i know what you did last summer

Inspired by this book my friend Carol Fawson gave me (which her mom wrote), I decided before school got out that some summer goals were definitely in order.  Frankly, I was surprised at how well this system worked for us. 

If the kids even hinted at the "B word" {nope, not the one Ellison heard on the bus and blurted out at the dinner table}, I just scuttled them right over to their dandy summer goal sheets. 

No Boredom Allowed. 

The kids came up with most of their goals, but I had to put the kaibosh on a few ("get a pet lynx").

Incentives?  You bet your overachieving deriere.  They weren't buying my initial soliloquy on "achieving goals makes us feel proud and good about ourselves, etc etc etc etc etc" so we opted for Plan B. 

Upon completion of ALL summer goals, they got to pick a family activity that we normally don't do, like bowling, laser tag, etc.   OH YES, we'll be doing a repeat of this program next summer.


My main summer goal was to stay out of the clink.  Somehow I ran a yellow light (to be fair, it was a pretty flattering photo of me), somehow managed to miss driving school, and somehow just because of those two things the DMV saw fit to suspend my licence.  Boy howdy did I ever drive super carefully until I got that little plastic card reinstated [with the slightly fudged weight]. 

 Silver Lining Alert--How many kids in the 4th grade can say they their Room Mom makes good cupcakes AND is out on bail? 


Authority: 37    Karen: 0

Goals are good.

discombobulated

Feeling unsettled.  Missing my Caroline. She's off galavanting around with cousins in El Centro and Yuma.  I'll pick her up tomorrow at halfway point--a rendezvous with my sister Sus in Dateland for the handoff.   FIVE DAYS we've been without her. Everytime I walk past her [much-less-glorious-without-her] turquoise bedroom, I get a titch melancholy. Jax still claims he doesn't miss her. 

I do. 

because everybody loves a good before and after

caroline's room.

the happiest room in the house.

thanks to my wildly talented decorator friend cami wright.

[of the wright family dynasty].

some days i fling myself onto Caroline's bed and just lay there,
lingering in aqua blue bliss.

We (only me, actually) wanted to incorporate Caroline's great-grandma Stoker's chair in the room.  McSlightlyHorrified found one of grandma's old knee-high stockings between the cushions.

He's over it now.

photos courtesy of Cathy Jones

happy mother's day

Lulu Belle's Animal Haven

I can handle the dry-erase markers on my walls and the new ottoman.

I can handle the stealthy intrusion into my purse for a quick raid of my MAC Viva Glam lipstick. (plus a detour to the bandaid-rich zipper pouch of my purse).

I can even handle the minor infraction of an entire gallon of milk spilled, well, everywhere.

Note how she blithely continues eating her cracked wheat while the milk drips into the entire surface area of my kitchen. Naturally I blame myself for leaving the milk out.

But the urination pitstop on top of the drawers in the closet?

[narrowly avoiding Caroline's Minnie Mouse ears]

This blatant disregard for common decency almost bought Charlotte a one-way Greyhound ticket straight to Lulu Belle's Animal Shelter in beautiful Brawley, CA.

My dad used to threaten to send us there when he was fed up with us, and now my sisters and I throw this empty threat around on especially challenging days.

It was fortuitous for my little Puffy Sue that I had even a shred of perspective this week (thanks, General Conference!), and opted instead for some innocuous and probably meaningless time-outs. She's lucky I grabbed the camera and not the switch.

{Insert exhaustion}.

it's never too late for April Fool's pranks

Marc got in his car last Thursday, as per usual, to drive to work at around 7:30am. Halfway down the driveway, Caroline popped up from the backseat in her pjs and scared the living McFreak out of him.

She came into my room and woke me up to tell me what she'd done, [all pert and proud], and for the first second time in the history of my life, I woke up laughing.

happy birthday, McSweets