Musical mayhem

As most of you are doing the same, we are trying to get back into the swing of things after another Christmas. I must say, this Christmas actually involved less traveling than usual, but with it coming on the heels of the accident, it felt kind of the same as always. BUSY. And while I do love the holidays, I am ready for some normalcy.... and to get this giant cat of a Christmas tree out of here! Yesterday I vacuumed and vacuumed under the dang thing, and every time I bumped a branch it'd shed more needles. 'out of trees'... my eye!

It looks pretty... but don't touch it!

Of all the activities and gifts this year, there is one memory I just have to document. The day after Christmas, we decided to engage the kids in a game since Grandma and Grandpa and little Breck were trying to rest. We all headed into the dining room and set up for some UNO action with Uncle Casey and Aunt Jill. Jill was seated in between Charlie and Ben at the end of the table, and the rest of us scattered around the remainder. The game got off to a good start, with lots of draw 2's and reverses and skips, sending Charlie into a realm of little kid excitement. He could hardly sit still in his chair.  A few minutes later, Jill jokingly remarks to me "How can you stand this"? Huh? I wasn't sure what she was referring to. She motioned with her eyes in Charlie's direction where I could see him visibly bouncing and doing miniature dance moves on his chair, while making popping and fake weird music noises with his mouth. 'Eh', I just shrugged. Nothing new in that department.  

A little while later, Jill put down her cards, faced Ben and said "OK Will you STOP that already?!" Huh? Ben, of course knew exactly what he was doing - making a relatively high-pitched, slightly sickening sounding humming music - to random tunes while he played cards. Again, I hadn't noticed. Of course, that was exactly the reaction he wanted, so he kept it up... only a little louder especially for Jill.  I chuckled. 

It wasn't long before Will, on the other end of the table, started in on his electric guitar sounds he frequently makes with his mouth. And it was me this time who set the cards down to do a double take. With all the popping, dancing, humming and electric guitar noises coming from all around the table, it was definitely noticeable, and pretty amusing at the same time. Each one was doing their own mildy-intrusive thing, not paying any attention to the other... but as a collective unit, it was annoying as hell! I started giggling and making comments about the ensemble, and Jill and Casey quickly joined in. It wasn't until little Jakey picked up the closest object sitting near him (which happened to be a toothbrush) and sang in an elevated, high-pitched voice, "TOOOOTH-BRUUUUSH" - that we all busted up laughing. It was pretty ridiculous. With all the noises and laughing going on, we had forgotten momentarily about the nappers, and started trying to focus back on the game and quiet everyone back down... which was working - except for little Jake. He caught on quickly that making noises and singing was getting a reaction, so he did the next logical thing. He reached down inside of himself for his loudest voice ever, and with one fist pumping in the air, belted out "FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!!" 

That was it. How could anyone concentrate on UNO after that? Laughing kids started disappearing from the table, and we started cleaning up the game. A few seconds later, a sleepy grandma emerged from the hallway, clearly curious about all the commotion, and with a voice that said "you've got to be kidding me", said "Fire in the hole???"  YEP. I was sorry we woke her up, but it was hard to convey that while I was laughing at the same time.  

OH WELL. 

FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!

Cooking with Cavemen

Our first full day of Christmas vacation has finally descended upon us. The kids are of course, giddy at the thought of TWELVE whole days away from school, and while I'm very glad to have them home... I do find myself wondering how long the honeymoon will last. Today actually went well. First we made puppy chow (the powdered sugar coated, chocolately-peanut buttery cereal mix), then almond bark pretzels, with present wrapping on deck. Since I limited their involvement in the puppy chow, that went great. I can't quite say the same for the pretzels. Neatly drizzling the correct amount of melted chocolate onto each pretzel quickly turned into trying to determine the maximum chocolate threshold per pretzel. I don't even know why I bothered to buy the 'Holiday Shaped' pretzels, as they all looked like a bunch of covered blobs by the end. Of course, as the pretzels got more and more ridiculous, the laughs got louder and louder. I finally had to give up on the cute pretzel vision I had in my head and just go with it. And you know what? It actually was pretty funny.

We started out right -
neatly arranging the pretzels per my instructions

As soon as we busted out the chocolate, the shirts came off-
and that was NOT per my instructions!

Even little Jakey got in on the action

Well... I guess that kind of looks like... a camel?

My life in Pictures

Since I've missed quite a few postings over the past months, I decided there's just no way (or time) for me to create back-dated posts for each event. And since a picture is worth 1000 words, I figured this would make up for lost time. Enjoy!

Oct 16 

My best buddies Erin and Lyn came for a visit. We drank wine and 

made huge vats of chili for my IA vs. WI football party the next day.

(and yes, my we were wearing the same shirt!)

Oct 17 

IA vs. WI tailgate PARTY!

Oct 20

 I started selling Scentsy products!  

Check out my website

 Oct 22 

I prepared bunches of sweets for our Friends of the Library Bake sale - it was a success!

Oct 27 

We attended the Corridor Business Journal's "Forty under 40" Awards banquet 

at which Ben was an honoree!   :-)

Oct 31 

we trick-or-treated with Ben's cousins

Nov 14 

we threw a baby shower for Ben's sister

Nov 26 

we had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving with my Dad, his girlfriend,

and my brother and his lovely family. 

Nov 28  

I attended Ben's cousin's bachelorette party 

Nov 29 

 Jake got his first pair of Cover-Alls - an essential out here!

Dec 5  

we went to the parade of lights in Cedar Rapids with friends

whew! :-)

OH CHRISTMAS TREE

Every year, we head to the same Christmas tree farm to select and cut our tree for the season. It's the cutest place, operated by a cute old man wearing a cute Christmas sweater. They serve hot chocolate and apple cider in their cute little cabin, and even sell cute little marshmallow launchers, homemade treats and gifts. The kids LOVE watching the tree being placed on the 'shaker', where all the loose needles, snow (and whatever else might be in there) are vibrated off the branches. Then the crew of cute young men loads the nicely netted tree on your vehicle, and you head home on your cute little way.

We usually like to wait for snow before making the trek for our tree.  It's more fun to traipse through the snow, pulling one of the provided sleds, in search of the perfect tree.  So this year, we took advantage of the school closing and blizzard conditions and headed to Wickiup Hill Tree Farm. As we approached the gate and could see it looked deserted, we wondered if it was closed during the week???  Odd...  Because the weather??? Unlikely... Hmmm  As we got close enough to read the sign on the gate, we read the very UNCUTE message, "CLOSED FOR THE SEASON.  OUT OF TREES".  WHAT!? Out of trees!?!?!? Now what.

Both Ben and I seemed to recall seeing signs for another tree farm nearby, so we headed in that direction.  We found it without too much difficulty. When we pulled in, it too looked deserted... but I hopped out of the truck anyway and headed for the door of the house that sat on the property. When a man in a plain sweatshirt (not any hint of Christmasiness on it) opened the door to greet me, I about  jumped out of my skin. (I really didn't expect anyone to answer for some reason.)  He directed me to the trees,  and instructed me to just bring it back when we were done.  OK.  I guess.  No sled? No hot chocolate? No carpet square to kneel on while cutting? 

I guess at least we got a saw.

We headed out in the direction he pointed us in and were pleasantly surprised to see a LOT of trees.  Hmmm, maybe this place wasn't so bad?  The trees were planted with no rhyme or reason - some clumped all together, squished by the others... not in nice lines like the other place.  And because of this arrangement, we did have a difficult time finding a tree that looked good all the way around.  I don't know how many times we exclaimed, "This one is great!" and then looked at the squish, bare, brown back-side... "oh, guess not".  Darn.  Clearly, this place has never had an overflow of visitors, as it had MANY FULL GROWN (like forest size) trees available for cutting - for 40 bucks! We got a lot of laughs out some of the gargantuan trees available as "Christmas Trees".  Hardly!  

We did actually have loads of fun with all the snow.  It was snowing so hard, I eventually had to put my camera away because it was getting wet and covered.  As you can tell by my the pics, I think we had an inch on us before we left. 

Look at those flakes!! See Will back there? 

Jakey trying to catch some of the giant flakes in his mouth

Ahhhh success at last!

And who would'a thought that even without all the provided cuteness, that we'd still have a blast finding our tree? :-)  And though I'm constantly vacuuming sharp pine needles off the carpet (since the sweatshirt-guy didn't own a "shaker"), the bonus of finding an abandoned bird's nest inside the branches was worth it. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I'm not a nurse, but I play one on TV

They said I missed my calling. HA.

Sunday afternoon, after receiving a rather distressed phone call from Grandma, I loaded my gear in our van and headed out for the UW hospital.  Grandpa was having a tough time, Grandma was tending to him by herself, and it became very clear that I needed to go there for her. I threw a bunch of clothes in a bag, arranged for Liz to watch Jacob on Monday, packaged up my half-cooked pot of spaghetti and meatballs and headed out the door.  We were pretty sure Grandpa would be heading home on Monday, so our plan was for me was to transport Gramps & Gramms home from the hospital and have Ben bring Jake to me Monday night to stay for care taking. I made it to Madison with no problems, and Grandma and Grandpa were really happy to see me, and vice versa.

Sunday night Grandma and I headed to baby Emma's for the night, which was really great. They were grateful for the company, since their original plan of having Grandma on hand for a week to help with baby, didn't really work out. Since Emma's mommy is nursing, there wasn't a lot I could do to help feeding, but I did get up in the middle of the night with them to keep them company and chat while the baby fed.  I know it sounds whacked, but it was fun.  I even changed a couple of pee-wee sized diapers.  Man, I forgot how TINY those things are! I also found a home for the food I had made, and I really enjoyed the reports of Ryan stuffing himself with it to near sickness.  :-)

Monday did not start off good.  I had a text message waiting for me announcing SCHOOL CLOSED.  Oh man.  Ben really needed to get to work.  Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal, as he could work from home - but of course - that day was CRITICAL he be at the office. THANK YOU LIZ FOR TAKING THE KIDS!!!!  (I could write another entertaining story based on the babysitting reports I got! :)  

Meanwhile, Grandma and I headed back to the hospital and were happy and surprised to learn Grandpa was indeed getting released today! Woo Hoo! Grandpa was very reluctant and a bit scared to leave the hospital and head for home. I can understand that it would be unnerving to leave the safety of the hospital and head out with amateur care takers!  I kept telling him we were gonna be FINE, we can do this! I took a course in Neckbrace Care 101 from the nurse, schooled myself on his meds schedule and got splint and exercise instructions from the occupational therapist. OK! Now to transfer these injured patients home, on the same road as the accident, at night, on snowy roads... (was colonel mustard in the trunk?)

With slow and careful driving, we got home fine.  One of Grandma's friends was waiting for us upon our arrival with dinner ready - how nice! We got Grandpa situated in a nice stiff-backed recliner and I set to making sense of and prepping his meds regimen.  OK! I was on top of making him walk, do his exercises, wear his splint and take his meds.  Grandma got bathroom duty. We made a good team! Now if I could only get Grandma to sit still and relax for ten minutes, I'd be making progress..... 

I was happy to see additional help, in the form of Grandma's sister, arrive Monday afternoon. I took the opportunity to go get them some groceries and complete their Christmas shopping.  It was pretty fun shopping with someone else's money! (Any other takers???) I returned about three hours later with my haul, chatted a bit and hit the hay, since my 6:00 am drive home would be fast approaching. When I headed out the next morning, I could already tell a significant improvement in the condition of BOTH of them. Home really is a healer! And I think Grandpa was a little sad to see his "Nurse Ratched" go home.

I'LL BE BACK.

"Papa donna be awight?"

I thought of not posting about this at all... but thought again this morning.. and decided to.  I'm sure I'll have references to the events from the last week in future posts, so I'll just get it over with. (Throat clearing) and the story begins...

As mentioned in my last post, our first niece on this side of the family was born in the wee hours on Sunday morning.  We all loaded up and headed to Madison, WI to meet the little peanut. After lots of holding and squeezing baby Emma and visiting with the new parents and grandparents, we headed for home.  (Madison is about a three hour jaunt from our home fyi). We were well over two hours into the trip home, when we got the call from Ben's brother... their parents had been in an accident.  OH GOD.

We turned around and starting heading back towards Madison to a town about an hour from where we currently were. That's where the ambulances were headed. Ben's brother had received a a call from a truck driver informing him of the accident - how scary of a call is that. Many frantic phone calls followed as we made our way back to the hospital, arriving at the same time as the second ambulance - which was inching along at the pace of a snail... not good. We unloaded all the half-sleeping kids and headed into the emergency waiting room to find out what was going on. 

The state trooper who was at the scene met with us to explain what had happened. Ben's mom had been driving on a 4-lane highway (speed limit of 65mph), when a truck pulled out right in front of her trying to cross both lanes. He said she probably didn't even have time to say "OH SH**" before she T-boned the truck. He said her wheels were turned as if to avoid the collision, but there just wasn't time to do anything. He told us the side airbags deployed (not front!!!), and the seat belts saved their lives. He also said the rescue crew cut the roof off her SUV to extract Gordy and then basically 'threw' the roof back on top and strapped it down before hauling it away.  He then handed Ben an address of where the vehicle was taken in case there were items inside that needed to be retrieved.  The doctors wouldn't let anybody back to his parents, so Ben and Casey headed to the vehicle while I prepared make-shift cozy spots in front of the TV for the kids.

It just so happened I had found an animated Christmas special on TV (Grandma got run over by a reindeer), and the kids had been pretty absorbed in it rather than the words of the state trooper.  SO I THOUGHT.  After I returned to my seat, Will looked at me, serious as a judge, and said "Grandma got run over by a Dodge truck". I just sat there looking back at him... and then giggled.  He started giggling too.  A confused giggle... and I immediately said "Will that's not funny".  He reminded me that I was the one who started chuckling.. which I was. We both smiled and acknowledged that it did in fact sound funny when it came out, hugged, and turned our attention back to the somber situation. *sigh* 

After they got the go-ahead, Ben, Casey and their brother, Jim, took turns heading back to see their parents.  I wasn't allowed and neither were the kids. The reports coming back were all the same - lots of pain, both alert, not sure what's going on. Eventually Ben came out to tell me they were air lifting Gordy to Madison due to a neck injury. My heart sank.  Ben reiterated that it was mostly for precaution -- this small hospital wasn't equipped to properly care for a patient with a neck injury.  OK.  Shortly after, the nurse came out to ask if the kids would like to watch the helicopter.  UM NO!!!!   Yeah, helicopters are cool, but not when injured Grandpa is inside!!! Duh.

After Gordy was safely away, we were finally able to go back and see Grandma. She was pretty beat up. She had broken ribs and had broken a bone in her face, so the swelling and bruising was very bad. Jacob kept repeating "Gamma has a back face?", yep she sure did.  I'm sure it hurt like hell, but she did a great job of putting on a brave facade for the boys. Ugh. 

In the morning, we learned that Becky would be in the hospital for a couple more days, Gordy as well with a fractured vertebrae in the neck and a shattered wrist - wrist surgery pending... and let's not forget sister Betsy at a THRID hospital recovering from a c-section birth...  Where to go first?  We headed to Madison first to check on Grandpa, which was a little alarming for the kids.  He was in much worse shape than Grandma,very groggy from the medication, and the big hard neck brace was a little scary.  Will worried aloud that Grandpa's neck might be longer when he got out.  :)  We visited briefly and then headed back to see Grandma before trekking home. (This started as a day trip, remember? No clothes or supplies, Ben had critical work meetings to attend, and oh yeah - what about school?) 

Did I mention there was a blizzard coming too? By the time we got home on Monday, school was already cancelled for Tuesday. We ended up BURIED here with about 16 inches of snow. No school Wednesday or Thursday either - with roads completely covered and unsafe for travel. Marvelous! Thankfully, Ben's brother lives near Madison and was able to make the rounds between patients for the family.  Betsy's husband was also able to pitch in with the visiting, since their hospital was near Gordy's. THANKS CASE, JILL AND RYAN.

Becky was released yesterday from the hospital, and is slowly on the mend. Gordy will be getting out of surgery in an hour or so, and soon everyone will be heading home. It's been a wild week, with a LOT of stress, but I'm so thankful everyone is going to be okay in time. We will be heading out again this afternoon to help where we can. The kids are very anxious to see Grandma and Grandpa again!!! 

Finally a GIRL!

Our family was very excited to finally welcome a GIRL to this side of the family!!!  Ben's sister had their first baby on Sunday morning and she is soooooooooooooo CUTE!!!  See for yourself:  

To say we've been waiting for a girl is putting it mildly.  For me, including my side of the family, we've had ten consecutive boys in a row.  After my two spectacular (now high-school aged) nieces were born, it's been nothing but boy boy boy boy boy.... you get the idea.  When I was pregnant with Jacob, I was convinced he was going to be a girl.  The whole pregnancy had been completely different than the other two... and wishful thinking had taken over.  When Will opened the envelope on Christmas that year (which contained the message from our ultrasound tech revealing the sex), and incorrectly pronounced the word I was waiting for - 'GIRL'..... by saying what was written -  'BOY'... I cried. I saw all my hopes of pink dresses and barbies and shopping and frilliness go up in smoke in an instant.   Poof.

I got over the disappointment quickly (of course) and set into waiting for someone else to have a girl.  So here we are three years later - YIPPEEE! :-)  Congratulations to Bets and Ryan - she is perfect!  

Shed-tastic!

Well if you can believe it - the shopping trip with the boys actually went FINE! I'm sure I went overboard on the 'prep' by reminding them 49,000 times of all the things not to do unless they want to be banned from shopping with me ever again.  And by a random stroke of luck, the first store we stopped at had these awesome little Nikes in the SCHOOL COLORS.  I raved about how cool they were, until I had him semi-convinced that he in fact wanted them... either that or he was on to me - that I had already made up my mind and he better just take them.  Charlie did, however, score a pair of Converse while we were there.  He didn't really need another pair, but if you'll recall - I bought him some ugly skater-style shoes on our last trip that I have always hated - so I was happy to see him start sporting a normal looking shoe - oh and they were on sale!

Since then I've been busy staring out my window all week watching a crew of guys build us a shed, yes a SHED!  

  Hard to believe we went from this (left) to this (right) in less than one week!

I am so excited to get everything from our garage moved to the nice new shed, so I can actually park my vehicle inside! Woot! Woot! I've only had to scrape once so far, but I'm hoping it will be my LAST.  I've never had an attached garage in my life! Always, my car with the half-hazard scraping lines all over it, screamed "I don't have a garage! I park outside!" Well, no longer! 

Now if there was only something I could do about the inch of dust currently covering my vehicle that screams, "I LIVE ON GRAVEL!!!!".  Ha.  One thing at a time...

What goes around comes around

Many of you probably remember my nightmare shopping trip with the boys before school started.  If not, you can refresh your memory here.  Since then, I've tried to refrain from taking them shopping for ANYTHING if at all possible.  I even tried taking them separately, but after Charlie was in near tears once when I refused to buy him a stupid toy skateboard ramp, I ruled that out as well.  I suddenly have a new appreciation for the anguish I caused my mother every time she wanted to go the store.  I have vivid memories of the both of us standing at our door and her making me promise not to ask her for ANYTHING if we went.  I would bat my eyelashes and swear up and down (and every which way possible) that she wouldn't hear a peep out of me -  if she would just pleeeeaaase take me with. Ha - I got something every time.  

When I got a little older, my tactics became more advanced.  Countless times I'd walk go to a store with my friends, find something I wanted, CALL my mother at work (from the store phone), and have her pick ME and the item up on her way home! Good God.

Anyway, here we are again.  Will needs basketball shoes.  I've already warned him that we are NOT (repeat NOT NOT NOT) driving all over H-E-double hockey sticks to find the 'perfect' shoes.  I will select the style and he can pick out the color.  LIMIT THE OPTIONS is what I have learned.  He grumbled a bit, but decided it was better than me bringing home random shoes without him.  

T minus two hours until departure.... WISH ME LUCK.

Wordless Wednesday (a day late)

Shoot 'em up!

Let me warn you now.  If you are anti-guns or anti-kids with guns (haha) you should just navigate away from this post immediately.  Keep in mind, we are in the MIDWEST where hunting and yes, guns, are a big part of everyday life around here.  Well, seasonally at least. I grew up with a hunting-crazed dad and brother, was the only girl in Hunter Safety Education class at 12 years of age, and was toted along every deer season as a kid for my extra 'tag'. Granted, most of the time I sat in the truck listening to music or riding on the 4-wheeler when it was time to retrieve a deer, but my point is - this stuff aint no big deal to me.

Ben did not grow up with a deer-driven-dad like myself, but his interest in learning to hunt and shoot has been growing, especially since we own enough land now to do so.  His friends and cousins have been on his case for years for him to join them in the hunt. So when we stopped by the local mart this summer for some fishing worms and saw a sign-up sheet for an upcoming Hunter's Safety Education class, Ben was in! He completed it last month, so now he's really 'fired up' (ha) to do some shooting and hunting.

Now let me back up a bit....   A couple weeks ago, Ben's friend and his twin boys came over with a BB gun - I wasn't so sure, but I rolled with it. Ben and Todd went with them walking through the woods and let them practice shooting a bit.  The men eventually wandered up by the house, letting the kids walk around a bit more - and it wasn't long before the kids came back shrieking with excitement. Apparently shortly after the dads hoofed it, the kids spied something 'fuzzy' swimming around in the water. So the BB-gun toting foursome came to the only logical conclusion possible - SHOOT IT! The story is this - Hunter shot it in the arm, causing it to swim in circles, then Charlie shot it in the nuts, and finally Will - with his expert marksmanship - landed the kiss of death ... straight to the heart.  Likely. Ultimately, I'm confident that none of them hit anything, and it was the steatlh-like dog that ended up bounding into the water and locking her jaws on this fuzzy-whatever-it-was.  (you're thinking Beaver, aren't you??) WELL IT WAS A MUSKRAT. 

I have to admit, I was a little shocked.  I said to Charlie - "Do you even know what you're DOING?" "Have you even had a safety lesson on that???"  His answer (all smug while pointing at a part of the gun he was holding) "YES MOM, there's a BUTTON right here - see SAFETY". Oh god.  (Ben assures me they did in fact lay down the law with these guys.) Whew!

Last weekend, while I was at a wedding shower, Ben took the boys to buy their own BB gun. I know he really wanted to buy a gun for himself, but I told him to hold off since my dad has one he can use - so this was second best. He bought a little target, and the boys spent the afternoon with Dad learning the parts of the gun, more about safety and aiming.  Cool.

Back to the present. I got a glimpse on Sunday of what is sure to be the new favorite activity around here. SHOOTING CLAY PIGEONS. Ben's friend brought over this machine that launches these clay discs in the air, and everyone tries to shoot it. I have to admit, it really did look pretty fun. The kids of course were in heaven, aiming their BB gun at the flying target. They are confident that their shot 'shattered' several of the pulls. :-) Here's Charlie readying for the next pigeon. (AND YES THE DADS WERE RIGHT THERE).

With all the hunting and shooting here as of late, I even called the WI DNR to get a copy of MY Hunter's safety certificate... just in case. Hey, if you can't beat em, join em.

Magic Eraser Moments

Over the past couple months, I've learned a few life lessons from my youngest son.  

(Here's a brief reminder of the kid we're talking about, being his normal self at dinner.)

1. If it's the middle of nap time, and you haven't heard a peep out of the bedroom, it doesn't mean the child is sleeping - it means the child is not in there.

2. Nothing makes a better canvas than a white wall.

3. Deodorant can make a room smell nice and fresh if applied properly (and thoroughly) all over the place.

4. Peanut butter is easily snuck from the pantry and meant to be eaten with bare fists, preferably both at the same time.

5. Orange glow is fun to spray, and amazingly harmless on your carpet, furniture, windows and trim, even when applied in large amounts.

6. The school art room is as good a place as any to vomit, especially if it's crowded and in the middle of Parent Open House.

7. Never underestimate the naughty - it could be worse.. and then usually is!

Carving Time!

Last night we carved pumpkins.  I used to love that activity every year as a kid - I'd spend hours carving pumpkins  and admiring them afterward.  As an adult, I do like the finished product, but the process isn't quite as wonderful as I remember it - now that I am tasked with mostly guts and seeds.  However, even with the mess, I have to admit it was a great family activity.  We popped in some scary Halloween music and sound effects and got busy. Now that Will and Charlie are old enough to mark out their own patterns on the pumpkins it was much better. Will actually did almost all the cutting on his pumpkin this year - impressive!

I really thought Jacob would be all about sticking his hands inside of the slimy pumpkin (and probably rubbing it all over his hair and body and the walls), but he wanted nothing to do with it!  He mostly ran around dancing to the music and climbing on Ben's back (which felt awesome while you're crouched over a pumpkin). 

Where have I been?

Things have been so nuts around here lately, I think I forgot I had a blog.  Honestly, when I went to log on here today - I had to THINK about how to get here! Sad, really.  After several inquiries as to where the HECK have I been, I thought I should post something to let you all know I am still alive.  :-)  Thanks for checking!!!

In the last month, I applied for, interviewed for and GOT a job.... that I wasn't sure I really even wanted.  I saw an ad in the local paper for a community-business type director (think chamber of commerce meets economic development), and I thought it sounded like a great job for me. Lots of action, people, challenge, hob-nobbing and autonomy.  I applied on a WHIM, thinking I'd never get it - when they called for an interview, I inquired about the flexibility - knowing off the bat juggling the family would be my biggest problem.  Vague answers, but sounded promising.  Hmmm okay.  I'd been in a bit of a 'rut' as far as staying home goes, and thought getting out of the house would do me some good... so I scheduled a time for the interview. After almost canceling twice, and Ben telling me to just go do it - i did.  The interview was a little nerve racking at first - hadn't been on that side of the table in a long, long time!  Four board members, including the City Planner sat across from me with their notebooks and questions, and took turns firing questions at me.  When they called the next week to tell me I was selected for the job, I was pretty surprised.  They were excited to have me, and I was pretty happy to be chosen, and I just went with it - I'd figure out the details later.  

Ben had said he could work from home two days per week, leaving only three to arrange daycare for Jacob - not too bad.  But how was our family going to handle this major transition? What about school inservices and sick days and SUMMER VACATION?  Hmmmm.  What about cooking and cleaning and laundry and all the 'house' stuff that would still need to be done around here?  What about the fact that Jacob can hardly be away from me for more than ONE HOUR without freaking out? What about when Ben has the week between Christmas and New Year's off - and I have to work? Bummer. What about after school care before I could get home? Ugh.

The more I thought and FRETTED over this job, the more it didn't make sense.  It's not like it paid a zillion dollars or anything - it was practically volunteer as far as I'm concerned.  And over the following week, I talked more to another board member and to the woman who previously held this position, and found out about all the City Council meetings, County Board meetings, Business after hours events, special events and CONFERENCES - all held after normal business hours - that I had to attend. Yikes. I also got a call AT HOME from a member wanting to talk to me about an upcoming event.  I hadn't even started yet!

Charlie all but cried when I told him I was taking a job.

What was I doing!?

Oh, and to make matters worse, stories were published about me in TWO newspapers - one featuring a big ol' picture of me - sent to every household in THE COUNTY.  I knew it was bad when the guy DRIVING A COMBINE outside asked me if I was 'that girl who took that job'.  Oh God. 

In the end - after losing a week's sleep over this - I made the call to bow out from the job I accepted. I felt like a total ASS, but I had to do it.  I had to!!!  If it was meant to be, I would have been excited, not agonizing over the opportunity.... even if it was the perfect job for me.... but just not NOW. Timing. Bah timing.

Anyway, that's all over now.  I'm trying to get back to the swing of things - including my bloggy self.  SO, here's to staying home!!!! :-)

A deVINE discovery

The other day, we decided to go check on our blessed beaver dam.  If you aren't up to date on the dam, you can read about it here.  We've been meaning to do something about it ever since we discovered it, but we just haven't gotten around to it. Somehow planting GRASS (ha) took center stage around here.  A couple months ago at a neighbor's party, another neighbor volunteered his friend to come trap the beavers, as apparently trapping season is approaching. I was all for it - get em OUT of here!  However, our realtor (and farmer/neighbor) stopped by the other day to talk to Ben and the dam was somehow brought into the conversation.  The two of them trudged down to check it out, and the realtor/farmer/neighbor guy was just in awe. He said, as a kid, they had a dam near their farm - and at dusk they used to go sit and watch the beavers in action.  He wants to bring his grandkids over to see it! He was very shocked that we wanted it gone, as he was totally marveling over the awesome piece of nature that it is. 

Of course, I do think it's cool and 'awesome' and all of that - and I really am amazed at the engineering skills of the little devils... but on the other hand, they are totally ruining trees and transforming a natural play area into a hazardous area.  Hmph.  What to do.  

Along with that conversation, Ben also reported to me the growing SIZE of the dam and 'pond', so this weekend we headed down as a family to assess the damages.  WOW. How many freakin beavers are camping out here?

With an upcoming get-together with TONS of kids coming over, I was kind of counting on a nature exploration (by the creek) being included in their activities... hmmm not so sure about that anymore.  We continued on our trek to see what else we could find to 'play' with.  Getting around down there is a little bit of a challenge - the brush and weeds are THICK, and there are some kind of 'vines' growing on everything.  Some of the trees have actually been pulled down by these annoying vines (another thing we need to take care of), but DUDE - check it out!

Indiana Jones has nothin' on my kids!  They must have done that a hundred times, getting more and more brave with each swing. It was FUN! I'm pretty sure we would have stayed out there for hours if it weren't for Charlie dropping off his vine into a pile of something itchy. Leave it to him! 

We headed back to the house for an oatmeal bath and some benadryl lotion (which solved the itchies beautifully), and with plans of heading back... in long sleeves.  Till then - 

I've got a case of the Mondays

Ugh.

The last week has been very STRESSFUL. We are in the process of moving our business to a new location.  (We were flooded last year and lost basically everything, and have been set up in a temp location while our 'new' place was being renovated). Thursday was our open house - and Saturday was the first day employees reported to work at the new pad.  Ben has been working countless hours since last week, leaving me to pretty much do the single parent thing here.  

Owning a business in itself can be a lot of stress - and it is - for us.  I curse having it about as much as I am thankful for it.

So this morning, as I marched around the house yelling at the kids (who at 3 minutes before heading out the door were sitting sock-less,  playing pokeman with unbrushed teeth - grrrr!) I could tell I was reaching my boiling point. As we pulled out of the driveway, and the boys continued to argue (unbuckled) over a rock, YES A ROCK, I slammed on the breaks to prove a point that NOBODY WAS LISTENING TO ME!!!  Will flew forward and smacked his arm on the divider thingy up my ME.  He was in the far back, leaning forward, mid-reach for the blessed rock when he flew. Yeah I felt a little bad, for his hand, but he wasn't hurt - and it did shock him - and he sat down and buckled after that.

I told the kids nobody was to talk unless it was to say something GOOD. Ha. Bits of arguing continued to leak out of W's mouth.  DEEP BREATHS.

When the time came for the kids to hop out of the van at school, Will looked at me like a deer in headlights...  "What's the matter"?, I asked.  OMG HE DIDN'T HAVE HIS SHOES ON!!!  It took all my might not to blow right there.  At least he did BRING them with. I helped him untie and ready one shoe while he put on the other, while glaring at the mom behind me - who was GLARING at me for sitting still in the 'drop off lane' - (get a life lady), and sent him on his grouchy way.

I fumed all the way home.

I'm still fuming a little.

ARGH!

Craigslist isn't just for Creeps

Like many people, I first heard of 'craigslist' from of all the headlined sex-for-sale and murders and what-not. I had pretty much written it off as a site to stay far, far away from, but when my friend told me she rented an apartment in Denver from Craigslist, and my cousin found his apartment in NY on there too, I became a little curious.  I hopped on my computer one evening and started searching around to see what the hell kind of crap was listed on there for prostitutes and whatever in my neck of the woods. I did find a lot of listings for 'massages' (yeah right) and 'escorts' (yeah hmm), but I was shocked at all the NORMAL stuff posted by local peeps.  

I've only bought a couple things so far, but both transactions were completely CRIME and scary-free.  I've even sold stuff on craigslist! I got rid of a lot of stuff before we moved, and out of all the transactions, we had only one mildly weird dude stop by (for the kittens).  Most people were average non-killing citizens just like me, looking for a bargain.  

I've almost become addicted to looking at the items for sale on craigslist - it's updated constantly! I fear I'm going to miss out on some SUPER GREAT DEAL. And speaking of great deals, check out my latest one:

sand & water table with umbrella! For only $30!

So happy with his new toy!

BUSted

My bus woes continue...

We all know that my kids have the longest bus ride(s) in the history of man kind.  While that does suck, it's tolerable... but the CRAP my kids are being subjected to on the longest bus ride in history is NOT. Several times now the kids have come home complaining of some high school kid named 'Bozar' (uh huh) who bothers them.  Why is a high school kid sitting by 2nd and 3rd graders anyway? (And who in their right mind would name their kid Bozar?) Good question.  He not only sits by them, but he twists arms, puts kids in headlocks, etc.  Will once came home with a bruise on his eyelid and a little cut on his lip from getting bonked into the bus window. That's when I started making regular calls the bus director.  

My first call resulted in reassurance that he'd take care of it.  A new, experienced driver was starting on Monday and would get the bus under control.  I also told him of all the new swear words my kids were spelling for me nightly that they heard on the bus, like 'H-E-L-L, S-H-I-T, A-S-S, and B-I-C-H'. (haha) If my kids can hear these kids shouting profanity from the back, can't the driver?  

Last week I started driving the kids to school in the morning and letting them take the bus home, figuring it might help a little to decrease their exposure to Bozar by half. Nope. Yesterday they came home complaining of him again.

My third call to the bus director was a little less friendly this time - it was clear that I was not happy about the situation. He was happy to learn the kid's name and said he would notify the driver and have the H.S. principal pull the kid in the office.  sweet! He said that if it continues, the kid will not be able to ride.  double sweet!  He did also mention however, that the bus driver has often said it is difficult to tell when the kids are just 'messing around'. Duh.  I told him - it may SEEM like they're kidding, but it often turns ugly.  What happened to rule #1 of the bus - KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF?! My kids don't like to tattle, especially on a scary high-schooler (another duh), so please driver - just handle it instead!!!

So, we'll see what today's report brings.  Here's to hoping.

Corny Day

Each year towards the end of the summer, we try to buy a bunch of sweet corn and freeze it for winter use. Since the end of the season is now upon us (sigh), the kids and I drove 45 minutes to Oelwein yesterday to buy corn from Ben's cousin (who makes a living off growing some pretty kick-ars sweet corn) - the last crop of the year. Today is the day we processed and froze TEN dozen ear (is it 'ear' or 'ears'?) of corn. 

It's kind of a pain doing it, (imagine shucking 120 ears of corn, cutting it all off the cob and then cooking it... FUN!) but it's something you're just so glad you did when it's the middle of winter and it's in your freezer.  If you've never tried 'freezer corn', you are really missing out! Everyone who's ever had it over here has the same response, 'oh my god, this is awesome!'.  It's true, it is awesome. 

The kids had fun shucking corn until about the 4th dozen... ha.  Their corn got less and less 'clean', making for more work for me during the prep - but at least they helped!  So in the end, here is my bee-you-tee-ful product.  Fresh corn 25 times this winter.  Ta Da!

Wordless Wednesday