B-12

Today (and last night) I am super tired!!! I just took a B-12 and I hope I will feel better by tonight. Last week was crazy! My friend Becky came late on Wed. night to spend a couple of days. Thursday we went to Virginia Beach. The weather was awesome!!! The waves were great and the kids had so much fun playing in the water and the sand. Taylor was able to go and do some work on the way. At the end of the day there was a cool band playing down the street and we were able to listen for a few minutes. Butter. It was great! Then Chipotle for dinner and a late night home. Becky's son Jacob was like a bottomless pit at dinner. I am waiting for Brenden to start eating me out of house and home.

Friday was good too but would have been more so if the weather wasn't 96! It was sooooo hot in Willliamsburg. We went for Home Educator's week. My favorite was watching the "colonists" recite the Declaration of Independence. That was cool! I am thinking I need a stockade and a prison at home. The kids seemed to like it:) The kids were pretty good even though we got home late again. Then, us dumb adults stayed up until almost 2 just chatting. No wonder I am tired! I'm still catching up on sleep. Hopefully I can get to bed early tonight. I should be able to since none of my friends are going to be around to entertain me for hours. Off I go to make roasted chicken............

Things I dislike...

There are some things in life I really dislike. Here's my short list:

Picking up after my children
Warm sodas
Appliances that don't work when they are supposed to
Meals that don't turn out like I plan
Making my kids do stuff
Getting up early
Being sick
Not being able to hear or taste because I am sick
Static-y clothes

I guess that's all I can think of for now. Maybe I just wanted to complain, sorta. I'm really jealous of my friend, Marianne. She's in Hawaii. Her hubby had business so she is there for 8 days. Lucky her. I like homeschooling my kids but starting that business back up is a pain! The kids ALWAYS rebel. Maybe this week will be better. Maybe this week I will be better.

My confessions

I have a confession to make. At night, after the kids have gone to bed and I have ditched my hubby for my computer or TV or whatever, I get out my big bag of tortilla chips and cheddar cheese and go to town. I LOVE cheese. I know that eating food late at night, especially fatty ones like chips and cheese, is a major contributor to my rear end, but I just don't care. It's soooo good.

Another confession. I have been reading (well, listening really) to a book called the Hunger Games. I think it's compared to the short story, The Lottery. I don't know I really like this series. It's a really wierd story with lots of heartwrenching, depressing writing. I like reading books that take me on a vacation and not into hours with terrible images and thoughts rattling around my brain like unwanted visitors. I guess my real confession is that even though there are TONS of people that love it, I don't. I am strangely curious about what happens next so I listen and then I am horrified and I have to stop and then I get more curious so I listen more and then I am even more horrified and the cycle goes on. Right now I am not listening. I would like to have nice dreams tonight. I probably won't though. So, Chelsey, others, do I keep reading? Actually, I have finished the first book and am listening to the 2nd. I want to stop but I feel like I have invested so much time and brain power into this book that I need to see what happens in the 3rd. ARGH! Whatever happened to the era of 1 book only????

I just talked to my sister who is preggy and pretty sad that she hasn't had the baby yet. I would be too. I have been. I hope she has that baby tonight! So now my computer battery is on low and I am tired. Happy whatevering!

Faustschlag!!!!!

This is what you do when you bump fists with someone in Germany. Today I wanted to do it five million times!!!! Our exchange student, Isabell (who is practically a Stockwell b/c she LOOOOOOVES ice cream), attended a private school for 2 days. Sadly, this wasn't working out and despite the fact that the Clover Hill High School had all their international places filled, the principal was able to get her in anyway. YAY!!! I won't go into all the details about the reasons behind the change, but lets just say that our Heavenly Father is definitely concerned for our well-being and all aspects of our daily lives. This change is super awesome b/c now Isabell will get to attend school with Kylee and meet lots of different kinds of people. Now we will have 2 more weeks of summer vacation. Maybe we can make it to the beach!! YAY again!!! So, today it's just.....awesome!

My real life.

First, let me say, I went out to lunch with Dylan and I drank WAYYY too much Diet Coke. Now my fingers are going a mile a minute and I think I am making alot of mistakes. So, I took some pictures today to illustrate my real life. I feel like am constantly getting pulled in various opposite directions. Mostly of my own creation too.

This first picture is what I WANT TO DO. I am trying to get projects done and this is one of them. But I really want to do it. They are fingerless gloves for my sister. Anyone that has an iPhone or an iPod touch or a touch screen anything can tell you that if you want your hands to stay warm and be able to use your gadget then you have to have a pair of these. My friend, Chelsey, says they are good for playing violin too. I made her a pair. So, I made my sister a scarf and decided she needed a pair of these too. They are easy to knit and the yarn is soooo yummy! Wish I could just sit for hours on end and knit:(

This is what I DID.
I have been painting and sorting and organizing like mad. I have been meaning to sort through my files and abuse my precious label maker. I went through my whole office this week just sorting and throwing things out. My homeschool shelves needed it badly so I can make room for the stuff for the new year. Isn't it hard to figure out what you should keep and what you really should get rid of? I have also painted my bedroom and the laundry room. Whew!

This last part is WHAT I AM DOING. Brenden decided that he needed his own room. Taylor and I have been talking about switching the boys anyway. The rooms are crazy messy!! I don't think the boys room has EVER looked so bad.

We had to put away all the legos and rokenbok in one room and sort clothes, etc. in the other. Dylan also decided that he wants his dresser to be red. So, out we went to Home Depot and bought ourselves some spray paint (and lunch!). At least it's not 100 outside like it has been!












So now you know you know what my real life is like. But if you already read my other posts, you know that I'm sure I have ADD and that's just how it goes in my world. Whatever!!!

Our new addition

We are adding a member to our family! Well, not permanently but it is still exciting. Isabel from Germany is coming to stay with us for 10 months as a foreign exchange student. Taylor called me up on my way home from camp a week and a half ago and said (while I listened in my post camp stupor), "Let's get an exchange student!" I couldn't even process because the lack of sleep and my elevated body temp from being in yucky heat all week was affecting my brain. So, I still am feeling crazy but at least I am sitting my air conditioning while I write this:) I don't know much about her except that she says she is 15, talkative, and likes sports. I think she will get along with Kylee just fine. I don't even know when she is coming. Sometime in August. Awesome!

As a side note, I registered my daughter for high school today. She was practically jumping out of her skin to get her classes! She is taking German and Theater for her electives. Neither of which I would have chosen for her so it's a good thing I didn't have to do it by myself. My baby is growing up!

Katie says I have ADD

Is this true? How can this be? Just because I can't sit still long enough to finish a conversation or....what was I saying? A kid interrupted me. I mean my brain DOES go a million miles a minute. I DO have lots of unfinished projects and ones that I REALLY want to start. Can I list a few?

1. finish 2nd summer sock
2. make a vintage pearl necklace
3. replace a pane of glass in my family room window
4. repair a favorite bracelet

What was I saying........a kid is crying....

Did I mention I just now instituted a sibling buddy system? I am so tired of my kids talking mean to each other and being just plain rude. So, for the next 3 days I am having them be someone's buddy. They have to hang out with them, do their chores with them and go somewhere fun with their buddy. They don't really know about the AND friends. Even Kylee. They hate me. It's ok. They hate each other too. Not really, but sort of. Where was I?

5. paint my bedroom
6. recover a chair (I have to fabric)
7. knit fingerless gloves for my mom
8. clean out the garage

Do you get the picture? I think I have a normal amount of household projects but top that off with my addiction to knitting and my inability to sit still and you get one busy chick. It drives my hubby CRAZY!!! Once he really told me he was jealous of my knitting. Maybe he wants me to be one of my projects.

So where was I, oh, ADD.... Just so you know, I am trying to write this post as it comes out of my brain through my arms and down into my fingertips. I don't even want to think about how crazy it sounds until after I press publish and the see the crazy that exists in my brain.

Maybe the ADD is created by the life I lead. Wanna know what I have been doing? I didn't post anything interesting about our HUGE trip to CA. We flew to LA on April 30 and drove down to SAn Diego that night to stay with my sis Rachel. We stopped for food at In N Out Burger. EVERONE raves about that place but we thought it was yucky. We're food snobs. That's a post for a different day. More kid crying. It's the same kid every time too. I love Chay but he whines alot. In SD, we went to the SD Zoo, the beach and Legoland. I took them to Legoland by myself. Taylor was working. We had a good time and I didn't wring anyone's neck and I didn't want to either. YAY! Then it was off to Tehachapi (mom's house a.k.a. home base) for 2 days and then repack and go to visit Taylor's dad. We stayed (camped) at a nice campground in Point Reyes National Park. The scenery was gorgeous but we were so cold!!!!!! We hiked, got junior ranger badges, visited Muir Woods (more badges), toured San Fran and ate dinner with his dad every night. It was so great to see Gene, his wife Barbara, and Uncle Ben (Barbara's son). It's been WAY too long since we connected with them.

Ah, no more crying. Maybe the boys are just getting in trouble.

On to Yosemite for a whirlwind tour in which we our kids trooped 12 miles of hiking with us. Every time you open your eyes there, you think you are looking at a real live postcard. It's breathtaking. For real. We also took our kids to Mariposa Grove to see the biggest trees they will EVER see in their lives. I love trees. My grandpa loved trees too.

I am just realizing that I will be writing for the next hour if I tell you everything we did and how I felt and what we ate, etc. so I will sum it up. Let's see..... back to home base, Disneyland (we fit 10 people in our hotel room, got 2-4 hours of sleep and still managed to have fun), home base, reunion (AGHHHHHH!!! Need I say more? We got snow and church was cancelled), still at home base, Grand Canyon (great trip!), home base, LA, fly home on my birthday, Jun 2. There!!!!

Then, I had 2 weeks to recover, get my house in order and then repack to go to Nags Head for a week with Taylor's family (yet another post - maybe). Then home to unpack and crazy pack and finish prep for girls camp (Mom, I KNOW it's really called YW camp but I can't stop). Now I am mostly unpacked from camp and back into the routine. I have even started a project and am re-reading Twilight. I know it's silly but the whole Jacob/Edward thing really is compelling.

So, now what? I am making plans for the rest of the summer and seeing how all my projects fit into it. I know I won't get them all done but that's ok. What else would I look forward too? Oh wait, more projects! I will just keep making plans, buying yarn and hope I have the time to finish them. So, maybe I have ADD or not. Who cares? If I didn't, I wouldn't be Brie.