a blended life

I have no shame in this. I pulled the girls out of school on Thursday to go ice skating and to Red Robin. We practically had Peaks Arena to ourselves and it was so, so, so much fun. Hannah only cried half the time, so that's real progress. I loved it so much we went back twice and have planned to go 3 times this next week. I was looking through my past posts from last semester and realized I'd become mentally ill. So I've found a hobby that will get me through break without a psychotic episode, only to have to abandon it when I start teaching.  Yay. Here's how it feels to skate: Peaks Arena was the Olympic hockey venue in 2002. All that means is that we're getting spoiled with nice facilities and it'll be that much more frustrating if we ever move.  She's getting really adept at scooting around.  "Mom, I'm so graceful on ice." In typical Leah fashion, she is good at nearly everything she tries. A fact tha...

This post started out being "All The Ways Hannah Controls My Life," but I'd hate to sound so negative even if it is completely accurate. So here are some lovely flowers to start us off, courtesy of my longest-running, South Dakota-livin' friend. Proof that young friendships are to be taken seriously and sometimes they really were meant to be:  There is a story behind this picture and an explanation for that little rat's attitude. No, actually, there is no explanation for that, but here is the story anyway. We spent the morning putting together a family picture outfit. We would have to take the picture immediately after school when the lighting was just right, so I wanted it all ready before they got home. Hannah helped me choose clothes and we had a long talk about how there wouldn't be time to curl her hair.  I have nothing to say for myself, except that in the real family picture, she is wearing a completely different outfit and ...

It's not a big secret that a certain relative has filled out an eHarmony profile for me and paid for a few months. Something about the whole thing has made me really frustrated and it's taken a few weeks for me to pinpoint why. So here's why. It's just not me. Every word has to be carefully chosen and second-guessed and rewritten. And maybe a part of me has always felt way too odd to find true and everlasting love (sarcasm) through the internet. I decided to write down what my profile should really say, maybe as a way of having my voice heard? The one thing I am passionate about:               Pickles The most important thing I am looking for:                Just be opposite of everything I hated about my ex-husband. We can negotiate the rest. Most influential person in my life:               Myself. Aren't we are own worst enemy? Or should I stop analyzing Life of ...

I haven't posted about my birthday. Or Thanksgiving. Or some cute holiday stuff my girls have been doing. Or the fact that I had to drop all my piano students so I could survive student teaching. Or the best rainbow I've ever seen or the makeover Karina gave me or chicken stories (you know you want them) or the hundred other things that should go into this blog. Here's what I've done instead: Wrote a ten page paper in 3 hours. Took my last final ever. Worn through ALL my clothes. Laundry tomorrow. Started some new medication. Side effect: weight loss. No complaining! Had some impatient mom moments. One of them resulted in a 7:45 bedtime.  Did a puzzle in 4 hours. Central Park! Dogs!  Learned a Chopin Mazurka. Watched snow fall. Read a few books. Ender's Game and The Secret Keeper. They were excellent. Went out to lunch with a favorite uncle and his lady. Also excellent. So I'm not a total slacker, I just seem to not blo...

Yesterday this little spitfire handed me a coupon that she'd clipped. I honestly didn't know that she knew what coupons did, let alone how to clip them. It said,"Free Pizza." And she asked when we'd be getting her some pizza now that she found a good deal. It was for Domino's buy one, get one free. I thought about how learning to read can be a curse as well as a blessing. I remember when her older sister learned to read and started shouting traffic signs at me. "MOM! STOP!" As if I hadn't figured out how to stop yet. Thank goodness I have my daughters to save money and lives. Today Hannah said,"Mom, I don't understand why people think we look like each other. I mean, you have short hair AND you like potatoes." Two strikes against mom, I guess! This random thought brought to you by an extremely boring class that I'm desperately trying to not walk out on. I can't take it anymore, folks. 

"This blog made possible by a generous donation from the J and K Day Foundation, and from viewers like you. Thank you." This is only funny if you watch PBS kids, and even then, it's not that funny. In other words, due to a generous contribution ($1.37) from an anonymous donor (Jakey-Wakey), I bought a bit more storage and can now show pictures. {cue audience applause} Here are some blog statistics that I thought were interesting: Total page views: 10,400 Total posts: 374 Total posts containing random content: 371 Cost of having blog printed into a book: $110.00 Posts I started but didn't publish: 65. Probably offensive rants about SOMEONE'S ex-husband. I know one was boasting my GPA, but it sounded too braggy so I didn't follow through. The next obvious question is, Who are all you people? I think my blog should be titled "Blog of people who read but refuse to comment". But now that I said that, I need to make this completely clear: I don...