Well, here I sit again, ALONE. DH is working the 5th of 6 in-house shifts he signed up for this month. I have HAD IT with the in-house shifts. He signed up for them originally because he wanted to cover his ass in case taking two weeks of vacation this summer ate into the bottom line too much.....the pay from the in-house stuff would provide a cushion. I can see the reason in that, but I also know that things are going well and he and his partner just took a chunk of money out of their cost center (they try to keep a certain amount in there and when it builds up beyond that, they take a "bonus").....couldn't he have used *that* for a cushion? He worked in-house on the 9th, the 16th, tonight, and is doing another one Sunday night. (He did a couple the week of the 4th, too.) So no wonder I am fed up. He promises that he will go back to only 3 or 4 a month starting in August, but I still think that is too many.

I took the kids to a local waterpark today. We have been before and they always stated that children under 8 needed to be within arms reach of a parent at all times. Well, now they have instituted a policy that children under 8 have to wear a wrist band and the parent has to have one, too. SO, Nathan (who is as tall as nine and ten year olds, I kid you not.....God help us when he hits adolesence) wore his wrist band and I sent him off with his brothers and sat (like the deadbeat mom I am) in a lawn chair. I know he can swim just fine and they have a bajillion lifeguards pacing back and forth all over the freaking pool. But I felt guilty the whole time and couldn't relax.....I kept trying to catch glimpses of the boys. Anyway, there were no catastrophes, no one ratted me out, and we left after about 3 hours. They had a great time. Next summer, I won't tell them he is under 8 (he will turn 8 next September) and I know they will never think he is.....stupid me told them today when they said "all your kids are over 8, right?" after looking them over.

We will be heading to FL a week from tomorrow for a week with DH's family, to the Destin area. I love his family very much and I am looking forward to getting a baby/toddler fix, since there will be five kids that are 4 and below there. One of DH's brothers is bringing a couple of sitters, too, so there will be plenty of hands on deck to take care of the little ones. I am stressing about my weight, though. I am heavier than both of my sils and my mil, too. To be fair to myself, I am also taller and just.....bigger than they are, but it makes me feel very insecure. I know I am driving DH nuts with it, and frankly, I am driving myself nuts as well. I gained 10 pounds between February and the end of school, and it is maddening. I have been putting time in on the elliptical machine when I get up the morning, but the scale hasn't budged so far. I remember last year that I lost about 10 pounds as soon as school started, so I am hoping for the same thing again, but I just wish I were skinnier for this trip! I am sure my ils won't even notice my weight or give it a second thought, but it is BUGGING ME! I wish I didn't like to eat so much!

I can almost feel the summer slipping through my fingers. I know that the start of school is inevitable, but I dread the return to the regimented schedule it seems like we keep during the school year. I have added another class period to my schedule at school.....I will teach four periods and they will pay me for a prep (spent IN the building) too, which means I am 5/7 time. I am not sure how I feel about that, although it will mean smaller class sizes, which will be nice. We will have a new principal this year, and he seems like a nice guy, but there is some uncertainty associated with that. He invited each of us to meet with him informally before school starts, so I am going in next week. We will be moving into a new school building sometime during the course of this school year, too, so that is another unknown. Should be interesting! So we have next week, then a week in FL, then one more week and I start back to school on the 11th which is also our 18th anniversary. The boys don't start until the 18th.

We meet with our builder again on Monday afternoon (DH is off) to sign off on the bid, and will take it to the bank to start the loan process on Friday morning. I think we will have quite a few more selections to make after we accept the bid, but I *hope* the hardest things are behind us. I am looking forward to getting all that done and then letting the builder go to it while I direct my attention toward school. Maybe I will even be surprised by how fast it goes.....here's hoping! I want to get over to our lot and take a picture before they break ground, and then take periodic pictures after that. I had better get going on that![/QUOTE]