Lent Already?!?

The last time I posted it was about Advent, now it's time for Lent! How in the heck did that happen??
It's not going to slow down anytime soon either. I have Ash Wednesday to plan, a Lenten Bible Study, the regular weekly bible study, the community Lenten services to attend--the first of which our church is hosting,as well as the normal sermons to write, oh, and a baptism coming up (that one gets a hooray!) Trying to plan when confirmation should begin (probably the fall). Hmmmm... I better quit before I get too overwhelmed. I supposed I'd rather be busy than bored though!
We had three days off school this week too, so I'm frantically trying to catch up from that. Snow, and lots of it. Not something we see much of around here and certainly not in that sort of quantity. L loved it. M was nonplussed, though that's fair since all she can do is let it hit her in the face. It was too powdery to build snowmen though, much to L's disappointment.
Can I just say, stream of conscience, that I am so excited to actually have a real, grown-up date planned with my hubby? Wow! When was the last time we did that? Can't even recall. Probably the Indigo Girls concert when I was preggo with M. Not that we could do much conversing there--no, wait there was also the Gaelic Storm concert. Again, not much conversation. So this will be a nice, sit-down dinner where we can talk about things other than the children or work. (At least I hope we still have other things to talk about!)
My work is going good though. I'm hoping we can be funeral free for a while. I don't see any immanent, but you never know. The only thing I wish is that we had some more self-starters in the church. I feel like I'm having to come up with all new ideas and that means it's harder to get people passionate about following through on them. I get a little jealous when I see other churches with people who start their own programs and initiatives. (Like, say, recycling--why in the world don't we do that?!)
But overall, they are good, hard-working people, and I love them. Amen.

tag: crap I'm tired...

I have a tag called "crap I'm tired of" but right now, I just feel like, "Crap, I'm tired!" Baby is waking up at around 2 every night still. What dumbass said that 5-6 hours is sleeping though the night (apparently that's the AAP definition!) Yeah, sure. I had to laugh though. I thought I was being pretty low key about getting her and nursing her and going back to sleep. Turns out, I frequently talk (occasionally swear!) and toss the covers around, completely waking up P--and not having a clue I was doing any of it! I guess I was more asleep than I thought!
Both kids have been sick in the last week, both with fevers and ear infections--though L's hasn't been diagnosed yet, since she just today started to complain about the ear. May try a homeopathic drop I saw before hitting the doctor's office since she can be a bit dramatic sometimes. It may just be that her head is stuffy.
Otherwise, I'm glad that my dad is here for the weekend and next as well, and we might take an evening and drive out to the beach to visit with him and his friends and let L play in the sand.

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Today did not start out well. Our Ugly Cat had to be put to sleep this morning. He had been going down hill quickly the past two or three weeks. He stopped eating well about a week or ten days ago; we tried changing him to soft food and that worked for a couple of days, but finally this morning we found him sprawled on the floor, unable to stand up. I think we knew it was approaching; he was an old kitty--we'd gotten him and his 'brother' from a shelter about 5 years ago and they were at least middle aged for kitties then. But to find him so wretched was difficult. It was particularly hard on P. Shove was really P's cat.(Shove is his real name, but we lovingly called him "the ugly cat." He looked like he'd been put together by committee.) P wouldn't even let me come to the vet with him.

It was the saddest thing I've ever seen to watch P carry his little body, wrapped in a sheet, to the hole he'd already prepared in the back yard, tears streaming. I'm choking up just writing about it. We'll go pick out something special to plant over him this weekend.

L couldn't quite understand when I told her that Shove wouldn't be here when she got home from school. I made sure to keep it simple, but she's still a little young to understand death. I think she's pretty sure that Jesus is coming to pick him up to have a play date.

Shove, you were a wonderful companion. You were as sweet as you were ugly. We will miss you very much.

Since I'm awake... (at 12:45)

I might as well go ahead and type out my frustrations. I was reminded tonight of why I had never wanted to live in an apartment again. It's the neighbors.
About 11:15 I was awakened from a deep sleep by stomping, running, jumping, door slamming, etc. (elephant olympics?!?) in the apt. above. Ooooookaaaay. What's going on up there? Then I hear kid noises. Alright. Kids getting ready for bed. It's a little late for kids to be up, I think, but I understand. It can be a chore. I let it go on for about 10 minutes-that was when it woke up L-that made me a little upset. I mean, things are rattling in the cabinets and I startle every time something goes BANG or THUMP. I went up there, I was polite, I went back downstairs and waited... for well over an hour before I went back up. This time I spoke to the mom, (it was the dad the first time-he uttered exactly three syllables to me, "yeah," and "ok.") who explained that she had her six (six!) kids who had driven from IL with her and her husband, and they'd all slept and were wired and of course she was trying to calm them down... I explained that I too, had recently moved a long way and understood how tough it was, but I also had a child trying to sleep, as was I. She was apologetic. I was nice. I think things are quieter now, but I'm not sure it will last.
Did I mention that I'm fairly sure it's a one-bedroom like our place. Six kids!! (Pretty sure that's against policy, but I'm not a tattletale-yet.)
I think it's been quiet for the last several sentences. Might be time to try to sleep again. Wish me luck.