That's NOT what I meant, honey!

We’ve got stuff to do around here, y’all. Lots of stuff.

Not only is it the week before school starts, and we’re busy with all that entails, like new haircuts, finishing up shopping for clothes, meeting the teachers, school supply drop-off night, and grocery shopping for Fritos & Capri-Suns for lunches,…

but I also have been running around, delivering Thirty-One products and catalogs to hostesses and customers , getting my paperwork finished to kick off my leader training with WeightWatchers, and in general, getting ready to be ‘out of pocket’ for the next three weeks, subbing at the kids’ school.


Oh, and we mustn’t forget:

Re-finishing our kitchen table.

Don’t ask me why my darling husband and I picked now to undertake this massive project. We’ve been meaning to tackle it long before now, but we’ve never gotten around to it. Something about 3 kids, a ‘new-ish’ job, our busy schedules, and, oh… life in general, kept getting in the way of progress.

So, it makes perfect sense, I guess, to wait until the week before school starts to whip out the card table for our family of five to use at dinner.

Great planning on our part...am I right?

And of course, we have to do all of this inside the house right now because it’s so incredibly hot outside. We’ve completely disassembled our front room to use as a temporary workshop. (Well, I can hope it’s temporary.)

We’re working on it in the evenings after the kids head to bed, sanding and staining at a snail’s pace. Meanwhile, it appears that we are eschewing other mundane things like… oh, laundry. And cleaning. And personal hygiene (kidding! I just skipped shaving my legs. Like you've never done that. Whatever.)


Superb timing on our part...am I right?

The kids have become accustomed to walking around the furniture that’s been moved to a new place, and the plastic tarp covering the carpet. We’re officially living in a work zone for the next couple of weeks, and we’re just going to have to get used to it.

What I can’t get used to, though, is telling the kids to hurry up and finish eating their dinner,






“…because Mommy and Daddy have got to GET BUSY!!!”




Regrettable word choice on my part... am I right?

Eat your heart out, Hallmark.

Isn't that the sweetest? A card my 6 year old made for me. She eschews color, as you can see, and goes for a more 'minimalist' look.


And on the inside?









I can't help but feel like there's some subtext at play...

Just push that to the side, kids!

A couple of weeks ago (yeah, yeah, I started this entry that long ago, but never got around to finishing it), on one of the hottest days on record, we did something completely insane. We spent the day at Fiesta Texas.

And by the end of the day, we were limp dishrags. First off, the temperature was well over 100 degrees, and we powered through about 7 hours of rollercoasters, spinnakers, and loop-de-whirls. We were exhausted, overheated and completely BROKE. Been to Six Flags lately? If you haven’t, prepare to empty your wallet because a day at the park is no longer a ‘day at the park’.

Tickets? About $50 apiece, which for a family of 5… well, you do the math. Don’t forget about the $15 parking fee. Add to that snacks (frozen lemonade: $4 per person), any games, and lunch or dinner in the park (a ‘meal deal’ for 4 burgers, fries and drinks… $49.99)… YIKES!

There are definitely ways to cut some costs, which the thrifty (cheap!) Linsons have discovered. First off, we love season passes. Well worth the money spent! We opted to not get them this year, though, as our spring started off a little rocky (I’ve practically blocked it out, but we went through a whole JOB TRANSITION early in the year?? So Six Flags season passes went pretty low on the priority list ;) The kids got free tickets for doing the ‘Read to Succeed’ program at school, so we used those, and had a coupon for ½ price for the other two tickets.

And as for snacks and lunch? Well, we’ve got that down to a science, too.

Don’t blow the whistle on us, but we... GASP!... take in our own food. In a backpack. Oh, yeah… we know it’s not ‘allowed’. Whatevs. I mean, they WILL check the backpack… it’s their job, and they’re usually pretty thorough. You just have to make sure that you choose the line that has the young teenage guy checking the bags. Well, he won’t throw out my Pringles potato crisps or my Nature Valley granola bars. No sirree.



That’s because he never gets past the economy size package of sanitary napkins I always put on top of the packed lunches.



Trust me, he’ll practically throw your bag back into your arms, mumbling, ‘um…have a Six Flags day, ma’am’.