Let's Live for Today

That is our latest theme song. It is by The Grass Roots. Our other theme song is So Happy Together by The Turtles.

Today we had our belt ceremony. Here is our Taekwondo Master with IJ and S (he called them his Strong Boys). S has been promoted to the Children's Class! He is such a great guy. M has been asked by the masters to run the next belt ceremony at the big branch of the school! He also got to train with them on Friday morning. These were great compliments after such a bad week.

Mr. Sensitive-Snow-Leopard-Lover doesn't like chicken that has any slimy bits of fat. He starts to gag if he feels any slimy meat in his mouth. It is such a pain to feed him! And too bad for him we eat a lot of whole chicken! Today, when M said he was going to make chicken salad sandwiches for lunch, IJ asked if it was made from the same chicken he ate for dinner last night. I saw a loophole, and took it. I said, "No," and muttered quietly, "We can't possibly eat the chicken you ate last night. You already ate it. This is different chicken." M added, "Plus, we boiled two chickens. You could have eaten off Chicken #1. This meat may have come from Chicken #2."

Hangin' in There

For those who don't know, there will be some changes in our employment in the next few weeks. We were notified that M's position has been eliminated. We are going through an arduous process of paperwork and phone calls to see where he will be moved (in agency). One option may be moving... We will let everyone know when we know! So far we are still hopeful that we won't end up on unemployment!

Industrial-Sized Family

M and I spent the morning re-organizing our kitchen. We bought another set of sturdy, industrial-strength shelves at Costco yesterday to replace the wooden shelves I bought in college to hold houseplants. We have definitely grown out of those! Of course, the simple act of opening a box of shelves and putting them together turned into a day-long chore of cleaning, organizing, de-cluttering, more cleaning, sorting, and filing. The old shelves were screwed into the wall because they were so rickety and we haven't moved them since we moved in. We found eight years worth of dropped dog food and baby toys underneath! The new shelves are on wheels so we can move them around and vacuum underneath. We can now organize our giant bags of cereal grains, dog food, outdoor gear, food preservation appliances, and coloring books in one simple location. Now, at long last, the work is (mostly) done and I can get back to my favorite Saturday morning activities: drinking coffee, knitting, reading, sewing, and pouring over homeschool catalogs!

I Hate February!

February is my absolute least favorite month. Least. Last. Ultimate. Hate it. February makes me feel dead inside. Like I've been listening to Tool or Black Sabbath or Judas Priest or some other yucky heavy metal band. I feel like someone could reach inside my chest cavity and pull off a section of my heart and it would crumble with dry rot. The rain is gray and wet and dark and I can't get my booty in gear. Bleh.

But the moment I realize that I'm over half-way through the month and Spring (O wonderful blissful Spring!) is only one month away, I cheer up! Spring rain is wet and gray, but it also has a green color it leaves behind! Get it? LEAVES?

And of course this face: ALWAYS cheers me up! This is the face F makes whenever we point the camera her way. Yes, I know. I said the camera was in Twin Firs. This one is A's. I had to borrow it. I couldn't possibly go several weeks without taking pictures.

But the most amazing thing happened to me this afternoon. The one thing that can cheer up a women no matter what! Not chocolate. Not roses from her True Love. Not money. Oh no. This is even better. I...had...to...buy......... SMALLER JEANS!!!! In a size I haven't worn since my first child was born. M joked the jeans may have been marked the wrong size, and that may be possible. Size numbers are so relative. Coincidentally, his new pants he needed to wear to Taekwondo testing this evening were marked his size, but were way too small. But I tell you: the power that one number on my new jeans had over me today was more powerful than any other force here on Earth.

And I feel great!

My Pathetic Doberman

Has been sleeping on my chair when we leave the house!!!! I took the kids to the dentist this morning (ugh) and when I came home I found doggy footprints and doggy hair and the seat still warm!

We will be without pics for awhile... M left the camera at Twin Firs.

And the posts are dwindling... I'm not feeling too inspired to write. Maybe because I can only think about things that make me sad or mad. Things that people don't really want to waste their precious time reading about. Sounds like I need to read Pollyanna again...

Poisoned!

By my own hand! I was bad... I gave myself food poisoning by licking the beaters after making a cake. Being sick for a day was so not worth the extra chocolate. I've totally learned my lesson.

More Details About My Boring Life

We've got F hooked on smoothies. Really, what is Gerber baby food other than pureed things? Here she is with a spinach, bok choy, celery, grape, strawberry, kefir smoothie. Yum!And today, M took the Vitamix to a whole new level. We make oatmeal almost every morning for breakfast. We eat about 25 pounds of oatmeal in two months. I order my organic oatmeal in bulk from a drop-ship company once a month. We save SO MUCH money this way. We are able to feed our whole family on whole organic grains, blueberries, and organic milk for much less than what we were spending on boxed cereal at the grocery store. Healthier, cheaper, better!

The bad thing, however, to us eating blueberry oatmeal every morning was that E would pick the blueberries out of her oatmeal and leave the rest. And the rest would sit on the table all day and be offered to her for lunch. And then dinner. And should would refuse to eat all day. So, M decided to start using the Vitamix to puree the blueberries first and then stir it into the now purple oatmeal. Success!

And then this morning, Mr. Brilliant added a new secret ingredient! He added asparagus to the blueberries in the Vitamix and put that in the oatmeal!

I can just imagine the kids' friends in the future: "Man, your house has all the cool alien movies and video games and rock music, but Dude! Your parents put asparagus in your oatmeal! That's lame! Let's stay here instead."

But you can't taste it. And I'm going to go have another bowl...

God Always Knows...

... when I need a friend. After my crazy week, I received phone calls and visits from some of my bestest friends and a letter from my homeschooling aunt with a large family. I needed it! And now some humor to lighten my mood...

A had her first moving vehicle altercation. She had a slight oops while driving home last night... that left one dead, one sobbing, and one laughing (at the sobbing, not the death). Yes, we had a little accident involving a raccoon...

RIP Rocky Raccoon