Standiford Family

Since it’s September and it’s time for reading, writing, and arithmetic I thought I’d share one of my favorite reads.

I stumbled on “Hunger Games” some time early last year.  Loved it!  It does have violence but my mind can’t really visualize it so it works for me.  When I finished it I was ready to read “Catching Fire”.  I had to wait a w-h-i-l-e for that.  It was good too.  I read somewhere, probably on Amazon.com, that the third installment, “Mockingjay”, was coming out right before my birthday.  My plan was to get it first at the library and then order the set for myself if I liked it.  Well, it didn’t quiet work out that way.  I remembered too late to place a hold and when I looked there were about 56 holds already.  I looked up the books on Amazon.com and decided to just order them.  I’m skimming through the second although I just reread it a few months ago and then I’m sure I’ll devour “Mockingjay”.  I hope Suzanne Collins doesn’t let me down.  I’ll update the post after I read it and let you know if I liked it.

Added on September 2nd: I finished “Mockingjay” this afternoon.  (I was up until 3 am with heartburn.  So fun.)  Suzanne Collins came through.  The third installment was as good as the first two.  It was a bit more gory though, but that’s just how it had to finish.

Today is my birthday.  It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  (I got my grouchiness out yesterday.)  The burritos were yummy.  My mom made me a blueberry pie.  (Thanks Mom.)  I made a Hawaiian Pineapple Cake.  I think I over did the eating.  Good thing I’ll be working out tomorrow.

I got these from Mickey and the kids yesterday.

There are two more just like.  I think I’ll put them in the front flower bed.  It’s looking rather dead now.

I also got something new to treat this.

I found out today that I’ve been re-exposing myself to poison ivy.  Duh.  That would explain all the new little itchy spots I keep getting.  Now that I’ve washed my painting clothes maybe the pills will work and I won’t be itchy any more.  I guess that’s my birthday wish.

It is so good to have friends and family members in the medical field.

Poison ivy (or poison something) was the diagnose I got from our doctor friend.  I still have no idea how I got it.  I self medicated this morning and it only flared up and itched more (it could have been the progress of the allergic reaction not necessarily what I put on it).  The one Benedryl I took this morning knocked me out for a few hours this afternoon.  Guess what I’ll be taking soon?  A few more Benedryl.  I’m looking forward to a good night sleep.  After visiting with our friend I’m now armed with different, and hopefully better, medication.  Did I already mention how nice it is to know doctors? So nice.

We also found some relief at ABC Warehouse.  Our refrigerator is dying.  The freezer’s fine but the fridge just isn’t cold enough.  We’ve had to throw out a few gallons of milk.  We bought a plain old fridge this morning as a place filler.  We would like to get a different, bigger refrigerator but have to get a wall moved in order for it to fit.  I don’t think that will be too bad.  But in the meantime we needed something.  Once all the construction is done and the new fridge purchased the one we bought today will go in the basement as an extra.  I have really missed having a second fridge.  That will mean I won’t have to make a milk run the second half of the week.  Yay!

P.S. The wall in the background is the new color of our room.  It’s not exactly the same in person but I love it.  I can’t wait to finish it.

Summer is coming to an end.  Next week school starts.  We filled our day with all kinds of activities.  This morning we had to go to Meg’s new school because somehow they didn’t have her in the system at all.  Then they made a schedule for her only to have it be for a 5th grader and not 6th.  She now has the right schedule.  Today was the last day my kids would get to play with our little friend Finn, since they’ll be in school when he comes over.  They played on the trampoline, the neighbors’ playset, and blew bubbles.

We had lunch, dropped Finn at his house, and went swimming with our friends in green water.  (I forgot the camera.  I’m sure it would have made an interesting picture.)  We spent two hours at the pool and headed home.  I had some girlfriends coming over and Mickey decided to take the kids out for the evening.  They went to dinner and then watched Shrek Forever After.  They came home and went to bed after getting the mandatory snack.

I chatted with my friends until we were all very tired.  (I also found out that I might have poison ivy.  No idea where I got it from.)  Then I posted this lovely bit of news and now I’m heading to bed so I can start another busy day.

This morning after cleaning the church the kids went home with Grandma and Grandpa.  Mickey and I did a little shopping and came home.  To a quiet house.  After we had lunch we couldn’t decide what we wanted to do.  Go see a movie?  Pull weeds in the yard/garden?  What?  We finally decided to go on a bike ride.

We had a great time.  We both got pretty sweaty and could feel the achy muscles in the end but it was worth it.  (I loved that I could beat him going down hills.)  We ended up going 5 miles.  I can’t wait to do it again.

This evening we got to go out.  Alone.  My mom came over while Mickey and I went to a 70’s-80’s dance at church (for the youth).  We both dressed the part.  Mickey in 70’s and me in 80’s.  The dance wasn’t all that fun but for once I really enjoyed dressing up and going out.  If we ever get a picture I’ll attach it.

That was the theme of the day but the potd doesn’t reflect that at all.  First about the pool.  The girls were invited to a birthday/farewell party for their friend Grace.  The party was way south of town so I decided Kade and I could spend some quality time with my sister-in-law and her kids that live close by.  Everyone had a lot of fun.  The girls did not want to leave when I went to pick them up.  They somehow managed to get an extra 30 minutes of swimming out of me.

We made the ride home dropping off a few friends along the way.  We ate dinner and had Family Home Evening.  Meg had the activity for the night.  She picked a bike ride.  Mickey and I didn’t know how this would work since Mat doesn’t really want to ride her bike and Kade’s bike no longer has training wheels and didn’t want to do the whole ride being held.  Long story short, we made it around a huge block without anyone getting hurt.  (That’s a big improvement from our last attempt at a family bike ride.)  When we came home I noticed a butterfly fluttering around the butterfly bush we have out front.  I ran for the camera because I have been waiting for an opportunity to shoot one.  Here it is.

The little bike ride had left me wanting a longer one.  I put Kade to bed after he and Mickey finished putting my new dresser together and went for a ride around the neighborhood.  It was so much fun.  There are all kinds of hills and curvy roads to drive on.  I think a third of the ride I got to coast but I really had to work to get up the next hill.  The only way it could have been better is if Mickey had come with me.  Maybe next time.

I finally got around to planting my lilac bushes, my mother’s day gift from 2009.  I brought them from the old house and they have definitely seen better days.  The one on the left was drowning in its pot.  For some reason it wasn’t draining well.  That’s what urged me to finally dig the holes.  I hope it comes back now that it can breath a little better.  Now I’ll have to smooth out the extra dirt and get some landscaping fabric and some kind of ground cover.  You know, I could really use a gardener.  If anyone has some free time let me know.

The last few weeks I’ve really been getting on everyone to eat better.  I’ve stopped buying all the unhealthy, but oh-so-tasty, snacks.  Instead I’ve been buying more fresh fruits and veggies and insisting that they get eaten.  The kids have not been too happy about that.  Meg made sure she gorged at the birthday party Saturday to get her fill of junk for the week.

I would really like for our family to be a little healthier.  Is that so bad?  Up until about a month ago this year had been rather stressful for me and I have not made the time to exercise, which I really do enjoy doing.  I’ve been trying to make myself get in a routine.  This week I told myself I was getting up at 7 a.m. to walk/run.  I walked/ran once.  I have been woken up at 7 only to turn off the alarm because I’m really achy or have had 5 hours of sleep.

Since I haven’t been getting my exercise in I’ve been trying to eat better.  (I try to eat better when I’m getting the exercise too.)  Tonight for dinner we had salads.  Not everyone was thrilled about this but they ate it.  The kids and I picked up a few things from the store this afternoon to make the salads.  Somehow I let them talk me in to getting something that should be on the naughty list.

Why is it when you’re trying to be good the bad is more tempting?  I had two tonight.  Help me, please.

Our yard has some landscaping that I’m sure was done when the house was built.  There is a nice garden area that has strawberry plants and I think some parsley growing in it.  There are also a few scraggly shrubs, a rose bush, a few unwanted mulberry trees, and lots of weeds.  (The neighbor said the previous owner didn’t do much with the garden.  Big surprise.)  I went out sometime last month and picked a garbage bag full of weeds.  I guess weeds grow faster than anything because now the garden is very overgrown.  Mickey spent some time out there this afternoon.  Kade was assisting, handing him the shovel or loppers.

Meanwhile I tackled some bushes before Mickey could use electric trimmers on them.  (I didn’t want them hacked up.)  I pruned until my thumb was numb.

This morning I took off all the wallpaper in the kids’ bathroom.  I can’t wait to paint!  It’s going to be a fun bathroom.

As I mentioned yesterday I took the kids shopping to spend their hard earned cash.  We spent about an hour and a half at Target this morning.  We looked at all kinds of things.  We all picked up some clothes and the kids found something to spend their money on.  Mattey got a Bella Sara horse.  Megan bought a Pokemon book.  Kade found an action figure from Mighty World.  (I just ran back to Target and got four different MW sets.  They are great little play sets and they were on clearance!)

This afternoon Tia came to play with the kids while Mickey and I spent about an hour in the BMV getting new driver’s licenses.  The sad part was we waited over 30 minutes in line just to check in.  Once we were seated we were out in about 20 minutes.  One more joy of moving.