"Toadly" freaked me out!

The other day when I came home from work I went to water my little potted plants out front and there resting next to myneighbor's house was a big toad. I thought it was so cool that I snapped a few photos of the guy. The next day I noticed he was gone. I figured he had just moved on to greener pastures. Lo and behold, I stepped into the garage from the house and he caught me toadly by surprise. He had found refuge from who knows what, right by my door! I practically wet myself he scared me so bad. So I took a rake ( I know, I know..poor choice of weapons),and tried to rake him out of the garage. He didn't go out, but had the nerve to start hopping all over the place like he'd been popping pills or something. I couldn't get him, as hard as I tried. So, I've been leaving my garage door opened just a bit to give him an escape route. But the bad part about that is I don't know if he left or not. I decided to shut my garage door last night, because I figured it would be the only way I would ever have, to see if he was still in there. Holy smokes! The toad turds I woke up to are huge! He's definately still in there and I'm going to have to empty out the whole thing and find where he is before he dies or something. I need CSI to come in and track all his DNA to see where his hiding place is. I'll keep you updated. Meanwhile, enjoy the photos of the big guy. I'm looking forward to giving him a 'wild ride' when I find the dude. That's just a little Disney reference for all you Disneyland fans! ILMF

Friday again!

If there's nothing else to look forward to, at least I can look forward to a Friday coming EVERY week! Isn't that GREAT!!!! The kids at school were wound up tight today. I don't know if it's the heat or what. One of my friends directed me to this little site where you can rate your blog. Kind of like the movie ratings. Mine is clean as a whistle...hence the "G" rating. I know that's kind of out of character for me, but maybe I can work on it. I don't want the 'blog' patrol to get on my back, so I'll keep all the subject matter and phrases to describe it, very above board! I don't want to get a reputation. Heck, I already have a reputation...maybe it's standards I'm looking for. Here's to a great weekend for everyone! ILMF

Blessing Day

I had a great time visiting with Trey and Shelly this weekend. They were in town and Abby took that opportunity to have Ricky and Aiden blessed. Then we had meatball subs and Kristen's yummy salad over at Abby's. Shelly, Trey, Garth Hunt ( Trey's long time buddy) and I hung out at my water park on Sat. and fried ourselves. Not intentionally, it was just so hot that we had to stay in the water and before you knew it we had turned into lobsters! Trey and Garth hadn't seen each other in at least a year, so it was great to see them hanging out. I had such a good time! ILMF

Yea Me!!!

As of today, I have officially lost 20 lbs. since school started last year, and 10 lbs. since the end of July. The girls and I had been on a feeding frenzy when I was in Ca., playing "Ticket To Ride" every night after all the kids went to bed. It was like we couldn't be trusted to be up by ourselves because we ate everything that didn't get out of our way! Abby has just started her plan today and Shelly ( I think) started the day we left her house. Why do we do that? It seems like we equate fun with food. And then we sit around and groan about how awful we feel. Hmmm, I'd like to say it'd never happen again, but I've been around that block more times than I wish to admit! I will say that I'll just keep pluging along. Shelly will be here Fri. and I'm so excited! ILMF

Slow Day

Since I've just kind of hung out at home most of the weekend I thought I'd take a second to explain some of my music choices on here. First let me tell you that I love music and find great emotion in most of the pieces I listen to. Some of the songs you'll find on my blog are for my children. They are the best thing that ever happened to me. And along with that comes...the GRANDCHILDREN! My selection of 'You Are The Love Of My Life ' is for them. As most anyone who knows me can swear to, even my failed (36yr) marriage still makes me emotional. It's difficult at times to realize the place I'm in at this time of my life, so I find comfort in listening to music that was meaningful "back in the day". So, sometime...take time to listen to a little of my selections. I pay attention to everyone's music when I visit different blogs. Very interesting... ILMF

Kristen's purse...

This photo is to show Alexis that Kristen really LOVES her purse she sent her and that she uses it ALL the time. I should have really posted this earlier in the week, but I was so consumed in my first week back at work I didn't even download the pictures until just today. When the kids were over for dinner last week, we thought it would be a perfect way for Kristen to show her sister in England, her purse. But now it's out there for the world to see! ILMF

TGIF!

Thank goodness for Fridays! All in all it was a pretty good day. We wrapped up our first week of school, only 8 more in this quarter! I left a little earlier than I'll be able to leave most weeks, but I had a Dr.'s appt. and some other errands. I came all the way back home to let Libby out, then went all the way back in to drop off a couple of prescriptions and go down to the gym. I met up with Mandy and my friend Paulette, where we had a terrific gabfest. We decided to move it over to Chili's restaurant, and I really think we were the funnest people there. The best part of today? I spoke with all 5 of my daughters! I love all my kids but when those 5 girls get together...it's party time! The boys are all very entertaining and they can leave you at a loss for words when they start in. It's an unbelievable sight when they all 8 are together. All I can think is 'geez...that's a lot of people'! Unfortunately, it's also a very rare occurance. I'm off to the movies first thing in the morning. My sister hasn't seen Mama Mia yet, so that's the important thing on my agenda tomorrow. ILMF

It's Friday...almost!

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE Fridays? It was extra humid at work today and it just beat me up at lunch. But I was proud of myself because I had to run (yes...real running) up to a bus and I was hardly even winded. Then I ran again a few minutes later to get out of the rain. What stunk was that I had a Dr.'s appt. right after work, so I had to go soaked and smelling like a goat from sweating all day. But tomorrow is the best day of the week. I've been waiting since Monday for it. I can't wait for next Fri. to come, because Shelly and Trey will be spending the weekend with me. My family is everything to me and I love having them around. ILMF

I'm Hot...and not in a good way!

Am I the only one here that's roasting her toasties? Every year it seems to get hotter and hotter around this time.I sweat like a pig at school chasing all those 12 & 13 year old kids around! While I may be here in body, my mind is quickly moving to my summer home in Washington state. I didn't have time to get to the gym the other evening, so I walked instead. I don't know if I had on the wrong lotion or what, but the mosquitoes were practically mating on my legs and arms and the gnats found refuge in between my eyes and my sunglasses. I'm sure I looked odd walking around lifting my arms and legs and trying to swat away the little critters at the same time. Is that a visual you needed? I did have a couple of pretty nasty days this week, so I'll just pass by both of those. But the week has improved and I'm feeling good. Thank heavens if the day is long and crummy I can always hope the next one will be better. Toodles for today! ILMF

My Day

Since I adopted the 'Bloggers don't whine' motto, there will be no entry for my first day. ILMF

I'm Off To Work...

Here it is the first day of school. I can tell you this for sure...the first day of school to someone who works at one is a WHOLE different thing than the first day of school for a mom sending her kids out to it. I have so many memories of those 'first' days. I had children going off for their first day for 31 years. From Eric's first day in 1975 until Kylie's last first day in 2006. I wouldn't trade those years for anything. They went by too quickly. I do still think it was great that there was somewhere you, by law, had to send your kids after a summer off. I had a fun weekend and saw lots of friends. It was a nice dinner on Sat. to send my friend from high school, Pat, off to Dubai. She'll be teaching at an all girls school there for the next 3 years. She loves that kind of stuff, so I'm sure she will have a great time. I've still got to paste my face on so I'm going to dash off. Thanks to all my kids that made the trek out to Red Rock for dinner yesterday. I had a great time. I think the highlight was Nick and Jake having batting practice with a bunch of big caterlillars they pulled off my plants. Good times... ILMF