tomorrow morning when i wake up i will take the first pill in my newest prescription. My prescription is a stop smoking aid.

On July 18th I will wake up and NOT got for a smoke. I will become a non smoker and begin a health savings account. See, each smoke I have is taking a day or more off my life, so by stopping the habit, I hope to save those days I threw away.

I’m going to need support, helpful words and encouragement. I don;t think the road will be easy.

But Im going down it again anyway.

try try again, and if that fails, try again anyway!

Oh what a fuck of a day.

My mother in law was over. That was fun.

NOT.

She has just had surgery, what? five weeks ago to get a pacemaker, she should be taking sleeping pills and sleeping, recovering and getting her strength back, but noooooo, she is over at MY house, overseeing MY renovations.

And doing it badly.

Here is just ONE example.

We had to take down the kitchen light, a box florescent deal thingy so that we could go up in the attic and wire the new lights to the kitchen light so they all work on one switch. When they guys put the box light back up, a wire got twisted, then pinched. The insulator stuff that surrounds a electrical wire, it got broken and SPARKS! flew!

Of course the something or other box in the box light was blown and we had to replace it…ooooor we could just take it down for good and put up a new fixture!

I like that idea!

Onto the internet I went. I found one, this one, which matches perfectly the existing ones we have in the entry and the halls, well, not matches, it hangs from the ceilings and the ones in the entry are flushmount, but other then that it is the same one, in fact, after a bit of searching, I found out that they are part of the same set.

So perfect, right?

Not so, apparently. See the new light we wanted to get is a whipping 129 bucks. I figured, personally, that it was a right good deal, but apparently my mother in law got her light fixture from costco and it was only 30 bucks and we should go to costco and buy that one.

Yeah.NOT

Sigh

My mother in law – she lives three doors down, is generally very good about not interfering with me and my husband, but today, me, my husband and my father in law headed to the home hardware store to pick up supplies for the “great tear out the stupid always leaking skylight” extravaganza.

We left her at the house to watch the kids.

We weren’t gone very long, half hour at the most, but by the time we got back home she had washed the dishes and swept the floors and even started to clean our youngest sons room! When i got back she was in the middle of tossing a pair of ripped up fake blood stained pair of pants! I took them out of the trash and explained that the pants were part of thekids costumes and that we were keeping them becuase we wanted to re use them next year

I checked the trash again, more thoroughly after she had left and am glad I had becuase she tossed a bag of baby clothes – I had been storing the boys “coming home” outfits in our youngest sons closet, and she must have figured that I had just forgotten them in the closet and was trying to help!

Don;t worry, I learned my lesson, I wont be leaving her alone again anytime soon!

(here is the zombie costume that the pants she was tossing belonged to)\

I bought three inner tubes for the boys, for our trip to the lake. Please note I typed “for the boys”. The entire time I was in the lake, I used one of the tubes. Oh sure, a lot of the times I had one boy or the other on the tube with me, but I was very much a tube hog!

Now I am paying the price for hogging the tube, LOL. My chest and arms are sooooooo stiff. I’ve read alli reviews, and have heard the potty stories surrounding it, but perhaps that wpould be the easier way to lose weight – or at least, the less painful way!

Actually, to be honest, I have always laughed, in my head, when I hear of people using swimming as a way to keep in shape. Swimming is not exercise, its FUN! Now though, I am convinced that people can and do lose weight swimming. They just have to deal with not being able to lift their arms over their head for the next few days!

Being a one wage family, we cannot afford to go on a “big” vacation like Disney, and seeing as none of us has passports, affordable little vacations like a Branson vacation package are out of our reach as well.

We went to the lake for a few nights – it was great. I was an idiot and forgot the cameras at home – I’m still pretty freaking mad about that, I mean, I packed them, I charged the batteries too! Then I left the camera bag on the kitchen counter.

Anyway. this summer, we are going on two trips, the first was the lake, of course, the second is at the very end of August, we are heading to Manitoba for a few days to help my grandmother celebrate her birthday.

We might not be able to go to Disney, but dammit1 We still know how to have fun!

My husband is on his two week shut down. Every year his work shuts down for two weeks for whatever reason and the workers go on vacation. The vacation is paid, so its freaking awesome.

We usually have two big things we do on the shut down. The first is always a family vacation – this year we went to the lake, the second is some sort of home improvement project.

We never do anything super expensive, (..and we aren’t car people, so its always a house project not a car project requiring Ferrari parts or other such nonsense) This year we are tearing out our kitchen sky light. the damn thing has been nothing but trouble from day one, and I have simply had enough!

Here is the first step of the project, knocking holes in the skylight walls to allow for air circulation after we close the sucker up!

We got back from the lake on the fourth, and just in time, too, for my brother. When he arrived home he realized his gas tank had a freaking leak in it and the gas was simply pouring out! If ever there was a travel emergency, a leaking gas tank is one!

My brother figures that the exhaust, which is improperly secured dropped down on the gas tank and the heat of the exhaust burnt a hole in the tank. He is attempting to repair it ASAP, but with the flood they had, and the extra money they had to shell out to clean the place (80 bucks just in laundromat charges alone) he is struggling to find the cash he needs to repair the tank.

I hope he gets it all figured out soon!

I want a bath because I have not bathed in 48 full hours, with the exception of washing my face and hands. I spent an hour burying people in the sand to their necks and there is dirt packed under my mails. I applied bug spray eight zillion times, and sin screen ten zillion million times. I played in the fire, the dirt the water and the forest.
I. Am. Filthy.

I swam for hours and hours at a time, playing with inner tubes and racing to the buoys and back over and over. I carried kids ranging from 30-70 pounds on my back and in my arms, I chopped and hauled wood and fought off murderous spiders. I slapped mosquitoes and squealed when I got bit by horse flies. I slept on mattresses covering rocky ground and sat in chairs that are broken and on picnic tables that had spinters.
I.Am.Stiff

BUT.

Despite the application of sunscreen SPF 60 nine gazillion million billion times, my back is a nice shade of lobster red and throbs. The thought of laying in hot water makes me shiver in fear. I will have to clean myself as best I can in cool to lukewarm water in the shower, and hope the stiffness goes away soon.

(I had fun though…)