Faint stirrings

Old Village Yarn Shop called me this past week. Remember that Lorna's Laces stuff I ordered to do that shawl? Well, it's been in for, um....quite some time. Was I coming to get it soon?

Yes, I said...I've just not gotten out to that part of the world lately, but I was planning on picking it up. Really.

In the meantime, I'm going great guns on stamping and having a lot of fun doing that, but I only get the urge to knit every now and then. Maybe I should go through my yarn bins again or maybe I should just decide to finish all the projects I have started with the idea that then I would get rid of all un-knit yarn and projects (but really trying to jump start the urge to knit again...that's what always ends up happening, anyway.)

In the meantime, I'm spending my life shuttling children to appointments, trying to fit in everything that needs to be done by August 29th, when school begins and my life can get back to normal.

I'm really tired of having a constant mess in this house...I can vacuum, but a few hours and it looks just the same. Same for the kitchen floor. With 5 people at home almost all the time, nothing stays done for more than 2 minutes unless I do it late at night before I go to bed. And then I don't really get to enjoy the cleanliness...as long as rats and roaches are not moving in and I'm keeping things sanitary if not absolutely neat, we will manage to live until school starts again.

This week we've got a dentist appointment for me plus pediatrician appointments for the kids. I have to take them to buy new shoes for school....I've already done uniforms in the very first days of the month and school supplies this past week. I really, really hate shopping for these things. Everyone is talking at once, throwing things in the cart, I'm standing there with the supply list saying, "Have we got one of these for Billy yet?" or "You only need 3 of those!" I tell them to make an inventory of what they already have so I don't have to spend money on stuff we bought last year and is still good. They all want stuff that is NEW, so I have to fight that, "NO, you don't need a new pencil case if last years still works. So what if it's a little dirty? Take a rag and clean it or throw it in the wash if it's washable!"

Uniforms were equally stressful to buy. How big should it be? How long do the skirts have to be again? Do you really need new shirts, or will last years do? Okay, if I buy these, I might as well buy 3 of them, since I will get $5 off if I do that...arghhhh!

In addition to this, my oldest child is getting braces. That was a big check to write, let me tell ya. If I hadn't carefully put aside some of our tax return, we would be making much larger payments on them than we will. We went and got the top braces this past week. And then the orthodontist says, "She needs to have two of these teeth out ASAP." Why didn't he tell me that in the spring, when I could have made an appointment in advance? Sure he said they would have to be removed, but for some stupid reason, I thought HE would do it. SO I call my kids' dentist and she's booked through October...so much for ASAP. We're on the cancellations list at the top...hopefully, she will get one this week and we can get these teeth out and be ready for the bottom braces appointment next week. If not, he is going to have to work around the fact that the teeth are still there.

So...anybody got cheese to go with this whine?

There have been *good* things going on this week. I'm trying to think of what they are...oh, yes: my kids went to vacation bible school every evening this past week. So my husband and I were able to go out for our anniversary on Tuesday evening...THAT was good. It was nice having a bit of a break from them every evening. But we're back to full time parenting this week.

And I got a lot of new stamps from the Holiday Mini to play with. So if you'll excuse me, I'll go play with them now....