SHORTY MOM

From Hubs

2012-02-14T19:04:00.001-06:00

From my darling Hubby on Valentine's Day! He definitely surprised me from far away!

Decided

2012-02-02T16:54:00.001-06:00

Well the decision has been made and we have finally determined where we are going to end up in the near future.

Indiana.

Hubs and I went over and over our options and then went over them again. His current company has a location in Southern Indiana that he could transfer to or he could take a job with one of the last companies he worked for that would allow him to be home most nights, but again it would require us to move to Indiana. So he is transferring to the Indiana hub. He reports to work there on Monday and we will be following him during the summer so the kids can finish their school year here.

So that means we are working on the house. So far I have been peeling some serious wallpaper and just for the record? Whoever hung the wallpaper in my house should be drug out into the street and shot.

Just saying.

While the laundry room wallpaper is coming off and leaving behind a ~~nice~~ maroon paint behind (entirely too dark for the size of the room especially since it has no windows), the kitchen wallpaper was applied on top of wallpaper. The wallpaper that is behind it was literally glued to the wallboard so that stuff is not coming off without redoing the sheetrock and that is NOT going to happen. So we will be wallpapering the kitchen again, albeit with a different paper that can be painted to give the room a nice effect.

Whew. I'm tired just thinking about it.

I have also been looking at houses in the hopes that we will be able to sell our house quickly. Naive? Yes, but I definitely hope for it. I have found one house that Hubs and I both agree we LIKE. It has land, located in good school districts and is a style that we both agree on. So rare! Unfortunately, one drawback is that the schools do not offer an orchestra program for Belle and Brady. Brady has picked up the trumpet recently so he will have no problem moving over into band, but Belle has not played a band instrument. She has shown interest in the clarinet and I hope reading music will be enough edge for her to start out. We shall see.

So much uncertainty! I hate it! And not only am I dealing with uncertainty but I am also dealing with a husband who is acting out because of the changes. He is still hesitant about moving, despite the fact he starts his job so soon, but he also doesn't want to leave home now that he has been home so long, and I don't blame him for that. However, if I could get him to understand that if he could help more with getting the house in order to sell that it will be sooner for us to be up there with him. Men can be so hard headed!

Time for me to move on to bigger and better things. I mean like laundry. And dishes. Yeah those things. More on our upcoming move as details emerge, I promise. Until then...

Proud Mom

2012-01-24T21:13:00.000-06:00

Not too long ago, Belle came in with paperwork that she wanted me to fill out. She wasn't completely sure what it was, just knew that she had been nominated for something and that she wanted to be a part of it. She had been "chosen" to join the Duke Talent Search program which would allow to her take the ACT any time between now and her sophomore year. There was no way we were NOT going to allow her to do this and the fact she wanted to made it that much more important for us to sign her up. She went last month and took the ACT for the first time at 13 years old. By that point she was hesitant. None of her friends were going to be there. It was being taken at the high school with the high school kids. Because it was at the high school, I took her in, signed her in and walked her to her classroom. When it was over, I was waiting in the parking lot for her and she was completely unsure of how she had done. Said there was so many questions that she had no idea about. Scores came in the mail last week and...
16!!

We are so very proud of her!

Winter Blues

2012-01-10T16:28:00.000-06:00

It seems I get at least a touch of them every year and this year is no different.

And I hate it.

I crave sunlight and fresh air to clear my head. To get outside and move around and not feel confined by the walls crowding in on me. I know that if I am suffering from it that my family must be, too, but it's hard to remember that at 6am when the boys are arguing (again!!!) and Belle is arguing with every word I say.

Did you know the sky isn't blue? If I say it is then it must not be true because according to Belle everything that I say is wrong. Up is down and left is right and rightiswrongandohmygoshchildstop TALKING OVER ME AND LISTEN...

And then I feel bad, because it's not their fault. I know it is just the time of year and add a bit of hormones and a touch of uncertainty and I get this tangle of emotions that I struggle to control. Tears flow easily for no reason at all it seems. Not only am I fighting every waking hour to keep control but my unconscious is fighting me, too. Dreams that linger long after I wake, tears flowing from the cruelty I inflict upon my self . Then I put my mask on and go to work and hope it doesn't crack until I can get to bed again. Tomorrow's another day right?

Hurry, spring, hurry! My family needs you!

Your Child

2012-01-02T19:57:00.001-06:00

Hubs and I have a running thing about "your" child. Usually "your" child shows up whenever one of them have done something they shouldn't have but occasionally it is a true example of the child we used to be. I saw Hubs in Brady not too long ago.

The kids have figured out that empty water bottles are excellent for shooting lids across a room, especially Brady. He takes pride in stalling when he's told to throw them out to show me his excellent "shooting" skills. This particular afternoon was no different. He grabbed the bottle, loosened the cap, and paused. You could see the gears turning in his mind. He was thinking. Hard.

Callie was sitting only four feet in front of him, a distance he knew he could easily make.

You could see the horns growing out the top of his head. You could see Hubs take form sitting there on the floor.

"Don't even think about it!" stopped him in his tracks. Busted! The bottle quickly made its way to the trash.

As I told the story to Hubs that night, he didn't deny that child. The same guilty, pleased grin crept across his face. The apple certainly didn't fall far from the tree.

New Year, New Ideas, New Post

2012-01-01T20:27:00.002-06:00

I hate resolutions. For some it is a yearly challenge to choose resolutions and stick with them as long as possible. For me? It is something for me to forget that I had meant to do after a couple of days. So I don't even bother to make any. However, that doesn't mean I don't have intentions during the year to change things in my life. It does seem that I have a lot of those intentions at the beginning of the year. Today is no different. So to start the new year, I am going to attempt to start off on the right foot with a couple of different things. I failed to start off eating better. I've had more caffeine and sugar than I need. I haven't exercised today so that knocks that out of the water, too. And I have definitely lost my cool over a couple of minor things that I wish I hadn't have done. But what's done is done and I have to learn from my mistakes. I will blog, in the hopes that maybe by doing something I would like to improve on, that maybe, just maybe, something else will fall in line tomorrow. We will see what happens.

Tomorrow I return to work after being off for the last week on vacation.

I. Really. Don't. Want. To. Go. Back.

Really.

Really.

Don't.

I spent the last week catching up on my laundry, spending time with my family at Christmas, un-decorating the tree, straightening up my laundry room, playing Band Hero with all three kids, playing Scrabble with Belle and Brady, working on a puzzle with Belle and Brady, taking the kids to the park (even though we left shortly after we got there because Brady wasn't feeling well), and I attempted to take them to the library but unfortunately for us, the day I took them, they were closed. Oh well. Next time. I remember now what it's like being a stay at home mom. To be able to do what I need to when I need to and spend some quality time with the kids. I'm sure if I had taken my vacation on a week when the kids were in school, I would remember how bored I got because I can only do so much housework before I'm ready to stop. Needless to say, I enjoyed my time off and am not ready to get back into the swing of working just yet. Oh to have one more week!

Hubs and I are still weighing our options on his job situation. We have been back and forth on the spectrum about moving and staying home. Find a new job or transfer in the company. Move the kids or let them finish school where they are. So many decisions to make! The kids are aware of the choices that we are facing and for now are excited at the prospect of moving. Hubs, however, isn't so sure it is a good idea, having made the same move at the same age Bryce is now. Difference is we have three kids who are ready to move on to bigger and better things and meet new people where Hubs didn't want to leave his friends and family. Oh how things have changed!

I find it time for me to collect my things and get ready for bed. Work is going to come really early in the morning as much as I hate to go back! So a question for those who occasionally stop by...

Do you make resolutions? What have you made? Any recommendations on how to stick with the things I would like to improve? I would love to hear from you!

Happy New Year to all my readers and may 2012 be a great year to you!

So Many Milestones!

2011-11-13T21:01:00.000-06:00

When I went back to work, I never dreamed how hard it would be for me to get motivated to do even the smallest of tasks. There are days that I am constantly on the go, doing laundry, running the kids, washing dishes, and still don't have enough hours in the day. Then there are the days that I don't want to get out of the bed, don't want to go to work, don't want to do laundry or dishes and want to go to bed as soon as I can possibly get the kids in theirs. I fluctuate between those extremes fairly often and it's such a disappointment, especially when I am ready for bed at 8pm. It interferes with my me time! Like for blogging! And Words with Friends! I have seriously cut back on my facebook time as of late simply because it doesn't interest me. I may glance through it but after a couple of minutes I'm caught up and on to bigger and better things. Usually sleep.
School is going well for the kids. Football season is over and Brady has now moved on to basketball. He also turned 11 a few weeks back. My baby is 11!!

When did this happen?? Wasn't he just a baby in my arms yesterday? And I love the little bits that he has to share with me. Like when he told me today he weighed 70 pounds without his head. I prefer he weigh the full 80 pounds. He decided a few weeks back that he also wanted to join band and play trumpet. His closest friends have decided to join band and he wanted to be a part of that group too. So a trumpet player he is trying to become.

He came home from school one afternoon and informed me he wanted to be Johnny Appleseed for Halloween. I didn't argue. I think he made a fine choice.

Belle has been doing well in school, is on the school news team and seems to have fun each day. She tried out for basketball, made the 7th grade team and just this past week turned in her jerseys. There are people who are made for coaching and people who aren't and her coach was not made for coaching in my opinion. There is a difference between coaching and bullying and her coach crossed that line, again, in my opinion. So she decided that it wasn't for her right now and I support her decision no matter how much it breaks our hearts (mine especially!). She became a teenager a couple of weeks back.

She was certainly ready for the challenge. I think she's been ready to be a teenager since she was 8. She informed me that she wanted me to make her a blanket and I have spent the last couple of days working on it. Yet another thing that has been keeping me busy.

Bryce is doing well in school. He will be attending All-District for band tomorrow and Quad State in a couple of weeks, huge accomplishments for this area. He turned 14 the day after Belle turned 13.

He is shaving now. I know. He was just a baby not too long ago. I distinctly remember holding him and wondering how I was going to take care of him, he was so little. Now he's over 5'9". Not so little anymore.

The new company Hubs is working for held a conference call for all of their drivers Thursday of last week. A half hour later I received a tweet from the local news station that his employer was announcing the closing of the terminal he is working out of. His new job, his dream job, is now on the line as they are closing the doors in the spring cutting 240 jobs. Not all of the employees knew when the story broke nor had the drivers had time to tell the families. That tweet was how I found out my husband was losing his job. While there will be a handful of drivers in the area, the majority of them will have to relocate or find other jobs in an area where there are really no good jobs to be had. The possible few local jobs that will be left will be subject to a wage change and will not be paid as well. We are seriously, seriously, seriously considering relocating. So much so that we are both going through the motions to see what we need to do to be ready. What does the house need done to sell? Where are there jobs within his company that are available? Making sure the areas we look at have good schools for the kids. I hate the uncertainty. I hate the idea of moving the kids from their schools but when it comes to being able to provide for their basic needs, there isn't much of a choice. It was me who initially said maybe we should go somewhere else. It is never me who says lets get out of this town.

I think it's time for me to update my Words with Friends games, put my dogs out for one last time and get some sleep. Oh to not be so tired!

OK So I Lied

2011-09-06T21:37:00.001-05:00

I think one of the reasons I have really slowed down on my blogging is simply because I simply cannot get back into it no matter how hard I try. And I do try. I feel as though I write and there is no one out there to hear what I say because honestly there isn't anymore. Not that I had many followers when I was writing but now I really have none.

Anyhoo. Obligatory first day of school picture of my 6th, 7th and 8th graders:

I know. They're entirely too big for their own good. Brady had his first football game this past Saturday:

That scrawny little number 2? That's my son trying to block a kid who was almost double his size in pads.

I gave Belle a lesson in friendship bracelets a couple of weekends ago:

I can't tell you how many of these I made or how many hours I spent working on the next one. Belle has my want when it comes to making something but her daddy's impatience when it comes to finishing it. This one? Ended up being a ring because she got bored. The next one she made actually made it all the way to completion but only because she was making it for a friends birthday. I do know that she has one that she has started and that's as far as it's made it. It has been moved from her purse to her room to her purse but hasn't had any progress made on it at all.

Next pictures of four of the cats eyeballing a moth at the end of the hallway:

Sebastian is the one who finally won the prize when the moth came too close to his huge paws. Ginger is a HUGE fan of the dryer:

That is one of her most favorite places in the house, especially if I am folding laundry. She loves to try and catch what I pull out.

Lately my life has been a lot about cleaning. I have cleaned my kitchen, washed down cabinets, washed windows, cleaned dishes and ceiling fans. For the most part, I've been keeping up with it and for me that is amazing. I'm not one who likes to do the dishes immediately after supper. I just finished cooking it. I want time to relax before I clean it up. Also? I have made all four beds the majority of the last 4 weeks. Awesome! And yes I make the kids beds simply because they get up at 6am, eat breakfast before they catch the bus in addition to getting ready and only have about 45 minutes to get it all done so I don't mind making their beds if it means I don't have to drive them to school. I have been slowly working on my living room. My windows are clean, curtains are clean, picture frames are clean. I even dusted! My goal is to finish cleaning off my desk and I will be happy with the progress I've made. The catch will be how long it actually lasts before it goes back to normal and if I can get the rest of the house picked up before it reaches that point. That is my goal! To have all of my house clean at the same time!

Now that I have bored you with my mindless dribble, my accomplishments tonight. A blog post and a clean desk. Very, very cool.

It's Almost That Time of Year! Again!

2011-08-03T20:11:00.000-05:00

Today is the last day of the kids summer vacation. They are definitely ready judging by the number of arguments and short tempers that I've seen over the last couple of weeks. Belle is beyond excited to be starting middle school. I was just listening to her sing about tomorrow being the first day of school. Bryce is really indifferent about moving up to 8th grade and I think Brady is excited to have the elementary school to himself. They have their school supplies bought, separated and labeled ready to get on the bus in the morning. And it has to be the bus because it isn't cool to have Mom drop us off anymore. At least until it's not cool to ride the bus and they want rides full time. That's when I will have to remind them, "Remember that time you started school in 2011 and didn't want me to take you to school???" Yes, I am that parent. And then I will drive them to school if I am able to because that's what my mom did for me.
Also Bryce has grown almost a full inch in the six weeks. No matter how hard I try, the boy will just not stop growing! I would really like to be able to see over the top of his head again without having to stand on a stool. I just cut his hair and had to make him sit down in a chair just so I could make sure I didn't miss a spot. It's just so unfair!

I have not mentioned how insanely hot it is here. Belle took that picture in my car tonight at 7PM! At 5pm it was reading 103. I don't even want to think what it registered earlier in the day. This is one of the times that I am very grateful that I work in an office.

Today is one of the days that I am glad I work in such a small office. Hubs truck broke down last week and I have been running to the next town to pick him up and drop him off. We leave around 2:30am to drop him off, I return about 4:30am and then attempt to get a little more sleep before getting up again, then I would go back and get him when I got off on the days he came home. Today, my boss's son was in the next town and only a couple of miles from where Hubby parks his truck. I called Little Bossman and requested he pick up my husband since he would be finishing up his last job of the day around 2, Hubs was already in town and I didn't get off until 5. He gladly did so and even took him home when he got to town! Loved it! Made our evening a lot easier and he got to bed a lot earlier because of it. Some days I love my job!

Very short post from me today, but unfortunately I have "homework." With school starting tomorrow, I have two kids worth of paperwork to fill out in order for them to be able to start school. I am almost as impatient as they are, just waiting to hear about their first day. Almost.

I've Been Called Out!

2011-07-20T20:18:00.000-05:00

A dear blogging friend called me out a couple of days ago on Facebook for not blogging as much. I admit I am guilty as charged. I haven't been blogging and I have no real excuse. Or I could make excuses all day long but it still wouldn't change the fact that I haven't blogged. And they are really thin excuses.

Work is busy. Spring and summer are always busy times during the pest control season what can I say. I am still clocking 45 hours most weeks and the weeks I'm not doctor appointments and such has taken the place of work hours. The kids are definitely keeping busy. Since the beginning of May we have sent them on school trips to Holiday World, strings camp, birthday parties, and softball practices and games. Bryce and Belle play on a youth level softball team while Brady plays on the younger youth team. Since Brady will be 11 in September, he also has the opportunity to play "up" on Bryce and Belle's team so he actually plays on two teams this summer. He has been in for his 6th grade physical and his back to school night is next week. Bryce picks his schedule up next week for 8th grade. Belle registers for 7th grade August 1st. As if this isn't enough we have softball practices Wednesday evenings and just last week we found ourselves with four games in three days. Even with Hubs taking a local job, he is still up and gone by 3am so he is usually ready for bed if not in bed no later than 8pm so most of the running for the kids falls to me. I feel like I am constantly going somewhere.

Earlier in the spring, we took the kids for eye exams and new glasses.

I was afraid Brady would get his and decide he absolutely hated them because they are very blue. I was also afraid of the teasing he might endure because they are so blue. Fortunately all I have heard about is the compliments he's received on them and so far they have lasted longer than the last pair of glasses he had knock on wood. What you don't see in these pictures is that I have also been given glasses for the first time in my life. Turns out my time on my computer has been affecting my eyes and left me with blurry vision especially when working. I don't believe there are any pictures with my glasses as of yet and don't expect there to be any time soon. Darn!

I could probably tell you mounds of stories about the kids and their softball days. Belle is moving between 1st and 2nd bases and loves both positions. Bryce usually plays 3rd and loves it as well. Brady ends up playing catcher or in the outfield since he is smaller and not as experienced on the larger field. Brady was ecstatic last week to get a "home run" last week. Because of many errors made by the other team, he was able to run each base before they stopped trying to tag him out. He rounded the gate grinning ear to ear and bouncing. For the first time all season, he finally felt big enough to run with the other kids.

The cats are growing like weeds. They absolutely love open windows, paper wads and chasing each other up and down the hallway.

I don't have any updated pictures of the dogs as of yet. That will be on my list of things to do for my next blog.

Things around the house hasn't changed much either. We don't get to church as often as we should. I have been kicking myself lately for this but I can't seem to get motivated. I can sit here all week long and think that I really need to get to the next service but Sunday rolls around and. Nothing. Don't know what it is that is holding me back. And it is totally me. Hubs can get up on Sunday morning and ask me if we are going and my response? A shrug. I just don't know. Just something that is really heavy on my heart and mind as of late and something I just can't seem to remedy no matter how hard I try. Something I've been trying to work on and will continue to work on.

Now I must finish some work I brought home from the office. Janjanmom, I am expecting you to call me out again if I haven't blogged again soon!

Various

2011-05-02T17:15:00.012-05:00

I need more time in the day I think (proof would be that I started this particular entry over a week ago). Or at least I need more energy. And a better memory. I have been meaning to update more from my time off and it seems time keeps getting away from me so here is a very, very quick rundown.

For Christmas, Hubs bought me this:

And I love it! My Christmas photos, the critter photos and any of the recent kids photos were taken with this camera. I just wish I had more time to play with it. And that I could remember to take it on days I really intended on taking it!

For our anniversary/Christmas gift, he bought me this:

He knew that I had been looking for the last 5 years or so for the perfect (for me) set. While the ring he put on my finger 14 years ago will always be special to me, I wanted a set that I absolutely loved, one that I knew would be my final set. I found this one a little over a year ago and fell in love with it. I sat back and watch and waited, hoping that it would be brought out in a smaller version but it never was. He surprised me with it just before our anniversary. I was ecstatic. I've been wearing them 6 months now and they still catch me by surprise.

We have managed to cruise through the last couple of months fairly easily. Belle and Brady finished their basketball seasons. Unfortunately Belle didn't make the spring league for the middle school which was very disappointing. We have three weeks of school left and I will have two kids in junior high and one in sixth grade. Where does all this time go? And who decided it needed to move so fast? Bryce is 5'6" at 13 years old. Belle is 5'2" at 12. Both of them are now taller than I am. So. Un. Fair.

May is determined to keep us busy. We have a strings pizza party for Belle and Brady for practicing, a strings party for Belle for graduating out of the elementary school strings program, a trip to Holiday World for all three kids (on the same day wooohoooo) for their end of the year celebration, and a strings camp for Belle and Brady, which Hubs has agreed to chaperone.

I hate how much I haven't blogged over the last year. I feel like there is so much I'm going to forget by not writing it down and sharing. Hopefully that will change over the next few weeks, or at least that's my intention. Hopefully I will be back later this week with more pictures.

More Pictures

2011-02-07T21:04:00.000-06:00

Building a snowman

Working hard

Gotta make a snowball

Still working hard

Finished product

With snow seats we had to build

Here it comes!

The snow was deeper than she was tall...I love those ears!

Gotta catch him

Still chasing

Getting closer

Almost got him

Back to Belle

Deep in thought

Watching the work

The finished snowman

Wearing Bryce's boots because they were convenient....they were HUGE!

Still more pictures to come as time allows and hopefully a story or two...

Pictures As Promised

2011-01-22T20:30:00.000-06:00

10th birthday

Spike

12th birthday

13th birthday

First Christmas

New hat

Sleepy

Bashful

Christmas morning

A lesson

Morning nap

Mandatory putting the toy together

Trying to hide

Naptime

More to come...

First Time Ever!

2011-01-17T20:11:00.004-06:00

My Christmas cactus that I bought 5 years ago had one bud come out last year but it never open up. Eventually it fell off and I was heartbroken. This year, not only did I have one bud but 5! After watching it daily for weeks, this one finally opened up and two more are right behind it. For those that know about Christmas cactus, this one is not a forced bloom but come out on it's own. Awesome!

A New Year, A New Post

2011-01-10T16:30:00.000-06:00

Wow. I cannot believe how fast time is passing me by. Over the last few months, Brady was injured in a football practice (not bad but enough to end his season), Belle turned twelve and Bryce turned thirteen. I am now the parent of a teenager! How did that happen? When did that happen? At what point did time skip 10 years from when I had three kids under the age of 4? Hubby has taken a new job. We have been through Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. And I have not put up a single post about life in the Shortymom household! I'm horrible!

So I'm here to update.

Brady dislocated his ring finger during a football practice before the last ballgame. This dislocation was so bad that we initially thought that it could possible be broken. So we raced to the emergency room where it was eventually put back into place, given a splint and the official word that his football season was over. For us, the end of the season was a relief after a drama filled season full of disappointment from him and us. Because this is a small town, I cannot go into full detail but we we/are very disappointed on how things went on the football field. So much so that Brady was willing to quit at a couple of different points. He is fully healed now, active in basketball season but unfortunately his finger will never be "normal" again. The size of his knuckle has never gone back down to it's original size and probably never will. We are grateful that it was a minor injury compared to what it could be.

A couple of weeks later was the beginning of basketball practices. Four practices a week between Brady and Belle on four different nights has been keeping me busy. So far Belle's team has lost one game (this past weekend). Brady's team isn't undefeated but he's actually learned more this season than he has previous seasons so we were excited. We were excited to learn that he had a new coach this year, one who works with all of the boys and not just some of them.

Then we came to Belle's and Bryce's birthdays. They each had friends come over (different nights, whew!) and spend the night at the house. I'm still reeling from the fact that I have a teenager and one that's toeing that line. Just doesn't seem right! Their birthdays are so close to Halloween that there wasn't any time for breathing before we raced out to go trick or treating. Bryce didn't trick or treat this year but rode in the car with Hubs, Brady went as yet another ninja, and Belle. Belle was my difficult child this year. Belle wanted to be Chuckie this year from the Child's Play movies, movies she's never seen mind you. Unfortunately we just couldn't get all of the details worked out so we bought a mask and a wig and she went as some zombie thing that really doesn't have a name. They had fun and that was all that mattered.

November brought us a whirlwind of basketball activities, science projects, book projects and getting ready for Thanksgiving that I won't bore you with. Hubby found a new job in the middle of all of this. A job that allows him to be home a lot more often. He is currently working for a job that allows him to stay over night two nights in Tennessee spread out during the week so he's not gone consecutive days. This means he's home all weekend plus another day during the week. We were excited that it finally worked out for him to find a local job allowing him to be home basically full time. Of course we have had our battles during the adjustment but nowhere near some of the battles we've had in the past adjustments. Awesome!

December found us scrambling as we were still running basketball up until the week before Christmas and trying to get the shopping done. There were days I felt as though I hadn't stopped for weeks trying to get everything situated. I didn't even get the tree up until two weeks before Christmas things were so hectic. Unfortunately during all this running, we started getting sick. By Christmas, Belle was improving from a nasty cold she had picked up, I had it full force and Hubs was just starting to catch it. This didn't keep us from having a great Christmas (a white Christmas!). I will have pictures to post soon to catch up visually on all that has gone on. New Years Eve found us in bed by 9:30pm and passed out cold at midnight thanks to the wonderful sickness. Just so much entertainment at our house!

Just last week we had a rescheduled strings concert. We also picked up basketball practices again and had our first game this past weekend. I hope to have pictures up over the next couple of days of some of the things missed over the past few months. Then maybe I can get into the habit of updating regularly again.

Life

2010-09-19T19:58:00.004-05:00

Life for me has been all over the map the last few months. I had every intention on posting more as I felt better. And I do feel better. And I don't. I don't hurt every month like I used to. I don't hurt in between cycles every month either. And as always there is a but. But my leg still hurts and my bones still hurt. I reported both at my last follow up visit and was referred back to my family doctor but I haven't made the appointment. I'm stalling. Again. But I feel my time back will be too soon. I also felt like every time I went to post something it was also negative. I was not necessarily a gripe but a post that would end up being a downer. That wasn't what I wanted. For now, let me bring you up to date.

Before I even got my freedom to drive two weeks after my surgery, Hubby had signed the kids up for church softball. Bryce and Belle were on an older youth team (but not the oldest) and Brady was on the younger youth team which also happened to be coach pitched. So for a while I was spending at least two nights a week in my chair at the softball fields watching practices and games. The kids were great helping carry my chair to the fields so that I didn't and had a blast playing the game. Brady's team went on to win their championship game.

I mentioned back in the winter that we came home from a basketball game to find a dog sitting under our carport. Well she never left and we finally named her Daisy. She has become a part of our home and I finally took a minute to take her picture and share her with you.Sorry for the poor quality of the picture. She is not a photogenic animal and I was using my cell phone. Two negatives when trying to take a picture. Unfortunately, my camera has officially bit the dust and I have not been able to get me another one and don't see one in the future. We'll see what happens.

Hubby has been trying since Christmas to get me a Himalayan kitten but the friend of ours that was breeding them had decided to stop. Then she decided to have a couple of more litters. So right after Mother's Day she sent him a message on facebook to let him know that she had a little boy, three months old that she had been unable to find a home for. She was willing to let him go for a small fortune as opposed to a huge fortune. Not that I'm saying he wasn't worth it. Just saying I've never been one to pay for a pet of any kind. Anyhoo, this is Sebastian: Yes his is as sweet as he looks. It took him some time to adjust to everyone but now he goes about his business without a second thought to anything or anyone around him.

Not long after we got him, school started. The end of July brought us to the kids back to school nights. Belle and Brady had their night first and were very pleased with their teachers and classmates. It was at their night that I found out the middle school had a new band director. Not only did they have a new band director that Bryce would be under but he was also a guy that I went to school with. A guy who happened to marry the girl who was my maid of honor! I was truly excited! Bryce and I went to his back to school night alone as Mom took Belle and Brady to a softball game. We toured the school, met his teachers and found our way to each and every class so that he would know what to do on the first day. Not only did he have a good friend of mine for a band director but his Social Studies teacher was also one of my teachers in elementary school so I felt a little better. Words cannot describe how nervous I was that first day. I think I was more nervous than he was. I couldn't help but wonder if he made it to his classes correctly and on time. He came home and reported a good day. Whew! With the start of school came the next round of running. Softball ended the first week of school but that brought us to the beginning of everything else. Football season started for Brady. His third game of the season will be tomorrow night, a make up game from where they were rained out a couple of weeks ago. Belle decided she did not want to cheer this year and still put up an argument to play football. I shot it down only for her to find out there are like three other girls playing this year. She was not happy with me. Bryce decided that he was not trying out for basketball but did try out for the fall baseball team. He was truly disappointed when he was cut on the first day. I felt sorry for him but was not as disappointed as he was.

Last week, Sebastian's Mom sent Hubby another message on facebook. She has decided that she has had her last litter of kittens and was looking for a good home for one of her mama cats and her kitten. I was up in the air over it. I had 3 kids, 3 dogs and 3 cats. I felt we were running good with the number three. But cats! I love cats! And I still ache for babies. So she gave us Abi who is two:

And Ginger who is 3 months old (she is the white one):

So we have Chi Chi, who is 4, Gracie who is 3 and Daisy which we don't know how old she is but figure she is an older dog. Then we have Zeus who is also 3, Callie 2, Abi 2, Sebastian 4 months and Ginger 3 months. Then don't forget the three children who are so close to being teens they can practically taste it, especially Bryce who turns 13 next month.

Oh and this past Friday? My baby turned ten! That is so not right! I tried all day to correct him but he insists that he is 10 and not 2. I went to school Friday morning and had breakfast with him. Then I met up with Hubby so he could take me to work and he could go back to school and have lunch with Brady (think I've failed to mention that my van is out of commission for the time being). Brady had a friend spend the night, rented movies, had pizza, cake and ice cream. We also got to put four sugared-up kids to bed fairly early for a sleep over since the friend's Mom had already made plans for Saturday that required him being picked up at 8.

That brings me up to this point. I'm pretty sure I've missed something in there and eventually will remember and bring it up. Now I'm going to get ready for bed so that I can start another week tomorrow. And hopefully I'll be back around soon for another post.

Freedom. Sort of.

2010-06-03T19:41:00.001-05:00

Two weeks ago Monday, I was at the hospital at 6am. The next hour and a half seemed like the longest I have ever sat through. I was given a gown to change into, IV started, blood drawn, blood pressure taken and circulation socks placed up to my knees. Then Hubby was brought to the room. We waited. And waited. At 7:30, the doctor walked in and and within minutes I was wheeled away to the pre-op room. There I answered questions that I had already answered three other times, which is better than the alternative of no one knowing the answers. Then the anesthesiologist gave me something to "help me relax." The last thing I remember is them about to wheel me through a door. Then next thing I remember, I was being put into my room around 11am. According to Hubby, I was in surgery around 1 1/2 - 2 hours so that left another 1 1/2 - 2 hours in recovery. I had been given spinal morphine before I went into surgery and was still feeling the effects of it when I got to my room. Hubby came in while I was being hooked up to a bp machine, air hoses hooked up to my socks and had a monitor placed on my finger. When the room finally quietened down, I dozed off only to have alarms scream. They stopped when I came to. I dozed off two other times for them to scream again, only the last time they didn't stop until a nurse turned them off. Seems that my blood oxygen level was low, so I was placed on oxygen. Finally, I got to sleep.

A short while later, I woke to find a friend, TJ, coming into the room. She was coming to visit while Hubby was walking out the door to come get the kids. Not long after she got there, I complained to the nurse about my face itching. Itching so bad that my chin and neck were almost raw I had scratched them so bad. Because I don't respond to benedryl well, the nurse came back with stadol. By the time she was finished injecting it into my iv, I was almost asleep. TJ watched tv, while sending out messages to facebook about how she was with me while I was sleeping and seriously drugged. She was very amused with the whole thing.

TJ left later that afternoon and Hubby made it back with the kids about 5. They spent about an hour walking around the room, asking questions, and finally got antsy. Hubby left with them for the night and within 15 minutes a coworker walked in. Then my parents. Then the doctor. By the time everyone left at 7:30, I was itching again. At 8, I was dozing again after another dose of stadol. At 10, the night nurse came in, checked my bp and I turned off the tv for the night. At 1am, the nurse came back in again. My bp had been steady dropping throughout the day and at 10 was around 59/38. At 1, it had not dropped anymore but it had not gone up either. So she paged the dr and requested more fluids for me. Over the next hour, I had a liter of saline pumped into me with the nosiest iv pump in the hospital I think. At 2, my bp had come up slightly and I had blood drawn. Finally around 3, I got to get back to sleep only to be awakened at 6 by the morning shift coming on duty.

Tuesday was a lot of the same. I dozed off and on a good part of the morning. I had not been able to hold down much food and started the day off on the same foot. The doctor came back in on morning rounds and informed me that they were unhooking me from most everything and that I would be up walking soon. No more catheter. No more swelling socks. I was still hooked up to the iv but I could sit up in a chair. Until they gave me phenegren so that I could start holding down food. Again, I was almost asleep by the time the medicine was in. I held down some lunch and supper. I got up and walked around the corridors. At 6pm, my bp was 68/45 and I was being released. I was on my way home. I dozed off and on while on the couch until Hubby woke me long enough to go to bed.

Wednesday morning, I made my way to the couch. Every inch of me was swollen and sore but my stomach was not nearly as painful I expected to be. Unfortunately I had a killer headache. Every time I stood up or sat up my head would scream so I spent most of Wednesday dozing on the couch only getting up when I absolutely had to. That afternoon, we called the doctor and was told that they were adjusting my pain medication and that if I still had the headache on Thursday morning, they would bring me in. Thursday morning, I walked into my doctors office still in considerable pain. I had my finger pricked to check my platelet level, a head ct because I had been having nose bleeds and then was sent back over to the hospital for a blood patch. It seemed the site where the morphine had been administered did not close over properly and I was leaking spinal fluid every time I stood up which was the cause of my headaches. Over the next few hours, I had two liters of fluid one of which was full of caffeine. By the time I left, I was headache free. I was also done with my sleeping all day. From that point on, I had no problem staying awake for most of the day.

Over the last two weeks, I have been slowly improving. I have had a lot of help from Hubby and the kids. Some of the church family has brought over meals so that I didn't have to cook. I am moving around more, can sit for longer periods of time and walk a lot farther. According to the doctor, he found the beginning of endometriosis. I had cysts on both ovaries, which he removed the fluid from, and one of which was a lot larger than they had originally seen on my ultrasound. According to him, my uterus looked as though it had been shot with a shot gun from the number of areas in it where it did not replace the missing lining with new lining. Now I am on iron supplements and am feeling somewhat better. I was released to drive at my two week check up and return in four weeks for my final follow up. I was told that I can return to work (which I have) on a part time, light duty basis. If I decide that it is too much, then all I have to do is call and I'm off for the next four weeks. Luckily, I have a boss that doesn't argue when I call and say I'm just not up for it today as I did this morning.

Over the next few weeks, I will try to update as things progress. The kids are out of school for the summer and antsy to be out and about. They have been spending considerable time on the computer and playing wii while staying close to help me out. Bryce went to church camp this week for the first time ever. Tonight Belle and Brady are at my parents while I take the night off which allowed me to update this post. I am taking things one day at a time for the next few weeks so I will be back. Eventually.

Improving

2010-05-27T18:12:00.002-05:00

I'm slowly on the mend. Emails are piling up. Facebook and blog are suffering. I did get some work finished today from home. As things improve, I'll start to post more...

Preparing

2010-05-10T19:04:00.000-05:00

I've avoided blogging the last few weeks. Matter of fact, I haven't spent much time on the computer at all. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes here and there. Every time I went to put up a new post, I couldn't seem to get past the first sentence. And then it'd hang there until I'd go back and edit the post. Another first sentence to leave behind. I have decided that if I'm going to do any blogging any time soon, I had better be getting one up. Now. So here I am.

This time next week will find me in a hospital bed. I am to report for registration at 6am next Monday morning. I have gone from crying because I'm not ready for a hysterectomy to crying because the day cannot come soon enough. Some days are not bad. Others it takes everything I have to get through the work day before I come home and give up on the couch. I find myself nesting to get ready for what's to come. Today has been a good day. My kitchen is clean, laundry almost caught up, my furniture dusted and the pain has been sporadic meaning I can get things accomplished as long as I take a break in between tasks. I caught up on work at the office so that the mound that awaits me when I return isn't as bad as it could be. By the time I go to bed tomorrow, I hope to have my floors mopped, my carpets vacuumed and my laundry finished. One can always hope, right?

I also nest to avoid the obvious. Now is when I start to get anxious. I am facing an unknown and I am ready but I'm not. So I keep busy, as busy as possible, to keep from thinking. To keep from worrying. To keep from panicking. I long for this week to be over. For them to knock me out and be done and at the same time I long for this week to never end so I don't have to face my fears.

It's moving quickly. Too quickly, I'm afraid.

The kids are excited as they approach the end of the school year. By the end of next week, Bryce will be a middle schooler. He has finished band concerts for this year and is done with practices. Brady and Belle's final concert is tomorrow now. Actually, if Brady doesn't get sick again, it will be his first and final concert for this year. We shall see how this plays out. All three kids have done well this year and are moving up to the next grade levels, excited about what next year could bring for them. I look at these kids and wonder how did I get so lucky.

Yes, I'm sentimental. Or hormonal. Or both. There's no telling at this point. Don't be surprised if you see me and one minute I'm laughing and the next I'm crying. I am to that point as well.

Lord help my husband. He's going to have his hands full the next few weeks. I'm not afraid to admit that.

For now, I'm off to bed, hoping for dreamless, painless sleep. Got to be ready for more nesting, right?

To Tell Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth

2010-03-25T20:42:00.004-05:00

Today started off as a wonderful day. I stopped to get a drink at the local convenience store on my way to work when the lady I've seen then a million times asked me if I was on my way to school. She did a double take when I told her I was on my way to work.

"You don't look old enough to go to work," she said.

"I have three children."

"Nuh uh."

"My oldest is 12."

She was floored. Said she thought I was like 17 or 18. I told her I'd take it. I didn't realize then the affect her remark would have on me tonight.

I haven't been completely honest with you or with myself. Yes, I have got a serious case of baby-itis. Yes, I was on a heart monitor last week. Yes, there are plenty of people who saw Bryce baptised last weekend, including Ladybird's parents. But what I have failed to mention in my most recent posts is that I have been to see two doctors on three different occasions in the last week and a half and not one of them was my cardiologist. As a matter of fact, I have yet to see him or even hear those results. I have been in pain for the last three and a half weeks so I had appointments to have that checked when I had my heart checked. Today, I was given news.

Hysterectomy.

At 32.

I'm stunned. I've cried more tears than I have cried in a very long time. While I have never been opposed to the idea, especially if it meant that it would help take care of my migraines, I never believed that it would be a possibility at 32 years old. I never realized how strong my irrational hope is that one of those months where things went wrong it was because there was a baby, not because there was a problem. Yes I have three, healthy, happy, beautiful children and I am so thankful for them. Now the reality is the fact I have them is amazing. That still doesn't ease this blow. It doesn't change the fact that I am at that age where I should be having baby-itis not life altering surgeries.

Here in the very near future, I will be undergoing an MRI in preparation for the actual procedure. A requirement because I am apparently unique. Even my ultrasound tech asked me if I was tired of being an anomaly. Today I am. Tomorrow, we'll see. Tonight I'm numb as I process everything that I was told today and hope that tomorrow will show things in a new light.

Baptisms, Babies, and Wires

2010-03-16T22:23:00.000-05:00

Yes, I admit, I did it. Again. I put up a post and was determined to put up another post. And another. And another!

And I failed.

Failed is such a harsh word. And I didn't. That's so much nicer.

I could bore you with the majority of the last few weeks. Get the kids ready for school. Go to work. Go home. Cook supper. Put the kids to bed. Go to bed. Rinse. Repeat.

So exciting, huh?

So we'll skip to the more recent stuff. Like baptisms. And babies. And wires.

This past Sunday, Bryce went up and wanted to be baptised. So this Sunday morning, he will be baptised at our home church. Given my history on the subject, I have mixed feelings. I am excited for him. I am relieved. I am jealous. I am, I am, I am so many things. But for him I will be happy.

After church, my neighbor (who is no longer my neighbor after selling her house) brought her new baby for me to see. New as in one week old. New baby smell. And little fingers and toes. Little nose and burps. Little yawns and little smiles. And that baby ache was back all over again. Little Little Man is the 4th baby that I know of born in the past two weeks.

Fourth.

Deep breathing does not help this ache. Spending time with them does but not when I have to give them up again. But listening to the newborn and the big brother cry in the car together does. A little. Sometimes.

I took this picture today while sitting at the office.

I was wired. Literally. Have I mentioned that my heart and I don't see eye to eye? That it likes to race when I am sitting down and doing absolutely nothing? It does and I really don't see why it feels the need to do this because I haven't done anything to it. But it continues to race. Finally, about six months ago, I got tired of it and went back to my doctor. He put me on some meds that haven't seemed to help one bit so I went back yesterday for my follow up. And I complained. So he wired me up. What you see is the wires attached to the electrodes stuck to my chest (that left marks that I figure will be there until this time next year) and the machine recording my heart rate that was nicely tucked in my back pocket. I haven't worn one of these darn things in 10 years and I was grateful when they took it off this afternoon. I had itches that were dying to be scratched. Next step?

A visit to the cardiologist.

Here in the next week or two, when my results come back from my monitor, I will go back to the clinic to meet my cardiologist. I thought I was ready for this step. I'm tired of being tired all the time. I'm tired of feeling like my heart is going to jump out of my chest. But I'm not so sure I'm ready for this step. Not like I have a choice but I can have an opinion, right? Or worries? More will come I'm sure as this part of my story unfolds, but today I could say I was wired.

Now I am going to jump back into my routine. The kids are in bed, the dishes are washing, the laundry is in the washer waiting for morning and I am joining the kiddos and going to bed. Sleeping while wired was just so much fun!

The View In My Chair

2010-03-16T11:17:00.001-05:00

More information to come soon...

Wow! It's a Real Post! First Time in Months!

2010-01-20T20:58:00.003-06:00

I've been sitting here glancing back at this screen trying to decide how to start. It's been so long since I've put up a real post that I have forgotten how! Do I start at the beginning and work my way through? Do I start at the most recent and work my way back? Do I start in the middle where my head usually ends up and try to make heads or tails of it? Decisions! So I figure my best bet is to download all the pictures I want to share and go from there. So here we go.

Football season and cheerleading came to an end right around the first of October. We had a little bit of "sibling" rivalry around that time as well. Callie was sitting there first and there was no way Zeus was going to let her have me all to herself!

Around the middle of October, we traveled to Indiana where we had pictures made of the kids. These are just a few of my favorites out of the 70 pictures that were taken.It turned off very cold up there that weekend so by the time we got to the pictures of all three kids together, they were freezing! Belle had been out of her coat the longest by that point so her smiles were a little "frozen". My sister-in-law trimmed up all their hair and fixed Belle's so that it would curl because those curls? Are natural! How I love that beautiful hair! When sister-in-law got done with her hair, Belle replied, "It's too poofy!" Belle hates the curly hair with a passion. So to pacify her, the front part was pulled back. It was still too poofy according to Belle but at that point my response was, "deal with it." No way was I going to straighten all those curls for pictures!

We had Belle's party the week before her birthday and me being me, I forgot to take pictures until the very end. By that point, the girls were burnt out on bowling and had moved onto other things. Here's Belle blowing out her candles.We ended up going to Mississippi at the end of October when Hubby's grandmother passed away. That meant Bryce's birthday celebration had to be postponed a week and the kids went trick or treating in Mississippi. Unfortunately, I couldn't find my camera so I have no pictures of the kids costumes. Brady was a ninja, Bryce was a grim reaper and Belle was a witch. The kids had a ball trick or treating and then went with Hubby, his sister and her boyfriend, aunt and cousin to their church for a Halloween festival. They went through a haunted trail, played plenty of games and came home with more stuff than any child needs!

Bryce was afraid that if he had a birthday party, no one would come so as an alternative I told him instead of picking out seven friends to invite, he could invite two people, we would go out for pizza and take everyone to a movie. He loved the idea, picked a couple of friends and we took them to see "A Christmas Carol" in 3-D. It was a great movie and the kids loved the visual effects! Hubby and I loved seeing the kids reaching out at the screen trying to catch falling snowflakes! Here's a picture of Bryce blowing out his candles with the family.The week football and cheerleading ended was the same week basketball team placements were held. Bryce is a 6th grader this year so he is playing on a sixth grade team with a coach that he had a couple of years ago. Belle was given the opportunity to play up on the 6th grade team this year and she jumped at the chance. She has the same coach she had last year. Brady is playing on a 4th and 5th grade team and also has the same coach as last year. One of my next tasks is to get a picture of them in their basketball uniforms because I have failed to that at this point. I really need to be doing that since this weekend is the last of their regular season games before tournaments start the following weekend!

Also in November, we lost our darling dog, Sophie. She had gotten to where she wasn't eating a whole lot and then suddenly she stopped eating at all. She stayed under my feet from the time she got up until the time I went to bed. Then I got up one morning and she was gone. Thankfully Hubby was here and had her buried before Brady got up because we knew that of all the kids he would be the one to be the most upset. She is greatly missed and I still haven't gotten out of the habit of calling for "Sophie, Gracie, Chi Chi!" Maybe I'll be able to adjust soon.

Thanksgiving was up in the air until the last minute. We picked up everything we needed to fix the meal but Mom was having minor surgery the day before so where we were having dinner was a toss-up. So the plan was that I would cook dinner at my house unless Mom was up to having company, then I would cook dinner at her house so she didn't have to get out. Thanksgiving morning I got the call that she was up for dinner, so to her house we went! I can't tell you when the last time it was that I cooked the majority of the Thanksgiving meal (Hubby fried the turkey this time) but we pulled it off without a hitch! Talk about a sigh of relief!

The time up until Christmas was crazy insane. The kids had six basketball practices each week and each one of them had an after school music lesson of some sort each week as well. Christmas week, the kids were out of school and Hubby didn't have to work so he stayed home with them while I worked. We spent most of Christmas Eve with Mom and Dad as well as my brother and his girlfriend. Christmas morning, the kids were up bright and early just waiting for their chance to see what they got.

I had two New Years resolutions. One was to be in bed when the new year began. The second was to sleep in the next morning. I'm proud to say that I kept both of my resolutions for the first time ever! I am definitely going to have to try to have these same types of resolutions every year so that they are easy to achieve and not so devastating when I don't. You have to aim high, you know!

And let me tell you how this work thing has been keeping me crazy busy. We had the pictures of the kids made in October and I just got three of them up on the wall last week! It took me three months to get those three pictures into frames! I still haven't gotten one up on the wall of the three of them together yet nor have I framed the ones that I had printed for my desk at the office. I have been running so much with the kids and work that even the animals are stressing. Here's Zeus giving me lovin' this past weekend.He was so excited to be able to spend time with me! I didn't think I was ever going to get him to let me up.

Saturday morning, Brady had to be at my former elementary school for a game while Bryce had to be at their school for his game within an hour of each other. So Hubby to Bryce to his game and I took Brady to his. When Brady and I got home, we found this dog sitting on the carport step. Like she lived here!I got out of the car and she met me slowly trying to decide if she could trust me. When she figured out she could, she thought she should come in! We left her outside that day because we were still running for Belle's ballgame hoping that maybe someone would come around looking for her. We put food and water down for her but she still wanted in every chance the door was opened. Finally Sunday we felt sorry for her and let her inside. Called the animal shelter Monday and left my name, checked the lost and found in the paper and checked craigslist. No such luck. She is now inside, thinking that she is queen and that she belongs on the couches and beds. She is a sweet dog, doesn't care if Gracie and Cheech bother her and she ignores the cats. She loves the kids and is fully house trained! It breaks my heart to think that someone could've dropped such a sweet girl!

That brings me to right now. I am currently waiting on Belle to go to bed so that I can go to bed. While this new dog is sweet, she is also stubborn because she likes to scratch at the side of the bed to see if I'm going to give in and let her up in my bed. Not going to happen but still keeping me from sleeping a good nights sleep until she realizes that I'm going to win this battle! I have also decided that since it seems that the dog is going to be staying around for a while, that she needs a name. I like the sound of Daisy for her and Belle agrees so she may be becoming a Daisy in the very near future. Now that the kids are all in bed, finally, I am going to join them at 9pm. And maybe it won't take me near as long to get my next post up. Maybe.

Letting You Know

2009-12-17T21:57:00.001-06:00

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

2009-09-23T20:51:00.005-05:00

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...

2009-09-07T20:37:00.006-05:00

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

2009-08-23T21:07:00.002-05:00

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

2009-08-17T20:19:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-08-13T20:07:00.003-05:00

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

2009-08-09T21:25:00.003-05:00

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

2009-07-28T21:11:00.003-05:00

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

2009-07-15T21:03:00.005-05:00

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

2009-07-13T20:50:00.004-05:00

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

2009-07-07T20:22:00.003-05:00

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

2009-06-29T21:16:00.006-05:00

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

2009-06-24T22:46:00.003-05:00

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?

2009-06-22T22:05:00.004-05:00

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

2009-06-17T21:19:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-06-15T22:14:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-14T11:32:00.003-05:00

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

2009-06-11T14:35:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-10T13:38:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-06-08T14:44:00.004-05:00

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

2009-06-04T13:14:00.000-05:00

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

2009-05-31T20:48:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-05-28T21:50:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-25T20:57:00.005-05:00

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.

2009-05-18T10:57:00.007-05:00

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?

2009-05-07T10:10:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-04T20:37:00.002-05:00

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.

A Simple Gesture Can Turn into the Funniest Moment

2009-05-02T21:23:00.003-05:00

Belle confirmed around 4am Friday morning that I had made the right decision in keeping her home from school. She came into my room, after getting sick again, asking to sleep with me so that she didn't have to keep putting Callie out of her room. And my bathroom was closer from my room than the bathroom was from hers. So she climbed in bed with me and got comfy. A short time later, the alarm was going off, setting in motion another busy day. When the alarm went off, the light outside my window caught my attention. It was almost orange outside, the strangest color I've ever seen, not because the sun was coming up but because there was some serious rain about to move through. I ran to the shower so that I could be ready to walk out the door almost as soon as the bus ran. When I got out of the shower, the sky was almost black. By the time the boys got on the bus, it was pouring cats and dogs outside as a storm rolled through. The rain was so heavy, that I backed my car down the driveway and waited for the bus at the end of the driveway, trying to prevent the boys from having to get in the rain as much as possible. I went back inside after they were safely on the bus, encouraged Belle to finish getting dressed and sat down to try to catch a glimpse of the weather radar on tv since I turned my computer off to prevent lightening from running in on it. Belle mentioned a few minutes later that the rain had slowed down so we made a run for the gas station and then off to Tennessee to get Hubby.

The trip to Tennessee took me a little longer than most trips because I slowed down considerably. The parkway I take down is notorious for holding water and by the time I left there were already three reports of cars hydroplaning on the same parkway. I passed one of those accidents on my way down. While the rain had slowed down so that I could leave to get gas and get moving, the rain picked up again a little bit down the road complete with lightening. About 15 miles outside of where I meet Hubby, I left the rain for cloudy skies and damps roads. We got home a short time later, thankfully uneventfully. Then the three of us grocery shopped, came home for a quick lunch, settled down to watch a little tv and do a little housework before the boys came off the bus. Hubby took the kids back to the store for a bit, as I baked cookies and enjoyed a few minutes of quiet, and let them pick out a couple of toys to spend their money on. Thursday night, I had informed the kids that they had each read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone but none of them had actually moved on to Chamber of Secrets so I thought we should read it together. I think the first two books move so closely to the movies that they figure why read it when they can watch it but there is so much detail they're missing out by not reading the other books. So I told them if they could calm down and get ready for bed when I tell them to, we would sit down each night before bed and read a bit of Harry Potter. Before bed last night, we finished reading chapter two of The Chamber of Secrets. They went to bed quickly and quietly after these readings so I think it's going to be something I continue doing for a while.

Today was a typical Saturday. We got up this morning and made a quick run to the store for the toothpaste and conditioner I forgot to pick up yesterday. There's been so much rain over the last few days that they really couldn't get out of the house to play so this afternoon we went bowling to get the kids out of the house for a bit. Then we came home had a bit of supper. About 7, I told Bryce to grab a shower. Belle followed a few minutes later. Finally I told Brady that it was his turn to get in the shower. When he stood there without moving, I sniffed real loud and told him he stinks and that it was time for a shower. He turned around, and without missing a beat, lifted his arm and sniffed himself. Hubby and I tried hard to hide the snickers and giggles and I attempted to explain that he smelled like the bowling alley and the cigarette smoke from there. He tried to tell me he didn't as he lifted his arm for yet another attempt to prove that he didn't stink then headed down the hallway after his pajamas. We finished chapter 3 of the Chamber of Secrets tonight and Bryce is starting to realize subtle little changes from the movie to the book. I'm anxious to get to the Prisoner of Azkaban because there are so many differences between the book and the movie and I'm hoping they'll realize this.

Tonight I revamped my resume, too. I'm tired of handing out resumes and not receive a phone call for an interview so I went to work. As I was trying to figure out some points about myself to add to it, Hubby started attempting to help.

"Great wife."

"Umm, I don't think that would be what they're looking for."

After a few minutes, I mentioned that I had washed our body pillows and we would have clean, nice smelling pillows for bed tonight.

"Put that on there."

"I don't think they want to know that either. That's what I would put on the resume to be a wife."

"Make me a resume."

"I don't have to. I've already got you." Words can't describe the look on his face as this information sunk in but I enjoyed it. I did eventually get my resume finished. I have gotten nine loads of laundry washed today as well. Now I'm going to bed to enjoy another good nights sleep.

Sickness

2009-04-30T20:48:00.004-05:00

I wish I could say that I have a good excuse for not having a blog topic for yesterday but I don't. I spent yesterday babysitting what felt like most of the day. Little Man got here just after 7am and was here until 4:30. Then I immediately got in the car, drove to the middle school and picked up Bryce and his buddy, who was here until just after 6. I can't say that it was a tough day because it honestly wasn't. Little Man was great. We played, giggled, napped, and ate two big meals (him not me). The entire time he was here, I did not see one tear. After Bryce's buddy was picked up, I ran to get supper in the oven, the kids fed, bathed and in bed by 8. I talked to Hubby until he went to bed a short time later and I watched two episodes of Ghost Whisperer from season two that had come in from Blockbuster last week. I was in bed by 10:30!! I was ready for sleep!! Only sleep didn't come. I tossed and turned until well after 12.

It was 3am when Belle came into my room this morning and I really wasn't deeply asleep. I knew she came. I looked up at saw her shape and dropped back on my pillow struggling because I really didn't want to be up. I wanted to sleep, but I forced myself to stop and ask her why she was up to find out that she was sick. Her supper had come up and she was letting me know. So she went back to her bed and every ten minutes for the next hour she came back into my room to let me know she was sick. Again. At 4, she climbed in bed with me and finally about 5, she went from getting up every ten to fifteen minutes to every 30 or 45. We both pulled off about 30 minutes of sleep before the alarm went off just after 6. Talk about tired. I shouldn't have to say she stayed home today, running to the bathroom off and on most of the day. I got about an hour sleep on the couch while she grabbed about a half hour. So far she has held down her supper, but is still complaining about a pretty nasty stomach ache. One good thing about the whole situation is that she is not running a fever so I do think it is just a simple stomach virus. Unfortunately, she will be missing her field trip tomorrow to stay home with me and make the drive to get Hubby.

I am exhausted. And emotional. And too exhausted to sleep at this point. I have been job hunting, seriously job hunting the last few weeks and it is so disappointing to not even receive a phone call to come in for an interview before deciding I'm not the person for their company. I have friends putting out feelers for me, friends letting me know about jobs at this place or that place only for me to submit a resume and then not hear anything. Tell me something! Is a former employer giving me a bad reference? Do you not like what's on my resume? Have I been out of work too long? Talk to me first. Find out why I've been out of the workforce the last two years before making a judgement call.

Now that I've done my griping for tonight, I'm going to attempt sleep since it's already after 10. Then maybe things will be a little clearer tomorrow.

Meeting A New Friend and a Concert

2009-04-28T20:51:00.005-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I got a message from Janjanmom. Seems she picked up on something I had on my blog that led her to believe we actually lived pretty close together. How right she was. Yesterday, she gave me a call and we made arrangements to meet. Today we found out how small our world is. Turns out that we attended the same elementary school but she was a few years ahead of me (I even have yearbooks in the top of my closet that she should be in;)). While those few years don't mean much now that we are adults, as kids those few years can seem like eons. She even knew a couple of people that I ran around with either by location or by their siblings. She graduated high school just before I moved to that school but she graduated with my sister-in-law. It is just amazing! I had a great time talking with Janjan and meeting her three beautiful girls.

After meeting with Janjan, I started running. Belle and Bryce had their final strings concert of this year tonight and I had a thought to have Bryce try on his black pants this morning. Of course he had outgrown them. Again. So went the quest to find a reasonably priced pair of black pants (that he's only going to wear a handful of times before outgrowing them again). I finally found a pair and picked them up, hoping they would fit him when he got home. I can no longer buy kids-size clothing for him. The pants I picked up today? 32x32. They're a little long but I mean come on. I could wear them! I stopped by Wal-Mart for snacks for Belle tomorrow, chatted with a friend that worked there and headed for home. Here, I had to iron the kids clothes for tonight, get Bryce from tutoring, cut Bryce's hair, start supper, and get the kids showered and ready to be at the school by 5:30. Between 4 and 5, I had everything finished and the kids were sitting down eating. We got to the school a hair past 5:30 and the play started at six. It was a darling little play and the kids did a great job on the music, playing the longest piece they've played yet. Here they are for pictures after their performance.Maybe if I keep taking pictures at a distance of this quality, someone will be nice enough to get me a new camera. Ahem. Hubby knows of my desire for a good digital camera with a couple of lenses so that I can take better pictures without having to get right up on my target and get in the way of others taking pictures as well. Maybe, eventually I will finally be able to get one.

Since the kids had already showered when we got home, and the concert only lasted about a half hour, they were dressed in pjs by 7:00. At 7:30, they were brushing teeth and on their way to bed. By 7:45? My house was quiet and three exhausted kids had made their way to bed. Bryce got up once to have a cuticle cut that was hurting him and went right back to bed. I haven't seen him since. Tomorrow morning is coming quickly so I am finally going to stop, sleep and see what tomorrow brings.

A Long, Busy, Crazy Day

2009-04-25T22:23:00.003-05:00

Yesterday started off with absolutely nothing planned. We got up, didn't get into a hurry about anything and just started off slow. Finally, Hubby and I made it to the shower and went off to Wal-Mart for a few things. There, they were having Community Day where the kids could play games (for a donation), food for purchase just off the grill and people taking donations for new equipment for the local rescue squads. Belle won a 2-liter, while the boys won pieces of candy and we got all three kids cotton candy before we left. Then we went in the store and bought hot dogs and buns so we could try to burn a bit of the tree we cut down last fall and have a bonfire for the kids.

When we got back, we got to work. Hubby and Bryce mowed the yard. Brady had to help of course, but Bryce did most of the mowing in the front yard. The kids helped cleaned up the backyard so it could be mowed. They rode bikes, jumped on the trampoline, shot the bb gun at cans, rode their "motorcycle" and spent most of yesterday outside. Brady had a friend come by for a play date late in the afternoon. While they spent the day outside, I spent a big part of the day inside cleaning. When I finished yesterday afternoon, my living room was officially spring cleaned. I pulled movies and books off of shelves and wiped them down. I cleaned out the cabinet on my desk and wiped it down. I scrubbed my ceiling fan, baseboards, front door and cleaned picture frames. I even washed the windows. Now I can sit in my clean living room and think of what I need to do in the other rooms.

About 8, the wind finally died down enough for us to light our bonfire. It was small in terms of bonfires, but just the right size for hot dogs and marshmallows for the pleasing of the kids. It was a small fire, but it was an extremely hot fire. I burned up three marshmallows by holding them near the flames but not in them. I hate burnt marshmallows! So I fed them to Hubby. We did have one casualty when Belle walked into a roasting stick that was sitting across a lawn chair. She has a nice burn across her thigh now, but not a terribly bad burn. Just enough to let her know it's there. Overall the kids had a wonderful time and certainly slept well last night.

Today we did the opposite of yesterday. Mostly nothing. The kids rode their motorcycle again and played outside while Hubby tried to fix the lawnmower. I sat outside with them. We watched tv. The kids played with our neighbor's nieces. I made a good lunch for everyone since Hubby was leaving for work this evening. Then we made the 75 minute trip to Tennessee to drop him off and came back home. The kids are now sleeping and were so wore out that I haven't seen anyone of them since they got in their beds. I am now ready for bed myself after missing out on a couple of hours sleep during the night. I am putting a load of laundry in the dryer and off to bed to hope for sleep.

Mommy of the Year Award

2009-04-23T12:44:00.007-05:00

Ladybird has given me the Mom of the Year award! This is the second award that I've been given (both by Ladybird) so I'm excited to be doing this again. Be sure to check out her blog and see what she had to say about EC that makes her such a great mom.

Rules for Mom of the Year Award:

(1) Admit one thing you feel awful about involving being a mom. Get it off your shoulders. Once you've written it down, you are No Longer allowed to feel bad. It's over with, it's in the past. Remember, you're a good mom!

I hate that I wear my heart on my sleeve a lot of times. Because of this, my kids often know how I feel about the way they are being treated in certain situations or how I feel about how their "friends" are treating them. Then I ache because I can't protect them. I put them on a bus each and every day, send them to school to face things that I hated facing as a child. I spend the day with that nagging in the back of my mind, the worry of how they are doing. Are they being bullied (Bryce mainly), is things going well in their classes and are their so called friends doing things that friends should not be doing. Then I breathe a sigh of relief when they walk through the door and I find that the day went as it should. Today.

(2) Remind yourself you are a good mom, list seven things you love about your kids, you love doing with your kids, or that your kids love about you. These are the things to remind yourself everyday that you Rock!

I love how each kid has their own look. Three different hair colors, three different eye colors, three different skin tones. It amazes me how three siblings can be so different.

I love that Brady is a cuddler, even at 8 years old.

I love that Bryce can empathize with others even though he's at that "tough" eleven years old.

I love that Belle is coming out her shell and is becoming a strong social person.

I love that all three kids love music, something both their Dad and I love.

I love bowling, miniature golfing, or walking with the kids. Their excitement is contagious.

Even though it was very stressful, I enjoyed being able to "camp" out in the living room with the kids, especially during Ike. They were excited about a camp out and it was fun to watch their excitement.

(3) Send this to five other Mom's Of The Year that deserve credit for being great moms and remind them that they are the best moms they can be!! Remember to send them a note to let them know you've selected them, and add a link to the person who nominated you.

I only have two other Moms that I follow that follow me as well and they are so deserving!

1. Janjanmom at All in a Day's Work - Anyone who can raise three girls and homeschool definitely has my vote!

2. Jennifer at Daily Diatribes - It takes a special type of person who can be a good mother and put a great spin on parenting to make it funny!

Belts and Birds

2009-04-22T10:37:00.004-05:00

We have been running on our normal routine as of late. The kids get up, go to school while I putter around the house trying to keep occupied without actually doing any housework. This takes a lot of effort, especially since I don't watch any tv usually. I talk to Hubby at various times throughout the day (yesterday's conversation was a rough one). Then the end of school rolls around, I'm home when they get off the bus or run to get them when I need to. Supper is cooked and I start trying to work them in bed by 7:30. Then we start all over again.

I have been looking for a job over the last few months. Partly because I need something to occupy myself and partly because we could really use the extra money. But jobs are scarce and what's worse is that I haven't worked since early 2007. I have very little experience in my field and it's disappointing that I don't even get a call back when I submit resumes. So I sit and wait but jobs are few and far between.

On a lighter note, after Hubby put the birdhouse in the ground on Sunday, we went on about our normal daily routines. Yesterday, while loading my dishwasher, I thought I noticed a piece of grass flying in the back yard. So I watched to see a bird stick her head out of the house. We've already had a bird move in after only a couple of days and she is determined to make sure she doesn't lose it. She doesn't get far from the house even though she's still working on the nest and seems to be pretty tame as far as birds go. I opened the door and called out Brady's name to get him to look at the house and she sat there on the front of it. She never moved. Not a bad thing. Now I need to get my hummingbird feeder out and we'll be all set.

This afternoon looks like a typical afternoon. I have a load of towels in my washer and a load of jeans to hang up in my dryer. I need to run a couple of errands and pick Bryce up from violin practice. Then home again to start supper and if I'm really lucky everyone will be in bed by 8 starting with Brady at 7:30. Did I mention how he came into my room at 6:20 this morning and ask if he could wear my belt to school? Then when I told him to give me a minute that I will look in his room for one, he yells "BUT THERE'S NOT ANY!" and slams my door on the way out. Didn't tell you that one? Well, he got into a heap of trouble for yelling, slamming the door and then for me walking into the bedroom and finding two belts in open view. One was on the floor at the end of his bed, and the other was hanging out of the front of the toy box. But he didn't have one. Lucky for him, he's the first one in the shower tonight and the first to bed. Darn. How has your morning gone?

Recharged

2009-04-19T18:17:00.003-05:00

Hubby came home on Thursday and got to spend almost three full days with us. He got good miles, is scheduled for good miles next week and was home for 70 hours before having to leave out again which is almost unheard of, especially for him. Needless to say, I can't complain. Friday, the kids went to school, came home and went to work around the house. They did their chores, put away their clothes, cleaned up their toys in the living room and kitchen, then packed for an overnight stay at Memaw and Pepaw's. Hubby and I had the house all to ourselves.

Since Hubby and I knew while we were out and about that we were going to have the night to ourselves, we stopped and rented movies. We came home with Twilight (which I honestly wanted to read first but Hubby wanted to see), Yes Man and The Day the Earth Stood Still. We had to run back back Wal-Mart while we were out that night for a couple of things I forgot to pick up when grocery shopping. I ended up picking up a new set of mechanical pencils. Have I mentioned my love for office/school supplies? I'd link to them but I can't find them anywhere but I will say, I bought them simply for the patterns and colors on the pencils. Afterward, we went to a local pizza and steak restaurant to eat on their seafood buffet for dinner then came home. Hubby precut some boards for a task that we were going to work on Saturday (more to come on that) and we settled down to watch movies. Twilight was an ok movie, but I like true vampire movies. Vampires are supposed to be sorta "bad" guys. They survive on blood for crying out loud. So when the vampires sparkled in sunlight, I was disappointed. That's not evil! I want to hear them scream in pain because they're in sunlight because I'm morbid that way! I fell asleep on The Day the Earth Stood Still since we didn't actually put it in to watch until like 11:30pm. We never made it to Yes Man so I went ahead and returned it with the other two.

Saturday, I went to get the kids while Hubby tilled the garden and started mowing a neighbor's yard. When I got back with them, Bryce push mowed the neighbors front yard while Hubby mowed the backyard. Belle, Brady and I went into our backyard and planted my garden for this year. According to my granddad's beliefs, my peas will not come up this year because they weren't planted on February 15th. Guess we'll see what happens. This year I planted sweet peas, sweet corn, carrots and squash. Then in the afternoon, Hubby rounded the kids up to paint a birdhouse that he was building. Here they are in action and with the finished product:
They were in bed and out cold by 9pm Saturday night! After a good day yesterday, they had to counter it today of course. Brady was in our room this morning complaining about an argument that was going on with Bryce. It was a nice way to wake up. Yeah. They finally calmed down after a nice chat about how we are supposed to act and how we are not supposed to wake Mom and Dad unless the house is burning, bones are broken or there is serious blood. I dropped Hubby off at his truck earlier this afternoon and have almost gotten the kids ready for bed. Hubby took the camera with him on this week's run because it is taking him to the Denver area so if there are any pictures to be taken at home, I will miss them. Now I'm going to shut down my computer before the storm that is blowing in shuts it down for me. How was your weekend?

Responsibilities

2009-04-16T22:15:00.002-05:00

As Hubby was backing out of the driveway Sunday evening to leave for work, he mentioned that he left the key in the lawnmower.

"I'll get it out when I get back," was my reply. So tonight when he came home, he walked out to the car looking for his sunglasses to put away.

"Did you take the key out of the lawnmower."

"Ummm...I was busy. But look! It's still there!" No. I didn't forget. Really. But it is still there.

Not Much to Report

2009-04-16T13:28:00.004-05:00

I spent yesterday recovering from my volunteering on Tuesday. I was up late Tuesday night and slept hard. But then I didn't want to get up. So I took a nap. I lounged around a big part of the day in my pj's. I ate leftovers for lunch. Then my neighbor called to asked if I could babysit for her yesterday evening and I had to change. Ok, so I was already in the process of changing but her call encouraged me to finish.

Today hasn't been much different, other than I grabbed me a shower right after the kids got on the bus this morning. I had to babysit Little Man this morning and he was dropped off about 8:30. Dad picked him up just after 10. He'd been asleep 15 minutes. So I talked to Hubby a few minutes and crashed after being up since 2:30am. Hubby is now on his way back to Tennessee and I will be going to get him this evening, which usually makes it very difficult to blog. We'll see what happens. Right now, I am watching Ocean's Thirteen and waiting on the bus to get here in less than an hour.

I will say that my decision to moderate my comments has been a sticking point for me. For the most part, my usual few commenters have still been leaving comments, but I'm afraid that it keeps new visitors from leaving comments. That being said, I have already rejected two comments in the past two days that were from spammers. So I guess I'll be keeping at it for a bit.

Now that I have recapped my last two, run-of-the-mill days, I'm going to finish watching this movie and get ready to leave to get Hubby. Things have been slow around here with us getting back into routine. The kids do their usual things. Wii. Computer. Play outside. If you have any questions, please leave me a comment and I'll answer it the best I can!

Whew!

2009-04-14T21:26:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, after feeling like I had been up all night, I decided that I was going to take a nap. Not long after I had gotten to sleep good, I received a phone call from the kids school. I'm sure the person I spoke to was worried about whether or not I was going to remember the conversation, I was that groggy. She was calling to remind me that I had volunteered to help with a COSI exhibition that was scheduled for today and that I was scheduled to work 8-11. I remembered volunteering, but I had turned in the sheet back before spring break so it took me a minute to register what I was being told. So this morning, I put the kids on the bus, ate a bite of breakfast, showered and headed off to the school.

When I arrived, there were a few other parents and grandparents there. The school had set out breakfast for the volunteers in the gym. Since I had already eaten, I opted for oj. Have I ever told you how much I hated school oj in elementary school? My feelings for it haven't really improved. Moving on. The girl/lady who put on the show took the volunteers around through each station, giving us information about the station and how it worked. Then she allowed us to choose which station we wanted to work. The whole show was about weather related things and the first thing the kids saw an assembly where the host showed them information regarding weather and molecules. The kids had a blast. Afterward, each grade came in at different intervals for their hands on learning at the stations. My station was decoding symbols meteorologists use as a shorthand on maps. At 11:30, the school provided lunch for the volunteers, regardless of whether you were staying a full day or a half day. I stayed, had lunch and waited to see if all of the other volunteers showed up for the afternoon shift. When it was time to start again, they were still one volunteer short so I stayed the rest of the afternoon working my station. Let me tell ya, 300+ kids running through a gym (no I didn't work with all of them) is a little unnerving. After that long day, I picked up Brady and Belle (Bryce had tutoring) and went home.

This afternoon I was charged for a bit. Cleaned my bathroom, washed a load of clothes, swept the kitchen, loaded my dishwasher and washed a few pieces that wouldn't fit in it. Then I started supper for the kids. While the oven was heating up, I dozed off for ten minutes on the couch. I've been running ever since. Now I'm ready to crash and I can only hope that being a science volunteer will kick my butt tonight. We'll see. Then I'm going to hope tomorrow is a little less active.

Weekend Adventures and More

2009-04-13T15:09:00.000-05:00

Last week kept me busy with the kids on spring break. Not only did I have my three kids, but I also babysat Monday and Tuesday evenings. Tuesday night, Belle spent the night with the neighbors. Wednesday morning, she asked to go to the local park with them. I packed up the boys a little later, intending on taking them to a separate park in town, but passed Belle along the way and returned to get her. We went to a new park, ate lunch and the kids played for maybe ten minutes before I loaded them up and brought them home. It was cold! It was after noon but it was only showing 56° when I got into my car. So I told the kids that we would get up Thursday morning and go to the park before the rain that was coming in. Wednesday afternoon, Hubby let me know he was coming into Tennessee again before going into Mississippi but wasn't coming through our hometown on his way through. He asked if I could bring him his wallet and being the good wife -ahem- I did. It was 7:30pm before I got home to heat enchiladas for supper.

Thursday, we were up by 8:30, eating, changing and ready to go by 10. So the kids, neighbors kid and I went to the park and while we were there met up with my other neighbor, her hubby and Little Man that I watch. The kids played a good couple of hours before I brought them home for lunch and of course I totally forgot to take my camera so that I could grab a few pictures. Thursday evening, I drove back to Tennessee to get Hubby for the weekend. On the way home, we made a few stops because we were hungry and I had no desire to come home and try to cook. We stopped by Little Ceasars, because pizza you don't have to wait for is always a good thing, Dollar Tree and for gas. This Dollar Tree that Hubby went into? It was such a big store that you could get lost in it! I so need to live near a dollar store that size! We were driving home, listening to the radio and eating pizza when a Kenny Chesney song came on. I don't remember which one but I do remember that it was one of his "tropical" songs. A couple of minutes into the song Hubby asked if I was seeing what he was seeing. I turned around to find Brady in the back seat bopping his head to the beat. What Hubby couldn't see was not only was he bopping his head but he was moving his hands hula-style. When Brady finally realized we were watching him, he grinned his big grin, turned bright red and never missed a beat. I so wished I had a video camera!

Friday was busy from the moment we got out of bed. I started out washing clothes and trying to get all of the dishes into the dishwasher. Hubby worked on building a shelf to put in the van that we could put the portable DVD player on it so the kids could watch it without me having to hold it on the arm rests of our chairs. I went through six loads of laundry (I think), two loads of dishes, boiled 30+ eggs and let the kids dye their eggs. By two, we were walking out the door, loading up the kids and heading to Indiana for the night. We got into Indiana right around 5, unloaded the kids and Hubby stayed behind with 4 of the 7 kids while my oldest sister-in-law, S, and I carried three of our kids to the grocery. We picked up salad stuffs, corn on the cob, and ice cream to go with the steaks and hot dogs we were having for dinner. By the time the food was ready, Hubby and me, his sister S and her husband J, his sister C and her boyfriend M, as well as our ten kids (and M's nephew, nephew's girlfriend and their baby) were all accounted for. There were 19 of us in this house and it was loud to say the least. Surprisingly, no one got hurt.

Saturday morning, we had to be at the soccer field for my middle nephew's game. We sat, bundled up on the sidelines, as the kids kicked the ball up and down the field. Afterward, we went back to S and J's house for lunch (can't go wrong with leftover steaks) and waiting on two other nieces before heading off to the zoo. And yes, I forgot my camera at home for this trip so I didn't have it for zoo pictures either. We were severely outnumbered for this trip, with four adults and 9 children ages 3-11. We saw a hippo, lioness, lemurs, tiger, giraffes among other things. One of the last places we stopped was at the monkey cages. S, J and I got a good laugh watching as the younger monkeys chased each other around the branches in the cage when all of a sudden one jumped from the branch to the cage, right in front of where Hubby and I were standing. I saw the monkey coming but Hubby had no idea what was happening until after he had already ducked and raised his arm to block the flying monkey stopped by wire. Needless to say, he didn't find it as funny as we did! We used our cell phones to try and capture a decent picture of all of the cousins together at the zoo. Here is the best one I got:They are all seated in order of age with 3 of S and J's kids first at ages 3, 4, and 6. Next is C's youngest daughter, 7, Brady, 8, C's oldest daughter, 9, Belle, 10, S and J's oldest son, 11, and Bryce, 11. We were missing the eldest of the group, C's son who will be 15 this week. He had other plans. S and I then left the kids with Hubby and we went Easter shopping. I had already bought the kids candy, but still liked getting their gifts. She didn't have anything. Two and a half hours later, we got back to her house to load up our kids and head home. Nothing like getting home at 1am only to have to hide Easter eggs. We finally made it to bed around 2.

Brady was up at 7:30 Easter morning, anxious to see what the Easter bunny had brought him. He was disappointed that he didn't get a Nintendo DS (so was I), but excitedly picked the basket that held a Wii game he wanted. Bryce also got a Wii game but Belle was harder. She doesn't play the Wii a whole lot and it really didn't suit to get her a game. So she got a bunch of little stuff. She's been carrying around her purse, make-up box, lip gloss, fingernail polish, fingernail art. The only thing she hasn't been into is her flip-flops and that's because it's really too cool right now. Here's a picture of them hunting eggs in the living room:
I spent yesterday playing catch-up. When we left, I still had four loads of laundry to wash. I swear by the end of yesterday, I had washed another six loads and still had four more to go! Today, I've washed three of those four loads and the only reason I haven't washed the last loads is that I haven't felt like cleaning the bathrooms so that I can wash those rags. Ugh!

I love to watch the kids get up on Easter and Christmas mornings, all excited to see what they got. Then comes the rest of the day, with me and them in a haze from lack of sleep, and the grouchies. Unfortunately, the grouchies ran into today with Brady. This morning, he got up, ate his cereal and went to brush his teeth. I told him he needed to empty his bowl and put it in the sink. His response? "Mom! You're wasting my time to brush my teeth!" So I responded as simply as I could in his terms.

"So I guess then you won't be wasting your time playing the Wii this afternoon." Man, the cereal bowl was in the sink faster than I've seen in a very long time!

As I sit here now, I hear the bus coming down the street. The kids first day back after spring break was today so the first day home will be a little rougher than usual days. But I have already gotten the enchiladas prepared for supper (just need to be put in the oven) so that's one less task I have to face. I only have to get them to eat them. Now I'm going to attack homework, Wii time and snacks.

There Is Just No Title

2009-04-06T23:48:00.001-05:00

This weekend has been crazy, crazy. I still am not quite up to where I should be as far as this darn cold! I now have a cough that doesn't want to quit and my throat hurts whenever I yawn. I have slowed down on my kleenex's though. It took me three days to go through the other half of the box that I bought on Wednesday, compared to the one day it took me to get through the first half. So I'm getting there. I just don't have any energy though. I could spend days curled up on the couch not doing anything if I could get away with it. Unfortunately duty calls. And laundry. And children. And meals. And dishes.

Friday night, Bryce went to stay with a friend. The friend came here after school and his mom picked up both boys around 6:30. My neighbor had asked me to babysit that evening so I had Little Man from 4:30 until his dad showed up at 6:45. I started to make supper for Brady and Belle when I had to walk away for a few minutes to help Little Man's dad. When I got back, 3/4 of my supper was burnt. So I ordered pizza. I took them to rent a movie (Madagascar 2), picked up the pizza and came home to wind down for the night. They were ready for bed just after the movie ended, with absolutely no arguing. They changed into their pj's, climbed into bed and I didn't hear a peep out of them the rest of the night. I took two Nyquil and followed them a short time later.

Hubby delivered himself on Saturday morning. I say delivered himself because I didn't have to drive to Tennessee this time to get him. He is currently on his way to New York, a run that routed him right through our home town so he just went ahead and brought the truck home with him. Ok, he brought it town with him, not home home. I certainly don't have enough room for a semi and trailer. I picked Bryce up before running across town to get Hubby and came home for what I hoped to be a productive afternoon. My sister-in-law had contacted me earlier in the week about her middle son reading the story Letters from Felix in school. Each child was sending Felix to someone far from them to get information about their area and her son wanted to send his "Felix" to Brady. So Saturday we took Felix bowling. I wanted to take him miniature golfing but Hubby didn't want to have to drive 45 minutes one way to the place after having spent all week in his truck, not that I blame him. So bowling it was. The kids had a blast, and I got beat both rounds that we played. Our local bowling alley was bought out a few years back, remodeled and renamed. While the entire place wasn't completely remodeled, the owners did take the time and effort to install new electronic score keeping. They also installed bumpers for the kids that is run on hydraulics and can be set up through the computers. Once we set up all of the names on our game, we let the employees know which ones we want bumpers on and they automatically come up along the edge of the lane on the kids turns. The kids are happy without gutterballs and we are happy that we don't have to have bumpers to play with our kids!

We were also going to go by the local park on Saturday afternoon, but by the time we got there, a birthday party was in full force and there were kids everywhere. This park is a new park, so playground equipment is limited and we chose to bring them back another time. And we went home. Belle skated, while Bryce and Brady played football with Hubby. The neighbor's child spent the night on Saturday night with Belle. After approving the sleepover, Belle informed me that she had to be home by 8:30am so she could go to church with her grandmother. Great. That meant I had to be up by 7:30 in order to fix breakfast so she didn't go home hungry. I sent the girls to bed about 11pm. Hubby and I went to bed about 12am and I opened the door and told them it was late and that they needed to sleep. By the time I looked the clock the last time at 1am, the girls were still up giggling.

Zeus woke me at 5:30 Sunday morning and, of course, I never went back to sleep. So I got up, fed the girls breakfast, got neighbor girl off to her house and went back to bed at 8:30. Then got up with Hubby at 9:30. We finally went for a paper around noon and what I saw at the convenience store stunned me. Hubby pulled up and went inside for the paper while the kids and I sat in the car and waited. Church was letting out so it was busy, one of the two registers were down and he was slow getting out of the store. As I sat in the van, another car pulled up in front of the building. A younger girl got out of the driver's seat and walked around the backside of the car. I noticed that she had a car seat and an infant seat in the back of her car but from the way she was parked I couldn't tell if the kids were actually in the car. She got to the passenger side of the car when her boyfriend, spouse, significant other, friend, whatever, got out of the passenger seat. He turned around and faced her as she calmly said something to him when he reached up and slapped her. I was stunned as I watched her, and she seemed just as stunned as I was. It took what seemed like forever as things sunk in and she looked at him before raising her hand to her face then bursting into tears. Then I questioned what I could do. I couldn't call for police because I had forgotten my cell phone at home and Hubby was still in the store. There was no way I was getting out of the car because both of them knew that I saw what went on. But then I questioned whether or not the police would be able to do anything. Would it be a domestic disturbance because they were possibly involved or would it be battery because he hit her in a public parking lot? Neither one of them walked into the store after that altercation. Both of them climbed back into the car, him complaining and her crying. I saw them for a second at an intersection as we drove past them, her still crying and holding her face, but have not seen them again. I'm still not sure what I should've done in that situation and I hate myself for not doing anything.

Sunday afternoon, we watched as storms passed over bringing in another cold front. The kids played outside a bit before the storms hit and managed to burn off a bit of energy. They burned off so much energy that while they were outside the power kicked off. It had been off for half an hour before Belle walked through the house and asked if it was off. It had been off for 45 minutes when Brady finally realized that it wasn't on. While it was off, Hubby and I got to watching some clouds we didn't like. We have a weather radio but the batteries were down and since there was no power, it wasn't running. I love my weather radio. I love to know what's going on as soon as it's put on the air waves. I hate the fact that if the power kicks off, that radio will burn through 4 AA batteries within 24 hours. Anyhow. Hubby went off to get batteries for the radio, batteries that were eventually not needed because the power came back on before he returned. So he came home, we had supper and he started getting ready to leave again. About 7, as he was getting the last of his things together, I started going through the motions of a mental checklist. Got your phone? Wallet? He had his phone but could not find his wallet. We went through this house 5 or 6 times looking for it everywhere. I even pulled laundry out of the washer to see if it had fallen off the sink and I grabbed it with the laundry by mistake. Nothing. When Hubby finally left, we still had not found his wallet. I dropped him off, came home and searched again, through the same places for the darn thing. Nothing.

This morning, I got up, changed my clothes, dressed the kids and headed off to Lowes, the last place Hubby knew he had his wallet. At the front desk, I asked if someone had found or turned in a wallet. The girl that was working the closest register, told the girl behind the desk where to find it since she was the one who found the wallet and turned it in to management. They handed me his wallet, still intact, with everything where it should be. And then there was a sort of relief. Yes, we have his wallet, in my possession and nothing was missing, but he is still on his way to New York with no drivers license, no medical release card, no business card if he should have to stop and purchase fuel instead of getting it from his company terminal. Makes for a long couple of days until he gets home.

I had taken a few pictures of the cats over the last few weeks that I had forgotten to share so I will do that tonight as well. Callie has been playful as ever here lately. Bryce had left some clothes at a friend's house a few weeks back and the friends mother dropped them off in a Wal-Mart sack, folded nice and neat after she had washed them. I found Callie curled up on them a day or so later.Then Belle found her playing around in her bedroom in the mess she had on the floor at the time.Zeus was not about to be outdone so last week, I watched as he climbed onto my counter, my microwave and then up on top of my refrigerator.While he sat on his perch, Callie was watching from just a few feet away in her bed/fish tank. So I have now survived the first real day of spring break, the first day that wasn't the weekend and posted a couple of weeks worth of pictures. The kids couldn't go outside today, because wouldn't you know it, the first real day of spring break brought snow, sleet and rain. And it went on almost all. day. long. I even babysat for my neighbor this evening, fixed a decent supper (that I usually cook on Monday) and got everyone to bed. Tomorrow, I've got to find something better to occupy them, interest them. But that requires sleep first. So until next time...

Explanations and Updates

2009-04-02T19:28:00.004-05:00

As promised, my explanation for moderating my comments. Over the last few weeks, I've been having issues with "people" leaving comments on my blog. Oh my gosh! I know! That's the whole purpose of having comments enabled on the blog! The bad thing is the comments are sometimes something that is actually typed in and other times it is a comment that has been copied and pasted from my very own post. Then the "commenter" leaves a url for a commercial website where they would like you to visit. Well I prefer to not be the target of spammers. So I will moderate until things calm down. Then I may change it.

Now on to updates! Yesterday, South and North Dakotas dug themselves out of some serious snow and Hubby got to leave South Dakota and move on to his destination in North Dakota. He made his delivery this morning, picked up a delivery a few miles from his delivery and headed home. He is currently in Minnesota (not sure where right now mr_e...just know he'll be outside of Minneapolis sometime tomorrow) and should be home Saturday morning. A huge relief for both of us!

Parent-teacher conferences were today and the kids received their report cards. All three teachers raved over the kids, how smart they are, how much they behave and how they really didn't have anything to report (other than Bryce has been listening better in class and tutoring has been helping). Bryce pulled his D in math at mid-term up to a B and the rest of his subjects were A's. Brady had a C in science at mid-term and pulled it up to have straight A's. Belle also managed to pull off straight A's, the first time in fourth grade. The kids may drive me crazy at home with this and that but one thing that I have to admit I enjoy is the fact they are good students. Makes getting through other things easier.

I started this post ten minutes before 8 and hoped I had enough time to get it up before ER started. I admit that over the years ER has hit a point of disappointment but I still watched, whether it be out of habit or dedication. One thing I couldn't miss is the very last show so I am now finished, during the first round of commercials. I'll be back tomorrow!

Oh, JanJanMom, if you missed my comment, click my link and send me an email.

Quick Note

2009-04-02T14:34:00.002-05:00

Just a quick note to let readers know that I have turned on comment moderation. I'm on my way out the door so I will explain more tonight.

Medicine is an Awesome Thing

2009-03-31T20:52:00.004-05:00

I wish I could say that I feel better today, but I definitely don't. The sudafed I bought to try to clear my head didn't really help. Last night, I struggled to get to sleep because my head was so stuffy. When I finally got to sleep good, the dogs barking woke me up again. I never did find out what caused them to start barking but Sophie was having a fit when I got up at 12:30. So I let them outside for a few minutes and put them back to bed. Just after 1, one of the kids got up and went to the bathroom. I never found out which one it was because they turned the lights out behind them and went to bed. At two, Sophie and Gracie had escaped from the laundry room where they sleep and Gracie began to bark in the hallway, waking me yet again. So I threw them outside again for a few minutes and put them back to bed. I finally got back to sleep before Zeus woke me at 5 to go outside. Then I didn't want to get up at 6 to put the kids on the bus. So after they got on the bus, I talked to Hubby (more on that in a bit) and went back to sleep on the couch. At 10, after I had been up for a bit, I got up and grabbed a shower so that I could go to the store. The longer I was up the more I realize that sudafed is not going to help everything that I was suffering from. So off it was to Wal-Mart for some serious drugs. By the time I left the store, I had things in my buggy to make enchiladas for supper, kleenex, orange juice and a box of Dayquil/Nyquil. Right now I am doing good on my Dayquil but that should be wearing off in the next hour or so. My ears aren't hurting, my teeth aren't hurting and I finally got rid of the headache that has held me captive all day. This mornings nap was not the only one I took. I also grabbed one about 1:30 this afternoon before the kids got home. When this dose of meds give up here shortly, I will be taking my Nyquil. Then I'm going to call it a night.

One thing I don't understand about medications is why they feel the need to adjust dosages. Dayquil has 325 mg of acetaminophen in each capsule. Two means that you are taking 650 mg of the same medication as tylenol. Extra-strength tylenol is 500mg and it is recommended that adults take two or 1000mg. Why then is the amount of acetaminophen in Dayquil/Nyquil is the equivalent of two regular strength tylenol?

Hubby is still stuck in South Dakota. He is fine, thank goodness, but the interstate he really needs to take is closed and the second round of snow has moved in but is expected to move out overnight. He made the mistake of turning off his truck last night, and by morning he was freezing even though he has a generator on the truck to keep it warm. He finally got it warmed back up this afternoon and I told him to leave it running. His company can eat the cost to keep him warm after sending him up there. The truck stop he is at is still open so he has been able to go in and move around as well as eat and warm up. He has gone to bed for the night hoping he can move at some point tomorrow. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

The kids are sleeping, finally but I'm afraid that Belle is attempting to come down with the same thing I have. They are excited about getting next week off for spring break and are antsy awaiting the end of this week. So much so they are driving me crazy with the things they are wanting to do. Hopefully, I will be over this before they go on spring break. It's so much easier to take care of the kids when I'm not sick.

Now I'm am going to finish my oj and get ready to take me some Nyquil. Hopefully the animals will sleep tonight.

Another Dream, a Cat and a Blizzard

2009-03-30T20:41:00.003-05:00

It's funny how pets and dreams can make your life interesting. Early Saturday morning, I was in the middle of a dream, and while I honestly don't remember who I was talking to, I do remember telling them that when a cat rubs it's nose on you, it was loving on you and wanted you to pet it. While informing them of this bit of information, I had a cat in my arms who was rubbing it's nose across my cheek. Slowly, I came to realize that it wasn't just a dream. Zeus was sitting on my chest and was rubbing his nose across my cheek trying to wake me up. Funny, I didn't feel much like being loved on at 3am.

Hubby called the company he is driving for (not the company he is actually employed with) and informed them of his fears of getting caught in the blizzard that is currently blowing through the mid-west. They felt that if he could get north of it then he would be ok. What they didn't take into consideration is that federal drive laws only allow him to drive for so many hours during the day before he is required to take a 10 hour break. He left St. Louis this morning just after 7am and is currently stopped at a truck stop in Watertown, South Dakota. There, chances are, he will be for the next few days since they are expecting 6-10 inches of snow. Tonight. And another 3-5 inches of snow. Tomorrow. And another inch of snow. Tomorrow night. So I am anxious. I informed him that he is to stop at a truck stop where he has a choice of meals, bathroom, and a hotel nearby. He did just that. He is within all of those orders as well as at a stop that accepts the cards the drivers use when they need to purchase fuel at company expense. With any luck, they will be more prepared for this type of weather than we were and not lose power. If they do lose power, my hopes are that somewhere in the vicinity of where he is stopped there is a generator. So I wait until tomorrow to make sure he is alright. Before he hung up for sleep tonight, I made sure to get contact numbers from his company so that if he loses his cell phone I can try to get in contact with him through his computer in his truck. Please remember him as you go about your day. It was frightening enough to go through an ice storm at home without power but I can't imagine sitting out a blizzard in the back of a semi truck.

On the home front, my body has finally decided to betray me and get sick. I am in the process of coming down with one nasty cold. There is so much pressure in my head that my teeth ache. Tonight I'm hoping that the sudafed I just took will be enough to knock me out, at least until morning. So for now, I'm hunting down the tylenol and settling down so I don't have to think. Or move.

Back Up and Running

2009-03-29T19:55:00.002-05:00

Friday morning I got up to put the kids on the bus and found my internet up and running. I went through my emails, looked at a few things trying to catch up on what I missed but time was limited. Hubby was on his way home and I would be driving to Tennessee to get him so I had to be showered and ready when he called to let me know that he was nearby. He was coming down right through the area so I was going to fall in behind him and follow him down to our destination. By the time we got home, it was just after 1pm. Shortly after, the ISP company called about the message I left. On Wednesday. A tech was in my driveway in under 15 minutes with a new modem. Of course I made it clear how unhappy I was that my modem was the problem and I had called three weeks before. A phone call that wasn't returned. So for now we're watching to see if the modem was actually the problem.

Friday afternoon, I went to the grocery and left Hubby to get the kids off the bus, because I'm nice that way. Honestly, he volunteered to stay behind while I got groceries. And I didn't hesitate to take him up on that offer because who could turn down a chance to grocery shop while the kids play at home? When I returned home, Belle had gone to a friends house on a play date, Brady was wanting a friend to come over for a play date and Hubby was on the roof. Yes, on the roof of our house. He was rewiring our tv antenna since we can't seem to get the signal to work after we split the cable. After crawling under the house three different times, we still haven't gotten the darn thing to work. Brady's friend came over to play, I went to get Belle around 5 and got to watch the neighbors baby for a bit during all of this. We finally ordered pizza for a late supper. Belle then volunteered for the first bath of the night. I bought her a razor while I was at the store and she was very excited at the idea of shaving for the first time. Words cannot describe how not ready I was for this step, but I knew that the time was right for her. We both survived the ordeal, her without a nick and me with my sanity still intact. I can say that it did bring me a bit of joy knowing that she still needed me when taking this step. She has a couple of friends that are shaving and has seen the effects of how a razor can cut. She wanted me to use the razor first and show her how to work it. She hasn't decided she's smarter than me yet!

Saturday started off about the same way. The kids got up and fixed themselves breakfast. Then started the running. Again. Brady went to the same friends house for a play date. Belle and Bryce ran around the house playing while making a lot of noise. And noise. And more noise. Hubby was still working on the tv, trying to get it up and running while I tackled mountains of laundry. Laundry that I am still trying to conquer, but has diminished greatly. I got to watch the baby again for a few minutes while his dad put down a new mailbox post after his fell over. Still enough time to take in that sweet baby smell and giggles. I don't think I sat down much over the course of Saturday to do anything except glance at an email. So much for a quiet day.

Today has been another day of running. We went for a Sunday paper and a few things from the store so that Hubby could leave again. I never pick up anything that Hubby will take in his truck on Friday because he never knows what he wants until the last minute. So we usually go to get it just before he leaves. Then I made a decent lunch so that Hubby could have a good meal before taking off again. We got him to his truck and I made the trip home in 75 minutes with no worries other than threatening to pull the car over and adjust a few kids attitudes. As of right now, Hubby is in St. Louis, getting ready to sleep for tonight. Unfortunately, he is supposed to be headed into North Dakota which is already under blizzard conditions. Tomorrow he will be calling the company he is running for to see if they can change the delivery for next week. The area he is delivering to is north of the storm, but he would still have to drive through it to get to his destination and as it stands right now, most of the roads in the south central part of the state has been put under an order from DOT that they be avoided. I'll be sure to update you on what happens tomorrow with his delivery. He is to call me for road conditions in the state before calling the company or pushing on. My hopes are that they turn him back for something else. I hope.

This is the last week of school for the kids before spring break. Parent-teacher conferences are on Thursday where I will get their report cards. Hopefully some of the grades will be better than what they brought home on their mid-term reports. We'll see what happens. I did forget to mention that a friend of mine let me know she saw Bryce's picture in the paper where he was student of the month for January. When I asked him about it (because I knew nothing about it) his response was, "So that's what that picture was for! They took our picture, told us to get a sucker and go back to class." I can only assume the reason he didn't know himself was because it was during the period of not listening to his teacher. He was awarded for fairness, the first time he has been awarded student of the month in a few years. He was excited when he found out.

Now that I think I am finally up to date on everything going on, I am going to call it a night. Six comes very quickly, especially if Zeus doesn't feel the need to let me sleep. That is a story I neglected to share, but definitely a topic for tomorrow!

Excuses

2009-03-26T20:35:00.003-05:00

I have a good one, I swear! Tuesday morning, I was minding my own business, watching Brothers and Sisters on abc's website when my internet connection decided it didn't want to be connected any more. It then proceeded to mock me every time I walked by and checked it. That little flashing red light would literally laugh maniacally at me for even thinking about looking at it. Ok, maybe I just heard it laughing at me.

Anyhoo, I called my ISP on Wednesday and left a message with tech support. According to their message, they will get back to me "at their earliest convenience". I still haven't heard anything from them, although I did ask Hubby what he thought they would say if I offered to pay them at my earliest convenience. I have been going absolutely crazy. Part of me even considered stopping by Backyard Burgers and buying a burger just so that I could partake in their new offer of free Wi-Fi. Instead I mentioned my plight to my darling neighbor who recently hooked up with AT&T internet. Internet that allows her to connect four computers at a time. Internet that she was willing to share with me so that I could feed my addiction while the kids are sleeping soundly in their beds. Wasn't that so nice of her?

So here I am, checking in from the backseat of my van (where the laptop is currently plugged and charging), hijacking my neighbors signal. I have no shame. I'm alive and kicking but truly bored here at home. Unless I receive a call back first thing in the morning, you can bet I'll be calling and leaving yet another message for tech support tomorrow. Or I may have Hubby do it. You know that "man get a better, faster response" thing. So until next time, I'll be pulling my hair out.

I Drove Home from Tennessee

2009-03-22T22:12:00.002-05:00

Just over a week ago, Hubby applied for a position within his company to drive strictly for one of their customers. Unfortunately this position doesn't get him home every day but does have it's benefits. He will get to drive more miles with this position than he has in the last six months, which is great. He will usually know the before the end of the week where next week will take him. By this past Thursday, we knew that Hubby would be going to North Carolina and Pennsylvania this coming week and would be home probably on Saturday. This position will allow him to keep his insurance through his company which means no wait time for it to kick in and no worries about pre-existing conditions. He will still be home every weekend since this company does not run weekend shifts. One bad thing about the job is that I have to take him to Dyersburg Tennessee every week and then return to get him at the end of the week, at least until we get another vehicle.

I hate driving like this.

I can drive around town, can drive to neighboring towns, but I can not stand having to drive well outside of my hometown that requires changing between major highways. This trip is roughly an hour and a half and in all fairness is not that difficult of a drive. I've taken longer trips to Indiana without Hubby to meet up with my sister-in-law. But I worry. I worry that I've missed my turn and should've taken the exit before. Then I start to panic because I don't remember this highway being this long before my next exit. Once I hit the Kentucky line on a highway I've driven since I was sixteen years old, I felt I could breathe again. I made the trip home tonight without any incidents. I drove home from Tennessee by myself, for the first time ever, with three kids in the car! And now? I'm going to sleep and hope that the trip doesn't haunt me in my dreams. Maybe tomorrow I will tackle another fear, but I will not make that decision tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

According to Facebook....

2009-03-19T20:26:00.004-05:00

Not much more has happened between last night and tonight, although I did come up with a couple of random things. Last weekend, I called Brady into the kids bathroom with me and handed him a rag. I sprayed the toilet seat down with lysol and had him clean. I did it again with the bottom of the seat and the toilet itself. Then I let him know that if he didn't start paying attention to his aim, that he would sit on that wet seat (like Belle does if she doesn't look first) then he would clean it. Again. While babysitting yesterday, I felt I'd better use the kids bathroom rather than my own because the baby was playing in the living room floor and it was closer. So before I even attempted to use the toilet, I inspected it first. Imagine my surprise when I found the darn thing was spotless! Not once has he wet the seat in the last five or six days! I was excited!

Today on Facebook, a friend of mine took one of the quizzes that passes through. It was the "How Many Kids Should You Have" quiz and it informed her that she should have two kids. She has three. So I felt the need to take the same quiz. Now based on how old I was going to be when I planned to have children (in my case when I did), how old my mom was when she had me, how many siblings I have and depending on which of the Beatles, the Beach Boys or the Monkees I liked best, the quiz informed me that I was supposed to have six kids. I have no idea what my choice in music had to do with this information and I can't remember what the other question I had to answer was either, but it just knew I was destined to have six kids. So this six kids business I had to share. I called Hubby and informed him that Facebook told me we were supposed to have six kids. His response? "Absolutely Not!" So I calmly informed him that Facebook told me we were supposed to so that should trump his need to not have another child. He did not feel the need that a social network should tell us the number of children to have. I tried!

In baby news though, I have spent the last two days eating up the baby boy that had the ~~horror~~ pleasure of staying with me. One cannot resist those chubby little cheeks with the precious little dimples and that big round belly that just screamed for to blow raspberries on it after I changed that diaper to get his precious little giggle. I got to cuddle with him today for a bit as he woke up good from his nap and smell his sweet baby lotion. I've got enough baby today to tide me over until ~~tomorrow~~ next weekish. I hope.

Belle performed tonight along with about 20 other fourth graders from her class for the board of education. They sang a song and performed a song on "boomwhackers" and I swear I knew that song! The song itself was calling something silly like Seriously Wacky or something like that but I know it from an old 50's or 60's song but I just can't put my finger on it. I knew it while they were playing it but my poor child-bearing memory lost it the minute I had to gather three kids and walk out the door to load them into my car. The kids performed well and Bryce and Brady were very well behaved the entire time we waited for the performance to start and finish. I even got quite a few compliments on how Brady decided to carry a book with him to read while waiting and how nice it was to see a boy so devoted to reading. If they only knew! Granted the boys has no qualms about reading and can put away a pretty good sized book (they all can) but he'd rather being playing video games than going through a good book.

After all this babysitting, chauffeuring, laundering, cooking, cleaning stuff that I've had to do over the last couple of days, I feel I've earned a nice, hot bath. So I'm going to enjoy some quiet as the kids sleep and I wind down for bed while plotting out my strategy to get the rest of my six kids.

A Few Dull Updates

2009-03-18T20:37:00.003-05:00

I swear someone somewhere is determined to fix my internet addiction! Starting Saturday evening, my internet was offline more than it was on. And it was miserable for both me and Hubby, not that he will admit it. With Hubby being gone all week long, he is limited for time on the internet, so when it's in and out all weekend long it's very difficult for him to get any surfing done. What really hurt was Bryce had homework he had to work on for Wednesday and he wasn't able to get it completed until it finally came back up for good on Tuesday. I had every intention on taking him to the library or to my parents house if it wasn't up and running.

Friday night, Hubby called to let me know he was home just as Mom and Dad were down the street getting ready to pick up the kids. They pulled up and the kids had no idea the car was sitting in the driveway. Dad honked the horn and not one of them heard it so he opened the front door and told them if they were going with him, they'd better get moving. All three were out the door with their stuff in under 30 seconds. Wish he was around when it was time to get ready for the bus in the mornings!

Since it was almost six before Hubby and I got back into town Friday evening, we decided to eat at the house and rent a couple of movies. We ordered Chinese and watched The Haunting of Molly Hartley and Max Payne. Max Payne was ok, had a lot of twists and turns in it that made sense at the end and Molly Hartley was a typical horror flick. You always knew when something was coming. All in all, not a bad night. We picked the kids up around lunch on Saturday.

Saturday and Sunday were really uneventful. We hung around the house for the most part on both days. Hubby tuned up the tiller so that it was ready for when I decided to put out my garden. We had intended on making it to church on Sunday but none of us made it out of bed before 9am and since service started at 10, made it very difficult to be there on time.

Monday, Hubby was fitted for new glasses and went in for a check up following his last visit. Tuesday, he started the mower, tilled my garden plot, and cleaned out his truck for a new driving position that he will be starting next week where he will be getting a new truck. I vacuumed out my van yesterday, a task long over-due, in between laundry and dishes. Hubby left last night for the week.

Today, I got to babysit for my neighbor. He was a sweetheart, giggling, playing by himself a good part of the day, and eating a massive amount of food. I swear the boy is due a growth spurt for the amount of lunch he ate! He also took a couple of steps without help today when he thought I wasn't watching. His mom had told me she'd seen him do it a couple of times but I hadn't gotten to see it until today. The he grabbed hold of the arm of the couch and grinned that huge grin. Little stinker.

Tomorrow I get to babysit for him again as well. Belle is singing with a group of students from her fourth grade class for the board of education tomorrow night so I have to show up at a board meeting. Then I get to leave when she's finished. Aren't I horrible? As for now, I am off to bed after a very long night and a long day today. Maybe tomorrow will bring something a little more blog-worthy.

Fears, a Trip to Find a Wizard and Plans

2009-03-12T19:46:00.005-05:00

Tuesday night, I had another one of those nights. It was warm enough that I had the kids windows and the living room windows up about two inches to let the breeze in. My bedroom window was completely open. Gracie had spent the night walking to the back door and barking. Cheech would walk back to the door and growl, but I couldn't see anything in the backyard that would tell me what they saw. Then came the truck. I was sitting on the couch, talking to Hubby, when a truck came creeping down my street. I mean so slow that I could walk faster than the truck was moving and the driver stayed on the brakes until he was out of sight. When I went to bed, I could not sleep. So I watched some tv and still couldn't get to sleep. Eventually I had to turn on a lamp just so I could doze off. Zeus woke me about three and I was finally at a point that I could turn the lamp off to sleep soundly. I hate those nights, especially when Hubby is in his truck.

This is where Belle found Callie on Wednesday morning. What you can't see in this picture is the layer of clothes that was stretched across the top of the basket, hiding her. The kids were so tickled to find her like this.

Yesterday I went on a quest to find space heaters. With the heater on my central unit being out, I still have to find ways to heat my home and while my new gas logs works wonders, it still gets very cold at night in the bedrooms. I went by Wal-Mart and Lowes to find that both stores had already sold out of heaters and were already stocking fans and window air conditioning units. So I went home empty handed. This morning, I got up when my alarm when off (an amazing feat since I didn't hit my snooze button) and started the logs so that the kids would have a little heat to get ready by. Then around lunch I went to the local Tru-Value store, to see if the wizard had a couple of space heaters. I found a version of this heater. The heater was a little bigger than I had intended on getting but I found heaters! They only had five or six on the end cap where I found them and I walked out with two for the kids bedrooms. I will sleep better tonight knowing that their rooms are warm.

Last night, I had Callie sleep in my bedroom so that she didn't go into the kids rooms with their doors open. As I climbed into bed, she had found her a warm spot, curled up on a turned down section of my bed right in the middle of my electric blanket. Guess she decided she was cold. As I laid there talking with Hubby on the phone, she was steady pouncing on my feet and hand as I moved around. She was determined that she was going to lay down on my pillow with her head through the blinds but after the fifth or sixth time of moving back down to the middle of the bed, she finally gave up and curled up behind my knees. Brady came into my room around 1:30 asking questions and got her stirred up again. He put her back into my room after she escaped and she went back to pouncing on the bed again. This time she decided to pounce up next to my head. I have a nice scratch about 1 1/2" long just above my eyebrow where her claw came down across my forehead. She spent the rest of the night sleep in a laundry basket in the bathroom.

Today, Mom called me and was talking about someone she had just ran into while at Dollar General. I let her know I had literally just past the same girl not 10 minutes before as I was getting ready to pull into Wal-Mart. That let me know she was in town and burning off some time before she had to go by her office. Since we were mere yards away from each other, she had me meet her in the parking lot so that she could give me Easter candy for the kids. This is what she handed me.I told her that I should hold on to them, give them to the kids tomorrow after school and bring them to her house. Yeah, let her handle the sugar buzz! Of course the kids were ecstatic. Belle spotted them first, handed them out to the boys and then asked "Are they from Memaw?" There's no small detail that gets past this girl let me tell ya. So I stretched out the conversation.

"Did I say anything about seeing Memaw today?"

"No, but are they?"

She knows all too well where candy like this comes from. I finally admitted that they did. "I knew it!" Of course she did. Belle took over the phone this evening as I talked to Mom and requested they get to come to her house tomorrow for a sleepover. So tomorrow they are headed to have some grandparent time and Hubby and I get a few minutes to ourselves.

Tonight as I got them ready for bed, things were easy. They took their showers when I told them to. All three kids were showered, dressed and ready for bed with teeth brushed by 7:30. So that's where they went. And they're were all asleep by 8pm. These nights are few and far between but I'll take them when they come.

As of tonight, there are no real plans for tomorrow night. Hubby will not be home until at least 5pm so that really limits what we will have time to do. That means probably a quick dinner and movie at home. An uninterrupted non-child approved movie. Wow. Doesn't that sound like fun?

When is a Warranty a Discount?

2009-03-10T20:23:00.005-05:00

I'm sitting on my couch, with my windows open, and a nice breeze blowing across my living room. It is awesome. Or at least it would be if Sophie would stop barking and the boys actually go to sleep without one more incident tonight. I love the spring and fall when it's not too hot and not too cool and I can just open the windows to enjoy the air. Unfortunately, here in the very near future, I will have to shut my windows as storms blow in to our area. Darn!

Yesterday I had turned my a/c unit off because it had gotten cool in the house the night before. I turned it on because the house was so stuffy that no one was sleeping well. Well I noticed that I will still freezing and it wasn't supposed to get out of the sixties so I got up and turned on the heat. After a bit, I was still cold. So I walked back to my thermostat only to find the house had dropped another three degrees instead of going up. That's when I realized something wasn't quite right. I turned the unit off but it didn't turn off. I looked for a reset button on the unit, turned it off at the breaker and left it off for over a half hour. When I turned it back on, the thing was still running. So I called Dad. Poor Dad is the one I call every time something goes wrong and Hubby isn't here. So he came out and looked at the thermostat and unit. He let me know that my heat exhaust was what was actually running (I thought it was the fan) but the a/c section still worked. He took the thermostat off the wall, unhooked the wires and determined that it had to be in the unit because the unit should've shut down without the thermostat attached. So I shut it down at the breaker knowing I would have to call the a/c repairman this morning.

I have very bittersweet feelings about the a/c repairman. Simply because he is going to fix what I need in order to heat and cool my home, but is going to charge me a massive amount of money to do so. I will be billed for a bit of wire and labor for him to open my unit, tell me that some piece had gone out and triggered something else (these are technical terms mind you) and that it would need to be replaced. So he called the office and had the lady working for him (secretary, wife, gf???) check with the company to determine if I had a warranty on my unit. Surprise, I did. I was stunned. This unit will be 10 years old next year and I have a warranty no one told us about. Even with the warranty, it is going to cost us $400 to fix my unit. Come January when my warranty runs out, it will run us $1200. Words cannot describe the frustration. Doesn't warranty usually mean if the part goes out that the company replaces it? I don't know.

Since I had so much to do this morning, I skipped the opportunity to take a nap. The repairman was here within an hour of calling him and left after 45 minutes (bill is in the mail, I'm sure). I applied for an administrative assistant job for a local company. I washed nine loads of laundry today, including the sheets on all four beds, and made those beds. I picked up a small section of the boys bedroom. I folded all of that laundry that I washed and dried. I had the most productive day than I have had in a long time. Maybe tomorrow I will continue to be productive and clean the boys room. Maybe. But that would require me to go to bed soon so I guess that's what I will do. Sleep.

Beds and Brothers

2009-03-09T11:36:00.005-05:00

The rest of Friday night finished up uneventfully. Belle spent the night with our neighbor, with explicit instructions to be home by 9:30 Saturday morning. Bryce had passed out by the time I finally got Brady to finish eating and in bed. I went to bed shortly after that.

Belle returned home at 7:30 Saturday morning complaining she wasn't feeling well. Nothing ever came from her complaints, she never got sick so she went about her normal day. Hubby got home around 10 after spending three nights sitting in Texas (sooo not happy about that). We went to the store around lunch time where Hubby took Brady to the toy section for a $5 toy (to make up for the money I forgot), scoring a new Bakugan, while Belle went with me complaining about how unfair the whole situation was. Now I'll have two happy children, one child happy and one in therapy about how she didn't get a $5 toy, or both children in therapy because one got a toy and I bought the other child off. If I'm really lucky, both children will grow up, have children of their own and realize that I only did what I could to keep things even. Bryce didn't voice his opinion about the situation so watch him be the one really affected by the whole situation.

We got back from the store yesterday and Hubby was looking over my shoulder at the corner of the kitchen with this odd look on his face. He turned me around to find Callie was in that corner giving herself a bath. In a fish tank. Ok, it doesn't have water in it but she was still in a fish tank.She finally curled up for a nap. Zeus couldn't be outdone so this morning he curled up on the back of my loveseat and used Bryce's hat for a pillow.Note the "Oh, no! Not again," expression.

We've been struggling with the boys over the last few months. They are at the point that Brady wants to play with Bryce but Bryce wants to play bigger games, games that really aren't fair to Brady. That leads to arguing and ultimately a big blow out. We're averaging at least one good blow out every two or three days. Here they are after Hubby sat them down for arguing yet again on Saturday evening.Notice they couldn't get any further apart on that bench. What your missing is the few minutes they had to hold hands while sitting on the bench. No way Bryce was going to get caught in photos holding his brothers hand!

Yesterday was uneventful. The kids played outside some before storms were to blow through and bring them in. The good thing is that the rain lasted all of thirty minutes before it blew over and they were back outside again. I dropped Hubby off at his truck last night and came home for Brady and Bryce to both inform me that they had homework. Due today. It was 8:30 and I was not a happy mother. They finished it up and went to bed under threats that if they gave me any crap today, they would be seriously paying. They got up with no problems. Imagine that. They're also under strict orders that any homework brought in on Friday will be done on Friday. Any book reports that are brought in will have the book chosen within a couple of days and the report will be completed as soon as the book is finished. I'm not going to do this battle again. That means Belle will be working on her science project assignment when she comes in this afternoon since it is due on the first. She's gonna love me!

And My Baby's Home Again

2009-03-06T21:00:00.004-06:00

Brady is home tonight from his field trip. In one piece, not that I was terribly worried he wouldn't be. And the first thing he could say was that he had a horrible day. All because I forgot to send him $5 to spend in the gift shop.

I forgot. I even stopped by the bank yesterday specifically to get money so that he could take it with him. I still forgot to get it out of my purse and put it in his pocket. And I felt horrible when I realized it this morning, but short of chasing down the bus and hoping it would stop after leaving twenty minutes late was asking a bit much.

This is the third year in a row that one of my children have taken this trip to Nashville to the science museum. This is the first year that we received a last minute note about the field trip. It seems that the flu has taken hold of the kids school and has hit third grade especially hard. Because of this, they would be taking the kids temperatures before they boarded the bus and any student with a fever would have to go home. If your child got sick while on the trip, someone had to be ready to come and get them at a moments notice. I cringed just knowing that Brady would either get up sick or come down with it while in Nashville. Lucky for us, he didn't. Last night, I argued with the kids. The boys mainly.

"Go to bed! We've got to get up early in the morning."

"Get back in bed! You're not going to want to get up."

You get the picture. It was like that until 9 when I finally threatened to call Brady's teacher and let her know that he would not be going on the trip. I didn't see him again for the night. I spent the evening struggling to stay awake as I put them to bed, tried to get them to stay in bed and talked to Hubby. Finally at ten, I made my way to bed only for my eyes to pop wide open as soon as my head hit the pillow. Again. It was almost twelve before I finally gave up my fight and fell asleep only for the cat to wake me at 1:30 to go outside. I could've cried when the alarm went off at 5:30 this morning. So I got up, showered and made myself presentable so I could drop three kids off at school without looking like a rag-a-muffin. I made sure all three kids were fully dressed, hair combed, teeth brushed, deodorant used and book bags in tow. I fixed Brady's lunch for his field trip and made sure he walked out the door with it and the books he was taking to keep him occupied. But. I. Forgot. His. Spending. Money.

Overall, he enjoyed the science museum. The minute I asked him about it, the tears stopped, his eyes lit up and he couldn't wait to tell me about everything he did and saw. Then I heard where they ate for dinner before coming home. Usually the teachers plan for the kids to eat around the Kentucky/Tennessee line but this time they had a surprise for the kids. This year, they got to eat at the Rainforest Cafe. He got a part of the field trip that Bryce and Belle didn't get to have. And he loved it.

Tonight, after I finally got him out of the shower, Brady came into the living room, sat down on the couch beside me and said, "Mom, I'm hungry and I'm cold and I don't know if I'm going to make it." The power of hunger. It's so powerful, he may succumb to it by breakfast. So I cut him an apple and put him to bed, which is where I'm now headed for the night.

Recap of Family Reading Night and More

2009-03-05T20:41:00.004-06:00

Family reading night went really well. The school sets up station based on grades and the kids spend 20 minutes in each station. One station is in the library where the kids read and take their reading tests for double the points. Another station is one of the classrooms where the kids go to play games or create an art project. The last station is story time in the gym where the school brings someone in to read the kids a story. This year the school brought in the local sheriff to read the stories. If his reading style didn't catch the kids attention, his gun certainly did! I admit though, his reading had them captivated. He had a way of emphasizing certain words with a well placed shout that had the kids laughing. It also helped that he read the 3rd and 4th graders a Dr. Seuss book they had never seen. Finally, after they had been to all the stations, they marched their way to the cafeteria for pizza, fruit, chips and drinks. They had a blast.

This afternoon I had a conference scheduled with Brady's teacher about his math. His mid-term report showed a grade that I knew was beneath his abilities. Brady called this morning and let me know that his teacher was absent today so that I didn't get to the school for my meeting only to find her gone. She called me from her home later this morning, letting me know her daughter was sick and that she needed to reschedule. We had a nice conversation about trying to get him to focus more by having him write down her instructions on how to work a problem. He gets a study guide on how to do the problem, I get a problem that lets me know how she taught him to work the problem (so he can't tell me that's not how she taught me!) and he gets to make sure he's focusing on what she's telling him to do. We'll see how well that works. She's also going to send home information on the schools tutoring club so that I can get him into that. One bonus is that she teaches the tutoring for his grade so he will be getting reinforcements from her and not someone else. More on that as things progress.

Now I am finally off to bed so that I can rise at 5:45 to shower before dropping my baby off by 7. He's leaving the state on a field trip, his first time leaving town without me or his daddy. I'm struggling with this. He's my baby! They're all getting too big...

Something Has Gotten Into Me

2009-03-04T20:25:00.005-06:00

And I'm not real sure what. First, I mentioned in one of my last two posts that I decided to try and make chocolate, chocolate chip muffins. From scratch. They were ok. I prefer they be a little sweeter and a little richer so I doubt I make them again, or at least that particular recipe. Yesterday, I had to run to the store for a craft that Bryce had to do for school and figured I'd try my hand at blueberry muffins and picked up some frozen blueberries. Usually we are simple people. Martha White Blueberry Muffin packets are usually the way to go. But? The kids and I both agree, the muffin itself was good but the blueberries were not. So much for that. I had one can of biscuits left over from my monkey bread craving and they had a recipe on the package for sugar donuts. They're in the oven now so I'll have to let you know how they turn out. I'm craving something but I just can't figure out for the life of me what it is I want. *Update* - Save yourself the trouble unless your craving canned biscuits with a buttery sugary glaze. Not what I wanted.

Today started out like a typical day. I didn't get to sleep until late last night so I didn't want to get up this morning. I put the kids on the bus, checked my emails and tried to take a nap. About the time I dozed off I started hearing a noise that I couldn't identify. So I sat up and found Gracie gnawing on a box that Hubby received last week. A box with his new work hats still inside. I had to get up and rescue the box before she demolished it (she had only bit a corner). I finally got to sleep and had been asleep close to 30 minutes when a friend called to let me know she and her daughter were on their way out of town. So I gave up and got up. I watched C.S.I. online and chatted with Hubby. At one point, I jumped up hollering because Callie walked across the desk in an attempt to catch the paper coming out of my printer and when I grabbed at her, she gracefully dumped a glass of ice water off into my lap. Hubby was very amused. She did not get the paper she was after. After I changed clothes, I walked through and picked up various things out of the living room floor so that I could eventually vacuum.

After the kids got home from school, I ran to the store to get a can drink for Brady's upcoming field trip (Ladybird, he's headed your way Friday!). I came home, had the kids pick up their things, vacuumed, put away the air mattress from Belle's sleepover weekend before last and got out my can of Pledge. And I started dusting my living room. I swear my dust cloth begged to be put into the washer after just wiping down the tv. I'm not ashamed to admit it took two cloths in order to finish the entire room. Have I mentioned how much I loathe housework? I cannot tell you which I detest more: mopping, dusting or folding laundry. This room is currently dusted, my desk is clean and you can find a seat on the couch and loveseat. My dishes are washed and my countertops and table are all wiped down. I can not tell you how long it has been since I have done this. I could tell you that I have every intention on keeping clean but honestly? Every time I make that vow I break it so why make it now? I'll just save my breath and bask in the glow of my clean computer monitor glaring on me.

I had a good day with the kids for the most part. They listened today. I didn't have to repeat myself time after time in order to get them to do what they needed to do. If I told them to pick something up, they did so. If I told them to get something, they did so. Until bedtime. That would be too easy. Belle was the only one who didn't stall about going to bed. So there was not a lot of fussing at them on my part. I was excited! Maybe tomorrow I can be that lucky! Maybe?

An Art Display

2009-03-02T20:24:00.006-06:00

Friday I got a letter from the kids art teacher that Bryce and Belle both had artwork featured in a show that was to be open tonight. Bryce was indifferent at the time, but Belle was adamant. She wanted to go! Well after some checking, it seemed we were going to have to be at the art show for the schools latest orchestra concert Mascot* Idol (*enter the local county mascot for those who know us). So this afternoon we waded through some serious homework, had an early supper and made our way to the schools "Performing Arts" center.

Both kids had art quilts on display so I took pictures of them standing by their pieces.Bryce's is the curved piece above his head.Belle's is the piece on the bottom left corner, just below her sleeve.

The concert was a success with both kids playing a solo piece before the group performances. They have one last performance for the year coming up soon so that will be what they work towards next. Brady will be working toward how to sit through a performance without trying to take things out of my lap, curling up in the seat to lay down and asking questions that he knows can wait until after the show.

I have spent today curled up in a ball in a blanket. I'm freezing and nothing seems to help! My heat is on it's usual setting, I've turned on the logs for a bit and even under the blanket, I'm still cold. I'm hoping when I go to bed tonight that my electric blanket will help thaw the chill. Or maybe a hot bath will.

Last night, as Hubby and I was getting ready for bed, I asked him to run me a bath while I finished folding towels and put another load of laundry into the dryer. When I got to the bathroom a few minutes later, not only did I find a bath, but I found a bubble bath waiting for me! I was so excited especially since I was just expecting the tub of hot water. So sweet! I hated seeing him off to Texas this morning.

Tomorrow is Family Reading Night at the kids school. They get story time, pizza, and any test they take toward accelerated reading goals is doubled in points. It will run right up until bedtime. That always has it's pros and cons since they are usually pretty keyed up by the time we get home. So for now, I'm going to try and sleep so that I can face tomorrow night head on.

Kinda On the Ball

2009-03-01T19:43:00.003-06:00

I hit publish on my post yesterday, shut down my browser, walked to the kitchen and came back to find my modem flashing again, informing me that it was down. Again. Not two minutes after I left. I swear that someone is trying to limit my internet time. I admit, I'm addicted but allow me to make the choice to face that addiction. Don't make it for me.

Of course, it's back up again. It came back up yesterday and did the off and on thing but today? I've had internet all. day. long. So I caught up on my facebook applications and emails. I have most of my laundry washed and everything that is finished has been folded. And put away! My dishwasher is running and my kitchen is clean. I just pulled a batch of chocolate, chocolate chip muffins out of the oven for breakfast in the morning. The kitchen, laundry room and hall floors are swept. I've accomplished! But then again, I felt like I've been lazy all day long and haven't done anything. That, I will never understand.

But for now, I'm going to go curl up with my Hubby, watch Brothers and Sisters and enjoying some quiet time. What have you done today?

Getting Back into the Swing of Things - Again

2009-02-28T15:47:00.004-06:00

Ever since my internet came back up after the ice storm, it has been intermittent. I could have a signal for a couple of hours only to shut down my browser and lose that signal for three hours. Monday evening around seven, my signal went down and stayed down until Tuesday morning. When I got up Tuesday and got the kids ready for school, my modem indicated that I had a signal. By the time they got on the bus and I got back to the living room, the signal was gone. A short time later, my internet came up again for a short time. This was the way the day went until around seven again. About seven, the signal was gone and stayed gone until yesterday morning where it came back on long enough for me to see I had a lot of email waiting on me. It started coming working and then would stop again until last night when it finally came on and stayed on. I called my isp on Wednesday morning for him to return my call yesterday morning - while I was at the grocery. He left his number again and I called him back to leave him yet another voicemail. He still has not returned that call. Now, I have internet and am seriously considering a new provider. But for now, I can get online.

My neighbor called on Wednesday morning and asked if I could babysit for her. Of course, I couldn't turn down the opportunity to have him. So from 7am to just after 7pm, he stayed with me. We napped, played, and had some serious food. Then she called Thursday evening, asking me to watch him again yesterday. Little man pulled up against the wall to check out why Belle was knocking on the window. Callie stretched up the wall about the time I snapped the picture.I knew my kids were getting big but I didn't realize how big until I saw this. Then I was amazed. And saddened.

The kids have been busy getting back into the groove of school without basketball practices. That has been very hard to do since Belle and Brady's coach had parties for the teams on Wednesday and Thursday. Belle went to a local mexican restaurant with her team while Brady's team threw a party at the local bowling alley with bowling, pizza, cake and trophies for winning the championship. And we are officially finished with the season. I hope.

Right now, Hubby is standing on our bed, installing a new ceiling fan to replace the one we lost in the storm. A few moments ago, he called me to the bedroom to tell me he was warm. So I lovingly blew towards him in an effort to cool him down. He shot me a look and asked me to turn on the box fan on the chair. I was just trying to help.

I'm off to start some dumplings for supper. If all works out, maybe I'll be back tomorrow with another post. Maybe.

I Got Nothing

2009-02-23T11:14:00.003-06:00

I have sat here for the last little bit, knowing that this posting screen is sitting here in the background while I watch CSI on cbs.com. And this blank screen? It's taunting me! It knows that I have been sitting here trying to figure out what I can put up today. And it's laughing at me because I still haven't figured it out. I could tell you how Bryce left Friday night and spent Friday and Saturday nights with a buddy for a birthday party. The only real thing that I could report is that he had a great time and did wonderful by not calling me asking me to come home! I could tell you how a big part of our weekend revolved around watching music videos on youtube. Pink's So What video is very addicting. Finally I could tell you that we took the kids to their end of the season basketball party at one of the local athletic centers. While they had a great time, it was really uneventful. They spent two hours swimming, using the batting cages and going up the rock climbing wall before receiving their trophies. My time was spent sitting on the bleachers (talking to the neighbor child's mom) while watching the kids swim because there was not any time that I didn't have one child in the pool. Hubby went from station to station making sure that Brady's head wasn't taken off with a baseball (my fear) and spotting on the rock climbing wall.

Yesterday, Bryce returned from his party totally spaced out. He was so tired that it was all he could do to function really. I can't tell you how funny it was to watch him and his buddy (who rode with us) walk out the door to leave for the basketball party. Both of them looked like zombies, they were so tired! They made it through the party without incident, but Bryce could not take the trash out without incident afterward. He decided he needed to run as he rolled the trash down the driveway behind him and didn't realize how close he was pulling the can to his body. The can caught up with his foot and he tripped. I never realized how dangerous it was to wheel a can down the driveway because the boy ended up with a huge bruise on his hip, scuffed knees, hands and knuckles, ripped jeans and even a scraped on the back of his shoulder. I'll have to remember that a trash can can beat someone up the next time I go around it!

So as I try to go on and accomplish something today beside piles of laundry, I ask you to please remember my sister-in-law and her family. Hubby's middle sister lost her house to a fire last night. They were not home and had a few changes of clothes with them, but they lost everything else and the house is a total loss. Thanks!

Honest Scrap

2009-02-19T12:24:00.007-06:00

Ladybird nominated me for the Honest Scrap award. I'm so excited!

The rules for this award:

Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Show the winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Scrap.” There’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.

List at least 10 honest things about yourself:

1. I always have the best intentions on improving my patience. Then I forget I'm working on it and lose it.

2. Before deciding to get my accounting degree, I looked into sonography. My funding wouldn't pay for it.

3. I am a total wall flower. I hate being in social situations (even skipped my college graduation because of it). Because of that, I don't friend people often on facebook or myspace. I don't want the disappointment when they deny me because they don't remember me or like me. So if you see me at the store and I don't say hello, it's not because I don't like you, it's because of my own stigmas.

4. I love thunderstorms but only if Hubby is home for me to curl up with. Otherwise, they make me nervous.

5. I don't understand how people can blog about things that are intimately personal. I end up feeling like I'm blogging in circles trying not to give too much information but enough to get my feelings across.

6. I wish I had to opportunity to blog when my kids were babies. Blogging about their milestones doesn't have the same effect now that they are so much older.

7. Bryce is a half inch shorter than I am as of last week. It scares me that my 11 year old is as big as I am.

8. I read so much about people and their faith. How much they rely on it, believe in it, share it. I would like to be brave enough to blog about my struggles with my faith and my fear of what's coming. Maybe. Some day.

9. I could sit and watch the cats wash their faces for hours because I think it's funny. I just want to ask them, "Are you sure you got it all?"

10. If I could, I'd be a permanent student. I loved being in college and hated when my time was up!

My blog recommendations are:

1. All in a Days Work

2. Daily Diatribes

3. Paralegal Diva

4. Life with the Watts Family

Sorry I don't have seven but I picked four who read my blog and leave comments. Thanks Ladybird!

Bring On Tomorrow

2009-02-18T20:54:00.004-06:00

Last night, I went to bed and let my fears get the better of me. And I cried, something that I won't admit to often. Then I eventually slept for a couple of hours, before storms and power surges woke me.

Today was better. Not easier, but better. Brady didn't get up cranky this morning. The kids didn't forget anything on their way out the door. I didn't have to be anywhere until 10:30am. I came home, had lunch, took an hour nap before babysitting for my neighbor and picking Bryce and his buddy up from strings rehearsal. Belle stayed with a friend while I went for Bryce. Brady still had his issues this evening but not as bad as yesterday. All three were in bed by 8pm.

Tonight, I received some news I needed to hear. News I didn't expect to hear until later this week. And it was good news. So the elephant that was sitting on my chest has gotten lighter. He's not gone yet, but he's definitely lighter and I'm breathing easier. For now. Tonight, I will go to bed and have a relief cry. Then I'll be ready to face what is thrown at me tomorrow.

Anxieties

2009-02-17T19:59:00.003-06:00

Over the last few weeks, I've been anxious for many different reasons. The ice storm we had was tragic, frustrating, amazing, and side-tracking. It caused me to push some of my anxiety to the back burner because I had to do things I didn't have to do every day. Like search for gasoline. And try to decide exactly how I was going to cook a nice, hot, reasonably healthy supper for my kids without a stove. Part of my anxieties started to peak yesterday. I spent yesterday edgy and irritable. I was so exhausted by 9:00 that I hit record on my vcr and skipped watching one of my favorite shows in favor of sleep. I was out by 10pm, amazing for me. But then fear crept in. I woke at 2:30 thinking I can get four more hours. Then at 3:30, three more hours. Then Zeus decided he needed to get up at 4:30 and I was still wide awake. I put him outside at 5am thinking I can still grab another hour before I have to get up. And I finally dozed off into a light, dream-filled sleep. Dreams that were frustrating and confusing so it wasn't exactly a restful sleep.

When the alarm went off, it took everything I had to get out of bed to grab a shower because I knew that I had to be out of the door by 7:30 after putting the kids on the bus at 6:55. I knew that I had to make sure that I was ready to go, that the kids did everything they needed to as far as getting ready plus make Brady's lunch. Belle was awake when I got in the shower and I assumed the boys would be right behind. By the time I got out of the shower, Brady was in my bed upset because his alarm didn't ring when he wanted it to. And that set the tone for the day. What I saw in my mind as a simple, routine morning turned into a difficult, hair-pulling morning. After getting him out of my bed and bringing it to his attention that if he would get dressed in two minutes (as he has done in the past) he would have plenty of time to eat breakfast at home, which is what he wanted to do. He got dressed and decided he wasn't going to take the time to eat, but went about his morning. By the time he got on the bus, he had gotten into major trouble twice and landed his butt grounded. The last thing I said to them as they walked out to the bus was "And no fighting!" According to Belle, the mornings that are rough for Brady are the mornings the boys fight on the way to school. So I put a stop to it before it got that far. Then I went on to face my fears alone (not that I would've faced them with Hubby had he been here, based on my decision, not his). As I was finishing my make-up routine, I realized that Bryce and Belle had forgotten their violin and viola and Brady had forgotten his lunch. So while I was out, I had to stop by their school and drop their stuff off at the office.

What I was hoping that today would be a fear-quashing day did nothing but add to my anxiety. And I hate it. I hate that I have no control over it and hate playing this game. So this afternoon, after spending a bit of time at my neighbors house, I attempted sleep. I stretched out on the couch. A couple of minutes later, Callie curled up next to my stomach. Then a few minutes later, Zeus curled up next to my chest, something he never does. It was then that I realized just how much my fears were affecting me. I slept for thirty minutes before the phone rang. So I got up to face the rest of the day because I knew the kids would be coming in by the time I got back to sleep.

Brady's attitude had not improved and he was not happy to find that I had not forgotten I had grounded him this morning. So his moods went up and down for the rest of the evening and found his way to bed at 7:15. By the time Bryce went to bed at 8, Brady was out cold. One small feat accomplished for which I am grateful so tomorrow will hopefully be a better day for Brady.

Now I'm here, fighting with the fears that creep back in while the kids are sleeping soundly in their beds. Hoping that tonight sleep will come easier that last night and maybe answers will come tomorrow. Hopefully.

I've Been Trying

2009-02-16T11:32:00.010-06:00

And trying and trying. First, a tidbit that I forgot to include on my last post. On the morning following the storm (just before running away to my parents) I discovered that my tv antenna falling was what rattled the dishes during the night. I found it dangling along side my house, beyond repair and assumed that the bumping against the house is what made the noise. The weekend following the storm, Hubby was nice enough to purchase me a nice, pretty, new antenna and installed it so that I could watch the news. Wasn't he sweet?

The week following the storm, I kept an eye on my modem. While I had electricity, water (albeit I had to boil it) and telephone, my internet was still down. I was slightly disappointed but knew that there were so many people who were so much worse off than I was that I was just grateful to have power. By the end of that week, our county still had 3100 people without power so I was a lucky one. Since I had no way to feed my addiction, I cleaned. We left in a hurry while the power was out and the house was a mess, so I started in the worst room. The kitchen. While the washing machine and dryer continually ran, I washed dishes, cleaned countertops, swept floors.

I even mopped!

By Thursday, I had not only cleaned my kitchen but kept it clean. I had cleaned bathtubs, toilets, sinks and mopped both bathrooms. I straightened my bedroom. I had tons of laundry folded, put away and was almost caught up. All while the kids were out of school and complaining about being bored. I called and found the boil water order had been lifted (there were so many rumors going around and no one ever confirmed it had been lifted on the news) and determined that the tower that supplied my internet was indeed down. I went about my business, trying to keep the kids busy in the meantime. My parents power came back on Thursday as well.

Friday, it warmed up enough that I could send them outside to play. Limbs were cleaned up around my property (i.e. we didn't have trees big enough to have limbs) so I sent them outside to burn off all that pent up energy. Brady had basketball practice Friday afternoon, which the coaches graciously burned off even more energy. (If you know Brady, then you know that he has enough energy for 15 kids.) They shot baskets and ran. And ran.

That afternoon, we made it home after the practice and the kids were soaking up the last bits of daylight while I was getting ready to start supper. I walked through the living room (for a reason that is completely lost to me now) and glanced at my modem as I had done a thousand different times since we got home. And it wasn't blinking the little red light screaming "Ha ha I'm still not working!!" Instead, it had a nice, bright green light that said "Go on, have a seat and try me." So I did. It was like the fog was lifted from my home. My browser pulled up. My email accounts came up. I was back online! Then I had to leave.

Saturday, we had plans to go to Indiana to visit Hubby's sister and purchase some gas logs. She had found four sets at the Lowes there and on Thursday they still had them. They were gone by the time we got there Saturday but we found the last set at a Menards not far from their home and snatched them.Hubby and Dad installed them a week ago yesterday. A nice set of vent-free, carbon monoxide free, thermostat controlled, heat producing logs.

While we were there, my sister-in-law gave Brady and me a much needed haircut (and me a color). Brady looks like a completely different kid now.For me I told her I needed something that I could just wash and dry but I wanted different. So she made the color much different. Red underneath again.Orange-y colored streaks on top instead of blond.And the overall color. No this is not how I usually wear it but let one of the streaks show so the entire effect could be seen. I love it! It's set up that I can have small streaks or wide streaks depending on how I part my hair and show off my red at the bottom with a simple ponytail. And it's different. Just what I asked for!

Sunday was spent installing the logs, breaking in the Wii Fit game we bought while in Indiana and trying to get the kids ready for school to start again on Monday, so I was limited in my time to spend online. So Monday, after I shipped the kids off to school and Hubby off to work, I got some quality time with my internet! How I missed it so!

Last week kept me busy with school starting back up. Not only did school start, but so did basketball practices and strings rehearsals. High winds caused my power to kick off and on all day on Wednesday, so I had to shut down my computer for much of the day. Hubby also came home early last week so that we could get him to a doctors office. Thursday he was diagnosed with the later stages of strep, a severe upper respiratory infection, as well as some virus that's going around. Two prescriptions later, he's feeling better and back on the road today. I sat down many different times last week trying to start this post only to discover something that required my immediate attention and I had to get up to tackle the task at hand. So on to this past weekend.

Because ice had prevented the last two weeks of basketball tournaments, the wonderful coordinators of our local little league basketball decided that the tournaments must be completed this past weekend. So for three very busy days, we had tournaments. Belle and Bryce played on Friday night and both teams advanced to the second round of their tournament (Brady played his first round the weekend before the storm and had advanced). Saturday morning, Bryce had the first game at 8am, which his team proceeded to win. Belle played next at 9:40 and they lost, much to their disappointment, but they put up a great fight. We moved on to a new elementary school to watch Brady's team win his second round of the tournament at 12:30. At 1pm, we moved to the middle school to watch Bryce's team lose in the semi-finals. They did a wonderful job and fought hard to stay on top but just came up short. Finally we went back to the elementary school at 4:30 to watch Brady's team advance to the final game. Unfortunately, he was feeling bad just before the game, thought he felt well enough to play but after his first rotation on the floor, he realized he just couldn't do it. So he sat out the rest of the game.

Yesterday, his team played the championship game at the middle school. They were behind most of the game, until they managed to tie it up at the end of the second half. There was eleven seconds left on the clock and we had the ball out-of-bounds under our goal. Brady's teammate got the ball in to another player who missed the shot but was rebounded under the goal on the other side by another teammate. He put the ball back up with four seconds on the clock for the winning two points! They kept the other team from scoring to win the 2nd-3rd grade championship undefeated! They were ecstatic!

Now we're up to today. The kids are in school for a make-up day from Ike's storm last fall, Hubby is on the road as of this morning and basketball season is officially over. Time to start a new round a normal for us while others are trying to create a new normal for them. All because of a bit of ice.

Finding Some Sense of Normalcy

2009-02-09T10:19:00.005-06:00

When writing my last post, I was naively sitting on my couch, in the comfort of my home with the tv running, kids sleeping peacefully and completely oblivious to what was about to happen. I knew there was an ice storm coming. I had been to the grocery and had six gallons of milk, three loaves of bread plus hot chocolate with marshmallows and all that good, hot, comfort food that you want when it's cold outside. I had that feeling though. That gnawing feeling of unknowing.

Monday, I went back to the store for a couple of items, intending on picking up a couple of boxes of poptarts, grabbed what I went for and then left. Without the poptarts. That snafu would come back to haunt me. I spent the day watching the news and the sky. Belle and Bryce had ball practice and would be staying after school. Nothing had materialized by the time I had picked them up and I brought them home for a hot supper. We went through and worked on the homework for the night, and each of them announced that their teachers had sent home packets of work for them to do if they missed school because of the storm. I put them to bed close to their normal school bedtimes because I knew if I didn't, they'd go to school on Tuesday and if I didn't they would drive me nuts with the anticipation they had. I was talking with Hubby on one of our usual just-before-bedtime calls when I got up to check on the ice. It was raining by this point and it was freezing to anything that didn't move. School for Tuesday had already been canceled in many places, including the kids school. I had my laptop open, sitting on the arm of my couch. As I sat down, the outside of my thigh came down on the keyboard area, causing the other side to rise. And rise it did. Not only did it rise, but it came up and hit me on the side of the head. You know that bone just at the end of your eyebrow? It swelled to a knot the size of a quarter with a nice bright red splotched in the middle of it. Ouch. I decided then that it was time for bed before I could do any more damage to myself. It was sometime Tuesday before I realized how bad it actually was. I went to bed, excited about the fact that school had been canceled, that the alarm clocks were off and I would be able to sleep in. How wrong I'd be.

Tuesday morning, just after 3 am, we lost power. It flickered a couple of times and then the whole house just powered down. And I sat. And I listened. Minutes later I heard the banging of feet and they were headed my direction (at 8, 10 and 11 there is no longer pitter-patters. It's a matter of waiting for the floor to fall through...). I had my electric blanket on when the power died, so I allowed all three kids to climb into bed with me since it was warm. Three kids, two as big as me, and myself in a queen-size bed. We weren't there for long. After the arguing started between the boys, we got up and moved to the living room, setting up the same sleeping arrangement that we had when Ike knocked out our power only a few short months ago. I sat up blankets and the kids slept on the floor while I slept on the couch. Brady was easy. He hadn't much more than settled down when he passed out. Belle and Bryce on the other hand, they talked for over an hour before I finally got them to hush and doze off. Then my cell phone rang. My neighbor called about 5:30 about the power, saying they had slept through when it kicked off. I took another hour quieting Bryce and Belle (Brady slept through the entire conversation) and dozed off myself about 6:30 until she called back. We waited in hope that the power was coming back on when it came back up for three minutes before shutting down again but it never did. So I had two sleepy kids on my hands, plus myself when we got up a short time later. These are the pictures that I took on Tuesday, not long after we got up.These are nothing compared to how things looked on Wednesday, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Tuesday, the kids worked on the homework their teachers had assigned in the event school was canceled. We played Yahtzee. They complained they were bored. I let them watch a movie on the laptop, causing the battery to die just as the movie ended. Ordinarily I would've charged it in my car but Hubby had taken off with the inverter that I use to do it. So I couldn't charge it back up. That afternoon, I noticed that things in my fridge were starting to get a little warmer than I cared for. So I loaded them up in a box and sat them under my carport. Worked like a charm!

All day long Tuesday, I had been turning on my gas logs for a bit and turning them off again because I honestly believe they put off carbon monoxide but we had to have some heat. I had hung blankets over my doorways out of the living room and across my window ledge just to keep the heat in the room. By supper, my head was screaming and I couldn't tell you if it was because of fumes or from the knot on the side of my head but the kids weren't complaining about headaches so I left it alone (and believe me, I asked them often). Finally, the time came for supper on Tuesday evening so we got creative. There's nothing like roasting hot dogs over an open flame of gas logs, according to the kids anyway. But they enjoyed it just the same. I had talked to my parents off and on all day, and I knew that they, too, had lost power. I do not like driving on ice and Dad offered to come pick us up and carry us to their house. He left his house in Mom's explorer but couldn't get off of his street because of limbs across the road. His truck was low on gas and he wasn't sure he could find some nor make it here and back without running out. So we stayed here.

Tuesday evening was one of those evenings that I was kind of glad we didn't have power. The kids were sleepy and bored which made it much easier to put them to bed. Belle complained she didn't like sleeping on the floor, that it was hard, so we compromised. There wasn't enough room for three mattresses but I told the boys they could bring their mattresses into the living room and line them up on the floor for the three of them to sleep across. The mattresses made it into the living room in record time. Then I had another problem to deal with. I had to find a way to allow the dogs to sleep in the living room where there was heat but block them from the main area so they didn't get up on the bedding. So a little bit of furniture rearranging later, I had everyone settled down. The kids were dozing off, the dogs were in their quarters and I talked to Hubby for a few minutes before winding down. After spending the day telling the kids "No, you don't need a candle, take the flashlight." "No, you don't need to light the candles." "Put the lighters down!," I turned off the logs, lowered the flame on the oil lamp and went to sleep.

A good night's sleep would've been nice that night, but wasn't going to happen. I awoke at midnight to find the living room freezing. Finally, after about forty-five minutes, I talked myself into quickly getting up and lighting the logs because I knew that I didn't want to sleep while they were running. As I lit them, they woke Bryce. He got up and sat in front of them for a bit before I ushered him back to bed. I stretched out on the couch and before I knew it, I was dozing. I woke up at 3:30 to a much warmer room and got up to turn the logs off. I stretched out on the couch again, the lamp just barely burning by this point because it was low on fuel, and listened. You could hear the rain falling steady outside the windows and doors, and as it fell, it would freeze on impact. Then there was the cracking as limbs, heavy with ice, would start to break apart from the trees. That was followed almost immediately by a whooooosh, as the limb then fell to the ground. I was stunned as I heard something crash, a crash that didn't sound much more than a limb but was strong enough to rattle the dishes in my dishwasher. I got up and looked out windows and doors but to no avail. All that could be seen was a blackness so strong that it swallowed up anything that remotely resembled light. So I went back to bed and slept restlessly waiting for daylight so that I could check on my house.

Wednesday morning brought a whole new world, one I have never seen in my life. Unfortunately, the batteries were down on my camera and I didn't get any pictures of it, but Ladybird had posted pictures of her parents house here and Cosmo's Crazy posted pictures of his home here. When I woke just after six, I turned on the fireplace again and settled down until the kids got up. My landline phone was down as was my cell phone. About 8, I walked outside and was relieved to find my electric box still attached to my house with a leaning but still standing pole, but was stumped as to what rattled my dishes. I walked out again around nine and as I was shedding my boots (read: Bryce's boots) Dad pulled into the driveway. And I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Dad had gotten a lead on a gas station that was running on generator power and went there first, ensuring he would have plenty of gas. We packed quickly, set the dogs up with massive amounts of food, fixed the cats food, left plenty of water and the five us piled into his pickup bound for his house. We filled bottles Dad brought with water because they didn't have running water and I did. My groceries went, as well as the clothes that I could pull together for us, medicine for the kids because they already had a cough, blankets, pillows and the kids violin and viola (they will crack in cold weather.)

The trip to their house is one I will never forget. Almost every tree we saw was missing the top as the limbs had cracked and fell. There were power, cable and telephone lines down everywhere and there were plenty of broken poles. To cross the county, we literally had to weave from one lane to another just to get around trees. The roads themselves were slick, and I was glad not to be the one driving on them. We had an uneventful trip, thankfully and got there safely to unload everything. The kids walked inside and noticed one thing. Memaw had tv! Dad was afraid something like this would happen after Ike and last month bought a generator. They had their tv, satellite box, refrigerator and a little heater plugged up to it and was also running their gas logs. Heaven compared to what I had just went through over the past 24 hours! And help with the kids! I couldn't ask for more. Then things turned. Again.

As if being cut off from power, phones and water wasn't enough, all three kids decided they needed to get sick Wednesday night. By supper time, they were all running fevers of 102. I gave them what tylenol I had taken to Mom's. Then Dad and I loaded up and headed to town to see if we could find anything open in order to get medicine. And found that same black void that I saw the night before. There is something eerie about coming around the outside of town devoid of all light except for the occasional house that has a candle burning near a window. We found everything closed in town, not one store had a generator to run. We went to my house to pick up what motrin I had in my cabinet...enough for two doses for each kid. I would have just enough to get me through the night and a dose for breakfast.

Thursday, Dad and I took off again in search of a store that had medicine. We stopped by the house to check on the animals and feed them, started the logs enough to heat the house a bit before we left. I picked up a few more things that I realized that I needed as well as filled our water bottles. We stopped at a pay phone that we found was working only it couldn't connect to Hubby so I could let him know that we were ok. I hadn't talked to him since Tuesday evening and it was already noon on Thursday. Wal-Mart was closed, only a few employees going in for various reasons. The local Food Giant was open, but they were only letting in a few people at a time and already had a line outside of at least 20 people. So we went by Sav-A-Lot. They were closed but were waiting on a generator to open the doors that would be there in around two hours. So we went back a couple of hours later. We walked in and got to the back of the store and found the end of the checkout line. So Dad stood in line while I shopped for the few items we needed. Mainly ibuprofen for the kids. It took us an hour and a half to get out of that store but it was better than waiting in line for an hour and a half outside of Food Giant. Thursday night, Hubby showed up about midnight. He had to deliver in Nashville and told his dispatcher that he was going home to find us since he couldn't get in touch with anyone. On the way, he stopped for sweats for us, brought us bread and lunch meats as well as plenty of junk food.

Friday brought it's own set of challenges. We were excited as our cell phones started receiving signals since the companies had set up the towers with generators but as with most natural disasters, the race to find much needed items becomes much more difficult. Ours was gasoline. We were burning an average of 10 gallons of gas a day with the generator running just during the day. When we retired for the evening, the generator was shut down for the night. Hubby and I returned to our home to check up on the animals, fill the water bottles and check on the house. We got in line at a local gas station. The line started two blocks away from the station. Dad was on the other side of the block in line awaiting gas since he had already drained his tank for the generator. After a short period of time, the sheriff came around limiting gasoline purchases to $10. That's just over 5 gallons of gas here. Hubby and I put that in our tank after debating what we were going to do, found Wal-Mart open (with a tag-a-long employee as you shopped) and stopped for a few groceries. Then we took off for Mom and Dad's. Hubby dropped me off and drove to the next town for the gasoline we needed. I was amazed at the number of places announcing on the radio and television that they had generators for sale, even though finding gas was a pain in our little town. If you can only get 5 gallons at a time, how do you run a generator or decide to fill your tank or run your home? The neighboring town had gotten back on their feet faster than ours, with stores opening faster and receiving gas deliveries that were scarce in ours so finding gas there wasn't a problem.

Saturday, Hubby and I took the kids in search of a new set of gas logs. Our fear was that Mom and Dad would run out of propane and we would need to make the move back to my house where we had natural gas, but would need new logs first. Everywhere we checked were sold out of what we were looking for. We took the kids to Books-A-Million to give them some time outside of the house, bought them each a new book and stopped for supper for the family so that we didn't have to cook. Up until this point, we had been eating good with grilled chicken, pork chops and burgers but it was nice to not have to worry about what to cook or how we were going to cook it. Sunday, we came home again to check on the animals. At the end of the day, Hubby and I came back home so that he could shower and be ready to leave for work. On our way, my neighbor called and asked if we were going home anytime soon (she was staying at the National Guard Armory with her husband). Family had informed her that it looked like some of her neighbors had power again. We couldn't get home fast enough for me. We were looking for hints that we had power and were finding security lights working. I breathed another huge sigh of relief when I opened my door, flipped a switch and it worked. We had power. We started calling everyone and headed back to my parents to reload our stuff to sleep in our own beds again. Mom and Dad decided they were doing fine at their house and stayed behind. We lost power again on Sunday for a few hours, but it was turned back on that evening. It's been running ever since.

This post has gone on longer than I had planned. If I can get it worked out, next will be a much shorter rendition of what has gone on the past week. Regardless, I'm glad to be back. It's been a long two weeks.