The White House

The Little Things

2012-02-15T23:54:00.001-09:00

What a day…. and, of course, I forgot to take a lot of photographs along the way.

Last night my daughter insisted we strip her hair of the black her SM had dyed it. Now, I don’t blame the SM (how easy would that be?), my daughter asked her to do it, but man, don’t ever dye blond hair black. 28 washes my a$$ (as a friend so well put it). So, after a bit of arguing that we don’t do it late at night, I lost and we did.

Her hair was orange. With black polka dots. Just horrid. So horrid we didn’t even take a photo of it because no woman wants a reminder of looking that bad.

And I made her got to school. She was not happy, but she had a math test and education triumphs looking bad. I did, however, make an appointment, made arrangements for her to take the test at lunch and picked her up for a big hair fixing.

Took Em to the hair wonder worker. Left her. Met Nick to give him money. Picked Olivia up at school. Went back to Em. Left Em to pick up Elijah and take him to the barber. Olivia is playing on my phone while we wait for him (for an hour in the truck) to get a haircut.

We were in the truck because Lucas had already be drug around for three hours and he feel asleep. (What a messy truck!!).

He feel asleep hard!

He perfected his mullet. I asked him why in the hell would he want a mullet? His response? Why would I want the same haircut everyone else at school has? No one else has a mullet with stripes. Yep, he wins that argument.

After 4.5 hours, three stripping's, one coloring, one highlight, a haircut and $217 later my daughter is back to (better than) normal. She is happy. Her smile is back. She has layers. This is what she wants. And why?

She is leaving tomorrow to go on vacation with the HEX and WSM to Arizona to see her Grandma Judy. She wanted to be the blond little girl Grandma KNOWS.

Genetics don’t lie. She is her Grandma. She has her fine blond hair. Long thin legs. Her beauty. In fact, she looks exactly like her beautiful Aunt Tanya. Who looks exactly like her beautiful Mom, Judy. And Aunt Terri. While one may fall out of love with their spouse, if you have a heart, as I do, you do not fall out of love with your daughter’s family. And for that reason, and my daughter’s very soul, I COULD NOT, let her go on vacation with orange hair with polka dots. Hell no I couldn’t afford that fixin’, but whatever sacrifices I have to make from now on are worth her smile and fun times on her trip.

And, God, please give me my breath back because she hasn’t even flown away yet and I miss her more than you can understand. (Or if you are a parent, I guess you do).

Em took some photos tonight of Sophie. Good Lord, you can’t even tell she had a bath. What a fluffy rag dog. Man, I don’t think we could love this dog any more than we do. Her personality is out of this world.

Nick made sure he came home in time for the season opener of Survivor. We have had this tradition of watching it since it started in 2000. He may not even care about it anymore, but he knows how important it is to me that we do this TOGETHER. Even his friends know how much it means to me. We pick sides; contestants; shout at the television. Weird way to bond, but we have lots of memories and it’s a conversation starter (and trust me, when they grow up you’ll be glad you have a way to start a conversation). (Personally, I think the guys are going to kick the girls’ all the way to the end and then some chick will swoon the last two men and win).

Really love my bugga-boos. Emily being gone will really hit the little ones next week when they are expecting her back. Life always seems like it is rushing by, doesn’t it?

Valentine Love

2012-02-14T17:34:00.001-09:00

When Lucas got home yesterday we jumped right into get his homework done and making Valentine’s. He loves school and writing and showing how smart he is. :)

Then we were off to basketball practice. He ran, I knitted.

Back at home I got busy helping Emily make her Valentine’s… cupcakes for the class. I had made them earlier so they would cool for her to frost.

Then she wanted to make fondant flowers to top them with. (Our first time doing this).

Drizzled chocolate, sprinkles, flowers and frosting…they were awesome. Not exactly like the photos, but we had a lot of fun doing this project together. The kitchen is still a mess as I’ve been down and out all day. Headache and sore throat.

Each got a pick plus she had chocolate heart boxes for her teachers (so did Olivia and Lucas).

At 9pm Elijah asked me to make a big cookie for “a girl”. (He never remembers ahead of time). The first one fell apart so in my not-feeling-so-good state I was up until 12:30am making a small pizza-sized cookie. He was thankful and I guess she liked it. And if I were a betting Mom he probably told her he made it! LOL

I have slept most of the day and when I did get up I’ve just sat. Energy is zapped, but still have to roll….

got Lucas from school, dropped of the girls to Grandma for a visit, picked up Elijah, dropped him off at another location, back home to get Lucas from Nick and now we are walking out the door to his basketball game and then collect everyone else. (The kitchen is still a mess).

Later….

Another Weekend Gone By

2012-02-13T07:52:00.001-09:00

Lucas had a soccer game Saturday morning. I actually took a bunch of photos (all yellow and need way too much editing) and the cutest video, but this is all you get. He was so adorable. What a rock star running around.

After the game we picked Emily up at her sleepover and went to Barnes and Noble where they were doing a fundraiser for the kids’ elementary school library. They made some Valentines. We didn’t stay too long as Olivia (can’t tell by the smile) didn’t feel so good. She’s over her strep, but has a cold now.

Check out the compost bins. I hope I remember to catch that as it is melting.

Daisy has had enough of the snow…if you were wondering.

Today, Olivia wrote out her Valentine’s and we taped suckers to them all. Man…this is a pretty stressful holiday. Em wants to give everyone cupcakes….decorated with fondant flowers. Ya, like I knew what that was. Spent a lot time shopping, too much money spent, and got her the stuff only to come home and find out that 100% I’m sure we have Crisco is not on the shelf. Tomorrow night will be busy.

Scruffy Sophie.

What a mess!

And she is all about Ugly when she is wet.

It took almost two hours of bathing, blowing and brushing and I never got to the clipping to get her like this. I can see a groomer in her future.

Emily and Lucas were playing hard outside and wanted Olivia to join them, but she doesn’t feel that great. Instead her and I got a little fresh air looking for hearts for an extra (no credit) school project the nurse does. (The nurse I don’t get along because she believes everything should be healthy and I think my kids can eat chips and live). Anyhow….do you see the heart?

Emily found a caterpillar ALIVE on the stairs. In February. At about +25*. Really?

Angst! Two boys shoveled off the 60’ X 8’ foot deck about 1.5 foot deep..settled, melted and heavy. Both really pissed at me for having them do it. Both don’t’ work and are a tad bit lazy. (Understatement). I don’t even feel bad. After they threw it down, Homer used the loader to clear the snow. He also shoveled off many vehicles while I was in town…and he shouldn’t be with two teenagers around, but he did. Did I mention they are lazy?

Emily pulled her brother around on the teeny tiny snow machine. She’s afraid to drive the bigger one.

Today, I washed laundry, hung it to dry and put away what was dry. Sometimes I would rather being doing what my first three kids do while I work, but….

seeing Lukey this happy watching his brother “excel” at video games makes my work worth it. It’s not like 19 and 5-year olds bond a lot so when they do I sure don’t want to interrupt for a little help. I did teach the two youngest about cleaning today with a lot of complaints…Nick keeps his room clean, Emily complained, too, and Elijah just ignored me. We got rid of four bags of stuff….weedin’ it out!

Tonight I gave Lucas a bath and while getting him dressed I said something like “Elijah turn this way” and he said “Why do you always call me Elijah?”. I asked him if it was because he was wild like Elijah? He didn’t like that answer so I offered up that he had the same hair color, Elijah was here first so I was more used to his name and he was really good at basketball like his big brother. He was happy with that.

And that is another weekend at The White House. (What did he eat?).

Really Pretty Lazy

2012-02-11T09:48:00.001-09:00

Thursday my alarm didn’t go off. Or it did and I never heard it. Either way Elijah missed the bus. I had to run him to school while the other kids got ready…glad Nick was home. I hate when the day starts off on the wrong foot, but it doesn’t happen too often.

Later I took Nick to a birthday lunch (we didn’t have a chance to go on Tuesday). We ate at the Cookie Jar. I hadn’t been there in at least 7 years. Lucas ordered a hot dog. I knew better, but let him do it anyhow. (All he ever eats is the bread…we took it home as dad will eat all the kids’ leftovers).

Nick had a Philly Cheese Steak.

I had a Prime Rib Sandwich (Homer got half of that, too).

Here’s the outside of the restaurant. The inside is very comfortable as well, but photographing the food was pushing it with the kids…it was very busy and they get embarrassed.

That evening Lucas had soccer practice. I guess my whole day was off because I drove to the wrong gym. Mentally I had the right school, but physically I was way off. He ended up being 20 minutes late, but as you can see from the smile it didn’t phase him a whole lot. He loves the game….any game!

Friday….hmmmmm…I sure didn’t do a whole lot. Dishes, mopping and being lazy. (I intend to have a more productive weekend….we all know I don’t lack for things to do). Lucas and I stopped by the grocery store and then it was home to relax. Emily was off at a birthday party for the night.

Lucas and Olivia got a Valentine’s package from Granma Claudia. There is nothing more fun than getting mail. They were very excited.

It’s been really warm around +28* here at the house. The roof is dripping and making a nasty ice walkway to get upstairs. This next couple months I am terrified of falling and getting hurt. At 44 I haven’t broken a bone and really don’t want to now!

Educating Moose

2012-02-09T09:18:00.001-09:00

Yesterday when I went to pick Lucas up from Kindergarten their was a moose nibbling on the trees outside the building. I let the office know so a class didn’t come out that side of the building. By the time we left several of the staff were out with their cameras. :) I only had my phone so no close-ups. This…this is one of the reasons we can survive –50* below.

Birthday Day!

2012-02-08T12:27:00.001-09:00

Yesterday was officially Nick’s birthday. Although we celebrated it on Sunday I still want to give a shout out to my Sunshine. Your kids aren’t really supposed to be your friends, but I can tell you for the last 19 years Nick has been my best friend. I can’t even begin to describe it, but let’s just say that he envelopes my heart.

I think pretty much all of us are seeing the same giant moon lighting up the sky, and it is painfully obviously to me that I am not a moon photographer. (In fact, I’m not a photographer at all!).

On our way to basketball I stopped right in the middle of Chena Ridge to take photos. We were completely safe….I had my 5 & 7 year olds watching for cars! LOL

I took a lot a lot of photos. Yuck! The sky was not purple, but it is still kind of pretty.

That is more of what the moon actually looked like… reddish-orange.

Tried again and got a little more close to what the sky actually looked like.

Then we moved further down the hill to get away from the brush. A nice view of Fairbanks.

I wish I knew how to take photos that showed the lights and darks…not just light bulbs!

I also took a lot like this. Ug!

Too dark….

Too grey…

What I’d really like is to be able to take photographs of the moon like this one that I stole off of Google that originally came from www.newsminer.com . As a matter-of-fact I could steal a zillion photos to show you good photographers in my Great State…. frost and Northern Lights and moons and Ice Sculptures and animals… I know, I could take a class at UAF (for the tune of about $700)… maybe I can find a free-lance guy to give me some tips a little cheaper. (And no, I’m not reading my manual…seriously, when would I have time?).

Migraine Day for the boy, but he pulled out of it later in the day to go to his could-have-been-an-hour-but-was-35-minutes meeting. We ran back home, dinner and then off to Lucas’ basketball game.

That smile right there tells you how much fun he has.

Except when it is his turn to sit out.

This ref used to ref Elijah. He was also a head Umpire for baseball that Elijah worked under one summer. He’s also reffed his football games for years. And now he gets Lucas.

“Hey, I’m going to just reach up here and take that ball”.

“And fast break down the court”.

“So I can take a shot”.

“Are you really going to dangle the ball out there again?”

“Here I go!”.

Dad and Grandma Debbi were up on the balcony with Olivia (who is running around behind them).

Stop….

Shoot…Score!!

How about that tenacious defense? He’s all up in their business.

Again…this is the quality of photos I’d like to be taking. I stole this one from the newspaper as well. In fact, it was taken by my neighbor down the road….his son was in cross-country with Lucas (and he was killer fast; number one every time). I suppose Eric would not appreciate me stealing his photo, but I wanted you to get the idea. I have to get a lens for this and some instruction because that is an awesome shot!

After the game Dad took us all out to Food Factory for Nick’s birthday. Ha ha! Nick was busy with his friends, but did spend the whole day with me. I worked on his hair a little. I can’t believe that so many months have gone by and they’ve been neglected. I mean, after all the work it was for me to put them in I wanted to keep them looking nice. Now I’m in repair mode. This will take the better part of two weeks as my hands (arthritis) ache after a little bit of rolling.

I used salt, baking soda and lemon juice for the first wash. The second wash was with apple cider vinegar. He was in a bit of a hurry to get ready to hang with friends so I cut the process short. We’ll do a better cleaning another time.

See all the new growth the hasn’t been rolled? I’ve got to get the dread to be closer to the scalp. Also, he has a lot of new hair that creates a fuzzy look. I have to take those hairs, roll them into balls and then tuck them into the dread. Then roll and roll and roll the dread. He’s looking forward to them being long enough to pull back into a pony tail.

I know dreads aren’t for everyone and I do think he’s more attractive with a hair cut, but they make him happy….and really, who do you style your hair for? Yourself or everyone else? Besides any kid that knows Bob Marley’s birthday is the day before his own is most likely going to wear dreads at some point in his life!

Soccer!

2012-02-07T10:47:00.001-09:00

I forgot to share the photos from the soccer game on Saturday. Lucas played at 11am right before I went grocery shopping for the Super Bowl/Birthday party (see post below) that took 5 hours because the stores were packed!!

The team warming up…. yes, he has his brother’s flair. Anyone can wear black shorts; it takes just the right guy to look good in plaid! :) (Nick always wore pink shorts and even though they aren’t supposed to wear anything but black it seems my boys are able to break the rules).

Lucas wants to play goalie. Must be from all the time spent watching Nick play goalie last summer.

The second half of the game he played out. (Incidentally no one scored on him, but two were scored in the second half against us; he was pretty proud of that).

There is nothing more precious than photos such as this. It reminds me just how little he is in the big world.

Last night Lucas had basketball practice. The photos were really bad so just know we were there! Tonight he has a game. Busy, busy!

Super Sunday

2012-02-06T14:37:00.001-09:00

It was Super Sunday (as Lucas called it) and we were combining the football game with Nick and Cody’s 19th birthdays.

Homer fired up the loader and moved a lot of snow so our guests would have some place to park. It’s just been too cold for me to run the 4-wheeler.

While he was outside I was inside frantically cooking… I wanted to get everything done so I could watch the game. Here’s what we had….
Bam Bam Potato Salad

Party Pinwheels

Bacon Cheddar Deviled Eggs

Veggies and Dip

Snacks, kiwi and grapes

Hot Wings

Honey BBQ Wings

Seven Layer Dip II

Meatball Appetizers

Chicken Enchiladas (two pans)

Tisha made some guacamole dip

Brown Sugar Smokies

Cheese Dip

And guests…. they were the best part. Lucas, John, Bridgette, Nick, Jared….

Elijah, Nick…

Justise, Olivia, Tisha, Jadyn, Homer…

Travis (Tisha)

Kevin (Nick, Jared)

Cody, Andrew…

Grandpa Hutch, Grandma Debbi and the rest of the house full. We had so much fun…even threw a few games of ping pong!

Jan. 29th was Cody’s birthday and Feb. 7th will be Nick’s. It’s their 19th…. I still see them as ten! Since we were already having a house full for the game we decided to celebrate their birthdays. We had a feeling the HEX wasn’t going to let Emily come (in 20 years there hasn’t been a holiday/birthday that he hasn’t cast some kind of negative vibe on)… but getting everyone together two weekends in a row is tough…people are busy. What kind of message is he sending to his kids when I let her attend the WSM’s Christmas party on my week, but she isn’t allowed come a mile down the road to have cake with her brother for his birthday? We originally asked for the whole day without response so we then asked for just an hour. Nope. The wicked in his heart trumps any sense of family a normal person would have. The best part? She sat home all day doing nothing and so wanted to be here. There are years of stories like this that my kids haven't forgotten….

I baked two cheese cakes for something different. We had strawberries for topping.

Our temperatures warmed up considerably. It’s +27* here on the hill right now. Last night the weather change made for an interesting line in the clouds.

Well, now it is time for clean-up. I was entirely too tired last night to even think about it…it was a full day for sure.

I love Family

2012-02-04T00:22:00.002-09:00

This little guy is the cutest thing ever, don’t ya think? :) I had to giggle when I saw the background… doesn’t it look like my husband is carrying a purse? Or should I say, murse (man-purse)? It’s really his wet swim stuff in a duffle.

Today was my great niece Jadyn’s birthday party at Hamme Pool. This is where we all went swimming. Yes, me, too. With all my girth I put on that suit and got in the pool. I figure life is too short to be miserable. Plus, Olivia and Lucas deserve to have the same Mommy that the other three got when they were little. Side note: I heard a child “drowning” to my right and went to help. She hurled chunks in the pool. I immediately got a life guard which resulted in lots and lots of people sitting on the side for half an hour while the pool cycled (or something like that). I suppose anyone else would have left it to the chlorine to kill…I could not. Ewww!! Another side note: For the last four years “something” happens on Jadyn’s birthday. Her dad has been in a couple car accidents and this year when they went to dinner the power was out at the first restaurant. The second restaurant was out of ice cream. Then the puking incident. And she keeps on smiling….

Isn’t she just precious?! She’s now 11 and very happy about that.

Tisha and Grandma Debbi were helping the kids get their food/drinks. Travis was scooping, I was taking photos and helping…it was really efficient…best work to date! :) Yes…even the HEX was there and helped, but since I was the only one with a camera…

My beautiful Emily.

This is Jadyn’s dad Travis talking to Grandpa Hutch.

I am so glad I got in the pool. I think that made the whole thing a lot more fun…. I usually just sit and watch while Homer swims with the kids. Just a great time!

She’s such a little darling (even if she pees in my house). So soft and fluffy and fun.

Ha…Lucas was holding her still for a photo….she’s wondering what he’s up to!

The rest of the day? Olivia made it to two days of school although swimming really zapped her. Not completely better for sure. Elijah made a successful week of school and I only had one meeting with him today. Nick split wood and helped me at the house. Just a really good day! Tomorrow is a soccer game and shopping… got to start cooking up food for the Super Bowl and Nick/Cody birthday party. Fun times!

Here Comes the Sun

2012-02-02T23:07:00.001-09:00

A little more sunlight each day. Love it! It’s official…this was the 5th coldest January on record since 1904 with an average temperature of –26.9* below zero. Guess what the temperature at my house was today? It was a +19*!! What a change from the last two months.

Soon that sun will be high enough in the sky that it will actually light up my yard. I can’t wait!

Somewhere under all that snow is my lawn, flower gardens and pool. Looking forward to seeing them, too!

I spent all morning pouring over Emily’s project to make sure it was ready to print and turn in. That left me with very little time do get anything done around the house. Oh my…look at the condition she left her room in!! It’s been one of those weeks, but in quick fashion I cleaned it up for her.

It’s got to be much more enjoyable to come home to a clean space! Emily wants to dig out all the stuffed animals and split them with her siblings hence the small pile on the bed. There has to be another 100 or more in some totes…. We still need to devise some cute storage solutions for purses, scarves, etc., and window treatment, but it is getting there.

The other day when I cleaned downstairs I also painted doors. I hung her door and changed the door knob (look closely, it’s backwards).

I like working in Em’s room. She has the surround sound so I can crank the tunes. One of my favorite things to do….hang out with her blasting music and dancing. We’re fun like that. :)

I also hung this door in the bathroom. Finally! Now I just need to paint the trim and get my husband to put it up. I’ll clean out the cabinets, get new shower curtains/rugs and the bathroom will be like new!

There’s our afternoon moon. I sure don’t mind pausing to take photos when it is warm out.

Lucas had soccer practice tonight. He has so much fun and is a really good listener (for which I am so thankful because there are several kids on the team who fall into the ADD-I-Am-Not-Listening category who get quite annoying after awhile).

Don’t you love the red shirt and brown/blue Hawaiian shorts? That’s how we roll. His older brother Nick always wore pink shorts while playing. Anyone can wear black! LOL

Nick’s putting some miles on the snow machine and on his way home now. It’s 10:45pm so I’m looking forward to his safe arrival so I can go to bed. Tonight a moose ran out in front of the truck on our way home from soccer. Nothing like a 1200 pound animal appearing from the darkness to send shooting pains to the heart! Haven’t had that happen in awhile and hope it doesn’t again anytime soon. The scare led to a big conversation with Lucas about what would happen if we actually hit it and would I die. And if I died would he…and if he didn’t how would he get home…. interesting observations from a 5-year old. I made sure he knew his phone number so he could tell it to help when they arrived. That seemed to make it all okay.

Dishes All Day

2012-02-02T15:20:00.001-09:00

Yesterday I seriously contemplated camping in front of the fire all day. It would be so easy to do….

Instead I tackled the kitchen. Look, I found my table!! :) I also ran the dishwasher three times and washed several sinks by hand. Amazing how bad things got while comforting my sick child (who is better and back at school today)

Side note….the sun is shining through my front door and onto my computer screen. That hasn’t been possible for months! Yay to days getting longer, the sun getting warm and Spring coming!

I really dislike homework. If it was up to me educating would happen at school. Period. Our evenings and weekends would be for family time and learning life skills. (Or I would completely homeschool so I could make the decisions and use our time more wisely). Since no one asks my opinion I spend some time teaching each night. I sat down and did all the math problems in Emily’s packet so I could check her answers (she struggles in math and had quite a few wrong). By writing them out it makes it easier to show her what she did wrong in her calculations so she can correct them.

Millie is so nosy.

Looks like Sophie is, too. Dogs…always looking for a dropped snack!

I saw two moose on the side of the road coming back from picking up Lucas. I pulled over for photos, but couldn’t get out of the car. The rest of the traffic wasn’t as thrilled as I was and they were flying by so the photo is a little “smoky” from the window.

Nick went to get something out of the lazy susan (something my next kitchen will NOT have) and was frustrated. That led to him organizing it while Emily and I rearranged the counter top before dinner.

I forgot to take a photo, but here’s a shot mid-meal…. moose steak and sundried tomato alfredo penne pasta.

The rest of the evening was spent kicking it with kids and my entire morning was spent going over Emily’s project checking for typos so I could print it and drop it to school (she gets extra credit for turning it in a day early). Shoot…this day is about over….3:15pm….and I haven’t accomplished anything. Heading up to shower and do laundry now…..

My Aching Bones

2012-02-01T09:51:00.001-09:00

Yesterday was the first day, in two weeks, that I had enough energy to do anything beyond what is required….cooking, appointments, homework. I actually spent some time cleaning.

You all are aware the chaos remodeling has created in my home to the point where it’s making me very unhappy. While I can’t build, I sure can throw stuff away. :)

Plant room to the left, bathroom in the middle, “kitchen” to the right. In the middle is the scaffolding that is for reaching the ceiling (I think it is a 12ft ceiling?). It’s become storage for tools and electrical stuff. It’s just a big mess as far as I’m concerned. See the basketball shooting game and ping pong table to the right? Sure would be nice to use those! And, honestly, could we get rid of the wrestling mat already?

What doesn’t fit on the scaffolding gets thrown underneath.

I was able to get most of it taken care of. I need help rolling it out away from the wall to get the rest.

I’ve been looking at tools for the last four years (the first four we weren’t remodeling). I sure wish Homer had time to put up his shop so these things could move out there.

I think that clutter grows while we sleep.

Nick needs to carry my blue bucket upstairs and I need to empty the drawers and then I can move on to my shelving. Almost time to start seeds…and I haven’t even made my orders! :(

Nick’s been gone for a couple of days helping a family get their pipes thawed. I attempted a family meeting the other day to enlist the help of my children. Nick was to be in charge of wood and snow removal. Yesterday I hauled in three loads, split it smaller as it isn’t the greatest wood, stacked, swept and mopped. I wasn’t sure when he’d be home and wanted it done now. (The only other thing I asked was they clean their rooms…..maybe if I start slow I can ease them in to actually doing something. Emily and Elijah looked like a bomb went off at their end of the house. *sigh*).

There’s Rusty relaxing by the fire. So far so good… it seems like he is going to make it.

I paused on the walk upstairs to enjoy the beauty of the sun glistening on the trees even if it was awfully cold. We still do not have inside stairs and I don’t see progress towards that anytime soon. I’ve survived through almost four complete winters. My give a shit is broken and I’ve accepted the fact that I live in a “duplex”.

This morning Millie wanted to play with Sophie.

She thought she’d sit just out of reach!

“Okay, maybe I’ll say hi”. If you are wondering about Millie’s chain she is tied up at night or when we are gone for the safety of the house. She gets to run outside quite a bit and I’ve started letting her spend some time loose in the house in the day now that she’s calming down. She really can’t have the run of things… she extremely hairy and actually would do fine exclusively outside (as she was for the last year), but I felt she was lonely so I brought her in. We have an extra large crate, but it’s still too cramped. She much prefers to stretch out. (I gave her a big brushing yesterday and she looks so much better).

And this little fur ball is bringing a lot of joy to our home.

In other stuff…. Olivia is not getting better. She still has no voice and feels awful. I hope the medicine starts working today. Elijah isn’t complaining about his chest so I’m guessing it feels better. Emily is almost done with her project. We’ll put the finishing touches on it tonight. Lucas had a basketball game last night that I missed to stay home to care for Olivia. That killed me! I rarely miss anything my kids do. He came home very excited, said he had fun and made three baskets. I’ve decided it is time to do something about my arthritis. My body hurts all.the.time. like I’ve been beaten by baseball bats. (If I could only move South). I despise swallowing pills, but I am getting to where I can barely function. I know exercise would help, but until I ease some of the pain that isn’t happening. Any relief suggestions?

Time to get moving… the kitchen is a disaster and there isn’t a clean dish to be had. What I need is a big cash windfall, my house completed and a maid. LOL Don’t we all?

I Did Have Photos

2012-01-31T08:57:00.001-09:00

I guess I did have a few photos from Sunday after all. That’s the table I spent 3 hours on (and never finished). Cold, stress and some other things just have us all so run down. I must say I’m feeling pretty good so far today (for the first time in a couple weeks). We were all in bed by 9:30pm last night…some even earlier. My stomach was a mess and I just knew I would be down and out this morning, but I’m not!! :) Olivia had a long, painful night. It broke my heart every time she cried, “Mommy, it hurts”.

Soaked in the tub, hair dried and asleep by 7pm. Who knew she’d wake up Monday so sick with a smile like that? She’s such a sweetheart.

Okay…let’s see what we can accomplish today?! :)

Never Ending Drama

2012-01-30T19:27:00.001-09:00

Back to Saturday….see, I wasn’t kidding, it was cold. Homer had –62* at the shop he works at. Just crazy miserable.

We picked up the gifts, picked up Emily, dropped Olivia to Pizza Hut (where she won a blow-up palm tree) and Lucas to Glow-Putt Indoor Golf (it’s dark and everything glows). Emily and I had time to kill so I took her shopping for earrings. Then we picked up Nick for lunch. Frantic rush to get Olivia, then Lucas, drop off Nick, pick up Elijah and race home. All at –50*! Ug! (I was on the run from 8:30am-6:00pm on the coldest day of the year….in years).

We got home at 6:00pm, Elijah showered and got ready for the Junior/Senior Ball. Of course, Elijah has never ever prepared ahead of time in his life and no amount of nagging earlier in the week was going to get him to go shopping so there we were…time to go and nothing to wear. He chose to recycle his brother’s prom outfit from last May. Boys are cool like that….could you imagine a girl recycling her sister’s dress? I think not.

Homer was kind enough to drive him in to meet the Junior girl who was sponsoring his ticket into the Ball. Elijah tells me he’ll get me a copy of the group photo. We’ll see. I stayed home and cuddled Olivia who was running a fever and felt miserable. Homer and Emily went back at midnight (at –50* below) to pick him up. Emily wanted to see the dresses. Originally her and I were going to sit at the gate and gawk, but my sick girl needed me to comfort her. What a long night it was as she cried and moaned all night long.

Sunday was a down day for us all. I spent three hours cleaning the kitchen table….that’s how run down I am. Homer loaded the dishwasher. The kids laid on the couch. Then *poof* it was evening. Nick took the space heater to thaw his friends frozen pipes, Olivia was sleeping by 7 and Emily and I painted nails before we all turned in.

And now it’s Monday. Sorry I don’t have any photos and just a lot of talking, but it’s been that kind of day. Olivia was worse this morning and couldn’t talk. Got the other kids off to school and we slept until noon. At noon the school called. Elijah popped out his sternum while lifting weights and the nurse felt he should go to the doctor. Olivia woke up doing horrible so off we went. Picked up Elijah, Lucas and then to the clinic. Elijah’s sternum popped back in, but he is in a lot of pain (kind of like how a broken rib feels). Olivia has confirmed strep and is in a lot of pain as well with a 102* temp. I ran Lucas to meet Homer to go to basketball practice and now I’m going to sit and hold my little girl. Emily has a huge project due that we are also working on and none of us feel very well. It’s going to be an early night.

Rusty Is Home

2012-01-28T13:03:00.001-09:00

Always running….

I picked Lucas up from school and ran him home to Nick so I could run back to town to get Elijah for another appointment! I did slow down long enough to take a photo of the Sundog on the right. When I uploaded I noticed there is also one on the left!

After we were done we went straight to the vet’s office. The short of the long of it is that he has a 70% of being okay and 30% chance of needing surgery. So far this has cost $700 that I didn’t have to spare. A $2000 surgery is out-of-the-question. The next couple of days will be tense ones watching to see if he can pee and is going to be okay. (If he needs surgery the vet knows someone who will pay for it, but they will also keep Rusty…. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but it would spare his life which is more important than being selfish). The cone is to keep him from licking his tail where the bullet went completely through.

Bright and early we were up and headed out the door for a 9:00am basketball game. It wouldn’t be that big of a deal except that it is –50* below today (give or take a few degrees depending where you are in town). On a day we shouldn’t leave the house we’ve been running. I had my faithful cheerleader at my side.

Lucas had a blast today.

He’s always all smiles.

Today they introduced the concept of free throws. Lucas got to shoot two and made them both! He celebrated with hands in the air. It was so cute.

After the game we had to race across town to a different gym where they were taking team photos. This is what the ice fog looked like.

After photos things had gotten considerably worse with all the car exhaust. If you look closely you can see the stoplight. The air quality is so poor it was making me sick to my stomach and giving me a headache.

Next stop was Fred Meyer to pick up two birthday presents. One thing about these temperatures…no one was in the store! We are now back home breathing a little fresh air before heading back in to town. Olivia has a party at 2:00pm and Lucas at 2:30pm so I’ll spend a few hours driving back and forth in horrible visibility. It’s going to be slow going for sure.

Catching up….

2012-01-27T00:18:00.001-09:00

Have I ever NOT had a long week? Some day I’ll have to share what my pre-blog life was like. Today…this is a walk in the park compared to then. Difference? I was so much younger! LOL

We’ve had great pain in our family with Rusty’s ordeal, but I don’t want that to take away from Lucas. It seems too often the bad smothers the good in our lives.

Wednesday night Lucas had a basketball game. OMG he is so cute to watch.

“Hey, I’m open!”

When he gets better I can see him being a ball hog… he loves to shoot.

He was all over this poor kid. Too aggressive at times.

If you stick with me enough years maybe you’ll see this guy playing in high school like you did Nick and Elijah.

I totally love those Big Brother-Little Brother moments.

No, I did not do a good job with camera settings. Gyms are always so yellow…. but my goodness, don’t you just want to eat him up?

I imagine you’re starting to scroll pretty fast now. Sorry. You’re gonna get a lot of basketball and soccer over the next couple of months. I can’t help myself.

Today I drove and drove and drove. Elijah to school, then to an evaluation, three stores trying to find indoor soccer shoes for Lucas…. no luck. Shopping here sucks. Then it was home to make dinner before going to practice. Isn’t that a beautiful moose roast? I made some slices and stuffed with garlic.

Then braised with a bunch of spices.

We didn’t actually get to eat until after soccer, but this is what we had. I also planned salad and biscuits, but it was already 7:30 and we just ate what we had ready.

Tonight was Lucas’ first soccer practice. We were kind of surprised how tentative he seemed to be. In summer soccer he was an animal, but this is his first time indoors so it make take awhile to adjust.

And why do we bathe Shih Tzu’s so often? How about inquisitive puppies who find my daughter’s play make-up and proceed to eat the lipstick. Besides that I’m find that her hair is growing excessively fast. I can see how it has to be kept on top of or before I know it she’ll be a matted mess. It really is okay to bathe a dog often if you are using quality shampoos and conditioners (which I am). I need to trim her bottom and legs… the hair on this dog is pretty extensive and she potty’s on herself (hence the bath). Her feet need trimmed as well as she immediately freezes up outside. While I really don’t need more to do and this dog is high maintenance, I just love her (and so does the rest of the family). My only issue is the attitude. I’ve been doing some reading and her breed tends to have an attitude…. and Sophie definitely does. She hates being brushed and if she isn’t she’s a mess. I have to keep at it and break the biting or it could be bad when she’s older. Anyone have experience with this breed? I swear she’s smarter than me… some days I wonder who is training who.

After meetings and shopping and before dinner Lucas and I went to visit Rusty. They vet asked to keep him another day, night and all day tomorrow when decisions will be made. It was horrible. He is perky and jumping. Whining and wagging… he wanted to go home with us so bad. The deal is that he has a catheter and there is still blood in his urine. While it is getting more diluted it is still there. We’re afraid that the urethra is damaged. They are going to take out the catheter tomorrow morning and watch all day to see if he can urinate on his own or if his body cavity fills up. If he is successful he’ll come home. If there is damage he will be put to sleep. As much as this is killing me and the kids it is unreasonable to spend $1000 on surgery. We are already over $500 and that was my grocery money. It just can’t be done no matter how much we love the little guy. Yes, Rusty is part of our family, but my human children have to come first. This sucks in so many ways and isn’t a position you ever think you’ll be in when letting your son have a puppy.

So a little prayer, if you can, sent up for Rusty. May his little body be strong and heal so he can come home and have another ten years of happiness.

BTW the coward neighbor didn’t shoot Rusty in his yard. He shot our dog who was running from him at the end of our driveway. The man stood and shot down and across the road to hit him. Thank God one of my children weren’t outside. Not only is he evil, it was highly illegal (even without there being a dog), but I have no concrete proof. He will get his in the end.

Rusty Boy

2012-01-26T00:15:00.002-09:00

This is our little Rusty Bucket. He’ll be six in March. Or at least we hope.
Today, Rusty was shot by our neighbor. An accidental unlocked gate. He was free for 5 minutes and ran into the road.
Our neighbor shot him in the butt and the bullet went through his tail and traveled to his bladder. He was peeing blood. It was a horrifying mess as my son and I tried to clean him and figure out what was wrong.
This is Elijah’s dog. It’s not as if my poor son hasn’t had enough to deal with in his young life, but today, he held his dog as I drove to the vet. They sedated, did an X-ray and put in a catheter. Rusty is spending the night at the vet. So far we’ve paid $415.59 that we don’t have to spare. They will watch him all night and tough decisions will be made tomorrow. If Rusty’s body is able to repair itself he will come home. If the damage is significant then he will have to be put down. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to spend thousands on a delicate surgery to repair his urethra.
I, more than most, know that a dog roaming free is unwelcomed. I own livestock….and have suffered many tragedies at the mouths of loose dogs. With that said, Rusty weighs about 12 pounds. He’s 8 inches tall. He is as nonviolent and mellow as they get. He was fleeing when shot. No one was threatened or in danger from this tiny pup. This was the act of a very angry man who has spent the last eight years harassing my family.
He has….
*pointed a gun at me and seven of my children at my own front door.
*he has driven head on at my van trying to run me and my children off the road.
*he has laid in the ditch in the middle of winter shining a red laser light through my dining room window at our heads while my husband was out-of-town.
*he has stood in the middle of the road photographing me and my children through our living room window.
*we suspect he poisoned our dear cocker Molly who subsequently died.
*he has stopped his truck at the end of my drive way blocking my exit.
*he has used his truck to follow my kids (when they were about 11) on snow machines and then accused them of trying to run him over skiing.
*when my children play in their yard he stands in his yard screaming obscenities at them.
*my children can no longer ride their bikes down the road; when they do he stands in his driveway cussing at them.
*when I work in my garden he sits on his 4-wheeler at the end of my driveway watching me.
Everything he has done (aside from the gun incident in which he told the officers it was a ski pole and they believed him) is legal. Well, and poisoning our dog, but we couldn’t prove that. I’ve have been a prisoner at my own home since moving into it. I go in the house when he comes out. I can’t let my kids be normal kids. I don’t drive out if he is in sight. I haven’t talked about it because, well, I don’t talk about so many things that seem to plague my life.
The previous owners were also harassed, but didn’t disclose that he was a child/dog hater until after we purchased the home.
I had multiple dogs roaming in my yard this summer. Several tried to tear down the fence to get at my chickens and sheep. I caught these dogs and called their owners to retrieve them. Rusty is not a threat to anyone especially a large 47-year old man.
Shooting an animal that is not a threat is illegal. Proving he did it is impossible. But God knows.
I would say I pity the man, but he is not worthy of pity. Only a completely heartless ass would shoot a small dog as he ran away.
Please, say a little prayer for our sweet little guy. May he pull through this and come home. Elijah cannot handle another reason to be angry. His heart needs to heal.

*edited to add.... I really try to do my part to be a responsible pet owner as much as humanly possible, but we all know things happen. Dogs break a chain, the collar slips, the batteries in the electronic collar go dead... even a child slips our grasp at times and runs. Life happens and as humans we are expected to be a bit accepting. And for the humans that aren't, there are laws that cover what you can and cannot do when life happens. One of them is shooting a non-threating animal. If that were the case I could shoot every moose that munched on my garden and fill all our freezers, but I can't. And I can't shoot a dog because he bolted from his owner and ran through my flower bed. And my neighbor can't shoot my dog when he's running for home. But he did.

Extreme Cuteness

2012-01-24T09:11:00.001-09:00

I spent a lot of time in my truck yesterday. Actually, it was 72 miles worth of back and forth, traffic lights, parking lots, in and out of the truck….a lot of time. It’s about 10 miles from my house to the schools or store and I was lucky enough to drive in three times!

Lucas had basketball practice last night. He screams cuteness although I’m sure he’d rather I used words like fast or tough, but for now, I’ll stick to cute.

There he is in the middle (they were scrimmaging) scoring a basket.

This group is K-2nd and it is an introductory program to basketball. He’s definitely the smallest one out there, but he’s one of the most aggressive. Granted he may not win the battle for the ball due to size/weight, but he doesn’t back down. I hope he stays interested in sports. He’s going to be fun to watch like Elijah was.

Tonight he has a game. Then Thursday he has his first soccer practice and a game on Saturday. Reminds me of the boys… every night there was some activity to be at. My life is about to get a whole lot busier.

And more extreme cuteness…. how about my little Sophie. She goes nuts when she sees a ball. Isn’t she just scruffy looking? Definitely in need of a bath.

Sophie chasing the basketball.

Flooring!

2012-01-22T22:18:00.001-09:00

*edited …it took all day for me to finally finish this post. I put down my feelings and then felt wrong about it. Too much pissing and moaning makes me feel sad. I have a wonderful husband and beautiful children. I need to learn to just accept things as they are and then I can be truly happy. We all deserve happiness.

So with that said…. yesterday I tried to eliminate more of the clutter of our stuff. We don’t have closets, shelves, cabinets or real storage solutions so things get set here and there. A constant state of chaos that really bugs me. I also realize that you are probably wondering why it takes me so long to do basic cleaning/storage, but honestly, I spend so much time in my truck, at meetings, with my kids on school work/fun there isn’t that much extra time in my day.

I did find a place for the clutter above the television.

The “stuff” that came off the television had to be tossed, stored or filed….which led to labeling files and doing just that. (Seriously…Nick’s diploma that he got in May was up there. Why?).

The top drawer came out of the file cabinet when I moved it. I can’t get it back in so there it sits. Underneath are two bags of paperwork plus the green bucket full. I managed to get it all filed. It still needs to go in the cabinet. It took a couple hours, but it sure felt good to get so much of it put away/organized. Should have gotten around to this years ago, but when I went from 3 to 6 kids over night and added two more in the next two years my day to day obligations didn’t leave time for things like this. (I still have one more bucket to file…but I’m almost there!).

This cutie way doing a Star Wars sword battle while I filed.

After the paperwork I started looking at more piles. I was irritated to say the least.

And the more I looked at the piles and the more I took photos the more that concrete floor was irritating me. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that the completion of our home improvement projects is slim…. my man works 12+ hours a day at least 6 days a week, a lot of children and a lot of activities….but I do not have to have my kids crawl around on concrete. This is part of me accepting some things and letting others go.

I started putting down linoleum awhile back and ran out. I decided to tear the house apart even worse and put down some more.

By the time I got over to the freezer I was tired. My back hurt. My knees hurt…and I was doing this while also being a mom/entertaining my two little ones.

I thought I was being clever making “skidders” for the furniture. Sophie thought I was making toys for her.

I got over to the middle of the television before calling it a night. Olivia got me to sit down and play Sequence and I just couldn’t get moving again. I really wanted to be done and was pretty bummed to stop.

I thought I would finish on Sunday, but my husband had other plans that involved watching two football games and I would have been in the way. I hope to finish tomorrow, but with having to drive/pick-up the boy at school, attend a meeting, Girl Scouts and basketball practice it doesn’t seem possible. Also, finished isn’t exactly the right term. I will go around the freezer. When we move it this summer to take out the other garage door I’ll lay the linoleum then. Also, I doubt I’ll move the television and entertainment center either until a later date. But it will be mostly done! :)

So that’s that. If you want something done you’ve just got to get up and do it. And complaining is pointless and hurtful. Acceptance is good. Always wanting “more” is not.

Dance the Night Away

2012-01-21T07:37:00.001-09:00

I am the kind of person that plans timing down to the minute. If a meeting, appointment, drop-off or pick-up is at 2:00, I arrive at 1:59 and walk in at 2:00pm. Being late is rude and being early wastes my time (not that I don’t waste time a zillion other ways, but this is my messed up thought process). Scheduling my life as such does not leave room for detours, accidents or stopping to smell the roses (so to speak).

I have seen some beautiful sunrises/sunsets lately and a few Sundogs as well, but I “have somewhere to be” and can’t pull over. So this is what you get. A hurried shot through the front windshield on my way to get Lucas. I think it’s time for me to learn to stop and smell the roses. See the sundog?

Thursday night I had an itch to bake a ham (which I ended up smothering in that gravy it was so good). Had a great dinner planned which pretty much flopped. Elijah didn’t want ham, Lucas won’t eat meat (for the most part), Nick was out and Homer came home with the flu and went straight to bed. Olivia and I dined together so all was not lost.

Nick showed up later with two of his buddies to crash here. Yes, they ate the whole pan of brownies., but I got to hang out an hour with them. Small price to pay. :)

Last night Mr. White wanted to go out to dinner (he’s feeling better and I have a gift card I need to use), but Olivia had other plans. It was Family Dance Night down at the school and she thought we should go. When starting that second family at 37/38 I never gave much thought to the idea that at 44 I might be exhausted from dealing with teenager stuff all day and not have the energy to dance the night away. I sucked it up and went. Bottom line is Olivia and Lucas deserve the same energetic Mommy that Nick, Elijah and Emily had.

I’m so glad I did! I danced with my kids for two hours! It didn’t matter that I’m fat and not the “hot mom”. I survived my husband having to leave half way through to go back to work (that sucks on so many levels). I even survived being in the same breathing space with my HEX because he never actually stood up or moved the whole two hours so I didn’t have an unwanted encounter.

I need more of this and less meetings, lawyers and courts.

Emily wasn’t there with me, but she was a good enough big sister to dance with her siblings before joining her friends. Lucas was thrilled! (And later her and I did the electric slide! Remember than one?).

There’s Smiley!

These girls danced up a storm! My photos are kind of crappy, but that’s okay. I didn’t want to be tied to my big camera…this was about doing the Congo line in style! (And a little Latin cha-cha-cha with the cutest 5-year old ever!).

This friend came home to spend the night with Olivia and they are still fast asleep. I woke up at 6:00am which completely bums me out. I had full intentions of sleeping in this weekend, but my body said otherwise.

It’s quiet…just me and sleeping puppies. What to do?

Headaches!!

2012-01-18T00:20:00.001-09:00

It was a headache kind of day. When I woke Emily up she had a huge headache and I let her go back to bed. Coincidently, I also had a huge headache. I got Olivia and Lucas up and fed breakfast. Packed lunches, backpacks, put them in their snow gear and sent them out to a bus at –30*. Really? It’s getting old. Longest, coldest winter in several years. Also, coincidently, the same year that I plant a million perennials because it rarely gets below –20* at my house and if it does it only does for a few days. I don’t thing any of them are going to survive.

After the bus came I went back to bed with Em. We slept until noon when I forced us to get up and face the day. Still a bit of a headache, but she read anyhow (for a project) and I got ready to pick up Lucas from Kindergarten.

Our day? Pretty low key as we didn’t feel super. Basically, it was just breathing until it was time to go to Lucas’ first basketball game ever. And OMG I could have died of cuteness. The coach was late so I took charge. Found the lady with the jersey’s. Put them on the three kids that were there, explained what they needed to know that wasn’t done at practice and we started the game. The coach showed up half way through the first and while he took over subbing, I’m pretty sure I was louder and took over coaching. I have to learn some self-control. LOL

The league is Kindergarten through 2nd grade. In the teams before, our teams and the game after….six teams, I’m pretty sure he was the smallest guy out there. (He was also the only one in pants even though Elijah told him to wear shorts. He was so hot he said he would wear shorts next time). So he won’t be the big man (like Elijah could have been), but he’ll be one hell of a dribbler! :)

He was the first to score for either team. Pretty cute!

Aggressive defense and stealing the ball!

Really listening to coach… I like to see that.

He’s pretty good at dribbling the ball for being five and just starting.

This was so fun to watch!

Look how big the kid is that is playing defense on him. Hmmm….maybe a second grader?

I hope I have many years of cheering this guy on and giving high fives. Isn’t this one of the moments we as parents wait for?

Here’s one of his pretty cheerleaders. The other one (Olivia) was pissy and tired and didn’t want her photo taken.

So that was the extent of the day…. headaches and a really cute game of basketball. Oh, wait… Lucas and I did empty three buckets of toys and separate them into buckets or get rid of pile. One task as a time ……

Bring It Mr. Frost

2012-01-17T00:05:00.001-09:00

Put my yogurt in jars today. It’s more runny this time because I added vanilla and sugar for something other than a tart flavor. I love it. It would be perfect for breakfast with some strawberries or bananas and granola. So far I am two for two with homemade yogurt and don’t plan to buy it again any time soon. There are so many ways to flavor (honey, Jell-O, jelly, fruits) so we have lots of things to try. For now, it is just going in smoothies that the kids have at least twice a day!

Made a small batch of muffins and then laughed. These with last only a few minutes in a household this big!

The kids were out last night so this morning it was all me. I did some laundry, emptied three buckets of “stuff” upstairs and then they came home. Emily had a new scarf Debbi made her. She said it only took her about an hour. Sure wish I could crochet. It is velvety soft and beautiful!

Olivia jumped right in and did all her homework.

Lucas did his as well and then laid on the couch. Apparently, he threw up in the night at Grandma’s and was pretty puny the rest of the day. Same thing that happened with Olivia the other day. I suspect he will be fine in the morning as she was.

Emily was nice enough to let her sister play games on her IPod. Crazy how things are so different for my kids compared to when I was their age.

My niece, Tisha, cooked her first turkey tonight and then brought it up to the house. I made some mashed potatoes, Emily put together a salad and we heated up corn. Oh, and made some gravy, too. It’s so wonderful to have family dinners. I wish we lived in one big ole house and ate together every night. I’m totally into the idea of commune living…we gather, but have our own space. So much better than going days with seeing each other. Modern American life (kids leaving the farm) is not been a move in the right direction as far as I’m concerned.

After dinner we played some games of Blockus. Such fun that anyone can win at…. even Lucas!

I love, love, love when they get along. Those moments are few and far between with their personalities and age difference…but every now and then…

I also spent several hours on bills. It takes so much time to scan, record, put into spreadsheets and document…. and of course, I’m the half that has to do that. Must be nice….

It’s still cold. I guess it is –41* in town and it is –28* here at the house. It’s all good, though. We are Alaskans and we are tough (makes me giggle…politically many of you don’t like Sarah Palin, but I can tell you she can handle this cold! LOL). :)

Sooo… no my life isn’t perfect. Got lots of stress….kids get into trouble…people want to cause pain to my family for their own gain…and my dog poops on the floor…

But guess what? We had an awesome day…all seven of us with 3 other family members and no amount of drama can take the joy away.

Can I get an Amen? :)

Walking at –41* Below Zero

2012-01-16T12:07:00.001-09:00

A week or so ago the three youngest were at Grandma’s. It was –41* below and Emily talked Grandma into taking them for a walk across the street to the pond just so “they could say that walked when it was that cold”. Crazy!

Today it’s –30.5* here at the house and I have absolutely no desire to go for a walk just to say I did, but I bet when I was a kid, I would have. In fact, it wasn’t too many years ago (20) when I was willing to ride a snow machine for a couple of hours to get to a cabin where it was –60* just to party for New Year’s Eve. Funny how age changes a person (or at least me).

All the time I drive past people skiing, running, bicycling in these temperatures and I just shake my head. I don’t have that kind of adventure in me. How about you? Would you get into extreme weather exercise/activities?

What A Day

2012-01-15T23:01:00.001-09:00

What a day.

Football was a huge downer. I will not be watching Aaron win another Super Bowl. The Packers did not show up to play ball today. My opinion is the coach made a grave mistake sitting Rodgers out of the last game. A top athlete gets in a groove and when that groove is interrupted it affects not only them, but the entire team. Receivers couldn’t catch, he couldn’t throw, defense couldn’t stop the other team. Is was painful to watch.

Then to add to that pain my husband had to go in to work on his only day off. While we are thankful for his job he works entirely too much. It’s taking its toll on this family.

He feel asleep at 7:00 and the kids are all gone, too. You would think with all this quiet I would have done something. Anything, but no, I just sat and time passed. I’ve spent the last 19 years with kids underfoot and when they are not I’m lost. Add to that a sleeping husband and I find it all kind of depressing. I wish Nick was here to play a game with. That always makes me feel better.

Millie peed on the floor three times in half an hour. I don’t know what is up. Other than that she seems perfectly healthy. Maybe she’s mad at me? The puppy made multiple messes that I couldn’t get ahead of. Just a shitty day all around, I guess.

But Sophie sure is cute after her bath, isn’t she?

If it wasn’t for the two loads of laundry I did it would have been a complete waste of a day. I really hating wasting days…we never know how many we have left. Maybe tomorrow will be better. I’m off to bed….

52 Weeks of Me

2012-01-15T19:04:00.001-09:00

Just for the record… I did not forget this week…. I took the photo on Monday. I just forgot to do my post on Saturday. It’s been kind of a rough week.

The theme this week was BLUE. I immediately thought of my blue eyes. Probably the only body part that haven’t become ashamed of and still love. Of course, I tried some face shots and I hated them. I’m just not ready for a full-on photo so instead, I messed around with the camera while taking an off ramp (no danger to others…just me going in the ditch LOL). The blue tint on the snow is a bonus!

Give some thought to joining…. your children will appreciate it someday. :)

Productive Day!

2012-01-15T14:03:00.001-09:00

Yesterday challenged my patience at times, but over all it went pretty good. For –35* below!

Right off the bat Emily and I went to work cleaning the piles that had accumulated during my rough week.

We got my husband a variety of shirts for Christmas thinking maybe he would wear something else beside the same style every.single.day. Nope. There they are piled high (with a bunch of other junk). We got it down to mine and Em’s purses, clothes that need exchanged and a package to mail.

If I took a panoramic shot you’d see it’s all like this. Never ending battle. The bag of clothes is for Debbi, a few toys for Lucas and a table of crafts in progress. Wish I had that craft room done.

Now do you see how I lost my camera on the table? We cleaned these two areas, too. Swept and even spent a little time on paperwork. (Yuck)

Millie is shedding like it is April. I don’t even get it. I brushed a bucket full off her and need to do it again. I just love how she crosses her feet. I was asked how she’s doing with the cold…. just fine because she’s been living in the house. This summer she needs a kennel and top-notch dog house built though. She’s just to hairy to be inside plus she’s not 100% potty trained. Oh, and Daisy is a rock star when it comes to the elements. Not your average sheep. :)

I even took time to go through these drawers and put some winter gear in them. Need to bring the rest of it down stairs. There really hasn’t been a need. It’s been so cold all winter I think the kids have played out side twice? Nick brought in wood and split some kindling. Then I brought in some more, swept and struggled with the fire all day long. I had asked Elijah to bring in more wood, but since I won’t let him do anything he refused. I did it myself and hurt my back. Of course. Made for a long rest of the day. (I know, I can almost hear some people saying …. make him. Really? He’s lost all privileges and if you know how to make a 6’2”, 180 lb man-child do something he refuses to, let me know).

We never did get to this mess. We got side-tracked by Sophie barking at the purple ball. All.day.long. Then there was Elijah doing little things to get under my skin. You know, like squeak the dog toy for 15 minutes straight during the end of a very good football game. I just ignored him, but 12 minutes in Lucas lost it and yelled at him. It was kind of funny. I won’t go into detail, but it was a full day of little annoyances and constant badgering to go here or there. I’ve never really presented Elijah truthfully because I don’t want people to not like him. Does that make sense? Anyhow, he worked hard at being a pain all day, but I survived! And I still love him. And he’s still mad.

In all our cleaning, bill paying and arguing all I really wanted to do was curl up with these catalogs and make my gardening decisions. I just put them back on the shelf. Emily and I did make yogurt yesterday. In fact, I need to get it out of the oven and put it in jars. Fingers crossed it worked as good as it did last time.

Check this thing out…. it is a hand-held scanner. I can take it out of the dock and roll it across a document or I can leave it in the dock and feed the paper through. I can either remove the disk to insert in the computer or it has a cable to connect to the computer. It was a Christmas gift from my in-laws Claudia and Doug. I am here to tell you this is the most awesome little gadget and came at the perfect time. It’s really helped in my quest to become organized and pay off debt. I love it!!

Well…we are sneaking up on kick-off time. I’ve got on my Aaron Rodgers shirt and my Green Bay coffee mug. Ready for some football. May my man with the dreamy eyes throw many touch downs today!! :)

Being Real

2012-01-14T13:43:00.001-09:00

Tuesday sucked. Sucked and sucked some more. The short of the long…. I have devoted the last 5 months of my life, gone to about 40 meetings all the way up to an Executive Session with the school board to get my son back in to school. I’ve had the support of my husband and he’s attended many of the meetings, but other than that it has been all me. And all that I had to do plus all the medical stuff has really affected the quality of life in my home.

So what happened? Yes, he got back in to school. It started last Monday. He made it a couple of days before getting in to trouble and getting suspended for ten days.

I am beating my head against the wall. Literally. I love my son very much and it is just another bump in a rough road that has been his entire 16 years. It isn’t about me doing this or that, it’s about the kid. Who he was born. His inability to think in the future tense. It’s his child-like in-the-moment personality that is tough to work with. He has always struggled in school. Before his head injury he had a violent temper. Now he is so emotionless. That in itself is sad. Nothing is sacred. He’ll steal just about anything from all of us. He doesn’t even see it as stealing. He’s just “borrowing it”. And forgets to give it back. I could really go on and on about the daily struggles I have, but I won’t. Those of you who have kids born with difficulties understand the struggles. Those of you whose kids left the womb perfect, please don’t judge. It isn’t poor parenting, it’s just me (and my husband) working with the person he is, things changing hourly sometimes and doing the best we can.

But sometimes I just want to scream. And cry. So I did. Damn it. So much time, so much effort, so many people involved…and it lasted only a couple of days. And now here we are. Prisoners in our own home. Passwords on computers. Purses locked up. IPod and phones in pocket. Every half an hour going through the same discussion with a 16-year old who forgets….why he can’t have his electronics and internet. Talks about consequences. About life.

I won’t even put on my happy face and pretend today. I’m damn exhausted. I’ve spent a year in court battles over custody of a kid who my ex would kick out of his house (again) within hours of him being there. He has no clue the things he will say to them; the things he will take; the things he will destroy. And then run away. Yep, it all looks good on paper, but he has no idea how involved raising a kid with disabilities is. Not even a clue.

So there’s some honest truth for you. And that doesn’t even touch the iceberg of crap I deal with. Not even close. So….when you run into someone in the store who is a bit rude remember to show compassion. You have no idea what things they might be dealing with and maybe there mind is a million miles away solving problems.

So….what’s the good stuff?

Awhile back the boys shoveled the sidewalk and stairs. My back was grateful.

Then Nick shoveled a path to the bus. Good thing because the kids never would have made it….the snow was really deep.

Wednesday was like +20. We got one or two days of warmth and I knew I had to get some plowing done before the temps dropped again. I shoveled all the snow on the left out away from the house. I spent about an hour working with the 4-wheeler. Then the wind started blowing and I was freezing. I finally quit when I realized I pulled something in my neck working that broken plow that no one will fix for me. (Yes, another bitch of mine). In fact, the intense pain in my neck last for two days. Just what I needed.

Wednesday I sautéed chicken with a bunch of spices for an alfredo pasta dish. I’m sure I cooked other things this week, too, but I lost my camera on my table and just found it today. (Yes, when one part of your life falls apart and needs your attention the house goes to hell).

The best thing about this week? My precious Emily came home. She is the sunshine in my day.

Lucas had his second basketball practice on Thursday. I help, but would like to just run things. I just want to scream at the coach “they are 5! and don’t understand you”, but I don’t. I just try to help them understand what he is saying.

We went to Food Factory. Again, not something I wanted to do, but was outnumbered by the rest of the family. I want to pay every dime I have on bills so I can get the hell out of Dodge, but everyone else wants to enjoy life a little. I get it. I do.

So what’s up with the obnoxious flash on my phone camera? She looks like a vampire with beautiful eyes. (I’m laughing at the jacket…Emily is skinny and that makes her look so big!).

It is –34* below zero at my house today. It is –45* down in town. We have a 3 day weekend and we’ll spend it locked inside just like we did for the 19-day Christmas break. This has been a long winter in so many ways…..

Give Me A Break!

2012-01-11T10:28:00.001-09:00

ENOUGH!!

At some point in time the cosmic forces (or whomever is piling it on me) has to realize that I am carrying far more than my share of the Bad Stuff on my shoulders and cut me some slack.

I’d love to share it with you, but legally, I can’t. How screwed up is that? I can’t even talk about my own life. Probably a good thing….half of you would probably run screaming if you knew how messed up things really are. The rest would stick around for my pretty flowers. :)

Yesterday I wasn’t able to attend my Housekeeping job (you know, us stay-at-home types have lots of job titles). It did rock Parenting, , Educational Advocate, Legal Advisor, Medical Assistant, Nutritionist and Coach. Blindsided by drama led to unexpected meetings and a potential train wreck heading our way in a few days….but we survived round one.

All that stuff meant racing out the door to pick up the new lens for Olivia’s glasses before basketball without dinner (in fact, without time to even make sandwiches). I made a Resolution that we would not eat out in 2012 and put that money towards debt. Ten days in and that Resolution is blown. Pisses me off, but the kids had to eat so we stopped in their favorite place…Food Factory. They are so good in restaurants. Elijah still isn’t.

Lucas is participating in Interior Youth Basketball. Last night was his first practice. He was so excited to be there with the other kids.

The coach was a really nice guy, but gave way too many instructions with way too many big words (rebound, guard, etc.). for a group of 5-year olds. I pushed my way right into helping him coach….kind of like a cheerleader, but better. He’d say something, I tell them what to do in kid words and then gave lots of high fives for their effort. It worked out pretty good. I think this comes out to about $6 an hour (maybe less)….cheaper than Play Place at McDonald’s and a lot better for him!

Oh, and along with all the other drama dumped in my lap yesterday, Millie and Rusty ran off, stood in the middle of the road barking at the psycho creepy neighbor who stood there with his shovel yelling. When the boys retrieved the dogs he cussed them out. Guys like him live forever. Just sayin’…..

A Chilly Post

2012-01-09T23:25:00.001-09:00

At the house it was –23*. When I reached the end of Cripple Creek at the Parks Highway it was –29* and this was the view.

As I drove towards town I hit a low of –31*.

(Bad shot through the front window…you didn’t really expect me to stop and get out in that weather, did you?). See how at 1:04pm the sun in already on its way down? There’s a small hill to my right that blocks its rays.

See? The sun is now only touching the top. (It never actually touches anything but the tops of the trees in my yard for several months!!).

On the way home (on the sunny side of the hill) we are seeing the last of the “warmth”.

So deceiving. Looks so inviting and warm, but really….in the low –20’s is not warm!

Today was the first day back to school after 19 days off for Christmas break. Whose idea was it for it to be that long??? My kids did not play out side one single time. In fact, this morning I thought I had it going on. I had laid out clothes the night before. I got up and made Elijah and Nick bacon, toast and banana/strawberry smoothies. Sent them off. Got the Wee People up and fed breakfast. Then I went Uh-oh. Where are your gloves and hats? Hadn’t seen them for 19 days! Luckily we found everything and we walked out to the bus so they could be safely delivered to school.

The rest of the day? I spent 1.5 hours in the laundry room. Hanging the clothes to only fluff in the dryer, then folding, matching socks and putting everything away takes time. It really got me to thinking about time management (and the fact that it is kind of annoying I need to “manage time”, but with a household of seven, you do).

I also had THREE meetings today…one legal, one educational and one with Girl Scouts (time for me to sell cookies…like I have nothing else to do). What a day!! And what’s coming up? Well, more contact with educators and Lucas starts basketball. Practice tomorrow. And Thursday. My cup runs over.

In many good ways.

52 Weeks of Me

2012-01-09T10:44:00.001-09:00

When I first started blogging I did some meme’s. Then I did a lot of them. Then none. Then back to some. And now, none, but for a new adventure I am joining 52 Weeks of Me 2012. And then I forgot I was joining so I never took a photo of myself. I mean, I never take photos of myself which is why I am doing this, and then I blew it.

I quickly went back through the past weeks photos and there I was…in the background of a photo of one of Emily’s friends. That’s me, sitting at the computer. *sigh* I guess it is the view the kids have when they are watching a movie I don’t want to watch.

It’s good to take photos of ourselves (no matter our size!) for our children later in life. Click the link…check it out. Maybe you’d like to join, too?

I Think I Hate Everything

2012-01-09T00:03:00.002-09:00

okay, maybe not. But I do hate just blogging the feel good stuff. Or the little bit whiny stuff. I’d love to blog “the whole truth and nothing but the truth” Your Honor, but someone would just take that to court accusing me of publically ~~telling the truth~~ saying bad things about them. Some days I hate my real life. Thank God for blogging.
This is the intersection of Geist Road and University Avenue on a Sunday afternoon at about –10* or –15* below as I hung out the window waiting for the light to turn green. Damn exciting life I live, huh? LOL ….. Lucas and I just got done shopping at Sam’s Club. There is nothing like pushing a cart full of food at a slight uphill incline at negative temperatures in deep newly fallen snow to make one realize just how out of shape that are. I mean, Pear is a shape and that is my shape… but the other shape… cardio… well let’s just say as my son was yelling at me to unlock the door because he was freezing I was gasping for breath. Next time… I’m getting one of those cart guys to help me to the car. Pride is stupid.

We had the cutest bath time with Sophie jumping at the tub, but no, I will not show photos of the kids in the tub. Too many creeps out there.
While drying Olivia’s hair I took a photo. I told her I wanted her to remember Mommy making her pretty. See her face? She was pissed. She said, “I don’t want you to blog it”. I asked her what “blogging it meant”. She told me she didn’t know. Afraid of the unknown. Nice.

Isn’t her hair beautiful. So silky and crazy thick.

The boys shoveled the stairs, sidewalk and second set of stairs. Nick shoveled a path across the lawn and up the hill so his little siblings could get to the bus. Not because they wanted to, but because I asked. Or demanded. Same thing.
Look how deep the snow is on my lawn. Will I ever see green again? I miss summer.

Okay…gotta go. I’ll get almost 6 hours of sleep if I am lucky. Tomorrow we are back-to-school. Big day for the kids. Big one for me and Nick, too. We are going to teach ourselves how to run electrical wiring, build walls and sheetrock. Nick says we can find it all on YouTube. God help the house! :)

I’m Still Alone

2012-01-08T13:38:00.001-09:00

I haven’t been in the photo taking mood. :( Many times I get in a funk when Emily leaves especially when she wants nothing more than to stay.

Elijah and I were on our way home from a meeting and shopping under the light of a full moon. This photo was taken at 4:32pm. (I take horrible moon shots).

And with a flash you can see all the ice crystals in the –20 below air.

Yesterday I woke up at 4:00am. I tossed and turned and gave up at 6:00am and went downstairs. (Actually, I would have gone down at 4:00 if I didn’t have to trudge through the snow…it’s been snowing a lot…to get there). I decided to dive into paperwork that I’ve tossed in buckets for the last year (there are three like this). School, court, life… it’s all taken so much of my time. I steal the free moments to have fun with the kids not file.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions (that I’ll have to do a post on) is to organize the piles of papers and pay off as much debt as possible in 2012 (I have a variety of ways that I’m doing this that I’ll share in another post). I spread papers all over the house; scanned important documents; made spread sheets on the computer. For twelve hours!!

Then I tacked stuff to the wall full of notes of people to call and things to do. Classy? Not really, but my office/craft room has yet to be built and I have to do something. Hiding papers away in a file cabinet just doesn’t work….our home has 7 people living in it with many others going through…I’m a busy lady and out of sight is out of mind for me.

I can’t even explain how good I felt at the end of that 12 hours getting back to the organized person I once was years ago. I still have a lot more to tackle, but now I know it is doable.

Side note…Olivia and I got our Christmas cards for next year plus 18 plates to give goodies on. Gotta love the clearance rack after the holidays. (Planning ahead is a great way to save money).

Fun Times!

2012-01-05T01:17:00.001-09:00

This sucks. There is no two ways about it no matter how you look at it or dress for it. It just sucks. Especially when you are out shopping for fish tanks with your 5-year old. It’s just cold.

Tuesday I made homemade pizzas. More than we could eat. Better than not enough.

That dog is odd. A million places to sleep and she wants to be on a shelf.

Tonight we had a party. A dinner party to meet Asa (in green on the end) and for Elijah’s birthday. We had 17 of us and it was awesome. (BTW today we had 4 hours and 12 minutes of daylight. That.is.wrong.).

Olivia had an eye appointment. I know better. It took forever and I was late getting home so dinner wasn’t ready when everyone arrived. Debbi jumped right in and helped me fry the 50+ pieces of chicken (which I never would have done had my sister Penny not taught me how…and taught me the pleasures of gravy!).

Trudy, Cody and Grandpa Hutch.

My big boys.

I love to see kids eating!!!

My beautiful niece, Tisha.

Happy 16th Birthday to you, my dear Elijah!!

(Yes, Alaskans wear shorts at –30 and we eat more ice cream per person than anyone).

Asa is Trudy’s son. Trudy’s is Cody’s girlfriend. They are expecting our first grandchild in April. Asa is two weeks older than Lucas, but technically Lucas is Asa’s uncle. Funny how life works!

Let’s all pile up and be an awesome family!

The younger kids cracked themselves up over this.

Is Justise not the most awesome cousin for letting Olivia put lipstick on her (all over!).

Zoe, Jadyn and Emily…

Lucas and Justise (Olivia on the other couch) all watching Tangled. I wouldn’t know what do without multiple children sleeping in the house. (They boys went to a friends for awhile).

I love my family. I see the not-so-perfect house in the background of all the photos…but you know what? Those kids don’t. They are happy. And that is all that really matters.

Small Successes!

2012-01-03T11:55:00.001-09:00

“Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes, they forgive them.” ~Oscar Wilde~

Sometimes they don’t.

Being at the “end of the time zones” is irritating. When I read my favorite blogs I am reading what *you* did that day. When you read my blog you are reading what I did yesterday. Why do little things like that annoy me? CALM…the word is calm.

I was in tune with calm when the day started. I checked my dishes in the oven and I had yogurt! I did not strain this batch as it will all be used in smoothies anyhow. Without flavor no one is going to eat it plain. I finished with 3.5 quarts so obviously some was lost in the heating process.

Then my calm was tested. Lucas stepped in a mess that Sophie had made, then proceeded to wipe it down my couch ‘cause that’s what 5-year olds do (he’s not my first, ya know). That ended my cheerful kitchen cleaning. I had to scrub the carpet, the couch and then I coated it all in baking soda to soak up any smells. Waited. Vacuumed. Much time was lost and my calm was shaky.

Emily had the first smoothie from the yogurt and then the three of them made bracelets for their teachers while I vacuumed.

Talk about disaster. Emily’s room is tore apart. The guys carried out one desk and we need to bring in a different one, the computer and the fish tank. We have been avoiding it for many days now, but decided it was time.

But first, how did my laundry soap turn out? Absolutely perfect! Am I getting rich making yogurt and laundry soap? Absolutely not. Is it fun to make something so simple that brings me .00000312 % closer to being self-sufficient? You betcha. (Wait for it….wait for it….I’m expecting some kind of Sarah Palin joke).

I’m also hanging up my clothes again to dry. I then toss them in the dryer for a 5-minute fluff. Our $528 electric bill last month was just too much. Of course, we do have seven people in our house…. that’s a lot of laundry, hot water for showers, cooking, dishes, computers, televisions….raising children isn’t free, but the love they give me is worth every penny! Or hundreds of dollars. :) But if I can find simple ways to cut some corners, I will.

Look….we turned the bed around and brought in the desk. Holy cow is progress slow!

Nick gave Emily the computer and desk (he got a lap top for Christmas) and decided to rearrange his room. Homer was helping him put up a dart board.

It took awhile to put the fish tank together, but I wanted Emily to do it. I took the time to teach her (like my mom did me) rather than rush through it. I feel confident she could set one up herself now and know about the filters, etc..

There are really only 5 tiger barbs, but with the mirrored sides it looks like more.

She picked an ocean background that looks so real.

Nick gave us a box of aquarium stuff he had from his tank years ago. Olivia picked out two pieces for her tank.

So did Lucas (yes…we have to get another tank. The sharing thing isn’t going to work out). And there we are…all piled in Emily’s room. We have this great big house and you can usually find us all in one tiny space. Well, everyone but Elijah. He’s very sick. He slept all day and got out of bed once last night to try and eat. He thinks he might be getting an ear infection, too, so we’ll see how he is when he gets up today. (Shocked I let a photo of me slip in here? Hate, hate, hate the fat photos, but I guess it is who I am so why hide?).

We did get the computer set up and all the furniture in place. Now just the details need to be finished in Emily’s room. Today, we will work on Lucas and Olivia’s room, and their tanks. It’s –42* in town this morning. Perfect weather for aquarium shopping.

Trying New Things

2012-01-02T00:59:00.001-09:00

I have never been hurt by what I have not said. ~Calvin Coolidge~

I got up early this morning, showered and went downstairs to watch Aaron throw the football only to find out that our local station was broadcasting a different game. And Aaron was sitting this one out.

I napped on the couch.

Sophie has claimed a spot under the end table as where she wants to sleep.

Emily cleaned out the books and gave her a blanket. I guess we’ll have to get her a bed if this is where she wants to be.

Today, at –35, my husband was in and out all day long. He had a big parachute over the loader with a space heater so he could get it running.

I made us a big breakfast.

We watched football, he went in and out, and I decided to try my hand at homemade yogurt for smoothies for the kids. If it works out I can take a $3.69 gallon of milk and turn it into a gallon (or so) of yogurt that would run me around $11. We’ll see.

I filled my big pot to use as a double boiler. Put in the second pot of a gallon of milk and thermometer.

Mixed up six tablespoons of “live” yogurt with a few tablespoons of the milk and set aside. The milk was heated to 180* then poured into glass dishes to cool. When it reached 110* I added the starter yogurt. The bowls were then covered with foil, wrapped in towels and put into the oven with the light on to keep it warm for 8 hours (or overnight…I’m leaving it overnight as I’m going to bed now). Sure hope it turns out. (If it does then I just save some of it to be the starter for my next batch).

I want to try lots of new things this year so another project today was making my own laundry soap.

I ran a bar of the soap through a food processor (after 10 seconds of using a grater I realized that was foolish). The shavings were melted in 12 cups of water on the stove. Then I added one cup of borax and one cup of washing soda. I put 8 cups of hot water in my container and added the soap mixture once everything was dissolved. I mixed it up, added another 2 gallons + 12 cups of water. I now have 4 gallons of laundry soap. It’s supposed to set 24 hours to gel and then use 1/2 cup per load. (That’s 128 loads….I can’t find my receipt so when I get a chance to price check I’ll tell you the break down. It was easier and is supposed to be a lot cheaper. Kind of fun, too).

Next time I will just put 4 gallons of water in the bucket minus about 6 cups to melt everything in. The multiple cup step was kind of silly.

Look what Grandma Debbi made for Emily. Isn’t it a beautiful purse. It’s even lined on the inside. I’d like to learn to make these….what great Christmas gifts.

She also made the little ones neck warmers. They were pretty excited.

This is what the loader deal was about. That jeep has been sitting here for eight years doing nothing and now someone else wants it! I was glad to see it go. Now for the rest of used car lot! (Hasn’t moved in all these years and they actually drove it away!).

Olivia and I did a puzzle. She’s getting the hang of the 100 piece and will have to jump up soon.

Emily helped me bathe Sophie. She absolutely hates the water. She kicks, fights and bites. It definitely takes two of us and she’s just a little thing. Great…I have a dog that needs a bath once a week, needs trimmed all the time, brushed every night…. and she doesn’t like it. Sure hope she out grows that attitude! I can’t afford a groomer all the time.

What a day…I did a few things, but definitely not the kind of production I’m used to. That’s okay…. it’s “vacation”. The kids aren’t doing much either. I guess it’s our time to recharge our batteries before the second half of the school year gets underway.

Doesn’t look like we are going to catch a break in the weather with it being –20* and colder for awhile. We should take advantage of that and work on some things around the house. I know there is lots to do!

CALM

2012-01-01T11:38:00.002-09:00

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt. ~Abraham Lincoln~

Let’s start the New Year with a Public Service Announcement (to illustrate the stupidity we deal with on a daily basis):
When *you* call my house (or anyone’s for that matter) do not leave a snide message on the answering machine accentuating your immaturity to suggest that we are standing by the phone and refusing to answer because no one wants to talk to you (blaming me won’t change the answer to that statement). You see, in the real world (where we live), you’ll find that we are.not.home (and we haven’t taught the dog how to answer the phone yet) therefore you sound like a complete idiot to me and my husband, and make the kids laugh at your childish (and a tad bit insane) behavior.

So where were yesterday instead of standing by the phone? Checking out our mailbox and picking envelopes out of the snow bank. I’m under the theory our snow plow guy gets a bonus for every mailbox he hits. (Why would a company put such poor drivers in their blades?). We need to go out and do some damage control and shovel, but it’s super cold and can wait. (I hear it’s –40 down in town; not sure about here on the hill).

The sun was shining on the hill as we drove down the ridge (where we couldn’t hear our phone). Stunningly beautiful when the air is so crisp.

Emily and Lucas went to visit Grandma while Olivia and I went to the store. She had birthday money burning a hole in her wallet and the house needed food. Would you believe we spent a couple hours wandering around the store? She changed her mind several times on what to get, we ran into many people to visit with and I shopped for a new purse. (I do not carry a purse, but am famous for losing my debt card and most recently my post office key so it’s time. Emily doesn’t like my old purse so I treated myself to something new to start this purse-carrying habit off with…note the purse on her shoulder…she’s a purse girl).

Our New Year’s Eve? Quiet and laid back. All five of our kids rang in the New Year with us last year. This year they wanted to be with their friends so after I was positive each one was somewhere safe, Homer and I settled in and relaxed. We had leftover ham and bean soup with some chicken fried moose steak.

Then Homer fell asleep at 9:30pm!! (He works entirely too much and is exhausted). Sophie and I watched New York City ring in the New Year and then went to bed as well. New Years is mostly a holiday for adults to have a reason to party (which is why the kids just wanted to hang with friends and could care less about “midnight”) and we aren’t interested in partying so it was a perfect way to close out a long and exhausting year.
Do you have a “word” for the New Year? You can read about the concept here, here and here. These are just a small sample of the people who have blogged about their word.
My word: CALM
I will strive to be calm in my reactions to others, to bring calm into my home for the peace of my children and to be calm out in the world when faced with tough situations.
If you have a word you want to live by this year - share it!!

How Long Will They Play?

2011-12-30T23:23:00.001-09:00

Given an electronic device how long will children get sucked into them?

The answer is: Forever!

It’s 30-some below zero, we can’t go outside, no one wants to “learn” (this is vacation after all) so the kids all put their noses into computers, iPods and Nooks. I finally got out of my 4-day-d0-absolutely-nothing funk and cleaned the kitchen. And part of the living room. (Yes, it took that long to do that little bit. It was that bad).

Those kids couldn’t be pried from their gaming activities. Tomorrow I’m hiding all electronic devices and we are going to set up fish tanks. (My husband and I did go through some files. We found expired debit cards from 2005. Titles to vehicles that no longer exist mixed in with Kindergarten photos of our kids and a newspaper clipping of him at ten. Gosh, guess while we were raising 8 kids we never had time to organize our stuff).

Puppies will sleep anywhere.

And they really want to play with rabbits even when the rabbit doesn’t want to because they are barking incessantly in their face.

I need a haircut. My “bangs” were in my eyes while I was trying to clean the kitchen. I couldn’t take it. I pulled them up and wore this thing on the top of my head all day. It was really hard for the kids to take me seriously. I look like I belong in Whooville. Or maybe I’m just getting ready for the owner-Shih Tzu look-alike contest.

Some one loves her monkey.

Geez, with all the dog photos you’d think I didn’t love the kids anymore. Well, I do, but do you have any idea what happens to children on Christmas vacation locked in the house because it is insanely cold outside? They’ve been in here for nine days!!Those who have experienced cabin fever completely understand why I love the dog so much right now.

And tomorrow is supposed to be colder. Yea.

Now I’m go to bundle up and herd the kids up to their beds. Really.

Beyond Lazy. Into Sloth Mode.

2011-12-29T19:05:00.001-09:00

I have been horribly pathetically lazy. So lazy there is still Christmas stuff everywhere and the sink is full of dishes. I have so many things I could be doing and I just can’t seem to move. I literally spent the good portion of two days obsessed with figuring out how to get EPUB books (free from the library) on to my Nook. I finally did it! Yea for me!!

Tuesday Olivia, Lucas and I went down the ridge to show Sophie to Debbi. I stopped on the way down for this shot over Fairbanks.

I had some errands to run and (naturally) Olivia and Lucas wanted to stay at Grandma’s. I talked Olivia into shopping with me (after taking kids with me everywhere for the last (almost) 19 years I really suck at solo outings…. I’m company dependent). Sophie curled up next to me and off we went on her first trip to town. I need to make her a bed in the truck because I’d like her to ride along whenever it is appropriate.

We went to Cold Spot Feeds to get her some puppy food.

Then we went to Petco so Olivia could pick out rocks for the fish tank she got for Christmas to share with her brother. Sharing isn’t going to happen due to the neon pink, blue and green rocks she got. Lucas will probably want his own tank now. How is it such a tiny dog can get heavy so fast? She rode in the cart a lot.

We ran into another Shih Tzu at the store. I showed this to Homer and his response? If he would have known they grew up to be such ugly dogs he would of gotten me something else! I laughed so hard. They kind of are ugly dogs and they are seriously high maintenance, but from what I hear their loving personality is worth it.

Next stop was the library (ice crystals in the very cold air). I had to renew my library card and get my pin number so I can download free eBooks.

Sophie did quite well in the truck.

When I got home I sautéed some of the toppings from the pizzas. Added spinach, garlic and sun dried tomatoes to this along with alfredo sauce. Spooned on some pasta for a filling meal to accompany our movie.

Cody got us Band of Brothers (HBO special) for Christmas. It is 6 dvd’s! We intended on watching one. That became two which turned into three. We went to bed way too late which pretty much turned Wednesday into a do-nothing day for me. (Dad still went to work). Sophie snuggled with her monkey during the movie.

I held the not-yet-named-rabbit, too. He completely sprawled out and got comfy. (I think this rabbit is more like a dog than a bunny).

I think he wants a monkey of his own!!

They really weren’t very interested in each other.

So like I said Wednesday was a pretty sluggish day. Emily and I went shopping for rocks for her tank and met Dad for a bite to eat, but I never took any photos all day long. (It was also Elijah’s 16th birthday…. I wanted a big party and he wanted to go to a basketball tournament with his friends. I guess parties aren’t for teenage boys. At least not Mom-Parties).

At home that night Lucas had me teach him some “magic” from his new kit. He’s behind the curtain being announced by Dad to put on a magic show. He was too cute. Check out the video if you dare to be amazed by his skills! :)

And today? Nothing much again. I stayed up too late and had to get up early to take Elijah in for a check-up with his neurosurgeon. I now have a really cool dvd with photos of the six screws in his head. Crazy stuff!! After the appointment I fought with my Nook all day. How pathetic is that? I’m bugging myself now with my lack of ambition. This afternoon I ran some boys in to watch more basketball…. see that? Thirty-three degrees below zero!! I actually hit as low as –35*, but if you know Alaskan roads you’d know how hard it is to take a photograph in the dark while driving. The roads are very bumpy to say the least. It’s been cold for several days now and it is supposed to continue awhile. My comfort? I downloaded a book on gardening and am letting my mind see warmer times.

Okay…the night is still young. Set up fish tanks or watch another DVD in the series (dying to know how it ends)? Emily is feeling lazy as well so I bet we don’t do anything. :)

Lucas is magical!

Always a Day Behind….

2011-12-27T11:29:00.001-09:00

Waking up the day after Christmas to stuff EVERYWHERE! The house was a disaster (more than our normal disaster)! I set to cleaning the kitchen, ran a load of dishes and cleared the table. And left the rest of the mess to move on to something else. It’s not attention deficient disorder… I call it getting bored with what I’m doing and the need to do something else. Of course, I finish all things I start (ha-ha).

When Nick was younger (when he didn’t finish his dinner, but wanted dessert) he used to tell Homer and myself that “his tummy was full of spaghetti, but it wasn’t full of ice cream”. I guess I was ‘full’ of doing dishes.

Homer helped me pull out a dozen totes, pack up Christmas and put them back. Imagine this with the tree gone and you’ll know how far I got yesterday.

I believe this is going to be Little Miss Sophie. What do you think?

Could she be any cuter? Rusty Bucket tolerates her presence, but is not going to play no matter how hard she tries to get him to. Guess he’s a grumpy old man.

What did we do besides put Christmas away? Played blocks…

and colored cool monster chicks.

Starting off today pretty darned lazy, too. I need to get it together and shift into high gear. Lord knows there isn’t a shortage of things to get done around here!

(Check out my Christmas posts below).

Christmas Day

2011-12-26T21:10:00.003-09:00

Look who loves the big animals Santa brought them. Perfect to snuggle on while watching movies (which they happen to be doing while I make this post).

We were waiting for some of the kids to arrive so I made eggs, potatoes and bacon for breakfast.

There was a pretty big delay in their arrival so after several hours we started opening stockings. The kids were patient for so long.

Little tiny miss chewing on treats from Granma Claudia. No name yet. I need to give this some thought.

Cody arrived and we had less than an hour before Emily had to leave so we started opening presents. About ten minutes later Andrew got her with Sydney. It was a frantic time (normally we take turns opening presents) so we could get done before Emily had to leave. She was so sad to go, but did get to come back after eating with the WSM’s family. She was so happy to be back home, but of course, it was too brief for us all.

He was so excited he tore the box open. Elijah was so excited he wanted one, too.

The puppy thought Cody’s feet were a good place to lay during the festivities.

Look at the smiles… our house isn’t perfect, but my children are truly happy here.

Yes, he got one, too.

He was actually excited to get clothes!

Stoked about his new gun cleaning kit.

It’s a fish kind of year. Elijah and Emily asked for fish (so they got tanks) and we thought Olivia and Lucas would have fun with a little tank, too. Now the work begins setting them up….

Emily is in love with the puppy. Her and I are saving our pennies to get her one, too.

Olivia and I are going to be sewing together. I bet Emily ends up using her machine and learning as well. I love teaching my girls (and boys) things I know.

Nick was surprised…. we got him the laptop he’s been wanting. It’s a win-win…. he gets something portable with enough memory to hold all his music and Emily is going to get a new-to-her computer in her room. Both were happy!

Cody went out and made jumps for the snow machines. We found that they aren’t as powerful as we hoped so they raced on a track.

Yep, it was cold and snowing and my son was wearing shorts. That’s Alaskans for you.

These two will be 40 and still playing with finger boards.

We took our first whole family photo. Homer, myself and our eight children as well as Cody’s girlfriend Trudy (who is due with our first grandchild in March). I can even express the love I have for each of those kids.

After family photos it was time for my man Aaron to throw the ball for another big W.

I think we did this a few years back so we decided rather than Mom slave in the kitchen over dinner we would make individual homemade pizzas. Homer and I got together the toppings…. pepperoni, sausage, anchovies, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach, garlic, sundried tomatoes and cheese….the kids each made their own dough and put it together. It was a lot of fun. (I think I accidently changed the setting on the camera because a few photos were really blurry).

Cody and Homer also cooked up the caribou heart. Yes, I tasted it. (First heart I’ve eaten in my 44 years in Alaska). It tasted just like the meat with a bit of a spongy texture.

We ended the evening with some fire works that Emily got to share with the family.

Oh, and we took one more family photo because the house was full of smoke in the first one (little wood stove mishap).

Before bed our neighbor stopped in with his music, tree and moving reindeer.

Behind that he pulled his son, Dawson, and his girlfriend. Crazy Alaskans!!

The time we spent together opening presents, making pizza, playing games…. were the best ever. Homer and I have eight of the most awesome kids (who think we’re pretty cool, too). Hope you had a Merry Christmas, too.
(Christmas Eve posted below).

Christmas Eve at The White House

2011-12-26T11:14:00.001-09:00

At 2:00pm we got Emily and met Dad at The Santa Claus House. We had to catch Santa before he headed out in the sleigh. Who knew the rest of Fairbanks was doing the same thing (don’t these people plan ahead?). We were there far to long standing in line and I was stressed we weren’t going to make it back to the store (in all my gift shopping I forgot food!).

For Erin.

Emily (and Homer) were convinced Santa had too much egg nog on his break. Emily thought he was a little too jolly and had a omg-don’t-pull-me-close-to-you look on her face. Lucas thought he was awesome and Olivia wasn’t going within 15 feet of him!

One of the three round-a-bouts in North Pole. One had a bunch a pretty ice sculptures, but photographing while driving while it is snowing and busy wasn’t working out so good for me.

We got our groceries and then on the way home pulled over to photograph the temperature. Seems we just can’t escape cold on Christmas.

We had a kicked back evening at home with the kids. Played some board games and I gave the boys a new game for the Xbox.

Nick wanted a ham so we threw together a Christmas Eve dinner. (Elijah is mocking me…”cheese” because I take so many photos it’s “annoying”).

The kids insisted on opening one present on Christmas Eve. I did not want to, but Homer said that he had things in the truck that were going to freeze so I might as well just open it.

Lucas started and got a dancing game for the Wii.

Elijah got a shirt from the band he wanted.

Olivia opened dominoes.

Dad has a puzzled look on his face because he only wears the blue shirt he has on. Emily, Olivia and I decided it was time for a change. In the last eight years he has only wore two styles of shirt! This Christmas he got a variety.

Emily opened a pretty necklace from Granma and Grandpa.

And Nick opened his “surprise” shirt from eBay.

Then Dad brought in a big yellow bag from the Prospector (a winter clothing store). I looked in and saw something alive…. it didn’t register what it was – only that it was moving (and shouldn’t be). I screamed and thought I was going to have heart failure. Then my mind registered what I saw and I looked back in at this cute little face (that I about scared to death by screaming in her face!). My Christmas Puppy. He sure surprised me with that one! She is an 8-week old Shih Tzu and I’m still working on a name.

Of course we had to do some dancing and let me tell you, this version is far more difficult than the other one we have.

Emily insisted on moving all the presents out from under the tree so she could count them as she put them back. I was more than happy to have her do it. Pretty soon she’ll lose the wonder and anticipation Christmas brings to little kids and join the ranks of adults who find it to be another stress-filled holiday. Just kidding. Kind of.

Dad and I stayed up until two in the morning hanging out with Nick and Elijah. As tired as we were that time with them was worth it.

Santa was here and all was ready for Christmas morning.

The Day Before The Day Before

2011-12-24T13:52:00.001-09:00

Yesterday was a baking day. (Olivia and I made 19 dozen cookies and a pan of brownies). Tonight will be spent cleaning. I believe a bomb went off in my kitchen.

When I went to bed there were Mexican Wedding Cakes. When I got up there was a plate. Nick swears it wasn’t him. I didn’t get any.

Olivia as Rudolph.

They made roads with paper around the table. At least they were finding things to do while I baked.

With eight kids here for Christmas the tree is over-flowing and I’m not done wrapping.

Last night we had chicken alfredo. Totally the wrong noodles so it looks odd, but it was so good.

How did my Christmas Eve get so busy? We are heading out to see Santa and then get some food (kind of over-looked with the gift shopping). Someday I’ll plan enough ahead where this day won’t be so hectic! :) Hope everyone is enjoying time with family.

Down to the Wire

2011-12-23T11:10:00.002-09:00

(Thursday) The girls and I spent a lazy morning watching The Help before Emily had to go back to her dad’s house. This was the only photo I snapped yesterday. Emily curled Olivia’s hair.

We are getting down to the wire on Christmas. I spent 6.5 hours shopping last night. The hubby joined me for half of it and I am sure he is beyond exhausted today. (He didn’t get to bed until midnight and gets up at 4:45am!!).
It’s all in the truck. At some point I’ll have to send the little ones upstairs to play so I can wrap. And wrap. And wrap. Christmas is quite extensive when you have 8 kids and multiple furry friends. :)
But, for now, I need to clean. And clean. And clean.

*edited to add*
Oh, ya. And we gathered up the recyclables to weigh. I've combined paper/cardboard now that I know they don't have to be separated. I am also rounding the pounds just to make my life simple. It's amazing how much I've not put into the landfill.... yet, we've still put so much there. I'd guess we've dropped to about 40% (maybe less) in the last month.

Action Packed Day

2011-12-22T00:00:00.001-09:00

After I posted last night I was reminded on Facebook to remember the bus drivers so I put together these bags. This morning we had a substitute driver who drove the route backwards and went right by us. Great. Had to warm up the truck and drive the three younger ones to school…. nervous the whole time that we would be late. Lucas has perfect attendance and I didn’t want to mess that up on the last day. We made it in time.

Elijah’s drivers got their snacks and I forgot to give Em the afternoon driver’s bag to her so that didn’t happen. Which should of since he is threatening to kick her off the bus for putting her feet in the aisle (and then mouthing off when called out on it… yep, she’s got an attitude).

I gave the bread and butter pickles and high bush cranberry jelly to the principal, behavioral specialist and front office ladies. Also, delivered the 5 plates to the elementary school and nine plates to Elijah’s school. Of course, Elijah can’t count and it should have been ten. I felt really bad, but they were so happy. This school (where he shouldn’t have been) is for kids with some pretty big issues. All but him live in foster homes. They have never been given gifts before. I felt so awesome when they were so happy. (They called me Mrs. Claus!).

This morning was also Lucas’ Christmas program. So after running them to school, shopping for more tins, I ran home to shower, loaded everything up and went back to watch him. What a doll.

This is our principal. This is my 14th year with her.

He was so serious about the singing. And the hair? Not sure what happened there.

After 13 previous failures this year I grabbed my kid and we were the 4th in the food line. Took me a long time to get it right, but what a treat to not stand in line for half an hour. The food was so good!! (We were the first ones back to the room).

After Lucas’ program I went to Elijah’s school. They were opening gifts. The staff get each of the kids gifts (19 of them). For almost all it will be the only gift they receive. After that there was a special presentation for Elijah. He was given a set of goals, he worked hard to meet them and he is now being allowed to go back into the regular high school. They sang “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow”. He got a card and gift card. They also had cupcakes to celebrate his birthday that is in a week. These folks were a blessing and honestly, I am going to miss them.

Here he is with the ten (not nine) staff members who all gave so much to boost his self-esteem. I hope it all works out for him. (It was pajama day at school…they don’t always dress like this).

When I got home I did practically nothing. I cleaned up 1/5 of the cooking mess and relaxed. The girls painted some magnets that Olivia got for her birthday and then we watched a movie. Down time was good.

I still have to finish Christmas shopping and some other stuff around the house, but I refuse to stress about it. We have 19 sleeps until we go back to school. I want to enjoy them.

A Full Day

2011-12-20T23:35:00.001-09:00

Rusty kept an eye on me while I wrapped Christmas presents. Do you like to wrap? Not really my favorite thing to do, but at least I am not leaving it all until Christmas Eve at 2am like I usually do.

First batch of cookies using the cookie press. My old one broke and I do not like the new one at all.

My geraniums are struggling to stay alive without natural light, but I love that I still have a few flowers.

When Emily got home she jumped right in and helped bake most of the night.

Rusty was right under our feet tripping us up waiting for anything to be dropped.

A good start.

I also took time to help the kids write cards and give school photos to some of their favorite buddies.

Rusty was very helpful with everything today.

A pause in baking to fry some pork chops.

I so thank my sister-in-law for teaching me to love gravy. Not healthy in the least, but oh so good.

Finished up 13 plates for teachers at school. Am now realizing I need one more. Elijah has nine staff members at his program…. 3 teachers, 2 counselors, 3 aides and the Head Chief. Emily has 3 teachers and Lucas has two. Olivia’s teacher will be gone tomorrow so I’ll get her something when we return from break.

I wanted to include the soup we put together, but never got the bags finished. It’s late and I just can’t sew. I guess I’ll have to gift those to someone else. :)

I wish I wasn’t such a procrastinator. I’ve been one my whole life. I can remember a class in college when I had to put together 200 lesson plans in a variety of subjects. We had an entire quarter. I did it in two weeks and got a 4.0. That was not a good motivator to get me to plan ahead when I was successful putting it off. It’s led to a lifetime of chaos at the last minute. I always manage to get it done, but not without stress. Maybe some day I’ll learn to not make myself frantic.

Another Long Day

2011-12-20T08:42:00.001-09:00

Monday was as equally long as Sunday. Millie started barking at 3:30am and didn’t stop until 5:00am. I’m guessing there was a moose in the yard. Whatever it was sent me into my day in a fog of sleep deprivation.

I tidied up the house and finished the Christmas cards. They are all finally in the mail. Next year I’m going to shoot for a little earlier which is what I did this year, but failed at. Worked a little on some Christmas stuff and then spent the whole evening shopping. I’m not a big shopper especially with crowded stores that are way too hot and when faced with so many decisions my brain goes numb. Shopping for a lot of kids is hard work and when I get home I usually find that two kids have a lot a lot of stuff, four kids have a little, one is just right and the last one was forgotten altogether. It’s never the same kids in the same spot each year….they are equally over-looked! :)

This guy needs a bath. Maybe the bath fairy will visit Rusty for Christmas?

And these guys (plus Elijah and Olivia) destroyed the house while we were gone making houses out of chairs, blankets and pillows, but you know what? They cleaned it all up! Yea!! :)

Now back to the grind. I need to make my candies and cookies….it is so tempting to sleep all day. (I sure like to sleep just don’t seem to do much of it!).

Why Can’t They Just Sleep??

2011-12-19T09:29:00.001-09:00

Do you know what 7 year old girls do? They stay up until 1:30am and then they wake at 7:30am with shrills and shrieks. My boys never did that to me. I was in a fog all day Sunday with sandpapery burning eyes. Ug!

Drove the girls home around 12:30pm. The sun was already making its way across the sky to disappear for the night.

Another Chinook wind blew in. The roads are horrible and traffic is at a crawl. Nothing like spending the winter driving on a skating rink.

After a nightmarish grocery shopping moment at Fred Meyer tired as all get out dragging two little people because their dad had to work on his ONLY day off I got to see Captain America getting groceries so I was all better. (And you thought this only happened at Wal-Mart).

Then we went to the mall which was having a bazaar and was more stimulus than my tired body could handle.

Olivia needed to go to Michael’s to get three $1 gifts for a game they are playing at school Tuesday. It’s the only place you can get anything for $1. And it took forever for her to decide. The store was about 110*. They had a pipe break so they had to turn the heat up so it would go out in the entry and keep it from freezing. It was awful in there.

When I finally got home the girls and I made chocolate chip cookies.

Nick got them out of the oven because I was just wore out.

Emily helped me wrap a couple of presents and then it was couch time. The season finale of Survivor was on. It was a let down ending. Ozzy was the most deserving to win the money, Coach should have been picked out of the last three, I like Cochran because he was the most unlikely to get as far as he did and the winner was a condescending brat the whole game and not someone I’d want to award $1 million to. Look forward to the new season after the Super Bowl.

And that was that. Homer got to come to the birthday party for about 15 minutes. I was on my own to do it all. There were 22 of us. He worked his only day off. We are days away from Christmas. I never got my online ordering done. I never got my crafts done. I never got my packages in the mail. It falls on a Sunday so my husband will still only get one day off. I will make sure of it because I’m hiding his phone. This is the worst holiday season I’ve had. Well, except the year my dad passed away on Christmas morning. Or the year my mom had a stroke at Christmas. (No wonder I find holidays so damn stressful).

It’s been a rough year and I’m looking forward to a fresh start. Of course, we drag the baggage of the HEX and WSM with us, but we are getting better at pretending they don’t exist which makes a happier home for us all.

Just think when I make it through Christmas I can start planning gardens and order my seeds. Now that is something to look forward to!