Today I am not going to whine

Actually, I was kinda thinking about running away from home. At least for a couple days. Maybe I would miss everyone and want to come back. Or they (I should say he) would realize I am good for something and beg me to return.... 'cause that'd kinda make me feel good, anyway.

I just need a break, ya know? From the clinging and the neediness (and that's just the dog!)...well, okay, and the girl. It's weird, because the more I need "me time" the more clingy she gets... it's just our own reactions to the emotions we're feeling.... but they aren't real compatible!

I'd give good money to once... just once!... sit down on the toilet without the dog putting her head on my lap and one or more human family members sitting on the bed to talk to me.... geez! I suppose I could just shut the door.... but I'm kinda weird and claustrophobic about that.

Well...... the weather has been nice.

I'm getting tired of being the family cheerleader

Why is it that I am the only one trying to "see the bright side" here??! I know, I know. It's hard to move 2,600 miles away from all you know and love. I feel it too! But, still. I am trying to have a good attitide, to look for the best in it, to find fun stuff to do. My daughter cries every other day that she wants "to go home". My husband hates his job here. (Now, that doesn't surprise me... given the company he works for. He's worked for them before. It was my only real hesitation about moving here, and sure enough, they've remained true to their colors. I don't know why he thought it would be different.) This morning when I dropped him off at work (yeah, I have to get up at 5:30am to take him to work since the company took away the managers' vehicles.... but have I complained? No. Well, not a lot!) Anyway, he tells me he just wants to move back, that it isn't going well here at all. I asked "Isn't it better though, now that Kiki and I are here?" (he moved here 6 months before she and I were able to come) and he was all "well, it's better, but still, like last night, you were on the computer while I watched tv alone.... what fun is that?" OH!! Let me explain something! I hate inane television, and my husband is the KING of coming home, plopping his butt on the couch and grabbing the remote. I have spent countless hours sitting next to him watching crap I couldn't care less about, trying to be "with him". Well, I am tired of it, so recently I've started getting on my computer when he camps out with the tv set. (and besides, the computer is about 20 feet from there - it's not like I'm upstairs, or in another room or something!) I have tried and tried to get us to play a game, or read, or do heaven knows what instead of tv..... but now he's not happy enough that Kiki and I finally joined him here because we aren't spending time together??!!!

If he doesn't pull his crap together, maybe I will just take Kiki and go back to Idaho.... at least I can make one of them happy that way!

The cat is one reason I'm crazy

Now that the weather is getting nice, I like sitting out on the balcony; especially in the mornings with a nice cuppa coffee. It starts out nicely, all of us just enjoying the cool autumn air...

But then the goober cat thinks it's time to quit being 'dog lazy' and do something....

Which generally involves jumping up on the railing...

Wondering if he can get on the roof.....

And what you need to understand is - A) we live on the 2nd floor and - B) this is the klutziest cat I've ever known.... he falls off stuff on a regular basis. At this point, I have to toss him indoors, and he spends the rest of my "quiet time" pawing the sliding doors in an attempt to claw through the glass and once again join us in "the great outdoors".

A little funny to start the day - too bad it's true

I don't usually get political on here, but I rec'd this in an email, and loved it!

Let me get this straight - Obama's health care plan will be written by a committee whose head says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress who hasn't read it and whose members will be exempt from it, signed by a president who smokes, funded by a treasury chief who did not pay his taxes, overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that is broke.

What could possibly go wrong?!

Oh - back to the trip - Day Two, Mt. Rushmore

Oh, wait ~ first, I have to post a couple pics of the "amazing" Reptile Gardens (lol... it's waay over publicized in my opinion...but, I guess since it's out in the middle of South Dakota, it's the "biggest thing" next to Mt. Rushmore, heehee!) We visited this on the way to see Mt. Rushmore.

That's the main building where there are a lot of creepy crawly things. I'm not into them as pets (I prefer furry critters) but Kiwi is interested in them.... she was enjoying it until we found the giant blown-up photograph from some foreign country of an alligator (or crocodile?) that had eaten a local native, and the creature had been killed, but you could see....well....'parts'... of the native. Even in black and white, it was terribly gross. What were they thinking??!


The snack bar. Where they serve super-expensive, lukewarm, not-terribly delicious food. Because what self-respecting, money-making theme park would be without one?


Birds, tropical flowers, of course reptiles, and....






....eeeyyywwww. There were dozens of these, just laying all over each other. They didn't even look alive except for an occasional rolling of an eye. It totally gave me the heebies.

School is in session!

So, Kiwi and I started school today. We had what you might call a "soft start", lol! See, I haven't had any money to order her curriculum, so we just started with what we had... we did our devotions, we did some reading (thank goodness for the library!) we went to the apartment gym to exercise - this will be a daily part of school - I gave Kiwi another lesson in 'laundry', because part of school this year is definately going to be "life lessons"! Then, because we are going to journal every day, we made journals!

The idea is to take plain old composition books and make them pretty!




You just need two pieces of scrapbooking paper ~

Here Kiwi goes for a Christmas theme ~

Cut it, glue it, fold it to size....

Fold and glue the corners, then the sides...

and there ya go! Easy peesy....

Kiwi did this one in autumn hues....

Her Christmas one ~

I just chose patterns and colors that made me happy! Here they are, quick and easy... you can embellish with ribbons, buttons, stickers, whatever.... we may just leave 'em as is.

So, it's September

Huh. Who knew. September already. Summer is over ~ it's time to start school.


I am so not ready. Spending most of the summer getting ready to move, then moving, then trying to get moved in; well, it takes it out of ya. And, like my little Kiwi observed, after all that it didn't really seem like a summer vacation. She got that right!


But, life doesn't care how you feel about it. It just moves on like a river, whether fast or slow, and you have to go with it. Fighting the current only makes you tired.


So, we'll have a little Sunday, and a Labor Day, then start our little homeschool venture on Tuesday. Of course, with the car breaking down and other nice little surprises, we haven't had the money to purchase one single textbook. But, we have a library, we have the internet, we have wonderful points of historic interest to visit, we have good brains and we know how to use them. Life, and school, will carry on. And it will all be fine.



If all else fails, we have the cat for entertainment.