Better

I cracked the whip over the backs of some girls and the house looks better. Okay, no whip, but I sent their friend home and kept bringing them back and back and back to the task. I threatened to throw away any boxes of assorted junk they had stashed and since I have in the past, they knew I meant it. They even got that taken care of. They cleared the floors enough that I could vacuum and then I steam cleaned the bedrooms and the living room area rug. It's amazing how much mud you pour into the toilet after using one of those things. I have two loads of laundry in progress and that always makes me feel better.

C was invited to a swimming pool birthday party, then all of us were invited to join the birthday group at Pizza Hut for pizza and birthday cake. I thought that was really nice of the mother to invite us. Pizza Hut pizza is my favorite. :-)

What a mess

My house, that is. There is debris from the girls everywhere. EVERYWHERE. A tiny bit is mine, but almost none of it. It's so overwhelming I don't even know where to start. I'll post back if I figure it out.

Confirmed: I've lost a friend

I've had a couple of friends here in my town, not many, but lots of acquaintances sort of make up for having few friends. I noticed last fall one of them was giving me the cold shoulder but at first I thought it was that we only passed in the hall at Church or when dropping our preschoolers off at school. Finally I realized she was speaking to me as briefly as possible and only when I approached her.

I wondered if I had offended her some way or if it were something else. I wondered if it were my dd's situation with her unwed pregnancy. Turns out that is what it was. Dd had horrible behavior when she arrived here last summer. The friend was concerned that her dd of a similar age might get some ideas, I guess. So instead of just keeping dd away from her daughter, she cut off our whole family. Dh had been friends with her husband and that has dwindled to an occasional "hello." My youngest dd was in love with her youngest ds at preschool, but she moved him to another schedule and they don't see each other anymore.

Oh, and my unwed mother dd hasn't lived in my home for five months. Glad she won't influence my former friend's daughter.

The Cat in the Hat's visit and a guest reader in the first grade classroom

The celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday seems to be really wide-spread this year in the USA. E's teacher is a particularly big fan of his work so I expected a big celebration, but C's teacher is making a fairly big deal of it too. E's teacher set up a schedule of parents to come in and read to the class. We could bring in our own Dr. Seuss book to read or read one of hers. Since I know she plans to get through every single book he wrote I figured it would help her schedule to just read whatever she put in my hand. This one was something about McElligot's pool which is a new one to me but easy to read and fun for the children. You can see E was pretty happy with the visit from the Cat in the Hat. And now you can see why I like to be in charge of the camera--I delete all the pictures of myself I don't like!

Almost-full moon

Once in a while I see a really big, low moon. This one looks like it will be full tomorrow. I guess I could look that up, huh? This picture is looking west down my street at about 7:25 am. It doesn't do justice to the apparent size of the moon.

Back and Forth

That's what I've been doing this morning--walking back and forth in my house putting things away. Amazingly enough, only about 2% of the things are mine and 98% belong to three little someones who also live here. The floors got worse and worse over the weekend and despite some straightening up by the aforementioned someones, they still looked bad.

First thing I went around with a laundry basket under my arm and picked up everything, then redistributed it to its proper place. Next I vacuumed all the carpets and rugs and swept the wood and tile floors. Then I started folding laundry. Next I think I'll wash all the girls' sheets and remake their beds.

I invited one of S's preschool friends over to play this morning. I figured it would be easier to have two of them entertaining each other than to have just S alone. Plus the little boy's mother will undoubtedly get more done as well. :-) This is the first time I've invited this little one over and it's going fine so far. The parents are potential renters so I also want to really see what they are like before possibly turning our house over to them.

Speaking of renters, one of our small rentals came open about two weeks ago and it has been up to me to get it filled. I don't really like this kind of stuff, but it has to be done. I placed an ad in the paper, answered dozens of calls, showed it to a couple of people, and took an application. Dh is going to call some of the references and make a decision.

Allergies?

S had pink eye on Monday and I took her to the doctor on Tuesday. The doctor prescribed some erythromycin ointment for her eye and it started to look better right away. By Wednesday I had my doubts though. She was so purple under her eyes that I thought she had allergies instead. With spring coming and the crazy wind we've been having, I've had some symptoms and thought maybe that was her problem too. I've been giving her children's Benadryl but I can't say it is making a big difference. Could this be a cold? I'm still thinking allergies, but the poor child looks terrible and complains that her eyes hurt.

Record early mailing

This is what when into the mailbox this morning! And I think this is the earliest dh and I have ever gotten it off. I don't know why we always procrastinate and procrastinate, but we do, and it's not because we owe because in fact we usually get a small refund. Now to hunt around online to find the New Mexico state forms and get them figured out. I'm hoping it will be easy because I don't have a computer program to help me, just my tired little brain.

Brief memories of Sicily

Someone online asked me about living in Sicily and this is what I posted back:

My xh was stationed at Comiso Air Station which is on the SE side of the island. It was a GLCM (Ground Launched Cruise Missle) base and was still being built up even as the GLCMs were signed into history by President Reagan. It was a small base, mostly US with a small part that was Italian. I had tiny children at the time but still managed to get around the island a bit, go to the local markets regularly, get up to Rome, and also one trip to southern Germany (before moving to Germany a year later). That was on the train and it was very interesting to see how they got that train on a ferry to cross the Strait of Messina. :-)

I thought the weather was very much like the weather in the Sacramento area--hot dry summers, cool rainy winters and lots of agriculture. There was also a lot of history in our area with Parthenon-like ruins at a place called Agrigento and a place calle Monte Rosso that has a traditional Christmas nativity walk with the final stop in a cave with Mary and Joseph and the baby. It was neat. Very authentic-feeling.

The locals were in love with children. At the time I had a baby with curly red hair, fair skin, and blue eyes (Holly who just had the baby). I couldn't count the times I was stopped on the street by an elderly woman reaching to touch her hair and say, "Bellisima!" to me about her. If we'd go to a restaurant (they don't open until 7 pm) in the evening, the waiters would rush to make a little bed for the children or do something else to show concern for the little ones. I don't know if it is still that way, but I'll bet it is. There aren't a lot of children in Italy these days and they really value them.

It was over too quickly as we were there only about nine months before the base closed, but it was a memorable tour of duty.

Of course I have many more memories, but these are just a few off the top of my head.

The Mystery Worshipper

I was reading an article on church hopping in America and it referenced the Mystery Worshipper who visits churches in the US and other countries, then writes up a review and posts it online. It is very eye-opening to read about the worship services of churches other than my own. I've been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for all my life and have only limited experience visiting other churches. I think for awhile I thought all church worship services are kind of like mine, but I've discovered over the years that they aren't. My church is quite conservative both in its doctrine and in its worship practices. I'm very comfortable with that. I would not feel as though I had really worshipped if I visited a church with dancing in the aisles and multi-media music. OTOH, I'm sure many people would feel bored in a church without such things.

What kind of worship service (if any) do you prefer?