Trying to be good here.

Let's just say that Sr. Mary Ann is sure lucky she has the Sr. before her name.

Got a note and calender from Will after Relig. Ed tonight. Seems there was a BIG mistake on the calender that I got handed to me last week. Yeah, BIG OOPS! No explanation why they had it printed for the April 12th. Just wanted to let us all know that the REAL date is...

William's First Communion Date

Saturday, May 3rd

During 5:00 PM Mass

We sure hope you can come and that we will still be here!

Please RSVP as there will be hotel reservations to be made and dinner counts to be taken.

I promise you that this will not change again. Even if the rest of the class is not there with him I will administer his First Communion on this night! It could be fun don't ya think?

On the home front. We listed Monday around 6. Got a call Tuesday around 3 that someone wanted to see the house at 6:45. Got a call from the realtor that for $250,000 we could seal the deal today. Um, no. We haven't even been on the market for 48 hours, not even on MLS yet, and we are not taking $20,000 less than the asking price. They didn't even put it in writing so we really shouldn't even consider it at all. But we did... for just a minute.

Good news is that there is another showing scheduled for Friday evening, so tomorrow AM we do not need to make our beds and tomorrow afternoon I can do laundry and not worry about hanging up the unmentionables for a few hours. It's all good!

I am wiped out and need to crash. We stayed up way too late talking politics with mom and dad last night. The saddest part is that at the end of the night I still have no clue who I would want to be the leader of the free world. Not real good choices out there in my humble opinion. Sad to think that I may just get to pick the best of the worst come November. God bless us everyone!

HOUSE FOR SALE HOUSE FOR SALE

As of last night we are official on the market. No sign in the yard yet but that doesn't seem to matter. I got a call this afternoon at 3:00 asking for a showing at 6:45. Um yeah, you can see it!

Well, that does change our mellow evening plans with mom and dad but we are flexible. Not sure if we'll still do Bailey's or if we'll head to M-town and try Zenos or Pizza Ranch? We'll see.

So I have spent 45 minutes getting about 20 feet of three inch thick ice off the front walk. The temperature, a balmy 48, helped a bit and a very sturdy shovel and I did the rest. My hands are still shaking. No rest for the wicked though. The sun also melted the snow in the back yard that is littered with Pete land mines. I am going to put on my grubby shoes and go see what I can do about that. I'll up-date more tomorrow I hope!

UPDATE! First Communion Date Changed

I think I have confirmed with an "official" source that the date of

William's First Holy Eucharist is

Saturday April 12th

at 5:00PM mass.

I am working on a meal for afterwards and will need to find out how many people are coming to make sleeping arrangements. There are not likely enough beds in this house but I have a connection at a hotel in M-town and should be able to get a very reasonable rate. Please be in touch if you think you will be joining us. Please drop me an e-mail or give me a call. I know that William would appreciate any and all support on the big day!

A good day that got even better!

It started at a reasonable hour. Pete got up at 6:30 but we were quiet enough to go back to sleep until 8:30. No one had great expectations so no one was let down this morning. Breakfast was lite or non-existent and the larger family group left at 10:30 for lunch at Hickory Park. Lucky ducks! Glad I suggested that even if I couldn't go.

I headed to the middle school for our monthly crop. I was the hostess this month so I brought a Nana's Apple Cake and some munchies. I also took my Cricut and some basics and made my swap pages that were due today. I made six pages in about 2 hours so that was pretty good. They were not too fancy but were nice enough. I am a less is more kinda girl so that makes it easy for me. My style is clean and basic. Keeps the cost and time investment to a reasonable amount.

After scrappin I came home to a busy husband and one kid. Will went to a friend's to play and Nic was hangin' I did a little stuff and then grabbed both boys and went to church. After church we came home and did some more prep and rearranging and kept busy.

I put in a last minute call to a couple of sitters today and got a call back around 7:40. Nick was able to help us out so he ran over and Fred and I ran out. We just needed to run to Ames to Best Buy and I was starving so we got to stop at Panera too! YUM! We zipped into Target and then headed home. All in less than 2 hours. Pretty good huh? I am a cheap date. Sure wish we could have enjoyed a movie and dinner with drinks but not today. Maybe I'll plan ahead and try again next month...

OK, off to declutter some more in the kitchen. The FOR SALE sign goes up on Monday and it just dawned on me that people could be looking inside my cabinets. YIKES! Got a little work to do in there. Want to make it look like we have more than enough space. Which we do.

I have lots on my list for tomorrow. Some deep cleaning of the bathrooms and the hardwoods. Decluttering some shoe racks and backing up pictures off the older computer. Nothing I can't handle. I am adding, in writing, to post pics of the new room. It really is a spectacular addition to the basement. Makes it seem so much bigger and useful. Too bad we didn't so this 2 years ago. Oh well, we'll enjoy it while we're here.

Gratitude
1. A husband who goes to lunch with his kids and his in-laws and doesn't bat an eye.
2. Nic who did an outstanding job on the 8th grade Explore test he took in January.
3. Will who won a prize for being the second highest reader in his class for February Reading Minutes! He got a Doodle Pirate.
4. My parents who are low maintenance house guests and so fun to hang out with.
5. My sister who called me yesterday to remind me of #4. She gave me permission to chill and I did, a little.

I think I am on the mend.

First let me apologize for the free flow of details yesterday. I was in a state let me tell you. I am better. I stayed home from school today. Spent a lot of time just sitting and chilling until about 3:00. I seemed to have recovered. Interestingly 24 hours after the start.

Once again, how does a 24 stomach bug know when to vacate?

Mom and dad were a little later than expected but that was good because so was Fred and he had dinner. Once everyone arrived I got busy in the kitchen and we all ate a yummy spaghetti dinner. The evening was mellow with fun chiding and one load of laundry folded. Thanks mom!

It is now time to crash. Tomorrow will be a FULL day but I am ready to take it on. I have no choice now do I?

I think the new room may become Sick Bay

Monday delayed start at school. Decent day.
Tuesday mommy puking, Nic pooping, Will to school and Family Fun night with Daddy.
Wednesday was wacky Wednesday at school and Nic won a Citizenship Award.
Thursday scheduled early out, mommy came home feeling awful and now has what Nic had.
Friday we are expecting company and do you think the room is ready? NO!

I am home from school tomorrow. If I feel like crap so be it. If not, I'll be attempting to make my house look better than it does right now.

I have so much to do this weekend that I do not really have time for this epidemic but this too shall pass right? I am off to medicate and sleep.

Happy to report the progress

The ceiling is white, the walls are brown and the floor is started. We have about 20% of the floor down but have hit a bump when trying to figure out how to piece it around the door way where it meets the carpet. I think Fred will sleep on it and wake up with a plan. My plan is to head to Ames tomorrow to go to Target and Sam’s. He needs to go to Menard's for trim wood and liquid nails. I need to get a watch battery and chocolate milk. The important stuff, you know?

Fred put in about 11 hours today on the basement. Looking at the walls they need some touch-ups. I painted the wall in the Jr. Man Cave with primer and that is all we are doing. I can get busy putting that room back together tomorrow. Of course everything is covered in dust so I will need to wipe everything down with a wet rag as I put it back in place. I am also hoping to purge some more of the boys’ toys so it doesn’t look so cluttered. I hope they don’t fight me too hard.

You know how when you do home improvement projects your hubby always needs a new tool? Well, I talked Fred into buying a table saw to get the flooring cuts done quickly. He has wanted one of these on and off for a couple of years at least. We bought a Craftsman at the little Sears store in M-town and we are rockin. I am glad we bought it and I am certain it will be used many more times. He is such a do-it-yourselfer (aka tightwad).

Well, I am beat from trying to be supportive and attentive and helpful. I did paint some and lay some floor and ran to the hardware store and Sears. I may not have done as much as Fred but I did my part for sure.