ITS FRIDAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!

Well, I totally blew my new eating habits last night. :) I ate 3 or 4 brownies but boyyyy were they goooood. :) I was having a bad day all day, one of those "I-don't-want-to-be-the-mommy-days" After we got the kids to bed I sat and played Star Wars on the computer with Billy. He had a really good fortress built and then he resigned. :( I didn't get to kick his butt. But then, it was almost midnight and as usual, I had to be up at 5:51 a.m.

I am back on the bandwagon today though. I just finished my Dr. Phil prescribed breakfast. :) I had preschool conferences this morning at 8:15 a.m. so after I dropped the girls off I got to talk to Marea and Cassie's teachers. Cassie is ready for Kindergarten, skill-wise, but she is not old enough to go just yet. Marea is lagging in a few areas but should be successful in Kindergarten. She may need a little extra help from other teachers but they think she will do okay. So Marea is off to Kindergarten in the fall and Cassie will stay in preschool one more year until she is 5. :)

I don't have much planned for today. I usually spend the day cleaning up a bit so that the house is not a mess for the weekend. We are going to Huron to see Kristina and Lance this weekend. They are having the city-wide rummage sales there so we are going to see if we can find any good bargains. We desperately need another bed and a couple of dressers. We are also looking for an antique long dresser to convert into a vanity for our new bathroom. Hopefully we can find some good bargains. :)

Billy came home last night and said he got an email from our good friend, Bob's, wife. She is concerned about Bob and said he is feeling very down. I can well imagine after being told you are coming home and then having that ripped out from under you at the last minute that you would be feeling down. She was wondering how to help him feel more comfortable once he does get home. She is concerned because nothing will be familiar to him. My first thought is we can't help. Life has gone on over here even though he is in Iraq. As hard as that is going to be for him to accept, it is reality. We could not stop the world for the soldiers just as they cannot ever adequately describe what it feels like to be there, in the middle of a war. I think just being here, caring, loving, supporting, and empathisizing with him is all he will need from us. Most of the work he will have to do himself. We cannot make him happy, but we can help him see we care for him. I cannot imagine the life he has been living for the last year. I am sure it has had some major effects on his life. I pray that he will have a smooth transition into America and his life here.

I have been working on my genealogy in bits and pieces lately. It seems I never get enough time to sit down and work for a few hours anymore. I have 50 some generations on Billy's side and over 32 on mine in some branches. Working on my genealogy has given me a renewed sense of pride in my family and where we come from. When I was a teenager, I hated my last name. Forbord! What kind of name is that. I was teased from the time I was little and I swear noone in the world can spell it correctly. I was sooo happy to get married and get rid of it. Then I discovered noone can spell Sides either. ;) After I started my genealogy in 2001, I discovered my last name comes from a farm in Skatval, Nord Trondelag, Norway. I discovered I had many many relatives from Norway who have the same last name. Now I couldn't be more proud to say I am a Forbord. I come from a long line of good people who were family oriented and loving. Just don't make me say it out loud though k? ;)

Divorce. What an ugly word. One of my online friends is going through this now after almost 10 years of marriage and two kids. It brings back many memories of my own experience with divorce. My parents first clued us into their failing vows when I was 8. We lived in Alaska and at the time my dad worked in Nome for 6-8 weeks at a time and would come home to Anchorage for 2-3 weeks. It was hard but my mom seemed to cope well enough. Both of my parents smoked at that time and were trying to quit together. My mom was succeeding, but my dad didn't seem to have the urge yet. He continued to smoke and frequently in front of us and then told us not to tell our mom. Me, being the good girl that I was, told my mom. Afterall, I was taught that lying was bad wasn't I? I don't remember what happened after that except one night at the dinner table we were all eating and my dad looked up and said, "Your mom and I are getting divorced." Everyone started crying and asking questions and crying some more. I don't remember what I did but I remember for months afterwards I just knew it was because I told my mom that my dad was still smoking.
In an effort to save their marriage my parents up and moved us to Oregon. We were headed for California but they decided they liked Oregon as we were driving through so they stopped and settled in Salem. My dad continued to work in Nome, Alaska, coming home when he could. The problems they were experiencing must have continued because we moved again about a year later to Newport Oregon and then again about a year after that to Chico California. At some point while in California, my parents must have called it quits emotionally because after almost 2 years there my parents moved us to Hot Springs, where my mom's mom lived. Shortly after arriving in Hot Springs and getting a house my dad disappeared. He said he was going back to California to get his truck and he never came back.
It was very hard at first. I felt abandoned by my dad and neglected by my mom. (She had a new boyfriend just a few months after my dad left and then he moved in a few months after that, at least as well as I can remember anyway.) We all were very mean to my mom's boyfriend and we worshipped our dad. I wanted to go live with him and he kept telling me, "when you are older." I cried a lot and really became introverted. I didn't have any friends at school and I am sure many of my classmates thought something was very wrong with me. I was a good student academically but I had no social skills due to the frequent moving and because I was dealing with a family that was falling apart in front of my eyes. Finally my mom saw things were not going well for us, and I am sure we were quite a parenting challenge. She got us into family therapy. We went for three years. At some point, track practices became more important to me than therapy and I think I had gained enough coping skills to help myself so I quit going.
I cannot even begin to tell you the effect this divorce had on my life. Was it good? Was it bad? I don't know. In some ways maybe I am a better person for going through it and in some ways it hurt and hurt a lot. I do know one thing, I will not get divorced and put my kids through that for any reason. I am fortunate to have married a wonderful man. He is kind, caring, supportive, loving, and truly my soul mate. I couldn't have wished for more. Anything a loving couple is faced with can be worked through if you are willing to communicate and remember that you LOVE this person, they are not the enemy. When we were first married and we fought (and boy can we fight!) I would always try to "solve" the situation by saying "let's just get divorced." That continued until Billy and I had been married for 7 years. I had an epiphany one day during a heated fight. I realized if I didn't stop thinking divorce was the only solution to our problems then that was exactly where we were going to end up. That day I changed my focus from how to get out of the marriage to how can I resolve this situation so we are both happy. I admit I am an assertive person. I know how to get my way, one of those coping skills I learned in my childhood. I have to stop myself and think before I open my mouth when we are fighting or things can get really nasty. After 11 years of marriage, we have learned to do most of our fighting as talking. We are not perfect, but we love each other and that is all that matters.

Jump On In
I am waist deep! The pile just seems to keep growing and growing. Pink, red, blue, orange, a swirling rainbow. Then the phone rings! EEEEK! How am I going to get out of here. I wade to the edge and push my way out. Just as I emerge from the technicolor pile it stops. URRRRR! I turn and look behind me, jeans, snow pants, boots, shorts, t-shirts, socks, you name it and it is in this pile in the closet. What am I doing in a pile of clothes you ask? It is called Spring Cleaning. For some reason every year about this time I get the urge to purge the closets, crawlspaces, attics, and basements of every unused, old, tattered, and torn item we own. I am beginning this year in the girl's closet. It is where I store, pile, and pack all the items they outgrown during the winter. As you can imagine, five kids can create quite a pile of discareded items. This year I purchased rubbermaid containers to sort and organize this disaster. Yesterday I began this arduous task. I finished one closet and will move on to the other areas today. Don't get me wrong, for the most part I am a very clean and organized person. I hate clutter and I tend to keep my house fairly clutter free. This spring cleaning thing though gives a whole new meaning to organizing for me. I love to see empty shelves, clean drawers, organized messes, etc.

That technicolor pile is now neatly sorted, stacked, and contained in the appropriate rubbermaid container, complete with a label. Hopefully I can just add to the containers now instead of creating another pile. :)

Mush
Mommy Brain: def. the mushifying process of one's brain after a pregnancy and/or birth of a child. The process intensifies upon multiple pregnancies/births.

Symptoms include:
*Unable to remember what you came into a particular room to do
*Writing a to-do list and misplacing the list
*Reversing words in a simple sentence (i.e. Clean your room now, or you will eat not dinner.)
*Going to a doctor's appointment a day early or a day late
*Unable to remember what life was like before the pregnancy/kid came along
*Eating the same meal twice in one day because you forgot if you had already eaten
*Forgetting how to spell simple words like why, who, it, was, etc.
*Dialing a phone number and forgetting who you called and why

Prevention: Don't have kids.

Treatment: Treatment is symptomatic. Write yourself notes (if you can find them later), leave your keys in an obvious place ( your pillow is a good one), depend on others to tell you when something is coming up, tell your kids to remind you of tasks you need to do, get a planner and attempt to use it, write EVERYTHING down on a central calendar.

Cure: Nope. There is no known cure for this disease. Once you have been through a pregnancy/birth you can fully expect to lose brain matter on a daily basis. Sorry.

Kid Friendly
Mommy Mommy, come look at my pretty picture!, she yells as she pulls my hand and drags me off the couch. "But honey, I am tired and need to rest right now," I reply. "Looky Mommy! I drew you a pretty picture," she continues. I glance around the pile of papers on the table and see nothing but blank pages. "I don't see anything. Where is your picture?" I ask. "Right here!" she replies, pointing at the kitchen wall. AAAAAAAHHHHH! "What are you doing!?" I demand. She looks up at me with those big blue eyes. I can see the tears welling up in the corners. "It is a very nice picture, but next time can we put it on paper so I can hang it on the fridge when you are done?" I ask in an attempt to stop the waterworks I can see coming. "Okay, Mommy," she says happily returning to her paper at the table. I grab a baby wipe out of the container next to the table and proceed to wipe the pretty picture off the wall. Washable Crayons! What a wonderful invention. Ten years ago I would have been forced to look at that pretty picture until I felt the urge to paint but thanks to modern technology, I now have the power to remove crayon from even the most difficult object.

Yesterday, Mr. Bill put these wonderful crayons to the test. He decided that our green and cream wallpaper was not pretty enough by itself. It needed some blue added to it. He colored a nice swirly something or other all over one wall. When the wallpaper looked good enough, he moved on to the window. Once the window was adequately covered, he turned to the shelf. Now it sounds like this would have taken some time and surely I would have noticed what he was up to and stop him but you forget that kids move four times faster than us old folks do. By the time I came out of the kitchen and walked across the dining room, he had covered all three surfaces with his pretty swirly designs. :) I thank God daily for creating smart people who create great products that make my life easier. Today there are many pretty pictures hanging on my fridge. In fact many days I have to remove some just to find the handle so I can open it. :)

Well I am off to get my house cleaned up today. Yesterday it was 88F outside and today we are HOPING for a high of 50F. I don't need to be reminded that I live in South Dakota, I just have to look outside today. LOL Have a great day ya'll!

Wow! This warm weather sure makes the days fly! Yesterday I spent most of the day outside putzing around in my garden and yard. I got the north side of the yard raked and cleaned up, and watered all my flowers. My rhubarb is coming up nicely. Another month or so and I should have fresh rhubarb. :) I still have some in the freezer from last year. The kids love being able to go outside and play after school. The Schwan's man showed up while I was raking so I got a box of sundae cones. It was cute to see all my kids sitting on the steps eating their ice cream. I also got some frozen fruits and veges to aid in this new eating plan I am doing. :)

Today proposes to be just as busy as yesterday. I have to run quite a few errands, go shopping for household necessities, and get some more raking done in the yard. It will be a quick day I am sure. :) The kids are quickly winding down their school year. Next week we start the field trips. Marea and Cassie go to the zoo on the 4th, Becca goes to the pavilion on the 5th, and Megan goes to the Redlin Art Center/Zoo on the 7th. That will be a busy week. After that is their last week of school complete with awards day, field day, etc. It will be so nice to have the kids home for the summer. I am going to have to break out the swimming pool soon. ;)

Mr. Bill is having some problems this week. He had a nasty rash and runny nose last week (see previous entry) and the doc put him on Augmentin. I knew Amoxicillian gives him diahrrea but thought we had done Augmentin without any problems before. This time around though he has it really bad and it is only making his rash worse. Yesterday I couldn't even touch his behind and he refused to sit down. I have tried making him go au natural but for some reason he hates to be naked. It is funny because the girls loved to run around naked at this age and actually preferred to take their clothes off. But since Billy was about 8 months old he does not like to be naked and cries until I put his diaper on when I am changing him. Needless to say, that does not make it easy to dry out his poor little bottom. I had been putting A&D ointment on it but it was not helping as it washed off as soon as he peed. Last night I put Desitin on it (I thought I was out but found some in my medicine cabinet) and what a difference. His bottom is pink now instead of bright red. He even let me touch his behind to put more on this morning so it must have helped a lot. Thank heavens for Desitin. I can't decide if I should call to switch his antibiotic or not. He has five days left on this one and I hate to switch in the middle. I think I will see if the Desitin continues to work before I decide.

Well I best get moving or this day is going to leave without me. Make it a great one ya'll!

Good Morning Everyone! It is a beautiful day! The sun is shining, the grass is green, and it is the beginning of a new week.

I am off to a busy start to this week already. I got up, exercised, showered and dressed, got the girls up, showered and dressed, and took them to school. Then I took Billy to Brookings to work because we went into town on Friday and he rode home with us and left his van at Dak.
I have a little housework to do today but it isn't too bad. Hopefully I can get outside today and get some raking done. We are trying to get some grass to grow in the dead spots. It seems the previous owners planted annual grass every year so it is dying quickly on us. Fortunately, we overseeded last fall so we still have grass. :)
I am down 1 pound from this new eating plan I have started. That is really good when you consider I am only on day 4 and haven't been able to drop even one pound for the last year. Only 14 lbs more to go! I am actually enjoying Dr. Phil's eating plan. (Steve, I feel weird calling it a diet too. That is not how I look at this. It will be a lifestyle change for my whole family once I get it figured out.) It works well for me. I had some bumps in the road this weekend but I jumped back in at each meal and tried to eat small servings and the good foods he suggested. It obviously was worth the work as I lost a pound over the weekend!
Not much planned for this week. I have the calendar free so far, not that I expect it to stay that way. :) It seems something new always pops up in my life. We spent part of the weekend with Kristina and Lance. They had to clean their mobile home so they can sell it so we watched their kids for them. We have moved so many times that I am sure we owe them for at least four or five more times. :) It was amazing to watch my sweet Becca turn into a preteen as soon as Chaya showed up. Chaya is 10 and Becca is 8 but boy do the two of them feed off of each other when they get together. Becca had a bad attitude for a good 24 hours after they left. Her and I are going to butt heads a lot as she gets older, I can see. Hopefully I will have learned some good parenting techniques by then. :) Billy and I spent most of Sunday playing on the computer. He installed a Star Wars game and since our computers are networked now we can fight each other. It was a nice way to spend a few hours with my husband. It seems as our kids get older those moments get fewer and farther in between.
I am expecting my plants to arrive in the mail sometime this week. Hopefully it will be today since it is soooo nice out. If you haven't seen the new pics of our house check them out at the link on the left side of my blogger.
That is all for now! Have an awesome day and do something nice for someone today!

GIVE ME SOME FRENCH FRIES!!!!!!

That is what you are expecting me to say aren't ya? ;) Actually this diet thing is going better than I expected. I did my breakfast just fine this morning although I am discovering I don't care much for hardboiled eggs. I missed my a.m. snack because I was sitting at the doctors office waiting for Billy IV's appointment (more on that). I went to McDonald's and had the grilled chicken salad with water. The water part was the hardest for me since I always have Dr. Pepper. I did it though. I so want to fit better in my clothes and see those numbers on the scale start to go down.

As I said above, we made a run for the doctor's office this morning. Mr. Bill developed a rash all over his behind yesterday. It is not diaper rash, it is raised and bumpy and it was moving down his leg by last night. He also has had a runny nose for over a month that in the last week or two has turned green and thick. I figured he had a sinus infection and allergies. I was right. Cassie deals with the same thing so I had a pretty good idea of what was going on. Mr. Bill got antibiotics and is going to continue his Zyrtec for allergies. Hopefully once we get the sinus infection under control the Zyrtec will be able to do it's job.
After we left the doctor's office we went to our friendly WalMart store. I filled Billy's prescription and wandered around forever. I only spent 9.00 while I was there though. :) Then we went and picked up Billy III from work so we could all lunch together. After lunch, I dropped him off and we all came home. We are leaving again in a few hours to meet Kristina and Lance in Brookings. They are going to Baltic to clean their trailer since someone wants to buy it then they are going to come here. We haven't seen them for awhile. They have been busy since they moved to Huron.

That is about from the chaotic Sides' house today. I will see ya'll again on Monday! Have an awesome weekend!

I have a new focus in life today. I bought Dr. Phil's Ultimate Weight Solution Food Guide and it came today. I have already read it and am putting it into action. I have decided to start tomorrow morning since it goes by days. I start with a 14 day food plan that involves eating one protein with each meal, having two snacks each day, eating unlimited unstarchy veges, one starchy carb, 2 fruit, 2 dairy, and 8-10 glasses of water. Once I get past the first 14 days I can add more foods to the list. It is not as complicated as I just made it sound. :) I have written out my food plan for the next three days. I had to make a few changes from the menu Dr. Phil included in his book simply because I don't usually have garbanzo beans and fresh salmon in my house. :) I guess that is one area I will have to work on. I plan to change what I buy on my monthly grocery shopping trip in May so I should have more of a variety of recommended foods then. Until then I will make do with what I have on hand (minus the easter candy of course).
This is the first "diet" I have ever gone on. It is actually to become a lifestyle change as I go but I have five kids and a husband who are used to eating junk. I plan to begin to integrate their meals into mine once I hit the maintaince part of this "diet". That should be in 36 days if I stick with it. :) I am a bit apprehensive but excited because I have really wanted to drop these 20 extra pounds for awhile now and exercise alone is not working for me. I am supposed to have someone I can tell about this so they can celebrate with me and help me if I fall so, my blogger is it! I know there are a few souls (bless them) out there who are reading this regularly and I appreciate them. I will try not to make this my whole post as I am sure to many of you, this could get boring. But I will post a little update on how I am doing. Wish me Luck!

Here is tomorrow's food plan (what an excellent idea btw. I hate trying to figure out what to eat when I am starving. This way I know what I am going to eat already! :)
Breakfast: 2/3 c. oatmeal, 1c. milk, 1 hardboiled egg, fistful of strawberries, water
Snack: Apple, water
Lunch: 4 oz. Tuna, Salad with veges, 2 T salad dressing (supposed to be lowfat but I have to work with what I have right now), Water
Snack: 1 oz mozzarella cheese, Water
Dinner: Roasted Chicken Breast, 1/2 c. Broccoli cooked, 1/2 green beans cooked, Water

This should work for me. Dr. Phil has a huge list of foods you can eat and most of it is stuff I already buy (minus the beans and Salmon) so I can do it.

Other than my new found passion, life here is pretty much the same ol same ole! It is sunny today thankfully. I have been working on the laundry that I have been putting off all week. With five kids it piles up amazingly fast. I liked it when they wore baby clothes. I could fit their whole wardrobe in one washer load! Not anymore. :) Mr. Bill still has a yucky nose. I am afraid it has turned into a sinus infection as it has been almost 2 weeks since his nose started running and now it is thick and green. He may have to visit the doctors tomorrow. :( Becca and Megan have a field trip to Brookings tomorrow to see a play at SDSU. They are very excited, but mostly because they get to eat their lunches on the BUS! :) Ahhh, the joys of childhood. Marea is still being a pain. I am not sure what her deal is. I hope the roller coaster is not headed down already. She has only been up for a week or two! We get to go see her Psyc. in May to go over her meds and see how she is doing. Hopefully he will have some words of wisdom for us. :) Billy has been busy at work as usual. He is starting to come home before 8 p.m. which is nice. I have been busy getting my flower beds ready. I have 12 plants coming in the mail hopefully this week. I am excited to have some greenery growing around my house this summer. I also ordered 108 tulip bulbs to be planted in the fall. I will busy rolling in dirt all summer. LOL
Well, I hear the dryer buzzing so I must run if I am going to get this laundry done today. Have a great day everybody!
P.S. Should you like to comment, question, or otherwise about my posts here, my email link is on the top right corner of this blogger! TTFN

It has been sort of a long boring last two days. I guess that is what raining weather can do to a person. I have been having some "issues" with Marea and that seems to take up quite a bit of my time. It is so nice to have a few hours repreive while she is at preschool. Mr. Bill is having problems with his allergies so I have been chasing him around with a kleenex all day. He actually doesn't mind having his nose wiped so that is a plus. I can rememeber when Megan was little she would run, screaming at the top of her lungs at the mere sight of a kleenex. Then she learned to shake her head back and forth while we were wiping her nose which left snot from ear to ear. Aaah the good ole days. LOL

I will get back on here when I have something more interesting than snot stories! Have a great sunshinny day! :)

A linebacker, quarterback, bouncer, secret service agent? My little boy is headed for big things I can tell. :) This morning while I was sitting in the rocking chair innocently reading a magazine, he decided he was a charging bull. He ran from across the room as fast as a two year old can run and head-butted my leg. I yelped, he ran away giggling. I gave him the "that-was-cute-but-don't-do-it-again-grin" He smiled and turned around. Thinking he got my point I went back to my magazine article. Suddenly I heard his little feet moving towards me! I put my hand out to stop him this time and he grabbed my hand and pushed it down and yelled NO! I yelled back, NO! and the game began. "No MOMMY!" "No Billy!" "No Mommy!" "No Billy" etc. Maybe he should be a lawyer. LOL

We spent much of this weekend outside working on our gardens. When we moved in this house the flower beds had been left for nature for quite awhile. I have removed acres and acres of rocks (acres, I swear! ;) ) from the flower beds around the foundation so I can get some plants and mulch going. I bought 11 bags of mulch at my friendly Walmart store and also got 30 seed packets of flowers to plant. Some are annual, some are periennial. I also have some plants coming in the mail soon so I will be busy planting in the next couple of weeks. In the midst of this I have to get my vegetable garden in too. I love spring! I got the 11 bags of mulch down and four of the plants I had already got in the mail in so I have a start on the planting.

We also spent the weekend teaching our two oldest girls how to ride their bikes without training wheels. Becca is 8 and more than ready if she would just get some self confidence. Megan was begging to have hers off last week so we know she is ready. It took us about half an hour of running holding on to our kids bikes before they both got the balance thing down and were driving all the way down the block. They still need a push start (at least Becca does, Megan is persistant and will get it going on her own) but they are now training wheel free. I was soooo winded by the time the girls got off on their own. I can see now why my dad was so eager for us to learn how to ride. :) It was so amazing to watch my "babies" ride off on their bikes alone and free. I love being a parent. :)

I ordered Dr. Phil's Weight loss book off ebay the other day too. He has a rapid start program I am going to give a whirl. He says if you eat the foods listed in his book for 11 weeks you will lose at least 20 lbs. Since that is all I want to lose, I figure it is worth a shot. Plus, Vonnie said she wants me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding next year so I have a new incentive to get rid of this extra baby flab. :) A friend on another message board I frequent said she has another of Dr. Phil's weight loss books that she doesn't want so she is going to send it to me. I am anxious to get it. I really like Dr. Phil and his straightforward way of dealing with people. I hope his book is as good as he is. :)

Not much else going on here. I am enjoying spring and the temps that come with it. I wish I could kick these seasonal allergies I seem to have acquired this year but even that cannot squash my enthusiasm for spring. :) Have a great day all!

Never fear, I am here!

Did you think I fell off the blogger wagon?! NEVER! I love this thing. I actually just got sooo busy in the 75 degree weather yesterday that I forgot about logging into my computer all day. (Can you believe it, me NOT on the computer! LOL) I was outside playing with my kids, cleaning the yard, digging in the dirt, hauling rocks, raking, cleaning up the porch, etc. and once I got done the girls were home from school, we did homework, and ran to Watertown. We didn't get back home until about 9:30 p.m. so I pretty much went to bed right after we got home.

But, I am up and back at it today! It is cloudy and 45 degrees here today so I probably won't be doing much outside today. I bought some fertilizer/weed killer but it says you can't water until the stuff dries so I don't want to put it on just yet and than have it ran and all the stuff get washed off. :) So far today I have washed the dishes, vacuumed the floors, emptied the garbages, and cleaned the upstairs bathroom. I have also been finishing up the laundry and blankets from Vonnie's visit. Blankets are always the last thing I wash because it annoys me that only one will fit in the washer at a time. It takes 2-3 loads just to wash one beds-worth of blankets and sheets.

I got up this morning and did aerobics. Today it was step aerobics. I used to really like step but lately it has been kind of boring for me. I am still not losing any weight at all. Someone suggested maybe I should see my doc and have some tests run. I never thought it could be a medical thing. I am guessing more it is just my eating habits. The more I focus on what I am eating the more junk I eat. I have found if I just keep busy during the day (especially the afternoon) I don't eat nearly as much. I hope that eventually I can eat appropriately so I start to lose. I am so used to that overfull feeling that I have to get used to eating enough to feel full but not stomach-sore-full. :(

My sister called this morning to let me know she is having a GIRL! I am really excited for them. She jokingly asked me if I had any girl clothes. I said nope, I gave them all to Kristina last year when she had Cailey. LOL Ironic isn't now that someone needs them I don't have them? :) I just have baby boy clothes right now. I hope Kristina has a boy so I can give these to her. I have pretty much given away all the other baby stuff we have. It will be so weird to not have baby stuff in the house.


I watch Dr. Phil yesterday too in the midst of the chaos. It was about the Dr. Phil family. I was unbelievably irked with the dad who seemed to care nothing about his wife and daughters. If you haven't been following this story you can go to Dr. Phil's website and get all caught up. Everytime Dr. Phil asked the dad a question he just sat there expressionless and didn't answer. I truly think in his mind he was thinking, "I don't give a crap. Leave me alone so I can go home." At the end of the show they showed the preview for next week and it appears the dad confesses to still having an affair even through the therapy Dr. Phil is providing them. I truly hope the mom and daughters leave him. If he wanted to change, he would have by now. Okay, I am getting way off here but that show really bothered me for many reasons I won't get into here. It was one of those moments that made me look inward and see me for who I am and why. It is scary sometimes to go there. :) I love myself but I know I am not perfect. I guess sometimes it takes a shock to make you see where you come from. Okay, now I am rambling. LOL

OH! We found out our good friend Bob is still in Iraq (he was supposed to come home last week). He was one of the troops that got held back and now it looks like he won't be coming home until the end of the summer at the earliest. I feel so bad for him. I cannot imagine what it must be like to be planning your return and what you are going to do when you get home, only to find out you are not going. Please send a few prayers up that these guys can keep up their morale. They need to know we are all thinking of them. I know I couldn't do what they are doing. They deserve our respect and admiration. We can never repay them for what they are doing, never.


I am off to get something else done around here. Have a great day!

Is it possible to be so tired you I can't type? I didn't think I would ever see the day. :) I had a very busy day today. Becca informed me she didn't feel good after they got out of the shower. I told her to keep getting ready and if she didn't feel well when it was time to go she could stay home. She went with me to drop the other kids off but fell asleep on the way there. I took that as a sign that she really wasn't feeling well. Once we got home she laid on the couch and I started doing laundry (yes I am STILL working on it this week, yesterday it took four hours to dry one load. I think the dryer is plugged with lint. I have to clean it out today.) Once I got the laundry going I sat down to do some paperwork for the preschool. (About this time Becca threw up so I got to clean that up too.) They have this nasty stuff called in-kind. Basically I have to do activities from a list they provided me with with Cassie and Marea and then I have to record every thing. I have to do at least 10 hours a week with each of them. This is basically their funding for the program so without the hours we wouldn't be able to finish preschool. I will be glad when I only have one kid to do this for next year. It took me about two hours to get it all done today. :) After I got that done, I had to prepare my Girl Scout lesson and get the snack ready too. About the time I got all that done, it was time to go to the school to do girl scouts. I spent two hours playing Girl Scout Leader and then it was time to go home. :)

When we got home, it was so nice out that I decided to vacuum out the van. Once I got that done I got out the Armour All and sprayed down all the leather and vinyl in the van. After the van was all clean I decided to weed my roses. Weeds already, can you believe it?! And man are those roses pokey! I have scratches all over my arm from trying to get the weeds out from between the rose plants. Once the weeding was done, I watered the roses so the fertilizer I put down a few days ago would have a chance to soak in. Then I raked around all my flower beds that go all the way around my house. I picked up all the piles the raking created and put them in the compost pile. My yard looks really nice but man! am I tired. :)

Megan helped me with the raking and cleaning up the piles. She seems to be very attached to me today. This morning when she found out Becca wouldn't be eating breakfast at school she started crying. She said she was scared and didn't want to eat alone. I told her I could wait with her until she was done eating. Once she finished eating she ran up and hugged me and hid her face. I realized she was crying again and I asked her what was wrong. She said she didn't want me to leave. :( I told her I would walk her down to her locker. I don't think she was too happy when I left her there either but she must have held up because she was in a good mood after school. :)

We just finished dinner and now we have to do homework since we didn't do it right after school today. Billy is still at work, he must have a project due soon. Anyway, I am going to spend the rest of the evening relaxing and doing nothing. I have sore muscles that have never been sore before. :) Have a great night all!

We are back into the routine of life today. The kids are off to school and Mr. Bill and I are playing and singing and reading. :) He is a little cranky today if I leave his side. Not sure what is up there. He slept right next to me all night too. He is watching the Wiggles right now so I get a little break. He has started singing the ABC song and is quite amused when he gets to W. I am not sure why but he seems to really like that letter. :)

Not much happening today. I have to get laundry done today since I didn't get to it yesterday. I have to get ready for Girl Scouts tomorrow. It is our last meeting for the year. I will be taking the girls camping this summer but otherwise we are done. I am still undecided if I will continue as a leader next year. It seems sort of silly when I only have three girls and two of them are mine. Time will tell, I guess.

I will come back if I think of anything else new you all need to know. Otherwise, TTFN!

The Easter Bunny came, the Easter Bunny went and here I sit feeling somewhat deflated. The holidays seemed so much more exiting as a kid than they do as the parent. Maybe because the game is up and I know who the Easter Bunny is. I am not sure. Miss Becca also figured out this year who the Easter Bunny really is. She hasn't said anything but it is pretty obvious she has figured us out. I guess we should be glad we made it to 8 years old. I just have to keep her from giving us up to her sisters. :) The Easter Bunny brought a ton of candy and each kid got a gift. They seem to be enjoying them. Aunt Vonnie and Uncle Shannon were the best gift. Mr. Bill hung on Shannon all weekend. He was fascinated with what Shannon was doing at any given time. It was cute to watch. They played a ball game on Sunday night and Billy couldn't stop giggling. He kept telling Shannon to put his pop "over there" so he could play with him. Anytime Shannon tried to leave Billy would go find him and bring him back to play some more. He finally snuck away long enough for Mr. Bill to find me and fall asleep in my arms. I am sure he had great dreams last night. He has a new aversion to picture taking too. When we tried to take Easter pictures last week he screamed the whole time. We just thought he was tired and grouchy but when we tried again this morning before Vonnie and Shannon left, he screamed again. We got a picture of him screaming. :) I guess it will be awhile before we get him in a good picture.

The girls spent all weekend hanging on Aunt Vonnie. It is so weird to see her pregnant. She is obviously showing now and looking preggo. ;) I am so thankful in many ways that it is not me again, but I am slowly greiving the fact that we will not be having another one. Sometimes the thought excites me and sometimes it depresses me. I realized this morning, in about one year I won't have to buy diapers and baby wipes ever again. I just have Mr. Bill to potty train and then I am diaper free for the first time in 8 years. Of course I only have a few years before I have to start buying pads and tampons. LOL With four girls I am sure that will rival any diaper money we ever spent. :)

It is amazing to imagine our family with older kids. I look forward to attending their activities, programs, and events. I hope my kids feel supported by us. My parents were very uninvolved in my track and field activities. I think they attended two track meets in the 5 years I was in track. Billy's family was just as uninvolved in his school activities. As a teenager that was very hard for me to understand and frequently it made me angry. Now as the parent, it infuriates me even more because I see how little effort it would have been for my parents to go to a track meet to cheer me on. I also realize how important it is to my kids to have their parents support. I am glad I will be able to be there for my own kids. I can't wait until they can start joining in school activities. I love to watch them grow and expand their minds.

After watching Vonnie and Shannon with our kids all weekend I realized how special and important they are. I think, as parents, we tend to lose sight of that in the midst of disciplining, arguing, and chores. It is nice to be able to sit back and watch your kids interact with someone else they really care about. I realized we need to stop and spend more time with our kids. It is easy to lose sight of what they are needing when you get so wrapped up in your own life. I am thankful we get the chance to step back and critique our lives every once in awhile. It is the only way we can make things better. It also gives me the chance to appreciate my husband more. It is hard to find couple time when you have a houseful of people. It helps me to appreciate the bond, love, and caring we have for each other.

Overall it was a good weekend. The girls will really miss Aunt Vonnie and Uncle Shannon but we only have two months until we are going out to see them. We will be in the Hills for Billy's cousin's wedding in June and then we are planning to go out and see the baby when it is born. Sometime in August I imagine (unless of course it is a smart baby and comes out on my birthday! :) ) Hope you all had a good Easter. Take care.

It's Friday! Wow. It seemed like I was waiting forever and now here it is. My sister should be here in a couple of hours. The kids are excited and everytime the door opens Mr. Bill says, "Bonnie home?" We say no no not yet! LOL He is so smart for his age. It is amazing to watch full and complete sentences come out of his mouth. He can tell you what he wants or needs with no problems. I love this age. He is also starting the terrible two's. He is learning he doesn't have to listen if he doesn't want to. As you can imagine that is not working well for mom and dad. :) I put Mr. Bill in time out a few times and he looked at me like I was crazy. Ahhh, the joys of parenting. :)

I spent most of today cleaning. We started the day finishing the wall Billy started yesterday. Once that was done we rearranged the girl's rooms and got them all situated. Becca wasn't kidding when she said she wanted her own room. Once we got hers done this morning she stayed there for a good three hours. She came down to eat and watch t.v. but is back up there now. I had no idea she would enjoy being alone like that. We put Marea in the other part of the room we divided. For now there are no doors and that could be a problem for Marea but I guess we will see tonight. Megan and Cassie are adament that they don't want to sleep apart yet. I told them that was fine. (I don't have another room yet anyway! LOL) We are planning to add a two car garage with 3 or 4 bedrooms above it after we pay off our house in 2008. Until then the girls have to make do with the rooms we have. :O)

After we got the wall up and the girl's rooms cleaned up the cleaning sort of flowed into the hallway, bathroom, and linen closet. The only room upstairs that didn't get touched was my room. It is so cluttered right now anyway that there really is no point in cleaning it. We still have Billy's bed in our room. We just got him out of our bed and into his own about 2 months ago. He still likes to be in our room, and since we have the smallest bedroom in the house (8 X 10 I think) there really is not much room in there. We are planning on moving our room downstairs into the newly made bedroom once Vonnie and Shannon are gone. It used to be the kitchen but we switched the kitchen and the office. We made a large closet to put the "office" in and the rest will be our bedroom. It will be nice to have some breathing room. Once we move downstairs Billy will get our old room. I will be able to get all of his toys out of my living room! His trucks and blocks are starting to take over down here. LOL

The progress on the bathroom has stalled for now. Our extra money this month went for Billy's tooth extraction (It is NOT a surgery, if you ask him, anyway!) so we are waiting until we have some extra money to get going on it again. Wouldn't it be nice to be rich. I could just go out and buy everything all at once instead of in bits and pieces. I guess I picked the wrong parents. ;)

We are going to dye Easter eggs tomorrow. The kids are really looking forward to this especially since Aunt Vonnie will be here to do it too. :) The Easter Bunny still has not gone shopping. I better get him going soon huh? ;) I will probably be busy all weekend so don't expect too much new info until Monday, at the earliest. Have a great holiday weekend.

The title of this blogger couldn't be more appropriate than right now. I sent four girls upstairs to clean their room and from the sounds I hear coming down the stairs very little cleaning is getting done. ;)

Today has been pretty uneventful in the Sides' house. Billy stayed home and has been mostly sleeping on and off. His mouth is finally starting to not be numb and he is feeling the pain. We took a trip to Walmart to get him some soft foods and pop. He is afraid to eat because he doesn't want to hurt his mouth. We also ran to JCPenney's so he could try on a suit jacket to see what size he wears. Our friend, Bob, who is about to leave Iraq has found some Armani suits there for 40.00 and he wanted to get his wedding party each one. Billy has two suits but I will be damned if they put a tag in the things. I looked and looked and couldn't find a single tag. I guess men are just supposed to remember what size they wear. (Yeah right! These are MEN we are talking about.) Apparently Billy was well under the affects of the anesthesia yesterday because today he kept asking me weird questions. LOL He wanted to know how we got out of Sioux Falls, why we went to Little Caesar's to get gas, how he got into the van, and other misc. things about our trip. He doesn't remember eating at McDonalds at all. :)

I haven't accomplished anything today having him underfoot. I need to get soooo much done. It is funny how he can throw off my whole routine. Vonnie will be here tomorrow and my house appears as though a tornado went through it again. I spent most of the morning sewing Girl Scout Badges on a Brownie vest so Megan would have hers done. I still have four or so to go. If my sewing machine hadn't bit the dust it may have gone quicker. Billy IV wasn't much help either. Apparently sewing supplies are very intriging to a 22 month old cause he would not stay out of my sewing box. He is really ornery today. He woke up at 4 am and threw up. He seemed fine after that and has no fever or anything. I am not sure what the cause of that was.

We got some good news on Billy's Mom today. She has been diagnosed with cancer and it was looking pretty hopeless. Today we found out her bones cells are regrowing and the cancer is a slow growing one. She is not healthy by any means but she has a future again. She has to continue her hormone therapy but she may be able to return to work eventually. I believe our prayers have been answered.

It seems while I go about my day I think of a million things I *could* write about here but once I sit down to write it is all gone. LOL I am going to have to start carrying a notebook around. Speaking of writing, I have been working on my own romance novel lately. I thought I would take a stab at it since I enjoy reading them. I have about four chapters done and I seem to have hit the end. I will have to put it aside for awhile and let the plot brew until I am ready to continue it. I have several novels started that I just haven't continued. I love the writing process and the creativity it requires. Perhaps someday I will have one published. That will be the ultimate job for me, spending the day writing. Aaaaah! I have considered putting them online as I go but I am not too sure about that yet. Maybe when I am more confident in my writing. When I was in College I had an awesome Lit teacher who introduced her class by saying, "I grade depending on whether I think your writing could be published. If I do, you will get an A. Anything less than that and you will NOT get an A." I think the next time we went to class there were 10-12 less students in the class. :) (And there were only 20 or so to begin with). She was a "Sister" and from Ireland if I remember correctly. I feel badly that I cannot remember her name. She was very supportive of my writing and encouraged me to write a book of short stories to be published. I did get an A in her class btw. :) I enjoyed her class so much that I made sure she was my Junior Comp class teacher. She really left an impression on me. She even helped me understand Shakespeare (does that have an "e" at the end?) and I really thought that was impossible.

Well I suppose I better get off this machine. My husband, in his drugged stupor, has decided to build a wall in the girl's room to divide it into two. (Becca was complaining about wanting her own room the other day.) We have one really large bedroom that easily will make two but I thought we would wait a few more weeks before we tackled it. I guess not. :) I hope the wood is cut straight. LOL
TTFN!

Is it bedtime yet? ;)

We got up bright and early this morning to take Billy down to Sioux Falls to have his wisdom teeth removed. We had to be there to check in at 7:45 a.m. We were up and moving at 5 a.m. I am in serious need of a nap but Billy is still not feeling too well so he is sleeping. :) The whole thing only took 1 1/2 hours and went pretty well. Thankfully our insurance covers most of it so it only hurt us about 200.00. :)

Once we got done we came straight home, mostly because I am paranoid about driving in Sioux Falls (and I get soooo lost in that city). I managed to get back out of Sioux Falls on my own thankfully. Billy was very much out of it and kept asking me the same questions over and over. He was very whinny too. :) I am glad he doesn't have surgery often.

We got home and headed outside. I love this warm weather. The kids played on their bikes, the swing set, in the playhouse, and in the dirt. Billy IV has discovered dirt is a really cool thing to play in. I am pretty sure I have lost my clean little boy. Never again will I see his soft baby skin sans dirt. :) He came in the house for lunch looking like a construction worker, complete with dirt under his fingernails. I can see the summer will be exciting with him around. He is sooo different than the girls were at this age. He loves to climb, tumble, jump, and do anything that is crazy and fun. The girls used to sit on the sidewalk and watch all the boys run and get dirty. LOL Every once in awhile when Billy was a newborn, I would forget he was a boy but now, I see the boy emerging in my little toddler. I will miss my cuddly little man. :(

We are winding down our week here today. Billy took the rest of the week off to recover from his surgery. The kids only have school tomorrow and then they are done for the week. I have a lot to get done before Vonnie and Shannon get here and the Easter Bunny still needs to go shopping for the Sides' kids. ;) I struggle with holidays now because it seems my kids have so many toys and they never play with them. Our newest craze was the My Little Pony's. I think we own 15 of them now (some gifts) and they girls don't touch them short of dumping them out of the box so they can use it to play house with. I don't want to waste money on more toys they won't look at again. For Christmas I asked all my family to send art supplies, playdough, and other things the kids run out of regularly. Now I am at a loss as what to do this year. Maybe I will start a savings account and we can use it to visit family and friends throughout the year. I will have to do some brainstorming before I send the Easter Bunny shopping.

I guess that is all for today. I feel sort of scatterbrained and this post reflects it. :) Have a great day!

It is Tuesday! We are one day closer to Aunt Vonnie's visit. :)

This morning didn't get off to a good start. Cassie did not want to get up. She screamed, cried, and threw a fit almost until she threw up. Then after I was at the end of my rope, she miracuously quits, like nothing was wrong at all. I don't know if it is the time change, her allergies, or both. I gave her her Zyrtec as soon as she was dressed but I don't think it could kick in fast enough this morning. LOL We got her off to school only to discover she forgot her backpack with her homework in it. She was really upset about that too. I don't know if I can handle another year of preschool with her. I may just keep her home next year so *I* don't have to deal with it.

On a better note, I talked to my step-brother yesterday. He and his girlfriend are moving to Sioux Falls from Hot Springs this weekend. He works at Menards and got transfered to the new store they are opening in Sioux Falls. He also had news that his girlfriend, Bethany, is pregnant. (Yeah, I said girlfriend, get over it!) How exciting for them! Pretty soon I will convince all my family to move this way. :) I also got an email from my sister that she and her boyfriend will be getting married next April. I am excited for them too. It is so much fun to watch all my siblings go through what I have been doing for the last 10.5 years. :) :) I haven't talked to my mom or my other siblings lately. Life seems to be sooo busy that I don't have time to get on the phone.

The kids got their spring pictures back yesterday. It is a pilot program to see if we, the parents, want the pictures every year. I thought it may have been good but you get one 8 X10, two 5 X 7's, and 8 wallets for 37.00! I just don't think that is worth it when I can go to walmart and get a whole package (usually 40 pics or so) for 4 bucks. Plus if I buy all four girls packages that is almost 160.00!!!!! EEkkkk! I think we are going to have to skip the spring pics.

Marea is having an amazing week. Maybe it is because lately I have had the strength to be a tough parent with her, I am not sure. I haven't had many problems with her and yesterday we had a play date with a friend and her three kids. Usually these kind of situation cause a lot of problems for Marea. She started getting wound up before they came and I flat out told her that just because they were coming over doesn't mean life or the rules change. I did manage to get her to chill out before they got here. I was very proud that she could pull herself together. She tried really hard to lose that control when they first got here but I just kept pulling her back and she would regain her composure. The visit actually went very well. I really enjoy having someone come over and spend time with us. I love the adult conversation and the kids love having someone new to play with. Marea is also constantly telling me she loves me lately. I am still not sure if it is real but at least she is trying. (Confused? Marea has RAD. Want to know what that is? Go here. http://www.thelittleprince.org/Index.html)

On another good note, the man in my life (who I THINK is my husband) actually showed up from work at 6:00 last night instead of his usual 8:00. On top of that we all sat outside and played and talked for a couple of hours after he got home. I was so amazed to see him in the sunlight. He is as sexy as I remembered. LOL Billy also gets to go have his wisdom teeth out tomorrow. I would feel sorry for him but when I had mine out, one was hurting so I went in, Cassie was two weeks old and two days after I had mine out my husband went on a business trip to Australia for a month. So if he suffers a little I won't rush to his side. LOL

Well, I guess I better get back to life on the other side of this computer. Have a great spring day everyone!

It is Monday again. They seem to come so fast don't they?

Our weekend went pretty uneventfully. Saturday we spent the day relaxing and did a little house cleaning in honor of Vonnie and Shannon, who will be here Friday. Sunday we were really busy. I got the girls all dressed up in their easter dresses and curled their hair so I could take pictures. Unfortunately Mr. Bill had no desire to have his picture taken and just wanted to see the pictures on the camera. He was also eating chocolate and managed to get it on the lens so all the pictures of the girls that I got are blurry. :( I guess I will have to try again later this week. I did get a couple of okay ones I will post soon.
After the girls were done with pictures they changed clothes and we all went outside. I started raking and cleaning up the yard. I got the garden all cleaned out and ready for planting. I can't wait for my plants to arrive! I started raking the big ugly bean pods up too. We have these trees in our backyard that produce these big brown bean pods. Someone told me these are carob trees, that I am not sure of. I am sure, however, that the bean pods are a pain in the butt. :) Billy took over part way through the raking and we got the entire back yard cleaned up. It looks much nicer with green grass peeking through than it did with leaves and bean pods laying all over the place.
After we got the yard done it was dinner time so we decided to treat ourselves (plus we were both too tired to cook). We drove to Brookings and had KFC for dinner. After that we came home and put the kids to bed.
The time change sure has thrown them off today. No one got up while I was exercising this morning. :) It will be nice to have light later into the evenings though.
That is about all I have time for this morning. I have a house that looks like a tornado went through it and I have laundry to do. TTFN!

It's Friday!!! I am so glad the weekend is coming. Today I am off to get my haircut. (It is way way way past due). Right now everyone is at school except Mr. Bill so we get to spend a few hours together playing. I like getting to spend one on one time with him. He is such a character. I got the house clean despite the five kids running around yesterday so it is not too bad in here. I rearranged the kitchen a little. I will be glad when we get the office done and I can put the desk back so I can get the table back in the dining room. :) I had planned to mud the rest of the new bathroom today but it seems we have run out of mud and money so I guess it will have to wait a few weeks. That bums me out but at least I know it will get done eventually. (It will, won't it?)

I have volunteered myself to host a party for some Lady who sells household stuff. I can't even remember the name of it. LOL They do have some really nice stuff and the clearance stuff on the net are pretty cheap. They have a wallpaper boarder I wanted to do the bathroom with but at 18.00 a roll, I decided not too. If you would like to check it out or order something you can email me what you want. That would help me get the wallpaper boarder cheaper. :) Here is the online catalog: http://www.myhomemakersidea.com/dm8237/home.cpo For those of you who live close by be prepared to get a catalog. :)

I am really getting irritated with my husband of late. He seems to think work is way more important than family. He leaves here after I get the girls up and off to school and doesn't get home until 7 or 8 p.m. I am starting to feel like a single parent and I am not enjoying it a lot. I feel bad for the kids too cause they go to bed at 8 p.m. every night and so if they get to see dad, it is only for a half and hour or so. I wish I could make him see what he is missing. He is going to look back when he is 60 and wish he had made his family more of a priority. Oh well. I have tried telling him but it doesn't seem to help. Right now I am living on survival mode. I hope this doesn't continue through the summer. At least the kids and I can play all summer now that I have a vehicle. Last summer I had to stay home until he got home since we only had one car. This year I plan to hit the lake a lot and go to the parks and stuff. It should be a fun summer.

I am really bummed at my weight loss progress too. I watched extreme makeover last night and this lady lost 4-5 inches just by exercising for 5.5 weeks. I have been doing aerobics and toning for a year now and have not lost any inches or pounds. I started at 151 lbs last year and am currently hovering between 150 and 149. (Yes, I reveal my weight. I don't focus on the numbers, but rather how I feel about me.) I don't want my girls to grow up focused on their bodies and a number on a scale. I exercise and they know it so hopefully when they feel the need to get skinny they will exercise and eat right to lose the weight. I am not exercising just to lose weight either. My mom has many chronic health problems, many of which I think could be helped by exercise and prevention techniques. So just in case, I am going to continue exercising so I don't end up an old lady before my time. :)

I guess that is enough venting from me today. I am not off to a good start for a Friday am I? Once I go get my haircut I will feel better I hope. You all have a great day!

***I got my haircut and am more relaxed now. It is amazing what hair hanging in my eyes can do to my day. :) *****

Here is a picture from Christmas with Billy's Family this year of all of us.

Good Morning everyone! It is going to be a beautiful day here. I just got home from dropping the girls off to school. Cassie got to dress up as a farmer this morning (that is the theme for the week at the preschool). She looked so cute in overalls and braids down her back. :) She was up bright and early this morning for some reason. I was still exercising when she came downstairs. She just sat and watched me and played with her toys until it was time to go upstairs and shower.

Marea is doing better this week. I discovered she was spitting her medicine in the toilet after I gave it to her last week. I finally caught her at the end of the week so it took a few days to get her back to where she is supposed to be. I thought I was going nuts last week trying to deal with her erratic behavior. I am glad we found the cause. Now we just have to convince her that she HAS to take her medicine everyday.

I don't have much going on today. I need to clean the house today. It got trashed yesterday after we got home. I hate that it only stays clean for a day at the most and then I have to start all over. I will probably spend most of this afternoon outside today. Maybe I can get some yard work done while I am out there. :)