It's A Boy's Life For Me

Porch update

2011-07-08T14:03:00.002-05:00

Hello again so soon! Yay! I thought that I would give you an update on my porch since it's been my pet project of the summer months. Remember last year? CLICK HERE. Go ahead and review, I can wait.

Back again? K, lovely! Anyway, it was coming along well enough. My problem was with the chairs. I like the chairs, but they have foam cushions and weren't really meant for outdoor use. I have been on the hunt for comfortable chairs (I like to sit and read on the porch) that were meant to be outside and wouldn't break the bank. Good luck, right? I had friends watching for me and one even found a set I liked, but the chairs didn't have arms, so I thought I'd wait and see if I found something I liked better before I jumped into buying that set. Just DAYS later, while in Fleet Farm, my mom found the perfect set! It was comfy, the chairs had arms, there was a table to match and it was on clearance! ROCK ON! So, here it is:
My little endtables that I made last summer are holding up quite well. Tucker decided to paint the walls of the porch with spray paint this spring. At least it's a pretty robin's egg blue. :) We'll be power washing and restaining hopefully this summer, so I didn't freak out about it tooooo bad!

I also picked up this little fountan at a yard sale this spring. I love the calm, gently falling water noises. And the kids love to play in the water. lol. I emptied it now because I was raising mosquitos in there, in advertantly, ooops! Guess I'll fill it just when I want to use it.

This is the table. I cut some lilies from my garden and some other misc flowers to have some fresh flowers on the porch. I had peonies in there earlier this spring that were super cool looking. The green candles are citronella candles so the bugs don't eat me alive while I'm out there. I'm still waiting for Tim to have time to hang my ceiling fan. In the meantime, I haul a standing fan out there when I need a little breeze (like today).

And this is the little bench that Tim made out of a toddler bed. The cushion is dirty, but aside from that, it's held up as well. The plant on the right there is from my Uncle Lowell's funeral. I had to repot it since it outgrew it's other pot. I love how long and kind of wild it's getting.

Ok, so that's the grand tour of the porch....my favorite place to just sit and chillax.

11 months

2011-07-05T20:36:00.002-05:00

It was all I could do.

We officially have internet back at the house and I could NOT be happier about it! It's sooooo nice to be able to pay bills, read facebook, and look for recipes on a real computer vs. my phone and SOOOOOOOOO much more convenient than the library since their hours don't usually jive with my schedule.

I have update my porch....again! So, I will be posting pictures of that soon as well as some other pictures of the kids and some updates on them as well. See you soon!!

The End Tables (and I need your help!)

2010-08-12T11:22:00.005-05:00

I finally got around to building my end tables for the front porch and then painting them up. When I bought material for them, I didn't have a plan, other than I didn't want to spend a lot of money on them. I found a piece of pine that was the right width and double the length that I wanted for less than $1 at Menards-SCORE! So then I picked up two furring strips, each 8' long thinking 2' for each leg. I found a gallon of Behr exterior paint on the oops rack at Home Depot in "Sonoran Sands" for $5 and that will be more than enough for this and many, many other projects!

So, I had my grandpa cut the piece that I was going to use for the top in half so I had two square-ish pieces. Then, I realized that by simply cutting 4 legs for each table was not going to make it very sturdy because there would be no bracing. 4 kids = the need for bracing. So I scoured the internet for ideas, picked my daddy's brain, and my BIL's brain. Didn't find anything that I really thought I wanted. So, I took bits and pieces from all 3 places and came up with these tables.

For one, I realized that 24" is too tall for the space I wanted. 12" would be plenty tall. So, I had my BIL cut me 8 pieces 12" long. Then, I laid two pieces on the board flush with one side and measure the amount of space that was left and that became the length of the piece that is the bracing section. In my case, that was 8 1/2" and I used 4 of those for each table.

Now, I could have lined the braces up so it made a square around the legs, but I didn't like that look. So, I put two of them high and two of them low and I love how it turned out.

While I was in the store picking up some screens we had made for our back door, I found a paint sample that I fell in love with. But it was interior paint . There was an easy fix to this problem...have them mix me some exterior!

The plan became to paint the legs the sonoran sands Behr paint and the tops were this gorgeous Pollination from EcoLoco. The only problem is I think it might be a smidge too bright and that creates other project possibilities....do I paint the table between the two chairs to match the new end tables and/or should I paint the frames of the white chairs the pretty green? Let me know what you think! Last night I had the brilliant idea of using some white bed sheets (the unfitted ones) to make floor to ceiling "drapes" for out there that we could close to create some privacy and/or to keep the bugs out/down. Not sure about that, yet, either. Anyway, that's the long and short of it. Hope you like the tables and I can't wait to hear what you think about my other potential projects!

Has it really been that long?

2010-07-25T22:06:00.004-05:00

WOW! I didn't realize that it's been so long since my last post. Not really feeling like blogging lately and seems like there isn't much to blog about. Though when I took pictures off my camera today (first time since June 16th) there were 179 pictures, so OBVIOUSLY something was worth taking a picture and therefore blogging about!

While I was watering plants this morning, I noticed that my rosemary wasn't doing so hot, so I pulled him out of his spot in the flower bed and planted him in a pot on the front porch, added some vines and petunias that I hadn't planted yet. That turned out nice and started me on a whirlwind cleaning expedition of the front porch. I really need to power wash it and restain and seal the wood, but sweeping made a major improvement for today.

My SIL, Sue, gave me some great white chairs when she was cleaning out her storage unit over the 4th, and they found a home on my front porch as well. Two weeks ago, while I was at my parents, I saw a great oval mirror with a nasty gold frame in the pile headed for Goodwill so I rescued that and gave it a coat of spray paint and that turned up on my porch, too.

Then I had a mad stretch of ambition and tackled a project I never thought I would with Tim being gone....I used the mitre saw to trim down a scrap piece of lumber to use as the base of a cushion I made for the bench that Tim whipped up using the old toddler bed frame that met an untimely end as a bed, but was destined for greatness as a bench. A couple weeks ago, Tim made a beautiful hoosier style cabinet for someone and had this scrap piece laying there from the backing...so I grabbed it up and trimmed it to size. It was a bit too wide for the mitre saw, but I cut what I could, then flipped the material the other way, lined up the blade and cut again and it was perfect! Then I took some quilt batting to use for filler and some material I had laying around from another project (that I have yet to finish...) and stapled it to the base. EASY PEASY once I got the base board cut! I popped it in and I love the results! Here's the bench before the cushion....
And after.....

And so, with those improvements, a couple throw pillows and a lamp, I give you my front porch...comfy and cozy and waiting for a ceiling fan for many summer nights sitting there reading or chatting or just relaxing.

Laws Of Illusion

2010-07-01T20:31:00.003-05:00

Recently, I was contacted by the One2One Network to see if I wanted to review a new CD by Sarah McLachlan. I remember hearing her music, but didn't realize that it's been 7 years since she's had an album. I took the chance and have to say I LOVE IT! It's great to have music that you can listen to with the kids around...I wasn't too careful about that before, but since Riley's favorite CD is not one I care for a 7 year old to listen to, I do have to be more careful and this is a great one for the whole family!

I've had the CD playing for days while I'm cleaning or playing with the kids...just whenever we're home. I've even caught myself singing along. :)

If you like the music Sarah has put out in the past, you'll love this!

(CD was provided to me for review, but all opinions are my own. Thanks!)

Tucker Story

2010-06-16T13:08:00.000-05:00

I have a funny story that I forgot to share.

A couple weeks ago, Tucker got up early so Tim was helping him get dressed. Tim sent him to the bathroom to get his undies. It took him a long time, so Tim went to see what he was up to. Turns out he found something more fun than undies.

He unwrapped and was trying to insert a tampon. He looked up and told Tim, "I need dis in my butt, Dad."

What do you say to that? :)

Here FISHY FISHY FISHY!!

2010-06-14T08:30:00.004-05:00

Remember that old Bert and Ernie clip where they are out on the lake and Ernie doesn't bring a fishing pole and Bert doesn't believe that you can catch fish by calling them?

It kinda feels like that around here lately. The boys (all 5 of them) are in a race to catch the biggest bass. Tim will catch a big one, then one of the boys will catch a bigger one and it goes back and forth. Tim doesn't ever get to hold the family record for more than 24 hours. This weekend, Tim caught a 17" bass in the morning.

And TJ caught a 20" that afternoon.

He wanted to cast while we were out fishing, so Tim put a big bait thing on the hook and let him go. About a half hour of him casting and reeling it in right away and we hear a big splash. We thought it was Riley catching a big one, but he yelled that it was JoJo. Tim went running. TJ was reeling it in, but trying to hang on for dear life. He got it about 5' from shore before it was too tough and Tim had to help out.

What a beauty.

Of course, the water was just too hard for Riley and Tucker to resist. Riley was playing in the water and Tucker jumped in....he didn't expect it to be so deep, so he wasn't able to catch his balance and needed Riley to rescue him. There's a reason we don't have a pool in the yard! Here's a shot of all the boys on the way home from the lake.

How does your garden grow?

2010-06-01T07:53:00.005-05:00

Very well, thank you.

My friend Kelly asked to see pictures of my garden, so I thought I'd share them here. It's easier to load lots of pictures here than to post them on Facebook....plus my FB profile pulls my blog posts so it's win-win.

April 17th, I planted my raspberries and then on the 19th, I planted the peas between the rows of berries. This will work for me this year, but not in years to come because the berries will be too tall and pokey. :) I have 3 rows of snap peas and 3 rows of snow peas, each are about 8 feet long.
April 30th, the potatoes went in. This is the first year I've ever done potatoes, so we'll see how it goes. I may skip these in future years to have room for my peas, but we'll see. Dotted among the potatoes, I planted broccoli. 10 plants went in, but ole Mother Nature was hard on a few of them and I now have 8 plants. This day I also planted about 80 yellow onions.

May 16th the rest of the garden went in. This includes:
*15 rows of corn (2 varieties)
*5 rows of green beans (2 varieties)
*3 packets (2 varieties) carrots
*3 cucumber plants
*2 pumpkin plants (which are flowering already?!)
*2 watermelon plants
*80 red onions
*3 jalapeno plants
*10 roma, 3 cherry and 7 slicing tomato plants (That's 20 tomatoes....those of you that live close, be prepared to receive tomatoes, lol!!)
*3 celery plants
*and a cabbage that is Rugby's project for school.

Tim made me a trellis (well, one for each row) for the peas and they are climbing that pretty well. I still need to do some training there.

We have a trellis built with 2x4's and chicken wire for the cucumbers to climb, but he needs to put stakes in yet to hold it up. The tomatoes are going to be staked on broom sticks or trained around twine on a wooden frame...we'll see. We need to plan that yet.

And the most exciting news? I have baby peaches on my tree!! They are about the size of cherries right now, but this summer I WILL HAVE PEACHES!! YAY!!

So, that's how my garden is doing. How about yours?

Send clorox wipes and wine...STAT!

2010-05-29T19:11:00.002-05:00

We're knee deep (almost literally!) in potty training #4....it's hit or miss, especially with the #2 portion of the training. Tonight, he is standing on the deck and pulls his pants to his ankles, "Me go potty outside" and I whisk him to the toilet, "No, we go on the potty" and he did. He took off running outside to play with Dad and JoJo and the neighbor boy. Five minutes later, I was heading outside to see how things are going and to see if Tim needed help, but caught Tucker trying to get in the back door. Being the FABULOUS mother that I am, I let him struggle with the door while I took the time to hide (right next to the door) to scare him when he walked in.

Should I stop here and tell you that he dressed himself earlier in the day and was sans undies? Yes, that's important to know.....

So, he gets the door open and I scare him. (yay! lol!) He's saying "Me going poops, Mom. Me going pooooooooooooooops." Too late. It had fallen from his bum, slid down his leg and out onto the concrete step. I scooped him up, pulled the pants and shoes off and plunked him on the toilet....where he realized there was poop spread on his leg, so therefore it was on the toilet seat and totally grossing him out. Straight to the shower with the kidlet, out come the Clorox wipes and while he's showering, I'm sharing this all with you....then I'm getting my wine. I may need more by the time the weekend is over.

My Amazing Godfather

2010-05-12T09:44:00.002-05:00

My amazing godfather lost his battle with cancer last Saturday. Tomorrow is the funeral.

Uncle was a great man. Always quick with a joke and a smile. Anyone that ever met him, loved him. He was so much fun and we were all better just for knowing him. He loved his wife, Brenda, and her two girls just as much as he loves his own 3 kids. He was so self-less, giving what he could to make everyone else happy and was always the peace-keeper.

When I was growing up, I remember always laughing with him. I remember him sitting me on his lap and letting me drive his baby blue cutlass...he put it on cruise and let me steer...I was probably only 7 or 8, maybe even younger. I remember going go-carting with him. I remember going with him and his kids to the hotel in Green Bay while he was playing in a cribbage tournament. I'd watch the kids and then after we'd do something fun. The circus was in town the same weekend as that tournament, so we'd usually get to do that, too.

I remember taking Rugby and Riley out on the lake with him. Uncle loved to spend time on the water in his boat...either skiing or swimming or fishing...just having fun.

A few years ago, it was his idea to get all the family together for Christmas and get a block of rooms at a hotel with a pool and hang out there. We were living across the state at the time, but we made it for that. All of us did. And we all had SO MUCH FUN!

In recent years, he was getting into making his own wine and he was SO GOOD at that, too. He made the wine for his wedding, even. It's something I wish that I'd have talked to him more about because I'd love to learn.

I was looking for pictures to scan and post, but I can't seem to find my book with them in. Maybe that's better for now, I don't know if I could look at them without crying.

I'll miss him. I already do. We all do. He was a great man, but he's leaving behind some wonderful kids and a legacy of love. And I'm sure he's in a better place and we'll see him again someday.

Love you, Uncle.

Family Pix

2010-04-22T15:47:00.002-05:00

Over Easter, my friend Kelly offered to take a family picture for us. It was nice because we were all dressed nicely for Easter church.

My mom hijacked it from my Facebook page and had it printed, I should have one printed, too because the family picture I have hanging on my wall is from when RILEY (my 7 year old) was 2 months old. I think it's time.

Hello there!

2010-04-21T10:22:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone!

If you stopped by (vs reading me in a reader) did you notice any changes lately? I love the new options for backgrounds within Blogger now! I freshened up the 'ole blog for spring with a fancy bright blue and having the option for a double column on the right side over there is super nice.

I also took the blogs I read section off and replaced it with the fancy-dancy new version that has a little snippet of each blog's most recent post....and it's tied to my google reader which I majorly trimmed today, too. I went from near 100 blogs to 38 that I just couldn't get rid of. Should be much more manageable.

Also, you may have noticed that I've been posting less often lately...kinda in a funk about that so I contacted BlogHer ads and let them know they could fill my spot with someone that is up to blogging more often than I have been. They've been super patient with me and I appreciate that, but one tiny check every 6 months wasn't really worth the pressure of posting that often. I tried to build readership, but didn't quite succeed there, either. So, this is the way it will go. I'll be deleting my reviews blog since I'm no longer with BlogHer, I can have them here instead so it's not YET ANOTHER blog to keep up with. I'm also going to try to spend some time working on Cafe Jessica.

But, what I'm really doing is making my life a bit simpler and easier to manage right now. My uncle is really sick and I'd like to worry about that....not a blog I have to keep up with or blogs in my reader. I'm also not joining more weight loss challenges at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans for a while so I don't have to think about weighing in all the time. I'm going to attempt to make real, in real life friends. And I want to feel like I have a purpose again and be a good mommy to my boys because, honestly, I've been slacking there, too. So, expect fewer posts, but with a little luck they'll be longer and more picture filled.

Garden

2010-04-19T15:36:00.002-05:00

Tis the season!! YAY!!! This weekend, someone on Craigslist was offering up some purple raspberry plants if someone wanted to come dig them up. Well, yes, thank you! So we went and it was just the little suckers, but we dug and dug and dug some more. My mom and grandma both think I'm nuts because I planted 8 rows of them and each row is 9 feet long. I know they are a lot of work, but I have four kids and if I expect any berries to make jam or pies with, I have to have enough for them to eat and still make things. The man we got them from said I should have berries next year, so we'll see....

Next weekend, we're hoping the neighbor is able to til the garden for me so I can plant some spring crops. I planted some peas between the raspberry rows because I just couldn't wait, but I have onions and spinach I want to plant down there yet.
I heard something on public radio about planting rye on the walkways to help keep weeds down, but need to research that some more and I'm still trying to figure out this companion planting thing. I have a ton of questions, so I might have to go to the extension office and see if someone there can help or point me in the right direction.

Blueberry munchers

2010-04-15T08:27:00.002-05:00

How can I keep up when this is what happens when I leave the room for 2 seconds?!

Can you tell which brother was less involved here?

"Wasn't me!" -Tucker

"Whoops! Dropped one (or 12)"

"WOOHOO! Mom left the blueberries out for me!"

Going's on

2010-04-12T14:58:00.002-05:00

Good Afternoon!

This morning, I had a tooth pulled so I am stuck sitting still this afternoon. The babies had a nap when we got home and I've been able to sit still. I'm glad that today's weather isn't as gorgeous as yesterday's or I'd be in big trouble. We are planning to do leftovers tonight since Tim isn't home yet to help make dinner. Sounds like he'll be home right around bedtime. I'm tired, but I'm tired of sitting still, too. The boys will be home from school soon, then it's homework and craziness until bed. Hopefully they don't mind watching movies and playing wii tonight. :) Have a great night! Be back to blogging soon!

Got my run on

2010-03-29T11:06:00.002-05:00

Went out for another run this morning....it was freezing cold and the tire on the stroller was flat so it was super hard to push (why didn't I figure that out before I left? Yea, I don't know the answer to that, either.) but I went and I DID IT. Just over a mile in 15 minutes and most of it walking. It's a start....baby steps, baby steps.

My SIL Lisa talked to me about doing the Bellin with her in June and while I was on the Bellin Run website this morning, I realized that I'm only 1 day behind in their training schedule, so I did that one day today and I can catch up tomorrow and be on track. I think it's a sign, so I'm gonna go for it. I am going to talk to Tim tonight about doing the registration for it, because I think it'll keep me on track better knowing that I don't want to waste the money for the registration. So, wish me luck, tomorrow is a 15 minute run and I walked/ran 15 minutes today and was sucking wind. Should be interesting!

noreply-comment

2010-03-26T12:21:00.001-05:00

I love comments. In fact, that's probably my favorite thing about blogging. I love knowing that something I'm saying or doing is enjoyed by and/or helping others. Maybe I'm just letting you know that you aren't alone in a situation. So, on the RARE occassion that someone does comment, usually I can't reply because the comments come from "noreply-comment @ blogger. com" and like the address states, I can't reply. It's so sad! So, sometimes I have time to search that persons blog to get an e-mail address or reply to their post or they have no blog and I can't reply at all. So, here I am asking for you, my loyal readers, to do me a favor. Will you please update your profile so I can easily reply to you? Here's a simple how to:

If you decide to get a new email account for this purpose, sign in to Blogger and edit your profile. Under the word “PRIVACY”, click the box by “Show My Email Address”. Under the word “IDENTITY”, enter your new email address where it asks for it. And that’s really all you need to do, unless you feel like updating more of your profile.

Pretty please?

Have I got a story for you!

2010-03-24T20:40:00.001-05:00

And it even has pictures! Unfortunately, my hubby has the camera and I keep forgetting to ask him for it when he's home. So, I'll keep you hanging on that one. If you are a facebook friend, then you've already heard part of it. My daddy laughed when he read that status update, I'm sure the full story will have him rolling! :) Be back soon with that!!

Oh, and I got new glasses and a new funky haircut to go with them!! Pix of that coming, too!

Running

2010-03-18T20:52:00.002-05:00

Hello there. Did you think I forgot about you? This lovely weather and four kids have been giving me a run for my money lately! They all love being outside so much. We're working on teaching the 2 year old to stay off the road which has been a constant challenge lately. I'm thankful that our street is fairly quiet, but there are people that just FLY past our house and it drives me insane. I'm almost tempted to throw a handful of nails or something out there, but then there's all the repercussions of that that I don't want to deal with, either. At least the road has heaved a bit at the bottom of the hill so if they are going too fast, they get a nasty bump. lol!

No real news to report. I found a dentist that takes our insurance and made an appointment with him. When I got there, he didn't lecture me about the condition of my teeth. (yay!) I found out that I need to have a tooth removed and then I start 4 hours of repair work after that. Oh the joy. I don't mind going to the dentist, but the thought of 4 hours is killing me. A lot of my old fillings are falling apart, so better to take care of them now before there's a problem.

Tim is still teaching and loving it. He's going to be coaching soccer and has talked about teaching summer school, too. Should be fun for him, I'm sure! Soccer starts pretty soon.

We're planning a trip back to Boyceville for Easter break, and we are ALL looking forward to that. Can't wait to see some old friends again and catch up with Adam and Kelly, too. While we're there, we'll get to spend some time with Tim's grandma, too and that's always nice. I can't wait.

I started running again....it's slow going, but I'm going. I've lost 7 pounds in the last 3 weeks with the challenge going on at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans and this running that I'm doing so Yay Me! My SIL, Lisa, is trying to talk me into a 10K in June and the one I was planning was for August. I don't know if I'll be ready for that, but I'm sure it'll be fun and she assured me that it'd be ok with her if we walked part of it. Maybe it would be a fun sisters thing. I also ordered a Garmin Forerunner GPS watch to help me with the running. It's pretty cool all the little things it does, I'm excited for it to come and to start using it!!

Well, that's my little mish mash of a post for tonight. Hope all is well!

Runnin' weather

2010-03-05T20:27:00.000-06:00

The WI weather has been PERFECT spring time weather this week. It's been high 30's and I'm LOVING it. Today is the first time since September or October that I went for a run and I could totally tell. I was sucking some major wind. I went about a mile and a half and it took me about 20 minutes. I was trying to keep the pace I kept last summer and that wasn't a real smart idea. lol! But, I went and I finished and I didn't collapse. I had the chills when I got back, but downed a few glasses of water and was fine. So, I'm running again. I LOVE IT! :)

Spring is springing!!

2010-03-03T08:16:00.002-06:00

We are just 17 days from Spring and with temperatures expected to hit 36 today with SUNSHINE, glorious SUNSHINE today, it even FEELS like Spring. It gets me itchy to play in the garden (never mind that I can't even see my garden under the snow, yet!) and plant some seeds and play in the flowers. I'm SO EXCITED!! I even bought most of my seeds already! I say most because I usually buy tomatoes already started...but they're so darn expensive when you think about it...one plant started costs as much as a whole packet of seeds! But, I also hate buying all those little pots. Today, I came across a SUPER idea, so this year I will be starting my own tomatoes inside and some other veggies, too! I thought I'd share, and hope that it helps some of you, too!

How to Create Seed-Starting Pots From Newspapers -- powered by eHow.com

DIY: Laundry Soap

2010-03-02T06:30:00.001-06:00

Alternately titled "How I keep our clothes clean for a penny per load"

Now do I have your attention? It should. Do you realize that Tide costs about .21 per load; same for Arm & Hammer?

When we moved to the other side of the state, and now back again, I knew I needed to do something about keeping our household expenses down. For 1)My hubby was a non-working, fulltime student. 2)My job doesn't pay in tangible goods like money or even food. 3)I like doing things in a more natural way. Honestly, I am still so far from being completely eco-friendly, but I like doing things like our grandparents did. I keep a garden, I cook meals from scratch, and now I make my own laundry detergent.

It's simple, the supplies are pretty cheap and easy to find, and it only takes a couple minutes every couple months to do it. There are several recipes out there, but I'll give you the liquid one and the powdered one that I use.

Liquid

13 cups HOT water
4 tbsp borax
4 tbsp washing soda
1/4 cup liquid castile soap like Dr. Bronner's (I like the orange scent)

Mix together in an ice cream pail (or other container of your choice). Stir every so often until cooled to room temperature. Usually I make this at night, stir a few times before bed and then it's ready in the morning. Use about 1/4 cup for each load.

Powdered

1 bar (3 oz) Ivory, Zote or Felsnaptha soap
1/2 cup borax
1/2 cup washing soda

Grate soap in your food processor, then change blades to the scary chopping blade. Add the borax and washing soda and process until it's a very fine powder. Use 1-2 tbsp per load.

These are both low suds formulas, so they work well in my front loading washing machine and you gotta love that! Enjoy!!

Life? What's that?

2010-03-01T08:18:00.002-06:00

You know the feeling where you are SO BUSY, but you look back and really didn't do anything? That's the feeling I've got right now. I didn't manage to get anything done lately, but I haven't blogged, either. Thursday R&R had half a day of school and Friday they didn't have school at all. Saturday morning I went grocery shopping and did some cleaning, then we played around the house and had my parents over for a yummy dinner of Indian Tacos and family bowling night on the wii. Sunday, I took TJ and Riley to church (Tim wasn't feeling well) where TJ sang and we came home, played games and got ready for another week.

Today, I am starting the 30 Day Shred Challenge at the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans. They had a new challenge start last Wednesday, so I have a team of COMMITTED CHICKS (That's our team name) to do this with over the next 8 weeks. I'm looking forward to getting to know those 5 ladies better over the next couple months and hopefully that's just the ticket to make the weight loss stick, but more importantly, to make the MOTIVATION to workout stick! A friend of mine from high school lives close, so she's gonna be coming over on her days off work to do the Shred with me! WOOHOO!! That's always a bonus, too.

So, look for a few of those kinds of posts over the next 2 months and hopefully the posting won't be so sporadic, either! :)

Fisherman Rugby

2010-02-21T13:10:00.001-06:00

Rugby has TWO! new posts up on his blog this weekend and I know that he'd love to see some comments! :) Please go show him some lovin'!

Fisherman Rugby

Test your knowledge and WIN!

2010-02-17T14:44:00.001-06:00

Test your Whole Grain knowledge and win a really cool prize pack from General Mills over on It's A Boys Life:Reviews! Check it out, contest ends February 28th!

I (BIG PUFFY HEART) My New Sink!

2010-02-17T06:14:00.000-06:00

When we moved back into this house last fall, we knew we wanted to make some upgrades and repairs to this house. We built it in 2000 with the blood, sweat, and tears of a newlywed couple (read: broke). We searched for deals on everything. Friends gave us furniture, plumber friends gave us plumbing things; we were very fortunate and still count our friends as some of our greatest blessings. You would not believe the amount of TIME people gave us to help build this house. It was amazing. Every weekend, there was someone here doing something. So, not everything was what we "wanted", but it looked nice and was functional so that's what counted (and still does!) the most. Little by little, we've been making some modifications. I showed you the new buffet thing in the living room already. I've also shown you the garbage cabinet and the former broom closet-turned-appliance garage. Today, I'm showing you my new kitchen sink. I am a mom of FOUR BOYS. That makes FIVE BOYS in my house....who are hungry! Thus, I spend a TON of time in the kitchen. We had a functional stainless steel sink. It was a gift to us and was wonderful, but it really made that side of the kitchen dark. I have white countertops. A month ago on Craigslist, someone offered up a WHITE sink. Not just any white sink....a KOHLER, white, cast iron sink! LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!

Now, we're in the market for a new faucet to replace the one that came with the sink. I'd love something with a high arch to it, but we'll see!

It's a WHAT?!

2010-02-08T09:06:00.003-06:00

This morning, I gave TJ a toilet paper tube when I put a new roll on and told him it was a tooter. I even showed him how to toot it. lol. When I handed it to him, he held it up to his eye. I said, "Oh! It's a binocular." And then he gives me THE LOOK. (You know what I'm talking about, right?!) He says, "No, it's a periscope."

Yeah, too much Diego lately. lol!

DIY Crazy!

2010-02-05T09:45:00.005-06:00

Over the last couple months, we've been DIY crazy over here! First, I showed you the "buffet" that my husband made in the living room. He took cabinets that we were removing from our finished basement (to make a bedroom for the bigger 2 boys) and put part of them in the living room (that will become my dining room after we put on our addition.). The other part of them got to stay downstairs and became a craft station for the boys. We used part of the countertop from down there in the living room, but it just didn't seem right. The blue countertop threw off the whole black and tan thing I had going on.

But, one of my AMAZING BIL's called that he found me an 8' sheet of black stone countertop. One of the businesses that he was remodeling was throwing it away. PERFECT! So, he brought it home and just before Christmas, my hubby and both his brothers put it in for me...it involved moving an outlet and carrying that super heavy stone, but it looks so nice! We have plans to put a pie safe on one end where the countertop hangs over and a bookshelf on the other end.

Here's the before and after:

Another project that we've been working on is transforming the garbage area. When we built the house, Tim had this dandy idea for a place for the garbage to be hidden, yet in a place that was easily accessible. He built a slide out cabinet that had room for 3 garbage cans and it worked...kinda. The garbage cans fit, but would fall over if you pulled the drawer open too fast. Not cool with kids in the house! So, when we moved back, that was one of the first projects on the list. He made a frame and cut three holes in the lid that the garbage cans can sit in and not tip over, plus there's a sneaky hiding spot with two sliding doors that is where he made a little pocket thing for my griddle and deep fryer cords and there's room there for the garbage bags....the door that is closest to the back is where we keep my BIL's beverage of choice for when he comes to visit...then it's not out where the kids are gonna get into it! WOOHOO! Here it is:

There's a couple other projects to show you, but I'll save those for another post. Have a great weekend!

Nothing like keeping you hanging...

2010-01-28T07:59:00.002-06:00

Sorry about that. I looked at the blog this morning and realized that I hadn't told you about Riley (and TJ's) first days at school. Facebook gets all the news lately and the poor old blog misses out.

Sunday night, Riley had a really hard time going to bed. Tim stayed down in his room and talked to him for a LONG time. He seemed to feel better after their chat and got up and ready Monday with NO issues at all. Mean mommy that I am, I sent him to school on the bus. His buddy Derrick from the bus goes to the same school and is now in his class, so he had someone to go with. Monday night, he got off the bus and said, "I guess that wasn't so bad afterall, Mom!" WOOHOO!! I asked if he made a friend and he told me ALL the boys in his class were his friends! (All 6 of them!) Tuesday and Wednesday he came home and told me that it was a better day than the day before, so it keeps getting better for him! Rugby is even happy because Riley's "Army" doesn't chase him at recess anymore.

TJ's first day, Tuesday, was good, too! We went in, showed him where his hook was for his coat and backpack. Then he grabbed his teachers hand and went into his class and never looked back. He got off the bus SMILING and talking about fun at school. We have some work to do on proper behavior on the bus, but so far, so good!!

Tim and I were talking last night about next year and meeting the fourth grade teachers at both schools before making a decision for Rugby. But, going by Riley's experience so far, it's possible he'll be making the switch, too. And if Tucker gets into the 3 year old program, I'll have all four kids in school. Wow.

The times...they are a changin'!

2010-01-20T13:22:00.002-06:00

As some of you know, we've had a bit of trouble with the new school and particularly one teacher there. This week we hit our breaking point. After many tears, some yelling and numerous phone calls (and even a little wine for momma), Riley will be starting a new school on Monday, Rugby will remain where he is since his teacher is great and he's finally starting to make some friends. Riley is hesitant, as any child would be, to change schools in the middle of a school year. He cried a bit when he found out Rugby wasn't going to be there, and only asked if it was ok to go meet the teacher before he starts school. But, Riley is my child that adapts best to change and is the most socially outgoing, so I don't think we'll have any problems. Riley will be attending the Lutheran school in town. And the best part is TJ IS GOING, TOO!! He will have class from 12:30 to 3 on Tuesday and Thursday. He is SO EXCITED about going to school. He was there to play today while I worked out and it didn't phase him....not even seeing the bigger kids. He didn't get all shy and clingy like usual! I am praying this is a good thing for him as I know it really is. I'm so encouraged by the environment there and by the people I've met so far. And who knows, maybe next year all 4 kids will be there.

Jillian Michaels is trying to kill me

2010-01-19T05:41:00.002-06:00

January 4th I began the 30 Day Shred. Like most people, I have good INTENTIONS and lack a bit on the follow through. Since then, I have missed 5 days. Really not too shabby. I seem to do it for two days and take a day off or two. Anyway, I should be on day 15, but today was day 10. Last week, Tim did the shred with me once and this week, I've already talked him into 3 days! So, he's on day 4. Today we started level 2. HOLY WOWZA! I have ALWAYS lacked upper body strength. I've never been able to complete more than 5 "boy" push ups. Ever. So, just starting this 30 Day Shred was a challenge there because in level 1, she has you doing push ups for 30 seconds straight along with other upper body exercise and it's killer! My shoulders ache and burn after the first circuit, but I keep chugging along and finish....usually following a modified Anita. lol. So, on level 2 she takes it up a notch. The ab work is noticably harder...like I almost can't make it through it. And the strength training is HARD. We finished 45 minutes ago(ish) and my shoulders are still achey. I can tell I worked out this morning. Some of the cardio is too hard for me to do...as far as coordination goes. lol and well, I lack in the upper body so it's extra hard.

But, I keep going and I am HONESTLY enjoying doing it....even if I'm so sore it feels like she's trying to kill me. And she isn't as annoying in her comments on the 2nd level which is a nice bonus, too. :)

Motivation

2010-01-15T13:19:00.004-06:00

It's Friday again and time to post the Monday Challenge project. This was much easier for me to do! I already had it kind of started thanks to my SIL, Sue, who made the awesome corkboard/whiteboard/magnetic workboard thing that I have by my computer.

Our challenge was to put together a motivation board. Be it the fridge or posterboard or a white board or even a closet door. Something, ANYTHING! So, since Sue so kindly gave me this board before Christmas, I thought I'd use that. It sits RIGHT next to my computer so I see it often throughout the day and it's a good reminder of why I'm getting up early to work out.

Here it is:

One of the circles has short term "I CAN..." goals on it. Simple things like "choose smaller portions" and "take a walk". The calendar my eight year old made me for Christmas and has his drawings for each month of the year. I use this for keeping track of what day I'm on for the 30 Day Shred and I have marked the dates to start my training for the 10K I want to do this fall.

The other circle has goals for the year on it. I also have my training schedules hanging there as a CONSTANT reminder that I will work on them. I need to see them to remember to do them so they don't get lost in a pile of paperwork somewhere. I also have a favorite little quote on there to keep me motivated. It says, "A DREAM is just a dream. A GOAL is a dream with a plan and a deadline. -Harvey Mackay"
And, there's room for me to add to it as I see things....maybe I'll print some pix from my two 5K's from last summer as a reminder, too!

A Change In Perspective...

2010-01-09T06:00:00.000-06:00

The Monday Project..

2010-01-08T08:15:00.006-06:00

You know that "Rethink Your Shrink" I was telling you about that's going on over at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans? Every Monday they're assigning HOMEWORK. lol. Due on Friday. Hence, the Friday post called the Monday Project. This challenge is all about digging deep and rethinking how you think about your body and weight loss and helping understand what does and doesn't work FOR YOU.

What about 2009 (and beyond) did not work?
Not being conscious of what I was eating. Not making ME a priority and making sure that I carved out my time to run, workout, whatever. I did really well from January to August when we were in Boyceville and I had my friends to walk with and I was training for the two 5K's I ran, but once we moved, I had no motivation. And it's harder to do it when we live in the country vs. living in town.

What were my goals?
Last year I wanted to run 2 5K's prior to my 30th birthday. And I did. But, I was unable to run them without stopping.

Did I fall short of achieving them? If so, why?
Yes and no here. I DID run the 5K's...both of them and yes, I did improve my time in the second one. But, I was lax on the training and should have trained harder. When we moved, I didn't run as often as I should have and I didn't work out real hard after my Monday night workouts were over in spring.

What were my biggest obstacles?
Having four kids and a hubby that isn't always available for childcare. And moving. We moved from a city house to a country house. I don't walk the kids to school anymore (we're too far). I haven't made me a priority in a looooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggg time.

What was my “rock bottom” moment?
That's me in the white. Seeing this picture literally HURT. I think I'd already started my journey when this was taken. Hitting 208 on my 5'9" frame. I KNOW that I weighed more than that at one time or another, but seeing that number for some reason gave me the push I needed to think about changing my habits and losing the weight. Looking in the mirror and hating what I saw. Having such intense back pain that I had trouble just making it through the day, let alone play with the kids or workout.

What are my bad habits?
lol, you got that kind of time? Honestly, chocolate is the biggest problem for me. I have taken pretty big steps toward making smaller portion sizes and better choices, but still have a long way to go. I also have trouble making meal plans that are healthy, taste good and are kid friendly. I seek sweet snacks and look to fruit first, but when that's not easily available, I go for junk.

What has worked?
Counting calories. Online support. Real life support. I love a good challenge like this one from The Sisterhood. SparkPeople was a good help, but I hated having to enter everything in all the time, but it kept me conscious. Eating smaller meals more often so I'm not over eating at one meal.

So that's it. That's what's in my head and what's going on. I have strong feelings of not being enough for everyone and that plays into this all, too. I give too much of me to everything else that there's nothing left and I feel tired and drained and it takes a few days/weeks to drag myself out of that again. Especially in the winter when I don't even want to leave the house.

Here is the "I can't believe I'm posting this" before picture...please remember, I've had FOUR kids...

Here's my list of goals for 2010:
*Weight in the 150-160 range (I'm at 182 now)
*Run a 10K by Thanksgiving. I think I'll do the PickleFest 10K in August.
*Make healthier meals
*Read one non-fiction book each month. Most of my reading is fiction and I think I'll find some value in adding non-fiction.
*Make time for each of my four kids separately. There's a whole range of things we can do, but I'm sure that each of my boys will benefit from even just a walk around the neighborhood with just me and no brothers tagging along.

Weigh in Wednesday and Thursday's 3

2010-01-07T17:31:00.004-06:00

I know it's Thursday. But, I didn't do the weigh in yesterday. I'm 4 days into the 30 day shred and I'm starting to not be sore with every. single. movement. Yay! I'm down only 1/2 a pound in 4 days, but I'll take it!

Thursday's 3 Assignment is to tell you 3 things about me that you don't know:

1. I'm a compulsive reader. I read anything and everything I can get my hands on. Even in the shower every day I read the backs of the bottles.

2. I am an organized mess kind of person. I have piles, but USUALLY I know where stuff is in the piles.

3. I LOVE the Backyardigans. We borrow it from the library for ME to watch. :)

Rethinking

2010-01-04T10:02:00.003-06:00

So, I've been reading the "Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans" for over a year. Last year, I lost 35 pounds between the Sisterhood, the Ragamuffin-top Challenge and just watching what I ate. And then we moved and I quit being so conscious and I put 10 back on. So, I am RECOMMITTING to a healthy lifestyle. I The kids bought me THE 30 DAY SHRED for Christmas. Today, I took my measurements....upper arm, thigh, bust, waist, hips....and "before" pictures. I'm so not pleased with where I am. But, I am encouraged because just 18 months ago it was much worse. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to share the measurements and pictures. Maybe just as an "after".

So, I have some choices and changes to make. We love butter and I can not fathom giving it up...but we don't need a stick at a time. We can cut back on that. I already use EVOO as an alternative sometimes and I can get more diligent about doing that. We can cut down on portion sizes. I was reading something a while back about combining a protein and a (carb? fiber?) as a method of increasing what your body will burn. Tim was to the doctor over the holiday and we now know just how much he weighs and I hope that that will encourage him to embrace some healthier habits. He's talked about playing rugby again this spring, but I think that will be difficult given his weight.

I've also realized that I spend entirely too much time online. I am SO VERY tempted to delete my facebook account. I read a TON of blogs, but having the google reader helps...I can skim through and just read the ones I want to and mark the others "read" or leave them for when I have more time. So, I need to get myself back into being a good mommy and spend less time online and more time with the kids. Soon we'll have a sofa in the basement and that will help make it more inviting for me to be down there. Right now there is no seating at all.

Anyway, all that to say that we WILL be making BIG changes to our life and habits this year. 2010 will be our best year yet. I hope that you'll stick around and see how we do!

3 days and counting

2009-12-22T21:30:00.002-06:00

*I have nothing bought for my kids
*I just mailed the IN presents today...HOPING and PRAYING they get there on Christmas Eve and not later!
*Tim is sick
*I was sick yesterday
*Tucker has nasty pants
*Riley thinks he's getting sick
*I have 4 presents left to MAKE
*Only 1 of them is started
*We had Tim's school Christmas party last Friday.
*It was fun and he won wine!
*The next day we had the Harmelink party in Sheboygan.
*It was fun and we won wine!
*We had two Christmas programs at school today. It was awesome. I'll post pix of RIley and a short video or two later....I forgot to send the camera to Rugby's program, so I'm waiting for my BIL to send me a cell phone pic
*I made caramels this week...they were close to hard, but they are really tastey. No one here has complained that they are firm caramels instead of the soft and gooey ones
*We have parties the next 4 days...if the weather holds...or the kids aren't sick
*I sold two pies to a lady Tim works with...I have to deliver them tomorrow.
*MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! See you around the 27th or so!

Seriously? Just 11 days left?

2009-12-14T12:30:00.000-06:00

That's just panic inducing to me! How can we already be 11 days from Christmas? I've, seriously, never been this far behind in my holiday preparations as I am this year. Even when I had babies I wasn't this far behind. This year, half my holiday stuff is in storage due to our move in August. We don't have a tree skirt. We don't have stockings. I have nothing to store my holiday baking in for storage and for gift giving. We buy those things after Christmas for the next year, so I'm having a really hard time justifying buying it now knowing that I do have these things....I just don't have them HERE.

Oh well, it'll all work out in the end...it always does, but in the meantime I give myself an ulcer.

We have Spike again. Joel brought him Sunday morning. Guess who showed up here Saturday night....

Her name is Tigress...or Princess depending on which kid is talking. Spike thinks it's a special girlfriend and treats her as such...poor kitty can't have two seconds peace. She's taken to hiding under my hutch. I don't know where the kitty came from, but she likes the pancakes the kids put out for the birds and has pretty good house manners. I would hate to think that someone dumped her out here, but she's been our indoor/outdoor kitty. I'm amazed at how much she puts up with from the babies. They love on her pretty hard and only once has she gotten the diggers out. (TJ got that one, btw)

In other news, my big holiday sewing project is a major FAIL. It's not what I wanted from the beginning, so I was dragging my feet about it and then I found something I thought might work, but it's not panning out that way. I'm going to work on them after Christmas with the first pattern that I found and just be happy with that, but because they weren't what I wanted to do this year, I was pretty crabby about it. I found another super cute project, though to make that I think will be pretty great, anyway. And I'm half done with them! Tim is about half done with his portion of Leah's gift and will start Ryan's tonight after he gets home and then I can paint or stain Leah's while I'm waiting for Ryan's. I have four parts of Steph's girls presents to do yet, but I'm thinking it'll be quick. I'd LOVE to be able to get them in the mail this week so they'll have them for Christmas. My BIL is bringing his presents over today to mail with ours so that should be added incentive.

Where did the week go?

2009-12-11T11:32:00.004-06:00

Seriously, how can we be so close to the weekend again?! WOW!

Cookie day was awesome. I had my Lindsay for the whole day and two other cousins for half the day each, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We managed to make:

*210 peanut butter kisses
*66 cornflake wreaths
*decorate 300 sugar cookies (40 were left after Saturday, so I took care of them on Sunday)
*300 peanut butter balls (I had to dip them on Sunday)
*50ish peppermint meltaways
*2 flavors of broken glass candy

Needless to say, we were BUSY! I made hot dogs for lunch because that didn't need the inside of my oven and Aunt Brenda brought pizza for supper. We took Lindsay home at 6:30 or so and we started at 10. We had the fun music cranked up and all the kids were awesome! Even the babies were good helpers!! Here's a few pix of our day:

Supplies all ready to go!

Cookies, cookies and more cookies!

Decorating the sugar cookies

Casey and TJ

My Ninny...

More cookies!

The kids' decorated sugar cookies

The aftermath...

Planning and Preparations

2009-12-05T08:43:00.002-06:00

That's what I've been doing this last week. TODAY IS COOKIE DAY! The day that I open my house to all my Wisconsin cousins (I'd love the SD cousins to make it, too, but that's so far to come for a full day of work!) and we make cookies and candies....ALL DAY LONG. It's a long, tiring day but also tons of fun! This year, I get two new cousins that joined our family in 2008. Since this is the first time I've done this in 3 or 4 years, it's hard to remember what we did and how much we can get done. This year we are making Peppermint Meltaways, Broken Glass Candy, Peanut Butter Balls, Cornflake Wreaths, Peanut Blossoms (with Kisses instead of those nasty stars), and decorating the kajillion sugar cookies that Grandma in the Woods and I have been making.

Wish me luck. I'll be back Monday with pictures and battle stories!

Well....

2009-11-24T15:16:00.002-06:00

I can't yell at my friend Kelly about not updating her blog if I don't update mine. :)

I went with Tim over the weekend to stay at A&K's house while he went hunting. It was AWESOME. We got some lovely girl talk in while the boys were hunting. We watched a bit of TV, did some baking and just lazed around and it was great.

Sunday, Adam got a deer. A little buck. I think he said about 4 pts. Tim missed a monster on Sunday, also. He was talking all the way home about needing to learn to be patient, but being afraid he was going to bolt and wanting to at least take a shot...then tracking it and not being sure about where he'd have gone. I'm glad that he got to go hunt because that meant I got to visit. I wish the stay there would have been longer so I could have seen Kathy and Heidi, too but it is what it is.

Kel and I opened a bottle of wine that they had for Friday night. OH MY WORD! It was awesome. It was "Moonlight" from rbv. They are a Chippewa Falls vineyard and only sell locally (or online!). This was a semi-sweet white wine. Very fruity. I went Saturday and bought 2 bottles....one for Saturday and one for home and the home one is already gone! I really should have bought more. Perhaps after I have a wine rack, then I'll stock up on some rbv wines. YUMMY! We also opened a bottle of Barefoot Moscato that was fruity and yummy! It was a weekend for good, cheap wine!

**I'm not being compensated at all for these reviews, but if either company wanted to send me wine to sample, I wouldn't turn them down!

Redecorating

2009-11-19T20:53:00.003-06:00

Today while my friend Monica was here, we did a bit of decorating. I have this BIG OLD WALL. The only thing on it is the phone and a mirror. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with that wall, but today we played around with things I had laying around and came up with this:

What do you think?? The long sconces on the right are Home Interiors from 5ish years ago. The little sconce on the left is from Dollar General. I got it on a 70% off rack! The "hope" sign is also Dollar General on the sale rack (less than $1!!). The shelf is something that my grandpa made for me in middle school for my room at my parents house. It was stained a dark color and didn't really work for this, but I spray painted it with a satin black paint and it worked out lovely. It's nice to have the shelf by the phone with a notepad and pen handy there. Now I just need some pillar candles for the sconces.

Here's my front entry. The curtain is JC Penney. Monica got a REALLY awesome deal on it and didn't need this one panel, so I got it. It's a cream color with very thin gold threads running through it. The ribbon is a chocolate color. The plates I got at a craft shop near here 5ish years ago. The cabinet under the window my DARLING husband made for me. My parents had it while we lived away, and now that we're back, they didn't need it anymore so we took it back and used it here. Tim refinished it and I LOVE it. When he made it originally, it was just pieces he had laying around of extra stuff. Pretty great for scraps! I want to make a cushion for it, though. Where the little bench is, I want a long, narrow table. My FIL gave me one, but it needs some major work, so I'm still waiting for Tim to have time to work on that.

Slowly, but surely, the pieces of my home are falling together. I have a couple more posts planned with other areas of the house if anyone is intersted. Let me know!! :)

The Power of a WELL PLACED pocket.

2009-11-07T08:30:00.002-06:00

Have any of you noticed the vastly different placement of back pockets on a pair of jeans. It varies from pair to pair and brand to brand. The placement of those pockets can enhance or detract from the wearers rear.

I hate jean shopping for a variety of reasons. I'm tall, so I need TALL jeans, but they are hard to find. Regular length are ok...sometimes but not for others. I've resorted to only shopping for jeans in one store because I know that I can always find jeans that I like, that fit, that I can afford. I admit that there are a great many stores that I've avoided because it wasn't my favorite jeans store because I hate trying on a million pairs to not find anything that I like. I subjected my hubby to jeans shopping only ONCE in 9 years of marriage. Just once. It was enough for both of us.

One day this week, he came home and told me that someone we know bought the inventory of two Steve & Barry's stores (yes, they've all closed.) These people were selling the stuff at a dramatic discount. Tim even mentioned that he knows I only have one pair of jeans so he thought I might like to look. Well, the thought of jeans shopping at a new "store" was not appealing, but anyone with only one pair of jeans knows that the draw was just too big. I had to try.

I took my grandma with me. I walked in, hoping but not having great expectations. There were boxes EVERYWHERE. They had butter knives out for you to take with you to open boxes and taught you how to read the label of the box to know what was in it. It was a disaster. And completely overwhelming. BUT I NEEDED JEANS. So we dug, and moved things, and almost tipped LARGE piles of boxes over. But, I now have 2 pairs of dress pants and 2 new pairs of jeans and even 2 pair of capris for summer! (And a couple dress shirts and sweatshirts and a new coat)

But, they know where to place the pockets! The jeans fit nice and the pockets are in such a place that they make my rear look a bit smaller, higher and perhaps even better. I LOVE THEM!! Of course I do, I will only be able to get these jeans until Christmas and after that, I'm out of luck. I'm making a strong effort to lose weight. I've started walking again (thanks, Angie and Katrina!!) and I want to start working out with weights this winter. I'm also tossing around the idea of starting a workout group like the one I was a part of in Boyceville. It's simple cardio and some hand weights, but it was great to have something to look forward to and I was gettting stronger the longer we met which was great! So, I bought 5 pairs of pants that may not fit come spring....is that good or bad? Granted, those 5 pairs cost me less than one pair at my favorite jeans store, but still....you know the dilemma. Oh well, I'm just gonna bask in the glory of my cute rear in these jeans and be happy.

A new week

2009-11-02T07:08:00.002-06:00

The bake sale this weekend was a success. We had a few things leftover and they were going to be sold at another event near here, but the lady that I was supposed to get the stuff to never called me back, so I sold it to family at Grandpa's birthday party. I had 3 whole cakes leftover and sold at least one of them to the Cubmaster last night when her son came to get the money and leftover plates/forks/napkins. The families that baked for the bake sale earned money to help send the kids to camp this summer. Rugby and Riley are going to be able to go to resident camp and to a day camp! They are so excited (and so am I!!)!!

Saturday night, we hit the streets to trick or treat. For the first time in 8 years, I DO NOT have a picture of the kids. Don't know what I was thinking, but I never took one. My neighbor and my grandma did get one, though so if either of them give me a copy, I'll scan it and post. Rugby was Harry Potter, Riley was Luke Skywalker, TJ was Clifford and Tucker was Tigger.....and I was tired. (I wore my bathrobe, slippers and jammies, put on a facial mask and off we went!)

Sunday we had a birthday party for my grandpa (mom's dad). He's going to be 80 on Wednesday and on Saturday, my grandma (dad's mom) will be 80. They are having a party for her at her church Sunday, but it's in South Dakota, so we aren't able to be there. I'm sure my mom will have pictures when she gets back, though!

And Sunday night, I skunked Tim in cribbage. It was a good night!

I'm such a wuss

2009-10-25T09:35:00.003-05:00

This summer I grew to love running. I loved my time away from the kids and how strong I was becoming. I ran 2 races this summer. I improved my time in the 2nd one, so I could totally see progress. It was pretty awesome.

But, (there's always a but, isn't there?!) we moved near the end of summer and it got cold. Now it's cold AND rainy AND dark in the mornings. And it's cold AND rainy AND dark in the evenings. I have zero motivation to run, though I think about it every. single. day. I WANT to run, but I don't make time for me to do it. We live out in the country now and any direction I go, I have hills. Running hills in the dark? No, thanks.

So, until January when the new fitness center at the High School is open, I'm at a loss. I don't even know anyone around here to meet up and walk with during the school day. It sucks, and I can see how much less everything I am without running. I'm tired and lazy all the time. I have less patience. I have less motivation for housework and even baking treats. I'd rather just curl up in bed with a movie for the kids and a good book and some cocoa for me (I'm on book 5 of the Harry Potter series!)

Do any of you have suggestions for how to break out of this rut? I guess it's time to break out the old gazelle....

Back to school

2009-10-20T07:36:00.002-05:00

Well, Riley DID go back to school yesterday. He was asleep on the couch at 5:30 last night, too. I guess it was too much to go back to a full day after 4 days of laying around. He got up and (barely) ate supper and was snuggled into bed by 7. Hopefully today will go smoothly for him.

Rugby's still healthy! Thank heavens for that!

Today we're going to clean and maybe make a trip to Goodwill to clean off the front porch. I'd really like to clean up the yard, too. We'll see how much I get done.

DaNa's got partial test results back and it is cancer. They are doing more testing to find out what type and how to treat it. She's only 25. Her daughter is 2. Please continue to pray for her and her family. It's going to be a long, hard road.

On the mend?

2009-10-18T19:41:00.002-05:00

I'm cautiously optimistic that Riley will be going back to school tomorrow! He's kept his fever away most of the day. If he's fever free in the morning, he'll be headed back. WOOHOO!

TJ's been up and down. The fever goes up and he takes a nap. It was hovering about 102.5 since midnight. Got me up at 4:30 with fever, too. I haven't given him tylenol or ibuprofen since noon and he's been feeling alright. Very sleepy, though. I think he took 2 or 3 naps today which is VERY unusual.

Tucker-man can't seem to keep the temp down. It's been 102 point something all day today. He's been resting on the couch quite a bit. He likes his Air Force water bottle, though so I've kept that full of pedialyte and he's been happy to have unlimited amounts of liquids at his disposal. I usually try to limit his intake because he'd rather drink his meals than eat them, but with the ickiness he's got, I figured better to stay hydrated. I did call the Nurse Line for him and she said that I should just watch it, push the fluids, run the humidifier...the usual instructions.

Rugby has SO FAR managed to escape the Piggy Flu. I think it helps that he's been out of the house for much of the illness with school, Scouts, and working with Tim. Hopefully he'll continue to stay healthy.

I've got a monster tub of Lysol wipes that I've been using on the phone, computer, light switches, handles, knobs...basically any hard surface the kids have touched trying to keep it under control. We'll see.

Also, if you could please say a prayer for my mom's friend Jill's daughter, DaNa. She's younger than me, is married and has a little girl. She was complaining about shortness of breath and pain in her chest so she went to the doctor and they found a very large tumor in her chest. They will be doing a biopsy in the morning. Please say a prayer for them for whatever results they get and the road they will be traveling soon.

My Mommy Loves Me (and an update)

2009-10-17T09:31:00.003-05:00

My Mommy loves me. Last night, she made a special delivery...

*8 bottles of Pedialyte
*2 boxes of Pedialyte that you dissolve in a water bottle (like the Crystal Light packets)
*2 bottles of adult cough meds
*4 boxes of Children's Ibuprofen
*1 big ol' box of adult TheraFlu
*1 box of Be Kool (gel strips for the kids foreheads while they have a fever)
*1 pizza from Papa Murphy's
*1 football game for the kids
*1 BIG BOOK of soups cookbook for me

Then this morning she dropped off:
*5 water bottles (so the kids can have gatorade/pedialyte and not spill all over)
*a jar of cranberry salsa
*and the chips to go with it!
*some banana's
*4 little bottles of Bug Juice

I think we'll be set on Ibuprofen through the whole cold/flu season! And meddies for Tim and Me, too. I don't just love her for bringing the "stuff" but because she knew it would make things OH SO MUCH easier for me! And that she's in the neighborhood, generally, anyway. It's so good to be back home!

Thursday night/Friday morning, I had taken Riley to the ER with his fever and cough. The nurse line said it was classic H1N1 symptoms and they would give anti-virals so that he didn't get as sick, so at 3:30 in the morning, we head to town. We probably didn't need to go then, but Tim was home with the kids and I knew we'd be back before he left for school at 6/6:15. We got there and there was NO ONE in there! We waited maybe 1 full minute to see the nurse and maybe another full minute or two after the nurse was done for the doctor. He didn't get my humor...he came in and asked Riley why they both had masks on and I said, "Just lucky, I guess." And he's like "I don't really think it's lucky." Ok, dude it's 4am, I'll give you a free pass and not say anything else. He sent us home with cough meds and instructions to lay low. And run a humidifier because the germs get caught up in the humid air and knocked to the ground so they aren't floating around to get breathed in. And yes, it's Piggy Flu and no, we didn't get anti-virals. Apparently the nurse and the ER aren't on the same page about who they are treating and who they aren't.

And now Tucker has a low-grade temp. Being that he was a preemie, he may be able to get the anti-viral, but his fever's been real low so I'm just watching him for a bit. We'll see later today.

And so it begins...

2009-10-15T07:48:00.001-05:00

Today my Riley Bird is home from school.

Fever...check
Croupy cough...check
Headache....check
Sore throat...check
Vomit...still waiting

Sounds like fun, right?! I can only imagine all the fun once this hits the other 3 boys. Lovely.

I'm making friends with my old pals Clorox and Lysol today.

Still here...

2009-10-13T10:23:00.002-05:00

Yes, we're still here and still alive. We had our first snowfall yesterday and we've seen unseasonably cold temperatures since the last week of September. If this is any indication of the winter we are going to have, I'm moving to Florida or Cali or somewhere else a bit warmer! Though the kids like it, so maybe I'll be moving alone. Hmm.....YEA RIGHT! Like that would happen. I was really hoping I'd have won the Arizona trip that the Pioneer Woman was giving away, but alas, it was not my name she drew. SO SAD!!

Anyway, we've been staying busy with homework and Cub Scouts. (Call or e-mail me if you want some POPCORN!!) R&R are BOTH enjoying Scouting, so that's a great thing. We're just easing in and starting to get involved, but Rugby is on his way to making some friends and that's helpful. Riley....well, Riley is just like his dad. He makes friends so easily and is very outgoing. He's a natural leader which is working out alright so far. One of his best buddies from school is in scouts, also and I know the parents from way back in my Dairy Cove days, so that's a bonus, too.

Other than that, I've been trying to keep up to the house and the kids and starting to make some Christmas presents. I've got 2 of my 4 nieces about half done, the 3rd niece I know what I'm doing and just have to do it and the 4th niece...well, I really have no clue for her yet. Or her brother. I've also got a super dandy project for the Sisters Gift this year. I have to make 6 of them, so I bought material for 8 so that Rugby's Fairy-godmother and my SIL, Holly can get one, too. I'd love to share, but think I'll try and keep it a secret. Unless they turn out just too awesome not to share :)

That's all for now, time to get kids to naps and pay some bills. Fun. BLAH!

Lookie what the neighbor did for me!!

2009-10-02T07:10:00.003-05:00

Know what this is??
It's heaven, I'm telling you! And lots more work for me next summer, but the completely fun kind! It's my new garden spot. It's at least double, probably triple the size of the former garden. We found a small concrete pad while he was tilling it.

Tim thinks it has something to do with the horse barn that is down there. We're considering turning that into a chicken coop. Rugby is excited about that because he wants to go get the eggs. We'll see how he feels about that if the time comes, though...especially after he's been pecked a time or two. lol!

Catching up...

2009-09-26T19:42:00.007-05:00

It's been a bit since I've last posted and for that I apologize. For some reason, life with four boys is a bit crazy and I haven't had the time to do the blogging thing. There are some exciting changes coming for my blog, so wait and see what I'm working on!! In the meantime, here's what
we've been doing:

September 1st, Rugby and Riley started their new school. I never did post the first day of school pic that I usually take, so here it is!Then, September 12th, Tim's dad wanted to take the boys to Dozer Day in Sussex. Tim's sister Sue was going to go along, but ended up having to work, so I went. It was fun. I think grandpa had just as much or more fun than the boys looking at all the VERY LARGE equipment. It was pretty cool to see how large some of the machines are. Here's a few of the pix I took that day...

September 19th, our little Riley Bird turned 7! Where have those 7 years gone? I don't think he should be that old already!! He wanted a fish cake, so we did a little fishy party theme. I had planned to decorate the house with fishing stuff, but didn't give myself enough time to finish the cake, let alone decorate. It was a crazy day...probably shouldn't have planned to do the 5K run in the morning, but everything worked out fine without a decorated house, so I can't complain. Riley loved the cake. Ok, everyone loved the cake, but I think if I'd have allowed more time it would have been better. I have the pan, so I may have to try another one sometime. Tim made me a cake board to put it on that looked like the board he uses to clean fish on. It really was pretty cool! (I tried taking a picture of the fish cookies I sent to school, but they were all blurry. Sorry!)
Um, that's really about it besides the normal stuff. Kids are busy with school and doing really well. More on that soon, hopefully. Have a great rest of your weekend!!

Knee Deep!

2009-09-18T09:05:00.000-05:00

We're knee deep in party plans for our little Bird...he's not so little anymore, though!

I'll be back after the weekend with pix!!

Run Margie Run!

2009-09-11T11:05:00.002-05:00

(We're gonna back up and talk about the 5K today. I've got a lot of family stuff happening right now that I don't want to talk about, so we'll do this instead...hope you don't mind.)

August 22, 2009.

The day of my first 5K. It marked a big step for me. It means I got off my lazy rear and did something FOR ME. I trained for this. I worked hard for it. I got hurt, but I came back for more. Yes, my time wasn't that great, but I did it. Considering the fact that we moved the month before the race and I hadn't kept up with the running while we were doing all that, I don't think I did terrible. I love that it's a start. I actually learned to enjoy running. I love the sculpted look of my calves after walking and running for 8 months. I love that I'm two sizes smaller than a year ago. I love the energy on race day. Everyone is so positive and smiling. It's a kindred spirits kind of thing...finding 160(in this case) other people that are there because they like it, too. No, they didn't all run, but they were there to support the library and each other and have fun. It was great. And now, I can't wait until next weekend when I get to do it again!

A Boy and his (borrowed) dog

2009-09-08T09:55:00.001-05:00

Tim's brother is out of town for work. While he's gone, we've been dog-sitting his buddy, Spike. As you can see, he's very vicious and the kids hate having him around. YEAH RIGHT! Riley is Spike's bestest buddy. I don't know what the kid is going to do if Uncle J ever comes back to get him. Spike even goes to bed with Riley. His favorite place to be is under the covers. We've had him about 3 weeks and it's looking to be at least another 2 or 3 before he'll be heading home, but that's subject to change at a moment's notice, too. In the meantime, we're enjoying having a dog.

He's even going to be going to school next week.

Newspaper

2009-09-02T14:46:00.003-05:00

Rugby made the front page of the newspaper!! Here's the photo and the caption:

Rugby B..., a third-grade student in Mary W...’s class at Bonduel Elementary School, makes his lunch selection on one of the new smart boards in the school. The technology changes were one of many at the school. Leader photo by Nathan Falk

Margie the gardener

2009-08-30T16:10:00.002-05:00

Today I bought 6 fruit trees (they were buy 2, get one free). I got a Honeycrisp Apple, Braeburn Apple, Red Haven Peach, Montmorency Cherry, Clapp Pear and a Bartlett Pear. We are EVENTUALLY going to be practically swimming in fruit and I can't wait. So, I am out digging and digging and digging to plant these beautiful trees. So far, I have 2 of them in. I keep hitting REALLY BIG rocks. Pretty sure I'm going to have to get some black dirt for fill to have them planted at the right level. We'll see how it goes for the rest.

I'm still waiting on the library to know my official time for the 5K, so I'll be posting about that soon. I'm off to plant my trees!!

Singin' In The Rain

2009-08-25T19:41:00.001-05:00

Thursday last week was rainy here. The kids took advantage of that to splash around in the puddles that they found in the driveway. This is the first time it's rained since we moved back, so they were in LOVE with the ankle deep puddles! It rained again today, but didn't make near the puddles we got the other day. They still had fun!

The Instigator: He was the first one out the door!

Happy to play along:

No need for indoor plumbing for this kid...
I had some group shots with TJ in them, but nothing where he's facing me so that's why he's missing from the pictures, but rest assured, he was just as wet as the rest!!!!!!!!

A first for me...

2009-08-22T05:00:00.002-05:00

Today I am running my first 5K. I've never run 3 miles. EVER.

All winter, I was walking for an hour a night, 3 nights a week and working out with a wonderful group of ladies one night. That's 4 hours a week of working on me. Not a lot, but more effort that I had previously put into me. It felt great. I felt great. Then, the running bug hit and I had the itch. In June, I got a jog bra and started the Couch to 5K training thing I'd seen all over the web. About week 3, I had an injury that set me back a couple weeks, but as soon as I was able, I was back at it. Then the house sold and we were back and forth between two houses again. I hate that feeling. And then I'm here and settling into a new house with the kids and hubby is out on the road. Making time to run has not been a priority for at least 2 weeks. I've gone once...maybe twice. So, while I know that it's not a big deal if I walk part of it, it hurts to think that I'll probably be sucking wind pretty hard by the end of it.

AT LEAST I CAN SAY I DID IT. I got off my rear and did it. I am pretty good at talking myself out of things and I had myself pretty close to talked out of it yesterday...then our realtor called and told me that the man who lived next door ( that I adore!) was moved to the assisted living facility and wasn't dealing well with the transition (she's also his realtor). I promised him we'd come see him this weekend so I can't bail on that promise and as long as I'm in BV, I should do the run. So, anyway. I'm going to run my first 5K later today (8:30 it starts) and I'm nervous, but excited. And I'm proving to me I can do this. And I'm running another one in September.

(This post was written on Thursday evening and scheduled to post while I'm gone to Pickle Fest. I just needed to get my thoughts down and out tonight and focus on doing the race the best I can. See you when we get back!)

Getting back to "normal"

2009-08-19T19:50:00.000-05:00

We are finally starting to feel settled here in our ~~old~~ new house. I've got the living and dining rooms painted.The living room has new curtains that I snagged from another room, as does the dining room. So, those two places will need new curtains. My kitchen needs a second coat of paint and some more moving and organizing of items. There are many boxes marked "KITCHEN" that I need to unpack/deal with yet. I would also like to hang some photos on the wall in the living room. I spray painted all the wood frames black satin so they'll better match the tan we painted the wall and the feeling of the room. It's so nice and cozy! I am LOVING the paint colors in here! We snagged a game table from my BIL that we have my computer on in the corner of the living room, and as soon as I make a skirt for it, it'll be perfect. A million little projects to keep me busy for a while, anyway.

We've managed to get to the library once already. I don't like it as well as Boyceville, but it'll have to do. The ladies working there just don't seem as friendly. I'm sure we'll get along fine...eventually! They don't have someone that does any kind of storytime for the kids, though. I know they are looking, maybe I'd be able to step into that, though I don't know the particulars of what they would expect. I may have to ask. We'll see....I think it'd be fun to do it, though!

I suppose that's enough for now. I started this post this morning and never had time to finish it. I made a double batch of refrigerator pickles and did some cleaning today, but didn't seem to have time to get online and get this finished up. Hope all is well.

Love,
Jess (and the boys)

UGH! FINALLY!

2009-08-17T07:00:00.002-05:00

So I FINALLY got MY computer back online. The new ISP didn't recognize the old modem we had from our other service, so we had to hook up using their modem....only my computer didn't have the port that it needed to be able to plug the cord into so I was offline for a while. That wasn't so bad because Tim was home and I could use his laptop (which connects on the wireless router)...then he left yesterday morning to go back to work and it lit a fire under my butt to get it figured out. Ran to town and they didn't have the cable that I was looking for, but they had an adapter thing that you plug into a USB port and now my desktop is wireless...lol! I think that's so funny because it's not as portable as I think of wireless. Anyway, I got it figured out.

We finished the painting in the living/dining room. I still need to finish the kitchen and back entry, but it's to the point where it can wait for me. We have the living room kind of settled. Once I figure out the issue with my camera, I'll post pictures. We situated the furniture a little differently and it's so cozy and feels like home. I love it!!

Well, I should go get ready to face the day. Hope all is well out there, I'll try catching up on my reading and posting soon! Have a great day!!

We're back, but...

2009-08-10T07:48:00.002-05:00

We're here and we're starting to settle in. I wanted to paint the whole upstairs of the house, but Tim surprised me by coming home a week earlier than expected from Indiana, so we've been making trips to the old house to get our stuff and haven't had time to paint yet and now my living room, bedroom and basement are loaded with stuff and that's not even mentioning the garage full or the ONE LOAD we still have to go get. Today our goal is to paint the area where the desk is going to be set up, set the desk up and get the phone line fixed in that corner. Hopefully soon I'll have that ready to go. In the meantime, we're busy unpacking! Hopefully I'll be back soon!!

Adios!

2009-07-28T10:18:00.003-05:00

Salam, Hagoonea', Ja ne, Auf Wiedersehen, Arrivederci, À bientôt, Hejdå, Aloha, Le'hitraot, Aavajo, Sampai Jumpa, Paalam, Zai Jian, Zoi Geen, Farvel, Namaste, Fir Milenge, Do zobaczenia, Żegnaj, Dag, 再见, Yasou, Näkemiin, Hasta La Vista

In other words, see you after the move!

Our first good OWIE of the year...

2009-07-26T04:00:00.003-05:00

Friday afternoon, we had a little excitement over here.

I told Tim early this spring it was going to be the summer of the broken bone...well, I was wrong. TJ got to be the first of my boys to get stitches.

He was playing in the basement with Rugby and Riley and their friend, B while I made a phone call. The other baby, K, I was babysitting was trying to rest...and none too happy about it, either. (But nothing I had tried before that worked either.) Anyway, R&R and B come running through the living room and TJ comes crying behind them. I look, then look again...my baby is covered in BLOOD. His face and shirt were just loaded. Hang up abruptly on the lady I was talking with (I gotta call her back Monday, I guess) and scoop him up. Riley helped me get clean, wet washcloths so we could clear away the blood and see what the problem was. By now, he quit crying and was asking for a popsicle. So, they all got one...and I got the bleeding to stop.

Called the Ask-A-Nurse line for the hospital and she said Urgent Care was open until 5, or I could bring him to the ER after that...I still had B and K to worry about. THANK GOODNESS we have Tim's brother's Suburban!! I called K's mom and she arranged another sitter for him and we took B home and his dad took my 3 and B while I took TJ to the doctor. THANKS, JAIMIE!!

Get there and they clean him up some more and yes, we are going to get stitches. They had a pre-med student that was there observing, so he stood there and watched. They were SO GOOD about talking to TJ and telling him what they were doing and what was going on and what was happening next. They told him that they were going to put fishing line in his owie to make it better, but first they had to give him medicine so it didn't hurt. He did awesome with the shot! The nurse held his head, I held his arms, but he never fought either one of us. A little tear ran down his cheek, but no screaming or real crying. WHAT A TROOPER!! The doc was amazed and told the med student that he shouldn't expect that from a 3 year old, most of them require being restrained. She said he was "A-Typical" lol...yup, he certainly is!

So, they put in 3 stitches and sent us on our way, but first he had to charm a nurse out of some stickers. Then, mom took him for ice cream...when he was done, he was "helping" by throwing them out of the window before mom could catch him. No more windows wide open, I guess. He's been full of P&V ever since.

Happy thoughts on moving...

2009-07-25T10:03:00.003-05:00

I'm looking forward to:

*Cherry picking in Door County
*Apple picking
*Swimming in my parent's pool
*Easy access to ~~babysitters~~ family
*Enjoying family more easily
*Being able to help with family stuff
*Being able to attend games and concerts for the cousins
*Having all the grandma's and grandpa's be able to come to R&R's school things...wrestling matches, concerts, plays, etc.
*BEING HOME!

Cancer sucks

2009-07-23T08:11:00.001-05:00

My uncle is in the hospital in Madison this morning. They took him there by ambulance last night from the hotel where they were staying. They were supposed to be there for appointments today about his treatment. I don't know much right now, except that he and his family could use our prayers and good thoughts. Please, do whatever it is you do. I'm praying. Please join me, the next few hours and days are going to determine a lot.

Events in my future

2009-07-18T07:50:00.002-05:00

The next few weeks are going to be CrAZy!! A week ago, we received an offer on the house. We countered, she countered, we countered back and she rejected that. Then, we were given some help and were able to counter her back at her last price. We'll find out today if she's going to accept that or not. If not, the people that looked at the house Thursday night want to put in an offer. So, it's all very exciting! If the first lady gets it, she wants to close on August 21st. The weekend of our Pickle Fest run. But, we are planning to move sooner.

August 2nd we are going to be back home for a benefit for my godfather. He's my mom's brother and he has colon cancer that has spread to his liver. His treatments have been going fairly well, but he's got a long road ahead of him. He was remarried about a year ago and has 3 kids and 2 step-kids. His daughters are both grown and gone, but his son and step-daughters still live at home.

So, the week after the benefit we'll be loading a 30' enclosed trailer and taking off across the state. These cross state moves are terrible. At least this one we won't be moving for 3 months like the last time!! We still have WAY too much stuff and need to pare down to fit in our "new" house. Oh, we'll be moving back into our old house...the one we built in 2000/2001. The one we've been paying on for 3 years that never sold. The 2 bedroom, too small house that I love so much I can't bear the thought of selling. Yea, that one. I'm SOOOO excited to be moving back, but until this house sells and we can get the addition built, it's going to be a tight fight with 4 kids in a two bedroom house.

That's right, we're in the planning stages of an addition to the house. We're going to turn our deck into living space! The deck will be transformed into a new living room, which will make the old living room the new dining room, and the other half of the deck will be the new master suite...private bath with whirlpool soaking tub, shower, vanity, etc. and a large-ish (Tim says it's big, I think it's going to be too small...) bedroom with a WALK IN CLOSET!! YAY ME! I'm going to really enjoy that, I think! Tim and Adam have been hashing over the plans this week while they are working in Indiana. I'm so excited to see what they've come up with. I had grown so attached to that house and all the memories we had there. All the sweat we put into building it, and all the sweat our FRIENDS put into building it. The support we had while building the house was amazing!! It's going to be so nice to be back. Plus we have awesome neighbors and that just makes it even better!!

So, the next couple of weeks I will probably not be posting a lot with trying to get the packing done and getting ready to move and when we move, I don't have any idea what we're going to do for phone service and internet. We can't get the same company we have here and the company we had before we left was not great...very expensive! So, we're still planning what we're going to do about that. Maybe two cell phones and no internet? I don't know.

Anyway, all that to say WE'RE MOVING!!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame...

2009-07-16T21:56:00.001-05:00

Here are Rugby and Riley's pictures from their first summer playing baseball. Both of them just LOVED it!!

Riley

Rugby

Riley's Team

Rugby's Team

Catch my drift?

2009-07-13T18:33:00.002-05:00

Times have changed and times are strange. HERE I COME but I ain't the same. MAMA I'M COMING HOME!!

(EVERY single statement in the above sentence holds some truth. I'm not the same person I was 3 years ago. But, do you catch the bigger meaning here??!!)

Long Walk

2009-07-10T16:24:00.000-05:00

This morning we took a super long walk...8 miles to be exact. We met my friend Kelly at the Red Cedar Trail. After getting everyone fed and out of the house super early, we finally made it to the trail. I took Riley's bike along and TJ & Tucker rode in the bike trailer for it. Riley did AWESOME for the first 4 miles...but the next 2 were hard on him, then he figured he could ride ahead and take a rest while we caught up. He also managed to find red and black raspberries along the trail so it made for a fun ride for him. We even saw a deer on the trail, rather close to us. It was really cool. But this is what you get when you get 3 kids up at 6am for an 8 mile ride/walk, out for ice cream after and a trip to Walmart:

The Fourth

2009-07-10T16:07:00.000-05:00

Here's the only pic I took over the 4th of July...hopefully my mom has some of R&R from South Dakota. Aren't they cute?!

A Runner?

2009-07-07T16:49:00.002-05:00

I never thought that would be me.

I never even WANTED that to be me.

That is before now. I am LOVING running. I got my duct tape running bra in the mail a week or so ago and it's made ALL THE DIFFERENCE. I've never spent that much money on a bra before and was VERY leary to do it now, but it was completely worth it!! It still does the uni-boob thing, but it doesn't look terrible and just that nothing is bouncing all over is worth it to me. I even ran a couple times while we were back home for the funeral. There were hills involved and I did it anyway...and loved every minute! I was really enjoying the cool, quiet morning running through some farm country and it was gorgeous. Especially the top of the hill at the start of my run....of course at the end of my run I had to go UP that big hill, but I did alright! I think the route is about 2-3 miles total so it was a good run for a beginner like me.

This morning, Tim asked if I was going to go for a run, but yesterday I was on a bike ride with a friend...forgot the sunscreen....and I don't think I could have comfortably worn the duct tape bra today....tomorrow is a chance, but we were in the sun again today from 10-3 at the lake. This time I remembered the sunscreen, but didn't remember to reapply often enough and I have a touch of crispy shoulders....I'm hoping it's not too bad in the morning because I'd really like to go, especially while Tim is home and I can go a bit farther without worrying about the kids.

In other news, we had a showing while we were gone. The same people are coming back tomorrow night to look again. Please say a prayer (or send happy thoughts, whatever...) that they are happy with what they see and make an offer. We'd love to have this off our hands and minds! Thanks. I guess that's all for now, hopefully I'll be back Thursday or Friday with good news!!

Heading Home

2009-06-30T07:32:00.000-05:00

We're heading back home today for a funeral. My great aunt Arvilla passed away and the funeral will be Thursday and the showing tomorrow. It'll be nice to get back home for a visit again. Right after the funeral, my parents are taking R&R and heading to South Dakota to visit more family. I'm sure they'll have a great time!

See you when we get back!

Ramblings

2009-06-28T20:40:00.002-05:00

I want to lose some weight. I am too jiggly in the middle for me....that's really the area I struggle with the most. I know that I need to work out more and put in the time and exercise to do it. I know that. But, I also know that I need to eat better so there's less fat going IN for my body to hang on to.

I went on library overload tonight. Our library system is online so I can search books in all the libraries in our "system" that can be shipped to our local library. I ordered 15 books on health and healthy eating. I need recipes. I get SO bored with food and rarely make the same thing twice. I want simple, QUICK recipes that everyone...even the kids...will like. I hate the thought of making something special for me because I refuse to make something special for any of the kids when they are being fussy eaters. So, I'm stuck. Yesterday I did really well eating small things more often. I had cottage cheese with half a peach for an AM snack and cottage cheese with half a nectarine for a PM snack, and whatever meals I made for the kids, only small portions. I stayed full and it was awesome.

Today, Auntie Flow arrived and I have a major craving for chocolate that the mint chocolate baking pieces didn't cure. I'm trying really hard not to hit the tootsie rolls because I know that's not what I really want. Water isn't helping.

I want to lose the weight permanently and I'm trying really hard to change the way we eat and live. I've already made walking and running (cardio) a priority. Now, I need to make the food change...then I'll tackle the resistive training/weights. Baby steps, baby steps...

I'd love any recipes you have to offer, too!!

Oh Happy Day!

2009-06-26T14:14:00.003-05:00

I'm back from the doctor with great news!

All the walking and biking that I've been doing apparently hasn't adequately prepared my aging body for running. I started too fast and need to back up and start again...this time using my watch to time only running 20 seconds at a time and walking 90 seconds and working up from there. She gave me some stretches to do and recommended that I start doing Yoga at least once a week. Add that to icing and ibuprofen twice a day to get the swelling down and I'm good to go! I'm so thankful this is all it is! While I'm disappointed that I can't keep up the pace I was...it was comfortable for me...I'm just glad that it's nothing major. She did say that if it's not better in two weeks to call and she'd set me up with a physical therapist so that I am READY TO RUN for Pickle Fest. WOOHOO!

Thanks for all the prayers, keep them coming for my healing! Thanks!!

Pickle Fest

2009-06-25T09:57:00.002-05:00

Every August, our little town has a celebration called "Cucumber Festival". Apparently, Gedney Pickle Company used to call our town "home" and the town celebrates this every year, even though there is no longer a pickle factory here. One of the festivities for the Cucumber Festival is the PICKLE FEST FUN RUN. There's a 1 mile run/walk, 5K and 10K. And it's a fundraiser for the library. Entry is only $12 and that includes a t-shirt. HOW COOL IS THAT?!

So, I was running, training, to run the 5K this year. I have a friend that is going to do it with me. I was really excited about it because it was gonna be the first 5K I've done and I was going to follow it up with another one later in the fall with Tim's sisters...until Sunday.

I went for a run Friday night and it was great...nothing happened just a normal run/walk spanning 2 miles on my usual path through town. Then on Sunday, my knee started to feel odd, didn't think anything of it. Monday it was a bit swollen so I iced it. Tuesday morning, I woke up and it felt great! So I went for a run....lol, bad idea. It felt great through the run, but had much more swelling after. So, I iced it all day off and on as I could (with 5 kids here). Wednesday, it's been getting more and more bothersome. It really doesn't hurt, but it feels weak, I can't bend to squat (like to pull weeds, etc) and I can't straighten it all the way out. Biking feels ok and walking is alright. So I call the dr and she's out of the office. Talk to the nurse advice line and she said take ibuprofen ever 6 hours and keep icing. And that usually if it's not better in 72 hours I should be seen. Well, since it was 72 hours already when I talked to her, we set up an appointment for Friday. (I have shopping plans today...priorities, I'm telling you!) So, I talked to my friend Kathy who went to school for Excersice Physiology. She thought it sounded like something with the meniscus. So, I get home and consult Dr. Google....who tells me I have a torn meniscus. (That's the cartilidge in your knee...that which does not heal itself.) So, with the appointment Friday I am fearing I have a surgery in my future. Please pray that it's not a torn meniscus and that it's something easier handled than that...I'd take a pulled ligament or something over surgery!

And I really hope this doesn't put a damper on my running plans. I was just starting to like it!

I am a genius.

2009-06-24T07:52:00.002-05:00

I've been looking for a used double jogging stroller.

We have a bike trailer that seats 2...with a stroller wheel attachment.

It wasn't until I was on the manufacturers website last night that I figured out that it's a JOGGING STROLLER when that wheel is attached.

Like I said, I'm a genius.

(At least I hadn't purchased one before I figured that out!)

Running

2009-06-23T06:34:00.002-05:00

Well, for those of you that don't know....I have started running. NOT something I ever thought I would willingly do. I am enjoying it so far and probably will even more when I finally get a jog bra that fits decent! (Waiting on one to come in the mail..should be here soon!) I sought out friends that run for what to put on my iPod and found a few good songs that way. My favorite song to run to, I've found, is one that I already had, though! Katy Perry's Hot n Cold. LOVE IT! Miranda Lambert's Kerosene is my other fave right now. Feisty girl songs!

I' m still looking for music, so if you have any suggestions, I'd totally love to hear them!

This morning, I was up, dressed, out the door and BACK from a run at 6am. I went to the dead end part of our street and back. All my babies were still sleeping and I know that nobody moves until at least 7, so I was safe there. It was so nice to be out and on my own to run in the cool, quiet morning before our heat index hits 100+ like it's supposed to later today.

That's all for today!

Baseball

2009-06-22T05:25:00.000-05:00

Here's a picture of Rugby's first night of baseball practice (about 2 1/2 weeks ago...) Tim was able to help out this night and the next week (the day of TJ's surgery). This past week we missed because Mommy forgot about it. Hopefully we won't this week...it's picture night!

While I'm sure Rugby and Riley are going to miss having Dad there to help, I think it's harder on two somebody else's that wanna play, too...what do you think?

Another Crayon Roll

2009-06-21T17:21:00.000-05:00

A couple days before TJ had his tonsils out, my friend Heidi's daughter (she's in Riley's grade) had her tonsils out. To help her recover since it was going to be a few days of laying in bed, I made her this crayon roll. We also sent a couple new coloring books for her to work on. She thought it was pretty cool. I was going to do it with a turq and white striped pocket, but when I unrolled the turq with white dot backing material, I found the white with turq dot material and it was just SCREAMING to be put together...especially since I did only have 2" more than what the pocket needed. I love how it turned out!

Up with the sun

2009-06-20T07:46:00.001-05:00

Good morning!!

I was up at 4:45 this morning. Crazy! But, we have a showing and I cleaned until midnight and there were somethings I couldn't do at that late hour...like moving the car and truck out of the yard and into the park so the driveway is empty. And mow the lawn (I did wait until 7 to do that, though! You're welcome, neighbors.) I've gotten both bathrooms sparkling, now I only have to clean the kitchen floor and wash the dining room table (and floor if I have time). So, wish us luck, say a prayer that this house sells SOON!

Not feeling it

2009-06-17T22:32:00.001-05:00

I haven't been in the blogging mood. There's many times a day I look at the blog and think I should, but don't really have anything to share.

Tim's out of town and that makes life a bit more challenging. Today was summer reading program at the library and baseball tonight...only I fell asleep after SRP and forgot all about baseball....until I was putting kids to bed at 10 tonight. It was picture night tonight, too. OOPS! We even ordered pizza from the tavern uptown because it was late when the kids got me up. (I only slept for about an hour, but it was HEAVEN!!) So, as soon as I finish this glass of wine, I'm headed to bed...TJ is, too. Stinker won't go to bed alone. Have a good night, hopefully I'll be back soon!!

TJ's surgery

2009-06-11T12:22:00.000-05:00

All went well for us at TJ's surgery yesterday. The pic above was him BEFORE surgery. We were watching cartoons on PBS. When we got to the hospital, he walked and ran and was bouncing around like normal. We checked in and he refused the arm band. So they let us wait on that. Got put in a holding room for a little bit, then situated into a private room with a door and the TV, so he was happy. It was completely kid friendly room....little table and chairs with crayons and coloring books, a glider rocker and the bed. We managed to talk TJ into hospital jammies and the arm band (on his ankle) by telling him that they had to have it on so they knew which boy to bring popsicles to.

After he was out of surgery the doc called me into a consultation room to tell me about the surgery and then I was sent back to the family waiting room to wait for him to come out of recovery. Time seemed to go quickly and before I knew it, I was being paged to go back to his room in the surgery center to recover. A nurse was riding the bed with him snuggled up as they came in, but as soon as he saw me, he wanted out of that bed! We tried giving him juice and a popsicle, but he wasn't ready. I sat there with him for about a half hour with him being crabby and fussy and dozing on and off before the nurse said, "Oh, he hasn't had any pain medicine yet." (This is AT LEAST an hour after his surgery was complete.) So, we tried to give him some, but he didn't take it all. Whatever he did get into him must've been enough because he fell asleep for about an hour or so and when he woke up he drank the popsicle and the juice, asked for more juice which he promptly guzzled and we were out the door shortly after that.

When we picked up the other three boys from Brandon's house, Jaimie and Victoria couldn't believe that he'd had surgery that day...he was his normal, playful self!

Last night, he had pain meds at 8, went to bed and slept until 1:30 when he wanted more pain meds and fell back asleep until my mom called and woke us up at 7:30. He didn't want to have the pain meds from the hospital (they smell bad, I'm sure they taste bad, too!) so I managed to get him to take some regular Tylenol and he's been awesome ever since. We rode bikes (TJ and Tuck in the bike trailer) over to the Cross Country trail (again) and explored the woods for a while, came home and had popsicles and juice and now he's watching a movie. If I can keep him kinda mellow with movies and popsicles today, I'll be doing good!

(Head over to JessBosmanPhotography to see pix from our adventures in the woods today!)

Today is the day!

2009-06-10T05:56:00.002-05:00

Today is TJ's day fro surgery.

R&R and Tuck are going to be at Rugby's friend, Brandon's, house. Tim will pick them up for baseball practice on his way home so I can just stay with TJ and not worry about the rest. With a little luck, we won't be spending the night at the hospital. They are going to watch and see how he does before making that decision.

Wish us luck!

**WED AFTERNOON EDIT: We're home and all went well. TJ is a super trooper! I'll post more tomorrow (hopefully).

Oh the fun we will have!

2009-06-05T09:27:00.002-05:00

Today is the kids' last day of school. I think I'm more excited than they are!! They were admiring two pots of flowers out front this morning, so I let them take them to school for their teacher's. I hope they like them. They are pretty pink and white striped petunia's and I planted them in April, so they are already filling the pots quite nicely. We've been good about dead-heading and they were very pretty. So, the teachers get those (but there are still 4 pots of them here for me to enjoy, also!

Yesterday, TJ saw the ENT again. We are battling some apnea and the kid is constantly having a runny nose. Well, next Wednesday (the 10th) we'll be having tonsils and adenoids removed. YAY! I'm so excited that we will (probably) be rid of his problems! The doc said it should improve his sleeping, his speech, his breathing, his behavior, and his energy. WOWIE!! It'll be like a brand new boy!

So, being that it's the kids last day of school and we need to check over our old house, the kids and I are trekking back to Bonduel today. Tim will have a nice quiet house to finish projects he's been meaning to get to, take Grandma fishing, and get ready for his last week of school. We'll be back on Sunday.

So, that's that. Have a great day! See you when we get back!! :)

A New Project

2009-06-03T14:39:00.003-05:00

My god-daughter just turned 5. Where has the time gone?? I'm borrowing her (and her sisters) the wooden doll bed that my grandpa made for me (what feels like) nearly a hundred years ago. Obviously, my four boys weren't playing with it. My grandma had made a mattress and a quilt for it and a case for the pillow. It was really nice....but the quilt has disappeared over the years. So, fitting the princess she is, I made a new quilt for the doll bed. Here it is........

Timmy will deliver this when he goes to work there in a little over a week, I hope they like it!!

Remember when?

2009-06-01T22:27:00.002-05:00

Remember when I kept a photography blog? I have been missing that lately. This weekend, Rugby and I explored a running trail near our home and I took some new pictures and even found free photo editing software online that works awesome so I put a few pix here and a few more over on that photography blog...with more to come!!

Weekend Pictures

2009-06-01T15:03:00.006-05:00

Tim's side of the family was all here this weekend for Grandpa's funeral. It was such a nice visit!! And, having all 7 kids home is a reason for pictures, so here are a few from the weekend...

The sisters and me...

All the nieces and nephews...(except Val)
Tim and his whole family...
Tim and his siblings...
Baby Val and her favorite Auntie

And a cute one of the babies waiting for us to finish taking pix...

It was a terrible reason to get together, but so nice to visit while we were, anyway!

Fisherman Rugby

2009-06-01T07:39:00.000-05:00

There are TWO new posts up on Fisherman's Blog today. Enjoy!!!

Goodbye.

2009-05-29T06:57:00.002-05:00

Tuesday morning my husband's grandfather passed away. Grandpa was a sweet, tiny man that had a heart of gold. He always had a smile for me and a twinkle in his eye that made you think he remembered you, even in the grips of Alzheimer's. Grandpa was 93, and while he lived a long, good life....it's still so sad. Four of his 5 children were able to be at his side the days leading up to his death. I'm so thankful that we've had the last 3 years here, living just 25 minutes from them, to get to know them a bit better and also for the kids to get to know their Great Grandpa.

My oldest two boys, as sad as it is, have a pretty good grip on death and dying. They know that when you die you go to heaven to live with Jesus and don't seem saddened by the death, but by missing the person. A few years ago, my great uncle, Marvin, died. Rugby and Riley knew him from church and knew that he loved fishing. We talked then about living in heaven, being free of pain, etc. Their little minds were just a working and you could almost see the wheels turning. Shortly after that, their pet fish died. "Mom, our fish went to heaven to live by Uncle Marvin and Jesus. Do you think he'll take care of him?" They get it.

So, Tuesday night I sat down with the boys to tell them about grandpa. Riley asked, "Is that when they put him in the big treasure chest thing." And Rugby had a comment about catching dead fish in heaven with Uncle Marvin. (Because only dead fish live in heaven, you know. ) We talked about what a funeral was and they knew it was a church service to say good bye. It's amazing to me the grip the boys have on this, even at 8 and 6. So, until we can fish in heaven with you, Grandpa, Good bye. We love you and we'll miss you.

Things the babies have taught me...

2009-05-27T14:21:00.003-05:00

Just today they taught me............

-Magic Erasers spread washable marker all over the wall rather than taking it off the wall.
-The can work together to have one distract mom while the other makes a mess.
-Ground ginger, cloves and black pepper makes a lovely air freshner.
-A vacuum is the best way to get ginger, cloves and black pepper out of your 1 year olds HAIR.
-There's nothing quite like the feeling of half peeled, hard boiled egg under your toes.

Is it bedtime yet??

**Wednesday night edit: I also learned that if you are having a particularly hard day and your hubby calls and you sound pathetic enough, he'll bring you a BIG BEAUTIFUL bouquet of flowers to make you feel better. :)

Rugby

2009-05-26T12:29:00.000-05:00

For his birthday, Rugby got a digital camera. And then he asked for a blog. He's too funny!! So, please go over to his blog, Fisherman's Blog, and say hello. We'll hopefully be loading some of his pictures tonight after homework is done. Thanks!!

Simple

2009-05-25T11:30:00.005-05:00

June 1st we are going to have a new realtor. She came up to the house this weekend and took the pictures and we signed our contract to begin later, but she came this weekend so that we can be in the June Homes magazine that goes to 40,000 homes in Dunn County. We haven't been in there the last 6 months it's been on the market, so this will bring some much needed change to the people who are actually seeing the house. The realtor had some really good ideas for simple updates we could make that wouldn't take a ton of money but would make a major impact.

We painted the frames on the front door.

Took down the curtains in the kitchen.

Took down the curtains in the kids bathroom and put up a new shade.

Painted the garage doors. (They were black and white)

Took down the birdhouses over the kitchen/living room doorway.

Got rid of the sofa sleeper, brought up the smaller sofa from downstairs and put a slip cover on it.

So, simple things that really did make a huge difference!

Also, on Saturday we went north of town because someone on Craigslist was giving away Snow on the Mountain. She had a large bed that she wanted gone. Mom took a box of it home with her and we planted a ton of it here. We put it on the west side of the house since I had nothing but weeds there and even the sod that we put down didn't grow. I'm hoping this will take off....it spreads so that will be nice if it grows!!

Happy Memorial Day everyone! We have Rugby's birthday party this afternoon, so hopefully I'll have more pictures later!!

Crayon Roll

2009-05-20T14:46:00.002-05:00

Here's the crayon roll that I made for Aunt Sandy's friend. I loved the blues and browns together!

Results

2009-05-18T09:21:00.002-05:00

Well, we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more. I was up til 1 am making curtains for Riley's room. Tim cleaned the garage....really cleaned it....he took out the carpet, took shelving down, rearranged and organized things. We took a pickup load of JUNK to the dump. The garage and the house looked amazing for the open house.

And no one came.

Not a single soul. It was very disappointing. But, my friend Monica was here to help and she'll go home later today, so at least we had a really nice visit. Saturday we went to her hotel and swam in the pool and vegged out for a while, went out for Chinese and just hung around. It was SO NICE!! Yesterday, she and I went to Eau Claire looking for microwavable soy wax for making candles...we did find it and had fun in the process. It's been a really long time since we've been shopping together, especially sans children. Timmy had a fish dinner ready and waiting for us when we returned, also. AWESOME!

I found some great fabric on sale at JoAnn's, so I picked that up and am working on the crayon roll that I owe Aunt Sandy. I should be able to mail that tomorrow or Wednesday. YAY!

I owe you pix....the new mirror in the living room, Riley's curtains, the garage, and the new crayon roll, so watch for them this week!!

Open House

2009-05-12T11:02:00.002-05:00

This weekend we are having an open house. I hope that we have lots of people come out, but we live in a tiny, dying town and the chances of that are slim. In order to prepare for the open house, with the hopes that tons of people come, I am cleaning like a madwoman today. In the last two hours, I've only managed to completely clean TWO rooms. A bathroom and the bedroom that we use as a movie room. The cleaning I'm doing is the kind where you GUT the room and only put back what needs to after it's all clean and shiny. I love the results of that kind of cleaning, but it takes SO long to do it!! I have two bedrooms and another bathroom to get done (hopefully) before Tucker wakes up from his nap. TJ and I are taking our lunch break right now. It's 60* outside and he wants to be outside playing...can't blame him for that!! But, mom can't be out there right now so inside it is. We planted flowers and played in the dirt yesterday, so at least not all of my work has to be done indoors.

I have a long list of projects to get done before Saturday at 10am, wish me luck!!

Riley's Mother's Day Card

2009-05-11T06:22:00.003-05:00

I had a super weekend back "home" with family. It was so nice to be able to spend some time there again. I wish it were longer! But, I am thankful for the little bits I get here and there. When I got home, R&R and Tim were ready and waiting for me! Rugby made a cute card in school with a flower magnet that has his picture in it. SO CUTE!! And he also made a card at home. He's such a sentimental little thing! The card said "For my love for you, for your love for me." and a bunch of little phrases like "Ya!" "Wow!" "Yippie!" "Super" all over it.

The cards the kids made in school have open ended statements on them and the kids had to fill them in. Sometimes I'm a little scared by what they write. Sometimes it's just too cute to be insulted. Here's their cards:

Rugby

My favorite thing about you is.............you help me in hard times.

My favorite time with you is...........at walmart.

Thanks for.........giving me pokemon cards.

Riley

She is ....64......years old and weighs .........10......pounds.

Her favorite food is..........ledis (lettuce).

Her favorite color is ..................blue

Mom's favorite TV show is ..........nun (none) {He said to me, "Cuz you know that we can't watch TV, Mom."}

I think Mom looks funny when she ...........acks (acts) like she has one eye. {When did I do this??}

I know she is angry when she .........is mad.

My favorite thing to do with MOm is ..........have a bike ride.

When she is alone she likes to ............go soping (shopping)

My Mom's favorite place to go is ............wallmart

The BEST thing about my Mom is ..........she ckoocks (cooks) for me

The best thing I could give my Mom is ........flowrs. {Maybe his daddy should take advice from him...lol!}

Road Trippin'

2009-05-08T06:29:00.001-05:00

I was going to surprise my mother with a trip home for Mother's Day weekend....but she asked a point blank question so I had to tell her. Anyway, the babies and I are headed back home for the weekend. R&R are spending Friday night with a friend and Tim will get them sometime on Saturday....I'm sure there will be fishing involved in their plans! lol!

Next week, I will be a cleaning madwoman as we have an open house on Saturday and my bestest friend in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD is coming for a very long overdue visit. Should be fun!

I'll try and post some pix when we get back on Sunday!

Need an idea...

2009-05-07T09:14:00.002-05:00

I have a pretty bowl that I want to set on my counter in the kitchen. I would normally put fruit in it, or in the winter, I've put pinecones in it. But, being it's spring, I want something different. Any ideas? Something bright? Outdoorsy? Any thoughts?

Here we go again....

2009-05-05T07:26:00.002-05:00

Well, yesterday afternoon was just as trying as the morning was...ugh.

The ONLY thing that turned out how it was supposed to was the cinnamon rolls for the teachers. (YAY!)

And this morning I overslept and missed the alarm. Kids are eating right now and we'll leave for school in a few minutes to deliver the cinnamon rolls. We'll see how the rest of the day goes!