Freedom

Today is the first day of the rest of my life...... well...... sort of......

Today is the day my guardianship expires on my mother. I have decided to give her the chance to go it on her own. It hasn't been pretty. She called me yesterday and talked like a drunk redneck, with plenty of growling, cussing, and spitting. She is angry with me, and probably will be for the rest of her life. Why? Because I took her out of her home, locked her up in a mental facility, and then locked her in a horrible building with OLD people. That is her version anyway. Mine goes more like this: I tooked an overdrugged person, scared for her life and slowly taking her own life, out of her self-designed prison and got her the help and care that she needed to see clearly again and rejoin the world. I put her in a wonderful assisted living facility where she had the opportunity to make friends (even if they are old) and join in some normal human activities.

I don't think she is ready to face the world. No, I don't. But she does and since she has been dependant on first my dad for 15 years and then my step-dad another 15 years, I figure she at least deserves the chance. Should it come to this again in the future, I will step in and be her guardian again, but next time we play by MY rules.

It is soooo goood to be freeeeeee!
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On a side note, we are off to my brother's wedding for the weekend. See you all on Monday!

Here is a friday funny for you. I got a good laugh from it.
Football finally makes sense.........
A guy took his blonde girlfriend to her first football game.
They had great seats right behind their team's bench.
After the game, he asked her how she liked the experience.
'"Oh, I really liked it," she replied,
"especially the tight pants and all the big muscles,
but I simply don't understand why they were killing each other over 25 cents."
Dumbfounded, her date asked, "What do you mean?"
"Well, they flipped a coin, one team got it and then for the rest of the game,
all they kept screaming was:
'Get the quarterback! Get the quarterback!'
I'm like...Helloooooo?
It's only 25 cents!!!!"

Life after

You know the line in your wedding vows where you say, "Till death do us part"? When I was a kid I thought that was sooo romantic and would be such a long long time. Now as a married woman that line really bugs me.

I don't want to leave my husband upon our death. I want to be married to him forever and ever and ever and EVER! There is so much about the events following death that I am so unsure of. I don't know what to believe but I HAVE to believe that there is more to life than death and then "the end" ya know? Heaven is an amazing concept, if it truly exsists they way we imagine it.

This is one aspect of the Mormon Church that piqued my interest. They believe a family is forever and they do not say "Till death do us part" in their vows. They believe a husband and wife remain husband and wife long after they pass from this earth. I want to believe that too.

Your opinion?

How do I love thee....

Let me count the ways....

1. You clean up spilled grape juice stains from years ago.

2. You suck up bloody spots from one cat formerly known as the pregnant cat.

3. You dance across the carpet returning it to its orignal tan color.

4. You require little to no effort from me to finish your job.

5. You leave a fresh clean scent in your wake.

6. You have ridden me of the dirty-carpet-guilt.

7. You have returned the joy of carpet to my home.

8. You have restored my faith in the gift of children who-no-longer-drink-from-tightly-sealed-sippy-cups.

If ever a time for vacation...

NOW WOULD BE GOOD!

Our "baby" kitty gave birth to six cats on Sunday. Yes this is the same cat who gave birth to one cat in April. She was still nursing the one cat and so we assumed would not be in heat. WRONG! She got out and got preggo and now, two months later, ta-da! She was in labor for 11 hours and during the last two hours she escaped outside and gave birth to the last kitten in our cold dirty garage. I went out to find her before we went to bed for the night only to discover the sixth baby kitten laying on the dirty cold cement, dying.

I grabbed the momma and the baby and ran them inside. The baby was still moving and squealing so we grabbed the heating pad and wrapped the kitten in a towel and layed it on the heating pad. Momma kitty was in extreme pain although we concluded she had had all of the kittens. We debated running her to the vet (by then it was 11 p.m.) but decided to hold off and see how she did. Billy slept downstairs by her just in case. By morning it was obvious something was wrong so I called the vet. I had a doctor's appointment for Cassie (who developed strep throat over the weekend) and asked if I could bring the cats in after that. They agreed. The vet gave her a shot to make her uterus contract because she did seem to have a placenta still in there and an antibiotic shot just in case.

By last night she had delivered two placentas (and ate them, EWWWWWWWW!) and was feeling much better. This morning she has finally cleaned herself up and is starting to clean the kittens. She is still leaking blood though, which worries me. The sixth kitten warmed up nicely and is quite happy snuggled up to his/her brothers and sisters. I am supposed to take her back to the vet to have her re-checked today so I will be out the door in a little while. I just hope she is okay. This time she will get 'fixed' asap so we don't have to go through this again.

I don't know how I am going to deal with grandchildren. LOL

***UPDATE***
Took Mouse to the vet and he said she was looking much better today. He mentioned he was concerned about dehydration yesterday. I told him she wouldn't eat or drink at all yesterday and that was probably why. I asked him when we could have her fixed so this doesn't happen again. He said as soon as she weans her babies. Well last time Micki wasn't weaned and she ended up preggo. Hmmmm......He gave her another antibiotic shot and sent us home. She hasn't left her kittens since we got home. I don't think she cares much for the vet. :)

A typical Saturday

We hit the ground running this morning with a list of things to do. Number One was to get new tires on my van as it will be making a cross-state trip in a week. We were headed out of Brandt when on a whim I asked Billy to stop and see if our local repair/gas station had reopened (It had closed down due to the only mechanic getting into a one-vehicle motorcycle accident). By golly, when we pulled up it was indeed open, just for yesterday and today. I like to support our small town station so we stopped in to ask if he would be able to put new tires on. He agreed to do it and said it would be ready by noon. Since we were headed to Watertown to do some shopping he agreed we could just pick up the van on the way home and pay next Friday when the station will be open again. We ran home and packed our kiddos into the metro like sardines. We made a pit stop in Clear Lake to pick up a plant someone had sent to us "In Sympathy" for our loss. Then we ventured to Watertown.

Our first stop was Walmart to get Billy's oil changed. The guy offered to change the air filter and the windshield wipers as well. Ironically, on the way to Watertown, we were commenting on how much his current windshield wipers sucked because the widow had a horrible film on it and they were doing nothing to remove it. We gave the guy the go ahead and then spent an hour shopping until we heard them exclaim over the intercom that Billy's car was finished. We checked out and packed everyone back into the metro. The wipers were magical as they cleared the remaining drops off the windshield.

Then we headed to an auto parts store to buy a new rear view mirror for my van that my dear sweet adorable husband broke when he brandished his ball cap as a fly swatter a few weeks back. Instead of hitting the fly, he hit the mirror and smashed it good. $20.00 lighter and we were out the door with a new mirror in hand.

After that we pulled into Menards. You should have seen the way people looked at us as 7 people piled out of that little metro. It was like the clown cars you see on t.v. Only we weren't using any special effects. There were plenty of people to gawk too. Apparently today was the last day for the 15% off bag sale so Menards was wall to wall people. We got what we went for (plus and minus a few things) and headed home. When we arrived at the gas station to pick up our van, the owner was still there so we paid and drove our newly-tired van home. My only objection is he put the ugly white stripes on the outside. I hate those. Oh well.

Now we are going outside to use our new purchases. A chainsaw to limb the dying trees with, and a lawn edger to find the sidewalks once again.

Sitting? That will come later.

A new species

Mr. Bill is sitting on the couch eating Peanut M&M's. After biting into one, he turns to me, surprised....

"Mom! These have seeds in them!"
I nod.
"I am going to plant them and grow an M&M tree!"

If only son.... If only..... :)

Life After Death...

A death in the family suddenly finds me thinking about my own death. Not just because of the thoughts in my head, but because of the various questions coming out of my kids.

"When are you going to die?"

"What will we do when you are dead?"

"Do we have to have a funeral for you?"

"Where will daddy go?"

and then the ever-heart wrenching statement...

"I don't want you to die, Mommy!" (I don't want to die either honey!)

Karen's funeral was good. The siblings made it through with out any major catastrophes or fighting. I was a little disappointed that Karen hadn't prepared more for this event, seeing how she knew it was coming. I thought a letter from her to her kids, to be read at the funeral, would have been way more meaningful than several bible versus someone picked for her. The four of them seemed to be floundering a little, not knowing exactly how to put a funeral together or what exactly is expected. Thankfully the funeral home director was extremely helpful to them and gave them much needed guidance. Many of Karen's siblings were also available for some advice and for that we thank all of you.

We have also discovered she left no will, no direction, no thoughts about what or how her kids are supposed to go about getting her stuff all sorted out and paid for. It is going to be rough I think. Death is hard enough on families without leaving them to do it all on their own. I am saddened to think that my husband has not even turned thirty yet and has lost both of his parents. He lost his dad 8 years ago and now his mom. I cannot fathom the pain he must feel, but he deals with it quite well.

This funeral has made me sit down and think about what I want/don't want to occur at my funeral. The control-freak in me is making plans. I will probably leave this world with everything set and ready to go, given the chance. :) The joys of being Jodi. LOL

In the midst of all of the activities above, I have also been dealing with my mother. On Wednesday night we arrived home to find 3 messages on the machine. Two were my very irrate mother and one was her bank. Oy! I have decided to give her the "chance" to go it on her own. She is supposed to be finding an apartment and everything else she needs to. My guardianship expires on the 30th of this month and I am going to allow it to expire rather than seeking permanent guardianship. Even through this painful week, she has only been able to think of herself. I just cannot take on another child, no matter how much I love her.

The end

My mother-in-law passed away yesterday surrounded by her family after a two year battle with cancer.
She will be missed greatly by her children and her grandchildren. It is just so hard to believe she is really gone. The funeral is scheduled for Wednesday.

***This pic is from July when we all went to visit her***

Kid-ism's

As we were driving home from town, Mr. Bill saw a truck pulling a car out his window. He yells,

"Look MOM! That car is giving the other car a piggy back ride!"

They keep me rolling!

The Pics are in!

Here are the pics of the kids we had taken a month ago.

Homecoming

Today is homecoming day at the kids school. I really like the way the school here does the homecoming parade. Each grade in elementary school gets to be in the parade. They have a theme each year; this years being songs. The kids normally have some kind of costume but this year I lucked out and all four girls only had to wear red, white, and black.

I remember in Hot Springs we loved Homecoming week because we all got out early to go build a float. Each class, freshman thru senior, had to build a float. It usually involved napkins stuffed in chicken wire, and spray paint. I think I stuffed enough napkins over the course of those 4 years to supply the entire world. In the end, 90% of them would blow away as we were driving down the parade route. Those were the days.

So anyhoo, today the parade starts at 2 p.m. so Billy took half a day off of work so he can be here to watch the girls walk in the parade. The girls were very excited as they left today. Go Cardinals!

THERE IS A GOD!

My man is free again. Please excuse the drool!

Tidbits of Wisdom

"Children don't mind being disciplined in love. They resent being disciplined in anger."(Ralph Woerner)

"To be sure discipline demands constant vigilance, but in the long haul the rewards will be great. For this reason, we must be loving and persistent in applying it." (Ralph Woerner)

Typing Skills

My typing skills are improving daily now that blogger has invented this word verification feature. Everytime I want to leave a little note, I get to type xityps at the end of it.

Don't get me wrong. I am NOT complaining. My love for blogs far outweighs a little inconvenience caused by typing 5 or 6 extra letters with each comment. I find it rather amusing that over the last few weeks almost every blog I read has had to implement this new gadget to keep "gas lover", "get fit", and "rich man" from commenting on their blogs.

It really is ridiculous that someone actually thinks we are going to leave those kinds of comments in our blogs. I mean really, do you want to find out about lower gas prices following a post about how Julie's son just hurled his orange juice and toast across the dining room? Me either.

Come on people!

Tornado Alley

Last night in the middle of dinner, my husband friend calls. "Did you hear there is a tornado headed right for your town?" Ummmm, nope. I flip on the t.v. and sure enough about 15 miles west of us a tornado has TOUCHED DOWN and is heading east, right at us. We are to go to the basement RIGHT AWAY! So I turn the t.v. up really loud and move the kids to the basement. A couple of them started to get worried and were pushing and yelling. I yelled, "STOP!" and everyone turned to look at me. I explained that this is just like a fire drill in school and we don't know for sure that the tornado is going to hit our house but this is just to be safe. So then they slowly and quietly filed into the basement. At the bottom of our basement steps is a cement hallway. We figured that is where we would be safest so we congregated amongst the spiders, centipedes, and other miscellaneous creatures including the dog and one of our cats.

We listened to the t.v. and tried to tell if the storm was getting worse or better. It was 6:45 when we went downstairs and the news kept saying the tornado warning was set to expire at 7:15. Suddenly the phone rang upstairs. Billy ran up to get it. It was his sister who was watching the news about 2 hours away from us. Billy told her we were already in the basement so she let him go so he could come back down.

As we were sitting in our torture chamber we realized we had no flashlights, candles, etc. should the power go out. I looked around in the tool mess my husband has to see if I could find his flashlight. I could not. Thankfully the power never did go out.

By 7:15 we decided it must be safe so we came back upstairs and sure enough the storm had headed more south and missed us by about 10 miles. I haven't heard anything yet this morning so I assume the tornado didn't damage anything. Thank heavens. I have decided; however, that we need to get a little more prepared for this kind of event. Next time there will be a box of emergency stuff in our hallway..... and I am going to spray for bugs......ewwwwwww........

Oops

I just spent the last hour and a half driving to town because my dear sweet husband called to inform me that he had locked his keys in his car at Subway.

Us Moms, we are good for something.

ROFLOL!

Pillow Talk

Mr. Bill has developed this new habit. When he wakes up in the morning, he comes downstairs, carrying my pillow. When he wakes up from his nap, he comes downstairs, carrying my pillow. When he is watching t.v. he goes upstairs and comes down, yup you guessed it, carrying my pillow.

My poor pillow is getting dragged all over the house, over tile, wood floors, dirt, animal hair. Ewwwwww! I have started changing my pillowcase at night before I go to bed because the thought of what my pillow has endured all day just grosses me out.

I cannot explain this odd behavior of his. I don't know why he is suddenly attached to my pillow. It is the only memory foam pillow in the house (a birthday present from my hubby) or maybe he just wants to be closer to me via my pillow?

Yea, yea, I know, it is the pillow. Don't burst my bubble.

Reminiscing

The first winter we lived in Alaska, I remember we would get 4-5 feet of snow in one snowfall. It was astounding to me to see the snow piled halfway up our screen door in the mornings. It also piled up so high we could almost walk right over our chainlink fence that surrounded our yard. It was kid-heaven.


One particular winter day, my siblings and I decided to go sledding at the park that was just across the street from our house. We hauled our sleds over to the park and up the hill. After several hours of sledding down the hill on our sleds we decided to go for a walk around the park. Walking in four feet of snow is quite a challenge when you are barely 4 feet tall yourself. Anyhoo, we meandered our way over to the tennis courts only to discover them FULL of snow. It was beautiful white sparkly UNTOUCHED snow. No one had trudged through it yet. My sister and I opened the gate and started digging. The snow was crusty on top from the sun shining on it for a few days so it was pretty simple to dig under and create a maze of tunnels and caves. We discovered it was great fun to make sunroofs in our caves. We would dig out a cave and then burst through the top with our hands. Snow came falling down all over us. Once we got tired of digging we tried walking in the snow. I remember in some places the snow was clear up to my chin. I would push one leg forward and then the other, all the while moving snow with my arms. It was like doing the butterfly stroke in snow!

I don't know how long we played in the tennis court that day but by the time we were done, it was dark and we were really wet, snowpants and all. Why isn't snow this much fun now?

A good one...

In my search for a new blog to read, I found Amanda. You should go check her out too.

Daily Reads

I am curious as to how many blogs you all read each day and what keeps you coming back to them. I need some new blogs now that I have soooo much free time! LOL

Here is my list:

Bumbling Bav~ We are in the same stage of life and she has this intoxicating way of making her passion jump off the page!

Dooce~ Is there anybody on earth who doesn't read her blog? She is wickedly funny and crude at the same time.

Running in Circles~ She is movtivation 101! Have you seen her daily exercise routine??? And she started Gnorm!

Three Men, A Little Lady, and Me~ A woman with a big heart and a great family. I love reading about her time spent doing it all.

Wallowing Housewife~ Another mother but this one is incredibly creative in the dirt and in the kitchen. I enjoy reading about the trials with her kids.

Parallel Chaos~ Another mom who keeps me laughing. It is nice to read about someone who is going through the same chaos as me.

Noggin Bits~ I love her unique perspective on life and the photos. Oh, the photos!

SpiltMilk~ This one rivals Dooce in many ways. A wife and mom living with her family and her MIL. Need I say more?

Deputy's Wife~ Another perspective into this parenthood thing. This mom is from rural life, much like myself. I enjoy reading about her mishaps with her boys and her Deputy.

Maui Mama~ She keeps me rolling on a daily basis with her wacky, fun, and most embarrassing posts!

Jamie Dawn~ She has a very good way of making the ordinary funny.

The Adventures of Chris and Evey~ This would be Evey, the comment stealer, to you! She is a newly married wife living the American Dream (with her crazy dog).

Crazy Us~ Found her through Dooce a long time ago. She keeps me coming back with her serious and deep posts. She throws some humor in too.

And Baby Makes Six~ She is another mother with a houseful of kids. It is nice to hear I am not the only one going insane.

Letters From Earth~ This is Uncle Steve's Blog. He just doesn't post often enough but is an awesome writer.

I have several others that I pop in on every few days but these are my daily reads. So what are you all reading?

Toilet Humor

While my Aunt's were here visiting, Mr. Bill went to the potty. He came out as he usually does, with his pants and underwear down around his ankles. I told him to pull up his underwear. I think I embarrased him though because he glared at me. After we got his underwear up he turned to both of my Aunts and yelled, "YOU ARE TOO BIG TO SIT ON OUR POTTY!"

My Aunts aren't hugely overweight or anything but they aren't small gals either. I wanted to crawl under the table and stay there. Oy!

Carpenters?

When I was 8, we lived in Alaska. One of my dad's sisters also lived there. She lived on a large acreage in Fairbanks. They had to have their water hauled in and their electricity was created by a large generator. During the two years we spent in Alaska, we spent both summers at her house.

On the second summer, my brother and I got the wild idea to build a treehouse. There were plenty of trees and plenty of extra wood laying around. We gathered up all the wood we could find and a box of nails. With our dads help, we got the main supporting pieces in to nail the floor too. Jamie and I then started installing the floor boards. We layed each one so it rested on the support boards at each end. And then we began nailing..... We put one nail in and then another and another, until soon, the entire board was covered in nails. We got all the floor boards in and called it a day. We climbed down out of our tree house and looked up satisfied. "What are those?" I ask, looking up. Jamie squints at the underside of the treehouse. "Just some of the nails," he replies. Some! Some indeed! We probably had 50 nails sticking out in the middle of the floor of the treehouse. Basically they were holding nothing together, we had put nails everywhere when they only needed to be nailed down into the support boards! LOL

My aunt came to visit this past weekend and she said the last time she had been out to her old property (now sold to someone else) the tree house was still standing strong, some 23 years later. I guess 50 nails can hold it all together? :)

Goodbye..

My hubby and another local guy have decided to commute to work together starting today. My husband was out the door by 6:50 a.m. this morning! He will be home by 4:30 at the latest.

Can you see the smile on my face?

MY. HUSBAND. HOME. BEFORE. MIDNIGHT!

Please tell me it is really true and don't pinch me if I am dreaming, I don't wanna know!

Here Horsey!

That is IT! I am soooo buying a horse. My husband got gas this a.m. and it was 3.19 a gallon. Not the highest I am sure but it is ripping our budget to shreds. About the only 'extras' I have let to cut are internet, cell phone, and dish t.v.
Which do I cut first?

Horses only eat grass, right? We have a large yard and tons of land all around us. Here Horsey Horsey Horsey!

Weekend, OVER

Drat! How did a three day weekend go by so fast?

We spent much of the weekend just being lazy. On Saturday we played and watched movies (well okay, the kids did). I played on the computer and putzed around the yard despite the 60 mile per hour winds!

Sunday we cleaned the house in preparation for my two Aunts to come visit. They called in the afternoon and said they would be here Monday instead. So we putzed around the house some more until I couldn't stand it anymore. We loaded the kids into Billy's metro (no gas here in town already and my van is about empty) and drove to Clear Lake to get each of us a much needed sugar fix! We stopped at the C-store and each kid (and parent) picked out a sweet treat. We took our treats to the park and played for a good hour. While we were there a little boy about Mr. Bill's age came over to play too. At one point Mr. Bill was climbing up the slide (which I usually do not let my kids do if other kids are at the park, but I had a temporary lapse in parenting) and the other little boy decided he was going down. He pushed Mr. Bill down so he could go down the slide. I ran over to Mr. Bill and grabbed him and said, "Please don't push him down the slide!" Mr. Bill started crying and the other boy was totally oblivious, as were his parents. Neither of them came over to say anything to him. I hate parents who allow their kids to be mean to other kids. Urrrrr!

Monday my aunts came and we spent about 8 hours talking and visiting. They are both into genealogy so we spent a good portion of our time talking about that and sharing information. My hubby cooked dinner for us all so we could continue to visit. What a great guy! After dinner we took some pictures and said our goodbyes. They are off to visit with more relatives for another month or so and then they will be headed back to Oregon and Alaska. It was good to see them.

Now it is Monday, urr, Tuesday. I have exercised (Tae Bo Strength AGAIN!), dressed, got the kids off to school, and had breakfast. Now what do Mr. Bill and I do all day? Hmmmm......

OH YEA!

I just did the Tae Bo "Strength" portion of my dvd and MAN WAS IT A BLAST! I worked my fanny off! I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THIS WORKOUT! And now I have sooo much energy I feel like I could jump to the moon! :)

This morning I weighed myself after breakfast and usually by then I am up to 147. This morning I was at 143! I wish I would have weighed myself BEFORE breakfast. I must be down at least 4 or 5 pounds! Wooohoooo!


I LOVE TAE BO!

Inspiration, perspiration, and other "ations"

Faith is not a thing which one "loses," we merely cease to shape our lives by it. -- Georges Bernanos

The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend. -- Robertson Davies

Some people pay a compliment as if they expected a receipt. -- Kin Hubbard

You should study not only that you become a mother when your child is born, but also that you become a child. -- Dogen

The great are only great because we are on our knees. Let us rise! -- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

You can live a lifetime and, at the end of it, know more about other people than you know about yourself. -- Beryl Markham

To write something, you have to risk making a fool of yourself. -- Anne Rice

Me and Tigger

Life with Mom, Friends, and Germs

I am struggling this week. I have to decide if I send my mom out into the world now or make her sit in assisted living (which she is not happy about) for another month. I talked with my dad (her soon to be ex) and my sister and my great Aunt. They all think she needs to stay put. Her sores on her legs are healing, but it could take another 3 or 4 months before they heal completely. Her mental state is, well..... it is the same. I just talked with Billy and I think, despite the fact that she wants out, we do need to keep her there. But why do I have to be the one to tell her that? Why? :(

I also found out that someone I considered my friend has stopped calling me the last few weeks because I was, in her words, "being crabby". Well, I am sorry if I have been. I have been struggling with my mom, my kids, my husband, my house, etc. etc. etc. Life for me right now isn't really peachy but I thought that is when friends are supposed to step in and be supportive. Not pull out and run. But then, this friend lives a completely stressful life everyday. Maybe dealing with my life is more than she can handle? I could really use a shoulder to cry on lately. Unfortunately, she will not be it.

On top of all of this, my kids are starting the winter sick. I finally took Cassie to the doc yesterday and discovered she does indeed have strep throat. And as we are leaving the pharmacy to come home, I get a call from Becca's teacher. She is at school throwing up and would like to come home. I run back to pick her up and we get home. She spent the entire evening puking. She finally stopped at bedtime. She also has diarreha and a fever. When my kids are sick it is harder on me, I think.

I am sorry to make this such a depressing post. I have been struggling this week and PMS is here in full swing as well. Sometimes, I do think God gives us more than we can handle. Either that or he has a very sick sense of humor.

Thanks for listening.