Oooh, that does sound nice!

We still HAVE our baby gate for the top of the stairs, it's got a holder screwed into one of the railings, and a latch on the other.. but you can pick the gate up to remove it. So it's not attached now, but I can put it up if I want people or animals to stay put haha.

:) I always just had the cheap squeeze the walls with the lifting latch in the middle type of gates (annoying things) I don't know what I'll do. Its not like that dog is in here all the time (more so in hot summer and freezing winter) and I don't NORMALLY leave her alone, its just this week no one else is home, and I went out to mow the lawn not thinking she'd do anything but sleep...but you know dogs. Once they've learned a trick to do something, they won't forget and they WILL keep doing it. Both dogs LOVE going into the bedrooms, mostly due to finding food from Nathan. Also they sometimes chase the cats, and that is another reason for the gate - the cats will jump over it, but the dogs never have (And Belle is MORE than big enough to jump it, but I think she doesn't due to she couldn't when she was little lol) so even tho she's seen the cats jump, she never tried that. Anyway the gate keeps the dogs from chasing the cats as the cats can get away down the hall into the bedrooms. They don't chase them too often, but it happens more often when BOTH dogs are inside.

I mopped the kitchen floor today. It has not been mopped in waaaaaaay too long. I hate mopping. Plus I feel like I don't mop right if I dont at least move the chairs, (sometimes the table too) out of the room and then I have to wait for it to dry before I move anything back, so ugh. Its annoying. But it is mopped. And finally dry. So I am putting the room back together. I did not move the table this time, just the chairs. I need to wash the rest of the dishes (the ones I prefer hand washed over dishwasher washed). AND I need to practice my speech. I practiced it two times walking around the house yesterday holding my notecards hahahaha Going to do that 2-3x a day all week, I have to have it recorded and turned in by Thursday at noon.

I.. literally don't know the last time I mopped. Or even swiffered, if I'm being honest. Way too long ago!

But I did use wipes on it the other day, with my feet? LOL.

We went to Bens birthday party today, at a different trampoline park than we normally go to. I didn't like the trampolines though, they were set too loose... but the playground parts that were just for kids 10 and under were really cool!

I saw the pictures! It looks like a great place for kids to have fun. I miss doing that stuff with my kids like when they were littler. We didn't have a lot like that place here, but we did go to a few that were further away and we did other things like the park and the zoo ... I wish my kids had been able to be as close to their cousins as yours are. Shane has a girl cousin 3m younger than him. And two boys are a bit over a year older than him, and one only 4m older. Katie has two boys a year older/year younger than her. Nathan has 1boy 1m younger, and one a yr younger I think they would have had so much fun if they were all closer bonded. But most lived too far apart and the ones who lived closest to us (which were on hubby's side) never really wanted to visit or do anything as family

Rofl about the wipes. Glad to know I am not the only one who doesn't mop forever.

It was fun! For everyone... but mostly the kids :P

It's EXPENSIVE, though! Like, $35 per kid per hour?!

Yea I can imagine. Stuff costs a lot more these days. I used to pay $100 for a yearly pass for the zoo for 6 people (2 adults, up to 4 kids). Wonder what it would cost now. Not that I'm likely to go any time soon or anything. 1hr drive to get there, have to take lunch and go out to eat it or buy at the zoo. Last time me and the kids went we walked around in less than an hour and they wanted to leave 😕 we haven't been back since

Oh, boo :(

I am looking forward to going to the zoo when we're at Hershey, it's even included! It's a good 3 hours to Philly, that's the zoo we've gone to most. Well, honestly, I've been to the Santa Barbara zoo far more than any other one, but that's a 6 hour plane ride and then some away haha.

Oh my. That's much more of a drive. We used to go to the Jacksonville zoo with my mom whenever we visited. It's a little bigger than Atlanta zoo, but we had pandas and they don't. I think they had penguins tho. And they put in a splash park, so the kids loved that when we got to go there I have this cutest picture of Nathan all startled that the stone hippo sprayed water in his face lol!!! he wasnt even a year old!!)

Yeah, it's definitely a WAYS :P

So I'm excited to go to the.. zoo of America? maybe? Which seems like a pretty lofty name, but what do I know!

The Philadelphia zoo is the oldest in the US though, which is pretty neat! But ALL I have ever seen of Philly is the zoo haha.

Today I'm helping Iz clean up her clothes.. closet and dresser. It's time to get rid of stuff that's too small, worn, etc, and make sure that everything fits in the drawers and closet the way it's supposed to! Because.. her room is TEENY tiny and it's a DISASTER.

Ha. Well there is a mall of America too and honestly every mall I've been to is more or less the same so I don't think the fact that it's the mall "of America" or the zoo "of America" much matters I am sure you will enjoy the zoo!!!

I'm a bit annoyed at my boys because I asked Nathan to bring down more things from thattic before he left and he didn't. Then when Shane was home I asked him to bring down stuff since Nathan didn't....and he didn't. I even mentioned to Ryan that I wanted stuff brought down (mind I didn't exactly ask him to do it) and he didn't offer to bring stuff down. How am I supposed to go thru it and get rid of it if it is in the attic? I am afraid of heights and I cannot stand going into he attic and trying to carry something down is awful I always feel like I am going to fall out of the opening. Yes I suppose I could, if I NEEDED to, do it on my own. Instead I'll just be grumpy that no one did it for me and keep waiting lol At least Iz and her stuff is not in the attic lol

That's true, not in the attic! I'd be annoyed at the boys, too. And really, it's not like you ask them to do too much!

There IS stuff in the attic, but it hasn't been touched since before I was born so.. it can all stay up there LOL.

To get to the attic you need to take everything out of Lilys closet, take the shelf and rod down, get a ladder and climb through a tiny hole in the ceiling of it.. and then try not to step between the rafters (there's a hole in the ceiling of Els room, was my room, was my aunts room.. :P Where my mom fell through the ceiling when she was maybe 18 haha).

UGHHHH Isabelles room though! I went to go through the closet and dressers, but then saw behind her bed, kind of next to ? the dressers? She's got her loft bed, then there's a maybe 18 inch space around it to walkm, and against the wall is a toy box, some shelve basket things for her sweaters and leggings, and then her dresser, and then it's the other wall. Alllll between the bed and toy box/shelf things was just.. STUFF.

Iz and I have cleaned approximately three square feet of her bedroom and we've got three loads of laundry, two bags of get rid of clothes and stuffed animals, one and a half bags of trash, two boxes of get rid of books, and two big boxes of get rid of toys

Katie used to do that too, line every inch of wall between her bed/mattress and the wall with stuff. Eventually it got so it was mostly blankets and pillows but for the longest time it was clothes and school stuff and stuffed animals ugh. Mess.

Nathan on the other hand, is trash. Why do you drop trash between the bed and the wall???? Whyyyy. It hasn't been so bad since I gave him a bigger trashcan for his room thankfully. I still cleaned up more trash than I wanted when I cleaned his room the other day but at least it was all near the trashcan and not stuffed behind the bed.

Yes! The whole you might step through the ceiling this terrifies me too, since we have loose insulation and sometimes it's hard to tell where the beams are. I need to put new/fresh insulation in I'm sure too, it's been 20yrs after all ...

I was reading, and...I think I fell asleep. I for sure zoned out. My arm was numb when I startled and opened my eyes. Guess I was tired. Still am. Need to go to store and get some hamburger meat and I don't want to go But I told Shane I'd make chili and I need meat to do so

You should have leaned intyo that nap, Kat!

This was.. trash, clothes, olddddd toys, new toys, etc. No reason for it, really!

Finally made it to her closet and dresser.. two more bags of clothes gone. And a bunch of old shoes. Tomorrow we'll tackle under the bed, bookshelves (we got rid of a giant box of books BEFORE we even touched a shelf!), and the laundry she's doing now.

I just don't feel like I was asleep asleep, like I sleep at nighttime? But I think I was. It was like a good hour I was zoned out, it was just one of those, you kind of sense the room while you are "asleep" type of sleeps? Like I knew when the dog moved, and saw flickers of light from reflections of passing cars, but none of it really registered, type of stuff? You know? Then when I startled, my arm felt numb, I opened my eyes all the way, it was bright (it had been cloudy/raining earlier) and all of the sudden I felt wide awake. I am not really a daytime nap person. Unless I am sick. I am not sick today, but I guess I was tired.

Went ahead and went to the store. Checked the mail. Got $30 in the mail Yay me (power refund thing) So now I'll need to go to the bank later.

[edit] recorded again this morning (have practiced w/o recording a couple times yesterday) Didn't do too bad. I know I said UM at least once, and paused at least twice. Made a mess up of a sentence at least once. But not too bad, got through the whole thing. Going to try again later today a couple more times recording, and again tomorrow if I don't like any of the ones I did today good enough.

Sometimes I SWEAR I respond, but then I go back to look and.. nope. I wonder if I just do it in my head, or if it doesn't send, or.. I don't know.

I'm not really a daytime nap person either, unless I'm sick or like. REALLY tired!

Dp you feel like it's taking less practice to get a good speech now, kat?

Well maybe a little. Like I haven't recorded and stopped myself 5x (or more) in a row this time. However I haven't gotten a good recording yet either

Been watching the hobbit movies with Shane

[edit] 810am Well so we finished the third movie after 10, I went to bed, then realized I had NOT done my discussion board because I'd been waiting to see if the teacher would clarify a question for me (they never did), so I jumped up, ran back out here and got online to do that ... got it done my way, whatever. Hope I still do ok on the grade, but whatever it is will be better than a 0 tho since I almost didn't do it!

Tho I didn't have email from THAT teacher, I did from the speech teacher - he gave everyone a 100 for the outline/bibliography w/o having to turn one in (yay thanks I guess, I already did mine but had not turned it in yet as it was due the same day as the speech) as he's running out of time due to having TWO funerals to go to this summer plus some other family stuff. AND he says he has over 100 essays to grade from his humanities classes he is teacher for as well. Poor guy. AND he said feedback for the persuasive speeches are now optional, so we don't have to do that unless we want to. AND the due date to turn in the speech is now Monday 17th instead of Thursday 13th. So yay for more time to practice?! lol Then I noticed he had graded my informational speech, I got like 2-3 points off for a 4 second pause, but otherwise did good :D AND he'd graded my proposal for the persuasive speech, gave some feedback on a slightly better (to him) ending, but I probably won't change it from what I've practiced, what I put in the proposal is slightly different anyway.

Anyway I know I am going to be tired today. Because I didn't go to bed til after 1045 for one, but also for another I didn't go to SLEEP until after midnight because Shane has the APU on his truck running and the dog kept barking because of it, so between the rumbles and the dog I didn't fall asleep til after I woke Shane up and told him to go turn the stupid thing off. Then the dog settled down and I finally fell asleep. Woke up before daylight as usual, said to myself NO! And fell back asleep - woke up again about 730. So yah. Got up then and got a shower. Feel ok now, just tired. So I KNOW I'll be tired all day. Shane will leave sometime this afternoon for his next load.

Nathan sent me pictures of the car, did I say that yet? I can't remember. Anyway, they have a new hatch, installed it, its a dark grey so it ALMOST matches - I don't know if they'll paint it or not. The new light is in, but the metal around it is still all jacked up - so they said they were working on trying to fix that better and make it so water won't get into the interior or light from that area. And the mold (surface mold) on the seats has been cleaned up. Hopefully it won't come back :P

Oooh, they are good movies! But they're so long, I can't believe you watched all three of them!

Yay?! For your poor teacher being run off his feet, but easier for you!

Argh for Shane and the dog, but at least you did finally sleep!

And YAY for car stuff! Yes, hopefully the mold stays away!

We're going swimming at my step-dads today.. that's the only plan I've got :P

Mmm my plan is to try and start working on the school stuff

• hahahah i wrote that like at 11 am? It is now 125pm. Shane went up in the attic to look for something and while up there I had him get stuff down, and now my LR is a giant mess and I've sorted through MOST of what he brought down (2 boxes of paper stuff from school I decided NOT to look thru yet). Piles that need new boxes and figure out where to store them at now. LOTS of crap hauled out to the trash/burn pile. Small pile set aside waiting to see what Katie says. Small pile set aside to put put in my new-ish holiday box/containers. FOUR more cabbage patch dolls, still in boxes, to be added to my collection on my closet shelf. Umm I am obsessed with CPKs yes I am. I admit it. I have a bag full of little trinkets that came with various dolls as well LOL (*shoes, hair clips, bows, bottles, pacifiers, even some extra clothes in there!) AND some other random CPK stuff like a makeup style mirror, a diaper bag (for the dolls, not for real kids) and other stuff lol Oh yes and a whole box of barbie stuff that I didn't go thru at all because I know mostly what is in there. Anyone ever heard of the "Heart Family" barbie dolls? I have SOOOO much stuff from them. I kept it so Katie could play with them, and now I guess I'll keep it so my grandkids (if ever I have any) can play with them... I just can't make myself get rid of them. And a pile of christmas bears. I still can't make myself get rid of those either, tho looking at the dates, I am either missing some still hiding somewhere OR I did get rid of some a while back because I have such random dates. And I swear, I bought a bear almost every year for a long time...so I feel like I am missing some. I stopped buying the plushie bears two years ago because they came out with ornament bears instead!! SO I've gotten those hahah! Smaller, easier to store and easier to set out to decorate. I never put them out to display because they are so big and I have so many :P 530pm Ok so the piles have at least been removed from my living room hahaha. the junk is all out to the burn pile except two things which I am not sure I should burn so I am going to take to the trash dump. The keep stuff has gotten moved to the game room for now, and I'll either decide what to do with them when Nathan gets home, or move them back to the attic if I can't figure out where else to store them. I did go through the paperwork boxes and got rid of some of it. Most of it I kept, its stuff I sorted through before, keepsake kids school papers, but honestly, that will probably end up being trashed one day because THEY probably won't care to keep it. Vauumed the hallway, still need to pick up a few small things and then vacuum the LR again (i just did it the other day, but now there is insulation peices and dirt and other yuck stuff from the boxes and the attic everywhere)

Need to decide what I am going to do for dinner.

Oooh wow, good job Kat! And Shane, for bringing some stuff down!

Also, those CPKs may be worth some money too Kat, if you ever decided! I have one of them up on my bookshelf, too, but it's not in the box :P

I've seen your bear collection at least once, I think!

Iz cleaned under her bed a little bit, then we finally went swimming.. but first we had to go pick El up, then they needed to stop at the bank and it was raining, so we stopped at the bank quick. Then! It was still raining a little bit, so we stopped at the cafe because it's Thanksgiving in July this week! I got a pumpkin caramel cake batter frappe thing and it was sooooo good. And then El bought some treats, so I got a pumpkin roll piece, too! And I'm very excited to eat that in a bit :P

But eventually we did go swimming, for almost 2 hours.. until the storm broke.

For dinner, we had grilled chicken salads! And they were delicious!

Oh I am sure that some of mine will be worth something someday. I have SEVERAL special editions. Still in the box. Maybe not perfect condition box, but still in the box. Like, this Target holiday edition - fancy outfit doll - she is creepy now. The attic turned her eyes red, but she's special holiday edition - think holiday barbie type of thing? sort of -except I think it was a one time only not yearly thing. And more little girl style lol Gorgeous green dress, red-headed doll, supposed to be green eyes to match the dress, fancy white frilly socks, dress shoes, little green purse that matches. So cute, except the now creepy eyes. I have TWO 1996 Olympic CPKs. I have a 25th Anniversary edition. I have several holiday editions - one in a box is dressed like a tree. Very cute. All my other holiday editions are either regular babies or NOT in a box (I have Santa, and Elf, a mini angel and a mini elf, I also have an easter bunny) :D I have a 2000 Millennial New Years baby omg its so cute - in the box. So yea. Some of them will be worth something someday :) After I get them all set up I will have to take a picture (or two or three) of my closet shelf....There is the 4 boxes (doll boxes not storage boxes) on the floor and a whole pile of dolls. sigh lol

I have not been back in my pool. Mother Nature decided to visit. Yay. Not. I had a pork chop and green beans and a piece of homemade bread for dinner. Then I ate a little debbie snack cake because I still felt hungry.