Busy, Busy Me

Mandy had her prom last Saturday. What a day. She had taken the day off from work but was asked to come in from 8am until noon to help in the flower department. So many people were getting bouteniers and corsages and they needed Mandy. So she got up early, her least favorite thing in the world and went in to work. I often worry that she is not helping around the house and therefore has entitlement issues and I have raised one of those people. It turns out she puts others first, except at home. I can live with that.

I put her hair up in rollers. I love fixing hair. I am not great at it but she was happy with the results. I did her make up once a few years ago and she hated it. Mandy almost never wears makeup so she had her friend come over to help.

I tried to get my work done, which is up to about six hours a day now, in the morning. Lily had some sort of virus and was throwing up. I spent the entire morning cleaning up puke and tending to Lily. I then planned on doing my work after Mandy left for the prom. However, Mandy's friend's mom came to the house along with her daughter and decided she couldn't figure out how to drive home and back again and invited herself to stay at our house until the girls came home from the Prom. I ended up not being able to do my work until Sunday. Which I usually have off. I emailed my boss and asked permission but she ended up not getting the email and gave me hell about it.

Mandy's date decided to come and pick up the girls first and then the other boy. Mandy's friend's mom was not going to be able to get a picture of her daughter's date. So I offered to drive behind the kids to the next house, where we took even more pictures. After the kids left we got the other mom and the three of us went to Wal-Mart where we printed out and shared all the pictures we had just taken. We got frames for our favorites and the girls came home to an album and framed pictures of thier night.

We moms then went out to have some coffee and visit. When they closed down the coffee house we went back to my house and watched what turned out to be everyone's favorite movie - Ever After! A very fun night, worth getting trouble for blowing off work. I really tried to get it done.

This entire week is going to be so busy too. Saturday is the Relay for Life. I am a team captain for the first time this year. It turns out that Mandy's senior trip is also this week so she will not be able to help out. My team is having a bake sale. This week I am baking and getting the sign ready etc. Wish me luck!

Thanks to everyone who has sponsored me. I will take lots of pictures and tell lots of stories. If you would like to help me raise money for the American Cancer Society by sponsoring me to walk all night long click here!

Pompeii

In January 2002, shortly after my first miscariage, Jeff decided what we really needed was a trip. He picked Pompei as our destination. We rode the trains from where we lived in Pordenone to Pomepei. Picture northeast corner of Italy to mid to lower west coast of Italy. This train trip took us through Rome, the only time in my two years living in Italy that I saw Rome, was out the train window. I guess our time in Italy was spent taking the road less traveled. We kept putting off Rome and then we were gone.

Pompeii was completely destroyed in the year 79, by a volcanic erruption of the nearby Mount Vesuvius. The entire city of Pompeii has been escavated and you can go there and see an entire Roman city. There is so much detail. It is not a couple of buildings but blocks and blocks of buildings, an entire city. There is so much detail, the paintings on the walls inside the homes and shops. The address outside each house along the street. Sidewalks, billboards, two arenas, fountains, so much detail. We were the only people there that day, the whole city to explore on our own. It was amazing. The hotel we stayed at was phenominal. We didn't have the opportunity to stay in hotels very often during our time in Europe. We lived there. When we did stay in hotels it was always on a budget, and our rooms were always so small you would not believe it. In Pompeii our hotel was lovely. Our room was good sized. We even had a balcony.

We hoped on the train from Pompeii and explored a bit of the northern portion of the Almafi Coast. We had a lovely dinner and bought some lovely jewlery. I think that I had the best lasagne of my life on this trip. As luck would have it I was able to find photos of this adventure. Enjoy.

A night to remember

I was able to get Lily to take a nap. Things were going quite well. We walked out our front door at exactly 6:00PM, our community trick or treats from 6-8PM. No one was about. I live on a street with dozens of children, I saw none. I saw the neighbor across the street getting into his car and asked him if his (four kids) were going trick or treating and he told what was going on. My neighborhood has no street lights or sidewalks, so most of the people take their kids downtown. We have a quaint little downtown area that is quite often used for festivals etc.



The area was blocked off to traffic and all the store owners decorate the street and hand out candy. It was packed with people. There was a live band. There is always a live band in Mississippi, Mandy says that her school cafeteria has a live band on Fridays. As it became dark, the street filled to capacity. People of all ages dressed in adorable costumes. It was a lot of fun.

As we were pulling up to our parking space a black cat ran right across our path. That was exciting. We only stayed about a half an hour. Lily and crowds don't really mix all that well. We filled her pumpkin with candy and headed home. We all had a blast. I love living here where people put so much love and kindness into things like Halloween.

When we got home, we found that a few people still trick or treated our neighborhood. Which was a good thing because we had a LOT of candy. I was filling the candy bags of the kids who came to our house. Only two or three houses per street were passing out candy, so I was loved. I gave the rest of the candy to Jeff to take to work.

We got home and Lily forgot to eat a single piece of candy. She didn't mention it and neither did I. Isn't that funny. I did have a very hard time getting her to bed. Taking the nap and all the crowd and excitement left her a little wound up. It took me almost an hour to get her to go to sleep, it was almost 10PM before she dropped off. I hope your Halloween was fun too.

Where the Magic Happens.

Lorelei and Angel both posted pictures of where they blog. Here is mine.

My desktop computer's ethernet plug got damaged in the move and she is difficult to get connected to the Internet. Plus my monitor takes up my entire desk, along with a large pile of various things. This is where I blog, do homework, and play Internet Spades.

Jeff and I have become addicted to LOWES. We have been going everyday and offering them our money. I have been redecorating my living room and I am getting ready to paint the outside of the house. Just hoping for a couple days of no rain. One time I tried to wash and wax my car and it started pouring just as I was spreading the wax on the car. Of course the rain stopped as soon as I got back into the house and changed into dry clothes. It doesn't rain here all the time, just whenever I go outside to do a project. Perhaps I will watch the weather report.

Recent Photos

Lily hard at work.


Aren't we cute?

Mandy and the volleyball team at the athlete's introduction ceremony.

In the huddle.

This is the outfit Jeff chose to wear to not only drive Mandy to work, but to go into the grocery store (where she works) and buy milk. She was a tad upset. Notice the hiking boots without socks. I thought it was so funny I took these photos.