Global Warming, sunburns, and COLD weather

All I can say about this weather is "Thank Goodness for Global Warming". Can you imagine how cold it would be if the ozone layer was intact and the earth wasn't warming at such a dangerous rate. We would all be frozen after this past weeks cold spell. We have gone from 80+ degree days and nights when the a/c had to be turned on to stoking the fire & cranking the heat. This is April for crying out loud! OK, enough whining about things completely out of my control. Maybe I will be grateful if this slows down the mosquito population for the upcoming year.

Anyway, feeble attempts at humor from someone who has been up since 2:30 am! Eric couldn't sleep so he decided to get up early & head off to work by 4:00 am. I should have gone back to bed but didn't, the coffee smelled good and the house was so quiet.

So, here I am trying to figure what this post will be about. How about a sneak peek at the prints I just ordered. These are by Jean Baptiste Camille Corot. I have a frame that holds 8 4x6 photos so I thought we would put his prints in and enjoy them all term.

I love artist study, I wish I knew more before I had children so I could have been a better resource to them but I do enjoy learning with them.

Last week was very busy, we spent Monday & Tuesday deep in school & preparing to go to AL. Wednesday we drove, Thursday we continued packing up the "beach cottage", did a little shopping, visited with our friends, and were absolutely wiped out by the end of the day. Friday was the best! We were supposed to go on a field trip but it was cancelled due to the weather & the ferry to take us to Dauphin Island was closed. The weather was windy & chilly, brrrrr! We opted for a picnic with friends instead. It ended up being a great day. Katy & I walked away with MAJOR sunburns from sitting outside all day. It never even dawned on me to use sunscreen or cover-up since it wasn't hot (duh!). But we had a blast, the kids just played & played (in the dirt, of course!), they spent time in the glen, testing the Loquats, across the street to the playground, discovering dead "bobcats" (not really but a bobcat, just a domestic cat that had seen better days). We finally called it a day around 5:00 and said our good-byes (so hard!), headed back to the "beach cottage" to load up the vehicles & head home. We drove back to GA and made it in by 2:00 am, exhausted but glad to be home. Eric & I slept most of the day on Sat, Eric wasn't feeling well and I had the chills from my sunburn. The kids had full run of the house and they didn't disappoint! The house is a disaster, I think the boys pulled out every toy they own & dropped it on the living room floor and then spread it through the rest of the house. I have a hard & fast rule that toys are NOT allowed in my room but somehow a wooden castle has found it's way into my bedroom, which I stepped on trying to get out of bed this morning, not one of my happier moments! So, guess what we're doing this morning! Throwing away toys...I wish. No, I'm such a sap for their toys that I will help clean them up so they can be dragged out another day.

Easter was such a beautiful day. We really downplay the Easter bunny nonsense and even though we have forgone the whole day in years past we decided to do small baskets (VERY small) and dye 10 eggs & do a small egg hunt. I try not to link this to Jesus resurrection in any way since I really do not believe the disciples were out hunting for eggs and passing out candy filled baskets claiming to be overgrown rabbits as they celebrated the resurrection in their years of spreading the gospel. So why even celebrate at all? I don't know, I'm weak. I am sucked into the commercialism of it all and feel like a bad parent if I ignore a holiday that will be fun for my kids.

We have finally decided on colors for the girls room, yahoo, progress! Blue w/ white trim (like the sky & clouds), the loft bed painted nutmeg brown (like a tree for my outdoorsy chic), with a green comforter (green leaves & such from a tree). Erin wants her bed painted white (when Daddy gets a chance to build the frame, we have the headboard) so it will look like a garden gate and her comforter will have flowers on it. They are hoping to make their room feel like the outdoors, did you get that impression? They are so cute! It did take some tweaking on my part because originally Abby wanted it to be an underwater scene with blue walls and fish, dolphins, etc painted on the walls. Sorry, but that is just not going to happen! So she decided this was the next best thing.

I have pictures of our trip & Easter hullabaloo but have not downloaded them yet so I will try to post those at some point.

This week's agenda is MT&W school, clean up this messy house, prime the walls in the school room & the girls room, organize cabinets in the kitchen, unpack our stuff from the AL house, leave for Chattanooga on Th for the weekend. Eric is going to meet me there & bring my treadmill back (we had let my parents borrow it but they didn't use it as much as they had originally thought they would & we didn't have room for it in the AL house) YEAH, I can't wait! I will get to see my sister on Friday!!!!! And spend a family day with my parents & my sisters family on Sat! Looking forward to that. So, lots to do this week.

Have a great week!