Domestic Diva = ME??? WHAT???

So, yes, I've neglected my dear sweet blog and all you dear, dear readers. AGAIN.

But, but ... well, I have a halfway decent excuse this time! Sorta!

So, I'm trying to start getting back into FLYlady ... getting organized and all that.
(Because, really, it's VERY, VERY ANNOYING when EVERY time you tell the kids to clean up, Bucket will ask "Is somebody coming over??" HELLO!!! That's not the only reason I try to clean up the house!! UGH!!! ... I love my daughter. You know that. She knows that. But, really?? So now I'm trying to BEAT INTO THEIR HEADS strongly instill the idea that we don't clean up the house JUST for other people to come over, but because we are DESERVING of living in a neat, tidy house.)

(Wow, I really do talk a whole heckuva lot in parentheses, huh? Sorry. ... But not sorry enough to actually, you know, DO something about it.)

What else has gone on? Let's see ... We went to the zoo on Friday. Nice visit. Renewed our membership. Always a plus. Had a lorikeet land in my hair and perch on my hand for a bit. It barely even bit me, even though we didn't have any of the fruit juice/food for it. Nice!
The hippos and zebras and caracal were all out to be viewed (FINALLY! Seriously, y'all. I was starting to really doubt that they even HAD the caracal there). Oh, and I got to see (and take pictures of) the mongoose. That's a first. ^_^

Saturday, Bucket opted to stay home and watch a show while Michael worked on things on the computer. So I took Bruise on a little date to see the juggler, Charlie Brown (Go to his site. There's a video of him. He's really hilarious and talented. I think that I was a little more impressed than Bruise was, but if you ask Bruce if he had a good time, he responds that it was fun) over at the local community college. Of course, Bruce was thrilled-beyond-thrilled that we took Michael's truck on our "date." (And, really, since I took some classes at the community college one summer when I was younger and the truck was MY vehicle ... well, it was a real blast from the past. ... If only I still fit in the pants [and bras!] I wore then. *sigh*)

Sunday was nice, since this is the FIRST time in ... oh, FOREVER, that we got to go to church together as a family ... and it will now be a regular occurrence. Yay! (Yeah, yeah, we've gotten to go to church in one vehicle and all that for, say, Stake Conference and stuff ... but this is going to be NORMAL!! ^_^)

And, I got a call Sunday evening ... I get to give a talk. Yup. And I'm the LAST speaker. The one that has to adjust to fill up the available time. .... I've never been the last speaker before. EVER. I would say that THIS is how I know that I've arrived. But, no. It just lets me know that I'm OLD. So, yeah. If you're in the ward ... well, yeah. You'll get to hear me talk.
(And, YES, I've STARTED my talk .... but, oh ... I'm really nervous. As I ALWAYS get when I have to do public speaking as myself. Acting is TOTALLY different. *dies a little inside of nervousness*)

I wish that I had super-really-great-news about my Uncle Mike, who suffered a stroke Valentine's Day morning .... But I really don't have GREAT news. He lost the vision in one eye, has paralysis on one side, isn't talking ... But, hey, on the bright side, he can eat! That's always a good thing! I mean, eating is totally one of the signs of life and health! So, yeah, we've been praying. LOTS. If you want to say a prayer for him, too, I'd be very appreciative.

So, yeah, with the whole FLYlady thing, I've cleaned quite a bit. Hey, our BEDROOM'S pretty clean. And, in this house, that's one of the last bastions for messiness. Because, usually, people (besides the immediate family) don't GO there. But, truly, I was getting really sick of it. (And really? Who's the packrat in this marriage? ME. And I get it honestly. Seriously, it's GENETIC. Not that it's some great excuse ... I'm just telling you what it is, though.
But, hey, as of this morning, it's CLEAN! (I still need to vacuum the house, though.)

At this point, I've cleaned the bathrooms, most of the kitchen, the bedrooms, and parts of the other rooms. (The laundry room is going to be my Waterloo, I'm just telling you in advance.)

I'm caught up on the dishes (for now). I have laundry to fold. I need to cook dinner. And the computer area is a disaster ... but really, I've made a HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE dent. I think my Mom might be pleasantly surprised.

Also, I've been making bread today. I saw, over on SugarDoodle.com, an article about how to make bread every day, using the method in the book "Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day." So, since I am a carb addict (as well as, oh, EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY), Mom and I ordered the books and a couple of 6-qt food storage containers (to store the dough), so we can give it a try.

I mixed up the dough yesterday and made a loaf this afternoon. It's not very sweet ... and, since we have a cool home, it didn't rise very well before cooking. I'm trying another one to cook for dinner. Yes, you heard me. I'm making bread TWICE today!!! Yeah, you don't have to bow down or anything. But I do accept gratuitous praise and gifts of chocolate or Pop-Rocks. Or gift certificates to book stores. :D (Yes, I'm joking. And, no, you really don't have to worship me. ^_^)

So, yeah. I need to make dinner tonight. Mom was going to come up today, but wasn't feeling well. So she'll be up tomorrow. Which the kids are really looking forward to. Since we get to go to McDonald's (or, as they call it, "the Donalds") for lunch ... and they get to play with Mutti and take a nap while I volunteer. Then I come home, make dinner, we go to dance class, come home, eat dinner, and I take off for my Tech-level radio class and Michael had EQ visits. Then I come home and am EXHAUSTED. But, hey, the test is April 7. Then I'm FREE!!!!!!!!!!!! And I won't be staying out so late on Wednesdays. JUST IN TIME FOR GLEE TO START AGAIN!!! ^_^

I've been trying to exercise more. I've done a few days of Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred (Checked it out from the library. LOVE my libraries. SO MUCH). It's kinda intense. Especially since I'm not all that in shape. :( Today, I played it easy and did a little Pilates workout. It's supposed to boost energy. Since I'm not DYING for a nap yet today, I'm going to assume that it worked. (Although a Cherry or Vanilla Coke sounds SOOOO good right now.)
Regardless, doing ANYTHING fitness-wise is a VAST improvement (I'm such a slug usually *sigh*)

Oh, I managed to take the kids to storytime over at the Carnegie Library building today. It's been MONTHS since I last took them there. But they had fun. And it was nice. And, yeah, I checked out a PILE of books. Hey, at least THIS TIME I only checked out stuff for the kids. Since I'm behind in reading books and watching shows from my library stash. And things are getting to be due REALLY SOON. (Watched Snow Cake this afternoon. Not bad! ... Next up, Bright Star, Truly Madly Deeply and Lost in Austen.)

Um .... I think that's really most everything that's been going on ... I think.

Now, wish me luck for writing (and delivering) a good talk! I need it!

Oh, and ... if you recall FOREVER ago, when I posted my favorite contenders for the ELE (Evil League of Evil), you might recall PMS Geisha. I was just going through my subscriptions of YouTube and found this. And I had to share. Because it makes me laugh.