Red Tail Ale

Bill bought a 6-pack of my favorite beer, Red Tail Ale, the other day. Ahhhh. This is one of the things from CA that I do often miss. Although, Killians Red is not too bad a substitute. But the bigger problem is that CA seemed to have such the pluthera of small and micro-breweries to choose from in the everyday grocery store, and here, well not so much the selection.

In order to purchase a "good" beer you basically have to make a seperate trip to a high-end party store. Luckily we have found two in the semi-near area that have managed to serve our needs. Now I have to remember to seperate the good beers from the average beers when I take back the returnables, and then I have to remember which store to return what bottles. Ah, such the hassles of a good beer.

And then there is that Beer Tasting Party we keep talking about. Yea, it has been four years or more since we talked about that one! sigh. We suck at party throwing. Or, planned ones at least. Iam such a spontanous person that I have difficulties planning well.

Oh well, I have a cold Red Tail in front of me and I am happy!!

Exaustion!

I have been rather quite lately. But only online. My life has been turned upside down it seems. With the end of school and all that means with field trips, parties, and performances and the like, plus Annika's birthday, then add in the Community Garden we are helping with, and now that school is out I am watching little Ikey more and the girls also have swimming lessons Mon-Thurs, I am getting ready for our sub's annual meeting and family picnic plus planning the Simmons-Kreeger/MI-CA clan summer camping trip, and dear Lauren has declared that she wants to be home schooled this summer ..... did I forget something? Oh yea, ME! and even more so, BILL!

I finally threw in the towel today and scheduled a babysitter for tomorrow night. Don't care what we do, but me and the man are going out!

Zoo Lunch

This is what Annika and I took to the zoo with us on our field trip Thursday. Roast beef and spinach rolled up in a tortilla with a bit of cream cheese spread on it. Carrot, broccoli, and cucumber slices with a side of ranch dip (for Annika only, I chose to have naked veggies) a cheese stick cut into thirds for easy packing in my container, and some apple slices to top it all off. This was more than we could eat for both lunch and a mid-morning snack, which surprised me quite a bit as it did not seem to be that much food. And, surprisingly enough, Annika ate the sandwich, then the broccoli, then the carrots, then the cucumber (which is usually her favorite veggie) and finally the apples and cheese stick for a 2-o'clock snack on the drive home. Odd.

Wed's lunch

I might start a semi-regular series of photos here of the lunches I pack for the kids. I know this site is all about me, but I have had some inquires about what I pack for lunch and what my kids eat, so this is my way of addressing this. Plus, I am kinda obsessed with this topic ... part of my nutritional stuff, ya know.

So, tomorrows lunch (per Lauren's request) consists of roaches in sandy logs (we were out of raisins, so I used dried cherries - they're bigger so thus they are roaches.) two sticks of colby cheese in one container. Mango, pineapple (and later some kiwi was added too) ranch flavored wheat thin crackers, and grape tomatoes. In the little blue container (my only official bento gear, btw) are some extra roaches ... err dried cherries. I also will pack a home made chocolate chip cookie.

Laundry Line

I did it! A few weeks ago I located some PVC piping, a drill, and some rope and I created a laundry line that will dry a load of laundry and still be rather inconspicuous. Bill really does not like to see laundry hanging up on the line (the snob that he is. har!) so I thought about it for awhile, and found the perfect compromise.

He still does not like it much, but come on, is it really that noticeable hanging off the trellis of our walk out basement? I think not! So, green laundry drying and lower energy bills here we come! And with the price of gas lately, we need to save our pennies everywhere we can!

Word Salad

Heee Heeee

Our entire family has decided that we are going to learn a foreign language together. (not sure how that will actually work, but we are working on it.) Not being very language savvy myself, I have always struggled, and really never possessed the desire to learn another language. But yesterday, while watching an older episode of Boston Legal) I decided that I am going make Word Salad my foreign language!

What is word salad, you ask? (Does it come with a side of ranch?) Well, if you believe everything you see on TV (and don't we all) it is where you think one thing, and nonsense, mixed up words come out of your mouth. For instance, if I wanted to say, "Good morning teacher. How was your weekend," what might come out instead is, "Frog legs piggy bank. Books and teapots eat away my lifeline."

Now, wouldn't that be fun to mess with my kids? And neighbors. And friends. he he he he.....

I got a job offer ...

You gotta love it when a job offer comes your way without even really searching for it. Yea, I have been doing little volunteer things with the intent of networking and such for when I am actually looking for a job, but this one kinda fell into my lap.

The position is through Gleaner's Food Bank, and their Operation Front Line program. I have volunteered to help run a 6-week program teaching food cooking, nutrition, shopping etc. to various groups. I love the class and program, and am excited to bring it to our county here. So, when I found out that they needed someone to help run this satellite office/program I was excited. Originally I was told it would be one day a week - sweet! I can handle that; and even in the summer one day of day care for the kids will not be a problem. But, it turns out that this job is a grand 30 hrs a week, and only until Aug. 25th. Sigh. This is more than I am willing to take on for the summer months, combined with watching Isaac one to two days a week too.

So right now I am trying to see if I can swing a "job share" program with another person. They would probably rather not deal with TWO people in the position .... and all the extra headaches that comes with multiple people. So, I do not hold much hope now. One day a week, for a much longer time sounded much much nicer than 30hrs a week for the entire summer, and then no more work once the summer is over. Especially since both kids will be in school full time starting in Sept.

So, I'll keep a look out for another part time job in the fall. Maybe. Maybe this part time temporary job will pan out. I hate turning down a good thing, but ....

Don't you hate it when a good things suddenly turns out to have a few twists and clouds?