May. 4, 2008 - Extinct

I finally killed our vacuum. Anyone who has been around my blog for a little while might suspect the REASON with fairly good accuracy. I was in denial of it for a while (smoke? smoke? What smoke?) but had to come to terms with the fact that getting a little 'extra' money and then having your Hoover, your computer, your car battery, and your husband's motorcycle-slash-primary-source-of-transportation all go south at the same time, might actually be considered God's provision. Don't worry Honey, I won't fail to include the ticket that was received on said primary-source-of-transportation in this equation.

Maybe my mistake was that I had just put a little too much emphasis on the term 'extra'?

Regardless, this girl just can not live without her vacuum! 

My new one is just like my old one, but this time in the shiny red sports model. Can't say I am afraid of change. And you know what? As boring and practical as it is, I do kind of look forward to using it knowing it will work.

Also, be assured (Mom) that the fun is not all lost either, because we do still get to take the girls to Portland for my Birthday on the 15th to see the DINOSAURS.(And no that is not any indication of how old I am going to be. Shame on you!)I can't tell you how excited we all are. My girls are getting to that hyper I-just-might-burst stage of excitement and we still have more than a week to go.

I have to admitt, It does feel just a little like we are getting away with something; being able to take off in the middle of the week. Skipping class maybe? Who says that learning = what happens Monday-Friday between the hours of 8:00am and 3:00pm in a school building? Not you, of course, I know your sort.

Not us either.

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May. 2, 2008 - Greetings and Salutations

Well, it has been decided that my computer is no longer on speaking terms with the key board or mouse. It must have been some falling out, I tell you. And as usual in these types of situations it is the innocent who suffer the most. Poor me. SNIFF.

I WANT MY BLOG BACK!!!!

There, I simply had to get that out of my system.

I can still view and, with much pain, comment on my HSB blogger friend's sites but I can't cross over to enemy territory (that is as close as I will come to calling you traitors, and only because I am bitter that I can't visit you)to interact with those of you whom have Ahhem...moved on. My computer at work won't even allow me to look at your blogs so now we know you all must have done something naughty.

I mean Ducky Girl (who's link I have not yet updated) has had her baby and I can't even tell her congrats! EMILY please tell her for me if by chance you read this. And while I am at it, hello Gremlin Mamma, Cazy Lady (I mean that in the nicest possible way),and Life With Littles. Happy thoughts to you all!

I'll be back again tomorrow night.

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Apr. 20, 2008 - Higher Ground

I had big plans for today. Big plans that were overtaken by an epic trip to Costo, followed by a nap. Oh well, so much for ambitious.

 For the past seven years I have worked nights over the weekends and during this time it has been fun to see how our family's weekend days have taken on their own little traditions. The most notable of which is that on Saturday morning mom is not permitted back into the house unless she has maple bars somewhere on (not in) her person. The second tradition is meant to counter the first.

Here we have it, Pilot Butte:

Okay, so I guess it can't be called a tradition just yet since we only just started it last Saturday, but both my girls and I hope it will become one. This picture was taken in 1984 so the area around it looks nothing like this now. That is a mill in the forground-there is no mill anymore(just Red Robin,lots of shops, houses and REI) but it gives you the idea. It is smack dab in the middle of town. We watch it catch fire every year when they launch the fireworks off of it. The trail we take up is a mile long and 500 feet up to the top. So far this week I have walked 8 miles and climbed 2000 feet. I hate walking on tracks because my mind wanders and I get bored. I don't have that problem here thanks to the view and my childrens' company.

The first day I decided to bring the girls along I was a bit worried, before we started, that they would not finish it but they did.  And very cheerfully too I might add. As a testiment to Eilidh's zing I must inform you that she ran most of the way up. Gadzooks! I wish I could harness her that energy somehow. On Our second try together we took Silas with us in the stroller. Next time she pushes. We had a seventy-year old lady behind us on the way up that day. By the time we headed back down, she was already to the top again.

Yep, even with the plans that did not come to, I have had a very nice week. It is amazing what happens in life when you decided to forget where you have already fallen short and purpose instead  to just do the next right thing. All those 'right things' start adding up and pretty soon you stop and realize that your morning, day, week, or life is pretty pleasant afterall. Not that I did not know that my life is a pretty darn good one already, but knowing and living like I know something is true are completely different things sometimes. And yes, speaking of elevation,I do think it helps that my thyroid levels are finally coming back to earth too.

Hope all is well with you. See you next weekend when I once again have access to a computer. Sooner if I stop baking.

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Apr. 13, 2008 - Post Office

Okay, better make that, posting FROM the office instead. I have been reading everyone's blogs on my husband's Play station 3 (Oh yeah, I did say husband's Play station, not children's) and it has just been killing me that I have to look but not touch. I can't log on to HSB and typing with a joystick to leave comments is just painfuly slow, so just know I have not disappeared-I've just gone covert that is all.

The urge to write has been so strong that I have actually resorted to honest- to-goodness-journaling again for the first time since, well, marriage.

It has been good, but by golly, enough is enough and I want my blog back!

After all, who else wants to hear that my 8 month old is almost walking, that my five year old has taken to addressing her brothers and sister as the 'siblings', or that I still can't follow someone else's curriculum because when I attempt to do so, my seven year old's brain decides that it is ready to learn lessons that are not scheduled until the very last week of 'the school year',' yet she could still use some practice with content from six weeks ago?!? 

Who else would willingly stop to check out my latest configuration of  run-on sentences? Who, I ask?

I should just get past it all and savor this moment instead, right?

Come to think of it, now might be a good time to stop by and read about all the silly little things that make you guys so fun to visit; while I can leave comments and actually make it feel more like a visit and less like I am spying on you.

I wouldn't want you to get the wrong idea about me.

I'll try and commandere another computer later in the week to truly post. Better yet, if any of you have suggestions on how to motivate my dear husband to fix ours-let me know. Maybe if I stopped using my would be computer time baking him things, that would help.

I'll have to give that last idea some more thought. I think I am on to something.

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Mar. 22, 2008 - My life Wthout Photos

My computer is still a pitiful little thing, so I'm getting a quick blogging fix elsewhere. What I want to share is somewhat photo intensive too but where I am blogging from does permit such a luxury; and so I shall not be too picky. I never knew I was the sort that could not get through her reading/writing without pictorial aids, but it appears that I am given that I feel a bit naked just now.

But moving on.

My Husband and I got to go out of town BY OURSELVES weekend before last and it was a wonderful thing. We went to a funeral, true, but it was the closest thing to a date we have had in a long time.

 And we needed it. I enjoyed seeing all like 300+ of my husband's friends and mostly relations and especially enjoyed the adult car time. I am a total people watcher so I payed pretty close attention to the dynamics of the group and even found out that one of my children's very distant relatives (circa 1853-1921) was once the President of the NEA . My apologies up front for that one. Every time I think about it I chuckle. Oh, the irony.

Anyway, we did not want to be rushed so we drove to Portland the night before and put our well spent $60 towards a stay HERE. I want to take you on tour, but I have to wait for my photos so it could be a while. This is the second McMenamins we have stayed at. This one used to be The Multnoma County Poor Farm back in its day and the one in our area was a Catholic school when I was a little girl. Very fun, very historic, and sort of redemptive. I like that.

Yes, the timing of this trip was good. I have been feeling bad lately and the 'fresh air,' so to speak, did me some good. You may or may not recall that I recently found out that my thyroid is wacky. Well, this being so, it has put me on the exhausted, less-sunny-than-normal side of life the past several months. I have felt like I imagine people with mono would feel.I was convined I had mono.

 Well, when we first discovered it was my thyroid the attending doctor stated that my thyroid was a 'little off' and silly me, I took him literally. But I just had my follow-up with my own doctor and when the nurse pulled up my records on the little computer thingy she made a funny sound that was a bit like "OH!" but squeekier. When I said 'What?' she told me my thyroid THS level was 17.9. I had to have her translate for me because I had no idea what she was talking about and then she informed my that 5 was considered to be high on the ol'THS scale.

Yeah, just a 'little off', ya think?!?

I have been SO 'off'. As in forgetting to pay the garbage bill and remembering only after being thwarted in trying to remove stinky diapers from the home. Uhhh..where did my can go? As in thinking about what I am going to say and then selecting the wrong word in the sequence to start off my sentences. Hmmm... I think I'll begin with the fourth word; just to mix things up a bit. As in, maybe sending my children off to public school isn't such a bad idea because I really could use a nap.

The fact that I recognize that as crazy gives me hope. Craziness,even if their Great-Uncle-Wunkle-Punkle WAS President of the NEA.

Besides, if my kids were in school then I couldn't rightly hang around at Homeschool Blogger now could I? And THAT would be crazy because being 'with' you guys makes me feel normal.

But I probably should not have said that though, should I?

Sorry.

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Mar. 18, 2008 - Mayday! Mayday!

My computer has crashed just when I feel inspired to write. Be back after we take it to computer therapy or when.

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Mar. 14, 2008 - Shhhh...I'm hunting wabbits.

Still here. I'm just at a bit of a strange spot right now.Out hunting wabbits, I suppose. My head is constantly churning-along but is not so well oiled and as a result all those little thought bubbles have been keeping to themselves.

If I'm not careful I might end up with my nose pierced or go out and get another tatoo. Can't cut my hair or my children's hair because I already did that. I have been restless and a bit on the snarky side of life. Couple that with this strange urge to CREATE SOMETHING and it gets a bit hazardous. Maybe I should just paint something.

Hide your dogs, folks.

Or I could sing to you! I have been singing the same three lines from the same three songs to my children lately and in return they have been ping-ponging them back to me. What will it be? Raindeer, Raindeer, Raindeer by THE KNIFE? A little Beatles tune; Blackbird then? The only other option is the the theme song off of the Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy and you don't really want me to do that to you, do you?

Alright, I'll just let it go.

My Friend CAMMIE is coming over to see me today and judging by her most recent post she'll know what to do with me.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

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