FEBRUARY

First off, I just wanted to say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to my mom!!! She's older today, and I LOVE her! Eat a BIG piece of cake for me today, ok?? Or maybe the kids and I will bake a cake in your honor....hmmm, I'm liking that plan already!

Wow girls... I'm glad that I took the day off. Because if I hadn't, I think I might have keeled over dead. hehe.

I woke up at 6:30am ish, read scriptures, said prayers, and went out to get kids ready. My voice wasn't really working, but I pressed on. I got the kids fed and dressed and out the door at 7:35 am for the bus. And I chatted with my mom on Gmail chat for a while, and tried to talk myself into going grocery shopping. I felt like crap, and wanted to go to bed, but my family needed food :)

I chatted with Captain America on Skype for quite a while, and then at 10am, was ready for shopping. I printed out the list, left Jake with directions for putting Jimmy on the bus, and off I went. I think part of my problem is that I haven't had a soda since Friday. So that's 3 days of detoxing. hehe. I have taken Excedrine something or another, which has caffeine, but not a lot. NOw is as good a time as any to wean off if it, right? I'd rather not be dependent.

Anyhow, I drugged myself up, and headed out. I had a TON of things to do on my TO DO list...

First stop, CYS. Children and Youth Services, I think is what it stands for. See, we have free sports and activity hours, but need to be registered in order to use it. We WERE registered, but it lapsed a while back. So I needed to go and re-register.

All the kids needed new physicals, but if I filled out a few forms right there, then Tom could get re-registered enough to get signed up for the Babysitters Class. So I took my paperwork back up to the front and filled it out. And then got back in line. And since I was gonna be there for a while, I multi-tasked and called the doctors office to set up appointments.

And you know those annoying little tickles in the back of your throat that come at the WORST possible time? Yeah, I got one of those. And my eyes were totally watering, I was sneezing, and coughing, and trying to talk on the phone in a public place ALL at the same time. It was joyous...

But I managed, somehow. Thank goodness I threw in 4-5 cough drops in my pocket before I left the house. At least I felt like I was doing something proactive to stop it, right? Even if it really doesn't - hehe.

So I got appointments set up for 2 on a Wednesday of one week, 2 on a Tuesday of the following week, and 1 on the Wednesday after that. So 5 doctors visits within a weeks time span. Yeah, that's gonna be a GREAT time. hehe.

And then it was my turn again to turn in paperwork, and I got Tom registered. He's all signed up for the Babysitter class, which is from 5-8 pm, every Tuesday this month. Should be a good time. Laurie's daughter, Elise, is in the class to, so we're gonna work out car pooling.

And then I headed to the commissary. And got a weeks worth of food for my gang. And was feeling somewhat ok. At least I wasn't coughing my brains out anymore... The lines weren't that long, and I was in an out in an hour or so. It was pretty busy, though, since today was kinda payday (people with USAA get paid a day early). Early Payday, I guess you could call it. But they had a ton of checkers open, so it was moving fast.

And then I swung by the TMC (Troop Medical Clinic?) to get a print out of the kids' immunization records for re-registration with CYS. That took a while, then, while I was there, I decided to get some "free meds". Every 2 weeks we can get some OTC meds (up to 4), so since I was out of my fake Sudafed (LOVE that stuff), I decided to put in an "order". I only had to wait about 5 minutes. I got Sudafed, some antibiotic cream, Tylenol Jr, and Cepocal cough drops. Sounded PERFECT to me.

And I headed back home with my paperwork and groceries. And stopped by the mailbox first, then home. And I got some Tax papers. Good! I'd been waiting for them. Jake unloaded the truck for me, and i put all the groceries away. And I made myself some lunch real fast, and I got the EHD all ready for Captain America, packaged up and such, and Jake and Boxer and I headed out on round 2 of errands.

First stop, post office. And there was a MASSIVE line. I think I must have been there 10 minutes waiting. Sigh. But I got it shipped. A large flat rate box for $12.95, I think. It was cheaper than I thought it was gonna be, for some reason...

And then we drove clear across town to redeem our free 20 lb bag of dog food. It expired today - hehe. We got 20 lbs a month from a nicer pet store in town, from the Humane Society. Free dog food for a year. Can't beat that! IF you don't forget about it. And since today was the 31st, yeah, it HAD to be done today.

Boxer LOVED the store, and Jake had a hard time containing him. hehe. TOO many new smells, I think. We loaded back up, and headed back on post. And made it JUST in the nick of time to get Jim from the bus. Pfew! I was a little worried. We were about 4 minutes early, in fact!

And then we headed home.




Oh yeah, check out ALL the flat rate boxes I scored at the post office - hehe. Now I can get it all ready and fill out the customs forms and junk BEFORE I get in line. I'm learning.... slowly, but surely. ha!

I sat down on the couch at 2:30pm, and looked at my taxes for a little while. Because that's relaxing, right? hehe. I went through Turbo Tax's free program (for military), and found out that I think we'll be getting money back this year. Pfew! I was worried, since I own a small business, and they haven't been taking very much out of Captain America's check. Anyhoo, I'll finish that off later.

I ran out of time, and had to head on up to the school to get the kids from AQ. And I was starting to feel tired. I think I'd overdone it today. Kari and Laurie and I canceled hiking today to let me rest. Ha! I don't think I know how to rest...

I got back home, got the kids a snack, and sat on the couch. And tried to direct chores from the couch, but it wasn't really working too well. And worked on the taxes a little bit more. But it was making me edgy. At one point, I sent EVERYONE to their rooms for 20 minutes, and it was VERY peaceful. But then they all came back out again - hehe.

I made dinner around 5:30pm, spaghetti, and then started work on a project for Jim. They're having a 100th day of school celebration on Thursday. So they needed to make something with 100 thigns on it. LIke 100 pieces of rice. Or cereal. Or noodles. Or candy.

I wanted to make a 100 photos of Jim collage. Yeah, and I even thought it would be neat to do it for all the kids, until I actually started on Jims. It took FOREVER! Sorry, other Harty kids. I'm NOT doing this again - hehe. :) If anyone else wants to grab some photos of my other kids from faceboook, I'll gladly send you the "frame". hehe.

It turned out looking pretty cool, though.
Jake and Tom and I put the kids to bed at 8:00pm, and the big boys and I watched an episode of Chuck. And I started blogging. And it's now 8:43pm. The big kids are in their room. All noises have ceased from the little kids room (just 20 minutes ago there were LOUD noises coming from in there...). Even the dog is asleep. I love this time of night. hehe.

I think I'm gonna go and watch some TV. I tried an episode of "Being Human", but I think I didn't watch the one my mom was talking about. She wanted me to watch one on USA network here in the states. And the one I watched was definitely British. And had lots of "buns". hehe. I was like, Mom, WHAT on Earth were you watching ( I couldn't see my mom recommending a show with THAT much naked in it...) - hehehe. Then I realized that I must have been watching the "original", and she was watching the US version. I might give the US version a go tonight and see if I like it :)

So, my friends, wish me a speedy recovery. Because, I don't think I could handle another "Sick" day. I might collapse dead!

Oh yeah, one more thing! I'm the Designer of the Week over at Scrapbookgraphics this week, and we're having a chat Tuesday night! Come and join us and chat, if you want! I think it's 7 or 8pm MST. Can't remember for sure. I think it's 7pm my time, though... I'll figure it out before time, and post it on my Facebook Fan Page :)

Sharon, my dear, these two layouts are FABULOUS!!!

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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