Procrastination is a bad thing

Ok since I started my new job, I have come to discover the joy of procrastination. Between the kids, my job and school it seems that there are not enough hours in the day to cover everything. School to be honest is getting the short end of the stick in this instance, I am four classes from my Masters burnt out and seriously sick of not having a life on the weekends. It was so bad that last weekend I decided to flat out play hookie and go out of town. So now I get to play catch up to be sure the last two weeks goes smoothly, so my hats are off to all those moms and dads out there who try and balance everything and life without losing their minds.

Well its almost Halloween time and that means the rush for presents, our youngest will turn five on Halloween and the inevitable Christmas shopping raises its ugly head. Went shopping today you would not believe the insane stuff they market to kids, parents get to wade through zillions of toys that seem to only have one use. The babies favorite is a dog that swims to you in the bathtub, that its total claim to fame it walks and swims and is eletronic so that means the price tag is outrageous of course. I remember when toys were more simple and would keep a childs imagination active for more then five minutes.

As that wonderful pumpkin time approaches my children are asking everyday when the pumpkins can be bought, not only for the joy of ripping the guts our of pumpkins and making scarey faces but for a yummy treat as well.

Ingredients:

• Pumpkin seeds
• Cooking spray, olive oil, or butter
• Optional: Salt, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, or other seasoning of choice

Preparation:

Rinse pumpkin seeds. Use your fingers to remove all the pulp. Drain pumpkin seeds and discard pulp. Spread out on paper towels on a cookie sheet to dry overnight.

Preheat oven to 250 F. Line a baking sheet with non-stick foil.

Toss pumpkin seeds in olive oil, butter, or spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, cayenne pepper, or your choice of seasonings. Toss to coat.

Bake about 1 hour, tossing every 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Cool pumpkin seeds before eating. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 months or refrigerate up to 1 year.

If you like your toasted pumpkin seeds extra-salty, soak overnight in a solution of 1/4 cup salt to 2 cups of water. Dry an additional day, then proceed as above.

For more pumpkin yummies see them at
http://homecooking.about.com/od/vegetablerecipes/r/blv310.htm

New jobs are awsome

Nothing is better then waking up in the morning all excited about starting a new job. I don't care how many times I do this or even when I know that what I am doing is the same as other positions I have had there is that moment of blind panic when your brain is screaming that you do not know anyone there and what if they do not like you. As soon as you realize that is fine you begin to second guess your skills, ok so what if you spent years in college, maybe this is the day when your brain freezes and you cant pick up a pencil without dropping it.

Lol all this takes place within mere minutes then you walk through the door and realize that its like riding a bicycle and you fall right back into the flow of things the only thing different is the type of company they are. This was my day today and I came home more awake and alert then I have felt in weeks, everything went awsome and despite my doubts the day flew along and was over way to soon.

I would not suggest changing jobs just for the thrill, but everyone should feel that exhiliriation once in there lives of doing something new and different.

Grounding more punishment for the parent

Brittany has been grounded for two days for having a general bad attitude and being no help while trying to deal with the power being out. I don't know if this is just being 14 and she will get over it or the residue of moving 3000 miles away from her friends. I am beginning to believe that it is more punishment for me then her. Yesterday on of her friends came over and asked to talk to me, (this does not happen unless they want something by the way). He informed me he loved me and I was the best Mom since his mother, lol do I need to say they live right across the street and his mother used to babysit Katlyn. I looked right at him and asked if he was trying to get Brittany ungrounded,
" Yep" he said.
Well as I was not the one who grounded her I informed him that was up to her father who was at work. He asked when he would be home, midnight I informed him.
"I will see him at midnight then"
Obviously his mother was not going to let him come over at midnight but I thought the whole episode was rather amusing.
Since we have grounded her I have had more children at my door telling me that "they missed her and was going to die a horrible death if she was not ungrounded" for her part she hides in her room and talks to them on myspace, even though I do admit she has started helping out more.

Hurricane Ike

Living in Northern Kentucky I had assumed that we were safe from pretty much anything short of a blizzard or tornado. Was I ever proved wrong, Sunday morning brought heavy winds as what was left of Hurricane Ike slammed into Kentucky and Ohio and points beyond. The storm at first just rattled windows, then our power went down and shingles from neighboring houses started ripping off, several houses were damaged when the families trampolines hit them. To me this was all new and rather frighting as I was raised in Washington State, right by the Idaho border and the worse thing we seen was a Ice Storm one year, and lots of snow on a regualar basis.
Three kids and no power is a challange, lol this was made even more difficult when I discovered that the propane tank on the BBQ was empty and there wasnt a single store around us that had power. The radio was giving a timeline of up to a week for power restoration since most of the technicians for our power company and went to Texas to help with the clean up. Lets just say no one was looking forward to a week of Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches.
We managed to find enough candles to attempt to play games to keep everyone occupied, pictionary in the dark takes on a whole new twist, as simple words became as attempt to puzzle out odd drawings in the dark. The four year old thought all was great until it got dark and no amount of flipping the light switch would turn on the lights. She kept walking over to the television and pushing the button and looking at the set with an expectant manner, then turn and looked at me like "ok where is Dora".
Once the kids were settled and the four year old understood that the magic box she uses to watch Dora and other kid attractors on was temporarily out of service, the realization set in that OMG what was I supposed to do, I had a final assignment for class was due Monday and we had no Internet. Luckly I had a friend with a cell phone here that had data service still functioning. Finally I reached my school and found out they had expected these issues and was already a step ahead of me, letting all professors know that assignments could possible be late.
All in all this was a learning experience and I take my hats off to those who choose to live in the paths of these storms at full strength. There was a time when I wanted to live in Florida now all I can say is it will be a nice place to visist but not during Hurrican season.

Kids have the right idea

I have began to discover a disturbing trend among us adults. My two teens spend at least 2-3 hours a day on the phone networking and conversing with friends that they may or may not have seen simply 10 minutes ago. In fact they are simply comfortable to three way call each other just so they can listen to music over the speakers of each others computers. The adults today seem to have lost some of these skills.
Phone skills have taken a leave of absence, in what seems the sudden boom of e-mail etiquette. What has happened to the concept of calling back someone who has let a message on your answering machine. In your private life you can really decide who to call back but today's trend in business seems to be 'if its not email then its not important' this goes for not only job hunting but simple tech support for phone and cable companies. I recently called a business who told me that they would call me back with 48 hours guess what no call was forth coming, I ended up calling a supervisor complaining and then waiting another 48 hours for them to call me back. As a Human Resource representative I would be appalled to just ignore incoming questions from potential employees or someone who may even have the simplest of questions. Ok enough with the rant I will know leave my soapbox. Teens of today are doing everyday what business owners and members of many organizations seems to have forgotten as they grew into responsible adults 'communication is key'.
On another subject took the kids to the library today, they have a read away your fees going on, the middle girl stated tbat she would rather not have library books if it meant she had to read from the kiddie section. Of course then she immedialty grabbed a move off the shelves and began chasing her older sister around the library. What is it about taking teens in public that makes them drop several years in age, unless its the mall where all of a sudden its please go away adults are creepy, we will summon you when we are ready to go home or we need you to be walking credit cards.

Oops According to Brittany

LOl I found out today just out of touch with todays generation I am. Brittany the middle kiddo read what I posted about her and with exasperation in her voice she stated she was not 'scene' and never would be. That she was emo and goth, and then she just had to drag her boyfriend over to read and tell me I was wrong again. Since I was sure that emo and goth was the same thing just different terminology from another generation (mine) I had no idea that such an affront would be so disassterous. So do clairfy she is not "SCENE" and is 'Emo and Goth'. Now maybe she will quit trying to erase by words as I type them.

We took the the youngest to the park today, she did not seem to understand that we had other errands to run and that adults do get hungry and do not move on the timetable of a four-year old. So here we are setting in Steak and Shake and she is insisting she is not hungry (she had not eaten since 8:30am) that she just wanted to go to the park. When we arrive at the park of course she has to spend 10 minutes staring at the slides before deciding she only wanted to run up and down the ladders to them. Finally we decided to get out her bike and let her ride on the walking path, ok I knew I was out of shape but its sad when chasing a four-year old around a small track makes you want to pass out. Think its time to hit the gym. After one trip around it was time to come home for her nap, which of course caused another round of but I dont want to and I am not tired! We finally bribed her saying we would be back tomorrow.

An Introduction

My children are not only a great source of amusement but also frustration. They offer new and often unavoidable obstacles everyday. My oldest feels that the world is her own personal dose of drama and that every little thing that goes on is going to be the end of the world. In fact just the simple act of telling her to get off the phone so we can use it heralds the end of her universe as we know it. I don't remember 16 being quite so much of a hassle, I remember having fun with life and not waiting for the next act in a dramatic act.

The fourteen year old calls herself "scene" not sure what that is except maybe a weird mixture of goth and prep. Everything goes, unlike her sister she is not happy to sit and home and let the drama come to her. Brittany's friends are usually a great source of amusement around our small suburb.





Katlyn is the youngest of our three, she is busy, energetic and totally full of mischief. On a daily basis you can never be sure what she will be up to. Her older sisters have insured that she picks up on things quicker than some.