•homemade butter!

• I just emailed off my chapters!!!!!!! YAY!!!!! I can’t believe I finished that!

I have so much bubbling inside me but I feel empty of words. Right now I’m researching why Camelbacks are so much more $$ than the other brands and trying to figure out how to outfit myself with a freaking brilliant first aid kit. I want to be able to give stitches if absolutely need be. I don’t want any of this single doses of sudafed and tylenol packaged in tiny paper envelopes crap, I want to actually be prepared.

• Sunday we head out on a 12 day camping trip. This will be the first vacation we’ve ever taken. (Yes we went to Germany our first year of marriage, but it was not purely for vacation purposes – we also helped move my SIL and family home.) This whole week I’m busy shopping and preparing for our trip. It’s a lot to plan!

• I’m also preparing all my sisters wedding invitations to mail out this week. Jim planned to design them himself, but we found these print-your-own at Michaels and they were perfect. Her lingerie shower is also this week. Whew!

• With all the camping and working outside, I am literally black and blue all over. The dog scratched my thigh really bad, I fell out of the camper, Wednesday I tried to test out my busted up knee and went on a short run during which I fell off the curb and screwed up my foot. I have been so frustrated with myself for being such a klutz! And also very worried about my knee. I’ve just about reached my running goal and now I’m at a standstill. I can’t stand the thought of losing all my hard work. I plan to baby it the rest of the week and hopefully during that time I can resist hurting myself again.

• What else? Christina and I are working on planning out all of our fall orders for Tangle. Buying yarn is SO fun. I also see more fabric in our future. (Which reminds me, I’ve got to take some sort of sewing class.)

• Honor is starting to do better in Mommy Boot Camp. We had a really rough day on Saturday, but overall he is improving. Thank God!!

We returned home yesterday afternoon from a 3 day camping trip. We arrived armed with fishing poles, lots of food and a cooler full of beer. I have to say, this was definitely the best trip I’ve ever been on. I mean, look at it:

For about two days I forgot about everything stressful in my life, there were no chapters to write, no weddings to plan, no family issues, no naughty children. It was just me, people I love and the lake. Honor was perfect – albiet filthy – he spent his days down by the lake’s edge playing (and eating) the mud. Worms were his friends, the dog his companion.

I think we all turned into fishermen on this trip, even though Jim caught just one fish upon our arrival and I, a single fish just before our departure. Fishing used to be something that I found very boring, but there was something about sitting at the shore of this lake that was mesmerizing, listening to the peaceful sound of birds chirping, woodpeckers pecking and the occasional plop of a fish hopping out of the lake to claim it’s dinner.

Monday we hiked around the lake, the girls with the dog going one direction, the guys going the other, fishing their way around. As we hiked around, we stumbled upon many an impromptu fire pit, littered with evidence of irresponsibility. I’m always amazed at what slobs people can be, leaving trash behind in such an amazing space. (There were even bear-proof trash cans provided!) So I spent some time cleaning up other peoples trash. As we left, I was even more resolved that we will never leave a mess behind in a camp spot.

We left reluctantly. Looking at these pictures, all I want to do is go back.

So I half wrote a blog post yesterday and didn’t have time a work to get it posted. Of course I lost it when I shut down my computer. I’ve been working hard to crank out my two chapters which are due the end of the month. Turns out that the second is becoming a monster project that I did not anticipate. I’m struggling to maintain confidence in my writing abilities. I don’t like being frustrated with myself!

What I wanted to write about yesterday was how much I’m loving my shampoo bar soap I ordered from Dress Green’s etsy shop. It cleans my hair perfectly leaving it smooth and full and I don’t even need conditioner! After doing some research about making my own shampoo bar soap, I’ve decided that I don’t want to mess with lye. I feel that ordering from a one-girl-show is definitely the next best to making my own. So yesterday I ordered another bar of shampoo along with a body bar and a shaving bar. It think they will be easier to transport in the camper when we embark on our 2 week camping excursion. (Now all I have to do is talk Jim into using them.)

I also wanted to write about my obsession with the POM tea glass jars. My friend Carrie got me hooked on carrying one around because the metal lid is reusable. I now keep a jar of water next to my bed tightly sealed so I don’t have to worry about a kid waking me up in the middle of the night by spilling water on me. (It’s happened.) But when I went to POM’s website to link to a picture for you, my dear readers, I found out that they’re switching to nasty ‘ole plastic bottles. You can imagine my disappointment. So I sent them an email letting them know how I felt about it and it doesn’t seem that they intend to budge. Upon telling Carrie this dreadful news, we decided that we should scour the local grocery stores to see if there were any remaining glass bottled teas. So last night we got good and stocked up, bring each of our collections to a set of 8. That should keep us set in reusable, lidded glasses. But considering the cost, it would have been nice to build my collection over the course of several weeks rather than get most of them in one go. Oh, well, at least I got what I wanted.

Finally, some before pictures of our camper. I think the best part is the name of the camper, “the buckaroo”.

And the wonderful 70’s inside:

I’ll have the after pictures soon, I promise!

I wanted to thank you all for your advice on dealing with Honor. Things haven’t gotten much better, but I do recognize that he is adjusting to Eden being home from school. We also went through this when she started school. I guess he really doesn’t like change. Jim has been wonderful, helping me crack down on him. I’m always so thankful that my kids have a dad who is engaged in their lives.

Monday
Burgers! (I foresee a lot a burgers this summer.)

Tuesday
going fishing with my dad for an early fathers day. For lunch: Turkey sandwiches on rye with avocado, cole slaw, coconut pineapple cake. Dinner we’ll grab on the way home.

Wednesday
Thai Pizza

Thursday
Garden salad with grilled chicken

Friday
Fish Tacos

Saturday
Spaghetti and organic marinara

Sunday (camping- we didn’t go last week)
Fajitas, frog eye salad, spanish rice

Monday (camping)
bkfast: pancakes and beef sausages
lunch: turkey sandwiches with sprouts and avocado
dinner: smoked sausage kebabs, baked beans, frog eye salad, broccoli slaw

Tuesday (camping)
bkfast: eggs, turkey bacon, muffins
lunch: pb&j as we pack up
dinner: whatever we find laying around our house!

In the last week we’ve reached the pinnacle of Honor’s naughtiness. He has gotten to the point where he absolutely refuses to comply with anything I’m telling him to do. In turn, I’ve tried anything that I can think of to get him in line. Tuesday I implemented a point system that Eden immediately took to. The kids have a list of chores (some mandatory and some optional) that they need to do to earn points. Once a certain amount of points are earned, they can choose a reward (like going to Chuck E. Cheese). They can also loose points for bad behavior. Eden has a whole bunch of points, Honor has none.

I’ve taken away all of Honor’s toys, he’s lost all his computer and t.v. privileges, and he still doesn’t care. There is no discipline that I give to him that he cares about. And, yes, it’s just me… for Jim he behaves. I don’t know what to do, I can’t allow him to completely disregard me, to completely ignore what I tell him. As it is, he’s putting himself and others in danger – today he disobeyed me and as a result Tuck got ahold of a large piece of fried chicken and ate the whole thing, bones and all. The other day Honor threw a CD at Eden and barely missed her eye.

I don’t know what to do other than watch his every move and be extremely consistent. He gets away with nothing, no matter how much he has worn me down. I don’t understand his behavior because he can also be extremely sweet and loving and I know is completely capable of behaving because he does it for Jim. I’m at a loss and I’m miserable and I don’t know what to do.

(Next month it will be four years since I began posting my menu! wow!)

Monday
pasta with kalamata olives and roasted red peppers

Tuesday
Tuna steaks with basmati rice and wasabi

Wednesday
Grilled turkey sausages with sauerkraut

Thursday
Burgers (I like them bunless with a huge salad)

Friday
hopefully the glade park movie!

Saturday
southwest wraps

Sunday
camping again. I’m going to try fajitas this time.