Little bits ...

Okay ... I'm showered. That's a good thing.
Even though I'm rocking some MAD muffin-top over the waistband of my jeans (Denizen by Levi? You suck LOTS. kbai!).

But I obviously don't care enough to change, so ... well, there you go. If I'm offending your eyes, look away!
Or just concentrate on my masterfully-applied make-up. That's what I end up doing.
(Seriously -- I'm rather obsessed with shoes, make-up/skin care, nice-smelling things, and nail polish. And  books. ... And I figured out why a few years back: It's because you can rock them and look good (or, at least feel/smell good) regardless of whether the scale or stupid designers like you.

Besides, even if I'm totally critical of how my butt looks or how much toning I could really have, neither Michael nor the kids really seem to care. And I'm healthy enough to not need one of the motorized scooters at Wal-Mart, so that's a total plus there.

Yes, I admitted that I shop at Wal-Mart. I'm not proud of it ... But I'll be honest about it.

So, right after I finished blogging, Michael came home. No, the migraine had NOT gone away.
So, he took a nap and some Ibuprofen ... and Bubbles and I went to Wal-Mart (there, I said it. Happy??) since we needed some things ... and it'd keep the house quiet while we were gone.

Then, we got back and the kids came home and I had them help clean up the house and unload the dishwasher while I worked to get (closer to) caught up with the dishes. And I put the lasagna into the oven.

The kids brought home their progress reports (and I realized that morning, after they left for school, that I had forgotten to give them their folders ... well, they didn't remind me, either. So there!) ... They're doing well. Bruise still needs to try harder in writing ... and have some more organization/keeping to the topic ... But, overall, that's some good improvement. So I'm not going to fuss about it.

Bucket's progress report was fine. Her scores are good and she's putting in noticeable effort. So I'm fine with that.

We had dinner after Michael got up (and even he remarked about how nice it was when he was home almost an hour early. YES. But, well, until they let him telecommute -- and we have a house with a dedicated home office -- it's a rare thing. Except on Fridays, since he gets home in the early afternoon).

I ended up with a bit of a headache ... and my allergies were acting up.

Not really too much to report ... nothing terribly, terribly exciting.

This morning, the kids were up early (again) ... I made sure that they got their lunches together. Bucket STILL can't find her lunch pail ... so I put the kibosh on their watching a video. If she's not going to bother looking for it (since she declared that it COULDN'T be at school ... which means that it HAS to be here at home), then I'm not going to let her watch TV. She's adamant that it can't be in her bedroom, but won't look there. And I pointed out that, hey, we have a little miss here in the house all the time who might move things. So you HAVE to look EVERYWHERE, because Bubbles likes to carry thing around. And if you don't put it out of her reach (and I cleaned off the messy, messy junk counter so I knew it wasn't there), then you HAVE to accept that you're going to have to get off your duff and LOOK for it!

Yes. Meanest mother EVER.

So, after the kids went to school, I put Bubbles to nap, got a shower, got dressed, and tackled cleaning/organizing the pantry cupboard ... since after having bags of baby food and boxes of tomatoes (diced/sauce/paste) lying on the floor for WEEKS ... yeah, it NEEDED to be done. So it's MUCH better now. And I moved the boxes that I collapsed out to the recycling and threw away a bunch of plastic bags. And you can actually WALK through the kitchen without tripping. And Bubbles won't be needing to carry packets of Ramen around. Phew. AND I can see all the baby food ... and, therefore, USE IT UP. Good stuff.

Okay ... so now onto Scripture study/reading before my mom arrives (she's on her way. And I want to pay attention to HER!)

Mosiah 10:1-22

• So, after this huge war, it's back to peace. But Zeniff isn't stupid, so he makes sure that they have all sorts of weapons ready. He's not going to let his people be taken by surprise again. And he puts guards around the cities and their flocks. And there's peace for 22 years.
• Things are going really well -- crops are doing well, the women are making beautiful cloth and everyone has clothes.
• Zeniff knows the importance of knowing your enemy, so he sends spies off to check out the city of Shemlon to see how they're fortified.
  The Lamanites there have bows, swords, cimiters, and slings. Their only armor is a leather girdle.
  The Lamanites approach the land of Shilom (seriously, the names are too similar. Please, when naming cities, give them VERY different names. Thanks.)
• Zeniff sends the women and children into hiding in the wilderness (outside of the city). All the men, young and old, that can fight are gathered to go to battle. They're placed in ranks by age (I'm rather curious if this is a common practice? I should read up on that).
• The battle starts, with the Nephites prayerfully going into battle. The Lamanites are dependant upon their own strength. And they sound scary -- they're wild and bloodthirsty. And they believe that they and their ancestors have been wronged, repeatedly, starting when Lehi and his family left Jerusalem.
  (Lehi and Nephi followed the commandments that the Lord gave unto them ... Laman and Lemuel rebelled. A LOT. Nearly continually. If they had chosen to cooperate, there would have been peace. But, well, when you're doing your own thing, you don't always want to listen to anyone else. ... But, really, this is so intriguing ... you have both sides of the story, what both sides of the battle believe.)
  And, moreover, the Lamanites' tradition is to teach their children to HATE the Nephites -- that the Nephites should be murdered. Stealing from them, anything possible that could be done to destroy them = awesome to Lamanites. ... Hm, this does sound familiar ... like some factions of modern-day religions, no? And I'm talking about some recent-ish (well, within the last millenium or so) Christian sects, too. (Crusades, anyone?)
  ... Seriously, can't we just learn once and for FREAKING all that hate is NOT the answer?
  Okay, okay ... I'm shutting up and getting back to the last few verses today.
• Zeniff has realized, by this point, that the only reason King Laman allowed these Nephites to settle in these lands (Lehi-Nephi and Shilom) was to take the opportunity to raze them all for the (perceived) wrongs committed by their ancestors.
• Zeniff's army goes to battle, relying on the Lord to strengthen them and protect them. They are victorious in driving off the Lamanite army. So many Lamanites died that they were not able to count them. The Nephites return to their city and go back to farming and raising their flocks.
• Zeniff is pretty old ... he confers the kingdom on one of his sons ... this is the end of his record.

Well, I have to say, Zeniff is a pretty good ruler. He tries really hard to protect his people and to do what's right. And he takes responsibility for making a bad decision ... and tries to do his best to make the best of it.
I mean, what more can you expect of a ruler?