We’ll have to change Ethan’s name to Mr. Crocker. Mr. Betty Crocker to be exact. His youth group is doing some fundraisers to help offset the cost of youth conference that is coming up. Ethan isn’t going. It would mean missing 3 days of work, plus he would be the only high school boy … possibly the only high schooler going. But, it doesn’t hurt him to contribute to the cause. This past weekend, they furnished the concessions at an auction, and I was asked to donate a couple of pies.

Pies are not my strong suit when it comes to cooking. But Ethan. He makes a wonderful fruit filled pie, so I went ahead and told her to put me down for 2 pies. I bought the ingredients, and Ethan made them. Actually, he made 3. One for us. I shouldn’t have, but I did have a piece. It was wonderful. We will have to remember this, and when we go to a family get together and need to take stuff, I will have Ethan make a couple of pies. A teenage boy, baking pies. Who would have thunk it?

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 703 In Effect Until 9 PM CDT This Evening

Widespread Thunderstorms In The Evening…Then Thunderstorms Likely After Midnight. Some Thunderstorms May Produce Heavy Rainfall And Large Hail…Then Some Thunderstorms May Produce Heavy Rainfall After Midnight. Lows Around 58. Southeast Winds. Around 10 Mph Shifting To The Southwest After Midnight.
Looks like we are in for a storm tonight. Its been a fairly decent weekend. Some rain Friday night — and some severe storms north of us. My boss and his wife were camping this weekend, and I thought about them, and hoped they were ok. They have a pop-up type camper, with the soft sides…not a RV style camper. Course, in a wind or severe storm, it doesn’t really matter, neither one are good things to be in. But the rest of Saturday and most of today have been nice. On the cool side, but not bad.

I continued my quest to finish ALL the laundry. We had a huge stack in the laundry room, we would just continue to pile clothes on. I’ve got it knocked down most of the way, but still have a few more baskets to do. I’m going to try really hard to fold clothes as soon as they come out of the dryer, instead of letting them pile up. One step of many things I would like to change around here.

Today, besides laundry, I stayed busy with the IFTA report — that report that is due at the end of the month. The first step of it is to work through the paperwork of it — checking the driver’s expense reports, trips sheets, log sheets, etc, and make sure they are right. I still have 4 more drivers to do. And then. I start entering all the information in the a spread sheet. If it goes well, the ending miles on one sheet is the beginning miles on the next week’s sheet. If not, then I have to figure out why. Its time consuming, but I’m not panicing yet. I’m thinking …if I have 4 driver’s left, continue to work on it here at home. One a night. By Thursday or Friday then, I can start entering the info in the computer. Monday and Tuesday, I am always tied up with the billing. Wednesday, I go through all the mail, enter the bill we need to pay into the computer, get the checks ready for the bank, mark the invoices the checks pay … alot of times it takes the whole afternoon to get it all done. So, that brings me to Thursday and Friday’s to do the IFTA report. I think I have 2 more Thursday and Fridays to get it done, which I should be able to. If not, then I take a deep breath, and spend my weekend out at the trucking company, getting it finished it up. There IS a better way, and I am going to try really hard to apply that better way this quarter, so I’m not pulling double duty like this to get it done at the deadline.

I think I have a normal week ahead of me. Nothing too pressing … my Topeka app’t isn’t until Thursday, and late in the day, so I shouldn’t have to miss any work to go. After the last couple of weeks, I’m glad to have an easy week!

Tonight: Mostly Cloudy With A 20 Percent Chance Of Thunderstorms.
Lows Around 59. Southeast Winds 15 To 20 Mph.

Yeah! I have internet back. Our cable and internet went out this afternoon (and yes, the bill was paid, and isn’t due yet). We called our cable company, and they usually say there is service interuption in our area. But they didn’t say that this time. So, Ethan talked to a real person. She took our information. If anyone else called in reporting trouble in our area, they would send someone out and treat it as an area disturbance. But, if no one else called, then someone would be out Monday to check our cables and such. I’m glad it was something in the area, and not us. I had put some clothes away in our bedroom, and the way David has our cable, there is a cable line right by where I put the clothes. But, I didn’t think I had touched it, or unplugged something. And it didn’t go out when I was in there. At any rate, I’m glad to have service back! I told him we need to switch to Sprint for our internet. That way when our cable goes out, we don’t lose both the TV AND the internet.

So, I read for awhile; and also continue doing what I have been doing most of the day. Laundry. I have most everything washed and folded. Its not been that way for awhile. Alot of times, we go on a day-to-day basis, doing what we need for the next day. Feels kinda nice to be all caught up. Folded and everything! Hmmmm…. lesson here …. kill the cable once in awhile. No, actually, I had been doing this all day, even when we did have cable and internet. It was just strangely quiet.

Having a son who has a passion for singing and does a decent job at it … I can appreciate the talent this 7 year old has.

I wish this is what I could do this weekend. Just kick back, enjoy the crisp fall weather, maybe even go camping. But, its not going to happen that way. I have alot of my to do list of things that need to be done. And I have probably put them off for long enough. One of them involves a report that is due at the end of the month, and I have three months worth of checking and inputing into the computer. If I could ever get caught up, and I would check and enter on a weekly basis, then I wouldn’t be scrambling like this to get it all done within a few weeks. Since it is a new quarter, I might do that first thing this afternoon. Getting last weeks checked and in the computer, and just make sure I do that every Friday. That doesn’t help with what I need to do now, but it will definately help down the road at the end of this quarter.

Its also City Wide fall clean up. We can put all kinds of things out at the curb - things that would normally cost us if we hauled them to the landfill ourselves (not to mention, we would have to haul it out there ourselves). I severely need to declutter and get rid of a bunch of things. I don’t know how far I’ll get, but I would like to make a dent. I have a goal. Matt would like to have Christmas at our house. Now granted, with a large, close knit family like ours, there will be more extended family get together for Christmas. But, Matt would like for just “our” family to celebrate Christmas, at my house. I suffer from C.H.A.O.S. syndrome, but it is a reasonable request. So. No promises, but I’m going to try.

Regardless of what I do, he has invited me, David and Ethan to his humble abode for Thanksgiving. Wow. We are actually planning ahead for a change. Usually, the week OF Thanksgiving, we are all going “where are we going for Thanksgiving”. But this year, I know where we are going. That will be nice. I enjoy being around this adult child of mine. He makes me smile. He makes me laugh … he was down here yesterday, and we had lunch together. And we got to talking about Ethan. I got called a wienie by my husband because I don’t “lay down the law” where Ethan is concerned. In other words, Matt didn’t agree with me that he should be allowed to drive after he remodeled my Explorer Labor Day weekend (Ethan, that is.). But, I’m also being realistic — he doesn’t have enough time to get from school to work, by walking. And even if he did, then he’s all hot and sweaty, ready to meet the public. The alternative is for me to pull his license and then we are back to chaueffering him. I’m sure there are lots of opinions out there to how I should have handled this, and I’m sure I didn’t do it right.

But, I find it funny that Matt — now as an adult — takes this “lay down the law” attitude. The kid that gave me SOOOO much grief as a teenager. Far worse than Ethan ever has.  If I had “layed down the law” with him with everything HE did, he would STILL be grounded!!!  Drinking. Tickets. Depression. An angry child who kept it all in. But I could see the anger under the surface. I could write a whole book about Matt and how far he’s come.

So, I just reminded him that I’m still the same weinie now that I was when he was growing up, and it probably wouldn’t change.

Its amazing how life goes on, how things change, people change. I’m can hardly wait to see what Ethan will be like in 10 years.

Partly Cloudy. Lows Around 45. Southeast Winds Around 5 Mph.

Fall has definately kicked in. It hasn’t been cold, but it has been on the chilly side. Not cold enough to turn the furnace on yet, but having a light fuzzy blanket around my shoulders and arms does feel good right now. This is still my favorite time of the year; I don’t look forward to the coldness to follow though. And the snow and ice terrifies me. I fell on ice back in 2001, and broke my arm — so I probably have a more-than-necessary fear of it. But the guys at the church are really good about salting down icy sidewalks, and making it as safe as possible … for me during the week, and of course, for the congregation on Sundays. And, if I make the 10 mile drive out to my afternoon job, then getting from my Explorer to the office is a piece of cake. They have a carport that I park under, and there is usually never any snow or ice. Since David works out there as well, if I feel like the roads are too trecherous, he will come and get me. We have a carport attached to our house as well, so getting to my Explorer is never a problem. My rule of thumb is, if the roads are too dangerous to travel on, then I’m calling in. Fortunately, I work with 2 great places of employment, and don’t have to fear being fired for not reporting to work.

Sunny. Highs Around 75. Northwest Winds 5 To 10 Mph

OK, I made it through today (although, it consisted of working until 6:30). I’m not going to stress about it tomorrow. Whatever happens…happens. I got all the billing into the computer — it was bigger week than normal, more smaller loads, which meant lots of seperate entries, instead of several big ones. Plus, we had 2 new drivers. I also had to run into town (Ethan didn’t answer the phone, they didn’t have school today, and his knee had been hurting, so I was afraid he had laid down and wasn’t getting up in time to to to work. False alarm. Don’t know why he didn’t answer the phone — he says he didn’t hear it ring — but he was up, and ready to go to work. While I was out though, I had to go pick up David. So, that all took time).

And the newsletter? Gordon was OK with my “idea” of doing a special edition. So, I didn’t have to do a full newsletter, and put a single sheet together of the nominees, and Al should have a file on my computer this morning for the budget that will be voted on. I still don’t know how tomorrow will go though, because the guys at the board meeting this evening pretty much tore it apart, saying “this didn’t make sense”, and “what about this”. I’ll be honest. I just took what we said last year (and the year before that, and the year before …..) for my format, and just inserted the new names. Gordon and his wife always proofread whatever I send out, and very often, things get changed, reworded, etc. So….Gordon defended me. After awhile, he had enough, and told the guys that HE wrote it, that it wasn’t me. I just typed it up. Not. A. Word. after that. But I know Gordon, and he’s going to stress and change it. So, hopefully, he’ll have it ready and I can be done by noon, and go along my merry way.

I just have a feeling though it won’t be like that. One of our members is having hip replacement surgery, so he’s going to be at the hospital off and on all day.

Plus, something we decided to do with the this special edition is change it from the way I had it - on 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper, and put it on legal size paper. I was just going to put the nominees on one page, and the budget on another, fold the two, slap on a label, and go. But, Gordon suggested putting the budget on the back of the nominee page, but we don’t want it to show. We played around with it, and there is a way to do it, I just hope I can figure it out tomorrow with a minimal amount of brain effort.

I have my fingers crossed that David will be able to go with me tomorrow. I can go by myself, and it’ll be fine. But, if he can go with me, it would be even better. At least I’m not looking for a reason to cancel. I’m anxious to see how I did this week. Again, I don’t “feel” like I did well. But, I know what I’ve eaten, and what I’ve done, so there is a good chance I did good this week and should see another loss. Wish me luck!