Guess I Should Blog

OK, so maybe I shouldn't fuss at you girls for not blogging regularly. I've just not been in much of a blogging mood myself recently. Could be because things have slowed down and we are into our school mode and nothing's going on. It's pretty quiet around here with only Chelsea left at home. I am adjusting to having to get up early and get her to school before 7 AM. That also means I'm going to bed earlier.


I did scrap the other day. This one is pretty much an Elsie case (but with a Gayla touch here and there). I bought her book in hopes it would inspire me to scrap more. I've done this one layout....ummm, not so good, huh? I'll get back into scrap mode...just you wait and see. Right now I'm in more of a cleaning/decorating/reorganizing mode. This happens when another fledgling leaves the nest I've noticed. Part of the reclaiming lost space ritual I think. It comes sooner with each "bird" that takes flight. With Val I couldn't ever do it till we moved ..her room at the old house stayed just the way she left it. When Britt left it took about a year to turn her room into more of a guest room and now with Brooke...well, school has been in session for a week now.... I've not actually started the transformation up there yet but it's on my mind! LOL

The "new" has worn off of school for Brooke already. She loves it "there" but hates going to classes. oh great! Only time will tell if she's back home by the end of the semester or not! The free ride is over if your grades aren't good baby!

Val and Britt are in the middle of fall recruitment for their sororities plus school has just started for them. They are busy...no time to talk to mom for sure. At least Brooke is calling a couple of times a day. That will continue for a little while longer I imagine. Homesick or bored? Never really know but when they are freshman you talk to them more than you did when they lived here I think.

Such An Exciting Life I Lead

Groceries have already been purchased and put up. Now I just need to decide the order in which I'll do my chores/errands today. Wash car, some household cleaning, nails filled and a pedi. OK, the last part is more of a reward than a chore.

Got tickled at Brooke. She has already called after her first class this morning. Has learned her first lesson...take your umbrella with you at all times. She's stuck in her first classroom building waiting for a storm to pass. Good thing she's got a long break before her next class. I also mentioned to her that she might want to learn to check the weather forecast the night before.

I did a little scrapping yesterday so I'll share.Or.... maybe I won't. Blogger is not cooperating with uploads at this time. Will try to add them later. OK, it's going to let me upload now. I won't push my luck. I'll just share my fave of the two

My Third Child

The little fashionista. My child that is brave enough to latch on to new trends while they still are new was home from college this week. The break between rush and real school starting on Monday. I got really tickled at her because she has not perfected the college packing technique.... you know...bring home a month's worth of dirty clothes. That way you have plenty of stuff to wear while you are home. Anyway, she brought no dirty clothes and very few clean ones. Being pretty much limited to cheer shorts and old t shirts she stuck pretty close to home. She only had nice outfits with her to go out for a couple of days. Last night was one of those. It was surprising when she requested that it be a mom/Brooke day and evening. I wasn't going to complain at all. Yesterday we went to the mall. She was in need of just a few more "must haves " for fall. We easily found most of what she was wanting ...black capri leggings, wide black belt, white menswear style blouse, some hair products. Once those purchases were made we stopped in Sephora in search of the perfect red lipstick...straight to Dior of course. She found a nice color HOWEVER when she tried it on it still wasn't looking like the hot red lip for fall. At that point I said "put down that tube of lipstick" and whisked her off to Dillards to the Dior counter there. We were in luck... the area Dior rep was in store that day. Of course SHE knew exactly how to create the look Brooke was wanting. We were in luck and so was the girl at the counter there in Dillards who I'm sure gets a commission on her sales. We also got the next free gift with purchase before the event actually starts because we are VIP customers they said. oops...that means we've been spending FAR too much money at that counter. Anyway, I give you # 3 dd sporting her after 5 new vamp look for fall... the eyes would be smokier if she was dressed up more but we were only going to dinner and a movie. This little photo shoot occurred in my bathroom after I caught her attempting to take a new myspace arms length pic of herself and volunteered my services. I wish my other girls loved the camera like this one does. You might notice that she's changed hair color again and that her hair magically grew.

On Becoming A Morning Person

I'm working on it. Think it's going to take some time but I have no choice. School started back yesterday for Chelsea but this morning was the first day of what will be the normal school day routine. We have to leave the house by 6:45 since she has drill team practice before school instead of after. So far today I've managed to pretty much waste over two hrs waking up. It's not been a total waste. I did get Chels to school on time, fill up the car with gas, stop for my mocha, rescue the cat two times from Gizmo who seems to be in a really bad cat chasing mode today. Extremely annoying I might add. At least he's had his daily exercise and is probably ready for breakfast and a nap. I, on the other hand, have to get a move on...hit that shower and get out to run some errands. There's plenty of really fun stuff (cough cough) in the chores department that needs to be done around here too. Gotta love the life of a SAHM .... it's all bon bons and soap operas...NOT!

Bedroom In A Box

did you know that you can get almost more boxed furniture from IKEA into a suburban than a small dorm style room can hold? Yeah...it's the truth. DD #2 is ALMOST moved into the Zeta house. Brooke and I took her new furniture down to her yesterday and got it all put together. OMG, instructions with only pictures and no words drive me crazy. We got it all moved in and put together no thanks to a boyfriend who had to work and an older sister who took an allergy pill that knocked her out when she couldn't find her bottle of Claritan.... good planning Chris and Val! Not that there would have been room for any more people in that room anyway really. Most of the time it was only one of us working on putting something together anyway. We found none of us work together that well where assembling furniture is concerned. We did get the boy to carry up the refrigerator after dinner, he'll also move over the TV and he promised he would put her shelf up today...I should call and ask her if he got that done....lol... when he told her he would do it she came right out and asked him if he was only saying that because I was there. Oh, she's got his number for sure. We've also discovered when discussing "moving"( helping) that his hearing is very selective. This time last year she had to go hunt him down at a fraternity recruitment party because he "forgot" ...he also was forgetting to answer his phone. This year she knows him much better though PLUS his car is in the body shop so he's fairly dependent on her for transportation. LOL

The Greek Life

May or may not be for dd #3. Things were not going the way she thought she wanted them to in the bid process so she cut her losses and folded. Dropped out, tucked her tail and headed for home to lick her wounds. We warned her it was vicious and it would be easier to follow in her sister's footsteps on the same campus but for those of you that know Brooke you know that's just not her style. Since she withdrew and never signed a pref card she is eligible for spring rush...which is informal and by invitation only. She'll just play it by ear now. Doesn't regret that she went half way through rush...met so many great girls and is looking forward to getting to know them better...especially the girls from her floor.

Ugh

Sorority rush is stressful. I HATE how they do it. Wish they could just rush like the fraternities do...get to know the new boys that are interested, hang out with them some in the summer and then ask them to join if they fit in. Girls hae to play the games...it sucks. I always end up with late night calls from girls who are falling apart from the stress and I have to stay positive and say hang in there.

So Tired

I'm back from moving another kid to college. The process wears me out both physically and emotionally. My plans for the day are to be a total waste of space. I need a day like this to just recover and recoup. Tomorrow I'll think about what else has to be done before the weekend but today I'm not even going to think.

I got Brooke moved in and she started rush yesterday. The move in went smoothly. I had to make a quick escape and not see her in between the parents meeting (for rush) yesterday and the actual beginning of rush following that BECAUSE she started crying when I was headed off to my meeting. Didn't want that to start up again right before her meetings/events started! My first kid to ever cry when I left them at college. I talked to her last night after the events and she was all excited/happy again. The rush process is a bit stressful for those that really understand the process like she does. So far, so good though....everyone was really nice she said and she's meeting/liking new girls from her rush group. Her two roomies and the girls down the hall from them are in this first rush group together. She likes them all. But then, it's not surprising. She and Kim like most people

What she wasn't prepared for was the frat boys being around "watching" the activities from a distance. I laughed at her. Of course they are around watching. They have to check out the new girls coming in! LOL

Oh and would you believe I didn't take a single picture over the weekend. I carried my camera everywhere but just to add weight to my purse I guess.

Britt officially turned 21 yesterday. Another one down and legal...where does the time go. She was, of course, in San Marcos celebrating with the boyfriend and her girls. Party at her bf's frat house on Sunday night ...must be celebrating at the stroke of midnight when one actually turns 21. When I talked to her on Monday afternoon she was recovering to go out with the girls for a birthday dinner.

Around and Around We Go

Ever have days where you feel dizzy from the circle running? Yeah, it's going to be one of those days here with a little packing and list making (of things Brooke still needs for college) thrown in for good measure. I am just ready for the good old run of the mill school day routine. Even if that does mean getting up an hour earlier than usual this year. It will take awhile but I will adjust.

Summer As We Knew It

is now over. Brooke has quit her job so she can finish getting ready to leave on Sunday for college and Chelsea started back to drill team practice this morning. No more sleeping in for mom. That part sucks. Now when I do get all these kids situated it will be more "ME" time for sure but it's going to take a couple more weeks to make that happen and those two weeks will be CRAZY! I hate this part of it...shopping for not so fun purchases and packing. Oh, and then all that driving! Yuck! Right now I'm really wishing that Brooke hadn't chosen a college in the opposite direction from her sisters! On the 12th looks like I'll have to make a whirlwind trip 4 1/2 hrs north to Stillwater and then on the 13th it will be a whirlwind trip 4 hrs south to San Marcos! Nothing more that I love than 9 or 10 hours on the road two days in a row! At least on that Saturday David will be driving. However that might be worse than going it alone...sitting and doing nothing makes the time pass slower when he's making me listen to some sort of talk radio all the way or one of his books on CD! I wish I could read or even sleep in the car but I just can't. Why does everyone in the family have an iPod but me? Not fair! OK, enough complaining for one day...back to the grindstone...pack pack pack!