Today

I am looking forward to the little kids returning home.
I am enjoying the newness of the bathroom with the newly painted wall.
I am amazed that my desk is cleaned off.
I am content with the start of the rain.
I am breathing and practicing ahimsa with no problems today.
I am blessed with a full pantry, freezer and refrigerator.
I am looking out for my brother.
I am connecting with my sister today.
I am happy that Doug liked his book.
I am happy that Doug let me know he liked his book.
I am relieved to know Mike is alive.
I am going to farmer's market today and I love it.
I am planning on a good week with good food, family and friends.
I am going to feed my mother at least one day this week.  :)
I am loving Dave.
I am appreciating my friends who gave us more clothes for the little kids.  Treva with two big bags and Barb with two new outfits apiece.
I am blessed.

Bits and Pieces

The bathroom is put back together and looks good.  I really do like it.  Thanks to Nana Nita for taking the kids and then I could use the time to do this.
My car speedometer is off.  I used the GPS to go to Tacoma.  It showed my miles per hour off by about ten percent.  Very weird.  That means I have never ever been at risk for a ticket since I have been going slower than I thought I was.  :P
Work is changing.  The bossman quit yesterday.  No notice. Just quit.  Wow.  Now we shall see what transpires and what the next one is like.  In the meantime the bookstore manager is covering his position.
Mike is in jail again.  I am a bad mom in that it always makes me happy.  Well I don't like the choices he makes to get there, but while he is there I know he is safer than he is on the streets.  And he has a bed, three squares, a shower and a roof.  We hadn't heard from him for awhile so now we know where he is.
I managed to get my desk cleaned off AGAIN.  We know how long that will last.  :p
And the rain has begun.  I see the grass already starting to green up.  I like it.  I was ready for the rain even though I was totally enjoying all those beautiful fall days.

Painted

Finally.  After being on the to-do list for two years, the wall in the main bathroom is painted.  I like how it turned out.  Tomorrow I will put the rest of the room back together and get a finished picture.
I definitely took advantage of the little kids being at Nana Nita's.  I also got my desk almost cleaned off and the peninsula half way cleaned off. I also managed to get dshs taken care of.  Connor had lost his TANF and it took several calls and faxes to get it straightened out.  While taking care of that we were able to add Audrie back on to it. I also had a question on child support that I got answered via a phone call.  It was a very productive day and I also got a little nap.  :)

Quietness

The little kids are spending a couple days with Nana Nita.  My house is so quiet.  Almost too quiet.  I actually slept all night with only one waking.  Whoa.  That never happens.  Took my time on the computer this morning and had no distractions.  That never happens.  :P
Now to see how much productiveness I can get done while they are gone.  Wish me luck.  I tend to get distracted by the computer.  :P

Tacoma

It was time for a trip up the I-5 corridor.  We hadn't been up since the beginning of August.  It just so happened that my friend Nathan asked when I was going to come visit them in Tacoma.  So we went around and around making sure schedules worked and we incorporated a visit with them in with a visit in Buckley.
Tuesday night after visitation with Wes  and speech therapy, the little kids and I headed up to Tacoma.  We spent the night with Nathan, Stacy and Collin.  This morning we walked down to a park by their house and played.  It was foggy and it was wet.  And the kids loved it.  This playground had a lot of things that twirled around.  Audrie does not suffer from motion sickness.  Then we went back to their place and had another cup of coffee and the kids played a little more.  They were pretty tired for the drive to Buckley.  Nana had a quiet drive because they both fell asleep pretty shortly into it.  It was a lovely visit with good friends.  They looked so well and it was cool seeing their 100+ year old house.  We will have to go again.

Destroying Books

I spent almost an hour this morning destroying books.  When books come in damaged, sometimes the vendor does not want the book back and we are to destroy them.  The first time is very very hard.  Destroy books. It is so wrong.  After that it is a piece of cake.  So today that was part of my job.  Bossman wanted the box cleared last week, but no one seemed to have time.  I made a dent.  It is usually one of those fill in jobs and I needed one of those this morning.
I like the lull times.

Being Mom

We have not heard from Mike in almost two weeks.  It is the absolute longest we have ever went without hearing from him.  Makes me kind of nervous.  I am not sure if it means he is out there doing his thing and has finally figured out we aren't helping him to that.  Or if he is in a ditch somewhere.  Or is he is cleaning up somewhere.  Guess time will tell, but it is hard on a mom not knowing.
I did see that Cassie is still alive.  That was good because she also hadn't been in any kind of contact since she got out of jail.  I will take my clues where I can find them.  I'm really not looking forward to someday having to explain things to the little kids.