Book Club with a View

Our book club normally meets on the 3rd Tuesday of the month, but occasionally when one of us can't make it we will attempt to reschedule it in an effort to have all six of us there. This is no easy task for 6 busy women and we often end up feeling very frustrated as we sift through a long chain of emails trying to find a date that will work for everyone. We had to reschedule our May gathering but still ended up meeting without Michelle because our new date didn't work out for her. Then we had to reschedule our June gathering because both Michelle and Amy were going to be out of town, and after much trouble we finally settled on the 29th and then ended up meeting without Michelle and Jana! It's a problem. So our June gathering of 4 at Collette's house was just Collette, Me, Amy and Jenn, which was still fun but definitely the same as when everyone is there.

After sitting inside for awhile I asked if we could move outside to watch the rain because I know Collette has a fabulous covered patio. Oh la la I am officially in love! She has such an amazing view (this photo really doesn't do it justice). I told her she shouldn't be surprised if she comes home from work one day and finds me sitting out there.

We all had a comfy seat with a foot rest.

We had an excellent discussion of the book thanks to Amy who is always articulate and able to remember what she reads!

Collette was cracking us up with her lounge chair because every once in awhile she'd go from sitting up...

to an accidental full recline, but then would stay like that for awhile until she did it all again. Good times.

Because of all our scheduling conflicts we have decided to stick to our set night and to hope for the best, which is all fine and good except that our July gathering falls during our family trip to Colorado to see Kristi so I'm going to be the one who has to miss it! We're reading Mudbound and finally going to celebrate Jana's birthday which was clear back in May! Never mind that both Amy and I have birthdays in July, this is how far behind we are!

**Have you read this book?

Do you have a hard time scheduling with friends?

Do you have a nice outdoor set up?**

Comment Window Tidbit: Randy and I went to the movies to see "Larry Crowne" and then to dinner at Five Guys. It was nice to go out on a date and see a grown-up movie for a change.

absenteeism

This is Michelle posting for Jill.

She just wanted me to let you all know that their laptop computer has apparently contracted a virus as well, so she will be unable to blog or check email for awhile.

Because being disconnected is obviously just what she needs right now as she's struggling in other ways. Good grief. Maybe she'll have an influx of good mail!

Also, FYI, she doesn't have any answers from the doctor yet and is waiting as patiently as possible.

Bittersweet, But I Prefer Milk Chocolate

Here is the bitter...

Maybe I’m not cut out to be the “real coach” of Whitney’s soccer team. Maybe the girls see me too much as a playful, screaming mother figure and not as an authority. I don’t know. What I do know is that the yelling has gone from therapeutic to exasperated. I did more head shaking and threw my arms up in disbelief more than I did anything else at our last game. We won our first game 7-2 and have lost the other 3. It’s hard not to take these losses as a personal failure.


Apparently the concept of working together, actually passing the ball to someone on our own team, and taking power shots on the goal rather than passing it right to the goalie are tough concepts. Most of these girls have been playing for several years now, so it shouldn't be so hard, and yet it is.


This picture captures me "discussing" something with Whitney after the game. She has a gift for knowing what the other girls "should have done" yet doesn't see those things in herself.


She took a ball to the face at the end of the game and ended up with a bloody nose. I told her that "soccer happens" and that we just keep playing (which she did actually) but when the game was over she wanted some sort of restitution.


For the most part I love soccer season and I enjoy seeing the progress they make when they finally understand a concept or gain a new skill, but the process can be super frustrating for sure.

And now for some sweet...


I get to sit on the sidelines and watch Landon's games while visiting with my parents or the other players' parents. I enjoy sitting under our beach umbrella, in my lawn chair with a cup of pebble ice.


Andrew came to Landon's last game and didn't enjoy all the yelling we were doing from the sidelines.


Ashley had spent the day with my mom, so she was there too and spent some time on Randy's lap.

Landini scored a goal!

These two together are always sweet.

A post-game photo.

I love this one.

Knuckles.

**What is bittersweet in your life right now?**

Comment Window Tidbit:We are out of Carnation Instant Breakfast ($#@!) and I'm feeling quite lost. I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, but that left me feeling ravenous by 9:30 so now I'm eating lunch at 10:30. This can't be good.

Winners

I have chosen 5 random winners to be recipients of some good mail from me. Please email me (stuart_jill@hotmail.com) with your mailing info (unless I already have it) and tell me if you'd like stationery, good mail labels or a mix cd. (And yes, I had a more substantial post in the works for tonight, but my photo uploading is sooooo freakin slow that I'm about ready to throw my computer out the window!).

Linda
Courtney
Miranda
Judy
Liz

**Which would you chose...
stationery, good mail labels or a mix cd??
Have you gotten something from me before?**

Roommate Weekend--Part 3

We all slept in on Saturday morning because we knew we had all day to relax with each other and have Kristi teach us how to make her awesome bags. Unfortunately our enjoyment was short-lived because Marc called Michelle to tell her he'd woken up to find their kitchen flooded and water raining down into their laundry room (@#$!). Why did this have to happen on this day? That's the question we'll be asking ourselves for a long time.


So Michelle left us at 11:00, but at Kristi's insistence, left her stuff here so she'd have to come back to get it. After she left we just sat there in disbelief for awhile, feeling so disappointed and frustrated for her. How often do any of us get a roommate weekend like this? Once a year for 3 days, so to remove one of those days is rather cruel.


Kristi and I eventually got ready for the day and had a surprise visit from Lori. She had stopped by to bring me something, but Kristi enthusiastically invited her in to chat and we outfitted her with a diet Coke and a mint brownie.


We kept hoping Michelle would be able to come back, so we hadn't eaten anything for lunch and finally decided to go to Kneaders around 3:30! Good grief, what kind of hostess am I? Sure we ate mint brownies all morning, but a meal every now again is a good idea too.


Michelle and Eva joined us at Kneaders after awhile, and poor Michelle looked like a broken woman. Eva was happy to answer Kristi's questions and play with Kristi's pink iPhone though.


I had never spent any time around an iPhone until this weekend with Kristi, but I am now converted to the beauty, complexity and versatility of it. It's amazing!


Later, we all went back to the house to work on our bags. I am sewing-impaired for real and felt so overwhelmed. I only ended up sewing one crooked strip of piping for my bag, and Kristi did the rest.


Michelle was able to cut the pieces for her bag and iron the fusing stuff (I believe that's the technical term) on to those pieces, but then she had to leave to go back to the house to gather food to take to the hotel and to get Eva to bed.

Her departure was rather sad and so disappointing, we still had hope that she'd be able to come back later to work on her bag, but that didn't happen. Kristi ended up packing the supplies in her suitcase so she can make the bag at home and send it to Michelle.

I sat and talked with Kristi while she made my bag. I've never had a custom-made bag before, and was particularly thrilled to have one designed to accommodate my church stuff specifically.


Since we'd eaten such a late lunch, we weren't ready for dinner until 9:45! We ran over to Rumbi Grill to get some take-out right before they closed at 10:00.


I couldn't believe how long it took to make the bag, but Kristi didn't seem concerned about the time. Here she is checking the length of the handles right before finishing it.


I was so giddy to put all my church stuff in there and to have it all fit. There are 5 little pockets in there that make all the difference. I have a pocket for tissues and gum, one for keys and pain reliever, one for lipstick, lip gloss and a mirror, one pocket just for pens, and one for hand sanitizer, band-aids and magnets. Woohoo! I am so glad I didn't fight the fabrics I was drawn to because I love this bag!


It was 12:30am by the time we finished and Kristi started gathering her stuff to pack. It's just crazy how fast the time flew by.


This is our self-portrait just before leaving for the airport at 8:00am.

Farewell my friend until next year!

**Would you have been crushed to
lose a day of your girl's weekend?
Have you ever made a bag?
What's in your church bag?**

Creative Friday--UEA Edition

Since the kids are out of school for UEA (which translates into fall break for us) that meant Michelle's kids were home and that I had Landon with me (Whitney had a sleepover with the cousins). Landon and I ran a couple errands on our way to Michelle's house and ended up being rather frustrated by an ridiculously long visit to the post office because of faulty equipment (the scale wouldn't weigh!) and a seriously slow postal employee (who operated at the speed of cold molasses). What should have been a 3 minute stop ended up taking 15 minutes! Argh!


We then went to Sonic to get a drink for Michelle and a cup of ice for me and they were so slow they never even took our order! We ended up leaving with nothing. I felt like yelling "Serenity Now" and yet it was only 11:00am at this point.


Fortunately I calmed down after spewing all the details from these busted errands, though I felt rather lame showing up without beverages for us...it's tradition and one of our favorite parts of the day. Michelle provided "Grandma's Enchiladas" for lunch today, and that helped things considerably.


Landon and Lucas lost no time at all and disappeared right after we arrived; they're so cute together. They ended up playing the Wii in the next room and were totally giggling, it was endearing.


Michelle claimed to have forgotten how to make cards...what the? I passed her the bowl of Cadbury eggs and told her to just work her magic. She's got serious skills, so I never understand when doubt creeps in.


She also made more of her super cute tags, this is a happy sight to see.


I ended up writing about 8 cards today, woohoo. I'm always surprised by the thoughts that come to mind when I take the time to listen to them. I always have thank you notes to write, but then I'll look at my good mail address list and review the names and then sure enough I think "Oh yeah, I wanted to tell her..." It happens over and over again until time runs out for the day.


This was our best self-portrait of the day, though it didn't turn out as clear as I would have liked it to.

**What are you doing for fall break?
Do you take time to correspond?
Have you ever left a restaurant
because they were too slow?**

Survival of the Fittest

I'm 30 hours in to Cousin Camp and am doing alright. I was Mary Poppins on Tuesday night with all the kids at the baseball games (though my mom came to help and thankfully took over the port-o-potty duties). I had a bag of tricks (many water bottles, fishy crackers and Tootsie Pops) so they girls had a great time playing in the dirt with Whitney (during Landon's game--he did great by the way) and just running around being crazy. They were filthy when we got home at 9:00pm so that meant 5 separate showers for all the kids.

I was like a seasoned professional, feeding kids in the kitchen, supervising shower techniques (Tess didn't use soap until I triple checked with her?!), slicing strawberries (they couldn't eat them fast enough), providing towels, directing jammie dressing, setting up the beds for the night, and pouring more cereal. I did all of this without feeling flustered or fatigued, woohoo.


But today I woke up feeling grumpy...that's just not right. I just couldn't shake my irritability, though there was no reason for feeling that way. If anything I should be rejoicing because Randy is the groove buster no more! He started two different jobs this week (a strange, but good set up with part-time design work at two places, plus free lancing from home) so I'm on my own again.


Annoyance number two (the first being the unexplained grumpiness) this morning was that the little blow-up pool we bought last night would NOT inflate! It has 4 separate layers, so if there is a hole in one of them the rest should still inflate, but nooooo, I couldn't get any of them to blow up. The girls were in their bathing suits by 8:45am and were watching me and offering their "helpful" suggestions. Landon even tried to take over for me as if I didn't know what I was doing (aargh!). It never did inflate.


Later in the day the girls were so desperate to make it work they propped up the sides of the pool with chairs and put water in it anyway. They stayed outside all day, so at least it was good for something but I was very bugged. Randy actually went and bought a slightly bigger pool at Big Lots tonight and it inflated in about 5 minutes.


After spending 8 hours outside today (with only 1000 visits inside the house, leaving the door open every single time!) the girls then wanted to cram themselves into the bathtub. (Whatever floats your boat eh?) They stayed in there for over an hour until it was time to get jammies on and have a pizza picnic in the family room.


I was so irritated with the fact that I felt irritable (is there a term for that condition?) that I ended up talking to myself saying "I want to feel better, I want to feel better" and took 2 Excedrin. I then put a "Friday Night Lights" dvd in the computer and started cleaning up my scrap room (it's so long overdue it's ridiculous). Look a clear surface!!! Probably only people who have actually been in this room will be able to appreciate the magnitude of this accomplishment.


I framed the Women's Conference photo grid I made a couple weeks ago. I had it printed at Costco and it turned out great. It's only $2.99 for a 12x12 print.


I finally made room for the cool, red storage container thing Kristi sent me for my birthday almost 1 year ago! I moved all my scrapbooking idea books (which I no longer use and want to sell) to make room for it. I love the burst of color and am happy to have a home for it at last! I also did some serious cleaning up on this table, though the untrained eye may not be able to detect my progress.


So my day was salvaged, my irritability left around 3:30 this afternoon, I love Friday Night Lights, I can actually walk in my scrap room, and tonight was So You Think You Can Dance, woohoo! Wish me luck tomorrow.

**What do you do when you wake up grumpy?
Why wouldn't that pool inflate?
Do your kids ever remember
to shut the door in the summer?
Who do you like on SYTYCD?
Is anyone reading blogs and
actually commenting this week?**