Fifteen Minutes of Delusion

Last night I took the girls to Wal-Mart to do back to school shopping. We had fun picking out everything on their lists. Alyssa's list of supplies was very thorough, while Anna's seemed to be missing a few things (like binders and notebooks) which Anna took surprisingly hard. She was ready to cancel the entire trip because she didn't feel she could trust the list Wal-Mart supplied. I finally convinced her to calm down by threatening to eliminate the ice cream from my shopping list. Let me just say I love the self check outs at Wal-Mart. Alyssa is an expert. Here's a little clip of her in action.

Too bad - it's already sold. We did the ebay thing and sold our car today. We didn't get quite what we wanted, but we did get what we needed. Hey, that would make a good song...

The thermometer said this today: And when I moved it into the sun, it said this:

So it would seem I've been going about this whole getting-the-kids-to-work thing all wrong. What usually happens on the weekend is we tell Anna we're going to work, and she has a fit, and to take the sting out of working all day I tell it will be a good mix of working and playing and we'll get a reward. As a result, she whines and complains during the work, overdoes the play, and still expects the reward. Yesterday, I decided to "under promise and over deliver" by telling her it was work all day, maybe a break if she was lucky, no play, no reward, just shape up. Of course, she had her fit, but then as we launched into the chores an amazing thing happened - she helped, and didn't whine. And when I gave her a break, she was grateful . And then when we put together a fruit salad for dinner as a reward, she was ecstatic. And the work that got done? Tons. Messy coat closet replaced with organized game closet. Bathroom super cleaned Living area cleaned Three loads ...

So I finally got tired of Anna telling me every little fact and idea about Guinea Pigs she found on the internet, and suggested she start a blog. That way, she can bother you with every little fact and idea she finds. We had a lot of fun trying to come up with names for the blog. Some runners up include: Princess Persnickety A Note from Anna Howdy from Texas Bookok Head (Alyssa's favorite insult) Anna's Ocean Inlet The winner, of course, is Guinea Pigs and More . Check it out. Note: Correct Spelling Optional

In so many ways, it's good to be home. It's also a lot of work. Monday was lots of cleaning and unpacking and replacing the food in the fridge that spoiled while we were gone. Actually, we were pretty good and used up most of our perishables before we left, but replacing them still required a trip to the store. There were no bad surprises waiting for us when we got home, which is always a concern of mine. Yesterday we went to the Lyme Dr. We couldn't find anyone to watch the girls, so we took them with us. We've told them that they will need to be tested for Lyme eventually, and shocker of all Anna asked if she could just get it over with. So they took blood from three of us for tests, and I think Alyssa was feeling left out, because she keeps asking when she gets to have her "shot." Next time, baby cakes. I hope she's still excited when the needle comes out. Also, today Kara and Anna went to pick up the rat cage. No, we are not getting a rat. Kara told A...

OK, so here are some pictures from our grand return adventure. (As soon as Blogger stops being all goofy on me....) Anna managed to stay plugged in and still enjoy the view on our drive to Santa Fe. At the Jackalope Store, you can find metal horses for the same price as a used car, Lots o' rocks Flowers And the pots to put them in. This barbecue grill just oozes irony. At lunch we played at a park with a steam engine And a zip line toy. Then we went to a living history museum, where the girls made their own tortillas. Yum! There was dinner at the Guadalupe Cafe. We called our friends in North Carolina and asked for recommendations. Then it was back to the park with the spinning clover things. Not the best idea right after dinner, I'm afraid.