Letting You Know

Stopping by to let my few readers know that I am still alive and kicking. I hope to have a real post up soon but until then, a video of a song that I introduced to the kids this week and they absolutely loved!

Changes

There has been so many changes going on around the house over the last few weeks that I never know where to start. Brady turned 9 a week ago and here he is on his birthday. The school started a new thing this year where parents can come in and eat breakfast or lunch on their child's birthday so I chose to eat breakfast with Brady that morning. Then went straight into work.Saturday morning, we had a football game. Here are the pictures I promised of Brady and Belle on the previouse Saturday, Belle's first game and Brady's second.Have I mentioned Belle's latest distaste for having her picture taken? I threatened today that if I take one picture of her scowl she was going to be grounded for a month.

Then after the game, I picked up a cake and ice cream so we could go to the local bowling alley for Brady's birthday party. Out of 7 invitations, two kids came, so we invited the neighbor's daughter to join us. Despite the low turnout, Brady had a great time.Dad picked Bryce up from band practice on Tuesday and brought him to me at work. Bryce came inside, said "Pepaw's got a flower for you," and sat down. A flower? That was unexpected. So I walked outside to unlock the van and he had brought me this. I've had three different clippings of that plant and every time I tried to start it, Callie and Zeus has ripped it to shreds so this time? Mom sent me more than a clipping. She practically sent me a plant! Now I need to get me a hanging pot in which to plant it.

Also last week, I had to take the kids in to have their eyes checked. Brady could not sit on the couch to watch tv, he was constantly planted four feet in front of it. We found that Bryce has a slight astigmatism but we could get him glasses or wait. I chose to wait since he really hadn't complained about his eyes. Belle has a slight astigmatism as well but needed reading glasses. According to her dr, wearing the reading glasses will ease the strain on her eyes when she's not reading. We'll see what happens. Poor Brady was near-sighted. There was just no way he could go without glasses. He is to wear them when he's not on the playground or playing football.Tomorrow is their first day of school with their new found eye sight. I just hope that it isn't as stressful as Brady fears it will be.

As for me, work is wearing me out. That and not sleeping. I had every intention on putting in another hour and a half tonight, but I sat down in this chair and decided that I would post a few pictures, put up a new blog, put some football pads in a uniform and go to bed. So here in about 10 minutes, that is where I intend on being. Bed. Doesn't that sound wonderful? So with that I'm going to leave you a self portrait Belle took today after getting her glasses. She'll smile for herself but scowl for me...

Stopping By...

I'm pretty sure that my fears of me working would affect my blogging have come true. I really didn't intend for it to, but I have been determined that working was not going to affect my house. For the most part, it hasn't. I've been washing my dishes as soon as supper is finished, washing a load or two of laundry as soon as it comes ready and then folding the laundry as soon as it's done. I have the kids pick up what various things they have throughout the house as I walk through.

Then there's the running. Football practice on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings until 7, strings rehearsals on Monday and Thursday until 4:15, band practice on Tuesday until 4:20 and cheerleading practice until 3:30. By the time I finish with supper, dishes, baths and bedtimes, it's 8:30. Then a couple of nights last week I brought work home with me so that I could get the new program to the point that we can start relying on it. I love the idea that if you were sitting at my desk at work one evening last week, you would see the mouse moving around on the screen as I worked on it from my home computer. I will probably be doing some more work from this week as well.

Also last week Belle came home from school on Friday and crashed soon after. After Hubby made a quick trip the after hours clinic, we got the news. Influenza A. She's got the flu and cannot return to school before Wednesday. They have drugged her up real well with Tamiflu and some serious antibiotics. Since today was a holiday, she'll only be required to miss one day depending on how she feels. She's still complaining about stomachaches today, but her fever has been gone since yesterday morning. Unfortunately, it required her to miss cheering her first football game of the season and I missed Brady playing his first football game. Ever. I am still struggling with that. So for now, this is what I have of that day:Hubby also took a picture of him in action on the field but it's still on his cell phone so I don't have that one to post yet.

We are also in the process of recovering. Weekend before last, Hubby was mowing the yard when he shot a rock across the front. We both thought it hit the siding on the house and went on about our business. He came in a short time later and informed me he had indeed broke something. The back window on my van was shattered. A week and a half later, I had a new, darker window in the back of my van. But our feelings were definitely hurt. Or at least mine were. Not because he broke it, things happen, but because it happened on the second week I went to work. Then this past Thursday, I managed to do some damage to my little toe after I kicked it on the foot of my rocking chair. I hobbled around for two days before it finally scabbed up enough that it didn't hurt every time I took a step. I assume it's not broken since I kicked it a second time not two hours after hurting it and didn't melt into a pool of sobs. That's always a plus.

Now is time for me to crash so that I will be willing to get up in the morning. How was your labor day?

Wow

Last week was my first week as a full time employee in a very. long. time. Technically, when I went to work for Wal-Mart, I was a part time employee pulling full time hours. Seems to be a norm for that place. Anyhoo, when I left, I was down to working part time hours because of school. So it's been almost five years since I worked a full time job and that was only for a few months. And I survived. Actually I did more than survive. I thrived! I picked up on quite a bit of stuff and got my first paycheck on Friday. I'm actually excited! Friday evening, I was gonna cook hot dogs, and have a picnic in the living room with the kids. We went out instead. I was tired, didn't feel too swift and felt that they had earned a night out. We went out for chicken, picked up Race to Witch Mountain and came home to settle down. They enjoyed the movie, and didn't really argue when I said time for bed.

Saturday was a totally different day. Saturday, I felt horrible. I would've love to have spent the entire day sitting in a hot bath, I hurt that bad. Wouldn't you know, that's just not possible. So we went shopping. Mom and Dad had gotten me a gift card for Christmas and I had used it once to buy a pair of jeans. So I figured it was time to buy a couple of new tops that I could wear to work. So we headed north, stopped by Books-A-Million, Petsmart, Lifeway and the mall. Then we headed over to Wal-mart and out to dinner. By the time we were finished, I was spent. We came home, gave the kids baths and I settled down for one. Then Hubby and I both crashed.

This morning, I felt somewhat better. Not 100%, but much better than yesterday. Hubby got up this morning asking me what was the wise idea I had about knocking him around during the night. I had wondered if I had stirred him enough for him to remember it. Hubby had slipped onto his back during the night, and his breathing wasn't exactly a snore but wasn't breathing either. I finally started pushing on him, trying to get him to roll over so that he would sleep better. It took a lot of effort to stir him enough to roll him over but I succeeded! I was also up a while after that, too. He spent the day fussing at me because I interrupted his wonderful sleep that he was having. Of course the fact that he wasn't awake more than 60 seconds was irrelevant!

When we finally got moving this morning, I went to work on the kitchen that I had neglected and Hubby started mowing the yard. I stepped outside to talk to him and he small piece of concrete flying through the air. We both thought it had hit the house because of the sound, but a short time later, Hubby came in and let me know he did indeed break something. The back window on my van was shattered. So for the moment, I have a nice piece of black plastic covering the backside of my van until we get everything situated so that I can get a new window. Fun! I finished mowing the backyard before supper while Hubby took the time to delicately cover the window. This evening, I finished the kitchen, can't count the amount of laundry I've washed, and gave the dogs baths. Now I'm ready to crash and I'd better do it soon, because I've got to work tomorrow!

Decisions, Decisions

This weekend left me with a decision. Friday, I returned home from work and found a message on my answering machine, a message from the doctor's office that I had applied for and interviewed with last week. They had called to offer me the position in their office. That position was part-time and since I had already landed a full time position, I couldn't see taking their part time offer. So I returned the call to let them know what I had found. They called back, not five minutes later, offering me full time. I was floored. After a year of searching, I had two offers on the table. Two good offers that I had to choose from. I am to call the doctors office tomorrow and let them know. Honestly, it's a tough decision. In a doctor's office, I can apply at any other medical office and have an edge because I've done it. At the pest control place, I am setting up their database for their clients. But the pest control place is a family run place. One that I can leave if the kids need me and it's ok. A medical office would be so much harder to do that. So I have decided to stay where I am.

Allow me to tell you about my morning. Hubby is still home because his load will not be ready until morning, so I climbed out of bed trying not to wake him. I failed miserably. I tripped over something at the end of the bed, almost fell backwards and grabbed the closet door to keep from getting hurt. As I reached for the door, I slammed it shut. Yeah. I was graceful this morning. So I mumbled my apologies and headed for the bathroom so that I could shower before work. I flushed the toilet and it went SNAP! Then the handle would jiggle but would not flush. So I got into the shower. After I got out, I figured I'd best reach into the tank and at least flush it. I checked the chain to find that it had ripped out of the valve, lifted the valve and pulled out my hand with this black gunk all over my fingers. I washed my hands and the stuff wasn't coming off! Finally, I made my way to the kitchen for an old toothbrush to scrub the stuff from my hands. The kids were up by this point, eating breakfast and brushing teeth, so I started a load of blue jeans thinking that maybe I'd have a minute to put them in the dryer before I left. For some reason, my brain was thinking that I was bleaching a shower curtain instead of washing the jeans that were clearly sitting in the washer and poured bleach into the dispenser. Crap! So I had to pull out the jeans, run the rinse cycle, and put them back in again sans bleach. I was steady fussing at the kids to come on, you're late, come on you're late, only to open the door and hear the bus coming down the street. So I yelled, "BUS!!!!" Three kids came running and high-tailed it for the end of the driveway. I left the house a short time later and stopped for a drink to take to work at the busiest place in town. I got to work, went to grab my purse to put my keys in it, only to realize that my purse was here, on the desk where I left it last night.

Things improved greatly after that but let me tell ya, when I got to work I was ready to go home, go back to bed and try again tomorrow. Let's hope tomorrow starts better than it did today!

It's Official!

I have a job! A full time job! A friend of a friend works in an office at a local pest control place and told her boss she needed help. Then told them I know computers, have a degree and next thing I know they're saying, "Can you start tomorrow?" How cool is that???

This week I have signed Belle back up for strings and cheerleading, signed Brady up for football, and signed Bryce up to play the drums in the band. Tomorrow, I sign Brady up for violin. This needs to stop already! Why do kids think they need to do everything thrown at them?

Not much else left to mention except that it's been a long day, I've still got dishes to put in the dishwasher and two kids left to shower before I can call it a day. Any exciting news in your neighborhood?

It's Starting Again

It's the time of year that brings us to this:School officially started last Wednesday. So far they like their teachers, have enjoyed their first three days and are looking forward to tomorrow. Also starting is the running. Brady is playing football and his first practice is tomorrow evening. Belle has decided to continue playing the viola and her first after-school practice is tomorrow as well. Bryce has decided he wants to be in band instead of orchestra so Thursday we will be back up to the middle school as he tries out various instruments to decide what it is he wants to do. So the running is officially beginning.

Last weekend Belle started laughing while she was sitting at the table eating. I was standing at the sink washing dishes, again, when she told me to look up. Here's what I saw.Zeus had climbed his way onto the top of my cabinets for a nap. Hubby got the full picture for me since he's a tad bit taller. About a week and a half ago, I had to take Bryce in for a check-up and tetanus shot in order for him to be able to start school. His height is in the 90th percentile compared with other kids his age. Um, duh! Like I already didn't realize that my 11 year old was tall. Over all he is healthy and she helped us with one other task. She told him that he might sleep better if he took his night light out of his room. So we are now on two whole weeks without a night light and the bags under his eyes have lightened up greatly. One less thing to worry about!

One other thing that had me ecstatic last week was that I had a job interview! A real job interview! I went in Thursday afternoon and sat down with the lady that is over the hiring. We discussed what she was looking for, I typed for her and she showed me the software they were using. They are supposed to discuss the candidates this weekend (they had another interview Friday) and then pick a couple that they think are promising to come in and work for a few hours in a working interview. Hopefully I will hear something tomorrow about that.

I have been working over the last couple of weeks, too. Not working outside of the home but doing things around the house. We let our flower bed get out of hand this summer, mainly because we've been busy with everything else, so the last two weeks I have been pulling weeds. And grass. And clover. Now the flower beds in front of the house are cleaned out and I like a six foot section at the end of the house. Then it will be all nice and neat. Yesterday, I prepped some serious squash for freezing. When I finished, I had 9 quart bags of squash ready to store in my freezer. This evening, I mowed our yard while Hubby trimmed. Now I have a nice neat yard as well. If only I could do that to the inside of the house.

I Wish I Had a Good Excuse

Really, I do. But I don't. I don't have one excuse as to my absence over the last week and a half. Laziness? Possibly. Lack of material? Likely. Kids keeping me busy? Definitely. But they do go to bed and I have considered blogging on a couple of different nights but just didn't. So here I am. Trying to remember and catch up all at the same time. It's been almost two weeks now that the kids went to my parents house and I spent a couple of days without them. Thursday night I was on my own and Friday night I was with Hubby. A week ago Saturday was my birthday and to celebrate we picked the kids up then took them to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It was awesome! We loved it! I could watch Hermione hit Harry over the head every. single. day. because it was just that funny.

Fast forward to Monday where I took the kids to a local church for Vacation Bible School. Unfortunately, I missed our church's VBS in June so I had to take them to another church. They had a blast, there was no scaring involved and they certainly learned a lot. I even learned a tidbit. That was part of what kept me so busy, the fact that it ran from 6:30-9pm every night. Then this weekend was just a typical weekend of mowing, kids running around and just being us.

Then we jump to tonight. Tonight was the kids back to school night where they go in and meet their teachers (assuming they don't already know them), learn what is expected of them and get the mounds of paperwork that is sent home for me to fill out. They get their school shirts, play around on inflatable toys, and find out if their friends are in the same class. This year, Brady got to be in the same class as one of his best buddies and the little girl he has a crush on. He got Belle's fourth grade teacher so we know what to expect from her in the coming year. Belle didn't get Bryce's fifth grade teacher but found plenty of her friends in her class again this year. Bryce's class is the one who disturbed me and honestly if there was ever a time for me to consider homeschooling, it would be this year simply because of his class layout. But that isn't possible because I do not have the patience to teach him. The "I don't get it!" whine gets old fast and if you know Bryce, you know he is notorious for whining. What bothers me is that he is in the same class with another student that does not treat him well, to the point that I had a conversation with the principal about one particular incident a couple of years ago, an incident so uncalled for that they made sure he and Bryce didn't cross paths without a teacher present. So imagine my frustration when I walked into school tonight to find that not only was he in the same class with this child, but he was sitting right next to this child. So I had a chat, on back to school night mind you, with his teacher about how this setup was so not going to work. She was clearly stunned to see how much it bothered me, informed me that she didn't know about the situation, would rearrange seating assignments and make sure to keep an eye on things. We'll see what happens, because that's really all we can do at this point.

Another thing going on here is Hubby and I have been having serious discussions about relocating. So serious that we have even brought it up to the kids and that is a huge no-no unless we are almost certain we plan on doing it. Hubby has been driving a truck for the last five years and is really wanting to come home full time, not that I blame him. I would love to have him home full time. There aren't really any good paying jobs around here so in order for him to be home full time we would have to move somewhere where we could both find jobs. I am still currently looking for a job here because we've got some work we need to do to the house and school is a week away from starting. The kids seem to be ok with moving for now. Hopefully they will still be ok with it when the time comes.

Oh and remember the cleaning job that I started a few weeks back while the kids were in Indiana? I am thisclose to finishing my kitchen. Tomorrow, after I sweep and mop I will have a clean kitchen. Cabinets, refrigerators, ceiling fans, windows, doors and walls are all clean. My task after I have finished cleaning each room the way I want it? Wallpaper. The ugly wallpaper in the kitchen is coming down! Until then, at least it's clean. Now that I have caught up, I am headed for sleep.

Random Events Make Up an Excuse for a Post

Things are getting back to normal around here, some of them slowly and others in rapid time. Such as children fighting. And not listening. And getting out of bed 10,000 times even though I told them not to. Can you tell that one is a current issue? No? My kids would never get out of bed after I told them to stay in it.

Hubby has had a strange week this week. Instead of running one long run and one short run this week, he's running three short ones. Two of them sent him right by the house so we got the pleasure of spending a bit of time with him yesterday and again today. Today he was home long enough to trim the yard while I finished mowing, wash his car and have dinner with us. It's been nice to see him much more this week than usual. Almost seems like he has a regular job rather than one that keeps him away so much.

Guess I also should've mentioned that one of my sisters-in-law has sold us a car that they didn't need. It's sitting for now since it needs tags but a car! So I don't have to keep driving back and forth to Tennessee! One that will save money on gas because it has a little bitty four cylinder engine! I'm not excited or anything.

I had a short chat with Janjanmom Monday evening about how she was coming to my town on Tuesday. She wanted to get our kids together for a play date so Belle, Brady and Bryce met Kayla, Erika and Lilly. We met at McDonald's where we had ice cream and the kids went out and played while we had adult conversation. Oh how I love adult conversation! Over an hour and a half later, we loaded up six hot kids and headed home. We had a great time!

As I said previously, today I got up and started to mow. Of course tonight we had a flood when storms blew through so that I will need to mow again tomorrow . I honestly feel that I was on the mower most of the day, no matter how much I know I wasn't. I also finished cleaning one half of my kitchen. I like four full cabinets and four half cabinets, fridge and stove having my kitchen clean. Oh and mopping of course. It will be nice to know that I don't have to do these things for a while now. Or at least the odd stuff like the cabinets. Next I get to start on the living room. Oh and I also mailed off three resumes this morning in the hopes for a job. I'm hoping that these three will break the streak of me sending them and not receiving responses. We'll see.

Tomorrow the kids are off to Mom's for their couple of days at her house. Brady was so excited earlier this week that he was willing to pack today for the occasion. Luckily he didn't. That gives us something to do tomorrow to pass the time. Hubby will be home on Friday evening so tomorrow evening will be my time then Friday evening will be our time. It's nice to fit both times into the same weekend.

Here shortly I will be heading off to bed so that I can watch more CSI. Tomorrow I hope to get some reading done after the kids leave. How has your week gone?

Getting Back to Normal

Last week was awesome! It has been so long since I've had some much time to myself that I couldn't even remember it. Wednesday, I did as I had planned. Nothing. I watched two episodes of Army Wives. I went to lunch and shopping with Mom. I watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix because ohmygoshHarryPotterandtheHalfBloodPrincecomesoutthisweekend!!!! Not that I'm excited or anything. So not excited that I'm considering having a Harry Potter marathon with the kids on Wednesday to get ready to see the movie Saturday. Nope not excited. Thursday I lingered around the house until Hubby got in that evening. I picked him up here in town so he could shower before taking his truck back to where he has to leave it. Then we went out to dinner before walking through the door at 10pm to watch a movie. Friday, I introduced Hubby into the art of doing nothing. He didn't understand it at first. How could we sit there, watch a movie, return them and spend the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing productive? But we did. And he survived.

Saturday Hubby got me on the kick that I was bored. I wanted to do something. Anything. So we went bowling only to realize that neither one of us could bowl worth a flip that day. So we left and drove to the next town. We went to Books-A-Million where I scored a Patricia Cornwell book for $3. We went to Pet Smart to visit with the adoptable kitties only to find they had dogs there as well. I found this beautiful six year old cat that was white with grey. She was spayed, declawed and sixteen pounds! She was huge! She was also very long haired, so long haired that fur was shedding in my hands as I petted her. I wanted her! But Hubby informed me that if I got a cat he got to pick out a dog. I found that to be completely unfair since we already have three dogs and only two cats.

Sunday, the kids got home about 12:30 and we started running. While we were at the mall on Saturday night, we found backpacks at Spencer's for 75% off. We showed the boys pictures of a couple of them and they decided they liked them so we went and got them since quantities were limited. There, they made their selections and we proceeded to the checkout where we expect to be paying $10 each for the bags. We found that not only were they 75% off the original price but an additional 50% off the final price. We got two Pirates of the Caribbean backpacks for $10! We immediately left that town and headed to Tennessee to take Hubby to work. A drive that is normally 2 1/2 hours took an additional 45 minutes. The kids were so exhausted from their week that Belle asked if she could go to bed at 9pm even though the boys weren't out of the shower yet.

Today has been a lot quieter day. I took the kids to the library to borrow new books because I returned theirs last week. We then went to the store and picked out a couple of things for lunch. They're adjusting to being home again and I'm adjusting to being mom again. I'm striving to be a more patient mom. Today I've done better than I have in a very long time. I cleaned today. My sister-in-law had all of the kids clothes washed when she got here so all I had to do is wash what Hubby and I have wore and the clothes the kids wore home. I have wiped down all of the cabinets on one side of my kitchen, inside and out, as well as cleaned my window above my sink. I hope my violets appreciate that. Now I'm off to watch a couple of CSI episodes while I wash one of my last load of clothes. Getting back to normal.

Smorgasboard

This summer thing is trying to kill me! I went to mow last week and the steering went out on my lawnmower. I cannot tell you how disappointing it is to spend forever trimming so that you can mow and be finished only to find that the darn mower is broke and there will be no mowing! All that time trimming wasted!

Now jumping right into my next topic - when I'm writing my posts, in my mind everything makes sense. Usually because I know the background that you need to know or I hold something back for one reason or another. I did that on this post about faith and religion being difficult. While I put them together in one post, I do understand that are two totally different things. One thing I hate about religion is the politics that goes on behind the scenes. Arguments about what is best for the church but what God has in store for the church never seems to be considered. My problem with religion on this particular day was when someone accused me of not allowing my daughter to attend VBS because we are baptists and the church holding the classes was church of Christ. Not only did I have a problem with that statement but I had an even bigger problem with the fact that the statement was made to Belle's friend and not to my face. No I didn't keep her home because of the denomination of the church. I kept her home because of what had happened the week before. Because I knew the friend was planning on declaring her salvation and I couldn't help but wonder if the friend went home and told her parents, grandparents what Belle had told me. Or had she been scared into it. So Belle stayed home and if I had the opportunity to make the decision again, it would not change. Yes the friend is still coming around, but I still have issues with grandmother for not confronting about my choices to my face. Leave the kids out of it.

I went and picked Hubby up from work on Thursday morning and on the way home, he let me know he was wanting to go to Indiana to see his sisters for the holiday weekend. So we went on a road trip across the Ohio River and visited with S and J, and C and her boyfriend M. The kids played with their cousins, went swimming, watched fireworks set off in S and J's neighborhood, played on a make-shift slip-n-slide, fished, and played kickball. I had adult conversation! We went to a party of strangers where the only people we knew were S and J. I can't tell you how hard I laughed watching Hubby and J join in a game of kickball with C's neighbors and our kids! As the weekend wore on, C told us that she wanted the kids to stay up there with her for this week because she had to come this way on her way to Memphis this weekend and could drop the kids off. After some consideration, Hubby and I decided they could stay. So I am sitting in my living room with no kids. And no Hubby. Just. me. Cool.

So what have I been doing with my new found freedom? Cleaning. Hubby didn't go back to his truck until this morning. Last night, I started cleaning out my laundry room and I finished it up this morning. Hubby fixed my lawnmower yesterday so I mowed today as well. I have wiped down cabinets. I cleaned my living room windows and the carport door windows and they are still clean! I didn't know it was possible! I have thrown stuff away! That never happens! So tomorrow, my plans are to veg. I may or may not finish my kitchen. I will read. I will catch up on Army Wives. I will be me. Not mom, not wife, but me. Now? I'm going to sleep. Because I can.

Gone Fishing

Life in this household hasn't slowed down one bit. The kids spent the night with my parents on Friday night, so I had the house to myself for a few hours before Hubby got home. Then he and I spent the night in peace. We went out to dinner, rented Gran Tarino and came home to veg. It was awesome! We picked the kids up on Saturday just after lunch. That evening, I took the kids swimming in the neighbors pool while Hubby burned the big pile of wood in our backyard, on the hottest night of the year of course. Now if we can get the rest of the shingles out of the backyard, my yard will be back to normal again.

Hubby has been dying to do some decent fishing since the beginning of spring. Yesterday, we set out to do just that. He called a buddy of his and we went to his parents house to fish off their dock. Ok, they fished. I read.

Let me start by saying excuse the pictures because I took all of them with a cell phone. I was kicking myself when I got to thinking I really should've brought my camera. Next? I could live off of the deck alone. The picture above was taken of Hubby and the kids fishing off the dock from the deck. I love this setup so much, that I told Hubby we needed to buy the house two doors down that was on the market. Twice as big as what we are living in, with four bedrooms, hot tub, deck, and dock for only $457,000. How could we not buy that house!?!

We didn't get there until almost one, and the kids quickly tired of fishing because they really weren't biting a whole lot. Later that evening, we took them to Dairy Queen for supper and got back about 6pm to fish some more. That's when they started catching fish. Brady caught his first fish ever (after complaining all afternoon that he wasn't good at it) and the only reason he did catch it was because he was too busy talking to Hubby to play with his hook in the water. Bryce and Belle caught quite a few fish between them but Hubby managed to land the best fish of all.That was the only picture of a fish I got all day because it was well after they started catching that I thought to take pictures. Hubby also landed him a snapping turtle, too.

Then the kids started getting tired. And they were quietly fishing off the side.Seconds after I snapped the picture of Brady and Hubby, Brady laid his head on Hubby's shoulder. How I wish I had my camera!! And let me tell ya, it takes a minor miracle for these three to be quiet at the same time and not be sleeping. They finished using their bait and we headed home just before 9.

Today, I recovered. I washed tons of laundry, went to the store and took Hubby to work. The kids are on their way to bed and I am on my way to watch a movie. Tomorrow, we're off to the park.

My Green Thumb

I think this is the fourth year that I have put out a garden during the spring. Each year I have put out squash and the last three springs I have gotten tomato plants that I never planted. May have something to do with the tomatoes that rot on the vine before I remember to pick them. Last year was the first year I planted corn, but we left on vacation before it was ready. Then the entire week we were gone it didn't rain a drop so we didn't get any corn. My squash didn't really produce much last year either. This year is a whole other story. This is my garden this year.My tomatoes are mixed in with my squash, along with my carrots and a couple of canteloupe plants. My sweet peas didn't turn out as well as I would've liked but I have learned to stake them early next time so it wasn't for all for nothing. My squash plants have finally ripened enough that I was able to start harvesting them. This is what I have gotten over the last five days.This does not show the squash that I have frozen, cooked or given away. And there's much more coming! I think it's safe to say, I'm going to have squash for a very, very, very long time!

Why Is Faith and Religion So Difficult?

This is one of those posts that is hard to write. One that I struggle to put into words what is going through my head and one that can't be totally understood without background information. I didn't grow up in church. I grew up knowing that we were supposed to go to church and going occasionally. I vaguely remember attending various churches over the years, one where my parents were members and visiting others. There were plenty of times that I went to bible school in the summer with different people in our area. I went to friends house after school to learn various Bible related things. In high school, I went to church with friends. After Brady was born, we joined a church not far from our home. A little while after, I started wondering, thinking and then doubting. Doubting my salvation. Watching others and wondering how they can be so dedicated to their faiths, that they would do anything. Wishing that I could be that dedicated, that strong in my beliefs instead of doubting. Knowing that even though their hearts were breaking, they were breaking because of a higher power that I didn't know.

Eventually we fell out of going to our church. We had bought this house, leaving us a good drive to get there. Then came a time when money was scarce. There was no extra for anything and we had to cut back everywhere. Including gas to get to church. Lately we have tried attending a few of the churches closer to us, but I just can't seem to get motivated to get up and go. I have every intention on going Saturday night, but when Sunday morning rolls around, I just can't seem to move.

Belle was invited by our neighbor's child to attend vacation bible school with her a couple of weeks ago. After talking to Hubby about it, we eventually told her she could go and I sent her on her way. Later, she called asking to spend the night there and did. The next day, she came to me with questions about things she had "learned" at bible school. Turns out the kids were taught flat out that if "they weren't saved they would burn in the lakes of...." Yes, I understand the truth to that statement and yes, kids need to know that but when did bible school become about scaring the kids into salvation? Bible school I remember from growing up and helping out with was about singing, learning, crafts. There was nothing in there about fear. Then you get into the kids being saved for the wrong reason and then they are in the same boat I am. Doubting. Lucky for us, Belle came to me with her questions and worries.

What I hate is knowing that I am struggling but am trying to lead my children by raising them in the same situation that I grew up in. So I talk when they have questions and hope they understand. Questions they have that I can't answer immediately go to Hubby (the son and grandson of preachers.) I still can't help but feeling like the fraud that I am. I want my kids to be strong in faith and religion, but yet I am not myself. I am uncomfortable talking about it, but yet don't want my kids to be. Wondering if it's too late for me, if I've stalled to long but wanting to prevent that in my children.

Overall, two weeks later I'm still stunned. How could a church be so irresponsible to scare kids instead of teaching them? I know you're not supposed to ask shoulda, coulda, woulda, but what would've happened if Belle hadn't come to one of us? Now is time for us to decide what our next move is. For us and our family.

Surprises

Yesterday seemed to be a day of surprises. The mother of a friend of Bryce called me Monday afternoon to see if she could set up a play date for our boys. All of her normal childcare hadn't worked out and I figured it was going to be something great for Bryce to do. Something besides whine. The friend came in bearing games to play for the Wii and they set out to conquer them. Brady was sitting on the floor next to them on his knees when I noticed that something just looked different. I couldn't explain it at first. Just different. Then I thought he just looked taller. So I called him over to the door frame where I measure them and had him stand up tall. He was 1/16" short of having grown a full inch over the course of the last. three. weeks. I knew something was different!

I went ahead and measured Bryce and Belle as well and found that Belle is well over 4'10" now. Bryce is 5'2" which means he is now officially taller than I am, at 11 years old. He is not aware of that information as I have not felt the need to share it with him. I'm going to relish in the fact that he thinks that I am still a tad bit taller than him.

We were up this morning with the sun as a storm moved through and stirred the rest of the house that wasn't already up. Bryce's friend's mother was either supposed to get him between 7:30 and 7:45 or her dad would be getting him between 8:30 and 8:45. He was up and dressed by the time I got out of bed at 7. Grandpa showed up and left me with three very wore out children. We took a walk this evening in the miserable heatwave that has gripped us. We came home, the kids showered and are now in bed for the night for much needed sleep. I am not far behind them, but not before I wind down first.

I Swear, I'm Trying!

When I started this blog, my intentions were to write about things going on in the family while working on my writing technique. It seems more and more that it is becoming a place for me to air my thoughts and complaints instead and that isn't what I want. I have to stop and force myself to think because days like today? I immediately remember the fighting that started within 15 minutes of breakfast. The arguing. The moaning and groaning. But with a little effort I can go back and remember how Brady decided to sneak off to the bathroom and write all over his face, how Belle cleaned up the bathroom by wiping down the sink, straightening shoes (that should've been put away) and folding wet towels to put on the back of the toilet for tomorrow (that I went back and hung up) and how I taught Bryce to cook his first frozen pizza, a skill that he will need for many years to come. I have to stop and think about how I noticed today one of Brady's eyes was darker than the other, Belle's hair is getting lighter from the summer sun, and how much taller Bryce has already gotten.

Then I think about other things that have been going on. Some things that I can't share and others that strike me as boring to write about (or rather scaring off what few readers I have). I think about issues that I consider blogging about but don't for the fear that I will come off as griping and complaining again so I put them aside, such as an experience Belle had last week at a local VBS (that story to come in a later post). Then I'm at a loss as to what to write about. I mean our days are basically the same day in and out. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some arguing, fighting, sassing and playing thrown in at various points. Then baths and bedtime only to start over again tomorrow. Add a 16-month old to the mix on some days. Things can get crazy but run of the mill crazy.

So I am asking for help. An topics you want to hear my thoughts on? Any questions you've wondered but didn't ask? Anything you want to know about me that you'd like me to possibly share? Ask away. I could use the topic.

Helpers

You know where ever there is something that moves, no matter what the size, the kids are right there waiting and willing to help. This is how they helped this weekend.
They had a blast!

There's Still a Big Hole in My Backyard

We started digging this huge hole in our backyard last summer for a pool that we had got. Unfortunately, it got too hot to dig, then the ground was too frozen and spring rolled around and then it was too wet. Hubby's step-dad knew we were trying to get this set up and on his way up to Indiana this week, stopped by and left us this. Hubby came in for a couple of hours yesterday and couldn't wait to get on it to try it out. Notice he's even still in uniform! As soon as it started up, his eyes glazed over and you saw that "kid with a new toy" look. Maybe this time next week the hole in our backyard will be level enough to make way for the rest of it!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Brady decided this weekend that he was ready for the surfer dude hair to be cut. I was so disappointed. I will be the first to admit he was beyond the need for a cut, but I didn't want the buzzed look again.He had eyes! Who knew?

Recharged!

I am sitting here trying to reflect on what I have shared and haven't shared as of late. The kids are enjoying their summer vacation. Thursday, Mom gave me a call and Brady answered the phone. After a quick hello, his next words were "CanwespendthenightonThursdayandFridaynight?" I swear there was no breaks in that sentence! We got up Thursday, went after Hubby, rented some movies for me and Hubby to watch, and Brady had his class party that had been canceled the week before. As soon as the party was over, I loaded them up (they had already packed) and took off to drop them off for two nights of child-free quiet.

Thursday night, we returned home, and Hubby and I showed how exhausted we were. We rented six movies, watched one and then crashed. We sacked out for the night by 11pm. Friday morning, we slept in, got up and went about our day. We ended up driving up north to the mall where I picked up a pair of $36 jeans for $13! Hubby got a few fishing lures and I got some bubble bath from Bath and Body works. I picked up two $9.50 bottles for $5! I was excited! We came back, watched four movies, played a little basketball and went to bed.

Saturday morning, I picked up the kids, brought them home, and ran to the grocery because I didn't shop on Friday. The kids played on the slip'n'slide all afternoon (Belle had a friend over) and we burned some of the wood in the backyard so the kids enjoyed toasting marshmallows before bed. Sunday, Hubby went back to his truck and is headed for New York again, and the kids and I came home to finish our day.

Now Belle and Brady just came in from playing in the water, Bryce is still outside in it. Little Man just woke up from a much needed nap after spending an hour upset before finally falling asleep. Seems he had a belly ache and was very upset over the whole deal when it finally subsided for him to sleep. Almost three hours later, he's up and running and doing great!

This weekend was great. I needed the recharge with the kids gone. Out of the six movies we rented, two I didn't care for a whole lot, one I haven't seen, and two were ok. Taken was a great movie though. That was the only one I would recommend out of the ones we rented. Now the kids have all moved inside so it's time for me to put my computer aside. Maybe tomorrow will start out easier.

The "No" Parent

Each family has a parent that is known as the "no" parent, I think. The parent that no matter what you ask, the answer is always no. I guess now that I have been raising my kids for the last 12 years (almost), I cannot honestly remember which of my parents that we went to first, the parent that was most likely to say yes. According to Belle, I have become the no parent and in some ways I have. I often find myself saying,

"No, you can't ride your bike around the block by yourself."

"No, you can't do that because they're doing it."

"No, you can't ride a four-wheeler with another 10-year old even if you go slow and are both wearing helmets."

What I'm not finishing up with is more information.

"No, you can't ride your bike around the block because there's a registered sex offender that lives down the street."

"No, you can't do that because they're doing it because their mother needs to be slapped for letting them do it."

"No, you can't ride the four-wheeler because it's a matter of time before her sixteen year old brother runs into her with the other one and she gets hurt."

Regardless of my reasoning for not letting them do things, Hubby feels that I'm too limiting, too over-bearing, too strict because he was allowed to much more than I was growing up. He also feels that the kids are going to rebel hard against me because I don't allow them to do everything they want to. He had a three-wheeler when he was their age. He ran the neighborhood because there was kids everywhere. I'm not saying they can't ride an atv, but with a trusted adult, not another child. I wouldn't mind having one myself. I had one in high school and I used to walk the streets with my neighbor. But times are different. There wasn't a constant stream of news where some adult assaulted/kidnapped some kid for various reasons. Hubby shot his sister with a b.b. gun growing up so am I supposed to line Belle up and just let the boys have at it because he did?

Exactly. Nothing is black or white and I am not going to be responsible for putting them in the position that allowed them to get hurt. I will stand my ground about the bike riding. I will stand my ground about the four wheeler and I will stand my ground about things kids are allowed to do today to get them out of their parents hair. I can't protect them from everything, that I know, but I'm not about to turn a blind eye to a situation and let them play with fire just because they want to do it. My feelings are that I didn't rebel that badly against my parents when I was growing up because of what I wasn't allowed to do and that maybe because I wasn't allowed to do more, what I did do wasn't that bad. Does that make sense?

My question is where is that parenting handbook that I've heard so much about? The one people say they've heard could be out there but they've never seen. Am I really too overprotective of my children or am I looking at this realistically?

More Bursts of Energy

Friday morning, I got out of bed running. I grabbed a shower, put the kids on the bus, stopped by my neighbors to leave her Little Man's carseat, and headed for Tennessee to pick up Hubby. After we returned home, I checked my email and the various things I usually check on a daily basis including the obituaries in the local paper. I was shocked to find a lady that I used to work with at Wal-mart listed in the paper. I had just thought about her earlier in the week, how I hadn't seen her at the store lately, but I knew that she had cut back on her hours by a day at Halloween and she was also a garden center employee. I just didn't seem to make it back there much. Turns out, she had been diagnosed with a brain tumor/cancer in December and they didn't give her much time. Her services were yesterday. I'm still reeling from the news.

By the time the kids came off the bus that afternoon, Hubby had painted the fascia boards on the front of the house and was working on our front door. When we bought this house, it had this hideous black door on the front and we couldn't figure out why for the life of us. Well it turns out the door was originally red and they decided to paint black over it. It is now white. I mowed the a neighbor's yard our front yard. The kids came off the bus with report cards for the year. Belle and Brady both had straight A's for the nine weeks (and the year I think), and Bryce missed straight A's by two points. Now I have a fourth, fifth and sixth grader for this fall. It just doesn't seem right! Brady started the year out with trampoline burn (evidence with his fall picture) and came home Friday afternoon with gym floor burn on the same eye. A friend had accidentally tripped him and sent him sailing. It looks worse today than it did the day he came home with it.

Saturday, Hubby painted the shutters, washed the siding on the house and knocked some of the mortar off the bricks from the chimney. I went through and weeded my garden (huge deal...I seldom do that!), worked on cleaning off the carport some and picked up the mortar and broken bricks that we couldn't use. The kids swam in our neighbors pool, ran around the yard and did their usual things. Saturday night, Belle had the neighbor's little girl spend the night and Hubby and I spent a lot of time chatting with Little Man's mom and dad. It was after 11 before Bryce and Brady went to bed and after two before I got up and told the girls to give it up.

Today has not been much calmer. I got up and fixed muffins for breakfast, started washing linens for the beds, cleaned off the carport and took Hubby back to his truck. Hubby and I picked up a slip n slide for the kids yesterday and they broke it out this afternoon and had some fun. Tonight, the boys are "camping" in Belle's bedroom. They were so excited that they all went to bed without being told! Of course, I had to tell each of them a few times to hush and sleep already. Now I am waiting on the washer and dryer, gonna get a shower here shortly and try to read a bit before heading to bed. That is if I don't crash before I make it to bed! How has everyone's weekend been?

The Itching Could Drive You Insane!

My sunburn has hit the next stage. Peeling. And itching. And peeling. And itching. I kid you not when I say the itching could literally drive you crazy. I feel like I spent all day long itching and trying to pull the dead skin away so it will stop. So I've been trying to keep busy. I hate to say it but since putting the roof on the house, I've been lazy for the most part. Except the day that I got sunburned. Honestly, I just haven't felt good. In fact, last week Hubby informed me that he wanted me to go to bed early, get up and take the kids to school then go right back to bed because I sounded so bad. I didn't argue. Last Friday morning, I drove Bryce to school for a field trip, came home and put Belle and Brady on the bus and not 15 minutes later I was out cold on the couch. Of course, I had some help the night before not being able to sleep. Friday night, Hubby was home, brought me Nyquil caplets and instructed me to take them. And to sleep. And the next morning when he got out of bed? He told me to go back to sleep. And I did. Words cannot describe how wonderful it was to have him home, looking out for me because last week? I was tired of looking out for me. I just wanted to crash and not have to worry. About. Anything.

Because of the way last weekend worked out, there really wasn't any time to clean up the yard from where we had worked on the roof. I had bricks from the chimney in my flower bed, boards from the doghouse and rotten boards from the roof in the yard. Tuesday, my neighbor came by to let me know his buddy needed his trailer back. The trailer that has our shingles on it because we haven't made it to the dump yet. The trailer that was in the driveway loaded up with most of the shingles from the front of the house that neighbor decided could hold more, moved into the backyard and proceeded to load down with half of the shingles from the back side of the house. Unfortunately, he hooked to the trailer and the trailer did not move. Surprise, surprise. It wasn't surprising either that he got stuck in the wet yard since it had been raining the night before. So he called a buddy to pull him out and the buddy got stuck. They got him out and called another buddy who also got stuck. They managed to get him out and eventually got my neighbor out of my backyard but not without yard damage.

Yesterday, I decided it was high time that I tried to accomplish something. It was the first time that I had felt up to doing anything other than the usual laundry, dishes, kid stuff. I also knew that Hubby has so much stuff that he feels he has to do when he comes in that I wanted him to come home and find the front yard clean. So I went to work pulling nails out of the boards so that I could move them to the backyard for burning. Eventually, I moved about half the boards under my carpet where I was working so that the yard was empty. Then I picked up the vinyl that was still in the yard, moved the metal to the backyard so that I could eventually pile it up and get it ready for recycling, and set the doghouse up again the front of the house because I couldn't get the pieces apart to put it away. When I finished, my front yard was cleaned up and ready to be mowed. Until it rained last night. And today. Today, I went back out and worked on more nails. My pile is now down to less than half of what it was. I have washed laundry, swept and vacuumed, washed dishes, and babysat Little Man from 2:30 until 9pm. I even wiped out both of my refrigerators. I accomplished stuff! And I still have energy to spare!

Tomorrow is the last day of school before the kids start summer vacation. They are so ready for this break and after tomorrow I will be the parent of a sixth grader. That is so. not. right. I am going to get Hubby in the morning and then see what the day brings. Now I'm going to watch more Ghost Whisperer before going to bed.

Flowers, Flowers and More Flowers

The kids have four more days of school for this year so I figured that I had best put up a blog because when they get out of school, there will be no telling what my blogging habits will be.

Last week, I think it was Wednesday but I can't guarantee it, my neighbor and her husband decided it was time to drain their pool and get it ready to open for the summer. So they borrowed our water hoses, and eventually had water coming out of three water hoses and a vacuum hose. Thursday morning, my neighbor called to ask me a question about cleaning out the pool because now that the water was out of it, she was up to her ankles in algae, literally. So I called Dad because it had been years since I had been involved in the startup of a pool, and relayed to her that she needed to vacuum out the rest of the algae and water, scrub the sides and bottom and then start filling it back up again. Sounds a lot easier than it actually was. Her hubby had to work that morning so I went over and started scrubbing the sides of the pool as she vacuumed the algae out of the bottom with a Shopvac. She started at 7 am, I got in around 9:30 and we didn't finish until about 2pm, after stopping for a bite to eat. What we didn't realize was how bad the sun actually was. Both of us were in swimsuits and when we stopped for the day, both of us were burnt. My back and shoulders are literally fried!

Which brings me to today because the rest of the week has been me trying not to move this way and not to move that way but can't lay down that way and "No, don't touch me there!" Today, the sunburn is better across my lower back but my shoulders and upper back are still pretty bad. So I tried to accomplish a little more than I have the past few days. I have washed laundry, dishes, swept the kitchen and read another part of Harry Potter (he had to go on hiatus for a bit). Then I took pictures of my flowers to show my few readers. I downloaded them and went to reduce their sizes when I found what I thought was a picture on my memory card that I know I didn't take. Upon further investigation, I found that it was actually a video that Brady had taken when I didn't realize he had my camera.

Not much to it, I know, but I love how he had to just wiggle it around like it had wings there in the middle. I have no idea what it was that had my attention on tv, but I had Little Man on my hip, which meant I was probably watching GAC trying to keep him happy. This was definitely before the pool cleaning, because today is the first day I've held him on my hip like that (instead of turned and facing out) since I was in it. On to my flowers.

When I was growing up, I never dreamed that I would be into flowers as much as I am because Mom was always trading flowers with my aunt and cousin. If they had something Mom wanted, she ended up with a piece of the entire plant and vice versa. Now? I have two crepe myrtles (and have been offered more), a weeping willow tree, a magnolia tree, a chicken and hens plant, five or six different annuals from the kids for mothers day, six african violets, a "mother-in-law's tongue", calla lilies (which are about to bloom), gladiolas, and a Christmas cactus that has been putting out leaves this year like there is no tomorrow. Pretty good considering I was beginning to wonder if I had killed it. This is a violet that bloomed last year and was still going strong until Callie turned it upside down in the sink, but it's finally coming back out. This one is one Mom brought me from a friend that the kids turned upside down in the sink and I thought we had lost it too but she rallied and came back as good as she was.
This one was started from one of Mom's violets and I was wondering if it was ever going to bloom. This is another cut from one of Mom's but finally opened up this week after I impatiently waited the last two or three weeks for the teeny buds to open.I have one more violet that is just budding out now and should be opening in the next couple of weeks. I think it is another purple with white. Then I have one more that Mom brought me, another cutting that has turned into three plants. I have to separate it so that it will finally grow big enough to bloom. Right now it is just putting out teeny new leaves and tangling itself up. But my excitement comes from the fact that I have had that first flower since I went to work for Wal-Mart in 2005 and it didn't bloom until last year. Now I have five violets blooming! They actually look like they're supposed to!

Oh, and my garden is coming out nicely. I didn't get as many carrots and I would've liked but I should have squash coming out my ears pretty soon. Brady will be so excited! Now that I have talked about my newly green thumb, I'm going to give it up for the night and try to sleep. Hopefully, there will be a new topic present itself tomorrow.

ShortyMom. Wife. Mother. Roofing Assistant.

I cannot tell you how busy this house has been over the last week and a half. I don't think I stopped moving until yesterday. To start things off, I'll cover the last week and a half. The kids school is conveniently located near a nursery, so every year for Mother's Day, they trot over to get gifts for "someone" the week before. Thursday afternoon, I was treated with these array of flowers.Some of them are kinda puny looking because I planted a handful into the ground and the rest into my pot. The flowers in the pot thrived while the flowers in the ground wilted so I moved them yesterday.

Thursday night, my neighbor gave me a call to let me know just why Little Man has been so fussy as of late. Turns out he was cutting a 1 year molar and she had no idea! In all fairness, it's been so long since mine have been that little that I had completely forgotten they get one year molars. After she mentioned it, the whole week suddenly made a whole lot of sense. I babysat him on Friday for a bit before Dad picked him up early, then not long after the kids got off the bus, I ran to Tennessee to get Hubby so that he could start his "work"ation. That evening, we did absolutely nothing. We came home, watched a little tv, sent the kids to bed and crashed after watching the weather. Rain was in the forecast so it didn't look like we were going to be able to get much done on Saturday.

Saturday turned out better than we expected. I think we did get a little rain that morning but as soon as it had moved past us on the radar, Hubby was outside on the roof to start tearing down our chimney. By the time we went to bed on Saturday night, I had a big hole in my roof covered by a flimsy tarp. Sunday morning, we awoke to find that Callie had knocked a glass of water over on my desk and spilled water into my keyboard. Totally my fault for not pushing the keyboard up and/or putting away the glass but the keyboard was fried! Later, Hubby went back to work cleaning out the rest of the bricks that he need to and I went to work, mowing the front yard. Yes, I know. I mowed on Mother's Day, but it needed to be done and Hubby was on the roof. I got a card from the kids in addition to their flowers and slept in that morning which is always welcome. Sunday afternoon, I climbed onto the roof for the first time. And I parked my butt at the top of it and did. Not. Move. I told Hubby I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get up there and help him after all. I crab-walked my way back down to the edge and held onto his hand as I stepped onto the ladder and crawled my way back down.

Monday, we went to work as soon as the kids were on the bus. The fascia boards that are directly behind the gutters were rotten and needed to be replaced. Hubby went to work pulling them off and I helped him put them back up as soon as he was ready. In honor of the occasion, he pulled my dad's tool belt out of the truck we had borrowed and set it up for me to wear.I got my own tool belt and my own hammer! I got to hammer nails! When Hubby was finished, he climbed into the attic to support a couple of boards that had been around the chimney. While he was up there, he called me up there to adjust a board he was using and couldn't get to. Then on my way down, he needed another board and I was to cut it. He told me I didn't have to adjust anything, just to cut a certain 2x4 at the end and send it up. So I set up my board on the saw and cut it to send it up.I used that saw and didn't cut myself! Then he climbed on to the roof to start pulling off the doghouse that we had decided we hated and was coming down. I got up and helped him pull shingles off that section of the roof because we had to expose the doghouse in order to knock the support out from behind it. I did not get anywhere near the edge of the roof. I was ok as long as I was in the middle and not on my feet. By Monday evening, the shingles were off of the roof from the doghouse to the end and I watched from the ground as Hubby knocked the front of the structure loose from the roof and then tip it over onto the ground. By then, it was time for the kids to be in bed so we covered the exposed area with plastic and went to bed a short time later.

Tuesday, Hubby and I climbed back up as soon as the bus ran and was pulling more shingles off. Severe weather was supposed to be moving in and we had to get as much done as we could. Not long after we started, our neighbor (Little Man's dad) came up to help up clear off the old shingles. That afternoon, Hubby's uncle showed up just after we cleared the last shingle. He replaced boards that needed replacing or filled in while I went about pulling nails out of the boards. By that afternoon, I would get off the ladder by myself and ease down to the edge of the roof while pulling up nails. At bedtime, we had the tar paper rolled out and the top covered in preparation for the rain. I also had a nasty sunburn. This picture did not do my arm justice. My neck and forehead were just as bad. By the time I went to bed, I was miserable.

Wednesday morning, I was still without a keyboard. I was twittering from my cell phone and anything else that I sent to anyone was copy and pasted or typed by using the computer's on screen keyboard. Hubby, his uncle, our neighbor and later my dad raced to get the front of the house shingled before more rain moved in that evening. Since I was not needed on the roof, I washed clothes, mowed our backyard, neighbors backyard and the other yard that we usually mow. By the time the guys quit, our front part of our roof was completely shingled.

Thursday, we were delayed doing anything because rain had moved in the night before. Finally it burned off and the five of us climbed up again to start removing shingles from the backside of the house. By the time we got the roof ready for tar paper, I had pulled 99.95% of nails that was left behind in the roof and put them in this bucket. A one gallon bucket almost 3/4 of the way full.The guys replaced more boards that needed replacing and finally got the tar paper down just before time for the kids to go to bed.

Friday, Hubby and his uncle put the shingles back on the back side of the house. Neighbor and Dad had to return to work so they were on their own. I spent the day inside trying to bring the house back under control. Here's what it looks like now with new shingles and without the doghouse and chimney. I am very proud of what we managed to accomplish last week. What I hated is the way we had to do it. We were on the roof from 7am until after 7pm most nights. For the most part, we didn't see a whole lot of the kids who took advantage of the chance to come inside and watch all the tv they wanted. Then, because we had to reach certain points to have the roof ready for the night, the kids ended up going to bed anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half after I wanted them to. Hubby and I would go to bed at like 9:30-10pm, only for me to be so tired that I couldn't get to sleep until 1-2am. Then I would have to get up at 6 to get the kids ready for school and start the day again. Hubby was great on Thursday, allowing me to go back to sleep for an hour and putting the kids on the bus. Since it was rainy that morning, there wasn't a whole lot we could do to the roof and I had only been getting 4 or 5 hours of sleep, so he told me go back to sleep. And then I could only sleep for an hour because my body refused to sleep more. I hate that.

Friday afternoon, we told the kids that if they would help us pick the shingles up out of the yard that there may be a monetary reward involved. At first, things were going great but after a while they started to wear down. After supper, Hubby started helping us pick the rest up after he had finished with the roof and the kids started asking for ice cream. So I told them, as soon as we had the last bit up (and there really wasn't all that much) I would take them inside and fix them ice cream. Hubby decided since they had did some hard work, we would take them and the neighbor's little girl to Dairy Queen. So we did.

The neighbor's daughter spent the night, and Saturday morning we got up and prepared to take them fishing to help reward them for all their hard work. We stopped at one of the few places we usually fish only to find out just how much rain we've gotten over the last few weeks. The place has a pier over the water to fish from, and in order to get to it, you had to wade through the flood waters. So we fished from the banks. Or Hubby and the kids fished from the banks. I took a book and spent most of my time pulling tangled lines from trees and brush. I hated that I forgot my camera, again, because I saw a crane fly through and watched as two geese flew not 25 feet from where I was sitting. They caught two brim before we moved on to the next task. Then we took the kids to a local miniature golfing place, and to Kentucky Dam. We came home where I fixed pancakes for supper. The kids response? "Why are we having pancakes for supper?" To which I answered, "Why not?" What better thing could I do after not being able to be there for them like as much as I would've like the week before than to take them fishing and golfing and then bring them home and fill their bellies with sugary goodness? They didn't complain.

We spent yesterday recuperating and trying to get things ready for Hubby to go back to his truck. He has to be in New York tomorrow morning (technically he's already there) so he went through and got his stuff together and we drove him to Tennessee. An hour later, he was calling me to let me me know he was leaving and that he was on his way home. That's right, his route brought him home for supper before starting his long haul and it as of right now will bring him back by the house Wednesday. It's nice that his first week back will give us a chance to see him in the middle of week.

Now we are finally up to today. Today was uneventful. I can tell I carried a couple of things back to Lowes that we didn't need and got a refund. I took my library books back since they were due today and I finally finished my last one last night. Then I borrowed two more. I came home and got the house ready so that I could babysit Little Man this afternoon. Dad came and got him right after supper. I have cleaned my kitchen, washed more laundry than I can count and had a normal day with the kids. Today I'm glad for uneventful. Maybe tomorrow can be uneventful too.

Oh. And the cold that I just got over a few weeks back that left me positively miserable? Showed it's ugly head again around a week ago. So not only was I on a roof most of the week, I was hoarse, honking and coughing on the roof. Fun times and it's only improved a slight bit. My voice is stronger but I'm still coughing a lot and my nose is trying to finish a marathon I think. My sunburn? Peeling of course so if you see me out and about, I don't have some contagious dermatological rash that I can share with you. It's good old fashion sunburn. How has everyone else's week gone?

Who Says Babysitting is Easy?

I was to report to our local courthouse by 9am for jury duty. I was there a few minutes early, as was most of the other prospective jurors, and had to go through the metal detectors in order to get into the courtroom. I had nothing in my pockets, had my wedding rings and anniversary band on, sat my purse down so the officer could glance through the mountains of receipts stored in it, and walked through the detector. And the darn thing went off! The wand set nothing else off so I can only assume that it was the fasteners on my slacks or something in my shoes. Talk about cringing! I was only there for 45 minutes as it was orientation. They handed us our schedule for the month so it starts. Next week will bring something totally different.

Yesterday, a storm blew threw about 4:30am. I awoke to hear a clap of thunder, the kind of thunder that seems to roll on forever. And it felt like forever. Well, Sophie and Gracie don't like storms (neither do the kids for that matter), and they were scratching at the laundry room door, trying to get out. I fussed at them to hush, ended up squirting them with a water bottle to get them away from the door and to lay back down, but by then I was up. Then, I babysat Little Man all day. He and I had a good morning playing, napping and then we joined Bryce for lunch at school. Little Man was mesmerized and couldn't take it all in fast enough. It was chicken nugget day so we enjoyed our lunch and our time with Bryce before I brought Little Man back home. He played a bit more before crashing for another 45 minutes. His mom picked him up a short time later, after the kids had made it home from school and they were playing outside some. We had a late dinner and they went off to bed around 8. Overall, a typical day where I did wash a few loads of clothes but didn't get a single dish washed.

This morning, Little Man was here just after 7. He was still sleepy and grouchy which made for a tough morning for him. He didn't want me to leave the room unless he was with me. He didn't want me to put him on the floor to play. I carried him around while I made him a couple of scrambled eggs for breakfast and then brought him to the living room to eat them. He was more than willing to stand on the floor while eating. Then I changed him out of his pjs and we went off to Wal-Mart where he was a perfect angel. He talked the entire time and not once did he cry. Then I brought him home and he bawled because he had eaten the last bite of donut. So I picked him up in my lap and 10 minutes later, he was fast asleep for the next hour and a half. Dad picked him up a little bit ago so I have picked up my living room, cleaned off my desk again, and loaded the dishwasher so that I could have dishes to cook with tonight. Now I'm watching last weeks Grey's Anatomy online so I will be all caught up.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to babysit again, we'll see how that works out, then I am off to Tennessee to pick up Hubby. Then he's off for the next week while he re-shingles our roof. Please remember us next week. I'm going to have to remember to breathe since it will take a couple of days for us to adjust to him being home more than a couple of days. Don't get me wrong, I love my husband with all of my heart, but right now we are more accustomed to living apart during the week than together so it is an adjustment when he's on vacation. Hopefully next week will not be that hard. For now I'm going to finish watching my show, start my dishwasher and put a blanket in the dryer so I can relax.

I've Been Summonsed

Is summonsed even a word? According to blogger it is so I guess I will have to go with it. I received a letter in the mail at the end of March, beginning of April informing me that I was to report for jury duty. My day to appear? Tomorrow. Fun fun.

Tonight? I'm avoiding the inevitable. Going to bed. I'm not going to fall asleep easily so I'm playing around. I have given all three dogs baths. They are definitely happy. Since they had baths, I had to wash out my bath tub (because there's no way I'm getting in it until I have) and then grab my own shower to get the wet dog smell off of me. I have towels in the washer (that just screamed at me, ready for the dryer), all of the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. The kids are finally asleep.

Last week, I met Janjanmom at the local library and while I was there, I had to pick up a couple of books. I had been meaning to run by there lately but I just never felt like driving over to that side of town knowing that I have like three or four books waiting on me to read right here at home. One book is in the middle of a series so I'm stalling on that book. Two other books are just hard starting books. Not capturing my attention fast enough to keep me reading even though I've started them both like 3 times. The last book? The Shack. I had mentioned to Hubby a few weeks ago that I had read about The Shack on few other blogs and that some raved over it while others weren't to impressed with it. So he bought it while he was stuck out on the road one week. He loved it. Me? My feelings towards my faith and spiritual well-being have left me out of being able to rave over it. I find myself asking more questions, not necessarily a bad thing, but until things are a little clearer for me I can't seem to concentrate on it. I've made it halfway through and it is now sitting in my car where I had taken it on our last road trip. And didn't touch it. So I left this trip to the library with 24 Hours by Greg Iles and Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell. Postmortem is the first book of the series I mentioned earlier so I had to get started. Only I read the Greg Iles book first which the movie Trapped was actually based off of. I'm hoping that when I turn these books back in that I will remember to look back on my list of books that I haven't read and find one that I would like to. Upon reading over the list again, I find some that I wasn't interested in reading then but wouldn't mind doing so now so we'll see.

As I continue rambling, Belle is doing much better. She returned to school today where she heard the phrase, "We were afraid you had swine flu!" more than once. Tomorrow evening, I have to attend a meeting about next years 6th grade field trip that Bryce will be going on.

As I finish up this mess of rambling, I'd like to ask that you remember a dear friend of mine and her family. Her ex-mother-in-law's body was found this morning after she had fallen and hit her head in her home. She has two boys that are taking it very, very hard so please remember them if you get a chance. They could sure use it.