I am blessed...

Can I first say how blessed I am? The faucet on my sink is finally fixed! I don't know how Mr. Fix-it has done it, but it has made such a difference in my life! No more struggling to turn the faucet from one sink to the other. I didn't even realize how much energy I was expending on doing the dishes! In addition, my cousin, John (aka wheels, Socrates and phantom), helped me to update this blogsite, so any new additions you see are compliments of him. Thank you! I am so grateful to N's first grade teacher for tossing the homework these last two weeks of school, so refreshing! I made it over to Starbuck's this morning to buy her a gift of appreciation--if only she knew the true trigger of our generosity!

I was a little sad to see the news today of the Iowa boy scout camp hit by a tornado. Four are dead and at least 40 were injured. It's unclear how many are missing or buried in debris. Also my spirits were dampened by the news I received from my Navy friend Alda who will be deploying next week to Kuwait for 7 months. She leaves behind her husband and 2+ year old daughter (born in the wake of Hurricane Katrina). I truly feel for her. I know separation from loved ones is tough, but I can't even imagine being separated from my kids for so long.

Speaking of separation, today I decided it was time to return all the library books and movies we have been holding on to (some for weeks with renewals) in preparation of V's parents' visit. I don't think I'll have the time to make trips to the library while they're here. This is pitiful, but it seems my daughters had developed an attachment to a few of the movies. It was early in the morning, so I decided to just drop all the books and movies into the box outside. A somehow figured out what was going on and was very upset and started crying because I had returned "Xtra men". I guess I shouldn't have checked out that movie in the first place, although I meant it for N. I figured since it was animated, it would be tamer than the latest bigscreen version of X-Men. And a super big treat (aka reward) for him. A momentary lapse of my better judgment.

I owe my friend Kat a huge thank you. While her children and mine played for a few hours (with little parental supervision, I might add), she shared her valuable after-school time and labored to help me paint the purple room purple (well, actually Lilac) this afternoon. A is actually calling it "her room" and wanted to help with the painting. Who knows? Maybe someday soon she'll actually be sleeping in there!

So after painting, Kat and family readied themselves to depart. After banging out a few tunes on the piano, Ethan and the "guys" said their goodbyes to my kids. They left for home and it was time for me to make the quesadillas for dinner. When I served corn, to my dismay, E refused to eat it because she "doesn't like corn, only corn sticks". Huh? Say what? Corn sticks? Could you have meant corn on the cob perhaps??