Stuff to Do

When I talk about some of the stuff I gotta get done, these are some of the things. Above is a Mother Bear Project bear-usually they are three colors because they have "pants" and a "shirt", but I wanted to try one in all one color. Next to that is an Angels for Hope Angel...usually they are one color, but I had just a little white & a little green so I made this one two colors. Both of these went out in the mail today. Below is a Blankie Bear. I made this one for a friend who is expecting her baby very shortly, but I try to make 4-5 of these a month for Child Welfare.

We also have been averaging two days a week the shelter walking dogs, but next week there's too many schedule conflicts...we'll probably make up for it Saturday & be out there for several hours, instead of our one hour after school.

Sometimes Happiness is...

A funky, bright pair of stripey socks

Things I've never done, but would like to try

1-go to Hawaii, I've wanted to go since I was in 2nd grade and my teacher went over Christmas vacation. She made it sound magical & I've never found anything to contradict her. My current plan is to go on my 25th wedding anniversary (in 4.5 yrs), and I might even let my husband come with me if he's nice. Just so we're clear, I wanted to go here on our honeymoon, but we couldn't afford it at the time. We were supposed to go on our 10th anniversary...which was 10 days before our daughter was born. My current plan gives me time to save up the money, loose weight so I look hot, and our children will be old enough to not miss us while we're gone.

2-get a manicure & pedicure. I've never had one of either. I really like my hands, they are nice looking hands, long fingers, pretty thin, they are strong & creative. I use lotion on them like crazy, but I've never had a manicure. Now my feet are another story. I have very high arches, and short stubby toes, plus I'm proan into ingrown toenails on my big toes (thanks Dad). Essentially, while I have pretty hands, I have really ugly feet. But, maybe a pedicure would change my view of them.

3-Spa day. I've heard a lot about them, people rave, but never have really experienced one myself. For my birthday several years ago, my mom sponsored me to a mini spa experience, but not quite the same I think. I'm thinking massages, mud baths, facials, walking around in a robe w/a towel around my head...might not live up to expectations, but then again could prove to be life altering.

4-Master Gardener Program. I plan on doing this when I retire from the police department, I just don't think I could make all the classes & activities required otherwise. I love to garden & would love to have an excuse to get other people to do it too.

5-Start my own business. When I retire from the police department I will be 5o years old. I think I'd like to start my own teddy bear store. We don't have one here in town, could do part of my business on-line. I even have a name:Michelle's Bear Den. I have ideas about what could incoporated into the store. Of course there would be artist bears, my own included, and I would try to feature local(ish) artists, there would be other collector bears from manufacturers like Boyds/Gund, there would be a kid's section & this is my favorite part. There would be new manufactured bears not of the collector quality, but what kid cares about that? There would also be bears rescued & rehabbed (from thrift stores, yard sales, etc) that could be adopted for a smaller fee. I would also include a line of bears that I make just for kids here. This would include the floppy bears and blankie bears. There would also be books about teddy bears. There would be books for the adult collectors & of course story books for the kids. There are so many wonderful story books about teddy bears. And once, maybe twice, a month on a Saturday hold a Teddy Bear's Picnic. The kids could come w/a sack lunch & their favorite bear(s), have a picnic. We could listen to music, read some stories, it would be great & give moms & dads a couple of hours off on the weekend to themselves. Riley is all for this plan & plans to work at the store until I'm ready to give it to her & really retire...nothing like job security at 10.

6-I'd like to ride in a Jet Car...they are so fricking cool & to go that fast would be awesome.

I'm making a list

I have several things that I NEED to do on days off this week, some things that I SHOULD do, and some things that it would be GREAT IF I COULD do. I seem to do better at getting stuff done if I have a list, helps me focus I think. Things that WILL be done are my workouts-got some steam rolling here & don't want to loose that-I WILL finish they blankie bear for my friend, the Mother Bear Project Bear, and the angel, and volunteer at the shelter twice. Things I really want to get done:excavate the kitchen, and get rid of all the damn cobwebs, and work on getting Riley's clothes, shoes, etc out of the living room, vacuum & sweep & mop. Things that I'd really like to do involve being outside in the yard...weather may not permit that and time limits may not permit that, but I'd really like to get at least two beds cleared out.

Maybe if I give up sleeping I can get this stuff done.

Soccer is done until the fall

Unless of course Riley & her BFF Tess follow through on their plans to get their team together over the summer to practice at the field near our house. Their ultimate goal is fall season domination...they took third in the tournament today & apparently that is not good enough. Their first game started at 8am, their last started at 4pm...that makes for a long day. Not too bad for me, I made the last game, but Gregg was there all day. We got home just in time for everyone to grab their stuff & make it to the races-roundy rounds-but me, I get to work in the dark again, so miss all the fun. They might be home in time for me to take a break & tuck them in before my partner goes home at midnight though.

Soccer was rough today. The kids were getting tired & clumsy by the end of the day & were getting hurt. Nothing serious, but it was headed that way...we all breathed a sigh of relief when the final whistle blew. We let Riley get a tournament t-shirt w/her last name & team number on the back. They also had other add ons that could be purchased separately...on one row of the add ons they had Peace w/the symbol, Love w/the heart, and Soccer w/the ball...they were separate add ons, but I don't thing Peace & Love go real well with soccer, at least not as was played today.

I need either 4 more hours added to my days or more days off

Who do I see about this? Really, it's becoming an issue. I need more time to get stuff done. I got my Angel for Angels for Hope done, finished a blankie bear, which completes 4 for Child Welfare this month, but still have one blankie bear to make for a friend who is due in like 5 minutes, my Mother Bear Project bear & low & behold another week has gone by, so I will have another angel due! I got in two days at the animal shelter, one day with Doug & Riley, and one with just Riley, got three days in at Zumba-more fun than should be legal-and two days in at Curves. Riley had her final soccer practice/end of season party today that I got to attend most of and tomorrow is her final tournament...I'll get to hopefully see her last game. My house is a complete disaster & will probably be condemned any day now. It would help if the children, particularly Riley, cleaned up after themselves, but apparently that's not going to happen anytime soon. Everything, and I do mean Everything needs to be dusted, vacuumed, swept, mopped, and the cobwebs are starting to make it look like a haunted house. I started on the kitchen this week & already you can't really tell I did a damn thing. I did get all the laundry out of Riley's room...that would be 5 loads worth including clothes & bedding on the floor & she won't even spend the 1/2 hour it would take to clean up the rest. I'm about to have a major melt down all over the three of them, cuz Gregg doesn't help make any of them do anything...he just complains & hides next door. Kym called up asking to borrow money, promised to pay it back Wednesday & then of course was unable to...not that I expected her to, she's never payed me back before. Vanessa called up wanting us to co-sign for her to get an apartment, but we can't afford to pay her rent on top of our other bills & yes it would come to that, even if the first three months are payed for by some program she qualified for...month four would be ours.

Okay, venting done...now for a moment of Zen:

And sometimes it's just all sublime

Ahhh, all the buds on my orchid are now in bloom. It's really quite lovely.

And then there's the races I didn't get to attend. Riley got a trophy for first place, here she is showing it to Papa. Doug went out 2nd round with a red light, but his first round was so awesome that I'm going to brag on him. His reaction time was .031, he dialed in at 9.52 and ran 9.531. This pretty much rocks, he's only 16, this is only his 2nd official race, the arm drops don't count as official races and he's already a threat. Riley was just happy she got to go fast, since her restrictions due to age are now lifted, the trophy was just the icing on the cake.

I need more days off in a row

I got some stuff caught up, but not enough. I've got one blankie bear about half done, when finished this will bring me up to 3 this month...I'll need one more & not sure when I'm going to get the time. I got my angel done for this week, but will have another one due soon. And I need to get my Mother Bear Project bear done.

Riley got her braces on & so far so good. They're not bugging her & she's being very diligent w/the the keeping things clean. She had her last two soccer games today, one more week of practice & then next weekend it's the final thing where everyone plays until they lose or something like that. We went out to the animal shelter on Thursday. We walked Shorty (cute little bat-eared pit mix) and Penny. We actually got Penny to play! She loves to play fetch. Then we just brought about everyone out to play in the yard for about 2omins before closing time. We really gotta find Penny a home before I cave & sneak her into our house, I just adore this dog.

Last night we did street legal drags...well, Doug did. There weren't many cars so he got to do as many passes as he wanted & it was really good practice for him. I think he's much more comfortable with his truck now. I went for a ride with him & helped him with his starts off the line. Dad & Gregg rode w/him & helped him w/his shifting, so now he's comfortable w/starting off in 1st & shifting through to drive.

Still have the stupid cough. I'm so over it & want it to stop. Still have gunk coming from the nose, but that's not quite as annoying as the cough. So far this week did Zumba three times, Curves twice...might do some yoga tomorrow when I get up, I think stretching out will be good & the family should still be out drag racing...yep they're going w/out me. When I grow up I'm getting a job with weekends off.

The Perfect Movie

I've been giving this some thought & can't believe that someone else hasn't already come up with it. The perfect movie would be one in which Hugh Jackman & Robert Downey JR run around w/out their shirts on while stuff blows up in the background. Someone needs to get on this project STAT!

Just when I had a schedule all figured out...

I got sick. Well, first I lost my voice & then I got sick. I hate being sick, I'm not good at it. I don't sit in my bed & look all pretty & fragile. I pretty much look like death on two legs. And this one really sucked. Coughing up yuck, blowing yuck out the nose, energy level zapped to negative 25, slept all the time. Add to that I get cranky and whiney & wouldn't you want to spend quality time with me! Saturday I felt somewhat human, and since Gregg had fled town (actually went on a planned trip to his annual Portland Swap Meet with his friends) I took Riley to her soccer games. We got there at 8:30am, two games later we got home at about 1pm...I then slept until 4:30pm, when the kids in a complete panic woke me up because we were supposed to the Paint to Pass races w/Demo derby. We made it out there & the whole shebang was cancelled due to weather/track conditions. Yeah, us. Total disappointment, so we rented movies. We got Wall-E, which was a hoot, and then I watched Sherlock Holmes. It was nothing like the books I loved as a kid, but Robert Downey JR spends a lot of the movie running around topless, so well worth the price of admission.

So things I missed due to illness:Zumba, Curves, Volunteering at the shelter 3 days, taking Riley to a Zumba class, two days of work. I'm also a blankie bear, Mother Bear Project Bear, and Angels for Hope angel behind. Oh yeah, still on graveyard, so got that whole I'm up at night why isn't everyone else, and you want me to do what when I get up? thing going for me.

Riley gets her braces on today...While she's doing that, I'm going to get some of my behind stuff caught up, I hope...then Zumba tomorrow night. So far, even though I still have a cough & some stuffiness, working out this week hasn't killed me. I'll even get to spend a whole night in bed with Gregg! What will I wear?

Happy Easter

Look what I got for Easter! An Easter Orchid! This is an orchid I've had for two years now & this is the 2nd time I've gotten it to bloom-not counting the blooming it was doing when I got it. It's got three blooms on this tract, but only one is open right now. I also got a very nice basket from Gregg, with Riley's help. It's been a busy week. Riley & I spent two days after school at the Animal shelter walking dogs mostly. Riley had soccer games most of the day yesterday. I bought, boiled, and colored our Easter Eggs by myself, thank you very much. There was also a payday & all the business that stirs up. I worked out twice at Zumba-what a bunch of fun! I also did Curves twice this week, so also good for me. I went to the doctor...he's doing some tests, but he did prescribe me some meds for now & some vitamins & supplements...three days later & I am feeling better.