marshmallowmochas!

The $80 soap dish

2011-07-31T12:08:00.002-06:00

Ok, not really. But. We ended up at The Container Store yesterday. Dh wanted a small plastic bowl with a lid for his shaving soap, so it would be easier to take out of town. He found one, and it was less than $4. But then....I found these CUTE mason jars large enough to fill with my gf pasta. Then more small enough to hold the gf binders (xanthan and guar gums). THEN we found a really cool lid rack we can put on the door so the glass lids aren't a mess in the cabinet. And heavy duty metal measuring spoons, that dh so kindly suggested for my gf baking. And then...he found an organizing system for all the nails and stuff in the garage. Oh yeah....and a collapsible laundry hamper for his nasty work clothes. So yep. That little soap dish cost $80 in the end. ;-)

I have to say though, dh has managed to save quite a bit when shopping for more work clothes. He goes straight to the clearance racks. He recently had a pair of jeans get ripped up while in a tight space. They went in the trash they were so bad. The latest cheap clothing "score" was a pair of jeans for $5!!! Found a couple yesterday at Old Navy for $10ea. T-shirts, thankfully, go on sale all the time. He's found a couple for a buck or two.

A good friend of mine once told me "the more you make, the more you spend." I REALLY gotta knock that off. :-P

****heading to the nearest shop-a-holics anonymous meeting****

no gluten...except on vacation

2011-07-18T23:13:00.004-06:00

Vacationing is not what it used to be for me, dietarily speaking. Cross contamination everywhere. And worst of all was discovering that certain foods are made in different manners depending on where you go. Green chili can be thickened with either corn starch or wheat flour. Guess where I ate? The place that used wheat flour. UGH what a night that was! :-X (And I need to remember to ask if the enchiladas come with the red or green sauce. @@) Being tired on vacation doesn't help in the food recognition category either. I was so tired one evening, I ate some macaroni salad. With regular noodles. OY! At least is wasn't much, and didn't do too much damage.

I am utterly amazed at how my body is changing on the inside. How it handles things now that I've got all the irritants to the system out. I had no idea that the majority of my food allergies could be "cured" by not eating wheat! The allergists explain it like this: you have an allergy bucket. It can only hold so much, then it tips. As in, you have a reaction. The more allergens introduced to the bucket, the more frequent the reactions as the bucket is nearly full all the time. So I'm trying to keep my bucket on the empty side. But wheat. Dang. I LOVE wheat! In breads, pasta, cake, cookies, doughnuts.... *drool* Oh well. I love my health too, and I LOVE not having to worry about when I'm going to have yet another very painful reaction to something I ate.

Busy day checklist

2011-02-27T20:30:00.002-07:00

Breakfast...check
lunch for later: salad....check
sandwiches....check
snacks and drinks....check
loaded up car....check
early service at church....check
long v-ball tourney and didn't leave anything behind....check
studio ballet performance....check

got home after everything and Olive is screaming before we even open the door. Isis is.....CRAP!!!!

Cats NOT locked in bedrooms for 12 hours..... oops :-(

NOTHING can be made "cat proof"

2011-02-25T10:51:00.002-07:00

Too bad dd didn't figure this out before 1am this morning. @@

About midnight last night, Olive started calling for Isis....loudly. Dd shooed her noisy butt downstairs. Not an hour later, she was back at it. I got up this time and started looking for Isis in all her usual places. Not inadvertently locked in any closets, not snuck into the garage or basement, not in the laundry room, not under the bed in the master bedroom, nor in the closet. So I very begrudgingly woke up dd and asked her to look in her room for Isis. She insisted she couldn't possibly be in there because she cat proofed the bed. Isis was under the "cat proofed" bed. >:-( Bad cat was probably under there kitty laughing at Olive the whole time!! Took me forever to get back to sleep. And I'm in a flare again. Lovely. Cats may not hold grudges very often or for very long, but I'M holding one today!! :-P

Womens Skills

2011-02-21T17:54:00.003-07:00

I was listening to the news at lunchtime today, and had to laugh. They were talking about "lady skills", and how current generations no longer seem to have them. So I wonder, how many of you DO have them?

Making a Roast
Sewing
Pressing clothes
Baking (from SCRATCH, not a boxed or bagged mix)
Cooking (again, from scratch)
Embroidery
Drapery
Knitting/Crochet
Home Canning

If your washing machine died, could you still get the laundry done, say... in the bath tub? How about getting them dry on the line?

Would you freak out if you had to cook chicken from a whole bird which you, yourself, have to cut apart?

How about gardening? As in growing food. (That you could later can.)

Are these skills still being taught? At home? School? I think there are still a good number of ladies that could do all these things. At least if they read instructions. ;-) (And yes, I can do them all.)

The Complete Set!

2011-02-07T18:14:00.001-07:00

I've been making so much for everybody else, it was my turn. ;-)

Roughly 10 hours of work over a few days and voila!!!

Pantry Chili

2011-02-07T14:17:00.003-07:00

I made the best chili I've ever made yesterday, and it was so EASY!! I can't not share the recipe so here it is:

Crock Pot Chili

2 cans pinto beans, rinsed
2 cans tomatoes, undrained
1 can tomato paste
1 lg onion diced, sauted in 1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground beef cooked, drained
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp chili powder

Stir together
Cook on low 4 hours

Serve with tortilla chips and shredded cheese.
YUMMM!!!!! :-D

Frozen Cats and Snotsicles

2011-02-01T18:01:00.002-07:00

m-m-m-ro-o-o-w It's freakin' cold out there Mr. Bigglesworth!

I just got in from a half hour of shoveling in -9. Layered up good though, especially with the Raynaud's. (yes, mom. I remembered!) It took 3 pairs of gloves/mittens to keep my fingers from freezing. I was barely able to wedge my hands into the shovel handle. lol! Long thermal underwear, jeans, long sleeve t-shirt, sweatshirt, 2 pairs of socks, and "fur" lined snow boots, scarf, ear muff, winter coat and hood... Mom.....thanks for helping us with all the snow clothes when we were too little to do it on our own! (I know now why we couldn't. It's just too much!) And I came in still feeling cold. But this all got me remembering living "up North". If the roads were clear and the snow wasn't coming down, life went on. School was open. Even if it was -40 with -60 wind chill. Recess moved indoors. The only ones panicking were the teachers. ;-) School is going to be closed for the second day in a row here in CO. I suspect the grocery stores have been packed since this morning with moms and dads frantically trying to stock up on "good food" to keep the kids happy while they're stuck at home with "nothing to do". No snow/too cold for school days here though. Muhahahaha!!! When it "warms up" though, we'll go out and play in what's left. Last storm we went out in 6 degrees. Ummm....yeah. Snotsicles and frozen fingers. Not doing that again!

Stay warm, everyone!

Seeking out gluten...

2011-01-22T21:30:00.002-07:00

to eliminate it from my diet!

I keep finding gluten in so many things I thought would be ok. I've read more labels in the last week... *sigh* Frozen french fries from the grocery store are NOT ok. Half the yogurts I like are NOT ok. If ice cream has anything but fruit flavor, chances are it's NOT ok. I thought I was crazy yesterday when I found myself looking at a label on a frozen pizza that was on a shelf marked "gluten free". Guess what? It WASN'T gluten free! Someone wasn't paying attention when they stocked the shelves! So I guess I'm not so crazy after all. And I have myself another OCD "thing": reading labels. ALL of them. @@ I'll be allowing myself more time to shop from now on so I can take all the time I need to read labels. Oh yeah...some coffee creamers are not marked "gluten free" so I'm assuming NOT all of them are gf. *sigh*

I just keep telling myself "it's worth feeling better".

I need new cooking utensils

2011-01-15T23:28:00.002-07:00

Some that are ONLY for gluten free cooking. Something obvious. Like purple handles. ;-)

I was again glutened by my dh last night. (And yes, my body recognizes even tiny amounts of gluten. Sorry!) So my thought is that if I have utensils set aside just for cooking my nasty gf food (ok it's not THAT gross, but..) and label the not so obvious foods, I might just get away with not being glutened at home again. :-D

Some people want to know how I know I've been "glutened". Some of it's a bit TMI, so if you're squeemish stop here..... I get cranky, tired, sore (it affects my fibromyalgia), bloated, and gassy.
.
.
.
.
.
.OK IT'S SAFE!! ;-)

So yeah. It's not fun when I get glutened. It's worth the trade off for me to be gluten free though. Even with the extra expense in the grocery budget, and all the trouble of making sure there's no cross contamination, and being very limited to what and where I can eat out of the house. (Something I'm getting ready to give up, it's such a pain in the butt. @@)

Now on to the shopping!!! (I really do want purple handled utensils. Or just all purple. hehe!)

More more more.... (vent. not for the kids to read, please)

2011-01-13T21:13:00.002-07:00

Medical bills. I'm so tired of medical bills. If I'd just keep my mouth shut, they wouldn't exist. Neither would the debt. (yeah, I might be terribly sick or deformed from it but still) I'm NOT intentionally incurring medical bill after medical bill. I HATE going to the doctor. I HATE having illnesses that drag me in there. I feel guilty about it every time. That's a major part of my ongoing depression/anxiety: How long before the next bill hits? How long before the next illness costs an arm and a leg? This morning, before I was brought back for my MRI, I was handed a bill. Due "up front" was $165 of $827. *sigh* Great. Heated up the credit card AGAIN, and will be begging yet another billing department to settle for $25mo payments. And to top it all off, the mortgage company calls tonight. It hasn't been paid yet, but we're in the grace period. DUH. I know that. It's how it had to go this month, if everything was to get paid "on time". GRACE period....in other words, you're being kind enough to give me an extra couple weeks to get the payment in without harassing me. So don't harass me. I'm so fed up with money. Anything to do with it. I have to sit here tonight and figure out if/which bills need to be shuffled yet again. If these bills would change due dates like the paychecks did, it wouldn't be so bad. Every 4 weeks. Not this 26-32 day billing periods, depending on how many days are in the month, the month before, the next month, and if Mars is in retrograde.

I'm in a bad mood. I have to pay bills, budget for groceries and gas, and try to stay sane through it all. And hope that my MRI comes back soon, because I'm stressing over that too. Am I dizzy because something triggered a malformation? Or am I going to have to deal with a tumor or something? Or was it all just a fluke, and I've wasted yet more of my dh's hard earned money?

If I'm not around (online or otherwise) don't take it personally. I'll be trying to keep my bad mood to myself. (or at least what I didn't leave here.) I've got so much more to vent about, but much of it is TMI for the masses.

Perils of living where we do

2011-01-08T23:34:00.002-07:00

Not so much perils to me, but definitely to dd right now. (And I really do feel bad about it. She sulked all the way home.)

*sigh* Dd had a b-day party to attend this evening. Getting there was no issue tonight. It's tomorrow I'm worried about. So no sleeping over for dd. I feel bad, but living where we do, it's a risky thing in the winter. All dd's friends live at least 20min away, and tonight it was closer to 40. Stinks. I'd like to get down to my lil sister's more often too, but same thing. 45 min away and what if a blizzard hits? If we had two cars I wouldn't worry, but alas...we do not. And as for dd being stuck, I wouldn't wish her (impending) crankiness on anyone! (And after all the sugar she had tonight, tomorrow morning is going to be interesting.) I guess what I need to do is plan sleepovers galore when there's NO chance of snow. Like all summer long. She'd love that, I'm sure! ;-) Love my "needs lots of tlc" house though, and it's quiet location. So gotta make sacrifices. I'm seriously thinking of snow tires though. Just so I can go out to play more in the winter! :-P

Gotta plan dd's b-day here soon. (13?!?!) It's right smack in the middle of the Spring heavy wet snow season though, so there may or may not be any partying. More and more often I see kids with b-days during the winter/early spring having parties in the summer. They just might be on to something. Especially around here!

My Mommy is AWESOME!!!

2011-01-06T11:55:00.002-07:00

As I'm on my way out the door the Post arrives....and this is with it! :-D

Thanks, mom! I LOVE it! Now I can actually see what I have.

Mittens Before and After

2011-01-05T21:56:00.003-07:00

Before felting...

I love this face. "What in the world?!"

After felting...

I think she likes them. ;-))

Step up Dads!

2010-12-20T09:54:00.003-07:00

This blog post really made me cry. I can relate, having a father that fits into one of those categories. The number of uninvolved dads these days is scary.

I am blessed beyond words to now have a step dad who is very much involved and interested even though he came into the picture when us kids were already adults. But he understands the importance of the father role, and we are very grateful that he does.

Single Dad Laughing: Real Dads Don't Leave

Please get this passed along. Lets fix this!

And many many kudos to you dads out there that are in no way, shape or form, anything like the checked-out-dads in this blog post! ;-)

My new fav coffee creamer!

2010-11-22T10:02:00.002-07:00

Marshmallow Mocha!!!

How cool is that?! :-D

This stuff is sooooo good!!! Thank you International Delight!

Winter Wonderland! And a note of preparedness.

2010-11-10T09:13:00.006-07:00

neighbors pines

neighbors maples

our maple with a hungry squirrel

our backyard

that WAS a mini cherry

This is all the day after our first snow of the season! (11/9/10) We got about 3 inches at my house. It's so blindingly white outside!

Can't say enough for being prepared...

After much debating with myself, I decided to give the hunt for clip on sunglasses one more try yesterday. and I found some that'll work with these new glasses. Good thing after what I woke up to this am! :-D Prescription would have run me $80 at Costco. Clip ons were only $13. Not the most attractive or comfy things, but they'll work for driving. (in the blinding white snow!) I had a few errands yet to run after I got my dd to dance, and on the way into the hardware store got a freezing and soaking foot. So much for the generic "ugg" boots. So I headed over to Target and was SO shocked that they not only had my size, but in several varieties! Nice, because the first pair I tried on were NOT 11's. More like 9's. But I did find some boots, on sale, womens, in MY size! A lil clunky to walk around in, but it's been a long time since I had "real" snow boots. And around here with the Raynaud's, I NEED good snow boots that can also handle 2 pairs of wool socks. So the being prepared part here...don't waste time thinking "I probably have a few days yet before I have to worry about it" when it comes to obtaining winter gear. Once it hits the shelves, get out there and snatch it up! You don't want to be errand running with soggy socks. It's not pleasant. Trust me. Nor do you want to be snow blinded behind the wheel. Or driving down the freeway with frozen wiper fluid (winter '07- back in these conditions after a 7 yr break. oops). And don't forget to stock up the pantry and toilet paper. I've been in that habit all my life thanks to a very organized mother. ;-)

Stock up essentials:
dried pasta
canned pasta sauce
rice
beans
canned fruit
canned veggies (I know, I know. But it's better than nothing when you are stuck.)
cereal (cold and hot)
crackers
chips (you're gonna have a craving when you're snowed in. Trust me.)
bottled water (just in case)
shelf stable juice
powdered or shelf stable milk
COFFEE (or tea)
hot cocoa for the kids

Also doesn't hurt to keep an extra carton of eggs, milk, and loaf of bread around too. Just make sure you follow the "first in first out" rule.

toilet paper
batteries
candles
matches
flashlights
battery operated radio
extra box or two of kleenex
paper towels
dish soap (another thing that's typical to run out of during a storm)

And keep your gas tank above 1/2 full. Just a good idea.
And keep that cell phone charged up. It's not that difficult. Plug it in before bed.

Ok. I've done my good deed for the day! Have a happy and safe winter everyone! :-D

Start of my garden

2010-08-30T11:34:00.002-06:00

These are 8ft w x 2.5ft d x 1.5ft h

Saving up for dirt, plants, and seeds now!

Vietnamese restraunt

2010-08-26T20:06:00.002-06:00

Tonight, dh and I ate at Pho Vy. YUM!!! I've never had Vietnamese food before. :-D Delicious! Perfect amount of spice, sweet, and sour. It was so quiet in there too! We got in about 6:30, so we may have missed the crowd. I was cracking up when dh mispronounced the dish he wanted. I tend to be the linguist in the family. ;-) I'm not very adventurous when it comes to trying new foods. I can only take so much spice, and I have several food allergies. (I'm PRAYING I didn't eat anything I shouldn't have, because I REALLY like this place!) I feel bad for my dh, because he's missing out on so many good places to eat because of it. At least there's places near his work that he's able to go to once in a while. But it is nice to be able to go out TOGETHER for something different. (I'm WAY tired of the standbys of pizza joints and Panda Express!) So since I had mostly veggies in my dinner, I'm going to polish off my peanut butter cup B & J's now. ;-D

A way to curb my eating out cravings?!

2010-08-15T19:43:00.002-06:00

I bought a frozen meal for 2 from Wanchai Ferry not long ago, and decided to try it tonight since dd made a sandwich. Spicy Garlic Chicken. YUM!!! It was easy to make, and was sooo good! A little spicy for me, but still good. (Almost as good as the Asian restaurant down the street!) I'll need to try more varieties to be sure, though. ;-)

Eating out has been one of the worst bad habits I've picked up in my adult life. I don't want to know how much I've spent on it, and I already know what it's done to my health. So finding ways to avoid it is key. I used to make meals ahead of time and freeze them. I need to do that more often. But if for some reason I can't, I'll be heading to the grocery store instead of the nearest take out place.

Crab Apple Jelly Time!

2010-08-11T08:00:00.003-06:00

Once again, it's time to sort through all the apples on the tree, throw down the ones full of worms, collect the ripe ones that aren't, and move as quickly as possible to can fresh jelly! Fast, because in a couple more days, it'll be time to harvest another batch or two of apples. ':-P I've already lost a batch of apples due to worms that snuck in in apples that weren't inspected to MY satisfaction. (you learn a few things when you're picking through apples on the tree for hours, and cutting them up later....for hours...) I'm hoping we get a grand total of 4 batches. I think that's a reasonable expectation, taking into consideration the number of worms, bugs, and birds. Next year, the tree will be sprayed!

**EDIT**

eh, hem. I owe an apology to my husband, who put those apples into the cooler. after cutting up apples just now, I found more worms than I ever expected to find. They just live in there. Apples, pears, etc. *sigh* I have some reading to do on how to get rid of these things. At least most of the fruit can still be salvaged (I was actually doing that right!) AND my decision to harvest yellower apples with a little pink was a good idea too! Less chance of the worms being in there/starting to mature.

BLECH!!!! :-X I HATE worms!!!!

So you know I gotta be desperate if I'm going through this process!!

bread and stocking up

2010-08-01T20:12:00.003-06:00

I love it when people give me no warning that we're running out of bread. @@ So....I'll be up late tonight baking. The normal multi grain wheat, and I'll also make zucchini bread. My dh brought home a GIGANTIC zucchini from one of his coworkers. It screams to be made into about 3 or 4 loaves of bread. (maybe more....)

While I'm baking, I need to put together a list of food and supplies for the winter. My instincts tell me this is going to be a winter with a "few" more blizzards than last year. *Ehem* ....I was right about last winter being a wet one. I found it reassuring (and a little funny) when a local farmer agreed with me. ;-) We'll see if I'm right again. (I need to find that farmer!) If not, then I'll just have less shopping to do in the spring.

I actually find the stocking up to be a springboard for some retrospective thinking. Looking back into history when women would spend the entire summer and fall putting up food for the winter, gathering supplies, and hoarding all the fabric scraps and needles and thread to keep them occupied during the long winters. (See? My "little" hoard of yarn isn't such a bad thing.) For my own personal retrospective moments, it's Y2K. We were flat broke, but I still felt compelled to stock up as much as I could. Turns out, it just meant when we moved halfway across the country, I had less grocery shopping to do. ;-) Having a good stock of the necessities has turned out to be a very good thing. If I can't make it to the store for some reason (usually fibro/migraine/CF) -and it's happened more than once- we still have food in the house. Despite what all the media says about fresh food being the best (yeah it is good) you can still survive on canned for quite some time.

Speaking of canned food, I just finished off the last of the bread with some home canned nectarine plum jam. ;-)

Time to go make more bread.

New Rocking Chair

2010-07-31T21:32:00.002-06:00

I know, no pic yet. That would take energy I just don't have right now. Besides, it needs to be refinished. ;-)

I bought it at Parker Country Market (formerly known as the Jackalope) I bought my dining room table and chairs here too several months back. I've been looking for the "perfect" rocking chair for years now, after deciding a glider rocker is NOT what I wanted. I even got a deal on this one! If I have to refinish it though, I should get a deal, right? Now to decide what color chair pads to make for this thing. I'm thinking something that hides cat hair since I saw Olive already making herself comfy in it earlier. @@

Lazy Day

2010-07-25T11:31:00.004-06:00

Last night I had a nice escape to dinner and a movie with a friend. Saw "Despicable Me". Such a cute movie! I still plan to buy it. (Steve Carell and Julie Andrews. DUH!!) I didn't get home until after midnight. I mentioned that I'd be home after midnight before I left, but apparently I wasn't heard. At 10:50 I have a missed call from dh. (I figured not worth calling since everyone was probably in bed by the timeI saw the missed call.) then at 11:50 I get a call from dh. "It's late, just wondering when you're heading home." Nice to know I was missed. ;-)

Got a lazy start to my day today. Slept in until I heard (over my not so quiet fan) the radio across the street playing too loudly. I think it's their alarm that they were sleeping through. Got my newspaper off the driveway (yay! finally a week of dry papers where they're supposed to be!), cut coupons, and dh made me breakfast and tea. Ahhhhh.:-) And dh fixed my webcam! Woohoo! Very good because I've missed a few opportunities to use it while it was down.

Oh. And I put pink on dd's hair Friday night. And it's still pink! YAY!!!

2010-07-24T16:54:00.001-06:00

Made some "busy bags" today for the little ones at Spirit of Hope Lutheran Church. Only took me 5 hours total time! Woohoo!!!

My Little Red Wagon

2010-07-23T14:46:00.002-06:00

I finally got one! :-D I've been wanting a wagon since my daughter was about 6mo old. We could never afford one though. I was looking around the net one day, not too long ago, and found this little red wagon and HAD to have it! It arrived this afternoon. *squeeeeelll!!!!* It's going to make my life so much easier! I can get to the grocery store (that's 2mi away) and get EVERYTHING I need at once, get to the pool (that's 1mi away) without killing my shoulders with the pool bag, and pack everything into it for park days. It's got such nice durable fabric I plan to use it as a wheel barrow too. Once I get my garden going I'll have plants, dirt, tools, etc to move. hehehe! I'm SO excited! :-D

Git r done!

2010-07-22T22:46:00.003-06:00

In the words of Thomas Jefferson: "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today."

So tonight I did just that. I've been doing laundry, ironed 13 shirts already and only have maybe 7 left (depends on how well the dryer does). I started the dishwasher. Mostly, I was actually thinking about the fact that all of these things heat up the house. Which has no working a/c. As far as warm weather goes, we aren't done yet. So I could say: "Never put off until the heat of the day tomorrow what you should be doing in the cooler evening." At least for the summer.

I'll be making a list of things to get done before the school year starts too. (tonight.) Too many unfinished projects and junk laying around here. I finally feel like I'll be able to make some progress on it all, thanks to my mom bugging me about trying valerian root. (Thanks, mom. You were right. Again. ;-))

Kung Zhu Party!!!

2010-07-21T20:07:00.012-06:00

I had an awesome opportunity to review one of the most popular toys. The new Kung Zhu hamsters! These little guys are SO cute! Especially in their little suits of armor. They have cool little tanks that they "drive" too. The kids all had such a good time! We were a few kiddos short, but once they are back in town we'll have another "party" with them. ;-) And I have to admit. *I* like these hamsters as much as the kids! :-D And they don't smell, and don't pee all over the floor like living hamsters. hehe! Here's some pics from the party!

J with "Seargent Serge"

N putting armor on "Azer"

The wheel is *my* favorite part! I think it's J's too.

M & K doing some easy assembly

Everyone playing

"Thorn" taking out "Azer", "Rock-O", "Drayko", and "Rivet"
(I LOVE this pic!)

I wish I had a video camera. These Kung Zhus are so much fun! I'll be posting more pics in the future of our friends having a good time with their Kung Zhu hamsters!

Being inspired but trying not to be stupid

2010-07-15T21:51:00.004-06:00

I had an awesome opportunity today to hear a presentation by Tim Samaras! It was the best geeky day ever! :-D I plan to get one of my majors in Meteorology. I want to be out on one of those teams collecting all this important (and very cool) data. My daughter is completely against me doing anything involving storm chasing, but oh well! It's been a dream of mine since I was her age. (And although "Twister" was a good movie, it's not accurate. And they were being stupid. I don't plan to be stupid.) So much has evolved in the technology world that I am going to really have to keep focused to learn it all. I am pretty good at predicting what's going to happen with the weather, but I don't sit and look at the weather models all day to do it. I "feel" it. Not gonna cut it when it comes to figuring out how to improve on safety measures and figure out the why's and how's of storm development. :-P So I need to go back to school. And I want to do it soon! I had planned to home school all the way through, but part of me is struggling now with that decision. I've sat here thinking on and off for months now about how I could go back sooner rather than later. *sigh* I am inspired to go, but I know right now isn't the time. School will still be there later when things line up right for me to go. I can still get the 2 majors I want. I'll still be young enough to get a job in at least one of them, I'm sure. Until then, I can continue being an amateur. (And right more often than the weather man!)

A Little Crazy

2010-07-15T07:48:00.003-06:00

This time it's my hair. I tried a new hair color, and LOVE it! Kind of "eggplant". And....since I had SO much damage to all but the 4 inches of root, decided to have my hair chopped. I've never gone this short, but I'm really glad I decided to give it a try! Easy to manage and nice and cool for the rest of summer. I might keep this style around for a while though. Especially since I found a place to get it done on the cheap. ;-) With money being tight right now, I decided why not try out a beauty school? Like my mother in law says, "it's just hair. It'll grow back." And with an instructor there, I wasn't worried at all. ;-)

An Impromptu Trip

2010-06-30T08:14:00.000-06:00

A couple years ago I took a trip with my sister, and this year I took a trip with my mom. No kid in tow, just me getting away to spend some time with my extended family. I love it. I didn’t get to know my extended family as a child. I wish I had. I have some really cool relatives! And this year I got to meet 2 of my mom’s best friends from high school. They also are pretty cool! ;-) I realize how blessed my own child is that she really knows her grandparents, aunt, and cousins. (I have to admit, I’m a bit jealous.)

Family is so important. You just can’t lose touch. Especially the upcoming generations! There is so much to be learned and passed down to future generations. I love to sit and chat with my grandparents. They are very wise and I have learned so much from them in the last few years. Some people absolutely dread visiting their relatives, especially the “old” ones. They’re gonna miss out is all I have to say.

I think I have been successful in teaching my own child how important family is. She looks forward to her summer trips to see her grandmothers. (Although she comes home totally exhausted! Lol!) Her grandparents are completely different though, so she has the opportunity to learn SO many things. And appreciate so many things. She gets very frequent visits with her cousins. One is totally attached to her. I think that will never change. ;-)

I am sitting in Minnesota right now as I type this in a Word doc. My grandparents don’t keep the internet on. I think that’s not such a bad thing. To be disconnected from technology (and sometimes the crazy world). There’s more time to talk to each other. Enjoy the world outside the window. Last night my mom and I stayed up late talking and working with yarn. (I’m working on socks, and she started a dish cloth.) It was so nice to not be on the phone (although that’s nice too, “in person” is better.) We talked about how we could live such a simple lifestyle because we appreciate “the simple things”. My dd fits right in there too. Maybe next time we’ll all be there working on yarn together. ;-)

This week has been just awesome for me. Some people don’t change much. I have though, and so I’m glad my family is getting to know ME. I just feel so blessed right now to be sitting here in my grandparents kitchen waiting on some more relatives to arrive.

Ice Maker

2010-06-22T16:15:00.002-06:00

So one day I was getting ice for my Diet Dr. Pepper, and noticed something that resembled paint or very thin plastic floating in my glass. I couldn't find anything obvious wrong by looking in the bin. Dh thought maybe a bag of frozen veggies got in there and was getting "chewed up" by the ice maker.

Today, I had the smartest idea, but it wasn't related to fixing the ice maker. (Although it did lead to it.) Dd planted some flower seeds about 2 weeks ago. She's currently at Grandma's, so it's up to me to water them. The watering can had filled with rain water about a week ago and was running low. My ice, lately, has been smelling of the onion I froze a while back. (YUCK!) So.....I emptied the ice bin into the watering can! No wasted water! WOOHOO!!!!

Eh-hem.... So after I emptied the ice bin, I figured why not see if I could figure out what was wrong with the ice maker. It didn't want to dispense ice, and the ice it did dispense had that white plastic looking stuff in it. :-X I sure did find out what was wrong!!!

Count your surgical tools (er...kitchen tools) before you clean up!!! Last time I canned jam, I apparently missed something.

The spoon was caught in the spinning mechanism that lets the ice out, and grinding away the plastic at the exit of the bin.

**hanging my head in shame**

Bridges

2010-06-21T14:26:00.002-06:00

for animals?!?!

The recent story about the squirrel bridge got me thinking. (I know, I know...Sometimes that's a dangerous thing!) Anyway, yeah. Squirrels are cute. But, they are animals. And most animals that I am aware of, do not follow the same rules and instincts that us humans do. In the study they did about these poor little 5 squirrels a year getting hit, did they also study weather or not they know what a bridge is and how to use one? I just cannot see ANY animal using a bridge to cross. I don't think they have "the smarts" for it. Animal sees bridge, but doesn't know what it is. So it investigates. Sniffs it, maybe pokes at it a little, but probably will determine that it's nothing important and crosses directly under it...in the cool shade. Then....SPLAT!!!

My case is closed.

Gym Membership

2010-06-17T14:30:00.002-06:00

WOOHOOO!!!!!! It's been 3 and a half years. Way too long. I forgot how much I LOVE going to the gym! I spent 3.5 hrs there this am, and burned a whole lot of calories. I'm still hoping to run a 5k by the end of summer, but right now it's slow going. I did, however, finally get in a full mile of running! Just not all at once. That was only .5 today. Dh helped me with my running posture, and since changing it I've been doing better. No shin splints so far... I had planned to join the rec center, but at nearly $40mo I couldn't justify that. Even with the pool (which I don't really use). So I checked out Fitness 19 at my sister's suggestion. $20mo is WAY more doable! I got the "All Club" level so I can go work out with her on occasion. And I can go as often as I want. I'm almost giddy with the excitement of getting back in the gym! :-D I always felt more motivated once I walked through those gym doors. (That and the monthly dip into the bank acct. I BETTER use it!) Time to toughen up my feet though. I am so done with the blisters! @@

Free Stuff

2010-06-10T13:45:00.003-06:00

I love it! I've got a small list of freebies I've received this year. Not listing the actual items, but am considering making a counter somewhere. lol! (So far the count is 9.) Sure helps the budget when I get free stuff. I guess you could make that count 10 if the crab apples that magically appear on the tree out front count. (mmmm....jelly) Oh. And there technically IS more free stuff, but I'm talking "full sized" products here. ;-)

Now....if only I could get some free water for my lawn, that would be great.

Perimenopause and Summer

2010-05-28T23:08:00.002-06:00

Not such a good mix. This is the time of year when I wish I had a walk in freezer in my basement. :-P I know there's things I can do to minimize some of the effects of this, but some I'm not willing to do. Like give up caffeine. (NEVER!!!) I'm starting to lose weight, so that will help a little. Staying out of the sun...that's tough since part of my weight loss "program" is walking. Outside. In the sun. I have a new thing to help cool me off this summer though. I discovered Ciao Bella Sorbet, in blackberry cabernet, and blood orange flavors. Fat free and rich enough I actually stick to the serving size. ;-) I daresay, it's better than ice cream! :-O So if I can't have my walk in freezer, at least I can eat somewhat healthier frozen treats instead. Other than that, I'll be hanging out in front of the nearest fan with some ice water. Planning my menopause party.

Time Off...

2010-05-27T20:15:00.002-06:00

...the exercise routine is a definite NO NO! The last 2 days have been SUCH a struggle. Fibro pain, lack of motivation, on the verge of migraine. UGH!!! And if that wasn't enough, I think there's a build up of something in my body because there's a nasty taste in my mouth. :-X Hoping to get back into my routine soon and that everything gets better.

Still not losing weight, but the inches are staying away. (somewhat of a miracle I think.) Maybe I should consider dieting after all? *sigh*

Food Allergies/Intollerances

2010-05-23T14:22:00.003-06:00

I've started some food challenges. I'm glad I did. I've been slowly starting to feel better, and less tired (most of the time). Sad that I have to give up some of my favorite foods, but it's worth it to not have the searing pain reactions and/or debilitating fatigue that comes with eating things I shouldn't.

Foods I can no longer eat:
CHOCOLATE (except maybe in a very rare special situation)
Cilantro (and therefor no Mexican, Spanish, Tex Mex food)
Green Onions (less crunch in my salad now, and eliminates about half the oriental style foods I LOVE)
Celery :'-(
tree nuts including ALMONDS :'-(( (no Honey Nut Cheerios)

I'm sure there will be more to come. Next challenges will be raw carrots and decaf coffee (for the chemicals used in the decafinating process).

*sigh*

Thank goodness I like carob. And consider it a good substitute for chocolate. Otherwise, I'd go completely insane on occasion!

Shoulda Coulda Woulda

2010-05-19T21:12:00.002-06:00

Kind of says a lot about what's been on my mind.

I'm supposed to be cutting back on the number of things I schedule. I like to get out of the house though. But not much is getting done. Not with the house, not with dd's school work, not the bills/budget (although I get to those at the very last minute), and not my working out thing I wanted to be all "totally into" by now. So I shoulda said no more extra stuff. I coulda done stuff after my "chores" were done. But I woulda gone out of my mind. :-P

I'm not doing terrible with the whole weight loss thing. Just not doing as much as I'd like to be doing. Part of it is that I'm not looking at everything I do as a work out. But it really is. Like the 2 hours of yard work I did today. Totally counts as a workout! (Especially digging up those 2 rose bushes.) I'm just used to the mind set that working out is walking or running, crunches, pilates, using weights and weight machines. The other thing that's bugging me is my other health issues. I'm trying to be careful not to overdo it, but part of me wonders if I can push a little further now? So maybe I shoulda ignored my "tireds" earlier and walked anyway. I coulda cleaned the house too.

I shoulda gone to college sooner. I coulda had a good job and no debt by now. I looked at what it's going to cost me to go back. About $60k. If I go RIGHT NOW. (not including transportation costs though, which could easily add another $20k over 4 years. Maybe more.) If I went "back then", it woulda cost about $20k less, and I wouldn't have had to take remedial classes. I did enroll at CSUB in '03. Took entrance exams, went to orientation, and started signing up for classes. But canceled everything when I learned dd was too old to attend their day care program and the public school had no afterschool program for kindergarten. So I guess I'm a college drop out then? Or maybe not since I didn't buy any books or go to any classes. Didn't pay any tuition either. Oh well.

Sorry for the downer post here. I'm just not in such a good mood at the moment.

2nd Annual National Mom's Nite Out Twitter Party

2010-05-04T14:20:00.005-06:00

...is coming up this Thursday! I'm not a Twitter member, but I DO plan on having a mom's nite out. My family will be greatfull that dinner is covered, thanks to Pizza Hut and BSM Media! :-) I am receiving a gift card to help make my night out easy on everyone.

Us moms do so much for our families, and having a night for ourselves is well deserved. All the planning meals, running the kids around to this, that, and the other thing, cleaning, grocery shopping, and making sure everyone has everything they need every day. It's a tough job that never ends, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. ;-)

I'm going to plan a dinner out with my gal pals. (Somewhere that WE like, that might not even involve a kids menu!) What are YOU going to do? :-D

The Life of a Strawberry

2010-04-18T22:36:00.005-06:00

Lovely strawberries fresh from the market.

They get a wash and leaf removal

Then a careful stem removal (waste not, want not)

a good mashing

boil with sugar

yum

So not much of a life for the strawberries, but it sure makes mine better! :-)

Bipolar Mania- It has to go!

2010-04-15T16:46:00.004-06:00

Some of you know that I have been sort of diagnosed with Bipolar II (as in the number 2). Confusing, but I don't have quite enough of the mania for it to "count" as bipolar. BUT, I do have it. And I'm writing this so I have another way to hold myself accountable for recent manic type activity. I am a shopaholic. Especially when I'm stressed. It's been stressful around here with dd going back into therapy, dh's job cutting hours, and my health issues. So I've been shopping more. I've charged up way too much, and got myself in trouble with dh last night. So last night, into the wee hours of this am, and all afternoon I've been working on the budget. By the end of July, one (out of 3 charged up) credit accounts should be paid off. That's gonna be tough since we have a trip to make to SD this summer, and my FIL is coming out to visit and camp.

I have signs everywhere that should be easy for me to see that I've gone too far. A 3' X 3' pile of unused yarn. A bag full of patterns and unused fabric. More purses than I can use at one time, and a very pricey wallet. Which I did need a new wallet, but probably NOT one that cost my dh 90min of work to pay for. :-[ And the shoes. Most of them I can no longer wear. Why? Because I've gained too much weight eating out and/or eating too much junk food. And the amount of gas going into the car. I'm running around town too much, and adding to it by shopping. It really is ridiculous.

I am sorry, and I am working on it. I just need some help is all.

So if you don't see me around town, it's because I'm trying to avoid temptation. Aside from not being around town during flares... (of which the current one I totally deserve. Brought that on myself staying up crunching the numbers I've personally screwed up.)

on my way to being a big loser!!!

2010-04-10T19:07:00.003-06:00

Weight that is. ;-) I officially burned more than 1 pound this past 6 days! WOOHOO!!!!! I can't WAIT to go swim suit shopping in a couple months, AND put darts in all my pants. :-D I'm sure sore right now though. Three hours of some very intense gardening. WHEW!!! Who thought tilling with only a garden claw could be so tough?! (Probably plenty, but not me...'cause I always get myself in over my head.) My garden is on it's way to a (hopefully) very colorful springtime! :-D

A Personal Best!!!

2010-04-02T21:09:00.002-06:00

I just logged 20 miles for this week on Daily Mile! One of those was swimming/water walking. I'm SO proud of me!!! :-D

Got a walk in with the family tonight after having a pretty heavy dinner, too. Rockyard is one of our favorite places to go, and yes, I had a beer. But it was the light lager, at 112 calories. And I didn't even finish the last couple ounces. ;-) On this walk though, dd learned a hard lesson about having Raynaud's Phenomenon. She was on her bike, refused to wear a jacket and only had cotton gloves on. Half way through the walk, I gave up my gloves as her hands were getting cold and sore. By the time we got home, she couldn't even push the buttons on the garage pad to get in. She's all warmed up and normal now, but she had a scary lesson. She said she'll stop arguing about wearing a coat and gloves now.

I hope next week goes as well for my workouts as this one did. I still can't believe I got that much in this week! I hope that means between fibromyalgia flares that I can actually start losing weight. :-) And I NEED to hurry up and lose some! My summer shorts don't fit. :-P

Feeding My Habits

2010-04-01T20:22:00.006-06:00

Wouldn't that look better if I had said "feeding my RABBITS"? But alas, it does not. I don't own rabbits. Just habits. So not such a good thing to feed those...

ANYWAY...

I went to the library and checked out 6 books on knitting. As if that wasn't bad enough, I also BOUGHT one at the book store. :-P Yesterday, I bought more double pointed needles for sock making, and a storage box for my growing collection of knitting needles. (Still hoping for the nice zippered pouch for my collection of crochet hooks for Mother's Day.) But I did NOT buy any more yarn. Probably because dh cut me off. @@ Speaking of getting cut off, this morning when I considered buying coffee at the library, dd said "but you already had 2 cups". *sigh*

coffee
books
knit and crochet paraphenelia

yeah, yeah, whatever.

Oh....and now the cats have a blog that I have to contribute to, since they can't type very well. ;-)

What a Sad Day

2010-04-01T12:00:00.002-06:00

Driving downtown this morning, dd and I noticed our favorite coffee shop's windows were papered over. Dd thought it was probably an April Fool's joke. I thought she was probably right, and planned to go back there and give them heck when we finished at the library. There's a coffee stand in the lobby of the library that sells our fav coffee, so I asked the owner there if he knew about the papered windows at the main store. I was waiting to hear that it was indeed a joke. It was NOT. :'-( As of Sunday, they closed their doors. Something about a lease disagreement. So now they're looking for another store front. I'm so VERY glad that I can still go get my fav coffee from the library stand!!!

I must be CRAZY!!!

2010-03-30T17:15:00.003-06:00

(Well, actually I am. That's what the meds are for. ;-)) But seriously, I walked twice today for a grand total of 7.75 miles!!! :-O My feet are really really sore, but the calories burned are totally worth it. And since there's some precip in the forecast for Thurs, I'll be walking again tomorrow. Maybe not 7.75mi, but definitely a few.

Thursday, I think I'll be needing a visit to the hot tub. ;-)

What I wonder is, where did all this ambition and motivation come from?! I even deviated from my usual orange chicken bowl (seriously, check out the calorie count on this!!!) at Applebee's for an "under 550 calorie" meal. (Which was very good, btw.) I wonder if this ambition will carry over into other areas of my life? School is a mess and needs some organization, the basement is totally trashed, and I'm sure I could find several other things to take care of in the house. I need to make conversation time with my DH a priority again too. This am was a start since he missed the "earlier" train. We got an extra 10min of talk time out of that.

hmmm..... Methinks I see changes on the horizon. :-)

Lightning Sand, Fire Swamp, and a few R.O.U.S's....

2010-03-28T19:01:00.004-06:00

Well, sort of. It's a stretch.

Lightning Sand = the water walking/swimming I did today. With all the muscle aches I've had lately, it sure felt like wading through lightning sand. (Especially when I discovered how QUICKLY the pool floor drops at the edge of the deep end!)

Fire Swamp = the temperature of the hot tub today. Like FIRE!!! And the humidity would be the swamp part? (Ok. I know I'm stretching it even more here....)

R.O.U.S.'s = Residents Of Unusual Skills (Oh. You thought I was gonna say... Oh geez. What kind of person do you take me for?! :-P ) Some of the people going off the diving board today had some very unusual methods of getting into the water. Hilarious, really! I was smart enough NOT to join the other moms trying to impress their kids by attempting to reenact their glory days.

Hmmm....I feel like watching a movie now. Wonder what I should watch?

Spiral Knit Socks

2010-03-25T21:46:00.000-06:00

Not bad for my first pair! :-D Helps that it was an easy pattern and that they were tube socks. I hear making heels is tricky. Guess I'll find out, because I'm attempting those kind next!

Stupid hip....

2010-03-22T15:00:00.007-06:00

That's what I get for allowing myself to get overweight and cause my joints to retaliate. 4.27mi, following dd (who was on her bike) and I still made it home. I'm glad I have a stubborn streak, because it sure came in handy today!!! :-P I NEED to get better though, because there's another storm coming. I don't want to miss out on opportunities to walk outside, and tomorrow morning is it until Friday.

And I need to give a shout out to Brenda at Flutterby Designs Thank you SO much for the water bottle you gave me at the bake sale! I LOVE it! :-D

Now for some lunch....

I'm in the couch potato recovery program. ;-)

2010-03-20T15:04:00.002-06:00

Even with sub freezing temps (ok...31 isn't all that sub freezing, but hey!) I walked today. 4.29mi with my dh. Fun times! what this tells me though, is that even if it's cold out, I really don't have a lot of excuses NOT to get out there. If it's windy though, forget it. :-P I'm proud of me! And I hope to be burning my fat pants while at camp this summer. ;-)

Yarn yarn EVERYWHERE!!!!

2010-03-19T12:35:00.002-06:00

And I LOVE it! :-D

I have a "slight" addiction to buying yarn. hehe! I also have a book buying addiction. I recently came upon an old Good Housekeeping book on needlecrafts. (Score!) So last night, after a visit to yet another yarn store, started learning how to make socks. Bought me some double pointed knitting needles, and off I went! So far so good, but I think I better find a pattern suited for the yarn I bought. You know those gigantic bags from Pier 1 (the ones they put pillows in)? I have one stuffed to the top with unused yarn!!! I'm starting to worry about the handles ripping it's so heavy. lol!

I was commenting to my dh this morning about how we're such "old souls" and old fashioned. He's into wet shaving with the brush and soap pucks, and old (some VERY old!) safety razors. And he's recently picked up writing with fountain pens on, what else, parchment. Add my love of yarn, bread making, and canning.... There ya go. ;-) People dream about vacationing on islands. Not me. I dream of vacationing in Amish country!

Coffee Mugs

2010-01-31T20:00:00.003-07:00

I broke a couple this last year, so decided I could get some more. ;-) I've been looking at colors like this for a while now, and since painting (finally) really wanted some in these colors! If only I could have got the entire set.... Didn't need anything else though, so I'll have to settle for the mugs. Which were on sale. hehe! ;-)

Menu Attempt

2010-01-27T13:37:00.002-07:00

We're giving up eating out for Lent. So I NEEDED to make a menu to stay on track. ;-)

I grabbed all my cookbooks, set up a list of things that sounded good, and put them into Excel. I was hoping to get through Feb, but ended up getting through March 12th!!! YIPEE!!!! The real test will be to see if this actually works. I've done menus before, but didn't stick to the thing. The big change this time is that I planned for ALL meals on the weekends. I've also started shopping lists for each payday. (I can always add as I go.) Maybe a couple good things will come out of this? Healthier family, healthier bank account, dd might learn some new kitchen skills-provided she can behave long enough to be IN my kitchen, might find some new recipes that go over well. :-)

I have a small stack of Taste of Home cookbooks that I've been collecting, and many recipes are coming from there. (Although I am missing my casserole magazine....Must have loaned it out.) I plan to use a "much older" cookbook once this menu has been exhausted. My mother in law sent us home one day with a Family Circle cook book from 1981!! :-)

Ok....time to channel my inner housewife of olde.... ;-)

Before and After

2010-01-21T11:16:00.006-07:00

Ok everyone. The long awaited pictures of the house painting project are here!!!

Formal Living Room

Dining Room

Hall

Stair

Family Room (note decorative "boxes" above mantle)

Formal Living Room

Dining room (please excuse the mess)

Hall

Stair

Family room (note LACK of decorative "boxes" above mantle)

Back to the Barn!!!

2010-01-16T14:11:00.006-07:00

The local antique shop, that is. ;-)
We love to go there as a family. There's stuff that interests each of us. Got some GREAT finds today! 3 old "how to" sewing books, a cute picnic basket that I'm using to decorate the top of the front entry closet, and my husband found an old leather shaving strop in good condition! :-)

Hopefully some day in the nearer future, we'll be furnishing our bedroom with some old dressers, and maybe I'll find a nice coffee table for the formal living room. Dd wants a sewing desk, so that's on the list too.

Great way to spend a Saturday morning! :-)

Evil Peanut Butter Cups!!! >:-(

2010-01-13T16:19:00.002-07:00

They're gone. I finished them off this afternoon. Wish I could say I threw them out, but nope. I ate 'em. So the whole "get healthy" idea is not off to a good start. :-P I have been doing some painting though, so that helps. And I washed the car yesterday, by hand. ;-) Baby steps, right? (I think I've said that before....) Adding a few trips up and down the stairs lately too. (Need to get laundry in a routine again.) My plan for the next day or so is to put together a (HEALTHY) daily menu. We'll see how it goes. It's not easy to decide what to make all the time. I'm not good at making decisions. (Will someone PLEASE just tell me what to make?!?!) I've done the menu thing before, but got bored of the same thing every month. I've acquired a few cookbooks since then, so I'm hopeful. I'll let ya know how it goes. ;-)

I had been down 1/2 lb this morning. I'm sure the evil PB cups took care of that though. *sigh*

Happy New Year!!!

2010-01-08T00:32:00.002-07:00

This year, I'm working on reachable goals. Small steps now to make big changes in the future...I hope!

I started decluttering again. (It's been a few years) One room a week shouldn't be too overwhelming. Having less clutter should help me keep the house in better shape.
I'd like to plan more library outings. That would keep me out of the store, where I buy too many books to keep up with. Less books, less clutter.
I need to go back to strictly following a shopping list. (less stuff in the cart, less....clutter....hmmm....seeing a trend here)
And like millions of other Americans, I plan to lose weight. I NEED to. For my health in so many ways. But slow and steady there. (Especially now that I'm dealing with fibromyalgia, and a back injury that doesn't want to heal. @@) I'd like to get down 45lbs overall, but if I don't reach that by the end of the year, I'm promising myself I won't get mad about it. A small step right there. ;-) This will be the most difficult change. Old habits die hard. I'm thankful Lent is right around the corner. We're giving up eating out. That should help quite a bit!!

Ok. Enough for now. Hopefully I'll have some sort of ticker up soon for the weight loss part of all this. I need to be held accountable!! :-[

Old fashioned, or just plain old?

2009-12-11T12:20:00.002-07:00

I'm having a heck of a time keeping up with my blog. :-( Oh well.

We got a couple cats the end of October. Isis (tabby mix) and Olive (dilute tortie mix). Sweetest girls. :-) They've adjusted quickly and well, and are driving us nuts daily with screams for treats and "the GOOD noms" (aka wet food). But they also spoil us with warm laps, and Isis loves to headbump us - especially from the kitchen counter...where the extra noms reside.

Got a newer car after dh had a accident the end of October. He's fine, not even a scratch on him. But our poor old car was a total loss. Mostly because of the mileage. Over 116k at the time of the accident. The good part of the whole experience is that we now have a car better suited for this area.

I've been hard at work with yarn all fall. I decided to learn to knit, and made my dh a scarf. Started a hat too, but had to put that down for a while. I crocheted my sister a shawl and beret for her birthday, and I'm counting on her busy schedule to NOT see this blog update. lol! ;-) Currently, I'm making my parents a blanket for Christmas. It's been a ton more work than I originally thought. I keep getting distracted, so it's taking even longer. :-[

Old fashioned.....

I love to crochet (and now knit!), bake, cook, I know how to sew pretty well, and I don't mind "staying at home". In fact, I'd rather not work. So does that make me old fashioned?

or just plain old.....

I snap, crackle and pop on my way up out of bed or off the couch. I prefer to sit with a book or yarn in my hands. I can't even seem to keep up with my blog. And I'm having to employ my kid to do more chores, because I physically have trouble doing them all these days. I'm old, right?

This week, with the sub zero temps and all, I vote for just old. :-P I really don't like the saying "you're as young as you feel". I "feel" about 60, so um......yeah. @@

Ok....back to my yarn and coffee...... (creak, creak, creak)

PAIL Day. Have hope. Jer 29:11

2009-10-15T11:33:00.003-06:00

Pregnancy and Infant Loss day is today, October 15th.

10/03; 5/04; 5/05; 12/07

Although we have suffered the loss of 4 precious little ones, we have been blessed with our dd (3/98). Why these babies had to go Home before us, I don't think we'll ever really know. But they'll be waiting for us. Along with 9 of my nieces/nephews who I'm sure they're busy playing with every day! ;-) This has been a long road for me. Looking at where I am now from all those years back...God has most certainly been with me on this road!

Every year I look back on these losses. But from these losses, I've gained a little more knowledge, and a little more compassion. Life is precious. Children are precious. If you have never suffered loss, praise God! If you have suffered loss, praise God that he is there for you! Although this is one of my longest days of the year, I know I will make it through with the help of God. He gets me through every year, without fail. He gets me through every loss anniversary. He gets me through the days when every baby I see or hear makes my heart hurt like it may burst.

I'm saying a special prayer for all the babies that have gone Home far too soon for us here on Earth. And I'm saying a special prayer for all those who have suffered this loss that the Great Healer will do just that. Heal your hearts.

traffic circles, crop circles...thoughts invoked

2009-10-01T22:38:00.004-06:00

As I was circling two traffic circles about 1/4 mile apart - for the second time in one night - I thought of something. A similarity between traffic circles and crop circles. They both invoke some feelings. Feelings of awe (wow...that took a lot of work), wonder (why did they put these here?), frustration (what are we supposed to do with this?!), intrigue (is there some greater meaning for this?). But both end with this final thought...at least for me. Some idiot decided to put them there. :-P

Choose Words Wisely.....

2009-09-30T00:31:00.005-06:00

..... especially when in the presence of those with a sense of humor and wit far beyond your own!

So tonight (last night, actually, since it's well past midnight) I got to see the Cake Wrecks creator, Jen Yates. YAY!!! I told my dh that she was in town for a book signing, and that I wanted to go. I was expecting him to say "why do you need to go?" or whine about it or something. But he said "we'll have to get dinner downtown then. How and where do you want to meet?" YES!!! He's become a fan of Jen's too though lately. Especially with the horse cakes. lol! (And of course, he had to comment when she said something about typing in 'horse cakes' for a search. hehe!) So we went, we bought a book, we laughed with a huge crowd of fans, and had the book signed. But not before I opened my big mouth. See, everyone was asked to have a yellow sticky ready for the author to copy. (Makes it easy to get names right and stuff) I said I only wanted her to sign her name. So...we get up to the desk, and she asks what I wanted her to write. (since there was no sticky.) I said "nothing fancy, just wanted a signature". So...this is what I got:

I should have known!!!! ROTFLMAO!

I'll be submitting a cake of this in the near future. ;-)

effects of allergies

2009-09-28T11:14:00.003-06:00

STINK!!! 36 hours+ of hives and still they're popping up. I don't know why they're here. Can't think of what I ate or inhaled to cause them. (Or touched?) I did walk through a couple cigarette clouds at the mall Sat, and I am allergic to something in them, but... I have had clove in my zucchini bread, and it's a "questionable offender". But the bread...it's SO GOOD!!! (I gotta ad that normally my food allergies have a pain reaction. Internal, like someone is ripping apart organs. This is different. No pain, just hives.) *sigh* This is just annoying. Can't touch anything without that prickly sensation...and depending on what part of my skin does the touching, instant hives. :-P Benadryl is keeping me from having massive areas of welts, but it's also kept me in bed an insane amount of time the last couple days. I got stuff to do, man!! Ok. I'm off to find a carry case for my NEW LAPTOP!!! :-D Then to get some much needed coffee.

finding the Truth (yeah, this one's religious and "church-y")

2009-09-23T23:08:00.005-06:00

I've been reading Lee Strobel's "The Case for The Real Jesus". Wow. I'm not even half way through, yet so many of my questions have been answered. (And some that I didn't even think of until reading this book!) Also been getting K-Love's encouraging word in my email every day. ;-) I've done some heavy praying lately, especially with regards to Communion and Baptism. I still have some unanswered questions, but looking (and asking) around, I think many do. But that doesn't necessarily mean I'm doubting, does it? Is there a difference between doubting and questioning? I never went through Confirmation as a child. Never regularly went to church either. In '03, my dh and I took a membership class that was sort of an adult Confirmation class. That was in the midst of my first miscarriage though, so besides not being able to form a coherent thought, I didn't pay as much attention to everything going on around me as I should have. (Grief had taken a serious hold on me.)I needed to ask more questions, and ask for the evidence. Deep down, I think I was afraid to ask though. So many times in Sunday school growing up, I almost asked some of these questions, but stopped short. I thought I'd either be laughed at for being stupid, or accused of blasphemy. (Isn't middle school peer pressure wonderful?) So I went on with Baptism and first Communion, thinking everything was fine. Then I grew up. Now I understand WHY I should have asked those questions back then!! I went into church tonight with prayers going constant in the back of my mind. Old ones asking for the same old guidance, eye opening, and heart opening. And some new ones. (After all, I was at a new church tonight.) I was so tired, and not sure if I'd be able to make it through the evening, but once I walked into the Sanctuary, I felt sort of "lifted". Renewed. I needed to be there. Not just for my dd on Family Confirmation night, but for me too. I have a ways to go yet, but since we never stop learning, I guess that's ok. I am so glad that my dd can join in the Confirmation class at this church. I don't want her to ever struggle like I have, or question like I have. She'll have a good Foundation. Our church doesn't start Confirmation for her until next year, but she's at the same age I was when my pathetically thin and brittle foundation was cracked apart for the first time. I struggled into adulthood to repair that. I don't expect that my foundation will ever be perfect. It's gonna have some funky colored patches, some uneven patches, and probably some hairline surface fractures. With God's help though, and the help and prayers of my family and friends, It'll hold for a long time. ;-) I'm looking forward to this upcoming Sunday when the congregation affirms it's faith together. I'll be joining in with less questions in my mind, and a heart fully open to Christ. :-)

I need to say a couple special thank yous: To my husband for being patient with me through this. To my mom for being so open-minded with me this last weekend while we had some serious talking going on. And to my good friend Renee for listening to me babble on and on about this for weeks now, and getting me to church tonight!! Thank you all for the encouragement and support through my journey. :-)

Doggie Sitting and Weather Changes

2009-09-21T07:40:00.004-06:00

For two weeks! Dd is way excited. Especially since she's gonna get paid for her trouble...which will be MY trouble too, since the dog is in heat!!! @@ So.....lots of "diaper" changing. She's good about it at least. Just stands there for changing. This could end up being good practice for dd though. ;-) The only truly frustrating thing about having a dog here is this rain. (and maybe snow in the morning!!!) Trying to keep the dog still so we can dry her off. lol!

Weather changes.... ugh. Not much to say there! Just "feeling it". But I would NOT trade living here!! ;-D

better late than never....update

2009-09-15T06:32:00.004-06:00

So much for keeping up with updates! Sorry! :-(

Not much lately though. Boring stuff. More fibro issues, back troubles, and a nasty cycle...which I should be glad is here, but really....I'm ready to be done now. **groans**

Made some crab apple jelly this year! After the hail storms, I wasn't sure if we had any good ones left. I got 4 batches off the tree, but 2 went to waste no thanks to the fibro. @@ Anyway, I used the canner my mother in law entrusted to me for the first time. NICE!!! I think I'm going to be so glad for it when my garden gets going in a couple years. (I still need to MAKE said garden...hehe!) 22qt pressure canner... **whistle!!!** She bought it around '99 before Y2K to can some meat. Hasn't used it since, so I had no issues taking care of it! ;-) Not calling it mine though. I KNOW how much those are worth!!!

So I'm updating today while watching the sky change colors with the sunrise. (Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this state?) I didn't plan to be up this early, but my sleep patterns have not been the best lately. Got my coffee though, so it's all good. ;-) Also good is this AWESOME shiatsu chair massager I got from GNC not long ago. It's saved my dh many hours of begged for back rubs. lol! Can't say enough for the heat feature too. **puuurrrr** But, this isn't a product review....I'm still waiting to do one of those! :-P This is the start of my favorite time of year. NFL season has officially started, it's starting to smell like fall, it's cooler at the bookends of the day, leaves are slowly starting to change, and school has started (sort of). Hmmm....lots of "starts". I'll just consider this MY new year. Especially since I'm trying to resolve to eat better and exercise starting now before it gets too much for me to start later. Cold weather and not much moving around = massive amounts of pains for me. I figure if I start now, maybe I can keep up with it? We have a treadmill this time though, so that ought to help. My dh has broken it in well. I should really give it a try, huh? ;-)

I've been doing some searching this late summer too. For answers to burning questions I've had since I was about 10. All about Christianity. I've needed cold hard facts, and haven't ever got them. I've only got glossed over answers to go on. I just got to a point this year where I thought, "gee...I'm 30something years old, and I don't even really 'know'". Time to know...for sure. I'm in the middle of a small stack of books on the subject. Hoping to attend an adult confirmation this year too. My soul is hungry for the truth!!!

Speaking of hungry, I should stop eating at the computer. I just finished a second doughnut. NOT on the diet plan!!! :-[

must...develop...routine!!!

2009-08-26T19:56:00.002-06:00

This has to be one of the worst flares I've experienced thus far. Definitely, the longest one. I read the other night menstrual cycles can make them worse?! Nice. :-| I got a ride to park day, which was AWESOME. I love chatting with the other moms! :-D I also love the excuse to run across the street for Pei Wei Asian food. Yum! ;-) Anyway, got back home and decided the weeding NEEDED to get done. I had help with that too. (Thanks Renee!) After that though, I swept the garage out real quick. By the time I got back in the house, I was walking really slooooowwww. But the dishes NEEDED to get done. Now that those are done, I can hardly walk at all! :'-( Ugh. Thankfully, dh is making dinner for me. Pancakes, but I can't complain.

If I had a solid routine of chores, I could do a little bit every couple hours, and every day. Then maybe it'd all be caught up enough I wouldn't hurt like this to get stuff done all at once? I should do dishes after every meal. Not the end of the day. Laundry, when there's a load. Not LOADS. One part of the bathroom every day. Etc. Etc. *sigh* One of these days, I'll have my perfect routine.....

Just thinking, contemplating, and feeling some self pity.

2009-08-25T22:48:00.002-06:00

We got a "new" dining room the other day, and it's been really nice. Two nights in a row of family time at the dinner table. :-) I didn't like sitting at the temporary folding table for dinner. It just seemed too....temporary. Like it'd all end at any given moment. Not comfortable with that. This is the first house we've bought, and I don't plan on moving ANY time soon. Maybe not even until we retire. :-P So I've been wanting to get more "permanent" things in here. Still need to paint and get some more things on the walls, but the dining room table was a great start. Also great is the new "permanent" school area in the basement. I had to get creative with that, but it's all set up now. I just need a new co-ax cable for the tv. ;-) So pair this table with the new screen door I added Sunday, (so I don't let the squirels in!) I'm feeling like we're living in luxury now. Our own house, where I can sit at the dining room table in the morning, have my coffee, enjoy the fresh morning air and look out the back door and watch the critters. :-)

I've overdone it for the week though, unfortunately. I never know where my limit is. It seems to always change. This fibro thing is a tough beast to learn. So that's where I'm feeling my self pity. I got plenty done with the school area today, but there's so much more I wanted to do in the basement. The storage room (that nobody really sees) is bugging me. But that's a BIG project that I cannot do myself. (Admitting is the first step, right? lol!) I'll get to it one of these days...that and the garage. ;-) I'm also sitting here looking at a stack of dishes. I should say, MULTIPLE stacks of dishes. I just can't do them tonight. Too stinkin sore and tired. :-( But like my mom frequently says, they'll be there tomorrow. What I really don't like, is that that is how my pain and fatigue have been lately. There tomorrow. And the next day. And the next...

I'm reading The Everything Guide To Fibromyalgia. I'm just now to the point in the book that talks about how to deal with all this. I'm hoping for some new tips, insight and all that that I haven't heard about yet. I am trying to do this without medication, and I do expect that sometimes that's going to make things even harder. What's a little ironic (maybe that's the wrong word) about the meds is that I've actually been on 2 of the ones recommended for fibro pain management. I still had this mysterious pain while on those. That's why I chose to stay away from meds for now. I like a more natural approach to things when I can. I bought a chair massager about a week ago, and that's helping quite a bit. (It has heat. ;-)) *sigh* I could go on, but I won't. I'm too tired to keep wallowing and dwelling for now!

Sandwich Swap & Share

2009-08-24T16:01:00.002-06:00

This is a neat campaign! And since I'm absolutely addicted to Facebook, why not do this one too?! lol! I know I've probably swapped a few sandwiches in my day, how about you?

"For every sandwich created on Hellmann’s® page on Facebook®[1] (Facebook.com/hellmanns), Hellmann's® and Best Foods® will donate 7 lunches[2] to Feeding America®. Creating a sandwich will automatically enter participants for a chance to win a $250 grocery store gift certificate.[3] And for every friend on Facebook® that you share your sandwich with, Hellmann’s® will donate an additional 7 lunches to the charity."

Head over to www.facebook.com/hellmanns with me and lets make some sandwiches! :-)

Me time

2009-08-23T14:22:00.002-06:00

Me time isn't something I get often, so I try to enjoy it. Unfortunately, I'm in the middle of a fibro flare, so I'm not enjoying my time as much as I could. I'd much rather be hiking or window shopping, but I'm sitting on the couch with my back massager sort of watching the Rockies vs. Giants baseball game. My dh and dd are there, hopefully having a good time and not melting in the heat! lol! I almost bought 3 tickets to this game. I thought dh would still be working in ND right now, not sitting at Coor's Field. That's ok. He followed baseball when he was younger, so he'll enjoy this more than me. ;-) I am missing the concert after though! Oh, well.

So on my way home from dropping everyone off at the light rail, I decided to check out some things in home depot. They didn't have the chair feet I wanted, but they did have a reasonably priced sliding screen door. So I made a little unplanned purchase. hehe! But in my defense, it's been HOT this week. We don't have a/c. So we need airflow at the coolest parts of the day. The best way to do that is to open windows and doors. But since the squirrels have figured out where the food is, we couldn't leave the sliding back door open anymore. (We got this house with no screen doors and missing baseboards in half the rooms.) :-P It only took me 5 min to install that screen door, so I've been bored since then.

I have crab apples I need to turn into jelly, but I was hoping my dh would pick me some more apples from where I can't reach them. (Because that's always where the biggest and best apples are. @@) I also have a basement to re-arrange so I can have a school room, now that we have a real table in the dining room. (YAY for antique/second hand stores!) So the folding table can disappear downstairs now. Unfortunately, I need some supplies to do that. Shelving of various sorts, mostly.

Obviously, I'm rambling today. But hey! At least I got to my blog! ;-) Shutting up for now...

My "funfilled" trip through the Dakotas

2009-08-22T16:51:00.006-06:00

I know everyone wants to see the Dakotas, and although I did not get to travel Hwy 2 this time to see the vast sunflower fields of ND, I thought you'd all at least like to see some of what northwestern South Dakota and southwestern North Dakota have to offer. So here it is folks!

North Dakota Trip July 6, 2009. Round 1.

A storm on the horizon.

Wow! A mustard field! Cool!

ND trip Aug. 15, 2009. Round 2.

Still in SD. North of Belle Fourche.

Is that cows in the distance?

A butte. Wow.

GASP! I'm not the only one on this barren road?!

(singing) All alone again....Here on the highway, all alone again....

Oh look! On the horizon! It's Ludlow, SD! (potty break)

Yay. The North Dakota state line.

The rolling fields of North Dakota.

Wow! The smallest county seat in the nation. Who'd have thought it'd be in North Dakota!

The town of Amidon has a traffic jam.

Dumb bird.

Oh, look! It's that mustard field from last time! Must be time to harvest.

A wheat field? Maybe? Definitely a field though.

Well....if you're still awake, there's your short tour of the emptiness that is NW South Dakota and SW North Dakota. Stay tuned for a possible re-tour of this area, maybe followed by those sunflower fields (which are actually quite pretty) and maybe even a tour of NW Minnesota! :-)

What month is it again?!

2009-07-30T10:28:00.002-06:00

I thought it was July! Yesterday I had the a/c on on our way to park day. But when we left the mall at 7pm, I had the HEATER on. Yikes! Don't get me wrong, I rather enjoy not having to change clothes in the middle of the day because it's so hot. And I also have enjoyed only watering my lawn a few times so far this summer with all this rain. But, where is summer?! I'm wondering what winter is going to be like this year. Sub-zero temps? Blizzards a plenty? I'm hoping it's a mostly normal winter, of course. Otherwise, I need to get my battery replaced with something with more cold cranking amps. :-P (Or I need to make a blankie for the one we got! lol!) On the plus side of all this cooler weather, my electric bill just came in $47.29 under budget! :-D Yipee!

Later and later......

2009-07-29T00:56:00.002-06:00

Is what it's getting to be as I sit here waiting for my kid to go to SLEEP!!!!! Every time I turn on a movie, it never fails. She's got some reason/excuse to interrupt. Even if the interrupting is in the form of her quietly "sneaking" into the kitchen for a drink of water...which this late, she can get from the bathroom. (Why in the world do I bother buying those little cups, if she isn't even using them?!) One thing or another. I'm TRYING to watch Gran Torino. It's rated "R", and dh said it's very violent. So I NEED dd to be asleep so I can watch it! Dang it! :-(

*sigh*

I'm also still sick and trying to cough up a lung, so it's hard to get to sleep that way. :-P Oh, well.

I'm trying to prepare for Girl Scout camp. Last time, I waited until the last minute to pack everything. Not this time! I have a plan. ;-) If I'm already up late every night, I might as well get something done, right? I washed all my pretty purple dishes and have them waiting in their black dish tubs. (Yep....Definitely 80's inspired!) I figured out how to assemble the camp stove, and have set aside a few pans to use on it. My list of every thing I need is printed out and waiting for check marks too. :-) Now....lets just hope the rain decides to hold off next week. At least that it decides to be at the most, a light drizzle?

I realize I'm getting older...

2009-07-27T00:10:00.004-06:00

First and foremost, my memory (and capacity to keep up with things I've started) seems to be escaping me. It's been over a month since my last update, and a month before that one as well?! Yikes! Less time playing Bejeweled and more time updating the blog, I think. ;-)

I'm apparently a glutton for self punishment. That doesn't help when my body thinks it's time to start falling apart at the seams. I took my dd camping last week. We were invited to stay in a friend's cabin, and I am very grateful for that. Otherwise, dd's very first "real" camping trip could have been disaster. lol! Camping wore me out. I have fibromyalgia, and the elevation change was an issue. So was the fast moving storm fronts we had the first two days there. Then a cold came on the last day. Nice, huh? Still fighting that one as it went straight to my asthmatic lungs. (HACK! HACK!) BUT, camping was also fun. I see that the fear of fire I had as a kid was NOT passed down to my kid. (whew!) Also got to help her roast her first campfire hot dog. She says they taste much better cooked over open fire than microwaved. Gee....ya think? :-P This is an inventive child too. Always thinking of ways to improve on something. So she attempted (and mostly succeeded at) improving on the smore. Sort of. She stuffed a piece of chocolate into the marshmallow before putting it on the roasting fork. Toasted marshmallow, mostly melted chocolate. Cool! I mostly made a mess of my smores....which I had way too many of. But hey, that's part of camping, right? ;-) We had a beautiful view of the mountains from the porch of the cabin. (Oops. I still owe Renee some pics!!! I better get on that....) Nice looking hiking trails too, but decided to stick to camp.

Today, I decided yard work needed to be done. Knowing full well that a storm system was on it's way. (But fear of having a yard gone wild motivated me.) So I weeded the entire front yard, and most of the back. Then mowed the front yard, which had wet grass from the night before's rain. Heavy, wet grass + dulling mower blade = OUCH! Not to mention the humidity today. I sweat off more than a pound of water weight! :-O (which would be great if it actually stayed away, but we all know that ain't gonna happen.)

And as if the yard work (after camping 3.5 days) wasn't enough, a slightly sarcastic recommendation to dd to get out the Dance Dance Revolution.... Yep. I had to do that too. Of course I showed up dd, but now my back and hips are SCREAMING at me that that was a STUPID idea! lol! But it's so fun! How can I not join in the fun? Oh, well. It burned off the pizza I ate anyway. I'm sure I'll be paying for my showing off for the next week or so. Just in time to throw everything back out camping for scouts! (Forecasted rain, by the way....every day we'll be there...in a tent...) :-P

Once playtime was over, I decided we needed to calm down a bit. So dd and I did some stargazing. Since we live far enough from "the big city", we can actually see quite a bit of the starry night sky. Including the Milky Way! That was a nice surprise! Never knew we could see it from here. (Never took the time to notice anyway. Always rushing in or out.) FYI, it goes horizon to horizon, NE to SW. I don't know if you could call this town rural, but where our house actually is might be. It's 5mi to the next stop light going east (no stop signs in between either). And that's a tiny little farm town. I love it out here though. No road noises during the early morning or late evening. No major light pollution either, which I really enjoyed tonight. I think this is the beginning of a lot more stargazing nights! Which must be another sign of getting older: being content sitting on the deck looking at stars instead of playing video games. lol!

Time for me to go have a cup of hot tea. Although I'd really prefer a mocha about now. (Maybe with some marshmallows in it? hehe!) And there's another one, folks. You know you're getting older when your sense of humor becomes eye-rolling to the general public. :-P

Mount Washmore

2009-06-21T12:26:00.003-06:00

This is a clear example of what happens when you have the week off, and get lazy.

Eight loads of laundry, piled up to an astounding height of 29inches. Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce you to: Mount Washmore....or The Laundry Mountains....or the Dingy Hills National Forest....Yosmellity National Park....

Fun With a Webkinz Chicken

2009-05-28T18:57:00.003-06:00

"Albert Einstein" found himself in a little....hot water...this afternoon!!!

Chicken Noodle Soup

BBQ Chicken

Chicken Pot Pie

(get it? chicken...pot...pie)

Playing With My New Camera!

2009-05-26T12:55:00.003-06:00

A bed of dianthus. These plants are bigger now than they were at the end of last season!

Dragons.

Tiny Strawberries! I hope we actually get to eat some when they ripen. (Before the squirrels get them!)

Swamp Thing reads again.

Retail Therapy

2009-05-25T20:55:00.003-06:00

I'm so thankful for the friends I have here. I had a horrible morning, and when I got to the mall, my friends were there with open ears. I needed to vent, and got the chance. Sometimes, parenting a kid with emotional issues is too much for me to handle. I had some "retail therapy" this afternoon, and this is what I got.

I've wanted a Nikon for YEARS now, and finally got one! Woohoooo!!!!! :-D A little sooner than Erik would have liked, but I...er...uh...broke the other one last night...in a...small fit of...extreme "frustration". :-[ I won't be doing that with this one though! Promise ya that.

So....8 hours by myself. Some time to chat with friends, some window shopping, some "real" shopping, and a peaceful dinner out. I feel much better now. I'm off to curl up with my crochet for a while. Working on yet another shawl. With this fibromyalgia, I don't think I can have too many shawls to wrap up in! ;-)

Gearing up For Camp

2009-05-24T15:51:00.002-06:00

I bought a tent yesterday, and an awesome one at that! Today, I bought a new sleeping bag for me. My old one, my head sticks out and I don't like that. So since Krista's is too small for her now, she can have my old one. ;-) I also got a new lantern today. We had an old flashlight style one, but I haven't seen it since we moved. Next on my wish list is a camp stove. I like to cook in pans and pots, so I need one. A folding table would also be nice, but we'll see. Oh, and a 5 gallon water jug. It'll be August after all! Hmmmm...too bad we don't have enough bucks for a small generator so I can have my computer! It'll be challenge enough to find a back up battery for my cell phone. But that IS necessary.

I've always been a planner, so although it's still a bit early, I'm assembling a list of things I need to bring camping. I'm not big on totally "roughing it", so I'm sure if I posted my list...you all would laugh!

That's it for today. I need to take the old tent down still, but it's got water in it from last night's rain. :-P

A Formal Introduction

2009-05-24T02:00:00.003-06:00

This is "Krista". Some of you know her already, but I thought she deserved her own intro on my blog.

That's Daisy, my parent's dog. Krista actually helped in some of her training. Shih-Tzu puppies don't tend to know when they're full, so she needed to be trained to slow down when she saw food. Only issue was un-training the command of "go ahead" after the food was put down once Daisy knew to eat slower!

About Krista:

She loves ballet, cats, many other furry animals, and loves to read. She's learning how to cook and clean more on her own. (Much to my relief, these days!) Crafts of all sorts and writing short stories are also on her "to-do" lists. On her "to-avoid" list is shopping for long periods of time, cleaning her room and the basement, going to bed at a decent hour, and getting up with the rest of the world in the morning. And I admit, I have no room to talk! ;-)

I'll leave the rest up to Krista later. She's considering starting her own blog...

A Tree House in the Car

2009-05-24T01:23:00.008-06:00

What a relief! The tree house if finally down and gone gone gone!!! As you can see, we had a car full. This is a Santa Fe with the back seats folded down. My friends swing set is also in there, but it didn't take up near as much room as the tree house.

It never ceases to amaze me the things we've been able to haul in this thing! A dining room table. We've hauled two loads of firewood. A couple hundred pounds of mulch. We've had 8ft long boards in there, and once an 8ft rug rolled up. A chest freezer. Two bikes. A papasan chair. And sometime, hopefully soon, we can try to fit a dryer in it. lol! When I got home from all the shopping I did today, the odometer read exactly 99,000 miles!!! When we hit 100k, I'll be posting a pic. ;-)

It's been a long week and weekend (so far) but I've had so much fun. Wednesday was park day. We stay all day! Thursday I watched Darly while Renee had important grown up things to do. Friday we had a field trip to the wild life sanctuary in Keenesburg. After another long day, Darly spent the night here! Krista and Darly spent a total of 4 days together. You'd think they'd get tired of each other, but nope! Sad eyes again when it was time for them to split up. lol! Us grown ups were treated to dinner tonight. The "Steel Chefs", Chef Krista and Chef Darly, made noodles with cheese sauce, and a spinach salad with crushed almonds. (Boy does the crushing process make some noise!) It was a lovely dinner. They even set the table. We did some hula dancing after dinner and dessert (cheesecake....mmmmmm) to burn off those calories. I'll be doing a hula co-op in the future, I think. ;-) The girls decided to make a slide on the stairs before the playtime ended. I now have pink spots on the carpet. Apparently, the fabric they used was never washed. So....Krista gets to learn how the carpet shampooer works. HA!

I'm soooo tired right now. I had a list up on my fridge of things to get done before Friday ended. I accomplished it, and have the next list up for this upcoming week. With this storm in right now, (and causing fibro issues for me) I'm not sure how it'll go, but I'm trying to stay optimistic. I think I overdid it today, but I still had fun. I got a nice tent for not a bad price, found a sleeping bag and lantern I'll have to go back to the outlet mall for (since I forgot), and had another "tour" of my favorite antique shop. (And that sewing machine is gone. Darn!)

I have so much more I could chat about on my mind, but I better quit while I'm ahead. It's almost 1:30AM as I finish this up!!!

Shopping at The Barn

2009-05-18T16:04:00.002-06:00

There are two great antique stores that we've found here in town so far. We went to our favorite today. (They're distributors for our favorite soap, and dh was running low. So what better excuse to go?) I HAD to take some pics of my finds for today! Not that I got any of them, of course, but it's still fun to dream! The first is the sewing machine that I REALLY want. *said in a whiny voice* It's only $555! Then there's the really cool old washing machine. I'm guessing maybe 1940ish, since there's a good amount of plastic in it. And last, but not least, a really cool electric old Singer sewing machine. But this one didn't come with the cabinet. So therefore, I don't want it. ;-)

We've decided that once the debt is paid off and we can finally start filling our house with furniture, we want to get a bunch of antiques. ;-) I've seen several desks I'd love to have for school, a couple of dressers and even some with original mirrors, TONS of kitchen stuff that would look great on the walls, and one BEAUTIFUL dining room table, that is probably long gone now. *sigh* I keep telling dh to go get his annual lottery ticket and WIN so I can go shopping!!!

It's funny how we've changed since moving to a small town. (Ok...small compared to everywhere but where the moms live! ;-)) We've really slowed down our pace. One of our favorite things to do is roam around the antique stores for hours and dream. ALL of us! And dd HATES shopping! We've enjoyed the museum and zoo more in the last couple years here than we did in all 7 years of CA living. (Granted, that's the "big city" museum and zoo, but still....lots of quality family time spent there.) I've picked up canning and bread making again, and have experimented at that! Instead of wanting to spend money on beach vacations, I now want to spend it on building a raised garden. Ok. So maybe it's more of a combination of small town living and getting older, but it's change for the better nonetheless. ;-)

Procrastination Nation

2009-05-17T14:45:00.003-06:00

Well, it is at my house!
School is never caught up. Good thing we've been ahead since the get go. We're working on that though, and slowly making progress. Housework is always behind as well. (Mostly, I can say it's not totally my fault anymore. Stupid fibro.) That is also slowly getting done.

I've been procrastinating building shelves to put up in the basement and cleaning closet. Therefore, the basement and cleaning closet are not....clean....or organized. We've been procrastinating rebuilding the deck, but that's due to financial restraints. We can only do so much at a time. We've been procrastinating tearing down the tree house that came with the yard when we bought it too. And now, I have pictoral proof of WHY we should stop procrastinating on certain things. Yes, folks, that is indeed mushrooms sprouting out of the rotting wood on said tree house.

As you can see by the date, I've also been procrastinating on updating my blog. Which I thought I'd do close to daily. (Update, not procrastinate.) So....if I keep procrastinating on updates, do you suppose my blog will become covered in moldy mushrooms too?

Spring Color!

2009-05-04T11:20:00.003-06:00

I snuck out to Home Depot yesterday to buy weed killer, but decided I might as well get some annuals for the garden spot under the front window. What stinks about the whole thing, is that I could only manage to plant two rows. (Erik planted the Lilies on Saturday.) Fibromyalgia does stupid things to my body that I really don't like. Such as making it near impossible to finish a gardening project that requires digging! My wonderful husband finished the digging for me though, and now my garden has color again. :-) Once the flowers on the other side of the porch bloom, we'll have tons of it! These are the flowers for this season:

Perennials: dianthus; snap dragons. Both in pinks/mauves and both in the same garden plot. White lilies, under the front window.

Annuals: pink marguerite daisies in a pot; a "stock" purple flower I couldn't find the name of; lavender violas; yellow/purple pansies; white petunias; white chrysanthemums.

This is the mysterious purple flower, the dianthus and snap dragon bed, and obviously we need to do something about the nasty garden border under the window! We just need money to do that, and it's not exactly a priority right now. (Still trying to figure out how to pay the couple thousand in medical bills that's coming up.) Maybe I'll put those bricks in the ground some day?

We had some nice family time planting the flowers. I DIDN'T have such a nice time finding out that we are no where near in need of worms!!! :-X My next "big" outdoor project is to shovel all the rocks from the side yards under the deck. That way, when the rotting deck comes down, we'll at least have something down to cover the dirt. Then the side yards get grass seed. Next year....I want to grow veggies along the back fence. ;-)

Time to go weed.....

I've Missed Out...

2009-05-01T16:22:00.004-06:00

(Word of warning: Not a happy, feel good post.)

On the more fun parts of my child's growing up years that is. I've battled depression and anxiety disorder since I was about 10. When I had my daughter, I actually did play with her. Until she was about 3. Things got worse for me around then. I was depressed that my DH didn't want another baby at that point. I just had a horrible feeling that we were about to miss our last chance at that. (Turns out, I was right. I'm now the youngest one in my family to start "The Change" - in my 20's.) Anyway, that depression worked it's way into everything. I lost all interest in "playing". (I had already lost a good portion when I was about 12. Long story.) I was finally able to convince my DH to try for kid #2 in '03. Four miscarriages later, I am out of both eggs and hormones. And the depression episodes are worsening as the years go on. (Thanks, menopause.) I've really allowed this disorder to control my life. And I'm trying so hard now to overcome it. Just when I made that decision, my overall health seems to be deteriorating. I have fibromylgia, which means there are many days I can hardly get out of bed, let alone try to go out and play with my daughter. (Or even have enough focus to play a board game.) My lipid panel came back horrible this late winter. I'm at high risk for heart disease, which really doesn't help my anxiety levels! I'm a mess. A couple months ago, I decided to get a Webkinz pet. Since we have two computers with internet, my daughter and I can play with our online pets together. It's about the most I can do to play with her anymore. But it's playing. (And really fun too!)

What really frustrates me is that I've missed out on the little silly things toddlers and pre-schoolers do. And I'll never have another chance at that. (Not with my own children anyway.) My daughter was about 5, the last time we played peek-a-boo. The last time I tried to fit into a sheet fort, she was about 6. Sometimes I wish I could turn the clock back.

Psychiatric medication is a permanent necessity for me now. At least I feel like playing again, even if it is a very calm sort of play. It allows me to have the focus I need to be able to really listen to my daughter too. She's so creative and imaginative, and I missed that for a long time. Kids grow up so fast. I really want to be able to fully participate in the rest of my daughter's formative years. That means I have many changes to make. Mentally and physically.

"One Life To Love" 33Miles (chorus)

You only get just one time around
You only get one shot at this
One chance, to find out
The one thing that you don't wanna miss
One day when it's all said and done
I hope you see that it was enough, this
One ride, one try, one life...
To love....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrBy1N0oILo

Following the rules does pay off! - DD's foot

2009-04-27T11:08:00.004-06:00

Some of you know about DD's foot incident. She has ossicle navicular bones (extra bones) in her feet. She "broke" her left foot on St. Patty's day this year. Here's an explanation of what this is, and what happened. http://www.eorthopod.com/public/patient_education/6477/accessory_navicular_problems.html The visit with the orthopedic surgeon this morning went pretty darn well! She hasn't been on crutches since Thursday last week, and can now wean off the cast boot as well. We bought an ankle support wrap that she'll wear especially when doing dance for a while. She is still restricted with activities, but will be able to add them back in slowly over the next few weeks. She should make her recital after-all! :-D Doc says "just be cautious".

So my task is to make sure she isn't overdoing anything, and if she's showing sings of pain or discomfort, the cast boot goes back on. (So I guess that means it'll become a part of my stack of things to leave the house with for a while.) Dance should be much more enjoyable for DD tonight. She's been sitting and watching for weeks now. Tonight, as long as her foot is feeling ok, she can "walk" through her routine with her class. We'll see how closely she adheres to Doc's rules of no jumping, leaping, or turning on that foot though. ;-) (Guess I better stay and observe tonight!!!)

An Eeyore Kind of Day

2009-04-25T11:32:00.003-06:00

I woke up with another fibro flare up. Although not horrible, it's still plenty to annoy me. Dishes took twice as long, and I'm moving slow. My DH is working at home today, so the rest of us have to be silent. Not hard for me, but our DD loves to interrupt. I warned her a few minutes ago that we have to be quiet. And not to bother daddy while he's working, unless it's an emergency. (And that hugs don't count as emergencies. From her immediate look at the floor, I guess I foiled her little plan. lol!) It's not like my DH works from home frequently. Since moving here, it's actually rare. But... It's cold and rainy out, and I would have preferred to curl up under a blanket with my DH and watch a movie. I'm sure he feels the same way, about the movie that is.

Such a dreary day. It's days like this that no matter how many meds I'm on, the depression gets to me. I never figured out why I liked Eeyore so much when I was young. Now I know, it's because I relate! At least my house doesn't leak though. ;-)

I have one more library book to read, and since it's part of a series, I'm likely to get through it quickly. Today is a perfect day to get started on it. I don't know what my DD plans to do, but since she's in the basement, I'm sure it's making more clay figures for her stories. They're actually pretty cute. I hope to put it all into a book for her someday.

Oh, bother... My coffee has cooled off too much. *sigh*

Mothers: Wild Animal vs. Human

2009-04-24T22:04:00.003-06:00

After becoming a mother myself, I understand why some wild animals eat their young. :-p And, why those that don't, kick their young out of the nest/den ASAP. They're saving themselves the frustration of attitude! (And the painful day when their child/children learn the art of procrastinating.)

Before my dd's 11th birthday, I asked her to thoroughly clean her room. Closet, dresser (inside and out), under the bed, etc. Go figure, within days she'd break her foot, and be unable to clean her room for weeks yet. (I wonder, sometimes, if it was just a way to get out of cleaning! lol!) Now that she's become more mobile again, it's finally done. Well...mostly. She wanted her room re-arranged. So I did that tonight, while she was playing Webkinz and explaining the games to daddy while he watched. After I finished lugging her bed across a thickly carpeted floor, dragged her solid oak dresser across the same floor, and lovingly placed all her crap -er- stuff back on top of the dresser, I had my hubby come look at what I accomplished. He was impressed. (Yea, me!) So....DD decides to come see what we're talking about. She was delighted to see her room finally arranged the way she wanted it, when she asked on Wednesday. Affection overwhelmed her, and she immediately said thank you, and proceeded to give DADDY a hug first! WHAT?! I'M the one that did the work! At least my DH gave me all the credit, and corrected our VERY observant DD. (Remember, while I was dragging heavy furniture, she was explaining Webkinz games to DADDY?)

My family is a bit bass-ackwards. DD has a better relationship with daddy than me, and when we do something big for her, daddy is the first to be thanked. I'm used to it, so don't feel bad for me. ;-) I've known this was coming from before day 1. He'd get home from college classes/studying (late at night), and she'd wake up kicking me in the ribs with excitement. The first night with her in the hospital where the nurses refuse to help you (unless it's extreme), I broke down. I called daddy in, and within a few minutes, DD was fast asleep. For hours. Every cold or "owie" she got, she wanted daddy. I was merely her food source.

We watched Disney Nature: Earth today. It was touching to see the moms interact with their young. So loving, protective, and encouraging. Enough to bring tears to your eyes! Then I thought about all the times I try to do that with my DD. She doesn't seem to care too much anymore about my protecting, and encouragement always seems to get misunderstood. I wonder: are we stifling our children by putting a roof over their heads until age 18? Is it mean to prepare them meals, wash their clothing, and educate them? Is it mean to buy them nice things knowing full well that at any given point such object could become a projectile in our direction? If they know so much by 11 (or 8, or 13, or 15 or whatever), why shouldn't we let them move out and get jobs? I can't think of a single wild animal that raises their young beyond three or four years. Eh.... I guess that's the difference between wild animals and humans. But yet, we call the wild animals stupid?

(In case you haven't guessed, it's been a bit of a long night.)

Springtime!

2009-04-23T11:34:00.002-06:00

I'm still just so amazed at how CLEAN the air is around here! I hardly use my asthma meds anymore. I've been able to enjoy walks outside as well. Our house is in a neighborhood that has gorgeous views "at the top". It means a 4 mile walk, but it's so worth it to look out to the west and see the mountains, and to the east rolling farmland. I have allergy to trees though, and we've got two that are sprouting! The blooms on the crab apple tree are going to be beautiful though. And the Japanese cherry “tree” as well. (I say “tree”, because it’s more of a bush.) Anyway, I have my windows open for the second time this week. Which reminds me, we need to get a screen for the sliding door.

We feed the squirrels, and they have learned where the food is actually coming from. This past October, one of them tried to work it’s way into our home through the glass! It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen! The little critter was running back and forth along the door on it’s hind legs, scratching at the glass and sniffing the door jam. He carried on for a while before giving up. Now, when we open the door (or kitchen window for that matter-which also slides open) the squirrels stare in our direction, probably hoping for some good eats. A few of them will perch on the post which holds their feeder while we fill it up! If we had food in our hands, they’d probably eat out of our hands. (But rabies scares me, so I don’t allow that. ;-))

Yep. Time to start thinking of which plants to buy for the garden. Time to aerate again, and about time to put out fertilizer and seed. I bought a new hose from Costco a few weeks ago, since we’ve yet to learn that you have to bring hoses in for the winter. (oops.) In our defense though, this is the first yard we’ve been responsible for that actually has a winter. I wouldn’t trade it though. We’ve rather enjoyed owning our own house.

So while it's still nice out, and about 70 degrees now, I'm going to sweep my front porch, make a glass of crystal lite, and enjoy the bird songs and sunshine. :-)

The benefits of being a one car family

2009-04-22T09:44:00.003-06:00

We've been a one car household since 1996. Amazing, isn't it?

Ok. So besides only one payment (which goes away this Nov/Dec!), lower insurance, and less maintenance and gas, there are still more benefits! Less "carbon footprint" and garage parking - which means no snow piled on the car at O'dark 30. Something I hadn't originally planned on was how it forces me to plan. I make far less trips to the grocery store than average (good thing for a shopaholic who overbuys on food frequently), eat out far less (inconvenient to hop on the bus just for a cheeseburger!), and on days like today it keeps me where I need to be! At home cleaning. :-P So my DH has the car, yet again this week. He has commuter bus tickets that should be used up. But when I have the car, nothing gets done because I'm out having way more fun! (The older I get, the more social I want to be. ;-))

Now don't get me wrong. There have been tremendous downsides to having only one car. Like when I get a call to hang out with a friend, and I have no transportation. Or when I have to cancel something because DH needs the car for work purposes. Or the time when DD cut her hand with a knife (more of a puncture wound, and not too terrible in the end), and we needed to get to urgent care. We had to wait 45min for DH to get home, but it was still faster than the bus. Then about a month ago, DD broke her foot! I didn't know it right away, since she's a stubborn child and said she was fine. Just didn't feel like walking right now. We went to urgent care 3 hours later. (3 hours later than I would have preferred, but no car!) And my constant worst fear of "what if it breaks down one of these days?" came true on the 16th. For the first time ever, the car just stopped running, right on the interstate! My DH was driving home, and managed to get off the road safely. But I panicked, of course. (Anxiety disorders tend to do that to ya.) So by having one car, I had no easy way to get to him. Thank God the "We'll pick you up!" ;-) guys are in town. By the time I had the papers signed, the tow truck had reached my DH. What a night! It was getting cold, rain/snow mix, just stunk. If we had had a second car, I might not have panicked so much.

But...then we go back to the one car benefits: less maintenance cost! $1700 on one car is better than $1700 on two cars. (Oh, yeah... Forgot to mention we had two repairs a week apart. One was "standard maintenance" though.)

So here I sit, compiling my list of things to get done in the house today while my DH has graciously taken my only means of convenient transportation (er....excuse to get out?) away from me. To make sure I get it all done. ;-)

My love for homemade goods

2009-04-21T11:18:00.002-06:00

I got organic strawberries on sale! Woohoo!!!! I can make more jam now!

I find it just amazing at how fast home made things like this go! I've been making my own bread for months now. We used to go through 1 or 2 store bought loaves a week. (The Orowheat brand. You know, the smaller ones?) We're going through 3 loaves a week now! I had 2 jars of jam, and the second is more than half gone already. These are pint sized jars too. I'm wondering if my food processor would stand up to making peanut butter? lol! Nah. That's probably too much work anyway. ;-) I really noticed my love for making things from scratch runs deep when my DH needed a cake for work. (Some birthday thing.) I natrually thought, "I can whip one up in about an hour!" My DH natrually thought, "the gorcery store is 2mi away." What really got me was that immediately my brain went into calculating the saving of making a cake from scratch. A savings of at least $5. (And by the way, my home made bread per loaf is a savings of over $2!)

So I guess when it comes to the kitchen, I'm a geek! But an oldfashioned one. I don't have a stand mixer, nor do I want one. (So yes, all my bread is hand kneaded!) I don't have several of those "new-fangled" kitchen gadgets. And I really don't want most of them! Give me a glass bowl, wooden spoon, and maybe a wisk, and I'm good to go!

First Posting

2009-04-20T14:29:00.003-06:00

Welcome to my Blog! :-) This is my first one, so be gentle on me, ok?

As fast as life seems to move these days, I figure it's easier to post in one spot, so everyone can get caught up on the happenings at my house. I'll warn you now, I tend to get chatty, and not all of it is happy stuff. (But I'm working on that. ;-)) So let's see...

We've been at our new home for nearly a year and a half. It still needs lots of TLC, but with the economy where it is...let's just say, at least it's livable! My wonderful DH spent many hot and long days painting the exterior this past summer, so from the outside it looks great! The only interior room to be painted so far is our DD's. (Unless you count putting primer over the most horrible color of burnt salmon/orange/blech you ever saw!) Like I said, no money right now. lol! We have dreams of a nicely painted house (inside), working garden, and new deck in the upcoming years. Hopefully sooner, rather than later.

Homeschooling has been an adventure to say the least. Trying to school while moving around is tough. You forget where you left things, forget where you left off in lessons, and sometimes even forget that you should be schooling period! (Packing, unpacking, packing again, calls to utilities, buying your first house...that'll do it!) This past few months we've stuck our toes into the world of unschooling. It's not as bad as it sounds. Sometimes the books just need to hide for a while. What's amazing is the opportunity for learning that still abounds without those books!

Being the wife on an engineer has it's ups and downs too. On the upside, I've learned quite a bit about which cleaning chemicals NOT to mix, even if they do a better job. I've also learned to appreciate those higher gas prices. After all, it means job security for my hardworking husband. One of the downsides to being married to an engineer, at least for me and my feeble brain, are the times I open my mouth and ask "So, what's happening at work these days?" I try, I realy do, to keep interest. But when the explainations go so far over my head that my eyes start to glaze over, what can I do?!

Well, I guess that's it for now. (In other words, I better shut up before I don't have anything to talk about next time!)