Wednesday, December 21, 2011

December = too busy to blog!!!

wow! Its been quiet a month! floors are done. We moved in and decorated for Christmas at the same time... how confusing is that?!?! I LOVE my house :) I love having everything done...ok, not quiet everything. one lonesome closet door has yet to go in, and 2 doors need to be trimmed out. but other than that EVERYTHING is done!!!

Christmas shopping is DONE! Have I ever mentioned the fact that I love the fact (redundant much?) that The Pack don't ask for much? Should I say "doesn't"? I go back and forth with the plural tense to follow THE PACK.... they don't... she doesn't... hmmm, confusing :P

Anywho, they don't ask for much. Actually the older 3 don't ask for anything. And when I ask them to give me something for ideas, they try to come up something... anything, that they would like. They usually don't give me much to choose from. Of course the younger 2 add something else to their "got to have" list, seemingly everyday.

I'm thinking "doesn't" is the correct plural tense to follow "The Pack". The Pack DOESN'T ask for much. yeah. ok.

Did you know that December is the worst month to have major appliances go out on ya? Well, now ya do. And did you know that it really really sucks to not have hot water? Well, now ya do. On the bright side, I think our water bill will be much lower this month. You tend to take the quickest showers in the world when you don't have hot water ;) and there is a lot of jumping around and screeching and shivering and then cuddling up by the wood stove to warm up after one takes a shower ;) I love having a wood stove.

I took Blue Eyes and Mouth to the little town next door to get a few things from the store for supper... as we are going super fast thru the aisles, Mouth is looking around and skipping, jumping, being loud, generally just being herself, she noticed that most of the people were looking kinda grumpy. Of course she can't stand it when people are looking grumpy.

I've been grumpy the last few days, (Christmas is always so stressful for me. Why do bills seem to pile up in Dec???) so Mouth taped a sign on the windshield of my van... it said, "SMILE MOM!!!!!!!! :D"
I kinda love that girl.

Anywho... she can't stand it when people are grumpy. So she came up with the idea that next time we go to the BIG TOWN, she will walk around and say, "HI!!!! My name is LILY!!!" then the next time she sees that same person, she will say, "HI!!! My name is GRACE!!!" and just change up the name every time she talks to someone. Of course all of this will happen with a manic grin plastered to her face... she's crazy like that.
And I kinda sorta love that about her.

We had the in laws over for supper tonight. My loverly sister in law made scalloped potatoes with ham and a yummy chocolate cake :) I kinda sorta love her. As we are going thru the line, Mouth walks up to my loverly mother in law, also known as Grandma K, Mouth wraps her arms around her and exclaims, "Grandma! I FRICKEN LOVE YA!!!" and she turns and looks at Mouth and exclaims, "******, I FRICKEN LOVE YOU TOO!!!" Mouth busted a gut laughing! Then she goes on to say she loves seeing the A family, "cuz usually I can't say darn it, dang it, or shoot. Its always, "Watch your mouth, ******". "Be Quiet, ******". Blah Blah Blah... " ;) I kinda sorta love that girl. And her MOUTH!!!

It did make me realize how much we try to stifle her when we are around certain family members or people we know. Which is really too bad. Mouth is Mouth. I love her for who she is. I never want her to think that who she is isn't acceptable to us. If we wanted her to be mellow, low-key and robot-like, we would drug her like over every other kid in the U.S. who has a love for life, a smart mouth and so much energy that I wish I could bottle it up and sell it!

We have a 16 yr old in the house!!! it still scares me. she starts working next week, she goes in for her drivers license test soon. it scares me. By the time Baby Sister is 16 I will probably throw her the keys and say "have fun!! Check in!!" and off she will go. Not quiet ready for that. Poor Beans is our, "try everything out on her" kid. We find ourselves tweaking rules and responsibilities and expectations as the younger 2 get older. Is that absolutely horrible??? hmmmm.

Well, I am off to bed. Hopefully I will find time to get back on here b4 Christmas, but if not....

I want to wish everyone a "Merry Christmas", and remind everyone to not lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. Celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. So that, thru His death, we could have eternal life. He truly was born to die. A gift that I will be forever thankful for.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A Family Event

We got SO much accomplished this weekend!!! Doors are trimmed. Base trim in the addition. freshened up the pine walls in the livingroom (sanded and polyurethaned), floors sanded AND POLYURETHANED!!!!! yay!!!


Saturday evening I made a call to my mom and begged her if we could camp out on the floor at their place ~ HH informed me that there was NO way we could stay in the house while finishing the floors. (I had planned on spending the time in a hotel, but that gets expensive). Of course she said "yes!" and we got there at 11 o'clock Saturday night. the Pack sacked out in one bedroom and HH and I got my parents room, I guess they didn't want to give up the basement ;)

~REWIND~


Saturday we sanded sanded and sanded some more. Got it done by 2! then got doors and trim done and polyed the wall boards and the trim. Then it was to throw some clothes, blankets and pillows into the van, drop the girls off at CBs house and run back to get the first coat on the floor!


Its BEAUTIFUL!!!! I absolutely love it!!! :)

Sunday morning, HH, Beans, Little Brother and Blue Eyes and I got the second coat on b4 church. but we knew we were gonna be a 1/2 gallon short to finish the floors, so we ran to the store b4 church and they were OUT of the stuff.... urgh!!! so after church it was back to mom and dads for dinner then off to the big big city for some more polyurethane. 3rd coat was on by 630 Sunday night!

Back to mom and dads to crash for the night.

Monday morning we came back home :) we are living in my bedroom right now, as we can't have furniture or anything on the new floors for at least 72 hrs.

My uncle has mentioned that he loved the fact that we turned a house remodel into a family event. That pretty much sums it up :) we have made so many awesome memories in the process of this "little" house remodel :)

The Brat Pack has learned so much. not only how to set rafters and shingle a roof and side a house, and sheet rock walls, and mud and tape, and install hardwood flooring, but how to be flexible and to be understanding of each others moods and how to lend a hand when needed. They were able to see and experience first hand how hard their dad works to support our little family. And how much he sacrificed this summer to get this done. They learned what it means to work hard and accomplish much. How to work thru pain and exhaustion. They learned that having a nice house is work, and that it deserves respect. Hopefully these lessons will get them far in their lives.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Livin at the Funny Farm!

Its one of those days! The Pack is in a great mood! The sun is shining (our HAPPY DRUG!!!), the house is toasty warm (woodstove :), things are getting done, everyone is goofy, silly, crazy, loud. :D

Love days like today! Don't you?

Days like today, things seem to just go, well, smoother.

Mouth flooded the sink and we got bubbles everywhere, which of course called for a bubble fight between the Pack.

I didn't even get mad. Just took out my camera and started to take pics :)

There has been alot of laughing, giggling, screaming, running, sliding, jumping on my bed, which is STILL in the middle of the living room, barking (Remi), crashing, music blaring, singing off key, going on here today.

Its been great :) And now I must go and join in on the craziness :D hopefully we will get the floors sanded and sealed this weekend. And then we can decorate for Christmas!!!! Updating soon!!!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

A post of Pics :)

 Beans ~ HH informed her and Little Brother and Country Boy, if he ever needs anyone to help install flooring, he knows who to hire :)
                                   


                                                 

 maybe Blue Eyes wasn't so happy about me taking a picture? lol!!! she's painting the master bedroom
  Mouth. with a HANDSANDER, sanding the bedroom floor (saturday night)
           H, doing what she does best ~ look A.DOR.ABLE!!!!
               Little Brother helping with the living room floor :)
       HH~ exhausted but happy!!! Master bedroom floor is in! (Friday night)
                    K, wielding that hammer tacker like a pro!!!
                     Master bedroom floor!!! beautiful!!!
                    looking thru to the addition
                    Little Brother using the table saw
               Little Brother showing Baby Sister how to do it

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Did You Know.....

Did you know that it IS possible to get 1600 sq ft of hardwood flooring laid in 1 weekend??
Well. It is. When you have a Pack of amazing kids and an out-of-this-world amazing husband. :)

Did you know that getting woken up early, 6:30 on the Thanksgiving morning, to HH bugging you, "wake up. wake up. SHHanNan! wake up!" is not fun? well its not. especially when I am not the one making the turkey and cleaning the house and getting ready to host (that was my wonderful mother's job ;). When I asked him why he was waking me up so early, his answer was, "wanna lay some flooring?!?!?" urgh.... not really. but he was so excited. so we started laying hardwood flooring at 7:30. Thanksgiving morning...

Did you know that when you have 5 kids and one amazingly willing boyfriend (Country Boy), helping install flooring, it goes amazingly well? Well now ya do :)

And that working on said floors till 11:30 at night and then getting up in the morning and digging right in again, is exhausting, back-breaking, sore feet inducing work? Well. It is. :P

Did you know... that when the grandparents stop by to see how its going and they see Little Brother using a table saw to rip down boards and Beans and Baby Sister using the miter saw to cut boards to length and they see Little Brother using the hardwood flooring nail gun to install the floors, that Grandpa gets worried and can't watch it any longer cuz he is sure that he is going to witness one of his grand kids lose a finger or a hand or an arm. So he decides its time to go. And he is sure they will be getting a phone call at some time letting them know that they have an armless, fingerless or handless grandchild by morning. ;)

* there were NO injuries this weekend!!! PTL!

Did you know that it is possible to get 1600 sq ft of hardwood flooring installed in one weekend. AND get one bedroom primed, painted, floors installed, and sanded AND sealed in ONE weekend?? Well it is. When you have Mouth and Blue Eyes on the job :)

OH!!! And all of this is possible while having 2 extra LITTLE kidlets present (and helping out!) Blue Eyes babysat all day Friday, and K was a great little helper. She can handle a hammer tacker amazingly well for a 6 yr old. And little H's job was to look as adorable as possible, which she is a pro at as, as most 2 yr olds are :)

Did you know that when you use polyurethane on floors, then start the stove in the other room, that you can smell kerosene? Well now you do :)

Did you know that the smell of kerosene brings back memories of winter evenings when I was a little girl? When dad would get home from work, b4 he took his boots off, he would grab the tank from the little kerosene heater, go out to the shop and fill up the tank and I would hope the heater would go out because then dad would have to restart the heater and I loved the smell of the kerosene when he would get it started.... hmmmm, yep. still love that smell :)

Did you know that when trying to upload pictures to my blog and it not working, that I get very annoyed and decide that it will have to wait for another day? Urgh :P well now ya do!!!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Did you see the GUN on his belt?!?!?

Friday night is pizza night around here. The Pack invites friends and we have homemade pizza, and the kids watch movies or play outside or hang out or help HH with work around the house. I was sick of homemade pizza quiet frankly. So we had crackers and cheese and meat and bbq meatballs and little smokies (and it taught me to rethink serving food that a house full of teenagers can make jokes about and giggle about all night), and veggies and chips and dip.

This really has nothing to do with the story I am about to tell you. I just had to throw it out there. you know. a bunch of useless information that can make you all wonder afterwards, 'what was the deal with the food?'

ok. this is how it went....

I was in the bathroom, along with Beans, Blue Eyes and Mantha, they were talking, and I was.. well. you know.
Anyway, we hear the kids in the front entry, Mouth and the boys.
shocker, I know.
This is what I overhear...

Is it broken?
um... uh huh.
crap!
whats broken?
the door.
the NEW door???
yeah.
Shanan's gonna kill me.
SHANAN???
yeah.
your worried about Shanan?
uh huh.
not (name that we shall not mention)?
no.
did you see the GUN on his belt???
he wouldn't shoot me. Shanan might kill me tho.
but the GUN... did you see the gun?!?!
yeah.
he's a BIG guy. he looks really strong.
yep.
does he get really mad?
well, what do you think? we BROKE the door!
oh. why does he have a gun?
cuz he can.

I am sitting in the bathroom. dreading going to see what happened but thinking that the kids being more scared of me than HH is kinda funny. and the whole conversation about HH's gun... Yes, I laughed to myself about it.

Finally, I face the inevitable, and check to see how bad the damage is. Its could be worse. But its not good. The frame on the brand new entry door was cracked and broken.

I didn't yell. I was quiet proud of myself.
The only thing I said was, "You can explain this to HH when he gets home". and I will admit, I added a little bit of ominous drama to my tone..

it was dead silent. Not a word was said.
Mouth burst into tears and went into my room to call HH.
She was one of the main reasons the door broke and she was gonna face up to it and get it out of the way.
She told HH what happened.
And he hung up on her.
Not good. at.all.

So the Pack and their friends sat in the living room. and did not talk.
Not a word was spoken. it was amazing.
I talked to HH on the phone. explained the situation. He calmed down. I told him about the conversation that I had overheard. about "the GUN on his belt"?!?! he chuckled ;)

When he arrived home the kids got up and helped him unload the trailer of materials for the house. And not a word was spoken. Not a single word. It was amazing.

He then grabbed his drill and tools and fixed the brand new front door. And did not say a single word to the kids. They were terrified. CB looked sick to his stomach. Beans was almost in tears. Mouth's eyes were swollen and red from crying for the last hr. Mantha was quiet. Her new BF stared at the floor. and didn't say a word. No one would look at HH.

I walked into the entry where HH was working on the door, and he looked at me, smirked, and said, "so, who died?" I giggled and we snuck into the other room to laugh about it in secret.

He then walked thru the living room, into the bedroom, monkeyed around with stuff. Called Mouth in there. then all of a sudden you hear a "BANG!!" The boys in the living room freak out. They figure they are next. ;)

Then HH walks out of the bedroom, stands next to the couch, looks at everyone and says, "Who died??" Beans burst into tears. CB looks ready to bolt. The new BF is white as a ghost. the other kids don't make a sound. Beans is sobbing as she gets up, hits HH and yells at him for being so mean.

Then in all seriousness HH talked to all the kids and told them that he was able to fix the door, and he understands that it was an accident. BUT we have all worked hard at getting the house looking like it does. and he WILL NOT have kids breaking the things that we have worked so hard to do.

He pulled CB and Beans aside and talked to them privately, as they were the oldest and they were the ones that were taking it so hard. CB told HH what we were all feeling, " You work all day, you have come home and work on the house till late at night. And we say "thank you" by wrecking things and making more work for you. I'm sorry. And I won't do it again."


oh, the bang the kids heard? it was Mouth and HH moving the bed and dropping it into place. ;)

Whine Whine Whine

My house is a disaster. Really and truly a disaster. And I am SO tired of it :P And I figure this is the best place for me to vent because if HH would know how truly tired I am of the mess he would feel bad that our little project has taken this long, and he would feel guilty about that, and I would NEVER want him to feel even a little bit bad about it. He is an amazing man, husband, father and provider! But my amazing man is never ever ever on my blog, so I feel safe venting here ;)

I walked thru the house this morning and looked around.... want to know what I saw? well, you're gonna hear about it anyway...

An air compressor in the living room, with a Wii nun chuck draped over it.

A sawzall (cuz it saws all!) in the schoolroom, along with a few ladders and misc boxes of screws, paint, flooring... oh! and about 20 sheets of louane flooring leaning against my (freshly) painted walls. And 2 new doors, still in their boxes, that I have to skirt around to get into my bedroom. Another air compressor is in the schoolroom, this one has a pair of pajama pants draped over it.

*The jammie pants are green. 1000 useless points to whoever can guess who they belong to*

In the kitchen I see 2 drills on my kitchen table (HH took the other one to work with him), a HUGE box of screws under one of the kitchen chairs, 2 battery chargers plugged in on my kitchen counter. a couple hammers, screwdrivers, a carpet knife and a crockpot with tonights supper in it, all sharing space on my counter.

I spy a bucket of drywall compound in my front entry and a bucket of drywall tools in my one and only bathroom :)

I can see a pile of orange hats, coats, and pants draped over my teachers desk in the front entry, along with a few hunting knives and a handfull of 20 gauge shells rolling around.

As I walked to the van to go get Little Em from preschool, I had to skirt around a ladder with a deer carcass hanging from it.

Welcome to my world. A house under construction is not a fun thing. "It WILL be worth it all!!!" when my HH can come home from work and sit down and we can watch a movie together. And we aren't tripping over tools and air compressors and extension cords. And he can relax again. And in the spring when the roof doesn't leak, it will be worth it all :)

Blue Eyes is putting the 3rd coat of paint on the kitchen walls. And Mouth is going to be starting on the ceiling in our bedroom this afternoon. And tonight we will be installing those 2 new doors and putting some more of that louann sheeting down to get things prepped for that hardwood flooring that i have been dreaming about....

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Things are getting done around here (finally)!!

Not that things haven't been getting done. HH has been amazing at getting things done around here. I feel kinda bad for him. He's exhausted. Every night, he gets home from working all day, and brings his tool belt in and gets things done around here till he falls into bed around midnight. This week he has finished all the mudding, taping and texturing. He's taking a couple days off to go deer hunting with Little Brother. But last night, as we were laying in bed, he tells me, "Man I hope we fill out on Thursday. Then I take the rest of the weekend and get things finished up around here." He's pretty amazing. And I love him. A LOT.

Last weekend HH and I drove to the big big city to pick up our flooring. Lets just say that 1700 sq feet of hardwood flooring ends up being more than we envisioned. The nice guy at LLs brings it out to the trailer on a forklift. There was a LOT of wood on that forklift. A. Lot. We get it all into HH's enclosed trailer. The tires were starting to squat pretty good. We finished loading it all up. As we were leaving, the nice, informative, young man that helped us load the trailer comes over to my window and says, "Oh, I thought you might like to know, the manifest says that its 4100 lbs of flooring that you got into that trailer".

Yeah. I think we could have done without that little tidbit of information. Thank you very much.

So we decide it would be best if we bypassed the major highways and byways and take roads a little less traveled. That way we wouldn't have a ton of people mad at us for driving 45-50 mph, (I'm being generous here.) pulling that loaded down trailer.

So we are kinda trying to figure out back roads as we go (ie. following our noses). We come up to a detour sign. Hmmmm. Detour.... HH informs me we can "probably" make it thru. So he doesn't take the detour.

*Fun Fact~ HH NEVER believes those detour signs. Ever. I cannot tell you how many times we have had to turn around and go back and follow the signs. ;)

Anywho.... I just giggled and shook my head. And we keep going. As we are driving he mentions, "the only way we wouldn't be able to get thru is if there was a bridge out or something like that".
I look up ahead and ask him if they would use a large crane if a bridge was out...
"yeah, they would. Why?"
oh, no reason. just that the really big crane up there looks kinda big for this little road doesn't it?
then I start laughing. uncontrollably. Just our luck. Don't ya think? lolz :)
Yep. The bridge was out. and we had to turn around. and go back. and follow those silly little detour signs. And I laughed.
And it only took us almost 6 hrs to make, what would usually be, a 2 hr trip.

HH's stitches came out. And the cut split open again. Gaping. And he never covers it up. And his job doesn't really encourage keeping a wound like that clean. And it oozes. All. day. long. And the Dr said there is no point in restitching it. Cuz HH will not let it heal. And it will just keep getting broke back open. So last night he was texturing the ceilings. And he dropped something in the bucket of watered down mud, so he dunks his hand in the bucket of watered down mud to grab whatever it was that he dropped. But he HAD to use his bad hand (of course). And last night (really it was this morning, cuz he finally finished up texturing around midnight, then we had to get things cleaned and put away so we could sleep in our bed), anywho, too many details maybe? ok. So all night (morning) he is complaining about his hand whenever he bumps it in his sleep, "ouch!" *groan*moan*whine*grumble*. and we get up this morning and his hand is back to being swollen and red and inflamed and and and... yuck. *sigh* (that's all I can do. he doesn't listen to me when I tell him to take care of himself).

The Pack and I, (hows that for proper grammar, such a big, bad, homeschooling mom that I am ;) have been priming and painting and getting things done around here :) The addition is painted! The livingroom ceiling is primed and painted! The kitchen ceiling is getting primed right now. Painting to be done later today. :) Then tomorrow, on to the walls!!! yay!!!!

We, the girls and I, are hoping to get ALL the painting done before Friday. Really, that means we have today and tomorrow to get it all done. I think its doable. Maybe. If everyone has a good attitude... yeah. I'll keep you posted on that one.

Well I had better get back to painting. And priming. And laundry. And cleaning. And school. And And And.... *sigh* I can't wait till my house is back to normal....

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

10 on Tuesday

1~ Its October, the kids rule of "be home when the streetlights turn on" seems to be getting earlier and earlier. Not looking forward to the '4:30 in the afternoon and the streetlights turn on' times that are ahead.

2~ HH has done it again. This time it was 14 stitches. On his hand. I guess a miter saw can do some damage. So very thankful that he still has use of all his fingers and everything is intact!

3~ My first hint that something was wrong? When HH called and asked me when his last tetanus shot was. Then I heard in the background, "Oh crap. Don't do that." I guess he showed the nurse how deep the cut was. She kinda freaked when she was able to see the bones of his hand.

4~ I have colors picked out!! Aqua inlet for the schoolroom. Buttercream for the kitchen and light champagne for the the master bedroom and livingroom :) can't wait to get color on the walls!

5~ Random fact ~ I love language arts. I love doing language arts. I do not love teaching language arts :P

6~ Mouth had a loverly thought today... "I wish we had never ending money, mom" me too, kid. me too.

7~ The woodstove is going!! And it is super warm in the house :) and I love the smell of the woodstove. And I do not like the mess of the woodstove. But I do love the lovely heat from the woodstove :) the only thing that would be better? A woodstove in the livingroom. Where we could enjoy the flames and heat and coziness all day long.

8~ HH went to bed already. Its only 7 o'clock. I am praying he isn't getting an infection in his hand. He's hurting pretty bad right now.

9~ Pinterset. Its an addiction. A very time consuming addiction. I do not have time for this new addiction. But I will tell myself that I am finding ideas for decorating, and crafts, and home decor and other areas of craftiness that will come in handy. And I will continue to spend time on this new addiction. Darn you, Pinterest.

10~ tomorrow my house will get smaller again. the taper is going to be here the rest of the week. So the livingroom, addition, master bedroom and kitchen need to be empty. :P praying the weather will be nice!!! it will be school outside, and picnics on the lawn. :D

"It will be worth it when its done!!!! " Still reminding myself!!!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

A Sunday Evening Post

My husband is the most A.MAZE.ING. man. In. the.world. !! But I may be biased. Ok. It was our 16th wedding anniversary on Friday. He came home on Tuesday with a surprise for me. A new camera! I LOVE IT!!! Then on Thursday night he gets home from work and tells me he has made plans for the weekend. and to get in the truck. :) He had made reservations at a hotel for the next 2 nights. yes. 2 NIGHTS!!! just him and me. bliss. He had Incorporated Beans' help. She packed our bags for us. and had everything arranged so when HH got home everything would be ready to go. She's a great kid. I may love her. A lot.

So we spent 2 nights in a hotel. and did absolutely nothing. I guess that was the point. It was very quiet. and I have to say. it was nice. kinda (?). maybe a little too quiet for me. but we both needed the time away from the Pack and the time together.

We ordered the flooring while we were gone :) I LOVE IT!!! It is going to be a LOT of work. But I think the end result is exactly what we are looking for :)

When we got home the Pack had the house spotless. Fresh cookies on the counter. Laundry done. I kinda love them. A lot.

Oh~ guess what I did the moment we got in our hotel room???

I took my shoes off!! The girl who has always ran around barefoot has been wearing shoes for the last 4 months. In. the. house.
Yuck.

That is one (of the many) reasons I cannot wait to get flooring!!!

Bare feet.... who knew?

So we get home yesterday morning. And you know what HH does? He puts on his tool belt and starts working on the house. Always working on the house. He's pretty amazing. Don't you think so?
Yep. Thats what I thought ;)

And you know what he did this morning when he woke up? Yep. He strapped that tool belt back on and got back to work. The days are getting shorter. And the wind is getting colder. Our days of working on the outside of our little nest are numbered. We (he) only has one small gable left to do with siding and the outside of the house is DONE!!!! yay!! Hopefully next weekend we (he) can get it finished up! :)

I kinda' sorta' love that man. He's pretty amazing.

You know what I did today?

I made sure he had plenty of hot cocoa. and cookies. and I made 2 kinds of soup for supper. Sausage and bean for HH. And roasted chicken and corn chowder for the Pack. And hot ham and cheese sandwiches to finish it off.

You know what? I hate soup.

No. I mean, I really CANNOT STAND soup. Yuck.

You know what else I can't stand? Hotdish. Most any kind of hotdish. I cannot stand it. Tator tot hotdish? Gross!!!! Shepherds pie? Double Gross!!! Any kind of hotdish. yuck :P and you know what I make at least 2-3 times a week? some sort of hotdish. they are easy to make and I can add noodles or beans or potatoes and make them filling for my Pack.

And I don't eat any of them. That, my friends, is why I always serve them with lettuce salad. I will only eat the salad. And I make the Pack eat at least a little bit of the hotdish. Because I'm the mom and its my job to make them eat things that I won't touch with a ten foot pole ;) lol

You know what? Its gettting pretty chilly around here. And we still have to get the woodstove cleaned up and ready for the season. SO you know what I do? I bake :) Cookies. Bars. Cake. Muffins. anything for an excuse to start up the oven and get some warmth in the house :)

Who needs soup or hotdish when you have cookies, bars, cake and muffins?? ;)

Guess what I will be doing this week? Picking out colors!!! We have 4 rooms that need to be painted :) And I am going to pick out summer colors :) Powder blue for the schoolroom/addition. Buttercup yellow for my kitchen. A very creamy cream color for the livingroom. And the master bedroom... hmmm, still deciding on that one.

Hopefully I will enjoy the color choices in the middle of a 2 week drear.

You know.
When the sun doesn't shine.
And the wind blows.
And the snow piles up.
yep.
That's a 2 week drear.
It happens.
And I don't like it.
So I choose to surround myself with summer any way I can :)

We will see if it works for me ;)

Well gotta go and pour thru magazines and dream about what I want my nest to look like!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

2 Girls and their toolbelts

3 of the Pack went with HH to work yesterday (yay for homeschooling!!!). Little Brother, Mouth, and Blue Eyes. It was a long, quiet day here at our little nest :P Beans and Baby Sister were very out of sorts. And lonely. And bored. It was a looooonnnngggg day.

Made me think of the near future, as the Pack grow up and fly away from our little nest. Things seem off balance when we are missing even 1 of the Pack for a single day. It will be a huge adjustment when they start flying away. I fully expect to be getting a full time job. The quietness will drive me crazy!!

~ random topic change~

Mouth and Blue Eyes have been telling me about their day working with HH... THEY BOTH GOT TO WEAR TOOLBELTS!!!! This was a HUGE deal I guess. I know, they are weird. The funniest part of their excitement for wearing toolbelts? They were both so very happy that they wore cute outfits. "The toolbelts looked SO CUTE with our outfits mom!!!!" And they had to compliment each other on how cute they looked with their toolbelts. Multiple times. Thru out the day. On the jobsite. I guess (hope?) the guys got a kick out of the two of them :)

SO yesterday. while working with HH. Mouth walked to the trailer to get a pliers so she could take some electrical do-dad off the wall. There was an extension cord laying on the ground. She saw the cord. She knew it was there. But Mouth, being Mouth, tripped on the cord. And of course had to get her feet all tangled up in said cord. And stagger around and trip and finally did a barrel roll down a hill, getting all the more tangled up in the cord. When Mouth finally came to a stop. At the bottom of the hill. She yells, "YEP!! I'm fine! Everything is good here!!!" The guys just shook their heads, smiled and kept working. And Little Brother just looked at the guys, rolled his eyes and shook his head, as if to say, " girls. good grief."

*Fun Fact? Little Brother thinks he has extensive knowledge and experience with all things that have to deal with girls and therefore has the right to roll his eyes, shake his head and let out exasperated sighs when his sisters perform acts like the above mentioned...

My girls are becoming quiet skilled in the construction department. Beans is putting cedar shakes on the house right now. Baby Sister is putting polyurethane on the many many feet of tongue and groove knotty pine. Mouth and Blue Eyes and I will get the addition cleaned out today and hopefully get the rock on the walls. Before HH gets home tonight! We shall see how this works out.

~ Random Topic Change!~

Went to the Dr and got my ankle and my leg checked out! Nothing broken. Just badly bruised. I am still limping around. I have not been much help around here :) oops! I meant to put in a :/ face ;)

~ Random Topic Change~

Next week is our anniversary!!! 16 yrs!! We have BIG plans :) Ok, we HAD big plans. Then we looked at our little nest. And reality set in. :P Stupid thing. Reality. :P

~Random Topic Change!!~

I saw it all! Beans just THREW herself off the stepstool!!!!(she's putting cedar shakes on the house.) She didn't lose her balance, stagger around, arms flailing in all directions. Nope. She threw herself off. It definantly looked planned, premeditated you could say. ;) lol :D *no injuries, she landed on her butt. and sat there and laughed :) *

~Random Topic Change!~

back to the anniversary stuff... we plan on staying home. and... working on the house *gasp!!!* :/
bummer. big bummer. We keep saying we will get away one of these days. Still waiting for 'one of these days' to happen.

~Random Topic Change~

100 useless pts to the first person who can guess what we will be doing this weekend!!! Its not hard people. Don't disappoint!

~Random Topic Change~

I had a really long, funny, humorous, darn right witty blog post to post. Then I left the computer whilst I was chatting on the phone. I guess a smart person would click that little "SAVE NOW" button on the bottom of the page. Cuz it would be a crying shame to lose a full blown funny, humorous, darn right witty blog post. I have never claimed to be smart.

*Fun Fact? losing a full blown funny, humorous, darn right witty blog post to cyber space does not put me in a good mood. I may stomp my feet (if I wasn't a cripple and stomping my feet would put me in a black hole of pain and tears and wailing), grab my hair, cry, scream, yell, shut my computer screen, vow to never blog again... just a little tid bit of information that you may find interesting for those of you who think I am calm, cool and collected. ;)

~Random Topic Change~

Beans (who is still putting shakes up on the house) came in, annoyed, growling about the staple gun. I guess the wall she is working on now has 'buffalo board' as sheeting. She informs me that the staples are smashing thru the shakes AND the buffalo board. She grabs a drink of water, then goes back outside. Pretty soon I hear the air compressor going and the staple gun shooting staples again. Smart, commonsensical girl that she is, she monkeys with the air compressor air pressure thingy magigy and gets it working.

Whos kid is she?

Sounded to me like a perfect excuse to wait for HH to get home and show off his air compressor wisdom and knowledge and wow us all with his PSI prowess.

Gotta love that girl. I know HH will. :)

~Random Topic Change~

Did you know you can get Bailey's Irish Cream coffee creamer? yumyum!! and its non-alcoholic. But it SAYS, "Bailey's Irish Cream" on it and it looks and sounds absolutely sinful. And I have a horrible affection for things that look and sound absolutely sinful, when there is actually nothing absolutely sinful about them.

Weird? I know.

~Random Topic Change~

One of the things on our to do list for today.... #8. take all the frozen bread out of the freezer and throw it all over the yard for the birds and chipmunks.

Weird??? Yeah. I know ;)

Back to my to do list for the day. Cuz NOTHING has gotten accomplished today since I have had to write this blog, not once but TWICE!!! :P

Monday, October 3, 2011

Weekend Work (and getting out of it)

It was another working weekend around here. Always and forever working on this house. Trying to get things buttoned up before the winter cold pushes us into the warmer, cozier confines of our little nest.

HH (Handsome Hubby ~ keep up people!) decided to put some cedar shakes in the gable peaks, best decision ever!!! Its beautiful!!! I love the color we (HH) chose for the siding. Cypress. Who would think I would have a green house? lol :)

~ Random topic change~

Do you know how to make my Pack really really happy? Buy them popsicles. weird? I know. and make sure you buy 2 boxes. one tropical flavored and one original flavored. that way there is an abundance of banana flavored ones. and my personal opinion? banana popsicles really do not taste like bananas.
Mouth requested a box of only banana flavored popsicles. you cannot buy a box of popsicles that are only one flavor. maybe I should check online. that would be a great bday or Christmas gift for Mouth... hmmm... a box of only banana flavored popsicles and a jumbo jar of pickles. she would be in heaven. weird? I know.

~Random topic change~

Did you know that the "p" in "popsicles" is supposed to be capitalized? weird? I know.

~Random topic change~

Do you know how to get out of helping work on the house? Throw yourself off a ladder and land on a pile of bricks and a sawzall (it sawz ALL). And land half in and half out of a cement window-well-type-of-thing.

No. I didn't really throw myself off the ladder. It WENT OUT FROM UNDER ME. I tried to explain this to HH. "I was leaning over and trying to yank the rest of that board off the house. The hammer bounced back, and the ladder went one way and I went the other."

That, my friends, is how I explained it to HH.

Beans, who was right next to me when the ladder WENT OUT FROM UNDER ME, I guess she saw it slightly differently. ?
She pipes up and tells HH, " naw, I was there. I saw it all dad. It looked like she THREW herself off that ladder. I don't think she wants to help with the house." she tells him this with a straight face. never cracked a smile. not a single giggle. total serious face.

"WHAT?!?!? are you kidding me????" that's not what happened! as I am arguing with her and telling her that is just NOT true, I catch a glimpse of HH, his shoulders are shaking. He's trying not to let me see that he is laughing. He is laughing so hard that the ladder that he was on was shaking.

they are all against me.

~Random topic change~

2 months till I have a 16 yr old in the house. 16 seems like such a BIG number. doesn't it? much bigger than 15. it scares me. just a little. ok. A LOT! I feel a nervous break down coming on.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

A Sunday Evening Post

sorry, couldn't think of a witty and charming title.. so I went with simple. :)

some weekends can be described as exhausting. this has been one of those weekends. HH ended up working (not on our house) yesterday.

Beans, Mouth and I went over to the Country Boys house and helped them move out of the old farm house and into their new rambler :) There is something about a brand new house, brand new cupboards, they make you want to wash all the dishes before you put them away in those shiny new cupboards. I stood at the sink for 3 hrs yesterday and washed the kitchen dishes for CBs (Country Boy) mom. There is something gratifying when you open up those shiny new cupboards and see shiny dishes :) It made me want to come home, clean out all my cabinets and wash everything!!! I haven't done that yet. But I will be doing that when our house is construction-dust- free :)

Beans, Mouth, CB and the Tall Lanky One moved furniture, books, dishes, canned goods, pretty much everything... it was exhausting. But so gratifying at the end of the day when everything was put away. I dropped off the two girls today so they could help get those last odds and ends things done for CBs mom. The kids have so much fun together, and work SO well together!! So its a win/win situation for everyone.

HH and the rest of the Pack and I have been working on our house all day. Siding!!!!! I am SO excited to have this part done!! It makes everything look like its coming together :) I spent a few hrs polyurethaning tongue and groove knotty pine. They will be our vaulted ceiling in the new addition :) It is going to look gorgeous!!!! I can't wait!!!

CBs mom thinks my girls are prim and proper and calm and cool and collected... I think she found out yesterday that they are goofy and silly and funny and random and cute and fun to be around :) They can also move furniture with the men and keep up with them, sometimes they put the men to shame ;) but thats my girls :D

I am getting very excited to get flooring in my house... subflooring is not easy to keep clean. you can't wash it. you can't sweep it (well you can, but it never really gets clean). Its kinda a headache. we wear shoes IN THE HOUSE. Its crazy. I cringe. and close my eyes. and pretend I don't see it.
It only works for so long tho. :P

Well I must be off. Supper is bubbling on the stove (chili!! Yum!!). and I better get outside and help HH with the siding :)

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Username and password???

I guess its been way too long since I've logged onto my blogger account... I actually forgot my username and password :P not a good thing cuz then you have to go thru and update everything and then they have to send you a linky thing to your email, then I realized the email they have on file was my OLD email, like from 4 yrs ago. So I had to redo that and get it all straightened out, and then I figured out it would have been just easier to have them send the info via text on my cell phone, doesn't that seem weird tho> that they can update info via text? hmmmm. maybe I am getting further behind on this technology mumbo jumbo? probably. do you think I care all that much? yeah. not really.

So its been almost 2 (?!?!?) months! yikes! lets see... the Pack and I have been busy on the house. New rafters are up. new roof is on. addition is framed, insulated, windows are in, doors are installed, ceilings are rocked... all the carpeting has been pulled up (what a mess!!! and it has sent my allergies into a tailspin. yuck :P) we found hardwood floors under some of the carpeting. who knew?? its in horrible shape. and we will still be installing new hardwood over the old stuff so it will all match.

Did you know that it is very very hard to keep a house clean when its a construction zone? yeah. not fun. at. all. dust everywhere. I have resigned myself to this fact. it has not been easy. just ask the Pack.

I do not have a schoolroom yet. it has been a very hard adjustment for me. I do not feel organized. I do not feel in control of my enviroment. or the situation. it is not good for me. just ask the Pack.

We now have 3 teenagers in the house!!! Yes. Mouth has finally entered the ranks of teenager! Even tho it seems like she has been a teenager for a few yrs now, she was not one. And she was asked "out" shortly after her bday... and Country Boy reminded Mouth that "tall lanky one" must first talk to her father b4 she can go "out" with the "tall lanky one". *side note ~ Country Boy knows this fun fact because he had to talk to HH (Handsome Hubby) b4 he asked Beans if she would be his girlfriend*.
Anywho ~ Mouth and the Tall lanky one decided they should wait till Mouth is 14 (yeah right) b4 the Tall Lanky One talks to HH about dating his daughter. So they will continue to be friends, as they have been for the last 7 yrs. Which is fine with me. The TLO (Tall Lanky One, keep up people) has been around since Mouth was 7, he is a friend to the whole Pack and actually him and Country Boy are best friends. So it makes sense.

Oh yes. You heard right. Beans has boyfriend. New territory for us. And yes HH and I like the boy. I have put him to work around here when he comes over and so far everything that I have thrown at him he has done with a smile :) (And I usually reserve the yucky work for him and the TLO ) HH had a serious talk with The Country Boy b4 he gave him the permission to ask Beans out. Talking to HH is a prerequisite for dating our girls. We figure any boy who has the guts to talk to HH, listen to his concerns, and answer his questions may get the chance to date one of our girls. Any boy who will willingly put himself out there with HH must be serious. I think most boys will be scared away just knowing that they have to go thru HH first. Weeds out the worthy ones ;) lol!

We took last weekend off. We loaded up and went to the big city. to the big mall. stayed in a hotel. the Pack went swimming. it went WAY to fast.

We will be working this weekend. Sofit. Facia. Siding. "it will be worth it when its done!!" I still have to remind myself of this on a daily basis. It works. Sometimes.

Life sometimes takes over and you find yourself holding on tight and going along for the ride. that seems like my life the last few months. things should even out around here soon. until then we are going to enjoy the ride :)

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Its been, well, FOREVER!!!

Sorry, I know its been forever since I have posted anything, I guess life has been sort of uninteresting? boring? and I have had no material to blog about? well, thats kinda sorta an excuse. but really? I was without my computer for a few weeks, thats my excuse, and I'm stickin to it ;)

so what has been going on the last 6 wks? well, the Pack went to camp, all the same week. It was very quiet around here. and boring. and I only had to clean my house once the whole week. and did 2 lds of laundry. like I said, it was very quiet, and boring... I still have not come to a conclusion if I liked it or not.

the Pack got back from camp and we started ripping apart the house :) all the siding came off. no more soffit or facia. we cut the 3 season porch off last weekend. the cement truck is scheduled for tonight so we can pour footings for the new addition (sadly, it does not mean more bedrooms :'( but it does mean a bigger schoolroom/craft room! and I finally get a closet in my bedroom!!!). By the end of the weekend we should have the addition framed up, and in a couple weeks the new rafters will be coming for the house :)

A few things that would be seen or overheard if you were around our happy home the last few weeks...

* Little Brother: Hey mom, what is dad going to do with all the boards we tore off the house?
Me: Nothing
LB: Can we have them?
Me: oooookkkaaayyyy (?)

Later in the morning...

Little Brother: Hey Mom! You know that old lawn mower? the one that doesn't work? Can I have it?
Me: oookkkkkaaaayyyy (?)

After lunch.....

Little Brother: HEY MOM!!! Um, can I have some of the clothes line rope since dad took down your clothesline?
Me: oookkkkaaaayyyy (?)

15 minutes later....
I see all the boards, tied on top of the lawn mower(minus the guts) going down the driveway and off into the woods.... with my NEW hammer balanced on top... hmmmm

the next day....
I see the same lawn mower, careening out of control, down the hill. with a child on it. it wasn't my child. I don't know whos child it was.

It looked like fun ;)

The Brat Pack and I found the medallion this yr!! $100 cash :) all spent at the local fun park :) on go-carts, bumper boats and mini golf :) fun fact? Beans' friends, we shall call him, um... Country Boy, he works at the fun park, he does the go-carts. and when Beans is on the go-carts, right when she's getting ahead of her sibs? he shuts her down. and she yells at him, and he laughs and does it again. its very funny. Then Beans gets back at him by dumping a jug of water on his curly head. and he yells at her. and she laughs. and does it again. its very funny.

Sadly the medallion hunt was not a challenge. we had the medallion in hand 5 minutes after the first clue was released. we were looking for a challenge to make our boring lives not so boring. at least for a few days. yeah, that didn't work out for us.

Oh. And our favorite local swimming hole? Our lovely city council has decided to ban people from swimming there. "its too secluded and private and kids are engaging in risky and dangerous behaviour" (I quote.) I have been very angry about it. So now, instead of having my Pack right across the street where I can hear them and know where they are? they are now across town swimming at the DNR fishing dock. and jumping from trees. into the river. and having a blast doing it. and I am sure the city will try to put a stop to that too. I am not happy with the town council of our quaint little town. They seriously would love having no kids in this town. They would rather the kids behaved like little robots, stayed in their homes, and played video games all day. Well, that's not gonna happen with our Pack! I encourage them to be fun and adventurous, and jump out of trees into the river :) and snowboard down the garage. and I bring ice cream cones to them when they are hanging out at the local park with all their misfit friends. and people are scared of them because they are laughing and joking around and having FUN. and doing nothing wrong.

urgh :P Its been frustrating. and I miss swimming in our little swimming hole :'( all my children learned to swim there.

anywho...

last week was miserably hot and humid around here, and we were all holed up in my bedroom (the only room with a little window air conditioner), and Snowball was roaming the house freely cuz Remi was in the bedroom with us, and Snowball somehow got out of the house :( and we haven't seen him since. its been a very traumatic thing. we have all accepted the fact that he may just be having too much fun out in the wild world that he came from and he doesn't want to come home. we are still hoping he will show his pretty blue eyes to us soon!

the Pack is not looking forward to school starting and to be very honest with you? neither am I!! I am loving summer! we are looking forward to the county fair coming up and we hope to make it to the state fair b4 school starts :) gotta have me some sweet martha's cookies ;)

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Dreamin'

Don't you love dreamin? and 'what if'ing'?
you know how it works...

what if we won the lottery? (of course we would have to play the lottery first ;)
what if $ wasn't an option?

just think what it will be like when...
its just the 2 of us.
we have grandkids playing on the floor
and cuddling on the couch with us
I can put something away and when I need it
3 weeks later, it will STILL BE THERE!

......

what would we do if we had everything paid off? and if we had a million dollars?
or more than a million dollars? mmmm...
you know how it works...

I would buy a new camera.
with a super duper zoom lens.
HH would get that 4 wheeler.
or a motorcycle and we would travel.
I would put in a beautiful garden.
and landscape :)
I would put better lighting in my kitchen.
HH would get that dump trailer for work.
The Brat Pack would all get bikes. nice bikes.
and snowboards and season passes to the nearest ski hill
we would take the BP to the nearest amusement park.
(they've never been to an amusement park.)


When we get old....

we will travel
and go south for the winter
and drive a car
and live in a little cabin by the lake
and go fishing from a little row boat
and sit by a campfire every night
and dream
and ' what if'
and remember when we were young
and the kids were all at home
and life seemed so hard

and we will want it all back...

just so we can have Mouth come running up to us and throw
her arms around us and give us a big smack on the cheek
and hear her yell across the road, "HEY MOM!!! I
LOOOOOVVVEEEE YOU!!!"
Just so we can have Baby Sister sit next to us and go into
a very long and detailed description of her day.
Just so we can find nails and tools in the weirdest spots
as Little Brother always has a project in the works.
Just so we can see Blue Eyes come twirling down the
stairs and give us that big smile and flash her dimple at us.
Just so we can have Beans cuddle next to us on the couch
and listen to her tell us her hopes and dreams and heartaches.

and then we came to this conclusion,
as we sat by the fire last night,
we LOVE our life.
every hard time makes us grow and brings us closer.
we are a perfect team for this life that we have.
it may not be an easy life. but its our life. and we will love and
embrace every minute of it.

Monday, June 13, 2011

An uninteresting life

every get that feeling? like you live a very boring life? and nothing ever happens? yeah. I sometimes feel like that too. maybe I am feeling sorry for myself this weekend? yeah. thats probably it. it was a very long week. HH didn't get home till after 8 most days. that makes for a very long week for me. and it has been super cold around here :P we had a 2 day tease. upper 90's! then. BAM!! highs in the 60's. the Brat Pack has not been happy about it. no swimming at our favorite little swimming hole. which means they are at the house. whining. complaining. bored. HH worked all weekend. again. he's exhausted. and short-tempered. and the BP are whining. and complaining. and bored. anyone want my life? yeah. thats what I thought. ;)

But HH promised to take next weekend off! YAY!!!!! and I am going to let him sleep in. and make him breakfast in bed. and make him amazing suppers. and we are going to cuddle in bed. and go for a walk. and he will buy me flowers....

reality?

he won't sleep in because then his back will hurt. he will get up early Saturday morning because he hasn't been home to get things done around here. there will be argueing. and chores. and work. we will all eat sandwiches because I will only have minutes to throw together a meal after working beside him to get all the things done around here. the walking will be done between the trailer and the house and around the yard. oh. and he won't buy me flowers. because he never thinks of those kinds of things. :'(

but at least he'll be HOME!!! right?

hmmmm. maybe the BP and I will have to get everything we can think of done this week so by Saturday he won't have anything to do....

Monday, June 6, 2011

Monday Ponderings

Ponderings... what a funny looking word. Don't ya think?

Anywho. I was thinking today. Amazing. I know.


do you know how scary it is when your 15 yr old comes home. excited. because 2 20 yr olds asked for her phone number? yeah. super scary. no. she didn't give them her phone number. she's smart that way.

I love seeing the kids tearing around the neighborhood on their bikes. I hate dealing with bikes that need constant repair. and they ALWAYS need repair when the Pack insists on jumping them. and you have all heard about how Mouth rides bike. she doesn't really ride them. she crashes them.

HH and I spent an hr taking apart chains, replacing broken links, tightening them up. fixing brakes. tightening handle bars. tweaking pedals.

Did you know HH hates working on bikes? yeah. he really really hates it. and their is ALWAYS a few bikes around here that needs fixing. its not a very nice thing for him to come home to after working a 13 hr day. oh. did I mention it was over 90 degrees today? yeah. not a fun night for HH.

we had an interesting weekend. Poor Beans had a run in with some kids. not nice kids. they were, um, under the influence. of drugs. they ganged up on her. they took her bike. they pushed her around. thankfully she had sibs and a few friends around. and thankfully they had cell phones. they called me and HH. he played knight in shining armor and went and saved his little girl. I think kids around here will think twice before they mess with our girls from now on. Beans is still very shaken up. and very disappointed. she knew a few of the kids. and considered them friends. just goes to show how drugs can really mess a person up. we have since found out that a few of the boys are in their 20s... seriously?!? such men. that have to mess with a 15 yr old girl to feel big and bad. HH is still very angry about the whole situation. Beans has a swollen, scraped up leg. she cries when its brought up. I feel horrible for her. Such a hard thing. when the ugliness of this world collide with the innocence of a sweet girl.

HH took Little Brother into the bathroom to cut his hair. then I heard the clippers. then I hear a giggle. sorry, a chuckle. guys don't giggle. remember? then I hear some laughter. and a whispered, "Mom's gonna KILL you!" *fun fact? Little Brother does not know how to whisper.* I go in the bathroom to see HH lathering Little Brothers very bald head with shaving cream. and a razor is waiting on the counter. yeah. I wasn't very happy. at. all. I will be running (not really running. get real people) to buy sunscreen in the morning. no way is that baldy going out in the sun with that shiny ball of virgin skin perched on his skinny little neck without any protection.




If you are ever at a store and a couple teenage girls come up to you and ask you random questions ( what color socks are you wearing? Do you like pancakes?? DO you like WAFFLES??? ect ect), the whole time talking in an old grandma voice? Please don't be scared. They really are harmless. we let them have day passes every once in a great while. they behave kinda crazy when let out. ;)


We spent the afternoon at our favorite little swimming hole. Its the same place that Beans ran into those not very nice kids. I no longer let the Pack go there alone. Its a hardship for me. sitting in a beach chair. all day. with a good book. and snacks. a very big hardship ;) and HH is all for me hanging out at our favorite little swimming hole with our Pack and all of their friends. so I can keep an eye on everyone. and he doesn't mind coming home to a totally trashed house as long as our Pack is safe. :)


just kidding. I was a good wife and made sure the chores were done. supper was ready. and laundry was hanging on the line. then we spent the whole afternoon lazing around our favorite little watering hole :) looks like tomorrow will be the same. oh the hardships that I must endure for the safety of our Pack ;)

I better get HHs lunch ready for tomorrow :) that way I can snuggle under the covers for a few more minutes. not really snuggle. its supposed to stay hot all night. there is no snuggling when its above 75 degrees in the bedroom.


Don't you love it when you are listening to the weather on the 10 o'clock news, and you hear the phrase, "its not the heat, its the HUMIDITY that is oppressive". I have to giggle. when we were down in FL you would here people tell you that FL heat is just horrible.then they would say, " its really not the heat. its the HUMIDITY that is horrible!" lol. and then they wouldn't believe us that we actually DO have tropical heat up in no-wheres-ville. after the 5 ft of snow melts we get the tropical weather. complete with huge blood sucking bugs. its wonderful. really. :D


give me blood sucking bugs and tropical weather over 5 ft of snow any day!

it looks like it will be shining here for the whole week! Sunshine is my happy drug :) I predict a wonderful week:)

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

A Wednesday List

I have a ton of things on my mind today. so I figured I would put my thoughts in list form :) and you know me with lists... they just keep getting longer and longer as I add to them.

*fun fact ~ when I make my daily to-do list, if I do something NOT on my list. yep. I write it in just so I can cross it off ;) makes me feel like I've accomplished LOTS!

1~ I read an article this morning. a lady challenged herself to not spend any money for 10 days! wow! what a concept! oh wait. I do that on a monthly basis. its called, "we are poor and we have no money, therefore we don't spend any". lol :)
seriously tho? is it hard for people to go 10 days without spending any $ ? I suppose it would be for HH. But he drives. Miles and miles and miles every week. and he's self-employed, he does have work expenses that crop up on a regular basis. But I can go at least 10 days without spending any $ :)

now lets see if we can keep the Pack and HH out of the Drs office for 10 days.... that may be more of a challenge for us.

2~ I have been being a wonderfully caring and giving wife the last few weeks. I make HH lunch every night b4 bed. so its all ready for him in the fridge in the morning :) *insert pat on the back here*

3~ ok. to be totally honest? the reason I make it every night b4 bed? yep. I don't want to get up in the morning and make it. ~ lunch ready for him to grab and go = I get to snuggle under the covers for a few more minutes.

4~ Baby Sister had a follow-up appt on her ankle. we were praying for freedom for her. (meaning no crutches, no cast). We got good news- NO HARD CAST!!! yay!!! and bad news- still in a splint and on crutches for another 2 weeks. go back in 2 weeks to re-evaluate. (she did fracture one of the smaller bones in her ankle)

5~ Baby Sister did too much yesterday. and I think she was using her foot.
she is NOT supposed to be putting weight on her ankle yet.
she was crying and in pain at 2 o'clock this morning.
I am not a very caring and sympathetic mom. (in case you don't remember that fun little fact).
especially at 2 in the morning. :P

6~ ever watched the show "clean house"? or maybe its called "clean sweep". it should be called 'I have too much junk. I am a hoarder and I need someone else to come to my house and go thru everything and sell it all on a giant yardsale so I can have new stuff'. yeah. ever watch that show? I feel like that show has come to my house. (without all the people doing all the hard work for me, and without the 'new stuff' prize at the end). We are cleaning out all the little storage nooks in the house this week. and getting rid of stuff. lots of stuff.

7~ alas, I am too lazy for a yard sale. so I either throw it away. or give it away. or donate it all to GW or the little thrift store in the big town over yonder. I fear I am not tapping into the potential money makers I have sitting in my storage nooks. I am starting to feel a little guilty that I am not doing what I could to help HH with the financial well being of our little family. what do you think?

8~ ever had one of those mornings when you are making coffee and you are dumping the old coffee grounds out of the little basket thingy and the coffee grounds miss the garbage can and land on the floor next to the garbage can? and when putting fresh grounds in the little basket thingy, you totally miss the little basket thingy and end up with a scoopful of coffee grounds on your counter/floor? oh. you haven't? well that was how my morning started. NOT a good sign.

9~ did you know that dogs will not clean up spilled coffee grounds off the floor? well they won't. at least Remi won't. and he eats EVERYTHING.

10~ I have a ton of over-ripe bananas sitting on the kitchen table. and every time I walk by them. I can smell their over-ripeness. and I think of banana bread. I should make banana bread today. HH would love that little addition to his lunches for the rest of the week/weekend.

11~ ever notice the junk they sell on tv? things that they say we cannot live without? but WAIT!! If you call in the next 10 minutes we will DOUBLE YOUR ORDER for FREE!!! (separate shipping and handling may apply)... cracks me up every time the Pack sees one of those commercial... they all yell the, 'BUT WAIT!! IF YOU CALL IN THE NEXT 10 MINUTES....' and then they all gather round me and beg me to order it NOW!! " cuz you know we canNOT live without it mom!!" lol. they keep me laughing. which keeps me young. :D

12~ sometimes when I watch the news (all the flooding and tornadoes in places we have visited/lived) or CMT music videos, and something comes up about someplace we have been, or the music video has the Ryman in the background, or Nashville, or the country singer that is singing on the music video maybe lives in Nashville, I say, "OH! we've been there!" and I sigh and miss the travelling days that I so enjoyed. It send me down a path of reminiscing. not always a good thing I will have you know.

13~ on our way home from Baby Sisters drs appt yesterday I noticed a sign at the end of the road to our house. It said, "ROAD CLOSED TO THRU TRAFFIC". how is it that I did not know about this new little development? I am oddly comforted by the fact that I am not 'THRU TRAFFIC'. (who is ' THRU TRAFFIC'? does this mean that we will not have to worry about teenagers flying thru our quiet little neighborhood?) does this new little development mean at some point, out of the blue, my road may be totally closed off and I can get neither out nor in to my happy little house on the hill? they can't do that. right? hmmmm. now whenever I leave my happy little house on the hill I will have the fear of not being able to get back to it at the end of the day.

14~ the Pack is up. time to get busy with the biggest storage nook of the house. it will be an amazing transformation. I shall take pics :)

Have a wonderful beautiful day! The sun is shining in my little corner of paradise. It will be a great day :)

Monday, May 23, 2011

Welcome to my world

So today I get a phone call from HH, it went something like this:
~Hey Sexy Man! Whats up?
* umm, I think I need to go to the Drs.
~What did you do now?!?!
* well, I sliced my finger on some sheet metal. want to meet me in town?
~ sure, I'll be right there....

so I call Beans, tell her that I am running to the big town to meet HH at the Drs office and see what he did to his finger. "yep, no problem mom". so off I go.


I meet HH in town, the have to give him a tetanus shot, and I find out he is a big baby about needles. like, seriously a big baby. I never knew this fact. and I had to giggle. I have seen 3 of my five children have stitches countless amounts of times and they never shed a tear. never flinched. just sucked it up. Here HH is sitting looking at me saying, "I really really hate needles. especially big needles." as he tells me this the nurse sticks him with the tetanus shot and he doesn't even flinch. "all done!" she says. and instructs him to go to the other room where they will put in the stitches.



When we get to the 'procedure room' (kinda a fancy name don't ya think?), they tell him to sit on the table and the Dr comes in and says, " first we will have to numb the area". its a good thing the Dr was a woman, cuz if it had been a man I'm sure HH would have had some choice words for him ;) the Dr looks at him and says, "tell us if you feel light headed. its always the big guys that faint." LOL!!! I burst out laughing and reminded him that our children, our little baby girls all had stitches when they were toddlers. and they didn't even flinch. he just shrugged and reminded me that he DID NOT LIKE NEEDLES! :) 5 stitches later he's bandaged up and sent on his way.




we get home and Beans calls me. She tells me Baby Sister is on her way home with Little Brother and that "she's probably gonna whine and carry on cuz she thinks she hurt her foot, she's just being a drama queen, mom".

Baby Sister gets home and I notice that she is limping but she doesn't say anything to me about it so I just ignore it. I had told the Pack that I would bring them to the HS baseball game in the little town over yonder at 7. So off we go.
I notice that Baby Sister was crawling thru the schoolroom, but lets face it, she IS a drama queen... so she limps out to the van and climbs in (big sisters gave her a shove cuz she wasn't moving fast enough).
We get to the ball field and I take a phone call.
Beans comes to find me cuz Baby Sister is sitting in the bleachers. crying. I go check on her ankle. its HUGE! and she can't put any weight on it.


I take Baby Sister to the big town to visit the ER.
fun fun.
not.
of course she can't walk into the ER,
so I give her a piggy back ride.
and she's crying.
and choking me


after some pain meds and xrays they decide that they cannot conclusively tell me that it is for sure broken. but they can't tell me its not broken either.
something about growth plates?
so they splint her leg, fit her with crutches
and send us on our way with instructions for followup with her primary Dr on Friday.

so I called Beans and Mouth and Blue Eyes and laid it on real thick, because you see, I found out that they had not only told her that she was "being a drama queen" but they also were partly the cause of the whole mishap. you see they were "launching" her on a friends trampoline. they also made her walk across town, (about 3/4 of a mile) crying, and limping, home.



It has been a very long night.
I have another MONSTER headache.
and I have a little girl laying on the couch crying
because her foot hurts.
and my head hurts ~ oh, i already mentioned that. sorry.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

His name is Frankie

We are driving home from church this morning. the girls are all giggling in the back seat. and looking around. and giggling some more. Finally HH turns and looks at them and says, "WHAT is going on?!?" 'I can't find FRANKIE!!!' says Mouth. "Who's Frankie?" I ask. 'Ummm, my baby turtle?' she answers...

We find out that she had smuggled a turtle into her room. last week. and has had it in her bedroom. in a bucket/aquarium. she decided to bring it to church this morning. in her purse. she played with Frankie during SS. She thought Frankie had climbed out of her purse during the service (thankfully she was wrong, but here was some frantic searching going on for a bit).

So we had to make a slight detour and let poor little Frankie out of Mouth's purse and into a nice little pond. were he will be MUCH happier.

I must say. Frankie was the cutest little baby turtle I have ever seen. And Mouth was very upset when we made her let Frankie go in his new habitat. And yes, and I did check her hands and purse to make sure she wasn't hiding any more baby turtles in her purse. *note to self, make daily checks in Mouths room for turtle and frogs and salamanders* but seriously? when do they grow out of this stage? cuz its been going on with Mouth since she was 2!!!

another list of 10

10 ways to get rid of a headache:

1~ Tylenol extra strength
2~ Excedrin Extra strength
3~ Tylenol with codeine
4~ sex

contrary to popular belief, sex can actually help your headache go AWAY (I have yet to experience this, and I am thinking this was actually thought up by a male Dr who had heard a little too much "not tonight honey, I have a headache" in his life.) did you know sex can cause headaches? yeah. like passing out, throwing up, falling down, blinding headaches? yes. they can. its not fun. at all. and then HH is scared to touch you for a week.(where IS that darn filter???)

5~ sleep (I've heard this does work for most people. sadly enough, it doesn't work for me)
6~ chiropractor (thinking I may need to try this one!)
7~ massage (willing to give this a try too :)
8~ total darkness
9~ total quiet.
10~ a head transplant

hey I'm willing to try anything once :)

so random

every go to sleep with a headache? and wake up with a headache? and that pounding does NOT go away for anything? yeah. it sucks. really really bad. you know I noticed everything I write seems garbled, tons of spelling mistakes, ect (so not like me!). I guess my brain is tired of the pounding too.

Went to Pirates 4 last night :) I guess I was dumb and didn't realize it was opening weekend. and that the theater would be full. and that we would have to sit the third row from the front. did you know that sitting the third row from the front is not good when you have been battling a headache all day? and that sitting that close to a big screen like that actually makes me feel like I'm going to throw up? and that I had noticed the theater had posted a sign at the door notifying us that after the credits there is a 'short'? did you know that the credits for Pirates 4 is about 5 minutes long? a LOT of people worked on that movie. its crazy. did you know that watching credits scroll past the screen for 5 minutes makes me feel like I'm going to pass out? after I puke? yeah. probably too much information. someday I should probably remind myself that you guys probably don't want to hear all the random thoughts that go thru my mind on any given day...

I think going to sleep with a headache and waking up with a headache for 3 days straight is just too much for any person to deal with. Any suggestions?

There is nothing better than falling to sleep to the rumble of thunder, except maybe falling asleep without a headache, (as my aunt was quick to remind me)! I love the sound of thunder :) it just makes you want to cuddle up with your HH and drift off into lala land. We had thunder rumbling last night. It made me smile :)

OH! something that made me smile yesterday! we went out for supper, HH and I and a couple friends. as we are sitting there I hear a lady laughing. and she didn't quit laughing. so I started laughing. it really was funny. and she had a VERY funny laugh. then everyone else at our table figured out why I was laughing and they started giggling, sorry guys, CHUCKLING, (guys don't giggle I guess. who knew?). Seriously this lady laughed for it seemed like 5 minutes! and no one else at her table was even laughing. so then I started to think that whatever she was laughing at was only funny to her. and she was the only one laughing. and her laugh was really really funny. and they weren't even laughing at her laughing. then I started thinking how awkward it must be for her. but she kept laughing so she must not have caught on to the awkwardness of the situation? then as they were leaving someone from a different table commented on her having such a great time. and she started laughing again. and didn't stop. all the way out to the parking lot :) and I laughed with her cuz it really was too funny :D don't you love moments like that in an otherwise dull day? I do.

I love spellcheck for those days when my brain seems muddled :) don't you?

well if that isn't a post of complete randomness I don't know what is! Hope you guys a wonderful day :) I think I may go take something else for this headache of mine and go crawl under the covers and pray for some relief!

Friday, May 20, 2011

filter comes off

HH and I were laying in bed the other night. I was reading, so I had my reading light on. HH is laying there looking at me, pretty soon he pipes up and informs me that have a 'mustache' and that I should probably wax it... shut the front door!!!
Good grief! really?! well, I was stupid and decided, 'ok, I'll do it myself. at home'. stupid stupid stupid! Did you know that I am allergic to... pretty much everything under the sun? lotion? yep
deodorant? yep (i do use deodorant, I just have to find 1 that works and NEVER EVER change it!). body wash? yep. sunscreen? yep. laundry detergent? yep. so . do you suppose I would be allergic to the wax stuff? yep. I am. stupid stupid stupid! Why would I even be so dumb to try it? I know why. all because HH. yep. I lay the blame all on him. I called him. I told him what I had done for him... to make him happy. obviously he was not comfortable with his wifes amazingly hairy upper lip (honestly, you would have to use a magnifying glass to even notice it!). so I put myself thru this torture. for him.
I think I need to use that loverly home waxing kit and use it on his hairy chest :) who would like to hear a grown man scream in pain? I would ;) lol

don't get me wrong. I know that many women do wax their lip, chin, brows... ect ect ect. I don't. it hurts. stupid stupid stupid. and if any men read this they should appreciate everything their girls do to make them happy....

Here's Your Sign

We were walking out of WalMart. HH and I. We had picked up 2 rakes (cheap rakes, the BP likes to break rakes). As we are walking around in the store a man comments, "fun. looks like someone is doing yard work". hmmm, yes we are, what was your first clue? (I did not say this out loud to the man, see, there's that darn filter). We get up to the register to pay. A man laughs and says, "someone has a busy week ahead of them!! yard work!" ding ding ding ding!!! the man deserves an award!! how in the world would he know that we are going to be doing yardwork? wow, he must be pyschic!! again I did not say this to the man. I said it under my breath to HH and he started cracking up. So we walk out to the truck. We are almost to the truck. almost home free. when a man walks by and says, VERY loudly, " Oh!! someones doing yard work this week!! Sounds like fun!" I turn and look at HH and he says (to me), " Nooo! we aren't going to do any yardwork. what gives EVERYONE the idea that we would be planning on doing YARDWORK?" and why would we need everyone to point out to us that we must be planning on raking? duh~ thats what rakes are for, right? Everyone is an idiot. Here's your sign.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

~10 Things the Brat Pack has said~

drew a blank with that one. sorry. Its the best I could come up with for a blog of randomness that may not make any sense to anyone but me.

1~ So mom, is your blog when you pretend to be funny? ~ Mouth
2~ Oh look, Remington is actually being really good. He's just laying there. chewing on something. and I really don't care what he's chewing on as long as he's being good. ~ Mouth
3~ I'm glad you and dad have never gotten divorced. Cuz that would be alot of work. ~ Beans
(seriously? that comment was made right out of the blue)
4~ am I touching you? am I touching you? am I touching you? ~ Beans
as she has her finger in my face and a big smile on her face. seriously? are you 3 or something?
5~ yay! Little Brother is working with HH today!! ~ Mouth
6~ how is that good? now we have to do everything around here. ~ Beans
(made me realize how much Little Brother does around here!!!)
*sidenote~ Mouth just freaked out and kicked my coffee cup and I spilt coffee all over my computer... all because the dog had slobber on his chin. then I of course freaked out on her. sometimes I wish I had my own happy place that they weren't allowed in.
7~ you can bring a noodle too ~ Baby Sister to Beans
8~ Our happy drug is out!!! ~ Mouth
9~ what! we don't get to read it? But the whole world gets to read it?!?! that's not fair. ~ Beans after I shut the screen so she could not read what I am writing.
10~ SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!!! ~ quiet the universal expression used by Mouth
Sometimes I wish I could write whatever I wanted to write but I have this annoying tendency to filter everything b4 it gets out of my mind and onto the screen... now that'll make you wonder won't it? "hmmm, what is it that Shanan REALLY wants to say???" lol, I guess that is what my journal is for, but even that I tend to filter....

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

A post on Wednesday???

Ever get to the point where you just want to paint everything in your house white and start over with a clean slate? yeah. thats kinda how I am feeling right now. I have in my head how I want things to look. Like something out of a magazine maybe? where everything is pristine. dustfree. doghair free. no fruit snack wrappers shoved under the couch cushions. no fingerprints on the windows. dishes always done. plenty of storage.
they must have plenty of storage~ otherwise they would have a few stray sneakers laying on the rug, a beach towel hanging over the kitchen chair, a coat hanging over the back of a chair, a few random crayons laying on a table... I have concluded this by browsing many home magazines. ;)
I'm thinking a very light powder blue for my bedroom. a buttery yellow for the kitchen. a creamy white for the schoolroom (that room is SO dark). white for the livingroom...
HH will not be on board for any of these changes. I know it. He likes the more natural colors... deep greens, browns, tans, dark blues...
It was a very very very long winter. so many days without sunshine. without light. I felt like these walls were closing in on me. So I am thinking that if I make the INSIDE of my house summer all year long, then the winters won't be so hard for me...?
Whatchya' think? think it would work? I have a ton of ideas in my head. Now to make them actually work in real life. Do you think white couches would be a total impossibilty with 5 children and a dog? yeah. I'm thinking so too. Maybe slip covers would work? at least then I can throw them in the wash and bleach the daylights out of them... I invision bright, airy rooms with plenty of sunshine (and if its not really shining at least the bright rooms would make it easier for me to pretend)!!
can you hear a slight desperation in my writing? yeah. it was a very very long dreary winter. and you know me. I need my happy drug. and winters here, you can go a week or more without seeing it. then I get crabby. very crabby. and my creative juices die. its not a good thing.
I'll let you know how this goes over with HH... maybe I'll start posting pictures around the house of bright airy rooms. thats what I'll do! I'll rip pages out of my magazines and post them on the kitchen walls, the porch walls, the livingroom, the bedroom.... yep. think he'll even notice? ;) probably not. but then I can say, all innocently and all, "but Honey, I had all the pics posted on the walls of what I wanted to do. you never said you DIDN"T like it." ;) think that'll work? yeah. I'm not thinking so either.

what a great segway into my newest list of 10 ;)

10 redecorating ideas:

1~ re paint in bright airy colors
2~ slipcovers for couches
3~ curtains, blues, yellows, ect
4~ new flooring!! hardwood? (a girl can dream right?)
5~ light colored rugs
6~ quilt for my bed... pastels!
7~ fresh flowers! in all rooms!
8~ put undercabinet lights in kitchen
9~ take off panelling in bathroom and paint!
10~ sand down desk in livingroom and paint WHITE!


*sidenote~ Beans just read this post, wrinkled her nose, looked at Mouth and said, "she wants to turn our house into a girly house." :P I guess I have my work cut out for me.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

the best choices for breakfast (10)

1~ english muffin with cream cheese
2~ bisquits and apple butter
3~ captain crunch cereal with milk
4~ toast and rasberry jam
5~ leftover pizza
6~ strawberry banana blueberry smoothie
7~ apple pancakes with maple syrup
8~ cottage cheese and peaches
9~ coffee coffee coffee
10~ eggs, bacon and bisquits


I must confess, breakfast is a meal that I very rarely eat.
But the Pack must eat! These are a few of their favorites.
except for #9, thats my breakfast of choice ;)