Calgon take me away!

I don't intend to neglect my blogging but sometimes it is the least of my priorities. With the kids back to school and making sure their homework is done and then making sure I keep on top of my own school priorities it doesn't leave me much time for myself.

Then of course I have to make sure my house keeps somewhat presentable and plan the week's meals and do the grocery shopping and whatever else comes up. I honestly do not know how some women can juggle all these things and still look perky. I am on the borderline of hating such women. Seriously!

Then there is Chris and his schedule and I know he works hard every day but he plays even harder. This weekend he will be going with his dad and partner for some Orlando golf outing to represent their company. This is the first time that Chris will participate so I am not upset about him going but he does golf with the associates at least once a week. And of course the company picks up the tab because they also entertain clients. Must be nice to get paid while having fun right?

I think when I get my cleaning business up and running I am going to take up something to be able to have the company right it off and get some "me" time as well. Maybe a spa treatment or manicure. I wonder if anyone has ever done that.

Hurricane Fay is on her way!

It's official. School is already closed down for tomorrow and Chris is on his way home from work. Everything in downtown Sarasota is closing down. Chris will not be going back to work until further notice. I am not sure what is going to be in store for us since we have not really experienced a hurricane. We were here in 2004 when Charley slaughtered Charlotte County but we only experienced feeder bands from the hurricane. From what I hear Fay can go anywhere at this point.

My parents are coming here after work to help us arrange the garage to accommodate their dingy. Right now it's just sitting in our front yard. I wouldn't want that boat to take off flying and seriously damage anything or kill someone! The lanai furniture will also get stored in the garage. Not sure what the landman is going to do with his boat trailer that is in the backyard but good luck to him if it decides to take off.

The tree issue is really weighing heavily on me. I get this apprehensive feeling that we are going to have a tree in our family room before tomorrow! I will do my best to keep you all updated as this goes along. We may experience a power outage but we will have to see.

New school year and a Hurricane to boot!

The kids started back to school today. Everything was ready the night before so this morning went smooth as silk.

Jeff is a senior this year. I still can't get over the fact that by this time next year he will be a freshman in college (both fingers crossed). They grow up to damn fast! Jeff is excited about this being his last year in high school but he did wish to be able to at least spend one year in the new school. That won't happen because the new building will not be ready until next year. Officially his graduating class (2009) will be the last class of the old school.

Katie was so cute this morning. She had her clothes laid out from last night. She woke herself up, got herself dressed and packed her own snack while I made her breakfast. When I dropped her off she was more excited about getting the heck out of the car that she almost forgot to kiss me goodbye. She was decked out in all Hannah Montana clothes to even her shoes. She is growing up too fast!

I have been watching the updates of Tropical Storm Fay which I now believe is an official Hurricane. It figures. The kids are back to school and a Hurricane is headed in our direction. Not really sure where exactly it will make landfall. They are projecting somewhere north of Tampa but you know it can go anywhere! So... I have been filling jugs of water and stocking up on necessary survival items. We have batteries, flashlights, gas for the grill and the cooler is ready in case we need to put perishables in there. We have plenty of ice and the animals have enough food for two weeks.

I am not really worried about the storm itself but I am really nervous on the condition of the huge tree in our backyard. Every time we get a storm with some strong winds, the tree looses some good size branches. I can only imagine what is going to happen when winds sustaining at over 85 miles an hour is going to do. Hopefully if it does up root the tree it will fall away from the house. Otherwise this thing is going to take out the lanai and possibly the back wall of the house. We have warned the landlord several times but he has not done diddly. All I can say is good luck to the landman if that happens because we will be outta there in a heartbeat!

There is a lot of stuff that I am dealing with at the moment. I promise in the next few days I will let you know all about it. For now though I have tons of work to do...

Menopause and weight loss

My mother and I have done some research in our quest to lose weight. My mother is in full blown menopause and I am what doctor's call premenopausal. She takes hormones and I do not. In our diet pill review we have been narrowing down our choices.

As many women may know or will know soon, is that when you are going through the "change of life" weight is put on without drastic changes in our everyday living behaviors. I am not a big eater and neither is my mom. We are as active as we can be. When it comes to losing weight, while going through the change is the challenge. Our metabolism is severely retarded. Seriously… We can walk and swim till we are exhausted and the weight does not come off.

We have dabbled in a few diet pills. Neither one of us is liking the jittery feeling, mood swings or the crash. Yet, we are determined to find that one pill that will work for our aging bodies. If we do come across it, I will be the first one to share with all of you. Guaranteed.

The kittens are a sneaky pair. ..

Our kittens are now familiarized with our home. They have met the dogs and are not the least bit interested in socializing with them at this point. It is cute however when they perch themselves on the loveseat that is upstairs that looks down into the family room. Every once in a while, Bentley, will start to growl in anticipation that one or both of the kittens will come down to play. I keep meaning to take a picture, but every time I have caught the kittens in action, the camera is not within reach.

We will need to get a new tv stand for our room. Belle and Cuddles have commandeered our old worn down stand and we have moved it so that they can utilize it as a cat house. Some old carpet and a few toys and they play in it for hours. I have to find a way to deter them from climbing onto the shelves in our closet. The easiest thing to do would be to just shut the closet doors, but Chris prefers that the closet doors stay open. So… I will have to come up with another way to take care of that problem. I have not had a cat since Jeff was younger than Katie. So I am not up to date on how to keep cats off of counters and tables. Anyone have any suggestions? These cats know that I like to put my drink on my night stand while I am upstairs folding clothes. I can't count how many times I have seen the two conspire to get my drink. Twice they have knocked it off the table. Luckily for them both times the glass was empty.

11 days and counting

The kids start school on Monday, August 18. I asked both if they were excited about school starting. Neither of them sounded too happy.

I would think that Jeff at least would be excited since this is his senior year and all the hoopla that goes along with it. Nope. He is too worried about getting good enough grades to get into the college he wants to go to, which is Embry Riddle. It's a great school for Aerospace Engineering. Jeff has a very demanding schedule this year. I cringed just looking at it. It's not that he doesn't have the smarts to pull it off; it's his lack of discipline that is the problem. This school year leaves no room for his slacker mentality. I will have to become the school warrant with him this year, I just know it.

Not only have I been shopping for the necessary school supplies and some clothing. I have also been shopping for an acne scars cream or solution. Jeff's acne is doing better. He's not getting many break outs but his skin is scarred. I would like for him to have better confidence in the way he looks. He is a good looking kid, biased mom or not, he is. I haven't come across one yet that doesn't make his face all red and does not cause peeling. I have seen commercials promising certain outcomes but unless I know of someone who has tried it and has success with it. I won't bother buying the product. I am not one to just throw my money away. It's not like we have a lot of money to begin with so what we do have has to count.

Katie is pretty much all set in the school department. Her school publishes the supply list on their website so it was easy to get everything that she needs. Now we just have to stock her up on clothes. This kid grows so fast it's hard to keep up with her. What we buy now will not fit her come Christmas time. It's enough to make me want to pull my hair out.