Ten for Tuesday 9.16.08

There is a lot going on in the news this week, but nothing too exciting at our house. I've been wondering how much money we lost in yesterday's "market meltdown," but I guess there's nothing we can do about it now, right? Anyway, this week at our house. . .

1. More soccer! For the majority of his game on Saturday, Michael mostly just danced around the field. He seems to have lost some of his aggression and focus from last season. But, toward the end of the game, things turned around and he scored two goals! After the first goal he was so excited that he ran down the field and did a cartwheel! What a character. Way to go Michael!

2. Reed's flag football began on Saturday. I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that from now on, my Saturdays are pretty much shot. Ever since I've been married Saturdays have been my day to do house cleaning, yard work and errands. All summer long I've been frustrated that my Saturdays were booked up and I could never quite catch up on the work that needed to be done to get ready for the next week. I'm realizing that Michael and Reed are just the tip of the iceberg. Pretty soon Ty and Blake will also be playing sports and the madness will really begin. Never again will Saturday truly be my catch up day. I'm mourning the loss and trying to figure out how I can get more done during the week so that we can enjoy our weekends a little bit more. Any suggestions? For those of you who kick back and relax all weekend long, how do you keep from drowning under your workload during the week?

3. On a more positive note. . . This is the beginnings of the peach cobbler I made for dessert last night. I don't think there are many things that taste better than a perfect peach, and I've been waiting since last fall to make this yummy dessert again.

4. This is a project that I've been working on this week. All of these photos have been collected, put in order, labeled and dated. What a lot of work! Why, oh why did I not do this right after they were developed?! These particular photos are from 2003-2006, so it was a bit of a trick to get them all labeled. Unfortunately they were pretty disorganized to begin with because I had taken a bunch of them out to scrapbook and the doubles all got mixed up. 2006 is when I got my digital camera, so my next step is to get my digital pictures organized, printed, labeled and put in albums. I know there are many hours ahead of me to finish this project, but I am determined to have this done before the end of the year. Then hopefully I can create a system that won't be too hard to keep up with. Wish me luck!

5. Is anyone else more than a little excited about this?! It only took Reed 35 minutes to get home from work last night. Wahoo!

6. I am 100% addicted to this lip gloss. Thank you Lacey and Stephanie for tipping me off to it. I lost my only tube a few weeks ago and had to go right back to the mall to replace it. I told the girl at the check out how much I loved this product and she said, "Oh, I know. I have three tubes in my purse right now." Anyway, it's C.O. Bigelow Mentha Lip Tint from Bath & Body Works. It's got sheer color and peppermint oil in it that's fresh and makes your lips tingle. I love it. It you haven't tried it, go get some. Now!

7. I won't tell you what I was cleaning up off the carpet yesterday, but I will tell you that it was bad enough to warrant lugging my carpet steam cleaner up the stairs. It hasn't been working very well, and yesterday it totally bit the dust. It turns on just fine, but it no longer pumps the water down to the floor. I tried to take it apart today to see if it might be an easy fix like a broken belt or something that I could fix on my own. No such luck. The good news is that I got it all put back together without any pieces left out. The bad news is that it looks like I'm going to have to get it repaired. Totally frustrating considering it's only 2 years old. I will probably take my piece of junk vacuum cleaner in at the same time since it currently sounds like a jack hammer when it's turned on. I just hate spending money on stupid things like vacuum repairs. I'd much rather spend it on clothes. . . or a massage. . . or Tivo. . . I could go on, but I won't.

8. Bandaids galore. We're still going through at least 5 bandaids a day with Ty. He finally lost the nail on on his thumb (that he smashed in the door at church several weeks ago), and the doctor said he might lose the nail on his pointer finger that got infected a couple of weeks ago. Lovely. That poor kid has owies all over the place!

9. When will I learn that breakfast cereal needs to be put away IMMEDIATELY after breakfast is over? I've been pretty good lately to get it put away, and we haven't had a cereal incident recently, but apparently today was the day that I needed a reminder about that very important rule. I should have taken a picture, but I'm sure you can imagine what my house looked like after Blake got a hold of the Chex box, and Michael got a hold of the Honey Bunches of Oats.

10. TGFC. Thank Goodness For Carpools! Even though Michael and Ty's schools are very close to home, I am still so grateful for friends who want to carpool. I am so glad I don't have to drag Blake back and forth all afternoon---especially since they have different drop off and pick up times. Thanks for all your help girls!