My Name is Anne and I am....

suffering from PMS and a small amount of anxiety this week. My husband would likely use more colorful language if you asked him. I won't type all the things I think and feel on that topic, though.

We're co-hosting a little benefit for our local YMCA here on Saturday evening. Nothing fancy, just a little gathering of 30-ish folks who have been invited to our house to pay $15 for a fajita dinner. It's fair to say that I don't know a good number of these folks very well. As a result, I'm feeling a little edgy about getting the house and food ready. Above mentioned PMS is not helping matters any. Above mentioned husband isn't really helping matters either.

Husband is frequently telling me (and everyone else) I'm going overboard. Apparently, when you invite a group of people over (have I mentioned that a lot of them I don't know too well) to your house to pay for a meal, cleaning the house and the yard and making sure you put forth a decent meal are optional. I wish I'd known this earlier... I wouldn't have waited so long to host such an event. Hell, maybe I should open a restaurant. Silly, silly, stupid, dumb me. On the bright side, I guess there's no need to tackle this:

(yes, my son's room is a danger zone, once again)

Maybe husband is right on some level, but his delivery of news could be a little more, umm, shall we say, diplomatic. Perhaps he could find a way of saying as much so that I don't have a compelling urge to choke him with my bare hands??

In addition to this little fundraiser, we're celebrating Jerod's 9th birthday party (by playing a game of baseball with his buds) on Sunday afternoon, and running 18 miles on Saturday morning. I think I'll do a happy dance on Monday morning when all this is done.

Oh, and how's this for fun?? Check out the weekend forecast. Out-friggin-standing.

Minneapolis, MN 55436

Change Location

Friday

5/13/2011

Hi: 60°

Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers. Highs around 60. North winds 10 to 15 mph.

Lo: 47°

Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of showers. Lows around 45.

Saturday

5/14/2011

Hi: 58°

Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers. Highs 55 to 60.

Lo: 46°

Mostly cloudy in the evening then becoming partly cloudy. A 20 percent chance of showers. Lows around 45.

Sunday

5/15/2011

Hi: 62°

Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers. Highs around 60.

Lo: 44°

Partly cloudy. Lows 40 to 45.

A Little Story about my Kitchen

Last Friday afternoon, before the kids got off the bus and before Chris got home from work, I really cleaned my kitchen. The half million pieces of paper that had come home from school during the week had been sorted and filed, as had the quarter million pieces of mail. The counters and table had been thoroughly wiped down, and the floor was swept.

It is perhaps important to note that I don't do this thorough of a 'cleaning' all that often, mainly because our next meal (a.k.a. mess maker) is usually just a few short hours away. Generally speaking, the wipe down mentioned above happens once a day at most. Please don't call child protective services. I'm building immunity in my kids. It will serve them well, we live in a dirty world.

But, the weekend was on its way, and I knew I'd feel good if I got it done. And I did. Fast forward to Sunday. The kitchen was a complete wreck. Normally this wouldn't phase me. It is messy more often than it is clean. However, the Sunday mess got to me, and I'll tell you why. WE HADN'T HAD A SINGLE MEAL IN THE KITCHEN. Friday night was the school carnival, so we ate there. After said carnival, Jerod and Elise went to spend the night with my parents so Chris and I could go for a long training run early Saturday morning. Saturday we had lunch with my folks when we picked up the kids, and dinner at the house of some of our friends. And, on Sunday we had breakfast at church, as it was the annual youth fundraising breakfast. Said breakfast was HUGE, so we skipped lunch. Yet, the kitchen was filled with backpacks, drinking glasses, and more paper (Anyone who thinks we're moving to a paperless society should visit my kitchen).

Happy Easter... a day late

The Tourney

After KU's untimely exit from the tourney, I had trouble looking at the family brackets anymore. However, I'm hosting book club on Friday night and trying to tidy a bit. Thus, I needed to tally everything up so I could send those babies to the recycling bin. And the winner is....

Anne!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you very much. Next time we go out to dinner, I get to pick. I will most certainly be drunk with such power!

Final results:

Anne: 40-27

Elise: 39-28

Chris: 38-29

Jerod: 36-31

Ladies rule, boys drool.

Arizona Spring Break

We are home now. They dragged me kicking and screaming to the airport. It was a fabulous trip!

Climbers

I've got mixed feelings about technology, smart phones, social networking via the web, and all the other good stuff that falls under the same umbrella. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan, but I do see how a person (yours truly) can be too connected, especially with so much available ALL THE TIME, via the phone. However, I would like to kiss whoever's responsible for putting decent cameras on phones. Without them, we wouldn't have these gems. We had no idea the kiddos would end up climbing the rock wall while making our routine Wednesday evening trip to the YMCA.

They were awesome. Jerod made it all the way to the top. He was within about 2 feet of the top and said he was done. I couldn't blame him. The person belaying, though, gave him a little advice and encouragement, and up he went. You could pretty much see Jerod's mind switch from 'I'm done' to 'I'm going to finish this.' As a parent, it was pretty cool to see him conquer.

Elise didn't get quite as far, but she did awesome as well. At one point when she was pretty high up and she looked back at us with actual trepidation in her eyes. It's highly unusual to see any uncertainty in our typically fearless go-getter. The minute she got down and out of the harness, though, she was ready to get back up there. As Chris said, it's nice to know that the girl can reach a point where she experiences a little fear.

After Two Rounds

Official Standings:

Anne 35-17

Jerod 35-17

Elise 35-17

Chris 32-20

Rock Chalk Jayhawk Sweet Sixteen!

photo from kusports.com