You try and get these six kids to hold still for a picture.

Dinosaur trees.

About a month ago we got a notice from the electric company letting us know that they were shutting off our power the next day--all day--for some routine maintenance.

No A.C. in the middle of August.

Admittedly, I am a bit of a martyr when it comes to running my air conditioning. Every time it kicks on "ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching" runs through my head as I envision hundred dollar bills being siphoned out of my bank account. So sometimes I suffer a bit.

But this was a bit much. I didn't want to use Wal-Mart's air conditioning all day. And the public pool seemed a bit too, umm, public for my comfort.

So we headed into the mountains to visit all of those big trees we kept hearing about. Allan's boss pointed out that "no two-year-old kid wants to look at big trees all day."

Wanna bet? What if you call them dinosaur trees? Ha!

Ugh.

Blog burnout (blurgout).

The excuse of having just moved to another state is a little weak at this point. I only have two more boxes to unpack.--boxes of office supplies and old college papers. The excuse of being a mother to a toddler is also lame. I know plenty of people with far more children who manage to do a better job. And we all know my toddler is relatively self-sufficient--as long as I'm within shouting distance ("Buuuuuffy!!! Where's my Dumbo?!?!").

So here are my excuses. Organized for maximum effect.

1) I have two times more house to clean than before. And there's nothing that makes me crankier or makes my skin crawl more than a dirty--or even slightly messy--house. Two bathtubs. A yard. A playroom. A bigger refrigerator. More mirrors. Separate garbage and recycling. Alright...I'm beginning to reach. You get my point.

2) Allan gets home by six. Every night. Not eight o'clock, not nine, not ten. But six o'clock. I cannot tell you the joy this brings my happy little heart. Joy=Less time spent on the internet.

3) Whenever I am on the computer, I'm obessing and tinkering with our "real world" budget. Trying to figure out how much it costs to live in the real world--let alone such a money-sucking real world as California--takes time. Good thing I'm pretty good at obsessing over money. I'm especially good at reporting the cost per serving of the food I'm putting on the table ("Allan, are your sure you want another nectarine? That's fifty cents we could be putting towards a down-payment on a house...").

4) It's hot here. Really, really, really hot. While girlfriends across the country are starting to plan their transition from strappy sandals to kicky knee-high boots, I'm wondering if the permanent deodorant crust on my tee-shirts is noticeable to people standing arm's length away from me. I may have to buy new summer clothes--in September. Sitting around a heat-generating computer is among the last things I'm in the mood for when it's 104 degrees outside.

5) I have a new friend. She's cute. She has a pool. And a Thomas train table. Mom in pool. Jack at train table. Fantastic way to spend a 104 degree afternoon.

6) I spend a lot of time on the phone. Nothing about this move has been smooth. Nothing. For example, it took thirty-two minutes of talk time to figure out why Charter is charging us $57 a month for internet instead the agreed-upon $20 a month. Similar conversations have been had about every other day. No joke.

7) I have to prepare a weekly sunday school lesson for some pretty tough critics: twelve- and thirteen-year olds.

8) I'm at Costco. All the time.

9) There is no number nine.

10) I'm just out of ideas. There is nothing in my blogging-brain.

Thank you, John McCain.

Love her, love her, love her. Love her.

She's feisty, she's energetic, she's talented, and there's no question as to her conservatism. This was an absolutely brilliant move on the part of the McCain campaign, and I'm finally excited to cast my vote come November.

UPDATE: Nevermind. My feelings have changed.