I'm Back (and Didn't Require Bail Money to Survive This Weekend!)

Well, now that things have slowed down a bit, I thought I'd take a minute to update everything.  Saturday morning, DD#1 graduated high school (along with 652 other students.)  She's had a rough go the past 5 years (she has had to deal with a fellow student stalking and harassing her since 7th grade) but she finished and did it with a good GPA, to boot!  We're so proud!

And because DD#1 was graduating, it meant my ex-husband and his parents were in town to celebrate with us.  Normally my ex makes me want to get all stabby but he somewhat behaved himself (other than the "we're not screaming, we're just disagreeing with each other in loud voices" incident at the Japanese restaurant Friday night, which resulted in DD#1 walking out of the restaurant - LOOONNNNGGGG story that I just don't have the energy to discuss.)  For the first time in years, I was around him and not wanting to do something that would require DH or a good friend to provide bail money.  This was also the first time in the 14+ years DH & I have been together that DH's incredibly awesome brother got to meet my ex-husband.  I'm still not sure how they never met before.

As usual, I had a lovely time with his parents.  I really do like them.  The amount of love and concern they show DD's #1 & 2 is amazing (and the fact they love DD's #3 & #4 really speaks volumes about them.)

All in all, it was a very good weekend.  Here's hoping that, when we do this again in a year for DD#2, we have a similar experience.  *fingers crossed*

And... that was basically the gist of my entire weekend (Friday - Sunday.)  Just dealing with the conflicting emotions of being proud of DD#1 for graduating, being happy that she's going on to bigger and better things, being excited that her life is really starting to take flight, being sad that she won't be around every day, and being stunned wondering where all the time went, as she turns 18 on Thursday.  I swear she was just 5 years old and rolling her eyes at me when I attempted to kiss her goodbye on the first day of kindergarten.  Where did it all go?  I guess all I can do is sit back and hope we raised her well enough to be become a productive member of society.  Based on the poised and confident young woman I saw walk across the stage to accept her diploma, I think we did okay.

Now it's just time to sit back and rest up, for Thursday's going to be big.  DD#1 turns 18, it's the last day of school for DD's #2 - 4, DD#2 has a doctor's appointment later in the day (hopefully we get some answers about the mysterious reddish/purple blotches on her leg), and I get to make a red velvet cake.  Naturally, I'm taking a half day, so I can attempt to do everything.  Although if it does get hectic, I can always run over to White Flower Cake Shoppe in Beachwood and grab some red velvet cupcakes (seriously, if you're ever in Northeast Ohio and you want to try the best cakes ever, White Flower is a MUST SEE!)

Oh, one last thing... is it possible for my house to stay clean longer than a day or two?  The house was cleaned to "visitor" level on Friday and was completely trashed by Saturday evening, thanks to all the party stuff that came home from the park where we had the party.  Maybe if I stopped playing Candy Crush and reading Fark.com, I might have the energy to clean up more.... NAH.  lol

Gotta run.  Words With Friends is calling.  : )

All Stressed Out and No One to Choke

My oldest daughter is graduating high school Saturday.  While I'm happy for her and am excited for the party we have planned for Saturday afternoon, there's one part I'm dreading - having to get the house to "guest" level of clean.  You see, I'm OCD and if I had my way, my house would be perfectly organized.  Unfortunately, I live with five other people and only ONE of them (DD#4) thinks like me.  The remaining 4 are, well let's just say, not as concerned with organization as we are.  So, while my house was cleaned and organized this past weekend, it's a wreck tonight.  And, naturally, no one is doing anything.  I'm about to grab my daughter's softball bat and smash the WiFi router.  But then I wouldn't be able to post this blog update and I'd be forced to get off Facebook and stop playing Crack Crush... uhh, I mean Candy Crush.  (I know I'm not the only person addicted to it.  Right?)  Plus I'd end up having to buy a new router and I don't have time to do that this weekend.

So, I really should be washing the dishes - or yelling at the kids to get the dishes done.  Then there's the whole sweeping and washing the floors.  I have a love/hate relationship with my floors - all the floors in our house are either hardwood or tile.  I love the convenience of just sweeping up messes but damn do I hate having to wash the floors.  Granted it gives my upper body a nice workout but I just don't want to do it when there are people home.  Maybe I can do it tomorrow afternoon, while DH is at work and DD's #2, 3, & 4 are in school.  DD#1 will be home but she's too busy freaking out about the possibility of tripping over her gown to really be much help.

Couple all this with the fact I need to find time to dye my hair (prematurely grey and I don't need the various comments about my 1 1/2" of grey roots), get my hair cut (hopefully I can get that squeezed in tomorrow morning), make the blueberry muffins that I didn't make last night (did I mention I'm addicted to Facebook?), go to Walmart and buy paper plates/tablecloths/cups/etc. for the party, and give myself a mani/pedi.  So what am I doing right now?  Sitting on the couch, writing another blog post and trying to ignore the constant nagging feeling that I must be forgetting something that's super important for this weekend that I don't have on a list yet.  Yes, I am a list-maker.  It keeps me sane.

Oh well, time for me to get off-line and get started.  Otherwise you'll be seeing a blog post Saturday night about how everything fell apart because I was too busy blogging, making pretty collages on Pinterest, and playing Candy Crush.

*****No recipe to share tonight.  DH made dinner... well, he started it and I ended up cooking the rest of it.  (Homemade version of Hamburger Helper - 2 boxes of organic shells and alfredo sauce from Whole Foods with a pound of extra-lean ground beef, browned and drained, and half a bag of frozen organic peas.  Not a typical meal for our family but it was surprisingly delicious.)