July was crazy

OK, So I have been a little lax in the blogging department lately. I have been rather busy canning, chasing my kids around, wrecking my truck, and putting in a wood floor. My house is still trashed from having to move everything out of the den to lay the floor and I just can't seem to make myself want to put everything away now that the floor is finished. *sigh*

And we have been eating out a lot. We have had company stay over so we go out instead of cooking and that has been really expensive. So we are going to have to really buckle down and focus on the money thing again. I canned enough food so that we will not have to go to the store too much, except for things like sugar and milk, but I just don't want to start using that stuff yet for some reason. Maybe I am just so sick of looking at it all that I don't want to dig through the jars to find something for dinner. It is, after all, stacked up in boxes in the bedroom waiting for a permanent home. Something else I have to do.

This is the last weekend that my sweet, little, bald-headed baby girl will be living at home. She moves into her college dorm on the 22nd. I have a feeling that I will be torn between very sad and relieved that we have finished our job raising her. It just won't be the same without her here making little noises and "Kramer-ing" out of her bedroom. Very Sad.

Band practice started last week for the boy. He has to get fitted for his uniform today. He is really thrilled about that. But that is part of it. Football games in the sleet. Or thunderstorms. Or hot and humid. In a wool uniform. Parades. Contests. Ahhh, those were the days. I remember them fondly.

After school starts back, things will settle back down to some semblance of normal.

Hopefully.

Vacation / Back to school

We are back from vacation and I must say that a good time was had by all. No sunburn, no one got sick or injured, and we managed to actually relax and have fun. The only bad thing that happened was the condo didn't have an internet connection, but I can't really say that was a bad thing. Being unplugged for a week probably did all of us some good.

Since we have been back, we have only had 1 day that we haven't had visitors. But here again, that isn't really a bad thing. My husband going back to work hasn't been just loads of fun, but hey, when is it ever?

Now I really have to think about back to school. Classes start back on the 18th and the kids are far from ready for that. My daughter has only been home for about 19 days all summer so she is really wanting some relax time, but I just can't see that happening. Most of the school supplies from last year are still usable, and I bought them paper and pencils last spring so there is still plenty to start school. Both kids have Army Surplus backpacks that are darn near indestructible so we are good there too. I have been picking up clothes for them on and off all summer so no school clothes to buy either. The only thing we will really need are shoes. My son's are very well air conditioned and would almost qualify as sandals at this point. All in all, this will probably be the most pain free "back to school" we have ever had.

Since my daughter is a senior this year, there will be a lot of expense for her. Senior pictures, cap and gown, invitations, prom, not to mention the college application fees ($40 at her favored school) , ACT fees, SAT fees, and the fees for sending her transcripts to the colleges she will be applying for, expenses to visit with the recruiters, and tour the campuses.

And yesterday, I received a notice of Jury Pool selection. I can't tell you how thrilled I am about that.

I will almost be a relief for school to start back. I might actually be able to get something done around the house.