birthday. She wrote a note to accompany the dress that explained that she fell up the stairs instead of down them while wearing the dress.

Walk through the rain a block and half to the Ryman Auditorium. This is where they used to have the Grand Ol Opry. It wasn't as exciting as the current Opry but it was still cool to see. The whole auditorium was restored - everything but the five 50 gallon cans of gum they scraped off the bottom of the seats.

Oh, and it has been raining most of the day. Yay! We really need the rain. It is supposed to rain most of the week so hopefully we'll get a little more in our reserves.

Birthday Bash

This weekend my great Aunt who lives here in Brentwood turned 90. They had a big party for her. Her sisters from Washington and California flew in as well as a few nephews from the west coast. It was a very fun party and Aunt Garnet had a great time. They had old fashioned hats for everyone to wear and Aunt Garnet wore a black feather boa all evening. Her son from Ireland was there so she had people coming from all over to celebrate with her.

My Aunt and Uncle from Texas are also here. Her sister lives in Kentucky, so yesterday we drove to Bowling Green and visited the Corvette Museum. The factory is closed on Sunday which I think would have been more interesting. They have some really pretty cars in there. Most of them are on loan from private owners. One thing I found interesting was that although they have been around since the 50's they didn't make their 1 millionth car until something like 2002. Well, after being around "America's sports car" for the afternoon the kids were feeling fast and furious so we went over to a nearby go kart track and got our race on. My Uncle and I went with the kids. It was my first go kart experience. It was extremely uncomfortable in those cars but it was fun. I liked trying to skid out going around the corners.

Today mom and I are meeting up with my mom's cousin and her husband and my Aunt and Uncle to go check out the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Ryman Theatre as well as the Ernest Tubb Record Shop.

It has been a really fun weekend. My kids got to meet and visit (and actually have fun) with some of our distant relatives.

Have a great day. Gotta get Jordan to school now. Bye.

Fall Draught

We are still having a draught. There is a good chance of rain tonight and tomorrow. We are having tremendous winds so far tonight. It will probably be really stormy tomorrow night since that is when my mom's flight arrives. Last time she came to visit she landed in the middle of a fabulous lightning storm.
















Pictures from our hike as promised. This is the icky millipede. Some of the hike goes down onto a road and Jordan was just walking along not paying attention and walked right by this thing. It was probably as big as her size 5 shoe. It was black, really long, with little red eyes. Here are a couple pictures of some of the deer we came across. The photo with the two deer in it is not zoomed at all. Jordan and I were walking along the trail, Jordan a few steps ahead of me, talking when all the sudden I looked up and nearly ran into her. She had stopped abruptly and quit talking. I looked up and realized we were about 4 feet away from one of the deer. We weren't being overly quiet but the deer didn't seem scared of us. It was crazy because we nearly walked right into them. We passed by them slowly and at one point it seemed as if one of them was going to walk right up to us. Jordan was in awe. That was definitely the highlight of our hike.

Fall break fun

Jordan and I went hiking today. Devan didn't want to go. It was a nice hike. We walked almost 5 miles around Lake Radnor in Nashville. We took some great pictures but the blogsite can't upload them right now. We saw 7 Whitetail deer, tons of squirrels, lots of chipmunks, and a creepy looking millipede? I'm glad we didn't see any snakes although secretly I wanted to just for the drama and excitement it would have added to the story. I'll upload the pictures tomorrow.

The interview Friday was a bust. The company is a 35-40 minute drive away (without traffic although that route doesn't get too much traffic), they use a mainframe system so I wouldn't be learning or expanding any marketable skills computer wise (in house systems won't help me advance later), and they don't pay as much as I want. I told my recruiter I wasn't interested and she told me she was hoping I would take it to get experience here. Of course she wants me to take the job, she earns money if she places someone there. It really is easier to find a job when you are already employed but this place didn't even have internet access for everyone. I answered the questions well and asked some good questions so I'm happy about that. I typically don't interview well. I've found a few jobs I'll be sending my resume to and am going to sign up with another agency here in town.

Mom is coming out Thurs. Her Aunt Garnet who lives near here is turning 90 this weekend and they are having a big party for her. Since the weather is so nice I'm planning outdoor activities. :) There will be no getting out of them this time by blaming it on the weather.

Hum Drum - Short and Sweet

Things are settling into a good schedule here. Soccer is basically over, Fall Break is coming up, and I have a job interview Friday morning. The interview is to basically let the company sell themselves to me because from the preliminary information I have about the position I don't think I want it. The hours vary depending on what week it is and it's a little farther out than I would like. Plus, they still have business dress. I got very used to business casual.

Since the kids have a long weekend this weekend (Fall Break) we are going to do a couple day trips or activities around town. Hopefully the weather will be in the lower 90's again so we can hang by the pool some more. I'm losing my tan. :)

This is short because I have to get to part of the soccer game. It's really Varsity, but they wanted all the girls there since it's their last home game/last game. Nite.

I'm going to cost them a lot of money in therapy

They have Fall Break here. It's a great idea. The kids get a Thurs, Fri, and Mon off. I told them I would try to send them to Oregon for their break. By the time I got ready to buy tickets they were nearly $500! Plus I have to add in extra for the stupid unaccompanied minor fee. No way! Sorry Oregon, we love you, but not that much... :)- I've disappointed the kids and it seems their friends were planning some sort of "we missed you and are like totally excited you came back to visit us" party.

Schools in Oregon get a lot of days off and many of them are planned for a Monday or a Friday. That is not the case here. They get only major Holidays off as well as Fall Break and Spring Break. When they do get a day off for grading or something like that, it's in the middle of the week. I guess they have less kids turning a long weekend into an even longer weekend.

On the upside, my recruiter has been working her tushy off. There is a bookkeeper job in Brentwood that she thinks I would be great for and is sending them my resume. Yeah.

gotta love it here

As I dropped Jordan off at school I looked around to make sure there weren't any kids crossing in front of me. Of course, being my nosey nature, I took a quick scan of the kids walking into the school. There was Jordan, a couple kids dressed up for Rock Star day (homecoming week) and a guy wearing a cowboy hat. I love it. They can't wear hats in class but are allowed to wear them in the hall and I guess this guy couldn't go the morning without his stetson.

Homecoming week is really, REALLY big here. They have dress up days and different activities, like how many kids from each class can they cram into a vehicle, each class decorates a hall, and they have a parade. Each class has a float plus each sport has a float as well. They have two classes on Friday then the rest of the day is devoted to Homecoming. Yeah, they are major football fans here too. Our school parking lot (overflow as well) fills up before the game begins. They have around 1000 fans in attendance on a regular Friday night game. Yeah, I really don't get it. Jordan is excited to be getting out of classes on Friday and she will be riding on the soccer float.

Devan said his school isn't doing anything to celebrate homecoming or any sort of spirit week. Probably because the kids will split up into at least two different high schools.

Jordan had her last regulation game tonight. She was a beast. She played great. She had a rough start but has remained determined to get on Varsity next year. She averaged at least two shots on goal per game and her playing time increased to the point that she was getting tired and was thankful to be taken out. ;)

I am still unemployed. I will follow up with my recruiter tomorrow.

Well, I haven't been able to get my computer to communicate with my printer so I have to go to Kinkos to type a paper for Jordan. I type much faster than her.

the boring and mundane

Life is getting into a pretty good routine. Soccer for Jordan, nothing for me, skating with friends for Devan. It's almost like we are in Oregon. Except, oh yeah, I'm unemployed. My recruiter at Robert Half is working very hard to find me a job. She totally likes me which is a huge plus.

As much as we like it here, Jordan is having a hard time making friends. I expected this but she and I were both hoping that soccer would give her an in and some friendships. It hasn't really happened. The soccer team doesn't hang out together much. She is having fun on the team and she is improving but she is disappointed in how it has turned out. Her coach doesn't pay much attention to the JV players and although her coach is fun and really nice, she doesn't have good control over the team and the girls like her but don't respect her. The amount of talent on this team should make them unbeatable. Jordan would like to see more reward for working hard at practice as well as in the game. If you don't work hard in practice, you shouldn't see unlimited playing time and if you aren't working hard all throughout the game, you should be taken out. There are a few players who will decide they are tired and will basically give up but yet they stay on the field. This frustrates Jordan! The coach doesn't want to get the girls mad at her so the girls end up doing whatever they want knowing there isn't going to be any punishment. With how important soccer is to Jordan, and if school doesn't improve by the end of the year, we are considering moving to another district here in Franklin. The school is bigger but is still an amazing school. Devan is okay with this idea because many of his friends from middle school will be going there next year. It's a wait and see sort of situation.

Well, whatever we do for a home, we want to make sure we get something with a fence to keep the cats in and safe. If no fence, we'll get a cat door. I know Einstein will have lots of fun chasing the critters - grasshoppers, cicadas, squirrels, possibly even the rabbits.

Fun with grasshoppers

There is a major electric storm this morning. I love them. I like the thunder and I like the lightning. The lightning is my favorite. I like to sit out on the deck and watch it.

I met with a recruiter yesterday and they have a couple job prospects in mind for me. They are opening an office just about a couple miles away from me so that will help insure it's closer to home.

That wasn't the only excitement yesterday. Monday night our boy cat Einstein came trotting in off the back deck with something in his mouth then started jumping all over the place chasing it. He had caught a grasshopper on the deck. Pretty soon he had maimed that one and minutes later came tearing through the apartment chasing another one. I fell asleep letting both the cats play with the injured grasshoppers. When I awoke yesterday morning it was really quiet. There wasn't a cat meowling at me telling me to get up and feed it breakfast. Einstein was gone. He was not in the kitchen or hiding behind the toilet, he was not in the apartment! He had made the giant leap off our balcony (about 15 feet) to chase grasshoppers. We didn't find him until last night but thankfully we found him. Now with this storm, I imagine he's pretty glad we brought him back inside. :)

Tuesday happenings

I have an appointment tomorrow with Robert Half, a staffing agency. They have a job near here they think I may be a good fit in. The idea of only driving 20 minutes to work has me VERY interested. I am not desperate yet so they idea of taking my time to chose the right place is comforting.

Jordan's team lost again tonight. She is definitely playing better and much more aggressive so she is seeing decent playing time. She doesn't feel her team plays much as a team and it shows in the scores. She also got on a team (again) that doesn't have a good finisher. I think she is a little disappointed at the way things are going but she is still enjoying herself - it is soccer after all.

Devan was having fun with the digital camera (thanks gram) so here are a couple pics of him.

good bye weekend

It's hot here again but this time the pool is open. We are over our draught so we can swim to escape the heat. Yeah!

I forgot to update you on how Devan is doing. He is doing well, his progress reports were all "A's" and "B's" except a very high "C" in math. He is missing two assignments he is supposed to ask about. He spent most of Saturday with his new girlfriend Mackensi. They are huge football fans at her house and he had fun watching movies on the two big screen tv's they have in their family room (ideal for watching multiple games at the same time).

Jordan and I had to go to Kinko's to do her English paper that had to be typed. Our computer is not communicating with the printer. Since I did the update to Windows Vista (which I truly regret) we have had nothing but problems. I guess I will be on the phone with Dell tomorrow trying to get my computer to talk to my printer. I don't want to be running over to Kinko's every time the kids need to turn in a typed assignment.

This week is all about finding a job. Good luck to me.

Soccer Thursday

Jordan played great! She started! She was stoked. She had lots of field time and a shot on goal again today. They lost the game to Brentwood High School though, it was the big rival game. Varsity lost also. It was a very exciting game and very physical.

Jordan says "HI." French is hard. They move really fast. She got her progress report today, all "A's" of course. Her lowest grade is a 91% but that is in an honors class so add three points to that. She said that her wellness class smells awful. (Wellness is like a health/p.e. class in one.) She ran a timed mile today and is 7 seconds slower than the previous two years. She is totally bummed and obsessing over it.

Devan has a girlfriend. He has a really good group of friends here. I was almost surprised when I met them. They are helpful, respectful, and still like to skate. He said his girlfriend is really sweet. I'm sure I'll meet her this weekend so I'll keep you updated. He's starting to like it here but thinks they are too strict at school. (Jordan agrees with the too strict at school thing.)

I dyed my hair black so here it is. I got the shorter cut a few weeks ago. Enjoy your evening.

You'll have to get used to reading this again

We drove to Hendersonville (where Johnny Cash's house was) for a soccer game. It was just JV and Jordan was an animal. She saw lots of field time and played very good. They like her in center mid. Jordan was having a bad day at practice the other day and finally went to talk to her coach. She told them that everything was going to make her mad so it didn't matter what they answered but she wanted to know what she could do to get more field time during games. The coach told her that she doesn't need to do anything different during practice but during the games she needs to be more aggressive and more confident. Her mind is racing and as she says okay and is walking away from her coach she is wondering to herself, how can I have confidence in a game if I don't ever get to play!? Well, she pulled off the perception of confidence tonight and it payed off. Let's see how Thursday night goes.

There is a 13 year old boy in this apartment driving me nuts! He doesn't like anything, doesn't want to do anything, and doesn't want attention but that's all he's doing, being a pest to get attention. I think I'll send him to bed early. :)

Since my upstairs neighbors are actually being quiet tonight and I'm still feeling a little hindered from my beginning cold, I'm going to bed before they think they need to have a party again.

A Little Time Off

I didn't really plan the time off, but I'm back! It took me a week to finally get my internet working but I did it and it may not be as fast as "borrowing" from some unsuspecting person with an unsecured high speed internet connection, but it's reliable and it's securely mine.

Quick update: Devan - doing well, making lots of friends, likes school and seems to be doing well, I have to verify that by getting on their website and accessing our account. Jordan - frustrated with her soccer experience but trying very hard to learn from it, thinks school is boring and her teachers are "idiots", still trying to get a good circle of friends. Me - getting a cold so cutting this short, job hunting and for those inquiring minds, no I never went to lunch with the computer guy, he never called me back (I don't know that I was that interested in him date wise but was definitely open to making a new friend here).

Getting ready for a big snotty sneeze now so goodnite. aaaaaaaccccccchhhhhhhooooooooo......

Free ride

Since I'm cheap and didn't want to get my own wireless, we have been piggybacking on whomever has an unsecured sight. Well, they must have figured out we were doing so because the really strong signal has now secured their connection. We can find one but it's weak and usually only lasts for about 5 minutes before it kicks me out. It's very irregular so that is why you haven't heard from me for a week, I haven't been able to get a decent signal while still conveniently "borrowing" someone else's wireless connection.

My mom is here to visit. She came in Wednesday and it leaving tomorrow. We haven't done as much as I would have liked but we have visited a few places - The Grand Old Opry, The Hermitage, and she has gotten to spend time with her Aunt and Cousins who live here. She scheduled her trip so that she will get to see three of Jordan's soccer games. Two down, one tonight. The time difference and the heat here are a slight hindrance since we start our day really early.

The kids are glad that Labor Day is over so now all their friends in Oregon will be starting school as well!

Happy belated Labor Day. Hope you all had a great day.

More computer issues

I'm now on a first name basis with the computer repair guy. All is taken care of and the computer is functioning properly again. There were some crazy viruses that snuck in as my current security program was updating. They had to reconfigure my Internet after they found the viruses. Oh, and the computer repair guy asked me out. I agreed to lunch. If anything I've made a new friend and it never hurts to be friends with a computer guru. :)

Last night I went to Chaffins Barn dinner theater with Karen, Greg, and Aunt Garnet and a couple friends of theirs. It was fun. It is a big red barn on the edge of town. The play was Smoke on the Mountain which takes place at a Southern Baptist church in the late 1930's. They sing a lot of old old gospel songs. It was very funny and the music was great. There were 7 actors and 6 of them played the instruments. The dinner was great. They had some traditional southern dishes like corn pudding and turnip greens. :)- I actually tried the corn pudding (not my favorite) and they had homemade strawberry and vanilla ice cream. It was really nice to get out without the kids and have adult conversation.

The last week has been harsh.
Jordan had only one soccer game and she was having an off day so she didn't play much. Ugh! That child. She knows she wasn't playing great but got pissed cuz she didn't get much playing time. ?! School is going well. According to Jordan her honors Geometry teacher is an idiot. She has found someone to talk to in each of her classes and has a group of girls she sits with at lunch (when she can find them).
Devan has made a few friends and has been hanging out with them outside of school. He doesn't like some of the strict rules at the school. He came home one day last week and said he had detention. I asked why, bad behavior situations running through my head, when he replied that he forgot to turn in his homework, it was sitting in the middle of his bedroom floor. So he had to go to detention for 1/2 hour for not turning in his homework. He was really bummed. He said he didn't want to get that sort of reputation (with the other students) in only his second week there.
The heat index is still over 100 degrees. It's been about three weeks now (I think). Oh, wait, there was one day that it was only 99. We are also in a drought. Thunder showers happen very quickly here and they usually get them all throughout the summer but this month -nothing so we are on a tight water restriction. Due to the a fore mentioned restriction, they have closed the pool. It's lovely that we can't go swim on a really hot day, no really it is, who needs to cool off in a pool, we'll just use more electricity and stay inside in the air conditioning.

Gotta go check my single and dating in Franklin account now (yes I'm kidding). ;) Love you all.

Did you miss me?

Sorry I was gone so long. The computer was completely out of commission. We had "blue screen death." Thanks to an overnight stay with the computer repair-a-medic, it's all better. :)

School started this week.
They both started Monday, bright and EARLY. They aren't liking the early part. Jordan had only a half day Monday. Jordan has at least one soccer teammate in each class, so she's at least got someone to talk to. She's also making herself step out of her shell and talk to people. She hasn't attempted to eat lunch at school, it isn't as organized as the school systems the kids came from and it's much more crowded, not all the kids are getting their food before lunch period is over. Soccer is going well. It has been over 100 degrees here for over a week (taking into consideration the humidity). Soccer practices have been held at the indoor center and when they have games they stop the game about a quarter of the way through, have all the girls go to the sidelines (remaining on the field), and get a quick water break. They do this during the second half as well. She isn't a starter on the JV team but their coach said that she won't start any freshmen for the beginning of the season. Instead, she subs Jordan in after about 10 minutes and then keeps her in for the rest of the half. Jordan has turned into the coaches go to girl. She's well on her way to getting to swing for Varsity.

Devan has had a rough week this week. We couldn't get his schedule last week so he had to show up Monday morning and get it from the office. He was late to his first class, couldn't get lunch because they hadn't set up his lunch account, and didn't get a locker because there were more papers to sign and return. The air conditioning wasn't working in his art class (the room was 93 degrees) so they held class in the hallway. Tuesday he caught the bus at 6:35 and again, didn't get lunch. Yep, still not set up. At about 3:15 he came thundering through the door, flushed and dripping with sweat. He couldn't remember what bus to take, asked for help, and they put him on the wrong bus! They dropped him off at another apartment complex about a mile down the road from us. He had to walk a steadily non-sidewalked incline in 102 degree heat. Luckily he knew where he was and how to get home. He was so distraught by the time they dropped him off he didn't even think to call me to pick him up. It has gone much better since then. He figured out how to get lunch and knows what bus to take to get home. He has made some friends (he's already got a girl calling him) and seems to like the school. He said the kids at school are friendly. He's met a couple skaters and has plans to hang at the mall with a couple kids on Saturday.

How am I you ask? I'm not sure. I'm bored, hot, content, hot, happy, hot, motivated, hot, and did I mention I'm hot? :)- I'm trying to get the rest of the apartment in order now that the kids are out of the way. I'll be job hunting now that the computer is fixed.

Oh, and I just found out that the really cool bookshelf that I ordered in July and was put on back order with the stipulation that it would be delivered by Aug 18th, yeah, that one. It's now giving me a delivery date of OCTOBER 25th!!!!!!!!! Guess I'll be requesting a refund on that and ordering the other ones I had deliberated over and ultimately chose the one that wasn't in stock.

Gotta get to bed in order to get up before the kids. Glad to be back. 'Nite.
-K

Crazy computer

The computer is acting up and I'm having issues with the internet connection now. Sorry I didn't post for a couple days. My pop up blocker isn't working even though it's activated. The computer is extremely slow now and my search engine is gone. Guess I'm going to visit the computer doctor down the street.

We are well. Enjoying the air conditioning and the pool. Trying to get used to getting up early so it won't be so difficult when school starts next week.

Gonna cut this short so it doesn't abort me.

Extreme Heat

It's 102 here add in the humidity and we have a nice comfortable temperature of 105!

Jordan had a game tonight. Well, she was supposed to have a scrimmage game (grunge match) but the other team didn't show. They ended up playing JV vs. Varsity. Oh, it took Jordan probably 20 minutes to quit ranting and reliving the game! She was very frustrated with her JV team because they just aren't the same caliber as her classic team from last year. She is working very hard to prove herself to the coach.

Devan had orientation at his school today. We are almost all ready for school to start, just have a few supplies to pick up and off they go! Yeah.

I'm getting much better at driving in Nashville without getting lost. We found a mall that has a couple skater stores so Devan and I went to get him some school clothes. We also found a really cool water park right by it, oh, and there is a skate park right next to the water park! So I think we found Devan's new favorite place and I can drive straight there and straight home - without getting lost! Yeah me! :)

The kids say Hi and thank to you to everyone who sends us cards and such. We don't get much mail yet besides bills. Bleh, who likes those?!

Sometimes I feel like we are in the wilderness here. Late last night we saw a little fox run across our driveway into the bushes. The moon was a bright orange last night, it was crazy, beautiful, but strange to see it bright orange. This morning we saw one of the bunnies. Oh, and the other day we had a praying mantis on our patio. I have a picture I will post once I pick up the cord to connect the video camera to the computer. It was pretty big and hung out on the patio all day.

My eyes hurt from swimming in the really bright sun so I'll end for now. Happy Tuesday to all.

Tax Holiday

This weekend is a "tax holiday" weekend. There is no sales tax! That's a great idea. The local mall was pretty busy, more than regular even with school starting so soon. Not everything everywhere is tax free, but stores like Wal-Mart honor it 100%. I really like this idea. Jordan and I went shopping for a few school clothes today. We found a few things at the mall here. Devan likes the clothes at the skater stores and they don't have any here so we are going into Nashville to shop for him tomorrow.

Orders from Dan

One of my friends at Neil Kelly used to "encourage" me in my quest for Mr. Right. Here is another one of his pearls of wisdom brought on only by the yummy chocolate throat lozenges (aka Dove). Thanks for the love and for the assistance in my quest. :)

JV

Jordan is on JV. She's okay with that because she is really trying to focus on getting in shape and getting acclimated to the heat/humidity. She knows she isn't performing at top level right now. She joked and said that when it rains she will be the power player since she's used to playing in terrible rain. ;) She said she will be playing varsity by the end of the season.

Nothing else new.

What a sight

The kids and I were sitting here talking, doing our own thing when I looked out the window and squealed - there was a hot air balloon outside! Right outside. It was probably 150 yards away and the basket was the exact height of our balcony. It was close enough that we could hear them talking! It was incredible. Devan got a video camera for his birthday so he filmed it. I'll get him to download the video later tonight so I can post it for you tomorrow.

The results are in. I spoke too soon. Practice went much better for Jordan today, they were given more breaks and finished up practice inside the air conditioned weight room. As she was walking to the car, she had this perma-grin. She got in the car and said she made it. I gave her a quizzical look and asked made what? The team. She made the team. The coach told her today. By Thursday they will find out who's on varsity and who's on jv. The coach did tell Jordan that some people may continue to improve and some won't so the roster can be adjusted, it's not set in stone. She was very happy, sore, but happy. They have a scrimmage game next week. Exciting.

Jordan told me something interesting regarding her first day at practice. She said she experienced something new. She was standing a little bit away from the big group of girls who already knew each other when one of the girls walked over, invited her to the group, then they all started talking. Nothing weird like making her the center of attention or the talking coming to a complete halt. So far in her experiences, if she has been invited over to the group, all talking stops, but usually she's on her own. She said the girls are really nice and very friendly. Must be a southern thing... :)

Devan is feeling a little better, his school is near the skate park so he is already making plans to take his board to school and hang at the skate park for awhile after school. He made a couple friends at the skate park and I've been trying to wear him out at the pool.

Soccer

Soccer tryouts were awful. Jordan did really well for the first 2 and 1/2 hours then she started to suffer from heat exhaustion. It was up to 84 by the time I picked her up and she had been in the direct sun for 4 hours. We aren't used to this kind of heat and humidity so she had to sit for a few minutes to cool off then went half effort the rest of practice. I know that daily doubles usually have a 2 or 2.5 hour practice, then you have at least a one hour break, then you practice for another 2 or 2.5 hours. No, her coach had those girls out there for 4 hours straight with nothing more than a small handful of 3-5 minute breaks. The good thing is that Jordan wasn't the only one completely exhausted by the end, all the girls were. After the 4 hours of nearly constant running there was more walking than jogging for the two cool down laps at the end. I am sending a cool rag with her tomorrow to put on her neck during the short breaks. She did drink plenty of water, she always does, so that's good. We just need to be really careful and try to figure out ways for her to cool off quickly and easily until she adjusts to the heat.

She doesn't know what team she will be on, but she will be on a team, she didn't get cut or anything. The coach is very nice. Jordan explained about the heat to the assistant coach and she seemed very nice about it also.



After practice we met with the freshman counselor and got her enrolled. She is taking honors biology, english, and geometry. She chose to take French as her language. She is now a Centennial cougar.

I will register Devan after we get his physical. They have to have one before they can start school here. There is a Vanderbilt walk-in clinic near here that we will go to. Plus, they probably need a couple updates on their immunizations, every state has different requirements.

Oh, and the really fun part...school starts early here. Early as in early in the morning. Last year Jordan started school at 8:45 and Devan started at 9:15. They both start school at..wait for it..wait for it..7:30! They have to catch the bus around 7 am! They get done at 2:30 in the afternoon. I told them it works out great for now because they get home when it's still hot so they can come home, change their clothes and hit the pool before they start their homework. Doesn't seem so bad to me. I'll have to get them flashlights for winter time when they are standing in the dark waiting for the bus in the mornings. :) They don't like it one bit! Not only do they get a shorter summer than if we were in Oregon, they also start school at the crack of dawn. Revenge is sweet when it comes inadvertently!

Congratulations to my cousin Kevin and his wife Kim, they are now the proud parents of 12 year old Anthony!

Bring on the hair dye!

I'm now the parent of two TEENAGERS! Oh, just typing that made a new gray hair pop out... Devan is 13 today. We went to breakfast, got his one and only friend here in Tenn (my mom's cousins son Casey), swam for a couple hours, went bowling, then hit the arcade. Devan had a good birthday even if he wasn't around tons of friends and family.

It's very hard to make friends in a new time zone when everybody drives everywhere. I'm anxious for school to start so I can meet other parents. I've found a couple civic committees that look interesting so will join one. I've met a couple local people online but haven't connected face to face yet. I'm working on it though.

Jordan has soccer tryouts Monday morning from 8 am to noon. I think she's a little nervous. She knows three girls by name, the first one she met was Mary Lou. Talk about a southern name! We'll let you know how she does.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
-Kristi

Cool bugs

So besides fireflies and these ginormous june bugs and as we discovered the cat playing with something - Walking Sticks! The patio door was open so it must have come through there. It was cool looking but a little freaky also. Devan caught it in a jar and put it outside.

For part of Devan's birthday celebration we went to see The Simpsons Movie. It was pretty funny. There are some great political popshots in it. Tomorrow we are going bowling and if the thundershowers and electric storm hold off, we'll swim.

I made a huge mess of my house today trying to locate the box that has my important papers in it. I had a big pile that I hadn't filed in the filing cabinets yet and now can't locate that box. I need two items from that pile to be able to register the kids on Monday.

Gotta clean.
Kristi

A losing battle

Spent the whole of last night fighting insomnia. Finally started to fall asleep around 5:45 am (yeah, this morning), woke up at 7:15 cuz cats or something, not quite sure, then dozed until 8:45 when I heard Jordan's brute strength defeat the weak but many layers strong paint that holds her door shut nice and tight.

Did laundry and made a couple trips to the storage unit then went to my Great Aunt's house to do assembly work for her daughter. I got to attach gift cards to the cardboard display. Yippee! They did pay me for it AND the kids and I got dinner out of it, so not a completely wasted day.

Lack of sleep is finally starting to affect me so I'm going to go see if I can find Mr. Sandman (gotta kick his arse first, he totally stood me up last night!). ;)

Nite.
Kristi

The last photos of my journey. Mostly "WELCOME TO..." signs. Good thing you can read them! :)

Almost there...Welcome to Kentucky!!!! OOOOHHHHH, so exciting (yet so far away - the sign that is)

WELCOME TO TENNESSEE!!!!!!!

Welcome home.

Here's the view from our back patio/balcony. This is Franklin, TN.

Here's what Devan thinks of it here. :). Maybe he'll change his mind with time?

That's my photo journey. So far it's been a fun journey and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. Love you all.

Kristi

Missouri River (and guardrail)










Pretty Rainbow










Welcome to...somewhere! :)






We are having random thunder showers. They hit wherever and whenever, really hard for between 15 minutes and an hour, then it's done and the sun is out again and within an hour you wouldn't even know it had been raining.

Jordan said to tell you all "HI." She said it's boring and she can't wait until school starts. She went for a run this afternoon and is not sitting here, waiting (rather impatiently) for me to get off her computer so she is eating her McFlurry like a popsicle. Did I spell that right? Is it popcicle or popsicle? Hhmmm, will try spell check in a minute. (FYI - just spell checked it, it's popsicle.)

I've bored you enough, we are off to see John Travolta in drag, aka. Hairspray.

Oh, both Jordan and I finished Harry Potter, loved the book, hated the epilogue! Ugh, so disappointed in the last part, more like it was written for the audience rather than staying true to the storyline.

Welcome to Nebraska

Wyoming. Great view. Had to stop in Cheyenne and give props to deanna. Took the picture just off the I-80 freeway. For reference it was the next to last Cheyenne exit, across the street from a Burger King. I'm behind a gas station and some sort of drive through.

We spent the majority of the weekend reading. We did spend some quality time at the pool.

We are getting ready to head to the skate park. Have a great day.

-K

A few pics of my road trip

Only a few at a time to keep you coming back. :) I take great photos of myself. Ha!

Welcome to Idaho

I DA HO!

Twin Falls Canyon, UT

More tomorrow. Back to my reading. Happy Saturday.

-K

Leave us alone, we're reading

More than normal I mean.

Something other than Harry Potter you say...fine. When I sold my house I dug up my blueberry bushes and put them in pots. They aren't doing great, but they are doing fine. They sat outside on my mom's back patio for the winter and spring nearly neglected. Then I packed them up into a hot dark truck for a week and shipped them here. They now live on my balcony (patio) They are doing well, they get sunshine, I water them, they get company when we sit on the balcony to read. They are doing well being in pots and the move and all things considered. I even have berries! I went to check on the berries knowing a couple would be ripe. GONE!!! All of them, even the green ones, my blueberries were picked clean! Yeah, all those cute little birds that live around here - yeah, not so cute anymore! Guess I'll be picking up some cheesecloth today.

Hear that...that low, barely audible noise, it sounds almost like a chant? That the book calling to me, gotta go! ;)

-K

Getting Harry Potter!!!

It's fun, we stood in line to get our bracelet and had fun looking at all the people dressed up. We saw a Professor McConegall (picture), a Dumbledore, lots of kids dressed up in school attire with capes, and the best one was a Professor Trewlawney. For those who haven't read the books, she is this wild eyed teacher with somewhat crazy hair and stuff. This lady had a headband wrapped around her crazy hair and then these coke bottle glasses that made her eyes look big and huge almost like googly eyes. Didn't get a picture of her because we first saw her walking by, when I found her again, she had taken the glasses off. I had a pair of plastic black glasses like Harry Potter wears but lost them in the move. The kids are glad because they know I would have been wearing them tonight. I tell them I do what I can to embarrass them. :)
-K

tennessee is sooooooooooooooooooooooo boring!!! i told my mom i would update this so she would make me a pb and j so yeah. we went to stand in line for out harry potter stuff today and im very glad my mom lost her harry glasses. its been reaaly hot here lately so i have been swimming alot. i went to the local skatepark yesterday and it stunk. there was nothing to do there it was all stair sets and rails. there was this huge bowl though. it was a swimming pool well the shape of a pool but there has never been any water in it. its like 11 feet deep or something but yeah i tried so skate it but it didnt really work. dont worry i always wear my helmet - i sort of love that thing. my mom is being a dork and playing with my cat. well my sandwhich is ready buh bye.
-Devan

Good day for Devan

Yay for Aunt Keely! She saved the day and just made this town much more appealing to Devan. She found a skate park right here in Franklin! It's not great. It doesn't have a good flow to it but it is a skate park. Even the worst skate park is better than no skate park. I think it is across the street from the school he will be attending.

It is one year today that the kids lost their brother.

It was 95 degrees today. We spent a couple hours in the pool. It felt great.

Devan and I did explore Franklin a little more as we were trying to find the skate park. I basically know two roads here so I use those roads as my guideposts. So far, they are both major roads so they pretty much lead me to where I've wanted to go.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes out tomorrow. Jordan and I are excited. If the book had taken any longer to be released, we would not be interested. I think J.K. Rowling took slightly too long to release the series, she nearly lost a generation of readers. Jordan is almost too old to want to continue reading them. Luckily it's the last one so she does want to finish the series out.

I just read Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman. It was an interesting story based on life in the Canadian wilderness. Kind of a love story, but not a sappy gooey love story, more like what kind of love grows by living in those conditions. The other book I read was Expecting Adam by Martha Beck. It is the story of a family coming to terms with the fact that they are going to have a baby with Downs Syndrome. Both very good books. Out of my usual fictional genre. Both wrought with emotion in different ways. I would highly recommend both. Reading Murder on the Orient Express now.

BTW (by they way) you can leave comments on these, there is a place to do that if you feel moved to do so. :)

-K

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot

It's hot and getting hotter. We basically did nothing today but hung out in the pool. Oh, I'm ssssoooooo glad we decided on an apartment complex with a pool!

Tomorrow we plan on, ready for this...hanging out at the pool.

That is my life of leisure right now. Lovin it!!!!!!

Have a great day, glad you Northwest tree huggin hippie types finally got a break in the weather. :)

Luv Kristi

On Back Order

So I finally decide on a really cool bookshelf at JCPenney. I had money on a JCP gift card left over from Christmas (thanks Dad and Elise). I debated on two different bookshelves but in the end decided on this one http://www4.jcpenney.com/jcp/ProductsHOM.aspx?DeptID=25438&CatID=21592&CatTyp=DEP&ItemTyp=G&GrpTyp=PRD&ItemID=129d1a6&ProdSeq=1&ProdCount=1&Dep=Home+Accents&RefPage=SearchDepartment&ShowMenu=T&ShopBy=0&SearchString=rex+bookshelf&S4DeptID=25438&CmCatId=SearchResultsSearchDepartment&Search1Prod=True
It accepted my payment then in the little status column it says it's on back order. Anticipated delivery date is 8/18!!!!!!! It took me three days to decide on this bookshelf and it's on back order?! Nice that they tell you, oh, I don't know, BEFORE you finalize your order!

We signed up to participate in the Harry Potter Midnight Madness book release party at Barnes and Noble. The 7th and final book is coming out Saturday so Friday at midnight they begin selling. It's very fun but mostly we are anxious to get the book right away. They do fun stuff at the party mostly crafts and stuff pertaining to the books, but the kids (meaning me) are getting a little old for that.

Things are going well. I'm working on the apartment, trying to find grocery stores that carry stuff we like. Wild Oats carries Tillamook cheese. :) They aren't very big on sourdough or nice thick buttermilk bread here so we're trying different brands. The section for "Wonder Bread" is huge! ick Also having a hard time finding Boysenberry jam or preserves. Lots of grape, some raspberry and very limited blackberry, but in three stores...no boysenberry.

The schools here require a lot of info: proof of residency, copies of socials, certified copies of birth certs, if divorced-proof of custody, etc. I am working on getting all that info together so I can get the kids registered. A couple things I need to get from the schools in Oregon but they close the office for the month of July so I have to wait. That will be the last of the info I need so I'll make them fax it to the schools here.

The cats are driving me insane. I haven't let them outside yet and they are so bored. Einstein kept me up most of the night last night just mewing and whatnot. Little booger, I think I'm going to let them out for a while tonight and see how it goes.

Well, since I don't have a bookshelf I'm going tomorrow to get a small storage unit to get some of this crap out of my living room. With all the stuff I got rid of, I really wish I had gotten rid of more. I have next to nothing when it comes to the big stuff but the little stuff and books, you know, stuff that would go on a bookshelf, I have boxes and boxes.

Love you all.
Kristi

Settling in

So we did some boring old chores and then hung at the pool for a couple hours late this afternoon.

Devan bought himself Guitar Hero II for his playstation. It's pretty fun, at least I hope it is, he's logging a lot of hours on it. Jordan is playing on it as well. It comes with this funky little plastic guitar with colored keys on the fret board. You choose a song then the colors come down this conveyor belt and when the colors reach a certain point, you have to play that color key.

I must say, it was nice not working, but it's getting a little boring now. I may not make it until the kids go back to school. Once I get everything settled, I may find something part time to tide me over. My kids are boring!!! :)

Okay, nothing exciting to report so I'll go now. I'll bore you again tomorrow. :)

Kristi

Brief update

Goodbye Weekend. Although each day is sort of a weekend for me since I'm not working. ;) I'm still trying to get the apartment in order. We need furniture to be able to put things away, but I don't want to bring more stuff into the house until we get more things put away but I can't put the stuff away without having more furniture...

We went to see a couple movies this weekend. Harry Potter of course and then we also saw Ratatouille. It's the little rat that is a chef. It was pretty cute. Some good laugh out loud funny parts. The idea that a rat is making your food is disturbing to say the least.

Devan is getting very bored not being able to find a good skate hangout. I think the kids are actually looking forward to starting school. (Sinister laugh like in old horror movies) Ha, Ha, Ha, it's all part of my master plan! I am glad we have the pool, Devan likes to swim so we go down often to swim. I of course work on my sundamage I mean my suntan. :)

Hope you all had a great weekend.
Kristi

Happy Friday the 13th

Today was opening day for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. We had to keep tradition and see the HP movie on opening day. The movie was a typical HP movie but the last line was way too cheesey!

I've got a local myspace friend. Haven't met her yet, but we email every couple days. I sent out emails to a few other people but the only other response I got didn't seem very warm and friendly. I'll keep trying. It's hard to email someone just completely random but I'll think of something witty and fun to see if they respond back. Just not right now, can't think of anything creative, house is too messy. :)

I found a store that carries Tillamook brand cheese. Jordan is very happy with me. Now I've got to find a store that carries Snoqualmie Falls brand pancake mix and I will officially be "the best mom ever!"

Devan is still trying to find some other skater dudes in the 'hood. We haven't found the hangout yet. People here don't walk or ride their bikes much. Maybe it's just too hot? Because so many people drive, we haven't seen any kids on skateboards to possibly follow them to their skate spot. That would be a little stalker-ish anyway, but Dev is getting desperate for some skate dude interaction.

Hope the heat wave in Oregon lets up. Everywhere here has air conditioning so even though it is 90 degrees out we stay cool no matter where we go.

Take care. Talk to you later. Love to all.
Kristi

Okay, I'll squeeze in an update

Okay, Okay, I was scolded for not updating this for two days so here you go...

Our stuff arrived just fine. Nothing came tumbling down when we moved the temporary wall. (insert heavy sigh of relief) There are quite a few scratches on our chairs and our buffet, but for the most part everything seems to be fine. Still haven't heard any rattles or anything but we haven't opened all the boxes yet.

I did get sunburned unloading the u-haul. It was raining in the morning so we waited until it dried so we were tracking mud into the apartment. The sun decided to come out while we unloaded. The u-haul place is two blocks away so after unloading it, gassing it up again, and walking back up the super hill to our apartment, Devan was hot and wanted to swim. Needless to say, we drove down to the pool (there was no physical way I was going to make it up the hill again). Devan swam, I pretended to watch but basically fell asleep. I really didn't burn bad, just a bit pink, no pain and it's mostly gone today.

The cats are adjusting much better now that we have our stuff. They are more playful and have quit hiding behind the toilets. Einstein would hide under Jordan's covers, but Pika would take refuge behind the toilets. It didn't bother her if you had to go, she's stay right there, didn't mind the flushing either. It did bother Devan though, it was his bathroom where she would bunker down. I guess he doens't like an audience whether it be feline or female or both!

We had dinner with my mom's cousin Karen and her family tonight. It was nice to take a break from unpacking. I'm so bad at trying to figure out where everything should go. I like packing it up a whole lot better than unpacking.

Oh, I've seen lots of places hiring: Backyard Burger, Shoney's, Jack-in-the-Box, Wal-Mart, Target, Publix (grocery store). My prospects are limitless... :)

It's late and I'm tired and still have to clean up the kitchen. I have a cookbook that a container of frosting exploded all over. Wouldn't you know it, it's my favorite Christmas cookie recipe book!

Farewell for now.
Kristi

OUR STUFF IS HERE!!!! Yay! It's here a day early. Actually it was here yesterday but it was too late to try to make arrangements to get there to unload the trailer. We are excited to get a better variety of clothing as well as get our pots and pans. We have been microwaving or eating sandwiches and it's getting old. Jordan did attempt to make a pizza in the oven and that was fine and dandy until it came time to get it out of the oven...uh, now what? We don't have any pancake turners or anything to get it out of the oven. We improvised - I flattened the cardboard box it came in and slid it underneath the pizza. We don't have any knives or a pizza cutter so Jordan ate it like it was one big cookie. :)

Well, the temperature has cooled because it's RAINING! Of course, we have to unload our stuff today so why wouldn't it rain, I mean, we load the trailer in 90+ degree weather, why wouldn't we unload in the rain?!

I am a little afraid to move the temporary walls holding our stuff in. I think we'll have to move the doors and duck because even though I tied our stuff in...I'm still afraid. There were a few things that weren't completely secured by the twine.

The kids are getting a little sick of me. Jordan is anxious to start soccer practice so she can meet people. We had her sports physical done yesterday and we are waiting to find out time and place for conditioning practices. Devan is scoping out good places to skateboard and I am sending random emails to people on myspace.

Don't forget Harry Potter #5 opens Friday!

We have a chair! Jordan now has two bookshelves, a dresser, and a footstool for her room. Devan is furniture less. That boy has only a suitcase worth of stuff here, but his room is a disaster area already!

We have to get Jordan a physical today so she can start conditioning practices. She is so not looking forward to running let alone in this heat! She hasn't been running much and she knows conditioning is going to kick her butt!

I saw the little rabbit on the grounds again yesterday evening. There is an empty car lot across the street that Devan goes to skateboard. We can see it from our balcony, so I was looking over there at him and the movement caught my eye. There are plenty of cicadas and birds so it's totally noisy at night. We are close enough to the busy roads that when we open the door to the balcony, we hear the road noise as well. City/Country sounds all together. Oh, plus we have GIGANTIC bees living in the tree just outside our balcony. I swear they are the size of small birds!

Not sure of our address yet, I'll confirm this morning when I go to the apartment office. Have a great day.

Good Morning,

We spent the night on the floor of our apartment here in Franklin. It's got an amazing view! Yesterday was a race against time, but we seemed to get to all the places just barely in time. For example to get into town to get the apartment I had to be here by 5 and I ran into the office at 4:59! The office isn't open on the weekends so I would have been staying in the hotel for the weekend. After signing the papers, I raced over to the airport (in the middle of a huge downpour) to get the kids just as they landed. It rained basically the rest of the night which seemed to settle everything.

Our apartment sits up on a hill overlooking Franklin. We have French doors going onto our patio. We are on the second floor. I went out on the deck early this morning and saw some movement in the grass below, figuring it was just another bird, I let my gaze wander toward it and realized it was a little brown rabbit hopping across the lawn.

The kids had a good flight, they didn't like being "treated like a five year old" since they had to be escorted from gate to gate by a flight attendant. Neither of them got sick which they both attribute to the "yay, dramamine." They pretty much slept the whole time.

Well, we are off to Big Lots to buy lots! :) We need a few things before our stuff arrives next Wed. I'm still stoked that we got all our stuff in a 6'x9'x8' space!

Kristi

Hi Everyone!

I'm in Troy Illinois right now getting ready to bunk down for the night. I have another 300 miles to go tomorrow. I have to be at the airport by 5:45 pm to get the kids. Plenty of time...

The drive has been fine so far. The cats are doing fine. They have definitely lost weight so when I sedated them today, it knocked them out for nearly 10 hours. It's only supposed to last 6 to possibly 8 hours!

Cool things I've seen: a crane in flight (wow it's huge), a fox, lots of antelope, and a mountain goat on the side of the mountain. I also got to see the arch in St. Louis do to the crazy route mapquest is taking me. :)

Gotta get some rest so I can get into town before my kids tomorrow. Nite y'all. (just practicing)

-Kristi

Welcome to my blogspot

Hello Everyone,

This is a quick and easy way for you to all keep up with what the kids and I are doing. I will try to update this often.

Save this link to your list of websites to check daily (I prefer to be BEFORE perezhilton thank you very much!).

-K