fun, food and family

Last night Ed took Sam out to the biking trail to ride. So that meant us girls were home and needed something girly, fun to do. So I decided we would paint our nails. I did Alina's first. She sat so still and I only had to redone one fingernail. She had her little hands on her knees to dry and her toes out in front of her so they wouldn't go on the carpet. I then decided that I needed to be brave and let her paint my nails. She wanted to do all the colors, but I limited it to two. It was so much fun and even my toes got a new look.











After painting, we took pictures of each other and I'd say she did pretty good. I didn't think you could have this much fun with a two year old. :)

So that was the fun and family. Next is the food. I made this salad last week and I would eat it every night if I could. it was SOOOOooooo tasty. And so very simple. I got it off the Kraft websight and modified it some. It's called Greek Chicken Salad. Instead of frying the chicken, I grilled it. All's it is is grilled chicken, lettuce (I used Romaine), olives, cut up tomatoes, cucumbers (I used zucchini), red onion and feta cheese. All but the chicken is mixed together with Lite Done Right Zesty Italian Dressing and then I put it on plates and cut up the chicken (which I had marinated in the same dressing before grilling) and that was it. Ed loved it and so did I. I'm making it again this week.

So there you have it. Fun with the wee little girl and a tasty recipe.

sorrow and joy

First came the sorrow. A loss.
What to say?
How to encourage?
No words, but just being present I think helped fill her void some.
Lots of hugs.
Lots of praying.
Second came the joy. 12 hours later. A new life.
How can this be?
In a matter of hours, two opposites.
Two extremes.
My heart crying with hurt and joy at the exact same time.
Incomprehendable and so very intricate of how we are made.
To feel polar opposites in one heart beat.
Intertwined with each other, yet so separate.
Sorrow and joy mingling together.

observations

This morning I decided I better do something about getting in shape and popped in the pilates tape. Both kids were up, hubby was at work and so I had an audience while working out. Phrases like "your spine is your life life. Keep it supple. Keep it strong." and "sit up straight like there is a crane pulling a string through your head". Thank you Denise Austin. I will imagine that while all of my muscles are trembling and screaming at me. All was quiet until doing scissor kicks. Then I hear this:

Sam: Mommy, you're legs are supposed to be straight like hers.
Me: (In my head I'm thinking. yes. yes I know that!) but I said: I'm trying Sam. My legs just don't go that straight.
Sam: Well, why?
Me: (with trying to breath and count and not die) Because right now, they aren't made to do that.

End of conversation. Not one minute later I hear a little voice say, "Good job mommy". Thank you my son. With those three words I was able to make it through the rest of the video. I think I should have him down there more often...

our beautiful backyard...

Is now all torn up.
We have our new septic tanks in. Ever wonder what septic tanks look like? Well today is your lucky day!!
In a matter of 5 hours, we had dump trucks in and out of our front lawn, a crane truck come in and a front loader digging. A 10 foot deep hole, no flushing of toilets or running of any water for 2 hours, and lots of noise. The new tanks remind me of coffins. My friend Becky told a coffin joke. What did one grave say to the other? There's something in you that's coffin. ok...you know...I don't know if I even got it right.
So now we have a huge pile of dirt in our yard. They still need to come out and dig up a 10 foot deep by 66 foot long hole behind the deck for the drainage field. Which means more dirt and trucks and more torn up yard. But then we can make it look nice and purty again.

This is what our yard looked like before:














This is from our bedroom window. See?? All nice and green and beeeeauuuutiful.

This is what it looked like when they installed the new tanks:














See that little hole over to the left? That's our old septic tank. Made of cement bricks. Lovely isn't it? It was hand made. Over 60 years ago. It had some issues. Maybe it'd be considered an antique and we could get a historical marker on our house...

I don't have a picture of the current state of the yard. Just imagine the above picture all filled and covered with dirt. Then a mound on top of it.

More exciting backyard adventures to come whenever they come out here and finish. The neighbor came over and asked if we were getting a pool put in. I just chuckled and said, "ummm. no".

tagged

I was tagged by my dear friend Anne with the 5 things in things things. :) So here we go.

Five things in my closet:
shoes
clothes
hat
Ed's clothes
Ed's shoes

yeah...nothing exciting there.

Five things in my fridge:
a left over piece of chicken from two weeks ago
broccoli
cheese (of assorted variety)
blueberries
two bags of lettuce

Five things in my car (truck):
two car seats
change
bottle of pink nailpolish (so I can polish my nails on the way to church Sunday mornings when we're on for playing and I wear my flip flops on stage).
nail clippers
assorted crumbs from natives eating snacks

Five things in my purse:
Uuuuuuhhhhmmmmm....I don't have a purse. haven't had one for the past 5 1/2 years. Don't even carry a diaper bag either...

That sure wasn't too bad! thanks Anne :)

recap

Our party on the 3rd was a barrel of fun. Hillbilly golf, fireworks, food, friends, and no rain! It was wonderful having a house full of people and kids running all over the place and just being able to see and hear people laughing and talking and just hanging out.

Our 4th consisted of family time. We rode our bikes to the parade, ended up with a gallon baggie full of candie and headed to another little town/village for their little fair and a hamburger. Home to crash for naps and then it was bonfire time to roast hotdogs and marshmallows. We hauled the sprinkler out (not that it's heavy by any means) and the kids eagerly donned their swim/bathing suits (in our house swimsuits are for boys and babbingsuits are for girls according to Sam). It was a great day as a family and very relaxing. A wonderful way to end a holiday.




***UPdate: here's a picture of what a hillbilly golf stand looks like... I do not have any inkling as to who these people are though... Hope this helps! :)

a crazy day

After getting back last night from camping since Friday, today we are having 40+ people over for a bbq and fireworks tonight. Right now, I would not let anyone in this house. So...I must go clean. And feed two kids who are waiting oh so patiently for their breakfast.

Aaaaaannnnddddd I'm off!!

escaped convicts

I can now write about this horrific experience I went through on Wednesday night. Hopefully I can laugh whole heartidly about it in the near future and tell the kids what they did when they were 5 and 2 when they're much older....

Lost was on. Kids were in bed talking to each other in their rooms. It was after 10. They were STILL awake. I hear someone moving around upstairs and hear a little voice say, "fireflies!!". I yell up to them to get back in their beds. Silence. So...I wait a few minutes and wonder why all the silence. You know the saying, Better check on things when it's really quiet. I head upstairs and find the front door wide open. The motion light is on on the driveway and I see moving things in the front yard. Yes...the kids were outside, at 10:15 p.m., in their jammies, in the front yard, trying to catch fireflies. The bigger of the two had opened his sisters' gate to her room and let her out. Opened the front door, closed the screen door really, really quietly and took her outside. I told myself not to scream hysterically at them to get inside, so I yelled loudly and scared the begebees out of them. They both ran really fast inside. Like that, "uh oh...I know we're in trouble now." Well...I yelled loudly enough to wake Ed up downstairs and he asked what was going on and I informed him. So Sam ended up with a little sorer bottom, lost his bunny (which he sleeps with every night), lost outside time and tv the next day. I was almost in tears and so so angry that I was shaking.

Today I can slightly chuckle about it. Just slightly. Maybe tomorrow it can move up to a chuckle. Last night Sam informed me, "Mom...I'm not going to go outside tonight". I said that that was a good idea of what not to do.

So I think I'm 10 years older than what I feel. These kids are taking the years off of my life with no problem. How come no one has figured out how to put those years back on??

being there

Today was a bit of a rough day. Not nearly as rough as it was for my friend. I saw her go through grief, sorrow, sadness, tears and closure within a matter of 15 minutes. My friend burried her little boy today. She was pregnant with twin boys. For her to become pregnant was a miracle. She and her husband were beyond excited. She found out last month that one of the babies didn't make it. She went into labor last Wednesday at 33 weeks along and had a beautiful little boy, Gabriel. Today they burried his little brother, whom Amy held after he was delivered. I grieve with my friend. Seeing friends go through grief hurts. Hurts beyond description. I so wanted to take it from her. She is an amazing, amazing woman who has been through so very much in her life and has come out stronger in Christ because of it. I know God will grant her comfort. He promises never to leave her or her husband. I know He will carry her and her husband through this. Through the next weeks of grieving. Through the next weeks of caring for their little Gabriel and He will rejoice with them when they are able to finally bring him home from the hospital. And He already knows and is taking care of little Matthias. I hope it helped just being there today. Being there to give a hug. To care. To love. Being there to grieve along side. That's what friends do. To be there.

Is it Mackinaw or Mackinac?

Which ever it is, we were there on Friday. Since we're not able to take a long vacation this year, we're splitting the time up into mini-vacations. This was our first one. It started at 4:30 a.m. when Ed and I got up to get everything packed up. 5:45 a.m. we were on the road. We got to the dock at 10:30 and caught the Arnold over to the island. Sam loved the boat ride. Alina didn't quite have her sea legs and was wobbly, but laughed the whole time. We got off the boat and on our bikes.

We stopped half way around to eat lunch and throw stones into Lake Huron (it just amazes me that one side of the bridge is Lake Huron and the other side is Lake Michigan. Guess they had to divide it somewhere). 8 miles later, we got back into town. Sam rode his bike around the entire island. Not one complaint out of his mouth. He peddaled his little legs SO fast the entire time.

While in town, we walked down main street, splurged on some icecream (Mackinac Island Fudge for me..Superman for Sam, Cookie Dough for Ed, and Alina had the community spoon and sampled all of ours). We continued on our walk up another street and then back to our bikes. We decided to venture into the island some and went and saw skull cave and then took a short cut to get back into town. We came out the other end of the shortcut into a neighborhood. It looked like a normal, city neighborhood with street lights and telephone wires and toys in the yards and kids playing in the street. NOTHING like main street and the huge bed and breakfasts and inns that you usually see when going there. It was a dose of reality. We headed back into town via main street and going by the Grand Hotel. Did you know that if you don't have reservations there, you have to pay $12 a person if you want to enter the hotel. And after 5 you have to wear a suit coat and dress pants on the premises. So I took pictures instead of going in and seeing it. That suited me just fine.

We got back on the ferry and headed home. Not long and the kids were alseep and we still had to eat dinner. Waking up sleep deprived children after them sleeping 5 minutes is not fun as they don't go back to sleep right away. Two hours later, they finally drifted off. We got home at 10:30.

It was a spectacular day. The kids had a blast. So did Ed and I. I would recommend going there. It's beautiful and going on a Friday was excellent as it wasn't too busy and we could navigate easily around the horse poop that Sam so willingly called out to us to beware of every time he saw a pile.

memories

One year ago today was the day my father-in-law passed away from cancer. I never did call him "dad" or referred to him as "father-in-law". Just Ed's dad. I always had a hard time with him because of the way he treated Ed growing up and not really wanting anything to do with Ed. It frustrated and made me mad at times of how he just didn't want the responsibility of raising Ed. I must say that my mother-in-law did a superb job of raising Ed on her own, supporting Ed, teaching Ed. And Ed learned a lot about life on his own apart from his father.

Two weeks before his dad passed away, Ed and Sam (who was just over 4 years old), went out to see Ed's dad. He knew he was declining health wise. He was a large man. Well over 200 pounds and was now down to skin and bones. Literally. Ed was shocked at how he looked. It didn't look like is dad at all. They had a good time together. Sam colored pictures for his grandpa. And also said one thing to his grandpa that I will never forget. "Grandpa, I want you to know Jesus." Ed's dad spent 59 years of his life avoiding God. He said he was too far gone for God to do anything good in his life. It came down to his deathbed for him to accept what Jesus did for him. And it was Ed who explained God's love to him. After years of trying, his dad heard. Really heard with his heart and wanted to embrace Christ.

These are the memories Ed keeps stored inside of him. How is dad was for the two weeks after he realized his need for Jesus. Their conversations. His love for his dad. Knowing he'll see him again.

Ed was on his way to FL to see his dad when I got the phone call that he passed away. I called Ed and let him know. He was walking out of the plane when I told him. They kept his dad at the house until Ed got there. It was a very somber day.

Ed spoke at his dad's memorial service. He was able to share this story to all of his dad's buddies and family that still do not yet know Jesus. I stood there watching and listening to him with my heart overflowing with love for him. He didn't have to say anything at all. But he stepped up to the plate and led the entire service.

I know he misses his dad. What could have become of their friendship, with Christ in his dad's life. Knowing he will once again see his dad and hear the "whatchya big doin?", puts a smile on his face and savors those memories that he does have.

The adventures of Sticky

We have a new "pet" in our family. He lives out on our back deck and has frequented our home several times over the past week and a half. He has moved to several different places and is becoming quite the traveller. He was named yesterday by Sam. Sticky. Sticky if our big green frog. He showed up last week Tuesday evening by my "garden". He then disappeared for a week. Sunday he showed up again.

This is where we found him:














He may seem small, but looks are deceiving. How he was sitting there sideways amazed us. He got poked and prodded and talked to and almost kissed (thankfully I stopped Alina before she smooched him).

Monday he was gone. We went on our search, but could not find him. Ed found him that evening and thought he got sat on because he makes himself so flat. This is where he was found Monday.




He amazed me with his leaping abilities. How DID he get up there on that chair? It's like magic. One will NEVER know.







Tuesday morning he was gone. On went our search for Sticky. We looked and looked and I finally found him here:

I thought the day before his jumping abilities were amazing, but then I was flabergasted as to how he got to this destination. He did move on throughout the day, up to the top of the rail at the top of the picture and stayed there and then was again gone when we got back from a walk. He has not been seen today.


So here's a picture of our deck. He started by the pots on the deck floor, disappeared, travelled to the side of the grill cover, disappeared, jumped on over to the chair wayyyyy to the right in the picture, disappeared and then hopped right up on the railing of the steps between the grill and the far right chair. Well accomplished traveler I must say.



Sticky should be stamping his passport as this has to be a great big feat for such a little thing.








And here's a picture of my garden. Since I'm on a picture-showing roll. The picture on the left contains beans and carrots up top, tomatoes and cucumbers in the round pots. The picture on the right contains zuchinni in the pots and carrots up top. Then on the ground, next to the steps are my two pumpkin plants and one extra zuchinni.

found odor and lost lunch

Since Sunday, the basement has been musty and just stinks. Ed noticed it too. The dehumidifier was full. I finally emptied it Wednesday night. It just smelled like a wet dog. A really odorous, smelly wet dog. I cranked the dehumidifier. It was much better yesterday, I noticed. Last night when I went downstairs Ed said, "You know that odor? I found out what it's from." I was unsure whether I should ask him what it was. A diaper that was misplaced and had been sitting down there for weeks? Spilled milk that had gone rancid? I felt the words come out of my mouth before realizing it and heard myself say, "what was it?". Four words eminated from his mouth. "You caught your mouse". Mouse + mouse trap + peanut butter + four days = mouse in the basement that is rotting and odorizing the house.

Tonight he was my hero. He got up on the chair with a pair of plyers and pulled it out. It wasn't white after all. It was brown. Methinks there may be another one up there too. But anywho, it was dead. Dead dead. Sam SO wanted to see it. So up to the garage they went and Ed put it on the floor for Sam to inspect. Then I heard from Sam's little lips, "There's a worm in it!". Ed turned it over and sure enough, it was being eaten by maggots that were crawling in and out of it. Literally.

Hand over mouth. Coughing up the steps. Trying not to gag and lose what little I have in my stomach. I'm afraid to close my eyes tonight as I know I will be dreaming about some type of bug chasing me that is salivating at the mouth, while I'm dressed up like a brown mouse running towards the larger than life trap all the while yelling to myself from myself "DON"T GO THERE!! YOU WILL DIE!!!". Fun.

today's list

Today is going to be focusing on getting the list done. The list includes the following:

dust our room
dust the living room
clean up the basement
vacuum the truck
weed the garden
pick up Sam's room
make Sam's bed
Put away laundry

Then I have my list. The list above is Sam's. He's already vacuumed the living room and dining room and cleaned off his bed. Why the chores for a 5 year old? Well...he realized that when a bike helmet and truck tires meet, only one wins, and it's usually the bigger of the two. I've not heard him cry so hard when finding his helmet all crushed up from leaving it on the middle of the garage floor. He asked for another helmet so he could ride his bike. It was explained to him that he does not automatically get a new helmet when he didn't take care of his first one. So Ed and I came up with a list of chores that he needs to complete before he can have another helmet. That list is above. I've been thinking too of making a regular chore list for him to have a bit more responsiblity around the house as he's getting older. I'm not sure how to set it up or impliment it yet. I'll take any and all suggestions...

this and that

I get e-mails from Bright Horizons about raising your kids and usually skip over them as they are, most of the time, pertaining to older kids, but I read the most recent one. It was talking about spending every moment you can with your kids. To experience life with them. To remember back to your childhood summers and how free and fun they were and have that much freedom and fun with your kids. What caught my attention was this statement: "Remember, how many summers do you get when you are 1-year-old, or 2, or 6, or 7? Only one. And how many summers do you get when you are with a 2, 4, or 10-year-old?" It was a great reminder to me to not let those fun moments slip away. To create memories with my kids so they can look back when they have kids and remember how fun the summertimes were.

I saw our resident mouse again the other night. He/she was traversing across the top of the bookshelf downstairs. My dad was so sweet to leave some mouse traps. When I saw him (the mouse, not my dad), I went and got a trap and set up a little "treat" for the mouse. I managed to not spring the trap amidst the cobwebs in the ceiling. I took a picture the next day of the trap (I can't see up that high, so I figured the digital camerca would come in handy to see if I caught it). No mouse. I also saw that there's no possible way for the mouse to get to the trap as there is a floor board that comes down right on top of the heating duct. Well.. this won't do any good. I still need to move it. I just have to work up enough gumption to spring the trap, put my hand in cobwebs and pull it out. Or I can just leave it up there and go get another trap. To me, that sounds like the most logical thing to do. The less cobwebs, the better.

I planted my "garden" yesterday with my moms help. Everything is in pots except two pumpkin plants and one zuchinni plant (they are in a little area by the deck). Carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, zuchinni and beans are all in pots on my back porch. I was hoping for a garden this year, but we're getting a new septic system instead. I didn't think it would be fair to the workers if I planted a garden and then they tore it all up and I yelled at them. I really wouldn't yell. I'd probably cry. So I'm saving myself from crying AND am going to enjoy some yummy veggies. See? Best of both worlds :) I just watered all the little sprigs and now it's going to rain. I hope no one drowns and I hear them weeping for their friends in the pots next door. That would be sad.

Since there's a severe thunderstorm warning, I'm thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea for me to turn my computer off. Before I do that, I need to post this. And before I do that, I need to say one more thing about the mouse. I was telling my mouse tale to my mom and said that it was white. She proceeded to say that field mice are either brown, gray or black. Hmmmm....unless it's albino, she said, then someone's pet mouse is living in your basement. Pleasant. I'm going to kill someone's pet. Or a snakes meal in which the snake could starve without it and then I'd still be killing someone's pet snake. Sad to say, I don't feel one bit guilty. If the mouse was smart enough to get out of it's cage and house, it's smart enough not to eat the peanut butter, thus saving itself one more day. No remorse here. Though I will make Ed get it when it is dead.

Lightining is flashing. Must go.

the holiday

So this past weekend was a busy one! We ventured to Ohio, to my brothers place, where the entire family gathered (except one brother). There was a whole gob of people there. Three of my brothers, their wives. Eight kids. My parents. Ed and I. We all gathered to help build a retaining wall out of railroad ties in the back yard. The menfolk worked from 10 in the morning until 8:30 at night on Saturday and got it all done. Do you think I took any pictures? I sure did! They're on my mom's camera! :) Maybe she'll send them to me. It was a hot weekend. All kids (and Ed) slept outside in tents. I got the bottom bunk in my nephews' room and Alina slept on the floor. The 2nd night she had her first taste of "camping in the tent" and Ed said she slept through the whole night. I was able to have an excellent chat with one of my sister-in-laws about what has happened in life in the past 9 months. And I was finally able to meet her very close friend Kristen (who has a blog...go visit her!!) and her kids I left feeling very encouraged. We headed back Sunday after church and a yummy lunch. Yesterday was errands in the morning, nap in the afternoon and bbq picnic in the evening. It was a great weekend. I'm glad we were able to get away and spend time with family and meet new friends, come home and spend time with family and gather with friends :).

Blah

I'm procrastinating. I don't want to clean. I need to leave in 40 minutes to go pick up my hubby and I need to clean. As you can see, it has not happened yet since I'm sitting here typing to all of you out there about how much I don't want to clean. Why is it so HARD? I'd rather weed the garden (which I did b/c I didn't want to clean!). I know I need to take care of my house that I have been blessed with. I know once I start I'll be absolutely fine and will enjoy it. Sam came down from his room and found me on the couch eating my lunch and asked why I wasn't cleaning. Blah. So here I go. I go to clean. I'm going now. Here I go. My legs aren't listening to me. Ah well. Annnndddddddd go. :)

Another year

Today is a day that is marked in history in our marriage. Our anniversary. 11 years ago today, we tied the knot. I was 20. Ed was 25. Oh what a day that was. We watched our wedding video last week and was shocked to see how YOUNG we were!! I was still in college and had 5 more years to go. Ed was working at the YMCA in the before and after school program. Our first year of marraige was crazy with me being in school full time, working a 2nd shift part time job and he working an early 1st shift job. We rarely saw each other. We were travelling to Lansing every weekend and living in married housing above a couple that played their music so loud it shook the pictures on our wall and who also had two small kids in a tiny, tiny two bedroom apartment. Ahhhh...wedded bliss. :)

Fast forward 11 years of lots of tears, arguments, backpacking adventures, moves, kids, and lots and lots of love. Here we are today. I thanked Ed this morning for sticking by me through the past years. He's my best friend. My confident. My encourager. He makes me laugh until tears come out. He calls me beautiful even when I have morning breath and messy hair and crust filled eyes. He loves me unconditionally. He wipes away my tears. He prays with me. He loves me to the depths of his soul. 11 years ago, I had no clue as to what I was going to go through. God blessed me with a man who fit me to the core, even though I was looking through starry eyed, love struck eyes. It has not been easy, these years, but we have come out stronger together than when we started, thanks to our Maker who brought us together.

I love you Ed. With all of my being. Thank you for the most wonderful, growth filled, full of love years that any girl would dream of. You are my best friend and living life with you is one of the best adventures I could ever ask for. I thank the Lord for you. What a blessing you are to me.

Pics

If you go here
you will find a bunch of pictures. If you scroll down to #107, that's me. I had just free fallen off my bike. I was trying to flip my lanyard around to my back, my bike stopped and I didn't get my feet out of my clips in time and just fell right over. #108 shows me sitting there like a goof who just fell off her bike and realized someone took a picture it. Then the next one I'm safely on my bike riding into the sunset. Ok...not really...just getting ready for some butt-numbing bumps and tree hugging corners. It's sad when you fall off your bike and haven't even gotten on the trail yet!

More pics to come.

slacker

I'm becoming quite the slacker when it comes to my blog. Crazy how life has just sped up and nothing has really changed! I should be fast asleep in bed sawing logs, but am not quite there yet. Maybe I need to start counting sheep!

Life after my previous post has been a 180 degree turn. The next day Sam was so helpful and without being asked. He listened all day long and the little miss was just as helpful. No complaints here!

Mother's Day was great with having the moms up for dinner. I'm still full from all that food.

Tomorrow is the last day of MOPS. Wednesday is Sam's graduation from preschool. Haven't quite wrapped my head around him being done already. Pictures to come.

So speaking of busy-ness...here's a question for you (which comes from the sermons over the past couple of weeks at church.

How do you rest? Just to sit back and say, "There's nothing that I HAVE to do. There's nothing that is requiring my time".

One way for me to rest is to sit and just enjoy my family. To put laundry, house, dishes, work out of my mind and to be with my kids and husband. It's not easy to put my list aside, but so well worth it.

when's Friday?

Today my most adorable children have been at each others throats constantly. Arguing. Screaming. Roaring. Laughing. It's been one rollercoaster after another. One minute they're giving each other hugs and then next yelling, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO I don't WAAAANTTTT TOOOOO" (my lovely daughter) and "I DON'T WANT HER TO FOLLOW MEEEEE!!! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!" (my handsome son). These are the days I say no more mini people allowed. Unless they are someone else's and I can give them back. I just sit here and watch it all. All my energy is spent. I let them scream and see what happens. I interveen only when bodily harm is becoming evident.

Alina found the little pepper grinder. Sam found pepper in his water. I ran out of diapers today. Alina's wearing a swimmy diaper with rubber underware training pants so she doesn't leak everywhere. The joys of having one vehicle and no diapers.

Oh....happy place..... How I love being there.

catsup

time to catsup. or catch up i mean. :)

This past weekend FLEW by. Saturday my hubby and I and our two friends did an adventure race. This particular race was a short one. Six hours. They can last up to 36 hours. I'm not at that level yet. Will I ever be able to last 36 hours on gu? um...probably not :) We left here Saturday morning at 4:40 am to drive to Ionia, MI (only 1/2 hour drive). We had to register and then take our bikes to a different drop off. One of our friends bikes had a bit of trouble and Ed worked on it for a good half hour. Thankfully it was fixable and we made it to pre-race instructions at 7:15. 8 am the horn blared and everyone went running. We started out orienteering (using map and compass to find the markers we needed to punch on our card...can't lose the card or else you're disqualified). After finding all three, we headed to get our bikes. I only fell off my bike once while trying to flip my lanyard over my neck and was "standing" still on my bike. Couldn't get my feet out of my toe holders in time and fell right over. No injuries..just my pride. :) Off on the bikes we went. Got to the next check point and hopped into canoes. Canoed upstream for about an hour to get our checkpoints, back downstream for another check point and then back up stream to drop our canoes off and hop on the bikes. The 2nd bike journey was a bit more hazardous as I ran into a tree, my friend gouged her knee into a tree then rammed her knee cap into her handle bars. We still had half the race and she was feeling the pain. We made it though. She was a HUGE trooper. Dropped our bikes off and headed into the woods back to the finish line. We ended up walking for an hour and a half to get back to the finish line and were dead last. It was SO nice to see that finish line that I didn't even care. It felt good to complete the race. Today, my body is not very happy with me. It's groaning every time I move. But it felt so GOOD to have that much adrenaline coursing through my veins for six straight hours. There's another race this weekend. Oh how I would love to do it, but I don't think my body will be healed in time. Ah well...hopefully soon.

Today we put together Alina's toddler bed, pray that the health department guy approves the cement job Ed did on the septic pipe that's busted and leaking down the hill, and it's sunny!! Yay for sunshine!

Oh and I had a spider crawling on my face last night in bed.

That was my weekend. Pictures to come

Who Am I?

So today, I decided to Google myself. I needed to let my mind rest from the things happening in life. Anne said she found lots of me, so I went in search for me. This is what I found.

I had a ballet studio in Portsmouth and lived upstairs above the studio with my husband. I was a renound ballet teacher whom people wrote articles on. The house I lived in was later sold and turned into a B&B.

I have a memorial endowment in my name.

I'm also on the list of the NC Extension Agents who Conducts Food Safety Programs.

I'm a County Extension Director (not sure what that is, but it sounds important).

Who knew!?!

Today

Today has been full and it's only 1:42 right now. This morning we had Kindergarten Round up for Sam. He and Ed rode their bikes to the school. It was so very strange going into an actual school and dropping Sam off at his little class and then meeting with the principle and a bunch of parents for an hour and a half. It still seems so far off until Sam gets on that huge bus (they went on a bus ride today and he looked so small in that big bus!), but I know this summer will fly by. He didn't want to go into his class today. He stood right outside the door. My heart went out to him because he doesn't like new situations and gets very quiet, but once he's comfortable, he has no problem. And this was the case, of which we were very relieved about. So I sat in the meeting while Ed took Alina around the school to keep her occupied. Ed and Sam went on the bus (and Alina was very upset about this as SHE wanted to get on the bus too!). Then we headed to Dog Town for a special lunch.

The kids are actually in bed right now, which is a huge relief. Ed went on a long bike ride to get out in God's creation to be quiet and pray. Life is getting very interesting right now and some major/life changing decisions are going to probably need to be made in the next couple of weeks that could change the course of our lives. Hence why Ed needed to get away and pray. I felt the other day that God was going to take us on an adventure in our family, and anticipated a fun one. I don't think this one will be a fun trip, but an adventure none the less, that will grow me, us and our family in trusting God.

I know that is going to be much easier said than done.

On a lighter note, I made this delicious dessert last Friday. I got it off of Mark's blog. It's a trifle and OH SO GOOD! AND super easy. It's all gone now. Sorry to disappoint anyone who was dropping all their work to come over and try some. :)

Getting old...

This past weekend my husband and I and two friends went for a practice ride for the adventure race we are going to be doing in two weeks. We went on back "mountain" trails (there are no mountains where we are), full of tree roots and rocks and sand. My legs were like water (not even jello...they were well past that stage) and my arms and shoulders ached from holding onto the handle bars for dear life in hopes I wouldn't fall off. The only injuries suffered were scrapes up the back of my knee from my bike pedals. So all in all, it was a great ride and I recovered.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping and took the big cooler with me to store the cold foods as I had several stops to make and didn't want my food to spoil before I could enjoy it. So unloading the truck, with kids in bed, I got all the groceries out, the big cooler out and all unpacked. While taking out the little ice packs in the bottom, I was on my way up from bending over and heard a couple of pops. Then I realized I felt them too. Right in my lower back. I could barely manage climbing the 5 steps to get inside the house.

Oh this old body is really starting to fall apart! Why is it that I could mountain bike for 3 hours, unload a full ice chest cooler thing and all's it takes to throw my back out is a little ice pack. So very, very sad this old body....

picture album

Just some recent pictures I'd like to share that I took this past week (and Anne's ice cream). :) Easter and a day at the park.

my tag

So I was tagged by Anne a couple of days ago. I'm just now getting to write.

Rules

**Go write weird facts/things/etc. about yourself in my comment box and on your blog, then tag more people!
**Then leave a comment that says ‘You are tagged‚’ in their comments telling them to read your blog.

1. I used to eat raw mushrooms out of the can. Maybe that's why I can't stand to eat them now.

2. I used to pull all the legs off daddy long legs and watch them wiggle.

3. I like catsup on my bologna sandwiches.

4. My nickname in highschool was Mean Jean Oakerland or just Mean Jean. I really wasn't mean.

5. I had a pet chicken. It's name was Chicken Little and I used to carry it under my arm.

6. I go grocery shopping at either 10 at night or 5 in the morning so I can be by myself with no chillins. It's great!!

I tag no one. So all those out there nervously shaking in their boots, no need to worry, no tagging shall cometh hence forth from herest though. :)

one of my favorites

This is one of my absolutely favorite restaurants. We venture there at least once a week. Last night happened to be our once a week night. It was a Joey Bag of Doughnuts for me. The Other Lewinsky for Ed. Sam had Puff the Magic Dragon (taco) and Alina had a Mini Me (quesadilla). They make your food right in front of you (kind of like Subway, but with taco ingredients). Beans, rice, meats, guac., and all sorts of toppings. Their steak is so yummy and you can even get tofu. And did I mention cheap? I didn't think so. Last night the total was $19.97 for all four of us and we were all stuffed. The best thing about Moe's? They yell at you when you open the door. "WELCOME TO MOE'S!!!". Sam loves this the best, because every time the door opens when we're eating, he gets to yell in the restaurant "Welcome to Moe's!!". They know us now as we're there so much. It's great!!

What's your favorite restaurant?

If you...

If you like to cook, here's two blogs that I found recently. Lane and Mark. I have ingredients for one chicken recipe (Lane's blog) all ready and am looking forward to making it. I found the 2nd blog yesterday (Mark commented on Lane's). Enjoy looking and maybe trying these recipes and drooling over this scrumptious food!!

the intruder

So last night we were sitting downstairs watching LOST. Ed fell asleep. I was all worked up and mind was a-workin' away after the episode was done, so I started flipping through the channels to see what was on that could calm my brain down. I found a REALLY old episode of Friends, so snuggled down deeper in the blanket to watch. Halfway through, I was getting sleepy and was ready to head for bed. I then saw something. Something moving out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head and there was a mouse happily walking along the top of the bookshelf. I about fell over, scared me half to death. It scampered back behind the duct in the ceiling and I could hear it back there scratching away. Grrrrr.....It's probably back there making babies that will invade our house. I was wide awake then and it took me a good 45 minutes to get sleepy enough to go back to bed. I do not like mice. Especially mice in my house. I threw two mouse traps away last year b/c I couldn't handle emptying them of the dead mice. My dad even killed one with a board. I thought our mouse issue was settled after killing at least 4 last year, but I guess not. Watch out mouse. That peanut butter is deadly and I WILL get you!!

There's more

Read the previous post below FIRST or this one will make no sense and then you'll think I'm really off my rocker!

But WAIT!!! There's MORE!! Another truck just pulled up. A BIG truck with another BIG trailer full of leaves. Maybe they're taking the leaves away??? Could it BE?? Lemme go look...

Well...they're taking an awfully long time blowing those leaves, but they haven't been blown in our yard yet. I did see rakes and a blue tarp, so maybe. JUST maybe, the leaves will go somewhere else. To some other happy place. Other than our yard.

Is it that time already?

Right now it's 43 degrees out. Cold in my books. And the lawn guys are out next door. It must be lawn season? It's 43 degrees out!! I don't think the grass would be growing. But all the dead leaves are now being blown into our yard. And there are lots of them. Oh well. The wind just blows them right back. It's been interesting to see over the past couple of years this lawn maintenance service. When we first moved in, it was a little pick up truck with a riding mower in the back. Last year it was a pick up truck pulling a small trailer with enough room for two riding mowers and a blower. Now I look out and see this years lawn maintenance with a full trailer and a large pick up truck. I think it's a new service. Yes, I know. I'm pretty pathetic. But when there's no school to watch all the buses and cars, what else is a girl supposed to do to keep occupied? Laundry? HA! I think not. ok...well maybe, but that's not nearly as exciting as watching leaves get blown about!!

treats

Last week at the zoo, I found that eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich outside makes it taste better. I think the same goes for ice cream. I'm looking forward to taking bike rides to the local ice cream place and getting a treat of mint chocolate chip ice cream cone dipped in chocolate. If you were an icecream cone, what kind would you be?

my haven

So this weekend, one of my to-do list items and one of my desires was to create a little haven that I can call my own. With Ed's help moving the big chair (that came from his dad's storage unit up north and was a lovely brown and gold 70's print, but oh so comfy) from the basement, my haven was made. With things from around the house like a wing back chair cover that was in our garage sale back in September, to a little table cover that is scrap fabric I found in a bag a friend gave me, to a throw that we received when we moved into this house two years ago, to a lamp that was from Ed's dad's old place, to some dried flowers I received for my birthday from a friend, total spending on my little getaway? $7. Just don't look at the border or the lovely blue blinds. We have yet to paint and redo this room.

BEFORE

AFTER

My little haven was cristined this morning with 20 minutes of peace, quiet and lots of time to think, read and pray. It was wonderful!

Yay for Saturdays!!

Today starts out with our Saturday breakfast that consists of pancakes (chocolate chip mind you), scrambled eggs, sausage and potatoes. Not totally healthy, but oh so fun tradition!!
Make a 9 am wake up call.
Bring up the chair and rearrange our bedroom for my little haven.
Put the carpet in the basement (free from Sam's preschool).
Laundry.
Finish spring cleaning. It's been in my blood all week and I HAVE to finish (or go insane if I don't. Better for the household if I finish).
Head bang to Me First and the Gimmee Gimmees.
Enjoy the family!!

the big expedition

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day here in MI. So, off we went to the zoo. It's still free, so that made it even better. I went with some friends and their kids. So three moms, three strollers and six kids under the age of 5 (four kids under the age of 2). It was quite a fun day. We figured out when heading out of the zoo, a list of what the boys would say that they saw, that would've been their favorite things. Listed are the main excitments they saw (we gauged this by the way they stared and sat the longest at). The tractor (it was more like a 4-wheeler) that was carting supplies around. The truck that was hauling lumber. The little waterfalls. The backhoe. The ducks (they were at the entrance so it's what they saw first and last). And the biggest thing of all was a floating stick. To all of these things, I kid you not. We all shook our heads at this and all were so very thankful we didn't waste one cent on a floating stick.

a flicker

Recently, I've been yearning for a space to call my own. A place where I can go and be quiet. A place to meet with my Maker (even though I talk to him throughout the day). A little get-a-way of sorts. A little space that's mine. Why I've had this yearning, I'm not sure. But it's there. A flicker of something that wants to burst into flames. Standing on the edge of something. Every morning I find myself laying in bed for a good 15 minutes praying and thinking. To have an area where I can pick up God's word, journal, think and pray lights something inside of me. I feel right now there are more questions than answers in my life. Will this space give me answers? Possibly. It'll give me the opportunity to search my heart, God's will and my life as to what is going on and what's with all the questions and discontent surrounding me. Hopefully this weekend I'll get a glimpse of my space as Ed has rearranged it in his mind to help me fulfill this desire inside of me. For this I love him more because he wants to help me find my way and be apart of my journey.

confusion

Yesterday on the way home from picking up Sam, I saw this.
Now, to me, this is very strange. Especially in MI. Some other places, it may not seem so out of the oridnary, but for here, I thought it was....
And they were walking on the biking trail where many a dogs are walked daily.
I'm not exactly sure of what to think.
First thoughts that ran through my head were laziness, sadness for the dog b/c it was not getting any exercise, and it kinda looked funny. A person wearing a dog...
I noticed I was not the only one gawking at these people standing along side the road ready to jay walk across a busy street.
But again, this is just me....

our son

This is my Sam. Today is his birthday. At 8:35 pm. He took a liesurly 21 hours to come into this place we call a world. And even then, he was literally pulled out. With clamps. Five years later, I still feel the effects of the cracked tail bone from birthing him when sitting for long periods of time.

He wears a reminder in the form of two scars on his side of how much our little family went though and considered "normal" as we had nothing to compare having a baby too, since he was our first. Three months after he was born, he had kidney surgery. His left ureter tube was closed shut beneath his kidney, so his kidney was enlarged. This was noticed during my ultrasound when pregnant with him. After lots of tests, getting to know the urologist very well, he was put under and went through a three hour procedure to have part of his kidney cut out and the closed portion of the ureter tube cut out and reattached to his kidney. We lived in the hospital for a week. Then we came home.

Life was going great. Then he got sick. In one day I went from the doctor, to the hospital for blood work, to the urologist for an ultrasound and then back into the hospital where Sam was put under again to have a tube inserted through his back directly into his kidney. There was some scar tissue that had built up from the surgery and his kidney wasn't draining as it should have been. The tube was to relieve the pressure on his kidney so it could heal properly and acted as his ureter tube. At the other end of the tube was a bag that we had to empty daily. Amazingly enough, the tube never came out. He had it in for three months. We rejoiced the day it was taken out for good. Thankfully, he wasn't even crawling yet, so he never messed with it, or I'm sure we would've had several trips to the emergency room to have it put back in.

It's easy to forget all that we went through that first year of his life. He's as healthy as a little boy can be now. The past four years have slipped between my fingers too quickly that I can barely remember him as a baby, toddler and then preschooler. Now we have a boy ready to embark on kindergarten.

I never really connected or had that "bond" with him when he was born. I distanced myself very far away from him so I could get through all the tests and surgerys and be there for him and take care of him. I look back and see how that has affected my relationship with him and how I wish I could go back and bond with him more and love him more. I know I can't do that, but I can love on him more now and share life with him now.

Oh my Sam. We named you after 1 Samuel 1:20b "Because I asked the LORD for him". You are a huge blessing to us. God has made you with a heart of laughter, a spirit of love and compassion and a being that is 100% boy. You are a protector of your little sister. You can not walk around a puddle, but have to go through it. Even with your good shoes on. You love the outdoors, even when it's a balmy 2 degrees. Your dad is your best friend. Every ounce of your body lives life to the fullest.

I pray that you will come to know your Maker, that you will be an awesome leader and friend, that you will love your wife with your whole heart, and that you will live your life to the fullest and show God's love to others through your words, actions, and become the man God has made you to be.

I love you.

the call

Today I received a phone call. A very unexpected phone call. It was 2:20 this afternoon. My cell phone rings (we have no land line). This little voice comes over the phone. "Hi Mommy!!". I'm thinking...um....aren't you at preschool? And then, do they know you are using the phone? I hesitantly say, "Hi Sam". Ed looks at me like, "what in the world?". Exactly what I was thinking. The next words out of his little mouth were, "I learned my phone number today!". My heart just stretched. Stretched so much it almost broke. How I love my son. He was so excited. He got to call home because he learned his phone number. How grateful I am that at his school they include the parents in on even little things and let moms and dads experience their child learning. Filled my heart right up.

It was almost snack time, of which he took to school today for his birthday. Chocolate chip muffins. So off he went to proudly pass out his little muffins we made today. Oh my littleSam I Am is growing up. Way to fast.

Perspective

So today I've been chatting and reading about perspectives in life. And was reminded to remember the blessings when things seem to be getting yucky in life. Money is always an issue to me, in that something is always breaking and needing fixed. Right now it is our septic tank. Though it doesn't need fixed, just needs replaced. Which, of course, costs money. Lots. Of. Money. Money of which we don't have. But hence, this is where I was reminded of blessings. What are the blessings in my life? My home. Even when it's a mess, it is my safe haven. Love is here. My man. He confides in me. Treats me like a queen. Kisses me first thing in the morning. Tells me I'm beautiful after hiking for a week in the mountains with no shower. He is amazing. Friends. They push me. Pray for me. Love me for who I am. My kids. They are an example of unconditional love. They forgive and forget. Instantly. What an example to me of God's love. He forgives me. Loves me unconditionally. Cherishes me. Carries me. Listens to me. Has blessed me with tons of blessings. Family, friends, health. I can either wallow in misery over what is happening, or give it to Him, and keep giving it to Him when I take the misery back upon myself. Life could be a whole lot harder. With that, I need to be thankful for the life that I have. Not perfect by any mean, nor easy. It's just my perspective and how I choose to live today. Either crappy and filled with misery. Or thankful, which I think is so much harder to do than crappy, but much more worth it.

Book Club

I'm in the last throes of completing the Book Bingo for the library. I have 12 book types left. I'm reading The Scarlet Pimpernel (Classic) right now. I read two books this morning. Because of Winn-Dixie (NY Best Seller) and Mackinac (MI author). It took me a total of an hour to read both. I've seen Winn-Dixie, so I could scan it quickly. The 2nd one was eh. So easy to read b/c it was so slow and boring! I still need a Horror book, Thriller book, Historical book, Biography and some other ones. Why I kept the hard ones until last, beats me. Procrastinating. It didn't help that the library was closed for a week and a half. I ended up leaving the library with 22 books. I remember reading S.P. in highshool, so I figured it couldn't be too hard if I was able to read it 10+ years ago. Ok..more like 15+ years. Wow I'm old. :) For the Bingo, if you fill two rows, your name gets put in a drawing for a $20 gift certificate. If you fill the whole thing, your name gets put in for the final drawing. 36 people win $50 gift certificates and one person wins a $500 vacation. It ends the 31st of this month. I need to get cracking....Luckily I like to read. So much so that I haven't been working enough. oops!

the library

I love the library. But I think there's some sort of curse or I get all the weird things. It started about a month ago when I popped in a tape for Sam to listen to and it was really weird. I turned it over. Same thing. It was playing backwards. I tried it on a different tape player. Same thing. It was kinda freaky actually. Took it back to the library and informed them of it. I'm thinking, "how can you put a tape in backwards?".

Monday I went to the library again. Picked up some books for Alina. I was reading one to her today when I turned to a page, and it was upside down. At first I thought it was one of those books that you have to go to the end, turn it upside down and it's a different book. Nope. Not this one. The 2nd page in, it was upside down and it was the same as the 2nd to last page of the book. This time I DID NOT intentionally read the end of the book to find out what happens. Honestly I didn't. The end just happened to be at the beginning. Plus I knew that the animals would get all 10 apples up on top. So I wasn't too surprised.

I wonder what's going to happen the next time I go. Maybe I'll find $100 that someone used as a book mark.. Or a love letter stuck in between the pages. Or maybe a book that has all the pages right side up.

The doctor

Monday was d-day for my son. He had to go to the doctor for his 5 year check up. He didn't know yet that he had to get three shots. I waited until that morning. Then I broke the news. He refused to get them. I informed him that if he really wanted to go to kindergarten, he had to get them. He wouldn't change his mind. I finally took a toothpick and poked his arm (with him knowing mind you). I told him that that was what it was going to feel like. After that, no problems. All during his check up he kept saying to the doctor, "don't forget about my shots." "What about my shots?". "Don't forget about the shots!". I was thinking, great! This is going to be a breeze. He was absolutely fine even when I was holding his arms down while he was on my lap. Once those needles went in, a whole different side came out. I've never heard him scream so loud. I should've realized to wrap my legs around his. The nurse ended up on the ground from him kicking her in the stomach. Oh it was fun. Alina started screaming too because he was. So I had two screaming kids on my hands when the nurses left. When he finally calmed down, the only statement I heard was, "I HATE shots. I never, ever want to get shots again!". I took him out for hot chocolate and chicken nuggets. He was all better.

Now he's the shot giver. Inflicting his past pain on his little sister. "Don't move Alina. This is going to hurt! Don't move". She comes running, screaming to me and he's right behind her. "Hold still! You need a shot!". Oh the joys of role playing.

St. Patricks Day

Happy St. Patricks day to all!!
This is a day for corned beef and cabbage.
A day to wear orange if your protastant or green if your catholic.
A day to drink a Shamrock shake.
A day to scrounge the yard for a three leaf clover.
A day to not get pinched.
A day to get kissed.
And a day to pronounce scone the right way (rhyme it with lawn).

And you may ask, how is it you know all these tid bits? Being half Irish, I was brought up being taught to wear orange. My dad immigrated from N. Ireland. And little did I know that being a child of an immigrant, I have dual citizenship too. Anyone want to take a trip? :)

Happy St. Paddy's Day!!

list

I have 25 minutes before I can go to bed. Jay Leno is on, which I never see. While the house is sleeping, I'm still wide awake waiting for work to come in for the last few stragglers over on the west coast. So...I thought I should just let every one know my next few days as I may not be able to write.

Tomorrow consists of a friend coming over for lunch around 11, so in preparation, the house needs cleaned up. And laundry. Always laundry. Then it's band practice in the evening.

Friday I get to go pick up a free piece of 20x21 carpet at my son's preschool that they're giving away. I really don't even care what it looks like. Anything is better than dried out smushed banana in green carpet that doesn't come out. Then it's another friend coming over for lunch, Sam to school and the hubby out that night to a Hookah place (which he won't be partaking in) but to listen to music of a friend.

Saturday is a day at home.
Sunday is to church early to play and then to Lansing to see family from TN.

Naps need to get in there somewhere.

My battery is about to die. I'm going to bed early (is 11:41 really early)? :)

What would you do?

While laying in bed last night at 11:30 I came up with a question. What would you do if there was no such thing as laundry? I was stumped. I couldn't imagine life with not having laundry hanging over my head and multiplying in the corner like bunnies. I think I'd bake. Or take a nap. Or sit and read. Or do nothing at all and dwell in the quiet of the house not shaking and the lights pulsing to the washing machine.

The princess party

This past Sunday we celebrated our little princess' 2nd birthday. I made a doll cake, pulled pork sandwiches and had family come over to celebrate the birth of our daughter two years ago. Crazy how time flies. Some presents she got were a dolly (whom shy deems as "baby" and goes no where without it), a little pink tricycle and a cute princess university outfit. Oh and a sleeping bag for camping this summer. It was a very busy day as Ed and I were on for praise team in the morning, came home, got everything around, everyone came to eat, open presents, eat cake, left, put the kids down for a 45 minute nap and then headed back to church. I'm looking forward to this weekend where we are doing absolutely nothing except go to Krispy Kreme for fattening doughnuts tomorrow morning.

catch-up

So it's been awhile and I need to catch up. Here's what's been happening in life:
1. everyone is still sick. Hubby, son, daughter, mommy.
2. 2nd b-day party this past weekend with a sick little girl.
3. women's retreat last weekend that a sick mommy shouldn't have went to, but did anyway.
4. pre-school conferences.
5. kindergarten information meeting for Sam.
6. one diaper remaining in the house that has to last the entire day as the one vehicle is at work with hubby b/c son is sick, so no need to go to school today.
7. amazingly the house is clean.
8. I found a $25 Bath/Body Works gift card that I lost a year ago. Yipee!!!

Sad, sad day

I know it's a sad day when I have M&M's, Reece's PB cups, jelly beans AND half of a cake all sitting in front of me and four cartons of ice cream in the freezer and nothing, not one thing, looks appetizing one bit. There is no shortage of chocolate in my home. Any one need any??

Today

Today I'm grateful for
1. The BEAUTIFUL sunshine that is so rarely seen around here.
2. The gorgeous roses (and tasty dinner) I got last night that are as yellow as the sunshine with a
hint of pink.
3. That I get to stay inside in my sweats and sweatshirt today.
4. That tomorrow is March, which means Springs coming!!
5. Food.
6. My husband who likes to snore like he has narcolepsy just to make me laugh. To me it's
hilarous. :)
7. Yummy grapes that are crunchy.
8. Life.

What are you grateful for today?

The New You (or should I say Me)

This is my new site!! Thanks to Kelly!! She did an AMAZING job and I'm so very thankful!! So, welcome to my new blog site!! I'll hopefully be featuring recipes, tidbits and probably recipes that I didn't like so much over in the Crumbs and more section. I think I want to go make a cake, thanks to the big picture of the tasty looking slice of cake at the top! Enjoy!!

variation

Ring around the posie
Pocket full of rosie
rashes, rashes,
we all fall down.

as sung by my four year old.

correction

I was not wearing my husbands plaid coat. It was a plaid quilted shirt as it buttons down with shirt buttons. Not coat buttons. My error has been pointed out to me and in turn need to inform whomever reads the below story so that all the information is correct.

Bad Manners?

Is it bad manners to shovel the driveway in your pajamas? Oh well if it is, because I just did. I had my husbands green plaid heavy coat on, his snowmobile gloves (that have three fingers) and a bright red ski mask thing and my red plaid pajamas and yellow striped ankle socks (and my big boots of course). Though the snow/slush kept getting down my boots and on my ankles. A bit chilly, but it made me move a lot faster.

The weirdest thing is shoveling snow, it's sleet/raining and thundering out. Last time I saw snow and heard thunder/saw lightening was on our honeymoon to Colorado. Very odd.

I guess I should get out of my jammies.

V-day dinner

Since my birthday is the day before Valentines and we usually go out, staying "in" is the norm for Valentines day. Last night I attempted a meal I had never made before. I actually worked backwards and made dessert first and the main dish last. I printed out a menu for Ed and this was our meal:

Starter:
Queen of Hearts Salad

Main dish:
Chicken Scallopini with Apricot Ginger Asparagus

Dessert:
Orange Cheesecake Mousse

The salad was AMAZING!! We both gobbled it up and it was so easy. Lettuce, artichoke hearts, homemade croutons and mandrain oranges with a mustard-garlic-oil-vinegar dressing. A picture is shown for you to drool over. SOOOOO tasty.

Main dish was pretty good. Yummy chicken with a breaded exterior and simmered in chicken broth and apple juice with mushrooms served over spaghetti.
I slightly overcooked the asparagus as I've never made it before and never made it to the apricot/ginger part as I was so ready to eat!!!
I also cut out some busicuts in the shape of a heart (one for each of us). They were pretty good...thanks to pillsbury!

Dessert. Lets just say I was about cussing with this dessert. I had to read the instructions I don't remember how many times, but I think I dreamt about it last night because it was infused in my brain. It did NOT come out like the picture. Not in the least! The picture made it look SOOOO easy. Just pipe the cheesecake and coolwhip out and tada!!! It'll look great. Try: squeeze your hands so hard around the bag that it doesn't even come out except in a big glop and tear out one of the bags because it won't even move out of the bag when squeezed with a vicegrip!! Ok..I didn't use a vicegrip, but it probably would've been easier. The little tidbit said that it was a nice fluffy dessert to go along with a heavy meal. It was heavier than the meal as it was so rich and waaaaay to orangy. WAYYY to orangy. Neither of us finished it and the extra is sitting on the counter as I won't touch it. I know exactly what I would do different next time. I'd make something else! One thing about the dessert that made me feel good was that Ed thought I bought the little chocolate hearts, when I had made them! :) What a guy!

Overall though, it was a fun night once we got to eat and the food was really good. I'm still cleaning up from the mess.

just another day

So yesterday was my birthday and I survived!! My birthday day actually started Sunday when my hubby surprised me with a large gathering at Macaroni Grill of friends and family. It was a HUGE surprise for me and lots of fun! Yesterday I woke up with birthday wishes from Ed and my kids. I had to make some errands after dropping Ed off and one stop was the bank. Michael, the regular bank drive up guy wasn't there, but I don't think he's there anymore, but I did recognize his trainee guy who helped me, and appears to be the regular drive up guy now. So I made my deposit and he sent me out the slip and said, "thanks so much Jean. And have a happy birthday". Surprised the life out of me! What a nice guy! Though I need to break him in about asking if I need any suckers as I had two unhappy sucker loving kids in the back.

Worked until 1:30 (Mondays are now my busiest days) and then had company for a bit, went and got Sam from school, got home, put the kids down for naps and then got a call from one of my cronies from highschool. What a great conversation for 45 minutes! We haven't talked in about a year and here she was wishing me a happy birthday! It was great catching up and encouraging eachother. Oh how I wish we lived closer!!

I realized that I neither had breakfast or lunch. And I was so busy that when I was sitting talking to company, Alina came up to me with a banana, so I gave it her to eat and then here she came with another one. I asked her if she wanted strawberries, she asked for waffles and cereal and it dawned on me. I totally forgot to feed her lunch!! Poor kid!! Talk about a neglective mother that your daughter would eat two bananas because she was so starving hungry!!

So at dinner I was scarfing down my salad and steak. I was so hungry!! Those little snickers I had eaten earlier didn't satisfy me! Then I ate too much. Oooooo my belly!! It was making all the groaning and moaning noises last night in bed that I couldn't even go to sleep.

One last stop after dinner to Meijer for diapers and the goods for our special v-day dinner tonight. Can't wait!! yay! :)

Home and everyone went to bed. Adding another year to my life has sure tired me out!!

on my own

Today is a sad day for me. My hubby is on a jet plane on his way to the cold state of WY for work. We were all up at 6 this morning to take him to the airport. It's amazing how busy the airport was. He said the plane to Chicago was packed. I'm guessing a lot of business people going to work. I've talked to him twice already. He's still in Chicago as he had a 2 1/2 hour layover. I forget they're an hour behind. He flies into Denver and then takes a puddle jumper plane to Gillette, WY. I hope he gets to see the mountains. He loves the mountains. He'd live there if we could afford it.

soo....anyway...he's gone. I'm home with two crab apple kids and this guy was honking at me this morning to get a move on to turn left into the airport. Snow, blinding headlights of a truck facing me turning left the other way. I started "talking" to him. Ed just smiled (he knew what I was thinking). Like I am going to TURN LEFT when I can't see a stinking thing and get hit again!?! I don't THINK SO!! Man...that guy put me in a BAD mood this morning!

ok...whew! done spewing.

Today consists of taking Sam to preschool, going to the store to get the first ever round of valentines day cards for Sam to take Monday (see these hilarious v-day cards I found on google), home to keep an eagle eye on an ebay bike for Sam's b-day (e-bay gets me riled up...especially if I lose), go get Sam and then naps for all!! yay for naps!

Holy COW I have to take Sam to school!!!

Ed's b-day

Jan. 27 was Ed's b-day. We took him out to Macaroni Grill and had a smashing time of good food. Saturday was my turn to take him out all by myself.

I had slipped and he found out we were going to Noto's. We got all dressed up and Sam took this picture (hence why our legs are cut off and it's an an angle facing up b/c he's really not that tall) :)

Then to Noto's we went. Such yummy, yummy food. I had a bread crusted rib eye and Ed had a chicken with mushroom sauce. Along with salads, we were stuffed to the gills.

Then I surprised Ed with an hour at Oasis. We stayed in the new Nova Scotia room (picture below) that is enclosed except the back wall where all those little panes are open, so there was a nice breeze coming in . Ohhh...it was SOOOOO nice and relaxing. We were both wrinkled, wobbly noodles when we got out and it was hard to stay awake all the way home!!

It was a really fun night and we were able to just sit and talk without little people demanding our attention.

losing my cookies

I have a lot to catch up on over the past week and a half. Life has gotten out of control and much more busy now that I have taken over laundry responsibilites. So to start off, I will tell a story that happened Tuesday.

Sam wanted a snack. Nothing new there. I told him I needed to finish working first and then I'd help him. I guess he was so starving hungry, he took it upon himself to get his own snack. The bad thing about kids is that they watch you and remember how you do things. Like peel an orange. I peel an orange with a steak knife (make slits and then peel the skin off). Little did I know that he was doing this exact thing. "MOMMYYYY!!!!" screams come from the kitchen and he comes into the living room holding his orange under his arm, a very long 10-12 inch sharp knife in the other hand (which looks a LOT longer than it is being held in a 4 year olds hand), and a finger dripping blood that he starts to shake because it hurts. Without throwing my computer down too hard, I grab him and put him over the sink and start rinsing off his finger. All the while he keeps saying, "I'm so sorry mommy!!" and I just keep saying, "I'm sorry for you that you cut yourself!!" Do you think it would stop bleeding? I'm thinking hospital, stiches, infections, and then it did stop bleeding. Once the bandaid was on, life was better.

I couldn't eat for a good four hours after seeing all that blood.

And then later that day he tries the same thing again. Ei ei ei!!!!

Milestone

Last night was a milestone in our family. Our little baby went on the potty for the first time! Some may not think this to be that big of a deal, but if that means not dishing out $13 every two weeks for diapers, I'm ALL over this.

The problem is though, she only went in reaction to her brother standing there going to the bathroom. She was sitting there on her little potty, looking all cute and naked, her brother comes in, starts going to the bathroom and sure enough, she starts going. We were all cheering and clapping for her and she was looking at us like complete idiots and had NO idea what was going on. Sigh... Does this mean that I have to drag him into the bathroom every time I want her to try?

Considering she's not quite two yet, I know I have time. But hey, she showed me she can do it, so that's it. No going back. She has no choice. ok...maybe she does. But it was exciting all the same! :)

(And yes, I will say that I did take a picture of her sitting on her potty, but am thinking she probably wouldn't appretiate it if I showed the world) :) I'll just put it in her baby book and show the guys she starts dating (when she's 30).