Not What You Want to Hear

"You do seem kind of on edge." My mom said that to me yesterday, while in the course of discussing various things. Sadly, she's right. I am too busy, too stressed out.

I don't know what I can do to cut back (although I have trimmed my admittedly over-ambitious summer school plans--no piano right now, thanks!), but I am trying to not be so snappish with the kids. It breaks my heart a little when Sarah asks if I'm mad. I'm generally not, not really, but I can see why she might think so. That's not good for anyone, so I'm going to try to be a little less tense.

Walking in the mornings would probably help with this. I've only gone out a couple times so far, but if I dig my alarm clock out, I'd like to go more often.

Wish List

We went to my stepbrother's house on Memorial Day for a barbecue. It was a nice day, nice for the kids to be able to play together, etc. The high point was when they got out the dune buggy and took all the kids for rides (my stepsister drove). She didn't like the noise at first, but then we could hear her laughing like crazy, even over the noise of the engine. All the kids loved it, and all day Tuesday Lauren was telling me she wanted a buggy for her birthday.

That is, until we went to the end of the year Brownie party, and she saw their trampoline . . .

Bleep

We have a critter in the attic again. It's mostly in the area over and to the left of the computer, and every time I hear it, it makes me want to tear my hair out. I don't even remember what we did last time, but I remember that it involved repairing the roof vent.

Also, regarding the shower surround: it's gorgeous. Shiny, clean, awesome--it makes the rest of the bathroom look like crap. One tiny issue--he forgot the shower curtain rod. We probably won't get it until the weekend. Taking a shower with no curtain is interesting.

Or Maybe I'm a Masochist

Last night at Sarah's Brownie meeting, the co-leader mentioned that there was no one to lead a Daisy troop next year. Hm. Lauren will be ready for Daisies next year, though I wasn't thoroughly committed to signing her up. Extra time commitment, extra $, etc. So why did I say I would "consider" being the leader?

Obviously, I have a brain tumor. Or something.

I mentioned it to Jeff this morning and he just looked at me. "Don't bite off more than you can chew." I do tend to try to do too much. His next comment was, "What are you going to give up so you have time for this?" Give something up? Huh? How does that work?

So I'm still thinking about it. I'm also thinking about the garden, sewing, baking, this summer's school schedule, the grocery list, and a garage sale.

The Countdown's On!

Only five more days! Woo hoo!

On Sunday, we're having the new shower surround installed. Although it should look better and be easier to keep clean, the surround itself is not the cause for the celebration. In addition to installing the surround, they are also going to fix the pipes. The pipes that leak so badly that the bathtub faucet was a constant dripping stream. It was so bad that we generally leave the hot water to the bathroom turned off. When we want to take a shower or bath, someone has to go down to the basement and pull a lever to turn the water on. When finished, the lever has to be put back, so that we don't end up paying a ginormous water bill from the waste.

It is really pathetic, how excited I am that as of next week, all I'll have to do to take a shower is step in and turn a handle, without the pilgrimage to the basement. I'll post pictures!

I changed my mind

I want a rototiller for Mother's Day. Funny, Jeff laughed when I said that.

I got some Tiger Lilies from a freecycler this afternoon, and planted them about an hour ago. They only take up a row about six feet long or so, but I'm still beat. I would like to put a lot more plants and flowers around the house, though. Hence, the rototiller.

And the bunnies are back in force. Even a dog doesn't keep the bunnies out of the neighbor's yard, so how am I going to keep them out of ours?

Sad, I Know

Jeff asked me the other day what I wanted to do for Mother's Day. "Huh? Oh. It's May, really?" I couldn't come up with anything in particular I wanted to do (except maybe mini-golf, and that's just because I want pictures for the annual album), but while I was making dinner last night, I realized I really need a new can opener and vegetable peeler. Somehow, though, I don't think Mother's Day should celebrate culinary drudgery.

I also told him that even if I don't get this as a gift, I'll be getting it for myself sometime before it gets too hot. Last year, I alternately coveted a friend's underwater camera and tried putting my own camera in a zip loc bag. Neither had very good results. I'm really hoping this does the trick, and I'm willing to drop $30 to find out. Obviously, the quality of the picture depends mostly on the camera itself, but as long as the plastic is clear enough, I think it will do ok. I'll post results once I get them.