kate

A Funny Thing

2012-02-02T16:10:00.002-05:00

Every night the kids take Juice Plus. I believe it has done wonders for them. They no longer have the asthma issues they used to have. Colds come and go now. It really still amazes me. Colds used to be the worst thing ever for us in this house.

Anyway, Juice Plus is a chewy kind of vitamin and the kids have to take 2 a night. One is a fruit chew. The other is a vegetable chew. Whichever kid is ready for them first (usually Elijah) gets them out for the other one.

Well, lately Elijah has been ready first so he gets Madelyn's out. He doesn't just hand them to her though. He sticks them to the wall.

hahahahahahahaha ...

We didn't know he was doing this until the other evening when Madelyn came down from her room and said, "Elijah, will you PLEASE stop sticking my vitamins to the wall?"

He stuck them on the wall outside her room. Last night it was the kitchen wall. So, so funny. We all crack up laughing. Well, except for Madelyn. She is amused though. How can she not be? That is super funny.

I love my little family.

Sewing and Other Things

2012-02-02T06:52:00.001-05:00

My sewing machine is now working. Yay!!! Glenda, who goes to church with us, was my life saver in the realm of sewing. She is now a part of my Bible Study and she stayed a little longer yesterday to help me with my machine (which I now named Betsy). She worked her magic and got it working. It was the bobbin.

Darn bobbin.

The more I learn about sewing the more I realize that half the job is keeping your machine working properly. So, Betsy and I will hopefully get very acquainted with each other in the next few weeks.

Glenda learned just how little experience I have with sewing. None, actually. We were trying to figure out what my sewing class would be called because I wasn't even at the sewing 101 level. Thankfully I can laugh at myself.

Otherwise, it's been a good week. Having Peyton in the mornings has been a nice experience so far. He loves our cat Samson. They do legos together. He can't get over how friendly Samson is and he made a point to go find him yesterday to say good-bye before he left for school.

Our early mornings are catching up to us though. Dan and I were sooooo tired last night. It was kind of funny. I actually fell asleep on the couch after the kids got home, and Dan was falling asleep during our bedtime routine with the kids.

Madelyn won a Kindle from the school for raising the most money for the Race for Education for grades 4-6. She said she was shaking when she sat down. She was so surprised to have won it. That is seriously the best thing for my little reader. I am so happy for her, and so thankful for all who gave money to TKA. We really do love that school, and I think the cause is well worth the it.

My Bible study started again this week. We are studying Philippians. Soooooooo good. Paul is so great. I have more women doing the study this time, but there were only 3 of us yesterday. We had great discussion though, such a blessing.

Okay, that's the latest here. Happy day!!!

Happy Monday!

2012-01-30T07:45:00.000-05:00

Well, since poor Elijah threw up again Saturday night there was no church for him or me. Dan teaches a class at church so he had to go. So, my morning was spent chillin' with Elijah and vacuuming and getting laundry going. The bright spot was my neighbor calling and heading over there for a bit.

She is doing a Thirty-One catalog party for me and he nurse friends at work are having a good time shopping so I took her some items to take into work with her to show. And, my neighbor is so in love with the products. It's funny. So, while I was there she was showing me her newly painted bedroom and bathroom and while we were talking in the bathroom her cat fell into the toilet. SO FUNNY!

Otherwise, a pretty uneventful day. I am trying to learn how to sew, but it turns out Joann Fabrics is closed for now in our area. They are moving their location, but the new location isn't open yet. Thankfully Walmart has some sewing supplies, but I was hoping to be able to ask the employees at Joann some questions about sewing machines. I need to get the one I got from my mom working properly.

I have quite the learning curve on sewing since I have NEVER EVER used a machine before. I have to say I am pretty intimidated by them.

Today is our first day of having Peyton, our neighbor's boy. He is such a sweetheart. His dad starts a new job today so he will be with us in the mornings. He told me he "good lucked" his dad on the way over. Once Peyton got her at 6 Elijah was out of bed too. We are all going to be super tired at the end of today, and poor Madelyn has two fillings to get today. It's going to be a loooooooong day.

This is the exciting life we lead these days. Happy Monday!!

The Bug

2012-01-27T21:05:00.001-05:00

This stomach bug refuses to leave. I thought Elijah was better on Wednesday night. Boy was I wrong. I don't want to even count the times he has thrown up since then. Let's just say I have the mounds of sheets and blankets to show it was a lot.

Then last night Madelyn says, "A few of my friends at school today said my eye looked red." Pink eye. Greeeeaaaaat ...

So, both kids home today. The good news is I knew last night they would both be home so I could sleep in. the bad news is I have been in the house for 3 days. Three. Whole. Days. That is not good for this extroverted girl who needs human interaction. Praise the Lord for the phone and internet though. Where would I be without my phone peeps and social networking peeps?

Yesterday I got Madelyn ready for school and planned to keep Elijah home. We were walking out the door and Elijah threw up. I finally took Madelyn in at 10:30 because I thought Elijah would be able to handle the fairly short car ride. Poor guy threw up on the way home. At least Madelyn was going to get a full day of school in. Dan was in Lancaster at a conference so he wasn't local to help get Madelyn to school.

So, things have been fun around here. Blech.

My Bible Study is starting up again and we are studying Philippians. So much of that book is about rejoicing in all things. Ahem. So, I have been put to the test this week. It was good to be mindful of this message last night when Elijah was woken up from a sound sleep by puking. Poor little guy.

I went to bed praying and things were looking up this morning which was helpful. Madelyn's eye looked better and Elijah hasn't thrown up all day even though he has felt like it most of the evening. He is in better spirits too.

Wasn't this a fun post? Puking, pink eye, and cabin fever pretty much sums up our lives around here today :)

My kids were super cute today wearing mine and Dan's clothes dressed as spies. So funny. They really do enjoy each other.

Hopefully tomorrow I can post about getting to leave the house. I am pretty low on groceries at this point, and I have plans to get together with a friend tomorrow night. She suggested it when she saw my e-mail about Elijah still being sick. She has had a lot going on as well and we both agreed we needed a night out. Yay!

Today

2012-01-25T22:56:00.001-05:00

Elijah was home sick today. He threw up in the car on the way home from school yesterday. Poor little guy. He was so sweet about it and felt so bad that he didn't know the barf bag that I brought for him was right next to him. I had quite a mess to clean up and I'm not sure the smell will go away any time soon. Blech.

So, today I got to hang out with my little guy. He was snuggled up on the couch most of the morning watching movies.

I didn't feel too well myself. I'm not sure if it was all the vomit I have been dealing with, or the fact that lately I think it's okay to dine on mint m&ms and bbq potato chips. Either way I was happy to chill with Elijah this morning.

Thankfully I did get to my responsibilities this afternoon though. There was laundry to do and sheets to change. I felt better once I got some things done. The afternoon coffee was yummy too.

Elijah didn't throw up today, but Dan thinks he should still stay home another day because he is still a bit weak. I agree. He's a cute little guy and I like having him here.

I just read an article that had an excerpt from Reagan's diary and I thought, "What a great idea!" I love the calendar I have from when Madelyn was a baby where I just wrote a blurb each day on what she was doing so I thought maybe I would try it on here.

Madelyn and a couple classmates did a little play today where she was a bison. She had to charge her classmates. They all got a good laugh from it. She also had to pretend to be a prairie dog and do a back flip. So funny.

We were talking about family dynamics at dinner and some weird family traits so Madelyn asked what were our weird family traits. I told her she would figure them out later as an adult when she starts complaining to her friends about us. Then we started talking with weird voices to give her some ammo for now.

It was nice to have Elijah back at the table with us tonight. We really missed him last night. We didn't realize how much excitement he adds to our dinners. It was me versus two introverts last night so you can imagine how that went. Madelyn is so sweet though, and she's been extra sweet to Elijah. Since she just had the stomach bug last week she knows just what to do.

Hopefully this will be it for the stomach bug and Dan and I won't get it. (fingers crossed)

Life ...

2012-01-22T23:26:00.000-05:00

these days ...

So much going on. I'm not sure where to start because I'm not sure any of it is very exciting. When I tried to write a post recently I got bored with myself and stopped. Yeesh. It's that time of year though. The mundane sets in along with the cold cold weather that makes me not want to cross the street for the mail. Everything seems to sloooowwww down so much. It's strange, but I am finding joy in the mundane and trying to enjoy the slowness.

So, in an effort to not be boring, but still keep tabs on my life on this here blog, here are some short bits of life these days ...

Starting next week I will be helping a friend by getting his son onto the bus in the mornings. He will get here at 6 a.m. and onto the bus at 8:20. He is a sweet boy and good friends with Elijah and I will make a few bucks so it's all good. Except the early morning part. I am not a morning person, but I think over all that will be good too. We need to get out of bed earlier in the mornings. We are all better when we have a little extra time before school.

I am happy my cat is alive.

I am also happy my kids seem to have grown out of their asthma issues. Praise the Lord, PRAISE the Lord!!! And let's just praise Him again ... whew!

Madelyn just survived a stomach bug.

I am so richly blessed by friendships. I seriously don't know where I would be in life without my friends and telephones. They are my life line so many days.

The other day I had no phone OR internet. Oh my. I survived though. It turns out you have to pay your bills if you want to keep getting those services. Huh.

I am going to learn to sew. My first project will be throw pillows for my couch. I am so excited. Eventually I want to make purses and bags and scarves and more pillows and lots of other fun things.

My children keep getting older and lately I have been shocked by the fact that those toddler years/home with my babies years are gone. GONE. I am SO out of that stage. And for some reason it is hitting me more lately. It's just weird to see these major stages in life go passing by.

I wish we had the money to just fly out to AZ to see Shannon and her family.

Elijah loves Calvin & Hobbes these days and is learning all kinds of new naughty things. I would do away with the books, but I think it's a little too late and he finds them so funny. Also, I think he has learned that you can't say "drop dead" at school. Oy.

Madelyn is a part of a writer's club at her school now, and just had her first Girl Scouts meeting today. They discussed planning an art exhibit at a local library so that was very exciting for Madelyn. She can't wait to become an official girl scout and sell some cookies. I can't wait to eat some cookies.

However, on that subject, I have eaten way too many cookies and chips and candy lately. Blech. You'd think I was TRYING to weigh 300 lbs by the end of winter, or that I am fattening up like a bear preparing for a long sleep. I wish.

We got 3 - 4 inches of snow this weekend. That is the perfect amount of snow. It's enough to play in, but not enough to really mess things up, or to hang around too long getting dirty and ugly looking.

My Bible Study is starting this Wednesday and I have more people signed up for it than ever. That is very exciting. I think I am going to try to do some video conferencing or something to allow for far away people to join the discussion, but I have to work that out.

Okay, I think that's all for now. I really need to wash some pans and get to bed. More "excitement" to come soon ...

A Recap ...

2012-01-01T11:12:00.001-05:00

Christmas break? I don't think so. We have had A LOT of company and fun things going on. I am tired, but I know I will miss it all next week when we are back into the school routine and missing everyone.

We enjoyed a hymn sing at our church, Christmas Eve with our dear friends, Christmas with friends we now jokingly call family because of family members being from the same area as Dan, pretty much if you are from that area or know of it you are probably related ;) Friends from NJ came to visit. We went roller skating with our kids. Hung out on Tuesday in a dark living room while Dan and Chris worked in the basement. They had to turn the electric off so they could re-wire some things. Elijah had a birthday party to go to. We said good-bye to our friends from Jersey. Dan and Chris continued to work on our basement until they got drywall up. It's AMAZING!!! The lights are re-positioned in better spots so it's brighter and just having white drywall up makes a HUGE difference. LOVE IT already and it still has a lot of work to be done.

Josh and Susan came to visit! YAY!!! They have already been on the road for a week and have another week to spend with Vern & Lois. Their poor kids (and probably them) are exhausted. They head out today :( We had a blast last night celebrating the New Year with them and Jess & Jon. All the kids were great, and we were able to play a game and laugh a ton. I think I will be laughing for days just thinking about things from last night which will be good because this week is going to be brutal trying to get back into routine and not staying up until 2 a.m. Ugh.

So, overall it's been a fun week. We also got to shop with the kids so they could spend their gift cards. It seemed they were burning a hole in their pockets. It's amazing how you can spend $250 in gift cards in just two short days right after Christmas. Oh my.

Yay for a new year. Yay for family and friends, and yay for health and love. Happy New Year!!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T10:59:00.000-05:00

My cat is better!!! Yay!!! The amount of ribbon he puked up was unbelievable, especially since I don't keep ribbon in the house because I know he eats it. I have no idea where it came from, but I am thankful the Lord answered our prayers. I started praying that if there was something causing a blockage that the Lord would move it, and He did. Yay! Ugh. It was a rough week of going back and forth in my mind over what to do with my kitty, knowing I couldn't really afford another vet bill. Ahhhhh, breathing a huge sigh of relief, such a gift to have that burden lifted before Christmas.

I am soooo looking forward to getting together with our good friends today for dinner, a little gift exchange and lots of laughs I'm sure. Then we will go to their Christmas Eve service, come home, and wait for Santa ... literally. Our neighbor dresses as Santa and comes over. He is so sweet. We don't even do Santa, but the kids love it. Elijah is saying he believes in Santa too so he especially is excited. His determination in believing in Santa is pretty funny.

I still have gifts to wrap, but I would really like to just chill and read my book about a woman who was kidnapped by indians, escaped and walked 1000 miles back to her home. So crazy! It's a true story. The novel is historical fiction based on her story. It is so good though. I feel terrible putting the book down and leaving them in the wilderness. It is her and another woman who escaped. Oh, the things they go through. The human will is amazing.

But, it's Christmas Eve so I will be doing Christmas things today, like writing a blog post on Christmas Eve :)

I will post soon about my First Grade Christmas party experience. Serena told me I need to write it down. I was in charge of games, and for those who know me you probably know I am amazing at games, and crafts, and party planning ... no. I'm not. There may have been tears and frustrations involved in my games. Stay tuned.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO READ MY BLOG!!!!!!!

Hugs from Dogs

2011-12-22T17:57:00.003-05:00

I love when my dogs hug me. It might sound weird, but they do.

Daisy just walked over the where I am sitting in the chair, sat down and pushed herself against me. That's her hug. I hug her back and she is so happy. Plus, she is big so I can really hug her and squeeze her and she doesn't mind at all.

So, we just had a little moment. She trotted off all happy, grabbed her bone and is chewing away on it now.

Molly will do the same thing. She will jump up on the bed, come over to wear I am, sit and lean into me. It's so sweet.

I know. I have issues. But, I am feeling really sentimental about life right now. Christmas this year is really getting into my heart. It's good and bad. Good because I like feeling the emotions of holidays and really feeling the moments. Bad because who wants to be weepy around Christmas.

It doesn't help that my kitty has been sick. He's being so sweet about it too. I have read that cats really mask their illnesses well. He definitely is. He has barely been eating, etc., but he is still so sweet and is loving any attention he gets. I had already been giving him extra attention since losing Simon. Samson is just so laid back and squeezable so I've definitely been squeezing him lately. A friend said maybe that's why he got sick. I was squeezing him too much. Ha ha. That made me laugh.

He's 14. There's only so much we can do for our little buddy. Going through all of this though makes me never want to get another cat. We were looking at cats last night at the pet store. They were so sweet, but all I kept thinking was "you cost A LOT of money." Vet bills are ridiculous. It's sad because I would probably get a million animals (give or take a few) if they didn't cost so darn much to care for.

So, here we enter another point of change in life that is a reminder that we are getting old. A college friend and I were just talking about things like this. Life events that make us wonder how we got this old. I remember getting my cats and thinking, "I could have them until I am 40." I've heard of cats living for 20 years. Thirty-five is pretty close to 40, but it does kind of take me back a step wondering how I got to this point so quickly.

Well, my kitty is sitting here wanting some love and probably some tuna juice. I read it helps with hydrating, etc. He does love it too.

Now go hug your dog, or cat :o)

Hmmm ...

2011-12-15T21:24:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've been on here I see.

I have to share my small victory from today though. The grandfather I mentioned in my previous post waved to me today. Unprovoked. Yes! VICTORY!! I may have even sung that word out loud after it happened too. So happy. He and I are officially waving buddies.

Things have been peaceful lately. I have felt so free in a weird way. I mean, things have been going on. Don't get me wrong. There have been tragedies, and sickness, and sadness, etc., but I am feeling good these days. I am almost afraid to say all of this, but I also don't want to live in superstitious fear. I don't think God works that way. I am just very thankful for peaceful days. Anxiety is a bitch so days when I don't have to deal with it are good days. Long stretches of not having to deal with it are even better. So, ahhhhhhhh. I am resting in that right now.

Advent season is here and I love it, such a joyful time of year, especially when the truth is in you. I am more grateful than ever that God decided to send his Son as a little baby for the sake of little old me. What a gift. When so much sadness goes on it is easy to want to question God, but then what? If you are going to question God, where do you turn? It is an odd conundrum to question, yet rest in God's sovereignty. I find myself there quite often though.

Reading His word helps. He makes things so clear at times. It's not always easy to put into my own words, but I read His word and understand. That is peaceful. That is good.

Madelyn is showing some real spiritual growth this year. I think her teacher at school has been very helpful in this way. Her prayers though are more heartfelt and sincere. At dinner she thanks God that we have food to eat and prays for those who don't. During our family prayers she is praying more for the hearts of people who don't know Truth. It is really sweet.

Elijah comes up with very interesting questions and comments concerning God and things in the Bible. He soaks up Bible stories and is able to then put thoughts and ideas together concerning God. For instance, we were discussing marriage and the vows that are made before God. Elijah then adds that once we had him and Madelyn they then became a part of that vow. He actually said it was like God's promises came like a laser into him and Madelyn after we had kids. So funny.

I love seeing their hearts and minds grow towards God, and I love being able to be real with them in talking about God. I love the verse where Jesus says something to the effect of "in this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world." There is victory with God. We just have to hold on, and sometimes that is all we can do.

So, all that to say I am so overwhelmed and thankful right now for all God has blessed us with, and for the comfort we can find in Him through all things.

Strangers?

2011-12-04T22:30:00.001-05:00

I see people around town all the time. I don't really know them, but I feel like I do. I even come up with their life scenarios which I am sure are pretty darn close to their real life situations because I am after all only going by their looks.

Anyway, take the bus stop people for instance. I drive my kids to school so I see a number of people at various bus stops. There is the old man that walks a teeny girl to the bus stop, only now she is not so teeny and is probably in 2nd grade, or maybe first. There used to be an older red headed boy that he would see to the bus stop as well, but he is now in high school. That bus comes early so I don't see him any more.

I have seen a young woman with him in the mornings at times too so I am assuming she is the girl's mother. So, here is what I surmised. The woman is a young single mother who works so he helps her by getting her daughter on the bus. He has to be the grandfather (or even great-grandfather) because he is so sweet with the little chatter-box girl. Seriously. I only drive by them, but she is a talker. They walk and she is just talking up a storm. It is so sweet. He used to hold her hand, but now she's a big girl. I imagine she just melts his heart.

I even saw the man do a funny dance to make the older red-headed boy laugh. It was super sweet. The man is not super friendly to me though. Yes. I still have only driven by, but I would wave. It was almost like he would try to not look at me, but I am happy to report I get a wave occasionally now. I mean I drive in the other lane to make sure they are safe so I wave an acknowledging wave. You do that right?

So, it was funny on Halloween night to see them trick or treating in our neighborhood. I feel like I know the guy, but what do I say? "Hey! It's me, the lady who drives by you on a regular basis! Can I just ask you to verify my back story I have created for you?" Originally I thought he must be their sole guardian and everyone else has died. Now I don't think that everyone has died, but he must have some kind of guardianship or something. See, I do need verification. I should have asked him on Halloween. That's so not weird at all.

There are others. One woman I would see at story time all the time. That ended, but I continued to see her at parks, the grocery store, etc. Finally one day I introduced myself because it was just getting weird how I would see her ALL the time and we never said anything. It turns out her husband leads the local cubs scouts. Good to know.

Another lady I see at the bus stop has a little baby. Well, he was super little, but now he wears a leash because you just can't have a little toddler free to roam on that road, way too dangerous so I don't blame her one bit. It is cute to see the others fussing over him at the stop though. He was just standing there with a big smile on his face the other day. So cute!

Another woman I only just saw the other day. She was cute waving to her kids on the bus. She looks like she has a hard life, like she works hard for the sake of her kids. See? This is what I do. I make up stories for people. But, with her it was like she would wave to the kids all smiles and so sweet, but when she turned to continue walking her face changed. The hardness showed through. She saves face for her kids. Don't we all at times?

There is another group that I just plain worry over. There are so many of them at this stop on a busy two lane country road. It just scares me to see all those people crammed onto a corner with barely any sidewalk. Oy. I see the moms walk along the road with their kids trying to get to the corner, but there is no sidewalk! I hate it.

I could go on. It's funny though because I am sure my stories are way more dramatic in my mind than they are in real life, but you never know right? Am I the only one who does this? Or, am I the only one that sees certain people so much that it feels like I should know them?

Tell me. I need to know your stories if this happens to you ... Tell me I'm not SO weird!!!

Where was I?

2011-11-28T21:17:00.001-05:00

Oh yeah, we had Thanksgiving ...

After telling the kids we were NOT stopping. We were going to try to make it as far as we could before stopping. No drinking. No snacking because then you'll get thirsty ... and we stopped about 45 minutes down the road.

Elijah had to pee and I had stomach issues. Good times at the rest stop. Then we stopped again. Dan had stomach issues. This was Thanksgiving morning. Dan's parents were expecting us for the meal by 1. I had a casserole in my cooler.

We finally get there and I fell asleep soon after. I woke up to eat and then fell asleep again soon after. I wish I could have enjoyed the meal more. Dan's mom said the turkey wasn't done right. I cooked my casserole the night before, could have sworn I put it in the fridge, only to realize the next morning it was still sitting, covered, on the stove.

Issues.

We had issues. The good news is that we have had many Thanksgiving dinners with Dan's parents that have been much MUCH better.

That night we left around 8 pm to hit Walmart for some amazing deals. Good times :) Shopping is my love language.

Dan's Dad even went. He heard about that laptop they were selling for $248 and he was all over it. He and Dan waited in line forever and Merry Christmas to me! I will soon have a normal size laptop.

Can. Not. Wait.

Our desktop computer died so I am left with my little laptop all the time. I like my little buddy, but sometimes I just want to look through pictures without having to scroll down to see just one whole picture.

Dan was ready to set it up for me, but I told him I was waiting for Christmas for it. He's going to set it up in secret so Christmas day I can open it and use it right away. Yay! I don't even mind knowing ahead of time.

We got some other goodies too. I don't know that I would just go out to shop that day if I wasn't trying to get a deal, but it was worth it for the deals we got.

I told Elijah that night that we were going out hunting (for good deals obviously). He asked if I was going to shoot a chicken. Have I mentioned how much that kid cracks me up?

He and Madelyn stayed behind to help Grandma decorate her tree. They are tree decorating machines. We decorated ours the night before we left and they loved every second of it. Dan and I just sit back and enjoy not having to do anything. Madelyn was thrilled she could do whatever she wanted and I love our tree with the clumps of ornaments here and there. So what the tree is 13 years old. It's like a part of our family now :)

We had a good time with Dan's brother's family as well. Their kids just fuss all over our kids. They are teenagers and are super sweet so our kids just think they are the best. We played games and had fun.

It is nice to be home for a while too. We were away the last two weekends. Even Daisy was exhausted from her time at the dog sitter's. I don't think she has woken up yet.

So, that was our Thanksgiving 2011 and boy do we have a ton to be thankful for. I am so very grateful for all God has blessed us with.

My Kids

2011-11-23T22:16:00.001-05:00

I could just squeeze my kids lately for how stinkin' cute and funny they have been.

Tonight they are in bed together and I heard Elijah say, "The most important person to believe in is God, the one true God. Don't believe in false gods."

That kid takes everything to heart. He shows me just how impressionable kids can be. I am so grateful he is being taught truth in school because it is sticking.

Madelyn has been gathering her belongings today for out Thanksgiving trip. She wants to pack Polar, her nighttime bear (I dare you to guess what kind of bear he is ;), but she needs to sleep with him tonight. In discussing how she was going to handle this Elijah asked her if she was going to sleep with him. She said yes, and he replied, "Good, because I was worried for you."

I was running errands this morning for some much needed groceries. When I came home the kids were making sandwiches with the little bread that we did have. Madelyn said she was making a sandwich for papa as well. He was busy fixing our upstairs toilet. I had to run one more errand to pick up meds for the kids and as I was walking to my car I hear Madelyn yell out to me "do you want a sandwich too?" So sweet.

Seriously. My kids have just been so sweet to each other my heart has been melting on a regular basis. This has been an off week because of the holiday, the kids are sick, etc. so they have been home more often than not. But, they have been so happy playing games together, creating stories and songs together, helping each other with little projects. They even want to sleep together at night.

I never understood how a brother and sister could be best friends, but I am beginning to see it. They truly enjoy each others company. I hope they keep this bond forever.

Milk = Bad

2011-11-21T21:27:00.001-05:00

We were away with friends this weekend. I was helping my friend with her first jewelry show. She makes it and this was her first time trying to sell it. She did AMAZING and has beautiful pieces. I was so happy for her and the response she got. She did very well.

So, after a long day we headed home, filled the husbands in on how the day went, kicked off our shoes and settled in on the couch. That's when I heard coughing. Both of our families have had sickness lately, but this cough was different. I asked who was coughing only to find out it was Elijah. What?! I knew he was probably getting a sinus infection, but the coughing hadn't been an issue. After hearing it a few times I called him up to get him a drink and some meds. I told him why I called him up and he said, "It could be from the milk."

Um. WHAT!?!

Yup. The kids all had hot chocolate made with milk after their afternoon at the park with the dads.

I quick grabbed the Benadryl and gave him the biggest dose I could. His breathing sounded bad and he was feeling sick to his stomach which is typical when he has something made with milk so he ended up hovering over the toilet in case he threw up. Then I thought, "If he throws up, the medicine is going to come up, and will he react again from the milk coming back up ... ???" There were too many questions and too much of a breathing issue to just sit around and wait to see what happens so we put him in the car and headed to urgent care.

They took us right back thankfully and checked him out. His breathing was getting better and better, but they did find an ear infection and are treating him for that and the sinus infection. That saved me a trip to the doc this week. They observed him for a full hour and gave him anti-nausea medicine which made a world of difference for him. He perked up once that medicine kicked in.

The poor kid. It was really scary to hear him breathe in and hear the obstruction in his throat. He had never ingested so much milk, nor let it sit in him for so long before realizing. Usually he will get a bump on his face or something if he eats something that he reacts to so I give him benadryl right away. I never knew if he could react so strongly and now I do. Thankfully I had the epi-pen on me as well. I started to carry that and the Benadryl in my purse. I just never know these days when he might eat something he reacts to.

His allergies are to milk and eggs. Mostly he is fine with eating foods with them in it, but every now and then he might react to a cookie, or a different brand waffle or nugget. He doesn't really eat waffles or nuggets too much anymore, but those were things he reacted to. Poor little guy. He just feels so lousy after a big exposure like that.

When we were at the beach one year we thought for some reason that he would be able to have sherbet. He had a cup of it while the rest of us had ice cream. He went to bed that night soon after we got back to the house and when he woke up the next morning we could tell he just wasn't right and he threw up orange. Well, surprise surprise. Sherbet has milk in it.

Elijah is usually very good about recognizing foods that may have an allergen, like popcorn, but I make hot chocolate with the packet of mix and water so he has never associated it with milk at all. Maybe he will now.

While we were at urgent care he asked if everyone could come visit him while he was there. I think he thought he was at the hospital. I explained to him that we were just at a weekend doctor's office. They were really great with him too.

Oy. I don't want to go through that again any time soon.

LEGO Excitement

2011-11-14T19:09:00.001-05:00

The kids are starting to get excited for Christmas. They were looking at the toysrus flyer and realized that LEGOs were on sale. This is the conversation that then took place ...

E: Madelyn, you are the reason I got excited about my LEGO's again because you came up with that game with them.

M: Really?

E: Yeah, you got me back to my old self so thank you for helping me get back to my old self. ... (Madelyn is looking at the flyer not saying anything) ... Madelyn, what do you say when someone says thank you?

M: I was just going to say you're welcome!

So serious, and yet so funny.

Bad

2011-11-13T23:18:00.001-05:00

I've been so bad about blogging lately. I just feel scatterbrained lately and I hate that feeling.

So, here are some recent happenings or thoughts ...

Did I mention that I heard back from the supervisor at the job that I declined? I did. She said she was disappointed and would look into things for me. I haven't heard anything since though.

Elijah is stuffy and coughing. I am praying we can keep it at bay like the last time and prevent it from turning into an antibiotic deal. So far it is not looking promising, but we were able to do it last time.

Samson now goes to the basement to potty and eat. This is HUGE. I was beginning to worry. He is still meowing outside our door at night though. Grrr ... that is really annoying, but a closed door and fan help.

I hate that I won't be seeing Breaking Dawn at midnight this year. Super bummed, but the idea of me going by myself at midnight just seemed pathetic. Although now that I think about it we stood in line behind a girl who was by herself last year. I don't think she was 35 though. I would go by myself during the day, but not at midnight. My Twi-friends all have things going on where they can't make it. One has a new baby, one moved away, and another just has life going on, not to mention the tickets are all sold out now for midnight. Sad. And yes, sad because I am pathetic, and sad that I definitely will not be there at midnight. I can't help it though! Edward reminds me sooooooo much of Dan. I love his character. Therefore, Dan loves the book and I love the book because there are things Edward says that are so similar to things Dan has said. (sigh) Love.

Our basement is swept out, sump pump is fixed, window is back in, paneling and insulation ripped out, furniture in our storage room ... it's all ready for whoever wants to come and put some dry wall up. Anyone? Anyone?

Okay, I think that is all for now. I am sure by now you are thankful that I didn't make a separate blog post for all of those things aren't you?

Now back to my scatterbrained mind ...

Red White & Blue

2011-11-11T11:59:00.001-05:00

Yesterday the secretary at the school asked Elijah if he was going to wear red, white, and blue socks today for veteran's day and he said no because he only has two feet.

Happy Veteran's Day! Where would we be without our troops sacrificing each and every day for our safety and freedom?

Blech

2011-11-09T19:09:00.000-05:00

I feel icky so my family is eating dinner while I sit in the living room. Blech. I don't even want to be around food right now which is unfortunate because I really like taco salad normally.

My friend Anna from way back during college days came to visit yesterday with her son who is Elijah's age. So fun to reconnect, and her boy is so sweet. We had a really nice time.

I turned down the job offer the other day. It didn't pay very much for how hard I would be working. HR wasn't willing to budge on it and I knew that they were offering the lowest they can pay for this position. I thought it was kind of ridiculous that they couldn't even bring the amount up $.30 to make an even dollar amount, but whatever.

So, I e-mailed the top supervisor I had met with and told her I was sorry we weren't able to work something out. I even told her the exact amount I was looking for and what I would have settled for so she would know I wasn't looking for millions here. She wrote me back and said she was disappointed as well and was going to look into it for me. I really appreciated that because I thought she was really great when I interviewed with her. Even if things don't work out I don't feel badly about how things were handled. I haven't heard great things about this hospital as far as working there so I knew I didn't want to settle for just any amount. We'll see what happens.

I took a nap today. I rarely ever go to sleep during the day, but I just am not feeling right. I have to say I love naps, especially on days like today when I really needed one. Soon after I laid down my chihuahua snuggled up with me and then my cat did too. I love that. The funny part is that Samson, the cat, will oftentimes lay down either right on Molly, or right next to her because Molly goes under the blanket so Samson doesn't even realize she's there. It cracks me up.

Speaking of Samson, the poor cat has been losing it. He has not wanted to go in the basement because it is completely gutted, and he is still meowing at night when we go to bed. I feel bad for him and I think he needs a valium. I'm only half kidding.

He's getting there though. I realized today he did go in the basement to use the litter box. I put his food down there too so that once he got hungry enough he would go down there. I think it worked. Poor kitty.

I think there was more I was going to write, but now I don't remember. It has been fun sitting back and listening to my family's conversation while I have been typing this. Apparently Madelyn played football with the boys today, but not the whole game. And Elijah is discussing the fact that we die because of sin. That kid has such a fun mind. He is so inquisitive.

I think Madelyn has picked up the fact that I am generally struggling today. She keeps giving me hugs. I don't mind though. That girl seems to be growing up like crazy lately.

This is one of those days where I am looking forward to going to bed and starting out fresh tomorrow. Blech.

My Simon

2011-11-06T22:39:00.002-05:00

Here's how the day went ...

My poor little kitty. I knew the night before that it was getting to be time for him. His hair was all matted on his back. Apparently cats stop grooming themselves when they feel really sick. He was so thin and still having his ... let's just say stomach issues.

Tuesday morning he was snuggling on my lap and I was just so sad for him, but I was giving him love. Soon after that he had a bad vomit session. Sorry, but he did. It was then that I knew. He just wasn't keeping anything down anymore. Why would I wait to see him only get worse.

I looked up the vet's number and had it on the desk for probably two hours. I would work on my Bible study work and then try to call. I wouldn't be able to so I would do more Bible study work and repeat the cycle.

Dan called and asked me if I just woke up. Um, it was 1 pm. He said, "Why do you sound like that then?" "Um, I've just been crying." Because that's what I do now that the kids are in school all day. Not really, but sometimes it seems that way.

Dan knew why. He offered to make the appointment, or take him, or whatever I needed, but I knew I had to be the one. I just knew it was time and I had to see it through. He was my kitty. Leading up to this I was having Dan call to find out the process, etc. I had told him at one point that I didn't think I could be there when they do it. Looking back though I now know that it just wasn't time. At this point I knew I was helping him.

I called and cried and said,"I have to make that dreaded appointment of having my cat put down." Ugh.
The receptionist was really sweet though and I was able to take him in later that night.

The kids cried when I told them that night was the night. Elijah asked how they would do it and why and then what would we do with him, etc. He's my details kid. He needs to know everything. He also said it was mostly sad for Samson (our other cat) since he is his brother.

I spent some time with Simon that night on the floor in my room just petting him and petting him until it was time to go. The kids cried again and Madelyn took pictures of him with her Leapster. When I got to the vet's office I walked up to the door and did not think I could go through with it. I seriously came *this close* to turning around, but I knew I could not repeat the day again at some other point which is what would have happened. Blech. It was not fun.

So, I went in. They did the usual deal and I was just waiting and waiting. I unzipped the carrier so I had enough room to pet Simon's head while I waited. I figured I would probably throw up or pass out by the way I felt, but I knew I could not turn back at this point. My cat was dying either way, and at least this way he wasn't going to suffer any more.

The receptionist was so empathetic with me while she was putting us in the room. She was talking about how hard it is and how you always second guess this or that no matter what you do or when you do it. I appreciated her empathy and she was right. The tech came and took Simon to put the IV in his leg. When she brought him back I held him for a long time. He really did snuggle into me for a few minutes and I am glad I had that moment with him.

When the vet came in he was very to the point. I had heard that about him and knew to expect it. He asked me some questions and told me what the process would be and what I could expect, etc. He sedated Simon so it was like he fell asleep in my hands. Once he is sleeping they give him the other dose. It was very peaceful. They wrapped him in a towel and put him back in the carrier for me to bring him home so we could bury him.

My friend just told me the other day that it was recommended to them when their dog died they should show the body to the other dog so that she would know what had happened. I kind of wish I had known this at the time because Samson really has been weird since then. I could have shown him Simon's body and maybe he would have realized? I don't know, but he definitely is having a hard time adjusting.

Anyway, we buried him and the kids were fine at this point. I don't know how I do not have animal crazy kids. I was always such an animal freak and couldn't keep my hands off of any animal I came across. Simon was definitely my cat, but I still thought the kids would be more sad.

Elijah did pray that night that Simon would have fun in heaven. He had asked earlier in the day if animals went to heaven like we do. I told him I like to think that Liezl and Simon are together now playing. Of course, he asked, "Who's Liezl?" Liezl was our dog when Madelyn was just a baby.

The next day at dinner Elijah says, "Well, we survived another day without Simon." As if there was a question.

So, I am sad about my kitty, but I have definitely had a peace about it. And, I keep hugging Samson. I think he is wondering what the deal is, but he's super laid back so I don't think he minds too much. Now I just wish he would stop meowing at me and pawing at my face at night. He will also bite my hair. It is so annoying. Thankfully last night I was able to lock him out of our room so I slept better. Poor thing. Night time was when he and Simon were together most. If they ever messed with each other it was at night. Plus, our basement is all torn apart now so he is hesitant to go down there for his litter box. Ugh. It's not easy for a kitty to lose a loved one.

I told my sister that it was like the end of an era. I got my cats when they were 8 weeks old and Dan and I were engaged. I had an apartment with my dear friend Jess. They've been with me through a lot of life changing events - my marriage, moving to MD, buying our first house, getting our first dog, having our first baby, burying our dog, having our second baby, moving to PA, and now here he will rest. He was a really good cat, never caused any trouble, was always so chunky and snuggly. I called him my teddy bear kitty because of how he would snuggle up with me at night. I would wake up with him squished next to me on one side and Dan squished next to me on the other while I was sweating from all the warmth! He was so pretty too. His little pink nose and his sandy colored fur. Our computer died. Otherwise I would post a picture, but I think I am just rambling at this point anyway.

I will miss my sweet kitty.

JOB

2011-11-04T21:59:00.001-04:00

I went on a field trip today. The teacher asked me for my cell phone number so I wrote it down only to realize on the way to the mountain we visited I did not have my cell phone. I rarely use it so I had NO idea where it might be. It is always in my purse, usually dead because I never use it.

I didn't think I would need it today. We were a small group. I knew where we were going and I also knew if I needed a phone probably one or more of the other 3 adults there had a phone.

Well, Dan comes home from work after picking up Elijah from a friends house and declares we are going out to eat since he is starving and I obviously did not have dinner cooking or ready. So, I grabbed my winter coat because it is cold outside. I didn't have it on the mountain and wished I did because it was windy on the mountain as well as cold.

Don't you know I reach in my pocked at there is my cell phone (I stuck it in there on Halloween night) with 5 MISSED CALLS!! What?!

I NEVER have that many calls. I had 2 vmail messages too so I listened only to find out that one of them was the HR lady from the hospital I applied to.

She left the message on Wednesday. Two days ago Wednesday. Oops.

Okay, but I know she did not call my house so I am putting the blame on her since if she really wanted to get in touch with me she would have tried both numbers.

Anyway, now I am back to wondering what she wanted, what she would say, what will I say back ...

The nice thing is that I know what I need to make now. I still don't have pressure from anyone, but myself concerning making some money, and I am reminding myself of why I was so interested in this position to begin with.

So, I am kind of excited to hear what the lady has to say on Monday. I am also glad this is all happening at the end of this week that was full of anxiety/panic nonsense. By the time I got the message I had already felt myself relaxing from all the tension I had been feeling all week so I was better prepared to hear it.

I love God's timing.

Stream of Consciousness

2011-11-02T15:33:00.000-04:00

I took Simon to be put to sleep last night. I'll post a separate blog about that soon, but it was very sad. It was time, but it was still sad. Having gone through this now though I feel like I will be more prepared for the next time. He was a good kitty. He never caused any problems except for maybe drinking out of my water glass, or tipping a glass of water from time to time. He did love water. He would come running in whenever I turned the shower on. He was a pretty cat too. I have pics to post, etc.

I had Bible Study this morning which was good. It got me going. Otherwise I think I would have gone back to bed after sending the kids off to school with Dan. Usually I drive them, but it is helpful on study days to get things in order before having company. I gave my ladies fair warning about what was I did last night so if I cried through study they would understand.

Actually it was funny because they got here around 9 and just as I was telling them I ordered the starter kit for thirty-one the fedex guy dropped it off at my door. We did an impromptu party. It was fun. They thought I coordinated it all on purpose. Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. They will never know ;)

After about 30 minutes of oooohhhhhing and ahhhhhiiiinng over the items we discussed the last chapter of Zechariah. Whew! Love you Zech, but I am ready to move on. All that prophetic talk makes my head spin. Next we'll study Malachi, take a break, and then jump into a New Testament book in January.

So, here I sit on the couch. I should be in my basement clearing off the bar area and getting the books out of the way so that Dan can get down there tonight and cut off the bottom of the paneling, but I am finding it hard to move. I probably should have just taken a nap, but I feel weird sleeping during the day. This evening is going to be busy so I figure I may as well take it easy now.

The kids will be off the bus soon and then everything picks up. Things get busy. I like it though. They are happy cute kids. I like them.

How was this for a nice stream of consciousness?

Some Things

2011-11-01T09:55:00.000-04:00

Halloween was fun. Poor Elijah fell at least 4 times. Wearing a venom costume with a mask did not make seeing any easier. He had fun though. Went with friends and his friend Ellie was a pumpkin. Elijah kept telling her how awesome her belly was. It was hilarious. At one house Elijah took forever sifting through their bowl of candy because he was saying, "Is all you have chocolate?" The people were very kind and patient, but I told him chocolate was good because I like chocolate. He's always afraid he is going to have a reaction to it because of the milk. Poor little guy. I told him to always err on the side of snickers if there is ever a doubt. He was a trooper. He had a matching venom candy holder so it was all good when he took his mask off to see better. He then called himself a venom ghost and all he needed to do was get rid of his own head so he would look headless. Oh my.

Madelyn was a sparkle witch. Again with no camera. Grrr. She was super cute with her dress and the green stars all over the sleeves and hat. I barely saw her because she was with a few of her friends and they were super fast hitting all the houses. Currently, her candy stash is sorted on the floor in her room. So funny.

We set aside the Almond Joy candy bars for my mom. She is the only person I know who likes them.

...............

I haven't inquired about the job since last week because I am having second thoughts about it. I think I still want it, but I know I would need to get paid more so I am just waiting to hear from them at this point.

..............

I ordered a starter kit from Thirty-One bags. I LOVE those bags, and I couldn't resist the black and white kit. SO pretty. Check it out www.MyThirtyOne.com/katetubbs I don't know how much selling I will do, but I will certainly LOVE the bags I get.

..............

Today is my sister's birthday. Happy Birthday Shannon!! I think her birthdays have a bigger impact on me than my own. She's the same age as Dan, but it is harder for me to believe that she is 39 than the fact that he will be 39. Weird.

Either way, I hope she has a great day.

................

We had a snow storm on Saturday. It was still October then. We got at least 6 inches. I think it may have been closer to 8 according to reports though. Some areas near us got 14 inches. So strange. People are still without power. There was no school yesterday because of it. Some schools are still closed today, but we aren't. We have had 2 days off from school already that were like snow days and that was before November. Crazy. Hopefully people will get their power back on soon. Having lost it for 2 days during T.S. Irene I definitely feel their pain, only then it was still warm so heat wasn't an issue.

I have sworn to myself that we will get a kerosene heater in case this is any indication of what this winter will be like. All our stuff is electric so if we lose power this winter we will be frozen. The nice thing about this storm is that we knew it would be fairly warm the next day so it would melt a lot, and we could drive somewhere. In the winter that isn't the case. So, I will kick myself if we end up with no power and no heat source.

...............

I am getting closer to the point of feeling like it is time for Simon. My poor kitty. He's so thin and sickly looking. It's just making that dreaded appointment. He's on my lap now. He's so sweet and snuggly. He's always been my teddy bear kitty, good for snuggles, especially at night. It's just so hard to say that final good-bye. Ugh.

...............

We were able to get some FEMA assistance for our basement, not much, but it will definitely help. I think we have decided to cut the bottom part off of the paneling and replace it with drywall or wainscoting. It will be a job, but it will be nice when it is all done. I think.

We have our dumpster until Friday so we will be working on it tonight and tomorrow night.

...............

Speaking of which, I have a lot I should be doing so that's all for now ...

So Much Craziness

2011-10-27T23:37:00.000-04:00

My brain is swimming with stuff so here is a random stream of consciousness ...

Tomorrow I am going to freeze my arse off at the Race for Education that the kids do at the school. It is the school's big fundraiser and heaven knows the school needs funds. It's fun to watch and walk with the kids though. Then in the afternoon they have a Fall Festival that I am supposed to help out with. It's going to be a long day, but it will be good. I get to top off the evening with going to a 31 purse party. I have already shopped a little online to get an idea of what I want. At this point I am thinking teacher gifts since that is mainly who I will be needing to buy for. We are really cutting back this year, what with basement repairs, car repairs, everything repairs. Definitely cutting way back.

I am such a sucker for bags though. Oh man. I don't know what it is. I just want them. All of them. It's a sickness.

I am having second thoughts about the whole job thing. I think mainly because I have had too much time to think about it. And, this has turned into a wackadoo week so it makes me wonder how I will do it all. I like the idea of having extra money. I don't like the idea of having to put so much effort into making the money. ha!

We'll see what happens.

I hate when my friends go through such sad situations and there is nothing I can do to make it better. I am praying though and that is definitely important.

I have cried more this Fall than ever in my life I think. Let that be a warning for anyone considering calling. You never know when I might breakdown. Oy.

I still have Simon, my kitty. He sure is sweet. It will be so sad to see him go. Dan agreed with me though that he doesn't believe he is truly suffering at this point where we need to have him put down. Does he look skinny and sick? Yes. But, is he in pain or showing signs of suffering? Not really.

Dan even admitted that he likes Molly (our chihuahua) last night. That was HUGE. I know Dan talks tough concerning the animals, but he is a softy. That's one of the things I really love about him. He is definitely a strong man, but soft on all the right things.

Madelyn got her ears pierced. I'll post more on that later. She is super fun to have around.

Elijah has had some good "boy time" lately with friends. It's rare that he has a boy over to play with like boys do, but lately he has had a good fill of it and holy moly are they noisy and rough and so happy all the while. I pretty much just listen for cries. Otherwise, I assume they are fine, and most of the time they are. I find if I don't watch them sword fighting and wrestling I do much better. Boys are fun though. They come with a completely different energy, but I love it. Madelyn just joins in too, at least with the 2 boys we had over tonight. It was fun.

Being in our basement is sad. We may be eligible for some funding though. It's a long shot, but we'll see.

We are getting a dumpster delivered tomorrow. You know what that means right? I can throw away ANYTHING I want. Oh man. That makes me happy. The only problem is we have already gotten rid of A LOT of stuff. Still, the thought makes me super happy. We got the dumpster because we tore down our smaller shed and now have to get rid of the pieces. I am tempted to take down the pergola too ... and the bar area that remains in our basement, such a waste of space. It's all so fun to think about. Is that strange? I am afraid I may end up pulling paneling off our basement walls too though. That I know will turn into a bigger job than it is worth probably, but man oh man is it tempting. Dan might not want to leave me alone this coming week. I do have some frustrations I could work out with a sledgehammer.

I am almost done with the book A Thousand Gifts. Obviously I haven't been reading it constantly. I don't know that I will ever be able to put my thoughts on it down in a coherent way, but it's a life changing book for me in such a good way. The timing of this book in my life is absolutely perfect. One of those things that you just know was God. I love that. Of course everything is by God's doing, but everything doesn't FEEL like God is right there standing next to you going, "Look here at how I completely orchestrated all of this just for you to feel good for a moment and know that I am here." I love those moments. And I love the book. It is so raw and genuine. When I first heard about it I thought it would be preachy, but I was pleasantly surprised. I like hearing from people how they get through the dark periods, and even just hearing that they have dark periods. We all do, but we all don't want to admit it. Why?

Anyway, maybe I do have more to say on that. But, not tonight I don't. I need to go to bed.

A Job?

2011-10-24T22:00:00.000-04:00

There is so much I want to write about and so little time, but I will start with the subject I have put off the longest ... the potential job.

I actually had a fun interview. First I met with HR where I had to do a typing test. WHAT?! It's been years since I took an actual test. Thankfully, my results were 61 wpm. Yay! I had put on my application that I could type 60 wpm so I was hoping I wouldn't make a liar out myself. I just knew that is what I tested years ago when I last took a typing test.

The HR lady was very nice. We had a nice chat and then she sent me on to the hospital where I met with a few supervisors. Yes, a few. It was so great.

Without going into all the details I basically heard about 3 different positions and met with the 3 different supervisors who oversee those positions, along with the supervisor who oversees all of them. They were all super nice. I felt bad choosing just one, but when she described the position that was a Financial Counselor to patients who have no insurance coverage I was sold. That position definitely seemed to fit my skill set the most and I wanted a position that allowed me to interact with patients.

Not that I didn't want to jump at the ER Registrar position after I was told the story about the man who got a few fingers chopped off after sticking his hand in his snow blower and then wanted to show off what he lost. I also had to laugh when the supervisors shared with me how they would react when they were around someone who was vomiting. The one would have to lie down on the floor. So funny.

The women I met with were all really great and super understanding of my situation with the kids, etc. So, now I am at the part where they are discussing hours, etc. and I hope to hear something soon.

What has really been helpful in all of this is the fact that I know a guy who works in the ER. I told him about the position I applied for and asked him who would be the person to contact concerning the position. It all went from there. I am so grateful to him for giving me these connections. He told me the supervisors were great and so did the HR woman, and they were right. I know with so many people working at the hospital (8,000 I think) it could definitely be hit or miss.

So, it's craziness. I know it will be a huge transition for my family, but I think it will be good. I feel ready.

We'll see!

My Birthday (for realz)

2011-10-19T20:07:00.001-04:00

Turning 35 was a fun day. Dan worked from home so when I went out to run errands I picked up lunch so we could eat lunch together. While we ate lunch we played Gin and Dan beat me badly. He then left to go teach his class.

Not cool. Not cool at all.

You don't beat a girl at Gin on her birthday and then leave. It was not over.

After school he brought the kids home and we went to IHOP. Yes. IHOP. I knew the kids would love it and I got my Chipotle burrito for lunch so I was happy.

It was fun, and I ate a lot. We passed on getting any kind of cake since IHOP pancakes are pretty much dessert for dinner.

We came home and played UNO as a family. Madelyn won, but I beat Dan which is really what I pay attention to.

The kids went to bed and IT. WAS. ON.

Our Gin re-match I mean. What were you thinking?? (dirty birdy)

Dan and I get so competitive when we play games again each other. It's the best, especially when I beat him. Badly. He tried to say he let me win, but I knew better.

Ahhhhhh. I went to bed a happy girl. Victory is sweet.

Oh, and Madelyn made me a beautiful flower arrangement all by herself. It is very cute. And Dan got me some fun Bath & Body Works stuff. I had shoppe a little (a lot) lately so I told him to go easy on the gift. I took care of myself. He hates when I do that. I don't understand why.

All in all, a great day. Lots of family time which is where it's at.

Birthday (Interview)

2011-10-18T20:54:00.000-04:00

I had a fun birthday. Yay!

Okay. Enough about that. I have an interview tomorrow. WHAT?! I know. Crazy.

So, yeah. I am brushing up on my interviewing skills. Do you think they will want to know how many meals I have prepared over the last nine years I have been home? How many times I have cleaned, gotten the mail, stayed in my pjs all day, nursed babies, changed diapers, went to doctor appts, bathed children, washed clothes, ate bon-bons, watched soaps ... ?

No. I didn't think so. So, I am trying to tap into the "professional" me from way back when. I was able to a little bit today when I tried on clothes to wear to my interview. I looked so polished ... so ... professional. It was fun. I recognized that person in the mirror. It was nice to see her again.

I wanted to keep trying on and buying nice clothes, but I refrained. I reminded myself that if I get a position at the hospital I will most likely end up wearing scrubs soooooooo that changed everything.

I still bought some clothes though.

I know I will be nervous tomorrow, but mostly I am excited. I am excited to hear more about the positions and how everything would go if I got the job (a job), etc.

Speaking of which, getting a job I mean, this is going to be a HUGE change for our family. Dan has mixed feelings about it. He is used to having me here ALL the time. I am used to being here ALL the time. And, the kids will have to adjust some as well. It will just be different is all.

Of course, that's IF I get a job. I need to tap back into "professional" Kate's mind a bit more to be prepared for potential questions. Thank the Lord for Google. Google is giving me so many helpful tips and possible questions.

I'll write about how it goes after I get through it tomorrow. That is, if I survive. Eek!

Dinner Conversation

2011-10-16T23:19:00.000-04:00

I love our dinner times. You never know what is going to come up in conversation lately.

Tonight it was our grandchildren.

Recently Dan was baking and gave Madelyn a piece of baking chocolate as a joke. Poor thing. So, tonight when Dan was asking what kind of cake I wanted for my birthday he mentioned making funny cake which is what he was making that night with the chocolate.

Madelyn starts saying, "Don't trust the chocolate. Don't trust the chocolate." We were cracking up. Dan was telling her that she needs to do that to her children and I was coming out in defense of our poor grandchildren.

All this led to us telling them what to name their children. Oh my. Our poor children.

Madelyn said she doesn't know how many children she wants. Elijah said he thinks he'll have three. First he said he wants all boys, but then he said, "I don't really care what they are. I know it all depends on what God wants your babies to be." Oh my. We high fived over that one. He amazes me with what he comes out with concerning God. Both of them do. I love it.

Dan told Madelyn her girl would be named Rose and her boy would be Daniel. What? I didn't see why her girl couldn't be Kate. Then he tells Elijah his boy is going to be William and his girl would be Rose. Then when he said he was going to have three children he gave the third a silly name like Ting Tong Tubbs. The kids were belly laughing.

So funny. We laughed a lot. Elijah then got into the shower and we explained profit and loss to Madelyn with the example of a lemonade stand. It was cute to see her "get it." Now she wants to open a lemonade stand next year.

Our plan of having our children become independently wealthy so they can support us is paying off. Muhahahahahahaha!

Commiserating

2011-10-16T11:53:00.000-04:00

So, Dan thought it would be a good idea to talk to a co-worker of his who is going through a similar situation with her cat.

Cathy (not her real name) e-mails me and says, "It sounds like we are going through the same thing with our cats. If you ever want to talk, feel free to call."

It turns out we are going through almost the exact same situation with our cats only her cat has a tumor on his mouth. Otherwise, symptoms are similar concerning messes, weight loss, hair falling out, etc.

What Dan didn't take into consideration is how similar Cathy and I are in that our cats are our babies. She can't bring herself to make "that appointment" either. She had nightmares after an experience with a previous pet since she had regrets. I forget what the details were, but I know I don't want to do it just for convenience sake and regret that. I also don't want to send him in with Dan and then regret not being there for him in his last moments.

Ugh. Just the thought of "last moments" brings that awful "dry-heave" feeling again. Oh, and tears.

How is it that these little critters work their way into your heart so deeply?

I had a get together here the other night and the cats and Daisy were all over my guests, especially two of the women. The cats especially kept meowing and jumping up to Deb looking for attention. Daisy took to Gale like she owned her. People are so gracious sometimes in those situations, but I felt bad. I had to keep putting them in a separate room.

I like to think that if they weren't so snuggly and sweet still it would be easier to make this decision, but I know I am not kidding myself. It's the idea of their little lives being snuffed out that I cannot stand.

So, Cathy and I were commiserating in the hallway at the school sharing how we hope that the Lord just takes them peacefully even though we know that God doesn't always give us the easy way out. I remember feeling that way with Liezl and hearing a sermon during that time about how God doesn't always give us the easy way out, nor does He forget us during hard times. We usually end up learning a lot through it all.

Cathy has an appointment made for Thursday and took Thursday and Friday off so she can grieve for her kitty and not have to try to work while being so sad. The vet sort of made her make the appointment, but assured her that she could cancel it even up to 5 minutes before.

Meanwhile, Dan is regretting connecting me with Cathy. It's okay though. It's nice to know someone else who understands, who has the same feelings and isn't all judgy thinking they know exactly what you should be doing.

Dan is being super gracious as well, not wanting to pressure me into anything. He's a good guy, that Dan. I sure am glad he's mine.

My Reader

2011-10-14T23:51:00.000-04:00

Madelyn's teacher had to e-mail me to confirm that Madelyn did indeed read 450 pages since last Friday. This made me laugh. I explained to her that Madelyn has been a reading machine lately. She got a book from the library yesterday, came home and read it all that evening. It was a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book.

On weekends we let her read as long as she wants when she goes to bed and last weekend I found her at 11 pm sleepy eyed, but still hanging on to every word. So funny. I told her to go to sleep at that point.

For homework every night she has to read for 15 minutes. Most evenings she ends up reading for at least 30. But, I learned she gets crabby if she doesn't have a good chapter book to read. The teacher doesn't specify what kind of book they have to read so I was telling Madelyn to just grab a book off her shelf and read for 15 minutes.

She was not happy, but she did it. That night we made a run to the library to get her some good chapter books. We came home she plops down with one of the books and declares that THAT was going to be her official 15 minutes.

Okay then.

So, I have learned that all the girl needs is a good book and she is happy. Easy enough.

So yes, 450 pages in one week. Amazing.

Keepsakes

2011-10-11T10:16:00.001-04:00

Last night I was trying to get some laundry done before school started again for the week and naturally I ended up flipping through some of Dan's letters and cards that were rescued from the flood in our basement.

You know how it goes. You go in the basement to get the laundry going, realize the kitty litter needs to be changed, go in the storage room to get the litter box liners, see the pile of letters and cards and there you have it. Next thing I am back in the living room with the pile of said letters and we are reading through them as a family, naturally. The kids weren't too interested, but I sure was.

Poor Dan. He didn't get as much of a kick out of the letters and cards from girls as I did. I understand though. The one girl played him like a fiddle. The other girls just really loved him, but didn't stand a chance. I kind of feel bad for them. The best part was that a lot of these letters were from early 1994 before he even knew who I was. Little did he know I was about to come on the scene and change things for him FOREVER. Muahahahahahaha ... hee hee.

I always like to tease him by pointing out things like I was just starting high school when he was starting college. Would he have dated me then even though it was against the law?

It's okay though because I totally sought him out, not the other way around. That might have been creepy because he is 4 years older. The more I got to know him my freshman year I realized he is not the guy who looks at freshmen as potential dates and that was a good thing. I loved getting to know him. He was so smart, so grounded, so different than me, and we laughed together a lot. Score! I was so happy just to have him as a friend. We were friends for a while before we dated. That made the dating transition easy. We were already super close so dating just meant we could start kissing. Woo hoo!

And, it was legal at that point.

Sorry. Back to the letters. We were explaining to our kids that letters is how we communicated back then. "Back then." Seriously? Are we at that stage in our lives?

Long distance phone calls cost money that most college students didn't have so we would write it all down in letters for the cost of a stamp. It's amazing to think that our kids won't have these things to flip through, at least not in the amount that we have.

So, one of the letters from a girl said, "Dan, I understand (girl's name) told you that I liked you. Those were childish feelings ..." What? Another was a belated birthday card that then ended with, "On a serious note, Dan ... " and basically went on to say how much his friendship meant, etc. In other words "why aren't we dating?" The bad part about that one is she was dating his friend. What? ha ha!

Keep in mind, this is me talking. Dan might have a different commentary on all of this, but it is no different than when he sees my yearbooks, or letters, and tells me how this guy or that guy had crushes on me when I am swearing up and down that he didn't, that we were just friends. So, now it's my turn.

Who cares though really? It's all in the past. It's just funny though how at that time these were major deals. It's also funny how FB has brought a lot of those people back in our lives to some degree, and I think some of the people would laugh with us over these things.

Oh memory lane ... you sure are fun to travel down sometimes.

Dry-heaving

2011-10-10T21:00:00.000-04:00

It occurred to me today that I would not be so darn sad about life right now if I weren't so blessed. Seriously. I lament the things I have lost or am losing because I have been given much.

Consider my Simon. He is the saddest part of life right now. His little body so frail. Today I realized I would not be so sad about him if I weren't so blessed. I consider it a privilege to be able to care for and love a kitty for 14 years. Now it's figuring out how best to care for him at this stage. He does not seem to be in pain though and mostly just lies around on our bed, or on my dresser where it is sunny and warm.

He's eating, and drinking. Even today while he was drinking Samson was licking Simon like they do sometimes. It was really sweet to watch. Although Simon's hair is not as healthy as it used to be so it comes out really easily. Poor Samson kept having to shake the hair off of his tongue.

So, the thought of having him put down still makes me feel like dry-heaving so I don't think it's time yet. If I thought he were in pain or that I would be "helping" him by having it done it would be easier. But, his eyes still look "healthy" when he looks at me. I just can't do it.

I remember that with Liezl, our schnauzer. I hated saying good-bye to her at the cage in the vet's office. She was going in for surgery. They were going to remove the tumor if they could. If they couldn't, they were just going to have her put down on the operating table. I knew I was doing all I could for her so I went through with it, but it was awful. She was in the holding cage at the vet and there was no way I could make her understand what was going on, to tell her I was doing all that I could. She still just looked at me with her bright eyes, wondering what was going on. But, I knew the tumor was taking over her body. The vet wasn't able to remove the tumor. It was all through her organs. It was so sad.

Talking to the vet on Friday she told me Simon probably has some kind of intestinal cancer which is why he is not responding to the meds, and why his body is so thin. I at least know I am doing and have done all that I can. Chemo just is not an option for us. It's a short term fix anyway. That is, if it "fixes" at all. I'm not going to put him through that.

So, I will continue to spoil him with snuggles and treats while I can.

The kids know it is getting near to his time. I explained to them on Friday that we may have to take him to the vet soon to be put to sleep. This is how that conversation went with Elijah ...

"You mean like when you get your tonsils out?"

"Kind of, but you don't wake up."

"He won't wake up until he gets home?"

"No. He won't wake up at all. He will sleep forever."

"Oh." He went back to his video game.

Later when we were praying together as a family Elijah said he didn't want Simon to go to sleep forever. I told him it would be okay though because he would be in heaven (yes heaven) with all the other kitties and Liezl. His eyes got wide and he said, "You mean he will be dead?!"

Um. Oops.

He understood then that sleeping forever means dying. My bad.

Madelyn on the other hand was very quiet through our conversation. She was making friendship bracelets, but then said, "I wish pets didn't ever have to die ... or people." Then continued on with her bracelets.

This is all part of life though, right? There is love and there is loss. It sucks. And it hurts.

But, where would we be without the love, even knowing it will all be lost one day? We have to love, and be loved, to survive.

God will give us the grace to get through the loss. I am learning this. "A Thousand Gifts" is helping me. If you haven't read that book, read it, especially is you are sad, and/or feeling like dry-heaving.

No Downer Here

2011-10-09T20:21:00.000-04:00

Ugh. Life. That's pretty much how I have been feeling lately. Life has been beating me up. It can be exhausting trying to stay afloat when you feel like you might be drowning.

I hate being a downer though so let's focus on some positive happenings and thoughts ...

Madelyn and I went on a bike ride together for the first time on Saturday. Man is she cute riding her bike. I love it. We went around our neighborhood. Saturday was a beautiful day, perfect for bike riding.

Madelyn got tired so she went home. I did another trip around our neighborhood. I passed a house for sale that has a Coors sign in their front window. This is just my opinion, but if you are trying to sell your house I think you should probably take that sign out of your front window.

We got together with good friends later in the day and that was fun too. Good friends are so necessary for the soul. It was nice to forget about troubles for an evening.

A guy they know stopped by while we were there and he was an interesting fellow, one of those people who is super intelligent while borderline weird. He definitely gave us plenty to chat about once he left. He said something to both me and Dan separately that kind of took us aback for a second.

During a conversation he says to me, "You are the youngest aren't you?" Um. What? He then says, "Are you the baby of your family?" He told me he could tell I was by my confidence level or something to that effect. It took me aback because I had barely talked directly to him, but it was just through observing he had me pegged. I am telling you. He is a crazy dude. Nice guy, just a little crazy.

Madelyn wanted to spend the night with her friend, but only if Elijah did too so we packed up all their things. We got their beds all made up in the living room just before we were getting ready to leave. Elijah fell asleep instantly on the couch. I hugged Madelyn and told her goodnight before I went back out on the patio with our friends. Next thing she is coming outside crying. She didn't want to stay after all.

The sad/funny part was Elijah made it clear he did NOT want to go home with us, even if he fell asleep before we left. But, since Madelyn didn't want to stay we figured we may as well take him home too. He told me tonight that he woke up and cried when he realized he was in his own bed. Poor guy. He was happy to then find Isabelle here.

Isabelle decided she wanted to come to our house and spend the night since Madelyn wasn't going to stay there. She got her stuff all packed up and as we were walking out the door she ends up crying. We thought she wanted to stay then, but she got it together and came with us. Sweet girl. They have been having a blast. They have gotten NO sleep, but are loving life.

We just got back from dropping Isabelle off with her parents. Sad. I hate saying good-bye. They live 2 hours away now, but come back to their house here every now and then. They plan to sell it, but haven't yet. So, I am thankful we are still able to have these times with them on occasion.

The kids were so sad to say good-bye to Isabelle and kept trying to come up with ideas they could do to get more time with her. They wanted to go to Cabela's, walk the aisles of Lowes, anything! We ended up chatting in the Lowes parking lot for a while so they played in the empty cart holder and raced through the parking lot. So, it worked out well. We all got some more time with our friends.

Ahhhh. Friends. So good for the soul.

Crack for Dogs

2011-10-06T19:18:00.002-04:00

I bought this new dog food for my dogs because I had a coupon. I usually buy the Purina Beneful, but this kind is Purina Smart Blend.

For those of you who know my dogs you know they are nervous nellies. They aren't like most dogs who scarf down food. I don't have to feed them separately because the food usually sits there. Or, Daisy will let Molly (the teeny dog) eat and then she will finish what's left. Have I mentioned lately how sweet and gentle Daisy is? She truly is the best.

Anyway, I bought this new food and I have never seen my dogs eat like this before. They are addicts! Molly will even almost eat all of what I put in there. I've even seen the cats nibbling at it. I've had to shew them away so Daisy could eat!

I knew the "blend" part of the food made all the difference. I didn't know what it was, but it looks like old meat or something. Blech. Dog food is so gross and smells gross too so I just didn't pay much attention. I try to not get any closer to it than absolutely necessary.

Curiosity got the best of me though. I just checked the bag and no wonder they love it. The "blend" is real bits of lamb! Ugh. I don't eat lamb, or veal, or any other baby animals. I am just not comfortable with the idea. I believe "don't eat babies" is a good rule to live by. I didn't realize I was allowing my dogs to eat babies!! ACK!

While I am happy my dogs are so happy and chubby from their yummy food I don't think I can afford to support their addiction to baby animal dog food, nor do I want to be an enabler.

Blech.

Doctor Ken Doll

2011-10-04T21:00:00.000-04:00

I went to see Dr. Ken Doll. You know, my doctor who looks like a Ken Doll.

I've been needing to go since the summer and kept saying that I will get there once the kids start school again so I didn't have to drag them with me. Well, read the past few weeks of blog posts and it should be pretty clear why I haven't made it there until now.

I also don't like going to see doctors though either so I put it off for a very very very long time. There have been times I have even waited until the weekend and go to an urgent care place because they don't know me there. Weird huh?

Back to Dr. Ken though. He is a young guy, probably Dan's age, so when I go there I feel like I am going to a friend's husband which is weird because I wouldn't typically talk to my friend's husband about any personal issues I am having, especially not in a room with the door closed, just the two of us.

But, Dr. Ken is great. He has this super calming demeanor about him. Today he sat across from me on his stool, I was on the chair, and leans sideways onto the table and we're just chatting. He talks kind of quiet and totally like "yeah, you know, it's going to be fine. we'll do this and that for this long and go from there. no biggie. let me know if you have problems."

Okay, that's not at all what he said, but that is exactly how he comes across so I left feeling like "Yeah, it's totally fine. I don't know why I tortured myself by waiting so long to get this done."

And he knows Dan so he's like "tell dan hi" and I'm like "enjoy your newest baby" blah blah blah ...

So, if I ever talk to any of you friends about putting off going to the doctor, remind me of this post and why it really is not a big deal.

Thank you.

Happy Place

2011-10-04T17:19:00.003-04:00

Lately my blog has been my happy place. FB is kind of weirding me out so I feel better posting my random thoughts on my blog where everyone has access, but only about 5 choose to access.

Hi Happy Place! It's me again ...

Our dinner times have been so fun lately. Full of laughs and giggles. The kids crack up at things lately like crazy and it just makes me laugh that much harder. Laughter truly is good medicine.

And their laughter is addictive. When I see them cracking up it makes me do more goofy stuff to get more laughter from them, especially if Dan is cracking up with them. I love it.

........................

We've been playing UNO. Last night Madelyn whooped us. Tonight the poor girl lost so badly. In one hand she ended up with over 100 points. Those hands are painful.

I beat everyone tonight though. Yay me! No one high-fived me after I won though. I don't know why. (Tee Hee)

......................

I called Shannon late last night to tell her something quick and two hours later we hung up. It was 1 a.m. my time, 10 p.m. her time. We were both equally tired though. That's how similar she and I are (not). She is usually in bed by 9.

........................

I have had two coffee dates this week and that makes me happy.

........................

My kids (mainly Madelyn) asked if she could ride into school with Dan tomorrow. He leaves 45 minutes early than I do if I take them, but whatever. They are psyched. Elijah is usually up earlier than everyone else so he was game for it. We'll see how they feel in the a.m.

This didn't actually happen yesterday, but it did happen today. They were still happy to ride with him. I HATE having to wake both of them. Usually Elijah is awake already, but when he is not it is painful for me to have to wake him AND Madelyn up.

.........................

I have officially applied for 2 different jobs. It's funny because I don't really think that I will get either of them, but I want to. But then I don't want to. It's sort of like I want to be validated in some way to say that yes, I can still get a job if I want to. But then I think, "Wait. Do I really want to work?" I do want some extra money so it looks like I need to work some way in order to do that.

I am contemplating applying for another job as well. All of these are part-time, but the first two are nights and this other one is mornings until noon. It would change things as far as getting the kids to school, them being sick, etc, but we'll see what happens. I have to remind myself that applying for these jobs does not mean that I will get them. I still should probably be able to work out the schedule though if I am to apply for them :P

................................

I love that my Bible Study has started up again. I also love that I am taking a class. It's been fun.

............................

Since I have been writing these random thoughts for a couple days now I should probably just post this ...

Flood Pictures

2011-10-03T08:30:00.000-04:00

My retro chairs I had my eye on at the library until one day I found them at the curb. Snagged 'em, and now they are gone ... (sniffle)

Notice the cat food ...

Not cool T.S. Lee. Not cool at all.

Madelyn thought she would do some "stepping" to avoid the water ... Oh, and the cushion is gone off of this chair because Dan stepped across the furniture to turn off the electric so he was trying to not get the cushions all wet. Meanwhile, they all ended up out in the rain. So sad.

The kids couldn't wait to get their feet wet ...

So strange to see so much water ...

The box of giveaway stuff I was supposed to take to the church that weekend. It didn't make it.

Yay for our washer and dryer still working and us not getting shocked when we plugged them in!

Yay for being mostly caught up on laundry (that is rare) and not having huge wet piles of clothes!

Notice the maroon trunk on the shelf. That has my wedding stuff that I wanted to save and other things. SO THANKFUL it was on the shelf and wasn't harmed.

See those cardboard boxes on the shelf that are wet on the bottom? Dan's keepsakes. Some of the stuff was put in a plastic grocery bag so we were able to save those items. The rest had to go. Boo T.S. Lee!

Luggage, gone. More of Dan's keepsake boxes, gone. Boo!! Our blue air mattress survived though. Yay! It's a nice one.

Good-bye extra toilet paper that I'm not sure why Dan thought it was a good idea to store you in the basement anyway. See the cat food? Thankfully the cat food seemed to be the biggest pollutant in the water. The kitty litter stayed afloat. Thank the Lord. That would have just been so nasty so let's not think about that anymore.

So sad ... and just so unsettling. You don't even know where to begin.

It is a strange, strange sight to see your living area under water ... We had already pulled the tv stand and tv, etc. upstairs when this pic was taken. That would have been on the right side where the rug was pulled up.

That window you see is right above where the sump pump was under that bench. The shelves in the far right had our wedding photos on the way top of it so they were saved as well. Thank the Lord. That would have been very sad.

So there you have it. If our camera wasn't broken, I would take more pics now so you could see our basement all bare. The paint on the floor is all peeled up and needs to be redone. That bench by the back door is gone. It hid the sump pump area, but the firemen needed to get it out so they could push water into that area. That door needs replaced and some other things. It will get done in due time though. All in due time.

Junk Day = Happiness

2011-10-02T08:00:00.000-04:00

I love Junk Day.

It's the day in the neighborhood when trash men come with their big trucks and pick up ANYTHING you set by the curb. I should say anything that's left at your curb.

You see, we put a bunch of stuff out, like a mattress, toilet, dresser, old wood, chairs, scrap pieces of whatever ... you get the picture. Then people from near and far come driving around our hood collecting the things that look like goodies to them. And let me tell you, people have varying tastes of what is good.

For instance, today Dan put out our old mattress. Our mattress has been outside either leaning against the shed, in the shed, in the rain, out of the rain, or on the ground for the kids to jump on for about 3 months. He pulls it to the curb and a guy with a truck says, "Aw man, I wish I could fit that mattress in my truck."

No. No sir, you don't. Be thankful the bed of your truck cannot fit our nasty old sittin'-outside-for-months mattress. That was a blessing in disguise for that man. He just doesn't know it.

Also, keep in mind that this year most of the junk sitting out at the curbs is from flooded basements. We weren't the only one with a flooded basement in our hood.

Most of our stuff was a victim of the flood so not only was it in water in our basement, it then sat outside in the gallons and gallons of rain that have fallen from the sky in the last few weeks since the flood.

Our couch was steaming one day when I pulled into the driveway after dropping the kids off at school. I am hoping that couch is still waiting by the curb and hasn't been picked up already. Blech.

A soaking wet carseat was taken. A wooden chest which actually wasn't in too bad of shape. A wooden door that was mildewy. An old printer. An old dvd player.

See? People love free stuff. I am sure a lot of people like to tinker with things and see if they can get it working again. It's funny to hear all the cars throughout the day and see them slow down as they drive by your junk pile. There have been times I have pulled into my driveway while people are scavaging. That's a little awkward.

I love it though. I feel happy getting rid of stuff and knowing people are going to try to use it in some way. And, the people are happy filling their trucks and trailers with all kinds of treasures. It's like this major recycling effort.

And, I will admit. I have grabbed a thing or two from neighbors when they have set it by the curb. Our lawn chairs with the soft cushions for instance, and the coffee table we put in our basement before the flood. Granted, it wasn't junk day, but free is free.

And free makes me, and a lot of other people, happy.

Papa's Home!!!!!!!

2011-10-01T22:36:00.001-04:00

This picture was taken the day Dan got home from France and we picked him up at the school. He took this right after he opened the car door. It's definitely a fave.

Counting Blessings

2011-10-01T12:00:00.000-04:00

I just read an article about people in Pine Grove and West Pittston, two town in PA who have been hit particularly hard with flooding rains, not just Tropical Storm Lee, but the rains we have continued to get after. It's so sad.

One place I read about had mud and water in their basement. They got it all cleaned out and then recently (the night Dan and I went away) it rained SO much and they found the basement full of mud and water again. Ugh. Other places were just going to have to shut down until they could make all necessary repairs.

That same night we got water in our basement again too, but that was because of a sump pump mixup and thankfully we found it before we left so my mom didn't have to call us late at night to tell us.

So, these are things I just keep reminding myself of to be thankful for ...

The water in our basement was essentially clean, no mud, no sewage, no weird chemicals, just cat food from Dan spilling the bag. oops. I should post the pictures.

Our washer and dryer still work.

Our tv and dvd player were saved even though our wii wasn't.

The furniture down there was nothing that we had spent money on or financed.

We can live without our basement rec room.

During all the flooding I saw footage on tv of people whose first floor was filled with water and mud. This article I just read was talking about getting aid to people who were flooded out.

So, I think about our situation, and it does suck, even more now that we know insurance isn't covering anything. Our basement window is broken. Our sump pump needs to be rerouted because we had to put a new pipe on it. Even though we see no mildew now I feel like it is still lurking and the walls will definitely need to be treated with something to seal it.

But, for the most part, we can close our basement door and forget about it because right now we don't have what we need to fix everything.

If it was our first floor where we eat, sleep and live that would be awful. It would be like there is no escaping. Being home all day in a house that was flooded out would be super depressing so I am grateful. And, now that we had junk day our patio and driveway are cleaned up of all the damaged stuff.

I really hope those people are able to get the aid they need. I did think about where we would go if our house wasn't livable due to mildew or something, and I didn't have a great answer. A hotel would be super expensive and we don't have local family. And, I wouldn't want to ruin any relationships with my "good friends."

So, while it's a huge bummer, and it comes while all these other bummers have been bombarding us, I know it could be much worse. But it isn't. And for that I am grateful.

UPDATE: I wanted to add that these poor people who continue to deal with the flooding issues are now in need of counseling help so the government is adding that to the aid they are trying to provide.

Lice ... or Not

2011-10-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

Tonight I found out they checked for lice at the school today. EEK! This gives me heart palpitations and makes my head itch.

For some reason I didn't get the e-mail from the school so Dan informed me at dinner. The kids didn't really pick up on what we were talking about so I asked Elijah if he got his head checked today.

"Mmm-hmm"

"Did she find anything?"

"A tangle."

A tangle. We CRACKED up laughing. The poor boy. He could not figure out what was so funny. It was just so cute.

So Dan asked him if that's what the nurse said she found.

"Yes. A tangle. Why is that so funny!?"

He was so serious. He could not figure out why we would find that so funny.

Oh sweet boy.

My Good Friends

2011-09-30T22:03:00.000-04:00

Good friends bring you pumpkin bread when your coffee date gets canceled and she sees on fb you are having a rough day.

Good friends don't mind when you are crying your eyes out over the phone.

Good friends are good listeners.

Good friends make you laugh and laugh with you.

Yes. I got pumpkin bread today.

Yes. That is pretty much all I have eaten today.

(Yum)

Yes. I have amazing friends who make me laugh, check up on me, and bring me yummy food.

Seriously. What would I do without my friends?

I wouldn't get pumpkin bread.

I would be crying all alone.

I probably would not be laughing.

Dan would get the brunt of the results of no friends to vent to.

This would be so sad for both me and Dan.

Thank you Lord for my good friends!

Good Vet, Bad Vet

2011-09-29T15:20:00.003-04:00

I took Simon to the vet today. He is my sick kitty. I cried my eyes out. Now I am home again, with my kitty. He's snuggled up on my lap now purring.

I am with a new vet who is a good vet. Let me tell you why.

She heard me out on all my questions, concerns, blubbering, and more questions. I decided to do a round of blood work just to see where Simon's levels are and if it will show what else might be going on with him. She said she would call me tomorrow.

Tomorrow? Yes. I was amazed, and I believe her when she says that she will call tomorrow.

Let me tell you a little about our previous vet. I had bloodwork done back in the Spring for Simon. I had to call to find out the results. The vet then told me she would call when the rest of the bloodwork came in. I never heard from her.

Two months later I was back at that same vet for Daisy and saw a different doc. She asked about Simon then realized they never called me back with what was a simple diagnosis with a simple treatment. It was two months later. I had figured that the news was bad and they didn't want to break it to me and that I was going to have to have him put down. It was awful.

Basically, a good vet will call you when they say they will and hear you out with all your concerns and answer honestly.

Today at the new vet the ladies at the front desk were putting multiple calls in to the previous vet to get Simon's paperwork. They faxed the form over weeks ago and still haven't received it. I told them today to not hold their breath. They would probably never see that paperwork even though someone earlier told them that they would have it by 2 today.

See? Good vets will follow through. Bad vets don't do anything.

Either way my poor kitty is struggling. His quality of life is still pretty good though so I just can't stomach the thought of putting him down yet. He was my little 8 week old kitten not too long ago. Okay, it was 14 years ago, but still! He was my kitty, and when he looked up at me at the vet's office today with a look that said, "can we get out of here please?" I knew today was not the day. I know the kids would be really sad too if they didn't get a chance to say goodbye.

So, we wait for the blood work and will go from there. It's all just horrible horrible horrible.

Randomness

2011-09-28T21:39:00.003-04:00

Sometimes you need 4 hour long therapy phone call sessions with a friend :) That may have been a record. Either way I got 3 loads of laundry folded and Madelyn's room cleaned. Anyone who has seen Madelyn's room lately can vouch for me that cleaning her room is quite a feat. Her closet awaits me, but it is nice to see all those nooks and crannies cleared of who knows what. That girl loves her little "treasures."

.........................

Elijah didn't get a behavior sticker today. Why? His teacher writes a little blurb on the chart in his folder and it said that he came back from the bathroom with his head, shirt and pants wet. Oh my. He tried to tell me that he hadn't been playing around. I admit I had to giggle when I read her note. I explained to him that he is a big boy now and bathroom breaks are not for hanging around and picking things out of the toilet, etc. But, oh my. Elijah definitely keeps things interesting around here.

At dinner we found out that he put his hand over the faucet a couple times so the water sprayed everywhere. He now knows he is not supposed to do that. It still makes me giggle and shake my head though.

.........................

Madelyn wants her ears pierced for her birthday. EEK! So, tonight at dinner she was trying to convince Dan why it was a good idea. He doesn't want her to grow up too quickly and told her she is still a little girl. She replied, "I'm not a little girl" which is fine, but she said it in a kind of whiny baby voice. That didn't help her cause very much, but we did all laugh.

I think it's fine, but when Dan found out I had to wait until I graduated from 6th grade until I got mine pierced he thought that was a better idea. Madelyn is completely convinced this is what she wants to do so I have a feeling she will be angling for it for the next month until her birthday comes. She secretly told me tonight that she almost prayed that papa would let her.

.........................

I dreamed about a girl whose blog I follow. I dreamed she had a baby (she's not pregnant) and named her ... wait for it ... Chrystal France. In my dream I thought it was the most amazing name and told her so while I fussed over the baby. Then I woke up and had to laugh. If she knew me better, I would e-mail her about it because I think she would find it funny, but since she doesn't really know me I think she would find it creepy. I am still laughing about it though.

......................

Why does it continue to rain? It was raining so hard this afternoon that I could feel it on the couch because the windows were open. I realize my 5 readers haven't all been to my house, but that is a good distance. Oh, I also realize that my 5 readers may not have been to my house since I rearranged my living room. Well, just believe me when I say it was raining hard and that I don't normally feel rain coming in the window while I am sitting on the couch.

......................

And here ends my randomness for the night ... any randomness you would like to share?

Crazy Days and a Toilet Story

2011-09-27T23:07:00.000-04:00

Well, it turns out insurance will NOT cover any of our stuff damaged by the water. Grrrr. They drove all the way out here to tell me that. Double grrrrr.

I was just glad I didn't cry in front of the guy. (sniffle)

So frustrating, but these are the days of our lives right now, and honestly, Dan and I keep saying how glad we are that we really like each other because it would totally stink to go through all of this with someone that we didn't really care for, love, or even like. That would just be terrible.

On a better note I am now taking a class. A class on medical terminology. I started tonight. It's really fun. That sounds weird I know. I read that is was fun in one of the reviews and thought the same thing. Then I started it and realized what they were talking about. It's six weeks long with twelve lessons so I am sure it will get harder as it goes on, but for now it's fun.

Also, I applied for a job. So crazy!!! But, it was good to go through the process and get my resume together again. It reminded me that I was once a professional. ha! It's been a while.

The job would be every other weekend at the emergency room in one of our local hospitals. I would be the person who comes to the room rolling my computer along and registering your information.

Of course, I am sure I am one of hundreds applying for this position, but I plan to keep my eye out for other similar positions. I actually would like to work at the hospital that is only ten minutes away rather than twenty (spoiled much?), but I will go where they will take me for a few hours and let me be home the rest of the week.

My medical terminology class will help me get a foot in the door. That's what I am hoping anyway.

On a side note, Elijah pulled a penny out of his pocket after school yesterday. He then went on to tell me the story about how a boy tried to flush it. It didn't go down so Elijah reached in and grabbed it. He assured me he washed his hands really good afterward, and that the penny had been in his pocket ever since.

Madelyn asked if he washed the penny. No. He then went and washed the penny.

He also told me that Mrs. Rinehart told him he could keep it. How she knows about it I have no idea. I did ask him to please not grab anymore things out of the toilet.

Like I said ... crazy days ... but it's all good.

Our Night Away

2011-09-26T23:39:00.000-04:00

It was so super nice to have a night away. We went to the grand city of Reading and stayed at the Marriott next to Viva. Yum.

We kept dinner simple by going to Panera, but not before deliberating over where to go and driving around Broadcasting Square 2 or 3 times because Dan took me seriously when I joked about going to IHOP. ha ha! Then we were going to go to the Peanut Bar. Then we ended up at Panera. We were both too hungry to have any kind of wait at a restaurant and we wanted to have a yummy breakfast somewhere so we went to Panera.

And it was POURING down rain. (just wanted to throw that in)

From Panera we went and rented a couple movies to watch at the hotel, got some ice cream at coldstone, then headed to the hotel.

Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh. What is it about landing in a hotel room, just the two of you and kicking back on a King Size bed that is just so darn relaxing? Oh! I know. THERE IS NOTHING ELSE TO DO!! No dishes. No vacuuming. No animals to take care of or clean up after. No meals to prepare. Nothing. The bed takes up most of the room so you may as well lie down rather than sit on the too firm couch. Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh. Soooooooo niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice. And, it's a newer hotel so it's really modern and chic.

We flicked on the tv and settled in. When we decided to watch a movie Dan pulled out his laptop only to realize he forgot the cord.

Shoot!

That was the only way we were going to be able to watch the movies we rented!! Since we were only about 15 minutes away from home I suggested going home to get it. But, Dan was REALLY really tired so he thought we would have enough battery life to get through the movie so we went with it even though we only had batter power for an hour and 5 minutes.

So, when the battery died 3/4th of the way through guess what we did!? We hopped into the car (we call it our limo now). It was 11 pm. By that time the rain had stopped and we made it a little adventure. Plus, Dan also grabbed some pop tarts, granola bars and a couple apples while he was home.

The kids got a kick out of this the next day when my mom told them what we had to do.

Speaking of the next day, breakfast at Viva was super duper dee-lish. Yum. And, I convinced Dan that it was time to get him some new clothes and since we were directly across from the outlets he didn't have much of an argument to not.

I love shopping, even if it's not for me. He had gotten some money from a writing gig so shopping is that much more fun when you don't have to feel badly about spending a little. Yay!

Dan enjoyed it as well ... for about 30 minutes.

We then went to Barnes & Noble. I bought the book A Thousand Gifts. I read the first few pages in B&N and was crying. I knew I had to buy that book. I'll write more on this later though.

We topped off our alone time with burritos from Chipotle. Yum and yum and yum. I am addicted. I truly believe I could eat a burrito a day. They are so fresh and yummy.

Wow. I've "yummed" over food a lot in this post.

So, all in all, it was a super fun time. We laughed a lot and cried a little. Seriously. Dan tickled me to the point I cried and while he was tickling me he was saying, "The kids aren't here to protect you!!" Usually the kids come to my rescue. It reminded me of when my sister would pin me down and tickle me to the point I cried. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe enough to tell him to stop. Oh my. All this because I was giving him a hard time about exclaiming how much he loves king size beds and I thought he was going to say, "I love Kate!" as he fell onto the bed, but he didn't. Two K words, see?

Oh, and then Dan and I cried at that darn car commercial with the little girl, the one I posted the other day. So hard to imagine that at this point. Whew.

*For the record: Dan didn't really "cry" per se, but he was really choked up.

Anyhoo, it was soon back to reality. My mom said the kids were super sweet. Madelyn told her after we left that she and Elijah do not like seeing both of us go and that it's not often that they have to. My little girl who does not like change. So sweet.

It's always nice to be back home, even if I do still get whiffs of mildew. Blech. More on that later ...

Birthday Present ... or Not

2011-09-25T18:44:00.002-04:00

My birthday is coming up and recently Elijah said that he had an idea to get me a cheerleading wii game that he saw. Very cute.

Well, since our wii drowned in the flood, apparently he said he would just buy me a new wii for my birthday. I didn't know this, but Madelyn brought it up today.

She and Dan just went out for a daddy/daughter date and while they are out they are going to buy the supplies she needs to make my gift.

So, while we were discussing this she asked Elijah if he was still going to get me a wii for my birthday. He said, "No. I decided I wouldn't waste all my money on that."

Ha ha ha ha ha ...

First of all, I am wondering how much money he thinks he has. I know neither of the kids know about their savings accounts that I put their birthday money in every year. They don't even know that check they get is money. I just mail it away to our credit union. And, I know that he doesn't have $200 worth of change in his little piggy bank.

Secondly, the fact that he used the word "waste" just cracks me up.

Ahhhhh, birthdays with kids are so fun.

Frozen Brain or Something

2011-09-25T07:30:00.000-04:00

I don't know what the you call it, but Friday my brain was NOT working properly.

I thought I had started the dishwasher so later I started unloading it only to find that it was still dirty.

I thought I hadn't done my makeup yet so I started putting on my powder foundation only to then see I had eyeliner and mascara on. I most definitely had done my makeup already.

My mom came up because she stayed with the kids while Dan and I had a night away. I made coffee for us only to realize I put 6 scoops of coffee in for 8 cups.

Then I got into the car with Dan to leave and promptly told him "my wheel needed more tire." What I was trying to say was "my tire needed more air."

We got to the hotel and when we were in the elevator I went to push the button for the 3rd floor, but instead of pushing the button I was pushing the spot that has the number 3 on it.

What is wrong with me? I think I needed that night away, especially since right before we left we found our sump pump pumping water right back into our basement.

Oh dear Lord, please deliver us from so much rain. Amen.

Saturday my brain seemed to be in better working order. Shopping was involved though so I think there may be some connection there.

I Dare You ...

2011-09-24T20:18:00.001-04:00

to not cry when you watch this ...

Dan and I both were all choked up. We had a night away at a hotel last night which was super fun, but then this commercial came on and don't tell Dan, but I cam this close to suggesting we should go home.

I didn't though. We came home today and our kids are still little for now. For now ...

Fighting the Grumpies

2011-09-22T19:44:00.000-04:00

I would like to whine right now, but instead I will focus on the fun parts of today.

I had coffee with a friend. Fun.

I had to get a boat load of groceries. Not so fun. Shoot! I said I want't going to whine. So, instead I will say I am thankful that my husband has a job that provides the money for us to get groceries. And, I used coupons and saved $22. You don't want to know how much I spent though. Yeesh.

I have enough cereal to last us for a month. Fun.

Chatted on the phone with a good friend and laughed a lot even though we only talked for a little. Definitely the little boost I needed at the time. Yay for good friends!

Since Dan is at dinner with a friend the kids watched the rest of their movie and I took a little nap on the couch. Aaaaah.

I think the allergy medicine is making me tired.

Then another good friend called and we chatted for a while and I vented and now I am not so grumpy. Yay again for good friends! I'll add another yay for Dan because now he gets to come home to a wife who is happier.

And, this is just the icing on the cake for the happiness replacing grumpiness ...

Raise your hand if you want to squeeze that kitty.

And, Elijah just told me my arms were jiggly ...

Happiness with a Twist of Stupid

2011-09-21T20:36:00.000-04:00

So, today I was not very smart. It's okay though because I was happy, like really happy. I found myself driving and thought, "Wow! I feel really happy right now." It kind of surprised me. I think it has been a while since I just felt that kind of carefree happiness.

It was a good day. Why? Because I was with friends today. I had my Bible Study ladies over for catch up time. We haven't been together for weeks and weeks so we had a lot of catching up to do. And, Michelle only has an hour and a half window before she has to head off to work so we are really limited with our time.

It was lovely. I am SO ready to jump back into the Word. I hate the murky feeling that develops after not enough time studying God.

Okay, so after that I got lunch to take over to Cori's. Cori used to live next door and now lives down the street. People tend to do that around here. They move out of our neighborhood into the brand new houses they are building right next to our development.

That was fun too. Cori was such a nice neighbor. Our girls are the same age and were really cute when they were 3 and would play together. She is still a nice neighbor, just a farther away neighbor. It was good to catch up.

So, I came home from that little visit feeling pretty good about today. Then I went to let the dogs out and couldn't figure out why Molly wasn't coming.

This is the part where the stupid comes in. Ready?

I had locked her and the 2 cats in my room for Bible Study time which is what I usually do. But, also, what I usually do is let the animals out right after everyone leaves. I didn't this time. Instead I made a few phone calls, ordered lunch, wrote a thank you note, and left to have lunch. By the time I got home from lunch it was ... 3 pm.

Yes. That means they were in my room for ... (cringing) ... six hours.

Keep in mind my one cat is sick. And, let's just say that legos are really really really difficult to clean, what with all those little pieces and crevices. Blech.

I won't give you all the gory details since I am currently trying to bleach them from my own mind, but it is hard to forget when many of the legos are still sitting on my bathroom sink waiting to be scrubbed/bleached/burned .... (trying not to gag).

So, that was my day.

Overall I can't complain. I have a coffee date with a friend tomorrow morning and a couple of others on tap for next week. These things make me happy and a little more, dare I say, normal.

A little normalcy is all I've been asking for these last few weeks. Thank you Lord!!

...........

I re-read part of this post and realized it might seem a little strange that we had legos in our bedroom so let me explain. Dan has his legos from when he was a kid. He introduced them to the kids a few years back and has always kept them under our bed since then. That was their "special" spot because the kids knew they could only play with them with permission.

Now that Elijah is obsessed with legos he has taken to playing with Dan's legos a lot more and has joined some of his own in the mix. Yet, they still stay in our room. Dan plans to give Elijah his set, but wants to wait for Christmas or another special occasion.

Alas, they now became victim of ... oh yeah, I said I wouldn't mention details.

Nutella

2011-09-20T16:56:00.000-04:00

Uh oh.

Nutella may just be the end of my healthy endeavor.

It's just that 4 pm rolled around and I was STARVING!! My stomach was growling and everything. I knew Dan would be bummed if I went ahead and cooked up dinner and ate it before it was even 5. He usually doesn't get home until 6.

So instead I pulled out the Nutella. And the Saltines.

Oh my.

Dan ate Nutella in France and really liked it so I bought it recently. Really I could take it or leave it.

Until today that is. When you are hungry and feel as though you are depriving yourself of stuff I think anything could taste delicious. It helps that Nutella is made with chocolate though.

But, reading the label there is nothing really nutritious about it. There is a ton of sugar and 11 grams of fat in every 2 tbs.

YUMMY!!!

I kept going back for more. I think I am good now until dinner though. I think ...

Biking

2011-09-20T14:41:00.002-04:00

I went for a bike ride yesterday and today. It is slowly dawning on me the things I can do when i have no kids in tow. Biking is one of them.

Of course I can go with the kids, but Elijah isn't quite there yet with his ability to be able to keep up. And Madelyn still needs to stay on sidewalks.

So, when I am by myself I can go however fast, however far, etc. Good stuff.

I used to bike a lot when I was younger. I would go anywhere I could on my bike. I would even go along the trail that ran along the creek until I could no longer make it on a bike. It was fun.

I am noticing a few differences between biking then and biking now.

One. I wear a helmet. I know, I know. It's not super attractive, but neither are head injuries.

Two. My bum hurts. Ouch. I think this is just a matter of getting used to being on a seat like that, but we'll see.

Other things I noticed are ...

Dogs seemed to get more excited when you ride by on a bike rather than just running or walking. Yikes.

Squirrels in the road can be quite daunting. They don't know which way they want to run and I don't want to run over one in a car, much less a bike.

I am a wuss. I slow way down when I am going around a turn that has gravel on it.

I still want to take my bike over to a trail that runs along the river one of these days though. I am thinking that will be a good place to go as a family. We got rid of our trailblazer though. Hopefully we can fit the bikes in our Santa Fe.

Either way, it added some calories to my daily intake on livestrong.com so now I can eat dinner tonight :oP

Water

2011-09-20T13:48:00.000-04:00

So, I am trying to be healthier, not drink so much coffee, tea, or any other yummy goodness that isn't water.

I love iced tea. I love coffee. But, this is my second day of trying to drink A LOT of water and it is true what they say. Water fills you up, quenches your thirst, helps combat cravings. It's true. All of it. I experienced it today.

I found myself wanting more coffee so I downed a bottle of water. I no longer felt like I needed coffee.

Of course, now it is almost 2 and I am getting the afternoon sleepies so I did just make coffee, but I also drank another bottle of water. I keep refilling the same bottle in case you are worried about our environment as a result of my water consumption.

I am also trying to track my calories using livestrong.com and let me just say I have 36 calories left to consume for the day and I haven't even entered all of my calories yet.

Um, I'd say that part isn't going so well. It is surprising to me how many calories are in things. I've really only eaten mini bagels, some crackers and some tuna on a roll. This part is going to take a bit more effort.

In the meantime, drinking more and more water can't hurt.

Oh, and where is the sun? Doesn't the sun know that I need him right now? He needs to read my blog.

Music: A Sampling

2011-09-20T09:38:00.000-04:00

I like music. It's very therapeutic for me. When I had babies I stopped listening to a lot of music for a bit, mainly because of nap times and always having to keep an ear out for what your child is doing. It wasn't until I started really listening to it again that I realized how much I missed it.

I am definitely one of those people who needs to listen to it loud and sing along to it even louder. I also listen to songs over and over and over again. It just does something for the soul. My soul, anyway.

Anyway, here is a sampling of what you will find on my ipod ...

Mumford & Sons. Oh my. Why did I not buy this album sooner? I had checked it out a few times, but I guess I wasn't ready for it. Now I am so in love with their sound and all the different instruments they use. They just rock out in such an honest "i'm giving it my all" way. I love it.

Here's another ... these lyrics are powerful and sad.

I love that they look like they just stepped out of a pub and that they are all good friends.

Maroon 5. Why did I not discover them sooner? I was listening to a few songs from a previous album and was surprised that there are songs that I love all on the same album. I may be getting that one next.

This is definitely a play over and over kind of album.

Adele. Seriously.

Adele rocks. There are just no two ways about it. You gotta love a girl who can just belt out songs like it's nobody's business. And, she writes her own songs. Double cool.

Another girl who can sing ...

Aw, Johny D ...

And, you can't have an ipod without a little S & G ...

Okay, one more. Again. You can't not have Indigo Girls on your ipod ...

That's such a cute little video :)

Okay, give me any music suggestions. I especially need some good Christian music. Why is good Christian music so hard to find?

Whine with a side of Whine

2011-09-19T17:05:00.002-04:00

My throat is scratchy and I feel very sleepy. Whine.

Our school needs money. Our church needs money. Whine.

I still smell mildew. Whine.

In other news we have amazing people in our lives. We got a check in the mail. A friend heard about all of our issues and sent us some money. That is super cool, and so very helpful. Seriously. It made my heart smile.

It's gestures like that, and Bob giving us the car, that remind us in the midst of craziness there is goodness, like the Spirit of God moving kind of goodness.

Amen.

Leesport Days 2011

2011-09-17T23:13:00.000-04:00

We got to hang out with our friends tonight. Seeing our friends from out of town just never lasts long enough. There are always things you wished you had mentioned, talked about, been able to do together, etc. Sad.

Anyway, we went to Leesport Days which is super expensive, but still fun, especially if you go with friends. The kids always want to ride the rides which is where all your money goes. It wasn't until we were leaving that we saw all the fun stands with all the cheap games and prizes. Oh well. The kids still got some fun items.

So, we had one ride ticket left. One. Easy right? Just find someone to give it to so they can add it to their stash since the tickets cost roughly $1 each.

I offered it to a few people and NO TAKERS! What?!

So, I met back up with everyone. We are headed home and I am telling that I could NOT find someone to take our extra ticket. Then a family comes by with a little kid. They are heading to the festivities and I thought, "Perfect!" I offer them the ticket and she says, "Oh, no thanks. I already have a ton."

Um. I offered her one ticket. If she already has a ton, why not just one more? Chris was shocked. He said he thought I was exaggerating when I said no one would take it. He said it was like me offering a dollar to someone and them saying, "Oh, no thank you! I already have $5 in my pocket."

It really was kind of crazy. I couldn't think of what more I could do to make a ticket more appealing. I guess I could have just forced it on someone.

So, the Warrens left and we got the kids settled into bed knowing that the fireworks from Leesport Days would be starting up any minute. Even though you know it's coming it still scares the daylights out of you. I thought our roof crashed in on our house. It is so loud. Last year I thought someone shot a gun through my kitchen window, but mostly it just sounds like you neighborhood is being bombed. It is VERY loud.

I run upstairs and the kids joined me in the bathroom so we could watch them out the window. I have to say, watching fireworks from your house with the windows closed, etc. is the best way to watch them. They aren't too loud. It's warm, etc.

So, we are watching and we're chatting. We got to talking about best friends and friends who you say are friends, but only because you kind of have to because mostly they are just mean and, well, you get the picture. I told the kids that you can have more than one best friend and I was telling them about mine and Madelyn adds her list. She said, "I have Alli at school and Isabelle in a foreign land ... "

Oh my. It was so cute. I started laughing and she laughed and Elijah said, "What does 'foreign land' mean?"

I explained that it means from another country, and Madelyn starts cracking up realizing her mistake. It was so cute and so funny because even though some friends are only 2 hours away it really can seem like they are in a foreign land.

Friends truly are blessings, but when they move away it is such a huge bummer. We will be thankful for all the time we have with them though, even the times when you blow all your money on rides and cheap trinkets.

Some Tidbits

2011-09-17T10:56:00.002-04:00

Mildew. Blech. And more mildew. This is all I smell anymore. It comes in different flavors apparently too depending on your surface. Musty Mildew. Saturated Mildew. Fuzzy Mildew. Blech, blech, blech ...

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Madelyn was so nervous/excited about her friend's slumber party tonight I finally told her she should do laps around the yard. And she did. She also told me that all she thought about today in school was the party since she was so excited about it. But, she said she paid attention during math so that it would distract her. She doesn't care much for math. They are decorating cakes at the party Cake Boss style. I have never seen the show, but they are all getting their own cake to decorate. I'm excited to hear about it.

Elijah on the other hand is not happy that Madelyn gets to do ANOTHER fun thing because he NEVER gets to do sleepovers. Apparently this was a prayer request at school today too, that Elijah wouldn't be too sad. I kept telling him that he and I get to have special time together by going to Back to School night, etc. :P Although tonight he told me we were NOT on a date because I am his mom. So, it's okay if we get married, but we can't go on a date? Wait. Maybe he doesn't want to marry me anymore?? That's sad. Healthy, but sad.

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There was an article recently about women requesting hair like Michelle Bachman's. I didn't think much of it until after my haircut yesterday and well, I think I had the same cut. Thankfully, I do style it differently, but the way it was yesterday very well could have looked like I was going for her look.

Which, by the way, as long as we are on the subject, she doesn't have much of a "style." Nothing against her hair, but it is pretty much medium length with some long layers. There is nothing super distinctive about it.

And, I was going to post a pic of my hair, but our camera is dead. Very sad. I didn't think to use my webcam.

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Another picture that is probably worth taking is of a guest of ours who shows up at dinner time when we have mini raw carrots for our vegetable. Her name is Hillbilly Vampire. She has two orange fangs, sometimes only one, but she talks funny and cracks the kids (and Dan) up. It is well worth the visit. What's even better is when the kids (and/or Dan) try to imitate her. They do their best, but Elijah ended up looking more like a werewolf which we cracked up at.

We definitely need a new camera.

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What nice trash people for taking a bunch of our flooded junk. I set a bunch of stuff out hoping for the best and yay!! they came through.

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Madelyn is so cute after big days like slumber parties, etc. She comes home and MUST have some down time. So now she is in her room reading. She has another friend coming over around 3 so she's got to rest up for her next social event. Thankfully that friend brings her family with her so we all have friends :oD

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Elijah was dancing around like a maniac this morning. No. Not to music. Just because he said he was some kind of man. I don't remember now, but seeing his long skinny arms and legs flailing about is super cute. I know he has to grow up, but I want these days to etched into my mind forever and ever and always.

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It is super cold today. I like Fall. I do. But, we seemed to have leaped right from summer into the middle of Fall in less than a day. Brrrrrr. I have my fake Ugg boots on and went to bed in a sweater last night.

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Okay, I need to stop here because I am totally procrastinating at this point ... I'm off to clean up a bit. Who's jealous? ;)

Picture Day

2011-09-16T08:00:00.000-04:00

I love helping with picture day at the school. The kids are so cute in their cute little outfits, hair all done up, and all the nervous energy that makes them do funny things before their pictures.

One little Kindergartner did NOT want to come into school today to have her picture taken. Her mom even curled her hair all up. I mean it was curly. She is super cute and was fine by the time it was picture time though.

Another K4 student's mom helped with pictures and when her daughter came in for her picture she lost it. She was crying for her mom and did NOT want her picture taken. They eventually got a good shot though.

Then there were the boys who try to do goofy things, the girls who don't want help with their hair, but kind of need help with their hair. There were some boys like that as well. One kid was even helped by the photographer with his hair. She took him to the sink to wet it for him. He was a 9th grader I think.

The moms and I agreed that having a female photographer makes a big difference since she notices things that men probably wouldn't.

Madelyn's turn came. She wore a black and white dress she has and loves with a necklace that Cindy (from China) sent over for me. It's a long necklace, but the photographer shortened it for her so it could be seen in the picture. That was really nice. But, she also put Madelyn's hair behind her ears which was not what I wanted, but I didn't want to get all "stage mom" on her so I let it go. It's just that Madelyn has this cute bob cut and the way it just hung around her face was cute.

Oh, because Madelyn woke up with crazy hair this morning. Most mornings her hair falls nicely on it's own, but today was picture day so there was no reason for that to happen today (note sarcasm). So, I curled it. It was super cute.

A mom I know who now works at the school came in to have her picture taken and then asked if I was going to have mine taken. "Um, no. I don't work here" was pretty much my reply, but she still seemed to think we could find a reason to get my picture in the yearbook. So, I suggested maybe a "headmistress" title, or "first lady" since Dan runs the place. But, they didn't take my picture.

The older kids were funny because they were all camera shy. No one wanted to go first. A couple boys even did "Rock, Paper, Scissors" over it.

Then there was the boy who didn't want to smile even though he was dressed so nice in a suit and tie because he wanted to look seriously presidential. He wasn't sure what he was president of, but he still wanted to play the part.

Good times. It's a fun day to volunteer at the school. The only thing I can say about Elijah's day is 1) when I went to get first grade and he was in the nurse's room with a belly ache. I think he was hungry. I didn't think honey combs would hold him over for the morning. 2) He likes to button ALL the buttons on his polo shirts. I unbuttoned the top one for his picture, but later in the day I noticed he had it buttoned again. So, I guess I had more to say about his day than I thought.

Breaking News

2011-09-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

This just in.

Dan drinks coffee now.

How many years have I been trying to convince him it is good? I would add chocolate or any other yummy sugary substance to try to lure him, but he would always come back at me saying, "It's still coffee and that's the part I do not like."

Well, a week ago after church we were riding home and he tells me he had a cup of coffee at church. Every Sunday one of us ends up taking Elijah downstairs to use the restroom so this time Dan was really tired and thought while he waited he would have a cup of coffee.

Needless to say I was shocked.

What shocked me more though is when he asked me to make some extra for him the next day when I made coffee. What?!

THEN he liked my hazelnut creamer! Well, that's no real shocker. It's hard to resist that creamer. Believe me. I've tried.

It's actually funny because I am not used to Dan on caffeine so the one day he called me sounding all chipper so I finally said, "Wow. I thought you must have gotten some good news today or something you sound so chipper." He shot back, "I had coffee!" In a happily caffeinated voice.

Really though, between you and me, I think he started because when we were with Vern recently we were joking about breaking into Robbie and Donna's house to make some coffee since Dan's mom doesn't have a coffee maker. We told Dan he could wait in the getaway car while Vern and I kicked back, sipped our coffee, read the newspaper, etc. I think Dan is just wanting to fit in a little better among the cool kids.

ha ha! It's good Dan hasn't read my blog in a while :)

Honestly, it's especially fun because since Dan gets up before me he now makes coffee. It's very nice. I sure do like that guy.

Late Night Ramblings

2011-09-15T00:15:00.001-04:00

I know writing stuff late at night is risky, but I can't sleep. Well, I was half asleep and dreaming, but then started nodding my head in agreement with the person in my dream with whom I was conversing and I woke myself up. Whew. That was quite a sentence.

Have you ever noticed though how profound some late night thoughts can seem until you think of them the next morning and realize how ridiculous you were for thinking those were good ideas?

Part of why I can't stay asleep is because I have this huge task looming in front of me. I am going to attempt to clean up the walls in my basement. We have very porous paneling down there and the walls have that powdery looking mildew on them about six inches up the wall.

It has to go.

It's so hard to know exactly what to do with stuff without knowing what insurance will cover, or say. What I want to do is gut most of the basement and start over, but I tend to be extreme with these things and end up regretting it because tasks like that always end up bigger than what you think they will be.

So, I am going to start with a mask and some bleach. I am also going to mark the walls where the mildew came up to with a marker. The huge bummer is our camera stopped working. Otherwise I would take pictures of everything. That's when I thought to mark it.

The doors need to come off the laundry room and the back where our bilco doors are. I am going to be a full on handy man tomorrow. Feel free to come over and ~~help me~~ check me out.

I have a haircut appt at 11 too which I am debating canceling. Usually when I get into a project I want to keep working on it with no interruptions. When I am interrupted my ADD kicks in and next thing it's bed time and I am remembering what I originally started doing in the day. So, we'll see on that.

Simon is getting sickly looking again. The meds were helping, but he is back to looking really thin and lethargic again. It's sad. I need to get him into the vet again, but it's hard to find the time and the money when your house and cars all require major repairs.

The other reason I couldn't get to sleep is because I think I was hungry. So, here's to hoping that bowl of honey nut cheerios I just ate will hold me over so I can get to sleep.

G'night!

Done Deal

2011-09-14T18:28:00.002-04:00

I know I posted about our new (old) car already, but what I didn't post is that it wasn't official yet. Dan and I had to drive up there today to finish the paperwork.

Now, I wanted to take this moment to share a little about our "car guy." He is a Believer and has owned his dealership for almost 30 years. They offer free soda, popcorn, and ice cream, computers if you need to go online, a tv area with books if you would rather read, a play room, and shelves of Christian books that are free for the taking with the intent of passing them on when you are done. Oh, and they have cars. But, Madelyn calls it the "ice cream car place." I really think she just sees it as the place where she can eat popcorn, soda, and ice cream all in one sitting.

The best part is they are all about the people. Customer service is their top priority. Bob truly loves the Lord and runs his business in a way that allows him to "reinvest in people."

So, if you need a car, get yourself up to www.BobWeaverGM.com.

And, we found out that our new (old) car was owned by an elderly lady who took immaculate care of the car. It was kept in a garage and was always serviced before it went a mile over when service was due. It is obvious. The interior is really nice considering the age of the car and so is the body. We assured them that would all change soon once our kids were able to ride around in it for a bit :o)

But, yet again, we were blessed by Bob's business. This is our third car from him and he and his people have always taken great care of us.

Here concludes my advert for Bob Weaver GM, Chevy, Jeep, Chrysler, etc.

New (old) Car

2011-09-13T21:14:00.000-04:00

We got a new (old) car today. You know that goldish colored Buick sedan your grandparents used to drive, or still do? Yeah. That's what we have now, and Dan could not be happier.

It's a 2002 Buick LeSabre with only 50,000 miles on it. It is actually a really nice car. It's fully loaded.

Er, 2002 fully loaded. I will definitely miss my satelite radio my trailblazer had that we didn't have to pay for, and the double connectors for the iPod and the GPS. But, if I were still in the year 2002 I would be psyched for the cassette player AND cd player.

The best part about the car is that it can seat 3 up front. But, if you don't need to have someone ride in the middle the seat fold down into a console with a cup holder. Double awesome. It reminds me of a friend's car in college. He was Dan's best man and when the 3 of us road around together I would sit up front in the middle. So funny. The good 'ol days.

So, if Shannon comes to visit with her kids she and I and our 4 kids can still all fit in our new hooptie. How awesome is that?! Or, we are able to take a couple extra friends around town.

Are you reading this Shannon? Madelyn can't wait to take advantage of that front middle seat :)

Dan could not be happier to have a car to drive. He doesn't like my SUV's. I like big cars. I like to be up high and feel powerful on the road. Hmmm. I wonder what that says about me. I'll just say it's because my Pop-pop was a race car driver. It's in the genes.

I am happy to let him drive it though. I am actually really happy to see him so happy about it. He was even saying on the way home that he is going to be waxing and detailing the car to keep it looking nice and he is not kidding. ha ha! Alright. Maybe he is.

I, on the other hand, took our hyundai santa fe out today, got it all cleaned up and vacuumed out to make it my own again. I do like that car. It's aging, but it's a nice little SUV. I even bought a cute steering wheel cover, but I was so sad to find it didn't fit the steering wheel. Bummer. It had flowers and peace signs on it. (Sigh) Oh well. I still drove around with the windows down and my Maroon 5 blaring. Happy day!

One More Natural Disaster

2011-09-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

After picking up our one car and dropping of our other I spent a day at home with no place to go and no way to get there. It's nice to have days like that sometimes, especially rainy ones where you can just stay inside and do what you need to do. This was Wednesday and it had been raining since Sunday. It turns out the remnant of Tropical Storm Lee was happy to settle his huge self over our region for quite a while and dump a whole lot of rain on us. All in all, Wednesday was a good day. I was starting to feel like things were getting caught up around my house. I was doing laundry, cleaning, etc.

But, I needed groceries. So, my plan was to get all my housework done so Thursday I could run all my errands, namely getting groceries.

Well, Thursday morning comes. The rain is ridiculous. Roads are just covered in water. We were up early because Dan picks up Barbara and takes her to work and the kids have to be ready to go by the time he is ready to go since we only have one car and I was riding with them today.

I dropped them off and came home because I figured I would wait out the rain so I, and my groceries, weren't full of water by the time I got home.

Well, I was waiting and waiting, and the rain was pouring and pouring. At 10 a.m. Dan calls me and tells me I need to get to the school to pick up the kids before they close the bridges and we can't get home.

WHAT?! Oh my. The river was rising so high and small creeks were flooding roads. I tried to take the back roads to avoid crossing the river, but the road was flooded out. I drove through one of the areas, and then promptly swore I would not drive back through that spot since it felt like there was a big hole forming in the road under the water. But, when I drove farther down the road there was another spot that was just completely flooded that looked like a pond. There was NO way I was getting through it.

I turned around and took a dirt road to avoid the flooded spot I had just driven through and headed out to the main highway. It turned out the southbound lanes on the highway were closed because the road was flooded out. It was craziness. Yards were flooding out into the roads, but I made it over the river on the way to the school. The bridge was still open, but just past the bridge the road was covered in water and we had to take turns crossing in on the lower side of the flooded area. I was shaking by the time I got to the school. It was so nerve-wracking.

I stayed at the school for a bit trying to figure out the best way to get home and found out what back roads were closed at that point. I didn't want to have to cross the bridge again and I didn't want to sit in traffic so I was hoping I could find a back way to Leesport.

I did, and I was grateful. Meanwhile, Dan stayed at the school to make sure the remaining students and teachers got home okay.

The kids and I are settling in at home, eating lunch, etc. I told Madelyn she could watch a movie and when she went downstairs she saw water all over our basement.

When I say all over. I mean ALL OVER. The kitty litter boxes were literally floating in our storage room At that point we had 3 inches of water on the floor and I found out later it was continuing to rise. Our basement NEVER got wet before.

I called Dan and he said he had the same thing going on at the school. He said there were springs of water coming up from cracks in the floor in the cafeteria. The poor guy. We found out our neighbors had 3 feet of water in their basement along with some other neighbors too. So sad.

I didn't want to get electrocuted by walking in the water so I went ahead and cleaned up the kitchen, showered, got online and waited for Dan to get home.

The first thing he did was climb across the furniture to get to the breaker box to turn off the power. Smart man. The second thing he did was pick up what he thought was an empty bag of cat food floating around and half a bag of cat food fell out into the water. Up until that point the water was fairly clean. It kind of makes me laugh even now as we continue to clean things up and I find a mushy piece of cat food on something. It's amazing where all those little pieces ended up.

Make a note of this. Firemen pump water out of basements. Amazing! I was so happy when I saw them pull up next door. They pumped out as much water as they could. Packed up their stuff, left, and the water promptly started filling up our basement again. AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Our sump pump just stopped working.

Then the Lord sent an angel. A parent from the school got word that we needed a new pump. He got here around 8:30 pm, helped Dan replace the pump, and even stayed to help him mop the water over to the pump. So kind and generous and kind and even more kind. He was here until almost midnight even though he had to work the next day. He saved us so much trouble that night.

The one store that still had pumps was already closed for the night so our basement would have been filling up all night long until we would have been able to buy a new pump. Ugh. It could have been so much worse. The sump pump was working all night long pumping the water out that kept trying to get in.

It's so strange to go downstairs and see NOTHING in our basement. No couches, no chairs, no tv, etc. The paint on the floor is all chipped up now. Our washer and dryer seem to be working though. That's a praise. Our surge protector is all warped and funky looking, but our tv seems to be okay. And, I was super glad I had had Wednesday to get caught up on stuff. Our basement could have been so much worse had I not been caught up on laundry, or had I not just cleaned it all up for a get together I had the Friday before.

So, little by little we are getting things figured out. We have a contractor coming Monday and we are waiting to hear from the ins. adjuster. Oh, and we are supposed to get more rain tomorrow. Yippee.

I Try

2011-09-12T09:19:00.002-04:00

I try to not be a complainer. I really do, but I'm sorry. I've had a long weekend ...

I went to bed last night around midnight only to be awakened by Daisy needing to go out. Fine. I know if she wakes me up she REALLY needs to go. I let her out, lie down on the couch and wait. And wait. I look out and she is crossing the street on the OTHER side of the road! Somehow her collar got loose and off she goes.

Now, Daisy always comes home. That's not what bothers me. What bothers me is 1) it was around 1 a.m. and 2) she ALWAYS ends up rolling in some sort of stinkiness when she gets loose. I was hopeful that maybe she wouldn't this time since it had just poured buckets of rain on us, but she did. I was not going to give her a bath at 1 a.m. so I rubbed down the stinky area with a really soapy cloth and called it a night. I figured if she was too stinky she was going to sleep in a bathroom.

Then I have Samson who has been acting weird for days now. I have not been able to figure out his deal. Yesterday I kept tripping over him. When he wants something he gets under your feet, meows relentlessly, etc. But, I kept making sure they had food, the kitty litter was fine, etc.

I found that he peed on the bathroom rug yesterday so I was starting to think he was sick. In the night he woke us up meowing and meowing in our faces. I locked him out of the bedroom. Then when I woke up this morning I found he had pooed on the rug in the living room. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Finally. It occurred to me. The cat is afraid to go in the basement. We have fans running and our dehumidifier going and he is completely freaked out. I carried him down there to show him his food, etc. He freaked out and ran back up the steps.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Also, last night before bed when I opened the basement door to make sure the cats had food so Samson wouldn't be meowing I heard the basement window fall out and break. Lovely. And, when I got up in the night to lock Samson out I stepped in a wet spot on the carpet where Simon threw up.

I know what you are thinking right now. You wish you were me right?

I know I shouldn't have said this this morning with Elijah there, but I made the comment that I am ready to get rid of ALL of the animals. Of course he got concerned and asked why for each one. While I had a reasonable explanation for each one I assured him I was not going to get rid of the cats. Now I can only imagine what his prayer request is going to be this morning in school. His teacher told me that one day he prayed that Simon would not die. Sweet boy.

Now Samson is sitting at the top of the basement stairs trying to muster up the courage to head down. Oy.

I think I am done complaining now. I told you I "try" to not complain, but I do feel better already just getting this off my chest.

Cars ... Ugh

2011-09-12T08:00:00.000-04:00

So, the last post about Irene, and the funeral, and the lawyer deal was all leading into Labor Day weekend. That was a looooonnnnnngggggg weekend because we thought we were going to hear back from the lawyer before the weekend, but didn't so we fretted all weekend about what that might mean. Well, it turns out we didn't hear back simply because she was never able to touch base with the other lawyer. I still don't know if they ever connected. Now I see why these things take so long to settle.

So, things were a little stressful. But, it was a new week, a new day, and God's mercies are new each day right?

Well, Tuesday morning Dan had a breakfast so since our cars both had issues at the time he took the one with the least amount of issues. He had farther to go. I just had to get the kids to school and home again. No big deal right?

I made it to school fine. No noises, nothing. Just a little ways down the road on my way home the car starts to over heat. I took the back roads home since I would then be able to pull over next to a corn field rather than a busy highway. I called Dan to let him know and then I waited. I was hoping the car would just cool off and I could just get home.

Nope. I had to pull over again. It turns out ALL the coolant had leaked out of the car. Dan had just filled it up the Friday before. Dan came with another bottle of coolant and 2 minutes down the road it overheats again. That was some leakage going on. At this point we were just trying to make it to the car place that was 5 minutes away. Five minutes can seem like an eternity when your car has smoke pouring out of it.

Oh, did I mention that when Dan finally got to me I got into his car to follow him to the car place and promptly backed into a tree? I didn't even see it AFTER I hit it. I could not figure out what I hit. I think I was starting to lose it at that point. Thankfully, there was no damage.

Anyway, we finally made it to the car place where we have a wonderful mechanic who loves the Lord and is just a good guy. We drop the car off. I take Dan to school and find out later we never gave the mechanic our key to the car. He had to drive over to the school to get it from Dan. See what I mean? Great guy.

I went home and promptly cried my eyes out for most of the day. It's a good thing I did too because I had NO idea what awaited me later in the week.

Other Natural Disasters

2011-09-10T23:16:00.000-04:00

Tropical Storm Irene blew through here not too long ago. It was Saturday night when she started. Sunday morning around 3 a.m. we lost power. We didn't get power back until Monday afternoon.

So, we missed church on Sunday. We had no way of finding out if our church had power or not. We didn't know about the condition of the roads or anything either. Friends stopped by and took some of our cold foods since they had a generator, super, super nice of them. What's funny is I loaded them up with 4 different kinds of milk, not unusual in our house. Lactaid for Dan, regular for me and Madelyn, Almond milk for Elijah, and some leftover Soy milk from when he had his tonsils out. He doesn't like to drink Almond milk. And, I'm not quite sure why I felt I needed to capitalize the types of milk.

Oh well.

So, we spent the day reading and playing. Thankfully I was completely hooked into The Hunger Games trilogy so the time went by pretty quickly for me. Later in the day we went to the park to kill time. We kept expecting the power to come back on soon because we rarely lose power, especially for any extended amount of time. The whole neighborhood seemed to be out walking or at the park that night. There wasn't much else to do.

While we were at the park we could hear all the generators in the neighborhood running so we told the kids when the generators stopped we would go home because that meant we had power.

Well, they never stopped. And, it was starting to get dark. And, they had their first day of school the next day. And, they needed showers. And, we found out Dan's Uncle's funeral was on Tuesday and we were going to have to try to get to his parents' house by then.

So, we buckled down, got the kids to school Monday morning, realized neither of our cars were going to make the 4 hour drive to Western PA so we set up a rental. I pulled clothes together from whatever we had clean. Made arrangements for the dog. Since it was only one night Megan was able to just drop in to let Daisy out. The cats would be fine for one night.

And, the power came back on. Yay! It was so funny because as I was scrambling to get things together I walked through the kitchen and thought, "Oh, that light is blinking. That light is blinking!!!" We had power again. I felt like Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life because I was opening my fridge saying, "Hello fridge! (like 'hello you old savings & loan!' or whatever that line is) Hello coffee maker, and microwave, and phone and ..." You get the picture.

It was a good feeling, but I had to leave so I couldn't really take full advantage of my electricity.

The kids got home. Dan got home, and we rushed out the door to get to the rental car before the place closed. It was hectic, but we made it.

Vern and Pam came up for the funeral as well. Of course, poor Vern had literally flown in from Afghanistan that day, met up with Pam, flew to Dulles and drove from there to PA. Oh, and he forgot his suit so they had to stop along the way to buy a new one.

So, Tuesday morning Vern says, "What do we have to do to get you to stay another night?" We planned for just one night because the kids were just starting school, Dan runs said school, and we thought we should probably be there for the beginning of the school year. Plus, we didn't know what everyone else had planned as far as how they were staying, etc.

Anyway, I said we just needed Daisy to be let out, but I figured if Megan couldn't do it another night she could at least get the key to a different neighbor. Well, it was 7:15 pm by the time I got in touch with Megan. She had an all day training class and never got my cell v-mail I left her. Once I did reach her she informed me that she had locked the key in our house since she knew we were coming back that night.

WHAT?! I totally understood why she did it. I just couldn't believe what I had to tell Dan when I walked back into the house where his whole family was gathered, namely his 2 brothers whom he so rarely gets to see at the same time. But, I did. Thankfully, Megan was willing to try to break back into our house so I was waiting to hear back from her on that.

It turns out she did. She brought her six year old with her so the neighbors would think too much about it. Now THAT is a good friend. Oh my. I was so relieved.

We eventually made it home in the same clothes we had been wearing for almost 3 days straight since I only packed for one night. And, one of us may or may not have come home with no underwear on, but that is a story for another day.

We pull in the driveway and I say, "Okay, let's all try to get into some kind of routine now ..." That's when we found out our lawyer had been trying to reach Dan all day.

Yeah. We're being sued. Remember that? Ugh.

Earthquake

2011-09-10T22:39:00.000-04:00

So, I was on the phone with Kerry when she says, "Wait a minute. My house is shaking." "What?" "My house is shaking!!" Then I heard one of her boys call for her and I could hear the rumbling. We realize she is having an earthquake. I started to feel kind of dizzy as I was trying to google some info on what might have happened.

Then Madelyn comes downstairs. Kerry and I hang up so she can check on her people and I see on FB that people all over the east coast were talking about feeling an earthquake; my cousin in VA, Jess in Reading, people in NY. It was nuts!

I then realize that I wasn't feeling dizzy. I was feeling an earthquake too when I was talking to Kerry!

Madelyn walks back in the room and says, "Elijah didn't feel anything." I said, "Did you?" She said, "Yes. That's why I came downstairs. I heard things rattle on my wall and the floor shook." She actually thought Dan had come home.

Meanwhile, Dan was at work and didn't feel a thing. Elijah said he heard things rattle on the wall, but that isn't so unusual around here because that happens when the trains go by.

Either way, we are all now able to say that we survived the earthquake of 2011. Amen.

i think i got it ...

2011-09-08T22:06:00.001-04:00

i have sat down so many times recently to write a blog post and then have completely blanked on what to write. i have had so many things swimming around in my brain too, but when i went to write them down the words just would not come.

but, now i think i get it. after elijah's tonsillectomy recovery which seemed to last forever and ever (poor boy) we had family come to visit which was really nice. then we had an earthquake, a tropical storm, we lost power for a day and a half, our cars broke , uncle david died. we needed to get to the funeral so we rented a car so we could get to dan's parents' house. we stayed an extra day with his family then came home to find out dan's lawyer was trying to get in touch with him all day. did i mention we are being sued? our car broke down this week, the one we are trying to get rid of. now our other car is getting fixed and our town is flooding from all the rain we have gotten this week. madelyn went downstairs to watch a movie today and we found the basement had 4 inches of water throughout. our basement which i have always been able to boast that it never gets wet. what is that verse about boasting? the nice firemen came to pump it out and soon after they left we realized it was flooding again. huge bummer.

anyway, all that to say that at different times throughout all of these ordeals i have said that i am thankful that we are all healthy. that is not something us tubbses are usually able to say, but lately it is and for that i am thankful.

that's not all though. tonight i realized that we have literally had almost all of our earthly possessions threatened in some way.over the last few weeks. and you know what? who cares? seriously. who cares? it's just stuff.

tonight before dan got home i was thinking about how he has to come home to deal with our basement after dealing with the school's flooded basement and all that we have been going through in the last few weeks and i thought, "i wouldn't want to go through all of this yuck with anyone but him." we could lose everything and be living in a box, but as long as we have each other and our kids are healthy we will be fine. i think we are beginning to not even want all of this stuff. ugh. who needs it? we have to throw so much stuff away from our basement now, but it almost feels freeing.

the worst part is that the paneling on the wall has to come off and that is going to be a job and a half. i'm not sure how that is going to go. our basement is just going to be stripped bare. that is craziness, but it's fine.

so, all i am saying is, "God? Are you there? I get it now. I know where my true treasures lie. I am not clinging to my belongings or wishing/hoping for more stuff, more money, more car, or more house. I'm done. I am happy." i really mean that too. i have such a peace inside and it's a bit unsettling in some ways because it makes me wonder what God is preparing me for. eek! don't people say stuff like this before packing it all up and moving to china or something? oh boy. i better end it here.

dreams

2011-08-06T11:18:00.002-04:00

holy moly. my dreams have been crazy lately.

last night i was shoe shopping at a really cool mall and i over heard a lady insult my outfit. i then realized i wearing cropped leggings with a mint green shirt that was longer in the back than the front and i came in barefoot hoping to find some cool shoes to wear through the mall. i left with a scarf and slippers.

then we went to a different part of the mall where outside the entrance to the arcade was a bunch of snow and a snowball machine that shot snowballs at you. it was crazy and a little dangerous because the machine went around in circles so you had to stay out of the way. i woke up after dan got hit and fell over. he was knocked out and i was trying to move him before the machine came around again.

after i fell back to sleep i dreamed i was hanging out with robert pattinson. he was filming some things. nice guy.

see? crazy.

the night before i dreamed about a friend we haven't heard from in a while and now i know why. he was with a new woman. i don't know where his wife was, but there was no introduction to the new woman. it was almost like he was pretending she was his wife. see? crazy. and that was only half of it. i can't even write the other part even though it was funny.

sometimes i am curious where my dreams come from. other times i would just like to forget them. i do know that the kids needs shoes for school. madelyn always looks cute in her legging outfits. i would not. i don't know about the snow machine except that dan has been going through some stressful things at work? and maybe that's where that was coming from? i don't know.

i should keep a dream journal. or, maybe not.

Tidbits

2011-08-01T20:43:00.004-04:00

it turns out madelyn is a chatty cathy when she's in the kitchen baking with dan. super cute.

glad he's the baker and not me. i'm not a fan of baking. he is though which makes it a great daddy/kids activity :)

i am also glad that this isn't a regular activity since i would then weigh 300 lbs. seriously. that is ALL i would eat.

.........

pms is the pits. i think i do weigh 300 lbs just since last week. i am such an antisocial weepy munchy slug during this time. it's amazing how different you feel once it's all said and done.

tmi. i know.

........

i went running/walking again today finally. i did do the stepper the other day which is a nice alternative to when i can't get out of the house, but while the weather is nice i definitely want to be out as much as possible.

it was a gorgeous night tonight too, nice and cool. the sky was sooooooo pretty with the setting sun.

i've been looking forward to getting back into a routine since we've been back from vacation.

..........

i don't know what to call what i do when i exercise. i go back and forth between running and walking so should i call it ralking, runking, runalking, wunning? yeah. i think wunning is it. then i sound like i have a speech issue and people will think i am a runner. for some reason it seems more glamorous to be a runner. although there is a speed walker in our neighborhood who would put any runner to shame. she is tall and thin and i could never keep up with her even if i was running and she's probably old enough to be my mom.

ha ha! imagining me running to try to keep up with the super tall speed walker makes me laugh.

it's kind of like me trying to keep up with dan when we exercise together (or even simply walk, honestly), but thankfully he slows to my pace. he's nice like that.

.........

anxiety sucks.

i have a copy of my friends book "change your brain change your life." it's helpful.

but, ugh. anxiety is awful, awful, awful.

........

elijah LOVES legos right now.

currently he is online just looking at instructions for putting together sets that he doesn't have. sometimes he goes to bed reading the little instruction books :)

last night he asked me if it would be okay if he slept with some of his legos on the side of the bed he doesn't sleep on so he could wake up and get started on putting it all together right away. when i went to see just how many he was talking about i laughed. he had a MOUND of legos on his bed. so funny. he was a good sport about bagging them all up so none would get lost in the night.

.........

madelyn is going to the fair tomorrow with her bff alli. alli and her family are such a blessing. alli is an only child and loves to invite madelyn along for special events like this. they are such a great family too. it's so nice to have people you can completely trust your child with and whose daughter is such a nice friend to madelyn. even while we were on vacation madelyn would say, "i can't wait to tell alli about this" or "i can't wait to show alli this!" friends are the best.

.........

the erwins are coming on wednesday!!!! yay!!!! this has been the summer for catching up with our maryland friends :D it's been sooooooooooo nice i can hardly stand it!! i love and miss them all so much.

.........

laundry never ends .... BUT i am grateful for washing machines and dryers.

the end.

vacation

2011-07-15T22:47:00.005-04:00

things i want to remember from vacation ...

elijah and hayes were super cute tonight on the beach wearing nothing but their undies. what made it even cuter is the fact that elijah accidently had a pair of hayes' undies on and vice versa so one was a little too big and the other a little too small, nothing but cuteness :)

madelyn and addie hold hands on a regular basis. they love each other so much. they wear whatever clothes and pjs they have that match. they are each other's sister that they don't have.

i got to see my julie b. after about 4 years. she has 3 kids now and the day was just too short frankly. i love her so much and our kids loved each other so much. saying good-bye to her again was sad because i know if we still lived close to each other we would still be good friends and our kids would play regularly. they were all really cute together. of course i kept forgetting my camera so i didn't get as many pictures as i wanted to.

the weather was gorgeous during our week at the beach.

we have a screened in porch at this house and my mom sat out there and read most days. we started calling it the library because one day nick said, "why doesn't your mom just get a week at the library each summer?" we all cracked up.

we got to see the wilsons twice this week too. that was fun.

elijah rode the swing ride and every time he would come around to where we were he was making a different face, had a different pose, etc. dan and i were cracking up :)

hayes was in a super naked stage and elijah was in a super modest stage so every time hayes would be somewhere naked elijah would quick cover his eyes and yell for hayes to get some clothes on. it didn't help that hayes was elijah's constant shadow so when elijah went to go potty hayes was close behind. poor elijah didn't get much alone time.

we were at my aunt's house for my mom's retirement party and hayes walks in the room and dumps his clothes on shannon's head. she was quite surprised to turn to see a naked hayes. apparently he was ready to go swimming again, but needed help with his suit.

i saw kerry twice in one week!!! what?? i did. so fun. we met at aunt elaine's to go swimming the one day and then she came up for my mom's party too. good times. good times indeed. what made it even better is she bought me a 31 bag for an early birthday gift :) i love it!

poor addie threw up the day they were supposed to leave. too much junk food the night before. sadly, hayes threw up last year on the day they were leaving. i hope this doesn't become some kind of weird tradition because it looks like shannon is next on that list. yikes. their flight got canceled so they ended up staying another night.

one night my kids and i went to ihop to eat. madelyn and i like the butter pecan syrup, but elijah likes the maple. i don't typically say "maple syrup," but i did that night. well, the next day he was so excited to tell addie that at ihop "i had maple syrup and you could actually taste the maples!" he wasn't sure what those were when we asked him :)

poor addie was sad to not be able to see simon and samson during her visit this time, and she's afraid they won't live through the year until her next visit. poor thing. apparently she and madelyn had a heart to heart concerning the kitties.

simon is actually doing really well now that he is on the meds. dan did a fabulous job of staying on top of that while i was away. even now that i am home he will still give simon his meds. it's sweet.

this was the first time i left molly for a whole week. she did okay i guess. but she was super clingy when i got her back. leaving the animals and making arrangements for them was a HUGE stresser this year. ugh. remind me that i said no more cats after these ones are gone, please.

Church Mouse

2011-07-11T09:44:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I was waiting for a call back from the pediatrician's office. You see, Madelyn has strep and that is how we started out our beach vacation. So, let's just take a moment and praise the Lord for pharmacies at the beach. CVS to be exact.

Anyway, the nurse calls back. I answer the phone and in this sweet happy voice she says, "Hi! This the the doctor's office calling. Can I speak to Mom?" Um. Last I checked I am the "mom." She was a bit embarrassed when she realized this.

So, apparently I still have a church mouse voice. A lady I called one time told me that. Nice, huh?

It got even stranger when Nick and Todd came home from a walk. Todd came in first and I said, "Hey, where have you guys been? It's been forever." To which Nick said, "Who is that? Madelyn?" Yes. Strike two. The second time in one day I was mistaken for a kid.

Oh well. What can I do? I laughed. It was funny, especially when I told Todd and Nick the story about the nurse and Todd asked me if I then got my mom. ha ha!

Good times :)

Tidbits

2011-06-27T09:23:00.002-04:00

I've got a lot swimming around in my brain and when this happens it's best to write some tidbits ...

....

I am excited. We are getting a new (used) bed. Weird. I know. But, this couple works with Dan and they had the best custom made for them, used it for a year and decided it's not working for them.

Compare that story to ours. We have been using a $500 bed for 13 years. We bought it when we first got married. It's getting old. Literally. At this point anything will be better than what we have.

And new beds cost a lot more than what we are paying them.

We went and checked it out last night and a friend is helping us get it tonight. That friend has a truck and will help Dan load it. Such nice friends.

I'm a little (a lot) excited about sleeping on something different. I may not wake up tomorrow.

...

I am a princess. Dan's cousin, who we saw when we went to the wedding, has a 4 year old daughter. She is so stinking cute with her dark eyelashes, hazel eyes, and freckles across her nose that make her picture perfect.

She came up to me at the camp site that we went to after the wedding and told me she had seen me earlier in the day when I was a princess up on the stage :) Oh my. So sweet. I had NO idea what she was talking about, but does it really matter anyway? I mean, if she thinks I'm a princess, let's just let her go with that.

I asked her what I was wearing and she said "black" so she probably thought I was one of the bridesmaids, but that doesn't change the fact that she is now my favorite 4 year old little girl :)

And I may or may not have had the family refer to me as "Princess" for the rest of the weekend. "Your highness" was allowed as well.

...

Who do animals have to be so stressful? I have not been able to consistently get the pill into Simon like I should be.

That being said he does seem a little better, but he has now figured out what I am trying to do so he avoids the bathroom. Then he spits the pill out.

This just makes the fact that I am leaving him for a week that much more stressful, not to mention the poor girl who is going to be looking in on them.

...

Dan is going to the doctor today because his shoulder is really hurting him. It has been for weeks. I know it must be if he actually called the doctor. Plus, Dan isn't really one to complain, but his shoulder gets him.

I am sure it is cancer, but I am trying to not think that way. I tend to think everything is cancer. Yes. I am fatalistic like that.

...

One of the best things in my life right now is the fact that my children still hold my hand when we are out. I absolutely love walking hand in hand with my little dumplings. Sometimes Madelyn will take my hand and then hold Elijah's hand with her other hand. Or, they will each have one of my hands.

Part of it is that Elijah just does not pay attention in parking lots. He tends to be in his own little world anyway, and parking lots do not phase him. So, he HAS to hold my hand. But, most times they just want to and it makes my heart melt because I know they are only going to be this small for a little longer.

I caught our shadow the other day too when we were all holding hands and I wanted to take a picture. I consider myself blessed that Madelyn is still so sweet and loving. She is showing signs here and there of the upcoming tween phase, what with the huffing and/or eye rolling, but mostly she is still super sweet. And, I remind her how miserable life will be if she chooses to have an attitude ;)

...

Our dishwasher is done. That means I am washing dishes starting today. Waaaaaaahhhhhhhhh. I just had to get that out. I am sure we will buy a new dishwasher soon, but with vacation coming up, etc. I just don't know when. We have one picked out that is on clearance, but we'll see. We found out that if you get one with a stainless steel interior it helps fight again the mineral build up on your dishes and interior of the dishwasher so that's what we will be going for. Our water here is terrible because of all the minerals.

...

And that's all for now. I can't put off this sink full of dishes much longer. Unfortunately.

summer so far ... a recap

2011-06-23T19:42:00.002-04:00

We are about two weeks into summer and this is how it has gone ... so far ...

We started things out with a fever. Poor Madelyn. She had strep, got treated, and then Elijah promptly started with a sore throat. Things go so much smoother when they are able to synchronize symptoms so we don't have to go to the doc twice in one week.

Oh. The doctor. Grrrr ... Sometime doctors are your best friend. Other times they are thorns in your side. Well, this particular doc was. I know for sure now that I need to avoid her completely.

Between those doc appts I had vet appts for my dog, and later, my cat. Because, you see, I took my dog in for shots to find out that my cat's blood work showed an illness that was treatable. Unfortunately I hadn't heard back from the vet after my first call so I figured there was nothing that could be done. Two months later when I am thinking I have to have my cat put down because he is only getting sicker I take my dog in for shots and find out he is indeed treatable.

Grrrr ... again with the docs who become thorns in your side. At least I found this out before I switched vets which is what I was trying to do that day, but when they couldn't fit Daisy in for shots before our weekend away I had to go back to the original vet. That's when I found this out.

Now Simon is being treated. Daisy is up on her shots. Molly is at the new vet now, and I have to report back to the vet who picked up the slack where the other vet completely dropped the ball. She did call and apologize in what turned out to be a 5 minute long message on my v-mail. It was all an unfortunate situation.

Okay. Enough about that. Not the best start to summer, but what can you do.

So, speaking of our weekend away, we went to Dan's cousin's wedding. They moved it up from October because her dad (Dan's uncle) was just diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. So so sad. He is the youngest of the siblings and it is so hard for everyone to wrap their brains around. He is such a likable guy. So sweet and fun-loving towards his 3 daughters, all his grand-kids, and every other pretty lady around ;) I guess you could say he is the typical "baby" of the family. It is very sad indeed.

The wedding was a nice celebration though. Jen is a beautiful girl and the family she married into seems very nice.

The evening after the wedding we went to the camp site where Uncle Don and Aunt Sally are settled into for a bonfire. The kids had a blast playing with other cousins getting as muddy and wet as can be. You gotta love the country for good times like that. They couldn't have been happier.

Sunday was Father's Day and I don't know that we have ever celebrated Father's Day with Vern so that was nice. After church we ate out and then visited with Uncle David. It was fun to hear him and Vern laugh at stories about growing up on the farm with Grand-dad, the cows and electric fences, such a different life that I will never know.

From there we went to ice cream with Robbie, Donna and the kids. Then to Bilger's rocks. It was a busy busy weekend, but good memories.

Monday we saw the Warrens in State College. Such good friends whom we love so much.

Then we were super exhausted. Even Madelyn said she was happy to be in her own bed again. She is growing up so much. I love every second of it. She still has such a cute little face that I kiss on whenever I can. She still loves to be loved on like that. Thankfully.

Since then we have kept busy, but not too much. We are still recovering from the busyness that was the end of the school year. The kids haven't even been asking to see friends. I'm sure next week they will want to do more, but for now we are enjoying our down time. You gotta love free movies for kids in the summer too. We did that this morning.

Tomorrow we have a pool party. That should be fun.

All in all, good times. And, I am quite proud of myself for resisting a kitten from Robbie and Donna again. Dealing with elderly animals is a good deterrent for getting more though. Yeesh. Getting pills down a cat's throat is not the easiest thing ever. Poor little guy.

End of the School Year

2011-06-10T23:30:00.003-04:00

Here we are ... finally.

While I can't believe my kids are going to be in 1st and 4th grade next year, I also thought this school year was never going to end.

Elijah had a fun Kindergarten graduation ceremony. Once the ceremony got started he promptly started tucking in his sweater vest. I picked up his 3 piece outfit at Walmart one day. I was there for something else and saw the Easter clothes for boys on sale so I grabbed it. I liked the dress shirt and sweater vest. The pants were just basic navy pants, but they only had an elastic waistband, typical Walmart. No big deal though because the shirt and vest fit well and the vest would cover up the waistband.

That is until he started tucking it all in on stage! Plus, I had to roll the waist so the pants would stay up on his skinny little body.

I couldn't help but laugh. It was all just so Elijah. If they weren't singing or reciting something he was fidgeting, tucking in his vest, wiggling around, acting on his super hero tendencies, etc. Classic stuff for a Kindergarten graduation ceremony.

I know no one else really noticed because everyone zeroes in on their own child, and really I thought it was so funny. It was a nice night.

Fast forward to today when I knew it was going to be an emotional day for 3rd graders. They recently discovered their beloved teacher was not coming back next year.

I knew I would be choked up going in to get Madelyn, and to give their teacher her gift, but I thought I would be fine.

Well, I walk up to the 3rd grade room and hear sobs. A couple of the girls were just crying and crying and hugging and crying. It was so sad. Then one boy came up to hug the teacher and he was crying. Next the teacher is crying. I am crying. It was all just too much.

We did it though. We got through another year and I am very much looking forward to the respite from the school year routine. Poor Dan still has to show up Monday morning. There is a lot to do to prepare for the next school year.

But, we have some fun things planned. First, haircuts. Madelyn and I are getting our hair cut tomorrow morning. She is getting hers cut off and is really excited about it. It is really long, but she is getting it cut chin length. I want her to have it angled a bit and stacked in the back. We'll see. Sometimes hairdressers are a bit hesitant to do all that on children. Plus, Madelyn has A LOT of hair. I think it would be cute though.

Happy Summer to us!!!

More on the FAF

2011-05-21T23:52:00.004-04:00

Fine Arts Festival, that is.

In my previous post, I mentioned face painting for the kids. What I should have said was face painting for the kids AND Nick. He and my mom have come every year and he has gotten his face painted every year.

The kids LOVE it. This year they asked him right away if he was going to get his face painted, and yes, of course he was.

And, he did. He was transformed into a pirate. Arrrrrr ...

The sad thing is by the end of the day he becomes transformed into a guy with black stuff all over his face, or in other years, a guy with blue and red smears on his face and shirt which lead people to believe he was the victim of a terrible crime.

See, he gets through the hot day of wiping the sweat (and face paint) all day, forgets he has paint on his face, heads home, and people along the way home don't know anything about the festivities of that day. So, when he ran in to a gas station to use the bathroom on year one, the gas station attendant asked him if he was okay. Nick didn't realize why he asked that until he got back into the car and saw his face again. ha ha! The poor guy.

Not to mention getting back to our house and our neighbors, who Nick knows better than we do, asked him what happened because they thought he was beaten up.

Oh, but he seriously knows them better than we do. We found out from Nick that they are new grandparents. We would have never known otherwise.

Anyway, back to this year. We get home. Of course our neighbors are out working in the yard on a beautiful day. Nick is reminded of his face paint, washes it off and then feels led to go explain to the neighbors why he had black stuff all over his face.

Their response ... "Oh we figured!"

We tried to explain to him that there was no need to explain. People get it at this point. But, he swears that next year he is not going to do it.

We'll see.

The kids can be pretty persuasive. I think all it will take is next year rolling around and them asking him. Next thing we know he will be racing with them to the table to beat the line like they did this year.

Good times.

Oh, I should mention that my mom came up too. I felt bad. At one point I thought, "I hope my mom is enjoying herself" because I barely saw her all day! I think she did though. People are friendly at TKA and she likes to people watch. And she did say she had a nice day so I am going to believe her.

Performing and Performing with ADD

2011-05-21T23:24:00.005-04:00

What a fun beautiful day!

We spent the whole day outside. Instead of a Spring Program TKA does an outdoor concert/festival kind of thing. It's nice.

They have fun stuff for kids, food, and performances going on all day long.

Both kids had a performance. Madelyn was a little farmer during their Jack and the Beanstalk medley, and was super cute. She did a great job. Performing is not what she loves to do, but she does it and she does it well. Elijah had 3 or 4 songs that were sung with the K4/K5 class. He too was super cute.

I was also able to help at the food stand. It was fun. You get to see all kinds of people and chat for a few minutes. That's a good time for me.

So, all in all, a great day. Just getting the fresh air made it all worth while.

Let's back up to the performances though, Elijah's particularly. Watching him perform makes me feel like I am watching myself. His mind is in all kinds of different directions. If he's not waving, he might be singing, or he is looking at his hand that is painted like spidermans to match his spiderman face paint, or maybe he is dancing to the music, or he is striking some kind of pose, maybe some more focused singing ...

You see, I sang in Chapel Choir in college. College. Our job was to sing during chapel on occasion. We would practice once a week to prepare for those chapel days. Well, that day came. We all gathered at the front of the room, started singing, I looked up, got distracted by the people and completely stopped singing. I was then looking around at all the people. Yes. Did I mention I was in college?

When I looked back at my page I could NOT figure out where we were. I can't read music so the fact that I was singing in any kind of choir is a little strange, but it wasn't the first time my friends talked me into something. Insert high school cheerleading here. Ugh.

Anyway, so I pretty much flubbed that performance due to my lack of focus. My mom mentioned a program I was in as a kid when I was young where I was putting my hands on my face making it look like goggles and I was showing my friends next to me.

However, I am not a total failure when it comes to public performances. I did perform in Barnum for a high school play where I had to juggle rings on stage, front and center. Whew! I am still amazed I didn't drop any of them during any of the 3 performances we did, not to mention the singing and dancing parts. That was fun.

So, I think the moral of this story is, Elijah and I need tasks to do while singing (ie. dancing, juggling). Otherwise, we WILL be distracted.

Can I get an amen?

Good Friends

2011-05-17T20:06:00.003-04:00

Good friends are people you can call while on a road trip that eventually leads through their town and they tell you to come for dinner. An hour later you show up and they proceed to empty out their pantry and fridge, light up the grill and next thing you know you are so full they have to roll you out of the house so you can complete the last half of your road trip.

We originally called them to ask them where a good place to stop to eat near State College was. Turns out their house is a good place to eat in that area! :)

It was fun to see their house that we hadn't seen yet, and the kids were just in their glory having that unexpected time with friends.

We then drove over a mountain in Tyrone that was covered in thick thick fog. Dan had to tell me when the bends and turns were coming by watching the gps. It was so freaky. I was driving SO slow. I didn't think we would ever make it to his parents.

We did though. Whew! It was crazy. The kids slept through the whole thing. Thankfully it wasn't pouring down rain at that point. That came later. It was just a light mist on the mountain.

Good times :)

Not So Smart

2011-05-17T19:28:00.002-04:00

I got sunburned recently.

At first it felt good. You know, the first real sunshiny feeling of Spring. I was happy.

Then I woke up the next day.

I was so super sore. But, I thought it will only hurt for a little and then we are all good.

Wrong.

It still hurts.

And it's peeling.

It still hurts.

Isn't that unusual for it to be peeling, but still hurt?

Yes. I was foolish.

See, the problem was that I went for a walk/run 45 minutes before I was supposed to meet a friend who was picking up our children at the park. I walked and walked and walked, came home, got a drink, then walked to the park.

It felt good. It was so nice to be out, clear my head, and enjoy the sunshine.

The problem is that after my walk I then sat at the park for more than an hour, all the while frying my back. Waaaaaahhhhhhhh!!

Lesson learned.

Hopefully.

I am not always the best student in these situations, but I also do NOT want skin cancer.

The End.

Random Thoughts ...

2011-05-17T17:18:00.002-04:00

because that's what i do.

Why do kittens have to be so cute? We met some cute little kittens last weekend. I picked the fluffy one. Madelyn picked the boy one. We came home with none. I do still have 4 animals and Dan cut me off at 4 animals long ago and I continue to say how wise that man is as a result.

Still. Cute cute kitties ... (sigh). I am so weak.

....................

Speaking of cute kitties, my Simon is struggling. He throws up, and he has lost a lot of weight. But, he is still so snuggly and in love with me. I can't just say good-bye. Yet. I know the time is coming pretty quickly though. So sad. 14 years is a long time to spend with a kitty. My mom used to call him and his brother the grandkitties. Seriously. They were my babies for a very long time.

So, as much as I say no more cats when both of mine are gone, I know that is a load of BS. Last weekend with the kitties is evidence A. All that had to happen was one of the kids beg for one. Thankfully, that didn't happen, but if we didn't have 4 animals, I probably would have been begging for the fuzzy little creamsicle looking kitty.

I heard she may be spoken for now though. Thank you Jesus.

...............

I like music. I just got 20 free songs from iTunes. Good times. Elijah asked, "Did you get new music?" That kid doesn't miss a thing. What makes music even more fun is when the kids get into it too. So far their faves are my faves. That works out nicely :)

..............

I learned that Madelyn does NOT want to be cremated. Odd info to know from an 8 year old. I know. But, I told her that Simon was probably going to have to be put to sleep soon. We had talked about this before, but I wanted to make sure she knew that it may be one day that I just have to take him in. She was sad, but took it okay. Then she asked what happens after they put him to sleep. That turned into a whole discussion about cremation, ashes, death, rotting in your grave, etc. Lovely. I know.

She did not like the idea of being burned after death and made it very clear that she doesn't want that to happen to her. I love the conversations she and I have about things. She is so thoughtful and understands so much at this stage. She is so much like her dad too. She's got a strong mind about her. I admire that in a girl :)

......................

Elijah on the other hand is very glad he is not a girl because he does not have to push a baby out one day.

But, he is a boy so that means he has to ask a girl to marry him one day and he is very concerned that she might say no. I explain to him that he will most likely be with that girl for a while before they that point so he should know if she will say yes or not. He comforts himself by saying he is not in college yet so he doesn't have to worry about it.

Poor thing. He's going to go to college feeling like not only does he have to figure out what he wants to do for the rest of his life he also has to find a wife. That's a lot of pressure.

.................

Drama. Drama. Drama. That's all I have to say about that.

Except it's not.

People need to learn to talk to people. If there is an issue, talk to the person. Don't conjure up all these crazy ideas about what you think is going on. It will simplify things.

Okay. Now I am done.

For now.

.................

I like friends. God has blessed us with some amazing friends.

................

Elijah is reading like crazy. I love it. He reads these big words and it is so fun to hear him figure it out. He said, "Reading by yourself can be fun, especially when you know how to read!"

I love his mind. You never have to guess what he is thinking.

So many Elijahisms ...

2011-05-05T12:35:00.002-04:00

so little brain power to remember them all, but here are a few ...

we were walking past men's warehouse the other day and he said he saw the president, but he didn't have a head. i asked him how he knew it was the president and he said because he was dressed like him and wearing a bow tie :)

he thanked me yesterday for marrying dan. we were at the school and he had just spent a few minutes in dan's office. they love to show their love for each other by punching/smacking/kicking and wrestling each other and do so even in the office. so, on our way back down the hall he thanked me for marring "papa." i assured him that i was very thankful i did too since i wouldn't have him (elijah) if i hadn't :)

elijah just had a birthday. he's six now, and he sure knows how to live up the birthday attention. he got a crown from school and was so happy to announce "i'm the birthday boy!" we went to chuck e cheese with peyton, madelyn, noelle, mom-mom, pop-pop nick, me and papa. they had sooooooo much fun. it really was a fun day.

another thing on his birthday is that he and noelle found a dead mouse in the yard. elijah thought for sure that it was a dead beaver. i assured him it wasn't since beavers live near rivers and he replied, "maybe a hedgehog then." there was just NO WAY it was a mouse :)

elijah and noelle had a really intense conversation yesterday on the way home from school. it went a little something like this ...

e: you should not make jokes about people dying. it's inappropriate and it's like you are making fun of someone who died.
n: yeah.
e: my mom-mom ruthie died because she was really sick. and really old.
n: how old was she?
e: uuuummmmm ... 93 ... i think ... oooorrrrrr ... 99.

the conversation went on and changed a little. i didn't hear everything, but they were so sincere and low key about it all. it was really cute.

we were at the dentist today and oh my did elijah have a good time. he asked questions about EVERYTHING he possibly could ... what is that button? why do you have that light? i know why you have gloves on. how are you doing that? ... and on and on ...

when he asked about the light she told him that his mouth was really dark so she needed the light "unless YOU have a light in your mouth. if that's the case, will you turn it on please?" so, of course he pretends to turn a light switch on on the side of his cheek. twice. each time she needed to get in his mouth after that :)

when he was done he said he was going stop brushing his teeth so he could come back to the dentist sooner. yikes.

Some things ...

2011-04-13T21:04:00.004-04:00

Dan was making a list tonight of what he needed to pack for France and Elijah said, "Don't forget a washcloth, 2 spoons, and some jam." ... Yup. He just came up with that.

........

Yesterday Madelyn asked for an apple and she wanted it cut. So, I promptly sat down and peeled an apple for her. When I was done peeling it I realized what I had done and I said to her, "You wanted it cut didn't you, not peeled?" We both just kind of giggled and then she said, "You are very tired." :) It made me laugh that she said that. The funny thing is neither of my kids eat their apples peeled so I don't know why I did that.

..........

any time dan is away i stay up waaaayyyyy too late. i am already tired so this is not a good thing because i really should get up and get the kids to school even though i am REALLY ready for a break and just want to be done with the school schedule already.

how's that for a run-on sentence?

.........

my cat is dying. it is terribly sad. i just keep trying to love on him as much as possible. he has lost a ton of weight and i think he has cancer. he doesn't have a definitive diagnosis, but the things mentioned by the vet gave me some ideas to research and it seems pretty obvious.

i got my cats the year dan and i got engaged. they were 8 weeks old. brothers. my sister is the one who convinced me to get two so they would have company when i was in classes all day. it was a good decision. they are nice cats. friendly. only now that they are older have they had issues with puking and what not. blech.

one thing in simon's favor right now is dan is away and the animals get to sleep on his side of the bed. shhhhh ... don't tell dan. but, that's what happens when you leave the country ;)

.........

i was just talking to madelyn and sometimes i am so struck by how little and cute and still so small she is. other days i am struck by how grown up she seems.

she is coughing though. boo. i hate it. she has a hard time getting to sleep as it is. add coughing to the mix and forget about it. i can't sedate the poor girl though. it's tough.

meanwhile, elijah is sacked out flat on his back sideways across the bed. his switch turns off at 9 pm. coughing or not.

i love my kids.

............

tonight the kids were so excited because we bought frozen pizzaria uno pizza and played uno while we ate it. when we bought the pizza at sam's the kids came up with that idea and were excited when i said we could do it :) it was fun.

elijah spreads all of his cards out next to him on the chair because he can't hold them all in his hand. poor madelyn had some rough hands, but she handled it well and was cracking jokes about it. she is pretty funny these days. i love her sense of humor.

meanwhile, they were so psyched anyway because last night i bought a wii game that is a bunch of old school games from way back, including pacman, and some new improved games. i think i am their favorite person right now :)

...........

i bought adele's cd today, 21. it's fun. i love my ipod. i don't know what i did without it because i rarely ever bought cds after i had kids. itunes is so great though. and, the cd was on sale at target. perfect.

elijah is my dancing buddy. he's like me. he has a hard time not moving to the music when it's on. i'll see him playing or doing whatever and if there is music on he's moving to the beat. it is sooooo cute :)

.........

this post was written over the course of a few days. i don't know why i couldn't get it done. so these are some tidbits from what's been going lately.

Battle

2011-03-30T09:31:00.005-04:00

I am at war.

With little brown critters.

Ugh. Why do they have to be so cute?

I am seriously conflicted. I want these things OUT of my house. I have heard them in the walls, seen signs of them in the kitchen, and this morning came face to face with one.

Ugh. The experience this morning has left me feeling awful.

It was quite humorous really. Dan and I each armed with our gladware containers trying to trap this teeny little mouse with a white belly, cute little ears, and beady eyes.

Man are they fast.

He got away.

I don't like killing things. Stink bugs try to take over our house in the winter. They are annoying, look prehistorice, are not pretty, and yet even those I have a hard time killing. I usually flush them though.

But mice? Our options are trap them in glue where they either starve or die from stress. Poison them so that they run off and die somewhere in your house most likely. Or, set a traditional trap that apparently doesn't always finish them off right away and you end up having to finish them off yourself. Not to mention I have 4 animals that are at risk when we set these things out.

Those 4 animals certainly are not doing their jobs very well.

So, short of burning down my kitchen which is what I want to do, I am having Orkin come back today since I now know where exactly where the mice are, or have been. Our options remain the same as far as getting rid of them, but seriously, why did God have to make such a cute little animal such a destructive little pest?

I don't want their blood on my hands!

I want my animals to catch them! laimos.

Ugh. I have issues.

The good news is that it has motivated me that much more to get my house CLEANED out. I mean really CLEANED OUT. I worked in Elijah's room yesterday. It still isn't done, but it's at the point where it is just organizing what is left in there mostly. Then it is on to Madelyn's room.

Her room scares me.

Oh, but besides the cleaning out I am doing I also noticed yesterday on one of my "hunts" for mice that our hot water heater is leaking ... yay ... (sigh). So, all these nice little distractions from my mouse issue.

Orkin really can't get here soon enough today, but the guy told me between 4 and 6 this evening. I don't know how the Orkin guy is going to handle a sobbing woman holding on to him begging him to relieve her of these little tyrants who are taking over her kitchen.

I guess we'll find out ...

On a lighter note, we watched Tangled last night.

Oh. My. Goodness. I am so in love with that movie. It is so cute and sweet and fun. Elijah even liked it. We are going to watch it again today. Madelyn can't wait. And, yes I did cry at the end. My kids think I am crazy. And, they are probably right.

UPDATE: I am so over the "oh they are so cute" issue. Finding that they had been in Elijah's room changed all of that. So, by the time Orkin came I was ready for them to put traps EVERYWHERE. And he did :)

stuff

2011-03-24T21:22:00.002-04:00

life as a christian ...

don't you love it when you feel like God gave you just the right words to say in a "i'm not so sure how to respond" kind of moment? that happened to me today.

oh, but not before i called a friend back to apologize for a comment i made when she and i were talking on the phone.

argh.

why can't i learn to shut this yapper of mine!!

...............

madelyn's big day is tomorrow! oh, not her birthday. her friend alli is having a birthday and the two of them have been bouncing off the walls about if for over 3 weeks now. you would think it was christmas!

they are leaving school early to go see joseph at sight & sound tomorrow evening then having a sleepover. i told madelyn if she felt uncomfortable at all she can come home. she just looked at me like "why would i come home? i have been losing sleep with excitement over this night for a month!!" i said, "oh you know, just in case you feel uncomfortable or want to snuggle with your mother who will be feeling off balance all night because one of her babies is out of the nest."

okay, no i didn't say all of that ... but i wanted to. i just said if she feels uncomfortable at all she can call us. she said she was going to be fine because "it's alli!!" she did say though she might feel a little nervous because the grandparents are going too and she doesn't know them as well. apparently allit's one grandfather is really funny though so we are thinking it might be him. we'll see. i am excited for her.

no really i am :)

...............................

elijah slept in madelyn's bed last night since there was a storm. madelyn said this morning he asked her if she was awake and then held her hand. he loves her so much. it's really sweet.

.............................

poor dan has been super duper busy these last two weeks and i barely see him. when i do see him he is so so tired. poor guy. his birthday is monday and our kids have such a busy weekend i am trying to squeeze a time in for us to celebrate. it's not looking promising. at least he has march madness.

bigger than God

2011-03-23T21:54:00.002-04:00

when elijah tells me he loves me more he says he loves me "bigger than God." now that's a lot of love if you ask me.

so, the other night he was praying and he said, "i love you God, bigger than yourself. and i love mommy, papa, and madelyn bigger than you."

i think that made God smile :)

towel head

2011-03-23T21:13:00.004-04:00

i referenced the this story in the post below so here it is ...

when madelyn was in first grade she made a new friend, isabelle. isabelle was new to the school that year so we didn't know her parents very well. that was all about to change. her dad, chris, came over for dinner with isa one night. it was supposed to be the whole family, but that is another story in and of itself. we got to know chris well that day. he and isa spent hours at our house and we had dinner together, etc. it was a fun night. chris is very easy going, talkative, a good guy. isabelle is a doll, super silly and she and madelyn were a great fit.

serena is isabelle's mom. i had only met her briefly and after the mixup of her and the twins not being able to come to dinner the night chris did we vowed to have them over another time.

so, before i get into all of that, let me share with you my first impression of serena. she is very pretty. always looks nice. whenever i would see her would be after work so she always looked professional and well put together.

in other words, this stay at home mom who sometimes hadn't even showered by the time i went to pick up madelyn after school was intimidated by pretty working mom serena. there. i said it.

back to the story ... we plan on having them over for dinner, but isa was coming early to play for a bit and then the rest of the family would come over later for dinner. well, i had been getting dinner started, making a cake, prepping everything. the kitchen was a wreck. plus, i was hoping we could be outside since the weather was nice so i had been doing yard work. i thought i had enough time to shower before serena dropped isabelle off on her lunch break.

now, understand that i didn't know what serena did for a job so i thought that a lunch break meant an hour at the most so since she was dropping her off i figured she wouldn't have time to stay and chat. well, no sooner do i get out of the shower and the doorbell rings. it's them!

madelyn lets them in. i run into my room. throw on the dirty old clothes i had been wearing. throw the towel on my head so i can say hello and then serena can get back to work.

well, i don't know where madelyn took them so i called to madelyn only to find out they are in the basement. the basement!! the very last place i take my guests. it's where our tv is, but mostly it is wrecked with toys. the cats do their business down there so i never know if it is going to smell or what i will find on the rug down there. but, the kids had been watching a video so madelyn took them right down after letting them in.

so, i sheepishly make my way down the stairs with a towel on my head since i didn't want to hold serena up by combing through my hair and everything.

(sigh)

serena. all dressed up in her heels, makeup, business clothes, etc. and me. me in my dirty clothes and a towel on my head.

well, i am assuming serena needs to be on her way so i quickly apologize for the way i look, etc. she was very gracious. and then we chatted for oh a good 15 minutes or more. ack! yes. i still have the towel on my head.

serena and i became good friends that day. how can you not when you are completely humbled by the mess in your kitchen, your dirty clothes on your body, a towel on your head, and oh did i mention i had pulled a bit of my living room apart trying to clean the carpet.

oh yes. it was a memorable moment.

BUT, later that night when they all met up here for dinner i was SO much more relaxed than i normally would be with first time guests that i didn't know very well and even during dinner i mentioned how my and serena's relationship (what little there was of one) went to a whole new level that day. we all had a good laugh about it and serena is one of my bestest friends today.

i look back on that day and how embarrassed i was only to realize if i hadn't been real with her (for lack of a better way of putting it) that day i wonder how long it would have taken us to become real with each other. we have often laughed about it since then because after that day she always said how she never had to worry about the way her house looked when we came over. we didn't have to pretend that we have it all together and our houses are always clean. it's been such a fun and lasting friendship. we have been able to do so many last minute get togethers because we don't have to worry about what our houses look like. it's been great!

so, all that to say, we need to be real with each other. i am so much more relaxed these days about having people over. if the people have kids, the kids' rooms are going to be trashed by the time guests leave so why spend all that time cleaning their rooms just to have them trashed again? as long as my living areas are picked up and vacuumed which i have to do all the time anyway since i have walking furballs around here i am happy.

and that is my message for the day :P

randomness ... big time

2011-03-23T20:50:00.002-04:00

i have had a lot of stuff going on in my brain lately. i don't feel like i can form one long coherent thought, but i feel like i need to get some of it out. so, here goes ...

+ elijah used to say "a million bazillion 61" when referring to something that was a lot until a friend in school told him it wasn't a real number. well, now he is a number snob. if someone says "a million bazillion" he is quick to tell us that isn't a real number. i reminded him of what he used to say and he just kind of blew it off by repeating "it's not a real number." so, i thought i needed to write it down so i didn't forget he said it because it was really cute when he did.

+ madelyn is going to another sleepover this weekend. seriously. this girl's social life is more exciting than mine. it's her friend's birthday so she was invited to go to sight & sound with her friend and then spend the night. she has been so excited for weeks. you would think it was her birthday! i haven't even been to sight & sound before!! i am excited for her. it is her best friend who is an only child and they are a really nice family. but man. i don't like sending her away over night. things just seem off balance at home. i am happy for her, but sad for me. would it be strange to follow them all afternoon and evening? oh. i thought so.

then i have elijah who is already sad at the thought of his sister being gone over night on friday. oh, but that's not all. saturday she is going to a friends house to play for that friend's birthday. she is literally going to be toast on saturday after no sleep and all that people time. she needs a break from people after a while.

man do i love that girl. she is getting nuttier and nuttier by the day and it does my heart good, just a reminder that she did indeed come from me. her nuttiness and green eyes - from me :) otherwise, she has a strong mind like her father which i am grateful for. i honestly am so blessed to have that little darling of a girl in my life. seriously.

+ money ... this was my thought the other day ... if i had a lot of money, what would i buy? here is my answer ... a fence for the dogs to run around in, get my teeth redone ($4500!!!?? ugh.), buy plane tix to go see all those family members and friends we never get to see because flying 4 people is expensive :( ... and that was pretty much the extent of my list. i don't think i am asking for too much. i will be getting my teeth redone soon i believe though because well, after 20 years we are already pushing it. but, it looks like we will be financing it. that stinks. we don't even have a car payment, but we will soon have a tooth payment. silly.

+ man oh man is God working in me. lent is always a time for God to work in me since i have practiced it for the last 3 years now, but this all started even before lent. wanna hear it? in a nutshell God has been showing me more and more my need for a savior. i am so imperfect and sinful and am now super humbled.

+ don't you love when you bond with people in a huge way unexpectedly. that happened recently. having struggled through bouts of horrible OCD thoughts it is always an intense moment when you meet someone who suffers as well. it's like this special bond you have, but can only talk about so much because you don't want to trigger any awfulness, but it's horrible too because you wouldn't wish it on anyone, but again we are all broken aren't we and need each other so you are grateful when you can share in that brokenness with others. it's certainly very very weird, but good in the same way. it kind of makes my heart ache.

BUT, this is what i am learning more and more in this thing called life and not just life, but life as a christian. it is ALL about Christ. and, it is all about relationships. you can't have true relationships if you pretend to have it all together. it will only be a matter of time before your brokenness will show through your pretendness (i know, not a word). then what are you going to do? so, you may as well be real from the get go.

okay, now i am stepping down from my high horse of brokenness ... ha ha.

(remind me to post the towel head story)

+ okay, i think that is all for now. i am going to go type up the towel head story. it's a fun one.

slumber parties

2011-02-26T14:20:00.003-05:00

slumber parties are great, or are they?

i am so happy that madelyn is feeling more comfortable with sleeping away at someone else's house, or am i?

okay, enough with the annoying questions. madelyn is wrecked after her sleepover. she is my little introverted girl so she definitely needs her downtime, away from people, whether it's after school or after a long week. sleepovers however don't allow for any downtime for approximately 19 hours, and this is after a long week of school. that is too long for my little dumpling.

add onto that the fact that she gets zero sleep. she is wrecked. so, now she is quietly playing barbies in her room so she can regroup, recharge, whatever you want to call it.

i knew we didn't have plans for today so it was okay for her to sleepover. we do have plans for tomorrow though that involves ten kids being here. that should be interesting.

as far as me liking sleepovers, i'm still on the fence. i am glad madelyn is feeling more comfortable being at someone's house, but i don't like it for one. i miss her. our house seems off when one is missing. two, i just don't like it. i miss her. oh, did i mention that already?

okay, seriously, if i don't know the family well or have any reservations the sleepover just won't happen. i almost told her she couldn't sleepover last night because she is getting over strep, but i didn't. they had a lot of fun so it was all good. the problem is she won't nap. i told her she is going to have to lie down for a while, but i doubt she will fall asleep. she just doesn't do naps.

i do though. i actually just did :) ahhhhh, glorious naps. i'm not sure why madelyn is so down on them. i actually napped in her bed and it is still comfortable. so, i think she's missing out by not napping.

that won't keep me from trying to get her to from time to time.

UPDATE : To my shock and disbelief Madelyn did indeed fall asleep. She looked so snuggly and cute too under her little Hello Kitty blanket that Dan gave her when he went to Africa. It says I Love You on it. She still went to sleep at a decent time too. I was shocked, but so glad she did. We have a fun day planned today with friends from college.

elijah's belly

2011-02-25T13:38:00.004-05:00

i had to take madelyn to the doc the other day. she tested positive for strep. while we were there elijah started complaining about his stomach hurting. he was lying on the floor saying it was burning. i think he was just hungry. i told him to stand up and when he did he whispered, " i think i might be having a baby." um, no elijah. you are not having a baby. you just never know what is going to come out of his mouth.

so spoiled

2011-02-20T23:46:00.003-05:00

i don't know that i can ever host another international student after having cindy. dan and i both said tonight that this was a really rare situation. she so perfectly fit in with our family and we all miss her terribly.

cindy set the bar really high and has probably ruined any chance for another student to come live with us.

well, unless that student doesn't mind us calling her cindy and doing all the silly things cindy would do.

yeah, that probably won't happen huh?

well, then back to what i was saying then ...

another reason is i don't think i can become so attached to another child who is going to then leave us and go half way across the world! it's a terrible feeling :(

what it comes down to is cindy is one special little girl as far as we are concerned and we will cherish the memories we have from these last two weeks. we will also hope that she will come back to visit us again soon.

and did i mention we miss her? :'(

a couple cute elijahisms

2011-02-20T23:37:00.002-05:00

today elijah came downstairs to the living room where i was sitting. he didn't know i was here so it was cute to watch him work his way down holding and facing the railing with two hands, imagining some super hero scenario i'm sure. he gets to the bottom of the stairs i said hello to him. he comes over to snuggle, but has a straight face on the whole time. i said, "wow. such a straight face you have. no smiles or anything." he said, "oh. let me try that again." he goes ALL the way back upstairs, comes down to see me with the biggest grin, says hello and runs over to me all happy and smiley. he is my sunshine kid. very rarely does he stay in a sour mood. it was so cute!

tonight after we read together we were just snuggling on the couch. i said, "i am so glad you are a snuggly boy. some kids don't want to snuggle with their moms very much, but you do and i am glad." he said, "mommy, are you being serious?" he could not understand why some kids would not want to snuggle.

lately i have had a lot of moments where both kids have come to sit with me on our big green chair in the living room. i don't ever want to get up when i have the two of them all snuggled up with me. i was thinking tonight as dan carried them both at the same time up to bed for stories and praying how sad it will be when they are too big to be carried at all.

so, i will enjoy these moments and snuggles as long as i can. i am very blessed.

goodbyes stink

2011-02-18T22:22:00.002-05:00

so, we said good-bye to our sweet little friend tonight, but not before hanging out with her mom, daniel and his mom. daniel is another chinese student who came and spent time in 3rd grade too. we spent the afternoon and evening with them. just enough time to completely fall in love with them too.

seriously. i felt like i was hanging out with a couple girlfriends and all of our kids. whatever language barrier that was there was remedied by cindy and daniel who could translate nicely for us. such a fun afternoon.

leaving the school was tough. some tears, etc. we came back to our house to change clothes because the kids had pajama day at school and i couldn't take them to lunch in their pjs. cindy was so happy to show her mom our animals that she fell in love with. she calls our cats "cat pajamas." i'm not sure how that all started, but it completely stuck, and made us laugh every time. the moms were so sweet and had so much fun looking at all of our family pictures we have out, etc.

i am telling you, i seriously felt like we were just hanging out with new friends. i love meeting new people and getting to know them. i got to see some of their pics of their husbands and places they visited while they were here. cindy looks just like her dad. he is super tall like dan. it was fun to see their resemblance.

then daniels mom, lily, offered to make dumplings. i had no idea what she meant, but i wasn't going to turn down authentic chinese food. we made a quick run to the market and they set to work. holy moly. so yummy!! they made the dough for the dumplings, minced up shrimp, pork, green onions, some seasonings, and mashed it all together. they showed us how they make the dumplings and we all helped stuff them.

julie came over with her girls and helena, her chinese student. the kids played like crazy. my upstairs and downstairs are a complete wreck i'm sure. i'm almost afraid to look. then helena's mom came over too.

i can't explain the joy in our house from tonight. hearing all the chinese talk, english talk, giggles, noise, etc. and knowing how much fun everyone was having was such an awesome experience. everyone just mixed so well. the moms were so happy to be involved with all of the children. elijah was his usual self and had ecko (sp? that's cindy's mom's american name) and lily thought he was hilarious.

oh, also, when we were at the store looking for flour for the dumplings they called a friend in the states who also spoke english to have her tell me what kind of flour i should buy. so funny!

sigh ... i am exhausted, but these last two weeks were such a great experience. of course, cindy just blended so well with our family that i don't know that we can host any other student. she has set the bar way too high.

we sure do love that crazy girl. we called the 3 kids crazy 1, 2, and 3.

did i mention the whoopie cushion? we went to the works last night which is one of those places you can play games and earn tix. each kid got two things. madelyn got a whoopie cushion and a ring she gave to me. cindy got a rainbow slinky and a ring she gave to her mom. elijah got a set of fake rotten teeth and an eye ball thing that you turn inside out and it pops up. on the way home he said his fake teeth was the most special thing he EVER got. oh my.

meanwhile, the whoopie cushion had us cracking up the whole way home. i forgot how funny they could be. the kids cracking up at it alone is enough to make you laugh, especially since this was their first experience with one. it was just so funny.

of course they wanted to take it into school today. they didn't play with it at all until the end of the day. madelyn blew it up for emma to sit on. well, emma sat a bit too hard and the thing popped. oops.

and that was that. whoopie cushion fun is over.

and so is our time with cindy.

after all our fun this evening and after much munching on dumplings we had to say good-bye.

can i just say how horrible it is to say good-bye to one sweet girl with tears streaming down her face then turn around and see another sweet little girl with tears streaming down her face? ugh. 3 hugs later they walked out the door. then we all stood in our dark driveway waving good-bye and yelling good-bye as they drove away.

horrible.

cindy's mom was so sweet though saying they would come visit again and that we were always welcome in beijing. she had also mentioned earlier in the day that she knew how much cindy loved us and had fun at our house. i told her the feelings were mutual. she also picked up on how much alike cindy and madelyn are during our afternoon together. they really are which is why cindy just fit right in with us.

alas, all good things must come to an end, as sad as it might be. i will say though i never thought i would have a desire to visit china, but i do now. i would love to see where cindy lives and we have quite a few connections there now with all the international students that have come to tka. one day we'll get there.

now please excuse me while i cry myself to sleep ...

Been a While ...

2011-02-16T20:35:00.002-05:00

Wow. How sad that my last post left things on such a sad note. There are updates to Rachel's situation. Sweet little Ryan was diagnosed with Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome. It is very rare and little is known about it. But, already Ryan is showing signs of advancement. Recently, he crawled across the room. That was exciting news. They do have a long road ahead of them, but they are relying on their Lord and they have lots of support. Continued prayers are much appreciated.

My, much has been going on since I last posted. One thing is that we have all fallen completely in love with a little girl named Cindy from China. Although, she isn't that little. She's quite tall actually. She is 9, but towers over Madelyn. She is a real cutie pie though and super goofy so she fits right in with us. She is shy, but once she warmed up we realized what a goof she is. Right now Dan is reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader to them, but has had many interruptions due to two little nutty girls. Funny stuff.

I knew Cindy was fitting in when we got in the car on Valentine's Day and said, "Raise your hand if you are excited about today!" Our kids feel as though they have a new sister, but sadly we have to say good-bye in a couple days. We are all dreading it, even Cindy. It's terrible.

In other news, my Bible Study finally finished Esther. We have had to postpone our study sooooo many times in the last few months it's been ridiculous. Esther is not a long book. The study included other books as well, but for some reason Esther took us a while to get through. We are moving on to a different study now. But, what a book Esther is, such a great example of God's sovereignty and justice playing out. Amazing!

Dan has been sooooo super busy in the last couple weeks. There is a lot going on at the school with trying to find property or new buildings for the school. And, he is helping with a voucher initiative for the state of PA. He spent the day in Harrisburg working on that.

We have had lots and lots of snow days. Now we don't have off for President's Day, but those snow days sure were fun :)

Other than these things we have gotten together with friends, good times, and have kept busy with other things. Mostly we have been wrapped up with spending time with our chinese girl. Her english is amazing. We really have been spoiled. It's hard to imagine having such a good experience with any other student. I am hoping she might come back next year, or the year after that.

OH, our other big news is Madelyn got glasses. She is so cute in them. The only problem is I didn't think to get the glare resistant lenses so when I take her picture the flash puts a glare on her lenses. Mine are the same way. I didn't even think about it when I ordered them. I got prescription sunglasses too. So excited. I just need it to be spring now so I can get more use out of them. Come on Spring!! You are welcome here anytime :)

Please Pray

2011-01-26T23:00:00.003-05:00

Rachel was one of Dan's students in MD. She is now 26 I believe and married with 3 little children. Ryan is a year old and their youngest. They are being slammed right now and my heart literally aches for them and their baby. It is hard to imagine what they are going through, but please pray for them and little Ryan. Here is where they are now ...

When I asked Michael what I should or shouldn't write about in this update, his response to me was something along the lines of "We don't need to pretend everything is ok because it's not. Life is hard right now."

Some people assume that no news is good news, but unfortunately that is not the case with Ryan. I don't even log his seizures anymore since he has them so often. 2-3 seizures a day is pretty normal. And lately at least one a day has been lasting anywhere from 10-20 minutes. Most of the time they are head dropping seizures that occur in clusters, but the other night he had another grand mal that followed the head dropping which resulted in me using the emergency drug for the first time. I never thought I would have to use it, but I'm glad it worked- almost immediately. It didn't stop the seizure completely until a few minutes after I gave it to him, but it did put him to sleep pretty quickly.

We found out back in December that Ryan is missing part of a Chromosome. If you don't know much about Chromosomes, we have 46 total. 1 from each parent makes 23 pairs. On Ryan's 18th pair, Doctors discovered that part of it was missing or deleted. The 18th Chromosome apparently deals with development, which is why doctors have told us that Ryan may never meet major milestones such as walking or talking (worst case scenario). The neurogenetic specialist told us at the last visit that although Ryan's opthamalogy appt. came back normal, she thinks his vision is like that of a newborn. He can only see certain colors at a certain distance away. She told us that Ryan needs physical therapy (which he now attends twice a week), occupational therapy, and visual therapy. You can imagine how overwhelming this must be as his twice a week therapy already is adding a lot to our schedule. So while I said the appointment went well (discussions and all), it was still very stressful.

Anyway, after we found out about the chromosome the doctors decided to test Ryan for an awful, rare, genetic disease. This Friday (in less than 48 hours)!, we will find out the results of that first genetic test. If it comes back positive, which they are almost 99% it will, then they will explain what it means etc... If it comes back negative (which I am hoping with all my heart it does) then they will tell us the next test that needs to be done.

SO the big question everyone seems to want to know is: how am I (or how are we) doing with all this? Well I told Michael the other day he can start looking for a new wife because I am gonna die an early death from all this stress. I keep being told that I am strong, but I don't feel that way. Seriously, I can be driving along fine on the way to work, and then totally lose it. It has put a lot of strain on our marriage at times, but has also brought us closer together in ways we never thought possible. We have had to lean on God when our Faith has been weak or tested. But overall, I think we are doing ok. Not good, not bad, just ok.

So as I wrap up this last update, I am asking you with all my heart to please pray for our family this Friday. Please pray for NEGATIVE test results. & Please pass the word along to anyone you know who will take a moment to pray for us. Most of you will never have to experience what we are going through right now, but please know that your prayers are helping us get through one day at a time.

As always, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Love Rach & Mike

I Need People

2011-01-06T14:21:00.003-05:00

Today is a day where I really need to be interacting with people. Otherwise, I am in a funk. Some call this being an extrovert. I can go with that.

This morning I definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Knowing I needed to make a Redners run for TKA gift cards and go help out in 3rd grade only made me want to crawl back into bed more.

Right when I was walking out the door my dad called. That rarely happens (that he calls I mean) so I had to take it. We had a nice little chat and all of a sudden I was energized. I walked into 3rd grade ready to make more snow globes with the kiddos. Well, today was bring a favorite Christmas toy, preferably an electronic one. Madelyn took her Barbie guitar in. It's electric and plays tunes, namely Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cindy Lauper. Love that about that guitar.

Right before doing centers with the kids one girl asked if I would play the guitar. I thought it was sweet that she asked, but I said, "Oh honey I can't. We have to do centers now." To which she replied, "Oh. Mrs. Ache said we should ask you if you would play for us since Madelyn said you all played the guitars in Target before Christmas." ha ha! Our secrets are coming out!!

I had to laugh. I said, "OH, well since Mrs. Ache mentioned it maybe I can play a little before I leave." I honestly didn't think this would happen, but I was prepared either way. I mean I don't want to let down all those 3rd graders. Another boy even asked me too before the time was.

Okay. So, next thing I know the kids are lined up with their lunch boxes and the subject comes up again. Never one to pass up a challenge (or dare I say dare) I began rockin' out to Cindy Lauper and a few of the girls started dancing along. ha ha ha!! It was so funny!!!

Let's just all be thankful that Mrs. Ache did not have her camera on her today. Let's also be thankful no parents happen to walk by while I was jammin'. While we are at it, let's be thankful that my husband who was right down the hall trying to be professional and run a school that is all about academic excellence was not aware of my shenanigans.

But, even if I am asked to not come back to volunteer at TKA it was well worth it just seeing the girls dancing and giggling and seeing the kids cracking up. I do love that 3rd grade class. Those kids are so great.

So, now I am back home and have not been able to motivate myself to do ANYTHING. But, I guarantee if I got a phone call from a friend I would be up off my rump straightening up and getting the house all together.

Just as I was writing that sentence Kerry called me :) Yay!! I perked up right away and told her all about my blog post. Of course, then I had to leave to go pick up Madelyn so I didn't have much time left to do anything, but it was fun just the same!

Yay for people!! I need my friends and loved ones in my life so badly. They truly keep me going and keep me motivated in life. I don't know what I would do without them! Oh wait. Yes I do. I would sit on my rump and get nothing done :P Thank you friends!

Oy. Dreams.

2011-01-05T17:48:00.002-05:00

It's no secret anymore (at least I don't think it is) that I have really really strange dreams on a regular basis. This week has been no different, but they have been especially vivid for some reason, maybe because something has woken me up at some point in the night each day this week.

Anyway, night one I dream about an old friend that I reconnected with. For some reason in my dream she had facial hair purposely. She is a beautiful girl. Seriously, one of the prettiest people I have ever met, but I think I dreamed this because I was watching something recently where the woman mention having all of her hair lasered off. That is a dream of mine. How great to not have to shave or pluck anymore unwanted hairs. If I win the lottery one day, that is the first thing I am going to do. So strange though really. Otherwise, it was nice to reconnect with her.

Oh, but the other thing about that dream is my friend is pregnant with her third child. Well, in my dream her third child was already six months old and she found out she is pregnant again!! I wonder if I am prophetic. Thanks to facebook I should find out in due time (pun intended :).

Okay, day two I dreamed about friends of ours who just moved to the area who were friends of ours when we lived in MD. Sadly, they have had SO much going on since they got here and we have too so we have not been able to get together, except for in my dream of course. We had some kind of birthday party and they came and of course other bizarre things happened, but all in all dreams like that tell me it's time to get in touch with them and plan a time to get together.

Day three was last night. Madelyn's piano teacher is pregnant and about to have her baby a month from now I think. A teacher mentioned getting a baby gift for her yesterday and voila! next thing I know I am dreaming about her having her baby and getting gifts, etc. Until ... uh oh!! I realize I am pregnant as well and due any day!!!! WHAT??!! I started counting up the kids toysrus gift cards because I have NO more baby items. I realize I need a carseat, a bouncy seat (for some reason this was an especially major concern of mine in my dream), a stroller ... I had NOTHING. What does Mary Kay say to me? "I told you as soon as you get rid of your baby stuff you end up pregnant!" ha ha! That part cracks me up. I told her today at the school what she said to me. She said, "Oh that is helpful!" So funny. Ugh, but so stressful.

Thankfully, I woke up from all of these dreams with no crazy bleached facial hair, no pregnant belly, but still in need of making a call to our friends.

I need a nap.

Meltdown Anyone?

2011-01-05T17:38:00.002-05:00

Sometimes your kids just need to be snuggled after a rough day.

King's Club was going fine until the last minute. Literally.

We had time inside playing Twister and this fun Dr. Seuss game that I bought the kids for Christmas. But, after school is a tough time to entertain kids and I have found if they have time to run around everyone is just a little better off.

So, we spent time outside. It was a small group today which is lovely, but it is also the first week back after vacation, wed of that week, after school hours when kids are hungry ... you get the idea. Well, combine all those things along with a wide age range of the kids and disaster is bound to happen apparently. Just when I was ready to mark the hour off as a success all you know what broke loose. Kids started trying to mess with the younger kids by taking their toys they were playing with so you have a meltdown, very guilty looking older kids who then end up fussing at each other, reluctant apologies and it's time to go in so one of the littlest ones (mine) start crying because he doesn't want the play time to end. Oh my.

What a great way to end an otherwise good day.

In all honesty I am beat too. Before I had to leave to get Madelyn from school I really just wanted to snuggle up and take a nap. Alas, responsibilities ruin that plan.

So, again tonight I have great plans of snuggling into bed early and reading my book until I fall asleep, but do you know what will really happen? This ...

Dan will get home later than expected. The kids will go to bed later than expected, and they need showers. Dan will then say we have to check in with the wii fit since neither of us has done it today. Admittedly, I have started to look forward to that time of day because it is really funny. I'll post on that later though. Then we will head to the basement where our tv is and it will be an hour before we come back up.

In the meantime, I will hang onto the fantasy in my head of lying in bed at an early hour reading Bonhoeffer (such a great book by the way).

Recap

2011-01-03T09:24:00.003-05:00

what a great christmas break this has been. we have had so much fun. we had a great christmas. we got a little snow. we played a lot with the kids. we got to see friends. we got to relax. we got to see friends again. we just had the perfect mix of fun and relaxation.

and now they are all back to school. (sigh) usually i am ready for routine again, but not this year. i want them home with me.

alas, i will sip my coffee and pour my heart out in my blog ...

we kept the 3rd grade class pets all week. three guinea pigs. they were funny. quite verbal. and i will admit ... it was hard to send them back. the table we had them sitting on in the basement is so bare now. we took them back last night since dan was going to turn the heat on at the school anyway. and i thought it would be best for the kids to come back and have them there right away so nothing was unusual about the room. i had to remind myself that they are by themselves every night at the school. i know. i have issues. this is why dan limited me to my four animals. i haven't asked for one, but he already told me we are not getting a guinea pig.

my poor kids though. we had a great relaxing week that i already mentioned and then new year's eve struck. madelyn was up until 1:30 with the rest of us and elijah was up way too late for his little body that normally turns off at 9 pm whether he is in bed or not. they did not recover. so, this morning i felt like i was sending them back to school as exhausted as they were when vacation started, and they are all paled with dark circles under their eyes. this morning and yesterday morning we had to wake both of them up for church and then school today. elijah is usually up with the sun. he kept telling me how he shouldn't go to school because he was so sleepy he was going to fall asleep in his class. poor little guy. madelyn was excited enough to see her friends that she was motivated enough to get moving.

madelyn got a leapster for christmas that you can buy a camera attachment for. she LOVES it. she told me last night that she was going to take a picture of all of her classmates so that if anyone leaves next year she will have a picture to remember them. so sweet.

we went to IHOP last night for dinner because it was our last day of vacation. halfway through dinner madelyn asked if we could go to dunkin donuts for dessert. ha ha! this just cracks me up. we told her no because we were eating dessert for dinner, you know "dinsert" or "disnert" however you prefer to say it :) i just crack myself up.

we spent new year's with jess and jon like we normally do. it was fun. jess and i danced to just dance 2 for the wii. so funny. you can dance duets where you are both doing some similar and some different moves. some moves you faced each other and i could not look at jess without laughing. it is so funny when you are trying to do the moves and stay focused, but then you look at your friend trying to do the same thing and it is just so funny. of course dan and jon did not participate, but felt free to coach us as we went along. typical right?

preston and elijah were buddies this year too now that preston is almost 4. they were really cute together playing super heroes and what not. the girls were typical girls playing barbies and taking pictures and yelling at the boys to stay away. the boys were sad, but we told them ultimately this was a good thing since they probably didn't want to play with barbies anyway. older sisters can be brutal though.

we got to see the warrens so much that now they are back at state college it is really sad all over again. thankfully they still come back to this area enough where we can see them regularly. it's just so nice when you have friends that are great last minute peeps who can get together on a whim and you don't have to clean your house for them.

i can't not mention target again. i got a load of wrapping paper for next christmas there last night. huge rolls for 60 cents and packs of multiple rolls for $1.25. sadly, they were out of boxes and bags. sadly, i need both boxes and bags for next year. i may head to the other target soon to check out their stash. i really did not think i would be back in target so soon, but who am i kidding? i love that place. also, i would like to dedicate this paragraph to Kristine Eberly who shares my love (obsession?) for target :)

elijah is stuck on this age thing. yesterday he was telling dan that he couldn't believe he was so old and still alive. what?? dan just went along with it. a woman at our church just turned 96 and you would NEVER guess she was that old. elijah couldn't believe she was still alive either and thinks that maybe she will end up the oldest person ever. so funny how their little minds work.

well, this should be all for now since i haven't worked out yet today and i was hoping to do it first thing. we are having fun with out wii fit. my plan for this morning is to do some running on it, but ugh. who wants to run when you can just sit on your rump and sip coffee? i know. i know. i need to if i am going to ever fit back into my clothes properly without this belly hanging over the edges of my pants. oy. just keep reminding me of that when i post about the fact that i am still sitting on my rump.

madelyn and christmas

2010-12-26T23:39:00.002-05:00

madelyn made her friend isabelle a bracelet the other day that she wanted to give her for christmas. i was watching her work so hard on this one particular bead. it was quite small, but she needed it on the string to hold the other beads in place. i was struck.

i was struck because she is still so small and little, but yet so big at the same time. i thought to myself, "i want to remember these simple times. times when making a bracelet with flower beads and letters to spell bff were the biggest task for the day. times when snuggling up with her brother to watch a video for the tenth time is super exciting. times when she and elijah can still both snuggle up on me and i try to convince them to stay like that all day then they giggle and tell me why we can't possibly stay like that for so long."

yes. i had a lot of thoughts in that moment. now that i am thinking about it that was the moment that i promptly forgot that i had just sprayed down their shower with cleanser and never made it back to scrub it. i realized that at 6 a.m. christmas morning when i woke up before everyone else and wasn't sure what to do with myself.

anyway, all that to say my kids are still so young and little, but time is moving fast. when i watch old videos and here their tiny voices and realize it really wasn't that long ago i also realize i am going to still feel that way just a few short years from now when they are again so different. sigh ...

okay, but christmas. that was fun. i think the kids got just enough from us, not too much overload. they have zoned in on their toys and board games and are having lots of fun.

what a gift it is to be able to truly celebrate christmas with the love of christ in our lives. i know many people celebrate His birth, but how many are celebrating without truly knowing Him. that is a sad thought. thank you Jesus for being so true in our lives and blessing us so richly with your grace.

Piano

2010-12-24T09:49:00.002-05:00

Madelyn just started playing We Three Kings on the piano. Elijah said, "Madelyn, Mommy didn't tell you you have to play the piano." Usually we have to tell her to practice. She doesn't love practicing. She enjoys playing, but practicing can be a challenge sometimes. I love it though when she just hops on and starts playing.

And, IT'S CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!! I keep shaking the kids in excitement reminding them what day it is. SO EXCITING!!!!! Meanwhile, they have been waking up at the crack of dawn. They don't even have to wake up so early for school! It's craziness. They are going to be little monsters by the time this weekend is over.

I have just enough gifts under the tree to keep them guessing. Madelyn has been all through them to figure out which one is for who. So funny. They don't think I know they are doing it. Ahhh, Christmas is fun with kids. Who else's birthday creates a month of celebration around the world? Even people who are not Believers get into Christmas. That really does say something about what we are celebrating and why. Just a thought.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!