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This is so strange.... all kids in school and nothing "important" that needs my attention... I get to go play in the studio! YIPPEE!]]> General xml-rss2.php?itemid=67 Mon, 11 Jan 2010 07:27:53 -0700 xml-rss2.php?itemid=33
New this time is Hubby's Blog (Mongoose's Musings). He needed a space to post some photos. Maybe he will do some writing also...

All has been quiet on the home front. Glad to have Christmas's done with the exception of one. Kids finally made it back to school on Tue (they were all suppose to be there Monday but as soon as the bus hit the drop off point Gabe hit the nurses office and the call came to pick up the "pukey" kid). Of course, this is one of the coldest days of the year and my battery in my jeep was "temperamental"... Meaning jump it to go, then you were OK USUALLY... except this day. Get to school, Get Gabe and try to go home, turning the key yielded er, er, er, instead of vrooom. I had to call for a Jump Start and 30 minutes later and $25 lighter we were on our way again. Funny thing though, we were pushed to the front of the jump start line because I had a pukey kid! New Battery installed Tue. now she starts like a charm!

Gabe is going to the Ped. GI. He has been having issues with not digesting his supper and then seeing it again in the morning. Although, the school incident was just a low blood sugar incident. He was super hungry and felt nauseous. Instead of going for school breakfast he went to the nurse. He is such a "do the right thing" kid. Eitherway, once he was home he was fine, eating everything in the house and having a grand-ol' time.

Well, better go. Kids are waking up to a no school snow day. I imagine my headache that was bad before is only going to get worse!



]]> General xml-rss2.php?itemid=33 Thu, 7 Jan 2010 07:33:29 -0700 xml-rss2.php?itemid=9
Writings From a Stay at Home Mom

28
Aug
2007
free mcafee
Posted by 3MalesandaLady under General
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aol is offering free antivirus protection. need a user id and password (its free to sign up). Personally I would use a spam account for the email addy (one I could check tho). currently its McAffee suite offered for free.

here is the link



27
Aug
2007
happenings
Posted by 3MalesandaLady under General
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gabes tooth FINALLY fell out. he still cannot speak clearly, but now he is happy he can whistle! he was eating a sandwich when he came over and said "mom, look what was in my food!" and then cracked up when I was inspecting his tooth trying to figure out what it was!

kids got all they need for school to start, and I am ready to send them out the door asap! now all I need to do is the "baking week" that needs to come soon (to do all of his bakery goods) and some minor grocery shopping. He will need cookies, cakes, bread, tortillas, waffles.... and the purchased things like syrup, bread, buns, bagels etc.

me? I am SO looking forward to being kid-less day after day after day. thinking today on how much the house will stay clean without them to mess it up all day long! It doesn't look like I will have tons of spare time on my hands, as there are big things in the works here that will keep me occupied for a long time. I am also getting some new equipment for the studio, one of those items being a "dream" thing for me, but in reality it is a really needed item that will definitely boost sales and profits. :) so its a good thing (like martha would say)

well, other than that, its been pretty norm. Bethie mistakenly called the cat Melissa (whom is a person not a cat... like Missy said, I can see getting Missy and Misty mixed up but Melissa???). We started a new "chore chart" trying to get back into the school routine again- and still remain responsible to normal household tasks.... the reward of course is money, but minimal (enough for a pop and a candybar per week if all the chores are done). hoping it works!

until later!



15
Aug
2007
ok, playing catch-up again....
Posted by 3MalesandaLady under General
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kids- all are excited school is starting soon (so am I). my baby goes off to kindergarten this year... where did the time fly. topics of conversation have now turned monetary, like I need new shoes, bookbag etc. and do I get glue too (bethie!). Highlights of these past few days- Stephen woke one morning and shocked me by asking if he could clean the toilet... ummm, YA! that was totally out of character for him! Gabe lost his tooth and is having a hard time talking. the new tooth which was already 1/2 up when the old fell out is now pushing the next lower front tooth straight out into his lip... he is back to really bad oral motor issues with drool and all, and not enunciating anything... poor kid, he is also complaining about eating things like bananas because it hurts. this one is not all that loose yet, or else I would have "accidentally" wiggled it way to far. Bethie is miss fashion diva (old news) but lately its been the length of her hair and is commenting that she liked mommy best with gray hair and gabes best when it was dark (sun bleached over summer) and now she likes hers since its turning RED! (huh????? she is still as blonde as blonde can be!)

now on to us, hubby went back to work and eventho he was thrown into overtime right off the bat, he is tired but much happier than when he was home all day... (and so am I). business is booming and renovations are still s-l-o-w-l-y moving since hubby is at work now and not here. in the past week was offered my dream piece of equipment (used at a really good, but still enough that I have to pause to think about it price), offered a job that seems to be well within my means and is great, got published in a magazine (cool! kids asked when they get to be in one too!), offered a trip to DC but we need to kick in some additional funds for the whole family to go (which DC is spendy but worth it educationally!) so I am trying to move heaven and earth to get what we need and want which all came at once and needs the same funds.... (waiting for the money tree to drop some of its leaves soon!).

so word of warning, if you have some great deal that I cannot refuse, we already got quite a few... and I may have to say no but you can try... :)

and oh, the cat that was on the 2 week hiatus, well... she and her kittens are doing fine. yeppers, evidentially she was not a "nice girl" when she was out....



30
Jul
2007
Dear toothfairy, I ate my tooth- please leave money
Posted by 3MalesandaLady under General
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this past 2 weeks Gabe has had a tooth that was so loose it was only hanging on by a root (really- moved totally forwards and almost all the way backwards). I told him to wiggle it to loosen it up so it would fall out but after hearing me endlessly yell at stephen for yanking out teeth that are no where near falling out- or his latest- trying to make his permanent teeth fall out there was no way no how he was going to disobey what I so strongly laid out as wrong...

so every night he fell asleep and every night I worried about choking in the night on that stupid tooth. well this morning i slacked off. Probably because that silly tooth has caused me to totally rearrange meals for soft food only and hear about it every 5 sec.

around noon I was muchie hungry so I grabbed some tortilla chips and started eating and as always, soon everyone around me was eating chips. after I finished I went back to work (actually doing some book keeping) and heard "mommy can you help me, I lost my tooth" I said you did? let me see... to which he replied "I said I LOST my tooth". well come to find out the tooth was nudged loose on the chips and lost forever to the digestive process.

So tonite we left a note hoping the tooth fairy is a nice lady and will understand, especially since this is his first tooth and all... the note went like this:

I ate a chip today and my tooth I think I ate.

Can you still leave me money without a tooth?

Thanks if you leave me money?

Gabe


and being a nice kid he camped out on my bed with the note on his- since that was his last known location, or as he puts it "she knows from Stephen that I sleep here so I put the note here" I think she will be nice and forgive the missing tooth, don't you?

at bed time I heard Gabe explain to me the tooth fairy does magic cuz she has a wand. I say "really" and he retorts "just like Jesus and Santa clause, they all have magic"



30
Jun
2007
new pc/update
Posted by 3MalesandaLady under General
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Sitting here tonite writing to you from my new Gateway PC running vista. If you have ever changed computers, I am sure you can empathise with me and what I went through the past 3 days- but all is well now, I have email again, I have all my bookmarks and I can print via the network in the house (Vista did not play nicely with an xp computer!). All I need now is my business bookwork to transfer over and I will be set, but alas, I know I will need to read the forums for office accounting as the cryptic messages like "unable to restore the backup to this version of office accounting" huh? it created it on this version... makes no sense to me what-so-ever. And vistas easy transfer cable ($35) may have been worth it because bill gates was joking when he named it "easy transfer"... the program never completed without critical flaws the whole 10 times I ran it (usb drive and networking)....

Kids are excited we get to go to the amusement park tomorrow for the company picnic. will be there all day, and work will get shoved aside for it (which I really did today also, even tho I had good intentions!) I am still getting used to hubby being here all day long and interupting me everytime i get busy to "come take a look at this or that". Oh well, soon it will be me and no one else here in the daytime (sept will come soon enough!) and then I can take a deep breath and do all I have shoved aside till "when I get a moment I would like to try this or that!)

I suppose, I had better hit the hay, Tomorrow is going to be a breakfast to beyond kid bedtime type day of running here and there- all out in the sunshine... I will be tuckered out by the time I go to bed tomorrow! nite!



21
Jun
2007
one stressful/painful day
Posted by 3MalesandaLady under General
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being crunch time and time is running out really fast- of course murphys law would kick in (duh) and the way I planned almost burnt hubbys shop down last night. But tracking it back to a faulty breaker and a new one in hand the test went fine (and I took up the down time in the old one running constant- its 1/3 the size). So armed with a new breaker and the test going fine I continue onward until...

Kids come and ask if they can camp out... here camp out has nothing to do with tents, outdoors, scary things; its only the fire, hot dogs and marshmallows. I and hubby say OK. and try to finish my work before resting and relaxing. While toting stuff here and there I hear "mom the cat is going out" (of course this is after all 3 kiddos came in to tell me something really important). Well stopping everything, and of course just having lured the stupid thing back inside after a 2 week hiatus... I close the garage/studio and trap her inside partly at least. She got into where only a stupid cat could and I went to try to shoosh her toward the door... next thing I know I have a sharp pain in my foot and a board stuck to the bottom of my shoe (remodeling, gotta love it). Told hubby I needed his help and he assumed with the cat and tries to "blow" it out with the shop vac. I am finally free of the board but notice that blood is dripping pretty heavy out of my foot. Finally get hubby to notice the blood and leave the cat alone for a sec to get me a chair and something to clean it out with to see how bad it is. Not that bad really- just a puncture wound. and the cat got in... I just now have a huge spot that is going to bruise bad in the morning and I have to be on it all day Saturday. What Joy.

Anyways instead of being as busy as I wished, I got to sit down and enjoy my hubby making beans and burgers for Stephen (vandecamps baked beans with jenny-o turkey burger crumbled in for a pseudo beans and weenies combination- he loved it!) and hot dogs on a bun with baked beans for the rest of us- of course cooked over the fire. marshmallows came out for desert and the big debate tonight was toasted or burnt marshmallows were better. Lightening for fireworks off in the distance and a little girl scared of everything but very tired and an older child who was a pyromaniac but did fine with the "storm" of no threat... and Gabe who just was a perfect little helper and fire pit watcher so no one would get hurt doing something silly. Odd thing, its still only 73 degrees outside and I had the oldest in a winter jacket and the younger one complaining for a blanket. walked into the house and without the humidity it feels like its freezing in here. Kids thought it was cold outside!

Anyways going to bed early tonight, as there is not much I can do as I am using crutches to get around (reinjured the kneecap earlier today too- same leg as the nail) so... hoping by morning stepping will be a lot easier as tomorrow is the last day possible to get it all done. then its off to packing and getting the booth items... hopefully my foot and knee will heal overnight!

Retrospect- the cat got out when stephen put his head through the plastic covering on the door window (the one he broke out eons ago that I keep forgetting to order the glass for to fix it). Smart cat found a hole where there hasn't been for a long time. Hole now fixed, and I have resolved to remember after this show to get the glass.



19
Jun
2007
Well, I guess we'll feed ya Tracy!
Posted by 3MalesandaLady under off the cuff
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Was talking to the kiddos about what was happening this week, Missy is on vacation and Tracy needs to do her college homework and apt. search for school which starts in just a few weeks- since her apt. she had lined up fell through.
Then the conversation was interrupted by a spat and switched to "this that you do to the least of these, you do also to me ". and trying to get them to understand the concept of being nice to those that are down (specifically their siblings). Told them that if there was a homeless stranger walking by on the road that looked hungry I would invite them in to eat with us. After the initial "stranger Danger" talks passed- like what if he came in and shot us and took us (huh?)... Stephen piped up and said "mom, you can feed Tracy too!"
Conversation ended with me laughing to hard to continue... Ya Tracy, you can eat here too!



17
Jun
2007
shows did so well, been busy just keeping up
Posted by 3MalesandaLady under General
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Been busy keeping up with orders and restocking stuff. My stuff sold so well I went from 6 rubbermaid containers of inventory down to 4 the first show, then the next weekend I went down to 1.5 containers remaining. and I have 1/3 more $ coming from orders still left to do from the last show and another show coming up in 6 days (check website out for location). So the basement and new studio area (still unfinished but thats were my new shelves are located) are where I have been spending all my time. This week I will add hubbys shop to the mix- his welder is the right wiring and circuit breaker for my new equipment that I need to finish all that I have started efficiently.

Hubby was suppose to start layoff this week, and got it a week earlier than expected. So it is really good that the shows did so well... unemployment needed a new waiting week and with the remodel and such, money is tighter than I like. He is having a hard time adjusting to being a house hubby, which I am letting him be, as I am technically the only one working right now. Its hard to switch roles evidentally as between everything he wants to do and the things that still need to be done daily- I still find myself doing dishes, laundry, cooking and kid watching... funny how women can do it so well

kids have been well. adjusting to no school and Stephen even picked up his violin and is practicing daily!!! that is a great thing, since 2 weeks ago he was spouting to everyone that he quit. Gabe is trying to practice his guitar but with no knowledge of notes its hard to teach him. Bethie wants the studio done as I promised her the piano would stay and I would teach her how to play- she will need it anyways as she wants to drum.

well, works awaiting so better get busy...



24
May
2007
been MIA for a bit, Quick catch up
Posted by 3MalesandaLady under General
Past month or so... Wish i could say I have been busy working but been too busy medically and other commitment wise to really get the work I need to get done done. Remodeling a new studio for me- the garage is being converted into a heated and air-conditioned space complete with water, electricity, windows and doors...and tons of space with optimized work flow. It will be nice not to have to hike 1,000 pounds of supplies down a flight of stairs but have a handicapped accessible entrance that will accommodate either a cart or bobcat! . I have to keep the big picture of "when its done it will be grand" to get me through the 3 years of storage stuff that needs to be culled before the structural changes get done. big job, as 3 years of storage found remodelling supplies, garden/yard, toys, shop stuff, etc. left tons of stuff for me to go through. the garage is big enough to hold 3 cars....

Medically we have been on 5 out of town trips so far this month and another one yet to go. I really like the new GI. He looked at the allergist reports/skin tests and confirmed my suspicions on some things (like garlic) that we knew were issues but never told the results were positive from the allergist; plus added some more like fresh fish that we don't eat but after fishing opener all of a sudden have but wont let him try. Flovent seems to help the swallowing as well as the dilation that happened from the egd (his eos was really bad on the scope- all gray and furrowed top to bottom) he has been warned to tell me know the instant that he has minor discomfort as he was so bad before he even slightly complained.

Bethie had her first cavities- 7 in one shot! fillings out of town over 2 days. she is not a happy camper but that was enough to get her to floss and brush religiously now!

Stephen was insurance approved to try the new zolair shot. Hopeing it helps with the eos as well as the asthma. Study seems promising from NIH... so keep your fingers crossed. Each shot is $1,200 and he needs them every 2 weeks... hence the thrill of insurance covering! :)

I have a show in less than 2 weeks, another in less than 3.... and really need to be working- but today is bad- bethie has her graduation in the middle of my usual full day of work; tomorrow is the allergy shot which requires us to stay for 2 hours or more to make sure anaphalaxis doesn't happen and bethie gets her new shoe inserts fitted... Sat. I get to see if i want a larger new-to-me for virtually nothing piece of work equipment that will greatly ease my stress (2 hr. drive to see it one way).

School is out for the boys next week. as well as getting my sales booth set up for outdoor use (wind/rain).... uffda! But one contact from the local magazine may make me more busyier than i can imagine- with a potential order to help him with his art work and through his contacts next spring... seems like it all is coming together- just wish the studio remodel was done!



16
Apr
2007
another example of murphys law
Posted by 3MalesandaLady under General
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My favorite author is Stephen King. I love it when in his books you think your going from point "a" to point "b" which will end up at "c" and you get taken for a ride... the kind that takes you to point "V" and you have no clue or even forethought of going there on your own. Hindsight says all the markers were there for you to know you were going to "v" but all along you thought you were going to "c".... well tonight Life is like a Stephen King Novel

Morning was a productive day (work) with some stuff I needed to finish up this evening. Took Beth to school, enjoyed my coffee time (alone without kids time), Ran late to pick up bethie but it was ok as they let school out late also. Left town when the phone rings- "we finished your taxes". Great! But ummm, I have to get back home for the bus, I will be there in about an hour or so. So time passes, bus comes, go back to town to find a line that stretches around the building... wait in it, get in and its finally my turn when I remember "oops, hubby needs to sign too doesn't he?" well, all is not lost, as they forgot to complete a form, so have to go back this evening to sign... ummm OK.

Get home and the kids were in and out playing. Stephen did go here there and everywhere outside but insists he stayed out of the barn (we know that is an issue with him). Quick "tide me over" until supper is done snack and back off to town we go... Taxes picked up and the search for square u bolts ensues (this would be hubbys idea, not mine) when from the back seat I hear achoo about 30 times. Look and he has his hands in his eyes and they are terribly a mess. Hubby says "Stephen I told you to keep your hands out of your eyes" which must have been while I was in paying for the taxes... I say 'superstore's name' "stat" which he replies with a line from a movie we just watched "whats stat mean anyways" and proceeds to the next u bolt store. I insist when he is done that the superstore is the next stop. Get there and the generic brand of benadryl is gone so I am looking at at least $5 for a package/bottle. I think "well since we have to have name brand, the liquid is such a hassle I can get the chewable, fast dissolve or strips for the same price... pick up the strips to look for geletin and there is none. feeling supersmart for having a "travel ready" way of caring benadryl I purchase and administer. The next u bolt store I hear "mom my tongue is numb"

From the numb tongue to the next step was only a matter of a few minutes...." mom my throat is getting really tight" Ok, start to panic here, but calmly inquire on how tight tight is.... "is it worse than before, like when you ate ____, is it worth a shot in the leg for?" when that anwser was yes I really started to freak. off to the er we go. 2.5 hours later we finally emerge (gosh, my hubby is patient in the car with the other 2 kids!).

Evidentially we really needed the epi, as his pulse was fastest before the shot was given than afterwards and the nurses kept saying it was a very good thing we were there. Stephen still says his throat is better now, but still cannot swallow right. I am going to be up giving him benadryl (the generic we have here not the strips) every 6 hrs. and on the phone with the allergist and Merck to see if we can track down the cause of the issue. I am hoping it is the benadryl as the mold/pollen reason would be really hard to avoid! Some days point "c" doesn't look all that bad!


]]> General xml-rss2.php?itemid=9 Mon, 1 Jan 2007 10:24:00 -0700 xml-rss2.php?itemid=1
09
Feb
2007
update and gabe is a math genius
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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On Monday, found out the toe wasn't broke even tho it was about 2x the size it should have been and purple. out of gym for the rest of the week.

On Tue. went to 2 specialists for Stephens annual checkups with those drs. and did some business and personal shopping. Found out Stephen grew another 2 inches (as always) and only gained a pound of weight (another as usual). Lung functions were lower than the normal limit (70%) but since stephen is stephen the way he acts and functions takes precedence over the numbers, and his functioning isn't bad until those numbers hit the low 50%'s so all is good and only follow-up needed is with the allergy/asthma dr.

On wed. I got the interview set up for next months article to be published about me and my biz (cool!) so now just cleaning, more work to get done at the last minute and figuring out to make me and my stuff look good for the photo.

On Thurs. I went in for my dexa scan (results in april), then took mom out to eat and did a bit of dollar store shopping before we left to go to the school musical. Kids were thrilled even tho they were really tired afterwards. Seems they started the musical about 1-2 hours later than they should have on a school nite to be offering student prices- it was well after 10 before we got out and since we were so busy and the doors opened so early we didn't eat beforehand. McD's in the car on the way home struggling to keep the kids awake while they chewed. BUT all in all, BIG EYES, songs and amazement. They loved it! and there is a lot of talent in that school!

Today Bethie was suppose to go to school so I could work uninterrupted for almost 5 hours.... well that didn't happen as her school was canceled as the teacher had the flu. Good that she wasn't teaching, bad for those last minute things that I wanted to get accomplished before the interview. Was jazzed this am, and I am a morning person. Every time I went down this morning I seemed to have a little helper that needed my help upstairs. finally gave up till evening then I was too out of the mood... tomorow morning may be better, I hope (altho its the weekend and that seems to be an issue with me as I kinda like to spend time with my family too).

Bethie is loosing her voice (maybe a head cold). so should be an interesting week ahead... Bought some write on/wipe off flash cards for multiplication and division (Stephen) addition/subtraction (Gabe) and printing the alphabet (Bethie). Funny stephen was working on his alphabet tonight but Missy and I found out that Gabe can do 2 digit addition ie 17+6 and subtraction with only 1 digit each. Amazed as kindergarten just starting addition (been working on number recognition and counting) and the bottom of todays paper had for the "advanced problem" 4+3=7 with hearts above them so you could count all 7 of them- hes doing it without the images!



05
Feb
2007
Hey, for once my kids listen and toes get broke (most likely anyways)
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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phew, busy weekend

on Fri. we went to the superstore and got groceries and Jeans for Bethie (who will not wear the perfectly fine hand-me-downs because they are "boys" and not girls jeans- 4yo! ugh!) so now with spangles and florals we are set for cold winter days over the t-shirt weight mini-skirts I have been battling for her not to wear. and the cupboards are restocked (except for the few things I forgot- need to make lists, and I didn't)

On Sat. we went to a family birthday party and then out to eat (thanks missy for the gift cert. and the night out!) came home overstuffed from awesome food (of course beyond even the fact that it was exceptionally great tasting food- what put it over the top was the fact that everything we ate Stephen was allergic to- boy who woulda thought baked potatoes and broccoli would be so yummy!)

Then today while I was napping the kids were in the basement (daddy was up- their toys are down there) and for some unknown reason a scoop shovel, like the kind used on farms for grain, was down there. Stephen has been "cleaning" the floor with it by scooping toys and dumping them into the toy barrels. Anyway, bethie got a hold of it and stephen told her to give it to him. That she did, right into his big toe. some blood, but basically I am worried more about it being broke with school and gym tomorrow. Without putting this thought in his mind he has already expressed fear of putting on shoes for school in the morning. Arg, I know from the many toes that I have broke that nothing can be done for it but taping (already done) but the thought is that the school is going to need documentation for gym so on top of a busy day, we may be running for x-rays.

Why for once did Bethie actually listen????

New phone, biz update, kid squabbles
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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I hated taking my laptop to work on while I was waiting for bethie to get done with school. Today I had a blast surfing the web to find the ROI calculation I needed for marketing while sitting and drinking my coffee.
My New Phone
Funny tho, I always thought the laptop made me seem to pretentious while sitting there, and now that I have used this for the past week, it seems to garner more attention than the laptop did! it is so cool tho, does the same as my axim x51v did but also dials up to the web (no more searching out wifi hotspots) and makes texting a breeze with the keyboard... the only downfalls- its a candybar (ugh!) and it is so quiet it is hard to hear it ring. Nothing like the Razr I got for the biz- that one rings loud enough to wake me in the am! I think I sold one (the ppc 6700) for alltel today as another gentleman was quite interested in it while I was sitting there.

Had a good business day today. Did all the layouts for the printers. Have to go get more supplies this weekend so I will be back in the studio full force starting next week (almost got all the stuff entered in the pc for last years taxes I think!). jumping through the hoops to get listed in google local (waiting for the postcard to arrive) and Yahoo local (trying now for the past 4 days with them saying this and that is wrong with my submission- ya right- I went off of someone elses catagories that is similar to mine...., whatever!) so time will tell, and hopefully by this weekend there will be more web presence.

Battled kids all morning. Gabe learned that sitting for 15 minutes trying to decide what cereal he wanted was not a good idea (he actually was crying "i'm hungry" so much he was loosing his breath) then I dressed him while sobbing, then gave him some quick finger food to eat while waiting for the bus and he was spending more time trying to get the bowl back out for cereal and sobbing that he didn't eat (while saying he didn't like that, he wanted cereal).... was definitely a calgon morning. Then at noon I take bethie to school where she starts with "I am going to be the first one there" where I counter "I highly doubt that- your 5 minutes late already" which finally ended with the bet that when we get in if there are kids there I am right, if no one is there she is right... but that battle was almost as bad as Gabes morning one. Then stephen has just been off lately- but no all out argueing until you hit your head several times in the wall until you bleed from all the insanity- just enough that you think it every once in a while....

I suppose, I had better do something here.... all this talk about the spats this morning tired me out- thinking I will be in bed in 30 minutes.



29
Jan
2007
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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Its one of those kinda mondays,,, You know, the kind where you just want to sit here and drink coffee, or go back to bed as waking the kids for school and work seem too stressful (and not enjoyable) for you to muster up the strength to do.

anyways, HI STEPH! I see you have been leaving comments on here (awhile back) and we thought you would stop in over christmas. Wondering how you are doing (just ask tracy, as we have been bugging her for updates on you!). Hope college is treating you well. Yes, bethies hair has grown a TON! I keep looking at it and going Geesh, wish mine would grow like that! Bought her a really cool headband at Claires, so retro and never out of her hands. Everyone misses you. Stop in sometime.

BTW, Tracy if you are reading this- Your little sis's mind can be put to ease, I have a baggie here for her of polly pocket dolls and hangers.

Went shopping over the weekend. Didn't buy much but took all day looking at things. Got home and my legs were sore (and I don't sit all day). Kiddos slept well that night. Got new work supplies coming (which is good as I needed more materials). Hubby went to IA yesterday to pick up some stuff and had a flat- on the coldest day so far. Glad in a way that it happened while he had no kids along (and that it happened to him not me)... but now I have to fix a tire- UGH!

Well, time flew by, kiddo's waking hour.



26
Jan
2007
disappointed kiddos...
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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kids are disappointed tonight. they got ice skates a week or two ago and they have been hounding us to go. well the best laid plans always go afoul and since it was such a nice day the ice was all slush. well out for hot chocolate I guess to apease the masses



18
Jan
2007
trying something new....
Posted by 3malesandalady under off the cuff
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09
Jan
2007
wierd day
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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having one of those odd days... somehow the laundry piled up and slowly the mounds are decreasing... lost a pair of spidey boots (either here at the house- as he states- or at school- as I state). But one bright humorous spot stood out today: I emailed the phone company with a question because they suspended us... and they email back "call us"... Huh?

didn't do much today, looked for boots, did laundry, did dishes... worried that my hubby ran out of gas. long story but I had enough for what I had to do this week, he drives "non-fuel economy" wise on his way to work and it was iffy if he made it- why was he in my jeep... his jeep had a "i don't want to start morning" and when I tried there was absolutely nothing going either. He comes home and it turns over like a dream... evidentially it did not want to go to work this morning either!

Woke to a bus honking in the driveway. came flying down stairs this morning... almost broke my neck from the mess all over the kitchen. Seems Stephen was up this morning cooking everything he desired and knew he could not eat. Bus waited 5 minutes for the boys and off they went (tonight I did get the promise that he will wake me--- like I believe that)Morning breakfast from what I can tell was hot chocolate, tea, strawberry jello (unknown years old) made in a small plastic glass filled 1/2 full and placed in the fridge to set up (he states "well I didn't know how to make it!") all the cereals were down from the top of the fridge, but I am sure he was looking for more of the last stash of chocolate he found there and ate it all. Chex mix type stuff was also ate... as well as at least 110 different browser windows open all with pc games on them and a full soda pop next to the pc. Busy morning!

Why did I oversleep- I finally got a handle on what I needed to do for taxes for the biz, I was up until the wee hours of the morning and I knew when I went to bed that it was going to be hard to get up. unfortunately I musta hit the alarms off instead of snooze, cuz I don't remember it. Tomorrow tho they both want to take showers before school- so if they remember, and if I don't do bookwork tonight all will be grand in the morning.

BTW- hubby was late coming home from work (1.5 hrs.!) because he stopped to talk to his mom...



03
Jan
2007
Back to School (and work!) FINALLY!!!!
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up early this morning, as we have to find all the stuff needed for school- the hats, mittens, coats, snowpants and boots aren't the problem- its the school bags, the school work, etc. as well as the tennis shoes (who woulda thunk?- boots, church shoes and nothing have been the norm here as of late!)

But finally I get some "me" time with only 1 child and tons of work to do! of course that 1 as to go to school today too, so it will only be a half day, meaning I probably will just get to cleaning out the studio and preping for a day of work tomorrow (and then she has school again tomorrow too....) well, if it isn't one thing its another- BUT still great to be back on the normal routine.

Stephen finished his invention last night. Turned out to be stellar! hope he gets an "A" on it! He keeps giving credit to us, not himself, because we "helped" him on it- but it was his idea, his efforts... the only thing we did was run the utility knife (so he still had a finger when he finished) and I did help him run M$word as creating his graphics was new to him (he still typed the words, I just helped open the wordart and align the text boxes). Thought-o-matic Description of the invention and features: The thought-o-matic, helps you think of what to write in your blog when you don't have a clue... made from sturdy cardboard, features an adding machine roll of paper suspended by a pencil for aesthetics, and features a false bottom interior to hide all the "workings". To use, during the day when you get a great idea or have a burning question you want answered jot it down on the handy dandy paper. tear it off (with the supplied cutter) and toss it in the box. When it comes time to write in your blog (most likely because your mom is making you before you play games online!) reach in the box and take out a slip of paper. Answer the question if you can- or google it, learn about it, and write your findings in your blog. Cool idea isn't it!!

Anyway, the Kids will be happy to resume that normal schedule, as will I. Got lots of work to do, so its a good thing that they are giving me some freedom again! I have been missing the studio enough that I even had dreams of being down there over the vacation... so if that is any indication of anything, Lots of new stuff maybe forthcoming- and the preholiday creative block hopefully has lifted (time will tell)... so I better get stuff going and get these kids on the bus so I can WORK again!



01
Jan
2007
Christmas is done for the year
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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Christmas has finally closed just as 2006 has come to an end.

Kids are worn out. so I think it is a great thing that this christmas season is at an end. Kids made out fairly well. the best bonus for them was between grandmas and grandpas they got boots, snowpants, coats and hats and mittens... so many hours of outside enjoyment, not to mention not freezing to death during recess!

Bethie had the christmas of her life! this was her year to be all excited and she finally got the point of "its Jesus Birthday" and "its baby Jesus, Bethlehem was the town!" all important.. but also in the 4 year old mind santa got mixed in... but not as much as the boys did in the past. As far as that goes, I have been preaching christmas spirit and going and giving for others rather than getting. Some of it sunk in, as for awhile I thought it was thanksgiving not christmas! kept hearing things like "I am thankful we have a house/bed/etc". Not discouraging thanks and praise in any form! and it is true, we could be out under a bridge with no heat, no clothes, no food.... living in shelters if there is room.... there are persons out there this year doing just that. Made the "really cool toy" seem less important, and to me that is what is really important about this time of year.

Well, 2006 is done, on to a bigger and better 2007. Trying to figure out how to do taxes, learning tons on marketing (and getting some good ideas, i think!). Past year has been a learning experiance, and I am sure next year will be too... but for a resolution, I think making next year a year that I learn alot, laugh alot, enjoy living to the fullest and find the pearls cast before me... ya thats what I am going to do!

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29
Dec
2006
Flu free- NOW
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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I hate winter break! Kids are needing attention every 5 seconds, quibbles over "I had such and such" and "but it was MY Christmas present!"

Too much food to tempt Stephen... ya he snitched a bit adding to the behaviors.

But all in all, kids are thrilled with their toys and this too shall pass and they will SOMEDAY go back to school and I will wish they were here again. I am already hearing "when is school again?" and "am I done with school now?" of course that last one is Bethie....

Stephen has an interesting homework assignment during this break- he has to proto an invention, then when he returns he will start marketing it. His invention- the "think-o-matic" for those that have a problem of thinking of something to write in a blog.... wonder where he got that idea? I just asked him to think of a problem. This was issue #2 with him. the first one should not be tackled in a classroom environment with peers, so #2 it is! I had an idea how to implement the whole thing, but we sat down and brainstormed and he came up with something better than I had thought- and requires more thought and input on his part while still being affordable AND (this is a biggie) doesn't involve robots, digital displays, usb cords and automatic keyboards doing his writing for him!

We still have 2 Christmas events to do, and this weekend it appears everyone is healthy now. Last weekend we all took turns with the flu (NOT FUN!) thank goodness it was the 12 hr. flu and not the 4 day flu that seems to be going around in the larger town to the west!

With all the vomiting I didn't gain a pound (nor did I eat that much!) so... a good holiday season I guess! I also didn't sleep that much with everyone needing me, but daytime naps helped me catch up on some much needed sleep

Haven't been in the studio this week. Been working on marketing as much as I can (read between the kids squabbles!) I did get the kids clothes finally straightened out- summer is now out of their room as well as the size 24 months that have been out, then in, then out, then in.... depending on what Bethie decides to wear or dig in. Seems that every time in the past something seemed to come up and then they got rowdy and threw things all over again. they seem to like it now- for this week... and thats all I give it- a week then it will be back to the pig sty again (wanta wager- I need the $ and its a sure bet!)

Have a busy day on tap for tomorrow, if I get time I may decide to do some of the "other things" that have eluded me... like the basement toy area. but between bill paying, invention making, thank you writing (for me and the kiddos).... that will be enough pulling teeth I think!



26
Dec
2006
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest man that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank GOD! He lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.



19
Dec
2006
GOOD DAY TODAY!
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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I had a Great day today. I stuck with marketing 101 (my own version) and am happy with the results. I had tons of fun giving away presents (my stuff) with my business card and most are to be displayed pretty predominately (with the exception of 1 which I have no clue as it wasn't opened before I left). Lots of office personal "ohh and ahhing" over the gifts. so hopefully some web hits and some revenue will come. If not I found out today that most likely it will be the march issue of the magazine I eluded to the other day that will be my business featured. COOL!

I also went to Stephens school to build gingerbread houses. that was a blast. and he got tons of peer positive reviews on his work (even tho I thought it was more pell-mell than his classmates work).

more later....

update 1-2-07- just learned that one is also being displayed predominately in the business! yahoo!



17
Dec
2006
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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First, Kids updated their blogs with an entry...

now on to me. I hit a creative roadblock. I did it last year at this time too. The good news is that when it was over last year better stuff came from it. Just this year is not the best timing. I have a custom order that I need to get shipped and nothing that I am doing for it is worth saving, it is a small object. Simply put the problem is like my hands are trying to learn something different with my mind. The two just are not connecting at this point. I guess i will just have to roll with the punches and see where it leads me. I did do something that was 2 gal. capacity in size today before it "wrecked" as the smaller sizes were not going so hot at all. I must be at a new plateau that I just need to cross.

Of course it doesn't help that I am putting a lot of pressure on myself either... I have several marketing ideas that are low/no cost that I need to implement asap. One of those needs several small items to pass out to business persons, so....

OK, enough whining. On with the kids- Tracy is back. Kids were thrilled. she brought all of her goodie bags and helped decorate the house for Christmas (rather she and the kids cleaned the space and decorated the living room while I was working- how cool is that!) So now it is definitely a deck the halls feel to the house! Kids are thrilled as the tree is now up. They spent the whole day coloring photocopies of Christmas coloring book pages that Kay gave beth and then cutting them out to put on the tree (no ornaments on our tree- learned from past years that the tree is the magnet for all little fingers)

I fell asleep on the couch and now just waking up (for some reason) so I am writing... I am hearing everyone (including hubby) talk in their sleep tonight! Must of been a day for them!

Sitting here listening to the first Terminator movie. Always have problems with this movie. OK... here are some of them: 1) John of the future sends back his best friend (who is his dad) to save his mom. 2) the movie eludes to the fact that John knows his friend is his dad. OK now, first of all, just that is bizarre enough but, If the first terminator was never sent to kill Sara, then Johns best friend would have never been sent back to protect her and john would have never been born... Seems like a silly thing to do if you were in the terminators shoes. He should have just stayed home (40 years in the future) and then the kid he wants to prevent woulda never happened...thats my issue I guess, but it seems somewhat silly to base a movie on if you really think about it! (OK I am deep tonight)



12
Dec
2006
a night out
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
Mom and my Brother took me out for my birthday tonight. We went to the local truckstop. They have good Cappuccino, and a bad waitress. The first thing hubby stated (under his breath of course) was "Oh Great." well, as par her usual, she forgot to get everything. Said everything snippy, did her best to do nothing.... Hey I am one to usually tip waitresses, but after the first tip did not improve her mood, never again. Maybe next time I should give her a tip- something like "hey put a little spring in your step, a smile on your face, act like you actually want to be here and serve me" type tip.... o.k. I admit that was mean, but last time she served us 2 waitresses (her and another one) were fighting over who had what tables... I mean full out temper-tantrum fighting... and in front of us- the customer.

Anyway, Mom asked for a candle, she didn't think they did that. BUT I did get my pie for free when she "remembered" it was my birthday ("remembered" by overhearing me say next time lets go to _____ there they sing and give you a free desert!) Anyway, Mom knows me... I am a cheap gift to buy... CHOCOLATE- the good stuff not the cheap kind.

Gabe says I know whats in the present, CHOCOLATE where I contradicted "no its not, its Cadburys" good thing he has no clue, or else I would have to share my fruit and nut with him!

Good evening talking deep with mom (current events, religion etc) while the guys in their own little booth got the kids (how cool is that!). Possibly found a way to market my stuff that if it turns out would be way cool... so, so far this day has been a good day- and oh, the studio was good to me today too... if it doesn't blow up, moms gift is made and another for someone else. Thanks mom for the night out!

so many "cool" expressions lately, think it is my 9 year old rubbing off on me. Last year it was "sweet" the term dejour lately has been cool or not nice words so Cool is what I guess I chose to incorporate into my linguistics....

(BTW, Googling now for what O.K. stands for.... never thought about it, but the latest update for this software has a working spell check and ok is not good for it, either is google or googling... silly pc tech stuff should have something for a tech term.... PSS pc is wrong, but tech without a period is correct- isn't that short for technology????)

footnote: ok by webster doesn't have the periods in it. so spell check is goofy.... anywho, Etymology: abbreviation of oll korrect, facetious alteration of all correct. so there you have it! and as an aside, this link will take you to some fascinating reading about how OK came into usage.



12
Dec
2006
another year older
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
Well, here I am, I made it another year (and have the GREY hairs to prove it!)

Missy took kids requests and yesterday came back with Flowers (pink and purple per bethie), Chocolate (I knew I treasured Gabriel for a reason!) and Stephen with my Birthday Balloon with "another birthday, another reason to eat cake!" on it (balloons are a tradition in the house).

So now I am reminded to look at all the beauty around me (especially the purple and pink things!)
to savor each moment of life and delight in even the smallest tastiest morsels
and when life gets me down, float above it and do it with levity.

I got the coolest kids in the world (and the coolest Missy- Thank you Missy!)



10
Dec
2006
Bethies funny...
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Today after church we saw the Creche. Baby Jesus was missing and a long dialog of why is he gone, when do you think he will be here, when is his birthday? ensued. Pointed out the wise men, the gold, frankincense and myrrh, and the Shepard as well as Mary and Joseph. Long discussion.

Well we get home and bethie starts snipping papers. She says "Look mom, I made Mommy Jesus, Daddy Jesus And Baby Jesus!" I think something got lost along the way.....



09
Dec
2006
Kid funny of the day
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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Missy picked up the kid's mess tonight. Hubby asks Stephen "what do you say?" where stephen replies "thank you" . Hubby asks "thank you for what?" Stephen says "I don't know." (he was playing a game on the computer at the time and only halfway listening) Hubby asks "well, what do you have to be thankful for?" Where without skipping a beat Stephen replies "Jesus!"

Funny, but very True! That was the best gift we were given this Christmas season (and year round!)...



05
Dec
2006
oops, forgot the blooper!
Posted by 3malesandalady under Art
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Sitting in the booth I had placed hard candy in the small candy dishes and one on the checkout table...
Did it mainly because I wanted parents to come in with their kids (too many "oh thats B R E A K A B L E" comments on the first show (but the buyers are of the generation of my age to a little older... so some do have kids!). Anyway, caught a few adults acting like they were stealing candy from my candy dish (thats why it was there! But, ok...) Caught a kid sneeking candy into her pocket and scared the beejeebers out of her (she was trying to steal- at 4 years of age! but I did it OK as to not make mom nervous or discourage a sale) and then I offered a young boy (Kindergarten age) a piece of candy. He said a very emphatic "NO!" to which hubby pointed out that the kid did right.... we teach our kids to never take candy from strangers and here I was a total stranger offering candy... what a mom I am!



05
Dec
2006
Everyones been asking...
Posted by 3malesandalady under Art
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First I should say that I need to go to bed so this will be quick...

How did the sales go- well, I expected the local show to be small, the estimated attendance was 1000 and by the veterans, the sale had about that many persons, sales were down from last year but not terribly much.

the second sale was going to blow the doors off the first I thought- well... thought is just what it was. Attendance down (or definitely NOT what was advertised- 3000) others said they thought it was 1100 at most. They raked the customers for money before they even got to us- fee to enter, concessions to help the sports team, picture with Santa... Spent the whole day hearing other vendors saying "never again" and "geez, I just made my booth fee back, now working on gas!" well, we actually did both with a little profit again. mind you not what I thought it would be AND we generated less total revenue than my parents did with a good garage sale 20 yrs ago... SO, I am with the "never again" bunch for that show. I will keep the local show as it is good marketing and exposure (even if I sweat and toil all day to not even cover my materials!) BUT the first one had web hits following the show for 5 days the second one had tons of biz cards taken but not one hit on the site.

So, I did get to meet another artist in the same genre, a well known artist that has been in it for several years and I asked him how do you do it (actually the conversation started with "come take a look, tell me whats wrong- is it the booth, the prices, the product?- all of which he assured me was the venue NOT ME! cool!) Anywho, the way he said I needed to do it is spend 5x the amount i did on the booth space and get into a larger show that is juried. So... never guess what I am doing this summer (and making huge pieces that command a higher price tag to raise my average sales price up)

I am also going to be interviewed for a rural magazine (They inquired and I said yes, if your local and rural, your house has gotten it , you know it, not mentioning the name here tho) and I am thinking about sending press releases to the biggest town to the west, t-shirts (for when I have to sit and wait for Bethies school to let out at the local 24 hr. coffee house- and of course these would be my sales shirts too) and signs for the jeep to be a rolling billboard. Going to have to ask 2 businesses in the 2 local larger towns if they would carry my work in their stores and also thinking about doing a sale here at the farm with a mass publicity stint that may make the papers or somesuch in the spring.... tons of things to think about. Anyways competing with imported rugs, beaded jewelery and barbie dresses is NOT the place for me.

Lots of things to think about, lots of nice complements from persons (who did not buy). found out lowering the price did NOTHING to change sales and will not do that again- its a good thing none of the lower price stuff sold so no one feels like they got taken. (Ya I was to the point of trying anything just to get stuff moving!). I did have a lot of lookie lous... so maybe there is some hope for web sales after Christmas. Who Knows!

Funny thing tho- went with the same stuff to both shows (minus what already sold) and both shows generated exactly the same amount of revenue to the dollar! thats odd! anyways, the second show I did better at as the kids stayed with Nana and didn't go to the movies (less expense). Either way, we are done breaking our backs to not even get the materials price covered (or wages, or overhead, etc). So on to Marketing 101!



01
Dec
2006
Kids Dec. events/ show thoughts
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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Another show tomorrow... means we will be leaving very early in the morning to drop off kids, set up and be ready to sell by 9am. I am going to try new things with the set up this time and more succinct marketing efforts... it seems in hindsight that I am too wordy in my printed materials (go figure!). trying to push all the stuff that I thought would sell and is not (lots of inventory in these areas!). so wish me luck!

The boys have no school today, but bethie has the bus coming for her. this is a real bummer as I usually get a free 5 hours to do uninterrupted work on these type days... now I get to watch kids (the ones that will set the house ablaze if left alone for 5 minutes) so planning on doing some housework before Missy comes and its time to do the last minute shopping spree for booth items needed (fruit for baskets, candles for plates, utensils for spoon caddys). Today I also have to dig out an old smaller table to see if I can use that for a checkout area. We went without one last week (used a chair) but there was no where for the customer to write checks or set large purses down to pay. So hopefully this will help that and hide the money a bit more (if it is sturdy and I can raise the height somewhat).

I got stuff drying from this past week, so the biz website will be updated sometime next week with some new offerings (once I get the photo booth reset up, I dismantled it to use the pvc for hand building as of late) and hopefully I can get enough money from this sale to help the family budget as well as get more supplies that are needed to make more items for spring shows. I am pinning my hopes on the fact that one high end person placed an ad in the paper so people know to bring their wallets....

Looking at next month, the month is already so packed full of appointments and rehearsals and programs that I think I will need 3 of me to get it all done. Not going to be much of work days, as everything is booked! It was so much easier before the kids were in school, now we have music concerts, Sunday school programs and lots of practices, school programs- 7 days just in programs for 3 kids!!! Once the 25th is over I will feel like there is nothing to do...

Gabes school program he has a large speaking part, cool, as he is usually my bashful one. Always being the good kid he has his lines memorized for next Tuesday already and is excited that he gets a costume! (he is elf #1). Sunday school for the little ones hasn't given out parts yet so that needs to be memorized sometime after this Sunday I expect...

Stephen has his first orchestra concert on Wed. the 13th (thats what I am doing for my birthday). I am excited to hear his first violin concert (not high hopes on sounding good- but thrilling to him as he just started in Sept.) He just got his Sunday school lines last Sunday and he really has a gem of a teacher for church school. She is just fab. with him!

Bethie has 2 programs between the 2 schools. The one on the 18th was just a blast last year when Gabe went there, so looking forward to seeing what is done this year since one teacher retired and a new one was hired. Little ones Sunday School program is on Christmas Eve (with a practice after the earlier service) so that Sunday it looks like I will be spending the day in church (which is usually not an issue, but we have my family celebration here that day also with food and cleaning i'm sure needed)

If you are interested in attending any of the above (since I am not web-specific on time, location) let me know and I will forward the info to you (if I know you that is- child predators need not inquire).

Better go an try to get some work done before the bus comes and the boys wake... update sometime early next week on how the show went/Bloopers etc.

Free virus, trojan, etc. scanner that WORKS!
Posted by 3malesandalady under off the cuff
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http://safety.live.com/site/en-us/scanner/default_scan.htmI

Caravats: cannot use firefox or firefox with the ie tab extention... sorry folks this is one MS site that actually is so silly to need IE to run. BUT, my antivirus flagged and could do nothing about 8 issues (not that serious) that this program could remove PLUS it found 380 registry entries not being used and deleted them for me. defrags and compresses and all the bells and whistles!

I should also add that I do run an anti-virus, windows defender, have xp firewall, do reg. maintainence on here such as defrag, add/remove all the kids downloaded stuff (which is prob. where the issues came from!), use the alternate browser, etc. so its not like I am clueless and blindly searching without protection....



27
Nov
2006
First show done... another to go
Posted by 3malesandalady under Art
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Well the first show is done. If you know the business website I posted pictures from that show on that site. And my 2 worst fears didn't happen. 1) that I would go and no one would like anything and I would be out the entry money and 2) that I would go and sell out with another show next weekend with no inventory for. Somewhere in the middle is where the reality was. I did make a profit after deducting expenses (thats good!) and the veterans at the show said turn out was less than usual- so next year could be better. Another thing I learned was what I thought would sell, and what initial informal marketing said would sell was NOT what sold. We are working on a better booth design than what I had to see if that helps and some "marketing" tricks to help push sales of things that didn't even sell one of. The best thing tho is that I way surpassed hubbys assumption that I would only sell 2 things!

We learned that some people had set-ups that would knock your socks off- toy hauler trucks that had beds and all the amenities, cash registers and price guns. All these people were key in helping us set up, giving us tips for future shows and where to go and avoid, and definitely entertaining to watch and listen to (one guy we heard lie to everyone- he almost sold out, but ethics will keep me from emulating him!)

It was a lot of work to set up and tear down in 2 hours (think of all the bubble wrap needed!) but from a marketing aspect it was awesome as I had many business cards taken, an inquiry for wholesale sales, and several online interests (great your online!) that will either lead to a sale now or maybe later... who knows!

Kids had fun, they got to go to the movies (which have really gone up in price in the past decade!). Sounds like "happy feet" is a good movie to watch from all their feedback. They were also treated to eating out all day, which today after church the first comment was "can we go out to eat" LOL had to explain to them that only during a show do they get to eat out (when mom isn't around to cook!). I did spur stephen into learning more about making change and money as he is having a hard time with it. I told him about the lady showing next to us who came with one of her kids (a little older, not much) that covered for her when she had to eat or use the restroom. He thought that was cool, and he would do it all UNTIL he learned that he would have to make sales and change... then the "you can do that" came about. Told him he could not do it at all unless he learned. Then we spent the next hour making change from the sales slips and the cash drawer. COOL!

Gabe, green with jealousy asked me to teach him about the money too (And I would but he doesn't even know what a dime is yet... it will come in kindergarten tho!). I can see him helping me in the booth once he has the skills and based on his items selling I think he should... man did he sell his things!

Bethie was disappointed and I was confused why everyone was walking to the back of the booth but the sales numbers were not there for that to be a hotspot. Bethie did not sell any of her cookies. Well. this morning hubby informs me that some booths had holiday cookies out for the fair goers. Laughing now, thinking of all those people flocking to the back of the booth for these (I bet relatively huge) Christmas cookies that were frosted only to find out that they are rock hard and glazed.... really that is a hoot! Thinking of trying to find some small animal cracker sized cookies that are frosted, for next week BUT they have to be in a big bag and very affordable as next week is suppose to have 3,000 in attendence. I know that is not going to be these big lush cookies that people thought I had (superstore wants $2.50 a dozen for those- and thats a lot of frosting for 3,000 hungry mouths!).

Bethie loves school. wants to go everyday. Gabe is getting really tired I think in school, as when he is home and getting tired we are seeing a really hyper child. Stephen is trying so hard to be a big "4th grader" but usually ends up having some bad judgment times. This year tho, I think he has really matured. usually in hindsight he says the right thing. AND somewhere along the line he lost his sense of humor. Maybe it is because he is getting older, I dunno, but usually when mom acts like a total nut he laughs, joins in, smiles, something... now I just get the look and usually a "get outta here" as he strolls off.... who knows!

Well Better go check the kiln. Got another load of Gabes stuff in their and he is eager to sell out next weekend...

Archives

21
Oct
2006
Closed doors, looking for windows
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Been busy in the studio. Been actually working my bottom off trying to get ready for a show (which I hope I can get in- long story but calling and getting no return calls from the messages I left- at first I thought "well maybe I talked to fast" or "maybe the cell cut out" or whatever like thoughts of "they're sick or in the hospital" or "on vacation" or something- quickly changing that to "maybe they don't want me" but that cannot be it, as they don't know me or what I do...)

Also left a message over 3 weeks ago, followed up with an email to a federal agency- again no response.

Questioning if God has a greater plan than a show for me :) keep thinking closed door has an open window. need that window soon if I am going to make anything of the money machine called Christmas...

Anyway, sitting here with 3 main items. Gathering marketing research from strangers on "if you were to buy something from me it would be..." and gathering responses and they seem to be an equil split. so guess the main push will be in all 3 areas and not more of one. enough of the business delimmas for now, maybe soon someone will call, some window will open and some direction will be given :)

on to the kids, Bethie is getting stubborn, throwing tempertantrums if she doesn't get her way- getting old quick. good independence skills, but boy is it tireing! So far schools are reporting doing well, which is good as this is her first year "independently" going without her brother along. Still "chatty cathy" and still wanting to be a ballerina princess (changing clothes is her latest passion- every 3 minutes or so!)

Gabe is getting along with school better. Heard him correcting someone when they said "when you grow up you can be an artist" to "I am an artist" and Boy does the kiddo have talent!

Stephen is Stephen. Still has some issues (like practicing his violin or doing homework) but school reports that his reading and math have really taken off- he is reading a CHAPTER BOOK currently and doing pretty darn good at it. I hear him word attacking several words and is getting alot of enjoyment from it. thats cool! Socially I think he is fitting in better this year

Halloween is just a few moments away, haven't done a single costume yet- nor have thought of the concept this year yet. a wrench has been thrown in when Gabe has to dress as a literary characture from a book for school (I did have the kids agreeing on M&M's, different colors, which would have been easy smeesy for me. Now we have to come up with a different idea and I have to find the time and the gumption to do it (LOL)



10
Oct
2006
started as update, ends with gabe botching his eye
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Boy, Time sure does fly. I didn't realize it had been so long since I wrote here. I suppose I had better catch ya'll up on the happenings here-
Stephen started Violin. He is thrilled, we are down a string already (thank goodness strings are not too spendy!). Soy Dust really did a number on him. Allergist thinks it was the MOLD in it, either way it was a scary few days.
(more to come after I feed the kids and get em on the bus)

well the update was interupted. I put the kiddos on the bus, talked to the neighbor, TRIED to get some work done when the call from the school came: "gabe got hurt on the playground. its about an inch laceration above his eye... we want you to come take a look, don't think it needs stitches but maybe some steri-strips"

Off to school we go, get there and he has an ice bag, start of a black eye, and a pretty good gash (but not needing stitches). He wanted to come home, I told him to stay in school and get a bunch of attention. At first that didn't fly until his class passed us in the hallway and everyone stopped and asked "whats the matter". Think his day is looking up as he ate it all up!!!

BTW, the cut came because the monkey bars won!

Archives

21
Sep
2006
Finally getting into a routine
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but don't know if that routine is good or not??? LOL

Past 2 days I slept way later than I should have, just trying to over do everything... and staying up till the wee hours of the dawn when you have to get up at 5:30 doesn't help either. BUT all is not for naught... cool stuff happening in the studio (even hubby said "oh, you were creative today" and did not mean it as a put-down (which he is really good at critiqueing crassly)

Stephen has a girl friend, the first day he mentioned it he never gave the name... the next day he exclaims her name and tells me she is his partner for science or such... brought back memories of my 5th grade crush on the teachers kid (we were partners on the shoebox homecoming float) ahhh to be young and in love (GOSH, that means he is GROWING......*sigh*)

Stephens Crush also explains why he wants to wake early every morning to take a shower... this from the kid that usually said "I will do it later" and never do it- and HATES waking in the morning- he is now getting up earlier for the bus, and then 1/2 an hour earlier than that to shower. Wonders never cease

Gabe has had a hard adjustment to Kindergarten, but it seems to be getting easier, today he said he wanted to go to school even though he keeps getting punched and slapped from the other kids. Better now I guess since he figured out that the Teacher is oK.

Bethie is adjusting to 2 schools this year. She is more tired and definitely more confused. When I take her to school, saying its a school day we gotta go... she is usually heard exclaiming "oh, this school" when it is in sight. She is going to Gabes old school this year, and has now switched from "gabes school" to "school name" so I guess that is positive.



12
Sep
2006
Dentist Day
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Finished taking the kids to the dentist for the next 4.5 months...

Boys went back today for their fillings. Fear of pain was top on the agenda. Soothed with thoughts of ice cream afterwards. Gabe like a big boy went first, but only with MOM present ( think adjusting to all day kindergarten is leaving him a bit homesick). He did a super job! 2 fillings later and the news that stephen is soon to get the mouth shot made all the difference in his attitude. Came out all smiles!

Stephen went back alone. He was to get 2 fillings also... commented afterwards that his mouth was all shiney and the mouth jewelery looked good on him. Little did I know until hubby told me to look, they cappped his tooth. No wonder why the kid was complaining about his mouth hurting (insert my memories of a root canal, and cap in my childhood- use your most unpleasent memories and include an emergency visit in the late evening to the dentist so I could talk and bite again). I feel really sorry for him today!

He asked me how he can "not have this again" told him he had to make a choice- more mouth jewelery or brush 3x a day (I would have settled on once and not heard the "I will do it later" thing again). Immediately he went off to brush... COOL!!!! maybe something good will come out of all this after all

Kids were happy- Gabe even told me I think well! that I made soft foods for supper... they were after their time frame but it was quick and easy- I sold it to them by telling them that it was soft and made for them...shhh don't tell on me as I am the good thinker! LOL

Was a good night, they made it halfway through supper before the fist one crashed out on the floor sound asleep. then stepehen went off to brush and kid #2 went down for the night to stephens dismay as he was in his chosen spot (kids are choosing to sleep in wierd areas lately, only putting my foot down on the extreme wierd spots (*hopeing this too shall pass, maybe sooner if they get it out of their system?)- this was the couch mind you- better than the tub wish I heard the other day, and NO that did not happen). No sooner than Gabe was woke to go to the bathroom stephen settled the argument and stole his spot back to Gabes dismay...

Oh well, all this traveling wore me out too... better hit the hay so I can get some work done in the morning as it is going to be only a half day anyways (bethie has school)...



11
Sep
2006
school
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School-
Bethie loves her tuition preschool (which is good I guess since I am paying! LOL). today they learned all about apples, and applesauce. I guess I added to it when I made warm applecrisp for potluck tonight for her headstart orientation... (more about that later)

Gabe- Loves kindergarten but the first day was rough, came home in a foul mood, said the teacher LIED to him... she said he earned a snickers then didn't get one. Next day he cleared up the matter on his own and found out she just forgot, he earned another the second day but either 1) lost it or 2) wasn't allowed to save it and she took it back... I just cannot get the story straight. Tonight (day 3) he is saying he doesn't get it. A kid turned down skittles by saying he didn't want them anyway and had to do a time-out, why? assume it was a "take your skittles and put them in a non-nice place" type comment that went right over his head and left him wondering why if you decline you get timeouts.

Stephen- Seems to love his EBD teachers room (it has 2 couches) and he was told he could sleep over in there???? seems to think if he acts wierd he gets more friends. and is waking up every night with nightmares. no clue, but think he is having a hard time adjusting. He said last night he wanted santa to bring him only one thing- no getting bigger medicine. Confused I thought he thought he was on some growth hormone... instead he meant (after further prying) that he wanted to stay a kid and never turn into an adult. I guess I must be putting too much pressure on him to act his age now that he is a big 4th grader...

Orientation tonight- ever see tons of kids running hitther yon... what fun!



04
Sep
2006
Good Nightmare
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Forgot to add:
Bethie "mommy I had a good nightmare last night"
Me "really? a GOOD Nightmare?"
Bethie "ya, I dreamed a boy kissed me" *smirk, Laughter, Blush*

SHE IS 4! Hubby has got to get ready I guess for the dating scene, as how she is going it won't be long now! LOL



04
Sep
2006
Welcome Aboard Melissa!
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Today we met with the new PCA. Melissa is her name. Hopefully I didn't scare her too much (or the kids!) LOL! Anyways the kiddos are really Jazzed to have someone come in again, as a day doesn't pass that I don't hear "is it a Steffie or Tracy day today?"

Kids are getting excited to go back to school and I am getting to the "frantic" baking point (have some done, much more to go- along with the grocery shopping for the school lunch still left to do). Kids start this week, but I have a few days. Bethie is getting so jazzed about TWO schools that she has been practicing her name and Gabe cannot comprehend that he will learn to read this year- still just looks at me dumbfounded that HE TOO can read! Stephen hasn't said much but I can tell that the first day isn't going to be the balking and the fear and trepidation has now passed.

I was lamenting and joked to the kiddos today that I was going to keep Gabe out of Kindergarten and Send Bethie instead. Reasoning- Gabe cleans up his stuff and I just realized what my basement is going to look like from my little digger who hates to put stuff away again. Gabe was fine with it as long as he could be in the studio with me, and of course little miss smartypants was more than happy to advance to Kindergarten! All bummed when I yelled out "april fools"

Can't believe the crocodile hunter died today. But as far as that goes, I was shocked when I heard Kenny Rogers new song "last 10 years (Superman)" -lyrics here - and found out via google that Christopher Reeves died too (and here he was just on a (evidentally re-run) show the other day with his wheelchair and breathing equiptment... Man I feel old all of a sudden!

Well, I had better get to work, guess I am not getting any younger...

Archives

29
Aug
2006
windows live messenger 8.0 update
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New version of live messenger out. I tried a few days ago to update and goofed it up- so a caravat here- do not close programs while the install is running, as it seems shutting messenger down will suddenly end the install and leave you in neitherland (btdt)

Anyways after a control panel "repair" of the program it finally repopped up again to update (actually it informed me a new version was available on the "info bar" where it talks about customer improvement, slow downloads etc). Here is the message you get afterwards (tho when searching about the changes they were security minded and this is for the whole program)

Welcome to Windows Live™ Messenger
This is the same Messenger you know and love, only better.
It has everything you're used to—your contact list, emoticons, and instant access to your friends via text, voice, and video—plus some cool new stuff, including:

PC-to-telephone calling (provided by Verizon Web Calling)

Instantly share and update files with your friends via new Sharing Folders

FREE PC-to-PC calls to 220 million Messenger contacts worldwide

Connect with your friends who use Yahoo! Messenger
Don't worry, your personal information and contact list and stuff will come with you to this new version. No re-typing necessary.
Get the latest at the Windows Live™ Messenger blog
Visit http://ideas.live.com for more info on Windows Live™ betas




25
Aug
2006
a kid funny and a quick catch-up
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Tonight bethie was acting so mature... I picked her up and asked her when she grew up. Without missing a beat she replies "35 weeks ago". wouldn't it be nice to know exactly when that moment happened???

I will be updating the business website soon... I came home from vacation and found my new toy delivered. So a new line of stuff in the works that I am really jazzed about. Also developing a few new colors. I have been working so much lately that I totally forgot about school things. I have been putting in "overtime" too bad the pay wasn't there with it yet ;) I am pushing for my first show the weekend after Thanksgiving. Gabe has been busy making his items too- which is good as I think he has a good seller item. He wanted to get a go-cart and be a "driver". I told him if he sold $1000 worth of stuff he could do it. Today he revised his goal, now he wants a flashlight. Both are better than Stephen who when he heard Gabe was going to race, made his goal really high- he wants to be a race car driver too, only on the Nascar circut!

Anyways, vacation was good as a refresher for me. Creatively new things are just pouring out (which is good). Both of the girls (Steph and Tracy) are off in college and only a week and a half left before my kids are in school. That will definitely change my work hours, which is good- as now I am working 5:30-10am; 10-12/1am and intermittently though the daytime hours when kids are sleeping, playing downstairs, or hubby is around (about another 3 hours).

Next week is all the medical stuff to do for school (asthma plan, allergy plan, getting the meds, etc and some of his groceries along with all the transportation details and script) and the few days left after labor day will be when I turn into "Betty Crocker" making the tortillas, muffins, cookies, cupcakes, waffles, etc. Thank Goodness this year I will not have to make the bread and buns too, as the neighboring towns bakery is safe (woo- whew!!!)

Kids miss Steph and Tracy already, they keep asking when they are coming again.... Gabe made Stephanies Christmas present already (if I don't toss it out first- its been floating around the house everywhere, he seems to want to carry it and admire it constantly!). Hopefully if you guys are reading this you are having a blast at school and rest assured you are missed here! (and thought of often!)




16
Aug
2006
Kid Quips
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Gabe has been having some really funnys lately:

when I was cleaning the kitchen faucet with vinegar, he said "whats that smell" and I obliged with a hand covered with vinegar to his nose and asked if he wanted to taste it too... which he replied "I know that smell and it's gusting!"

When trying to figure out why all the crayons were in a purse in the kitchen I heard "we needed to do that cuz w]]> General xml-rss2.php?itemid=1 Sun, 1 Jan 2006 14:48:00 -0700 xml-rss2.php?itemid=12
16
Aug
2006
Kid Quips
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Gabe has been having some really funnys lately:

when I was cleaning the kitchen faucet with vinegar, he said "whats that smell" and I obliged with a hand covered with vinegar to his nose and asked if he wanted to taste it too... which he replied "I know that smell and it's gusting!"

When trying to figure out why all the crayons were in a purse in the kitchen I heard "we needed to do that cuz were on a venture!"



13
Aug
2006
Vacation
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First Full Day of Vacation-
I don’t know if I will be able to post this or not, as I did find a free wi-fi spot (thank you great Blue Satellite Company!) but don't know how long I can use it for- or for that matter when I am going to hand lug my PC up to it (about a mile walk).

Last night as we pulled in here really late, my fuel line BROKE AGAIN. I just had it in to get it fix and then it goes Kaput! Figures,,,, and the worst part is that we just filled up the gas tank in Rapid City and the repair place wants us to burn as much of the gas out as we can (did I mention we are at Sturgis and there are SEVERE FIRE WARNINGS.. Signs all over saying no throwing cigarettes out windows etc.- Like gas on the ground is going to be so great to help that condition.

Anyway after a call this morning to our normal repair place that "fixed it" I did get a "go ahead and submit the bill and we will stand by our work and pay for it if it is our fault". So hopefully…

Sad news is it will be Tue before the shop can get it in, this is one day of campground living, tomorrow the first concert starts so maybe the wait will not be as bad as it was today- a 2+ mile trek one way across the campground and to the full throttle salon, which is like WeFest always is, so kinda cool.

I am hoping to get some pictures up while I post this (so cannot put the link in here- go to photos and they will be in the AUG 2006 album).Cool Ride The pictures were of some really cool custom bikes we saw at the thunderdome today and some scenic shots I took as we were driving down the road. Do I need to mention where the guys are now? Think off to hooter alley….

Day 2 of vacation-
Actually CAMPED while camping! Usually we go camping just as a place to sleep and eat quick then off to the concerts. Yesterday thanks to the fortuitous event of the jeep breaking we were stuck here at the campground. After taking the really long walk yesterday I don't think anyone was ready to do it again… we stayed at camp, played some ladder golf, did dishes, ate (spaghetti was the main meal, Oatmeal for breakfast) and talked to our neighbors, some which were still arriving. At night we went to the concert- Shooter Jennings, Keith Urban, and Big and Rich. While sitting there we noted huge lightening bolts in the sky, we donned our rainsuits and the show continued without a hitch. Talked to bethie last night and it seems she left nana's lights on in the van and drained the battery.

This morning the skys are partly overcast and you can feel it is going to be a scorcher. I think I will make eggs, pancakes and hash for breakfast…

Day 3 and thru Day 8
Seems that the above is all that I wrote while actually on Vacation so you get my memories and best intentions :)
FInishing Day 2- Concerts were Joe Crocker and someone else but I don't remember who as the concert was cancelled due to the torrential downpour that we sat thru until they cancelled it late.

Day 3 we took the van into Spearfish to get it fixed. Drove through Spearfish cannon and through to Deadwood. That night was Nickelback

Day 4 We did downtown. These businesses intriqued me- they open up into whole block wide businesses. one could walk through from one side to the other. Lots of bikes, Lots of vendors, Lots of people, Lots of HEAT! Went into one shop that had a coat that I sorta liked but not that much. No price on it, hubby joked "if you need to ask you can't afford"... boy was that true! Coat $675, Matching chaps (which did not match) $750. YIKES! That night was Cheep Trick and Tom Petty. Feet swelled up that night and we watched Got squished and moved back as people stepping in the dark on my swollen feet was getting quite painful.

Day 5 took us back to thunderdome for autographed posters and poses with the babes. Got back early to get a good seat for REO and 38 special and Sammy Haggar.

Day 6 took us on a road trip through the mountains to mount rushmore, Wind Cave, Needles Highway, Iron Mountain Road and 2 "oops the Navigator got us lost" scenic routes (did I mention I was the Navigator???) Saw about 30 miles of back gravel roads out in the boonies and Rapid City (which we initially thought was sturgis until we read Rapid City on the sign at 10:30 pm!Mt. Rushmore

Day 7 (days are off as I did not blog the first day traveling out)- Took us through the badlands and back to home territory. Around Sioux Falls we were passed by Outlaws from Chicago. Healthy Respect and safe distance given. Picked up Bethie and Dropped off my brother, then on to get the boys. Finally arrived home a little after 11pm. Kids were thrilled to see us. Bethie attached herself to my leg, Boys were happy but not as demonstrative as she was. Spent all morning this morning unpacking and pulling 3 kids off my legs as they are all following us very closely. Archives

23
Jul
2006
short catch-up
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Its been a busy work week for me this week. I am gathering all the "additional" items I need and making tons of high quality stuff- even surprising myself! Hubby even surprised me with additional shelving for the studio (YEAH!)

Kids have been "off" lately, maybe it was because the library lady went on vacation or maybe it was because the oldest snuck stuff (don't know, he swears "no" but that could be a lie- especially since his asthma and tummy have been off the wall as well as behaviors!)

We had a campfire in the yard the other night, kids enjoyed toasted marshmallows eventho it was bedtime before the fire was ready! other than that its been work work work...

Well Kids are hyper in the studio... need to go be a parent!



17
Jul
2006
Reunions and Work
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3 family reunions in 8 days done! WHEW!

Kids were generally good- was too hot to be that bad! Was enjoyable to see all the older generation that very possibily will not be around next year as some were quite frail this year. We actually got a "parents night out- kid free" this weekend so all and all it was a good weekend! :)

Have to return to the childrens dentist today. Not that thrilled about having to go as it is a drive (1.5-2 hrs. away). Got lots of stuff to do here that is important too so finding the time today to go road tripping doesn't seem that trilling, but more like a necc. evil.

Both hubby and I seem to be "in the right place at the right time". My business is booming with custom orders (picked up 3 this weekend) and he is wanted to help with this or that. I just now need to schedule a few extra days in the week so the "around here" jobs get done too! LOL! (I am not complaining tho!).

Did a lot of market research this past week and all seems positive. There was a lot of buzz on Sunday for my stuff so I know I am going in the right direction... made my day :-)

well morning coffee is gone so better get to work before the kiddos wake!



11
Jul
2006
Things I learned today...
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I am not OLD I am NEW (bethie refering to my age)

One time when Bethie was daddys age, while I was in the house she rode a horse from our house to the old daycare. The horse had pink hair and brown and white clothes- specifically a brown dress. Its name was brownie. She loved that horse, can she do it again?

Today Bethie tooted through her nose (????)
Later she burped through her nose (that one I can relate, especially after she drank root beer).

Been an interesting day thats for sure!



09
Jul
2006
Good Day, Bad Day
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Today started off as a good day... All of us had baths in the "new" bathroom.. Minus the pepto pink walls and carpeted floors etc. and the well finally worked again (think it is fixed for a long time this time) so we had baths, a working toilet... all is well in the world! (can you tell I am easy to please- LOL!)

Then we went to the family reunion and I don't know what was up, but it felt like it was back 10 plus years ago when I was an outsider. Evidentally I must not have enough for the high and mighty to associate with. Tis OK, I learned more about the family than the "clan" of my hubbys branch that all ganged together. See in this family reunion Hubbys branch seems to clump together and stays together- odd since they see each other most of the time; and the other farther out family members are discarded for some reason. Anyways, thats not the bad day part- that was the "to be expected" part.

The bad part started off as minor, a little "put down" that I don't know anything from which I speak even though I have been researching this subject for weeks and this person just assumes they know it all (expected again but hit me like a slap in the face when I was trying to be helpful) then while talking to the pleasant members of the family I hear Bethie scream. Though her hysterics I caught the fact that another child (name withheld) there was climbing the slide and collided with her while she went down. No "how is she doing" or "Oh I am so sorry my kid was in error and went up the down and hurt her" Nothing was said especially not a "I am sorry" from either parent or kid. Well bleeding finally stopped on her teeth, fat lip, she went off and sat down. Came back a few minutes later and laid down on me (this is highly strange) then about an hour passes and she states she is hungry. She takes a bite of a soft muffin and screams. I look and more blood. feel the tooth, way loose. SHITE! Start going over to hubby and since he was in the middle of a v-ball game I call for him to come. I hear in the background "Now whats the matter!" from the clan in a not nice tone to which I ignore. Over looking about 10 more really burned me moments, fast forward to we arrive home. I already settled on soft foods for supper due to bethies tooth.

Before dinner is even done cooking she screams in pain again, she just closed her mouth. The tooth is hitting the other teeth as it is hanging down so low. Call mom, then call the dentist because mom had no experience. Dentist calls back an hour later, I was worried about speech and chewing not to mention cosmetic issues for 4 or so years (stephen lost his first tooth at 8 yrs of age). Dentist did not think that was an issue at all, instead we have to go in the morning to see about her permanent tooth root to see if her adult tooth was damaged and to see if we can stabilize it to ease some of the pain for her. She just laid around all night- which is highly abnormal for her. and is totally "off" in her normal behavior so something is way wrong. I guess we will find out tomorrow when we drive to the specialists office 2 hours away (and then return there in a week for the 6 month check). Oh happy day! I am expecting a sleepless night as bethies mouth is never still!



06
Jul
2006
a few moments slowing down to smell the daisys
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been busy trying to get all the 1950's mastic (sp?) off the bathroom walls that they used to adhere the pepto bismal pink plastic tiles to the walls. I am now to the point that the paint, primer, polyurathane etc are all bought as well as the new linoleum floor and today hubby promised me the toilet is leaving for a bit (hopefully a short bit, as its the only one we have!) so I can get all the brown adhesive off the wall behind the tank, and TSP clean it, prime it and paint it with at least one coat of varnish before it goes back into the spot (and optimistically with new floor under it too) so I think I have a day ahead of me! LOL! the walls will be painters tape royal blue color, then glossed with poly. only to the chair rail height. ceiling and upper walls and floor are stark white. I am making the custom tiles for the chair rail that will be glazed in a speckled denim blue color that breaks brown to show the brown clay underneeth (the warmth to all the cold colors). I have a huge linen closet in the bathroom so thinking now how that will be painted as the brown faux wood look contact paper is not appealing anymore either!

Bought the blue paint yesterday. I put it in the back of the jeep and then had a murphy moment when I returned home. I put it in using the window opening, as I had full hands. Well when I got home with empty hands I opened the whole back up.... paint tumbled out leaving a royal blue driveway in its wake... oops!

But most of all yesterday was like a continuation of the fourth, hubby took layoff so he is loafing around here and he got out the 2-way radios (6 of them) and the 6 of us including tracy had a blast playing hide and go seek with radio clues when needed all around the farm yard. Stephen fell out of a tree but that was the only mishap to be had. THen we played baseball and gabe twisted his ankle and when it was dusk the sparklers and "legal" fireworks came out, as the fourth it was too crowded to do them and the kids fell asleep before we left town.

the fourth was fun, grandpa and doris had made prior plans, but we had a lot of people that stopped by to say hi and share food with. Hubbys tailgate setup of bringing the grill on the trailer with shelving on the back as a food serving area seemed to be a hit from all the passerbys (and with me also!).

Well the walls are not getting finished and the last straglers are finially waking up this morning so I had better get to work, got a full day ahead of me (and possibly blue hair!)

Archives

28
Jun
2006
All and All, Today was fine I guess...
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Busy Busy day... Library time with preschoolers started the day, then had to run back to town for another appointment. Got done there with some time to spare and so I *thought* I would go and get stephens formula. Note that *thought*, it wasn't there by accident.

I go in and ask for it, where I was greated with an dork who told me that they had to return 5 cases because they expired. Huh? I was in just before school was out, we are out now and where does it sit... at $150 a case they don't know if they want to handle it anymore. Stupid. At most I may have missed a pickup (2 cases) somewhere in there because of summer but not 5 cases and definitely not long enough for all 5 to expire. So it sits as I wait for a phone call from his supervisor to see if she wants to order more or not, that we may not get anymore for their mistake. SCREAM!

Rant over, then we went to another town for doughnuts (and the household bread supply) while still waiting to pass some time. Doughnuts were ate in the park, so time passing was no longer an issue. Running a few minutes late we finally arrive at haircuts. I got a highlight done and Gabe took a blackmail picture of mom with her hair purple... watch his blog I am sure it will show up soon! Yes, Gabe now understands the word Blackmail and with an evil twinge in his eye he laughs evily...

Grandpa stopped over with a toy to make my hubby happy and all he has been doing is working/playing with it all night, but I do have to admit the farm yard looks much better now!

So I look better (or so I think) and made my favorite dinner tonight- Belinese Tracy thought I was making something really strange, but I got her to admit it wasn't as bad as she thought it sounded (or so she says :) ) So I guess today wasn't all that bad!

Well Kids are in bed, Bethie with terriable foot pain and most likely hunger pains too- she appears to have gone on a hunger strike where the only thing she will eat is frosting from a cupcake!



27
Jun
2006
UffDa Still Going!
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Still Going and Going here... Begining to feel like that bunny that beats a drum! LOL

This weekend was filled with "business scouting" for me- meaning having some fun but paying attention to what others in the field are doing. Kids had fun, Hubby was jazzed and said he would do for me what I needed... Even concurred with me on what we liked best (thats a first!- though when he builds it the way I want I will finally believe it!). After we had a picnic in the park hubby had a brain storm that we could go see our niece race. Last time we attended a race it was way late before we came home, so a quick call to grandma and off they went to bed while we went out by ourselves (it ain't often folks!). 4am found us finally getting home! Uffda!

Waking up late, we had just enough time to get together lunch and head off for the next adventure. Mom and Uncle trent arrived with the kids and off to a parade and to see great grandparents. Kids had fun on the inflatables (see their respective blogs) and bethie wanted to post a pix to her blog too! (so she is using mine)First Time Down A Big Slide!
It was her first time down a huge slide... She rode that wave well! Click it to enlarge it and really see her face! Raw determination!

Tonight was a family get together. Tomorrow is a appointments here and there day. Thurs is another uffda Day... Someday I will get a chance to catch my breath.

Went to the studio all day yesterday and most of today. Decided yesterday was a "test" day and thought maybe out of the 10 items one would work out right... HAHA ya. So lesson learned and will keep striving. Actually I garnered enough from that test day to go ahead on the same process and change a few things AND got hubby interested enough to ask to help... which is good as I already told him I (insert explicative here) at it.... something he likes to do, and i don't maybe we would be better colaborating! (actually he has the eye for judgement, and the reason why most tests failed was my eyes don't go that finely detailed in such matters- now give me a good bread dough and I can tell you if it needs more flour, but this, ya right!)

Better let you all go, got more test pieces to make, plus some things that need to be done for others... and this isn't getting it done (with a schedule that will not allow me to do it later if I so wished!)



22
Jun
2006
Been spending time here, there, and everywhere!
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Parades, fests, Lake visits, Library reading programs etc... Been consuming my time. I have yet to make "me" time... Rather, have had plenty of "me" time too, just been so tired all I do is "sit"! LOL

The boats and lake deal was a good thing, tho the kids have been getting lax, time was not available yesterday to go to the lake, and I doubt it will be again today (house clean up not done, need to get some of MY work done and Library day today for Stephen also on top of the never ending need to run to the superstore for this or that!).

Duck hatched babies- 2 ducks total so far, one missing this morning and I hope it is under her. One is mostly yellow, the other was brown. still sitting on eggs, so maybe more to come? The white duck is still sitting on her eggs, tho I think hers are all bad (not telling her tho, as they are all "disturbed" and not liking it if you tell em to move! LOL) Here are the photos:
Cute Lil' Baby!Persistance is My Name!

Well I had Better get to work today!



21
Jun
2006
Tech stuff-
Posted by 3malesandalady under off the cuff
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Testing out a new browser- Flock. It is still in beta stage (although already higher than when we switched to firefox). Blogging was to be easier, but my blog is not supported (their blog states that they are having proxy/firewall issues). Haven't tried features like photo sharing etc. yet... Gimme some time to play, though first impression is "not impressed". Uses firefox extentions that are converted, so flexible and lightweight.

Email says there is the full version of windows live messenger out there. Clicking on the link gets me a download box... oops, sorry microsoft, don't do downloads from emails! One would think they would know better than to embed links like that in an email anyways! (ARG!). so googling I come up with 3 sites claiming to have the beta and not the full version and one site that appears to be down at the moment... Suppose to be able to phone chat (can already- so????) file transfer (drag and drop- well that one is better for ease) and pay to play games (current one has some freebies) OH and new emots (wow that makes me run right out and get it!). Yes I will download and play with it, all else fails I will system restore back :)

That's all for now folks! (as loony toons music plays)

EDIT
Stupidity here, The new windows live messenger is the stupid program that came with your xp updated... I will NOT be "upgrading" this one, as I removed it, hated all the interconnectivity of everything with it! I use MSN messenger which has had most of these features already. So for now I am staying the same! And Oh, the system restore may not work as it would be dumped into your main OS. Betcha you cannot remove it once installed, so upgrade with caution if you must.

EDIT AGAIN
OK looking at it, IT IS MSN MESSENGER and can be found here: Windows Live Messenger I downloaded it... not sure yet on how I will like it- as it looks like there are a lot of costly things that my kids can click on (and messenger is one of their fav. goof around programs to mess with!) So time will tell if I am a silly nilly or not- but that folder option may be worth it...



19
Jun
2006
Bethies phrase of the day and new excitement!
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"mommy can you turn on the light?"
"why?" I ask as we are zooming down the road at 70 mph at night
"because I cannot remember how to read"
She was trying to look at a happy meal toy instruction sheet... sad thing is- she don't know how to read, never has- she is only 4!!! Got me laughing really hard though!

Got a deal with the kids- they clean up the house (their messes) and we will go to the lake daily. Didn't seem to have lots of impact until I bought them their new toys-
Bumper Boats!
After one spin around the shore, squirting each other with water and finding out they don't drown or get all that wet, the lake is fun again! And now I am hearing "we want to go swimming (even off the boats) so 2 birds killed with one stone- clean house AND fear of water quelled (man am I good or what??)

So today went and finished off buying supplies at the dollar store- goggles and snorkles and pails and shovels and at the superstore bought new lawn chairs (we needed them)... so set for parades and vacations and all!

Took in our first parade... drove forever to it and there are tons of things to do afterwards. Since it is an evening parade we left like we usually do BUT the parade just went on and on... finished 2 hours later! with driving and all it was time for bed without even doing ANYTHING! so quickly walked through the stuff and drove through fast food on the way home. Kids were thrilled tho with that, they got the new Cars movie happy meals... and we just went to see cars over the weekend. So how cool is that!

Well I haven't been to the studio all day, so I suppose I had better attempt to do something for a few hours (ya I am a night owl that evidentally needs no sleep!)



14
Jun
2006
Whats been happening
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Just a general catch-up... as its been hectic and I haven't been writing as much as I usually do... Plus it doesn't help that I actually have kids on the PC's ALL the time (well everytime I seem to want to write!)

Went to our first fireworks display of the year... Looks good for the 4th! Thats good news concidering past 4ths.
We also have had daycamps, VBS, Library reading program, and all the other junk, just enough to make me think OFFDA!

Had a tree fall down in a windstorm earlier. Huge tree. So been busy cutting wood etc. and cleaning up all the mess.
Stephen would say "Tree Damage"

Gabe has been coming up with some "knock your socks off words" lately... things like (describe your sister) "colorful" type things... but darn it, I didn't write them down and now my forgetfulness is showing!

Been busy working in another direction in the Studio, and consuming a lot of my time- either in the studio or actually watching tv looking at things I have never noticed before (if you know what I am doing this makes tons of sense probably just nonsense to those who don't know me- sorry! its the kid protection on the internet issue again).

Lots of time outdoors, Bike rides around lakes, Geese grew so big they now scare the ducks away and rival the lab in size! Still have birds on nests with no signs of hatching yet... Refound the basement since all the toys moved down there, need to weed the flowerbeds again (where do the weeds come from?) noticed brown spots on the lawn and it took me awhile to figure it out- one of 2 things. Either they are from 1) geese make tons of messes and this area is just overfertilized or 2) they also eat the grass down to the ground so it scortched or maybe a combination of both- as all they do is eat and P**P!

Bethie had her training wheels raised on her bike- without her knowledge- as she would not ride it if she would have known. She is so dependent on the idea that they will save her that no attempt would even be made to ride independently. Bethie also seems to have lost her tennis shoes with her $300 each inserts in them... Still searching in the out of the way spots kids seem to let things disappear into (like cupboards and under couches) no clue. Last time I remember them was at the park and she had them off but then we went to the truckstop to eat so she would have had them on or I would have noticed... that was over a week ago and just noticed them missing over the weekend (summer sandals) so hopefully they just were misplaced!




05
Jun
2006
Saturdays excitement!
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This is what the Mean Bad Rooster did to meThis is what I did to him! Clicking the photos will take you to the album with the "full" story but suffice it to say, The rooster attacked Gabriel (pushed him off his bike, and then again on the ground- got his face, leg and spur marks punched in his back). Poor gabe was scared to even step foot outside again so we needed action. Daddy came up with the idea of shooting it and I agreed (to his suprise as I am anti-gun). I felt he needed to have closure, retribution and some exertion of power over the dumb animal, plus it didn't hurt that I was slightly torked at the animal myself- geesh it hurt my baby what do you expect!



04
Jun
2006
we Need 5 PC'S
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on the PDA today..

hubby Joked we need 1 more pc Because it Sure does keep the kids out of his hair When NASCAR is on - I Said either make it 4 or 5 as I want To read my email sometime.. These Boys sure do love their PC games but I am getting very weary of all the hours the Boys Want to Spend gaming.

Stephen Wrote in his Blog today as well as gabe. .. that is the requirement B 4 gaming

kids are set for vbs tomorrow - they are going to a larger church And they are hopeing to see their Class mates from School again - its only been a Week! ah to be young And a week seems to be an eternitity



01
Jun
2006
What my kids (and mom) learned today
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Wondering why stephens asthma was so bad... Granted I have heard numerous times this spring/summer that the allergy season was severe, and have seen it myself in the number of kleenex this family all of a sudden started going thru, and with all of Stephens snitching of food one could only think that was the culprit when out of the blue a huge anvil like the one the road runner always drops on the coyote hits me... I have gotten out of my morning routine- and therefore have not gone to school, meaning the medicines in my purse have somehow been forgotten for the past week- namely ADVAIR! so feeling terriable for having a kid who cannot breathe AND due to his eosinophilic esophagitis that med does double duty and he has been getting worse at eating/swallowing from the missing meds. guilt trip.

Gabes up and running (somewhat, depends on IF he remembers his foot or not). I have been trying to accomodate 3 kids and trying to work at the same time- mornings are better for me, but then there is no Stephie or Tracy at that time! so find myself back out of the studio to "watch" the kids (that means sit right with them as they go on their hyper spree). By mid-morning I am finding myself out enjoying the beautiful day and watching my kiddos grow up, not a very good senario for getting work done! I have 2 items that time is crutial for the people waiting... so trying to kick myself in the rear to get there!

On the otherhand Stephen learned today that popping a wheelie was more in the legs and not the arms (was funny to see him actually trying to lift his bike tho before he learned it!). Gabe profusely confesses he is not a "very good driver" as bethie and him got into a major crash today (that was an accident and had nothing to do with skill) and Gabe also learned how to "be a man" and think that blood was cool- primarially because I did not wish to go back in the house for a third time for band-aids! Bethie finally took a spill in shorts and proudly proclaimed that there were no busted knees (she only needed a band-aid for a blister on her foot)! that girl cannot stand the sight of blood at all! She is an instant "OMG I need a BAND-AID or else I will scream my head off stateing there is BLOOD" type child, such a girlie!

Well I suppose this isn't getting those 2 items done either!

Archives

30
May
2006
What a Day!
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Morning started off with a grumpy hubby- no caffine as he had to go get his bloodwork done this am.

Then a major upset for Gabe... The stitches came out. By the time he was done screaming DON'T and AAARRRGGG!!! the doctor had 5 out, 2 to go... that was a chore!

Then a trip to the cemetary for the flowers, almost dead from lack of rain/water. So into the ground they went (with a lot of weed pulling!)

Then came the raspberries that needed to be transplanted. Dug with the mower, the drag etc. to get the weeds broken up in the new area. Almost broke my foot- did tear my good pants! but all 18 raspberries are now in our ground and not nanas!

In the midst of transplanting the raspberries, Gabe tried to hang himself (still uncovering the story) but suffice it to say, he was literally hanging from a tie down strap from the rafters, and off the enclosed trailer suspended in midair, shirt all streached out from the weight of his body in the neck area. SCARY!

Came inside after planting the raspberries, and Gabe needed a bandaid change- oozy and dirty/falling off... when going for the peroxide a stupid can of shaving cream falls out and upon my toe= another broken toe- 3 in less than 3 months!

Then after that is calm, turn to look and Stephen is prancing on the house/garage roofs and gutter! there is a ladder nearby and that is all he needed I guess for permission...

He also was in the well today (foundation forms are getting laid out for the cement to house the locked "well house"). Soon this will be a non-issue, and hopefully stop some of the bad bacteria from entering the well pit.

Had company for supper, got some studio work done- prep for tomorrows big chock full o' work studio day... I am so pooped, I can't even pop!

And to top it all off, I have a killer backache, as Gabe will not walk, as he thinks there is something in his foot (scar tissue)!



22
May
2006
Weekend update
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Saturday started out calm. Gave Gabe some poptarts, but evidentally he was in too much pain to eat (think he just wanted to see me get them...) so I set them on the footstool next to him. Stephen seemed to get a little overly buddy-buddy... but since the stitches were in, I assumed that some of this was "compassion", ya right!

looked over again and noticed something flying from his hand under the footstool... yep, no poptarts- real strawberry poptarts complete with soy protien and egg and sunflower oil...

that was the start of the day. Hives etc. afternoon brought M&M's (for Gabe as he wanted chocolate) all the time he bypassed his safe and usually likes bottlecaps. And a Choc. Chip cookie Gabe got Thurs. at the resteraunt...

Sunday brought more M&M sneeking... this time I caught him with them in his mouth and tried to finger sweep it out... too munched, in the process of walking to the garbage to spit them out, he swallows them on "accident". By this time he had had enough insult on his body that I was on the line about going to the hospital with him... it was borderline and benadryl did kick the reaction... but it was scary!

So being on Gabes beck and call, along with keeping watch over stephen (I didn't mention what he didn't eat because he got caught) and his behaviors from all this food.... ARG! and the sad thing, all of this was bought to make gabe feel better- his choice of "shopping" evidentally he has comfort foods...

Funny thing, when Stephen is confronted he states that the food tastes bad, he Knows he is going to get ill, etc. and I was trying to figure out what he gains from this behavior... I got it today I think- I think its the game of "lets see if I can get by with it without getting caught"... Funny thing, he can't not get caught, the hives are a dead give-away. Explained that to him this morning and I think he finally got it or at least I hope he did!



21
May
2006
Bummer of a day Friday...
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Gabe is just having bad luck... First he did not "graduate" (but he really did, see previous post) then friday night he was out riding his bike and fell... resulting in his worst nightmare- a trip to the ER.

Evidentally the hose clamp hubby put on his bike to attach a noisemaker (the cheap plastic one failed within hours and this was a sub. solution) lacerated the bottom of his foot quite nicely, right where most of the weight is carried when you walk, the center ball of his foot. 5 novicaine shots and 7 stitches later we had a kid that I now term as a "low pain threshold and not afraid to let you know he is suffering child".

3 new DVD's, plenty of treats, soda pop anytime he wants it and he still hollers at the slightest whim... "I want to go outside for a walk in the stroller, I want to go potty, I want to let you know something" he is bored just laying around with his foot up, I understand... but with no sleep (pain meds every 2 hours round the clock) I frankly am getting a little stressed LOL! this is worse than having a newborn!

leap pad only is interesting for 5 minutes, tho it takes me 10 to get it and the book he wants set up type thing...

Anyways jelousy abounds from his sibs, "why does he get ____?" and "we want your attention NOW".

On the otherhand I can totally sympathize as I have had similar when I stepped on a needle and had to have it cut out from about the same area...

So If I am absent for a while.. this is why... good thing is that he is now no longer in school so I don't have to carry him there!

Why don't they give little kids crutches???



18
May
2006
Quasi Graduation Day
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My sad face on Graduation Day
Well, today was my graduation day... why do I have the sad face you ask, because I was not asked to walk on stage and I was too good to just go and do it!


This morning Gabe graduated from preschool (see photos in the May 2006 photo album, which you can sort by order taken if you click the + by filename). Gabe did well singing the program as you can see but what you cannot see is that he never really graduated... I pumped him up for his big day and where was he??? He was left sitting with the little kids on the blankets while his class graduated. I yelled his name out, so loud all the audience looked at me trying to figure out why I was shouting, but the teachers never caught on that there was one kid missing from the stage.

I thought when they read the names out, pass out the diplomas etc. they will notice... NOPE, everything was set up for the quick get them through the ceramony way and no one noticed. Afterward I was a little torqued and did something I usually would not do, I went up to the teachers when it was all over and asked if I could have a hat and a diploma so we could take pictures at home, since he only watched his graduation... the teacher had the guts to laugh and say "well we usually miss a kid every year"... HUH? 36 years in BUSINESS and a kid a year... arg! So much for feeling sorry, I would hope that if that ever happened to me, the first year I would have devised a plan to make sure it never would have happened again- like read the names from a list or something... simple to implement, and no disappointed children. Obviously their business motto is not "we care" and makes me wonder how safe he was on all of his past months field trips??? was a kid lost there everytime also???

Asked Gabe why when he saw his whole class on stage did he not go up to join them, his anwser: "because the teachers did not tell me to, we were suppose to listen to where they said for us to go" UGH! He is such a good kid and to have this happen for LISTENING!

We went out for a celebratory lunch afterwards. That is where the photos with the diploma and cap were taken. I did take the liberty to delete his last name from his nametag, and I see it was obvious in some photos... sorry, but I have to be safe with the kids identitys...



18
May
2006
Writing about a $17 car wash and other stuff
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Talked to mom the last night. She is going to write a story about the $10 bill that flew out of my hand the other day and the car wash. The life and journey of that bill and the people it touches. (see mom, I put it here so you actually START to write it! you got the whole internet holding you accountable now!). Mom is an excellent artist, and loves to talk about writing this and that... never wrote anything yet... but this time she is going to start, right?

Had the goslings out in the grass last night, they loved to peck Hubbys wallet and shirt. they would come within 3 inches of my nose before I would move and send them off running... so cute

Gabe is having unexplained vomiting and its driving me nuts. Only common thread I can find is tomato and I don't want to go there at all... Or else he is having the longest tummy flu with plenty of feel good times in-between ex: he threw up Sun morning (slump sat. night) and again after school but before bus wed. (ketchup for lunch) and again before bed last night (saltines and sodapop) no clue on the last one just that he was OK to go out and play baseball in the middle... this is the kid that is knock down drag out sick on the couch if he is ill. No fever no nothin!

Better go wake him up and see how he is feeling... sad thing is that today is his graduation from preschool with a program and all.... hopefully he is doing better (like the baseball time) so that he can attend... ya I know bad parent exposing all the other kids to it, but I don't think its a tummy flu... if it is its an awfully long one with several "feel good" points in the middle... Stopping at the Dr.'s most likely this afternoon




17
May
2006
You know its rural life when the critters out number the people
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The other day, on the way to school, Gabe innocently asks me "mom how many pets DO we have?"... after clarifying if the chicks, ducks, geese, and fish were pets or not (they are) I decided we are feeding too many mouths here (LOL!)

here is the run down: 9 ducks, 4 chicks, 10 geese, 2 dogs, 4 cats, 5 fish... totals: 34!!! doesn't seem like that much when daily life is occuring tho!

We have one duck on a chicken nest that is loaded with eggs (about 20) and another duck sitting on a duck egg nest with (best count) of about 18 eggs. so depending on how many hatch that total could go up significantly.

Stephen had his school field trip yesterday, so lots of excitement around here. He was thrilled, and from his description, he was very good. Makes me proud!

Gabe and beth had their last "together" preschool yesterday. Looked over their yearly portfolio, Boy those kids have matured in 9 months! Bethie went from not being able to write anything identifyable in her name to writing her name totally recognizable. Gabe went from drawing a rude stick figure for a person (with the walmart smily face) to including shoulders, shoes, fingers, neck, ears, hair, and most times "unmentionables" or whats under them.... yep, last night in the resteraunt he drew nana complete with a penis! couldn't figure out that she don't have one of thems!

Still having that talk about artists study muscles and shadows and trying to capure the real shapes on paper but if he is drawing them for us to laugh (shock value) then it is wrong. Maybe someday he will draw them without the ton of giggles...



15
May
2006
broken leg kitten
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Last Night while it was raining out, I went outside to look at the goslings. I did NOT bring my coat, I did trust my kids.... Anyone here see where the mistake was???

I Left the kiddos in the house and told them "only a minute and I would be right back, just checking the geese, Stephen your in charge"... While out, the kitchen window was trying to break from Gabes pounding, Upon entering i hear something stupid like "wheres my toy?"

Next think I remember is asking "what happened to the cat?" as the only noise coming from the kitchen was the sound of a small hurt kitten... well after getting it to trust us, we get it out. holding it up yeilds the knowledge of a broken leg... very broken.

Of course Stephen doesn't know anything, but this time I trust him... he acted like he was zoneing as he had absolutely no clue of anything....

Gabe and Beth were laughing, running etc. but Bethie did take blame of "I kicked it and dropped it" but that is not her personality (she would love it to death like a baby bunny)... so validity in that is in question... either way, cat has a non working leg, and my kids did it. SO...

Taped up the cat leg. at first it couldn't walk, it was trying to twist midair and walk on front feet... kinda cute to watch... but anyway this morning yeilded a kitten on my kitchen floor aptly walking on 3 feet, playing with its sibling. The Crying has stopped. So it adapted, thats a good thing!

was hoping for that, or else it would have probably perished.

Now I know I cannot leave these kids for a minute alone!



14
May
2006
Shoulda had mothers day on Fri...
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Fridays post was so sweet and rosey... Reality set in this morning! Woke not to "happy Mothers Day" but to a child sneeking food under daddys desk, another one half sleeping on the couch. Use the restroom only to ask "who is sick?" as they never flush... yep, the one half sleeping. So mothers day greeted me with one about to puke and one puking (and only one had a legit excuse of the tummy flu). So the mothers day BBQ that was planned was postponed. Hubbys first gig at his dream job was canceled due to weather and we found ourselves with *nothing* to do... well almost...

We broke up fights and tried to find the livingroom again today. No one here seems to hear anything until an action is taken. Last night we had company till it was way late. The kids enjoyed the play pal that came and showed all 10,000 toys to her and the accompaning floor. Last nights warning that the house was clean and I expected it to look that way when they left fell on deaf ears, as well as the 30 or so times it was mentioned that night.

Today brought: "this isn't fair we didn't mess it all up ourselves" which was true but she would have helped IF they would have listened that night. SO being very nice I gave warnings all morning and early afternoon that it needed to be done (sometimes in a not nice tone so they KNEW I was serious...) and still at 4:00 nothing done. Brought out the garbage bags to "clean" it myself and then "WHOA, this is ours don't do it" and Stephen promised to fix it by being in charge and getting it done before the banana bars were done... Next out came the scoop shovel and garbage bags and tears, and 3/4 of the way done a new "deal" struck... If they cleaned it up before daddy came back I would see what I could do to not get them in the garbage- but the toys still had to be put in the garbage bags just in case... Well that one did get done (except Stephen watched TV and screamed I am doing it) so.... Bethie and Gabe now have only 2 toys for the next 3 days, and Stephen is the unlucky one to get nothing for the next 3 days to play with... Now mommy is the looser, as My Stuff will be the next play items! (those bags were taken out of the room and locked up, so there will be no "sneeking" available like they thought there would be). Amazing what a 10,000 play item free livingroom looks like! one can actually walk without hurting broken toes again!

Banana Bars- I made these Banana bars, doubled the recipe and put in a jelly roll pan. I frosted with a cream cheese frosting... Delish! Second time I have made them, and they have turned out great both times. Last time I used a powdered sugar frosting and I cannot decide which I like better, 'cept that I love cream cheese frosting anyways! Definitely a must keep. I used 6 bananas in the double batch and a jelly roll pan worked just great size-wise



12
May
2006
The sweetest mothers day gifts....
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The best gifts are those that come from the heart (or so I have heard...) and I got the bestest kids around!

Its been mothers day here since Wed. when each school does their little project. Wed. brought Gabe's petunia from school in a little plastic cup. That went on the kitchen counter with all the marigold, sunflower and bean seeds that were planted tuesday in another preschool. Thurs morning Bethie woke and while looking at gabes petunia she exclaims "mom look at my flower, it grew" wow! some marigold seeds, just over one day to turn into a fully grown and blooming petunia! LOL

Thurs brought Beth and Gabe's vases (salad dressing bottles with masking tape and shoe polish) and construction paper flowers (to match tues. kitchen counter filled containers of real seeds growing). And a card that was just adorable. The teacher used fill in the blank questions (their anwsers are in BOLD) like this:
My mom is (B- 8 G-100) years old; My mom is prettiest when (B- she is wearing a dress G- She is playing on the computer); My mom likes to make (B-cookies G-cake); My mom always says (B- I love you G- your so honnest); My mom is silly when she (b- giggles G- wears a funny hat). It was amazing on how different and truely reflective of their personalities these anwsers were.

And tonight... Gabe graduated from one preschool, Hubby is getting ready to fish and needed something from the superstore. While there we pass a table of books that have been discounted. Hubby spies a Stephen King book (my fav. author) and sneeks money and the book to stephen to go pay and give to me for mothers day... How sweet!

So having a good week here so far.

And I even managed to get the hallway paint/mastic Zip striped and scraped off the wall... so only the bathroom left to go! Then the floor, walls etc. have to get finished (and the custom tiles have to get made, fired, glazed and fired again...). so never a dull moment!



11
May
2006
This is good news... (I think...)
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In the New York Times this morning....

Defying the dire predictions of health officials, the flocks of migratory birds that flew south to Africa last fall, then back over Europe in recent weeks did not carry the deadly bird flu virus or spread
it during their annual journey, scientists have concluded.

...a significant finding for Europe, because it is far easier to monitor a virus that exists domestically on farms but not in the wild. "It is quiet now in terms of cases, which is contrary to what many people had expected,"



But then it goes on to say, essentially, that they know nothing, don't have a clue and it still could be coming. States that regulations are relaxing in europe, and then ends with a lake in Russia that they think is a constant source of contamination for the virus and the fact that the number of contaminated farms with the virus is NOT decreasing... go figure. totally left me on the fence!



11
May
2006
Geese, Haircuts, Kids Blogs
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Went to the "chicken store" this morning to check out a grill for hubby (thats a long story but the short of it is that he wanted a new one and Mothers Day a planned BBQ was the reason he needed to get one). While I was there with the youngins we looked at the chickens, ducks and geese (and pheasent and bunnys etc). And this guy who seemed to know we had poulty, even tho hubby is the one that usually goes in to get chix feed (as those bags are heavy)... said "if you take these geese I will give you a deal, they are usually $8 each, for you I will go $5" so I agreed to 4 geese. When we get home, I being the lover of deals, think... ummm, a few bucks each to feed them (I googled for info) and w**mart had ducks for $10... maybe this isn't such a bad idea. Called around to make sure I had some buyers and then called back and took the rest- so now we have 10 geese which WILL be butchered, even though hubby likes to have everything as pets (his reasoning is that if he feeds them he cannot kill them, my reasoning is that geese can be nasty and we have kids- HA I win, just that my bro will most likely be the "bearer of bad news" to them geese.

So kids excited on that front. We all got our haircuts today, and I scheduled my annual "lightening" of my hair, which is good since my sister-in-law pointed out last weekend that I had GRAY hair! Hopefully it will cover some! I am trying to grow my bangs out, so Allison (the beautician) french braided it into 2 braids to get the bangs out of my eyes. I am feeling a little exposed since I have always had hair on my forehead!

My feet hurt from shopping, being outside this evening, walking to the bakery to double check "safe bread" ingredients. Did too much for a broken toe's foot (since that throws my gait off). I updated the kid's websites to include their latest drawings. Stephen is reluctant to write lately- he would rather play PC games while mommy thinks he is writing... So for the moment I am letting him draw on paper and unknown to him is the fact that he always writes a little tidbit on his drawings for the viewer, so he is getting some writing practice. Gabe was amazed that I could get his paper into the computer (scanning it) so he went all out! I wrote explainations on his papers and I missed one, so that one is typed out below it. ENJOY (the link is on the right for the kid's blogs)



09
May
2006
Inspiration needed/ Bird Flu Movie
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Just took a break. I am trying to sit here and figure out a plan of attack. I could do A or I could do B. I hate being on the fence post!

Such a beautiful day outside. I am sitting out on the deck listening to the birds tweet. I saw an unusual bird today at the finch feeder. It was small like the goldfinches but this one was BLUE, with black and reddish brown. like a patchwork quilt it was. Huge chunks of color differences. Whatever it was it ate thistle seed (niger seed).

The asparagus patch seems dismal this year, but I think it is because the quantities needed to feed increased since we first started picking it (2+a toddler to now 5 healthy eaters)! Rhubarb needs picking and after Sunday at my mother-in-laws, I really need to find a good rhubarb bar like she had... man that was good! Tried to talk hubby into talking to the neighbors to get the garden disked up... but his reply was that it was too wet to do so now. :( I definitely have the garden bug.

(phone call interupted, then life, its now late at night and I am back in the house)

Watched bits and pieces of the "bird flu" movie... is it just me or were these people stupid?

* 1) the nurse could not keep on her mask- I would have it by my front door and anytime I wasn't in my house it would be on...


* 2) I keep hearing about drive thru groceries, vets getting their vaccines in their autos out in the parking lots... why in the heck is there gyms filled with people without masks??? doesn't make sense

* 3) there have been times due to finances or just my distaste to shop for groceries that we HAVE lived for 6 weeks without shopping (barring milk and my needs- soda/chocolate) and MY cupboards have never been that bare, even when we had nothing to eat- do these people not cook???

* 4) people are dying, why would you a) rush to where someone has just died in the locked down area and potentially infect yourself and b) give mouth to mouth to said person, I mean he is dead and oh, now you are too!



I personally am more worried about MONEY, since no one will be working here and getting paid for it and the "basics" like electrical and heat (esp. if it is Jan!). We do have a well so water isn't an issue, but heat would be nice in the winter, as would electricity. I noted the fridge still had a light in the movie, no one seemed to have utility issues- though bottled water seemed to sell well... I wonder who is doing the upkeep on the systems when all the workers are sick



08
May
2006
Tech and Kids
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Boy, pretend play has come along ways since I or my parents were kids.

This morning I overhear Bethie pretending to be on the phone- her usual "hello, Barbie, Yep its a party, you coming?" that type thing when I hear Gabe scream out "No Beth, It's a TEXT, press send!"

Now some of my generation knows how to text. My mother and (I think) my father would not have a clue... let alone my grandparents. But the 17/18 year olds that work here definitely know how to text and evidentally my kiddos are learning too!

The other day was another funny. We were out fixing the well when my phone rang. I answer it, after seeing it was hubby calling- and he was there with me in the well, he evidently left his phone in the house. "hello mom, I can't get a drink of water"... OK the 5 year old (Gabe) can call on a cell phone to his mom, but cannot get a drink of water.... is this a good thing or a bad thing??? LOL



07
May
2006
Monday ALREADY?
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Where oh where did the weekend go???

Seems like nothing was accomplished, even tho it was, it still feels like I needed 20 or more hours!

Went to grandmas house today, came home with a broken toe. Oh well, this is the second time I broke a toe there in as many visits. One of those blessed things about osteoporosis... Last time I caught a chair leg, this time I opened the door on my foot. Its a good thing I am used to broken toes :)

after we were home we watched a stupid kid movie until they all went to sleep. Then I went to the studio to work for a bit. I just emerged. I thought it was much later than it was, funny how one can loose track of time when they are having fun! Anyway I did something I wasn't intending on doing, it just sprung forth. that's cool. Time will tell if it is a "saver" or a "recycler"....

This week looks pretty calm. We have haircuts but that is about it. So maybe I can get back on schedule in the studio. This cold I think has finally met its match and on the outs as I feel better today- well with the exception of the toe, but that is different.



06
May
2006
wasted day
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I have to be feeling better, as I spent the whole day sleeping! LOL

So, the house is distroyed, nothing got done and I wasted the whole day away. what little I was awake for was the *hopefully* final fixing of the well. When it flooded a few weeks ago, most of the mechanics were replaced or repaired. Now it seems the connections to the pipes (hose clamps and things) just couldn't handle a steady flow of pressure or something... so yesterday was one fix, then today the fix that seems to hold (and made it fixed correctly). The good news, the yesterday fix didn't work on the well, but did work on the basement leak, so there was no money lost.

Kids must be sick also... as Bethie slept for so long this afternoon it was strange, and Gabe was more than content to "knock off" early, as well as Stephen- tho he had a reason, he seemed to think all the gummy bears and hersheys chocolates were safe for him today. So he was "in a mood" most of the day, hiving in the morning, behaviors this evening.

Well, there is not much to write as I slept all day, now I have to try to get some laundry, dishes and studio work done that did not get done today, and tomorrow we are going to be gone in the evening.



06
May
2006
Out of 6 I was the only one not lost
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Last night the school had its fundraiser. It is really cool, as the kids get to play games and eat and whatever while the parents try to find the kids (YEP, 3 adults, 3 kids; at one time 1 adult had lost all the other kids and adults- but the other adults were looking for kids!)

I have to quit saying "stay by me or when its time to leave I am going to leave without you". At the end, we had a few tickets left, and no more patience.. So I sent the kids on a mission to get cotton candy and a can of soda. Boys run, bethie follows. She has been there several times- as it is Stephens Lunch room and we seem to go in there quite frequently to bring in bread, cookies etc. Anyway, somehow the boys ditched her in all the people, or she fell or whatever. The next thing she knows she looks up and there are no boys no moms etc. She panics and we loose her. We all get to the lunchroom to find the boys but no sissy. well the search is on. When she doesn't show in a few more minutes I start searching "locally" as to stay where the ending spot is. I tell the boys to "stay put and look for beth" while I go out in the hall to the cakewalk game. Returning after telling them to be on the lookout for a 4 year old in a dress (described). I find the boys gone. Great, no one but me looking for all the lost souls or so it felt!

Get the phone out to call (all of us adults had cell phones). and in walks gabe. YA IN, he was out in the "test drive a car" area which abuts the playground area... well that clued me in to where Stephen was, but then do I dare leave in case Bethie comes by? Gabe goes out and gets Stephen and for once Stephen listens. Immediately Stephen and Gabe get put into a sitting position on the floor in an area I can control.

Then call Hubby, then as soon as I find him, over comes Tracy with bethie in her arms... She went to the main doors (opposite direction) looking for us to leave. OH felt so sorry for her. Tears streaming down her face thinking we left.

She got her pop and cotton candy THEN we left.



05
May
2006
thoughts and wonderings
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Another one of those school, school, school days. Kids will be happy later today as there is a "special kid happening" at the school tonight that we will be attending... and supper will be hot dogs, bbq, and cotton candy...

I got garden plants delivered yesterday. of course this a.m. the television is talking freeze warnings (figures). I think the field work is lagging slower than normal also. must just be an odd year. Wonder what summer has in store. Spring brought more moisture than normal- does this mean more heat this summer or severe weather. The way the weather has been lately I highly doubt it will be one of those unremarkable temperate summers that make activities so much more enjoyable.

I caught a cold this past week. I am thinking it most likely was the dreaded respitory flu. Never have I had a cold that has hit me so hard. Usually this time of year I sneeze and have to wonder "cold or allergies". Not this time! this time there was no doubt. fevers, chills, sore back from coughing and sneezing. Boxes of kleenex gone. uffda. hopefully the light at the end of the tunnel comes soon as this is getting old quick!

Been reading other peoples blogs lately. my favorite blog is SEB blog as I love his "non-athiest" posts and thinking. I also was led through google to another blog article that dealt with the spanish version national anthem translation. That one had a point that made you say hmmm. That one quoted Bush saying it should be in english, then the writer had the point of saying when is Dubba going to learn to speak it. Found it realistically funny, tho dis'ing the pres. is prob. not cool...

oops, just saw the time. Schools waiting, kids need to get up



03
May
2006
Recipe review
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Doing a few food reviews tonight.

Stephanie was here, Stephen was in a mood... so to settle him down they baked. First they started off with the applesauce oatmeal cookies using the dried apples instead of raisens/craisens. The cookies were soft inside but outside the oatmeal was more like granola. Not a very yummy cookie to me. Stephen liked them as they were different than what he was used to. I noticed some "just a bite left" cookies laying around (enough to know that it was both Beth and Gabe and maybe Stephen too). Don't think a "normal diet" person would seek out these cookies... but if you were on a limited diet, these may be good for a change.

Next they made Linzer torte bars using the mexican wedding cake cookie dough as the base. THESE WERE DELISH! A typical eater would go and make them... actually I would make them again in a heartbeat and did recommend them immediately to my mother to try them out... These are really good. While eating them Stephanie and I thought that Peach Preserves would be a good choice too. The cookie dough turned out a little crumbly, but that is norm for this dough. We baked them in a 9x13 pan (my error in remembering size). but it worked just fine with the amount of dough. The Jam jar is over 2/3 a cup gone- more like double that amount was used. She kept in the vanilla and did not use the cinnamon. THEY WERE GOOD. I would not change a thing (well except maybe to try the peach, cherry etc. preserves!)



02
May
2006
feels like I did too much today!
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My joints ache... busy day

Started off with trying to get work done- that didn't work because Gabe decided first thing this morning he was going to clean and organize the silverware drawer (strange kid, I know!). He kept bugging me for a box to put everything in. Well, dishes are done, all the silverware ended up being rewashed and freed of dishwasher hard water scum, and all the good silver has been removed from the drawer as well as the baby and toddler learning silverware (which haven't been used in how long???)

Did get 2 kids down to nap (and I napped- getting over a cold wipes me out!). Worked on the website some more, weeded the flower bed, checked the asparagus (1 6" tall stalk so soon...) and the rhubarb, which is totally ready to be picked.... Planted a rose, reset the trellis for the morning glories and moon flowers to climb.

and gee, I just thought I was over-reacting and really did nothing, it just felt like it... Still have to get back down to the studio, for time sensitive pieces. And its a good thing to do while waiting for laundry... which is way more than I want to do!!!

Bethie today went out in the mud. Came inside looking like a coal miner, then proceeded to put on her Easter dress and heels. She could not figure out why we were so upset about it, after all she had on her pretty WHITE dress!

Gabe had fun blowing bubbles in the wind without blowing at all. It was fun to watch him just hold out his hand and all them bubbles fly! (kinda made up for the bubble refill mess he made in the entryway!)

Well, laundry is awaiting! (ya right!)

Archives

30
Apr
2006
"Midnight Snack"
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I did the usual Sunday dinner- Pork roast, potatoes and gravy, veg, and a fruit. No one said "gee this tastes good!"

Tonight right before bed the kiddos decide they needed a snack before bed. Instead of dragging out the cereal and milk I opt for PB and J sandwiches (just J for Stephen). Upon getting seconds Bethie looks at me with these big blue eyes and states "mommy you're a good cooker!"

Made my day... Never did I think I would be known for PB and J tho!



30
Apr
2006
Rain and hand-me downs
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Rain Rain go away,
Spare my basement another day...

Watched water start to seep last night from a "not normal" spot. The cistern area usually leaks a little (straight to the drain) when the water table rises above the crack in the wall. Last night both]]> General xml-rss2.php?itemid=12 Sun, 1 Jan 2006 11:00:00 -0700 xml-rss2.php?itemid=158 Apr
2006
Rain and hand-me downs
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Rain Rain go away,
Spare my basement another day...

Watched water start to seep last night from a "not normal" spot. The cistern area usually leaks a little (straight to the drain) when the water table rises above the crack in the wall. Last night both halves of the studio had wet floors. This morning the verdict was positive, the "not normal" area decided to quit and dry up... Cool! The last thing I really wanted to do next week is smell clorox from scrubbing the entire floor again! Altho this time it should be less disasterous, as the last flood caused me to purge a lot of stuff (and get it all high and dry)!

Bethie is excited today, we just recieved more girl hand-me-downs... Including a pair of fashion boots- "JUST LIKE STEPHIES, BUT MINE HAS FLOWERS AND HERS DOESN'T!" I hope that conveys some of her excitement as she is thrilled, this batch was a lot of dresses- which is her all over!

Well the kids are acting like apes, while the clothes were being dropped off they spent as much time as they could walking in the newly formed lakes in the yard. Now I have semi-naked boys running the house... swinging from the ceiling fan if I turn my back... Later



28
Apr
2006
Free AntiSpyware
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Reading my email today I am going to try something new... It says its free, and the antivirus was totally free updates for a year so I am hoping for similar from the same company.

Anti-Spyware Trial Version removes lower
level spyware threats. To remove high level threats, purchase and activation of the full version activation is required. Click Here to Download They also had another link but from the look of it, it may not function well after a bit- it looks like a promo link for the current special. That link is here



The FREE Antivirus link was still working last month.



27
Apr
2006
Finished Kids Spring updates on the main site
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Well with the website revamp I noticed the kids bios were over 6 months old and a lot had changed. So updated they are.

Gabe was the brunt of everyone’s frustration today. Tomorrow in school I bet they are going to take a second look at the kid and think "bad parents"...

At a restaurant this morning (waiting for the photo time) we had a conversation on why it is important to not run in the store as some server could be carrying food, not see him and someone would get hurt and someone else may not have food... Well no sooner than that said we went to check out for the photos. He went running off, into a clerk with the cash drawer tray in her hand. I am certain she was focused on the task at hand and did not expect a child that evidentially needed a nap whizzing by her. Well... the drawer clipped his temple. She immediately recoiled and apologized. I did the "don't worry about it, it’s not your fault, he was just told not to run in the store" speech... all while he is wailing his lungs out. We get to the car and I look... well a half of a golf ball lump is now firmly coming out of his temple, big ugly and blue with cool little red marks. Iced when we got home.

Then the poor kid was playing with Bethie about 1 hour later, a fight ensued over the paper she was drawing on (or the pencil or something) and the next thing I know he is holding his eye (other side) and wailing again full force. I get off the phone quickly and look... she just missed his eye but broke the skin from his hairline to his lips. Cool little pencil mark that was welted and bloody when cleaned up.

Then tonight Stephen is in a mood... he picks on Gabe all night. Well actually he was an equal opportunity hurter. The only difference is that Bethie hurt back while Gabe just "not-so-quietly" took it and complained to mom.

Poor kid. He looks like he was in a war zone!



27
Apr
2006
Photo Day
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Pictures are in... this place took horrid pix.

One would think that when a "new customer" came in (our first time using this store for photos) and their job is to sell you more than the stupid discount coupon called for- to the tune of $20 per sheet....
that they would LISTEN to the customer and not put stupid backdrops behind the kids when it was voiced that we detested them...

Anyway... here is the off centered, and I am embarassed that I spent money for this all cropped to heck photo:

Here is my Sweeties!
Clicking on it will take you to the horrid unedited version (actually the uncentered comment does not apply as I scanned the 8x10- it was the larger and smaller ones that cut off bethies ear!... Didn't realize the 8x10 was the only size that looked right!)



26
Apr
2006
6 of one, a half a doz. of another
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What a day...
Good things:
1) Stephen played Sudoku with me, he is quite a help (before school- then actually got ready for school- cool!)
2) Designed a new sculpture while driving that *If it works* will be cool
3) got a cleaner basement floor that now smells cloroxy clean

Bad things:
1) had a child that went to school today with no formula/breakfast as he had a tempertantrum so large he threw his formula box (he cannot remember WHY he was mad) and that spirialed into "bad mom" for denying me another $5.00 box of juice
2) While working of the setup for the new sculpture I bumped the almost dry one... and needed to mend the breakage
3) stupid cat used the tornado shelter for a catbox. upon smelling and hearing the scratches I investigate... found out she has been doing it for sometime. Hence the clean floor (the one area I had yet to get to- spring flood cleanup done now) and NEW catbox in that location.

So here I sit at 10:45 after doing a lot already today... wondering what the rest of the day has in store...



20
Apr
2006
Waiting for phone to charge...
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Sitting here tonight waiting for my phone to charge. I would do more website work, but I am ready for bed and somehow when I do things at this stage of tiredness I tend to goof it all up! I looked for the phone and finally found it down in the Studio (was there, Gabe brought it up, then missing- seems a well intentioned hubby took it back down again!). Downstairs gets no reception so I was shunted straight to voicemail... so calling myself wasn't working and I was getting quite paniced because hubby calls, texts ect. until I get up to get these kids off to school- THat sounds lame, but I put a lot of night hours in while kids are sleeping and it is the only way I am able to get up, as the alarms are not alarming to me or the kids anymore! LOL... Plus I think he just likes to talk to me in the morning!

On Tap for tomorrow is School, School, School- really! first is stephen to school, then gabe and bethie, then gabe... I will not even see home until after 1PM from early morning drop off... I hate these fridays! The only good thing about them is that I usually get mommy time, bread store shopping time and bank running done (bank is closer to that town than I am- ya forgot to mention that I will be putting the miles on tomorrow- as the 1st and 3rd schools are in one town, the middle school is in the opposite direction). I find out today that i may be needed to help in the classroom tomorrow (school #2) which is a bummer cuz I do need bread, run to the bank and get some business work done during coffee hour... Not to mention groceries needing to be bought etc. that I already know takes too much of that precious little time (2 hours) already. After all the schools I have to get back to the studio, exciting things are needing my attention and I really should be home all morning instead of being bus driver!

well I hope the phone took a little charge cuz I really need to crash! Night!



20
Apr
2006
Patience and Inconvience during update
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Sorry for the inconvience, the side bar unexpectedly moved to the bottom of the page. I Know what the problem is, it will take time to find the code error, and i just dont have that time yet... over the weekend *hopefully* it will be fixed...

So for now, navigation is located (very pretty I may add) at the bottom of the pages- sorry for the extra work, and thank you for bearing with me while I update the whole site.


Update: FIXED!



20
Apr
2006
Demented Child or Artist?
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Yesterday Gabe came home with a wonderful drawing of Mommy Nude.

He is my artist, but I have a feeling it is hinging on more the shock value and the kiddie laughing aspects rather than studing muscle tone and body shapes :o

Then today we go to the grocery and see a military pickup with what gabe calls a "gun" on front... to that I quickly correct that it is a wench---- Maybe its genetic! meant to say "winch" but it would be cool to see military trucks look like ships with the mermaids on the front, or handy for all the male military personeal to have a wench handy! LOL

what thoughts!



19
Apr
2006
Finally a School Day- HOORAY!
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On Monday Stephen decided to be "in a mood" and Just went "off the wall"... This not norm behavior had us as parents looking for a reason why...

Bad Bad easter bunny made a terriable boo-boo. It seems that Juicy Fruit gum is OK, but the folks at wrigleys in their infinite wisdom decided to put SOY (and a lot of it) in their eggnormus easter gum. I knew better, but who woulda thought, and we were in a rush when I bought, lesson learned. Note to self, recheck everything!

anyways, that and the 5 missing cadbury mini eggs from the youngers baskets (which he still insists he only ate ONE, but they say they had one and none- 6 total), The tempation of the nutcracker that I bought 4-5 weeks ago and the hidden nuts (which he said he only had one bite of walnut) led him to a point where when we went to the allergist on Tue the opinion was that he most likely had an anaphylatic reaction.

I assume it was the nut... either way, it was not pleasant for him or I

Scary stuff

Anyways, since today he finally went to school, and the next is scheduled to go soon....
its a normal day where couch cushions are actually staying on the couch, monkeys seem to be absent from the house and all is calm enough I got to escape and go to work! Kiln is firing, which is good as the deadline for those items is approaching!!!



18
Apr
2006
"Boniva Day"
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Well, Monday was my Boniva Day. I was on actonel for a brief while until the side effects outweighed (in my mind) the benefits- I don't like being physically sick for 3 hours once a week by my own doing!

After a well deserved tirade at the osteo dr's office, I was put on Boniva so that I may be around for a bit more :) Told her that once a month sickness would be better than once a week and I would give it a try...

Well good news- This months dosage caused NO ILL effects! looks like I am on my way to being "less fragile"!



17
Apr
2006
Oh I Wish!
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I hate holidays,,, forget that cozy post last night as today brings with it children that really need to be in school- or have their hearing checked- or incapacitated in some way shape or form (hey, we can all DREAM!). What is up with giving kids BOTH fri and Monday off anyways???? Please calgon- TAKE ME AWAY!



16
Apr
2006
He has Risen!
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Happy Easter To All

Today was absolutely fab. The whole Family in their Easter Finest attended Church, went out to eat with extended family (thats an easter tradition), the bunny visited bringing outdoor play items and a few pieces of sweets and fruit and SODA POP! and the whole day the kids acted more like angels than demons! (that in itself was an Easter Miracle!)

Kids learned once again the story about Holy Week, Gabe even broke out in tears when he learned on Good Fri. that Jesus Died (how precious is that?!) and today was the big "party" celebrating the fact that we are indeed saved. Kids learned the "he has risen indeed" and I even caught Gabe humming "Jesus Chist has risen today".

I love the Easter sprirt! So... one more time: He has risen! He has risen indeed!



14
Apr
2006
And the beat goes on
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what a week, it seems that there are only so many things a mom can attend for her kids and still tend to the normal clattering of things needing to get done for normal opperation of the house (things out of the house like groceries etc) before one needs to take a "me" day just to get the house done.

That is what I did yesterday and should do again today BUT cannot...
the north side of the basement has now been cleaned and bleached, items purged as I was on a "don't ever want to mess with all this stuff again" mood... Funny but I dont think the kids will even miss the 4 lawn and leaf sized bags of misc. toys and parts that were actually in the water (to be fair here- I have told them many times to pick them up or else they would flood and they NEVER have). Funny thing, It did not even distress them to see the stuff go out to the burn pile... Gee, I wish I would have had so many toys that that would have not bothered me growing up!

Anyways, the floor is so uncluttered now (from washing/bleaching it) it now looks like a ballroom dance floor size. Imagining how I am going to put stuff back in, but I know there will still be the play area with the car rug, the fooseball table, the tv area, the stereo etc. that the space will be very limited again. Hoping tho that hubby will put up the perimiter shelves he promised last summer to provide a space for books, music, decorating and a few rubbermaid containers of seasonals that need to find a home now that I took over the other half of the basement.

well, better go now, the wolves are baying at the door that things need to be done- breakfast, school visit here, the other 1/2 basement cleaned, taxes dropped off and ? if can get done, a garden shed to be completed in assembly (to cover the well to stop flooding, more rain on the horizon) a trip to the bank, dye eggs, Not to mention the normal stuff like laundry and dishes needing to be done since they have been neglected all week.... ARG!



14
Apr
2006
Where else but rural life?
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where else but in the country can you
sit on the deck (writing in your blog) with your first cup of the morning coffee
totally not brushed hair, in your jammies
listening to the rooster crow, birds playing noisily in the background
fresh cool crisp air flowing over you
while the sun peeks from clouds that need to be included on the next batch of halmark greetings
for this I am thankful



11
Apr
2006
Spring has Sprung
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Very busy week ahead, but there are some signs spring is finally here:

1) the kids were out flying kites yesterday
2) the basement flooded, and now I get to spring clean (not thrilled, but needs to be done)
3) MUD
4) Irises, Crocuses, and Tulips up
5) I bought my first rose bush already
6) Thoughts turn toward what to put in the garden
7) Kids screaming and yelling to go out and ride bikes- HOURLY!
8 ) Windows open blowing clean fresh air in the house
9) School trips and end of the school year events like concerts and plays happening
10) Have to call hubby to come in when supper is done (as he is outside too!)
11) First time since December Stephen tried to wear shorts to school
12) first thunderstorms and Paniced children fearing Tornadoes




09
Apr
2006
Well If I thought the other day was bad...
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I had better think again! Yesterday I (well actually Gabe and I- its a combination of events type thing) ended up spilling a soda (full can) on top of my Laptop. Remember the warentee was going off last month? Murphys law usually follows this course, so after a few moments of panic and jumping around flipping things upside down and pulling asap cords and batteries it gets set in the bathtub until I can regroup (upside down still for drainage and to not allow soaking...). when my mother-in-law arrives, then as soon as she gets out to her car Hubbys best friend and girlfriend arrive... well I was rude that time, yes I cracked the case on the pc to see if I could save it or not (PC CPR if you will- sorry, the funny accronym and image just went through my mind and I had to type it! LOL).

Anyways, friends stayed until it was time to be on the road to the school musical/babysitters house (we did the family school musical last week- not repeating THAT adventure for another year!). Tried to get on a wifi hotspot at a local drinking establishment (I drank soda) to pull in my email- as our wireless provider has been down since thursday night/Fri early morning... I could not connect this time even tho they usually have great connections (so good I can get it from a parking stall out in the street on my PDA). SO no internet, no pc, just plain bad dumb luck...

THis morning screwed the case back together again and shock of all shocks- it works (praise the Lord!) and to top it off, internet seems to have come back online on a Sunday Morning!... Now the bad news, pulled in my email and it seems someone decided to use my domain name for spamming others as I got hundreds of bounced messages while we were offline... all spoofed to look like they came from someone at this domain (ie:yourfirstandlastname @ 3males~.com). these 350 or so bounced ones are the ones that didn't make it through... so I would assume someone sent TONS of emails in my name to people I have no clue who they are. Talked to my hosting provider, and all I had to do was turn off my "everything sent to this domain" email account (ie: anybody @ 3males~) to stop it coming in, and in return bounce the bounced messages back... so somewhere in cyberspace there probably is someone still using me to spam, but now I dont have to deal with the autoresponders telling me someone is out until thurs, or that the message cannot be delivered because the email box is full....

OH WHAT A DAY! but on the positive side, my host is great with tech support, and my bro says they have good advertising babes too! was shocked when the website said it would be 4 minutes when in reality they picked up on the first ring- GO DAD support was cool! I can say tho that putting up a site and the ease of use could be easier for a Noobie as it got really tech really quick! (in defense- the past year has brought along a lot of good changes in this area too!)

So sum it all up, we had a night out, my ruined pc was NOT ruined and now I am not getting spammed in my inbox, but somewhere out in cyberspace I still am....06
Apr
2006
a PC Day... Tech PC not Political
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Been having a day, Decided to do up Stephens Blog, well that led to needing a link somewhere where people could easily find it, which in turn led to the thought process of "well I didn't do this site as I would have if I would have known more when I did it" and decided to do like I did with the business site and use css etc instead of each individual page formated in html and having to redo each page everytime I wanted to change something (for the non-nerds, css is a cascading style sheet that allows you to change one thing and it applies to each and every page that is linked to that one page- a one stop editing place rather than DAYS it would take to revamp my site now).

well if you followed the thought process so far, your doing good... now add to that the computer was just "fixed" with a new hard drive and I lost all my passwords that firefox stores for me (thought I had em backed up) and the need to get into odd places with strange passwords that I made tough to crack so no one would tamper with my sites (good thought EXCEPT I did not write them down on paper!) So Today was spent trying to HACK my own site, deleting some of what I had to redo again as I could not crack etc... not to mention FTP issues (the way you get stuff up into cyberspace) and just general install issues... suffice it to say I am nerded out tonight!

Well the new site IS being developed and hopefully it is much easier to navigate, and will be updated more as it will be easier on this end to do so...Its just all the nuts and bolts and hoops to jump thru that need to be addressed before that site replaces this one. Maybe all the kinks will be worked out over the weekend, maybe it will be next weekend or later BUT someday there will be something really cool to look at!

Until that time: Stephens blog link is HERE
If you are someone that knows him, feel free to comment- but please heed the advise to use my spam addy, or one of your own until I get the "email this person" issue fixed... as all of cyberspace and every spambot that trolls the web could get your email! He does check several times a day to see if someone posted something on his writings!



06
Apr
2006
first MONKEYS now FISH
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woke this morning to the NY times as I do most mornings... the lead article was about finding "the missing link" that was needed to prove evolution over creationism. I read it thinking WOW another fine example of someone who wasn't there making tons of supposed assumptions just to prove their side. NO where in the article did it ever mention "hey we were not really there, this is just evidence that we see and then extrapolated out our hypothisis to fit the evidence presented". Sure this could look by all intents an purposes like the missing link but they missed a BIG KEY ISSUE HERE: the same fish before without the arms, toes etc, and the one afterward which walked on land until that time (and unless they have compelling evidence without the assumptions) I will believe this fish was made for a purpose and was made thusly (read without the assumptions of it's missing link):

"The skeletons have the fins, scales and other attributes of a giant fish, four to nine feet long. But on closer examination, the scientists found telling anatomical traits of a transitional creature, a fish that is still a fish but has changes that anticipate the emergence of land animals — and is thus a predecessor of amphibians, reptiles and dinosaurs, mammals and eventually humans.

In the fishes' forward fins, the scientists found evidence of limbs in the making. There are the beginnings of digits, proto-wrists, elbows and shoulders. The fish also had a flat skull resembling a crocodile's, a neck, ribs and other parts that were similar to four-legged land animals known as tetrapods.

Other scientists said that in addition to confirming elements of a major transition in evolution, the fossils were a powerful rebuttal to religious creationists, who have long argued that the absence of such transitional creatures are a serious weakness in Darwin's theory."


Pasted from the New York times



03
Apr
2006
Daylight savings really means sleep deprivation!
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I am so tired! tho, it may have helped IF I hadn't stayed up over the weekend really late (read that as ALMOST time for the kiddos to wake) watching a movie or 2 before heading to bed... then last night the movie Crash was on showtime (preview weekend hence the insane hours I stayed up to watch it)...

I heard on public radio how some school is touting technology to teach (I know old news) only this time the 3rd and 4th graders are using it to learn how to blog and podcast- and get feedback from around the world. the whole thrust of the project is language skills- they write the script, have it checked and make revisions, then go sit in a corner and read and record... got me thinking about the blog part of it as a useful tool for stephen. He loves to be on the pc, thought he could write his spelling words down even for grandma to read (hey- that IS practice in a way) and maybe some creative writing etc. in a spot just for him... so I spent the later part of the day developing a blog on this site that he may use for whatever. Before he writes, I will have to remind him that he is sharing in a world wide forum, and what is safe to share and what is not... and for you the "may go check it out" reader- a warning, his spelling is very phonetic and sometimes in the same sentence the same word may be spelled 4 ways... all with themes of "cool" as that is hip evidentally!

after I get all the kinks worked out (and the safety talk) the link will be posted at the main site on Stephens page links and here in the text...]]> General xml-rss2.php?itemid=158 Sat, 31 Dec 2005 08:01:00 -0700 xml-rss2.php?itemid=159 Mar
2006
busy week
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Sitting here this morning I look out on fog... yuck! I hate limited visibility!

over the past weekend we:
went to the dr. for hubbys chest pain. no clue of what it was, but whatever it wasn't good. This morning he goes in for another stress test...

Bought the kids their easter outfits. Bethie ended up with 2 dresses as I had been window shopping and knew what was out there, then darn it, bought what was acceptable but not ideal, and went back to one of the other stores and found the perfect one... so now we have 2, but she will wear it anyways.
Got the perfect ones for the boys- Stephen in olive-green/brown and gabe in charcoal. Both in their ideal colors too! Bethies just jazzed cuz she got a purse and bonnet!

Hubby got his Razr phone. spent all weekend getting his moto tools to sync with it- silly program would not update until 48 hours of messing then his phone was listed. now he is a happy camper adding ringtones and backing up everything from one phone to the other. found out there are no bluetooth accessories available locally (which is a shame- as my PDA also uses bluetooth). there are also NO PDA locally available accessories.... I want a keyboard BUT I would like to "feel" it before buying it, either off ebay or locally.... as keyboards are one of them things that I am sorta fussy about...

Spent all day (seems like the past month) trying to figure out what was wrong with my Heep of a Jeep. Earlier in the month I stopped in the dealership because I was forced to drive 40 MPH to school and that still was "rocking" my world more than I felt comfy with.... thought I needed an alignment and told them that both hubby and I thought it was alignment, and asked when they could get it in... whereas they promptly treated me like a stupid-blonde-woman-who-knew-nothing-of-what-she-spoke and told me it was most likely the tires I got last september causing the shakes, but they would check it out. they added one wheel weight for a "supposed out of balance tire" and sent me on my way.

I could feel it was not right so went to another towns jeep dealership (after hubby called and yelled at the first for treating his wife the way they did- KUDOS). That one actually did the alignment but found nothing major wrong.

Going to school again yesterday the evil jeep monster awoke again... forcing me to drive 40 all the way again- mind you this 40 is pushing it, in all actuallity I should be doing 20-25 but Stephen is close to being late everyday! So stop at the GM dealership we used to use when we had a GM van. got the appointment for early afternoon (the soonest) and so we spent another day in town with a 4 and 5 year old... FUN!. anyway left after the appointment and the light FINALLY came on! so now I am not stupid. Text hubby and all morning he was ignoring me thinking I am dreaming it all up, as 2 shops havent found any problem. well the text after the light came on was one of "wow, shes telling the truth, there really is a problem!" all said after a really long day, and dropping more good money... it was a misfire in cylindar #8, new plug and she is running fine- for the moment... its had 2 previous episodes of something going wrong in that spot so- fingers crossed

Then yesterday there was no water in our house. seems that the well overfilled and the backup system to keep the pump high and dry failed... (not good, new pump 2 years ago) and so we needed a new pump... hubby out there all night last night. finally at 11pm we had h2o again, but not with the new pump, the old one as it seems the new one needs another piece not in the box... so a repair added to the old one, and now I guess we have a backup for when this one fails (most likely next week, the way we are going).

well, better go, have homework to finish this morning and he is procastinating....



15
Mar
2006
a little catch-up
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well the cat came back an it. we lost one kitty the first day and now the dog is now an it too... (this time it was a female, so more intense). the male cat hates us, the female mommy cat is now relocated in my bedroom closet (to keep kids out) as the Female dog needed her kennel to limit activity... YA RIGHT! she just had an equivelent to a hysterectomy and today I take her out for a potty break. She wont do steps well, but when she sees a bird she can really scootch my bottom across the driveway! needless to say the walk ended early for fear of my osteoporosis and the hard ground!

On to other things taking a bit of a kitchen redo break. I have it almost stripped (one 2x4 area above a door) and actually hitting the studio again. I have some pieces to do for others and deadlines approaching so I best get back there again. Development as increased drastically as I am having another "after christmas" taking a break was good for me growth spurt again!

Went out to the jeep this morning and I guess insurance will be getting me a new windshield. I musta had a chip, as this morning from the hot and cold (hot inside from the defrost) it made the newly appeared crack (was 4 inches) spread to over 15 and it was still going... all diagonally right in front of my vision area. If I remember right the fix is not a "one hour" job, so I guess I will be driving hubbys Jeep (aka- heap; lol) so he can take it in and get it fixed for me.

Haircuts today, kids thrilled. I would rather stay at home, chilly out there today- maybe it was the dog walk that got me cold!



08
Mar
2006
he is becoming an it
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well its kinda fitting... the day she gives birth, he goes in to get fixed! He has been silly lately (marking terratory etc.) but the funniest thing about him is: I think he thinks he is a parrot. I have heard him say "Mom" and "dad" in a voice so realistic that it usually makes me look to see which child is calling my name. the other morning tho, the cat scared the bejeebers out of me. I was in bed in the morning, you know that "I should get up, but don't want to move yet, fall partially back to sleep" mode when from the bottom of the stairs I hear "hellllooo, Helllllooo" wow! scared me, then I thought and listened again (this ended up happening about 15 times, clear as a bell). tried to get the phone to record it, as I feared no one would believe that i have a cat that can say "hello".

the talking would not pick up on the cell voice record, so.... later that night when hubby was going to bed I was telling him about our strange speaking cat. He out of hummor said "hello" and never guess what? the cat replied MANY TIMES again! so now at least one person thinks I am not loony! LOL



08
Mar
2006
#3 is black gray (very dark but wet)
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too gory yet to post a pix... will do when I am done with dropping off kids

EDIT-
heres the pix of the 3. I don't see any more contractions but she still looks awfull large in the tummy. Maybe she is taking a break, or she could be done. She definitely is protective of them. I moved her out so I could put the towel back in, she did everything in her power to get back to them babes as fast as possiable!

Trio of kittens



08
Mar
2006
Cats and Kitchens
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Everyone that sees the kitchen lately keeps commenting that they like the 1930's green on the walls... I really dont mind it either. It is an unusual green not a typical green you see nowdays. THink olive green (the jar in your fridge not military) and then lighten it up quite a bit till you get a grassy olive green. its a cool color. the closest I can compare to is the algae on a fishtank- a light medium algae not the forest green or the lime.

Going to be shocking when it all goes to white with a really red wall...

I will be posting pictures soon as I am taking them of the baby cats this morning also- so far 2 are born, still having contractions so more to come. One is black/gray one is pumpkin colored so far...

She just keeps licking them clean, like she is playing with a mouse. I just went down and moved them closer to her belly so they can drink when I noticed she will definitely be having another shortly... so I guess they will not drink for long anyways. :)

don't they look like MICE?



07
Mar
2006
trying something new...
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l am writing this tonite from my new toy- a dell axim x51v pda...

It doesn't do too bad with figuring out my writing!

It will *hopefully* keep my life a bit more organized!



05
Mar
2006
Slowly getting there....
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Norita used to say "inch by inch everything is a cinch" used to drive me crazy when she said it... after the past few weeks I still hate the saying! LOL

Scraping zip strip off the walls is no way a cinch! I so far think I pulled a major muscle in my right hand- better than the severe blisters formed from the heat gun/scrape while hot method...- but still it would be nicer not to have carpal tunnel after this whole thing is finished! LOL but slowly it is getting done. I now have the north kitchen wall totally scraped, 1/2 of the west wall and all of the east wall done and the other 1/2 of the west wall down to the last 1-2 scrapings. THEN the kitchen will be done till the cupboards are removed (the backsplash is the paint that spidered also but I am waiting till the cabinets are removed due to food surfaces and the need to get it all, as the "built in place" cupboards that are there have no backpanel and the previous owners painted the walls behind the uppers through the cupboards also.

Already looking at the tiles in the hallway and thinking I will be there before today is over. Silly plastic epoxy/mortar that they used to use. Zip strip really does work nicely at "melting" it off. and the smell from the strippers is far less than the smell of removing the tiles (think really bad mold/mildewy stinky feet smell).... there are better things in the world I would rather do, but the end result keeps me stripping.... (thats another subject- keep texting hubby that I am stripping in the kitchen, taking it all off, etc.) been interesting around here! LOL!

Gabe came up to me today and said that his voice keeps getting loud in his ears today. They have had the stupid head cold that is circulating around. he was amazed that GUM is medicine (his ear popped, better now!). Bethie remembered my brothers friend the other night- totally astounded us with her memory. while we were on vacation (read that entry here ) the kids locked the only bathroom door at mom's house. My brothers friend had to come and unlock the door so there were facilities available again. well in the middle of thinking of "A" words "aaron popped up, Bethie exclaimed "Aaron, who's that" when we replied uncle T's friend she responded "the door unlocker?"... THIS WAS AUGUST. None too bad for a just turned 4 year old!

P/T conferences were this week. Both Stephen and Gabe's conferences were great. Stephen has really progressed in his knowledge and skills, Gabe as usual is great and no problems. Spoke to the teachers about Bethie attending next year... found out that there will be a teacher and location change- unsure on how I feel as it was steller this year, hoping for the same next year...




28
Feb
2006
A Funny Day!
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Well, its been somewhat different around here...

1) unexpected funds allowed me to redo my kitchen (actually it will end up being a makeover to some extent to 3/4 of the main floor). So I have been "stripping" in the kitchen (with zip strip on the walls- 7 to 9 layers of paint, where the first one did not work with the second layer). then it will be priming. painting, and new flooring (all of which are sitting in the kitchen/hallway now!). the counter tops, sink and faucet are in the garage where they have been for over a year now... soon cabinets will be coming! None too soon, needed the kitchen storage space! Hallway is getting paint and floor, bathroom the same... dining room may be getting storage also via built-ins and a paint job.

2) laptop was fixed, so now no missing "E" and thanks to a warentee my "broken-but-I-did-not-know-it hard drive" was replaced with a larger one (cool) top it all off, my monitor works again too!

3) now to the funny part of the day... for the past week, we have been noticing our scawny little farm cat we transfered to live in the house has been getting fat. we thought "cool" she is finally getting some food- as the fat cat "fluffy" pushes her away from the food... well today she was on my laptop keyboard, Perturbed I picked her up and removed her... she felt awful rounded in the belly. Well, when hubby got home I asked him if he knew how she could be pregnant when there is no male around.... he said I don't know, felt the scrawny pregnant feeling cat, yep to him also she felt pregnant, so he reaches down to fluffy and she let him get a good feel of her little "jewels" hanging down.... Funny thing is- we scratched this cat, petting this cat- tummy and back and all, for the past year and a half. none of us noted that she was a HE the whole entire time.... well, he is going to be a little less "manly" after the vet gets ahold of him....

so now we have to deal with Bethie and the new "babies"... from what I gather from talking to people it could be any day now.... I know we are not going to have more than 2 cats in the house, I also know it will he torture to get them away from the youngest... she is a cat lover through and through...



06
Feb
2006
"in the kitchen cutting chicken up to fry...."
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Its been ages since I actually bought the whole chicken and cut it up myself... not because of ease, but because my hubby doesn't like white meat, only dark. I find myself usually buying legs and thigh packages and frying those- of course I don't usually fix chicken, so this is only about 3-4 times a year.

The price was so inexpensive for the whole bird, I went ahead and bought the thing... then spent the day telling the kids to get out of the sink water (thawing) and being overly concerned about all the new nasties that no one worried about when we were kids- semonilla and yep, thoughts of bird flu...

totally wiped everything down that touched the blood and juices with antibacterial soap... an invention that was NOT around when we were kids. Wonder how we ever lived, as mom used to cut the chicken on the same wooden cutting board that was used for onions and veggies. Never a thought of "bad germs" and bacteria... just swipe it clean with a dishrag when done.... funny how I survived!



05
Feb
2006
Update/ Trying something new
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I really need to get my "e" fixed on my keyboard... missing letters- add an E as I missed it proofing.....

haven't updated in a while. Everything here has been even keel with the normal ups and downs of life-
1) Stephen is getting better sneaking food, but still does occasionally... Just cannot get it through his head that the week of water stools were from 1 jellybean or gummybear
2) found a purchased bread that is safe in a nearby town's local bakery!!! yeah-hooray!
3)I have been ill, not the flu, not a cold, but something that evidentally the doctor cannot figure out either. to the point now that is "come back if your still not well in a week, then the next week... someday a GI will be involved IF it doesn't go away... good news, ruled out cancer, pregnancy and the like.... (not saying kids are a bad thing, just that for us, where we are, we have our hands full at the moment!)
4) so after not feeling well for 3 weeks, I am slowly getting myself (read- forcing myself) to get back to work. Going slowly, and it seems my hands lost all muscle tone that they had developed (figures!) but its coming along
5) got the news of the date that profit sharing is in.... Yeah hooray again! sizeable chunk of change if I figured it the way they explained (and I read correctly). On top of tax refund... dreaming from the IKEA catalog of a new kitchen with storage space :) *note- this place is worth the drive, if there are no hidden costs, as it amounts to a substantial savings over the more local big box home stores...

So thinking of painting walls, laying new floors and countertops on top of new cabinets... WOW, it's going to be nice.... theme 50's diner: black white and stainless with artwork accenting red tones. makes me overlook the fact that we were told the carpet is immpossiable to remove and the tiles on the walls (50's GRAY and PINK plastic!) have a near immpossiable to get off adhesive, trust me I already tried, and heat seemed to be the only halfway useful tool besides a chisel! they did do things in the old days to last a little too well!

Trying to post in an alternate method today... see if it shows up or not...


18
Jan
2006
Your pulling my brains out!
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THat is bethies new catch phrase...

When she ate the other night and had ketchup in her hair that I didn't see before I brushed she exclaims "MOM, your pulling my brains out"

when she did her own hair and then undid her hair, "ouch i'm pulling my brains"

we have a lot of brain pulling here it seems!



17
Jan
2006
we're in da money (not really, but a nice feeling anyways!)
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With hubby coming off unemployment and going back to work his transitional pay was sketchy... meaning 1/2 of this and 1/2 of that.... and none of it here when we needed it. Feel rich today as the second half of the missing money came via mail (gotta love them holidays and feds with vacations!) Feeling rich as having more than $4 is definitely different again... and food can be replentished (unemployment is not good, as we loose money when he is on layoff- no SSI check and less pay than if he were working)...

Nice to have things quasi-normal again... and able to put gas in the cars and get prescriptions for hubby- don't get me started on co-pays and the whole point of insurance is??? The limiting the risks and your visits to the doctor (and prescriptions to ward off costly diseases if you don't have them... oops, thats $20 each month per script! verses a $30,000 surgery later to put in a stent).

anyways, tomorrows agenda has me going to the grocery store to replenish some, home to meet the bus for gabe and then off to get haircuts after school is out (with work somewhere in there I hope!) and the usual nap that needs to happen- but will only happen if MOM sits and watches soapies with her on my lap...

Bethie recieved notice for a preschool screening... out of 3 kids this will be my first screening... sounds odd doesn't it that my baby would be the first... well the first two were in special ed, and evidentally they check for all of that there, so next tue will be the first for me (and I will have gabe tagging along- should be interesting!) time estimate given is 2 hrs!!!

Hubby gave me a compliment last night, said my work is looking really professional (and as he put it- a lot better) He even has been going to websites and looking at ads and tv for things for me to expand upon... then it all crashes again when he says something stupid like- $60 for that! you would never get that much for similar..." and "Hope you get a lot of persons to your website as no one around here would pay that much" this from a guy that once spent over $20 for a carrot cake candle and even more for glass goblets that hold votives and were poorly made (both from those party things that charge way too much)... Thinking in the back of my mind a good selling pitch and I would have him hooked- and he would be a great customer...

well, I suppose, I woke early this AM, and am really beat... going to put some time in on my accounting software (to learn it) and then hit the sack! night!



15
Jan
2006
One good thing about sleeping in a chair!
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Everyone knows the downside, tv and lights stay on (high elect. bill), neck and back aches, not sleeping well and feeling it the next day etc. But this morning I found the positive side-

After sleeping (not so well, as I kept getting sold this and that from infomercials all night!) I woke at 4 am. after unloading the dishwasher, filling it up again and running it 3/4 full I now have no dishes to wash

After the dishes I went to the studio and threw... I now have no work to do today, as I met my goal

Gabe is happy as I threw his slump bowl last night (I promised him I would make him one)... what is slump? Slump is a stephen version of chili/cheese dip. I make my stephen safe homemade chili sans beans like this:

SLUMP
2 lbs ground pork
2 onions
(fry till brown, drain if there is any grease)
add:
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
chili powder (estimate 2 tbsp)
cayenne pepper (estimate 1/2 tsp- to taste! careful, as too much will really spice it up!)
1/4 cup brown sugar
simmer a bit then add:
1 lb real american cheese (you can use processed, stephen has to have real)
Serve with Fritos scoops (stephen safe) or tortilla chips or doritos

Slump got its name when the movie "snow dogs" was playing on TV almost constantly (kids loved it) and I made this for our family New Years Eve celebration (game night and finger foods). Stephen came to the table and pronounced the supper looked like slump (the term for dog food in the movie). name has stuck ever since then!



14
Jan
2006
hunting, teasing, behaviors
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woke this morning, hubby gone... still waiting back on a text to tell me his location, I assume it was NOT a doughnut run as it is taking way too long (3 hours +)... Assume I must have said OK sometime many days ago to hunting as an offhanded remark that was soon forgotten! Hopefully he gets something today as the $ would be nice compensaion for leaving me here with these kids (LOL)

Last night for some reason, after the jellybean incident, Stephen decided to finish off the rest of the bag. One would think any logical person would not want to feel that sort of pain but I guess he is totally different. So this morning having many behaviors while I am trying to work... I wait until they are calm, steal away to the basement to come back 3 minutes later to sounds of crashing whatevers or wails of injury.... guess I will have to wait until Stephie comes before I can really "do" something!

Had a talk with stephen today stressing the reason why I love him is his "unconformity"... for doing what he feels right, for doing what he believes in and NOT following the crowd. He was upset that kids were laughing at the fact that his toes were polished (just his big toes) but he likes them that way. Well, If I have no problem with it, and he has no problem with it... whats the big to-do? silly kids!



13
Jan
2006
different than I planned
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today is turning out to be different than I expected. Once a month (or so) I get 2 hours of ME time... no kids, as they are in school. Today was suppose to be like that...

On New Years I bought Jelly Beans for our "party" based on my 5 year olds wailings of "please, us's need this too". didn't look at the ingredients, knew they would not be OK for stephen anyways. Got home and learned out of all the bags of jelly beans, I chose the one with POTATO STARCH used to hold the globs together. Dutifully I locked the party remains up and forgot about them until the other day.

Stephen was at school, so I treated the youngins to some at the table. Bethie kept getting up to check her barbies, etc. and so I locked them up again. that night when stephen came home. Stephanie saw stephen in an odd position on the floor appearing to be sneeking/eating something. she asked what was in his hand and volia, a jelly bean that bethie must have transported off of the table and dropped. verbally he states he did not eat one (ya, right!).

next day, email states he did not eat his school lunch (altho seemed fine before school- he did have a more severe tummy ache than normal, but that doesn't mean much with him, but led me to believe that he did eat one). He came home in a terriable mood, uncooperative and not his usual self- thowing things, crying etc.. He spent the rest of the night on the toilet and changing his underwear.

So he is home today, school has a "24 hour" thing, and it would be prudent to monitor this anyways- and it could be a coincidence and he could actually have a flu....

so there went my ME day!

Have a check-up for Stephen at the doctors today anyways so I guess it will all work out in the end, I just will not have my "get myself centered and focused" and 2 hour long "thoughts are all mine without interuptions" time :)



09
Jan
2006
Back to work!
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Took a week of power outages but finally I am on a roll!

The after christmas entry where everything was easy-peesy.... well it is still true. Cool. making stuff I struggled with- now with ease. evidentally pressure is NOT my friend- LOL

THought Stephen took the camera to school today, was having a "oh, my goodness!" moment, as it is really expensive and not HIS toy to sneek. a thourough cleaning of the house but no avail. texted hubby "just in case" he moved it somewhere silly..... yep, he went hunting this weekend and it is with him at work- in his jeep.... like I would have thought of that!

Hunting lead to nothing shot, thats ok. He had fun and tons of excersize (which is good for him, seems his metabolism has reached "middle aged" and slowed down!). He tells of his buddys girlfriend to kept "intruding" on hunting by calling every moment in an attempt to get them home... some women!... if you give the OK for a "guy day" they will NOT be back to hearth and home until they absolutely have too, I mean if YOU had the chance to be kidless without the spats and yelling- would you be eager to return? Bethcha on "girls day/night out" she don't hurry back either!



06
Jan
2006
Son decided we needed an energy loss
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What a day! started out with me "trying to make Stephen be more responsible for himself"... good intentions, too much watching "starting over" while rocking kids at naptime I suppose.....

Well good plans are always laid to waste (or something like that). For .5 hours I told him repeatedly to get his snowgear in order or else he would be cold at recess. For .5 hours he did everything in his power to NOT do what I was saying- he was in the studio, he played with toys, he fought with the others trying to get ready. Finally I said come on B and G lets go, we have shopping to do---- well wake-up call for stephen as then he stood and screamed I need my hat. we kept walking (I was going to double back after getting them strapped in the carseats and the Jeep started- not to get the hat, just Stephen).

Well no sooner than the youngins clear the door to the outside I hear a BANG and a SHATTER of glass. He punched the window on the back door out. Glass flew clear across the entry and hit the garage wall. Get him out (checking his hand as I go) then back to the house to try to plasticate the opening to the unheated entry. Odd thing- plastic that is made to shrink with a hair dryer has tape inside the kit... Duck brand 2 sided tape. One would think it was made for cold weather... NOPE the stuff does not stick when cold. I used the staple on outside plastic because it was thicker and shut the door, only to see it fall off, do again and carefully shut the door (minimizing air currents). when I got home gravity took over and it was open again.

One of them days when this that and the other were happening so I plasticated it the best I could (tape does work when warmed with a hair dryer first before pressing the plastic in...) Now we have 3 sheets of plastic on the opening and waiting for a calm day to put the rest together IF I can- glazing compound cannot freeze and this is January; wood trim needs to get peeled off the door for the glass to sit- I think the trim is origional to the house- with MANY coats of paint.... I forsee it breaking. SO what to do, what to do.... New door is out unless we redo the whole framework and cause it to open out instead of in as that door is customized for the upstairs steps (sloped ceiling needs a notch cut off the very end of the door)

just a typical day here- if it aint one thing its another!

Tomorrow is Busy busy busy... Gabe has 2 schools, Bethie one and Stephen is his normal routine- so tomorrow has me running here and there pretending to be a bus driver for all the different schools in differing towns! If I am lucky tho, I may be able to sneek 30 minutes for myself at the coffee shop with NO KIDS!



04
Jan
2006
Let there be light and 15.5 hours later it was...
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another one of those days...

This morning got a call from hubby (first day of work in a month, mind you) saying the plant had NO ELECT. this morning. Protocol is 2 hrs. without power, all sent home for the day. Well, I checked the online school cancelations, turned on the radio, nothing... so packed up the kids, headed out in low visibility, slick roads. as we were leaving about 5 fast and sudden flickers of power happened. Cranked up the furnace (hubby said town wide, but just to be safe thought heat would be nice) and left for school.

Double checking the office lights were on at school, dropped the oldest off and the rest of us slid home after getting some gas. No power when we returned and the house was already 2 degrees cooler than normal- assume it did go off the 6th time :)

so we built forts, we took naps, we said HI to dad when he came home.... what a day! Bethie kept asking for us to call the TV guy to fix the TV. Lunch was especially tasty- PB and J on white bread with doritos... yummmm.

Decided around noon to crochet a bit. Started making a fancy southern belle gown for one of Bethies 10 new barbies she recieved for Christmas. in between we told storys, held kids. babysat kerosene heaters and lamps... kept calling the elect. company to see IF they were still working (In-laws had power most of the day- as well as the surrounding towns, eventho they let school out everywhere else, stephen still had power and school)

Tracy brought a massive load of used girley clothes... made bethies night (and moms!). she is set till she is 7-8 years old! Cool!

Went out to eat at night, as to be spared another PB and J that stephen could not eat anyway! returned home and saw it was just our mile without power, so called again... reassured we were next on the list, we wait.... and wait.... and wait.... 2 hours later see the truck. 1 hour after that there was electricity again....

Bethie went to bed happy as I told her the TV guy came and fixed the TV. Oh happy day!

now we have heat, lights, food and more important well pumps to flush the toilet!



03
Jan
2006
One happy Mom!
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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Yeah! Hooray!

School Starts tomorrow morning

Work Starts again tomorrow morning

One Happy Mom! :)

Back to work in earnest (altho I have been doing great stuff part time during layoff and vacation). Looking forward to putting in 8+ hours a day!

I have my house back to myself!

Can you tell the school bag is already packed for morning... Can't wait! ]]> General xml-rss2.php?itemid=159 Fri, 30 Dec 2005 08:07:00 -0700 xml-rss2.php?itemid=161 (Dec. 2005 wayback cannot connect)


21
Nov
2005
ok, so I fell off the earth, back now- I think!
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Sorry for the long span of no new postings. I have been working on my business. I think I finally have some of the basics covered. I am still looking for a knowledgeable tax preparer/accountant that can anwser my specific question without making it seem like I am bothering him and he just wants me out the door... (I am asking a very hard question that the correct response should be something like "I will get back to you after I investigate it"). I don't know if that makes any sense or not... but anyway that will have to suffice for now.

I feel so rich, I have a mega insurance policy for the business... hope I never have to use it. In this day of litigation tho I felt it was prudent.

kids family etc- over the past 20 days brief recap

Stephen suprised me, he hasn't been studing his spelling words here at home. He has been passing his tests with a C or better. Last year he would have been the same pre and post test.

Did the operation christmas child shoeboxes with the sunday school kids. We compiled 20 boxes to send overseas (not too bad as there are usually under 10 kids every Sunday morning). THoughts of how spoiled my kids are definitely surfaced (they are not spoiled by american standards and they are NOT getting the $99 remote controlled snowmobiles available at the local superstore this christmas morning, eventho they really want them... they are going to be lucky if I spend $20 on their "big" present). I keep thinking about how some kids are so thrilled to get a coloring book and crayons where here at our house day #2 on a new box of crayons has them all broke, thrown around the house and getting pitched in the garbage. Yep, my kids definitely have too much!

Did a Trainer training (I went to be a trainer) that ARC MN put on that deals with the special education Law. It was nice to be away for a day with NO KIDS! And even nicer still, no major car problems to prohibit me from going

Bethie went to school the other day- her words were: they have fake fake food, fake fake fake pear, Fake money, Fake fake fake cake (giggle) I asked what did it taste like she replies "you can't eat it, it will make you puke up and get germs on it!" I think the germ lesson for school really struck a cord, and unclear if the germs thing is just putting it in your mouth or if you read it like she said it, from being coated with other stuff... but either way, I guess both ARE true! LOL

Whoa, just saw the time, gotta get kids up, I am the bus you know!



01
Nov
2005
Trick or Treat!
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here is the finished picture before we hit the road-



You can see the full size picture on the main photo album page (just click the picture there to super-enlarge!)

Trick or treating was a blast. I love the fact that we do merchants and not residential homes as it is a lot warmer for moms and for kids! also love the fact that the kids can actually see the costumes of their peers. the only think the kids miss is the crisp air and the having to go back and empty out their goodies to get space for more. My kiddos only got a few bits of candy (which the dentist thanks them for! LOL) which means I will have less wrappers to pick up, less dentist bills, less everything! sometimes less is really more!

Today was a peculiar day, started off good, forgot something and ruined my time table for everything I had to do. I had to be at a meeting this late morning with substantial travel time to get their and back. I forgot to finish putting velcro on the front of Gabes jacket so one more thing to do... get out of the meeting and it seems everyone whom never calls me did today (including Mayo!) rush back, talk to daycare and almost miss the bus, drive like a mad woman to catch it, trick or treat just fine (no "code adams" in the superstore so that is a plus!). kids fell asleep on the way to grandmas so super hyper while we are there.... just that type of day. I did not get any work done at all that I needed to do, so all will be put off until tomorrow when I will really have to play catch up to hold my head above water and meet my goals (of course tomorrow is paperwork day- first of the month so that has to fit in somewhere also) but right now I am dead tired and guess I will be heading to bed soon... so enjoy the pic, hope you all had a good halloween also (dont mean that in an occult way- just a fun dress up day with the family day)... later then!

(sept and oct archives are not accessable) read more for first posts


31
Aug
2005
Back to school/ refinancing redux.
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Haven't been writing much, as "back to school" has me consumed with things to do...

For those of you who asked what my IM message "soon to be Back-to-School Betty Crocker" meant- here is the anwser... Today we had Stephanie here, she was in a baking mood. We pulled off 2 double batches of cookies (one sugar, one ginger snap); 36 frosted cupcakes, and one loaf of bread. Well the bread is gone (supper) so I will have to try to get some done up before tue for school cafeteria usage, along with the waffles (already done) and the tortillas (still need to make 4x the recipe). The school only needs a dozen or so of each item (except the bread and torillas) but with MY Kids and hubby if you don't double it, there will be nothing left to send, so the day I dreaded turned out to be pretty darn good as there was extra help and everything went smoothly!

Supply shopping: Why is it that a major desination for cheap school stuff had stuff for this time of year in 3 months ago, but now is seemingly out of school supplies? there were no cheap 10 cent notebooks with spiral binding... there were no primary colors in the expensive notebooks (specified on the school list which they provide at the store that starts with a W and ends with a Mart that we need wide lined spiral red, blue, green and ?); they had 0. pencil tip erasers... tons of big pink square erasers, but NO, we need pencil tip ones- again batting zero for zero. Discouraged here... what where they thinking??? Its not like we attend a small school in an outlying town and just happen to travel there to buy- NO this school is in THIS TOWN!!! DUH! waiting for that elusive "should be in thurs or fri" to come, but not holding my breath too much

Bethie (and Gabe) got Mail today. Bethie learned her first day of school will be on Thurs. SO one going to first day on Tue, one going wed, and Bethies first day thurs (gabes too, but he is returning with the same teacher)

Been in contract negotiations with the school. I wanted more, of course they wanted less, settled for mid road. Hubby is not happy with the amount as it ties up the whole day (even just taking them to school in the AM, I have to be here for Gabes bus in the afternoons). He is really getting scared (and so am I) about the cost of fuel and fuel oil this winter/ our budget. The two seem incongruent at this point in time if the prices don't start falling soon! (if I lost you' we heat with fuel oil, diesel in other words, and that is currently almost the same as gas at the pumps- now take your car's sticker shock at a 20 gallon fill and multiply that by 250 gallons a fill) scary stuff. I am estimating what used to take 1200 a year to heat will this year be closer to the 3500-4000 range if the cost of home heat rises to 3 a gallon.

Still working on refinancing the house, so far cannot find any takers I trust- yes, this morning I got a "bad credit no problem mortgage spam" but that don't count- I would not even contemplate that offer. Found out yesterday that what we thought was someone that sounded perfect etc. and had alternatitive ways to get credit (cannot remember what I wrote but the short of the situation is no credit cards, personal belief against them, and a bank that hasn't reported loans on us for the past 10 years- even tho there have been loans out there each and every month of those 10 years, all paid on time left us with absolutely NO CREDIT history or score).

Goal was to refinance the house and get GEOTHERMAL heat in here. The alternative we have now is to use the bank which is not reporting us, and I doubt they will give us more to redo the house on top of the amount owed- they are a good bank looking at our best interests, and their loans refinance every 2-3 years with no fixed rate... so not making our goals at all. I am happy we looked into this tho before the contract for deed came up, as we got some good advice on some things that need legally clarifying and with no credit score, we would have not stood a chance in whatever to get a loan when the large balloon payment is due in 5 years (1/2 the purchase cost of the home). Our equity is high in the home as the tax value appraisal double what we owe... and still a no go (credit score lacking)... so against all moral judgements, I guess we will be getting a credit card... the last place we visited said after a year of credit card usage he would have no issue of financing us at all and giving us the money for a new source of heat.

Geothermal heat seems to be running around $8000 from what I am reading, with sizable a rebate from our electric company tacked on, it seems stupid to spend half of that money this year on a fuel that will continue to break our backs when the geothermal way saves 60% on utility costs a year! (for us I do believe that may be higher- no diesel to buy). BUMMER! wish it was THIS year.... $3 a gallon for auto gas and most likely the same for fuel oil... UGH!

Well enough of the personal tirade.... have to get to bed (baking must have wore me out- LOL) have school supplies to get tomorrow, errands to run, tortillas to make, house that has been sorely neglected over the past week... UFFDA

OH- one last postscript- I met Stephens new teacher today (Well I knew her in the past when I taught her son in Sunday School). I loved her philosophies, I loved her attitued and creativity... Think its going to be a great year!



27
Aug
2005
Refinancing
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Ron and I thought we would refinance the house and take out some equity to cut some costs (ie: a fuel system that is not powered by fuel oil!) and maybe add on some living space/bedrooms, etc....

Well the short of it, we will have to do further research on this... or it just may take awhile to get done- problem is that we somehow have "no credit" even tho we take out loans etc. the bank does not report them to the credit reports. so unfortunately for the past 10 years we have had nothing added to our report- good or bad.

The lender said we would need to take out credit cards to get credit... that one does not fly with us as we do not propose to the idea of credit cards- when the average american debt on credit cards is more than what we owe on the house... we say a big "no thanks" and prefer to use cash!

So I guess the search is on to find a lender that will take someone's home loan with no recent credit history (unless they would be willing to ask the bank for a history- which the bank said they would gladly furnish) the real stupidity in it all is that we owe such a small amount the home lender said if it was hundreds of thousands they could, but since we only owe less than the price of a new car, they couldn't do so.... so evidentally if your house payment is bankrupting you they are happy to lend you money but if you chose to live affordably no one is interested (even tho over half of the equity is paid off!)... DUMB!

Our bank said they would lend us the money, but bank rates are not as good as a conventional loan (or even the VA loan we qualify for *note to self check out which lenders locally do VA loans*) and the interest rate is not fixed... problem is if we go this route we still do not get a credit history... seems like a no win situation...



21
Aug
2005
First BAD web experiance....
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I am a little perturbed today. I just googled me, dogpiled, etc. to see if I was still listed in the search engines. When I dogpiled I saw stuff that pointed to my website THAT I DID NOT WRITE. So thinking "OK, some nice person put a link to my website so I could be ranked higher, persons could find info that that person liked etc...." I MSN search for me (where dogpile said I was found on) and came up with a "SPAMMER" trying to hoc generic viagra... UGH! THe page is in cache so please do not visit the site and try to stop the redirect- I don't need them thinking they are getting ANY traffic from my site.

Snooping around the site I see that they have a 3 page legal form (on how not to use their site in links, their images and their copyright), but its not worth my time in even arguing or complaining- especially since they are governed by the laws of Dehli India!

So please do NOT click the link to see what I am talking about- unless you are really interested in Viagra, then google for some "cut rate" pills and you may find it... but please do not click anything that comes from this site (or uses this site) just to increase their google ratings (yes and when you view their page source one can see a source code for a "google prayer" to please increase their google ratings--- wonder what they really want! Funny thing is, they chose a site that I could really care less how high I rate, just that I may help someone else that has been hit with an EOS disorder and trying to omit many foods and still provide an adaquate diet!



18
Aug
2005
Teaching an old dog new tricks
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Sunday School Teachers Meeting tonight. Got everything worked out and a jump on the christmas program (which is good). I Love the new pastor. She is really cool. after the meeting I asked her about the gnostic scriptures (Gospel of Mary in particular) as I was watching a documentary on discovery times channel about the divincii code/ holy grail holy blood where they were commenting that Mary Magdaline was more than just what we knew from bible stories (prostitue, came to annoint the body after death) but rather more like one of the 12. The divincii code eludes to the grail as the holy blood line of jesus being passed on as Jesus had a child with Mary M.

Facinating for me to think about something that I had never thought of before, even more so when the pastor sounded like she believed some of it, and FYI the church does use these texts for reference as additional sources for information to the bible. (making sure things check out first by other mentions of things in the bible). Pastor said that there were 3 things a father had to do before his job was done- 1) teach his child a trade, 2) teach his child the torah, 3) find a wife for him and marry. she said it is interesting that Joseph is not mentioned in Jesus's adult life, as if his job was done. he may have died early on and Jesus had to raise his siblings up and take care of his mother... but 2 of the 3 requirements were met for his duties, one could easily assume the 3rd was also. Facinating to me...



17
Aug
2005
kids things,
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Just sitting here waiting for the bread to be done...

Funny things Gabe said today: "I cant leave for school without my schoolbag, or else I wont get a treat". I asked him if he missed a treat the other day when we forgot it, he said ya, then asked him if he got a treat when he remembered the next day, no... dont think there are bookbag treats (but if it works to help him remember- I'm all for it!

the other funny today was immediately after that conversation. Gabe stated that he could not poop in school. I immediately started questioning him as I know that is a basic human right, he says he is "too loud" more questions follow... finally I get the anwser, he cannot poop in school because HE thinks he is too loud (for his personal comfort) when the water splashes... even went as far as to argue with me that everyone can hear it because there is a hole under the door (the space between the door and floor)!

Stephen was better today, he ended his week long forbidden foods quest and only had safe foods today (Yeah, Hoorah!). was not complaining of the tummy aches or the migranes but behaviors still not quite normal. Somehow he thinks he is a bull today, tearing around here on all fours, kicking one back leg, then wildly charging off to head-butt a child or furnature (did I mention NO migranes!)

Bethie had fun today, Aly was here and did her nails and let bethie do her hair... every pretty was out and placed in Aly's hair (glad I didn't have to de-snarl that one!). Aly did her nails with this really cool nail polish pen (ya, I musta been under a rock- its new to me tho) She painted her nails bright red, at first I thought "well we can remove it later, before we go out anywhere" then she put white stripes on the red nails... I love it- it looks so little girlish and not "streetwalkerish" like the plain red did... cool.

Stephen got his name on his big toe, and his thumb nail done... gabe came home and asked "why didnt she do mine?" told him next week he has no school and she can do his then... big deal around here when nails are done (even for the boys!) LOL

I have been busy trying to hammer out a budget that reflects the current cost of gas and to pare down expenses so we can afford fuel oil and gasoline this winter... haven't been going anywhere, cost of gas is prohibitive nowdays!



16
Aug
2005
Normal isn't fun!
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Well this week is the "normal" week that I have been looking for, but feeling a little let down... first I have to "Parent" again, and that would not be too bad of a deal IF the kids were back on even keel, but- they have had 3 weeks of "this house and that house, this rule and that rule" so finding all rules abandoned, all having issues of "this is how we get along" and most disturbing "this is how we LIE"!

Top it off I find myself behind mounds of weeks of paperwork, tons of school forms to fill out... UGH! if it was MY paperwork I wouldn't mind--- but I just hate doing paperwork for other things, find the motivation just not there to get-r-done... like really HOW MANY Medical forms for school can one fill out and still remain SANE?

Yesterday was paperwork and phone day, today looks to be paperwork and phone day... somewhere I have to vaccumn and do the dishes (which are on the start of day 2- and my kids dirty A LOT of dishes).

Still waiting for the formula to arrive here, anxious for it to come, as I am hoping to much that he will take it and have additional calories and lessen the reliance on me to make sure he is getting everything he needs nutritionally. *note to self, need to do an intake diary and see a nutritionist*

Stephen is doing everything in his power to sabotage himself... he ate a total of 5 herseys over the past week (2 different days), ate doritos and not safe goldfish yesterday (and more goldfish last night) eventho they were in a cupboard that we forgot to relock after getting something and after he said that morning that they "didn't taste good" and hived, slept, stomach turned and loose stools.... UGH, someday he might actually get that he cannot eat this, until then, the behaviors are off the wall, kids getting hurt because of his 'tude and general malay continues, until next time!



11
Aug
2005
Git 'R' Done
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Well, Got the formula source (I think, but sounds awfull promising!). Whew! that one makes my day!

Got haircuts, Boys actually look handsome again with a lot less hair! Bethie had hers cut and the beautician flipped the ends out- definitely a Barbie do! and the bangs, she pulled some of the back hair forward, and cut to cover the mess bethie did by herself.... until it grows out, then we will have to grow the shorter stuff out- but at least that will not be in the front! So everyone is presentable for the first day of school!

Updated the website, filled out tons of paperwork for the school, seem to think spring or fall is here the way I am housecleaning!The kids actually went to bed decently (well after we learned to seperate and wait till all are asleep before putting to bed!).

Did the happy dance here- Stephens teacher is the one I was thinking would be great for him (altho I only knew a few...). Stephen of course is resisting change- he wants to go back to second grade again and have his old teacher! Gabe is angry with me, told him that I filled out that he will be writing his "long name" ( both schools) and he prefers to skip out and only write the short name!...Bethie is just happy to finally be able to join the boys in school!

Have to start baking mode here soon- have loaves of bread to bake, dozens of muffins and cupcakes, dozens of cookies as well as buying syrup and salad dressing... not to mention meds... (and I havent even bought school supplies or clothes!) so much to do and time is really flying!

Taking up some of that precious time is a doctors appointment, a dentist appointment (all out of town trips), an open house for Gabes new school and another for his old school, a parent teacher conference, a sunday school teachers meeting... begining to think I should have started baking weeks ago! and here we are still in the "unpacking suitcases and settling in from being gone so much mode!



10
Aug
2005
Made it thru Day One...
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Major hang up today was my roast not getting done in time for a decent dinner... that pushed bedtimes back, which in turn made overtired children... need I say more???

Bethie thought there were ghosts as kids were walking about... Stephen had a party till seperated from the gang... Once seperated he was the first to sleep, the rest were still goofing around for the longest time...

Bethie is finally all registared for school, Stephanie brought some really cool toys games and videos to play with today (the toys were all girly in honor of our guest!). For awhile we had an additional child here to play with- just that it was movie/nap time and there wasn't as much playing going on for a rough and tumble boy...

Thought I had found a place to get Stephens formula but that one fell through... guess I have more work to do tomorrow...

Sent Jordi to VBS today, Tomorrow is haircuts (I forgot) so I guess we will have to miss the last day extravaganza....

Hoping to have some fun for the kids, maybe it will be a stop at the park after haircuts (its a really cool park in that town!).



10
Aug
2005
got a busy day ahead...
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uffda!

Getting a child in just a few hours ( staying 5 days) and still need to find the floors (kids were in a mood, ya stephen snuck licorice and candy bars that were not safe yesterday!) wash the bedding etc....

Meeting for Bethies school late this AM, Have to do some paperwork and get it turned in today (deadline- today). Need to get working on stephens supplemental formula source (means stop at upteen hundred pharmacys and plead for them to carry it), Have to get gas, duck, chicken, cat and dog food... Stephanie is here today, Gabe has 2 schools today, Stephen has one, .... begining to feel like I need another vacation!



09
Aug
2005
Cell phones, bad or good
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The above title suggests a debate on the pros and cons of cell phones... first let me state, that all we have are cell phones AND I use mine constantly.

Now the debate intensifies... as we were at an "insurance checkup" which means... they try to sell you stuff after saving a bundle by raising your deductables the point being "you already spend x amount so why not add a, b, and c..." totally canceling out everything you just "virtually" saved...

In the midst of adding more homeowners insurance (something I thought we needed) and the obligitory if you bump up your deductable it will be x amout cheaper the phone rings. I step out and no changes to the deductable are made (good phone!)

then he is on a roll, a text message comes in about severe weather.... I flip to see it, appologize and ruin his sales pitch (good phone!)

then another call from the person watching the boys wondering if she can give out the web addy to someone else- OF COURSE- thats the point of this site!!! well he missed his fervered pitch why I needed life insurance- actually more than what I already have... (good phone!)

THen another text on the weather.... bummer, hubby turned off the phone... now I have to meet with him again on the life insurance part, but will give me some time to research reasons why not to spend x amount more than what we saved just to have it.... (Bad Hubby!)



08
Aug
2005
What I did this summer....
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I titled this as I was thinking of the annual "getting to know your classmates" thing in school where everyone had to say what they did that past summer....

so here goes- we ditched the kids, picked up my brother and headed far far way from here... upon arriving at Detroit Lakes, we pitched our tent, ate everything that was NOT Stephen safe (beef, eggs, chocolate. good chips, you name it, we had it!). We enjoyed people watching altho the concerts were not as good for us as they have been in past years. Tons more people, Much more commercialism (meaning the prices rose- $7 a beer, $6 for french fries, $4 for mini-doughnuts!), changes in the reserved lawn seating meant general admission was backed way up to the boonies (which is OK as that is where all the interesting stuff happens anyways- but at the increased ticket price it would have been nice to "see" the stars with a naked eye rather than a jumbotron or binoc's!). The guys were a little disappointed that the bikinis were missing more than the norm. All the singers seemed to sing and not entertain- only a few pulled my nose out of my book (which was really nice to be able to read without kid interuptions!).

Chatted with family that hubby has not seen in years, solved "how to unlock the only bathroom door, when no one was in it" miles away from the scene- yep that was my kids doing, on mom's birthday... along with 2 broken dishes and a very stessfull day I told her that the best present I think of was that I was coming the next day to get my kids and give her a break...

Somehow we got into miles of bumper to bumper traffic that we have never had before (went a different way) that added 2 hours on to our drive time- and I got to navagate a new route around it- which only added 24 miles on to the trip, but saved a ton on time!

Found the best gifts for the kids... Gabe got a light up guitar pin, Stephen a flashlight that works in a tent, and bethie got mardigras beads- 10 for $5... only thing is that today I noted they are not barrel beads but beer cans on 3 of them- but you have to look really close to see that...

Stephen didn't want to leave the home he was staying in, got whines and "leave me alones" until he found out I had a gift for him- funny how bribes work. Now that he is home he is better again.. so he must have had the time of his life there.

usual day, back to school, kids havent seen me in a week so the little ones are clingy. Stephanie was here today, took the boys to VBS. Got a call from a friend, found out for definite we will be having another child in our house this week... they have taken ours when they were younger, so the least we could do... Kids are excited in having Jordi stay here with us for 5 days.


31
Jul
2005
The "Why Is Its"...
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Why is it that only Mom can load a dishwasher (even IF she is gone for a week)...

Why is it that only Mom can tuck kids in at night? (tho that one I am happy to oblidge!)

Why is it Mom only knows where stuff is, and when asked she is suppose to "drop everything" and go help in the search (even IF she has no clue where it really is)...

Why is it that only Mom can seem to cook (as it is her job when she is around) but somehow when she is gone, dishes pile up and no one is starving because she wasn't there--- same for laundry (I have NEVER come home to naked kids or hubby yet due to lack of clothes!)...

Why is it that only Girls can run vacumn cleaners (Is there a license I don't know about?)...

Why is it that only a Mom would notice 10 inch thick dirt on a childs face (arms, legs. hands)? AND then think to grab a wash cloth before leaving home....

Why is it that when Mom is cleaning, Kids can make double the mess in the same amout of time in a different room (don't believe me- try doing dishes here- I got cherrios from one end of the living room to the other- not to mention toys interspersed!)...

Why is it Men think if they make a child upset while ordering them to do work the kids will actually listen, and why does Mom know the only way to get stuff actually done (without a tantrum?)....

Feel Free to Comment if you know the anwsers- I would love to hear them!



31
Jul
2005
Back to the (sorta) normal routine...
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Woke to "were hungry"... made coffee cake into muffin shaped breakfast items. (my two cents- they need more sugar, kinda sharp tasting). In the process of making them the "im hungry so I am going to strip your cupboards bare (stephen) child emerged AND bethie came up to me with siscors and said "they were hiding under the toy box"... that alone got me thinking of what was cut... well dumb me, thinking that "boy my kids have really changed when I saw her come to me with them missed the fact until 20 minutes later that she used the same said siscors on her own hair- she now has NO BANGS left!!!

We ate, then hubby starts packing for next weeks vacation (just a few days too early for my tastes) but it will be nice when all is done ahead I guess (I still have to make 3 loaves of bread, pack the kids, do the laundry and since I was gone all last week, play catch-up on the dishes and the housekeeping.

We were outside later in the day, watched Gabe ride his bike like a pro--- that kid even puts his foot down for turns as if he were a moto-cross racer. he is taking jumps, riding no hands, preforming acrobatic feats (like riding side saddle and putting his feet on the handlebars while speeding along!). he has only been riding a little over a month!!! this kid has some bike talent! He is even popping wheelies as good as Stephen is!

Later I went to pull even more weeds from the flower bed (where do they come from?) and it was so great that hubby came over to help me- we got a lot accomplished in a short time!

Once inside again, as Gabe was complaining the bugs were biting him, we took one look at his back- it seems that out of all of us, he WAS THE ONLY one the bugs really liked. His back was ate up. Gave him some benadryl and put hydrcortasone on is back. He finally fell asleep without wimpering. Boy were those bites inflamed to start off with tho!



28
Jul
2005
2 down 1 to go....
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Made it through yesterdays drive to Mayo... with one stop in a rest area to take a nap! I forgot how much driving really wears a person out!!!

My "no way-No how!" child decided that getting a "tube down his throat" wasn't so bad. He recieved undivided attention, got to play a balloon game (thats how they knock em out- you have to breathe deep to blow a balloon up), and eat popcicles and drink POP! he also got to ride in a wheelchair (totally cool!) and get a pretty bracelet with his name on it as well as having a funny "shot" in the back of his hand that had no needle in it, just a plastic tube and a really cool band-aide on the spot!.

all said and done I asked him if he wanted another tube down his throat, where he promptly started arguing that "that never happened, he never slept etc.". When he realized that it had happened, he told me he wants to do it again- as that was FUN!

Visually the Esophagus looked fine, today we find out if there is anything at a microscopic level.

Monday Stephen weighed 48 lbs; Wed. Gabe weighed 36.3 lbs. That is down in weight for Stephen, Gabe has remained steady for 1.5 years at 36 lbs.

Today we leave early as Gabe wants to stop at Perkins to eat before the appointment (he is having fun in controling his destiny... someday I will rue the day I gave him so much control!). as of right now, all my youngins are sleeping, exausted. They have had a hard week and are looking forward to some normalicy (which they will have for a few days before vacation) then it is off to topsy-turvy again!

Me- I think I am going to sleep for the next 10 days....



25
Jul
2005
Mayo and Mayo again
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Went to Mayo today for the boys... Stephen came out with "there is symptoms, change meds for a year" which is good as he has been having problems swallowing chicken. Stephen has lost 4 pounds since January so the local doc wanted me to have the GI write the script for elemental formula as a supplement (he has no experience with this type of formula). We got the script for EO28 for Stephen. Hopefully it will help him put some pounds on.

Gabes appointment concluded as "we need to figure out what is going on with this kid, surgery schedule is full for tomorrow, Wed and Thur. is when we will do it". I am OK with ending the "could it be's". Didn't tell Gabe till we got home and mentioned we may be spending the night in a motel (still ambivalent on IF I want to spend the money VS gas money- Mayo gas is 2.18 a Gallon and I drive a good mpg suv, but it is still a suv!!!). Gabe was told about all the fun we will do without Stephen- Goose Park, Play Park, Pool, Eating out, etc. and he put 2 and 2 together and screamed "I don't want a tube down my throat"... Called in Stephen for some back up in "you won't know the tube is going in, will not remember because your asleep, the nurses are fun and you get soda and popcicles..." What I got was "ugh, I don't want to, you do it" THANKS STEPHEN (sarcasm)... Its happening even IF he protests loudly.

Called Nana tonight to see how Bethie was doing. I got a "can I talk" about 20 times. Had to listen to her shopping spree where she bought a jump rope (really a hoola hoop) where nana said it was hilarious as she told nana to "jump through it" only thing Nana (and I) could figure is the Tigers at the circus. She definitely misses Gabe... And Gabe her. We were at Mayo and another 3 year old girl spoke, Gabe whipped around and said "BETHIE"!!! On the phone Bethie kept asking me "Can I talk to GABE now??? Put Gabe on!"

Its going to be hard on me to have Bethie gone these 2 days, and then I leave when she returns (daycare/daddy) then I return just to leave again in a few days for vacation... going to have some really homesick children I think when we return next week! (and as much as I dare say, a homesick mommy also!)



25
Jul
2005
only 1000 things left to do...
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Well I got one child off to Nanas house (I heard she is having a ball- we left at 9pm and immediately she wanted to do it "all"! She took Nana's blood all by herself, diabetic, played pc, and I bet ate candy and drank pop all within the hour... the last thing she wanted to do was sleep!).

Funny thing she said on the way to Nana's... I was being "motherly" when hubby was driving over the speed limit and "nicely" mentioned that speeding tickets are not cheap etc., we stopped for gas and when we went to leave there is a stop light. You know how you turn when the light is changing at the last moment? well Hubby did turn quickly to beat the light, but not to terriably so, and from the back seat we heard her exclaim "daddy, SLOW DOWN!" we both asked "why bethie" and she said "because we are going to DIE! We both got a chuckle out of that!

I have so much to do and so little time to do it in... RIght now I am waiting for the Jeans to be done washing so they can be worn and packed tomorrow. I have to bake bread in the morning "just in case" we need "Stephen food" during our stay. Still need to pack, find Gabes toothbrush that bethie lost for him (sorry Mom, Bethie lost her toothbrush also so it isn't packed in the suitcase!).

Went to bed last night late, as I was getting the blue screen of death on this Laptop (no clue what is causing it, it needs to go in anyways but I hate to not have it soo long- I want my Gateway stores Back!!!). My brother suggested I defrag, and I did... now it is running faster and seems to be working better (fingers crossed). So here I am sleep deprived with tons of work to do tonight and in the wee hours of the morn, then we hit the road- the boys and I. Hopefully the trip will be uneventful! Maybe if we have to stay in a Motel I can talk the boys into a nap (ya right, now I know I am tired, I must be halucinating!!! LOL)

So I think the PC will stay home, Hubby doesn't want to part with his LCD display for his ebay auctions that are ending. so... catch ya all in either a day or three!



23
Jul
2005
Finally got a project re-started
Posted by 3malesandalady under Art
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Today was funny. Last week when buying the window glass I picked up several large bolts (6 inchers I think) and lock washers, flats and nuts- all to finish my potters wheel.

I plopped them down on the desk and no one did anything with them at all (go figure) well today things got accomplished. It seems in THIS house men get territorial about their tools (haha) and when I ask where is the drill, pick up the bolts etc., all of a sudden I might goof up the main plan (and he knows I WILL carry through with the project with or without him).

Well my role was relegated to "hold this piece, give me a ____" etc. But now as we talk I now have a fully assembled frame with the bearing in place. Now all that needs to be done is the concrete moved over on the bearing, and the top bearing put in place- all nice and plumb.

We quit because 1) tummys were grumbling 2) time to just take a break... it was 4 hours of assembly and 3) he hit his head on the frame.

If you know my hubby at all, you may have heard what happens when he hits his head... and the whole world knows the stong pain he is experianceing... to be fair, he did have a slight migrane before the incident so quitting just seemed right tonight.

Anyways, with a busy busy 2 weeks ahead, I may just be able to return home from vacation and get back into throwing! What a return- That would make my day!



22
Jul
2005
Been a few days since I wrote...
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Its been a busy week... Monday was car maintainence (thrillsville- try it with kids) Gabe tried to drive the Jeep at daycare and gave me really bad flashbacks of when Stephen (age 5) drove my Van through the family reunion- places I don't think I could drive- barely missed family members and crashed into Grandmas car and a tree... he was good, he locked the doors and kept driving while we beat the side yelling screaming etc. to stop... anyway, Gabe was NOT so smart and left the doors unlocked, and now no matter how hot, or how short I will be- as i only made it half way up the sidewalk when this happened- He will NOT have any Keys or airconditioning anymore...

Tuesday was another busy day, more car maintainence- this time hubbys, Phone calls and replacing a window in the Kitchen that Stephen broke out in anger- threw a toy... the window ended up costing a lot as I got the glass cut, brought it home, worked on cleaning it up... then couldn't find the points and found the putty where it would have froze. put everything back together and ran to town for the points and putty (and got Gabe from school while in town, had a chance to talk to the teacher about where Gabe would be going this fall). Got home tore it all apart again only to find that the lumber yard evidentally thinks I am a "dumb blonde" as my 20" measurement clearly marked sparse, and verbally told that it was just the little lip that the glass sits in ended up being 3/4 of an inch more than we needed. Called hubby for a glass cutter on his way home from work, he gets it (cool always wanted one) and then hubby turns into big macho stud and thinks he has to do it all... where the glass proceeds to break in half. A 30 minute time frame before they close gets another piece of glass, installs it and turns over the glazing to me... so 10,000 trips to town and 2 panes of glass, we are now saving energy in the kitchen again.

Wed. I get a call saying that they found a preschool for Gabe (cool!) and I found a home for Stephen while hubby and I go on our "adults only" vacation in 2 weeks. The youngins will be going to Nanas house and they are thrilled.

Thurs found us busy again with things to get done and places to be... after hubby came home from work, he called around and found all of the tickets we need are no longer being promo'ed anywhere- that explains the ebay and craigs list prices I have been seeing... funny past years have been cheap (free) this year it looks like we will be spending most of our "trinket" money on tickets. Baseball game and Perkins also. Baseball is over now. We took Stephanie and saw the blood mobile so Hubby and I gave while we were there.

Fridays big news is that Bethie is Now in school also!!! I just got the call, so Gabe will be duel enrolled and Bethie will be in school also... (which means that every once and a while Mommy may just get 2 hours to herself) School schedules are tight- one ends at 12, another starts at 12:15 in a town 30 minutes away... but we are working on it.... Bethie is thrilled that she is going to School, I am thrilled I can quit worrying about this fall (Since the begining of the week was no preschooler in school, and now they both have schools!!!)

We have Mayo next week and then vacation the week thereafter.... so I may be neglegent in writing- as the laptop still needs its monitor fixed, and unless I steal the LCD from the desktop and leave this clunky CRT with hubby I will not be traveling with a PC next week... so if you email, I may not respond in my usual timelyness- if you have my cell # I will have it with me though- only turned on in the evening if we are in the hospital.



18
Jul
2005
Family Reunion/ baking disasters
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Yesterdays reunion went well, the only incident was at the end, and it seems the blame was given to the wrong child... All day the kids were so good, one could almost forget we had children (the play equiptment was too hot to play on, but there was volleyball courts and tons of sand which made the worlds largest sandbox for the kiddos). there was few children- seems I had the monopoly of kids there (maybe 3 other kids playing age there). Of course that would be where the incident fell at the end of the day...

When I looked out to get the kids rounded up, I saw stephen kicking sand high in the air, and a little girl (just past toddling size- maybe 1.5 years old) crying and trying to walk to her mommy/daddy... went over scooped her up and found out that sand was in her eyes. returned her to her family and promptly got my kids strapped in carseats (they thought we were leaving because of them and they were NOT happy!) when we get home I asked the boys which one did it, both proclaimed innocence. Asked Bethie because she was acting wierd... and as it turns out my little angel was not angelic at all! she felt bad (tears and all) so I don't think it will repeat again (or at least I hope so!).

At the silent auction I did win a photo of Great Grandpa Lewis in his early 20's. That I am happy for, as Mom doesn't think she has any of him either. Through computer technology now we can all have one.

As usual too much food, As unusual had a difficult time baking- in the morning I found out that my bread cannot rise overnight- the rolls turned into sour dough and broke down, another lesson- you cannot add more flour to the dough to make it workable again- it gets tough and THE SOUR TASTE REMAINS- good if you are going for sourdough bread, bad if you are going for sweet rolls, so the kids and family ate them (kinda like mikey, they eat anything!). THen ran to the store to buy whipping cream for cherry salad, and somehow when whipping it, it never turned whipped, JUST SWEET BUTTER! luckily I had some dream whip here (not stephen safe but saved another trip to town).

Note to self for next year the chair sold well, the food offerings were full of cakes bars and cookies, not many salads. Sweet rolls would have been a good item for the sweet table, but that was overflowing, the cake I would have baked would have been mostly brought home- too many items on that table. Short the hotdishes and meatball type things.



17
Jul
2005
Up Late Making food/ Cool Site
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Procastinated tonight, watched movies instead of making my food items for the reunion tomorrow... so here I am up waiting for the dough to finish so I can make them into sweet rolls.

When I got on the computer, my Brother had IM'ed me a cool site (which only works in IE) If you think your smart and would like a go at it, here it is. I did about 1/2 as good as I needed to achieve my name on the list of top scores. Amazingly my math was better than my colors (thats odd for me!)

Hubby went golfing today, I took the kids with me shopping. I usually don't do this without help (OR a lot less kids!) but I was busy organizing the toy box and needed something to put all the little piles into (bought container type drawer systems in differing sizes and now it looks cool). Kids did really well in the store so I thought I would treat them to a cool drink at Perkins. Behavior went downhill in Perkins- but not as bad as it has been before. Kids had ice cream and sodas (Raspberry ice tea for stephen and coolwhip with a cherry on top) I had ice tea and fries. Stephen did not want to tell dad about it, as he thought dad might be jealous that he had tea and dad did not.

Got home, modified the drawers into one unit and put all the toys away. at first it was every drawer out and see how much mess one could make, then it changed. the boys got bored I think, Bethie just hung out at the "dress up" drawer and pretended to be (I don't know- a trollop is what she looked like- high heals, jewelery to the hilt, 3 purses at once and an old cell phone stuck to her ear- not to mention the sequin halter top!!!). Even if the system doesn't work, the money spent paid for the entertainment... (hopefully it works tho- I am tired of "we dont have this toy anymore or can you find this item in the overfull toybox!)



16
Jul
2005
Lil Miss Actress
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Went to see Stephie do her **stellar** preformance of being a scoundrel in a local art guild play (childrens theater). Stephie did supurb, Loved the ad-libbing!!! but the star of the show for us was our 2 actor/ess (es). Bethie garnered one of the main roles (where she actually got to dress up in a "pretty dress" and wear a hat and shades and be active in most of the play). Stephen got a bit part in the end. Of course shy boy Gabe thought the whole play was hysterically funny but refused to join in at any time. GREAT PLAY- Great job all the PTA's!!!

Afterwards we were treated with a meal by a local church, good chops and hot dogs and usual way-too much great-tasting ate-too-much lutheran church lady fare! Met some great people ate some good food and *suprise* Stephen even got to eat!!! (that itself was great!). If we didn't have such a great church where we are at, I am sure that one would be our choice!

Bethie called Nana tonight all excited cuz she was in the play, rattled on for 15 minutes... her big thing tho was "I got to go to the park with a GIRL, where is that GIRL???" went to bed tonight saying she was going to be an actress like Stephie and mommy (don't know where she got it that I was an actress, but that is OK... LOL)

Stephen kept saying all I got to do was hold a sign that had an O on it.... he realizes that was his fault for not joining in early, but says he was scared to go up there... reality is that he is jealous that Beth got all the phone time with Nana and is excited without him- told him "maybe next time"...

Gabe was content not to join in, loved the play (he loves ANY play) but states that this one was better than Greese!!! (Stephanie- tell that to "lil miss" - I am sure he will enjoy that one!!!LOL)



15
Jul
2005
Play Ball!
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Took Stephanie with us to the ball game, because I didn't know if I would be done at the beauty shop in time or not (highlights).

I was but think Stephanie helped Stephen "get back into it"... heard earlier in the day some statements that really had me wondering if he was actually going to join in or if there would be another melt down again. It didn't happen, so for that I am glad.

Pumped him up with a lot of "are you going to slide for stephanie, hey, make sure you show Stephie how well you can hit OK?" and "she is so excited she gets to come and see you play, its her first time watching you, so make her proud" (we had a long discussion on how I was not proud of how he quit the other day- so that had a strong impact on him).

Got a IM this morning from Nana, she was wondering about him also, they came to see him play, but I forgot to tell her where the other field was located (they were suprising him) and then they went out to eat at another sit down and eat place (we went out to eat too right after the game). So real bummer that we missed them.



13
Jul
2005
The morning after....
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Come to find out, he ate "lots" more than one butterscotch chip, I did give him a medicine also that he is not used to (seasonal allergy med)... so it could have been one of these that tripped last nights behavior.

Today he states "I just needed time to think" and "can I go to practice today" he is sorry for his actions and I made him well aware of the fact that now he has to face the team after such a childish display--- (he was worried about his clothes, I feel sorry for him after a meltdown like he had- I really do hope the team is decent to him). He still wants to go Play Ball today!!! thats cool!!! Time will tell if when the time comes he will do so or not, but as of this moment in time, he is willing and ready to do so- hopefully it continues...

(Shout Out to Daddy- I told him that you would help him "make up" the missed practice tonight after work)



12
Jul
2005
Bad Day, Good Day, Bad Day, Good Day
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Day started off with the babysitting children. During a call to daycare, I found out she was taking the kids swimming to a nearby lake, we joined her (this is a good thing)...

Then after Dad came home stephen was sneaking butterscotch chips (I only saw 1 in his mouth!!!) which lead to "I don't want to go to baseball practice, all the kids laugh at me, my clothes are not right etc".... finally he states he will go, then we get there (ready for the bad day part yet???) where he threw a total fit, "those kids are not my team, I don't want to practice, I QUIT!" by saying total fit, I mean Bawling, sprawled out on the ground 15 minute hysterics. Finally after his coach asked him to play catch etc. his coach said that maybe it was better to take the day off and come back for the game (I agreed- he wasn't going to do it in that wound up state).

then went to get his meds from the pharmacy where the nice pharmasist (sp?) asked me if I enjoyed the circus, I said, were you there, he said "sure, I saw you come and go" THEN IT HIT ME, he was the clown I kept commenting to the kiddos what they thought his name was (we were wrong, I thought chuckles or giggles- it was something with willie, like willie make them laugh or something like that...) I digress... told him I was a shriner child, he beamed! he is sponsoring 5 kiddos and loving it (I applaud him, wish I could do the same!) (that was a good day part)

Then on to the gas station to get Fuel.... HAHA- do I even need to state a "bad day thing???" Hubby starts with "ready to spend $60 for gas, told him it would be more like 40- since the price only rose something like 10-15 cents per gallon (yes I did the math for him) WHEN IT HITS ME... I remember when we used to have an old FORD (in this house that is a bad word! LOL) that had duel fuel tanks on it... I remember mom commenting on how much it was everytime Dad filled up both tanks---- a whopping $40!!! wouldn't that be nice now???? (yes I just showed my age, I remember when Gas was under $1 a gallon!!!

THen went in to the station to pay, my favorite cashier was working (we buy way too much gas!!!) she lightened my day again with a prank on her window that she was playing on customers, had a great conversation and i even left without chocolate!!! (NOW THAT IS A FIRST!) but had a smile on my face and a swing in my walk... so guess today wasn't as horrible (or at least the good parts made the bad less bad and the good really great!!!



11
Jul
2005
Back to norm.
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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Well Hubby went back to work today, Kept Gabe out of summer school favoring the circus instead. Tomorrow Gabe goes back to school and life returns to normal... well today it semi-started, Stephen had a local Dr. appointment (lost weight again).

Gabe is all excited about going to school tomorrow (he has had 2 weeks + 1 day off) and he is my child that loves school...

I can tell we had fun all last week, as now the housework begins for me- dishes, laundry, general cleaning need urgent catch-up to get the house back on par.

Still holding on to hope that Bethie will be attending preschool this fall, even tho it is still up in the air (we did not meet requirements, so trying alternitive routes) not holding my breath tho.

Gabe's school is still undecided in the fall also. Fortunately he did well enough to not qualify for special education placement (still gets language help tho) and now needs to find a preschool with an opening (which seems to be hard to do at this time of year!).

Have a Mayo trip in 2 weeks for both boys, this is one that we dont know if we are going for an hour or 3 days, have to wait till we get there until we find out. so trying to find alternate plans for Bethie, and will have to remember to pack for us "just in case"... remembering back when I was 8 months PG with Bethie, and had the first unexpected "went for an hour stayed for 3 days" trip... not fun when you have to buy clothes, shampoo etc. when it was not planned! (especially after christmas as that time was!).



11
Jul
2005
Circus
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Well the Circus came to town... I took photos see the July Photo Album

Kids had fun, and if there was any doubt, you should have listened to the younger ones tell Daddy all about it. First Gabe talked about the tigers and FIRE HOOPS; then Bethie on the pretty ladies dancing (look around the elephant, the ladies line danced to Bethies favorite Shania song "I feel like a woman") then came the dogs dressed like horsies, and a dog that was dressed like a pig who emerged from an oven fire (clowns) and another dog that was dressed like a lady pulled in a chariot who danced. Finally both agreed the elephant was pretty cool also!

Stephen went also, but he went to Trelonnies afterward and just returned home before bed. I will ask him tomorrow what he thought was cool...



09
Jul
2005
Like Fish to the Water
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Hubby suprised us this afternoon with "I feel like going to the lake and swimming" So after detering him from taking the Dogs, we all went to the lake (a Local Beach with tons of people).

Got the youngest ones in lifejackets and told them once they hit the sand remove their sandels and get wet. Without a thought they complied. Bethie got in about to her knee, Gabe the same, Stephen ran right in over his waist (this was important because he has ALWAYS been my "I'm terrified of water so I will scream and scare EVERYONE" child).

Bethie and I stood for as long as I could stand everyone gawking at my rear end, then we went out deeper. First she was hesitant as the waves at the shore were really rocking her, then a more calmer child emerged. Got her interested (and death grip relaxed) by playing we are a shark and sneaking up on Daddy to pinch his bottom (we were way out deep can you tell?) while in the process of sneaking and pinching, she forgot to hold on.... I used this opportunity to teach her how to back float, which with only minor complaining she did all day- made her kick herself into shore when she had enough (remember she was still in a life jacket, AND we were 1 yard away at all times!)

Did same with Gabe, altho his jacket doesn't have the "pillow" behind his head, and when the waves crashed, his eyes got wet- something he did NOT like. But he had fun floating as long as it lasted.

Stephen on the other hand would not let me anywhere near him, would not show me anything that he learned in swimming lessons (he didn't pass BUT made great strides in overcoming his fears). Dad did get him out with a piggy back ride, but he got strangled several times along the way (to which he would fake "pass out" and start falling down into the water- worked wonders on improving his air intake! LOL!)

After awhile they all ended up on the shore in to them was the worlds largest sandbox, and after a timeout with the boys, everyone played and didn't throw sand anymore.

Funny, I kept looking at them- Gabes feet were getting crashed in the waves, and he was learning what happens when water comes over your drawings-- the world could have ended and he would have not noticed. Bethie stood next to grown boys (14-16 year olds) and looked at them like "did you notice me YET??? Stephen kept pushing the limits on "well this isnt throwing sand, but its right close to it! It was like a mirror into the future on what the children MAY turn out to be- their true selves!

Family reunion tomorrow and another one next weekend. Tomorrow is at a lake with a swimming beach, guess we might repeat the experiance!



07
Jul
2005
Wish I'd had a Camera!
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Pee-Wee League Baseball tonight. Stephen woke with "I am going to SLIDE tonight!"; said to Him "I'm sure you will"; while saying to myself "ya right" as he has been hit and miss even noticing the ball is in his area- Really, he is trying and is MUCH better than last time, but, still needs a few years before he is really there.

Anyway, rushed to get out for the game, I forgot to give him Meds (read that as "I'd rather play in sand than stand here waiting" moments expected). He paid attention while batting/running, but lost it while catching (ya the sand was important, and the coach was shown a "cool" rock!) BUT the second time at bat, he hit so hard he passed 1st and went to 2nd- when he was close to the base, he astounded us with the most *PERFECT* butt slide. It was COOL!



06
Jul
2005
4 is the perfect age
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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Independence Day found us (as with most Americans) out in the sun all day watching parades and picnicing, all ending with fireworks in the evening. Last Year Highlights included having the neighbor wipe Gabes bottom in the bathroom (when he darted in the Mens, and there was no Men around except this very Kind Soul), Having Gabe touch the grill and having to seek out burn ointment (after the ice to cool the burn- he needed pain control as it was NASTY), ending with sound blocking muffs and a blanket nearby to ease the sights and sounds of the fireworks on my extremely sensitive toddler- again Gabe...

This year was different. Besides having a boy that could do it "all" in the restroom- well not the over-all's button straps but the grossest part at least! He also followed directions and Did Not go into the mens but instead went with mommy... No burns on anyone (although the pain relief was packed along with gauze and normal bandaids)... The best part was seeing him at the fireworks. He watched them shoot up, saying shooom, BOOM, then stared in drunken like wonder, smiles abounding, at all the colors. It was amazing!

Ya we overate, Bethie made s'mores and tried to pawn them off on family (coated with charcoal ashes it was hard to find takers!). Stephen gave most of his parade candy away- including the "safe" stuff as well as my banana bars- to anyone and everyone!

I think this was the best 4th in history. No incidents to report except everyone came home with a little sunburn (must have missed sunblock on bethies shoulders, as her face is still baby white, but her shoulders are beet red!). Looking forward to a repeat next year!



03
Jul
2005
Busy *TRYING* to get stuff done....
Posted by 3malesandalady under General
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Today is like treading water. Seems nothing is getting accomplished.

No naps means more disruptions... no naps means I wasted away all afternoon ROCKING children that did everything in their power to avoid sucumming to the urge. AND NEVER DID SLEEP.

No Naps (and the fact that Stephen ATE CAT TREATS this morning during his very early morning ventures) means I now have kids trying to wrestle and get hurt. (read overactive overtired children).

So now I am just getting to making July 4th foods. gotta try to find something to make with bananas that is egg free (thinking something like bars); make hot dog buns and hamb. buns; Still need to run to the grocery to get yeast and cash... and Noon comes early tomorrow!!!

And here I am *tired* from all the Trying!



01
Jul
2005
Busy doing NOTHING
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Hubby has vacation time and used it. so for the next week I will have another underfoot (LOL). Today was not my normal Fri. routine. Spent the day outside doing basically nothing- well I did manage to get some seeds planted that I had been procastinating on (sunflowers that grow to 12 ft. procastinated due to the location- just where do you put 12 ft. tall sunflowers???). I did get the flower bed 1/2 weeded, found more volentary morning glories that I will have to move, where they decided to grow is NOT where I want to put the trellis.

Most of the day tho was spent outside sitting in a lawnchair, or playing ball with the kids, or the like.... Kinda felt like we were camping again and had all day to leisurly do nothing (which was nice till I came in and saw all I didn't do today!). Maybe later this year we will try sleeping outside again here on the farm. seems like every year we try one child just goes insane on the fact that they are not in their normal bed. This year I think it may be bethie, who when outside today (no nap) screamed at 8pm that she wanted to go inside, when pressed why she said I only want to sleep INSIDE.

The boys found the begining roller skates that I had bought when Stephen was little. They fit Gabe, too small for Stephen. So I dug out my old rollerskates and Hubby mounted new shoes on them for Stephen. All kids had fun with them until the novelty wore off *read about 10 minutes each*. Bethie looked like a pro as long as Stephanie was holding on to her!, Gabe complained when we finally made it to the smooth concrete behind the barn that "I ride bikes much better, can I go ride bike now?" and stephen did fine until he found the sidewalk and did a tailbone slam on the concrete- his first step on it!

Had both of the youngins in tonight SCREAMING that their feet hurt. you could tell that each one individually had foot pain and not copying each other, but both twisted ankles badly on the skates.... Gave Tylonal and 1/2 hour of crying/whining and both were asleep. Neither had complained OR shown issues while outside so I dont think sprains are to blame- just muscles that are not quite developed yet for skating.

(Shout out to my BRO- if you run across your old roller blades that fit me, HEY I'll take them!)


29
Jun
2005
Finally... A Good Day!
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Well today was a GREAT day. Kids were fairly on-keel, house semi-functional AND normal daily life resumed (Yeah! Stephie's Back!).

Stephanie took Stephen to a daycamp that dealt with arts. Stephen dreaded it, as it didn't sound as fun as the science one where they explored "gunk". He came home in all smiles! turns out that the girl-y camp was more boy attended than girl attended, and still a small class ratio! I am thrilled. He enjoyed himself and his highlight of the day was learning how to MACRAME!!! (how retro is that???).

Gabe is back to his quiet self, altho he was a little overtired early on in the evening, and Bethie was great all day (compared to Tuesday night when she made another 3 year old sad because she told him "I am a big girl and you are a BABY"- she was the little baby that night, temper tantruming seems to be her new method of manipulation, and it ain't working!- she just has to realize it!!!

Tomorrow Stephen goes to daycare and I do quasi-daycare her]]> General xml-rss2.php?itemid=161 Wed, 28 Dec 2005 08:18:00 -0700