Just realized it's Wednesday evening and I haven't posted since Monday. This morning I was too tired because Brittney got home from DC at midnight last night and she was full of energy and stories. Thankfully, Amy brought over coffee and danishes this morning and that woke me up a bit. Another friend came over later and I drank some more coffee while we chatted. The rest of the day was pretty normal.
 Then this afternoon I received a phone call that made me incredibly angry. It wasn't so much the content of the call but more the tone and intent of the person calling. Thankfully, I was able to go out for supper and vent about what was making me so angry. Now I feel much better! I'm still not sure exactly what I'm going to do about it but at least I'm not angry anymore :)
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Missing Ring

So known only to myself and Steve, and Sara as of yesterday, my wedding ring has been missing. The only two places that I ever have it are on my finger and on the hat of a little mexican guy that sits on the top of our tall dresser. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember the last time I had it on my finger because I haven't been wearing it with all the bathroom painting and construction we're doing. It had probably been 3 or 4 days since I remembered having it on. I was really hoping that it hadn't gotten bumped off the dresser and fallen in the trash somehow. I looked on the floor and this morning Steve dug through the little trash can that's beside the dresser. No luck!
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Today I have only two kids at home so I'm doing some cleaning that didn't get done over the weekend. First I tackled the kitchen because it was driving me nuts. Then I headed into Taylor and Sophia's room. It's easier to get rid of stuff when Taylor's not around. In the process, I decided to throw away all the beads that she had rolling around in drawers and on the floor. As I was scooping millions of tiny beads out of a drawer, I noticed a ring! Definitely mine! Taylor is in SOOOOO much trouble! What else is new?!
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Part of the reason nothing got done on the bathroom project yesterday is that our neighbors gave us quite a bit of free mulch. So Steve, Tayor and Riley got to mess around on the four wheeler and bring it back for me. Then they got to shovel it all in but it looks good and it was free!

I currently have two girls gone (Brit in DC and Tay at a sleepover), two boys at The Club (Riley & Zeke), one little girl still sleeping (Sophia) and one very mad boy (Anthony) unloading the dishwasher. I was already able to clean the kitchen from the disaster it had become over the weekend. I have a lot to post about but I think I'm going to try to finish my current book while it's still quiet. Here's an inkling of what I still need to post about so I don't forget: making a spectacle of myself at McDonalds, my wedding ring, trying a different church, Steve's backwards progress on the bathroom, etc.
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On a positive note, I now have my email inbox under 500. Still working on deleating, filing and responding, so no one send me anything new that I need to respond to for at least a week!  :)
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Bits and Pieces

• There is a bonus to our "redneck baby gate" ; ie: the board across the end of the walkway on our front deck that keeps Sophia from running into the driveway. When the Jehovah's Witnesses came by yesterday, they couldn't figure out how to get to our door to ring the doorbell. They didn't know if they could move the board across the bottom of our deck and go through, or if they should go through the door in the garage, which they were too polite to do anyway. At least four of my kids were playing Clue at the dining room table and they all got up and went to the window to watch!
• Sophia, who had seen Riley right before she went to bed last night, stood at the top of the stairs first thing this morning and yelled, "RiRi Jo! Miss you!"
• I am so glad the sheet rock part of our bathroom project is done because I'm tired of a coat of dust over everything in our house.
• We've been grilling so much Steve's mom felt sorry for us and took Steve to find a new heating element for his grill last night. I guess there will be even more grilling in our future!
• Riley, while being agravated by his (biological) little brother this morning: "Why did you even adopt this loser!?" 

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Brit's DC Trip

Brittney sent me pictures from her trip so far but I can't figure out how to get them from my phone messages onto my computer. For some reason, they won't save on my phone. Maybe Steve can figure it out when he's not busy putting in the Hardy Board in the bathroom (that's the flooring that the tile will adhere to). She did get to see AirForce 1 and Obama in Minneapolis at the airport. Brittney's plane was delayed from taking off because he was coming in.
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DC Trip

Brittney headed off to Washington DC this morning. Two of the busses pulled out at 4am to catch their flights in Sioux Falls.

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