Hey there fellow earth dwellers!

Well yesterday was a fun and a busy one...! I'd forgotten about a bunch of appointments we had so spent the whole day rushing around playing catch up!  Had fun anyway and still managed to find the time to sign myself up to have my head shaved!  As you do you know?!?! :D  I'm going to try and raise some money for Childhood Cancer Prevention...  we'll see how it goes...but March 10th???  It's going to get pretty chilly above my face!!

Today was cold...12 degrees F.   We hunkered down, lit the fire and watched moves most of the day!  We watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off... I'd forgotten how much I love that movie!!! Don'tchya love a "Feel Good" movie once in a while?!?! ... so basically not a lot to report..I finished off a parer shawl have been working on so soon time to start the hat... (I'm stalling in case you hadn't noticed as I haven't followed this pattern before, but I know it will be lovely!  I'm just odd that way! ) I made a fabulous dinner of slow cooked chicken and potatoes cooked in Olive oil... the potatoes roasted on the bottom and then I mashed them with cream and butter...... oh boy!!   Slathered with chicken gravy we all ate like hogs!!!!  .... hmm... that should probably read differently.....  the chicken and potatoes we slathered with gravy, not us....!!

Anyway, now back to my blazing fireplace with a nice cup of coffee and some dark chocolate kisses!!!  Hmmmm!!! ;D

See you on the flip side, peeps!

Do you ever just sit at the keyboard LAUGHING?!?!

LOL!!  See!! I'm doing it right now!!  I find mySELF amusing!! :D   Nah... I just commented on something on Facebook and the whole thing made me giggle!  If you ever need a really good laugh and you have a VERY open mind, try Damn You Auto Correct.  Believe me, if you are even the slightest bit likely to be offended OR you are younger than 16 (JESSIE!!!  This means YOU Madam!!!) then steer clear and check out the funny animal sites instead!  Sometimes though DYAC will have me weeping hysterically at the keyboard!!  Yeah... it's that funny!!!  Anyway, that's not where I was going to start this post but it sort of evolved all by it's self.... clever eh?! :D

Today has been a bit of a roller coaster!!  Don't get me wrong, not like a HUGE screaming Six Flags roller coaster, more like the caterpillar one you see at the fair... the one that your smallest kid wants to ride, your biggest kid refuses to be seen in and you either a) have to cram yourself in for what amounts to a trip in a washing machine or b) resort to bribing the nearest willing teen to ride along!  Basically it has it's ups and downs, leaves you feeling a bit shaken up and bruised but over~ridingly rather silly.  

It all started in the wee hours.  A small boy, one who should probably still be sleeping in his own bed, stumbles into my sleep waving a 3000 watt flashlight in my eyes.  Eeeeesh.....   climb in then...... mind the dog !!!  MIND THE CAT!!!   THAT'S MY BOOB!!!!    ( I am not overly endowed but somehow or other every time the boy climbs into bed with me he manages to either lean on with his elbow OR ( and this has only happened the once ) STEP on my nipples!!!!   Honestly the trials of being a nice parent!! ;D   Anyhoo... in he gets and we all get back to sleep somehow.  Hours pass.... actually only TWO hours pass but still, ya know, there it is....morning is here....  or what USED to be morning when hubby went to work and had to get up at 6......  these days if we are woken before 8 we're all grumpy and frustrated "What TIME is it?!!?  Wha???   Seven FIFTY???   What's the emergency?!?!"  so anyway... up early.  Hubs is a wonderful guy and takes Jackster downstairs to occupy him and I.... ( wait... Occupy as in keep him entertained not as in camp out in his grill.... just saying....  ) ... I went back to sleep!   ;D

I was actually pretty tired as the previous night I'd had a hard time getting to sleep.  An "incident" on Facebook was haunting me....   You know I try to be a nice person... I try to get along with everyone.... I'll ignore just about ANYTHING to keep the peace!  I try to say the right things, help people out but there will always be SOMEONE ... someone who takes you the wrong way and basically Hates Your Face !  I have someone like that and she was making me ill with her ways!!  I couldn't sleep worrying about it so consequently this morning took the chance to make up for lost sleep.  When I did get up I was still a little fractious!  ( I know!  I kept telling myself... Let it GO woman... ) so, looking back on it, it probably wasn't a good time to get into a heated discussion with my husband about the right way to teach my daughter math...Especially because I HATE math!!!  It DID result in us going to our separate corners to let off steam and then coming up with a super compromise whereby I don't have to teach math any more and he does!!!  Schweet!! ;D ... So.... there was that.  

Hubby then decided to go out for a while and take some photographs so the kids and I were left to our own devices!  Just how I like it on a weekday I might add!! ;D   We did crazy things like PLAY TENNIS.. in January!?!  I heard someone complaining of the HEAT in the sun... and was shocked to realize it was ME!   I should stop going on about how hot it's been because we are due for a rapid cool down tonight... that can easily result in tornadoes and all kinds of nasty...  let's just not mention it eh? :D  

I got my scarf finished for the Special Olympians and chose to send it to South Dakota since Nebraska isn't participating in the scarf program this year.... (???)....  and we LOVE South Dakota... so that's where we mailed it!.  I took my pooch for a lovely walk in the hea..ooops..... street (!!) ...  only to have her attacked by two large hoooonds!   I saw them running towards us and kept saying to myself... they must have invisible fencing.... they must have invisible fencing... they must haaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!   Nope.  The dogs did not stop and charged hell for leather right at us.  I shrieked a lot and yelled a lot and finally hustled Lucy out of there.  Poor little dog's heart was going a mile a minute!!

Once home again the rest of the day proceeded pretty much as normal. I DID however ( thanks to my darling friend Apes ) manage to figure out the Facebook issue!!  I had not realized I could BLOCK a person and they can no longer see me... and I can no longer see them!!   Once I managed to do that a literal weight lifted off my shoulders!!  My stomach relaxed, my heart slowed and I basically "unclenched"  ...!!  I really think that Facebook can be quite a Viper's nest if you don't keep your wits about you!!

The same said Apes also sent me a fabulous link to a Rube Goldberg machine that used all manner of devices INCLUDING A LIVE HAMSTER (!!) to turn a page of newspaper!!  We LOVE that kind of stuff over here and Jack watched the thing over and over and over again!  He was determined to make one of his own and sketched out a plan of him and Daddy launching several balls!  He built a device using a piece of wood, a "grabber", a frizbee and various and sundry other items and could not go to bed as he had to work on his contraption!  He even asked if he could take an iPod to bed in order that he might be able to continue his work!!!   That kid!  He's a hoot!


And that brings me to now.... the kettle is hot once again, the kids and pets are all sleeping, the house is quiet... time for murder??  Oh yes!

LOL!!    Night night!

Another day... another day.....!! ;D

Well these days are tending to run one into another right now!!!   Having a husband out of a job and being home a lot of the time tends to make it hard to remember what day it is!!! ;D   Hubs went out for the day today though so it was a bit more "normal" around here!  I had taken some Benadryl last night and slept like a ROCK!!  I'm not exactly sure I moved a muscle all night long!  I was a tad hungover when finally FORCED to get up at 9:30.....  ahem......  :}

A friend posted a link on Facebook this morning to Bohemian Rhapsody and I made Jessie watch it!!  I amazed myself by singing along to every word, and was thrilled at the complexity of the thing given how long ago it was made ( I say "How Long Ago" fully aware that I am as old as the song, so really, it was but a short time!!)   I told Jessie she HAD to watch it as it was something she would see or hear time and time again throughout her life and she needed to know where it came from!  I think I may have scared her a little bit.......

Moving on......!!

The weather was ridiculous hot again today ( for January I mean! ) and the kids spent the majority of the day outside. I love when they do that, especially when I don't have to "encourage " them to go out!!  ( I did have to "encourage" Jack to eat the delicious vegetable soup I made for lunch, but that's another story!! ) They played a little tennis, played with the neighbors cat and bounced the ball repeatedly against the wall of the house.   Ugh.  I have grown quite adept at tuning out certain things.... the hard time comes when I forget to tune back in!!

I decided to quickly walk the pooch to the post office so I could mail a ton of coupons to the military...  (One of my lovely neighbors actually cuts them all out for me... certainly speeds up the process immensely! )  I had to go fast as the post office was about to close.  Jack said he wanted to go too... he needed to get his shoes..... and a tissue..... hurry hurry........   He finally came running out the house, grabbed my hand and took off running down the driveway.  That boy is STRONG and he literally DRAGGED me down the street!!  

"Will we be running the whole way?!!"  I gasped.

"Yep!"  he yelled back.

Hmmm.   We got perhaps another half block from the house and he stopped and asked for a piggy back ride.  Hah.  I sent him home to Jessie with the promise of chocolate chips and continued at a far more leisurely (though somewhat speedy) pace to the post office!


When I returned from my walk (during which I witnessed a fire truck speed to a halt in front of a neighbors house...no fire..... : }  ) the children were happily engrossed in more Story Cubes!!  ;D  I took a picture, which, again, remains on the camera!  Patience little one... someday I'll figure out my Mac and how to get pics on the blog again! ;D

Anyway, I figured I'd had fresh air, I'd accomplished an errand, I'd made a healthy lunch, cleaned the kitchen and made a cup of coffee..... thus it must be butt sitting time, Midsomer Murder watching and more scarf making!! ;D  I'm done with the length of it ( yeahy for crocheting with a HUGE needle! ) and tonight I'm planning on putting on the fringe!  I'd promise pictures but you know how that goes!! ;D  

So folks, until tomorrow......  I'll bid you adieu.....  I'm thinking a nice slug of Kahlua in my coffee will mellow me out just right tonight!! ;D    Toodles!!!  ***insert finger wave here!***

A day of rest..... and recuperation

The kids and I started going to the Berean church last June and we really enjoy it there.  Jack goes to a "special room" as he calls it with other special needs children.  It's a small group with lots of lovely and loving adults who make sure he has such a wonderful time.  Jess goes to the youth group where, it appears, they fool around and play games, eat donuts and sing a lot!! ;D ( not really, but that's what it SOUNDS like! ) I sit in an enormous auditorium, right at the back, sing along to the music and listen to a lovely preacher.  I've always been a non believer until last June, even now I'm only a beginner so to speak.  I enjoy going, I love the church, I love the people.... I still have lots and lots of questions but keep going every Sunday without fail. :D  One thing I have really taken on board is the commandment to honor the Sabbath!  I hadn't ever realized that honoring the Sabbath even WAS a commandment.  I guess I grew up thinking that shops closed on Sunday just to give themselves a break.  A church friend commented one day that she tried to not even do laundry (not even do LAUNDRY!! ) on a Sunday....  well..... I picked up on that one right away!  FINALLY I have  all good reason to NOT do anything on Sundays.   I'm the kind of person that can't stand to sit still if there is anything else that I SHOULD be doing.  For the last few months I have worked hard to not work...!  Today I had planned to sit and crochet whilst watching my shows.  I wasn't going to clean the house, wasn't going to do laundry, wasn't going to do ANYTHING... yeah.....   I TRIED.....!!

We've all got the sniffles at the moment and I was feeling a bit feverish.  I could tell I was fevered when I put on two pairs of socks, two sweaters, a cardigan, my sweatpants, my slippers, my leg warmers and a scarf.   It was 52 degrees outside.  I thought sitting on the couch would be the perfect way to make myself feel better.  I sat... and started my show.  

.... tsk.      
....    
we haven't done our daily15 minutes outdoors.
......***sigh***.....    
I'd relax much more thoroughly if I KNEW I didn't have to go out again later.   I pause the movie, gather the kids and head out with the tennis ball.  We played catch.  The fresh air felt good, but I was still bundled and not feeling overly warm at all.   Once our game was over it was back to the couch to try again with the sitting and the not doing.    

Start the movie again.

.......shoot........

there are toys all over the floor......  I'll ignore them.

.......HOW can I ignore the toys on the floor??!?!?!  .......

....pause the movie......

.......pick up the toys.........

And so my day went.   By "not doing anything" I ended up emptying and reloading the dishwasher, running and folding ( but dammit AGAIN not put away...... **sigh**......) two loads of laundry, sweeping the fireplace, playing two games of story cubes with Jack, and other miscellaneous nonsense!!  Once the house was tidied to my satisfaction I did eventually get to sit down and rest......  whereupon suddenly I was overwhelmed with heat and had to stand up again to start stripping off the layers!!  At least the fever broke eh?!?!!? : D  

To be honest it really was a very peaceful day.....  I think a lovely cup of coffee would go down well right now..... I'll get one...... right after I clean off the dining table.......    ****SIGH!!*****