Potpourri

It seems like I have a lot to say today, so here it goes.

First of all, I am finally loving the weather. We have hit double digits for the first time this year that I can remember. The sun is shining, the snow is melting and I sent Dallin to school without snow pants!!

Now, the question becomes, do I pack away the snow suits, hats mitts and scarves or am I jinxing it? My entry way is clogged with all of the winter stuff and some of the spring stuff creeping in. Just the kids have 4 different pairs of shoes/boots depending on activity and destination. Add to that the snow suits, rain coats, hoodies and such. and I am being over run with stuff. Dallin has been begging to start ridding his bike now that the sidewalks are clear but the last thing I want to do is add helmets and roller blades and soccer balls to the mix.

Suggestions are welcome.

Next, the long weekend. We are traveling to southern Alberta this weekend and we are not excited about it. Kenyon and I have come to the conclusion that traveling 7 hours away for a long weekend is just not worth it. You may be asking yourselves why are they going then? We are biting the bullet due to family pressure from our kids as well as from everyone else.

The most annoying thing about it is My Husbands Family! (sorry Harris') I love them but they don't listen. We have told them repeatedly that we don't like to do big family functions(by big family functions I mean all the Aunts, Uncles, Cousins 2nd and 3rd) when we are only there for 1 or 2 days.

I understand why they want to have these parties 1) We're awesome everyone wants to spend time with us. 2)They all live within an hour of each other. It just doesn't occur to anyone that not everyone has to come to everything. And 3) They have this fantasy about our kids playing together with the kids of Kenyon's cousins in peace and harmony. A Harris family Utopia. What they don't realize is that my kids don't know those kids. My kids just spent the day before traveling for 7-8hrs and sleeping in a strange place. And in the case of Megan she is painfully shy and doesn't like large groups of people. So to make a long story short we make a huge effort for the soul purpose of having a bad time.

We have asked them to keep thing low key and casual and they agree. Then one thing is added, and then another family wants to come, and then we get the phone call "We haven't seen you for a year can't you just stop by for an hour?" And by the end of the weekend we have visited 6 different houses, 3different towns and about 50 people.

The worst part is that since my parents moved to the same town as some of Kenyon's Aunts and Uncles, they don't respect the time we want to spend with my family. Last year we had set aside a day for my family. We let everyone know ahead of time but still by about 1:00 they started to phone my parents house and kept phoning until Kenyon caved and went to go visit them. Kenyon and I were so angry and frustrated that we really haven't wanted to go back. I also get the distinct impression that I am being blamed for the lack of visits since last summer.

Now it's already started, plans have already been changed and visits already added.

Once again suggestions are welcome.

Last but not least it's looking like I will be going back to work shortly. I have accepted the reality that if I want to shop like I want to shop, I need to make some moola. Looking forward to my first paycheck. I should probably call my old boss and see if there is even a spot for me.