So Much For THAT!

Posting every day proved to be more difficult than I first thought. It's not so much that nothing ever happens. It's just that it's not easy to put into words, all the things that happen here.

But, trying to post every day did make me realize that I need to blog more, I enjoy it, it brings me peace.

Here is what has been happening since I posted last:

• If you will remember my new nephew, James, born 10 wks early. He is now 9 months old, and doing so well. I was lucky enough to get some cuddles in this weekend and am looking forward to Christmas with him and his sister and mom and dad visiting again. God does wonderful things! 

 

•  Finding this on our front porch was quite alarming. I'm not fond of spiders. At all. But, this guy looked so cool, I told the kids to leave him. He has been in the exact same spot for 3 days now.

• We hosted a teen lunch after church. It's the 3rd one we have done. We go to a very small church, so luckily, we are not talking hundreds of teens. We have a very small house, so unluckily, it gets kinda crowded. But, they all had fun. Watch a couple of movies and had me worried that they would eat me out of house and home ate nachos. I think I managed to get at least one body part of every teen present in this picture. 

 

•  Luther, the baby dog, got sick with some sort of infection. A trip to the vet, antibiotics and $100 later, he is good as new. He started shivering and was terribly lethargic. When you eat pizza in front of your dog, and slobber does not drip down his face and he doesn't cry for just a small taste, you know something is wrong. I was afraid that he had been poisoned, by what, I did not know but, I was convinced he was dying. I called the vet and they couldn't get us in for 2 hours! I was afraid he would be dead by then but I didn't have a million dollars to take him to the emergency vet. (Yes, those exist). I told the kids to watch him, while I took a shower. I come out to find him sleeping, like this:

I knew he was dead. I screamed his name and stomped my feet. Luther, and everyone else in the house, jumped to attention and rolled their eyes kindly reminded me that he always sleeps like this. (And, it's true. This picture was taken months ago.) Stupid dog. 

• That's all the updates for now. Blogger is giving me fits again, with the pictures. I think Blogger hates me. 
• I hope you all have a truly wonderful Thanksgiving!  I know I have so much to be thankful for! 

Truth is Thursday

Truth is.....I thought I was going to have to do CPR tonight, for the very first time, on one of my favorite residents. But, she "came to" and was fine. And so were the EMTs.

Truth is.....I'm starting to do a little Christmas shopping and I'm a tad panicked about money. But, that's always the case, this time of year.

Truth is.....It wasn't such a bright idea to give birth to two children in the month of December. We certainly didn't think things through!!

Truth is.....I think I was more excited to find out Jarrett's teacher is pregnant than Jarrett's teacher!!

 Truth is.....Even though I miss my kids when I'm at work, I still sorta find them annoying. Sorta. On a bad day.

Truth is.....This blogging every day is hard!! And, I'm not sure it's worth it.

Truth is.....With Thanksgiving approaching (speedily!!) I find myself complaining less and appreciating more. Which in truth is a good habit to have, year round. 

No Way Kay!

This time of year, you start to see sappy commercials about soldiers coming home, kids coming home from college, Santa advertises a cola drink, along with some polar bears. 

The "Holiday Spirit" is all over, on t.v.


Most of the time, I'm not bothered. Some commercials are shown every year, so it's like seeing old friends again. The one with the older brother coming home and the sister is the only one that gets up and they make coffee and it's all special. Sappy but cute. Harmless. 

However, I hate (yes, hate) with a passion the jewelery commercials. Especially the ones that end with a horribly cheesy song about "every kiss begins with the name of their store."

They make me angry!!! I'm not sure why? 

Probably because my husband and I are so not like anything in those commercials. Both times my husband presented me with expensive jewelery (my engagement ring and a pair of earrings) they were given to me in his own special way. No music. No candles. No poems. And, I'm totally okay with that. We are "real".  We do romance our own way. Like going to Walmart without the kids. Or his favorite, Cabelas.  (okay, really, we do do better than that. I'm just not going to go into great detail here. Seeing as how my mother in law reads my blog.) 

Anyways, my husband has been permanently banned,by me, from shopping at this particular jewelery store.  He didn't complain too much.

It's My Blog, I Make the Rules

 And, I say, when one is sick and trying to post every day, she can totally re-post.  It's one that didn't get any comments but I have a feeling I will get some this time.

Originally posted Nov. 2008

What do I say...

...when my three year old hands me this picture he has made, all by himself?

You Would Think

I'm not sure what to post about, really. Nothing profound happened. My kids didn't do anything too outstanding (thank you, Lord!). 

Everyone was out of school. You would think that meant getting to sleep in. But, noooo...we must all get up BEFORE our normal time and start running through the house.

Got laundry, dishes and other miscellaneous chores done. Went to Wal-mart, me and the four kids.
You would think that since my kids are "older" (6-13) that it's not a big deal anymore, shopping with them all. But, noooo....they are too big for a cart but yet little enough to be easily distracted and touch every. single. thing. they see. Jayce, the oldest, doesn't want to be seen with us so he goes off in his own direction. Mostly coming back just in time to ask me to buy him a treat. Usually I say no because that would mean I'd have to buy four treats.

Drove through McD's and spent too much money on food that's not so great. All the little ones care about are the toys (which, this time, ended up being little skate boards that my boys LOVED and played with for a long time. Like 10 min. or something) and the food gets cold and then they don't want to eat. You would think I'd learn my lesson and save some money. But, noooo....I give in thinking it's the easiest way to make everyone happy.

Made dinner for the family to eat while I was at work. Made everyone take their showers and finish up their homework so my husband wouldn't have to deal with it when he got home.

Went to work. Gave the lady her teddy bear. You would think she would gush and gush and proclaim she loves it. But, noooo...although she was very happy to get it, she proclaimed it wasn't the right color. That's okay.  Seriously. Josie did it because she wanted to, no other reason. And, it did make the lady happy. I later saw it on her bed. 

Gave an old man a shower. You would think I would be use to it by now. But, noooo...I still can't believe the places I rub lotion on, the things I wipe, the things I do. All for $9/hr.  Seriously, senior care is so ridiculous. We want our loved ones to be loved and cared for. But, caregivers get paid slightly better than min. wage? But, yet, residents are charged THOUSANDS of dollars to live there?  I'm glad I like the job and that we don't "need" it.

Came home, pet the kids, hugged the dog. Told them to put on their p.j.s. You would think they would rush to obey. But, noooo...15min. later, I walk into the boys' room to find them buck naked. And wrestling. Seeing as how I'd seen enough nakedness for one day, I rushed to clothe them, tuck them into bed, say prayers and give kisses. 

Now, I'm blogging. You would think it would be a wonderfully, hilarious, touching post. But, noooo...this is pretty much it!

Veterans Day

Some More Fiction

Thought you'd like to hear  some more stories about my job. 

Let's say there was a lady that either sits in a chair outside her room or walks circles around the building umpteen times a day.  Whenever I see her, we have this conversation:

Emma*: I need to ask you something.
Me: Okay!
Emma: You got kids?
Me: Yup.
Emma: REALLY? How many?
Me: Four
Emma: Omigosh!!  What are they?
Me: 3 boys and 1 girl.
Emma:  Will you bring them in to see me?
Me: Yes, someday.

And, the hilarious thing is, she is so genuinely thrilled and in shock when I say I have four kids. The joy and wonder in her face makes me almost excited as well that I have four kids. 
Literally, less than five minutes can pass and we will have the exact conversation again.
I'm thinking about shaking things up and telling her I have 15 kids, but that seems mean.


There are many residents there that are on hospice care. Meaning, they are dying. Well, aren't they all, but, some are expected to die a lot sooner than others.
One new resident was told this week she has 6 months.  She is very, very depressed. And angry.  It is very hard to go in her room, being unable to really "help" her the way she needs. 
The activities director passed out a questionnaire about teddy bears. "Did you have a teddy bear? What was it's name? How long did you have it? Etc." 
This lady filled hers out and it told about how she never had a teddy bear. She had always wanted one but her mom wanted her to have dolls. That's all she got, dolls. And, not the cute soft kind but wooden ones, she said.

Tonight, as I tucked Josie in to bed, I told her the sad story of the lady with no bear.  She suggested we go to Walmart and buy her a bear. And, I think that's a brilliant plan. Every girl should have at least one teddy bear, don't you think?

My Manly Men

My husband was off work today.

 Because he has already gone hunting and gotten his deer, he wanted to take the "little boys" up in the woods and have Manly Time.

He got them out of bed at 5:30. One kid is notorious for not sleeping. The other, for not wanting to get up, ever.  Needless to say, to do something cool with Dad, they were both up and ready to go before you can say "It's too darn early for this, Mom's going back to bed".

They left and I worried. I always worry when my kids are out in the woods. No good reason. Just if they aren't with me, it doesn't feel right.

Of course, they came home and were so very excited to tell me all they had done. They both spoke at once:

• Dad peed in the snow and wrote his name! It was in cursive!
• I got to drive the car!
• My feet are frozen! 
• We all had to pee and guess who peed the longest? AND the furthest!! ME!! 
• No, I'm not tired at all! Why do you ask? 
• What's to eat?

So, apparently, Manly Time in the woods involves peeing, a lot and far, and freezing. Not my idea of a good time but I wasn't invited.

P.S. The one that is notorious for never wanting to get up, is also the one that wears shorts, 365 days a year. I stopped arguing about it about a year ago. He seriously never gets cold. 

Posting in Pain

I tweaked my back. Tweaked not being a medical term but it's pretty universal. 

It seemed okay until I went to work. And lifted and pulled and stretched. And went up and down three flights of stairs a dozen times.

So, tonight, I will be sleeping with my new best friend, who happens to be pretty hot--Mr. Heating Pad. 
I feel old.

This post will be short and sorta random. 


I'm thinking I will be needing to have "THE TALK" with my daughter. And soon. She will be 10 in December. I started getting visits from Aunt Flo at her age. And, she just seems....extra...unpredictable. She is still very innocent, which is totally fine for us. One reason we home school her. But, I would hate for her to get a surprise visit from Auntie. She would freak.
I'm the "talker" in our house. I'm the one that talked to Jayce. I'm very straight forward and to the point.
It will be interesting to see what kinds of questions Josie comes up with. ( :

I went to the boys' teacher conferences today. Both teachers had wonderful things to say about the boys. And, I'd like to take this moment to add, even though we home school two of our children, we don't think public school is "bad". We have been very blessed with great teachers. Both of the teachers I met with today, were not strangers to me.  No matter where your kids go to school, it is very important to be part of it.  These teachers KNOW me because I'm involved.  They both made some comments that demonstrated they know my boys VERY well.  Which is awesome.


That's all I have for today.  Maybe something more interesting will happen tomorrow?

Oh , who am I kidding? Interesting stuff is always happening around here!

Resurrection Post

This is a fancy way of saying :I'm re-posting something you may, or may not, have seen before.

Juli gave me the idea. I did not link back to the original blogger that came up with the idea, but Juli did and you can click through, if you choose.

I love re-reading some of my old posts! I especially love the pictures of my kids when they were still cute much younger. And, I still laugh out loud at some of the things they did. This post still makes me laugh: 

I'd Hate to be THAT Brother!

I was driving around today doing errands and we had to pull over for a firetruck. Here is the conversation that followed:

Josie: I hate firetrucks!
Me: Why?
Josie: Because they make you pull over!
Me: Well, you should think of the people that need that firetruck and pray that they will be ok.
Josie: I just hate them!
Me: How would you feel if one of your brothers was hurt and mommy had to call a firetruck and they took a really long time to get there and your brother was hurt really bad?

Silence from the back of the van.

Then.

Josie: Which brother?

Originally posted Nov. 10, 2008 (although this seriously could've happened yesterday, I swear!) 

Gossip Schmossip

One thing I was not looking forward to, when I went back to work, was the gossip. You can't avoid it. It's everywhere, even as a stay at home mom. It's among family members, church goers and even at the checkout line at the store.

But, I knew, from experience, that I would be surrounded by it now.

When I was a teenager, I worked as a hotel housekeeper and there was gossip among the other housekeepers. Who didn't mop their floor on their hands and knees, who got caught smoking in the laundry room,  even who was dating whom.

In my 20s, I worked retail. Most of that gossip was about partying and again, dating.

After I was married, before I had kids, I worked in a beauty salon. Need I say more? 

Now, I work with everything from 19 yr. olds, girls and boys both, and grown-ups.  I've tried so very hard to just do my work and go home. But, it's difficult.  People can so easily get upset when someone else doesn't take out their trash. Or takes an extra 2 min. on their lunch break.  Or get their feelings hurt when a facebook friend request isn't accepted (not kidding!). 

Like I said, I'm trying to stay out of it. But, I do make comments to other workers about another worker. It's hard not to! 

Then, I get paranoid when I see a facebook status about back stabbers and two facers. I go back through conversations I had the night before with someone and second guess everything.

It's like being in high school junior high all over again!!

But, it's made me realize that I want to teach my children to think about what comes out of their mouths. If you can't say something to someone's face, don't say it at all. 

Maybe it will save them from catching the gossip bug!

Might Have Monday

 I might have stayed up way past my bedtime to watch pictures slowly download so I could post yesterday. (And still didn't make the "deadline"!)

I might have stressed myself out way too much about this posting everyday thing.

I might have let my kid eat a corndog for breakfast.

I might have let him eat one for a mid-day snack as well. And possibly dinner.

I might have watched the movie "Rudy" and cried like a baby.

I might have realized my work pants had a hole in the butt after I'd worn them at work.

This might not be the first time that has happened. 

I might have waited until the last possible moment to fill out my ballot.  It's kind of hard to choose between bad and also bad. 

I might be glad this day is over and it's almost time to watch this: 

Fallishness

Today was a beautiful, unusually warm fall day. 79 degrees in November but snow on the first day of Spring? Definitely Oregon.

I devised a plan to get :

• everyone out of the house
• make everyone tired so as they would sleep tonight
• get some cute pictures taken, possibly for Christmas cards

We went to Dorris Ranch, which (in case you don't want to bother clicking through) is a filbert orchard that is open to the public and has plenty of hiking trails and lots of nature and ...well, stuff.

I, of course, envisioned a perfect family outing where at the end, all would chorus "We are such a happy family" and we would have a perfectly coordinated Christmas card all ready to go.

And, of course, I knew better. I really, really did.

Scratch the perfectly coordinated Christmas card attire. It was all we could do to find coats, shoes and other appropriate attire, let alone anything "matchy matchy". 

Scratch the adorable family photo as nobody wanted their pictures taken and the stupid dog's "pinky" comes out every time the camera is pointed at him. (so cannot wait for him to be neutered).

And certainly scratch the joyous outbursts, they don't exist, at least in my family. You're more likely to hear "How much further do we HAVE to do this for??" ringing through the forest than pleasantries.

However, it was something different and everyone is certainly tired and add the outing with the time change and we have a quiet house.

Here are some pictures I did manage to take. Spring is my favorite season, but Fall sure puts up a good fight.

It seriously took 4 hours to load these pictures?!? So, technically,I missed posting "yesterday" but I'm counting this post as Sunday's. I'm the boss.

**THEN I thought I hit "publish" but I didn't??  So, pretty, pretty please give me credit for thinking I posted Sunday.  Credit means everything to me. A Gold Star would be even better. **

So Much Comfort, I Actually Relaxed!

That title pretty much sums it up! 

The slumber party was at my friend's in-laws house, out in the country. The house was beautiful!  Not just a nice house, but a beautiful, homey house that was better than any hotel I've ever stayed in. 

We ate pizza, laughed, played card games, laughed, ate a Ding-Dong cake and laughed some more.  I re-bonded with my friends that I love so much. 

And....I slept for 9 hrs. straight.  The awkwardness of having to share a bed with someone  that wasn't my husband wasn't even an issue as there were enough bedrooms for us all to have our own.  I was the 2nd one to go to bed but I was okay with that. I woke this morning, with no alarm, no children needing anything, I just...woke up! The house was still quiet as the other ladies went to bed much later that I. I went for a walk down to see the cows and chickens, the dog (the owner's) walked with me and even their cat tagged along. It was a perfect, peaceful morning. 

The only thing I regret is not taking pictures. The land was gorgeous, the house perfect and it would've been nice to take pictures of us "girls". 

It was the absolutely perfect thing for me to do, to push myself to get out of my comfort zone and jump in to somehting out of the ordinary.

And, Juli, you are definitely invited next year. ( :

Out of Comfort

I'm going out of my comfort zone this weekend, you guys.

But, seeing as how November is suppose to be about me (self declared event), I decided I needed it.

I'm going to a slumber party.

Yes, I'm 37 old enough that I should not be typing that last sentence. But, yes, a slumber party.

And, seeing as how the only person I like to sleep with is my husband, and this is a ladies only party, I feel uncomfortable. 

But, there will be laughter, fellowship and most importantly, junk food.

I'm stepping out of my comfort zone in the spirit of building a closer bond to my friends, relaxing and most importantly, getting away from the house where the dog seems to have a horrible bout of diarrhea and intense flatulence.

Anything will be better than hanging around that! 

Bedtime Rush

When I was younger, before I had kids,I made a commitment to my future children. I swore I would always look when I was asked "Look,Mom!" and I would listen when my kids would tell a story.

And, for the most part, I've been pretty consistent. Not perfect, but consistent. If I was going to grade myself, I'd give me a "B-". Definitely a passing grade.

It's not easy. Sometimes,the "Look, Mom!" is for something so mundane and ordinary that I honestly can't help but feel I wasted 2 seconds that I will never get back. Like, shoving a straw up a nose. Sometimes, it's something spectacular that is worth more than any dollar amount. Like, dressing the dog in a shirt and tie.

For the most part, I play the part of the attentive, patient mother during the day.

Until bedtime.


For the love of all things holy and pure, that clock hits 8 o'clock and those children cannot move fast enough.
I try giving plenty of warning, plenty of time to get all the brushing, pottying, drinking done so it doesn't feel like a rush.
But, I cannot get rid of my children tuck them in to bed fast enough!!

It's like them being asleep by 8:30 is life or death.

"You can't find the matching top to your Mario p.j.s?  Too bad!! Get in to bed!!!"
"You want to show me how you can do a back flip from your bed to your brother's? No way! Get in to bed!!""
Long gone is the attentive, patient mother of the day.  Now, they are dealing with angry,impatient mother that is slowly going insane all because you are not asleep and leaving her alone to watch Hulu.

Luckily, my husband, who has not spent all day with the children and thus actually has patience stored up, says their prayers with them, prayers that consist of more than "Help Jeven not be a spazz tomorrow. Amen." and helps balance it all out.

But, for the record, if we were to hand out grades for cooking or hair braiding, I would totally get an A.  My husband cannot claim the same thing. Just sayin'....