Oh my gosh, was this ever one of those days where you don't seem to actually be able to accomplish a task! It seriously took me all day just to unload and load the dishwasher. I'm hoping to feel more productive tomorrow.

Our morning consisted of mailing a few letters, going to the bank, and going to the library. At the library, we picked up another Pippi Longstocking book for Accalia and a stack of Curious George books for Cole. Ella was content to draw with chalk and talk to the other children nearby.

In the afternoon, we had the hose out, and Cole and Ella had a blast completely soaking themselves. This evening Mercedes and Annie were over, and everyone played around in the kiddie pool. I think it would have been much more pleasant, though, if the two girls had not been playing over here together. Mercedes told me that they had a fight and that they fight a lot but that they were friends right now. They weren't really getting along tonight, though. I was outside with them for part of the time but came inside when Cory was close to coming home. It was getting to the point where someone was constantly coming to the back door to tell on the other, so I finally asked them to stop telling on each other - that I had no plans to punish one or the other for their transgression - but that I'd be more than happy to sit with them and talk about what they might do to get along better. They thought that sounded good, but it didn't happen tonight. We'll have to do that tomorrow if both are over and the squabbling continues.

Before they were over, though, the kids and I went to Goodwill to drop off a donation. Then, of course, we had to look around. Accalia picked out a skein of yarn (she's determined to learn how to knit so that means I'm going to have to figure it out, too). Cole picked out a package of Mighty Beanz (they sell them for 50 cents) and a puzzle. I found a pair of khaki pants for Cole (for chruch and other dressy purposes) with the tags still on for less than $2. I even picked up a few books for me - some that were even on my Amazon wish list. If anyone ever looks at my wish list, they'd probably be overwhelmed by the length of it. Sure, there are things on there that I definitely want to get, but I also use it to dump books/cds/etc. that I may be interested in checking out later on and want a place to find them.

Poor Cory is getting hit hard with work right now. The other counselor at the prison has to be up in Huron this week and possibly next week to assist with disaster services because of the flooding and damage from the storms at the beginning of the month. So that means Cory will be flying solo there. His contract work with the local behavioral health center is winding down a bit, but his work with Counseling Associates - the private practice he does with the counselor who was my doula with Ella - is really picking up. The nice thing about that is it's bringing in a few hundred more dollars each week than we previously had and will hopefully help us pay down our debts more quickly. I think he's also genuinely excited about the counseling he gets to do there compared with at the other places.

I have some emails I should answer before bed, but I'm not sure if that will happen.