learn from my mistakes!

When the gas light comes on and you are in an unfamiliar car running the air conditioner, get gas sooner, not later.

I ran out of gas yesterday - the first time since 1987. Not a terrible track record, but still pretty annoying. Praise the Lord (literally!) it was about 300 feet from the Comm. barry bridge where there was still a shoulder. Once you are on the bridge there is no place to even pull over.

I was trying to make it 6 more miles to the gas station in New Jersey so I didn't have to pump my own gas :(

Also, if you go to help someone who is out of gas, please bring at least a 2 gallon gas can! My friend (bless her) brought me gas but the container her husband uses for the weed wacker was the smallest I've ever seen. It had to have only been 1/2 gallon because it certainly wasn't as big as a gallon of milk! With 6 miles to the closest gas station and 18 miles to the gallon on my van, that 1/2 gallon of gas almost didn't get me far enough!

And guys - if you use special gas mixed with oil for some of your machines - label it! but that's a different story......

PS: I've never gotten more than 13 gal of gas when I fill up. Yesterday it took 19 gallons! I had no idea my tank was that big.

my blue heaven

well, really just my blue pool, but I'm REALLY happy about it! It's been over 3 weeks since I've been in it. I was swimming already, now I'm going to go soak again before I mow the lawn.

Thank you, God, for swimming pools that keep my kids busy and active for hours at a time and make them tired enough to go to bed at a decent hour.

IKEA

Do I love it or hate it? YES.

Do I frequently get lost? yes, and not just getting there like today when i forgot to get on the blue route off of 95 and couldn't figure out why I was seeing the airport. I get lost inside the store, too.


Do I realize at the checkout that all the cool organizational things for the kitchen are up in the kitchen department not in the marketplace where I have wandered for the past hour? YES

but sadly there is no way to get there from here. so I just go home.

On the bright side, I was able to pick up the $850 worth of kitchen stuff that they left out of my order without too much hassle. On the other hand, it's a hassle that they forgot to send me $850 worth of kitchen stuff when i picked up all the rest of my kitchen stuff. See what I mean?

And yay for some fun purchases:
5 bin hanging organizers for the kids' closets so that we can pick school clothes for the week on Sunday night and not have to have a clothes discussion (you can't wear that, go change) every morning.

a red cutting board to be reserved for meat - we already have a blue one for veggies. David learned this at cooking camp and I kind of like the idea.

more wooden hangers so I can get rid of the plastic ones in my purged and organized closet.

crispy cookies that I will bring to Grammie's tomorrow to share.

a giant metal tray for only 99 cents...why didn't I get several for all the summer picnics???

and...ta da... my own huge blue ikea bag



PS: Jason, the pool is blue again!

cool purchase of the week!

for the "new" kitchen, though of course I'm using them right away. there's a copyright on the pic, so have to just send the link. I got 2 sets and LOVE them. They are prettier in person! yay!

http://www.collectionsetc.com/Provincial_Mixing_Bowls/product.aspx?Ntt=bowls&productname=Provincial_Mixing_Bowls&No=0&N=0&productid=417361#

either nobody is reading this, or you're not paying attention

Oh, COME ON PEOPLE!

I wrote this 2 days ago and NO ONE has called me on that last post???????

"I am going to give up my manic/depression cycle about the kitchen"

HA

That's like saying "I'm going to stop crying over movies"

Not gonna happen

Despite the fact that at this very moment my husband is prowling around the empty (floorless) attic above the kitchen and dining room, let's not kid ourselves that I will have a new kitchen anytime soon.

I should have known this. All the signs were there. 10 hr days with 1 hr commute each way, meals, sleep, sex, chores and the damn green pool -- were we really expecting a huge project to even get underway????

yes.

stupid us. or maybe just stupid "me". I left out the parties every weekend that we are not away camping, which is almost EVERY weekend. While this is quite entertaining, it is not very conducive to getting major renovations done at home.

so

I'm going to stop my manic/depression cycles regarding the kitchen and just assume it won't be started until .... January? Let's face it - October starts crazy outage schedules that last through November, so why even bother starting in Sept when there's bullets to mold and more trips to take?

These are the facts, and they are undisputed.

(Sorry, I watched A Few Good Men the other day and some of my favorite lines are from it)

I hope bad things don't really come in threes

after my last sad post lamenting about my lack of a new kitchen, you'd think I would get over it and just be cheery again.

no such luck.

now it's the pool. for 2 years we've kept a beautiful ice blue pool that the kids swim in for hours and hours a day. This year there is a filter problem and the damn thing is green. and green. and green again.

we've been having too much fun on trips every weekend and not taking care of things at home and I am starting to get pissed.