Hello!

Did you know that school starts up again in ten days?
Not that I am counting down or anything.
I *adore* my darling, obedient, prodigies.
I will miss them when they are the hell outta here.

We have been suffering from a little cabin fever over here.
Temperatures (and temperaments) have been soaring.
The kids are tired of the pool.
And playing outside.
I am tired of them eating everything that is not nailed down, or marked with "High in Fiber!", and then leaving their dirty dishes everywhere.
They are like locusts.
I swear it.

We need a schedule again.
Or should I say, *I* need a schedule again.
One that is void of children for a six hour stretch.

I really love them.
I do.
Just not in such concentrated form.

And in other news, Sam put me on vitamins.

THESE.
I felt drained all the time.
I refuse to accept the fact that this might simply be because I am almost 40, and I REALLY AM just drained all the time.
There are seven giant horse pills in the package, and I am supposed to take all of them.

The first day, I took them while driving over to the gym.
I gagged in the van.
Eyes watering and everything.
One of the pills burned going down.

But I will tell you what!
I felt awesome that whole day!
Honestly.
I made it through the workout, lifting more weight than I ever have.
Usually when I do this particular workout, I drag the rest of the day. It is like all the energy I had allotted for the whole day, was expended in that one hour of working out.
This time, I wasn't wiped out.
And when the 3pm to 5pm daily slump came around, I had energy.
It was weird.
And like an answer to my infrequent prayers.

I dug a little deeper, and discovered that two of the seven pills in that Molotov Cocktail are caffeine. (Energy! Enhancers!)
Granted, it is labeled as natural caffeine.
(guarana seed extract, black tea extract, ginger root extract, etc.)
But internets, isn't marijuana also "natural?"

I successfully kicked my Mountain Dew habit to the curb four years ago.
And now, GNC is putting me back on it.
Kinda.
I have mixed feelings.
I cut out one of the Energy Enhancing pills, and I still feel good.
I just wonder about long(er) term effects.
Thoughts?

And in an attempt to document family life at the Wadley casa, one of our pet ducks was killed this past week.

Yeah, we have two ducks.
(Well, had.)
It's kind of a long story.
This summer, the dang things have been "free range" ducks.
We have found them over at the neighbors houses.
It is embarrassing.
It is no secret that I am not a huge animal lover.
I don't want your dog crap on my lawn.

I was mortified, that our dumb ducks were on the prowl.
Pooping on other peoples lawns.
We caged them in the back yard, but they would get out.

Anyway, this past week, it was pretty evident, that one of the neighbors had enough of the ducks.
One of the ducks was clearly poisoned with anti-freeze.
Seizures and everything.
It was horrible.
My kids were devastated.

The thing that makes me the angriest, is that we never once received a phone call or complaint about the ducks.
It was a chicken-shit way to deal with an animal.
And cruel.
We didn't even get a chance to try to fix the (apparent) issue.

We are pretty sure we know who it was.
I am having a hard time not feeling negative about it.
Also, I didn't really know what to do with a big fat duck carcass.
Not like you can just flush it...
Brendan buried it in the garden.
Note to Sam:
Next year, don't run the tiller deep.

Lastly, I have also been busy working on scrapbooking projects.
I will be sharing some of that stuff in a couple of days.
And also doing another giveaway, so stay tuned for that one.