Where are you?

A good question from my loyal readers. :) Here's my answer:

Well, I have been officially running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. I realize that my CA trip over Labor Day is fast approaching. I spent the last two weekends and several evenings shopping. The last time I dressed up, it was for a funeral...and not appropriate wedding wear. But other than that, I haven't dressed up in a very long time. So I had nothing to wear to the wedding. My mother and I got to shop together so that was fun. The hard part is that I wanted something summery and all the summer stuff is on clearance now and I am apparently a very popular size so it was nearly impossible to find. I ended up with a fall outfit but it looks nice and I just hope that the evenings are as cool as Hubby remembers from his time out there.

What? What's that? You want to know how the bay window ceiling repair is coming? First we thought it was just sagging from improper support. So Hubby ripped it all out, put in some 2x4's for support and put up the dry wall and corner piece. Then it rained. And the water came through the holes. So Hubby ripped it out and decided the water was coming in from Matthew's window above. He hung out the window (none of our ladders were long enough to reach up there) and used up 4 tubes of caulk around the window. Then it rained. And water came through the ceiling. After much more inspection, he realized that the plastic sheeting against the house was put up wrong and the water was coming down between the sheeting and the house. So he trimmed off the sheeting and put 2 more tubes of caulk on the inside of the bay window ceiling. Then it rained. And water came through the ceiling. So yesterday, in a last-ditch attempt, he came up with an out-of-the-box idea. He got some gutters from the hardware store, made a trough that he attached below the drip area and then added a tube that allows the water collected to drain out the bay. Then it rained...very hard...last night. And... and... and... there is no water coming from our ceiling. I only wish I'd taken a picture of the gutter work before he put up the insulation. Next weekend will be putting the dry wall up...again...and at some point, mudding...and then painting the whole living room. Really big job but I'm happy to get rid of the green.

I've also been busy shopping some more. I joined a MOPS group last year and loved it so much that I did the craziest thing I could think of...volunteer to be in charge of crafts while I have a new baby to take care of. I can count at least 53...nope, 54...reasons why this will go bad fast but so be it...it's done. So in the midst of floor repairs (nope, still not done) and ceiling repairs and clothes shopping and excessive heat waves, I've been picking crafts and trying to find the cheapest ingredients and stocking up within my budget. So you can see why I haven't posted in a while.

In homeschooling news, we have a homeschooling group (not unschooling though) that has finally started getting together. We had a poetry 'class' and learned about and wrote haiku's. It was interesting to see what the kids picked up on. Rose wanted some help from me so I just asked her questions...What do you want your poem to be about? Cats. OK, what about the cats? What do they do? etc. Here's what she came up with...

Cat flies to Catwings
Silky wings lick flowers
Baby Rho-Rho cries so loud

After she told me the second line, she said, "hmm...one more line and something surprising." I was amazed what she picked up from the very brief instruction of the mom in charge.

Matthew wanted to use a poetry machine. You know those books that have magnetized words and you can put them on your fridge and rearrange into poems for fun? Well, we had a box full of words like that and he worked quite a while rearranging words to make his poem. I can't find it at the moment though, unfortunately, so I can't share his with you.

So, my loyal readers, please don't give up on me. If it's a while before I post again, just know that we're really busy and though I'll be trying to post every day, I'll definitely be back to my regular schedule after Labor Day weekend. Until then, enjoy the rest of your summer and for those off to school, well...stay cool. ;)