Dec. 4, 2009
Simplifying the Blogs
|
Hello Friends, Just a short note to let those who read my blog know, that I'm only going to be blogging on one blog site from now on. It seemed simple enough to cut and paste to the 4 that I've had (different audiences), but then when I started adding pictures, well, that became more time consuming, and it has been more time consuming than originally planned. So, if anyone is interested, in what I or my husband "Hannimal" (he does show up in my stories occasionally, however not in my pictures at his request) and our kids are up to, you can read about it at this site http://bagelslifehomeschool.blogspot.com/ If you are not already one of my FB "friends" and would like to be, you can leave me a message here with your name and I'll give you mine. ~Lisa |
Oct. 18, 2009
The Perspective of the Vertically Challenged Spouse (or short person)
|
What prompted the idea for this subject was my needing to get a bottle of V-8 juice off of a high shelf, put there by my husband. When we were putting groceries away, he put the juice on the shelf closest to the ceiling in our laundry room and even though I had a step stool (the kind that has a fold down seat on top), I still needed to climb on top of the washing machine, to reach it. This isn't the first time I've had an issue like this. To clarify, I'm not a little person (like on TLC's "Little People, Big World"). I'm just an average short person. I'm 5 feet, 3.5 inches tall. I just barely still qualify to buy "petite" clothes (the pants tend to be slightly too short if I buy them in that size so I buy "Average" and hem them a bit). My husband is nearly a whole foot taller than me. So he's looking at life and looking at things from a different perspective, literally. Putting away groceries that I would regularly use, more than he would, is just one of our differences. Just as he's not thinking to put things lower, I dont think to look for things higher than my eye level. There have been several times when I've looked in our refrigerator for what I know is a full jug of milk or juice, that should be there, and isn't. I can look everywhere, within my eye level or below and not find it until maybe I happen to look up and find the item on top of the fridge. What usually happens in this case is that my husband will need something in the refrigerator that is in the back, so he'll take out the milk or juice that is in front of it, put it up on top of the fridge, and then forget to put it back. Since I'm not looking up high for milk or juice on top of the fridge, I usually don't find it until the beverage is warm (or until it falls on my head when I open the refrigerator. No brain injury yet)). It's something for us both to improve on. My need to adjust to living with taller people didn't start when I married. I was born to taller parents. My dad was nearly 5' 11", and my mother was nearly 5' 9" (she wore 3" heels most of the time and wore her hair rather poofy which made her look taller). When I was little, it was assumed that I would be taller like my parents. My mother calculated my full height when I was two, using a formula she found in my baby book. Using those calculations, the results showed that I would be the height that I am now. She reconfigured it several times because "certainly she can't be THAT short!". But, my paternal grandmother's gene pool kicked in (she was just over 5' 2") and I never became a tall person. My grandma would tell me several times, "I stopped growing when I was 12 and so will you" and "You'll never be taller than me". Well I did stop growing when I was 12. Until then, I was a little taller than all of my friends, and then when I stopped growing, they all started. Within one year after my 12th birthday, all of my friends were significantly taller than me. From then on, I felt the need to remind the adults at church and school (actually the same place) that I was still the same age as my friends. Because I was shorter, it was suddenly assumed that I was younger. When we went on field trips and had to take separate cars, there were many times I was sent to ride in the car designated for "the younger students". If we had to stand according to height for a picture or class presentation, the shorter row was referred to as "the younger students". A friend of mine who went to that same school always remembers that I was a stickler about letting folks know that I was older than my friends. She was surprised that it didn't seem to be an issue with me now. Well when you're grown, and so is everyone else, no one is mistaking you for being a 6th grader when you're in high school (and when you turn 40, you really don't mind if people think that you're younger!). Living with a tall parent was a challenge for both of us. My mom would put things up high because that is where she'd look for them (just like the situation that I live in now) and I rarely ever did unless she told me to. When I would walk with her, she took longer strides, so I had to race walk to keep up with her. She heard a song about short people on a tv show, and liked to tease me by singing that song. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a song about tall people to sing back to her. I think that being shorter hindered my mother from seeing me as an adult as well. She really didn't see me as an adult, until I was 26, when I married. Until then, I was little and still viewed as a little girl. I think that my aunt's view of me was the same as my mother's because once I married, she didn't know how to relate to me or talk to me at all. People who had known me since I was 2, assumed that I would be tall like my mom and would assume that I was in 6th grade and would say "Oh, you have plenty of time to grow" and "You're going to be tall like your mother" and when I'd say that I quit growing, they'd ask, "Well how old are you now" and I'd say, "Twenty", to which they'd stop smiling and say "oh". Now being short or "vertically challenged" (as a former co-worker told me once), has brought on some interesting requests. We're asked to look under things more because I guess it's easier for us or because we're closer to the ground. The oddest request that I've ever had was from a tall female coworker. I used to work in a grocery store deli, and we saw alot of male customers or venders during the day, and this coworker always managed to see someone who she thought was cute, and she wanted to look her best when he came by our counter (we were wearing greasy aprons and smelling like fried chicken, jo-jo's & bleach, how could we really improve on that?). Anyway, any time "cute" guy was heading our way, she'd ask "Lisa, quick! Look! Do I have boogers up my nose?" Yes, that's right, apparently short people can be "booger inspectors" for tall folks. I never did put THAT on my resume! I guess that being shorter is also something that is sometime envied a little. Something that my mom told me on many occasions, was that "at least you won't have to worry about finding a husband who is taller than you". I guess she was right. I found one who is quite a bit taller. Tall enough to get the things off of those high shelves..........the things that he originally put up there. I don't have a picture to coincide with this blog entry. I thought that I could take a picture of myself next to my actual height on the measuring tape, but I just don't feel like taking the time to do that. I could also post a picture of my husband and myself to show our height difference, however, he really doesn't like me to post pictures of him because he doesn't think that he photographs well (I think that he looks fine, but I'll respect his wishes..........for now). Lp |
Oct. 9, 2009
Which Would Be A Better Description?
|
This morning, I commented to Kevin that I was "going to make breakfast for the scholars". He thought I had said that I was going to make breakfast for the "stallers". I suppose that both terms would adequately describe our kids. They are still students, but they certainly try to find ways to postpone school. Lp |
Oct. 7, 2009
Fall Weather is Soup Weather
|
All through September, we had Summertime weather. The kind of weather that maybe has a crisp chilly nip in the morning and is 90 degrees by dinnertime. Picnic weather. We're now in the first week of October and the weather has drastically changed to being very cold if, not close to freezing at night (and despite this, my husband is still too warm, wearing shorts, and still has the AC on in our room at night). When the temperature drops, I start thinking about soups. For the past week, I've made some soups and a large batch of spaghetti sauce for the freezer, and this year, some of the ingredients came from our garden. I also found an article in the latest issue of Better Homes & Gardens (publisher of my favorite cookbook), on how to organize your freezer better. So I'm working toward a goal of having an organized freezer and utilizing as much space and still have easy access to everything in there (without having something fall out, landing on my foot), using the ideas in that article. Hopefully in my next blog (or the one after that), I'll have a picture to post of the newly organized freezer. So this week, I'm working on round two of cooking for the freezer. Today's feature: Split Pea Soup (one of my husband's favorites). Ep |
Aug. 8, 2009
Triggered Memories
|
Today, my daughter and I went clothes shopping, for her. She turned 13 earlier this week, and besides having all three "High School Musical" movies on her birthday list, she also asked for gift cards to certain stores. So I have a teenager now, who is more interested in her clothes than she used to be. For the first 10-11 years, I didn't have to take her clothes shopping, and she wasn't really interested. I could go to the store and if I saw something that I thought was cute or had a "Winnie the Pooh" character on it, I could buy it, bring it home and she'd think that it was so cool. Now, she has an opinion about what she likes and what she wears. So now, even though she doesn't like it, she has to go through the racks and try things on to see how they fit and look. And I can rarely pick anything out that I think she'd like, even if it's in the Juniors dept. because what I like, she usually doesn't. So today, I'd hold up something that I thought she might like, and if she looked like she was having to think of a way to let me down gently, I quickly put it back on the rack. I did pick a few that she liked (but they didn't fit right when she tried them on). By the time we were ready to go to the fitting room, I noticed that the majority of items in the cart were bright pink (her new favorite color) She did come out of the store though with a pair of pants and 4 tops and a "High School Musical" quilt that she was very happy with. Just in time for Fall. Then we went to the local earring store geared toward selling costume jewelry to preteens & teens, and found a pair that she liked (and she knew that I would never ask to borrow them). We went to another store to look at shoes and two other stores to look at CD's. We were only gone for about three and a half hours, and we were both exhausted. So this had me thinking back to when I was her age. When I would go and visit my grandparents (on my father's side), there would be at least one day in the visit when we would "go to town". My grandparents lived in a small town and the closest shopping mall was in the town I live in now which was close to a half hour drive away from them. On the "town days" we'd spruce up, put on our nicer clothes, and drive in to town and make a day of it. There were stores still in the downtown mall (walking from store to store was outdoors) and then there was the indoor mall. We'd manage to shop at both places. At the indoor mall, my granddad would sit in the middle of the mall on the benches with the other husbands, waiting for their wives to bring their purchases to them to take out to the car, while the wives went back to shopping. I'd almost always come home with new clothes. My parents were divorced and I lived with my mom, who didn't make alot of money, so the new clothes were always appreciated. Anyway, we would be out shopping all day, and then we'd come home at around dinnertime and my grandma would make some supper and then we'd relax in the evening. So, after today's afternoon excursion, I started wondering, was my grandma as tired after our shopping trips, as I was today after being out for just the afternoon. If she was, she never showed it. I'll have to call her and ask her. She'll probably chuckle at me. :) Lp |
Jul. 24, 2009
My Girl is home!
|
Today is the day we've been waiting for here. Heather is home from camp! When the bus arrived at the church, Kylin was VERY excited. During this whole week, he pretty much had his parents to himself. And for as much as he probably liked that, he's used to having his sister to entertain him or to relate to. Heather was VERY tired. She was kept very, very busy at camp. Once in the car, Kylin had no trouble fitting back into the norm of finding things to correct or contradict about his sister. After we arrived home, she called a friend, I sorted her laundry. Then we went to the DQ for Blizzards to celebrate her homecoming. I brought home a Peanut Buster Parfait made with chocolate soft serve for Kevin (at his request) to enjoy after he came home from work. Tonight, I made mini pizzas for the kids while they watched "Finding Nemo" (Kylin's choice for Family night). Heather was really too tired to watch. She was parked on the couch under a blanket, ready to doze off. While everyone was watching the movie, I went out to pick the blueberries as I had noticed the other day that the bluejays, seem to be getting a free meal in our yard. After I was through picking those berries, I was passing by the garden on the way to the house and notice that there were more raspberries, green beans and some tomatoes ready to be harvested as well. So I spent some time in the garden taking care of that. I still need to go back as there are more than could fit in the bowl that I had. And finally, something that I've been thinking about off and on for most of the week. Today would have been my mom's 66th birthday, and thinking about that just made me wonder what she would be like now. She passed away 13 years ago, about 3 months before her first grandchild (my daughter) was born. At that time, her skin was still pretty smooth, and her hair was salt & pepper gray (more salt than pepper I think). I wonder if it would be all white now, and if so, would she be coloring it or let it be whatever it naturally is? I wonder what kind of grandmother she would have been to my kids? And how often would she remind me of what kind of a kid I had been when I was my daughter's age and make the constant comparisons? Before she died, she would call me every day to see if I had listened to Dr. Dobson that day on the radio. I didn't have children yet, but I bet that if she were still alive, she'd probably really urge me even more so to tune in to his show. She'd probably come over alot, if not every day, to see what was new. I think that she would have probably gotten quite a kick out of Heather. I think that with Kylin, she'd probably shake her head in bewilderment at least once during the visit and comment about his energy. She would have loved them though. I think that she would have liked them too. If she were still here, she probably would have wanted to ride out to the church with us today to see Heather get off of the bus from camp Happy Birthday Mom. Lp |
Jul. 18, 2009
Stay Cool!
|
The A/C is finally in!!! Kevin hadn't been able to find anyone to help him build a platform for it, so he installed the mounting bracket in the window sill. Hopefully by next year, we'll be able to build the platform to better support the unit. But now, we're enjoying a cooler house. It's been in the 90's for the past few days and it's supposed to stay that way for another week. Yaaaay!!! Today, I visited with my friend Carrie and her husband. They were house-sitting for his parents, who live near me, while they were camping with all of their grandchildren and nieces & nephews who are around the same age. Tonight, Heather and I taught in the 2s & 3s class at church. We had only two little boys, and they seemed to play well together so it was a fairly calm time. Toward the end of the class, Kylin was brought by his teacher to my class because he was spinning in circles and singing his songs about 911 calls loud enough that the teacher couldn't finish the lesson. Generally disruptive. So she brought him to me. Once we arrived home, I told Kevin what had happened and he spoke with Kylin about how he is expected to behave in church and in public. So that's pretty much about all for today. Lp |
Jul. 16, 2009
Another hot day
|
Sooooo, today, it's really hot, in the 90's, and we don't have the A/C. It's the kind of hot in which you can just sit on the couch doing nothing, and you sweat anyway. Kevin was home today, not feeling well. Yesterday, he had a CT scan to see what is causing all of this pain in his left side and abdomen. A doctor who he hadn't seen, called back with the preliminary results which indicate that nothing is wrong. Various friends are saying that it sounds like gallstones, and tell him to insist on getting an ultra sound. He can't get into see a doctor until Monday. I'm prepared to take him to the ER if he feels the need to go before then. I did venture out today and bought paint for the kitchen. I'm hoping to do that project next week while Heather is at camp. I did buy some Otterpops for the kids while I was at the store too. For as much as I'm trying to avoid sugar, I'm having a bit of a "sugarfest". Frozen popcicles certainly help a person keep cool. I did get some sewing done as well. I have a project that I'm working on and maybe after next weekend, I'll post a picture of what it is. Lp |
Jul. 15, 2009
A Babbling Blog
|
I'm trying to blog more often. However, when I do, I always feel like I should blog about some event or something major that happened. But I've seen people blog about everything under the sun (I've read some blogs that have me thinking, "Whoa, I don't think I could share something THAT personal!" But some folks do). Today, Kevin took the car to work. We only have one car to share and usually on Mondays & Fridays, he takes it to work, and the other days, he'll take the bus and leave the car home. When we first married, we had two cars, however, mine (a '77 Ford Grenada) was no longer running. He had a little Nissan pick up ('84 I think) and it was not an automatic, and for some reason, the seat wouldn't move forward very well, so I couldn't really drive it. So Kevin did the majority of the driving until we had a baby on the way and needed a working car with a back seat. The only time we had two cars was for a 9 month period when Kevin had another truck and I had a minivan (the nicest car I've ever had and by then we had two kids and needed more room). Anyway, we're back to one car. Maybe one day, I'll blog about my car history. So this morning, the kids and I went for a walk. I try to get a 30 minute walk in every day. I started taking my son with me because he's just so full of energy, I thought that perhaps a walk would help burn some of that. I started taking my daughter with us because, well it's exercise and can go toward PE credit. Kylin, likes to announce every car that comes by, and what make and model it is. He likes to also announce everything he sees in every yard, on the street, every berry vine, etc. Heather, is anxious to get back home and for the walk to be over. The one thing that does catch her eye when she's out is a cat. She loves cats! Also during the morning (and sometimes it's in the afternoon too), we do have school during the summer. It's not a tight schedule, due to errands, and Regal Cinema's showing of free movies two mornings per week (free air conditioning on those hot days when you don't have an A/C installed in your house). Yesterday, was our day to see the free movie. It was also the day that we went to the library. And the day to go to the store and get some last minute things for Heather to pack for camp (She's packed & repacked a few times already, and I still need to check and make sure that she packed everything that she needs). And we had to return the last of the soda bottles & cans collected to raise money for her to go to camp. So after a busy day like yesterday, I'm happy to be home today. Just happy to not have to be anywhere. I can get some much needed things done, like blanching and freezing the produce from the garden, and try to get some areas organized. The only place that I needed to go to was church tonight. Heather had her youth group and Kylin had a boys class (which I sat in on with him because lately, he doesn't want to go and acts up in class sometimes, but he can't stay home with Kevin because he's a handful and Kevin hasn't been feeling well at all). I also had to turn in Heather's money & paperwork for camp. She's all set to go now. On Monday, she'll be off to have fun. So now, we're home from church, the kids are asleep in bed (I know that Heather is, and I think that Kylin is because I haven't heard from him for at least an hour). I did have to drive up to the local little market (Dari-Mart) for more milk (chocolate milk for Kevin, which Heather heard about and said, "I hope he shares!"). I bought myself a little ice cream too. Now it's time to sleep. I have no plans to go anywhere tomorrow. However, we'll have the car, and when the car is here, there's always a reason to go somewhere. |
Jul. 10, 2009
Busy, Busy, Busy July
|
So Summer arrived without much fanfare, at least not here. We're still having some school during the summer so the kids won't have a harder time getting into a routine in the fall. Heather leaves for a week of camp in just over one week. It'll be a quiet week here. I'll miss her and Kylin will too. For as much as Kylin gets easily annoyed with his older sister, he does miss her when she's gone. On the other hand, Heather is very excited. She has a whole week of fun and no interference by her brother. We recently had Kylin tested to see where his strengths and weaknesses (in behavior, academic and intellect). It's called an SOI (Structure of Intellect). He scored extremely high in art and drawing (we knew he would). There are some exercises (Sensory Integration) that we were given to work with him on so as to stimulate his brain to make some connections that it hadn't been. The first one that I tried on him was pretty much like massaging his hands. He was in a sour mood to start with, and he wanted me to "be done", but at the same time, his eyelids were drooping. He was calm for at least an hour. Maybe I should massage his hands just before he goes to bed. Maybe he'll get to sleep quicker! Something that I thought I'd do, since we have a trip to Crater Lake coming up and alot to do before that trip, is to put my "to do" list on my blog (everytime I write one down on paper, it gets lost or else someone throws it away). So, here it goes: ~July~ -Make reservations, and send invites & order a cake for Heather's birthday party -Get a gift ready for Nephew #1 (he's turning 2 near the end of this month) -Finish shopping for Heather's birthday and for her week at camp -Purge broken or neglected toys out of the kids rooms -Sort through older magazines & donate to friends or the library -Buy or make valences for the dining room & kitchen ~August~ -Paint dining room & kitchen -harvest and preserve the produce from the garden -Clean out garage -A trip or two to the Goodwill to donate -Make a new school schedule for the new school year -Make lesson plans for the Fall semester -Get cooler cleaned and ready to hold snacks & beverages for the trip -Shop for snacks for trip -Gather some DVD's for the mini player (which the kids will be more interested in while traveling) -Pack, pack, pack This list is more or less a list of goals for me before the summer is over. Some things (like the painting) may not happen until after we get home. My husband has been not feeling well for the past 3 weeks, so I've been a bit busier taking care of my own chores as well as some of the ones he'd normally be doing. He's been to the doctor (actually 2 so far) who gave him some meds. I hope that they work. It's a bummer to spend your summer feeling sick. So that's really the end of my report. I'm off to cut out some fabric to make more pj's for the kids! Lp |
Jun. 3, 2009
My Son's 911 Incident
|
Here's something funny that happened today. Kylin didn't want to go to church tonight. In the past, if he doesn't want to do something, he'll threaten to call the police or call 911 (and we have told him every time that cops aren't going to come and let him skip school, or make his sister do what he wants etc). So today, he dialed 911 on his cell phones, that have no service. He didn't know that even cell phones with no service can still call 911 (and I didn't realize that he was doing so). So a little after 5:00 this evening, a Lane County Sheriff's deputy showed up at our door investigating 8 incomplete 911 calls coming from our house. I called Kylin to the door and asked if he had called 911. He said that he did so the car would be towed and then we wouldn't be able to go to church. Having a cop show up at the door sort of scared him I think. The officer told him that calling 911 when it wasn't an emergency was a crime. Kylin was a bit shaken up after that (a real cop showed up at the house and seriously spoke to him!) and he was very mellow and cooperative the rest of the night!. And we did go to church. He is embarrassed about it now and doesn't want us talking about it. I told Kevin about it when he came home this evening and he thought it was really funny. I had to fight off the giggles in the car driving to church! | |
May. 20, 2009
Just a little over 11 years ago
|
About a month after our daughter's first birthday, my husband & I discovered that she was not going to be an only child. When we found this news out, we were still in our duplex, surrounded by packing boxes, because we had just bought our first house (which is the house we still live in today) and we were moving that week. Two new starts, a new house and a new baby. So during this pregnancy, we discovered that it was going to be a boy, and that he had a cyst in his brain. The cyst issue eventually resolved itself in a few weeks, but not before 3 more ultrasounds and a meeting with a genetic specialist. | |
May. 8, 2009
He'd Rather Draw
|
Lp |
Mar. 8, 2009
A Few Funny Quirks and Other Things
|
Our 10 year old son, Kylin, doesn't always hear things in the way or manner that they were spoken. He also tends to use words or phrases that don't always mean what he thinks they do. A couple of examples: A few months ago, something came on the TV that the kids didn't need to see, so I told them to "avert your eyes". Kylin repeated it as "INVERT" your eyes. Kind of hard to do! He has it straight now though. Several times if there is something that he shouldn't see or doesn't want to see, he'll say "avert your eyes!". Another example happened yesterday. I gave him the job of cleaning the toilet and it quickly became apparent that he needed some more guidance in that job. So my husband was showing him how to clean it and when I walked by the bathroom, Kylin said, "We're organizing the toilet!". Lately, we've been doing some decluttering and reorganizing and cleaning, so he assumed that "organizing" was synonymous with "cleaning". I guess he's partially right. But the joke for the rest of the day was "how do you organize a toilet?" Since this weekend was the time to change the clocks ahead, Kylin also reminded us that it was time to check the smoke alarms. The boy thrives on a schedule and remembers when things are supposed to happen, like checking the alarms. So Kevin checked them and the boy is happy and won't remind us again until November. I wish that he was as much of a stickler about the need to do his schoolwork. Heather has been known to say and do some funny things, but she's at the age where she'd be mortified if I blogged about them. I'm sure that I've done things unintentionally to embarrass her, so I really try not to do it on purpose! However, the most recent thing that I did with Heather was to take her to see Kutless in concert. Concerts I had been to in the past were for Don Francisco, B.J. Thomas, Charley Pride (I was really little then), and Weird Al Yankovic. Fairly mellow, great acoustics, not too loud. The Kutless concert was held in a church that was built with the intention of having concerts, but this group and the opening acts were rather loud (and there was a lot of screaming...something else I wasn't used to). It was so loud that I felt the audience was absorbing the volume. I had to laugh at one of the groups though. Long hair shaking all over the place and screaming rap (I wasn't expecting that and neither was Heather). I was sitting in the back, where parents sit. My first concert as a parent. I felt a little old (but I'm not old, I'm only 40, and that isn't old!). We're going to see the Newsboys in a couple of weeks. I like them, and I'm hoping for better acoustics and hoping that the opening acts won't scream at me....too much. Lp |
Jan. 30, 2009
The End of the First Month
 So January is coming to a close and I'm already feeling that time is moving too fast........because it is. We're enjoying the dining room set immensely! About a week after the dining room set arrived, my father-in-law brought over my mother-in-law's curio cabinet and it's sitting in the dining room now. Already the way the house looks is improving! The next few pieces of furniture that are due to come soon are "new" dressers for Kevin and I. So I've moved my dresser into my son's room (because he's been lacking a real dresser for a few years, because he was too rough on the last one he had, I think he's ready for a real one again....I hope). So I'm currently living out of a couple of suitcases that are sitting in our closet (which one of our cats seems to want to use as his bed). We're also getting night tables. So mine is emptied out and moved into my son's room. My intention is to paint before any new furniture moves in, because right now, we actually have space to walk around and move the bed in order to paint walls. The fast that I mentioned in my last post is nearly over (just in time for SuperBowl and all of the treats that go with that......my daughter has requested Oreos........I will try to resist those.......or most of them!). It's time to shop for some sugar (not much though)! Lp |
Jan. 15, 2009
January 15, 2009
|
It's nearly 2 1/2 weeks into the new year. We're back on our "schedule". School is back in full swing. As I'm typing, my son is giving me the verbal inventory of his CARS collection (it's not the first time I've heard it either). My church is doing a "Daniel Fast" which means that we are fasting caffeine (missing my coffee), meat (not a problem right now as I'm a vegetarian) sugar (really missing this too), cutting back on tv etc. So far, one week into it, we're doing alright. At the beginning of the fast, my husband (who is not participating) offered to buy me a coffee (and I let him, it was my last one) and then made a joke about being the little devil on my shoulder trying to tempt me into breaking the fast. Before anyone might possibly get offended by his doing that, he was joking. In the past, he's been rather understanding and has never intentionally tried to get me to break the fast. The table and chairs that I mentioned in my last post have arrived. They are sooooo nice and they were so well taken care of that they seem practically new. I discovered that I like Hummus this week. I was at a ladies Bible study and one of the snacks that was brought had it. Very tasty! On a lighter note, at 9AM today when I announced that it was time for school to start, my son was rather distressed because his clock was about 5 minutes behind so he thought that I should wait for school until his clock read 9:00. He said that the other clocks in the house were experiencing "technical difficulties". Suuuuuuuure........ Lp |
Jan. 1, 2009
Happy New Year! Welcome 2009
|
So, the first full day of the new year is nearly over. The 3 packages of cookies (chocolate stuffed Oreos, Nutter Butters, and Keibler Grasshopper cookies) are now gone (hallelujah! no longer a temptation to snack on!), the Christmas decorations are packed away and the tree is out. Our dining area (where the tree was) looks rather empty......for now (my father-in-law is giving us his dining room table as he's getting a new one, and as soon as he finds out that our tree is down, he'll bring it over). New Years Eve seemed to be rather long. Maybe it was because this year, we told the kids that they could stay up until midnight. They were very excited and had certain foods that they wanted to snack on (hence the cookies!). We thought we'd try a cheese fondue this year as well (Kylin reminded me that he didn't want to dip anything in cheese sauce......he has issues with sauces on his food......except for macaroni & cheese). I also made some artichoke dip (very close to what serve at the Olive Garden). Kevin declared it very tasty. The kids chose the movies to watch. By 9PM I was beginning to wonder how wise it was to let my son stay up so late. Kevin and I were already tired and Kylin was pretty sugared up and busy. Kevin took a nap at some point and I read a book until about 11. From then on, we watched Dick Clark's New Year's eve special and the kids watched the ball drop in Times Square. We had hoped that the kids would sleep in this morning. I think they managed to sleep until 8. We would have liked for them to sleep in longer, so we could sleep in longer. We have 2 more days to sleep in (I can't on Sunday), and then Kevin's vacation is over, he goes back to work and the kids start school back up again. This "vacation" of Kevin's was so busy that it really doesn't feel like we had one. Maybe the next time he has vacation time, we can relax a bit more. On another note, my desk seems to be the place for the cats to take naps. As I'm typing, I have one cat snoozing on my monitor, with her tail swishing across the screen, and another cat who is snoozing so close to my mouse, that when I'm using the mouse, the cat decides to rest his head on my hand like it's a pillow. I'm not a huge cat fan, but I tolerate these "rugs". They are a bit entertaining at times. Lp |
Dec. 28, 2008
Thinking about 2008 and 2009
|
Another year is coming to a close and it's about this time every year that has me wondering what the new year will bring. And as I get older, each year progresses faster than the year before (something my dad told me would happen back when I was in Jr. High). This past year has been an interesting one. It started off well and then life threw a bomb at me that I wasn't expecting, and it's taken the rest of the year to recover from that. LIfe happens when you're making plans or think that you have things all figured out. So for this year, and the years after that, I have no intention of making resolutions that will frustrate me if I don't keep them in the time span of a year. I'll make goals and give my self a bit more time to accomplish them. I won't say what those goals are because I've discovered that if you tell people what you're trying to accomplish (such as losing weight), then they constantly ask you about it ("How's that diet coming?") or try to "help" you ("Is that slice of bread on your diet?"). So, I guess, as I reach each of my goals, I'll write about them then. 2008 started off alright, and then at the very end of January we lost my Granddad Lloyd. He was one half of my favorite set of grandparents. He'd had dementia for quite awhile and finally had to move to a facility. I did visit him two weeks before he passed and he knew who I was (he didn't know my name but he knew that I was his granddaughter) . So February started with a funeral for us. My granddad was flight instructor in the Air Force during WW2 (he didn't want to crawl on the ground like the Army so he joined the AF and graduated at the top of his class). He was a dairy farmer and was very successful at it (Last month I met a guy who grew up drinking milk from Lloyd's Dairy). He liked to build things (bunkbed for my dolls, a playhouse for my sister, rigging a swing off of the back patio with some rope and a flat piece of wood). Granddad Lloyd loved my grandma very much (he once told me that he would look my grandma and just think about how lucky he was that she chose him), and he loved his family, and we all miss him very much. On a lighter note, we also saw Bill Cosby perform a show at the Hult Center. He was really entertaining and definitely worth the money we spent on the tickets. In the Spring, my "baby" turned 10 and we celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary by going to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Such a disappointment (the movie, not the anniversary). In the summer, my grandma turned 90, my nephew turned 1, my daughter turned 12 and my dad turned 66. That's about the extent of our excitement. Oh, yeah, Kevin went to a concert up in Portland as well. So he had a little more excitement. We had many hot days, and always thankful for our air conditioner! It would have been really nice if we could have traveled somewhere, however the price of gas was a bit much for us. My sister-in-law, Lorrie, came to visit in the Fall to spend time with my mother-in-law who has Alzheimer's. Just before Thanksgiving, my MIL moved to a care facility for Alzheimer's patients. It's quite an adjustment for everyone, but mostly on her. Just a couple of weeks ago, I turned 40. During the two weeks before my birthday, I really wasn't happy about the new number, but now I'm ok, and life is moving along. My husband tried to have a surprise birthday party for me, however I found out about it one week before it was scheduled. Then it was postponed due to snow that was supposed to come on that day (and didn't until the next day), and then it was cancelled due to weather again. He felt rather bad that the birthday party didn't happen, and I appreciate him for trying. I suggested that he wait until my 50th. Christmas has come and gone, and now I'm feeling a great need to put the decorations away and clean and organize around the house. If we do anything for the new year, I really hope that we're able to travel somewhere. We've talked about possibly going to Crater Lake. That would be fun. I haven't been there since Heather was 10 months old. She has no memory of the trip and Kylin hasn't even been there. There has also been talk about going to see some waterfalls as well. Both destinations would give me a chance to practice taking some awesome pictures with my camera! So hopefully, in the new year, I'll have some interesting things to blog about as I try to meet some goals, major and minor. Lp |
Dec. 17, 2008
Day 3 of Snow
|
We're sort of in a lull between snowfall sessions. It's still very cold outside. More snow is supposed to arrive in a couple of hours with freezing rain this afternoon and then more snow this evening. The weather guy also commented that we could have a white Christmas after all. I just hope that the roads are safe to drive on by then. Another concern that we have about this weather is that one of our cats never came in last night. Kevin went out to look for him and he never turned up. So hopefully little Emmett found a warm place to spend the night. He loves the outdoors but he usually comes in at night. Hopefully he'll turn up today. Since we knew this freezing rain was coming, Kevin braved the roads and made a store run for things to get us by in case we were housebound for more than a couple of days. Even though other kids are having no school or delayed school, my kids are still having school today. One of the perks of homeschooling. Unless they're sick, they shouldn't have a problem getting to school (the kitchen table or tv trays in the living room). On another note, I cut and paste my blog on 3 other sites. Someone had commented about yesterday's blog and had asked me if as I had gotten older, did I wish that I had had more children, as that's how she was feeling at having just turned 39 and had two older kids. Since she posted anonymously and I couldn't find her blog page to answer her, I'll answer in this general blog here, and hope that she sees it. So, yes, I do wish that I had more children. I'm very thankful for the two that I have, but one of those dreams that had died for me was to have a larger family. I was an only child for most of my childhood (my sister came along when I was nearly 15, quite a large age difference there) and I didn't care for not having siblings. After my second child, we had two more opportunities to have another child (but they didn't make it) and we even tried to adopt and that didn't happen either. So, yes, I do wish that I had had more children. So, there's the latest................. so far. The snow saga continues. Lp |
Dec. 16, 2008
The 40's have begun!
Well, this is my first post as a 40 year old, and I don't feel any different! For the past two days that I've been 40, I've been ok with the new number. When September first arrived, I knew that this day was coming, but it didn't bother me that much. I was busy enjoying Fall, teaching my kids, running my errands etc. Then about two weeks ago, it hit me that I was almost to the middle of my life (I plan to live to be 100  ) and I wasn't at the place in my life where I had hoped to be at this age. When I turned 30, I was just fine with it because I was where I had hoped to be at that age. However the past 10 years brought with it unexpected things that weren't pleasant at all, and pretty much changed the course of how life went and the dreams that I had had, slowly died, and at times I have felt like I was dying inside as well. If I didn't have Christ in my life to depend on, I don't know what kind of choices I could have made. God hasn't "rescued" me from the hard times and the difficult issues, but He's certainly helped me through them and is still helping me. (ok, this is probably the end of the not-so-perky-depressing part of this post). So 40 was coming whether I liked it or not. My sister-in-law and another friend have told me that the 40's are much better than the 30's. I hope so, or it'll be a dull ride. I've also heard that the 40's go by fast. They did for my dad, but I think that had a lot to do with the fact that he was busy raising my sister and watching her get older and not necessarily realizing that he was also getting older. I really hope that the 40's don't fly by so fast that I reach 50 and wonder "where did that time go?" So, anyway, my birthday started kind of early. We were supposed to have some snow, and I woke up early (on my own, because I just don't have the ability anymore to sleep in), peeked out of the window into the semi-dark early morning and I could tell that the back yard was still green and not white. My husband sleepily asked if I saw any snow and was disappointed when I said "no". He was able to sleep in a bit longer, I couldn't. I did finally doze off after Kevin left to make breakfast for me (as the routine goes, Kevin cooks and serves breakfast in bed on my birthday and Mother's day). I didn't doze for long because I could hear the kids talking to Kevin as he was cooking. While I waited, my dad called and I visited with him. I think that he's had a harder time with me being 40 than I was. He just can't believe that he has a kid who's 40. He still feels like he's the one who should be 40 still. Our chat ended just before breakfast arrived. Breakfast consisted of biscuits & gravy, vegetarian sausage, fried eggs and O'Bryan potatoes (I love potatoes for breakfast!) and a vanilla latte, and several presents. My husband gave me a card that reads "More and More over the years, you and I see things the same way. We hold them up close and squint". The snow that was forecasted for my birthday, didn't come. It was pretty cold, and I stayed home because I didn't want to go somewhere and then have it snow while I was out and then have to drive home in it (for anyone who might be reading this, we only get snow about once per year and it never lasts long so we're not well practiced in the art of driving in the snow and we all tend to stay home and close schools). I just kind of relaxed a bit during the day, sitting on the couch watching "Gilmore Girls". While I was watching that, Kevin made a birthday cake (from "scratches" he said as he scratched the box of cake mix--funny guy!) So I had a very good birthday and 40 doesn't look so dreadful after all.  The snow finally came yesterday. I realized just how ill prepared we were for it. Last year for Christmas, we bought the kids snow gloves (after so many years of knitted gloves, we thought that they might like being in the snow longer if their hands weren't cold and wet) and we kept them in the kids dressers. So yesterday, the snow is here, and the gloves aren't in the drawers and we can only find one. So, the kids went out in knitted gloves and they were cold and wet, and the snow wasn't rolling right for a snowman (according to my daughter) and they were back in the house within 15 minutes. My son decided that he will stay in the house for the duration of the snow. So, I'm on the alert and looking out for the missing gloves (and other gear) so snow will hopefully be more enjoyable to them. While the kids were outside, I came out with my camera and took pictures of the white neighborhood. The kids noticed that a hummingbird was at the feeder and were calling for me to take a picture. I've only seen a hummingbird at the house 3 times in the 11 years we've lived here and this one hung around to have his picture taken which was cool. I was able to take about 5 pictures of him while he was in our maple tree. I hope that the little guy stayed in the tree because there were 5 cats roaming around on the ground below who would have loved to have him for a snack!  So today is day two of the snow. Yesterday, the roads were more icy and the bus that Kevin was riding to work bumped into the curb a few times. After work, Kevin had to wait in the freezing cold nearly an hour for his bus to arrive to take him home. He was pretty cold when he finally arrived home. This morning, it was 11 degrees outside. Kevin told me later that the roads were better and he made it to work on time. So, that's the latest update here. Lp |