Wake me up!

Oy! What a weekend! I am still recovering and can't seem to get enough sleep.

Friday the kids didn't have school and I needed to get groceries for the weekend so I hauled all five of them into town. We spent about an hour and a half at HyVee and then ran to Walmart for a few things I needed to pick up. We came home and I unloaded the car and put the groceries away. After that I began work on the bathroom again. We managed to get it primed and painted by 1 a.m. Sleep?, who needs sleep!

Saturday we were up and at em early so we could get the finishing touches done to the bathroom (like putting toilet back in) and preparing for our babysitters to arrive about 4 p.m. We managed to clean the house and get most of our remodeling stuff out of their way. They were late and finally showed up at 5:30. We ran off to Brookings and stopped at Applebees to see what the wait time would be. Billy came back to the van and said it would be 45 minutes just to be seated. Since the concert started at 7:30 we headed off to a different restaurant. We finally decided on Guadalajara's. There was a 15-20 minute wait there.

We finally got seated though. They brought a basket of homemade chips and salsa to our table while we perused the menus. We polished off the basket of chips shortly after the waiter took our order. He asked if we wanted more but since we had food coming we said no. I order the chicken fajitas and Billy ordered the steak and chicken fajitas. The waiter came out with a large plate of rice and beans and two types of salad first. He set them in front of us and headed back into the kitchen for the rest of our food. He came out with two plates of hot sizzling (so loud the entire restaurant could hear it) meat tucked under sauted onion, green peppers, and tomatoes. It smelled heavenly. He set them on our table and came back shortly thereafter with our tortilla shells. Billy and I began stuffing our shells. They were absolutely delish! I told Billy that we needed to do this more often as this really beat fast food. Yum!

We finished eating at 7:20 and grabbed our check and ran out the door (yes we paid first). We got to the concert right at 7:30 and there was still quite a line at the door. We found our seats with a little help from the usher-gal since the opening act had already started and so the lights were all out. In the rows above and below us were lots of other couples. The opening act was a band with members mostly from South Dakota. They were good. Trace Adkins came out about 8 and started his songs. One thing I really noticed about him is that he doesn't dance. He really needs to work on getting the crowd into the show. He ended his part of the concert by changing into a metallic silver shirt and sang his song "Chrome". Good song! By the time Trace Adkins was done my hearing had definitely been impaired. I could hardly hear myself talk. Mongomery Gentry came out then at about 9:30. They are much better at involving the crowd. They danced, sang, threw hats into the audience, and signed autographs while singing. It was fun to watch. I must say though, sitting in the seats with a bunch of drunk adults is not nearly as much fun as standing down on the floor dancing and getting all sweaty. The guy in front of us was passed out before Montgomery Gentry even made it out on stage. Blah! Next time I told Billy we will have to buy the floor tickets. LOL The concert ended just shy of 11 p.m. and we headed out to our car. The parking situation there was horrendous and I thought for sure we would see several accidents before we got out of the parking lot, if we didn't get into one ourselves. 20,000 drunk fans all trying to get onto the same road is NOT a good situation. But thanks to Billy's driving style we got out safely and fairly quickly. We headed straight home.

By the time we got home you would think we would have dropped into bed but we were too wired to even think about sleep. We sat up talking to Billy's sister and her husband until about 2 a.m. (our babysitters). Finally we all called it a night. Final thought as my head hit the pillow: Must. Do. This. More. Often.

The kids awoke at 7 a.m. and succeeded in dragging us out of bed by 8. Mr. Bill woke up and lectured me because I left him. I know, bad mommy. ;) He seemed to get over it rather quickly but he hung on me pretty much all day Sunday.

Billy and Lance decided to tackle the plumbing in the entry way on Sunday afternoon. They got all the old plumbing out (cast iron stuff) by 4 p.m. but then our babysitters had to depart. Once we got them packe up and out the door Billy ran off to Menards to get some pieces he realized he would need. He got home around 7 and began work on the plumbing again. I finally crashed at 10 last night and I think he came to bed around 3 a.m.

Today I am playing maid. The house is a disaster from having 10 kids in it all weekend and basically no rules. We all just played and had fun. The plumbing is now in and we are ready to run new water lines and electricity. Hopefully, if all goes well, the sheetrock will go up this weekend. We are beginning to experience remodeling burnout so we need to get moving before we stop altogether. I have started the piles of laundry and had to scrub the stairs because of the black dust the cast iron created as it was being cut out. Yuck!

The kids should be home asap so I will run for now. I will try to get some pics of the bathroom up yet today. It really looks awesome!

Are We There Yet?

It is Thursday and HALLELUJAH my kids don't have school tomorrow. We have conferences tonight to find out how smart our girls are. I already know but I go to humor the teachers. Well, that and the fact that my parents never went to my parent/teacher conferences. I always felt so disappointed that they couldn't take 15 minutes out of their day to go talk to my teacher. So we shall go! :)

Saturday is the big date night. Billy and I will be going to see Montgomery Gentry and Trace Adkins live in concert. This is the first "date" we have had since my birthday 5 years ago. I am mucho excited. I think we will eat at Applebee's first and then head over to the concert. Yahoooo!

The remodeling is coming along. I bought the new bathroom accessories yesterday. We have the paint and wallpaper border waiting to go in tomorrow and then we should be just about done. We still need to buy the shower and vanity but that may have to wait yet. The entry way has been sitting still. We are planning to get the sheetrock up on Friday but our plans keep changing. If CSI wasn't on three nights a week, we would have more done by now. Darn networks anyway! ;)

I don't think I ever updated about Marea and her potential for repeating kindergarten. We talked to her teacher and she said in the last month she is beginning to see great strides in Marea so she is going to wait until April to see how she does. We will meet with her again then to discuss what next. She said we also will want to consider if it is better to move Marea on to first grade (being that she will have gotten all she can out of kindergarten) and then have her repeat first grade, if she needs too. It is so much to think about, I am not really sure where to begin. And there is the waiting factor. I really can't do much more than sit and wait to see if she has learned enough by April. I sure can't say life is dull around here.

Life!

Happy Birthday Cori! Hope it is a great one! 

Doin' the Happy Dance!

It has been a little over a week but he has it down. Mr. Bill goes potty all the time, by himself, without help, and on a regular basis.

Woooooohoooooooo!

I really didn't think it would be the final chapter in Mr. Bill's diaper history. But if he keeps this up, those last 20 diapers in my pantry will be forever unused.

Woooooooohooooooooooooooo!


P.S. Guess who's birthday is TOMORROW? Can you? Huh? Huh?



Okay I'll tell ya. IT IS CORI'S BIRTHDAY TOMORROW! Happy Happy Birthday to her!

Upgrade

I did it! I finally called Dish Network and upgraded our service to the Top 120 yesterday.

You see, over Christmas and Thanksgiving they gave us free Sirius Satellite Radio on our t.v. I found the 80's station and was instantly hooked. We listened to 80's songs through the holidays. After the new year, they cut it off. Boo hoo hoo!

I tried to go on without my new addiction but I just couldn't. The radio stations here suck. They just talk talk talk talk. I wanted music! So for 9 dollars more a month I get more t.v. channels and I get my music back. There are like a gazillion Sirius channels with every imaginable type of music. Life is good again. :)

I thought it would be more

43.75 %

My weblog owns 43.75 % of me.
Does your weblog own you?

I really would have guessed more like 99% especially on a day like today. Look at all these posts! :) At least blogging hasn't consumed me completely, YET!

Weighty Issue

Maybe I am oversensitive to this but lately I have gotten really irked by t.v., radio, and people around me.

I have four girls. Four girls with ears who hear other women on t.v., on the radio, and just in the general public commenting about their fat thighs, fat stomachs, fat, fat, F. A. T.

I change the channel when the "Lose weight WITHOUT exercise" and "Miracle Pill for Weight Loss!" commercials come on because they don't need to see that. I have four very beautiful girls and I don't want them growing up feeling like they are fat when they are not even close to it. I don't want four girls (or even one) to have an eating disorder because they feel "fat".

I had begun trying to lose the baby fat that I gained after four pregnancies about 2 years ago. I have about 20 lbs that I would like to get rid of. It started out innocently. I began exercising every morning and ignored what I was eating (not that I think I eat that bad anyway). After not losing any weight in 9 months I decided to start modifying what I ate. I lost nothing. I got Dr. Phil's weight loss book and tried his rapid start program. Fortunately most of this occured while my kids were at school so they weren't exposed very often. I lost 9 pounds on Dr. Phil's plan. I rejoiced and continued exercising. Since then (almost a year ago) I have gained it back and am stuck again. I catch myself saying things like, "I can't wear that" or "I would like to be skinner by summer time" and then I realize what I just said. I am teaching my girls to have a poor self image by example and that is not what I want. I eat well and exercise and that will have to be good enough. My goal this year is to accept who I am and be happy with me so that my girls will see that it is okay to be who you are and be happy with the body God gave them. I continue to exercise and will continue to eat smaller portions and healthier foods but I will not utter another word about weight loss. The scale has been demoted to the office and is out of the bathroom so I weigh myself about once a month instead of daily.

Becca, my oldest, sees those commercials and probably wonders why I don't use all those fancy diet products or exercise equipment to lose weight. When she is older I will explain to her, as my mom did to me, that if those products actually worked then there wouldn't be an overweight person on the planet. I wish we could edit out weight loss crap from the media like we edit out violence and sex.

My kids deserve better and so do yours.

P.S. Now watch google will pull up weight loss ads on my blog! Eeeeeeek!

He is learning

Over the weekend we got some major stuff done in our remodeling process. I began grouting the tile on Saturday night while Billy was upstairs putting the kids to bed. He came down after I had about 25% of the floor done and the first words out of his mouth were, "Wow! That looks great!"

There wasn't one rude comment although I am sure they were bubbling under the surface. I am thankful he kept them to himself. It felt good to hear praise come from his mouth. Men can be taught. ;)

Valentine

I finally cleaned out the remaining valentine cards that my kids brought home last night. It seemed silly to me to keep them but they wanted them. Once they were ripped and scattered across the living room, I called them garbage and that is where they went.

I remember the first Valentine's day in elementary school when I could read the cards myself and I could write my friend's names on them. I debated about which card to give to whom. I wasn't going to give the class bully the card that had a picture of a kitten and the phrase, "Your purrrrrfect" because she wasn't perfect, she was mean. I found the best sucking up teacher cards and filled those out first. (Yes I was a teacher's pet my whole life, so sue me!) After I found the ones that said things like, "Your my best buddy" and "Your my valentine" for my friends, I started picking out the ones I wanted to give to the boys. Most of the boys got the generic, "Happy Valentine's Day". I saved one special one for a boy I had had a crush on for months. It said, "We make a cute pair, Valentine!" I put his name on it and in the 'from' section I wrote, "your valentine". In my mind I figured he wouldn't know who I was but he would know someone secretly liked him. Am I sneaky or what?

Looking back years later I realized how silly that was because if everyone else had signed their names to their card, it was just a matter of elimination. Maybe he wasn't smart enough to figure it out back then either. Who am I kidding? He most likely he ripped the candy from the card and threw it on the ground while he devoured the heart shaped morsel. Oooooh Valenine Love. ;)

Finding The Good

We have five kids, count em, F. I. V. E.

You would never know they were related if you couldn't see their faces while talking to them.

Becca has become my hormonal whiner (at the age of 9). She never used to be this way. She used to be my kind loving kid, which she still is, in between the hormonal whining. Becca is also my leader. I think that goes with being the oldest kid. She loves to tell the other kids what to do and she does it in a LOUD hormonal whiny voice. OY! Becca is also my most empathetic kid. She feels for other people in a deep and loving level that even I can't get to.

Megan, well, Megan has a love for money and stuff. She hates us when we won't buy her something she wants and loves us when we do. It is funny because when we buy her something she runs up and gives us a hug. She is genetically like me and does NOT like to give physical love (i.e. hugs, kisses, etc.) but that all goes out the window when we buy her something. Megan is also the most stubborn kid we have. It is amazing to me how she can suck in her emotions and refuse to cooperate when she has done something to embarrass herself. She has the emotional strength equal to the strength of a redwood tree. Monumental.

Marea is a follower. There are no two ways with her. She watches the other kids and follows suit even if it is a dumb idea and she would get in trouble. She would be the person who would jump off a cliff just because someone else did. Marea is learning how to love. When she first came to live with us, she didn't want physical attention of any kind. Now she does what I call hit-and-run love. She runs up to me at the oddest moments and whispers, "I love you mom" and then goes right back to what ever she is doing. Occasionally I get a hug too but they are quick, fleeting moments.

Cassie is a younger whinier version of Becca, minus the hormones. When something gets her panties in a wad she lets everyone within ear shot know and she can keep it up for hours. Cassie is my cuddler of the family. She will sit on my lap for hours if she can. She is always climbing into my lap and hugging me. Cassie also aims to please. She is the first one up when we need help and something needs to be done. She really cares what people think of her.

Mr. Bill is all boy. I never thought raising boys and girls could be THAT different but let me assure you it is THAT different. Mr. Bill is always hitting his sisters with some device he has determined is a sword. He chases them around and around the couch pretending to get them but then he actually does get them when they stop running. He is also my screamer, a skill the girls never learned. He learned early on that screaming at the top of his lungs would make the girls scatter. Since then screaming has been his #1 defense. Mr. Bill is also a sweetie. Despite his hitting he is quick to make amends with his sisters. He loves them and is already defending them when they get in trouble with mom or dad.

Runneth Over

I truly am blessed. If I could step outside my body and see what I have in my life, I really have nothing to complain about (not that that will stop me).

I have five beautiful, healthy, and well behaved children. All of them are growing, thriving, loving, living, and being.

I have a husband who, despite his flaws, loves me unconditionally. He is my support, my friend, the other half of my heart, and the other half of my soul. I am so thankful we found each other.

I have a home. A beautiful home that keeps us all warm and safe.

We have food and water and electricity and all the other "essentials" to keep us a fully functioning family.

We have wisdom and guidance and love and support from many places. I am most grateful to all of my "internet friends" whom I am sure I could not live without.

I really am blessed.

I forgot to mention

ONLY 5 days until Cori's Birthday!
Happy Happy Birthday Cori!

Oh and Mr. Bill is soooooo potty training! Today he tried to go three times but he is afraid to pee because on Wednesday he peed on his leg (gotta hold that tail down ya know!) so I put our little potty that we had in the attic, in the living room and he sat right down and peed. I know I said I wouldn't..... but I did..... and well, I will get over the grossness of it if it means no more diaper changing. So yay to my little guy who is growing up so fast!

Not Worthy

I guess I am not worthy to install tile flooring.


The bathroom tile-almost done.


Last night my husband came home, and I being so proud of having installed the flooring myself, showed it to him expecting him to say something like, "Wow that looks great!" Instead he says, "Is the thin-set supposed to be in the cracks? Is that tile up to high? etc." No "thank you for all your work, that really looks nice, you did a good job" Nope! I just get crap. Then he spent the remainder of the evening scraping the cracks between the tiles (I read the book and it said it didn't matter if there was a little in there so long as there is enough room for the grout AND THERE WAS!) Then he reset three tiles and cut the rest of the edge tiles. He also re-cut the ones I cut because apparently they were off. Never mind that the ones HE recut are too far from the wall and the baseboards will not cover that big of a gap! Do you feel the anger here? He really hurt my feelings. Did I mention this is the first time ever that either of us have installed tile flooring in our lives?????


My tile job

This morning he finished cutting a couple of tiles so that "I" could finish sticking them down while he is at work. Um HELLO! Do I really look like I want to do anymore work in this room so you can come home and tell me what a crap job I did again? I THINK NOT!

You know he has been offered several supervisor postions at work and he always turns them down. He is not a leader type personality and now I am glad for all of his co-workers that he said no because he really sucks at giving postive feedback too!

It is time to find the happy in your life and share it with others buck-o! Blah!

No Touchy!

I put the tile in today. At least the uncut ones. I attempted a few cut ones but I quickly realized I was tired (been at it since 1 and ended at 4:30) and my hips hurt like someone stuck a hot poker in them. You see, Denise Austin decided to do hips, buns and thighs twice this week and I was still sore from Tuesday's workout when she announced we would be doing them again this a.m. Eek! So here I sit, just sitting and relaxing for the first time today. Aaah! :)

Lil?

Okay Lil! I so hope you read my blog more often than you post on yours cause the other day I went to your blog and found this: Goodbye.

You had me totally freaked out! Is this goodbye, I am done blogging or goodbye, I have ended my life? I am not a patient person but I tried to wait it out to see if you would post an explanation but so far nothing! I know you deal with depression and it can make people do things they otherwise wouldn't.

Please PLEASE at least put a little post here or on your blog to let us know you are still with us. I understand if you don't want to keep blogging but for heaven's sake tell us! Don't torture me! ;)

Happy Hump Day!

It feels so good to be in the middle of Wednesday already! We only have 2 more days of the week left! Yay!

Mr. Bill is offically potty training now. I was going to wait until this summer since it would be easier in shorts but he has decided since yesterday that he NEEDS to use the potty. He gets this look when he is about to pee and he tells me and then runs upstairs (remember we ripped out the downstairs bathroom a few weeks ago! Good timing eh?). So far he has gone potty all day yesterday and is off to a good start today. I haven't taken him out of diapers yet as he doesn't really know when he has to go all the time. I don't like cleaning up the messes so I will leave him in diapers until he gets there 100% of the time. I am excited to have him out of diapers and into underwear.

We are meeting with Marea's teacher on Friday. We have conferences next week but apparently Marea is not up to par academically and she is afraid if we let her go on to first grade she would fail miserably there. So we are going to discuss possibly holding her back in kindergarten and a few other options. I cannot say I am surprised at this but I am disappointed. I really wanted her to be able to go on. I think a lot of it has to do with her ADHD because when I sat down and talked to her and told her that she needed to listen when her teacher talked she told me, "Sometimes I can't hear her cause there is too much noise behind me." It will be an interesting meeting. :)

My kids are all getting better now after three days on antibiotics. It is amazing how fast those little pills make them better. This is the first time I have ever had three sick kids at once. Isn't that amazing? They all had strep but are recovering nicely.

Last night I got the cement board in the new bathroom so we can lay tile. It was my first time using thin-set mortar but I think it went fairly well. The first batch I mixed was a little runnier than it was supposed to be but I was not about to scrape it off the floor and remix it so I did the best I could. I think it turned out well anyway. Once the floor has set for 48 hours than we can go in and get the tile done. We are anxious to have the tile in so we can install the toilet by the weekend. It would be nice to have a toilet for Mr. Bill downstairs (and NO I don't want to put one of those potty chairs down here. They are so..... YUCK!)

I am going to start the drywall in the entry way today. Hopefully I can get one wall done before Billy gets home so he can finish up his plumbing parts and then we can get the ceiling and the other wall done. We had hoped to hire someone to do the taping and texturing but money-wise that may not be possible which means we get to do it. I hate the taping part. The new bathroom is still not finished because neither of us want to finish the taping. Oy! I have a goal though to get this mess done by the 24th so we will both be taping this time. I discovered they have a product that makes the drywall mud dry quickly so you can do the second and third coat in the same day or the next day at the latest. What a concept! We will be buying some of that so that we can get these rooms FINISHED! I am so excited to see the finished results. I will be sure to post pictures.

Well that seems to be enought random rambling for one hump day. I hope you all have a great Wednesday and find something to smile about. Enjoy the sunshine!

My Present

Well, Andrea, I don't know how you guessed it but you are on the right track!

I realized on Saturday night that AF was due to visit here the Wednesday before. YIKES! I began to stress. Being late for me just does not happen. I thought OMG! here we go again. I told Billy on Sunday and he looked like someone just dropped a baby grand on him. Did I mention WE DON'T WANT ANYMORE KIDS??!!

So anyway, we held our breaths and waited until Monday night when Billy came home from work with an hpt. I peed on the stick last night and waited. IT WAS NEGATIVE! Hallelujah and Thank you GOD!

AF still has not reared her ugly head (although I would be very happy to see her at this point) bu for now we are going with the negative and hoping it stays that way. I am wondering if the patch I tried for one day threw me off or something.

I did get a nice soft foam pillow for Valentine's Day though from Billy so the night was good all around. :)

Mental

My mom called last night. I was dreading this moment.

My mom has been "ill" for the last 10 or so years. Every year it gets progressively worse. It started with chronic pain that no doctor could diagnose and has since morphed into numerous diseases noone, even the doctors, have heard of. She frequently talks about, whines about, and generally complains about her health. It is obvious to us that she is using this to get attention. She has a lot of issues from her childhood that she never dealt with and her insecurities are showing themselves now. She sits on the internet looking for new diseases that she may have. She is on so many medicines, and many of them addictive narcotics, that the woman who gave birth to me no longer exsists. She is a drug addict, albeit prescription ones.

About two weeks ago she ended up in the hospital. She has severe sores on her feet that had gotten infected. She called my sisters at about 10 p.m. and wanted to go to the hospital. My step-dad refused to take her (I think assuming it was another ploy for attention) so my sisters came over and waited for her to get ready. They got her to the hospital and got her admitted. My mom spent 12 days in the hospital while the doctors tried to get her sores to heal and they kept her well drugged.

I didn't call her while she was in the hospital. Why, you are wondering? Because I didn't want to feed her need for attention that would encourage her to go back to the hospital in the future. I didn't want to make her feel more special because she was in the hospital because it would make her check herself in again just to get the attention she wants. So I didn't call. I tried calling towards the end of her stay but found she had been discharged earlier that day so I called at home. Keep in mind, I knew I was in trouble. It was that feeling when you are a kid and you know you did something wrong and it is only a matter of time before your parents find out. I picked up the phone and dialed. My step-dad answered and told me she was busy with the nurses. I just said to have her give me a call. Well we played phone tag for a few days but she finally got ahold of me last night. I knew when the phone rang that it was her and I debated about answering. In the split seconds between the rings I decided I might as well get it over with.

I got chewed out, as nicely as my mom could do it anyway. I am a bad daughter because I didn't send a flower or card and I didn't call her. She was dying in the hospital and I didn't care. Well, I did care but I knew it wouldn't have been a pleasant phone conversation and I didn't want to hear about what new disease she thinks she has now. I feel bad for my mom that her life has become this, but I am also angry because she has let it become this. She could fight and be strong but she chooses to be weak and obnoxious to everyone around her. The doctors have all decided it is in her head and none of them will help her. I feel bad for my step-dad who has to deal with her on a daily basis. But as my brother said, "He is a grown man. He can make his own decisions."

It is so hard to have a mom that really isn't a mom. She isn't a grandma either. The last time I took my kids there I was so embarrased that she would use her illness to get my kids' sympathy. They love their grandma no matter what but they are getting old enough to see that something is not right. Becca sees it and I don't know how to explain it to her. Heck, I don't know how to explain it to myself.

In Love

Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

I hope you all get a big kiss and hug from the ones that you love today. We spent most of the weekend celebrating so today should be pretty low key for us. We may be getting a small present though. We will find out tonight.

Sorry for the missing post on Friday. We ran off to Chuck E Cheese's when the kids got home and then we spent the entire weekend shopping for or doing our remodel project. The entry way is now fully demolished and awaiting sheetrock. We got the subfloor stuff in last night and hopefully will get the plumbing moved this week so we can tile the floor this weekend. Fun! We are aiming to have this whole thing done by the 24th (which is also CORI'S BIRTHDAY) so wish us luck and Cori a happy birthday! :)

Happy Birthday Marea!

The day is finally here and man are you excited! You had that glassy eyed look as I explained that daddy had bought cookies for you to take to school to share with your classmates in honor of your birthday. I think you would have jumped out of your skin if you could.

It has been 4 years since we adopted you. I can't believe it has been that long. You are doing well my little girl. You had a very rough start in life and despite all of it you are a fighter. You keep chipping at that wall that separates you and I, trying to get in. We have been down a very bumpy road together and I pray that each day the bumps get a little softer. I am learning to rejoice in you and look for the good things and you are learning to trust me and love me.

Four years ago we hoped and prayed that God would take you out of the environment you had been put in and give you to us so we could love you and make the world a happy place for you. You came to live with us just two months before you turned two. You really flipped our world upside down, in good ways and bad.

Marea, I hope for you to have a very happy and successful life. Please don't sucumb to the drugs and alcohol of this world. It is not your friend and it will only make your life miserable. Just look around you at the people who have made this their lifestyle. They are not happy, successful, or really even living. You have so much to offer to the world if you can just keep your mind on an even keel. We love you more than you could ever imagine and will be here to help guide you but ultimately it is up to you what decisions you make. You are six now and have the world at your feet. Be open to the possiblities and be willing to go with the flow. Life is good. Enjoy it. I look forward to the next 12 or so years with you.

Love, Mom

Good Days

The sun is shining today! That always makes for a more cheerful day. :)

I have a gazillion and one things to do today since Valentine's is coming up and Marea's birthday is tomorrow. It is hard to believe she is going to be six. I can so vividly remember the very first time we met her.

Marea was sitting on the floor in the visitor's room at the department of social services. She was not even a year old yet. She smiled when we walked in the door. She was playing with her social worker, whom I will call S. S introduced us and gave us some time to play with her. Marea climbed right into Billy's lap and giggled and played. At the time we thought that was great, she liked us. Little did we know that was just a symptom of something bigger. We visited with her for an hour and then S took her back to daycare. We talked with S for quite awhile about adopting her, should it come to that. We left feeling good about the things to come.

Nearly a year later Marea finally got out of the system and through the red tape and became a part of our family. The first three years with her were confusing, stressful, and very anxious ones. We knew something was wrong but we didn't know what. Finally at 3 years old she was diagnosed with RAD. She began theraplay at 4 and things have improved drastically since then. Marea was put on Adderall a year ago and the change in her since then have been immense. The little girl who came to us was afraid to love, afraid to get close, and afraid to bond. We have made great progress in those areas and last year her therapist declared she had bonded with us. When we made the decision to adopt her, I just assumed love would fix everything. Boy was I way off. Love was exactly what she didn't want. Thanks to her therapist and psychologist, we have been able to make sense of the mess and see some progress. I look forward to the years to come with great anticipation and nervousness.

Well, how is that for going off on a tangent.... I meant to just say how we had planned to go to Chuck-E-Cheese's this weekend for her birthday. LOL

Oh and did I mention.....

Happy Birthday Cori!

...on the 24th.

Snot

Gotta love it when he comes down the stairs with a ton of thick green snot from his nose to his chin because he "bless-you'ed".

Growing up

I love the moments when kids figure out they can do something for themselves. Last night at the dinner table as the girls finished eating, they took their plates and scraped them into the garbage and put them in the sink. As Mr. Bill sat and watched them he decided he was going to do it too. He looked at me and Billy and said, "I will scrape my lion plate too!" It was a statement and a question all in one. Like he KNEW he could do it but would it be okay with us? We both nodded our heads and watched as he got out of his chair, picked up his plate, and scraped it in the garbage. It took him a little longer than the girls because he had to get every little bit of food off his plate and then he dropped it in the sink. He turned and smiled at us as if to say, "Look I did it!" We both smiled and clapped. He grinned and then got embarrased. My little man.

Mr. Bill

I realized at that moment that we are truly leaving the baby stage behind. My youngest guy is growing up and can do so much for himself. The strange thing is today I keep thinking I am pregnant. I have no reason to think or feel like I would be but it is just one of those haunting feelings. Maybe it is because I am ready to move into the big kid stage and a baby now would stop that. I am not sure. AF is not due for a week or so yet so no worries, just an eery feeling.

We are starting the drywall in the entryway now. I am so excited to see the finished product. Billy has some plumbing to move this week before we can complete the drywall so it will be slow going again until this weekend. I will try to get some more pictures up later today.

Oh and....

Happy Birthday Cori!

..on the 24th!

Attention Please!

It has recently come to my attention that very few of my family and friends have seen my webpage. Since I have spent countless hours designing and maintaining it I have decided to suck up my pride and tell you all where it is so you can go see it and tell me how much you love it. ;) So without further ado......

Jodi's Family Webpage!


I have also just learned it is Cori's Birthday on the 24th. Since birthday's suck when you are not the kid, I have decided to make hers more fun by posting this:

Happy Birthday Cori!

Oh wait, didn't she saying something about not telling anyone? Oh well! LOL ;)

Monday Already???

Sheepers! Where did the weekend go?

As you can imagine, we spent 99% of our weekend deep in demo dust. We have completely gutted the entry way now and will be starting on the floor tonight. We have decided to leave some of the undamaged wood floor and somehow merge the tile and wood into one level floor, a true test of my hubby's artistic skills. :)

We also made a few trips to our local home improvement store for goods. In the process we stopped at Target and bought some miscellaneous household goods. Since today is laundry day, I purchased some more laundry detergent. I have always used Tide, because if you have kids, you will know that it is the only detergent that gets out hidden stains. Anyway, I saw they had the new Tide with a touch of Downy in it in the larger containers so I grabbed some. When we got home I had to test it out (I know I am weird but new cleaning products excite me!). It is good stuff. I washed some rugs and some dirty clothes and they came out soft and smelling great. Good Stuff!

I also picked up three new scrapbooks to make for my husband, mom, and Bob. I made one for my dad for Christmas and they all seemed very impressed with it so now I am making more. I made a page for each of my kids and put them together. So much work, so little time.

Tonight we will be tiling the new bathroom floor. This is the first time either of us have installed ceramic tile so wish us luck! LOL

I got about 10 calls over the weekend too. You see a small tragedy has struck Billy's family. His sister's ex-boyfriend and father of her first two children died of an apparent suicide-drug-overdose on Thursday. Every one of my family members called to let me know. Billy's sister called on Friday after she had been told though so we already knew. She wanted Billy to come down and be with them as they told her two kids, ages 9 and 10. He left work early and headed down to be there when they got out of school. He said they took it fairly well and only cried for a short time. It is sad what those kids have gone through and have to look forward to. I wish them the best.

I have a million and one things to get done today so I will skidoooooooo

I am Woman!

Now that I have you all freaked, let me explain.

When we bought this house in 2002 we knew from the beginning that this bathroom had to go. Someone had put it in the entry way at some point. They had closed off one of the pocket doors and made it a wall for part of the bathroom. We wanted the entry way to be fully opened once again. I have sat and looked at this monstrosity for almost three years now and I just couldn't take it anymore. We are 99% finished with the new bathroom that will replace this one and so I decided it was time. I started the demo! I completed what you saw yesterday.

Billy was not shocked when he came home as this is not the first time he has come home to find his wife knee deep in demo dust. LOL

We made a run to Menards last night and then came home and Billy and I took out the toilet, shower, and sink. This morning I awoke to exercise at 6 a.m. and Billy informed me that he hadn't slept all night because he kept thinking about what he could be doing (aka he was too excited to sleep) so he got up and did some more work on the bathroom. By the time I got home at 8 from dropping the kids off at school he had the walls down and some more of the ceiling. I took the floor out after I got home, only to discover this room has always been a bathroom, but a much smaller one. So there are two toilet holes in the floor, a shower drain hole, and several smaller water line holes. It appears the floor will need to be replaced. The joys of remodeling an older house. LOL

So yes, there is a plan. This is not a random act of demo. ;) We will be getting the room together again over the next week or so. I will be sure to post the final pictures. Until then here is where we are at today.


Mr. Bill says: "Mom, why are you breaking our house?" 


Day Two 

Reason 9234 why my husband should read my blogger...

A view from the Bathroom, BEFORE 


A view from the entryway, BEFORE 


A view from the entry way, into the bathroom, AFTER! 

If he read it he would know what he is coming home to tonight. Otherwise, he is in for a big ol' shock! he he he

Enemies on the net

I hate when I do something stupid. It always comes back and bites me in the butt. This time though it was a completely innocent stupid. Many years ago (okay three) I got on the internet and started searching for my ancestors. In the process I came across a very "nice" old lady who happened to be related. Her and I are 7th cousins according to my genealogy software. For a short while she helped me and gave me information. She even shared with me the part of her tree that we both had in common. I merged it with my tree and in the process (here is where the stupid part comes in) I apparently also kept all of her tree in mine. I published what I thought was my tree to the internet for all to behold. She found my tree several weeks later and accused me of stealing her tree and using it for religious and financial gain. I immediately apologized and pulled my tree off the net. I cut contact with this "nice" lady as she was no longer so nice and was sending me some pretty mean emails. Over the last three years she has come back to my tree and left degrading and mean notes on it. I quietly deleted them (at the advice of my lawyer) and left it at that. Finally this year I reconnected with another gal who also knows this "nice" lady from the internet. She told me this lady is rude to a lot of people but she is just a crabby person. So I blew it off and the next time she left a note on my tree I emailed her. I told her I was sorry I had to delete her comment but it was not helpful to any researchers. She emailed back and basically tried to get at me, which thanks to it being email, I was able to compose myself and write a very un-emotional response. That was that. She didn't reply back. Well, a few days ago I signed back up for the list she and I first met on. I posted a note this morning and well, let's just say the stupid has come back and bit me hard.

The thing that most irks me is that this list is full of people doing Norwegion genealogy and they know what they are doing. I have a ton of knowledge just sitting there that I cannot access. I have had much help with my norwegian family but I am sure these people could be most helpful to me. I am sure emails will fly behind my back from her to them and I will once again be ousted. But, at least I can say I tried eh?

I haven't unsubscribed yet. If things get bad I will leave but I hope she can act her age and let things go. We shall see.

Puppy Love

He loves me! He really loves me!
He called "just to talk". And he actually held a conversation!

HE LOVES ME!

Senior Years

I just found this letter. It was an assignment during my sophomore english class in High School. We had to write a letter to ourselves as a senior and then our teacher kept them until our senior year. They gave them back to us as we graduated. It is quite a flashback.

"Now was Then"
5-21-1990

It's happened, finally, your a senior Jodi. How does it feel? I bet you don't remember what your sophomore year was like. I'll tell you about it. Maybe a few bells will ring.

Do you look the same? In 1989-90 you were 5'3 3/4", your hair was copper colored, and you wore anything you felt comfortable in. What about those funky shoes you painted on (Pamida generics) remember?

Your personality really stuck out in a crowd. You were happy (always and forever). You got along with anyone who got along with you.

Remember Billy? Is he still in your life or did he end after the first three months?

How about track? Did you make it through your junior year? Have you made it to state yet? I hope so.

Have you made drill team or did you just try out again? Has lowd crowd made a comeback? Do they have more dances? What about the teen center? Is it back yet?

Have you reached your goals? A 3.5 grade point average, passing geometry, and break the half mile record in track.

How about your future, have you decided yet? National Guard, College, or a specialized college. Are you still interested in Interior Decorating?

Well, I'd love to write more but this paper's due and I am tired. Well, how does it feel to be a senior Jodi? Hope you had a good four years.
Jodi Forbord
5-20-1990


A few months after we started dating, my 16th birthday.