Well that's a new one

Around here we can have dinner pretty late, especially during the summer.  But last night I hit a new late night dinner time.... 11:30!   I walked in the door, scarfed down 2 pieces of lasagna (inquired why they didn't bother to cut into the $7 of fresh bread nor touch all the fresh greens I'd bought for salad to go with it) and then fell into bed.  You'd think I'd sleep until next week but I was awake by 5:30 and finally got up at 6:30.   Meg was crying by 6:45 so I had her hang out with me.  Her mommy and daddy needed to sleep in.  They'd only had a few hours of sleep the night before and Saturday was even harder for them.  

Drew and Allison had Tom, Luke, Jake, Cory and my nephew Joey helping them load up the Uhaul.  I lucked out and only had to go to the apartment once, when I picked up Meghan.   I took Tom, Luke and Jake to the small city to pick up the Uhaul and they drove it to the apartment.   They needed to take two trips to get everything.  Their storage unit is stuffed!   I just kept thinking....I'm glad it's not me having to do this.  What would I get rid of? Keep?  How and where would you store 23yrs (in this house) and 12 kids worth of stuff?  It was pretty late when they got here to drop off things so most of their stuff is sitting in a pile in the living room.  They managed to set up Meghan's crib and throw their box spring and mattress on the floor for the night.  Right now they are enjoying (I hope) some down time with her family for birthday celebrations.   Me, I'm sitting here for a few minutes.  Already this morning I've done... 2 loads of laundry, scrubbed the entire tub and one toilet, fed and gave baths to the 3 little ones, washed dishes, and cooked egg and bagel sandwiches.   After Meghan's bath she needed a new diaper but the disposables were in the bedroom with her sleeping parents.  So I grabbed her cloth diaper and cover out of her diaper bag.  (Allison was using the disposables during the busy moving time)  It's been a loooong time since I've had to pin a diaper on a little one.  Luckily Meghan was a doll and just lounged on my lap until I was done.   Although I think I saw her roll her eyes and heard her chuckle once ;o)   Give me a few days and I'll be an old pro again.

So today I'm trying to get some semblance of order in this place.  Not only do I have the kids stuff piled high but I haven't been here in a few days and we've been moving rooms/tearing areas apart trying to rearrange things which always manages to make messes too.  Right now I'll be concentrating on the kitchen and a few storage areas that I wanted to make available for Allison to utilize.   Then there are toys I want to clean up, mostly doll house stuff that's been sitting in the closet.  I saw Meghan eyeing the tote this morning.  I think her, Dylan and Sean would have fun playing with it on Monday.   Tom just let me know his friend is coming over in a little bit to work on his riding mower that won't start.   I wish he would also work on the van.   I don't think I can fit 3 car seats across the back of the Elantra so we won't be able to go anywhere as long as Dylan is here during the day.    Who knows though, I may try it and find out I was mistaken, which would be awesome!

Well, my coffee cup is empty so I guess my break is over.   Time to switch laundry and whip the kitchen into shape again!            

It's almost that time

Right about now 28yrs ago I was getting irritated at Tom because he wanted to watch his favorite show Jeapordy and I was in heavy BACK labor for the first time in my life.  (not that having gone through it previously makes it easier)  Thankfully he thought it through and decided it might be better to turn it off and devote his attention to me.   Almost 2hrs later Drew was born.  (his birth story).   The poor kid is dealing has to celebrate his birthday all by himself.   He's in the Catskills working until tomorrow night.    When he gets home there'll be little rest in his future, we have a busy weekend ahead of us.   I'll be spending most of it in the car.

By tomorrow night I'll have taken at least one trip to Liz's new apartment, maybe 2.   Driven Liz and Val to work and picked them up.     Gone grocery shopping.    Taken the kids to the youth meeting.   Cleaned the bedroom Drew and Allison are moving into. Cleaned the bathtub.  And the regular stuff....cooking, picking up, etc.  

Saturday starts with me taking Val to work by 7am, picking up Meghan at the apartment, getting my car loaded with stuff.   Home so the kids can empty the car and Tom can use it to go to the dump.   Then Tom, the boys and I are back in the car and back to the apartment by 11.   I get another load to take home, Tom and Drew go pick up the Uhaul.  They then fill it, take stuff that needs to go to storage to their unit and then the rest gets brought here to be unloaded.   In the meantime, I'm heading home to watch Meghan, finish the cleaning I didn't do, and make Drew Lasagna for his birthday dinner.   Val gets picked up from work at 2:30 and Liz goes in at 3:30.  Then it's back to pick up Liz at 8:30 for the last time and take her (and any stuff left here) to her apartment. Oh and the Uhaul has to be returned sometime that evening too.

The last thing we need to do is go back to the apartment Sunday night or Monday morning to clean the apartment and take pictures incase the stupid landlords try to keep the security deposit and they have to be brought to small claims court.

Tom's been busy this week setting up loft beds for the girls so rooms could be moved around.  They look cool, although I wish I'd had the time (and cooperation from the weather) to paint them before they were put up.

Well, as much as I'd like to continue the kids are wanting to read the new books I bought from the thrift store.   Maybe I'll get back here later and post about how I again aced the "mother of the year...not" award today.  

It's stuck...

The smell of bleach is stuck in my nose and won't be leaving.  Tom treated the well and put too much in.  Now I'm afraid to do laundry for risk of bleaching everything out.   Carrie did her's and said it got some hard set stains out. lol    I keep telling everyone to hook up the pool filter and we'll throw the water in there....won't need to chlorinate it.   So what if we can't cook with it, at least it doesn't smell like rotten eggs now.   One thing that's bothered me with our water, no matter how much bleach I add to the washer, the clothes still come out looking grey.  While researching I found that it's the reaction to the BLEACH!  The thing I was adding to make it better was actually making it worse.  I saw a suggestion to use oxygenated bleach instead so maybe I'll try that.

One of the fun things about driving so much is observing life in the villages I drive through.  It's always great to see tons of people out walking, working and socializing.  It also makes me want to get some things done around here.   Now if I could work while I'm driving......I'd be all set. lol   I've decided the two things village/urban houses have over rural ones is convenience to places of importance and sidewalks.   I'm actually quite envious of people walking and biking on the sidewalks.  Oh to have a huge box of colored chalk and all the sidewalk squares you could want.  Oh well, at least I don't have to worry about keeping them cleared in the winter.

One more week until  Drew, Allison and Meghan will be living here.  I'm hoping tonight Tom and I can get the loft/bunkbeds up so people can move into their new rooms.  I'm still trying to figure out what to do with a toy bench and totes of toys.

I let myself get booted off the computer and am now in the middle of a bunch of projects.   I've decide that we'll be deviating from the meal plan and instead clean out the fridge/freezer and have a few fun things like rye bread dip and chicken wing dip.   So it'll be a snacky day.   I've torn 2 counters  and my stove apart and scrubbed them down,  cleaned the microwave and done the dishes once.  The next load of dishes is soaking and the laundry is screaming my name.  I think a few of us need some things done so we'll have clean clothes for the meeting tomorrow.    I convinced Tom to go pick up Liz and take Danielle.    I'd made a deal with Sean to help around here on Thursday to earn money so he could buy his own dorito taco on Friday.   He did and yesterday we went to taco bell and he ordered and paid for the taco himself (only thing we ordered, Liz and I just sat and watched him enjoy it lol).  So Danielle was a little bent out of shape over it.  I made the same deal with her and now it's her turn.  She's been a major bug about it all day, asking it if was time to leave.  Asking if she could go to taco bell now, etc.  She wasn't too enthusiastic about having to buy it herself but I'm sure she'll do fine.    I also gave Tom a few dollars of my birthday money so he could order one for himself.  :o)

Poor Liz, she just wants to get home and get things done.  She's packing up since Saturday is her last day of work at her old job.  She had an "interview" with the boss of the place she's suppose to be transferring to.  When she told me the hours she'd work I informed her that she couldn't do it, the buses don't run from the jobsite after 6ish (she's working until 8:30pm and AJ is usually working at that time).   We searched the bus schedules and checked cab fares ($36 a trip!?!  For a 10mile ride!?!?)  She's hoping when she calls the new place they'll have another job for her during the day time hours.  If not she'll be pounding the pavement, looking for a new job.  She's hoping she can be a waitress at one of the many restaurants that are in her area.

Oops...I thought I posted this but guess not since I found this in my drafts.   So just posting it as is right now.   Originally wrote this Saturday the 21st.   

Thursday already!??!

Not that I'm complaining....I'm looking forward to the weekend already.  

One of the hardest things about having all these kids is watching/letting them make their mistakes and live with the consequences.  This week it was Carrie's turn.  She took her GED test all day on Tues and Wed.  She woke up Tuesday morning with a headache you knew was killing her just by looking at her.   She could barely open her eyes and they were watering.   She loaded up on Ibuprofen and when that didn't touch it, Excedrin and a cup of coffee hoping that the caffeine would help and out the door she went.   She wasn't happy when she came home.  She made a major mistake on the test and she thinks it might have caused her to fail.   She didn't finish the multiple choice reading questions, had 6 of 50 left to do but she could go back and finish it after she finished the second part which was an essay.  She decided to brainstorm and write the intro paragraph on the scrap piece of paper they provided.  The proctor reminded them that the essay was to be on the good paper to be counted.  She got the intro done and knew what the rest would be but FORGOT to move over to the good paper and kept on writing on the scrap.  She realized what she'd done when it was announced there was 10 mins left for the exam.   She'd written five paragraphs and was about to tackle the unfinished multiple choice when it hit her what she'd done.  She quickly tried to copy the essay to the good paper but only made it to paragraph 3 when time was called.  She's hoping it's enough to pass (need a 2 out of 4 score) but said it probably wasn't.   She also thought they said if they didn't finish the multiple choice it wouldn't be graded at all which makes NO SENSE to me but then I'm not the state so she could be right.  I hope not.    Luckily Wednesday was better for her.   It was also the day most of her strong subjects were being tested....Math and science.  Social studies was the other subject but not a good one for her.   So I guess we have to wait a week or two to get the results mailed to us.  I'm not sure what Carrie's suppose to be doing in the meantime and neither is she.   I guess we'll have to call the school.

I'm suppose to be cleaning up around here since I'll be getting company in an hour or so.  Meghan and Dylan (Allison's sister's son) will be coming over for the afternoon so I can babysit them.   Seems Allison has a first appointment with a MIDWIFE!!!!   Yep, I'm going to be a Grandma again!  It was the birthday present I said I had to wait for delivery of.  I was waiting for Allison to announce it on her blog but she's pretty busy right now.  It is Facebook official though so I feel ok sharing it here.   She gave me a birthday card that said "Guess What?" on the outside.    "I'm going to be a big sister soon!  Love Meghan"  on the inside.    It was the best birthday present ever!   She announced it to her family on Easter with Meghan wearing a tshirt that said I'm going to be a big sister soon on it.  She's feeling tired and icky just like a good pregnant person should.  :o)   Drew should be coming home tonight from his first week of work.    I mentioned to Tom that it's probably going to kick Drew's butt!   Allison stopped by the other night and said he sent her a picture of his blistered hands from digging holes all day his first day.   Thing is, Drew's always liked to be busy and do things so I'm sure he'll like this job.   Especially if it can help him get buff. lol

oops..a phone call and now the kids are here.   So I can't think/write more now.