It's over.

I had my last birthday yesterday. I'm done with them now. I have a good friend who is having her last in June. We're going to be each others comparison. "Yes, I'm 29. I can prove it. (shows picture) She's 29, too!" Lovely how that will work, right?

I never really thought I'd be the one to have a problem with "growing older". I am constantly telling Tim that it doesn't matter to me, but as he was teasing me yesterday, it did bother me. And then it bothered me more that he wouldn't stop. And today it bothers me that I only feel ok joking about my age, but I'm not ok with him doing it. Ugh. I hate that.

Anyway, yesterday was awful. It started out that I had a headache and laid on the couch most of the day. Tim forgot, but claimed that he didn't. He and the kids quickly made a card on the computer and we ate leftovers and frozen pizza. I wanted to go swimming, but with my headache, I wasn't going anywhere. Then, my friend Kathy and two of her kids came over for a visit. That was really nice. So, that was yesterday. Today I have a little headache, but not like it was yesterday.

Enough complaining! On to the good stuff! Leave me a comment on this post by December 5th and you could win something fabulous! It might be a loaf of my fresh caramel apple bread or a jar of jam I made or it might even be handcrafted jewelry! Ya never know. I'll post the prize and the winner on the 6th!

**EDIT: I HAVE A PRIZE!! I have a Taste Of Home Fast Fixes With Mixes Cookbook for the lucky winner! These things are so easy, even my SIL Lisa can make them....very minimal ingredients and quick to throw together and make it look like you slaved away all day!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Tomorrow I will be shopping for our feast and Wednesday and Thursday will be spent preparing food and enjoying the company, so you probably won't see me again until Friday. In the meantime, you can head over to Cafe Jessica and see what I'm cooking up for Thanksgiving!! I've got our whole menu laid out WITH THE RECIPES for you. (I know Maleesa will like that!) So, head over and see what I'm cooking. There's some old stand-by recipes and some new ones I'm sure will be favorites, too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It Won't Be Like This For Long...

Any old Hootie and the Blowfish fans out there?? I used to enjoy them back in the day. Now, Darius Rucker is hitting the road on the country side of things. I heard his first country single on the radio and didn't know that he was going country. The voice sounded SO familiar, but I couldn't place it right away. But, in a few minutes it hit me. It was a good song. This morning, one of the baby blogs I read had this video posted. It's a song that he wrote for his little girl, and while I don't have any little girls it is so sweet and I even dropped a tear or two while listening. Enjoy!

Opening day

It is opening weekend of the nine-day gun deer hunting season in Wisconsin this weekend. Today was opening day. It's a weekend my beloved spends almost all year thinking about. Dreaming about. Last year, he shot several times over the course of those nine days and got NOTHING. It was disappointing and frustrating for him and it also meant a year with no venison in the freezer and I was disappointed about that. But, this year things are looking up. He got a doe during bow season and this morning, around 8 am, he got an 8 point buck. YAY FOR TIMMY!

TJ said it's his buck...

But he didn't want to touch it...
Marshmallow boy came along to check things out...
And needed some help to get back up, but I'm not sure TJ was much help...
Wherever Daddy goes, Rugby and Riley have to go, too. They had to help skin the doe that Adam got...
Rugby so proud of the blood on his new gloves. UGH! Little boys....
Showing off dad's deer...
He spent the $2 when he registered the buck to get another doe tag, so he can get two does and another bonus buck over the next eight days. That's a LOT of venison. We ground most of this one up into hamburger thanks to my KitchenAid food grinder attachment for my stand mixer. I LOVE THAT THING!! We have 2 large packages of tenderloins and a couple roasts and 20 pounds of burger, plus whatever was left from the doe that he got during bow season. YUM!!!!!!
gcdjhgc

The Train De-railed

Twice in the last 3 days, I've had beautiful, thoughtful posts all written out (in my head), gone to Blogger to put them down and they've disappeared.

Why is it that after 4 kids, the youngest being 15 months old, that I STILL have major cases of disappearing memory? Really. Does pregnancy ravage a woman's brain to the point of no return or is it the four kids running their mother ragged between school, sickness, and after-school activities, then throw in a couple interviews for mommy and we've got a full-fledged 3-ring circus. Honest to goodness, I could do without it. I wouldn't trade my kids for anything, but I thought I could at least keep my brain. Wow. I guess not.

Wii anyone?

Cruising along bloggyland today, I spied a giveaway! Wanna get your hands on a wii and a wii fit with the balance board? Head on over to La Petite Chic and leave a comment to enter! (Or don't, I'm gonna win, anyway! lol, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight?!)

My tsunami was barely a splash in the kiddie pool

My cleaning tsunami, that is. Ok, so maybe it was a bit ridiculous to expect to get ALL those things done, especially when I'm feeling less than splendid. But, it feels good to have a list and to be able to cross things off, right. I'm not fretting that I didn't get all of the list done, I have tomorrow afternoon to work on it again AFTER MY INTERVIEW!! (That got scheduled this afternoon, btw!)

So, I did get a little bit done, but not nearly what I'd hoped. Here's the list:

Fold laundry 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 DONE!
Clean kitchen (swept, at least and I tore the high chair apart and washed the cover AND the straps that were crusted with food and bleached the rest of it. I got the dishes all washed which was quite a chore as well.)
Clean boys' bathroom DONE!!
Clean Tim's bathroom DONE!!
Disinfect playroom
Scrub kitchen floor
Scrub boys bathroom floor
Scrub Tim's bathroom floor
Wash more laundry (3 washed and folded!!) DONE
Wash Rugby's floor (He went to bed waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy early, so no chance on that tonight.)
Wash living/dining room floor
Vacuum hallway
Wash sheets
Find pix for Aunt Sandy

AND! I made homemade buttermilk waffles for supper. Riley and TJ were in heaven and Tucker even ate a whole one by himself, I was so surprised!! They were pretty tasty!

Mommy's got work to do

And she doesn't want to do it. Seriously, I have a sore throat, my fingers are freezing, my toes are freezing, I'd rather snuggle up in bed with a cup of cocoa, watch a movie and sleep the day away....but I have kids. One of which managed to miss two days of school last week in a school that was almost closed by public health because there are sooooooooooo many kids missing with this nasty bug that is going around and the same child tried to get me to keep him home today, but since he hasn't thrown up and hasn't had a fever since Friday night and his only other symptoms are a little headache and a tummy ache, mean old mommy made him go to school. I did have a chat with his teacher about it, too. So, since I had a sick kid I should really do some major cleaning in here. Riley's teacher told me that the nurse at school has everyone cleaning with a 10% bleach solution because nothing else will kill this bug. Lovely. So, to make myself accountable and to actually try to get something done because Bloggyland wants to know what I did today, I'm posting my "to-do" list. I'll post tonight or tomorrow with what I actually got done. Here it is, in no particular order:

Fold laundry 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 (the numbers are the amount of baskets of washed clothes that I have waiting in the laundry room right now)
Clean kitchen
Clean boys' bathroom
Clean Tim's bathroom
Disinfect playroom
Scrub kitchen floor
Scrub boys bathroom floor
Scrub Tim's bathroom floor
Wash more laundry (I have about 3 loads that still need washing)
Wash Rugby's floor
Wash living/dining room floor
Vacuum hallway
Wash sheets
Find pix for Aunt Sandy

New for YOU!

Hello out there, Bloggyland!

Over there --> I have two new gadgets for your ease. You can FOLLOW our adventures and also you can SUBSCRIBE to my blog so you never miss a thing. Cool, right?! In a few days, they'll be moving lower, so take advantage of their easy placement now! :)

And I'm thinking about hosting a giveaway soon, too. Possibly for those who are following us over there-->. Hmm, sounds a bit like bribery. I like it. I'll let you know before I do any drawings so you'll have time, but DON'T DELAY! FOLLOW TODAY! ;)

(And I really like when you comment. )

Still standing...

We're still here and all seems to be going well. Mom is tired and has a sore throat, but I think we'll make it. More to come later!

Riley update

It's progressed to fever and headache. The poor kid has done nothing but lay on the couch or a chair and drink apple juice all day. We (yes, WE) took a nap this afternoon and now I get to wash the sheets when he gets up. That nap felt good to me, so hopefully he's not too miserable when he gets up. The babies are still napping, too which is a bit odd. I'm sure this will work itself through the house like wildfire. Don't be surprised if you don't hear from us for a while..........

Smiles and Tears

Rugby and Riley had an eye doctor appointment yesterday and it was a day filled with smiles and tears.

Rugby went first, so Riley got to play in the hallway with the babies. It was very difficult to contain the babies in that place. Shopko Optical is a shop in a strip mall with an indoor hallway connecting them all. We tried to stay in the hallway because TJ and Tuck thought it SUPER fun to pull the glasses from the shelves. UGH! (I did manage to find a couple frames that I really liked, too!!) Anyway, Rugby went for his check first. They did the glaucoma testing and all that, then while he was waiting, they did Riley. Rugby came out smiling from ear to ear. He has to get glasses. So, the eye doctor set us up with the boxes of frames that our insurance will pay for so he could take his time and pick them out. (There weren't many choices) I loved one pair that he tried on, and he agreed to put it on the "maybe" pile. Then, he tried on a few more pairs when WHAM! He knew instantly when he put them on that they were the ones. And they look so SHARP!!

While we were picking out glasses, Riley was getting his eyes checked. He came out looking so sad. I could tell he was holding back the tears. He doesn't need glasses, but he wanted them SO BADLY. Poor kid. I tried to explain that with two parents whose eyes are as bad as they are, that he'll probably need glasses someday, but to be happy that his eyes are working perfect so he doesn't need them yet. Logic like that doesn't work well on a 6 year old....so mom bought ice cream and that made it better. lol!

Then, (after ice cream) we went to Tucker's urologist. When he was born, he was having issues feeding and breathing, so they didn't do his circumsision. We met with a doctor that would be able to do it now. So, we're waiting to hear back from the insurance company on what it's going to cost us before we schedule that. Would be nice if Tuck has to get ear tubes to schedule both of them for the same day, though. (We don't know about tubes yet).

So, that was our day of smiles and tears yesterday.

Today, Riley's home from school with a major tummy ache and the nurse at school said that there's a nasty flu bug going around. Saturday, Riley was playing at Brandon's house and Brandon was home from school Monday and Tuesday because he was sick, so it's totally possible he brought something home with him. Lovely. Clorox cocktail, anyone? (I'm only half kidding....)

November the 11th

It's a beautiful day.

Today we remember our veterans. The men and women who have fought and sometimes, even died, to protect our freedoms. America would not be what it is today without these brave men and women. To take the time today to thank a veteran. I'm thanking: My grandfather, Les. Tim's dad, Steve. Tim's brother, Joel. Tim's twin, Tom. My uncle, Rick. Tim's uncle, Jan. My cousin, Steve. And on December 6th, my cousin Tanya leaves for basic training with the Air Force.

Thank you for all you've done and continue to do!

Star Wars

I'm not much for Star Wars. Pretty sure you could have guessed that. I've seen the originals, but none of the new ones and have no desire, either. However, I can appreciate that it is so well loved by SOOOOOOOOOOO many. While I was cruising the internet after 2 little boys kicking me out of bed this morning, I found the video below. I LOVED it!! I hope you do, too!

Another?

Remember back here I said that I had good news, but it wasn't using my degree? Well, the company that I applied to then called today to schedule an interview for next week!! I still haven't heard about my last interview, but this is promising! They said I could bring a portfolio if I had one, so I should try and pull somethings together by Tuesday. WOOHOO! (Now to find a sitter!)

The Interview

I think it went well.

People, in general, never cease to amaze me. There was a wide variety of people there today. There was a kid, pretty sure he was no more than 18 in shorts and a t-shirt. There were 2 guys that were only missing the tie and their suit would have been complete. There was two older ladies (like 60 ish) wearing sweatshirts, jeans and tennis shoes. There were a couple girls there dressed rather casually. Then there was me. I had on black slacks and a blue blouse. I felt overdressed.

So, I'm kind of wondering....when interviewing for a restaurant like that do you wear business casual like I did, or is casual wear sufficient?

The first part was a group interview. They explained the company philosophy, job expectations (30 seconds from the time the order is placed to the time it's given to the customer), the rules (that was interesting....no cigarettes allowed, even on your break because the smell overwhelms the food and the customer should only be smelling the awesomeness of the food we are preparing. HOME BAKED BREAD!!) From there, we had individual interviews. Half with the general manager and half with the owner. I had mine with the GM. She was great. I could see being friends with her.

They also said they play Classic Rock in the restaurant. LOVE THAT! So, by the end of the weekend I should know something.................

Proud Mama has to brag...

I'm telling you right now that I'm totally bragging in this post. Can't help it, sorry!

This weekend, Rugby wanted to use the loom set he bought for his birthday to make a hat for Tucker. He used the littlest one so that it wouldn't be too big. However what we didn't think about was that it was going to be too small. When my mother-in-law told him that it was the baby/doll size, he wasn't upset. I mentioned maybe taking them to the hospital to have the nurses give a new baby. He LOVED the idea. He finished up the cute little hat that day.When we left lunch with my mom, we headed over to the hospital to see if they'd take our donation. The nurses there were thrilled. They thought it was so cool that a little boy thought to do that.
So now, he's on a mission to make more hats for little babies so that we can take them to the hospital, he's already got a purple one started. He's hooked on giving and I couldn't be prouder!

The weekend review

Here's a Thanksgiving preview for you:
Doesn't that look YUMMY?!! It was! It's a Pumpkin Turtle Cheesecake and the recipe will be on Cafe Jessica soon. My mom was here this weekend, as well as Tim's parents so I had a full house again. It's always nice to have company. Tim's parents had plans for dinner with Grandma and Grandpa B, so mom was here for supper Saturday so we had a Thanksgiving meal since we stay here for turkey day and she's back home for that. I made an herb glazed turkey that was TO DIE FOR. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOODDDDDDD!!!!!!! Smashed taters and corn were also on the menu with the yummy cheesecake for dessert.


We put R&R to bed on the pull out Friday night and JoJo wanted to join them...this is what I found a few minutes later.........

Friday night was trick-or-treating in town, so Rugby's buddy Brandon came over and Jaimie and I walked our street with all 5 kids. It was fun! The Witch and Groucho Marx.

The witch, pirate, tiger and pumpkin.......
Sunday, mom took us out for lunch after church. The boys voted for Chinese so we went to Menomonie and had Chinese. After lunch, mom said goodbye and began her journey back home. When we said goodbye, we ran over to the hospital for a little errand. I'll tell you all about that in another post later tonight or tomorrow.

How was your weekend??