rachel's continued ramblings

okay, so this isn’t ACTUAL easter stuff, but the accessory easter stuff that i want to talk about. good old-fashioned, secular, commercialized easter stuff. NO, i’m not about to embark on a rant, so you can keep reading… i suppose there’s just as much variation among families w/ christmas stuff of this sort, but i’m always curious about people’s traditions, especially because they seem so different. some people i know are full-on ‘easter bunny believers’. they treat the easter bunny much like santa claus, w/ the filling of baskets and hiding of eggs and all that being attributed solely to the easter bunny. their kids are convinced that the easter bunny is real and responsible for all of that stuff. there are people who have their kids pictures taken every year w/ a shopping mall easter bunny. there are people who do only candy in easter baskets. there are families who hide the easter baskets. there are families who do HUGE easter baskets full of lots of presents. some people don’t do e...

okay, so yeah, this week has been kinda crazy. and i know it’s actually friday now when i’m posting this, but i made it yesterday and therefore i will be including thursday on the list (ya know, cuz it looks more impressive that way) so therefore, it is meal plan thursday. deal. if you read last week’s meal plan, you know that we went to portland (hillsboro, actually. although we went through portland and dave went to a basketball game there) last weekend. my original thought was that we would get up early on monday morning and drive home in time for layla and i to be at preschool by 12:15. HA! that was a stupid, STUPID idea. so anyway, we didn’t. we got up all early and stuff and then decided we were idiots, so dave went back to bed and i drank like 4 cups of coffee and visited w/ my cousins some more and shane played like 14 more hours of SIMS w/ elsa. at any rate, we had to leave eventually, because we had a dinner guest coming sometime around 5:30. yeah, i know. WTH??? i never...

i am writing this informational letter on behalf of your children, your bank account, and your auto insurance company, all of which suspect an impending blow to their current, healthy state. it appears that you may not be aware of certain traffic laws which pertain to the proper seating and safety of your children while in your vehicle, so i will take this opportunity to share them with you.   Washington's New Child Restraint Law Effective June 1, 2007, children less than eight years old must be restrained in child restraint systems, unless the child is four feet nine inches or taller. A child who is eight years old or older, or four feet nine inches or taller, must be properly restrained either with the motor vehicle's safety belt or an appropriately fitting child restraint system. Children under thirteen years old must be transported in rear seats where it is practical to do so. The fine for improperly restrained children in motor vehicles is at least $112 per c...

i ran my dishwasher last night. i know it’s a few weeks too soon, but i have declared my lenten ‘fast’ over. no, i didn’t just give up because washing dishes by hand was too ‘hard’. rewind to 8:30ish yesterday morning. i went to get micah some cereal and discovered that there were like 4 mini wheats in the bag in the cupboard. given that i buy cereal at costco most of the time AND that i have no pantry, i usually take one of bags out to keep in the house, and the remaining bag, in the original box, is stored on a shelf in the garage. i went out to retrieve the second bag. it was empty. HUH? the empty bag, was in the box, unopened. then i discovered a hole, somewhere between the size of a tennis ball and a golf ball, in the side of the bag. HUH? then i looked down on the floor and around the shelf and discovered some small samples of telltale ‘evidence’ to backup the suspicion i didn’t want to acknowledge. <insert favorite swear word here> so i started looking ar...

i’m a little late on this one, but here’s the next installment of my bucket list progress: spin my own yarn – nothing further to report spend more time in nature. – with the weather imroving, i’m definitely getting outside more, but i think actual progress here will involve planning – yuck. read all of jane austen’s books. – on the advice of a friend, i checked out persuasion from the library. i’m like 4 chapters in and, although i’ve enjoyed what i’ve read so far, i’ve not picked it up in a week. darn book ADD! i have like 3 others i’m also reading and fiction always gets lowest priority. boo. can my own veggies/fruits – obviously, no, but i did spend some time starting in on getting the garden ready. acquire a sewing machine – nothing here. re-learn to play the piano – no, but i mentioned it to my mom. does that count for something? exercise regularly (more days of the week than not – really!) – still doing well here. not quite as well ...

so today we went to the doctor for layla’s 4 year old and micah’s 2 year old well checks. yeah, i know how old they are, but i have a valid excuse. swine flu. okay, not really. it’s just that the thought of taking healthy children to a pediatrician’s office between the months of october and may seems REALLY STUPID!!! i mean, really i’d rather take them in the summer when the only reason kids are at the doctor is for camp or sports physicals or treatment for poison ivy, sunburn, or playground injuries. BUT, i realized that this was getting ridiculous. so i bit the bullet and made them an appointment. we got there early. yes, ME! with children. perhaps the earth reversed it’s rotation today or something, but we arrived early for our appointment. this ensured ample playtime in the germ-infested waiting room. ample opportunity to plaster ourselves to the large glass fish tank and determine which of the two clownfish was nemo and which was nemo’s daddy and ponder the whereabouts of a s...

i am a HORRIBLE blogger lately! seriously. i have things i want to post. just can’t seem to muster up the desire to sit down and actually write them out. so, for your consolation prize, you get to read another meal plan. oh yay. monday: hot dogs (had a major hankering for 2 days now); veggies tuesday: tater tot casserole (in the freezer) wednesday: supper at church thursday: chicken of some sort; veggies of some sort; some kind of side… friday: pizza; green beans saturday: away in portland sunday: still in portland! woohoo! yeah, you can tell i’m totally unmotivated in the kitchen this week… did a little shopping last night, a little more to come… mainly just to firm up thursday’s dinner. HA! on saturday, we’re off to the south to visit w/ my cousins, so i suppose what we eat is their problem! HA again!