So I had a whole agenda today. As I tend to everyday. Jack had a half (of a half) day so he was out at 10:40. Just enough time for me to get the school newsletter copied and distributed as I do every Thursday. Mrs. Fung, their music teacher, had a projector that I could borrow. It was packed up and ready to go in my car.

Funny thing about cars...they bring out the pigtail-wearing, hate to get dirty, just want them to run, girly girl in me. I really just want to have the oil changed and put gas in it and have it go. No such luck today. I got Jack, and my projector, all buckled in and pulled out of my spot in the kindergarten parking lot and lo and behold....FLAT TIRE! Ugh! It's raining. I have on slacks and girly shoes. I know how to change a tire.....just don't.

Call my husband. Once. Twice. Page him. Three times. ARGH!!! Call my mom, "got any ideas?" So she found me some phone numbers for tire places. Les Schwab will come out for $50, but they can't come for over an hour. Argh, again. Call mom back....feel like picking us up for a little while? I truly have to thank God that there are days she doesn't work.

Meantime husband calls back. "Did you call?" Did I? Really? The 3 missed calls weren't enough? I am the girl. THe princess. The queen of the house. My taxi must run right at all times. Deep breath. Yes, please. I did call. I really really need your help. So I cancelled Les Schwab. Mom took us to Mickey D's where we watched Shrek 2 on their 4 screen tvs.

Jeff and Slade came and fixed my tire. They put on the spare and sent me over to Discount tires where they fixed it for free. Yippee! They found the obvious screw (where in the world did I run over that?) and another nail. Now since we are finishing up construction it is highly possible I picked this up in my own garage. Just don't want it happening again.

As for my car...it's running nicely again. Without the silly little "low tire pressure" light on. Next time I will check my manual for what that little light means BEFORE I head out to school and can't get home for hours!

my closet

Yesterday I truly figured out what a sentimental old fool I am (you can insert pack rat here if you would like). I am currently in the process of cleaning out our old room and moving into our new room. Yesterday i was buried "knee deep" in my closet. I have a deep closet. It's not a walk-in but it is double deep so Jeff set it up so that the shelves wrap-around the closet. Gives me lots of extra space. Apparently too much space.

First thing I found was a few empty shoe boxes. Empty shoe boxes? Really? I am not even sure that I still have those pairs of shoes. Kinda sad really.

Next I found a few photo albums. This is really unnecessary as I have my own scrapbook room downstairs. Now the shelves are full but still. Two of the albums are from our extra wedding pictures, and the other is from when Keegan was born, he's 12 1/2! Oy!

But I digress.

Under all of these boxes I found a large-ish square box with umbrella wrapping paper covering the top. IT was definitely not empty. As a matter of fact it was full! Completely full. With cards. Cards that people have given me. Christmas cards, birthday cards, wedding cards (mind you our wedding will be 15 years in Sept.), baby announcements, wedding announcements, thank you from wedding presents, letters that Chris used to send when she lived in Spain, and in IN, Valentine's Day cards from Jeff and others. Some of it was over 10 years old! Many of them were from family and friends that aren't even married anymore. I went through them. Read so many of them. Then I actually headed to the recycle. But not with quite everything.

I found a small box. I kept some things. A note from my little sister when she was 9 or 10 and she is now 22. A note from my best friend saying thank you for being my best friend. A note from each of my grandmas and my nanny-mom Sue, who have all since passed on. The bulletin from my grandma's funeral. The placecard from my seat at our rehearsal dinner. These things I couldn't get rid of....

Many of them made me smile at forgotten memories and friends that I haven't heard from in a while. But mostly I realized that it's not the paper that really matters. It's the person who sent the paper and took the time to write the note. So I am going to remember that and try to send a few more of my own. Besides the post office could use the income!

I was thinking about why I miss so many things lately. I can tell you that I am forgetful. I can tell you that we have 3 very busy boys. I can tell you that if my head weren't attached I would be lost. (Ok, that might be true.)

But the more I started thinking about it the more something dawned on me. A few years ago in my MOPS group we were discussing learning styles. Originally, it was about how our children learn. Then it moved on to how we learn. I am a visual learner through and through. If you want to know how something is spelled I picture the word floating around in my head. If I can't remember a name I work my way thru the alphabet in my head until one letter "pops" up bigger than the rest. I can usually figure it out from there.

So, back to why I feel like I am always forgetting things. I promise that when people talk to me I really do listen. I just don't always retain it. If I write it down I am usually ok. If I don't write it somewhere it is totally lost.

It makes me understand a little more about myself. It also makes me realize that the minute someone says can you do this on this day? I NEED to write it down on the calendar. Maybe I can stop having so many "head spinning around in circles" moments.

Wouldn't that be nice?

I followed a friends blog to a beautiful baby girl named Layla Grace. She was sick. I am sorry to say that she was sick. Today she is a little angel. I know that God never gives us more than we can handle, but I don't know how I would handle that. I am helping Keegan with his homework, and listening to Jack flying monster trucks (yes, most kids do that with planes, but he has a cars fascination) and holding back tears.

As I followed the link to Layla's site I saw a twitter comment that she had gone to play with the angels just this morning. I can only say that I know deep down in my heart and farther down in my soul that I know that she is now healthy. She is running and playing with angels, and sitting in the lap of Jesus. That doesn't mean that her mom & dad & sisters aren't feeling broken. How could you not?

I am thankful everyday for my boys. I am not always good at showing it. I don't always sit down on the floor with them and play cars. I don't write them notes, or send them texts (unless they text me first). I love my boys. I am glad that God has kept them healthy. I know that He has plans for them that I do not yet know. I can only wait and watch. And pray.

Sometimes having my boys so far apart in age makes mornings a catastrophe. It is hard to find things that cover the age span from 12 to 5. The 5 year old is not necessarily cool in the 12 year olds eyes, unless said 12 yo wants something or is bored.

We planned them. Some people wonder because Jack was born when Keegan was nearly 7 and Konley had just turned 5. I always wanted 3 kids, Jeff just took a little longer to come around. When he did come around I really had to think about whether I wanted to "start over". The other 2 were pretty independent: could do their car seat buckles, put on shoes, help around the house, yada yada. But my desire won out. And now we have Jack. Whose name is really John,, but like his great-grandpa we call him Jack.

It is hard trying to walk the thin line between giving Keegan some independence and making sure that he includes his brother. There are times when he is allowed to play without Jack, but there are time when he is not. This morning they got in a big to-do playing the new Mario. I do understand that playing the new"remade" Mario game is hard with 3 people. It's even harder with a 5 year old. But that's what compromise is about. So I took away the compromise and said, "Turn it off". You can't argue about your guy getting run into by a mushroom if its off right?

So we turned it off and we are headed out to buy baseball cleats and tennis shoes....when will anyone make a pair of boys shoes that actually last and don't cost an arm & a leg? But that's an thought for another day.

So I have been online and in the stores trying to figure out just how to decorate these 2 new rooms of ours. They have been painted. The trim has just been dropped off and I need something. I covered the boys' couch in a chocolate brown couch cover.

Not enough.

We added lights and a decorative rug.

not enough.

So........I went online. I have been looking at vinyl, removable decals. I found so many websites. So many ideas. So many that just didn't fit me. But I kept going back to the squares. yep, squares. That's all they are. They are all different sizes and you just kinda put them up, together, apart, whatever works. But they only come in one color per page/cost.

not enough.

So I put a couple of different colors in my "shopping cart" and kept looking. I think that I had 5 different shopping carts going on at once. But since I kept going back to the squares i figured that I could do it myself. Couldn't I? If I hate it I can always paint over it!

So I got out the level and started drawing them on the wall. Then I needed new sizes. I went searching around the house. I used the boys' gameboy game boxes, their ds holders, a sample of the new shelf going in downstairs. Whatever I could find that was a square, I used it.

I LOVE IT!

But it is only one color. This definitely was an excuse to head to Fred Meyer. (Like I need an excuse to shop, but I digress.) I found college green. A bit like seafoam, but not so girly.

I CANT WAIT!

I already have ideas for making matching pillows and some other covers just to bring out the green in all the brown. Maybe, just maybe, I am getting a handle on this decorating thing. Well, at least in one room. The others will have to wait their turn.