How to be an AP parent....

2012-02-05T08:32:00.001-06:00

Oh my dear peeps... what chaos has overcome me over these past few weeks. Everything seems to still be ok with the baby though I am going to have aged a good 10 years in these ensuing months. I have some bleeding behind the placenta ( they think ) which means that every now and again I get a tiny bleed. Yeah. Just what every expectant mother with a history of loss needs... a little bleed every few days. It's "NOTHING to worry about" .... uh huh. Tell that to my insides that drop every single time!! Anyway, apparently it IS nothing to worry about and I should just get used to it. Yeesh, What a test of my faith this is ! I recently saw a wonderful Pinterest picture... a snarly wolf image with the words Bite Off More Than You Can Chew.... And Then Chew It !!! I like it!! It's a good reminder. Also... ahem.... it turns out that stopping mood altering medications cold turkey is not to be recommended. I hadn't thought about it at all but those TEENY TINY pills I take pack one heck of a punch and by suddenly deciding to stop taking them when I found out I was pregnant... well that started what can only be described as a roller coaster of emotion. A DOWN only roller coaster. Perhaps a spiral would be a more apt description! Anyway, suffice it to say it was bad. VERY very bad. I do believe this weekend was the pinnacle and that finally I have made it through my withdrawals. I am speaking to my doctor about it on Monday and hopefully she will agree that there is no need for meds while I am pregnant. ( The meds are hormone regulators and pregnancy does that all by itself! ) anyhow... I'm sure that's more about me than you guys needed to know, but I do want to stress that should you ever find yourself in a similar situation, cold turkey is NOT the way to go!! Ooops.

Hmm... let's see what else..?? Oh yeah... and then it snowed...!! A LOT!! ***happy sigh*** I do love the snow and one does sort of expect it in winter...I mean in Nebraska ! You might not expect it in the tropics, but I would grow bored without SOME change in environment throughout the year! As you may have noticed I still haven't figured out how to get photos from a Mac onto my blog ( help!!? ) but BOY do I have a ton for you once I get it figured out!!

My knitting is going well though I have way more ambition than follow through. I have a tendency to pick up the needles and fall straight asleep! I have a stack of very simple ("Simples!" ) knitting patterns I want to make.... and...um..... that's about it!!! I started the socks... and then stopped! No fun!!! Tooooo tiny stitches. So I started my tunic! I'm still working on that and will be for a while..it's huge... but at least it's pretty simple so far!! I like my knitting projects fast and easy! ;D ( shush you. )

Well.... there ya have it.... a whole lot of nothing when seen on the page but boy... it adds up to a full week nevertheless!!

Catch ya next time folks! :D

I have not forgotten you, friends!! ;D

2012-01-31T17:23:00.000-06:00

Sorry to have been absent lately!! THINGS have been afoot!! ;D Turns out it's not caffeine that makes your boobs sore.... nah..... nothing that simple..... it's teeny tiny babies that make your boobs sore!!! Yup! After 6 years of thinking we were out of the baby making business... SURPRISE.....!!! Aie aie aie!! We are very happy but a little nervous given our rather lousy history at getting babies to full term! This little one looks good though... We've got a nice little heartbeat going, all my pregnancy symptoms are ticking along just fine ( no throwing up thank goodness but I've never had morning sickness so that's no biggie! ) and we're just taking each day as it comes. I figure it's best to just enjoy being pregnant and hope it lasts the 40 weeks! I have also decided to try and find one thing each week to look forward to rather than counting the weeks pregnant! It starts to go reeeeeally slowly if you count it!!! ;D So.... next week I'm planning a date night with the hubs.... after that it's anyone's guess!! Any awesome ideas for how I can pass the time!?! I'm supposed to be "taking it easy"... no lifting, no chores, no nookie.... so horse riding and bungee jumping are probably out.... any other thoughts?!?!

Also, peeps, I HAVE planned to have my head shaved on the 10th of March!! ( !!??) I'm trying to raise money for children's cancer research through St Baldricks ( get it? BALD ricks?? ) so if ya fancy seeing me naked ( my naked HEAD anyway ) please feel free to donate on my pledge page....! Wait a second...here's a link! I'm not good at fund raising as I hate asking people for money BUT I won't shave my head for less than $500 !!! ( We're hoping to raise $1000 but we'll see how it goes!! )

Anyhoo folks, frankly I'm stalling as I'm working on some transcribing this afternoon and it's a bit of a tricky one! I treated myself to a little time out and a bit of catching up on the blogosphere!

Nice seeing you again! More soon!! ( I suppose if I have to be sitting around I might as well spend the time typing eh!? )

xxxx

Hey there fellow earth dwellers!

2012-01-12T21:59:00.001-06:00

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?!?!

2012-01-10T22:35:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-09T22:29:00.000-06:00

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

2012-01-08T23:17:00.000-06:00

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!!*****

Saturday night's alright!!!

2012-01-07T21:16:00.000-06:00

Hello again friends! ;D OK, today I had planned to sleep in !!! I know !! I hear you laughing!!!!! Jack came into bed with us about 2am and went right back to sleep.... only he woke about 7 asking me to get up and go downstairs ( down~a~nairs ) with him. I really didn't want to..... I really wanted to go back to sleep.... for hours and hours ideally...... He persuaded me.... he usually does..... ***Sigh*** anyway, down we went.

There was absolutely nothing on the TV for children.... I can't STAND that weird YuGhiO stuff ( however you spell it... ) and that's all that seems to be on on Saturdays! When I was a kid Saturday morning TV was the BEST.... here and now it's abysmal. Anyway.... he chose to watch something on Netflix instead. At first he wanted to watch Barney's Christmas Special but then thought he might like to watch Mythbusters (!!! YEAHY!!! That's SCIENCE people!!! ) my boy is really into science. He loves to watch Nova with us and just adores Sid the Science Kid and Curious George! Anyway, the first myth this morning was all about whether a cell phone can blow up gasoline when you are pumping gas ( it can't! ... it's the static discharge from returning to your car during pumping..... ) and I wanted to find out whether it was true or not, so I ended up snuggling on the couch with him watching Mythbusters instead of going back to bed! Jessie came down later and she TOO got caught up with the mystery that is Jamie and Adam. I occasionally made motions to go back to bed but was persuaded to stay downstairs. Finally hubby stumbled down too......Yup..... he joined us watching Mythbusters!! A regular impromptu Pyjama Party!

Sure, we eventually got dressed... I worked my way through MULTIPLE loads of laundry (ugh, which I have just remembered are still stacked neatly in my bedroom and not at all put away.... ) I cleaned the kitchen, ran the dishwasher several times, chatted on the phone, played words with friends, put away the stragglers of Christmas decorations, helped Jessie with her math, and played real life Angry Birds with my boy and helped him with his experiments in physics! I also later played Story Cubes with Jack. I'd bought them for Christmas and thought they would help him form sentences and follow ideas.... they work perfectly! It couldn't be better! He was so thrilled to be able to make up stories! We each made up two stories and then I put the cubes away! Leave 'em wanting more is my theory!! He did NOT want to stop playing ( yeahy!) so we all went outside for our daily 15 minutes and played catch some more! Jessie has SUCH an arm on her! Sometimes I refuse to even TRY to catch the balls she throws! She'll have my arm off!!! Rex came out and played too and Jessie loves that! She gets to throw as hard as she likes to him! ;D

And now the night time is upon us!! Both kiddies are quietly sleeping, the TV is burbling in the other room and my iPad keeps telling me I have Words with Friends games to play! I have made myself THE most decadent cup of hot chocolate I've ever had in my life 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup milk with dark chocolate broken up and melted within...... hhhmmmmmm! It's part of my new healthy eating regime!! For dinner tonight I had a fried egg and bacon!!! Oh yes.... I totally did!! :D Anyhoo folks, time once again for some crocheting by the fire, a little TV, some high tech word games and a sip or two more of chocolatey goodness!! ;D "See" you tomorrow! Sleep tight!

Another lovely day!

2012-01-06T21:48:00.001-06:00

Had a lovely day today, slept in a little bit, chatted on the phone with Bestie Lisa AGAIN, chatted with my Mum AGAIN... played outside with the kids AGAIN.... hmmm... I'm seeing a trend!!! I DID go yarn shopping ( whoo hoo!!) and picked out lovely yarn for the hat and the socks I'm determined to make! I also bought a book on Amazon today on sock making so once that gets here I'm going to get started on them! I also bought some yarn to make a scarf for the participants in this year's Special Olympics! I've already made a good start on it and it's coming along nicely! Got to LOVE crochet for a quick do!! ;D (I'll try and get some pics posted tomorrow... I always leave blog writing until last thing at night and then am too tired to upload pics! )

We had a delicious dinner, watched some TV together and then the kiddies went off to bed. Now it's time for hubby and I to cuddle up on the couch together and watch a good old fashioned British Murder Mystery. How romantic!! ;D

and what a lovely day to spend in court......!! :D

2012-01-06T00:04:00.002-06:00

Now THAT got your attention I bet!! I HOPE it did anyway! I don't want to be the kind of gal where the statement "I spent the day in court" is greeted with anything but horror and dismay!! ;D Actually we had to be in court this morning by 9am as a neighbor was involved in a car accident and had asked us to go along and testify to how awful the hill outside our house is! It was a fun and fascinating experience for Jessie and myself ( you know how homeschoolers are !!) and I'm sure it's much easier to be in court when it's not your neck on the block! As it was we have to go back again next month blah blah blah so we will look forward to doing that again! It's really quite fascinating and moves VERY quickly! They must have got through at least 10 cases in a mere 20 minutes and the judge spoke so fast and so quietly it was quite a trick to follow what was going on!

Anyhoo after our morning's outing the kiddies and I went home whilst hubs went on to Omaha for the day. I fought the laundry again for a while whilst simultaneously chatting with my bestie from Michigan! Our chats are always long and lovely and I miss her so much since she moved away YEARS AGO!! Another friend of ours came over to visit with her lovely daughter and the kiddoes all played in the sunshine and on the Wii in the basement as she and I sipped tea and yapped a while!!.

After our friends left I had a long chat on the Gmail chat thing with my Ma and then the kids and I played catch for 15 minutes before taking a lovely walk in our short sleeves with the pooch. Honestly it was in the mid 60's this afternoon. It's January 5th people!! We saw lots of other people walking their dogs and everyone of them took time to voice their concerns about the lovely weather we were experiencing!! It's hard not to be cynical in Nebraska.... if it's really hot and sunny when it SHOULD be 20 below zero, then we tend to question if the world is indeed coming to an end OR what is hiding around the corner. I think we all expect to get slammed by a huge snowstorm or something, just to show us who is really in charge around here!!!

Our day was rounded off by a visit from another family friend who came for dinner and chatting! We really love having people round to visit and we are so lucky to have such special friends! And now I think it's time for me to hit the hay, or the sack... or maybe just go to bed... I'm kind of tired really!! ; D

Oh oh oh... I DID decide today what I'm going to spend my gift certificate to the Wool Shop on....! ( I know.... you've been on PINS waiting to find out, right?!?! ) I'm going to make THIS hat for baby Fiona ( no peeking Alicia!!) and I'm going to make myself a pair of socks!!! I've NEVER made socks and frankly I'm quite nervous to try... but this is going to be the year! I am determined! When I find a pattern I like I will get started... ALL I have to do now is choose the yarn..... yeah...... that will be a doddle!!!! :P

A promise is a promise... no matter how small....!

2012-01-04T22:53:00.002-06:00

I promised my beautiful girl that I would write another post today! She loves to read my blog almost as much as I love to read her stories!

We had a fun day today... the weather was ridiculous hot, Africa hot... ok, not really THAT HOT but for January?!??! It was something like 68degrees!!!!!! WHAAAATTTT??? it's going to be 70 or more tomorrow!! Now that ain't RIGHT!!!! Nevertheless we took full advantage and spent some quality time outdoors. I think Jack wins the prize for most time out today since he took out his angry birds and pigs and played on the driveway for hours! Jessie and I joined him later and played another game of catch! I had gone inside to get the timer so I could play with them ( I know, I'm such a lame mother that I had to set a timer, but I had tons to do and and and.......) sigh. Anyway, I heard them outside... Jack was squealing and Jessie said "I can SEE her!! She's COMING!!" they were so excited I was coming out to play!! Bless them!! :D

The remainder of the day seemed to revolve mostly around laundry and getting the Christmas trees down. For some reason this year I was not unhappy to be taking them down... normally I put it off and put it off, but this year it seemed right somehow. Of course the trees are out but now there are garlands, decorations, wreaths, lights, figurines etc littering the dining table. Tsk. I'll get them put away tomorrow!!! The laundry is also a half finished project! It's always the same when we have company, the laundry is the first thing to suffer!! Well actually it doesn't suffer, it flourishes!!! The more people we have staying and the longer the stay, the more the laundry THRIVES!! ;D Hmmm.... that could be useful information for somebody! Maybe I could get a grant and prove that!!! :D

I've spent the day sticking to my no carb no sugar attempt ( one day!! Whooo hoo!!) I'm going to need more cheese. And eggs. And cream!! ;D I've promised myself one cup of coffee with cream and sugar every night as a treat so I am going to go and make that little monkey right now!!! The kiddies are sleeping, the cat has STOPPED howling at the front door ( I guess a neighboring fat cat came by for a peek in the windows!! ) and the house is quiet...... perfect time for a cozy cuppa then an early night I think!! ;D

Goodnight all...... 'night 'night Jessie....!! Love ya!!

xxxxxxx

Ahem. Happy New Year .... again.....!! :D LOL!!

2012-01-03T17:35:00.003-06:00

It's not been QUITE a year since my last post!!!! LOL!!! Nearly, but not quite!! Funnily enough I was reading back through my old posts and they sound very familiar.....!!! Once again I find myself drawn to a more Waldorf~ish way of living. I just LOVE reading soulemama's blog and I am inspired and drawn to her lovely and peaceful ways of living and parenting. I have recently taken up knitting again and have a gift certificate for a lovely wool shop in town. The only thing to do now is to pick a project.... not that that is hard to do or anything...... sigh....!!

Christmas was wonderful.... Mum was here to share it with us and our friend Jay came over too. New Years saw the Bayer / Hrdlicka gang here with all 5 kiddies! Lots of fun and merriment. They left this morning and the house seems very quiet now!! We've had a full and fun 2011, lots of changes took place but the underlying stuff all stayed the same, happily.

I have had some thoughts about 2012, I really want this year's theme to be "Meaningful". I want our days together to have some sort of depth. I love the thought of winter days sitting in the warm, knitting, reading together. I want us to explore the outdoors with chilly cheeks and returning home to a house that's peaceful and comfortable. We have just taken the 15 minutes outside challenge from this lovely blog and the kids are thrilled with the idea! To be honest they spend at least 15 minutes outside everyday, but this way I have to join in!! ;D I will no doubt have Pinterest posts to share since that has become one of my new passions. Our family may explore the pros and cons of whether or not to get a new dog after sadly losing our beloved Brecon this fall. There will probably be some homeschooling posts and some dietary posts as I am leaning towards a low carb approach this year. Perhaps some adventures will be in our future too.... I'll keep you posted.

It's good to be back!!

Happy New Year !!! cough cough!!

2011-01-17T13:51:00.006-06:00

Hello folks!! Let's just ignore the fact that I haven't blogged since OCTOBER and instead let's dive right in to the here and now!! ;D A quick catch up I guess..... November was lovely, Thanksgiving was spectacular, we had special guests for a change and ALL the food I made turned out FABULOUSLY!! Yeahy me!!! ;D And, oh, yeah for PIONEER WOMAN as fully 100% of the recipes were probably hers !! ;D Moving on to December... I did fairly well this year, we kept our spending to a minimum and yet everyone got something they wanted for Christmas!! We also had special guests again at Christmas ( though not my Mum this year.. : ( Maybe next year?! ) and dinner was....meh...!! : D Not so good! I have found that if my Thanksgiving meal is fantastic well you can bet your boots that Christmas dinner will NOT go so smoothly! But there you are! We all had a lovely Christmas time anyway, plenty of good enough food, lots of cheer!!!

New Year's eve was very quiet this year! We'd thought about having a party but it just didn't seem to materialize so we stayed in with the kiddoes and we all watched the ball drop!! At midnight Central time both kiddoes were in bed and hubby and I were watching Tudors on Netflix !!! Ah, the heady days of youth !!!

That just about brings us to the present day !! ;D For some reason I seem to have developed a crafting bug !! ;D Lately I've made a whole passel of hedgehogs

hmm... what IS the collective noun for Hedgehogs.... hang on....ok, it's either an "Array" of Hedgehogs, or a "Prickle" of Hedgehogs....!! I know which one I love the best!! ;D For years my Dad had me convinced that the collective noun for Zebras was a "Fart" of Zebras....!!! LOL!! ;D

Anyway, I've made a Prickle of Hedgehogs for friends.

I'm working on my second dressable lamb

( I LOVE the dressable lambs!!)

I made a felt donut that looks DELICIOUS

and I made an Angry Bird for Jack last night!!

He loves it and we take turns lobbing it at each other and making exploding sounds! ;D It's TONS of fun and SOOOO easy to make!! : D When I get some green felt I'll make him a pig to go with it!! Today I have a MOUNTAIN of laundry to finish off and I mean a mountain! I'm staggered how much laundry I can cram into my laundry basket so it just LOOKS like one load in there but when I open it up it's like opening a vacuum pack and the laundry is never ending! ; D

So yeah, laundry, then I'd LOVE to sleep on the couch for a few minutes... I went to Boot Camp this morning and the new instructor there is amazing....but TOUGH !! WoW it was a great workout... so now I must sleep !!! :D THEN I want to finish my lamb and THEN I want to make OWLS!! I don't know why Owls seem to be so popular at the moment but you can't turn a webpage without seeing how to make one !!!

My sweet little girl came with me yesterday to the fabric store and I bored her senseless by looking at this, that and the other fabric!! Poor thing! I remember hating fabric stores too as a child!! She had a great time for the first, oooh, 30 minutes or so....!! LOL!! Anyhoo, I have tons of stuff to make fabulous projects!! I have to work quickly though as I have a tendency to be fickle and suddenly my craft urge will wane and we'll be moving along to something else entirely! ;D

Anyway, I am being bombarded by an Angry Bird and two maniac children! Time to get on with things I suppose!!

Until next time, folks!! :D

With my mind on the miners and the miners on my mind!

2010-10-13T22:44:00.002-05:00

Wasn't it an amazing scene as the last Chilean miner emerged from underground this evening???? WOW!! I can not imagine how amazing it would feel for the men and their families....

Just fantastic!! ;D

Anyhooo.....here in Nebraska, on top of the earth, we had our own stuff to deal with!!!

I took the youngsters to the mall and then to Super Target. Mister Jack always has problems leaving Super Target without toys! We have an elaborate game we play with the invisible toys and so on, but today it just wasn't working as well as it should. I tried unwrapping an invisible remote control car and chasing after Jessie with it.... that worked for a short while until he caught on and decided he wanted the real thing. I sat on the floor with him and talked to him, sympathizing with how hard it is to leave a store without buying something ... I have a list of a gazillion things I'd like to buy in Target alone, so I really do feel his pain!! As we sat there, talking as best we could, a nice lady approached me and asked his name. I told her and she said to Jack " Jack, I'm lost, can you tell me where the checkouts are??" Jack said "Sure!" and pointed her in completely the opposite direction!!! She then asked him to please SHOW her where the checkouts were and sure enough he very nicely walked her to the checkouts !! The nice lady congratulated me on my patience and I explained that some days were better than others!!!

Today was a good day. :D

A spectacular day..... sort of !! ;D

2010-10-11T21:52:00.003-05:00

Spectacular in the amount of things, one after the other, that went wrong today!!! Still, the kids are now sleeping, hubby has built me some shelves to store food in the basement, I have a cup of tea at my fingertips and chocolate in the pantry!! Soon I'll be watching Bones on my super comfy couch, sipping tea ( or something a liiiiittle stronger.... ) eating chocolate and snuggling my spouse and the horrors of the day will seem like a little joke the universe was playing with me!!! Silly Universe!! ;D

One of the spectacular events of the day was when I exploded Red Bean and Sweet Potato Chili all over the inside of my microwave. I mean ALL OVER. **sigh**
My dear and loving friends over at Facebook, upon hearing my tragedy, instantly requested the recipe. Maybe they have a grudge against their microwaves or they REALLY love cleaning. Anyhoo....! Here it is! ;D

Chipotle-Kissed* Red Bean and Sweet Potato Chili.
(Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson.)

* I did NOT use Chipotle in mine. So there.

1 tbsp. Olive oil.
1 med size yellow onion, chopped
I med sized red bell pepper, seeded and chopped **
** I did not use red bell pepper as I didn't have any. Again, so there.
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp. chili powder or more to taste.
1 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 cups red kidney beans, slow cooked OR 1 15.5oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed. ***
*** I only had soy beans and so used those.... sue me! ( don't sue me....!)
1 1/2 cups water
salt
1 tablespoon minced canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce or to taste. ****
**** As I said earlier I did NOT use chipotle... :D

Heat the oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic, cover and cook until softened, about 5 mins. Stir in the chili powder and cook for 30 seconds. Add the sweet potatoes and stir to coat with the spices. Transfer the mixture to a 4-6 quart slow cooker. Add the tomatoes, beans and water, season with salt, cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. ( I cooked it on high for 4-6 hours... I'm always running behind! )

When ready to serve stir the chipotles into the chili.

Serve with warm cornbread muffins... you know... if you want to that is! ;D

..... but DON'T reheat in the microwave!!! :D You have been warned!! ;D

Jessie's 11th Birthday!

2010-10-09T23:26:00.005-05:00

Jessie's birthday started early as Daddy had to leave for work at 6:30 am so it was necessary for a 6am wake up! It was NOT necessary for a 3am wake up (Thank You Jessie!) so she went back to bed a while longer! ( Apparently she had just got up for a drink.....!)

Jessie had been saving her money from a Doggy Daycare job and various other sources and we added the rest so she could get an IPOD Touch 4G for her birthday. ( I didn't know what it was either.....!!) I have to say I think I'm going to NEED one now! It's fantastic!!!! :D

Anyway..... Here are some shots from the big day ......

Looking remarkably chipper for 6am.... An IPOD has an App for that....!

The beautiful bunting was made by my Mum... I LOVE it !!

The glitter~fetti that is strewn throughout the house. We start in the birthday girl / boy's room and made a trail to the gifts!!! It's VERY pretty... though a tad messy !! ;D

Jessie, you ARE amazing......

This card reminded me of Jessie when her hair was longer....!

Indeed....

The fabulous dessert!! It's more of a frozen custard than anything else but tastes DELICIOUS!! (Looks like a terrine, tastes like heaven! )I'll put the recipe up in the sidebar... but not tonight!! ;D

And finally, here is a picture of what I imagine Jessie will look like when she is twenty! She took this pic of herself on her IPOD and I was SHOCKED!! She looks so very grown up !!

I think I might have to go and have a lie down.........!!!

Jack (and Jessie) the Builder(s)!

2010-10-09T23:16:00.003-05:00

What's more fun than building with Legos or wooden blocks??? Why building with real bricks, of course!

Sometimes Jack needs some physical and mental activity that can not be satisfied by toys and make believe. The guy needs to do something REAL. We had a huge pile of bricks behind our garage from when we first moved into our house umpteen years ago. I thought it would be good for Jack to carry them to the front of the house and build himself a wall. It was! He did! I took pics...!!!

The Web of Wonder.....!!!

2010-10-09T22:58:00.005-05:00

Today Jessie, Jack, Jessie's friend ( aptly named Charlotte! ) and I made this fantastic thing!!!

I'd seen it on a craft blog, Crafts and Sutch, and it looked easy, effective and fun! ( just like me!! )

We knew we'd have fun making it so I decided to make a little time~lapse video of it! I do not have an editing program so there is one point where the camera falls over and you get a glimpse of the ceiling and another where it gets jostled and all you see for a while is a candle!!! Stick with it and you will get to see the end result!! ;D

Do you smell ....burning cat hair????????

2010-10-07T23:50:00.003-05:00

Ahhh.... one of Yankee Candle's lesser known fragrances...!! Pumpkin Spice and Singed Cat Hair....!! ;D Stupid CAT !!!!! LOL!!! I could NOT dissuade him from messing with the flame so figured he'd work it out for himself one way or the other! ;D

We had a lovely day today.... the fall temps were in the 80's but the humidity was so low as to be unnoticeable. We went for a lovely walk through the crisp leaves and admired the colors around us. I made dinner in the slow cooker ( love that thing!) and cooked rice in the rice cooker... I also prepared Jessie's birthday dessert and put that in the freezer to firm up! She chose Chocolate Hazelnut Semi-Freddo this time!!! ;D It SOUNDS delicious!! Looks pretty good too and I'm betting it's RICH !!!!!! Can't wait to try it !!! I was pretty proud of myself with all my gadgets helping make dinner a smoother affair!

I've been reading some more Waldorf blogs lately since getting the Fall issue of Rhythm of the Home. I LOVE that thing! It's so nice to sit with a cup of tea and work my way through all the lovely posts and blogs! I'm always inspired to try again ( again again ) with a more Waldorf ~ esque approach to homeschooling and life in general. This post really resonated with me today so after our walk we came home and cleaned the house for an hour! We got so much done, the bathrooms were cleaned, the basement vacuumed, all the laundry was finally put away, the kitchen was all cleaned up and the dishes and pans from all the dinner and dessert preparation were washed and put away, cushions got straightened, toys returned to their proper place and a peace fell upon the house. The children went outside to play with the dog and I finished up preparing dinner. We washed up and the children set the table, I even remembered to light one of our homemade candles. After dinner Jack and Jessie sat and read some books together on the couch. It felt so nice to be calm around dinner time and made getting to bed so very much easier!!

The calm will have gone in the morning though!! Jessie is turning 11 !! She is growing up so nicely! I'm so thrilled to see her blossom into such a lovely person! I imagine sooner or later she'll grow to despise me, but I'm enjoying this precious time where she still wants to be around me and I find her amusing and entertaining company! ;D

I'll let you know how the fancy dessert turns out!! ;D

A couple of things that we did today and why I am the best Mom ever...!! ;D

2010-10-07T00:36:00.004-05:00

So, Rex got a new phone for work, a "BLACKBERRY STORM TWO" ( it has to be in caps as it's SOOOOO INCREDIBLE...) yeah.... amazing. woo. Tsk. What a pain in the keister!! ; D ( is that how you spell Keister??!) (Keester??) ANYWAY..... it's apparently AMAZING and AWESOME and OOOOO so SPECIAL but I'll be damned if I can work the thing and thus, I DESPISE it !! LOL!!! I HATE the idea that technology is so close to passing me by!!! ;D

In Other News, I went for a run with my pal Lisa tonight.... we didn't run far and happily managed to stumble into Panera in time for a large bowl of soup and a delicious ( and FREE) pastry !!! (if you get the Panera card and register it right there at the store you can pick any free pastry you like!!! WHOOT!!! I picked CHERRY!!) So any good work we did with the run was soon taken care of with the delicious calories!! ;D

Oh and also it turns out we've fixed a problem we were having with Jackster. ( I say "We" I mean me!!! ;D ) He was insistent on sleeping in our bed, which is fine, I can see what that would be preferable to sleeping alone and frankly he's warm and snuggly and I do enjoy it, but it's a relatively new development and things with Jack tend to linger longer than with most children so I was anxious to determine the cause of his distress. I assured him that if he wanted to he could still sleep in our bed but I asked him if we could go to his room and determine why it was now "Boooky." It turns out that the toys in his closet ( and there were a lot of them ) scared him witless. He was under the impression that they would suddenly come to life in the night and devour his little self. Thank YOU Toy Story 3...... **sigh** so our landing tonight is lined with box after box of toys which I will be moving to the basement sometime tomorrow!!! Poor kid !!! I took everything out that he asked me to except for the playdoh and his books!! I guess he thinks he can handle the playdoh!! LOL!! ;D Still, once the toys were out he was visibly relieved and happily climbed into his own bed and within minutes of a bedtime story, fell fast asleep.

The moral of this story..... if something scares ya, put it in the basement......!!! Or something like that!! :D

And now I'm off to bed to stretch out in MY space !! ;D well, if I can shove Rex and the dog over of course....!! ;D Goodnight, folks! ;D Don't let the bed bugs bite.... or the freaky toys in the closet...! ;D

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder...!!

2010-10-05T17:44:00.005-05:00

So I've had a busy summer!! :D LOL!!! To all those lovely loyal readers out there who actually mentioned they have been missing my blog.... thank you!!! **blushes!!** Sometimes I forget that people actually read my writing and I love to be reminded once in a while!

Summer was a blur of sunshine and swimming, camping, traveling, hotels, sleepovers and as a stunning finale, a fun filled and fabulous Jamboree!

We had a ton of fabulous families come and stay with us for a week of homeschooling madness! We chatted and played and drank so much tea that my kettle actually wore out! ;D A new one arrived this morning from Amazon! ;D LOL!

The temps are starting to tend towards the cool side which is FABULOUS! We sleep with the windows open and bundle ourselves under the covers like ...um.... well I can't think of any creature that bundles it's self under covers but you get the idea I'm sure! It's chilly, we're cozy, the end! I love the nights growing darker and cooler, the leaves starting to change and crispness in the air BUT here in NE it doesn't last long and then .....BOOM!! WINTER !!!!! Ah well! We'll enjoy the Autumn days as long as they last!

Who remembers singing this in Primary school????

Catch ya later folks! I'll be writing more now it's not so toasty out there!! Got to run for now... the laundry doesn't fold it's self you know! ;D

Marble Running!

2010-07-12T22:30:00.002-05:00

Today we were inspired by Dad U to build a marble run down four flights of stairs!! We had tons of fun putting it together using only card, toilet paper tubes and painters tape! We did get a little frustrated at the end as we were using marbles of all different sizes ( don't do this! ) so the run would fail at all different places!!!! ARGH!!!! We got it sorted in the end and this video is proof of our work !! :D LOL!!

How to make a marble play the cymbals!

I think tomorrow we'll set the drum kit down there and see what tunes we can play!! :D

Arts and Cwaps! :D .. Silhouettes.

2010-07-08T20:56:00.006-05:00

We've been crafting maniacs lately! ...I'm not sure where my motivation is coming from but I'm going to run with it until I wear myself out!! I have finally realised that this is who I am.... I will throw myself into something wholeheartedly.... and then suddenly something else shiny will catch my eye and I'll throw myself into THAT.... then THIS... then THAT... eventually I come back around to whatever I was enjoying the first time, but it must make my friends and family bonkers!! "I love ALL ethnic things!!" " I will only wear clothes made in Italy!" " I love to wear sports and fitness gear!" " I will only wear skirts from now on!" " I have too many clothes!" " I have nothing to wear!" ..... all things I have said.
"I will no longer eat meat!" " I will only eat fish!" " I will only eat Raw foods!" "I am vegan!" " I need a cheeseburger!" **sigh**
" I love rubber stamping!!" " I am going to scrapbook our entire lives!!" "I am going to sew all our clothes!" "I will make all our bedding!" " I will sew our curtains!" "I'm going to make candles!" " I love to knit! Latchhook! Crochet! Weave! Felt! Quilt! Paint! Bead! Draw! Oils! Watercolors! Pastels! " "I want a potter's wheel!" "I wonder who would take the Potter's Wheel?" **more sighing!**
"I'm going to write a book!" "I'm going to be a journalist!" " I'm going to blog EVERY DAY!" "I'm going to write and article every day!" "I'm going to go to Boot Camp EVERY DAY!" "I'm going to go for a run ! ride my bike! work out to DVD's! do yoga! meditate! EVERY DAY!" "I'm going to do the laundry every day! " "I'm going to clean the toilets, wipe off the sinks and wash the mirrors..... every day!" " I'm going to make the beds...... every day!!!" ..........

Wow!! Even I get sick of myself!! ;D So anyway, what I'm getting at is, though I'm thrilled to find myself in the crafting cycle of my life once again, I am going to make the most of it knowing it's very fleeting!! Maybe I'll get some of my (really?? You have unfinished projects?!?! ) unfinished projects finished off...!!

Today we made silhouettes of the kids!! ;D I've always ALWAYS wanted to try this and was intimidated thinking it would be really hard... BUT it's not!! I'm here to tell you it's a cinch!! :D

Here's how we did it! ;D

First have your subject stand in profile and take their photo.

Then you print out the pics (it's easier in black and white ) and carefully cut around the profile making sure to keep in the sticking up hair etc!

Place that cut out on some black paper or card and cut around it again... carefully! Place your silhouette against some nice colourful background paper...

And there you have it!! Easy and awesome silhouettes!!! Now, be warned... I have since taken profile pics of the dogs and cats.... it's a liiiiittle bit addictive!!

Happy 4th Folks! ; D

2010-07-04T23:21:00.002-05:00

We had an absolutely lovely 4th today! The kids and I started out making crafts by painting watercolor fireworks onto water soaked paper. It was so pretty and fun.... we made loads!! After that, in the spirit of liberation from tyranny, I chose to fold all four baskets of laundry that had been sitting in my living room!! Huzzah!!! ;D It was pouring with rain today... all day long from the moment we woke up .... we were mildly concerned about the firework display tonight but doubted it would rain all the way through to 10 pm..... anyway, with the rain and such it got pretty humid outside, 90% !! We spent much of the morning inside. I had a bit of a headache after lunch so went to take a lovely nap whilst the rest of the gang watched 7 Brides for 7 Brothers! Soon Jack turned up in my room and he and I slept for an hour. Actually I should say I slept for an hour and it was all I could do to wake the poor little guy up !!! He wanted to help me make S'mores on a stick so I couldn't let him keep sleeping... but still ... he was tough to wake!! We made our delicious S'mores, then moved on to making our Fruit Flag Pizza. Whilst the cookie dough cooled Rex took us to the local Kiwanis firework stand and we picked out some fun fireworks... some for the day time and some for when it got dark.

When we got home I set the kiddoes to work slicing fruit... Jack got bananas and Jessie the strawberries. We use a drinking straw to hull the strawberries by the way..... I think my friend Diana showed me how to do that and it's sooo quick and easy! You just poke a straw from the bottom of the strawberry up through the top and Voila, the hull pops right out !! You can thank me later! ;D LOL!! So they sliced and then they layered. It looked awesome.

We went outside and lit the fireworks..... FUN!! The children love the smoke bombs and the parachute fireworks of course! This is the first year that Jack didn't have his fingers jammed in his ears the whole time....in fact he used to stand INSIDE the house with his headphones on!! BIG strides!! :D

After the fireworks we finished off preparing the last of dinner, a pasta salad and cool watermelon stars.... Rex lit the grill and cooked some lovely sausages and a vegan DELICIOUS sausage for me ( Apple and Sage...!! ) ... we set up a table outside with my checked white and red picnic blanket on top and we had ourselves a wonderful picnic whilst watching the displays put on by the neighbors!! At one point I went over the street and delivered some Smores to the neighbors.... I knew I'd only eat them all otherwise!! ;D

Once it grew dark we lit the remainder of our fireworks and the kids played with sparklers.... Jessie was scared and it took her a while to get over it, but she eventually realised how much fun it was! :D At around 10 pm our local city fireworks began.... we can see them well from our driveway though can't hear the huge BOOMS.... I sort of like the boom, but it was handy to not have to leave home!!! The kids grew antsy and tired before the show was over and both of them ASKED to go to bed. I was hardly about to argue so we went up and I put them in bed. All in all I think we had an absolutely lovely day!!!

Once again, photos on Facebook guys.... sorry about that......!!
Click here for photos....

I hope you had a lovely 4th too!!; D

Night all, from the land of the free and the home of the brave.

An Update! ;D

2010-07-03T23:04:00.005-05:00

Hellllooooo peeps! :D

Just a quick update as I seem to have no time to blog at the moment despite really REALLY wanting to!!!

Since I got back from the BRAN I have not felt the need to go to Boot Camp every day, hell, I haven't felt the need to go ANY day it turns out!!! I do miss it, it's fun and I felt great, but it took out a good two hours of my morning, my most productive time of the day, and since I stopped going I have realised WHY the house was always such a pit and my routines fell completely away! Now I'm back to keeping the house straight, running the dishwasher every night, doing the laundry and, most importantly for me, actually "Being" there for the kids. Sure, I was HERE but I was so wiped out from exercising that I would nap and fall asleep constantly. Anyway, we've been spending lots of time doing "Arts and Cwaps" as Jack calls it. He LOVES it and he is happy to do ANYTHING besides watch TV. I mean, he loves TV but it turns out if you ask him to help you clean the toilets he'd rather do that!! He loves being a Big Helper so I'm trying to take advantage! ;D We've made all sorts of things lately, balancing butterflies, a paper star for the window and a banner that we made today. I'm going to have the kids help me make some neat food things for tomorrow.... S'mores on a stick being one of them!! Yummoooo!!!!

Jessie has been shown how to climb onto the roof of the carport and has adopted that as her "Secret Spot" She hauls the ladder up after her to stop Jack climbing up too. Rex was worried about her being up there but I read something recently that said you should do something that scares you everyday! Also I read something else that said basically life isn't as dangerous as we make it out to be and we all need to take a few more risks. She's fine up there, she is sensible and scared enough not to do anything stupid. She's also SO proud of herself for being brave!! What a neat chick!!

Jackster got a cool recumbent trike the other day and he LOVES that thing. He's finally able to ride a real bike like a big kid. I'm pretty sure we can safely retire his rainbow bike that Jessie used to ride when she was a toddler! He was FAR to big for it but it was the only bike he felt safe on. This new one is fantastic, it has gears and brakes... he's the bee's knees now !!! : D

So anyway, that's us in a nutshell.... more soon!! I really love blogging and hope to have a bit more time for it soon.... any day now...... riiight??!!?

( I was hoping to put a slew of photos onto the blog tonight but it's such a pain in the rear and I'm just cranky enough that I've chosen to put them on Facebook instead!! Are we FB friends?? If not, come and find me!! :D )

G'night!!!

Update to the update....... Here's a link to the pics on FB.....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=189917&id=730440739&l=e5915c7540

It's me! I'm home....!!

2010-06-18T20:24:00.002-05:00

Well... how I have missed my blog! ;D Sort of! ;D I've been writing a bicycling blog over on Wordpress ( I know, how I have cheated on thee!) to keep track of our mammoth bike ride. It went well!! Here is the link for the bike blog in case somehow you missed it! :D

I wrote an article about the BRAN today for theMom's on a Mission column in the Star City Sports magazine. The editor said he really enjoyed reading it from start to finish and it was my "best yet" !!! Hmmm.... being the person I am I just presume that my other articles have been lousy but there ya go.... Anyway, I thought you might like to read a VERY brief summation of our week in the Sandhills. Lisa and I are going to get together sometime soon to reminisce and to update the cycling blog with photos and things we recall! ;D Until then... here ya go! ;D

There comes a time in the life of every stay at home mom where she feels she would do ANYTHING to get away from the kids and have just a little time alone. Those times are rare, but when they come up and they happen to coincide with a good friend mentioning she has "always wanted to ride the BRAN"... well... let's just say strange things can happen! :D Riding the BRAN, heck, riding anything more than a short ride to the store or maybe the local park, has never been on my "things to do" list however my friend is very persuasive and back when she mentioned it the ride was still 12 months away... Boy those 12 months went fast. We had big plans of training, riding at least 100 miles in one day, riding two consecutive 70 mile days... that sort of thing. What happened, as is what happens to many parents of young children....life got in the way. The days when sitters were available the weather would be terrible, if the weather was great, there would be no one to watch the kids.... soon June rolled around and we found ourselves at 5am on a bus to the Nebraska Sandhills. It was very traumatic for my daughter to see me go. It turns out that in all her 10 years we had never been apart. I assured her that she would have a wonderful time with Daddy but her first day and night were tough ones. My first night was hard too, sleeping in a tent in a field with 675 other riders, various bike shops and their members, support crews, drivers, families and so on was hard enough, the fact that I had totally underestimated just how cold it can get in Northern Nebraska overnight didn't help matters either. Top that off with a fear of the unknown and neither Lisa or myself got any sleep that night. Our first riding day was a hard one. That is an understatement. Day one was horrendous. The scenery was beautiful, the weather was lovely. The hills, however, the hills were dreadful! Long and winding doesn't do them justice. Oh, and there was a headwind the whole way up.... and, one more thing, the hills never had any downs.... just ups. 82 miles, all up hill. We thought we just might die. Happily the days got better and we learned the tricks to keeping the tent upright in the storms that raged every single night. We learned to take Tylenol PM to ensure a few hours sleep and to make believe the snoring chorus around us was the ocean. We learned to get up at 4, eat whatever food was provided and as much of that as possible and to get out of camp by 6. We learned that no matter how much your legs hurt in the morning, eventually the pain will subside and the rest of the day will improve. We learned to ride in driving rain, headwinds, crosswinds, thunderstorms, we learned to use the hills to gain speed. We learned how friendly Nebraskans are, how much you can long for pie, how the idea of spray cheese and crackers can be the only thing that gets you to the next town. We discovered if the local grocery store doesn't have a tennis ball then a Downy Ball will work to massage sore shoulders. We gained strength, we gained muscle, we gained perspective. We learned how to make fast decisions, we learned to be responsible for ourselves, to make choices based solely on what we want rather than on what would benefit our children or spouses. Riding into Ashland on that last day of the ride we felt like we could do anything. We had grown as people. We had filled our cups and were calmer and more capable mothers. Sometimes Mom's Mission isn't just about taking care of the children, sometimes it's to take care of Mom. How about a Bike Ride Across the Bahamas next year though?? Anyone care to join me?

I miss my little girl!! :D

2010-06-05T12:38:00.002-05:00

This blog post is just for Jessie...!! :D We are on our way to the BRAN today... Lisa and I are in North Platte at the moment headed to Harrison where we will turn around tomorrow and start biking back. I know Jessie has been really worried about me leaving and I was thinking that I would be fine, she was over reacting... until I realised I have never left the children before. Ever. I was surprised just how very much I missed them... as soon as they drove away and left me on the bus ... I was really sad to see them go !! I am looking forward to seeing Jessie's smiling face next weekend.... it will make me bike home just that little bit faster. Love you, little girl!! ;D
xxxx

wow. etc.

2010-05-16T01:04:00.002-05:00

WHAT a busy day today!! ;D

At 8:30 am we left the house to take the kids to Boot Camp (Jungle Kids) where they worked their butts off and even ran a mile...!! They all had a marvelous time though! From there to the Farmers Market where we walked around the entire place, thrilled at our favorite Rock stall where we learned about the various kinds of fossils and rocks he had, bought rocks and a salt lamp, saw Elayne at her stall, had vegetable egg rolls, climbed on the climbing frame stuff, sat in a fire truck, got balloons, lost balloons etc etc. Rode back from there home to have a quick snack and pick up Daryl and Alex. We then headed out to Morrill Hall for Colorful Creature Day. It was PACKED and fantastic. We all had a super time, met Mike Mennard and bought a CD or two, petted parrots, bunnies, snakes and turtles, learned the difference between true Albino and Leucisitc Albinoism..., played in the discovery center, painted rain barrels, made mammoths, learned about owls, kestrels and frogs, learned about the art of natural history illustrating, did some crafts, sang some songs and bought a museum membership!! From then, a ride home whilst listening to a Mike Mennard CD, We've Got It All In Nebraska, ( a history of Nebraska! ) once home the kids played with bikes, basketballs, Wii, roller skates, movies and skate boards. Alicia suggested Rex and I go out on a date night so we went and changed whilst she started dinner for everyone else! Rex and I went out to Macaroni Grill and Barnes and Nobles. When we got home everyone was ready for bed and the girls were all playing games whilst the boys were watching a movie!!! I got Jackster to bed then joined in the game playing. After the kids went to bed Alicia, Victoria and I tried several bars of chocolate that I got recently and we rated them from one to ten! We then taught Victoria all about median, mean and mode as we tried to find which bar we liked best!! ;D ah, the joys of homeschooling! ;D I can't begin to sum up all we may have learned today!!! Later... pictures. For now, BED!! ;D

Too Busy To Blog!!!?!?!? :D

2010-05-13T22:11:00.002-05:00

Um... yeah.... it's THURSDAY!!! :D The only way I'm even finding time to blog tonight is to set a timer and make myself take 10 minutes to type!!!:D I can't BELIEVE how fast the days fly by when Rex is out of town. You'd think they would drag because I was lonely and sad, but nope! They WHIZ!! I enjoy the freedom that comes with making my own decisions and choices, of choosing what's for dinner based on what I like to eat....!! I like not having to watch what other people want to watch on TV, I like sitting on which ever side of the couch I like and I like waking up when I'm done sleeping ( that one doesn't always happen by the way!! )

Still, I DO love my hubby and am very much looking forward to him coming home this evening which is why I'm planning on making him some cookies in a minute and also picking up all the laundry that's piled on the ottoman in the middle of the living room. I may fold it... I may just stuff it in a basket and hide it in the airing cupboard... he'll never look there... unless we're out of toilet paper **goes to check toilet paper...!!**

So anyway, sorry I've been remiss in posting this week.... We've been on playdates, to movies (Oceans) out to lunch and boot camp boot camp boot camp... We've watched shark week, learned about the Civil War, watched Liberty Kids. We've grocery shopped, dry cleaned, picked up and messed up..... We've had a busy, fun week and it's about to get crazier!! ;D Rex comes home tonight ( about midnight) and Alicia and gang are arriving either Friday or Saturday and staying for a week!! ;D Saturday is colorful creature day at the museum so we are hoping to get to that and there will no doubt be tons of other things to see and do. ....

Anyway, my timer says my typing time is almost up! I'm gong to make myself a GIANT cup of coffee, start the oven warming and get some cookies made...! Maybe if I make them big enough he won't notice the laundry?!?? :D

Until next time, keep on keeping on! ;D

xxxx

Mother's Day, Mama Mia, chocolate, tea and scones!!! :D

2010-05-09T22:32:00.002-05:00

I am so spoiled!! ...but you knew that already!! My lovely kiddoes woke me this morning with cards and a present ( an adorable mug that I'd spotted in Scheels a few weeks ago!! ) Hubby has to travel and left around lunch time so the kiddoes and I went to Panera, picked up some Orange Scones, had hot chocolate, shared a cookie and then headed to Rocket Fizz to pick up English chocolate, then Blockbuster to see if they had Gilmore Girls (they didn't !!) and so Jessie had the brain wave to watch Mama Mia when we got home! We brought the dogs in and fed them, put all the lights on, gathered pillows and blankets, made a pot of tea, heated up the scones and sat together watching Mama Mia!! When the movie ended we watched all the songs over and over and sang along with the soundtrack, danced like wild things and had SUCH a lovely time!! I finally persuaded the kids to go to bed but only after promising to buy the Mama Mia soundtrack to play in the car!!!! :D

Once they went to bed I came down stairs and started to watch It's Complicated... I've been interrupted once or twice ( or thrice ) but so far it's a fun movie with one or two laugh out loud scenes!! ;D

I imagine I'll soon be headed off to bed... and tomorrow I'm back on my Shred diet..... so I should be in great shape pretty soon! ;D

Finally on a parenting note, I had a bit of an epiphany the other night... I was saying goodnight to Jack as he was falling asleep and I whispered to him "I love you.... and I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud to be your Mum...." and I felt it so deeply I actually began to cry. Those kids of mine, I know I don't tell them near enough, but I hope they know how very VERY proud I am be their Mum and how much I love how they love me.

The best advice from my mother was a reminder to tell my children every day: 'Remember you are loved.'-Evelyn McCormick

When I pick up one of my children and cuddle them, all the strain and stress of life temporarily disappears. There is nothing more wonderful than motherhood and no one will ever love you as much as a small child.-Nicola Horlick

And finally, from the Mama Mia DVD...a song I have a love / hate relationship with... it makes Jessie and I cry everytime........

SLIPPING THROUGH MY FINGERS
Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness
And I have to sit down for a while
The feeling that I'm losing her forever
And without really entering her world
I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter
That funny little girl

Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what's in her mind
Each time I think I'm close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table
Barely awake, I let precious time go by
Then when she's gone there's that odd melancholy feeling
And a sense of guilt I can't deny
What happened to the wonderful adventures
The places I had planned for us to go
(Slipping through my fingers all the time)
Well, some of that we did but most we didn't
And why I just don't know

Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what's in her mind
Each time I think I'm close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture
And save it from the funny tricks of time
Slipping through my fingers...

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Schoolbag in hand she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile...

Chatting on Skype, shopping for new bike gear, dinner, ice cream and a movie....Does it get much better than THIS???!!!

2010-05-09T00:07:00.002-05:00

My mother's day came early today !! Firstly we got Skype going with my Mum in the UK and we chatted and shared a cup of tea for over an hour!!! It was lovely!!! After that the kids, hubby and I went shopping for some bike gear for me..!! I got new pants, shorts and a bike shirt!! YEEEEE!!! After shopping and trying on some crazy helmets we then went to La Paz for a delicious dinner... I had the Avocado Tacos and they were so darn delicious!! :D Rex decided to treat us all to some ice cream so we went to the ice cream place on 84th and Hwy 2... it was really delicious stuff!!! On the way there though we stopped to look at a really neat water feature that Rex likes!! It's lovely!! He's thinking of getting it for the garden someday!! I know I'd like it and the birds would LOVE it Now we are sitting here on the couch watching Avatar!!.... it's not really my kind of film hence the blogging whilst I watch but still...it's on and I'm here whilst it happens!!!!

So...all in all a lovely Mother's Day, topped off by my little girl telling me before bed that what she likes most in the world is "reading, Mom......" and other stuff but to be honest I so loved hearing her say "Mom" I didn't hear anything else!!! **myheartswells**

Well the Avatar climax seems to be drawing nigh... guess I should pay attention!!! More later folks!!

I like to move it move it ...But then I like to rest it rest it!! :D

2010-05-07T22:00:00.002-05:00

So we thought today would be an awesome day for a bike ride!! you know, because Rex could watch my kids, Lisa's daughter could be at the sitter and her Hubby could be our SAG support should we need it. The fact that it was a bit windy? Nah, no biggie. The fact that we got three Wind Advisory Warnings....pah... a breeze, at least it's not raining!! :D

We set off from Lincoln to Beatrice, a distance of 35 miles and stopped in Beatrice for lunch. It was a little odd that the buffet was closed already but ah well... pizza is good!! ;D We set off back home and got a call from my hubby asking where I was. He said he'd stop along the route and bring us some hot chocolate. It was only upon talking to him we realised just HOW LONG it was taking us to ride!!! Um.... HOURS AND HOURS !!! We'd been fighting a CONSTANT crosswind the whole was up and the way back was impossibly WORSE. It was all we could do to keep the bikes upright and prevent them from blowing into traffic... actual momentum was a whole 'nother issue!!! We were pedaling full speed to go DOWN hill. It was NUTS. Rex kept driving a few miles up and waiting for us, if we were happy we'd give him a thumbs up and keep on going. He drove a little further up the road and met us again. He then informed us it had been AN HOUR since we had seen him last and we'd only traveled a few miles. 10 miles an hour is usually a pretty low speed for us. I am pretty stubborn and had hoped to do a full 70 miles. I didn't want to quit at only 53 miles. I asked Lisa if we could do 60 and stop there. Rex agreed to drive up 7 more miles and wait for us. We watched him drive off and set off on our slug...... Instantly I began to regret letting him leave. The wind was crazy, our energy was low, our spirits were sinking..... I called Rex and said, you know, I think I can be pretty happy with 55 miles!!! We rode to the next junction where he picked us up and took our weary selves HOME!! Since we had such dreadful weather and we knew that we COULD do 70 miles if it weren't for the insanity of Nebraska Springtime we didn't feel TOO bad about the miles that got away! If anything we'd ridden 110 miles...!! It sure felt like that!!! ;D

so....lightening ....and water........ and metal pans...???

2010-05-06T23:54:00.002-05:00

LOL!! I'm not sure how much I enjoy washing my pots and pans whilst lightening rages right outside the window!!!! YOW!! I kept thinking I was about to be smoked at any moment!!: D I survived the dishes but now am sitting on an electrical recliner, watching the TV with a laptop on my lap!!! Can you say "BRING IT ON!!? Actually I'm too much of a chicken to do this for much longer!! :D

In short we had a nice day, went to Boot Camp and worked HARD, chatted with Mary and the kiddoes for a while, hung out with the kids then spent the afternoon getting ready for Rex to come home from his week away! Phew!! He should be home any minute and I'm sure he's happy he landed before the storm got here!!

Tomorrow I'm heading 0ut an a 70 mile bike ride!!!! **laughs hysterically** !! I'm sure it will be great!!!! .....!! I'll let you know how it turns out!!!!! ;D

Mr Cellophane...!!!

2010-05-05T00:10:00.002-05:00

Have ya heard the song, Mister Cellophane?? It's from the movie "Chicago"... about this guy who no one ever sees.... he's invisible, he's cellophane. Some days I feel like that...as if no one sees me. No one, and I don't mean my kids here, notices me, acknowledges me, gives a rats ass about me....!!! Isn't that odd???? I mean, it's only recently I've grown aware of how cellophane I have become and I have found myself wondering whyI have allowed myself to become that way. It's easier to be quiet, blend in, fade out, Be Good but if the end result is you suddenly have become invisible then what, my dear, is the use in that. My awesome pretend friend Claire has always stated "Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History" and I saw that on a bookmark the other day along with a list of doubtlessly ill behaved wenches, so I bought it and tucked it into a book I'd picked up for Jessie. I hope she's a wild woman. A trouble maker, an envelope pusher, a boundary breaker, a rule bender, an authority questioner. By god, she won't be cellophane, she'll be bloody extra strength Kevlar. Just TRY and ignore her!!!

And now, just for fun, another Chicago number...... Night folks! ;D

S.O.C.K.S

2010-05-03T23:58:00.002-05:00

This is my new Zen Mantra. Eso si qui es. It IS what it is. “Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.” ~Eckhart Tolle. I have found that by following this mantra life is sooooooOOOOOOOO much easier!!! ;D Rather than reacting to an event or judging it as either "good" or "Bad" if you can just accept that it IS then you are open to whatever the situation may bring. It is especially helpful if you have a little boy who can be quite difficult at times!! Rather than judging his behaviour as either good or bad and instead just accepting his behaviour as IS then I can relax and find better ways to understand him.

S.O.C.K.S. folks.

Hello folks!!

2010-05-02T22:25:00.002-05:00

I'm busy being spoiled rotten tonight!! Rex is not here tonight and I am sitting here on my couch, watching BONES streaming through the BluRay whilst typing away on my new little lap top!!! Lucky me!! :D Of course now the dog needs to go out.....tsk.... and the kettle has just boiled so I'll let the dog out and make myself a cuppa tea! :D All I'd need now is a biiiig bar of chocolate! :D

We had a nice day today...Jack was a pretty good little boy but he misses his Daddy pretty badly. We have a hard time talking to Daddy on the phone as Jack really doesn't like share !! Poor kiddo.

I played basket ball with the kiddoes, played Twister, folded a TON of laundry and yet still there is much to do! :D I want to get a handle on our house pretty soon as we'll be taking off on our BRAN ride in no time at all and I don' t want to leave it in uproar!!

Lisa and I have started a BRAN blog which, when there is anything to share, I will do so!! Until then it's just ready for us to add deets as and when they come up!! We're hoping to ride on Friday for 70 miles. We figure we'll set out in the morning, stop for lunch and ride on and on !! :D

Well.... the dog still needs out and the kettle is not getting any hotter!! :D

Next time, peeps! ;D

Spoiled rotten me. !!

2010-05-01T22:31:00.002-05:00

This morning we got a late start as I stayed in bed until 10am!!! It sounds decadent but not when you consider that I spent most of the night trying to turn myself inside out!!! (ugh!!) I DID wake up 2 pounds lighter though, so yeahy!..I guess!! ;D

Anyhooo!!

Once we were up and moving we got ready to go to Omaha for the day. We were looking for a new tent for "The BRAN" ... EVENTUALLY we settled on one that seems more than adequate in fact it MAY be a tad too big and I'm afraid folks will mistake us for the hospitality tent!!! ;D Anyway, it's pretty and big and we can stand up in it!! SWEET!! ;D

After buying a tent we then went to the computer store and Rex ran in and got me an Eee PC!! I've been DYING to get an Ipad but he said it might be too delicate for the BRAN and maybe I'll get one when I come back!!! ;) This little lap top is lovely though, perfect to carry with us, is wireless so ( provided I get a signal ) I can blog and even SKYPE from the road!! I'm really looking forward to being able to do that!! :D

Anyway, there ya go!! OH and then he took us to Whole Foods and bought us treats and lovely food for dinner...!! I'll let YOU figure out what my hubby's love language is....?? :D

So now I can blog or write my articles from the comfort of my couch right next to hubby...as long as he can stand the tip tap tapping of the keys...!! ;D

Night all! ;D

xxxx

Another fun and full day! ; D

2010-04-30T23:35:00.002-05:00

Lots of fun today! Boot camp, day care, Lisa to visit, laughing and chatting, basket ball playing with the family, Lisa and family back to visit some more.... a late late night for the children!! and, a short, short blog post from me. How chintzy!!!

I'm really enjoying this basket ball thing. Jack came running into the house this afternoon asking me "Are you coming?" ... he grabbed my hand and jabbered " You are on MY team!!" as we headed out the door. Once outside he called "Wait UP guys!! Mummy is here! She is on MY team!!" Jack and I play hard but Jessie and Rex are a good challenge! Jessie is doing so well ! I'm really proud of her!

Lisa and I checked out our tent today.. well, Rex's tent. We have a family tent that's HUGE and there's no way we want to take that on the BRAN!! Folks would think it's the information tent or something ! I mean, it's enormous! Rex has a two person tent that he staked out for me the other day. It stood up fine to our terrible storms last night and is a really lovely tent but Lisa and I felt it might be a bit small for the two of us and all ~~her~~ our gear. Rex and I will go to Omaha ( with the kids! ) and look again tomorrow. Maybe we'll find a reasonably priced bigger one! ;D

Anyhoo... Jack had come and asked me to take him to bed a while ago and Jessie was fast asleep on the couch. We tried waking her but BOY she doesn't like to be woken when she's so tired. Looks like she's sleeping down here tonight! ;D

I'm really ready for bed too, so I will post more tomorrow! :D

Night night all! ;D

Yeah.... bad night for a camp out...!

2010-04-29T22:46:00.002-05:00

Jessie, Jack and their two friends were planning to sleep out in the yard in our tent tonight. Uh huh..... that was until the storms stomped through!!! ;D Everyone is tucked up safely now but it was pretty hairy for a while!! ;D I was out with Jack at Day Care this evening and as I drove home Rex called. "Where are you ? " he asked. "why???" I wanted to know!! I told him where I was and he said "Oh, you should be ok... just don't linger....." !! WTF???? You can bet I didn't linger!!! Apparently there was a tornado heading our way. I figured as much!!! Yikes!! It missed us, we were fine, but I guess he just didn't want to scare me. !! PAH!!

So, tonight, we're staying in! ;D Sleep tight all! ;D

Updated: 10:24 PM Apr 29, 2010

Update: Severe Weather Alert

Numerous watches and warnings have been issued for the 10/11 viewing area. For a complete list of weather watches and warnings click on the link below.

Posted: 5:46 PM Apr 29, 2010
Reporter: 10/11 News
Email Address: desk@1011now.com

A tornado warning has been issued for Otoe County until 10:45 PM

A tornado watch remains in effect until midnight for the following counties in Nebraska: Cass, Douglas, Gage, Jefferson, Johnson, Lancaster, Nemaha, Pawnee, Richardson, Saline, Sarpy, Saunders, Seward, and Washington.

For the latest watches and warnings, click here.

To go to 1011weather.com click here.

Thinking.....

2010-04-28T20:03:00.000-05:00

Today I watched this..... and I read this...... and as I type my family are all outside playing basket ball......

Gotta go.....!!

:D

xxxxxx

Boot Camp, Short Nap, Day Care, Hu Hot, Lights Out! ;D

2010-04-27T22:56:00.003-05:00

Had ANOTHER awesome day!!! ;D ( I KNOW!! How lucky am I?!?! ) Went to Boot Camp this morning and loved it as usual! After BC I headed home and hung around with Hubby for a while. Later in the afternoon I had a short nap ( twice in two days!! I need to adjust my calorie intake I think, I'm always exhausted around 2pm....!) and then went back to Boot Camp to host the PM shift of Day Care. The kids were WILD tonight, full moon of course!!! Doh!!! Rex came and picked me up after day care ended and we went to meet friends at the Hu Hot Mongolian Grill. I've never been before but my goodness we're going again! I LOVED it ! :D So good and so easy to eat healthily there!!!! YUMMMMM!! ;D Anyway, it's a school night so we had to get back to the babysitter by 10, we made it just in time! Had a great evening though!! Now, it's snuggle on the couch time and then, as my little brother used to say, "D.D.D. " (B.E.D...!)

Night all! ;D

Monday ... right?!? :D

2010-04-26T22:21:00.002-05:00

An awesome day in the Baker house! ;D Lisa and I had agreed we would go to Boot Camp this morning if we could walk... and we could walk! We rocked Boot Camp and then I held Day Care for an hour. We came home and I had a hot shower as it was SOOOOOO COLD today!!! What the heck is going on with the weather?!?!? When I got out the shower Mary and her kiddoes were here and they stayed and played until about 2:30. The kids always have such fun and I love chatting with Mary and drinking tea! ;D We talked about Nutella a lot. mmmmmmmmm Nutella!!! Sex in a jar, that's what it is!!!! Yummmmm!!!

Anyhoo... after they left I cleaned up a bit and then I went to bed!!! I was suddenly SOOOOO tired!!! I slept for a couple of hours and really could have slept longer but the children were freaking out ... Jack was throwing shoes and yelling.... not conducive to a peaceful nap!!! I felt much better though, for the nap I'd had! ;D

The rest of the evening was taken up with dinner and reading through some of the cycling mags Rex had bought me! There are some lovely rides out there... I'm already thinking of some nice ones for AFTER Bran!!! I guess we'd better get the GOOD tent then eh?!!? ;D

Fantastic Bike Riding Day! ;D

2010-04-25T23:43:00.002-05:00

OK, THIS post is all about today and our great bike ride! ;D

As it poured with rain yesterday I didn't get a chance to try out my bike so was kind of anxious about riding all that way (43 miles ) on an unknown bike!

Lisa and Greg drove me to Omaha and Lisa and I tried to stay warm whilst waiting for the ride to start. We both have new bikes so we tooled around the parking lot figuring out the gearing and the brakes! Once the ride got going we had to stay with the pack. It was a much smaller group of riders than a similar ride in August last year. I think when it's early in the season and colder etc you get a sort of hard core bunch of riders. These folks were fast. Come to think of it there were quite a few riders who either a) took a short ride route or b) dropped out entirely as we saw them at the beginning of the ride and we never saw them again! :D

Anyhoo..... we set off... straight into the bitter wind. Perfect. 43 miles in a headwind. We also had some pretty harsh crosswinds that threatened to blow us off our bikes more than once! We took a different route than last time, this time we traveled a loooong bike trail that wound through a nature preserve. The frogs were going crazy! It was very scenic and helped pass the time. We also had a hill to beat all hills. Boot Hill someone called it!! that was so tough but Lisa and I rode the entire thing despite many a grown man getting off his bike and walking it! ;D Whooot!! That's the Boot Camp Endurance kicking in folks! ;D We were tested at one point as we were nearing the half way point.... it just seemed like it was never going to arrive! We could see miles ahead of us along the flat fields and could see folks riding along. We knew we still had to ride at least that far before we could turn around and maybe have the wind to our backs AND before we could get some food!!!!!

We finally made it to the halfway point and we couldn't eat fast enough!! We turned around as fast as we could and headed back. The way back we just FLEW!! At one point ( on a down hill run ) Lisa was going at 31.9 mph !! Sheesh!!! I just hung back and laughed whilst riding my brakes!!! Anyway we rode like the wind and once we'd got through the pot hole hell that is Carter Lake Park we headed back to the Civic Center. Suddenly, as we were about to pull in, a person leaped out from behind a flower pot!!! Hubby!! He and the kids had come to cheer us on!!! It was so lovely to see them and they bought us a delicious lunch too!! Now THAT was something to celebrate! ;D

Next up, 70 miles.......!! ;D

(PS, I will add some photos but honestly, I'm suddenly REALLY tired. Find me on Facebook and you can see them there.....!! )

G'night all!

GASP!!!**

2010-04-25T23:38:00.002-05:00

Did I not write a post yesterday!?!?! GAH!!!! I wanted to write a post every DAY!!! ***sob!!!*** I know what happened.... I wrote TWO examiner articles last night and must have thought I'd blogged one. Blast! OK, let's pretend this is Saturday's post.... a quick recap....

We got up at the crack of dawn, at 8:30 I took both kids to Kid's Boot Camp. At 10 we left and went to Astronomy Day at Morrill Hall. At 12:30 we went to Jimmy Johns ( Shimmy Shons! ) and had lunch with Rex then we went to pick up my New Bike!! ;D ( it wasn't ready.... Booo.... : ( ) We went to some computer shops to look at computers for Rex, then we went back to the bike store and I bought a BEEEEAAAAUUUUTiful new Surly Bike!! I LOVE it !!! From there we went to Antelope Park for the Earth Day celebrations.. such a lovely afternoon. We left there as it began to thunder and on the way home it poured so hard we couldn't drive!!! We got home, made dinner and the kiddoes watched a movie, THEN we went to bed. !! Doesn't look like much when you write it down... but it was a BUSY DAY!! :D

Catching up with old friends!

2010-04-23T22:16:00.002-05:00

Ok, not so old!!! You may have surmised from my recent blog entries that I have been a little, um, active lately??!! ;D I hate to use the word busy AGAIN, it's becoming a little old, but yeah, I've been doing a lot of stuff!!! :D I keep thinking about my pal Lisa OK from Michigan and how I haven't spoken to her in so long! We used to talk daily, sometimes twice daily and now it's been months since we spoke!! I finally managed to get a call in to her today and we caught up with each others lives! It was so lovely to talk though I know I called at a bad time! ;D With the time difference between us, their busy school life and AFTER school life more like, and with our crazy daytime schedule finding a good time to chat is not easy but we made it happen today. I do love talking with Lisa... it's like we've not missed a minute even though I can't tell you how long it's been since I've actually SEEN her. We can start talking as if we spoke only yesterday. That's how you know you have a true friend.

I miss her dreadfully.

Anyway. I just wanted to share how much I enjoyed talking to her and catching up... I can't wait to do it again soon..... sooner than last time......!!

Just a quickie again! ;D

2010-04-22T23:00:00.002-05:00

Wow. What a busy day! ;D LOL!!

I packed up the kids and went to Boot Camp again today.... the kiddoes went to the day care and had a great time by all accounts! It's a nice little day care with only a few children and it's right inside the gym so I can see them and they can see me when we work out! After the gym I headed home but had to stop for gas as I drove in on FUMES!!! Found gas, headed home and got there to find Mary and her children sitting on the door step!!!! Ack!!! I knew they were coming, I had just planned to get home before them!! ;D Ah well! So the children played for a while and went for a walk to the park ( with Jack!! ) and they all came home safe and sound! They didn't get to play for nearly long enough but it was lovely anyway! After they left I sorted some paper work for the Market and made an appointment to visit with the Health Inspector..!! Then we had some early dinner, packed up our cares and woes and headed back out to the Gym so I could do my two hour Day Care shift!! A couple of the other ladies were there and it was really nice chatting with them as we watched the children play. It has been really good for Jack as he has to interact somewhat with the others. He seems to be doing just fine and he knows the rule "No LEAVING!" LOL!

Once back from Day Care it was a quick meal for me ( Veggie burger, spinach, salsa, baked apple filled with cranberries, topped with a drizzle of honey, chopped almonds and cinnamon!! SUCH decadence!! ) then bedtime! Jack was so grubby I had to scrub his knees and heels to get him clean! Honestly I don't know HOW he gets so dirty! ; D

Anyway, now time for me to go to bed.... another day tomorrow you know! ;D

A Parenting Post!! A Parenting Post!!!!

2010-04-21T22:33:00.002-05:00

Actually you guys, I'm totally going to stiff you tonight!! ;D This is an article I wrote this evening based on trying to parent Jack today! ;D He's so funny! He always wants things he just can't have and today in Scheels he tried to get a paintball gun!!! I had to say no, (of course!) and so I tried all sorts of things before finally resorting to an old standby... Wish Granting! I told him he could have it in PRETEND!! It works like a charm with Jack!! He even told the lady at the check out about it and asked me to put it in a HUGE bag for him!! LOL!!!

Today was a lovely day, busy ( really??! ) but nice! When I got home from Boot Camp and Day Care, and shopping, and browsing cycle shops it was late afternoon! I got a little work done and then we had dinner. The kiddoes and Rex headed out to play basketball and soon I was invited to join in. We played for quite a while until the children grew tired but Jack would NOT go inside! I invited him to do "Suicides" with me on the driveway and he LOVED that idea! Since Jungle Kids Boot Camp he love to run and do exercises!! Finally I got him worn out and he came in to get ready for bed. Now he is asleep and I am once again sitting here typing instead of sitting snuggling with my hubby! Going to remedy that right now! ; D

Night all! ; D

Boot Camp, Food Handler's Permits, Boot Camp Day Care and a Doggie Taxi !!! It's no wonder my head spins!! ;D

2010-04-20T21:18:00.002-05:00

Today started out by us all waking up at 7:45 !! What a great night's sleep we all had!! I hustled and got ready for Boot Camp and worked my booty off for an hour. I came home to find everyone playing ball with Daddy. We visited for a while then Rex went off into town and I started to work on my Food Handler's Permit for the Farmer's Market this summer. It took me hours to get through the whole thing and I have to say, I'm never eating out again. Yikes. !!! Anyhoo, I'd no sooner done that than I had to get the kiddoes into the car and take them with me to the Gym so I could take my turn at Day Care. The kiddoes I watch are LOVELY .... real sweeties! We had some wild and rambunctious boys when I arrived but I got them sorted out by making them work out !!! That took some of their energy away!

I only have to watch them for an hour and it goes really fast so it wasn't long before we were headed home again. Once home I made some food for me and the kids. I had a fantasticly tasty salad... spinach, romaine, mushrooms, orange pepper and savory baked tofu with a dish of avocado, salsa and worcestershire sauce mixed into a fabulously tasty Guac!! oh yum!! ! I could have eaten that until it came out of my ears!! ;D

I was just about finished with dinner when Lucy ( the pooch ) started going BANANAS at the front door!!! Rex went to see what was going on and it was a dog! A dog we have seen a few times before!! She's an absolute sweetie, really friendly and soft. We know where she lives, clear on the other side of Hickman, and we have taken her home several times before too. Apparently her electric collar doesn't work!! ;D I said Hi to her and asked he what she was doing here at this time of night! She didn't answer! I opened my van door and she hopped right into the passenger seat!!! Bloody dog !!! She just wanted a ride home !!! ;D LOL!!!

Too Tired To Type!

2010-04-19T23:08:00.003-05:00

Ok folks, this is going to be a really short post.

Goodnight! ;D

Ok, not that short, but really pretty short anyway! I'm so tired I'm falling asleep at the keys! ;D
I went to Boot Camp this morning, came home, cleaned up a little, paid some bills, went for a walk with the kiddoes, Rex came home, we all went to town and I looked at a bike, we went to the park, he dropped us off at Boot Camp where I watched the new Day Care class for an hour then Rex picked us BACK up, we came home, I made a smoothie for the kids and something for myself, put the kids to bed, wrote an examiner article about the Park, and now, I'm going to bed.

G'night! :D

Sunday with a Scientist, the laundry and a hedge!! ;D

2010-04-18T23:00:00.002-05:00

Agh!! I had plans! BIG plans!! I was going to STAY HOME and I was going to get tons of work done ( paperwork ) and house work.... I was ... I was..... but Jessie somehow got wind of the Sunday with a Scientist thing and begged me to take her!! Seriously! She dragged out her science books, took notes, read me various pages.... she was KEEN!!! As a Good Homeschooling Mother how could I possibly say no!?? So... we went and it was lovely! She did me proud as she asked intelligent questions, made intelligent observations and was in general her lovely self. Jack was HIS usual self.... he pretended he couldn't talk, tried to steal a ladies stuffed plover and ran away and got lost for, oooh, five long minutes!!! LOL!!

I wrote an article about it and there's a slideshow of pics if you wanted to have a look....

Anyway, we went, we saw, we enjoyed, we left, we stopped for Tacos, we came home. I ran the dishwasher, loaded the washing machine, downloaded some pics and changed into my riding shorts. Rex walked in the door, I walked OUT the door and took off for a quick ride with Lisa. We only rode 11 miles as it was FREEEEEZING out there.... her fingers were WHITE with cold. We decided to stop for coffee to warm us and the thrill of the idea send me tumbling into a hedge. Perfect!! I was riding one of her bikes to try it out and the brakes are AWESOME!! TOO Awesome!!! I over steered, over corrected, over braked aaaaand over tipped!!! ;D Ah well, no harm done!! And Lisa didn't laugh TOOO much!! ;D

Hah hah hah. !!!

Photography Friday....on Saturday!! ;D

2010-04-17T20:46:00.006-05:00

Egg Races and Egg Tossing game!

Alicia and I and the Children thought Egg and Spoon races would be fun!

The pics are a little blurry as Rex was trying a new lens and the sun was
setting rapidly!

But you can still see the joy!!

Ooops!!! Don't step on it Anna~!!!!

LOL!!

Go Alicia Go!! ;D

LOOK at all that happy!

No one kept track of who was winning or who won..

We all just kept playing and playing!

Even little Alex!!!

He was very careful! I LOVE his sticking up hair here!

Then a game of toss the egg. We all stood close and passed the egg to one another....

Then we'd take a step backwards each time around..

Can you see the egg in the air!

And again!! ;D

Jack couldn't!!!

Another egg shot!

This one was a really high one....... um....... waaaaait............ woah.......... um.....

.......ughhhhh......... THAT was foolish!! ;D

Ooops.

Fun times! ;D

Fabulous Fun Filled Friday! ;D

2010-04-16T23:28:00.002-05:00

Hellooo!! ;D

Today was awesome! ;D Boot Camp kicked Boot and my ARMS !! Yowzah! I couldn't lift my drink bottle to my mouth halfway though !! Phew!!! It feels good though, I KNOW I've exercised when that happens! After Boot Camp I came home, showered and tidied up the house a bit and then Mary and the kiddoes came to play again!! I LOVE that they came two days in a row!! How awesome is that?!?! :D

The children spent a lot of time riding their bikes to the park and playing there and Mary and I sat and righted the worlds wrongs, sipped tea and knitted some!!! ;D I also made a long list of everything I have to get done this weekend... you know, besides have fun and hang out with the kiddoes! ;D Mary and gang stayed until gone 6 and STILL Jack sobbed and wailed when they left! He was only appeased by the prospect of Boot Camp for Kids tomorrow and then Jorie coming to play with him tomorrow afternoon whilst hubster and I go bike shopping. I say shopping, I mean looking~ with~ longing at. Jack has instructed me I have to go out if Jorie comes.. he wants her with no interruptions from me I guess!! ;D Jessie was excited to hear that we are going to the Pioneer's Park Nature Market tomorrow too but I didn't think Jack would be all that bothered, so that can be a surprise!! :D

So for now, I suppose I'll just go and lay my head down for all of five minutes, wake up and start the madness all over again!! I'm really LOVING all this crazy busy we have going on! It's such an awesome change and I just know it won't last so I'm hanging on to the roller coaster and we'll see when it slows down again !!! ;D

Boot Camp, Friends to visit, a Marvelous Magical Milk Experiment and a delicious dinner with friends!!

2010-04-15T23:18:00.004-05:00

What a lovely day!! **happy sigh!!** :D

This morning I Boot Camped and I felt great ! I worked really hard and kicked my own ass!! ;D After Boot Camp I came home and tried out a new Camel Bak hubby had bought me to carry water on The Bran !! It works well and will keep me well and truly hydrated! ;D Not long after that our friends Mary, Will and Charlotte came to play and the kids ran around outside most of the time! We did wrangle them in to try out our Marvelous Magical Milk experiment!! It was really fun and the kids enjoyed dragging tooth picks through the milk afterwards!!! They had to leave earlier than we'd have liked today but hopefully they have been persuaded to come and play again tomorrow!!

I did some work this afternoon, wrote an article, filled in some paperwork, etc etc and then we gathered up ourselves and headed out to my friend Elayne's house for dinner. She took special care to make me a fantastic Vegan meal.... it was so good!! I'm ashamed at the lousy stuff I've been putting together for my family after that!! And she's not even VEGETARIAN!! It was awesome. It's lucky for everyone at the table that I'm on this diet for Boot Camp right now or I'd have eaten the lot !!! YUMMMY!!! We'd have loved to have stayed and hung out all night but the kids were all starting to freak out so we had to go home! Can't wait until next time!! ;D

Tomorrow looks set to be another Fun Filled Fab Friday !! Bring It ON!! ;D

A little something for you... I know you've been waiting for it....!

2010-04-15T00:14:00.003-05:00

PHOTOS!! :D

These pics are from The Great Red Cabbage Water Experiment!! ;D

First you boil up half a red cabbage until the house reeks of it and the red cabbage looks GROSS then you strain out the cabbage leaves and keep the purple water that remains. Pour the cabbage water into several glasses, an ice cube tray (preferably a clear or whiteish one ) or little bowls. Add various household condiments and try to figure out which are more base and which are more acid. As you add your pantry components the cabbage water will change color from deep purple, to violet, pinks to blues and even, if you add the right thing, completely clear!! The kids loved changing the colors back and forth and had a great time trying to guess which color was going to come up next! Alicia noticed that the color changes were less obvious at my house than at hers and we figured it was likely something to do with our water supply... we have VERY hard water here...! Anyway, fun was had none the less! ; D

We used; Peroxide, alum, baking soda, lemon juice, white wine, cider vinegar, white vinegar and laundry detergent.

Serious Sciencsy Stuff !!

Pretty neat fun!! AND we have a ton of purple water left over so we can do it again and again and again! ;D

Tuesday.... right?? It's Tuesday today???

2010-04-13T23:04:00.002-05:00

Yow! ;D

Well.... um.... I'm trying not to use the word "busy" today... but ....ah.... it's been a FULL day today! ;D I started out working on some stuff for Greg, I got the kids outside to play in the beautiful ( if rather breezy ) sunshine and I did a little work. I decided, since I was missing Boot Camp today that I would get some exercise here at home so I jumped rope 300 times, did 50 tricep dips and went for a one mile run whilst carrying two jugs of water each weighing 5.5 lbs. I'm insane. Anyway, after that I wrote an article for the Examiner and then got the kids ready to go to town. We ran so many errands I was dizzy with it, but finally we got all done, headed home and had a snack. I sent the children back outside and wrote some more articles, then cleaned the kitchen and picked up the living room. The laundry remains. I barely notice it anymore! ;P After a quick dinner the kiddoes and I played a rousing game of Farkle whilst Daddy mowed the ( now neck high ) grass! After Farkle, vitamins, teeth and BED !!!!! ***sigh*** Sheesh!!

And now, here I am, begging you to please hang on with me and I SURELY WILL get some photos out to you soon! One thing that's holding me up is I need a program that reduces my pictures en masse. I used to have one but when the computer had it's virus last, well, the program "Poopapeered". : ( Rex has another copy of it, I just have to ~~nag~~ gently remind him to put it back on for me!! ;D When he does, well, look out!!! ;D

So, goodnight, again, all!

Oh, incase you missed my articles today, here they are... you know, if you are having trouble sleeping or something....!! ;D

Down Syndrome girl to star in Fox's Glee

Study finds spanking leads to bullying

The Week of the Young Child

Toodles! ;D

Monday?!?!? AGAYUN!?!?!

2010-04-12T22:56:00.002-05:00

Wow Monday's come around pretty quick these days don't they?!?! :D

Well you'll be THRILLED to know I ran the full mile on Boot Camp today without stopping once. Pah. I know, I used to run MUCH more than one mile but that was then and this is now!! I kept going by reminding myself about Eddie Izzard and his amazing 43 Marathons in 51 days! He just told himself "Don't stop!" If he can do THAT I can run a poxy mile!! ;D ( that doesn't mean I wasn't pretty darned proud of myself though!! )

This afternoon the weather was magnificent!! It was in the high 80's and the children were outside most of the day !! ( of course the fact that I had told them if they spent more then 5 minutes indoors I'd find them chores to do had very little to do with it.....!! ; D) I had imagined I would get all sorts of my own chores done today... I literally have TONS of laundry .... ok, ok... not TONS LITERALLY, but a LOT of laundry piled up waiting to be folded, the kitchen is a disaster, the house needs to see a vacuum and really, I MUST change the bedding BUT the weather is lovely, the windows are open, I'm thrilled to be getting up and getting out, exercising and biking...... LIFE IS GOOD!! FAAAAR to good to worry about domestic crapola!!! Face it, even after I'm dead there'll be damn laundry to do and dishes to wash... I'm not wasting my time on it all now!! ;D ESPECIALLY when it's lovely out. The next time it rains I'll clean my house! Or when Lisa, Mary or Elayne next come to visit which ever comes first!!!;D

Before dinner tonight Jessie asked if she could go for a bike ride with me! She got on her bike and would you believe she challenged me to keep up with her !!! LOL!! the noive!! ;D We had a lovely ride though town, through the park and along the trails.... ! She did really well. We had a couple of hills that I had to change gears for and the poor little mite didn't HAVE any gears! She just had young lady ooomph I guess!! ;D It was really lovely to be out on a ride where I could just coast along and not worry about how far or how fast I was going! Nice! ;D

Anyhoo folks, I've kept you long enough. I'm going to bed! No Boot Camp for me in the morning tomorrow... Rex will be in Omaha so I'll stay with the kiddoes. I actually might MIGHT get some cleaning done as I do think they are predicting rain. I also want to go through the closets and clear out that which is more than 10 years old.... !! Who am I kidding... I have pants that my MUM used to wear probably 30 years ago. ***swoon!!*** I almost can't believe that myself!! ;D

Night all...!! Sweet dreams! ;D

LOL!!! Yup.... Another busy day and I'm LOVING it! : D

2010-04-11T21:04:00.002-05:00

Today started out with a Sunday morning Boot Camp! ;D After our 20 miles last night I really didn't think we'd be in any shape for exercising but we did AWESOME AND won a competition ( well, it was a three way tie, but still!!) where we won a delicious protein drink!! ;D After Boot Camp I came home and worked on the house a little, showered, changed, read and finished a book, made lunch etc etc.... Jorie, the babysitter from across the road came over to go for a bike ride with the kids and whilst they were out Rex called saying he needed me to run over to Roca and take him some ear protectors.... they were up in the cherry picker trimming trees! I took Lucy and let her run loose around the property for a few minutes whilst we chatted. Lucy was so good and came RUNNING to me when I called her! I was so pleased! I also found a TON of tiny little clay pots which I brought home to plant little seeds or something in ! They are so sweet looking! ;D

Anyway, once the kiddies got back and after Jorie and Jack had played Hyperdash for a while, we went outside to play basketball with Daddy. Then it was time for dinner.... then time for the kiddoes to go to bed!!! They were asleep by 8:30 !!!! Yeeee hawww!! ;D

Now it's time for me to go and sit with hubby and fold 64,000 tons of laundry.... or... I could skip it for one more day...!! ;D

Oh you GUYS!!!

2010-04-10T22:24:00.002-05:00

WHAT a busy day!!! I know I keep saying that, but, REALLY!! A busy one! ;D

The kids and I went to Boot Camp today for Jungle Kids.... a fun boot camp for children from ages 6-11. My two had a BALL !!! :D Jack's face as he ran and ran and ran..... delighted!! Jack really liked Steve, the gym owner, and kept holding his hand as they were running and he said "I LOVE Bootcamping!!" At the end of the bootcamp the kids and trainers all put their hands into the middle for a cheer. They all shouted "WAY TO GO, JACK" and cheered!!!! How lovely was that?!?!?

After boot camp we went to Rocket Fizz as I had promised the kids I would take them. I let them pick out one candy bar each. I refrained. I don't know HOW I did, but I did. From there, Super Saver! I was in the middle of shopping when Lisa called and asked if I'd like to meet her for soup at Panera!! Well!! Who wouldn't!!?!!? I had some delicious Black Bean soup, the kiddoes had grilled cheese sandwiches and Mac and Cheese. It looked REALLY good!!!!!! After lunch Lisa went home for a meeting and we headed back to our house where we found Daddy laying under the Jeep fixing the fuel line!!! We left him to it and I went inside to clean up the kitchen and to check in with the library to see what they had called about yesterday. Ugh. I'm REALLY glad I did. I'm not going to tell you HOW big the library fine is because my Mum reads this blog and I worry about her heart. Seriously. It's HUGE. I'm going to go in and see if they'll let me stack shelves. For the Rest Of My Life. **sigh**

I decided it would be good for my mental health if I went for a quick run. I headed out to run a mile and did feel a lot better when I got back.

I'd not been back long when I heard the dog barking and Jorie, our neighbor / babysitter had rolled over on her skates to say hello! Jack wanted to go for a ride with her and he got out his little trike to go along!! She was so sweet to him! She told him she'd ride with him tomorrow at 2 o'clock!! He has a date!! ;D He does think she is rather special! ;D

As we were outside when Jorie left we all became enthralled with the ENORMOUS Cherry Picker that was parked in the driveway!! ;D Daddy had brought it over to put up a basketball backboard over the garage. A friend had been using the cherry picker to fix his chimney so we borrowed it when he was through! We managed to persuade the children to ride up in it and I was so proud of Jessie as she overcame her fear of it and ended up driving it herself!!! :D Whilst I was having a ride in it the phone rang and it was Lisa... She was ready to go for our bike ride tonight. Twenty miles. Whoosh!! ;D I ran inside to change, scarfed a cup of red beans with salsa, a vegan sausage pattie and a cup of spinach for my dinner. It was so yummy!! I grabbed my bike, kissed the family and drove off to her house where we put my bike on her bike rack and drove on to Pioneers park.

The wind was blowing in our faces as we took off riding. We made great time and were riding a lot faster than we used to. We decided to ride ten miles then turn back which we don't really like doing, but sometimes you just hafta !! We passed our boot camp place and the tires were still sitting out in the driveway. The temptation was too great so we stopped and I grabbed one ( a HEAVY one it turned out! ) and ran the length of the parking lot and back with it!!! I just wanted to say I'd done it!!! I got back on the bike and pedaled on. Apart from the bugs trying to eat Lisa alive ,there was very little excitement...we turned around to go back.... AND... the wind was in our faces again. We're still trying to figure out how that happened!!

Anyway, we did our twenty miles and the sun was going DOWN!! It was all but dark by the time we reached the car ( which was unfortunately at the top of a huuuuuge long hill...... ) but we made it home, safe and sound. My kiddoes were pleased to see me when I got back and little Jack... man.... he was so tired!!! I lay down with him and talked to him about Jungle Kids..... and he was OUT !!! Sleepy boy!!

My turn next......!!! Snore !!! :D

Sheesh we had a busy one today! ; D

2010-04-09T22:15:00.002-05:00

Our day started out fairly busy.... Rex went out at 5:30 am to meet some friends for breakfast. At 8am he met another friend for bagels and discussed a potential job ( fingers crossed ) at 9 am I left the kiddoes at home and headed to Boot Camp just as Rex left the bagel place to head home. I got to Boot Camp at 9:30 and did an hour's work out. At 10:30 I headed home, got home at 11. At 11:15 Rex left to go to Waverly and, simultaneously our friend Mary and her children drove in. We visited and played and drank tea until 6pm when they left. At 6:30 Rex arrived home and changed his clothes. At 7pm Rex left to go and meet a friend for a drink and then a night of bowling!! I got the kids their dinner, started getting them ready for bed and then noticed Jessie's hair was One Huge Knot. Poor girl. It took about an hour and a half to comb it, put conditioner through it and then have her shower it off. She was UNHAPPY. She was tired anyway and hates having me mess with her hair. Ugh. Sooooo, Jack got ready for bed and said he was going to go to his bed and hide. He LOVES to hide. Off he went and I had a suspicion what was going to happen next. Yup. He was right under the covers when I went in..... faaaaaaast asleep! :D Bless him!!

Anyway!!

I naively brought my book downstairs after getting my PJ's on ready for bed. I was going to read a book, right after I blogged, cleaned the kitchen, emptied and reloaded the dishwasher and folded two baskets of laundry. Har de har. Here I sit. Still. !! I've been trying to get photos together of the past week... I have HUNDREDS!!!!!! It's going to take me For EVER to get them on Blogger, so I have put them up on facebook. If you are not on facebook or you are not on my friends list, feel free to email me and I can email YOU the link to the pics!!! :D I've only put the first batch up tonight.... to come....Easter fun, egg and spoon races, egg tossing, egg decorating, egg hunting, cabbage experiments and ironing plastic bags onto shirts....!!! Can you tell WHY I have so many PICS?!?! :D

More tomorrow folks!! And it's off to the kitchen for me!! :D

BootY camp today, tidying the house and date night! ;D

2010-04-08T18:30:00.002-05:00

Today's boot camp was all about the butt!! ; D I KNOW it's going to hurt tomorrow!! My free week at N10sive boot camp was up yesterday so this morning I paid my dues and am a fully paid up ~~crazy person~~ member!! Whoooot!! ;D

When I got home and showered etc I started on cleaning up the house... tackling the laundry piles, picking up small toys and so on.... It's almost impossible to keep the house tidy when friends are staying... too much fun to be had!! : D

Tonight Hubby wants me to sit with him and watch a movie! We've hardly had two minutes together since last week and so tonight is catch up night!! I'm looking forward to it. I think we're going to watch The Hangover again... SUCH a funny movie I'm sure we could watch it a dozen times and still laugh like drains!! ;D

Enjoy your evening, folks!

Alicia and kiddoes head home, I fall asleep on the couch for 3 hours. Tired much??? :D

2010-04-07T21:57:00.002-05:00

This morning started out with us "Gluing" plastic bags onto T shirts with a hot iron! It was fairly successful though some bags melted better than others.... Fun to try though!! The kiddoes all wore their shirts as they got ready to leave. Rex was going to drive the family all back to Le Mars to meet up with Alicia's hubby and they all left at 11 o'clock. The kids and I waved them bye bye and headed back into the house... we always miss them so much as soon as they leave... :(

I was talking to Jack tonight and I asked him what he loved best about the visit. He said he loves Alicia because she read books to him, he loves Alex because he "showed me the fireplace"....( Long story! ) and he then went through the list of all the kids and told me all the good times he'd had with each of them. I love that he loves Alicia and Alex first though!! ;D So sweet! Alicia and the children are family to us. We just love being with them and can't wait to see them again. Every time we get together it's like we've never been apart. We all pick up right where we left off!! Hurry back Minnesota Gang!!

Anyway, I had plans of tidying up the house a bit, catching up on laundry, cleaning up the kitchen and so on, but first I wanted to make myself a cup of tea and I was going to sit on the couch and read some of my book. yah. I made the tea, sat on the couch and yes, I did read my book.... all one and a half pages of it. In only moments I was OUT like a light. I roused a couple of times, opened bleary eyes, tried to wake up.... failed..... back to sleep. I woke up at FOUR THIRTY !!!!!!!! Yow. We spend so much time having fun, walking, playing, doing crafts, chatting, drinking tea, eating dinner, etc etc etc.... there's no time for SLEEP!!!

Early night tonight, folks!! ;D

G'night.

Bootcamp, crazy kids and maybe there's just something in the air?!?!

2010-04-06T23:59:00.002-05:00

Another really quick post tonight, sports fans..... I'm falling asleep at the switch here! ;D

We had a fun day.... I had Boot Camp in the morning, love love love it..... especially when it STOPS!! :D LOL!!! Once I got home it became clear that the children were bound and determined to drive us all BATS!!! They were being so crazy making!!! Gah!!!! We never did really get them calmed down!! Little Alex was a sweetheart though, calling me "Ma" and planting a big kiss out of the blue, right on my cheek!! Bless him! ;D

We did spend a little time cutting plastic bags to pieces to stick on T Shirts tomorrow!! We're going to iron them on....! It should be fun!! We've made up some really funny ones! ;D Photos tomorrow.... really! ;D

The kiddies watched a movie and ate popcorn in the basement... we set up chairs in a row so they could pretend to be in the theatre!! They really seemed to enjoy it!! ;D

Tonight is Alicia's last night here for a while and I'd love to have been able to spend some more time with her, but I fell asleep putting Jack to bed. Tsk. Ah well.... I'll spend some time with her before they leave. Rex is going to drive them home again..... he's so nice!! ;D

Anyway, must go before I fall asleep on my keyboard! ;D

'Night!

Boot camp, friends to play and an acids and bases science experiment!

2010-04-05T22:16:00.003-05:00

Wow the days are flying past...!! ;D It always happens when Alicia and gang come to stay!! Happily we have done a lot of the things we had hoped to do and tomorrow we'll get to melting the plastic bags and sticking them onto T shirts...!! ;D

Today I had an 8:30 Boot Camp, went well, not too sore.... tough but not bad at all!! :D

After I got home we faffed about before Mary and the kids arrived and the children promptly disappeared off to explore the park. Once they returned, muddy beyond belief and tick riddled ( yes, ticks. already. sheesh...) then we set up our cool experiment. We boiled Red Cabbage and strained off the water into several glasses. We raided the pantry for acids and bases such as wine, baking powder, vinegar, alum, laundry detergent and hydrogen peroxide. We lined 'em all up and added a drop of either acid or base to each glass of cabbage water and watched the results!!! The water turned shades of blue to hot pink!! It was fabulous and lots of fun!! We'll have to do it again and again!! :D

I took a ton of photos and once my computer is back from the shop I'll add them!!! :D

Hoppy happy Easter! ;D

2010-04-04T21:55:00.002-05:00

What an awesome Easter day we had !!! It was SUCH fun!! ;D I am going to have an early (er ) night tonight (boot camp in the morning you know!! ) so I won't post all the pics and stuff tonight BUT we had a blast! The kids made felt eggs, we blew tons of eggs and the children decorated them with glitter, buttons, paint, markers... all sorts of things. We also use silk ties to Tie dye eggs!! It worked really well and left fantastic patterns on the shells. I'll post pics tomorrow... perhaps!! Once Alicia is home for SURE!! We went to the park and played on the swings and the slide, we wore fancy clothes all day long... we took a billion pictures including lots of hopping in the air... we had a treasure hunt in and outside the house which took me longer to make up than it took the beggars to figure out, still, they enjoyed it and loved the Cadbury's Creme eggs, mini eggs, milky way bar and Peeps. I'm looking forward to day when I can make the clues a tad harder!! ;D We had an egg and spoon race of epic proportions and followed that with a game of toss the egg... only... it was getting pretty dark and shortly became a game of wear the egg as I foolishly leaped to catch an errant shot from my boy and abruptly realised the consequences. Yuk. and har de har... !! ;D

So.. how was YOUR Easter!?!? ;D

Hmmm..... two am.... a tad late ?? :D

2010-04-04T01:58:00.002-05:00

Oops!! ;D

We've had a busy day today!! We've been for walks to the park, bike rides for the kids, exploring the river banks, making yummy snacks, back to the park again, a trip into town to the Goodwill stores, pizza for dinner, MORE walks to the park, making felt eggs, re-potting seedlings more laughing, more playing "etcetera, etcetera, etcetera" (The King and I ) !! I have photos to post, lots more to write and so on, but I am so VERY tired....!!!

More tomorrow.... Happy Easter, Bunny! ;D

FANTASTIC Friday! ;D

2010-04-03T00:01:00.002-05:00

You have got to LOVE a Friday that starts out with friends coming over to visit, hanging out, copious cups of tea, chatting, playing, filthy feet from mud puddles, sunshine on your face AND getting the fridge cleaned... THEN your best buddies from Minnesota arrive and everyone hangs out together ... more tea... more trips to the mud puddle... more chatting .... THEN the local kids persuade their Mom to let them sleep over along with the Minnesota kids, more chatting, excitement, playing, running around, laughing, Wii playing, game playing, dress up, trains, movies, food, laughing some more.... bedtime...lights out...whispering, giggling, patently not sleeping.... !!!

Good times.... good times. :D

Blogging in!

2010-04-01T12:12:00.002-05:00

Well I'm back from my third day of Boot Camp and today am feeling pretty good! I woke up feeling stiff but that makes me feel GOOD as if I have accomplished something! I Do have a stupid cold though. Nothing too major but annoying non the less. I can't remember, apart from Migraines, when I was last sick. It's been a year I'm sure! Anyway, that's annoying!!!

Today we are going for another walk with litter pick up in mind! It's a really windy day which makes litter pick up all the more challenging!

The kiddoes are being themselves today! Jack is being stubborn and slow to react and Jessie is being wild seemingly driving him daft on purpose! Who knows!? As long as they do it outside!! :D It seems such an obvious thing but it took me until only recently to realise that Jack's personality means he is slow to move. He can not or rather will not be hurried. For someone such as myself who is impatient and fast moving it's a real lesson to have to slow down and wait for him to be ready to do something. The more you rush him and pressure him, the slower the boy becomes!! Clearly this can set the stage for a battle of wills of epic proportions, but now I have learned it's Just Jack I can rein in my impatience and let him do a lot of things in his own sweet time. Naturally if there was an emergency then all bets are off!! ;D

Anyhoo... there you are, an update on our morning!! I imagine the rest of the day will revolve around tidying the kitchen up and sitting around reading in the sunshine!!

I hope you have a lovely day too! ;D

One Small Change

2010-03-31T10:31:00.003-05:00

With Earth Day coming up this month it's hard to not think about the Earth and ways to "save" it. I'm not really an "Environmentalist".... I believe that climate change is a cyclical thing and has happened before and will indeed happen again. Nothing stays the same, everything changes..... However, having said that I will say that I see no need for the people on Earth to cause harm to the planet, to pollute, to use up all the finite resources with little or no regard for the future ahead. I've recently come across the blog One Small Change and have decided to try some small changes over here. We recycle already of course. I'm sure most people do these days? Now we are trying to do more "reusing" too. I try and repurpose plastic that won't recycle by using them to grow wheatgrass and such..and we use glass jars for all sorts of things. I'm trying to buy products with less packaging, buying more local, trying to grow our own produce and hope for a bigger garden this year since I'm usually just a tomato grower!!! We're growing lots of sprouts and have seeds already started to go in the garden very soon. However, we're also going to be putting up a washing line again to hang laundry out to dry. My line used to run under three huge cottonwood trees which would result in my damp laundry being covered first with cotton and then secondly with bird poop. Not a happy result. I'm working on getting my hubby to put up another line for me.... it seems like a lovely idea. I also want to work on our local council to get them to agree to allow chickens to be kept within the city limits.. this year seems like a good one for that.

This coming month the children and I are planning to start taking take trash bags with us on our walks through the town. We often pick up garbage we find but there is sometimes more than we can or we WANT to carry so a trash bag will be a great solution. This Small Change will certainly make a difference to the little footpaths we frequent. Another plan for this coming month is to Seed Bomb the river sides along our walk. There is a small little river that runs through the town and the banks are crying out for wild flowers. I'd LOVE to see some sprouting up, a sort of "Miss Rumphius" kind of thing.

The biggest change I would like to make this coming month is to move towards "Family Cloth".... I'm not sure Rex is keen and I'm fine with that, but I certainly would like to try it out... so there you go.... One Small Change actually inspired several small changes! :D

Are there any changes you would like to make this month?

*****************************************************************

We're back from our walk through the neighborhood and happily we collected two full bags of trash. Sadly we collected two full bags of trash and we had to leave some behind as our bags were FULL....

Tomorrow, another walk... another couple of bags.... Small Changes....

Just thinking out loud! ;D

2010-03-31T10:26:00.002-05:00

So it's occurred to me this is not so much of an AP parenting blog these days, is it?!?! :D Sorry about that, swings and roundabouts you know! ; D

I went to Boot Camp again this morning and feel fantastic so far.... yeah.... remember Monday??? It could still go horribly wrong but hopefully I took the right precautions today, stuffed myself with carbs, took Gatorade with me and ate Shock Blocks ( or something like that.... gross things but crammed with carbs and electrolytes. ) All being well I'll avoid the migraine today! Boot Camp is really really hard work but it feels SOOOO good when it quits!! Luckily the guy teaching it is soooo friendly and nice you can't help but forgive his obviously sadistic nature!! ;D

The temperature is already 63 outside and the kids and I are going to go for a quick walk with the dogs to stretch out my legs then we're going to meet Lisa at Pioneers Park for a picnic!! Should be lots of fun! We might even get in a bike ride tonight....!!! Are we mad?? Why yes, we are! :D

So enjoy your day, hope it's a warm one for ya! ;D

Totally Terrific Tuesday! ;D

2010-03-30T23:42:00.003-05:00

Wow we had a lovely day today!! It really helps that the weather was wonderful and hey, I wasn't puking!! Score!!! I laid in bed for HOURS this morning reading my books whilst Rex slept and slept.... he has a sinus infection and wasn't feeling the best. The kids took advantage and played downstairs in peace! I took the kids and dogs out for a walk after lunch and they played in the huge streams formed from the melted snow! It was so muddy they got filthy filthy but had a wonderful time!!!! Once home the children played outside for a while with Daddy pushing them ever higher on the swings!! They squealed and laughed with fear and delight! I ended up sitting in the shade of the house as too much sun too soon can give me, guess what? Migraines!! I managed to miss another one today SO THAT'S GOOD!! :D Around dinner time Rex suggested calling some friends of ours and asking them to come over and bring pizza!! SCORE!! They came soon after with two huge pizzas and their three small children ( um, the friend's children, not the pizza's children, right? ) Rex and Jay went to the garage to work on a planter they were building and Elayne and the kiddoes stayed inside ... the children all played together and Elayne and I chatted on and on over pot after pot of Darjeeling tea! ;D ( Darjeeling makes me come over all posh and call everyone Dahhhhling!!! Care for some Darjeeling, Daahhhling??) LOL!!

Anyhoo.... after the planter was completed the "MEN" came inside and played a few games of chess whilst Elayne, Jessie, Jack and I played Pictionary! We laughed and played and drank more tea...!! About 11pm my children were asking to go to bed!! Poor kiddoes! They don't do late nights well!! We had thought about the grownups watching The Hangover together ( I love that movie!!) but it just got too late to be a sensible idea and I planned to make another attempt at Boot Camp in the morning so we postponed that plan and Jay and Elayne went home....until next time!! ;D Rex and I walked out to see them off when they left and we listened to the frogs croaking and noticed moths on the side of the house..... the temperature was still 64 degrees..... wonderful! We had such fun this evening, I hope to do it again SOON!!

Given the boot......!

2010-03-29T23:12:00.002-05:00

Hmmm...... Went to Boot Camp this morning! Set my alarm, got up early, workout frenziedly and felt fantastic!! The temps were in the high 70's so the kids, dogs and I went for a long walk in the sun.... and my head started to nudge me. I got home and tried to make more to eat ( I'd been eating before and after Boot Camp but thought maybe some additional protein would help my head...... ) ate more food, head really started to bang......by about 3pm Mr Migraine was here. Perfect. Went to bed and left hubby, sick with a sinus cold, to take care of the house and kids. I threw up everything I have eaten over the past week and still my body was trying to throw up more. Bleurgh. I woke up finally at 10:40 pm and feel much recovered. Exercise, it's what's not for dinner.....

Worn out! ;D

2010-03-28T21:50:00.002-05:00

I spent most of today in a sort of stupor~! :D I couldn't get myself motivated to do anything and felt really sluggish. I lay in bed reading for a while, got up, dressed, had breakfast and then sat in the sun on my bedroom floor and read some more! Once I'd finished my book I came down and spent some time with the kiddoes ( Rex was out for the day ) and after lunch I lay on the floor talking to the dog who was sleeping in the sun.... and.... I fell asleep too. I really needed the sun I think. It's starting to get warm here but the wind is strong and still chilly. I need HEAT! I need my bones to feel warm again!! I said to Jessie I think I am part Gecko or something! I need to sun to get me moving!! Once I'd slept a while and sufficiently warmed up we all went for a nice walk... Jack took his ( far too small ) tricycle... and along the way Jessie made friends with a sweet dog called Mia and a girl called Maisie. She was excited to make a new friend and I was happy for her!

Once home it was about time for bed and Jack said he was tired! Rex called and said he'd collected a basketball back board that I'd found on Freecycle and he'd picked up a new net to go with it! Jessie is going to be so excited! ;D

Other than that, folks, it was a very laid back day... just the way I like 'em! ;D

What a swell party this is!! .... or was...!!! :D

2010-03-28T01:23:00.002-05:00

Today was the day for Rex's birthday party so I had a few things I wanted to get done. Rex asked what he could do to help, so I said take the kids and leave the house!!! ;D He called up his buddy Jay and the two guys and their two kids each set off to the Omaha zoo!! ;D Apparently they all had a wonderful time!! I got SOOOOO much work done in this house!! ;D I completely cleaned out Jessie's room, which had been a dreadful mess, I even moved the bed and washed all the bedding! I did every scrap of laundry in the house, all washed, dried and put away.... I removed all the recycling, cleaned every room, dusted, hoovered, polished, washed, cleaned, tidied, sorted.... yesterday I had even cleaned out the fishtank and washed the dog!! ;D Hey, you never know what people are going to notice when they come to visit! ;D

Rex was out until 6:45.... the party started at 7....!! ;D I was ready when they got here and the birthday cake was warm out of the oven!! Lots of our friends came and they all brought tons of food and wine..... ! We all sat and chatted and ate, ate and chatted! Rex and I said later that we should probably have played some games of some sort, we usually like a good game of cards or pictionary for sure.... ah well... I hope everyone had fun anyway!! All the kids played so nicely together in the basement or up in the kids rooms we barely saw them most of the time! Our last guests went home about midnight and by ten minutes later Jessie and Jack were fast asleep! I think Jack was in mid sentence talking to me when he fell asleep! The dishwasher is now running, the table is all cleared off, the kitchen is clean and everything is back as it was. If it weren't for the fridge full of left overs you wouldn't know there had been a party here tonight! ;D

We had a really lovely time... I'm so grateful that Rex and I have such lovely friends.

Happy (un)Birthday, Hubby. ;D

Speeeeding along! ;D

2010-03-26T22:15:00.002-05:00

Remember my quest to slow down a little, be more mindful, do more yoga... yadda yadda yadda... and remember my complaint that since making that quest life has instead sped up to be a blur!?!? LOL!! Well yeah, here I am, speeding along!!! ;D

It's Rex's birthday party tomorrow night ( and if I hadn't invited you, please, consider this your invite! ) and I have to get the house organized and cleaned, food prepared, cake baked, children bathed ...*** breathe, breathe***!! :D Actually, I'm not all that worried about it, it will all be just fine. I HAVE asked Rex to take the kids out for the day though... it's SSOOOOOO much easier to clean a house when no one is in it, even if they ARE really willing to help! :D

Anyway, I have just found this blog, and it has inspired me, again, to slow down. Ahhhhhh. One of the things it suggests is to go to bed early and get up early... yah... I seem to have forgotten how to do that but it was something Rex and I were talking about today, so tonight, I am going to cut this post REALLY short and get an early night! ;D

Suffice it to say we had a lovely day, the weather was very nice ( a bit windy but not too bad! ) and the children played outside a lot! I got a lot of the housework done so it won't be too frantic tomorrow and I even cleaned out the fishtank and washed the dog! ;D

I hope you had a super day too! :D

Good (early) night! ;D

Rex's Birthday!! yeahy!! ;D

2010-03-25T22:42:00.002-05:00

What a sweet birthday we had today! :D The children woke us up at O Dark 30 this morning with a rustling of packages and a Happy Birthday song!! ;D They couldn't wait to give Daddy his gifts and, as usual, bickered over whose present Daddy should open first!! The children had each picked out fun T shirts for him.... Jessie's was a bright blue "Team Mario" T shirt so they can wear Mario shirts when they play Wii !! Jack had picked out a brown T shirt with Hersheys printed across it "because Daddy likes cwokwick" !! He also got Daddy a large Hershey bar to match his shirt! ;D Daddy opened his cards and presents and then the kiddoes made him some coffee and toast. We got up and got moving and Daddy suggested we go to a restaurant in town for some breakfast. We had faaar tooo much cake, brownies and lemon scones! It was delicious! After breakfast we went to Greenwood to visit some friends at their store...we chatted with them and checked out their warehouse! We drove around for a while just enjoying the peace and the lovely weather then came home and worked on Spring Cleaning the garage and the house ready for The Big Party on Saturday! :D

We were just getting ready for our date night out when the phone rang... it was the babysitter's mother....uh oh.... the babysitter was sick... could we reschedule ????? Uuuuuhhhhh!!! After a few minutes of being really disappointed we realised we could still have a nice birthday so we tossed around a few ideas and landed on going to Applebees for dinner. It's cheap, cheery and the kids love it. We ate some yummy food and the kids were about asleep at the table. Jack fell fast asleep in the car and when we got home we just carried him straight to his bed! Poor little fella! :D We'd chosen to not get dessert at the restaurant and opted to stop at the next door grocery store to pick up ice cream on the way home, but now we are home, we are too full to even think about eating it!! I'll bet it will still be good tomorrow!! ;D

Just a quickie tonight, I'm exhausted! ;D

2010-03-24T22:41:00.003-05:00

We had a lovely day today... the children and I went to the mall to get a couple of things for Rex's birthday tomorrow. This is the first year we have been really short of cash in a long long time and it was nice to not go crazy with big purchases, rather to just get one or two little things that he will like. I did splurge on something for him, felt guilty about it and returned it about 10 minutes later! ;D

Jack had been a real weirdo at home in the morning before we left and I was dreading taking him out in public!! Sometimes he will argue ANYTHING with you!! He will tell you the sky is green if it suits him! ;D Now I don't care what color he thinks the sky is but if I say he needs to hold my hand or walk by me in the mall.... that sort of thing is not negotiable, so I'm less than keen to take him when he is in a contrary mood! Funnily enough, once we got OUT the house, he was a sweetie and he sat in the back of the van with Jessie singing his HEAD off to Carly Simon!! And heaven forbid I should try and put any other kind of music on... oh no.... Carly is the only way my friend!! He sings at the top of his lungs and knows ALL the words!! It's so cute!!! I'll video it one of these times...!!

Anyhoo, thanks to Carly Jack was in a great mood and the mall trip went well. We Taco Bell'd lunch ( cheap cheap again! ) and bought some ingredients for tomorrow's birthday cake! Once home the kiddoes weren't all that hungry due to their very late lunch so Jack had an apple and watch Thomas with Daddy whilst I went downstairs and about killed myself on my bike!! Lisa, of the bike, sent me a link where you ride for 30 seconds at full tilt and then ease off for 20 seconds, rinse and repeat for 20 minutes. I. About. Died. Still, it IS a damn good workout and I can see myself punishing myself again tomorrow!!

After my ride it was time to put the kiddoes in bed. I conned them upstairs by reminding them they had to wrap their presents and write their cards so there was much whispering and hustling around the house with wrapping paper, scissors and tape!!! Bless their hearts! They LOVE to surprise Daddy on his birthday!! ;D Jack wrote Happy Birthday all by himself in his card but made me write the rest as it was a pretty slow process! ;D Poor kid!! ;D

Anyway, now they are sleeping, I'm ready to sit on my beehind and rest before bed. I suppose I could have one more chocolate? After all, cake tomorrow...!! ;D

Fractions make us frantic, a solution to the cat problem and when sleeping kids lie...

2010-03-23T22:43:00.003-05:00

So I thought it would be "fun" to do some fractions with Jessie, you know, 'cause I'm insane!! ;D Turns out I can only remember the absolute basics of fractions but I DO remember how much I hated them as a school child! We abandoned fractions for a day or so and I got some advice from my buddies online. This time I told Jessie we were going to take it reeeeeeally slowly. If she didn't get it, then we would work on it, slowly, until she did. It's not a biggie, if it gets to be a worry for her then I'll back off and we'll try again another time but today we had a bit of a breakthrough! ;D I made a few strips of paper, one to equal one whole, one was two halves, another was four fourths, up to 16 sixteenths!This website was super helpful. We played a game with a fraction die that we made, where you roll the die and then use the fraction on the die to cover up the "whole" ... it really helped Jessie to see what each fraction was worth and she caught on very quickly that 2 /16 was the same as 1/8 etc. She asked to play several times and I was so proud of her! : D

This was after one round of the game... see the paper "die"

Playing again..!

Jessie wanted to show me what she'd figured out for herself!

We used dominoes as fractions... she had to show me what the dominoes represented.

two fourths OR one half! We did things such as 5/4 so she could see that this meant one whole and one fourth etc. She's getting it! It's so exciting! ;D

So after solving some fraction problems we decided to tackle another problem....the CAT problem! ;D We realised that if we simply close the door to the upstairs and no longer allow the cats up there then they can't pee on the beds any more!! ; D WOW!! What a concept!!!! LOL!!! It's good too, as we see a lot more of the critters now!! Kitten objects... he sits behind the door and meeeaoooowwwwws at us!! ;D Pah! he had his chance! He's lucky he's not "on the farm" !! :D Bloody cat!

And finally...!! I had a real scare tonight. Jessie had gone up to get ready for bed. Jack and I faffed around downstairs, getting his vitamins, putting on his PJ's and loading the dishwasher etc. I intercomed Jessie and told her that Jack was on his way up and could she make sure the cat didn't come up too. She didn't reply so I figured she was probably doing her teeth and didn't hear me. When we went upstairs Jessie wasn't in the bathroom where I thought I'd find her. I looked in her room, darkness, nothing. I looked in Jack's, mine... nothing. I ran downstairs and searched the place... nope... not there. I went to the basement calling for her at the top of my voice..... nowhere. I went outside and looked as best I could in the dark, trying to think where on EARTH she could be. All I wanted was to hear her voice...I was getting really panicky and Jack was scared, sitting on the couch with his fingers in his ears. I hit the intercom button to Jessie's room again...."Jessie....if you are hiding, come out now. In 10 seconds I'm calling Dad...!!" I was really starting to lose it. I couldn't think HOW she could have disappeared and kept wracking my brain to think if she had said she was going outside or what....??? Suddenly and from seemingly out of nowhere she appeared looking all frantic and scared, running down the stairs. In my panic I yelled at her "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!!?!!? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?!?!??" She was in such shock she couldn't respond...!!! It turns out the poor thing had been fast asleep in her bed. When I looked in her room I wasn't expecting her to be in bed, so I didn't see her there. She had been dreaming, had a scary dream and woke up to hear me yelling for her.....!! Sheesh. We were both freaked out by the whole thing!!

I think I'm going to need a stiff drink...!! of coffee probably! ;D LOL

This cat is pushing my buttons, poetry in hand, biking hurts my butt, sunshine, wheat grass, and making a hash of everything!!

2010-03-22T23:04:00.003-05:00

Well.... we woke up this morning to find TWO piles of cat poop on the floors. One in my room, one in Jessie's. I later discovered the cat had peed on my bed. I was so FURIOUS. DAMN CAT !!! I hoisted all the bedding downstairs to wash ( it's no wonder I can't keep up with the laundry.... ) and ... once down there... discovered the bathroom door had been inadvertently closed ( we had kiddoes over playing yesterday ) and so the cats couldn't get to their litter boxes all night long. OK. So I didn't strangle the cat. ... However.... tonight, I went to put Jack to bed..... PEE AND POOP ON HIS BED!!!!!!! GAAAAAHHHHHHH!! I'm DISGUSTED and HORRIFIED and FURIOUS....!!!!!!! aaaaaaaaggggggghhhhhhhhhh. What to do what to do??? I know for sure we're keeping the cats shut downstairs from now on. I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner. They just can not go upstairs anymore. It is probably too late though....GAH!!

Anyway.... deep breaths..... moving on......!!!

The children had a go at some dice poetry from Alicia's Examiner Page You pick a topic and then roll a die. You then write the number of words as on the die until you are satisfied with your poem.

This is Jessie's

Spring.

Flowers,
Bunnys and Birds
Sprouts
Deer, fawns at dawn
The sweet berries
Love Spring.

This is Jack's.

Swings

High
and low
Go high, go fast, slow
wind on face
feel joy.

( helped him with the last bit... he had too many words so we picked the good ones! ;D )

It was really fun and the kiddoes enjoyed it!!! Waaaay more than the fractions I tried to do with Jessie later on! : D

The children spend oooodles of time outside today, playing Pioneers! I spent my time riding my bike on the trainer. Again. I put on another movie ( Ocean's 12 ) and gingerly lowered myself back on the seat. Oh dear!! My poor back end!! ;D I ended up stuffing a small cushion into my pants just to be able to sit down!!! Looks like I need to build up some calluses!!!! ( oh wait, that's the guitar..!! )
I did ride for two hours, but man, they were LONG tortuous hours!!! ;D I also had several breaks in the meantime as the phone rang a lot, Jack wanted a smoothie etc etc !; D But I did ride for two hours.... and I'm NOT looking forward to tomorrow!! ;D

Once I was through with my ride we went for a quick walk in the sun to stretch our legs. The BLUE sky was marvelous and so good for the soul! It's lovely to be warm again! ;D

I read this about growing wheatgrass the other day so decided to start some this morning... I was already sprouting the wheat as I wanted to know what would happen... now I know and I'm going to have me some grass! All the more stuff for the blasted cat to chew on! ;D I'll be sticking it in the smoothies as soon as it's long enough! ( the wheatgrass... not the cat...! )

Finally I have to share a miracle that was dinner tonight! You may have heard about my lovely recipe for Brussels Sprouts with caramelized onions? Well I was going to make it tonight only I had no onions!! GAH!! So I improvised!! I chopped the sprouts in my chopper, then chopped potatoes and mushrooms in the chopper too, so it was all REALLY finely chopped. I heated up some olive oil and cooked up the veggies! The kids LOVED it!!! I was AMAZED!! They ate and ate and ate!! They asked for more and more and more!! ;D You could have knocked me down with a feather! ;D

So there ya have it. Kid friendly Brussels.... who knew?! :D

Friends for bagels, tea and chatting, friends and family calling, two hours on the bike, a walk with the dogs and lasagne for dinner!

2010-03-21T22:00:00.002-05:00

My friend Sandi and her gorgeous kiddoes came over today bearing a giant bag of bagels and cream cheese!!! We sat and drank tea and caught up on each other since it has been MONTHS since we saw each other last. The kids played happily and we yapped and yapped!! After they went home I chatted on the phone with my pal Alicia and then talked for a while with my Ma ! THEN I headed downstairs to my bike!!! The trainer that Jay lent me is set up so I took my copy of the Sex and the City movie, told the kids to stay upstairs and I biked and biked and biked! ;D I'm not sure how many miles I'd have done since the bike computer is rigged to the front wheel and that doesn't spin when I ride... hopefully Rex can switch that out for me soon, but I did ride for 129 minutes! My legs were pretty stiff when I got off so I did some yoga stretches and some sit ups and then suggested a quick dog walk! The kiddoes and I, the dogs and one kiddie bike made the short jaunt around the blocks and down the hill and back. Just enough to stretch every body's legs! ;D Rex got home not long after we did and he was carrying Vegetarian Lasagne and garlic breadsticks...!! Oh YUM!! I stuffed myself!!!

The kids are now sleeping and I'm headed, once again, for the couch!! An early night tonight I hope! ; D

Another slow start, Eight minutes of Tae Bo can hurt, so long, little fishies, a van full, a Lawn and Leisure show and a bike trainer! ;D

2010-03-20T22:02:00.003-05:00

Rex was up and ready to go to the Lawn and Leisure show to help sell some furniture with our friends at Yoder's Amish Furniture! I was SOOOO not inclined to get up so I lay around until the yelling started downstairs and I hustled down in my Pj's to knock heads together!! ;D Whilst downstairs I checked mail and chatted on the phone with my Mum..... hours passed...!! I realised I had to get going as I was planning on picking up Elayne's hubby and kids to take them to the show as Elayne was working there TOO! :D Before I left though I needed to do a quick work out. I figured 8 minutes of Tae Bo couldn't hurt anybody.... right!?!?!? WRONG!! Man that man is SICK!! ;D Still, I did it and hustled to the shower to freshen up !!!

After my shower and getting dressed of course, I had to get all my lady fishes gathered together with two lucky males in order to take them to this poor guy who answered my Craigslist ad WEEKS ago and I kept promising I'd get in to drop them off!!! Today was to be the day! ;D I also found a library book that was overdue and needed to be returned and I knew that today the Yankee Candle place had all votives for $1 so I needed to plan to go there and get some more!!! Rex called and asked me to bring lights, an extension cord and some twist ties so I started to gather them together THEN realised that I didn't have the van seat installed in the back of the van as I had removed it on Thursday when I went to pick up Lisa and her bike... SO I installed the seat ( which had been snowed on, by the way! )

I got the kids cleaned up and ready to go, I'd packed a bag with a change of pants for Jack, just in case. I had phoned the Fish guy for his address and had google mapped Elayne's address and fish guy's so my errands should run smoothly. He was leaving his house at 3 so I had to get there before then.... I checked to make sure I had my badge to get me into the show, there it was, hanging on it's lanyard around my neck. We were JUST about to leave when I realised the children hadn't eaten any lunch and 8 minutes of Tae Bo can leave a person surprisingly hungry. I quickly whipped up a smoothie ( banana, rice milk, blueberries, organic orange juice concentrate and some chia seeds ) and Jack and I slurped them up. Jessie, who claims not to like smoothies, had an apple. And a taste of Jack's smoothie. Whereupon she decided she would like one. She was informed that this was not very likely as I'd just emptied the blender, maybe next time... go go go !! ;D

We got out to the car. I ran to get the extension cord from the garage, checked the mail box on the way out the driveway and off we went. I followed Google Maps ( which was stupid. What's WITH Google Maps?!!?? Do they deliberately pick the most unlikely route???? On the way home I realised how easy it would be to get to Elayne's house... following the directions was ridiculous!!! ***sigh*** ) needless to say I got lost....!!! BAH!!! I finally found it, thanks to my COMPLETELY IGNORING the map and following my BRAIN instead. ( who knew!! ) Still I was running short of Fishy time so we hustled to get the three extra kiddoes, two extra car seats, and the assorted paraphernalia that goes with kids into the van. The children were all so agreeable about their cramped quarters and got along great. I looked at my clock and had ten minutes to get to fish guy! Jay navigated and we sped off ( very carefully, Elayne!! )with a van full of small persons!!! We found fish guy with but a minute to spare and he was very gracious about accepting my fishies! I'm sure they'll have a lovely new home with him!.... From the Fish Guy to the Show!! ;D We drove there without incident and I parked impressively in a rather tight gap quite near the doors. It was at that moment that Jay realised he'd forgotten his tickets. I said, well, I have my super duper pass....and I pulled up my lanyard.... which was empty. Wah?!!? We searched the van, looked under the car seats, looked everywhere. Nothing !!! LOL!! So both of us thought we'd done a great job to get the kids organised and I'd remembered all of Rex's stuff and to drop off the fish find a library book and all that... and somehow NEITHER of us had our passes!!! HILARIOUS!! I called Rex and he sorted it all out for us after I had repeated myself a few times... yes... yes.... neither of us have got our tickets. Yes. Yes....!! ;D

We all struggled out of our seats, the little kiddoes put on their back pack / reins / tails and my bigger two just hopped out ( ah the joys of older children! ) but GAH!! It was FREEEEZING out. The wind was whistling and it was only 35 degrees. We fought the wind all the way to the doors ( spotting a parking place only TWO spots away from the door.... dang it! ) and walked in.... only to find we were in the wrong building and we had to harangue the poor kids all the way back and across the parking lot.....!! Poor blighters! ; D FINALLY we got inside and it was lovely and toasty warm. After about ten minutes it was a bit TOO toasty and after twenty minutes the swimming pool displays were in danger of being leaped in. We were shedding layers left and right to try and cool off!!! Anyway, the kids played "find as much free candy and loot as you can" ... they also played on the playground display stuck their fingers in the water fountain displays, made face masks, got balloons and enjoyed the heck out of their little selves! ;D It's one heck of a job keeping track of two toddlers and two older kids though... they seem to move so fast!! It was pretty noisy too and before long we all decided that we'd had enough fun and it was probably time to go home!! ;D We loaded back up, called in at Runza for some lovely hot fries and then dropped everyone off at home. Jay and Elayne said I could borrow their bike trainer so he got it out the garage for me and we put it in the back of the van!! ( I'm so excited!!!! I can't wait to set it up!! Tomorrow I'll put on a movie in the basement and hop on my bike for a few miles!! ;D Wheeeeeee!!! )

We waved goodbye, the kids wanted to visit with each other some more but we thought another day would be a better idea, so I took my two and headed south! ;D We stopped at the library on the way home, Yankee Candle where I picked up a few more votives and Jack had me smell EVERY SINGLE ONE and also Super Target's pharmacy to pick up my prescription ( duh! Closed!! ) and spent a lot of time checking out the toys ( kids ) and the yoga / biking / camping stuff ( me! ) We actually left without buying ANYTHING!!! It's a miracle folks, I don't think I've EVER done that before!!! We eventually got home about 8pm... just in time for bed!!! ;D

Rex arrived home just as Jack was about to fall asleep so he came up to say goodnight... and what had he found on the floor outside the garage door???? Yup..... my pass. !!! LOL!!!

What a full and fun day!! ;D

Starting out starving, some stretching, snowing and snoring.

2010-03-19T21:43:00.002-05:00

I was STARVED when I woke up this morning!! I'd forgotten THAT little side effect of riding! Oh and my Bee~hind was not happy with me either!! LOL! I read some info today on the BRAN ride and they mentioned that we can expect to burn 6000 calories per day. Um. SIX THOUSAND?!?! Sheesh! ;D That sounds like quite a lot, but then I guess, when you think about Pie... it's not so much really!! ;D

I couldn't ride today if I'd tried as the weather decided that the warm weather was too much, too soon, so it's snowing. Ooooo ....kkkkkaaaay. *sigh*. Buuuut I did go to the basement and stretched my muscles along with the Billy Bank's Tae Bo DVD. Holy cow. It's no wonder Lisa is so damn fit. I only did the 30 minute work out and I about DIED!! She used to do the one hour one. I have SOOOOO much training to do! ;D

Hmmm..... I wonder if there is any parenting stuff I should mention today????!! ;D Ummmm.....!! Oh yes!! We did do Child's Play Domino Math today which was fun and I showed Jessie how, if she turns the domino vertically we can make fractions! I'm going to have her work on adding, subtracting and multiplying fractions with the dominoes...!! Swwwweeeet! ; D

Anyway, the snoring part of the title is what I aim to do very soon.... but first.... a cup of coffee and a bit of a read is in order! ;D .... and maybe a liiiittle chocolate! ;D

Toodles!!

Friends to visit, a walk to the park and a 14 mile bike ride!

2010-03-18T22:18:00.002-05:00

We had a lovely day today! ;D Our friends Mary, Will and Charlotte came to visit and we played and played... well the kids did, Mary and I talked and talked and drank some tea... and some more tea...!! Later the children persuaded us to go for a walk to the park where they played basketball, played on the playground equipment and played Tennis. Mary and I talked and talked....!! ;D They had to leave after another too short visit and shortly after that I got hold of Lisa and we arranged a bike ride... the first of the year.... dum dum duuuuummmm!! ;D It took a bit of sorting and she didn't have her bike rack on the car and I had to watch the kiddoes, so we drove up to get her in the van and got home just as hubby was driving in!! Lucky for US as he was able to inflate our SEVERELY deflated tires....we've got a LOT to learn...!! ;D We set off, wobbling all over the place and gear shifters grinding as the children and Rex worriedly waved us adieu..! We soon realised that riding a bike is exactly like, well, riding a bike and we got back in the swing of it pretty fast. One of us got back in the swing of it a LOT faster than the other and the other got left behind more than once, though one of us DID take the time to stop and wait for the other.... ugh....!! The other should have done the boot camp perhaps!! : } Anyway, we had a really nice ride, lots of HILLS and THICK GRAVEL both of which were unexpected developments along the way... biking in really thick gravel is SO hard!!! We made it home and had ridden 14 miles. Not bad for our first day out... we now have 8 weeks to get up to 100 miles a day. Um.... !!!

Don't tell Lisa but I could barely walk when I got in the door and my legs felt like Jello!! Shhhhh!!!

Sleeping in, cleaning house, friends to visit and MORE friends to visit!

2010-03-18T00:09:00.002-05:00

What a great day!!! It started out nicely by my waking up and thinking it was probably about 6:30 or so and finding out it was already 7:30!! I'd slept really well and felt great! I puttered around the house as usual and chatted on the phone with my friend Elayne and arranged for her and her family to come over and visit around 4 pm. I wrote a quick Examiner article as I felt so guilty I hadn't written in MONTHS... I scurried around and tidied the house and was ready when they arrived around 4 laden with TWO pies from Village Inn!! ;D (Slurp!)

We sat and chatted and the kids played... we drank tea and coffee, ate pie, chatted, the kids played.... repeat... and repeat..... and repeat.....about 8:30 the phone rang... it was the Stunning Lisa B asking if her and hubby could come over and visit since they were out and about!! SURE !! The more the merrier!!! We made more tea, ate more pie... chatted....!!! We all sat around and talked and talked and talked!!! ;D I had a wonderful time!! Once 11pm rolled around all the children were about done in!! The grown~ups realised that it was probably time for them to go home and everyone left together. It was a totally spontaneous really wonderful day and I LOVED it. I have such great friends and am so very thankful for that.

And now.... to bed! Looking forward to another friend filled and fun packed day tomorrow! ;D

I THINK it was Tuesday today.....

2010-03-16T23:39:00.003-05:00

Yowzah!! Ever had a day that flew by so fast at the end of it you aren't even sure WHAT day it WAS?!?! I've still got whiplash from this one! ;D

We all slept in, again. I chatted on the phone with my pal Lisa in Michigan only to be reminded by my husband that I had said I would take Jack in for a haircut at noon. Um... it was 10:20. No biggie, right?? Except only Jessie was dressed...!! We hurtled around to get ready, Rex left to run errands and said he'd meet us there.... we shot off and got to the appointment on time... phew! Jack was SOOO good and looks great! He loves to get his hair cut and is always so proud at how han'some he is ! :D

After haircuts...lunch at "Shimmy Shons".... Oh I LOVE their sandwiches and I realised today if I get a Vegetarian #6, no cheese, no mayo and an UNWICH it will be RAW and I can still EAT IT!! :D Yeahy!!!!!!!! Yeah. I know. I'm an idiot and this too shall pass...!! Keep watching this space and something shiny will no doubt catch my attention, until then, do like my husband does and just nod your head and indulge me?! :D

Anyhoo, after lunch....GROCERY SHOPPING!!! Whoot. The kids were really good and we just ambled around the store. I KNOW that buying fruit and veg that is not organic WILL NOT KILL ME. But I CAN NOT bring myself to do it. I can not. **sigh** I try... I'll even pick the stuff up... but I can't bring myself to buy it. I KNOW I'm an idiot, I KNOW it's not rational... but there ya go. You knew that about me before I did! ;D So anyway, our grocery shopping consisted of a whole lot of cleaning things, laundry stuff and glad wrap. I called Rex and asked him to pick up a whole bunch of FOOD from the Organic Store... ya know, where it's good and cheap. ( sarcasm people! )

Actually the sarcasm is mostly because my head is KILLING me tonight. Another migraine. Thanks. And just my size!

I'm going to go to bed and sleep it off... typing is becoming difficult as I keep having to backspace... one mistake after another....!!! Just have time to say....

MY BRAN TICKET ARRIVED TODAY!!!!! Looks like I am one of the lucky ones who gets to ride FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY ONE MILES in 5 days.....!!!! um..... Whee???!! :D

( actually I'm really excited about it. Migraines make me a little pissy (er) ! ;D )

Goodnight Peeps! :D

LOL!! Monday.... a LOT like Sunday! ;D

2010-03-16T00:30:00.003-05:00

Another day with not much of note...!! ;D I always say that then think of a dozen things we did, of course !!

Jessie tried to buy a $50 violin on Amazon.... and then we realised she would totally be wasting her money! The ONE review it had said it would be best used as kindling! ;D Ah..!! :D She appreciates that you get what you pay for and I'd hate for her to have a go at an instrument and to give up because it sounds crappy ( I mean, for reasons other then the obvious!!! )

Um...... Oh I ranted about an article on the homeschool list I belong to! That was fun!!

I did a bit of work... not as much as I would like, but that's the way the whole wheat cookie crumbles... ( especially if you don't put enough butter in it...! )

I spoke to my Mummy..... I also got a parcel in the mail from her with a really nice sporty top in it and several WISPA bars!! ;D ( I ate one tonight by dunking it into hot coffee and sucking it!!! YUMMMMMERS!!!! **happy sigh**!! ;D )

Um.... we went out for dinner with my friend Lisa and her family! That was a nice treat!!! ;D We all ate faaaaar too much, but it was VERY tasty!! I do wish I'd had a Margarita though!!! They are the best in town! ( apparently!! I wouldn't know or anything...!! )

I talked to Jessie about Fibonacci numbers and Pascal's triangle. She was thrilled by the idea of figuring out if a number could be divided by three by adding the digits together. If they make a multiple of three then the whole number is a multiple of three! We played LOOOOOTS of games where she would give me some outrageously large number and ask me if it could be divided by three!! ;D ( that's MATH there people! ;D ) She's also been coloring in some of those optical design pattern books and really enjoying it!! I am so glad she likes them! I used to LOVE those things! ;D I've spent a lot of time marveling at how much I have to do and yet not actually doing any of it. It's quite a skill I have!! I could spin in place for the Olympics!! Anyhoo!! Tomorrow is another nother day and I have BIG plans for it!! HUGE!!! You wouldn't believe me if I told you what they were.... so I won't... and we'll just find out together, won't we!! ;D

Sunday....!! Um.....

2010-03-14T21:46:00.002-05:00

LOL!! We really didn't do much of anything today!! LOL!! If we DID I'll be "jiggered" if I can remember what it was!!! I slept in, well we all did, until 9:30 this morning thanks to the clock change! It was wonderful! ;D ....Other than that I can't think of a solitary thing we did that is worthy of note!!!!! My!! I know I sat and watched a TV movie with Rex and I did some crochet... Oh, I played dominoes with Jack, sort of, in that I did a domino math thingy that the fabulous Risa had on her blog.... um.....I ate far too much chocolate in preparation from my latest latest fad, Raw Food! I have tried Raw before and it didn't last long as I was all hung up on not having a dehydrator etc etc and the recipe book I had ( and long since sold ) was reeeeeeaally complicated!! Since I've been vegan for a while now, the Raw stuff is a lot easier to imagine! I thought I'd try and go mostly Raw for the month of April and see how it goes. I also need to start doing some exercise again! I exercised all of February and then..... ppppttthhhpppptttt. Nothing in March... well, Yoga, which has surprised me by making my muscles ache, but still, nothing aerobic. I need to get out on my bike and start running again too!!! Need need, must must. I wish I were happier in my skin sometimes....

Anyhooooo!! Oh I DID watch America's Funniest Videos tonight and I about lost it watching folks trying to fly model airplanes!!! Honestly I was rolling on the floor clutching my sides and crying from laughing!!! It really struck me as hilarious and I just couldn't stop!!! I love shows that can evoke such a positive reaction!! ;D

Well I suppose I will go and do some felting, or knitting, or crochet.....or probably I'll clean the kitchen. Someone's got to!! ;D

Sat(onmybutt)urday!

2010-03-13T21:22:00.002-06:00

I spent the majority of the day laying around and reading my book today!!! ;D I am so spoiled!!! I was still sitting in bed reading at 11am when I heard the dogs barking and thunderous footsteps heading to the front door.... I heard squealing from the kids and Jessie yelled up the stairs that our friends had "stopped by" !! ACK!! I jumped up and threw on clothes!! :D really...I'm pitiful!! Typically the house was a disaster zone!! The dining table was littered with various projects, the kitchen was full of dishes as I hadn't run the dishwasher the night before and there was literally a pile of laundry on the couch that needed folding! I really never leave laundry on the couch... but of course, the one time I do.... GUESTS!! I LOVE when people just stop by but they ALWAYS do it when the house is trashed!! Why is it that folks never spontaneously appear when the house is in tip top shape and spiffy looking??! That has NEVER happened to me and believe it or not, my house DOES look nice a lot of the time!!! ;D Ah well!! It's a lesson that I shouldn't be laying around all day I suppose!! To be fair I did get up early and check on the children. I also made myself a nice hot cup of tea.... and took it back up to bed!! :D The kids were fine for the most part but they would squabble once in a while and interrupt my reading again!! :D Anyway, once our friends left that would have been when I took a shower and got started, right?? Sort of. I DID clean up the kitchen ( a day late and a dollar short ) and get the laundry upstairs, but, when it came time to take a shower... well... I "accidentally" lay back down on my bed and read some more!! :D Bad me!!! The dog and the cat came and lay with me too and later Jackster came up and also snuggled with me! It was very nice!! Eventually I came back down and we had some lunch then the children and I planted some seeds into some neat little expanding flower pot thingys... I did take a pic or two but I'm using Jessie's computer as Rex is on mine and so... ya know... no pics! We also planted some seeds in old egg cartons so we'll see what we shall see!! ;D

Anyway, that's enough from me I think...!! What I'd dearly like to do is to go back to bed and read some more!!! I'll probably end up having to stay up and help Rex as he's trying to help ME put a document together for work.... is it too much if I just say Goodnight and then I bugger off to bed??! hmmm... thought so !! : D

I have a new addiction!!! ;D

2010-03-13T01:07:00.004-06:00

Yes!! Besides running, biking, being Vegan, being "Gorgeous" ( I accidentally typed Gorgerous and thought that was actually pretty funny!! ) doing Yoga, baking bread, keeping up with the laundry, Nature Walking, Knitting, Crochet, trying Montessori stuff, working, banning books, law changing and chicken wrangling I have found a new addiction..... Needle Felting!!!! ***swoons!!***..... it's soooooo easy!! and SOOOOO addictive!!!! I found myself in Ye Olde Yarne Shoppe today.... oh boy. I drooled on all the gorgeous wool.... the colors, the textures... the PRICES! Holy CRAP!! Since when did wool get so... oh!! ... Pretty!!!.... soooooft!!!!.....!! Happily for me, roving is NOT expensive AND you get TONS for very little. The felting needles aren't too expensive either and since for the stuff I'm doing,, I only need one I am a happy camper!! ;D

I sat on the couch tonight and watched The King and I with Rexy ( **Gasp!** I LOVE those dresses!! I remember as a little girl watching the movie and just LOVING the big BIG skirts!!! ) and I made my first felt "piece!" It's a pretty lady with loooong hair doing Yoga!! It's not me though, this one is very bendy as she's in the lotus position AND she has brown eyes... so there!! ;D Oh and when I say this addiction is cheap, consider the fact that for the lips on this lady, I had to use perhaps four strands of wool... I mean four threads... and they were really short!!! Less is more here!! Of course I can imagine I'll move onto bigger things but only when I have SOOO much roving I won't even have to think about it. I'm like those people you know who have yards and yards of beautiful fabric but they don't want to spoil it by cutting it!!! :D I KNOW you know people like that!! ;D

Anyway, here's a pic of my first attempt. Be kind!! ;D

Won't someone please stop the ride? I want to get off!!!!!!

2010-03-12T00:07:00.002-06:00

Just for a little while?? Maybe a day or two??? Perhaps they could just slow the ride down a bit?!?!!? Is it just me or does the Earth seem to be spinning at triple speed for you too?!? Gah. I can't even begin to explain how busy things are at the moment!! It's not even anything major it's just constant little stuff!!! I don't mean to complain but since I decided to try and slow down it's as if the Universe had a good laugh and gave the Earth and almighty shove like a roulette wheel!!! ;D LOL!! Ah well... it will slow down again eventually I'm sure.... nothing ever stays the same!

I was going through some blogs today looking for Montessori type stuff... I love the orderly~ness of it all, it really appeals to me, but I realised the irony. I finally have time to look for all these great ideas and to make up the trays and so on... and the reason I have time is because the kids are older and don't need me every second of the day.... but ... now they are older they are too old for all the trays and manipulatives I now have time to make. *** sigh*** I did manage to make up a couple for Jack... he really enjoyed them. They are probably a bit basic for him, but he was happy to play and even Jessie asked if she could have a go!! ;D

Oh.... and this was eye opening..... Lucy, our little puppy, is in heat again. We've never had her spayed though do not want to have puppies with her, I'm not sure why we haven't done it, probably it was cost prohibitive at the time and as she is only in season once a year it didn't seem to be a big deal. Anyway, as she IS in heat I have her tied to my office table where she spends a lot of her time anyway. She's in the middle of everything, can see the front door, the table where we spend most of the day and the kitchen but she can't get more than a few feet out. ( this is basically just for cleanliness issues by the way ) Anyhoo.... I was putting Jack to bed tonight and .... his bedding was wet. Yup. The dog had peed on them again!!!!!!!!! What????? Waaaaait...... Yeah. Turns out it wasn't the dog.... it was the damn cat. I don't believe it. All this time and I've been blaming the poor dog !!!! No wonder she looked confused when I'd yell at her!!!!! I feel terrible. I don't quite understand why it doesn't smell of cat pee though.... it HAS to be the cat... unless Jack managed to sneak away, carefully pee on his bed without getting any on himself..... strange. Anyway, the dog has been vindicated!!! And I still have to keep the bedroom door CLOSED at all times. Bah!!!

Chocolate anyone.....?????

Busy doing nothing!!!

2010-03-10T23:04:00.002-06:00

Wow! WHAT a day. I honestly just ... well.... I can't describe how busy today has been. I have accomplished very little in the work department. I had to get out for a walk and since Rex was home Jack wanted to stay here so it was just Jessie and me. It was SOOOO nice to get out. I really needed it. Everything felt frantic today! The flow was just OFF !!! I seemed to race from one task to the next to the next to the next!!! I was just finishing off cooking dinner to take to our friends again when Rex's cell phone rang. It was noisy (ish ) in the living room so he went upstairs to take the call. As soon as he went upstairs the house phone rang, it was my beloved pal, Lisa O.K from Michigan. We'd not spoken in ages and I love to talk ( and talk!) to her. We'd just begun a conversation when I noticed a vehicle in our driveway. Someone had come to bring me work photographs and some receipts. The dogs started barking and my timer on the oven went off. Sheesh. MADNESS!!!!!! I was feeling rushed anyway as I wanted to get the meal on the road so that it would be a) still warm and b) delivered at a reasonable time!! It's not really fair to have people sit there waiting to eat, especially when they have little kiddies too!! The folks with the photos left, Rex said he'd come along for the ride with me and the kiddoes and we bundled everything into the van and headed out. We'd made cornbread to go with some chili and rice and I'd doubled the recipe so we took several warm cornbread muffins along with us to eat in the car!! We had a lovely quick visit with Niecey and Rene and Niecey showed me all the seedlings she's growing!! I'm really inspired to have ANOTHER go but as I told her, I have a black thumb when it comes to growing things!!! Anyway, on the way home we stopped off at a fabulous store I'd never seen before called Rocket Fizz where they sell TONS of pop but also a nice selection of BRITISH SWEETS!!! Rex sent me in with some cash and instructions to buy one thing for each of us...!! I picked out a Crunchie, Cadbury's Buttons, Rolos and a Galaxy bar. I figured I'd let everyone pick what they thought they'd like and I'd be happy with whatever was left! They also had Aero, Curly Wurlys, English Mars bars, and a whole bunch more !! I was left spinning with the choices!!! After my candy fix I felt happy enough to take the whole family to Pet Smart!! ;D Wheeeee!! Jack and Jessie and, oh what the heck, I, love that place! There are always friendly dogs to meet, kittens and cats to drool over and often animals at play at the doggie day care center! Jessie loves the grooming center and goes in and chats with the ladies who work there. You have to watch her she could be there hours if you let her! Jessie has decided that she wants to grow up and work at the pet hotel in Pet Smart. She's getting it all worked out. She also has started playing a game we got at the library called Emergency Vet (2) ! Victoria played Emergency Vet (1) when she was here a while back. Jessie is really into it now and seems to be doing well!

Anyway, once home we packed the kids off to bed and I was so tired I deliberately lay down with Jack and slept. Rex woke me about 10 but I honestly could have slept there all night long! I'm going back to bed now! Tomorrow is unfinished project day and hopefully will be nice, long, peaceful and relaxing day!!!

Enjoy your day too! ;D

More less computer time ( LOL!!) Yoga, walking, library van and dinner...!

2010-03-09T23:12:00.006-06:00

Today was the sort of day that does ( and did ) make me a little nutso. It's the sort of day where I will start one thing only to have someone (usually someone small) beggar it up for me! Well they'll certainly interrupt it with something TERRIBLY important like a desperate thirst that can not be quenched unaided, perhaps someone has once again pilfered bread from the fridge and a pitched battle must ensue.... or, and this is more frequent

"Look at ME!!"

"Watch THIS!"

"MOM!!

LOOK!! LOOK!! "

LOL!! Now I don't really mind since this is indeed why I stay home and we homeschool and all the rest of it, but once in a while I forget and I Try to Get Something Done.!! It's pitiful and laughable really, how I keep vainly trying and then am surprised, again, at how, again, I have failed to accomplish one solitary task in my entire day....!! Ah well... we're all pretty darn happy and I think that counts for a hell of a lot!

I tried to stay off the computer as much as possible today and did a reasonable job of it, but not great. Better tomorrow I'm sure...!!! We did an abbreviated yoga today due to the aforementioned interruptions. Still. We did some. Some is better than none and sometimes Some is Enough. We did get out for a lovely walk in the damp and drizzly weather. We threw sticks into the swollen stream and tried to follow them along to watch them pass under the bridge... sadly they kept getting stuck or pulled under by mysterious forces!! Ah well!! ;D ( just noticed I say Ah well a lot don't I ....!! Ah. W.... hmmmm!! ) We also came upon a streetsweeper who stopped for us and we got a good look at his brushes and whathaveyou. Jack was intrigued!

Once home I had the children kick off their muddy boots, put on their shoes and head straight back out to the van! We were headed to the library van or, Bookmobile to those of you who aren't of the English persuasion! 'D Would you believe the phone rang, and I'm not kidding, 3 times in the two minutes I was taking to gather 4 books together!!! THREE TIMES!!! AND each time the caller wanted to really talk!! BAH!! STOP!!!! I'm just about to get my BOOK FIX!!! We finally made it to the van and we swore to only get 5 books each this time. Ahem. Yeah. 5 DOZEN more like!! We always take hundreds of books out!! (ok, ok, not hundreds but it sounds way better than "We always take TENS of books out..!! ) We certainly take enough out that other patrons look at us and comment. ** rolls eyes** !! :D

Anyway, after the library van we came home, the kids tucked into their books and I went BACK OUT to the reading room in Hickman to drop off two bags of their books we have had for MONTHS! There is no due date on their books but I HATE having something that isn't mine for too long. It hangs over my head and bothers me!! No more! They are BACK where they belong!! So I got home finally, Hubby was home and dinner was called for..... and you pretty much know our routine from there!! ;D Yup, kids yoga, kids bed, kids sleep. Me blog, me couch, me chocolate!! ;D

More tomorrow!! ;D Betchya can't wait!! ;D

Less computer time makes for a longer day, challenging the status quo, walking in the rain and making lemonade from lemons....sort of! :D

2010-03-08T21:44:00.006-06:00

Today was a Monday. Yes, yes it was! :D It didn't go so badly, I enjoyed it! Jack spent almost the entire day glued to PBS but there ya go. It didn't kill him, he learned some stuff and did connect with each other once in a while! ;D First thing in the morning ( well, you know, 9ish..!! ) we did our Yoga again ( you are probably so sick of hearing this! ) and then Jessie read a smidgen of the Handbook of Nature Studies. She read aloud a section on keeping Raccoons as pets.....um....noooo!! I sat and made bracelets for my poor friends who failed to get Valentine's Cards from me. We did an online swap and for some reason, I don't know what, I can NOT get these darn cards in the mail. I don't know WHAT is holding me up. Maybe I'm just not sure I love the ones I made. Eh. Anyway, I have now made St. Patrick's Day bracelets to accompany them and hopefully make everyone forget how lame I am!! ;D

I had decided to spend less time on the computer today, one hour on, two hours off was my plan. It worked pretty well AND I got three loads of laundry washed, folded and put away!!! LOL!! It's amazing what you can do when you have HOURS AND HOURS AVAILABLE!! ;D I used to spend all my time on Yahoo groups but now facebook is my time thief. I scan now.... it's faster! ; D

In one of the online groups I spend a lot of time on, there was a fleeting discussion about keeping chickens. Apparently it's possible to keep chickens in New York and even here in Lincoln, NE you can have 2 chickens without a permit. Here in my small town though.... nope. No way. Uh huh. NEEEEVER gonna happen....etc etc. Yeah. If you know me, you know I'm smiling....!! It's SOOOOO going to happen! ;D ( well, you know, unless something else shiny comes along before I've finished my task!!) but I totally want to change the law!!! I had a couple of emails back and forth with the city office this morning, I was visited by a "city official" only I know better! He's on the maintenance crew and a really nice guy! AND I got a phone call from the zoning administrator who is a lovely lady and surprisingly sympathetic to my cause! ( oooh!! I have a "cause!!" ) Jessie was so disappointed when I told her we couldn't keep chickens here, but now we're all fired up to "CHANGE THE LAW" and make "Chickens for all" our motto! ;D We'll see......!!!

We really had to go out for our "Nature Walk" today but Jack was stalling us and we just couldn't get started. We finally got the dog's leads on, shoes on, bathroom breaks taken care of and what have you.... only to find it had started to POUR with rain!!!We went anyway!! ;D We got soaked but the SMELL!! It was beautiful! Wet earth!! It hasn't rained here in months!!! The grass is going to be green by morning at this rate! ;D

We got home in time for Jessie to finish off her breadsticks only she found her dough to be so perfect she couldn't stand to cut it so we chose to make a roasted veggie pizza instead!

:D I had some asparagus and broccoli I needed to use so we roasted it in the oven first the put the veg on top of a layer of marinara, added olives, some mozzarella and were ready to put it in the oven.... only..... it stuck to the cutting board and we had to roll the dough up to make.....a pizza ROLL~~ It was delicious and Jessie ended up being very proud of her invention! ;D

The kids and Daddy practiced some Judo before bed with handstands,

Jack's idea of a headstand

Jessie is getting better at them, with a little help from her Daddy!

punches, throws etc.... always fun.....!! :} and then we went up to bed. As I was getting Jack ready I noticed something crawling on his head. I went to grab it just as Jessie grabbed me. Jack jumped away and I lost the "critter." I told Jack I was looking for a bug in his hair and his eyes got wide.... and wider and wider and wider.....he screeched "SPIDER?!?!?!?!" and started wildly smacking at his hair and head. "GET IT OUT!!! GET IT OUT!!!" he screamed!!! Thinking fast I said "Oh! Look! There on the floor.... it was just a piece of fluff!!" LOL!! Poor kid!!! Jessie said "Did you SEE his FACE?!?!!?!?" and I said "Yeah, that's what absolutely bloody terrified looks like!!! " LOL!!

Anyway, I'm off to eat more chocolate roasted almonds and then bed. I can hardly keep my eyes open! ;D G'night folks! :D

Basket case! ;D

2010-03-07T21:50:00.003-06:00

Today was a quiet one really! Rex's back was really paining him so I offered to drive him into Lincoln so he could visit his Mum. Jessie and Jack came along for the ride. I made a couple of stops on the way home, the grocery store, Blockbuster and Goodwill then we rode home in relative merriment!! When we got home we had some of our homemade bread and some jam and Jack found a novel way to keep his bread away from the dog who is almost as carb addicted as he is......

He's pretty smart that boy! ;D

I got to work on making some dinner for us and also for some friends. I made Black Bean soup and some more bread rolls. Jessie and I packaged it all up... the soup into a 3 quart crock I bought from Goodwill and the bread rolls, still warm, tucked into a basket and covered with a Welsh tea towel ( the irony being our friends are Scots!! ;P ) She and I drove it out to North Lincoln but we stopped along the way to pick up a birthday card and a Hershey's Brownie bar for my friend whose birthday is today. Her house is right on the way to our friends, the Scots! ;D We quickly stopped by there to drop it off, on to our friends, dropped off their soup and back home again to put our bread rolls in the oven !!! YUM!! ;D Jack and I watched the timer count down from one minute.... (MATH!!) and then we hoisted out our delicious bread and Jack proudly handed a roll out to everyone! He was especially squirrley today, I think because we didn't do our morning Yoga and we didn't go for our walk today. He spent too much time by the TV and not enough time on other things. Before bed tonight the children and I did a little Yoga in Jack's bedroom. I LOVE the way it calms them down and they both start talking in hushed tones and moving slowly!! Both kids fast asleep and another weekend flown by.

Whooooosh.

Spring is coming! Spring is coming! ;D

2010-03-06T21:00:00.004-06:00

What a glorious day!! The sun shone most of the day and the temp got up to a crazy 62 degrees! There is nothing left of our snowman now, only a sad pile of seed pods and a carrot!! The children and I did our Yoga again this morning, I cleaned out the cat litter boxes ( whoopie! ) and we sorted out the recycling. ( finally! Man that stuff adds UP!! ) I watched with longing as several cyclists rode past our house today. I NEEEEEED to get back on my bike. It would have been a good day for it but Rex's friend came over to visit and they spent the day out of the house. Maybe tomorrow! I finished off my little felt bird ( which really wouldn't have taken long if I'd just done it all at once but TIME is the trouble around here!! )the kiddies played outside with a small skateboard that their Daddy found for them, I read some of my book ( and by some I mean about half a page ) and then fell asleep for an hour on my bed as a lovely breeze blew in from an OPEN WINDOW in my room!! Yup!! We opened windows in the house today and FRESH AIR came in !! ;D What a treat!!

hmmm.... what else did we do?!? ;D Oh yes....535 today was Michelangelo's birthday. I thought I knew "stuff" about Mickey, but turns out I really didn't know very much at all! :D I know a lot more now though thanks to Alicia ( again! ) She suggested in her column that we learn about the fabulous artworks of his .... can you imagine all that talent in one so young? and that we try and recreate "God Creates Adam" whilst lying on our backs under the dining table!!! Well naturally that appealed to my crew and we gave it a go....! Here are our results!! :D

Jack went for a more abstract approach!!!!

Jessie and I took Lucy for a quick nature walk this evening. We were amazed at the snow run off POURING down the streets. It sounded like a river running into the drains. We noticed the grass was taking on a greenish "hue" !!! I told her today that this year it really feels as if we have survived something by making it though until Spring. I know I had begun to doubt if Spring would ever come!!!!

A full day!

2010-03-05T20:53:00.009-06:00

Good grief we had a full day today! ;D Started out with Yoga and then bread making ( bread sticks again today! ) I then paid the bills and got some work sorted out. I had Jessie try a Kakuro puzzle based on the wonderful blog of my buddy Risa. I helped Jessie out to start with and then she swiftly got the hang of it and finished it off in no time!! Yeahy!! Math!!! ;D

I'd been reading the Fabulous Alicia's Blog and saw her idea for painting snow balls. Now, this always, ALWAYS happens to me. I hear of a great idea for something to do in the frozen depths of winter....and you know when I finally think of doing it??? Spring. Without fail. tsk. Anyway, this time I thought QUICK let's just DO it...!! So Jessie ran out and grabbed balls of snow and I went to fetch the paints! Sadly, at 47 degrees any remaining snow is more like ice, but still, we had a go anyway!! ;D

It turned out very pretty and the kiddoes enjoyed themselves! :D After our painting I thought we'd try another of Alicia's ideas.... Elephant Toothpaste!

Wow!! That was TONS of fun!!! The children REALLY enjoyed that one and they had a great time adding drops of food coloring to the expanding foam to see what pretty patterns they'd come up with ! It was a great experiment and really interesting! Thanks, Alicia!

Our next project was based on this idea from the Rhythm of the Home website.... We decided to try another way and use a cloth to sprout the seeds on in the bottom of a bowl. We'll see if it works! We decided to try Chia seeds and Jessie didn't know what would happen with Flax seeds, so, since we ARE homeschoolers after all, we thought we'd put some of those in and see!!! ;D

When the seeds have sprouted I want to put some painted eggs into the "grass" so I'd blown some eggs the other day and decided to try painting a couple this afternoon.

I'd bought white eggs as they are a) cheap ( cheep cheep ) and b) I can paint all sorts of colors on them if I wanted to! :D Closer to Easter I'll get lovely organic brown eggs and we'll use natural methods to dye them....they come out so wonderfully muted and beautiful! ANYWAY....!! I painted one egg brown

and will probably add a few more "speckles" when it's good and dry and another one blue.

I'll add some spots to that one later too! They're going to be really pretty! ; D

It was beautiful outdoors so Jessie insisted we get going for our nature walk. I offered the dogs a walk too and strangely Brecon, our old lady lab / retriever mix did not show her usual boundless enthusiasm for the idea. You usually can't even SAY the word walk or she'll be at the door squeaking and squealing with delight. She did muster up enthusiasm as we were just getting ready to go but looking back I realise her heart wasn't really in it. We went for a lovely walk, the children ran ahead, playing on the frozen puddles, marveling at the rivers of melting snow coursing down the sidewalks and thrilling at the almost raging waters of our tiny little stream that is often all but dried out in the summer time. Melt waters will do that to a tiny little stream! Of course this proved the perfect opportunity for Pooh Sticks!! The kiddies dropped sticks or leaves on one side of the bridge and raced to the other side to watch them float back out!!!

Brecon began to limp very dramatically so we cut our walk short and headed slowly back home.

I had thoughts of baking some cookies but a) the children suddenly and quietly occupied themselves and b) I'd only flaming well eat them, wouldn't I ?!! : D Instead I yapped on the phone for a little while and cuddled my cat then went upstairs to tackle the laundry baskets which seemed to be breeding in my bedroom!! I got the majority of it folded up without any interruption but then Jackster came to join me and he had a wild time playing with the kitten. Soon Jessie came along to keep us company and she spent her time sitting on my rocking chair looking through the photos albums. Once the laundry was folded we decided a little more Yoga was in order so we got down and stretched out! Before long Daddy came home and the evening began to wind down. We were none of us hungry so we had cereal and apples for dinner! Jack and Daddy played catch whilst I checked my mail and Jessie wrote a blog post in her new blog! I took Jack up to bed and relaxed him right to sleep! It's like a magic trick!! Now, once again, night is upon us. Rex has just brought me a beer and some popcorn and wants me to watch Zombieland!!! He's the Yin to my Yang I'll tell ya! ; D Couldn't live without him!

G'night!

More yoga, more bread, some friends stop by, some science experiments, a nature walk, a bit of work and maybe an early night!

2010-03-04T19:25:00.002-06:00

We have had another lovely day! We started out the day with Jessie's Nature Plan and did some yoga to start the day ( I'm loving this Yoga thing! ) and the children once again made bread. This time we made whole wheat bread rolls and made the dough into buns, heart shapes, braids and twists ! I got a little bit of work done and then we scurried around to make it look like the house is always tidy (ish!)!! Luckily it wasn't too bad and didn't take much scurrying!

Our friends came over and brought with them some neat science projects for us to try! It was lots of fun and we always enjoy science! There was all together FAAAAR too much giggling going on for it to be "REAL" science though surely!!! ;D We drank several pots of hot tea and we ate the kids bread fresh and hot from the oven with lashings of buttery stuff. Ymmmmmmm!! The children then voted for a Nature Walk so we headed out in the balmy 57 degree heat and looked at the melting snow, saw a squirrel, checked out the ice and basically ran around like maniacs!! They had to leave not long after we got back from our walk and Jack sobbed. He hates when they go!!! : (

I got some more work done over the remainder of the afternoon along with playing with Jack for a while. I'm finding I can manage my work a bit better right now as there doesn't seem to be so much but my desire to spend so much more time with the children and focusing on them makes what little work there is seem trickier to fit in!! ;D

I decided to have the children eat eggs for dinner tonight.... all part of my cunning plan! I blew the eggs into a bowl so Jessie made scrambled eggs and I have 5 lovely white egg shells ready for me to paint tomorrow! I am really looking forward to doing that! ( I know, I'm bonkers! )

Anyway, I thought I'd also have a go at writing my blog a little earlier in the day so that I can spend my evenings with hubby instead of him falling asleep on the couch and me sitting working on the computer all night!! We'll see how it goes! Right now it's Yoga time again and then beady bies for the children!! ;D

I hope your evening goes marvelously and don't forget, there's always room for chocolate! ;D

Yoga, bread making, nature walks, some rainbows and more yoga!

2010-03-03T21:39:00.012-06:00

So this morning we started our day with some Yoga. Jessie was very insistent that we all do some first thing this morning and I really appreciate her insistence actually. We did some Sun Salutations, Downward Facing Dogs and various other poses. It felt lovely to start the day in such a way. Next she and Jack got everything out to make Bread Sticks. We have a great recipe from an awesome online friend and it's really quick and easy. The kiddoes got all the stuff out and with only minimal assistance from me, made the dough. I showed them both how to knead it and roll it out

and we had Jack use a pizza cutter to cut his strips.

They both did a lovely job. Jack had made something of a lattice pattern with his bread so I simply advised him what was going to happen as they cooked and he thought maybe separating them would be a good idea. I was happy to let it be either way ( it's only flour, folks! ) so that he would see the results, but he chose to make them the old fashioned way! ;D It was so lovely watching them both work so very carefully and Jack was doing his absolute best to follow my instructions! Bless 'em!

Whilst we were waiting for the bread to bake Jessie went a little rainbow crazy ...

Finally the bread was ready!

Safety first...!!

After our bread making and bread breaking we decided to go out for a Nature Walk! We thought it would be fun to try and incorporate all 5 of our senses on our walk and so we "tasted" the fresh air by sucking as much as possible into our lungs! We touched ice,

we listened to the birds, we smelled the earth and the wet ground and of course we looked around us for signs of warmer weather including noticing the geese flying high above on their way to the lakes! We also found a couple of new senses including balance

fun,

adventure and humor!

All good ones!! ;D

After dinner Jessie wanted another Yoga session so we tried several new poses and limbered ourselves up before bed. It must have done the trick as Jessie was fast asleep before I even got Jack into bed. He didn't take long either ... this meditation and relaxation business works like a charm! ;D

We did a bunch of other little things today too including cutting out the fabric for one of those "Sweetie Birds" from the website I shared yesterday.

It's going to be so pretty I really excited to sew it together! For now though, I'm worn out. I can't wait to go to my cozy bed!! G'night all! ; D

Trying to take things slowly, spending hours shopping, the check is in the mail and felting eggs!

2010-03-02T21:50:00.005-06:00

I found a lovely website through facebook the other day, and this little project really appealed to me! I talked to Jessie this morning about trying to be more mindful of our days and the way we spend our time and she totally jumped on board with it. We decided to slow things down, stop with the TV and computer and just be more connected. Well the first thing we did was to go shopping!!! If we were going to make felt eggs, why, we needed to get some wooden ones first! ;D I also wanted to get a new quiche plate from Goodwill so I can gift it to some friends when I make them a quiche tomorrow! Anyhoo... we went to Goodwill, and to Micheal's and we spent hours upon hours browsing... but we still had a great time! After all the shopping and browsing I swung by Lisa's house to collect her check for the BRAN ride! Gotta say, those ain't no small checks... the sure add up!! ;D Anyway, picked up her check and dropped it at the post office so they are on their way!!! Fingers crossed we get a slot!! ;D

Finally we made it home and made some felt eggs. I've never done anything like this before but we gave it a good try and they turned out really well!! I did run them through the washer and dryer to be sure they turned out but I'm really excited by them and want to make a hundred more! I just need a source for wool roving and a felter's needle too!! ;D

Here are a few pics of our eggs... the idea is to fill them with little treats or signs of spring and hide them around the yard. I think they are lovely! I MAY try some needle felting on the big white one, though I've never done that before either! ;D

Jack LOVED the roving and kept rubbing it on his cheeks!! He also grabbed it and ran off with is screaming YOU USE THE RED ONE!!! Little monkey! ;D

( sorry, I'm rushing! Hubby wants to watch a movie with me! ;D Yah... all this talk of slowing down and now I'm rushing to watch TV!! Still have some room for growth there!??!! I DID do some meditation and yoga with the kids tonight and put them both to sleep!! That was pretty special! ; D....)

OK!! Ok!!! I'm coming!!! ;D.............

sheesh.

Sleeping in, catching up, hanging around and freaking out!

2010-03-01T22:04:00.002-06:00

Today was a much slower day than of late!! ;D I slept in a little bit this morning though had to get some paperwork done before 8 so didn't sleep in as long as I'd have liked...!! ;D I got lots of work done, tidied the house a little bit and sorted the laundry. I had visions of stripping the beds, emptying the trash, washing the windows etc but happily all that passed without incident! ;D I did hear from two friends who both said they'd like to come over for an hour or two around one o'clock! How perfect is that!?! Two friends, two sets of kiddoes, both at the same time!! Yeahy!! I LOVE impromptu gatherings!!! ;D Jessie was over the moon and Jack was excited as always to see his buddies "Wiyl and Sarlotte" !! He hadn't seen Elayne and her boys for a long time so they had changed quite a bit. Jack really seemed to enjoy having them around too! ;D It was lovely for me to sit and chat for a while with a cuppa tea! I felt bad for not having any nibbles to speak of, but hey, maybe they'll come back for project day on Thursday and I'll have something yummy then! ;D

The kids and I spent the rest of the day hanging around the house. It's finally starting to warm up out there, the snow is melting, birds are flitting around and the sun was out today!! ;D YEAHY!!! Soon it will be time for walks with the dogs and bike rides with Lisa...!! Speaking of which, once the mail came today I was in a real tizzy!!! Our BRAN registration forms have arrived !!! YIKES!!! I'm both excited and terrified at the same time!! I'll feel much better when I've been back on my bike for a while and can imagine riding 85 miles in one day. Right now, if I had to leave today, well, let's just say it wouldn't be pretty!! ;D I'll be much more excited when I'm back in the biking groove! ;D
Anyone got a spare bike they can lend me!?!? :D LOL!!!

Ok. So THIS is what "really tired" feels like!!!

2010-02-28T21:39:00.002-06:00

Another busy day today! Went back to the farm for one last day ( well, almost!! I guess Rex is going back to help move the last of the cows tomorrow! ) and this time I cleaned the house from top to bottom!! ;D It was actually quite fun and very peaceful as it was literally just me! The kiddoes went with Rex to move furniture and cows and I just cleaned! Poor Laura, the owner of the farm, was mortified that I was cleaning it all for her and tried to convince me that she was "fine" and could get around "Much better now" since dislocating her knee on Friday. Yah. Right. Silly woman! ;D Anyway, I thought it would be really awesome if you knew you had a whole house to clean AND you had a bum knee AND you had a bunch of little kids, a new house to move into, a boat load of chickens, a heap of cattle, a lamb, a calf, a dog and a kitten and someone ELSE cleaned the house for ya !! ;D How cool would THAT be!?!?! :D I did work like a dog, but I wanted Laura to be really happy with the results! I hope she is! What I did notice though was no matter how much work I did do, I can only remember the things I didn't get done. I didn't get the walls painted, I didn't get the fridge cleaned out etc etc. Funny that.

Anyway, I'm going to drink a nice hot cuppa tea and go to bed. I've got a ton of work work to do first thing in the morning but then.. well, you never know, maybe I'll go back to bed when I'm done!!! Whooo hooo!! ;D

Just a quick one before I fall asleep!

2010-02-27T21:31:00.003-06:00

LOL!!

Another day down on the farm!! This time moved another trailer load of furniture, some sheep, some cows and a donkey. One more day to go and then it should aaaaaaalll be done!!! Phew!! Farm life is exhausting!! ;P The children had a blast though... they got to play on the trampoline all day long.....

I love these pics of the kids bouncing soooo high!! Jack didn't dare stand up so the girls took it upon themselves to BOUNCE HIM as high as they could! ;D

This is a photo we took last night of me and the lamb! It looks like a happy little thing, doesn't it?!?! :D

Well we are all exhausted. The kids are sleeping, hubby is sleeping, if it wasn't for the cat playing marbles under the bed I'd still be sleeping in Jack's room with him!! Ugh!! Night night all! ;D