Well, the Tricia trip was excellent. :)  It's so nice to have her here and talk and laugh and read together.  Just to be.  Love her.

Haven't heard anything about jury duty today.  I can't understand why they waited until the very last possible day to notify me whether or not I'm excused.  A lot of people have told me to go up to the courthouse on Wednesday with my kids.  I'm still not convinced I should do that.  I have a friend to keep them, but I really don't want them to have to stay there all day.  She's leaving the next day, and I'm sure she could use that day to prepare.  We'll see what comes tomorrow.

I'm watching Cupcake Wars.  Love it.  I don't want to do it, but I like watching it. :)

OK, I'm all done for tonight.  I can't focus any more to type any more.

Jury Duty

I got summoned today to jury duty.  ON WEDNESDAY!  What?  I mean, shouldn't they give you like a week's notice or something?  They just called me last year, and I was excused.  Granted I was nursing at the time I was called, but they gave me a month's notice, so I could actually return the letter to them, and receive a letter from them telling me I was excused.  So, today I called and the woman said if he excused me once, then I wouldn't be eligible to be excused again.  Um, pretty sure the circumstances are exactly the same this year as they were last year, except I'm not nursing twice a day.  We have no caregivers for my kids during the day, except me.  Why are they not calling Dusty?!?  I mean, he could legitimately get out of work, with an excused day off, and go serve.  Not me.  There's no excuse for me being away from my kids.  I called them again, and got someone that told me that I needed to send a letter for the judge to review.  Isn't Wednesday a whole 2 business days away from now?  I know the judge won't be in tomorrow, so Monday he'd review it, and they'd...what, send me a letter back?  I decided to hand deliver the letter asking to be excused.  (Mind you, as soon as I hung up the phone the first time when she told me that I couldn't be excused, I burst into tears.)  I got Hannah out of bed before she was ready, and delivered the letter there before 4 because I guess they leave at 4 on Fridays.  She said I should get a call on Monday, but it may be as late as Tuesday before they notify me.  Short notice much?  It's just infuriating to me that they summoned me for five days from now.  FIVE DAYS!!  Ridiculous.  If I go on Wednesday, there's no doubt in my mind that I'll be picked because they obviously need more people to serve, or they wouldn't be sending out letters this late.  I SOOOOO want to take my kids with me on Wednesday and just say, "Sorry, I couldn't get anyone to watch them today."  Truth be told, if I called, like I'd have to do, after 5:30 some night and they told me I was to report the next day for jury duty, I might have to bring my kids.  I may not have a choice.  Of course, I could leave them watching a movie in the car all day, but I'm pretty sure that would be frowned upon.  I've heard so many mixed things about whether or not they'll excuse me.  A lot of people online say that being a stay-at-home mom is a valid excuse, but someone told me today that she has actually heard mothers around here say that they were not excused just because they had kids at home.  When my kids are older, I'll be glad to serve and fulfill my civic duty.  Now?  Please just let me stay at home with my kids.  I will be completely unable to focus on the necessary stuff if there's the slightest chance my kids are anxious or strained or upset.  Call me spoiled, but I just see myself as being a good caretaker.  I want to be with my kids and not depend on others to drop everything to watch them while I'm on the jury.  I'm just praying that God will allow me to be excused.  OK, so maybe I'm praying that His will is done, but I'm praying that His will is that I get excused. 

Tricia's here. :)  I'm glad she made it.  About 2 1/2 minutes after she got here last night, the bottom dropped out and there was torrential rain.  She made it JUST before the huge red line got to us.  She has been wonderful playing with my kids and reading to them.  They love her so much.  I do too. :)

Seth has been dry and clean in underwear for two days!  I'm so proud of him!  He wears a pull-up at night, and has for the last two days during naps, but he doesn't need them then.  He has been dry after naps for these two days too.  He was VERY resistant yesterday after he'd had on his underwear for a few minutes.  I think it scared him that he'd have to be so in control of himself.  Then he realized he had already been in control, and just went with it.  He has done a great job. :)

OK, I'm going to go to bed now, so maybe I can get in bed by 11...yeah right.  Hopefully it'll be soon though.  All this emotional stuff with jury duty has really worn me out today.  I know to some people it would sound so stupid and trivial, but to me, it's terribly emotional and important.  I've never been away from my kids for more than 4 hours, except when I had Seth and was in the hospital and Hannah was at home.  Being gone all day would be so hard for me, and I don't know how it would affect them, and I don't WANT to know right now.  Give them a few more years.  Give me a few more years. 

Today

There's nothing I like better than awaiting a great friend to roll in this evening, along with severe storms.  OK, so maybe I could do without the last part.  Tricia is coming TONIGHT!!!  I know she won't be here long, and I know she has a lot of people to see while she's here, but at least we'll get a little time.  It seems like when Tricia visits we have bad storms threats.  They're actually supposed to be happening as she gets here.  I hope she hurries...well, not to the point of a ticket though.  I have the tornado closet cleaned out and ready.  Water, batteries, candles, flashlights, pillows, sleeping bags, even our tent, just in case.  Not that we could pitch a tent in the closet, but if the closet were the only thing left on our house (yeah, right), then we'd have something in which we could sleep.  I mean, really, have we ever known of a house that was hit by a tornado where the only thing left was the closet under the stairs?  No?  Didn't think so.  Usually when a house is hit, a house is HIT.  Of course, as I'm thinking of this, I'm remembering where Tricia was in the tornadoes a few years ago, and how the wall and ceiling were gone around her, but the shower wall was still in tact.  Her purse was thrown hundreds of feet away, when it had only been about 15 feet from her.  I guess we'll keep the tent in the closet.  Our weather radio is going to be in there with us, and the regular radio, with batteries, to listen to the forecast, if the power goes out.  Here's one of my fears.  The power goes out and we have to light the candles.  Doesn't seem like a big deal, right?  Yeah, except my kids are petrified of fire and candles.  Hopefully they'll realize they can either sit in the complete darkness, or have the candles lit.  Pretty sure I know which one they'll choose. 

They're "napping" now.  Hannah just got up after being in her bed for one hour (reading for 20 min. of it), and expected to come down because her nap was over.  I literally told her, "Not a chance, Hannah.  Go back to bed."  She's laying down again.  Seth is coughing, although I'm not sure why.  His nose has been running, and he has drainage because he coughs when he lays down.  I'm pretty sure neither of them have slept at all.  That'll be fun if we're up late because of tornadoes tonight.  Maybe they'll actually sleep in the closet though, if they're tired enough.  That would be convenient. 

Remember Coyote Blues?  It was so great!  I got tilapia with jumbo crab chipotle cream sauce on top.  Dusty got a filet with a blue corn crepe filled with vegetables, and with a crushed tortilla crusted relleno filled with meat and cheese.  It was so good!  Then we got fried ice cream for dessert.  If you're in any of the four places it's open (here or places in Louisiana), GO!  I would highly recommend the Jackson one! 

Guess what!  Seth was in UNDERWEAR all morning this morning!  He got underwear yesterday because he had almost filled up his whole sheet of stickers.  He filled up his sheet today, so he got to wear underwear!  This whole thing started on Saturday, and he hasn't had any accidents at all since Saturday morning, except for naps and night.  I'm so proud of him!!  He's not even 2 1/2 yet, and everyone says that boys are harder than girls!  OK, I'm going to go take advantage of the rest of the 3 minutes they're in bed.

5 hours til Tricia!

Soooo...

I think I should probably allow my children to visit other people's homes without me more often.  Hannah is now four, and she has been to someone else's house exactly two times, as of today, without me for a play date.  Today's happened because one of my piano students has a little sister who turned four today.  Usually she's at gymnastics when piano lessons happen, but since it was her birthday she did not go.  The mother invited my kids over, just around the corner, for the 30 minutes of the lesson.  I quite reluctantly let them go trying to make excuses, "Oh, Seth is snuffy, he might be getting a cold..."  "OK, just for the 30 minutes, and you'll bring them back when you come to pick up your daughter?"  "OK, well, see you in 30 minutes."  30 minutes.  30 minutes.  30 minutes.  I feel like I said it 500 times.  I was completely distracted during the lesson!  This student was out last week for PNEUMONIA!!!  What if her house is infected?  They're going to forget their sunglasses.  Oh, and their gloves.  Oh!  Their hats!  Why didn't I just strip them naked and send them on their way, just to be sure they wouldn't leave anything behind there.  I hope Seth doesn't have to use the bathroom there because I'm sure she doesn't know anything about taking boys to the bathroom.  OH, I really hope Hannah doesn't have to because she'll do it all herself, and then not wash her hands right.  Holy  Helicopter Mom!  Maybe I hover a little too much.  It literally gave me a headache.  I had to take Advil after my last student.  I think I may be a bit controlling.  Ya think?

On another note, we went to eat at a restaurant called Coyote Blues for my birthday dinner, did I mention that?  Pretty sub-par.  Anyway, I emailed them letting them know I was sorely disappointed, but in much more words than just those two, and that we couldn't afford to come there again to potentially be disappointed AGAIN.  The owner emailed me VERY quickly afterward and asked if they could try and redeem themselves because they are a new restaurant and can't afford for customers to have visits like that.  WOO!!  We're going back tomorrow night for a meal and he's paying!  Really though, I'm glad because I really felt like we didn't get anywhere near our money's worth out of that experience.

T minus 2 days and Tricia will be here. :)

Great Weekend

I have had a wonderful weekend! I think I need to have my husband home all the time.  I have gotten so much done today because I had yesterday to be restful and tomorrow to be restful, so I felt I could take advantage of today and do a lot of stuff that needed to be done.  Of course, I did dishes and clothes, but they always need to be done.  We cleaned out part of the garage today, and went through some stuff.  OK, so maybe I didn't do a ton of stuff.  OH, I cleaned the bathrooms downstairs, too.  Tonight Dusty's parents came over for supper, only they had to come late because Tom was spraying.  I made mini meatball sandwiches, mashed potatoes (with my new hand mixer Dusty got me for my birthday), green beans, and yeast rolls.  I found a recipe for yeast rolls, and I wasn't making my bread tonight, so I knew they were the next best thing, in my opinion.  There was a commenter on the recipe that said they did half in rolls, half for monkey bread, so I did something similar, and made three mini bundt cakes full of monkey bread.  I don't have a big bundt pan.  The rolls turned out great, but the monkey bread was fabulous!  I could eat that every day for every meal.  I made a powdered sugar, milk and vanilla icing to pour on it, and it was so good.  Tom thought so too.  Jayne loved the sandwich, but Tom loved the desserts (he had a snickerdoodle cupcake too).  The kids got to play with them briefly, and were VERY excited about it.  I guess we need to have company more often because Hannah was running laps around the living room before they came, and then laps around the downstairs when they got here.  When they walked in Seth said hi, and continued to finish his puzzle for the next 10 minutes.  What a vast difference between personalities.  I wonder who takes after me...

Yesterday was a wonderful day.  Dusty made me a ham, egg, and cheese sandwich for breakfast.  Then we went to his work to drop off bread and eggs to some coworkers.  We had Thai Cafe for lunch, a very much needed resting during the kids' naps, and then we went to Kohl's and I got three shirts on clearance ($12.31 for 3 shirts!), then a place called Coyote Blues.  It wasn't as great as we had hoped.  Apparently it's usually really good.  Dusty had been there once before with coworkers for a meeting, and he couldn't stop talking about it.  He was disappointed that the food wasn't as great, but the company couldn't have been beat, so I wasn't upset about it at all.  The kids were fantastic, and so excited that it was my birthday.  It was one of the best birthdays I can remember. :)

In other exciting news, I think Seth is on the brink of being potty trained!  HOORAY!!!  He went every single time today, except once when he was outside playing.  He had three...um...major trips (Major Trips *salute*), and probably 7 minor ones.  I was so impressed!!  He is right now wearing a Princess Pull-up.  In hindsight, I remember now that I didn't put Hannah in Pull-Ups for bed because they don't absorb well...guess we'll find out tomorrow.  Yes, I did say Princess Pull-Up.  He has an older sister who had leftover pull ups.  What do you want from me?  I'm frugal!  Anyway, he has done exceptionally well today!  It was almost like a switch flipped.  Actually, it started flipping last Sunday when Dusty changed Seth's diaper, wrapped it up, and put it on his chest so he'd have to smell it while he put on his new diaper.  Mean?  I thought so at first, but now I think it's not really.  I have to smell it every time I change it.  Before Seth just had a free ride with nothing to smell and nothing to do.  Then Seth had to carry his own diaper to the garage door and throw it out.  I think that's pretty fair!  I have adopted these tactics, with my own minor adjustments.  Seth has low-gag, so Dusty knew if he had to see it and smell it that he wouldn't go in his diaper anymore.  Genius!  I started putting the diaper next to his head while putting on the new one, and then having him carry the dirty one to the garage.  I think Dusty figured it out!  I never would've thought of doing that because it just doesn't bother me that badly.  It takes one with low-gag to think of tactics to push another with low-gag.  :)  We'll see if he continues his trend tomorrow.  He's also not been sucking his fingers at night as much. 

Oh my word!  He really is turning into a little boy!  Today he fell and busted his lip while play-running away from Hannah riding a tricycle.  She caught his heel and he tripped.  He cried, got hugged, then VERY quickly got down and said he was ready to go back outside again.  Wait!  He's not supposed to be big yet!  (Although I will be happy when the whole diaper thing is behind us...behind us...wah wah.) 

Our sweet girl keeps getting up and quietly coming downstairs to play her game while letting us sleep.  Today she was up an HOUR before we got up!  AN HOUR!!  Needless to say, she didn't play her game anymore after that today, but what barely 4 year old will sit quietly and do something for an hour being considerate and letting her parents sleep?  I'm just glad she had something to snack on though.  She doesn't do well being hungry (again...whose daughter?).  OK, speaking of sleep, I'm going.  I just hit a wall and am fading fast.  Good night. :)

Guess what tomorrow is...

My dad's birthday!  And my birthday!  HOORAY!!

I love birthdays.  I've passed that onto Hannah, who is super excited about helping Dusty make me breakfast tomorrow.  She's always up earlier than we are anyway.  She got a Leapster Explorer for Christmas, and she sits in the living room and plays her video game until we get up.  It's only 15 minutes or so, but she's excited to be independent.  Since Valentine's Day I've been leaving her notes with her video game.  Yesterday I left her the same note I'd left the day before.  She usually reads them to me when I come out of the bedroom.  Yesterday she didn't.  Today she did.  She said, "Mommy, why did you do this?"  I said, "You don't want me to write notes anymore."  She said, "No, just different words on it!"  It cracked me up. 

I'm looking forward to a great day with my family eating some great cupcakes I made tonight.  They're snickerdoodle cupcakes with cinnamon buttercream frosting.  I didn't think they sounded as great as they actually are!  I LOVE them!  Right, and good night.

Two in one day after a 6 day dry spell...

I know you're overwhelmed, right?

So what am I going to do for my birthday?  Now the cook out isn't happening because it's my birthday and because other people can't come, I think, so we're back to square one.  Now I'm not even sure if I want to leave my kids anywhere because Hannah and, consequently, Seth, LOVE birthdays.  I'd hate to take them out of it.  Thing is, I love birthdays too.  I just don't know.  I'm so tired of being indecisive.  I'm certain that my indecisiveness comes from trying to make decisions to benefit all, and not really caring if it's going to benefit me much. 

I haven't been as irritable from the steroids today.  I think that they didn't effect me as much today as they did on the initial day.  I only have 4 days left of them.  Yea!  Oh man, I just remembered I was supposed to pick my memory verse today for the Beth Moore scripture memorization thing.  I guess I'll pick it tomorrow.  It's pretty close to the 15th anyway. 

I'm wanting to make something new for my birthday "cake."  I'll let you know later, if it comes to fruition.  It's still cake, only a little altered.  Hopefully it'll work, and I can get the energy to do it.  So now I'm going to sleep, so I can get even more energy for tomorrow.  I feel like I need to find an energy pack hidden somewhere behind some question mark, or in tinkly green ball form after killing a flying enemy or something.  Yeah, I'm weird.