Where Do I Start?

Man.

Getting into the groove of back to school is tough this year. I feel like the days just FLY by and before I know it, it's time to go pick up the Noodle from her bus stop. And what have I accomplished?
Nada.

So what's been going on here at Elizabeth Hill?

Well, last Friday my sis-in-law, Myrna, (I don't like the whole in-law thing. From now on, I'll just call her my sister) had a jewelery party and right when it started, her 79 year old Mom (Fran) got sick. Faint, weak.... the whole scary 9 yards for a woman that age. Myrna was pretty cool about the whole thing. She has a gazillion siblings (11 or 12), so her sisters were taking care of Fran and ended up taking her to Urgent Care.
Well, from Urgent Care Fran was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
Then Myrna decided to leave the party.

The jewelery lady gave a couple of pauses and, "oh my's" during the whole goings-on but largely ignored the whole thing. It was kind of weird......I don't know. I guess she already had it all set up, but.......you know, the hostess LEFT!!! HELLO?!?

So, turns out Fran is okay. Though I'll need an update from Myrna to be sure.....But she was in the hospital all weekend and probably went home yesterday (Tuesday). Poor Myrna (and her gazillion siblings, I'm sure) was soooooo tired. I always feel so helpless when stuff like this happens. What can I do for someone in this situation? Pretty much nothing. I just watched the kids.

So anyway, that all happened during the weekend. Then, Monday I had the whole Sparkplug group over. Remember Sparkplug? I talked about her here. Sparkplug Mom (Noel) had a class and Sparkplug Dad (Joel) is a scientist and out of town working in the field, so they all piled on over and we all went to swimming lessons and then I took them home until Mom got home.
These girls are so great. They put on a "birthday party" for the Noodle! They all dressed up in some finery, Noel made cupcakes during the day (as if she doesn't have enough to do. But, hey...she is a Sparkplug, too! This is where the children get it from!), and they even gave the Noodle a great big Build-A-Bear gift card! What the heck? Those girls are sweet as pie, I tell ya. Here they are:

Aren't they the CUTEST? Such nice girls, too. And this is the first time I've gotten to hang with the youngest Sparkplug, who is on the far left in the yellow. Sooooooo cute. I had soooo much fun with them.

So, earlier that day, I picked up some kale at the new Lowe's near us. Ooooo.....I LOVE that place! And the kale was only $2 a pot. I'm making the big ol' pot o' kale from Cottage Living magazine. Here is a photo of the Noodle with the kale from last year:
Oh. I guess I'm kind of late in getting this potted. This was her back to school picture from last year.

Anyway.

I had Franklin yesterday.
He hates me.
He's all smiles once Mom gets back to pick him up, though. We did have a little break through moment of singing and play, which is HUGE. But he pretty much cried the rest of the time.
But look at that FACE!!! He looks just like Mommy. Maybe a little bit like Dad, too. His dad (Richard) is a freakin' riot. Really, he should be a stand-up comic.

Last night we had the "Second Grade Dinner" at the Noodle's school. I TOTALLY didn't want to go. I thought I had a hair appointment, but when the shop was closed and locked up tight when we arrived, I realized the appointment is TONIGHT. GOAH!!!! I do stuff like this all of the time!
So, basically, I had no excuse not to go. AND I was so confident I wouldn't be going, that I didn't bother to make anything (it was a potluck). So we rushed home, stopped at the market to purchase a couple of ingredients for the casserole I was planning on making, and by the time I got home, I decided that I didn't have the time to make that casserole. So I went out into the garden, picked some grape tomatoes, and made a yummy Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Red Onion and Cilantro.

Oh, and of course we had a great time. The parents in the Noodle's school are awesome. I've made some great friends there.....Sandy and John, Kris, Noel and Joel, Linda, and Bill and Stephanie. And the weird thing is, I've met them all by coincidence or there's been some connection in a "7 degrees of Kevin Bacon" sort of way. Seriously. And then our kids end up in the same school. St. Paul is really just a small town.

Like, Noel? The Sparkplug Mom? I met her at gymnastics when our girls were three or four. I found out that she teaches at the school I went to as a child (well...kind of. It was torn down and re-built in the same spot). Not only that.....she and her husband come from a town a couple of hours north of here and went to high school with my dear friend Hilary's husband. And they were both teaching at my old neighborhood school!!!! AND Hilary and Paul bought my Zuddy's childhood home.

Is that confusing enough for you?

So that's what I've been doing. No kitchen work, no special projects....my ceiling in the dining and living rooms still isn't finished. The end panels of the kitchen cupboards still aren't painted, the hutch hasn't been touched and I have piles of laundry downstairs.

Wish me luck.