=sum(M3:Y0)

Um, I know that doesn't make any sense... I was going for an Excel equation that had a 'me' and a 'you' in it... or at least maybe sortof looked like it might.

Why? Because I have a long lost, and recently rekindled, love affair with spreadsheets. I love them. I love making them. I love updating them, color coding them, complicating them.... I would marry them! And since my days working in an accounting department have long been over and my funds to purchase my own copy of Microsoft Excel have diminished (and my attempts to beg borrow and steal copies, real and fake, have failed) I have missed my spreadsheets so so much. And then I was told of a program I could download that would replace Microsoft Office. Oh My! And it was free! And it works. I can even save the files in MS formats and open old docs and spreadsheets from the good ole days... It's like I'm whole again! (it's OpenOffice.com by the way)

Why am I gushing on and on about spreadsheets? Because I love them. And because now I have a spreadsheet for everything I've been meaning to keep up on lately... Bills, budgets, projects, plans, etc. And I think I'm actually being more productive. To me a spreadsheet is like a list having an orgasm! And I love love love me some lists... so spreadsheets are kinda like my wildest dreams come true. (I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one out there with these feelings.)

So I have a Project spreadsheet. And one of the pages, or sheets, is for photo projects. And my largest project is my kids photo albums. I haven't kept up n them in a very long time. I have an album for each, four pictures for each month of their lives. Logan's are all in black and white and Nola's are all sepia tones. I've been working for about three days on getting caught up. And today I finished! Seventeen months worth of photos, four per month (roughly) per kid... I ended up with 136 pictures selected, edited and uploaded... and yes, there was a check mark to be made for the completion of each of these steps on my spreadsheet. Of course I won't be ordering them now because I have no online deals for Shutterfly at the moment. I tend to get 50 free print emails from time to time, so I will wait for one of those if I can stand it. But here are some of them for you to see....
























Oh! And on a side note (seeing the pull-ups in the picture above reminded me), Logan is now being potty trained and is wearing big boy underwear! Or little boy superhero underwear. It's only been about a week but we've already had a few accident free days!

I'm Not Dead...

I guess I missed May. So now I'm down to less than one blog a month... oh so sad.

I guess I just don't think that much exciting stuff has happened lately. But I'm not dead.

Maybe tomorrow I'll try and think really hard and come up with something interesting or entertaining to blog about... Or at the very least I'll post some pics of the kids...

April Showers

Wow, I'm really rolling here at one blog post a month! Go me!

So it rained here in the Lou... for a month! It's raining now and probably won't stop until June. Somehow, despite the rain, we managed to put up a new swing set, mow the grass for the first time this year, plant the front flower bed, survive an allergy/asthma attack (nola), gain new employment (me), and slosh through Easter.

Swing set plus all day basking in the pollen equals steroids and nebulizer treatments for the four year old, not to mention a new routine of checking pollen counts, administering Benedryl, lots of changing clothes and after-play showers. Spring has sprung! The only good thing about all this rain is that it washes away the pollen. Maybe it will rain until the flora has stopped blooming and we will be free to roam the yard again without fear of the evil yellow stuff.


Logan helping Uncle Scoot build the Swing Set.



Waiting for a Swing Set to be built is tough....



Unless you end up in a chair with your partner in crime and just giggle till you pee your pants!



So, I have a job. Yep. Me. I'm helping a friend do landscaping. Only two days a week, and only if those two days work for everyone involved... but it's been really fun so far. I get to start and finish a project in the yard, not MY yard, but A yard. Around here outside projects get delayed for potty breaks, settlements of disputes, getting balls from over the fence, getting snacks, drinks, toys, etc... you get it - kids get in the way of yard work. So not only do I get a break from the monkeys but I'm getting to work outside, which I love. And if that wasn't enough for me to do it... I'm actually getting paid!

And today is Easter. We woke up to bunny baskets and then quickly got dressed in our wonderfully handmade by Cayce Easter clothes... (not me, she totally didn't make me an Easter dress this year, but I'm crossing my fingers for next year).



The kids and I went to my mom's for more baskets and an indoor egg hunt (rain!) and some honey baked ham. Yum.



Now we're home and waiting for yet another round of storms. **Oh! By the way... we were SO SO SO close to all the Airport Damaging Tornadoes! And luckily we live in a small pocket that didn't get any severe weather, although the adjoining towns to our west, north, and north east got hit really hard - ie. the airport.**

That is all for April so far. Not much left of this month so no one hold their breath that I will be posting again until May Flowers....

March On...

So March was lame. Nothing much happened. We did go to Indiana to visit Grandpa and entertain the idea of moving to Effingham, IL. Kirk was offered a job there and we went to check it out on the way back from IN. Ummm, that would be a resounding Hells to the No! No offense Effingham, but I'm just not a country girl. And it's called f-ing Effingham. For those of you who've driven through the middle of America a time or two, it's the Illinois town with the big, giant cross on the side of the highway. That's the main attraction I think. And possibly the only attraction.

Anyway... that's about the extent of my news from March. (I've lost 15 pounds, but that's not very exciting.)

While visiting Grandpa, the kids received Easter stuff, including a gingerbread bunny house. Here are some pictures of that and Alyssa, the over-sized dog that my in-laws own...

Somewhat on Track

This is another post about my fat. I know - fascinating, right?

I lost 12 pounds... then accidentally gained back around five. Now I'm back to my 12 lost. I started on January 1st and aimed to loose a pound a week. After consulting my calendar I realize it's been nine weeks. Around four weeks in I decided that I was doing so well that I would up my goal to two pounds a week so I could be closer to my goal by summer...

According to my original plan I'm rocken and rollin... 3 pounds ahead.
According to my revised plan I'm kinda sucken it... 6 pounds behind.

So I think I will consider myself somewhat on track and just keep on keepin on.

I have one more pound to loose before I drop down to the next 'decade' in pounds. By that I mean counting by tens... so if I weighed in the 330's and was about to drop into the 320's... you know, the decades of weight.... anyway... one pound to go till I move down another decade.... and I'm not gonna tell you what that decade is...

So yep - that is all.