After a busy morning of doing "earrings" (Lilly talk for errands...she's always like, when are we going to get to the earring store??) we just got home and she promptly set about drawing in her new little mini composition book, when I noticed she was quiet..TOO quiet...looked over, and she's asleep! Those earrings must have really tired her out. Notice her new "crazy squirrel" shirt, she got it at Old Navy yesterday and is SO proud of it! You'd have to be in our family to understand the "crazy squirrel" thing, suffice it to say that is what we call squirrels, they are all pretty much crazy anyway.

Our "earrings" this morning included gas ($50 got us half a tank! ouch! 2.68/gal for reg. unleaded), Starbucks (of course!), dropping off boring financial paperwork, and a quick trip to Goodwill before taking Larry to work, then we snuck in a secret girls-only trip to Target before coming home to deal with the housework that I was trying to avoid (hence the "earrings"...)

I got some great deals at Goodwill, though, for the 2nd time in as many weeks I found a Sizzix die (for those who don't know, it's a scrapbooking thing for a die cutting machine. don't ask) for .99! Also got 2 Pampered Chef stones (deep dish baker and the big bowl one that also works as a cover for the dd baker) for $8 for both of them, training wheels for Lilly's little bike (that we WERE saving for next year,until her cute little red trike was stolen out of the yard last week! argh!), and a brand new set of Simply Shabby Chic sheets for $6. Those sheets are great, they are going to make me happy just sleeping on them! Soft pink with ruffles on the top sheet, very very girly.

Updates:
kids:

Change of plans regarding Lilly's preschool. We have decided not to send her to preschool this year. She wanted to go, and does want to go when we talk to her about it, but the past 3 mornings she has started to cry and say "I don't want to go to school!" when we are getting the other kids ready for school. When I tell her she's not going, she's having a "mama day" she is so relieved and happy. Also, she has been waking up crying for the last few weeks. I think she has had a lot of stress and instability in her little life the last few months, and my instincts say to keep her with me. She will grow up, no doubt about it, and too fast, too. I think it will do us both good to have one more year of her home with mama. So, that is the new plan. I still want to get her in ballet lessons, and we can use the money we would have spent for preschool to pay for that. She looks so stinkin' cute in a tutu!

Barrett asked me last night if Great-Grandma had a "funeral place" yet, because he wanted to visit and bring flowers. It is so sad to know he's hurting and missing her, too. And having to tell him that no, there is no place we can go to pay our respects, not yet anyway. Makes a sad situation that much worse.

U2:
Just for those few of you who rely on me to keep you abreast of happenings in u2-land, the boys are on vacation right now and presumably gearing up for kicking off the 3rd leg of the Vertigo tour next week in Toronto. They will finally be back in North America, and will be playing in the US and Canada through December. It's going to be great to see what they have in store for us on the 3rd leg of the tour, I'm still hoping and planning to see them in Vegas Nov. 4th and 5th!



Katrina:
When I see the news footage of what is going on around New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina it makes me feel so thankful that we are just watching it on TV as we keep living our normal lives. It doesn't always seem like having electricity, having clean water and food, medicines and all those things we use every single day is a blessing, but it is. I know all my family is safe, we still have all of our "stuff", we're still doing the usual work, watching tv, listening to music, spending time together just hanging out. It's hard to believe that so many people down there are struggling just to find the basics they need to survive. That they don't know where they're going or if they will ever have a home to come back to. That they can't contact their friends and family to find out if they are ok or not. Add to that the fact of all the looting, it seems like true anarchy has taken over in some parts of the city. They couldn't even evacuate the SuperDome like they wanted to because people were firing on the rescuers! It is just too much to absorb, really. The before and after photos of the areas hardest hit are stunning.