Parenting 101...

What she said!

Parenting is not a 9-5 job or a 5-9 job. It is a 24-7, day in and day out job and I love it! I get to watch 5 innocent and loving children progress into spitting and clawing teenagers and then watch as they transform into loving and caring adults and hopefully parents themselves. It is a thankless and selfless job but it has huge rewards too. I am so glad God gave me the ability to be a good parent who cares for her children with more love than I thought I had in me. My heart aches for my kids when things are going wrong and soars when they finally figure it out. These children changed me from the minute I found out they were growing inside me and from that day forth nothing in my life shall ever be the same. How thankful I am!


Summer 2004

The New Entry Way Flooring!

The S curve in floor. This is the view from the living room.


The view from the doorway into the kitchen. Next step, grout the joints!

Life in the Ghetto...

We went home shopping yesterday via the net. Not that we intend to buy a house or anything. I think we both just enjoy the shopping. We found a house just a few miles south of us on 20 acres for a little over 100,000.00. Not bad you are thinking right? Well it is a 4 bedroom house built in 1900 and has had little work done to it. So basically we would be repurchasing the house we live in and would have to start remodeling all over again. NO THANKS!

The houses we looked at that would be "move-in ready" were in the range of 200,000.00 with less square footage than we have now. Again, NO THANKS! The realtor's webpage had this fancy tool called a mortgage calculator that would tell you how much your payment would be over the next 30 years, how much you would pay in principal, and how much you would pay in interest. The 189K house we were looking at ended up costing 499K by the time the loan was completely repaid. That totaled 310K in INTEREST alone. How insane is that???? Billy and I talked about it for awhile and we came to the conclusion that if we saved my entire income (once I start working) we could save 100K over the course of 5 to 6 years and buy our house with CASH, should we decide to move. Then we would NOT have to pay all that interest. I told him we are not moving. This house will be paid off in just a few more years and we will be mortgage free. I am not willing to take on a 1000.00 a month payment for a "better" house. We have done so much to this one that it really is the BEST house for us. Nuff said!

The water heater situation has been resolved. By yesterday we had no hot water at all so we concluded that the element(s) must have died completely. We made a run to Menards and found the isle of elements and then proceeded to determine which one we needed. None of them looked like the one we had removed from our heater but the numbers matched. We decided to phone my dad and see what he had to say as I know he has much experience in this area. (3 teenage girls in a house with one bathroom is bound to educate even the most inept handyman).

After a 10 minute phone call we were newly educated and ready to leave the element aisle. As we were standing there a grubby looking man came over and started looking in the elements as well. He asked us if we needed any help and we told him our issue but that we thought we had it resolved. He explained the details of the water heater element to us then and we confirmed that we had picked the correct ones. We thanked the man for his help and moved on towards the paint aisle. I think he must have been a plumber or someone else's dad, as he seemed very knowledgable about the issue. Thank goodness for kind people.

Today is Thursday and I have no plans. Perhaps I should clean the house. But then what fun would that be? I could call someone but I really don't have much to say. I need to pay taxes on our house today. They are due by the end of the month. That is another reason I refuse to move. Our taxes are 374.62 a year. Compare that to 2000+ in Brookings. I think we shall stay put. Yep, not moving. :) My plants died. The new ones I just planted. I have been covering them at night but they must have gotten too cold anyway. They are limp black stemmed piles of mush. I have to email springhill to get replacements and tell them not to ship them until mid May next time. Obviously it is too cold yet. Well enough rambling, I need to get today moving and shaking, whatever that may be!

I saw this picture for the first time in college and about peed my pants from laughing so hard! (Okay, and I was pregnant too!)  

With the warmer weather comes...

GARAGE SALES!

I am not a humongous fan of these but I do find it fun and relaxing to poke around in other people's junk on a Saturday morning. My SIL on the other hand is a huge fanatic and drives me bonkers when we go together. She is in a hurry to get to the best ones and get there early (like 5 a.m.!) I enjoy going after the crowds have dwindled and the stuff that is left is not great but fun to dig in anyway. The kids usually get something free because the people are getting ready to close up. This year I am going in search of a 32' wood paneled door to match our other doors and some real wood dressers.

How about you? Do you do garage sales? What do you like to buy?

Keeping it real...

My mom....well she is not getting any better. She has been out of the hospital for a week and has gained 20 lbs in fluids because she has started smoking again which doesn't give her body enough circulation to rid herself of the toxins. I called and talked to my dad who is still really stressed and at a loss. I offered to watch her if he wanted to bring her across the state. He politely declined. I really wish I lived closer SOMETIMES.

Money.....why does it suck so bad to not have money? I am sure it is obvious with five kids and one income that money does not flow abundantely around here but lately it is getting harder and harder. We are having trouble coming up with money for essentials like food. It would be one thing if we blew our money on something like cigarettes or alcohol but we don't. We shop smart and eat out maybe twice a month. We just can't afford any more than that. I was watching Dr. Phil the other day and his show was about money and he said when figuring your budget you should have 50% to NEEDS, 30% to wants, and 20% to savings each month. Well our needs (mortgage, phone, water, sewer, etc.) run about 400.00 over our suggested budgeted amount. Our wants are 300.00 under but obviously that gets moved to the needs category each month and the savings gets spent on food and other household necessities, like GAS at 2 freaking dollars a gallon! We have three student loans and I am not sure which category they should fall in because at one time they were a need but now they are not but I don't really want them either. Maybe I can give them away to someone who WANTS one? Any takers? I just don't know how to fix the problem short of getting two incomes but we have already decided not to do that until Mr. Bill is in Kindergarten because I will not allow a daycare to screw him up when I have made it this far. Only two more years....Only two more years..... Only two more years.......

Cancer......did someone throw a cancer bomb into central South Dakota recently and I missed the news flash? In the last year we have found out that Billy's mom and his grandma are battling cancer. For his grandma this is round three I believe. Most of the older people in his family that have died, have died from cancer of some kind. Many of them in the last 5 years. It is insane.

Phone....I have officially stopped answering the phone. I received four really odd phone calls yesterday. Each time it set my heart to beating faster and about knocked the wind out of me. They were each totally unrelated but odd all the same. If you want to reach me, you have my email. Or leave a message. :)

Hot Water....Just when things are getting fixed and put back together around here the water heater takes a nose dive. It is new, or fairly new. We bought it in 2002 when we moved into the house because the other one started on fire. Yikes! Anyway, Sunday the fuse to the WH blew so Billy changed it and we soon had hot water again. On Monday I got up to shower and had only lukewarm water the entire time. Our Black and Decker Home Repair book says this means the lower element is out. However, Billy took a shower at 8 a.m. and had plenty of hot water. So Billy inspects it and finds that no, it is working just fine. All day we had hot water. So today I get up and again, lukewarm shower. Billy gets up and hmmmm..... he has hot water. So I call the electric company to see if they have been shutting off the power overnight (our WH is on the on-demand program where we allow them to shut it off at peak times). Nope she says but she will send out the electrician to check the receiver. He stops in and says it was fine but old so he replaced it. If that doesn't fix it we need to check the elements. Um, yeah we tried that. And so far today I have an abundant supply of hot water. Maybe I should shower tonight? LOL

REDRUM! REDRUM!

Oh yeah, death is happening here today!

I started cleaning out the fish tank today as it has been having "issues" for the last couple of weeks. The filter is constantly clogged, the ginormous fish are not eating their food, and green spots were beginning to form on the glass. So I bit the bullet and scrubbed the darn thing out this morning after breakfast. I managed to kill off the cat fish-thingy before I even got all of the water back in. I don't know if the water was too cold, the shock of me messing in the tank, or something else killed him off but he was floating belly up before the tank had been refilled. Now his is swimming in fishy-septic-tank-heaven. One of the larger goldfish is still on the brink. Sometimes he floats and sometimes he swims. It almost looks like he is attempting the backfloat, like a three year old in swim class, and then suddenly he will turn and swim around. Say a prayer for the big guy.

And more importantly, DEATH TO THE DOODLEBOPS! Who invented this damn show?! Who?! I want their names and numbers! Mr. Bill saw this show for the first time a couple of weeks ago and loved it. Ever since I have tried to catch it when it is on so he can watch it. When it ends he looks at me like I just threw his beloved binky in the trash and poured hot oil over it. Then he starts.....SCREAMING! This is no ordinary tantrum either. He screams and screams and screams some more until my ears hurt and I am laughing hysterically at the absurdity of the whole scene. I tell him over and over in a very LOUD voice that it is over and won't be on again until after nappy time (which to a 2 year old could be 10 years from now for all he knows). This does not console him and he continues to scream. Have you ever tried enduring a screaming kid for 30 minutes? Not good. I know you all are thinking, just turn another cartoon on right? Well WRONG-O BUDDY! I tried that too and you know what he did? MORRRRE SCREEEEEEEAMING! Between the ear-spliting screams he informed me that he did not want to watch THAT, he wants the doodlebops. DEATH TO THE DOODLEBOPS I SAY!

Did you all watch Marriage 911 last night? It is a spin-off of Nanny 911. I thought, "Oh good they are going to help the parents from the Nanny 911 show get some counseling and learn to love each other again." Well after the first 10 minutes of the show I couldn't watch anymore. It was horrible to watch the husband rip his wife apart emotionally and call her everything imaginable and her to snap right back at him. Is it any wonder their kids had potty mouths when Nanny 911 arrived? I think not! I had to turn the show off because the stress and anger in me was ready to burst forth. I wanted to walk outside and scream until I was hoarse to release the stress I was creating. Never again will I watch a reality show. I cannot take it!

Censored

Phrases you DON'T want to hear out of your two-year-old, or mine:

"What the HECK is that?, What the HECK is that? What the HECK is that?"

"Shut-up!"

"You just be quiet in there!"

"I can do it myself!"

I'm Back!!!!

Did you all miss me?

I took a blogging break for a week. I was fine and the family was fine. I just needed a break. But now I am back.... SO LOOK OUT BLOGGER! LOL

We had a very full but fun weekend. On Friday I decided we needed to have a Kids Appreciation Day because I forget to tell my kids how wonderful they are and how much I appreciate them. A lady actually turned her cart around in Walmart to stop me and tell me she had seen me many times before in Walmart and how impressed she was with how well behaved my kids are. I realized then, that I don't tell them that often enough so I invented K.A.D. I made a card for each kid with a little note telling them how much I appreciate them and why and that we love them. We celebrated by going out to dinner, the kids chose the place. After we finished eating the kids decided on our "next" KAD that we would go bowling as a family. Sounds good to me! LOL

Saturday Billy and I finished up the plumbing to the upstairs bathroom and finally got the bathroom put back together. It is soooo nice to have everything back where it belongs. The toilet is no longer parked in front of my dryer and the sink no longer occupies the hallway. We also spent a good portion of Saturday evening playing "The Battle For Middle Earth" It is a computer game that we play through the network so we can fight as a team or fight each other. Fun!

Sunday the girls and I did Sunday School, except Becca and Megan who were complaining of sore throats. Since Billy is nearly finished with his antibiotics for strep I figured it was best to keep them home in case they were contagious. So far though neither of them have had a fever or white spots in their throats so we are on a watch and see basis. After I got home from Sunday School I got Billy motivated and we started in on the tile floor in the entry way. You see, when we ripped out the bathroom, we discovered there was a bathroom there originally and the floor (wood) was totally and completely ruined. Since we didn't want to replace the entire entryway floor we decided to cut a curve in the floor to remove the ruined stuff but keep the good wood. It ended up being almost an S curve and we tiled where we removed the old wood. It looks way better than I even imagined it would and it really wasn't that difficult or time consuming to do. It only took us about 4 hours to do the entire floor and we only broke 2 tiles. We ended up with two full boxes of extra tiles since the cutting went so smoothly. Are we good or what!? I will post pictures later since the batteries in my camera are dead and payday isn't until Friday. I also got some new plants put in the ground on Sunday evening. I bought two blueberry bushes and one varigated weigela bush from Springhill.

Hopefully we will have a beautiful yard in a year or two. Now if I can just get the grass to cooperate! :)

Well now, I better go see what you all have been up to this last week! Have a great Monday ya'll!

Love and hate

I love home improvement shows but hate reality t.v.

I love money but hate paying bills

I love eating but hate cooking

I love yardwork but hate sore muscles

I love baby giggles but hate preteen mouthiness

I love history but hated history class

I love being in the spotlight but hate critisism

I love being happy but hate PMS

I love chocolate but hate ummmm..... NOT chocolate

I love trying exotic cuisines but hate raw fish

I love warm weather but hate bugs

I love technology but hate computer virus'

I love painting but hate cleaning the brushes

I love remodeling but hate that it takes FOREVER!

I love parenting but hate parenting

I love tampons but hate pads

I love singing but hate when someone is listening

I love reminiscing but hate the bad memories

I love talking and talking and talking but hate when I have to be quiet

Balls

This is quite possibly the best line ever written in a movie:

Man: "You don't have the balls for the job..."
Woman: "Possibly, Fortunately I don't have to think with them."

I was flipping channels and stopped briefly as this conversation was taking place on "Tomorrow Never Dies" which is a Bond movie.

I spit Dr. Pepper all over my computer screen! ROFLOL

I knew that!

We had a Shape-Up activity this morning and we were the first family to arrive. We came in and sat down and were suddenly surrounded by the 6 employees. (I think they were beginning to think no one was coming as it started at 9:30 and we arrived at 9:25). They gave the kids each a color page and the lady handing out the crayons handed each kid one after they told her what color it was. She started with Becca and worked her way down the table. She was astounded when Cassie knew her crayon color (she is 5, isn't that normal?) and then she went down to Mr. Bill. I told her that he knew some of them so she held up a green one. Following his sisters example he quietly whispered, "green."

I thought the lady was going to jump out of her skin. She couldn't believe that he was only 2 and a half and knew his colors. She looks across the room and says, "Michelle! We have a child genius over here." So this Michelle comes over and the other lady demonstrates how Mr. Bill knows his colors. By this time he is embarrased and freaked by the attention of a bunch of people he doesn't know so he intently colors (i.e. ignores everyone) his picture. LOL

I didn't think it was that big of a deal that he knew his colors. Maybe my kids are all just quick in areas like that. When Becca did her kindergarten screening she listed all 25 colors in the test and very quickly. The teacher said she had never had a kid know them all. I didn't really think much of it then. It was just the norm for her.

Blah!

I am not in a good mood today and I am sorry for that. I have tried to think of a zillion other things to write about for you all but I need to get this out and I NEED to tell people what a bunch of idiots they are for doing this.... So here goes....

Wednesday my mom called and said she was being released from the hospital. She said they may stop and see us on the way home. That was at about 1 p.m. It is an almost 5 hour drive to our house from where they were. By 8 I figured they had decided not to stop and so we put the kids to bed and sat down at the computers. Suddenly at 9 p.m. there are my mom and dad banging on the door. My mom looked like crap. Her whole body was swollen beyond recognition and she looked like she hadn't showered in a month. My dad looked tired.

We got them organized and they decided to spend the night since they still had an 8 hour drive ahead of them. On Thursday we put our lives on hold so we could spend some time with them. I allowed the kids to stay home from school and we all sat around. My mom has not gotten any better. The doctors concluded that the root of her problem is smoking. YES, smoking! She has a blood vessel disorder that was caused by her smoking. If she quits now she will get to keep her hands and feet. If she doesn't she will be having them all amputated within a year from lack of blood flow. She had a already smoked a pack of cigarettes between the hospital and my house. I just wanted to scream at her. She is also still very addicted to her pain killers. She sat on my couch the entire time she was here and was sleeping 90% of the time. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was the equivalent of walking up on your mom laying in the street after getting high from a street drug. She is not living, she is exsisting. I know everyone out there who smokes and is reading this is thinking, oh that poor girl, but that won't happen to me. Well, don't be so sure buddy! My mom never thought it would happen to her either. Now she will die a slow and very painful death all thanks to cigarettes.

And you know what really irks me, if cigarettes were a food or medicine the FDA would have ripped them off the market decades ago because we KNOW it kills people. Not that that would fix my mom's problems and make her all better, I realize that. But it sure would help her and the millions of other people who sit and puff on a damn stick of death 30 times a day. I love the people in my life and I don't want to watch them kill themselves. Yes, we will all die of something but wouldn't you rather die laying in your bed feeling comfortable and at peace while being surrounded by your family than being in a hospital bed on oxygen because your lungs are fried, and missing a few limbs because you couldn't stop smoking. It doesn't take willpower. Dr. Phil says we just replace one habit with another so everytime you feel like having a cigarette have a sip of water for crying out loud. Your body will thank you and so will everyone in your life who is going to have to go through what I am going through right now if you don't.

Anyhoo, I digress. My mom was also diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Okay whatever you psychologist! My mom has a full blown personality disorder complicated by her drug induced stupor. She is screwed in the head and we have all known it for a very long time. Her view of the world does not jive with reality. Can we help her? I doubt it. She doesn't believe what anyone tells her and her whole goal in life is to do what she wants.

My mom finally pulled herself out of her drug coma at about 3 p.m. yesterday and my dad hauled her off to the truck and they left. I was so relieved to see her go. My kids were a bundle of nerves all day and really didn't know what to think. My dad played with the kids and talked to us and bascially did everything my mom didn't. We played some board games with the kids after they left and then we took a stress-relieving trip to Watertown. We went shopping, ate out, and just relaxed. Mr. Bill had a meltdown at Menards after we took him out of the kids play area. I think he just couldn't hold the stress in anymore. Even at 3 years of age they know when things aren't right.

My dad is stressed beyond his limits too. He talked divorce and as much I hate to see that happen I think for both of them it would be the best solution. He is somewhat of an enabler but she also has become completely dependant upon him. He needs to get his life back and she needs to realize she can do things again. I feel so bad for him but cannot offer him much for a solution. I just lent him my ear for a few hours.

Well, enough raving and ranting. It will work itself out one way or another, in my brain and in my mom's life. Life is short and precious. Don't let anyone or ANYTHING take that from you. I sure won't.

-----------------------------------------

On to better stuff,

Billy is beginning to feel better. He is still home today as he can't talk and he can't stop coughing.
Back to life as usual on Monday.

The baby kitten seems to be doing well. Momma kitty moved her upstairs under my bed the other day so we don't get to see her very much but I peek in every now and then and she is still growing, breathing, and nursing. Momma kitty still leaves her alot but I guess that is just the extent of her mommy instincts. The kitten doesn't complain or seem to mind when she is alone so I have stopped stressing over it too. It should open it's eyes over the weekend or early into next week. I can't wait for it to grow and be playful and ornery. Kitten are the greatest.

I am finding some purpose in my life. I have begun work on the webpage full force and while it is not a long term solution it is filling that hole a little for now. I will take what I can get. I have also volunteered (Yes working for free) to do the church's website to add to the town page. I feel that since it is such a small church and they really don't have much money I can do it for free and feel good about that.

The kids are quickly gearing up for the end of the school year. We have just over a month left to go. This is when the field trips start and the extra activities and all the miscellaneous junk we have to get done before the end of the year. I need to call Marea's teacher to see how things are going and what we are going to do for next year. At this point I am going for some extra work all summer and moving her on to 1st grade with some extra help. I just think that will be best for her. The joys of motherhood!

Marea has developed some good "qualitites" over the last few months. She actually asks me for hugs and kisses at bedtime now. If you haven't been following this, Marea has RAD, and when we first got her, physical affection of any kind would turn her into the devil himself. It was very hard until we figured out what was going on. Since then we have done therapy and I have been working with her at home and we are finally to the point where she is accepting of my love and even tolerant. 4 years later, we are making progress! Celebrate with me even if you don't understand. It is the equivalent of a comatose patient graduating from Harvard, no easy task.

Anyway, I have taken up enough blogger space for the day. My life is good and I am thankful for my beautiful healthy kids and my husband, who despite his flaws, loves me and my kids unconditionally. We are not up to our ears in credit card debt, we can afford for me to stay home and be a mom to our kids, we have a home, cars to drive, and clothes on our backs. We don't need anything more.

Death

I pulled him by the feet, kicking and screaming toward the door. He shrieked and clawed at the carpet but I held fast. I knew this was the way, the only way, to get this done. He had to do it! He had to go! I grasped his ankle with all my might and took one final pull with all my strength. His head twisted around in an unnatural position, reminding me of the girl on the exorcist. Fighting the urge to hurl, I pulled harder and harder until finally I had him near the door. In one swift movement I dropped his foot and grabbed the back of his shirt. I pulled him up into a sitting position with his back resting on my legs. He began screaming at the top of his lungs in an effort to bring someone to his aide. It was usless, no one was listening. I pulled his car keys out of his coat pocket and pushed them into his sweating palm. He grasped them tightly and pulled himself up. He turned and glared at me. "GO!" I yelled as I pointed to the door. He took one last look at the living room and then opened the door. He glared at me again and yelled, "I don't need to go to the doctor! I feel fine!" "Yeah right!" I reply and shut the door behind him. I turn to Mr. Bill, "Well now that Daddy is gone what do you want to do?"

Yeah, it went a little something like that. I called and got my sick husband a doctor's appointment as he stayed home again today. Turns out after the scene and getting himself checked out that he does indeed have strep throat. Not too surprising since Megan just finished her antibiotics a few days ago. So hopefully by Friday he will be feeling better and will be able to go to work one day this week. He is still contagious for 24 hours so he can't go tomorrow.

The kitten with Cassie 

Still sick and scared....

Billy is still home today. It must not be good. I heard him get up in the middle of the night to get some more motrin so he must be feeling like crap. This morning I said, "You realize if I get this you will be home for two more days?" He smiled and said, "Maybe, but you would go to the doctor and get medicine." Yes, yes I would. Why make yourself feel like crap longer than you need to? MEN!

The kitty is still worrying me. Last night Mouse came upstairs when we went to bed and came down when I came down at 6 a.m. I don't think she had been with her kitten all night. Tonight she and the kitten are getting locked in the bathroom. That is enough of her trying to get out of being the mommy!

Yesterday I did the usual mounds of laundry and got the house clean despite the sick husband on the couch. He is actually not being all that whiny this time around. However, he seems to think being home all day means he should be having sex all day. Ummmm, NO! I need to dig out my cast iron frying pan again I think! LOL

I have been trying to get back into my genealogy. I miss being able to sit at the computer for hours and just dig and search for my ancestors. It is a great way to spend some mommy time. Maybe I will squeeze some in this weekend. :)

When the Daddy is home sick...

the mommy has an extra kid to take care of.

Billy called in sick this morning and he really is sick. He has a fever and sore throat (did I mention Megan JUST finished her antibiotics for strep throat? *evil giggle*) and is just not feeling well at all. He has been asleep on the couch for the last three hours. But......

HE DID THE DISHES THIS MORNING!

I walked in from taking the girls to school and he was standing at MY sink doing the dishes. I stopped and stared amazed. I looked at him and said, "What did you do with my husband?" He laughed. I said, "No really! Did you stuff him in the closet?" He just laughed and ignored me. I think that is the first time he has done the dishes in 3 or 4 months and even then it was a big deal. Hope....there is hope!

The kitten is still doing well. I put a little update in the comments of that post. I was worried because Mouse leaves her alone A LOT. I don't know what is normal but I figured that wasn't. So I called the vet and she said a happy kitten is eating or sleeping. As long as she isn't squaking she is fine. And baby kittens don't meow. I didn't know that. They make a squeaky squawking noise. It makes me want to jump and see what is wrong but then I realize I can't do anything for it anyway so I have to wait for Mouse. I tell you that has to be the most frustrating part. I imagine it will be the same when my kids have kids. I want to run and make it all better but they don't want me cause I am NOT the mommy. So hard for me.... I want to fix everything.....

We have a kitty!

Last night at about 9 p.m. Mouse starting getting ansy and licking herself. By 10 she was obviously having contractions. We finally went to bed at 11 assuming it wouldn't be too much longer before her kittens would be born.

I got up at 7 a.m. and found her laying in the dining room with a small kitten head sticking out. I decided she must be having problems as most of the internet sources say all the kittens would be born within 6 hours. I helped her by gently pulling on the baby and pushing on Mouse's back foot. The kitten was born within seconds. I thought for sure it would be dead since it had obviously been trying to be born for over 10 hours. Mouse started cleaning her up and she moved and whimpered. She has been nursing and mewing all morning so I assume she is fine. We are somewhat worried that there is another in there since she has only had one kitten, but Mouse isn't showing any more signs of labor and all seems well for now.

The kids are ecstatic, naturally. Me, I am thinking this was a lot more than I bargained for. I have no idea what I am doing with a baby kitten and helping with labor well..... lets just say that is a doctors job! Poor Mouse just went with it all and didn't even mind any of us hanging around her. She has since taken the kitten behind the t.v. I think because it is warm back there.

The kitten is a small gray fur-ball just like her mommy. In fact we have been playing "find the kitten" because when she is laying by her mom it is hard to find her. We think she will be Micki (get it---Micki and Mouse? LOL) but we can't really tell if it is a girl or a boy yet.

Pics coming soon.

Confession

I am thirty years old and I still eat cereal for breakfast every morning. It isn't the grown up bran flakes either. I like froot loops, lucky charms, trix, golden grahams, and all the other sugary, bad-for-your-teeth stuff.

DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT?!

Mooooolah!

I did it! I did it! I did it!

I have a job! I went to the meeting last night and showed them my ideas for a webpage and they liked it. They liked everything I had to say. Now they are going to discuss funding for me and the website (so I actually will get paid!) and then we will proceed. I am exctied to get started. I love making webpages.

Here is the page I sold them on:


The soon-to-be Webpage!

Time for Tivo

As I sit here typing Megan comes in to use the bathroom. She looks at me and says, "I wish that thing would pause!" She was referring to her t.v. show she was watching.

Dish Network actually has a DVR that is the equivalent of Tivo. I have contemplated getting one but I really don't think we *need* one. It would add another $5.00 a month to our bill which seems to keep growing anyway. Maybe for Christmas in ooooh 2020! :)

Missed out

Wow I missed yesterday and didn't even realize it until now! I was enjoying the nice spring like weather, how about you?

The girls and I headed into town after school yesterday. There is a house for sale near there that is reasonably priced and sounded bigger than our current one. We went looking for this little po-dunk town south of us and were unable to find it. I drove by Uncle Steve's house twice (and waved) in the confusion but never found the town (at least we don't think we did.) There were no signs once we got off the interstate to direct us and the road off the interstate came to an intersection where you HAD to turn left or right. *sigh* Did we stop and ask for directions? No. Not because we are too proud, but because there was NOWHERE to stop. Only a few sparse farms and silos out there. The joys of small towns in South Dakota. :) Maybe tomorrow.

Tonight is my meeting with the town council about constructing a webpage for my current po-dunk town. :) Wish me luck, I am not a good salesperson!

Today on Dooce's blog she has pictures of her in high school. It is so amazing to me to see where people have come from in just a few short years. High School really wasn't *that* long ago even for me and I still am amazed at how many emotions I feel sitting and looking at my high school pictures. Not all of those emotions are good ones, in fact most are not, but I relish those days if for no other reason than the fact that I had NO responsiblity. I could come and go and go and come and didn't have to take care of anyone but myself. I will never have that feeling again, even when my kids are grown and gone.

On the run...

My husband laughed at me last night, not that it is the first time that it has happened. He laughed because he was standing next to me eating a carrot. I kept backing away from him and he would step forward to stay by me. After a few minutes of this and us moving a block down the sidewalk, he looked at me and said, "What ARE you doing?" I looked at him and said, " I hate listening to people chew. It irritates me!" He wanted to know how it could irritate me. "I don't know! It just always has. I can remember when I was a kid I had to sit at the end of the table so I couldn't hear anyone chewing. It is the equivalent of running your fingernails down a chalkboard to me." Then he laughed. So I am weird! SO WHAT!

Wake me up before you go-go...

My dad called last night to let me know my mom is once again in the hospital. She is in danger of having both feet amputated above the ankle if they can't get her sores/infections to heal. It is a long story (6 years long and counting) but needless to say both her health and her emotional stability are not showing any signs for a happy ending. I called to talk to her this afternoon but she is being run through the wringer by the doctors and didn't have time to talk. It is sad that at 55 her life has come to a screaching halt.

Last night Bob decided to finally let us have the cupboards from his kitchen he is remodeling after almost 1 year of promising them to us. We had given up on him and had just received a shipment of freshly severed cabinets from my sister-in-law on Friday. They were not in the greatest shape cosmetically but they have very sturdy bases underneath made completely of 3/4 inch plywood. We began reconfiguring them and giving them a facelift on Saturday and continued into Sunday. Then Bob calls. He brings us a truckload of cabinets from his house. His are much nicer although still somewhat dated. I could live with them though. So now I have cabinets lining my front porch, my kitchen, and almost entirely devouring my dining room. Some will go to the basment for Billy to use for storage and the rest we have to figure an arrangement for in the kitchen. The projects just never end! But I am not complaining.... free cabinets vs. spending a cool 5000.00? I will take the extra work with the free!

Did you know that 1 trampoline + 1 mom and 1 dad = EXTREMELY sore muscles? You would think we are both 80 the way we are walking around today. We spent a good portion of Sunday jumping on the trampoline with the kids and occasionally just the two of us. Owie!

Who thought of this damn time change thing? I am sooooo dragging my butt today trying to kick it into gear but I just can't do it. And you know what else is really dumb? The school is doing the standardized testing all week this week right after the time change! We should have some great scores this year don't ya think? Dummies!

When we are speaking...

On our drive to a nearby town:

Billy: "Why do chickens lay eggs in such strange places?"
Me: *shrugs shoulders*
Billy: "Our chickens used to lay eggs everywhere and we would just go take them anyway."
Me: "hmmmm"
Billy: "And they just kept laying them, day after day."
Me: "Well if there is no rooster than they don't become babies so they probably keep laying them. What else do they have to do?"
**thoughtful silence here**
Billy: "Do you suppose eggs are like their period?"
Me: *laughing* "I wouldn't mind laying an egg once a month instead of bleeding for a week!"
Billy: "It would hurt. Imagine laying a baby sized egg!"
Me: "No I would want to lay a chicken egg. Yup a chicken sized egg. Just push and plop! You are done for the month."
Billy: "Ewwwwww."

Up Up and Away!

The trampoline is up (the one the kids got from santa but haven't been able to put up until now). Billy put it up this morning while I was taking the girls to school. Mr. Bill and Cassie have been on it all afternoon and had a blast. Well, except Mr. Bill who has allergies and a sinus infection kicking in. He spent most of his time throwing a fit. Ugh!

The girls are going to flip when they get off the bus and see it sitting in the yard. Guess going to walmart tonight is out of the question eh? :)

Forgive me if you have seen this already but I just had to share! ROFLOL!