C is for Celery

That's right folks, I'm posting about celery. My life is a thrill a minute.

This year I planted some vegetables in my modest garden. The tomatoes did really, really well; the bunnies ate the lettuce and the eggplant; the peppers didn't really do that well.

But the celery was a bit of an enigma. I didn't really know what to expect - as the summer progressed the plants got larger, but they never looked like the big celery stalks that you buy in the grocery stores.

So with the chilly season fast approaching, I decided that it was time to harvest the celery no matter what its condition.

Well, here's the thing: it's nice, fresh, abundant celery, but it's really bitter (nay, 'tis the essence of celery itself) and tough and stringy. Sure, I know how to string celery, but the stalks are so thin and numerous that the task is both very difficult and very time-consuming.

Therefore I have a big bowl of celery, and I don't really know what to do with it. I'm going to see what it will be like after cooking, but I'm open to any suggestions you may have

Ooh! Ooh! New albums!

[ShadowAngel bounces up and down excitedly]

Not only does this week feature the release of Weird Al Yankovic's new album, but also Enigma's new album "A Posteriori" and Scissor Sisters new album "Ta-Dah" and next week is the release of Evanescence's new album (forgot the name, too lazy now) too!

Damn! I need my allowance money (yes, I get a personal allowance, kinda sad but it works well) right now!

Master Swapping

It's a sad, sad day for those of us at the Amherst location of Master Chong's World Class Tae Kwon Do.

Master Chong (the younger, not the grandmaster of course) is being permanently transferred to East Amherst. In return we will be receiving Master Moon (whom I've never met) and Master Yoo (who has been teaching here for a few weeks now).

This came as no surprise to me at all, actually. I've had the sense for a couple months that Master Chong was being pulled away from teaching duties here for other responsibilities, and when they did that "temporary" shifting around of the masters due to Master Moon's vacation, along with very little discussion regarding what was happening...well, it seemed very clear to me as to what to expect.

So, how do I feel about all this? (Not that it matters, of course...)

Well, to a certain extent I'm devestated. Devastated, I say! *snif* :-) Master Chong has great talent as a teacher. Most significantly, he has the ability to know what a given student needs to hear at that time - whether they need a kind word of encouragement, a new insight into a technique, (rarely) a disapproving glare, or a seemingly casual discussion about a topic that turns out to be very important later.

Oh, not to mention that Master Chong is totally hot. *ahem*

But it is a great opportunity for him, and I expect that he is being groomed to someday take over the business in 10-15 years from now (or whatever). But I'm only speculating. In any case I wish him the best of luck.

So far things have been going well with Master Yoo. His difficulties with English aren't as much of a problem for me as for some of the other students - after all, I studied science at UB (inside joke). I think that it's good that I'll have the opportunity to study under two more experienced teachers - as it is I usually have to have 5 or 6 different people show me a move before I start to get it. I'm trying to keep my outlook cheerful, and I'll try to be patient while the transition occurs.

100th Post Celebration!

As a special treat, here's an audioblog post (872K, right-click to download) for you!

More Template Madness!

OK, I gave in and put up an inadequate version of the new template.

My blog crashed the browser three times in a row, so I figured I shouldn't wait because people simply might not be able to read the blog if I didn't do it.

Not that I have all that many readers, of course. *wink*

So rest assured that this is far from the finished product, and bear with me if things look strange over the next few days.

Template Madness!

So instead of posting I've been working on a new template for the last couple days. Foolishly I decided to make the jump to Blogger Beta, and I'm kind of regretting it, because the good folks at Blogger have changed the fundement of their blog template. Which, of course, immediately starting causing my old-style, third-party template to go crash on an unpredictable basis.

Therefore a brand-spankin'-new template is in order, and, never being satisfied with the canned offerings provided by Blogger, I'm trying to build my own from scratch. Ok, not quite from scratch, it is indeed modified from a Blogger canned template (I'm not good enough to do otherwise).

But it's coming along nicely, and I should get a basic version of it up here today or tomorrow. I'm still experimenting and seeing if I can get some cool goodies working, but since it's largely trial-and-error, we'll have to see what happens.

Ouch, That Must Hurt!

OMG, I can't tell this with a straight face, but I swear to you it happened just like this:

I was restringing my bass guitar yesterday, and I was having a bitch of a time with it. I'd never done it before, and I am sure that Smite is probably going to have a little chat with me this weekend about the proper way to do it.

Anyway, I wasn't paying close enough attention to what I was doing when I was replacing the highest string and (I bet Smite's already guessed the punchline)...

I overstretched my G-string and it snapped!

HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

I told my church choir exactly that at last night's rehearsal and they were ROFL!

Poor Ironwolf's Interminable Church Meeting

My hubby Ironwolf went out to dinner with the guys last night and when I came home from my children's choir practice there they were at my house.

Sheesh, thanks for telling me we were going to have guests tonight. I'd made a turkey breast and mashed potatoes for dinner, which was still yummy *without* DH there to share it at the table. Ppppttthh!!!

That's ok though. They played hockey outside with the boys for a while, which was really sweet. It was one of the things that Jon (my dear friend visiting from out-of-town that I mentioned several posts ago) wanted to do while he's here. He's really missed seeing the boys, and 2 1/2 years brings a lot of changes when there's little kids involved.

Eventually the guys head down to the basement for this evening's board gaming adventure. Then comes...the phone call.

It's Kay. As in, Pastor Kay from church. And guess who was missing an important committee meeting currently in progress? Well, duh, read the subject line! And they really, really wanted Ironwolf there because he had the minutes from the last meeting (back in June). With a heavy sigh Ironwolf rushes off to the stupid church meeting.

Which of course leaves his three friends in the lurch in the basement. Well, no problem, they'll just pick out a different board game to play until he comes back. I can't really be a good hostess because my primary job is to keep the kids out of their hair while they are playing, and getting the kids to bed of course.

So they finish their game, and one of the guys leaves, and still no Ironwolf. I come downstairs from putting the kids to bed and folding a couple loads of laundry at about 9:45 and the two remaining friends are sitting in my dark living room talking. I join them, and poor Ironwolf drags himself in at 10:15, making the total meeting time almost 3 hours.

You know, if I was him I just wouldn't put up with it anymore. There's no reason why these monthly church meetings should take more than 1 to 1 1/2 hours. There's too much socializing, and too much digressing. I suggested that next year Ironwolf should offer to be chair of the committee, because then he could run the meetings the way he wanted to. He's seriously considering it.

Now I've Gone and Done It!

In my foolish haste last night I gave the blog address out to a couple people from Tae Kwon Do. ;-)

Hi, ladies! The posts you are looking for are "A Little Sweetness, A Little Rage" from 9/6, and "Rampant Capitalism 101" from 8/23. But of course feel free to peruse the rest of the blog as you like, and I would be thrilled to read your comments.

Not to sound like a suck-up, but it is so much fun hanging out with you guys outside after class! I hope Chelsea didn't get into too much trouble though... :-( Maybe I'll talk with her father and see if he'll reconsider (gosh, makes me sound a like teenager myself there). After all, what am I going to do without Chelsea to drag me through the curriculum on Tuesday night? I'd take twice as long at every belt rank! LOL

Definitely we should go out sometime. Sorry I can't do Thursdays at Fridays though! It's my choir practice night, and I'm in the handbell choir too, so if I don't show up nobody plays my notes.

I also recommend Rambled Musings to you, written by a fellow TKD student. You should read about what they talk about after class there!

Fixin' Up My Messes

It's about time that I went and fixed up that mess I made with my column widths due the 2996 9/11 tribute. Whee. Yay for me.

Unfortunately I had to delete a couple lines from the "credits" of that post, so if the authors of those two sites come looking (highly unlikely)- I did not intend to steal your content unacknowledged, and if you want me to I can come up with something.

There. That should cover my ass.

Speaking of fixin' up my messes, I really, really should do some major cleaning. Ugh. A couple of the blogs that I read are hosted by major neat freaks. I wish I was like that, I really do. I mean, I'm not a slob (although I used to be, ask anyone who saw my sophomore-year dorm room - two major slobs should *not* live together LOL) but I just don't find any inspiration from scrubbing and decluttering and the like. In short, it's just no fun. Despite helpful advice from Disney to "whistle while you work" and that "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down".

I'd better get to work. *sigh*

I [Heart] VOC's

That is, Volatile Organic Compounds, for those of you who had the brains to avoid studying chemistry (unlike me, who got through 3/4 of the chemistry curriculum in college and ended up dropping it - but that's a long and moderately painful story, not to mention totally irrelevant to the discussion - oh, I'm sorry, did I go a little off tangent?).

Mostly of the nasty stinky stuff you find in cleaners, paints, varnishes, and the like (including coffee, but let's not go there) are VOC's. And most of them are bad for you. Won't give you a lecture here about it.

Anyway, the point is, I'm suffering from overexposure right now. Yesterday I vaccuumed out my car, Febrezed it, cleaned the interior with some good shit (like Armor All but actually good for the actual cleaning part too), washed it, and waxed it.

The DH informed me this morning that he had left his keys in my car's ignition all night last night and that he ended up draining the battery. And then, of course, he left for work without giving me a jump start first. Thanks, Ironwolf! [ShadowAngel rolls eyes]

So this morning (btw the first morning I've actually had to myself since school started) I decided to finish up the car cleaning by Windexing the windows and mirrors and then applying Rain-X. Rain-X is one of the best substances ever invented for cars. It causes the water to bead up and roll off your exterior glass so that it's *much* easier to see in the rain. And the "interior" version of Rain-X is an anti-fogging agent, with is very useful when the kids are blowing on the windows in the winter.

But they both stink to high heaven! And of course I can't get my car out of the garage for more ventilation, but I really wanted to get this done. The exterior went fine, but then I went inside the car.

I'm in an enclosed space where I have used three different cleaners plus the Rain-X.

So anybody want to make a guess how I was starting to feel?

Oh, yeah, all the good stuff: dizzy, light-headed, headachy, nauseous.

I finished, and I'm ok, but here I am, almost 6 hours later, still not feeling so good.

Somebody tell me not to do stupid things like that anymore!

Zipper, Cake, and the Rain

First of all, I must say, I feel awful. Not sick exactly, but rundown, tired, and headachy. But Mom can't just laze around in bed - she still has to function when she's ill.

But that doesn't mean I can't spin a quick amusing tale or two, does it?

Zipper's brithday party was fine, just family, and between the 4 kids there was so much noise that you would have thought there was 15 kids there.

Of course with school days comes the requisite celebration of the birthday in class. But there's a bit of a problem - if I want to bring in a treat, it has to be egg-free, dairy-free, peanut-free, and soy-free due to the allergies in the class. Oh, joy.

But I'm always up for a challenge! So off to the Internet I go to find a cake and frosting recipe suitable for the class. After just a few minutes I find a lovely recipe at Food Allergy Cookbook for both the cake and frosting.

But there's a bit of a problem. Hmmm. The recipe calls for vegetable oil, but that's part soybean oil. Ok, so buy canola oil then, no big deal. Uh, oh. The frosting recipe calls for dairy-free margarine. I would have thought that somewhere out there someone would make a margarine that doesn't contain soy. Wrong, wrong, wrong, no such animal (or plant) could I find. But one last desperate spin through the organic section turns up Spectrum Naturals Organic Shortening made from 100% palm oil. It'll do! Mind you, it cost me $5.49, but I would not be defeated by this challenge!

So I put it all together, and actually it came out pretty darn well. The frosting tasted a little weird, but I think it was from too much powdered sugar and not enough chocolate. Oh, and one cake recipe makes many, many, many mini cupcakes!

Ok, one more quick story. It's been pouring rain today, and Zipper obliged by splashing in all the puddles on the walk home, soaking his shoes. So when it came time to pick up Rascal a couple hours later, Zipper insisted on wearing his brother's snow boots. O-Kay....

We are crossing the street, and a car is coming, so I'm trying to hurry Zipper. He stumbles, and a boot comes off. So quickly I snatched him and the boot up and finished crossing. There's a beep from the car, which has stopped in the street. Wouldn't you know it, the other boot came off in the middle of the street.

Put the kid down on the wet sidewalk, go get the boot from the road, put them both back on the kid's now soaked feet... *sigh*

Happy 4th Birthday Zipper!

Zipper, I can't believe how independent you've become during the last year. You aren't bothered one bit by going off by yourself to pre-K. "Bye, Mom! See you later!" Almost every day I see you mastering a new task or accomplishing something that you couldn't do before. And you are always doing it with a smile! I've never known a child as happy as you.

Please, keep asking me for hugs whenever you want them, because I know that in just a few short years you won't want them so much anymore. You are still my little boy, but not for much longer.

Have a fun day today! I know you are looking forward to celebrating with your class, and then later at home with your family. I'll be sure to have everything you wanted for your party - balloons, streamers, cake, ice cream, presents, and the happy birthday song.

I love you so much! Happy birthday!

Everything from Nosebleeds to Sacred Vows

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit - things have been *really* busy, and this is the first opportunity I've had in days.

First of all, my thanks and appreciation go out to all the fellow 2,996 bloggers out there for their heartfelt tributes celebrating the lives of the victims of September 11th.

Next, in 5 days of pre-K, Zipper has already been to the nurse's office twice for nosebleeds! In the immortal words of Ralphie Wiggum: "My doctor says I wouldn't have so many nosebleeds if I would keep my darned finger out of there!" LOL

My mother is in town again and is staying with us for the week (except tonight). But, you may ask, wasn't she just here? Yes, she was, dear reader! The day after my parents arrived back home (two weeks ago now) my mother received a phone call asking her to come interview for a job up here. D'oh! So she's here, and if she gets the job who knows what's going to happen.

Lastly, and most happily, the man I thought would never tie the knot finally did! Congratulations to Rachael and Tim on their wedding! It was really a very lovely ceremony, neo-pagan in nature [neo-pagan silliness, Smite? *sheesh* well I cried anyway so there (btw he carries much better description and pictures of the wedding at his site)], with about 20 friends attending, and conducted in the splendor of Letchworth State Park.

Here's the lovely couple (sadly, the best picture of them I have):



I *so* want to wear a tiara like that (what girl doesn't want to weat a tiara?)!

The happy occasion has the added benefit of bringing my good friend Jon back into town from the West Coast with his best girl Jen. After all, Jon was the best man at the wedding - he couldn't exactly miss that! He'll be in town for about 2 weeks, and one would hope that he won't stay away for 2 1/2 years like the last time! Well, I expect we will be going to his wedding before that long...*hint hint*

Here's a good picture of the gang, my peeps. Yo, yo how's it hangin' boyz!



Good friends, good food, beautiful day, new beginnings - what more could anyone ask for?

2,996 Tribute to Marian Hrycak

This entry is part of the 2,996 Tribute Project to remember the victims of the September 11th, 2001 terror attacks on the fifth anniversary of those attacks. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims of this tragedy.

Each of the bloggers involved with this project has been assigned one of the victims of 9/11. I did not know Marian "Marty" Hrycak personally, nor did I directly know any of the other victims of 9/11 or their families. Still, as I got to know more about this man while putting together this scrapbook page tribute, I began to feel a connection with him. He reminds me so much of my father: quiet, hard-working, passionate about his collections, and devoted to his family.

Marty Hrycak, we remember you:




(click on the picture to open in a larger size)

As I have researched this tribute, I have found more than 800 web sites dedicated to the 9/11 attacks with Marian Hrycek's name within. It has been heartbreaking, and yet uplifting, to read the messages from his family, friends, and acquaintances - he is truly missed by many, many people. It has been my honor to work on this tribute.

Some other tributes to Marian Hrycak:

http://www.legacy.com/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=131691

http://www.9-11heroes.us/v/Marian_Hrycak.php

http://www.legacy.com/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=131691

Other web sites researched for this tribute:

http://cf.newsday.com/911/victimsearch.cfm?id=1243

http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/people/4077.html

http://www.ukrweekly.com/Archive/2001/500124.shtml

http://stage.aflcio.org:4664/aboutunions/sept11/victims.cfm

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/world/la-101601tales,0,6927471.story?page=2

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3067497

To Kill an American....

Also swiped shamelessly from Three Headed Dragon, but this was so important that it had to be shared right away.

You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.

So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is . So they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!)

"An American is English, or Canadian, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.

An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return. Warren Buffet just gave over 30 BILLION to world relief.

When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!

As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan. Americans welcome the best of everything...the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services. But they also welcome the least.

The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America.

Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.

Please keep this going. Pass this around the World and then pass it around again. It says it all, for all of us!

Hillbilly Logic

Swiped fresh from Three Headed Dragon right to you!

Three Hillbillies are sitting on a porch shootin' the breeze.

1st Hillbilly: "My blonde wife sure is stupid... she bought an air conditioner!"

2nd Hillbilly: "Why is that stupid?"

1st Hillbilly: "We ain't got no 'lectricity!"

2nd Hillbilly: "That's nothin'! My blonde wife is so stupid, she
bought one of them new fangled warshin' machines!"

1st Hillbilly: "Why is that so stupid?"

2nd Hillbilly: "Cause we ain't got no plummin'!"

3rd Hillbilly : "That ain't nuthin'! My redhead wife is dumber than both yer wifes put together! I was going through her purse the other day lookin' fer some change, and I found 6 condoms in there."

1st and 2nd Hillbillies: "Well what's so dumb about that?"

3rd Hillbilly: "She ain't got no pecker!!!"

Muckin' Up the Layout

As you have already seen, I've got the post up for the 2996 Tribute Project. Unfortunately it's mucked up my column widths so my sidebar's been pushed down and things look a little weird. I don't really have time to fix it up now, so you'll just have to deal with it for a few days.

I know, you were just holding your breath wondering where the JenDoll of the Week went!

A Little Sweetness, A Little Rage

The boys are doing fine in school, and the schedule is starting to fall into place (although I hate getting up in the morning - one of my mantras is "Nothing in the world should happen before 10 AM.")

Ironwolf is on vacation this week. I hate to admit it, but it's been nice having him around!

My mom has a job interview sometime next week up here. As in, not in South Carolina. She (and my dad) has been really unhappy down in SC away from the rest of the family. The question is: what happens if she gets the job? Is she going to move back here and leave my father down there?

OK, now for the rage part. It reflects badly upon my character, I'm afraid, but one of the purposes of this blog is to provide a place to be a whiny bitch! LOL

Most of you know that I just received my red belt in tae kwon do. My partner, Chelsea, and I were working together on the red belt curriculum for the first time this evening, and were being taught self-defense by one of the junior instructors. And the instructor was really *criticizing* everything I did, basically going: "you're almost a black belt, you should be able to do this already!"

In the meantime, Chelsea has been picking things up very quickly, but that's partly because she's been working with one of the red belts for several weeks already.

The instructor did this to me last week before testing too. Now, I really like this guy, but he's getting me very angry. So here's my internal response to all this, which I try very hard to keep off the training floor:

First of all, I'm not almost a black belt. According to my plan, I'm still 21 months away from my black belt promotion. I've been there 20 months so far. Therefore I am only halfway there.

Second, who are you comparing me to? Chelsea? Excuse me, but Chelsea is 15 years old, in good physical condition, is able to get to class 5 or 6 times a week (I'm only able to make 2-3), and is almost a foot taller than me (unimportant except for this - she doesn't even have to try if she wants to kick me in the head, I have to strain to reach her). I'm 33 years old, 40 lbs. overweight, I can't be here every day of the week, I'm not very flexible, and my athletic talents are limited at best! You should be comparing me to me , and that's it.

Third, are you seriously expecting me to simply be able to do this the first time around? Maybe you haven't realized it because you've been breezing through on your natural athletic ability and the fact that you are here every day teaching, but I do not find any of this easy. I have to break every piece down to its components and drill and drill and drill some more until it becomes ingrained. Maybe I don't meet your standards of what a red belt should be capable of. I shouldn't have to meet your standards at all - the only things that are important are my standards and my master's standards. You can judge me when you have a few more years under your not-yet-black belt.

OK, all done. I had this need to be petty and angry and to vent it all in the direction of my unsuspecting readers. Really I'm going to let this whole incident slide unless it becomes a regular feature of my instruction with this gentleman. As I said, I do like him a lot, and he really does have great potential as an instructor. I will simply write it off for now as inexperience and the incapability to realize the negative effects of his well-meaning criticism.

Summer, Where Art Thou?

I'm very, very tired and headachy, but happy to say that I officially survived the weekend. It was nice getting together with the family and friends, but I am still amazed at how exhausted one can get from having a good time.

No, I take that back. Pretty During the last four days there have been 4-5 small children (including my own of course) in constant run-and-yell mode pretty much wherever I've been. No wonder I still have a headache! LOL

Today's partly a day to get my crap back together, but there won't be much time for that even because the guys are coming for Dungeons & Dragons. I always look forward to the game, but some days (meaning today) I'd rather just be asleep on the couch. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to muster the righteous wrath demanded of my character today.

First day of school tomorrow! [ShadowAngel does her Happy Dance] What am I going to do with TWO WHOLE HOURS to myself five days per week?

Long Weekend of Chaos

Forgive me for my frazzled post yesterday. Complicating matters that day was that my lovely little monster Zipper drew all over my living room rug with markers (wish I'd taken a picture for you). I was able to get most of it out between the carpet cleaner and a good shampooing, but you can still see faint marker spots all over the rug. I am NOT a happy Mommy.

Still, it's not like there wasn't spots on the rug before. I swear to you, I will NEVER buy another solid color rug again - nothin' but annoying intricate patterns from now on!

I talked to my folks yesterday while the storm was hitting them (they are far enough inland that all they tend to get during these storms is a lot of heavy rain) and they insisted that they would be fine driving tomorrow. They left about 8 hours ago from SC so they are probably in WV now - most of the time they should have been far enough west of the storm but they may have intersected it at some point. I do worry when they are traveling. I'll have to call them because they haven't called me yet.

My brother and one of my sisters called my parents too to express their concerns about them driving here today, so at least I'm not alone in my paranoia.

My tae kwon do test went surprisingly well yesterday! No, it wasn't perfect (it never is), but I gave my best effort, and Master Chong seemed pleased with me. I swear, sometimes I'm just like a little kid seeking validation.

I was particularly surprised by my spinning kick board break. On my first try I realized halfway through that I was *much* too close. So I pulled in some and came around, and much to my shock, there's the board in two pieces. I never even felt the contact. I asked a couple people and they said that it looked ok. Well, alright then!

OK, so for all intensive purposes let's make yesterday the start of the Long Weekend of Chaos, because the chaos begins then and doesn't end until Sunday night. So here's the schedule, including yesterday:

Thursday afternoon: go to library (because books are due), write up tkd testing form
Thursday evening: TKD testing
Friday morning/afternoon: Playdate with niece and nephew at my house
Friday late afternoon: take Rascal to tkd class
Friday evening: date with hubby yay!
Saturday morning: tkd class, shopping, panicked cleaning and cooking
Saturday afternoon/evening: host relatives at my house
Sunday morning/early afternoon: host friends (and their kids) visiting from NYC
Sunday mid afternoon/evening: travel to aunt's house for party with my extended family

Now, for a little added fun and excitement, Sunday is also Ironwolf's brithday. And I don't have a present for him yet. And school starts Tuesday, so somewhere in there (ok, probably Monday) I have to pick up the last of the school supplies and get things organized. I figure that by Tuesday I'm going to be ready to collapse!