Busy! Busy! Busy! (Monday)

*said in my best Professor Hinkle voice (Frosty the Snowman)*

I got up bright and early on Monday and piddled around here....ran the well, checked the pool, (not that I could do anything anyways) checked my email, lurked online....everything but cleaned. Then Carrie and I got dressed and headed out the door at 8:45am. We were only going to go to the pool store, dollar store and Wal-Mart. Well we did and we got home at 1pm!!!! GRRRRR! I hate how shopping eats up so much time (not to mention money lol)

So we lugged everything in while getting drenched. (started pouring while we were in Wal-Mart) I unpacked the groceries to the tune of...."We're hungry! All we had was a bowl/cup of cereal while you were gone". So I threw them all a cup of yogurt from the dollar store (4/$1! can't beat that) and a disposable spoon and quieted them down for 5 mins. Everyone cleaned up the livingroom and kitchen floor and table. Granted it should have been done by 1pm already and without me having to tell them...but it got done so that's good. They all then grabbed their bathingsuits and we went out in the sprinkles. Next thing I know I have 2 more friends over for swimming...so 15 kids in all. It's neat because the pool doesn't even look full! It supposedly holds as much water as my parents' 21ft round pool but it definitely is more spacious (MY kids make my mom's pool look full LOL)

I broke out all my new purchases and started to work. I put a new eyeball cover on the discharge hose...so now the water REALLY comes out hard...can you say MASSAGE!?! We fastened the flanges for the ladder down and I secured the ladder in...so no more moving ladder! :o) I tore down the filter and pump and put it back together again.

While putting the filter back together I kept hearing....E's hungry....E's hungry. My kids would have just grabbed a handful of cereal or a piece of lunchmeat. But I totally understood E's need for food...I just couldn't get to it at that second. I started the corn on cob and got the grill going, went back to the pump, Tom turned off the corn, I was still working on the pump. Finally it got all together and I threw on burgers. One of my kids tried to say I never make meals like this for them...burgers, cantelope slices and corn on the cob and mac salad both leftover from my family's cookout on Sunday. YEAH RIGHT!! I admit we tend to do more throw together and eat meals lately....but I cook like that...sometimes!

The kids went back into the pool....it's looking pretty cloudy but I can't really do anything until I have the pump up and running again. Tom helped me get it under the deck and I hooked it up. After all the kids were out I tried running it...TAAAADAAAAA! We have filtering from the skimmer like a REAL pool!!!! I called my dad because I kept thinking about how much earth the box said I should put in...it seemed like a LOT. (1 coffee can=1/2 lb of earth...so 8 cans!) I know my dad measures his earth by a coffee can and it's the same pump so I asked him how much he adds......5 cans! So that's what I did...and it's working like a charm!!!!!!!!! Wooohooooo! *doing a happy dance*

I threw some chlorine tablets into the skimmer and some clarifier into the water. All night I had to deny myself from going up on the deck and trying to peer into the water. Like I'd be able to see what it looked like in the night anyways. OK...I tried to peek...but only once! The mosquitos are TERRIBLE out there!!! I don't think I've ever seen them this bad. Stop for one second and you're covered. They finally drove me in the house. Of course I probably should be dealing with the mob in the house anyways.

While at Wal-Mart we decided to celebrate Eileen's birthday a little early, (it's on Friday) seeing as we already had a crowd at the house. We bought a clearance birthday cake and had them write Happy Birthday Bean on it. You should have seen the look the decorator gave me when I asked her to write it. Oh well she's not the first one to think I'm crazy. We won't mention the look and OMG!!! a mom who's kid tripped me in the sock aisle (getting Tom his birthday present ROFL!) gave me after I told her it was OK...I had 10 kids and was used to having kids under my feet. Oops...a little side trip there...sorry.

ANYWAYS....we had cake and ice cream at 10pm last night. I fully intended to get the kids to bed IMMEDIATELY after they were done but the phone rang....it was my sister (J and E's mom). We ended up talking for a while and it was 11:30 again (swore the night before they wouldn't stay up this late again) before I got them upstairs. When I finally got so I could sit and relax (and write in my blog) Michelle was online and having problems with our connection. I promptly fell asleep with Olivia on the couch waiting for her to finish up. Olivia and I finally moved into my bed at 1am. I thought Tom was in there but he wasn't....hmmmm...hope he's not sleeping outside in a chair, getting all his bloodsucked out by mosquitos. Of course being the nice wife that I am...wondered and then rolled over and fell back to sleep.