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It has been a little hectic around here this week!  Yesterday, the delivery of the dishwasher was later than the hours they quoted (any time between 9 a.m.-1 p.m.??).  I rescheduled Sailor's doctor appointment for today.  His visit included an x-ray and it took a while...I also had a dentist appointment this morning for myself, so my morning and early afternoon were full.

I am so tired...I should be taking a nap with the baby right now.  I need to pack at least two boxes--that is the *minimum* I gave myself per day, LOL.

Tomorrow, our puppy has a vet appointment and someone is coming over to give me a bid/estimate on landscaping.  So, it will be another early morning for me...

eta:  Hmmmm...I'm no martyr~I'm taking a nap with the baby!  I am going to take a Motrin for my sore gums and pass out for as long as possible (I'll stack the odds in my favor by turning on a DVD!!).

I am now on a strict schedule to get everything in our house packed.  Since laundry is always a lengthy task in our house, I am tackling it first.  I have been storing the majority of our clothes in large duffel bags and I need to add to them and also add a few things to the clothes we have in circulation. 

My buffet, cabinets, and some closets were full of crystal (I used to sell crystal) and I was feeling burned out on packing crystal, but I cleaned out the bottom of my china hutch and will be bubble-wrapping and boxing all of that today. 

At some point today, our new dishwasher will be delivered and one child has a doctor appointment...many things to do today!

coming right up! 

Okay~I'm kind of squinty-eyed because my left eye is red and irritated...and my photographer cut off the top of my head~ but it was the best representation for my haircut this late at night, LOL!

I had a pedicure at my favorite place in town today.  Raspberry tea, massage chair, and someone exfoliating and massaging my legs~verrry relaxing!

Then, since I was already *over there*, I stopped by my favorite little shop for some of these,

some of these,

a few of these, and one of those:

I rewarded my oldest son for baby-sitting with this

and his brothers, for behaving, with these

Now, we are going out to eat.  I really appreciate days like this...

Tonight, however: 

mommy23boys (she just had her fourth beautiful boy!!) asked me about the confetti eggs from my Easter picture post and I thought I'd answer in a post in case anyone else is interested!

You know...they are like miniature, portable pinatas!  Except...they don't hold candy...the treat is smashing them on someone's head!   

For the past three Easters, we have bought our cascarones, or confetti eggs, from our local grocery store, HEB.  They cost about $1.40/dozen, but I have bought them on clearance for even less.  We used to make our  cascarones~we saved our eggs all year (takes a little time, effort, and storage space--and, you have to crack your egg in just the right spot!)~but after the first time I came across the clearanced eggs...it was just worth my time to buy them!  One thing that I always liked about making our own cascarones is dyeing the eggs.  Our boys cannot  get enough of dyeing Easter eggs, and with the dozens upon dozens we would save, they were completely indulged.

And, when you make your own cascarones, you can also fill a few *random* eggs with...flour!  Oh, that's so mean!  I, for one, do not want to be the recipient of a flour egg!  My husband's family evolved from confetti eggs to the occasional flour egg, to flour/confetti combination eggs, to completely flour cascarones!!  After that last year, our little family stopped hunting eggs with them...

I found a link if you are interested in making your own confetti eggs~start saving those eggs tomorrow!

http://www.texascooking.com/features/apr2006_cascarones.htm

And, if your local grocery store doesn't carry them, you could probably turn in a request now for next year (most grocery stores have request forms for customers).

Enjoy, family and friends!

(eta:  I added some of you whom I'm better acquainted with now--if anyone else wants to be on my protected list, let me know!)

I made a vet appointment for our chihuahua this morning (our boys call her a "tea-huahua" because her daddy is a teacup chihuahua, LOL!).  She needs one more round of shots.  I did not tell them about Tag yet--I haven't cried since Saturday, but I felt like I would cry if I tried to tell the vet.  I am not a *pretty* crier...I can't breathe, I can't talk, I blotch out from head to toe...and I do not like crying in front of people (or on the phone!). 

Losing our dog reminds me of every pet I've ever lost~and I can get caught up in dwelling on it.  Yesterday, I became so annoyed when I found out that there is a 3-foot copperhead somewhere in either our yard or our neighbor's--if Tag were here, I would not be worried about it!  He was a great snake dog. 

A friend of mine thinks that I am under a lot of stress~maybe I am.  We are living in limbo, in an unnatural family arrangement, the majority of the burden of getting this house packed and ready to sell is on my shoulders, I'm trying to homeschool our oldest and nurse our baby, we've had a couple of emotional setbacks...it is a lot, when it is all concurrent.  It's also an environment conducive to multi-tasking, and I have been a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of gal since birth! 

But, I think my saving grace, with God's help, is that I realized this past year that flying by the seat of my pants blurs my life.  I have been striving to slow down and enjoy each moment.  Live in the moment, so I can remember that moment.  Where I once ran around town, taking my children to every community or homeschooling event...well, I'm not any more.  I am at home, slowly but surely packing away my house.  I stop when I need to nurse or cook; I throw school in wherever it fits. 

It's a steady stream of pressure that I have some control over--when I truly feel burned out, we go out of town to visit our family.  If it were frenetic and I allowed myself to multi-task, I think I would be having blood pressure problems, LOL. 

I would love to know--how do you try to control the stressors in your life?

Our beautiful Springer Spaniel, Tag, was hit by our neighbor's truck yesterday evening.  He ran into our house, laid on our kitchen floor, and slowly died in front of us.

I've been tagged!

Here are the rules.

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog

2. Share 7 facts about yourself, some random, some weird

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

I was tagged by earthymama!

1.  When I was in college, I worked at a Chinese restaurant.  The guys in the kitchen were new to America and could not speak English.  They pronounced my name (Katherine), "Kasarin".  Their pronunciation of my name, in Chinese, meant "captain".  So, any time I approached the bar with an order, they would salute and say, very militarily, "Kasarin!"  lol

2.  My "stupid human trick" is that I can touch my nose with my tongue...(have I already revealed this?!)

3.  My favorite animal of all time is the cat!  And, of the cat, I prefer the male short-hair marmalade tabby (neutered, of course!).  I have had three in my lifetime, and always tried to name them accordingly:  Popcorn, Tigger, and Pumpkin.  Popcorn was my very first cat; a reward for making the A Honor Roll my entire fifth grade year.  Tigger was given to me by a close friend of my parents, after Popcorn died (he and his sister were hit at the same time--she survived!).  When I was 12, the same friend gave me Pumpkin after Tigger *disappeared* (another story for another day).  Finally, with Pumpkin, my parents allowed an *indoor cat* and he lived to be 21 years old. 

4.  I trained my first two cats, Popcorn and Tigger, to come to my whistle!

5.  I trained my students to come to my whistle, too...

6.  I now train my sons to come to my whistle!

7.  Sometimes people ask me to whistle, to get someone's attention or for other reasons...I always regret acquiescing...

I tag, if they are up for it, the following people:

rebeccawow

homeschoolingthem

Mrs_Sheila

bellclappersgarden

camarige

rachels_ramblings

mjh905