here we go

We are off to a start, of sorts. The kids are all home today. The boy starts school tomorrow. The oldest heads back to university tomorrow. The middle one heads to London on Wednesday.

Vacation was wonderful. I'm not looking forward to going to work today. Dreading the email.

Weather has turned cold. It is 25 right now. The Duke and I are still walking. No wind, so it shouldn't be too bad.

I need to set up my book record for 2015. I have already finished two for this year and am midway through a third. My writing goal is on track as well. Off to a good start!

Enjoy Monday.

shopping

We shopped. That is what I did this weekend. Oh, and I did finish reading a book I had loaded on my Nook.

That is the extent of it.

The boxes continue to pile up in the dining room and in her bedroom and now in the garage.

Another chick is getting ready to leave the nest.

Hey, Monday, wishing you would have taken a bit longer to get here.

let the internship begin

She's a bit nervous. Heck, I'm  nervous for her! The oldest begins her internship today. No rest for that girl. She was home Friday afternoon after an 8:00 a.m. final in Calculus and now she is off to work. Well, not quite yet as she will leave later this morning. She will be departing each morning before I have to leave for work and she will be home after me.

Welcome to the real world, baby girl.

Hoping and praying for safe travels and good experiences.

It was an interesting weekend. The middle daughter had her birthday gathering on Friday night. The kids ate large quantities of fried chicken from Gus's, went bowling, and then came back for cake and ice cream. It seemed they all had a good time. Saturday the hubby and I made the major Costco restock the pantry shopping trip. Sunday I took the oldest to buy a few new pairs of 'work' pants and three new tops. She has more dresses than you can shake a stick at, but not all are work appropriate, and pants are going to be more comfortable if she goes to any job sites with any of the engineers.

Next weekend is PROM and baccalaureate and Mother's Day!

It is going to be a crazy, crazy summer. And today is Monday. Let's go.

the countdown is on

Those five days sure went fast! Now the countdown is on to Christmas. The oldest will be back home in 3 weeks. Then we have a week before we head south to spend Christmas with my folks. Then back home for a few days of local fun and relaxation.

Hope your Thanksgiving was a good one! We all ate way too much, but our house is decorated inside and out and I even did a little shopping on Saturday afternoon.

Happy Monday. Off into the work week we go!

smile, it's Monday

Monday. Already.

Where did the weekend go? Well, Saturday was spent doing laundry, cleaning the house, stocking the pantry and then stocking it some more. Sunday was spent at church almost all day as the youngest is confirmed this year and we had a special Mass for all the 8th graders and their families followed by a picnic and the information packet handout/lectures. As he is our third to be confirmed, we sort of know the drill. Didn't see anything in the packet that has changed one iota from when the oldest did this 5 years ago.

Off to work I go. Tonight the soccer team faces the suburban Catholic high school. I usually looked forward to this match as we would get to see some players and families we knew from club soccer season. However, all those kids are now at college!  This match will be a real test of how they are doing. The first two were easy wins, this one won't be.

Okay, Monday, here we go into the week!  Looks like it could be a rainy one for us - Isaac is making his way toward the Gulf Shore and we will see 'weather' from when this storm hits land.

No walking this morning

Good thing we walked twice yesterday as a big storm system moved through and we will not be venturing out this morning until it is time to leave for work.  It is still thundering and such and the rain is coming in waves.

Lovely. We really needed the water. But, rainy days and Mondays always do get me down as the old song goes.

I didn't get nearly enough stuff done this weekend. I guess I need to revise my 'to do' list for the week.

The week in general is crammed full of doctor, dentist, and eye doctor appointments for the kids and for me. They also have VBS and the June babysitting gig starts for the middle kid. Lots and lots going on.

Better come up with a plan of attack.

monday, ugh part II

The sirens started at about 10:30 last night and lasted until close to 11:00. Ugh. The storm blew through in about 20 minutes and luckily I was able to fall back to sleep in short order after that.

Had a good weekend. I read three books...yes, three. On my Nook. I'm totally addicted to this device.

I will do short reviews on those titles tomorrow.

For today, I need a large cup of joe and the morning paper. Pronto.

Happy Monday!

laugh out loud

We spent a lot of time laughing this weekend. Everything from Chuck Norris to soccer pictures to the Emmy Awards provided chuckles, giggles and  laughing-snorts...yes, we have a snorter.

I did not spend much time reading. I did meet a friend at B&N, but left without making a book purchase. We had a great visit and I hope some good news is in her future.

We spent several hours at the soccer field watching the middle child's team win 5-0 then watching the oldest child's team lose 2-0. Then we got to watch them lose again 3-0 on Saturday. Wasn't a good soccer weekend for her, but lessons to be learned in defeat.

Some chores got done. Some paperwork finished. Some cooking completed.

And lots of laughter.

All in all, a very productive and good weekend.  I guess I'm ready for an extremely busy work week ahead.

Queen of Kings by Maria Dahvana Headley

I really wanted to love this book. Rome. Egypt. Cleopatra. Mark Antony. Octavian. In some ways, the Cleopatra story has been done to death. No pun intended. But, I hoped this fresh voice and new twist on the tale would provide hours of reading pleasure.

The writing was fine. The story rolled out at a nice pace. Some of the scenes were really good. But, I never connected with Cleopatra and found myself enjoying the chapters featuring some of the supporting characters more.

This is a decent read, yet I finished a bit disappointed. The novel blends elements I truly enjoy: history, fantasy, mythology. But, for a character driven novel, something was missing. Bummer.

Monday has arrived after a very nice weekend. I feel well rested and ready for the week ahead. Looking forward to seeing some friends and some Friends at different gatherings.  Looks like I will wrap June up in a good way!

and that is that

The weekend went by much too quickly for me. I spent Friday running back and forth across town buying groceries and such. Saturday went by in a blur, I don't even remember what I did except for laundry and some cooking. Sunday involved church, the doughnut shop (cops included just like the old Bangles song), the grocery store and more cooking.

I read, a lot, this weekend. All of my library books are due back and I need to restock. I finished the third Rachel Vincent novel. Her heroine, Faythe Sanders, is a shape shifting werecat. They are easy, entertaining reads and I will most likely grab the other titles in the series that the library owns.

I also read a historical fiction piece by Posie Graeme Evans. I had read a trilogy from her several years ago about some king's mistress. I remembered it as being good, but this book just never rose above the level of 'blech' for me. I finished "The Dressmaker" by skimming the last 100 pages. It was predictable and a bit shallow.

We watched the finale of Game of Thrones and love the final scene with Dany rising from the ashes, three baby dragons in tow.  Just not enough of Arya in these first season episodes to suit me, but hopefully more of her storyline will be included in season two. Going to miss Sean Bean though....always enjoy his acting and now that Ned Stark is dead, well, unless they bring him back as a ghost.....won't be seeing him.

And that is that. The weekend is over. Father's Day has come and gone. It was good talking to my Dad and watching my kids have fun with the hubby as they played a marathon game of Monopoly.


Now we begin a very busy week and the slide to the 4th of July!

a brief interlude

It was a lovely weekend. I tended to several things I needed to work on and enjoyed some down time. I didn't finish my book or watch the Netflix movie that has taken up residence on my kitchen counter. But, I came away with the feeling that my new schedule will be a good one for all of us.

Up this week is a variety of appointments, soccer related things and normal life stuff.

It is a cool, rainy morning here. Yet another Monday starting off a bit gray and dreary, but the sun promises to shine later on in the week.

Happy Monday....good to see you.

dyngus day

Back up in the land of my 'raising' today is a very special day. Easter Monday, also known as Dyngus Day, is a celebration of Spring, Polish sausage, beer and politics. I spent a couple of those Mondays at the local hot spots for such festivities, but it was never one of my favorite things to do. I went along and was glad when it was time to leave.

My Monday brings a fervant wish that this week is a good one for me. I'm hoping, praying, focusing, concentrating and pleading that Wednesday goes Super D Duper fantastically well.  I hope what I learn is what I'm hoping to learn and what they see in me is what they need. I'm hoping for the 'this is a good fit' moment for me and for them.

The rain held off all weekend and we had glorious weather for Easter. Thank you, Mother Nature. Now, the rain has moved in and the storms will be with us for up to two days. But, it should dry out and be picture perfect for the oldest's prom night on Friday.

Going to be a busy and exciting week for all of us.  Fingers and toes crossed that everything falls into place.

thunder and lightning, very, very frightening

I woke this morning, for the first time at 2:00, roused hubby from the couch, let the dog out and back in, then stumbled back to bed. Hubby had stayed awake as we had major storms roll through the area. They were strong enough that he passed out the battery operated lanterns, just in case morning came and the power was still off. The power came back on and the storms rolled through without leaving much damage behind.

Needless to say, we are both a bit 'peepy-eyed' this morning. The oldest was actually up and at the breakfast table before we managed to crawl out of bed. Not that she is moving fast. Her body is aching from the soccer tournament this weekend. Her knees look like someone has worked her over and she happily took an extra strength ibuprofen after she ate her cheerios this morning.

Happy Monday.....not exactly a smooth acceleration into the week, but the engines are running and most of the pistons are moving.

new week

Summer is officially half over now. After the 4th of July, it is the downward slope to that first week of school. Bummer.

I didn't do any reading over the weekend except the newspaper. Just couldn't get back into "Brisingr"....the house was too busy for me to concentrate and focus. This just isn't a very good book, but I'm so stubborn that I will plod along with it until I finish.

The oldest begins her soccer season at 8:30 this morning; so that means I get to begin the twice daily drives to the fields. Next year she can drive herself...and that is unbelievably scary to me.

Happy Monday.

waterlogged

After two days of nearly non stop rain, my yard resembles a large and very green sponge. We did manage to sneak out to the fair between showers on Saturday. The crowds were sparse, but the vendors who had stayed were still in good spirits.

Beyond that, we celebrated the middle kid's b-day yesterday. The cake turned out well as did her choice of dinner entrees, shrimp and pasta.

The book of choice for the weekend was the first Dresden Files novel by Jim Butcher. "Storm Front" has been a good read and I will search out more of Harry Dresden's adventures. I never got hooked on the short lived TV show based on these books, but I can see why they'd try and bring these characters to the small screen. Pretty good stuff and a strong male protagonist.

Hope the rain moves on east and the sun begins to shine, now that would be a good start to the week!