A day of rest..... and recuperation

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

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

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

Start the movie again.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday night's alright!!!

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!

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

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....!

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!!

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!!**

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!

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

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!

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)!

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.....!!!

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????????

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

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...!!

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!

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.

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

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

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....!!

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?