Condiment Post (It's a Catch-Up/Ketchup post ... Yeah, it's a sucky joke)

So, I last posted a real post at the beginning of the month.

I don't really have a huge excuse for not posting something real since.

So, let's figure out what all I've been up to since the beginning of the month ...

• I've finally gotten over that sinus/allergy/creeping crud. It's really nice to be able to breathe out my nose and not have to use a bazillion tissues all the time.
• Bubbles is talking a bit more. She said "hot dog" (echoing Bucket) with very good pronunciation yesterday. She's still pretty awesome with helping with housework. Loves to sing along with Frozen. Can point to most of her body parts. Will fetch me diapers and wipes for her.
• Bruise is very much into video games.We've completed MOST of his Wolf badge requirements. My goal (and his) is to get his Wolf by summer, so we have summer to work on his arrow points and Conservation badge.
• Bucket is enjoying the sunnier weather. She and a neighbor girl will play most every day. She's really enjoying Activity days at church.
• Michael's been busy, busy working on projects. And general EQ duties. Tomorrow, he'll be out for the evening, visiting some families/members of the ward with a member of the Stake Presidency. They do this to check on these families/individuals and to see if there are any needs that the ward can help meet. I can handle being on my own, with the kids, for an evening. 
• I should be cleaning the house more ... but I'm ... not as motivated this second as I should be. Today, my goals are to finish washing/drying laundry, fold some of it, read the magazines my mom let me borrow before she comes up tomorrow, clean up the kitchen, do dishes, sweep, maybe grab a bunch of plastic grocery bags and fold them neatly ... make dinner, get a shower sometime, clean up my desk and the counters ... the list goes on. It always does. And I also should vacuum. I really, really should vacuum.
• I should also clean the car.

Okay, and what what's-already-happened stuff:

• Freyja-cat's been having ... issues. Peeing-on-laundry-type issues. Time to break out the kitty-Prozac again.
• We had a Ward Social at the beginning of the month. The building was also scheduled for a funeral (HUGE turnout) and a Pinewood Derby. None of which showed on the general calendar. So, if you weren't in the ward hosting the event, you couldn't see that the building was being used for anything else. Yeah ... they're working on fixing that. It was ... interesting.
  Our Ward Social was not very well-attended. We had a handful of people. And it was pretty sad. We had also signed up to feed two sets of (sister) missionaries. Well, they got food, but I felt pretty bad about the whole thing.
• General Conference was at the beginning of the month, that first weekend. We used our Chromecast to stream Conference from the computer to our TV. It was great. I had my tablet open to the Twitterfeed for #ldsconf while I took notes (on a paper tablet). Good talks. I need to read them again.
• We also ordered tamales from one of the kids' school's fundraisers. The pamphlet said that we could pick them up between Noon-4PM. When we went about 12:30 to get ours, they were out of one kind already ... I was upset (but I saved it for the car. No crying in front of the school personnel if I can help it). Michael ended up heading back, in the middle of a conference talk, to get our order. And they were really good. I just had wished that things were more organized. Since we had from 11-1 free ... and our order wasn't ready until about 1:30. I know. It's stupid. But, well, I can be nuts about trying to get things organized ... and, then, when my plans don't work ... ugh.
• We also had Bruise and Bucket's school conferences. They're both doing well. They need to speak more Spanish. Bruise can work on his handwriting ... but, overall, they're doing well. They're on track for meeting all benchmarks by the end of the year. So that's good.
• We also had the school book fair. Bruise REALLY wanted one book ... that, naturally, was sold out the first day. So he ended up with a Lemony Snickett mystery instead (I helped with that). He also went back and got himself an invisible ink/UV light pen. Bucket got a book about sharks and some scented highlighters. We got Bubbles the newest Pigeon (Mo Willems) book. And I got a great reference (with TONS of pictures) about the elements.
• My birthday has come and gone. I'm 33 now ... when I remember it. Michael and the kids got me a new iPod, like I requested (my old one was having issues). Now I can have my own singalongs in the car again. ^_^ My mom gave me money towards a new bed (Michael's back's been hurting a lot). Aunt J got me socks and relaxing stuff (bath gel, sleep mask) and a book. Dad and L got me a new popcorn machine ... it even melts the butter as the kernels pop! Mom and Dad C got me a movie theater gift card (Michael and I need to see the new Captain America movie) ... and Cousin Tiff was hilarious. She did say, "Now, when you open your present, remember that you have a sense of humor, okay?", which worried me a little. She got me a little plaque for me to hang at my desk that says "Please don't clean up my mess. You'll confuse me and screw up my world." AND a bath gel dispenser shaped like a nose -- when you squeeze it, bath gel will "drip" out of the nose. So she and I cracked up and started making snot jokes. ... Yeah, we're so related.
• The kids had the next day off from school, so we went to Mom and C's hotel and went swimming. Bruise accidentally took one of the hotel towels home. We returned it after we washed it.
• Last week, I spent a day at the school volunteering. It was picture day. There were supposed to be two of us volunteering ... I was the only one who showed up. Another gal (past Student Teacher at the school) came to help for a few hours. But we got through it. And, since I had a couple hours left before the kids were done (and I was going to pick them up) and one of their teachers was having a shoulder spur act up, I helped out in Bucket's class for a couple hours.
  Nothing huge. I just filed papers and folded little booklets for a project. Yeah, maybe I would do well enough as a classified-type school employee (Though we all know my heart belongs to the library).
  I hadn't eaten lunch. Or breakfast. So I did get woozy around 2:30. But, after I sat down for a bit, I was okay again. Stupid body of mine. I was too busy for eating before that.
• We got to visit with T2, her husband, and daughter. They're having a baby boy in the fall.
  We're all so glad that they've moved back to the Pacific Northwest.
• The mall had their kids' club. We also went to the opening weekend of the farmers' market. 
• For Easter, we went to church and then to Mom and Dad's house. Egg hunt, dinner, watching movies. food fun.
  At one point, we were talking around the table (the kids had gone off to watch "The Pirate Fairy"), talking about Ch's sweet potato pie (YUM). Dad was talking about how he doesn't like ginger or nutmeg. And Michael made a joke about it being for nuts or Megs.
  "I don't know any Megs, really ... Well, Meg Ryan," Dad mused, "but she doesn't know me."
  At this, I couldn't help bursting out laughing and stating, "I love my family." Because I do. I married into a great family. I only wish that everyone would be so lucky.
  At another point, Grandma had a friend come over. She wandered into the dining room, where we were still at the table, and started rubbing Ch's neck -- he's not a touchy-type person, so you could SEE him tense up.
  Grandma followed her friend in. "Oh, you know her", she asked Ch.
  "Yeah!" he declared."Don't you?"
  As soon as Grandma's friend left the room, I started to ask Ch who the lady was, since I'd never met her ... and Grandma had pointed out to her who WE all were, but never told us her name or anything.
  "I have NO IDEA who she was." Ch proclaimed, before I could ask.
  Which sent me into giggles again.
  Like I said, I have a great family.
• The kids' school has an online Spanish program ... I ordered a headset so that, when I get signed up for it, I can start learning Spanish better. Since I really am quite pants at it. I took German in high school and college ... it's not very similar at all. :S
• Yesterday and Monday were quiet-ish days. Some cleaning ... cooking dinner ... reading a bit. Nothing huge.

So, yeah ... that's most of what's going on in my life. Watching Veronica Mars with Michael in the evenings. Playing some games on my tablet. Reading some books. Loading music on my iPod. Trying to make some good playlists ... small things like that.

So, my goals are to finish washing and drying laundry, vacuum the front rooms, go through the magazines from Mom, clean the kitchen, do the dishes, fold some laundry, get a shower. Yeah, wildly exciting plans, for sure. But they're my plans ... so it'll work.