Updates

So lots of people have been asking how the carpool thing is going.  So far, so good.  This week is pretty much a zero carpool week as I was out of town yesterday and David is out of town until Thursday...BUT I can already see a bit of difference in our budget and a huge reduction in my post-work cell phone usage!  LOL.

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It has been so hot here lately - over 100 for day after day after day.  It just seems too early for all this heat and humidity.  The heat here can be just as crippling as the cold and snow in Nebraska were - you get worn out just going out to the car, cooling it down, and then getting out and starting all over again later.  Thank goodness for air conditioning!

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Kyle's alien picture was chosen for a student art display at the Morris Museum of Art!  We are very excited.  The show is supposed to start in August and run for eight weeks so I'll let you know how it goes.

Tooth Man

Kyle has now lost his top front teeth - a sight that still makes me giggle.  He just cracks me up with this little toothless grin.  At dinner tonight I was telling him about the song "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" and he immediately took to the song giving it his typical Kyle twist.  It ended up sounding more like a rock song.  During his shower he continued to sing about teeth, the lyrics went something like this (sung loosely to the tune of "Bad to the Bone"...whatever): "I went to the store to buy some teeth.  I went to Dollar Tree and went to the tooth aisle, but all they had was molars.  I went to Dollar General but they had incisors, I said no, I need front teeth.  Give me some teeth...give me some teeth."  Man I wish I had my video camera going at that moment.  However tomorrow I'll see if he'll let me video him doing the Christmas song!

Goodness

I'm not posting as much as I was, am I?  I think it's a combination of too much to do at work and no direction to my life on the weekends.  I'm slowly getting used to school being out, the days being longer and spending more time at the pool.  This is the second summer we have joined our neighborhood pool and I love it there.  Augusta has a couple parks and rec pools, but they are in lower-income areas and the Y pool has a water park, but from what I hear you have to be waiting at the gate the moment they open to have a hope of getting a lounge chair.  Our pool club is busy, but you can usually find a chair if you're there before 2:00 or 3:00 - after that it gets pretty crowded.  I love watching all the people - the soccer moms, the new moms, the on-the-cusp teenage girls trying to catch the eye of the gangly, pimply boys.  It all just fascinates me.  

David and I have started car pooling to work and with gas creeping closer and closer to $4 a gallon, it only makes sense.  We work within blocks of each other, travel 20 miles round trip each day and my car definitely gets better gas mileage.  Of course we're both making sacrifices - David has had to change his work hours to meet mine and he's without a car during the day since I have an assigned parking spot and his office is on a first-come basis, and I (of course) have had to cut down on my cell phone use while in the car.  We're just starting week two, but I'll keep you informed!

Pomp and Circumstance

David's son, Tony, graduated from high school in Nebraska on Sunday.  Woo hoo...it was a bit of a long road the past couple years, but he did it.  He now plans to go on to college and major in horticulture and golf course maintenance.  If anyone can do it, he can.  We have been lucky through the years to have a good blended family relationship - I know we're lucky because I've seen other families that nothing ever seems to work out and everyone is in turmoil.  Tony has been in my life since he was 5 (which seems like only yesterday) and he started calling me "mom" the day after David and I were married (Tony was his best man at age 7).  I don't know what the future is going to bring, but I am so thankful to have had these years watching Tony grow into such a great young man.

Meet Peaches!

Peaches is my very own Webkinz!  Kyle got her for me for Mother's Day and I've already established her online account, started furnishing a room for her and put her in a pair of stylish yoga pants and t-shirt!  I wonder if Kyle thinks I was spending too much time with his two Webkinz?

If you have a chance, check out Trace Adkins performing "You're Going To Miss This" at the Opry here.  I realize that I am definitely going to miss chatterbox Kyle at dinner, especially when he's been replaced by monosyllabic Kyle with hair hanging in his eyes.  I'm going to miss the toy strewn playroom and impromptu hugs and kisses.  Although I will say I do NOT miss the hassle of having to load Kyle into the car (toting a giant bag of baby junk) - I love that he can himself in the car and buckle his own seatbelt.  Oh and I don't miss toting around all that junk!

Hope you had a great Mother's Day!

Holy Cow

I saw this commercial last night during Desperate Housewives. If someone had told me about it, I would have thought it was a joke. I mean really!

Money

Like a lot of people, money is on my mind lately.  It occurred to me last night when we were shopping and I asked David, "How much does that cost?" after he put the gallon of milk in our cart.  Milk.  We need milk, we will buy the milk, now suddenly I want to know how much it costs?  ($3.48 if you're interested.)  I don't know that the economic stimulus check coming is going to do us much good in the end (buried deep in the language of the bill that created the package there's a clause about getting less when we file our taxes...a sort of advance on tax returns) but I'm looking forward to its arrival - our pool club membership is due and I plan to swim the summer away.  Oh and we just bought a lawn mower and I want a grill.  Hmm...I guess we are stimulating the economy!  But you know, we're paying more for gas and groceries than we ever have and I doubt any raise we get over this summer is going to put a dent in those increased expenses.  I think we're all going to learn to economize more and waste less so maybe this is the economy's way of righting itself, regaining its balance so to speak.

Kyle is hearing us say more and more, "No, that costs too much money."  We're trying to do things as a family that don't cost as much money, but Kyle has money, lots of money in his eyes.  He just traded me quarters that he earns for positive behavior at school for dollars.  He now has $9.00 and thoughts of nine things at the $1 store are spinning in his brain!

I'm terrible at thinking of things to cut back on - they all seem like necessities to me.  Give up my cell phone...don't think so.  No more cable or high speed internet...uh, necessity!  Stop buying Orbit gum in bulk...not if you want me to be pleasant to you.  See my quandary?