Tuesday, September 28, 2004

I have a BROOM!

LOL! Yes the pathetic broom deprived housewife has a new broom. I stopped on the way home from my niece's birthday party. When the 4 girls and I walked into the store the clerk made the comment...Oh! The school bus stopped here tonight. Olivia reminded me...we didn't bring the school bus tonight?! LOL We ended up in the clerk's line when checking out. She mentioned how beautiful my 4 girls were and that she couldn't image what it was like with 4 girls. I was stifling a little giggle when Eileen said...we have 6 girls! Big huge bug eyes look at me. Carrie adds...and 4 boys. Mouth hangs open and the NO WAYs start. I assure her they aren't pulling her leg and told the age range. I am then branded a superwoman, a notion I put to death immediately. So then I was relegated to a super busy woman. LOL

The problem with the broom is that it requires someone to use energy to put it to work! I did manage to dig out from under the livingroom furniture. It always amazes me at how much STUFF can be found under there. Between the hardwood floors allowing everything to slide around the floors and the green leather furniture not having a skirt along the bottom. It's a prime hiding spot for anything dropped. Looking over toward the furniture now I can see things sticking out from under it already! UGH!!! Luckily the furniture moves easily.

I think I've done most of what I wanted to get done with the groceries I bought on Friday. Saturday I threw chicken thighs into both of my crockpots (neither of which is big enough to feed my family). One I made BBQ for sandwiches, the other I added Taco seasoning for fajitas. The fajita batch ended up a little too mushy for my liking, but we'll survive. I also cut up and made 8 loaves of garlic bread. We ate two last night, the other 6 are in the freezer (so have 3 meals). I was wanting more!!! I could eat a whole loaf myself. *oink*

Today was a half day for the K-8 graders. Tomorrow the high schoolers will have the half day. I let the elementary kids stay home. They only have 2hrs of class which just seems stupid to me. Between getting ready for school and riding the bus it takes as long to get there and back as they are in class. Liz went because she has 3hrs of classes and they have block scheduling. If she missed today she wouldn't have been in those classes for a week (she was absent on Friday due to a headache). Carrie went because she was absent last Wed and has already missed 2 mornings of Sunrise Scholars (before school reading program).

I allowed Luke to stay home even though he had 3hrs of classes because I can see the frustration of school starting to show. He's had a 3 or 4 nights of detention for not having work done. He's complaining that the teacher is listing assignments that he actually completed on time. I know of one instance where it's happened but he also had unfinished stuff listed for that day too. I'm starting to think I might have to call the teacher to see what's up. I check his agenda planner every day, even if he insists he has all his work done. I thought he was actually doing well!

Eileen did MUCH better this week with her spelling test. She had 6 right plus the bonus. YEAH! We still have a lot of work do to but it's coming along. Sometimes I wonder why I bother sending them to school if I have to work with them so hard at home. But I also know that my procrastinating, lazy, softie self wouldn't get the work out of them that I feel I'd need to. Some are selfmotivated...like Liz but they're not the ones that I have to provide so much extra effort with.

Kids are home! Time for lunch!



Sunday, September 26, 2004

A little fun in the middle of the night

The kids were just about to go to bed (Luke was already asleep on the couch) when all the lights went off! Poor Allison was down in the basement at the time...trying to finish her laundry. We found a flashlight and saved her! :o)

We decided it was a great time for a party! So I got out the glow in the dark stick bracelets I had bought at the dollar store on Friday. They had 6 bracelets in a pack so everyone had their own bracelet. The kids also went and found their mini flashlights on a necklace and fiber optic lamps my aunt gave them on labor day (So THANK YOU AUNT SHARON!)

Luckily a few hours before that happened we'd put away quite a bit of the groceries. Unfortunately the things left laying on the floor still were canned things. So I scurried to make the floor safe. We realized that it was brighter outside then it was inside because of the clear skies and the high almost full moon. It was then decided that we'd join Tom out back at his fire.

The kids grabbed a few blankets and I grabbed three cans of pringles. LOL Can't have a party without snacks! We sat around the fire, ate chips and sang silly songs. After an hour I brought the younger kids in. Tom and the older ones followed about half an hour later.

Liz on down camped out in the livingroom. I fell asleep in the chair with Olivia in my lap. The lights came on around 1AM.

Today we my my neice E's birthday. The party is at 1 and I don't want to go! Not that I don't want to celebrate E's birthday. I just feel like I have so much to do here. I still have food in the fridge to process, have to do laundry and get the kids ready for school.

I still don't have a BROOM! My broom broke last week and I've been trying to get a new one ever since. I FORGOT to get one while grocery shopping and have asked 4 people who were going towards a store to pick me up one since then. Everyone has forgotten it! These floors (linoleum and hardwood) are disgusting! Allison is laughing at me because I keep saying...I need a broom! Won't someone take pity on me and buy me a broom! LOL My SIL, D, asked....Your broom is gone? How are you getting around!?!? I told her...Didn't the kids tell you I came by and borrowed your's while you were napping? ;o) *zing!*

Well, time to get these guys moving if we're going to be out the door in 2hrs or so.

Saturday, September 25, 2004

Food Log is now done

Took a bit to get it all together but it's started! Hopefully the rest of the entries won't take as long as today's did. I'm thinking cut and paste will be my friend to make the next shopping list faster (tend to buy some of the same things each trip).

Here's the link.... Growlies for the Gang I'll also be adding it to my sidebar.

I'd appreciate any thoughts you had on it, ideas to make it better, etc. If you don't feel comfortable leaving a comment on the public blog. Feel free to email me with whatever comments you have at kmomof10@frontiernet.net

Busy and exhausting day

The dump truck full of stone was delivered by 9:45 yesterday morning. That left the rest of the day opened to me to get my shopping done. Pat wasn't happy that I needed the car...being Friday and all. He was hoping to do something with Jess after school and asked me to get home by 3. ROFL!!! Yeah sure Pat...whatever you say!

Liz (was home sick with a headache), Olivia and I left the house about 11:15 and we got home at 5:45. I was BEAT!!! I felt like I could barely walk and my back was killing me already. We had a minor problem when I pulled up. Because of all the new stone in the driveway, we can't use it. So I had to park in the road and we had to carry the groceries even further then normal. The kids kept mentioning that I bought a LOT of stuff! I can't get it through their skulls that it takes a lot of food, which equates to a lot of money to feed them. Liz kept making comments while we were shopping too. Saying...You have a LOT of food here mom. You are spending a LOT of money mom. and asking...How much did Dad get paid today anyways? Like it's any of her business. LOL She was actually embarrassed in one store at how overflowing the cart was. At least the comments from strangers didn't happen to add to her embarrassment.

I got all the cold stuff put away and then I collapsed for a while. It was sad to have to throw a 1/4 of a boneless ham away that was bought last shopping trip. I didn't realize ham could go bad like that. ICK! Guess I should have stopped putting off making the scalloped potatoes and ham. It puts a little kink in my idea of how many meals I have...but I think we'll get over it quickly. LOL I'm going to have to turn the downstairs freezer on again. I have stuff I want to put in the freezer and the freezer on the fridge is a danger to anyone who opens it now.

The driveway is looking good already. There's still a lot of work to do though. I'm avoiding going out there to work. My back is still tender this morning and anyways...I have a ton of things to do in here. My livingroom and kitchen have groceries bags laying all over, hunks of meat are waiting to be processed into ready made meal bags and kids have to be dealt with and driven places (Carrie has a birthday party, Jake wants to go to CC's house, and I'm waiting for Michelle and Val to call for a ride).

I'm working on my food blog on and off and hope to have the main thing published in a few hours. (depends on how much physical work I put before it lol) It's a bit of work to do but I'm hoping that once I have a system set up things will be easier. The setup/layout of web pages and such give me such a headache and eat up most of my time....just deciding on a template for the thing took forever! I was thinking it was going to be "private" but seems that some people want to see it. Oh well, I have to admit...the subject of food is my favorite and I enjoy reading about how others deal with it and what they feed their family. Maybe I'm not so weird afterall (or only the weird ones are attracted to my site! kidding! really!) I'll post a direct link to my food blog later today after the main part is posted.

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Update.....I think

I have NO idea why I haven't been able to get into here and post. It's not bloggers fault, but mine. As things happen I think....OH! There's one for the blog! Then I think about posting and nothing comes to me. Guess my life is just boring right now. Seems my nights are filled with feeding kids, running them around and making sure my...ooops I mean their homework is done.

For all the time I'm not in here, you'd think my house would be benefitting from it....not so. I use to blame my time on the computer for the downfall of my house. I know now that if it wasn't the computer, it'd be something else. Whether it be reading, tv, number and word puzzles or video games. Yesterday I made the mistake of checking out Drew's Final Fantasy X game. WOW!!! That thing is awesome...like watching a movie. Unfortunately it takes a LOT longer then any movie ever made. Yes you can save, leave and come back to it later....but who wants to. So all my best laid plans were dashed in an instant.

Today I've vowed to NOT get on the PS2 and to be quick online (yeah, famous last words...there is NO quick in my online world). Then get some work done around here. I really need to go grocery shopping but should probably clean out the fridge before I put anything new into it. So that'll be put on hold until Friday morning. I won't write what jobs I plan to do because I'll just get depressed if I don't get them done. I'm sure I'll post tonight or tomorrow bragging if I do get anything done! LOL

Tom's on call this week. Poor guy got called out about half an hour after we went to sleep. He did make it back home so he could get a little sleep, but I'm sure he's dragging today. Funny thing is...Right before bed I'd mentioned that I was surprised he hadn't gotten any calls all week. Me and my big mouth! Oh well at least there'll be a few hours OT in his paycheck.

Tomorrow we're expecting a load of stone for our driveway. So I'll have my work cut out for me this weekend. Who knows....by the time the driveway is restoned, maybe I'll have some nicely shaped arms. Sore back is probably more like it. I just hope this solves the getting out of the driveway in the snow problem. It's not fun having to push vehicles out at 6am almost everyday there's snow in the driveway (which is a LOT of days!!!).

Seeing as I'll be doing a new grocey shopping trip today or tomorrow. I'm thinking it might be a good time to start my food blog. I've always worked hard to feed my family for little money but lately I've fallen by the wayside in that department. With the holidays coming up and some major bills....I need to get back to my old ways. I figure what better way then to keep a blog and hold myself accountable. I'd also like it so I can get a TRUE picture of how much it costs to feed this crew...not just what I spend each payday (so I'll figure in what I use from the pantry, freezer, extra runs to the store, etc). I'd do it on paper but I always seem to lose track of my notebook or someone claims it as their own. So I figured I'd do it online where I can't misplace it or have it overtaken by a crayon yielding 4yo. Knowing it's of little interest to anyone else, I've decided to make a separate blog for it.

Oh rats! I just realized that I can't go grocery shopping tomorrow morning...I have to wait for the crushed stone to be delivered!!! UGH! Looks like I better plan on blowing my friday night at the grocery store. I hate grocery shopping on Friday, but at least it's better then Saturday.

Sunday, September 19, 2004

Did you know.....

What today is? It's half way to St Patrick's day! LOL A local restaurant had a sign announcing they were having a party to celebrate it today.

Looks like this blog has finally started to show up on search engines. I have to laugh at some of the keywords that bring people here. This week it's been... college girls sexlives (each of the keywords was in the same sentence!!), kid rock's marinade recipe (no I do NOT have his recipe), how to resize a livestrong bracelet (Carrie wishes!), pool liner beadlock, and players wearing livestrong pic. Makes me feel like blathering is a keyword around here. LOL

Neighbor J update. The goings on next door finally made it into the news last night and this mornings paper. He is out on bail and came by to talk to Tom tonight. I felt sorry for him. Yes, I know he broke the law but still. He's such a gentle natured man and kind of simple of mind. He started crying in front of me which I knew he was not comfortable with. I didn't stick around too much so that he could relax a bit.

The story is that a state trooper went to his house looking for one of his siblings. While knocking on his door he smelled pot and walked into the back yard. He found J and his friend in his barn harvesting some plants. Who'd have thunk a trooper'd be standing in your yard at just the right time!?!? I'm not defending the guy's actions, he needs to obey the law whether he agrees with it or not. But he did seem to have terrible luck. (I'm claiming no comment on the whole legalization of pot issue) I'd be a little more defensive of the guy if he'd only had a few plants, but they found 270 of them according to the paper. He said he was surprised by how many there were...he just kept planting them...didn't count them. (guess it's like how we end up with 150 tomato plants and more tomatoes then we can handle...at least they're legal though) It finally hit him how many there were when they brought in the DOT dump truck to haul it away. Anyways...he's looking at the possiblity of 7yrs in prison for this. How sad.

Drew brought Allison home this weekend. Tomorrow (Monday) is her birthday. They didn't get to do anything like they'd hoped to but it was nice having her here. Funny when I thought of the kids growing up I imagined my household getting smaller, not bigger. LOL Guess I was WRONG!

Drew has not been fun to live with lately and this weekend was rough at times. I walked out of the house Saturday night to cool off while I sat with Tom around the fire pit. It wasn't going to happen...Tom and I got into a pretty heated arguement about a bunch of things that have been lying around. UGH!!! I hate when we do that but it seems to have to be done every so often. My BIL said he thought Drew needed professional help. I was glad to hear it as it's been my thoughts lately too. Things are getting beyond anyone's and especially Drew's control. I know he doesn't like to be like this. We really need to get him on our medical insurance this week!

Tonight I didn't feel like making dinner. I'd made a HUGE one the night before that we finished eating for lunch and snack today (leftover broccoli soup, 8qts of chili, huge pan of chicken stirfry and 12 cups of basmati rice). I'd also been hankering for some pizza. We normally have pizza a lot but without a working oven it's been a rare meal lately. Price Chopper has a special of a lg pizza and 50 wings for $16 so we ran there and bought 2 orders. While there I also bought buy 1 get 1 free angel food cakes and half gallons of eddy's ice cream (well it's not QUITE half gallon anymore). So before Allison went back to school we had a little party for her. She was a little surprised I think, seeing as we didn't decide to do it until 5:30. She had to be back to school (an hour from our house) by 8:45. It was YUMMY and I want MORE!!!

Well, it's back to the old grindstone in the morning. Something I'm not looking forward to. Carrie has an opthamologist appt. Think good thoughts that her cataracts haven't bloomed and need to be dealt with.

Saturday, September 18, 2004

1st grade is SO hard!

Poor Eileen. She was in hysterics Thurs night because she didn't want to go to school on Fri. She had her very first spelling test and she was terrified she'd do bad on it. She is afraid of making a mistake so doesn't even try most things. I tried to reassure her that even if she got ALL of them wrong it was ok....as long as she TRIED to get them right. Amazingly, she got on the school bus ok this morning. I was so worried she would balk at the bus stop. She brought her test home tonight. She got 3 out of 10 right and didn't even try to do the bonus word. (test was an, ad, at families with a bonus word of...like) I promised her we'd study more in the future. I didn't realize she was having such a hard time remembering letters and sounds. :o(

Carrie tried to stay home from Sunrise Scholars. I really had to work her over to get her to go. Almost cost me a $.55 ice cream! I'd hate to have gotten into THAT habit this early in the game. I asked her if she could at least go for the full week the very first week of the program LOL (it's a reading assistance program...kids ride in on 1st trip instead of 2nd, so have an extra hour in school to work on reading) If this keeps up...it's going to be a looooong year! UGH!!

Eileen and Jake picked zinnias from my front garden today and brought them to their teachers. They even remembered the busdriver and Jake also remembered John (not sure exactly who that is). LOL Of course Olivia had to have flowers too so I have some sitting in a measuring cup on my kitchen table. We're so sophisticated! ;o)

Tomorrow we're suppose to go to the mall. Michelle needs her senior pictures done, so we're heading to Sears. If I'm not mistaken it takes 2 wks for the pictures to come back to the store. Sometimes they come in earlier (Pat's did) She needs them for Friday, October 1st which is 13 days from Saturday. Yep, cutting it very close here. It's not MY fault! I was going to take her in August and then she came down with Poison Ivy! If worse comes to worse we can try to take a high definition picture on my digital and get a sheet or two from Wal-mart's picture machine. Luckily our district isn't strict on where and how you get them done....as long as you get them done!!! Unfortunately, this year the kids will be VERY lucky if they get a yearbook at all. Our district is on a contingency budget which has NO room for extracurricular activities. Not a fun time in the neighborhood.

Tom made it home ok

He got home Thursday night, around 11pm. It's a good thing too because if he'd waited to come home Friday morning. He would have missed all the fun here today. I personally slept through it all! LOL At 9am I tried to lay Olivia back down in the little boy's bed (she'd fallen asleep in my lap after all the kids got on teh school bus). I was hoping to get her down and then get some things done around here today. Instead I fell asleep right along with her! We ended up sleeping until 12:30pm. What did I find when I woke up....

State troopers were all over the neighbor's yard. They'd followed trails he'd cut through his weeds and came into our yard (he'd finally befriended Tom a few months ago, after living next door to us for 15yrs). The troopers asked Tom and my BIL if they had a "business arrangement" with the neighbor. They also checked out our two sheds, almost falling down greenhouse and other areas. It seems they were busting the neighbor for growing pot.

While I slept, the troopers flew a helicopter over the three properties (neighbor, our's, and Inlaws...not lived on). Tom said they were circling for 1 or 2 hrs. They flew VERY low and hovered over our firepit for a while. Olivia and I did get to see the helicopter take off from the neighbor's field at the end of the day. It's an awesome sight!

They had K-9 units, 4 wheelers, and tons of people on foot. They brought in a huge DOT dump truck but we're not sure what for exactly. We kept joking that we needed to go over and get BIL's ladder that's over there. Then also tell them that we were picking up the dirt bike, stereo, and wide screen tv that we lent them. We're sick sick people. LOL The kids got into the action after school. Liz suggested that if I wanted to get rid of a couple kids...now would be a good time to do it. She said I could take them over to the neighbors and tell the police that I was the babysitter, dropping of J and D's kids. (they're really childless) I asked Liz if she was going to volunteer to be one of those kids? She didn't see the humor in that. Oh well!

My nosiness is driving me crazy! I'm wondering HOW they found out. What about his wife...is she involved or just an innocent victim. What did they find and how much? Where was it? What if some of it ended up on our property!?!?! I've been searching online news sites to see if the story is written up...so far nothing.

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Boring day

It's a good thing today was boring. The little girls messed up my keyboard AGAIN! Luckily this time I remembered there was an on-screen keyboard under accessories. So I can at least let you know that there's really nothing to let you know about.

Tom's mom called tonight. When we were talking about Tom camping alone,she joked...I hope you have his insurance policy paid up. Hardee har. Not really something I feel like joking about. Normally I'm fine with him being gone. This time though I feel uneasy. If he waits until Fri morning and makes me worry all night Thurs...I'll wring his neck!

Well, guess I'll go play some PS2...Kingdom Hearts or ssXTricky. Haven't decided which yet.

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Hi Tom, Bye Tom

Tom and the boys came home on Sunday just before we got home from church. By the sounds of it they had a great time! I'm so glad that my SIL D suggested it. It's hard for Tom to take the boys away from school for something fun. He's adamant that school come first, most of the time.

I didn't stick around too long Sunday evening. I dropped the kids home, said hi to the guys and then took off to take my MIL home in the city and go grocery shopping. I rode with D and we had a good time. Me, D, MIL and Tom's brother J went to a chinese buffet for dinner. It was hard to sit there and "waste" time but it was nice to sit and talk with everyone. Sitting down to eat though meant that we didn't get home until afer midnight. By the time I got my groceries in the house it was almost 1am. I was BEAT on Monday morning....I think my age is showing (I use to always go grocery shopping after the kids went to bed...9pm and get home at 3am...next morning I would function normally).

Monday I did end up getting some things on my todo list done so that felt good. It didn't involve the house too much though which was really needed. It was too nice not to do outside stuff!!! I cleaned up the front flower garden, dug up the glads and planted the irises and plants my dad brought out a few weeks ago. PHEW! I did NOT want those to die before I got them planted...like has happened a for a few years in a row. My dad's worked too hard to grow and get me these plants!! I should call him, I'm sure he's probably still wondering if I allowed them to rot/die.

Tom went back camping today. He borrowed the guy next door's canoe and headed off to Stillwater Res by himself. I'm not too thrilled. It's not that he went off by himself. It's that he's canoeing on that HUGE lake by himself. It lies East and west which means that the winds make it pretty choppy most days. I wouldn't be comfortable canoeing on it at all. So now I sit here and wonder if everything is ok until Thursday night when he gets home...or Friday day...depending on how the weather is Thurs night.

Drew didn't go to school today. Pat misunderstood him and took the books they share. This meant that Drew didn't have the work he'd done (it was in the book). Personally I think Drew is just in a real deep low time. It's one of the worst ones he's been in in a looong time. I wish Tom would fill out the forms so we could add Drew to our medical insurance. I really think that he needs to be seen NOW! Drew and I have talked about the possibilty of him being bipolar. He didn't really respond too much but he didn't fight it or deny it like Tom does...so that's a good thing. I'm just hoping nothing big happens while Tom is away, I'd hate to have him come home to find Drew not here permanently (yes, it's THAT bad) and it all be my doing.

While Drew was in a bad mood, he's also full of energy. He used all of it to clean and rearrange the livingroom. It's the second time he's done this in less then a month. LOL It looks nice but Drew is not being nice toward the "slobs". Seems I'm reminding him it's not his place all the time. Reminded him if he didn't want to let it go...then he shouldn't do the job to begin with. It's exhausting!! Him working has set me working though. I vacuumed a good portion of the daddy longlegs and cobwebs down, wish you could vacuum fly poop down too. I'm going to have to scrub the walls down. It'd probably just as easy to paint them! LOL

Liz had a friend H come over to go swimming. I was surprised that her mom let her come over on a school night. I'm also surprised that she's allowed her to stay this late (yes, she's still here...they are going for one last swim). She's a sweet girl who's parents always came across as pretty strict (protective) to me. I'm wondering what kind of an earfull they'll get when H goes home.

It's bugging me that I haven't been organized enough to get the kids clothes ready for school the night before they're needed. I really wanted to get a whole weeks worth done on Sunday...but right now I'll take the night before! Good thing it's a late chat night...makes it easier to do a bunch of laundry. I'll just have to remember to break away from it every hour or so, so I can swith the loads. Time flies in that chatroom usually!

Well time to get kids ready for bed. At least THAT isn't going too bad and everyone is getting up without a huge fight. Hopefully it stays like that...but I'm not counting on it.

Baby Allie

First I have to talk about Baby Allie. I've mentioned her a few times the last few weeks. Allie passed away Monday night at 11pm. :o( It's amazing to me how many people's lives she's touched in her short life. It's weird to have such strong feelings for someone whom you've never met. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Scott family.

The internet is a very amazing and yet weird thing. Part of me is jealous that I didn't have the internet available to me and my family during Carrie's transplant. Looking back now, while we had TONS of support from family and friends...it seems lonely compared to what's available nowadays. There's support boards for anything under the sun, information, immediate and cheap communication with friends and family (what I would have given to have THIS one, being 350 miles from everyone). Although I must say...being ignorant about what was or could have been ahead of us was also a blessing.

On Saturday morning I was reading Allie's updates and started crying. Carrie was standing nearby and came over to ask me what was wrong. I looked at her, thought of everything she's been through and how many times she's come close to dying. I then grabbed her around the waist and hugged her tight while I broke into uncontrollable sobs. I was trying to reassure her that I was ok and there was nothing wrong...not sure I did too great of a job though.

Sunday, September 12, 2004

Very funny...Ha! Ha!

I decided to be a good girl and GET THOSE DISHES DONE! That is until I discovered...what little dishwashing liquid I had was used yesterday for bubbles. You'd think that if a kid saw a sink full of dishes and less then a 1/2 inch of soap in the container, they'd weigh their options and fergitaboutit. NOPE! Not mine. Mom needs to buy some anyways...so I might as well use it. Thank goodness for paper plates and fingers!

Guess I'll be going grocery shopping in the morning instead of tonight. Just wish a store ad would jump out at me and get me excited about going. They've been lousy the last few weeks!

In the mind of a disorganized tons of kids mom

In other words...why the Salsa didn't get done today...

Get up and sit at the computer with a cup of coffee.
Wave as kid #2 walks out the door to a field hockey game.
Think about what needs to be done today.
Watch kid #1 and #5 walk out the door to work at church for the day.
Decide to pick the tomatoes and make salsa.
Look around the house at everything else that needs to get done.
Do all the jobs in my head at least once.
Think about going downstairs, digging out the canning jars, cleaning and sterilizing them.
Mention to the kids standing near you that you need to do it.
Hope someone volunteers and realize no one will.
Look around the kitchen and decide the kitchen table needs to be cleaned off before you can start.
Realize the sink needs to be emptied so you can put the breakfast dishes into it....so need to do the dishes first.
Take a potty break.
Change the water in the goldfish's tank while you're in the bathroom.
Spray down the sink and polish it.
Look for the shower cleaner so you can clean the DISGUSTING shower that mostly Pat uses. Give up after not finding it.
Decide to have another cup of coffee.
Allow kid #4 to spend the night at friend's house.
Sit at the computer and check the boards
Redo all the jobs in your head again.
Throw laundry in, thinking you'll hit the dishes next.
Go into livingroom and start picking up the floor, complaining that everyone's a slob!
Drive kid #3 to friend's house.
Check pool (it looks BEAUTIFUL BTW)
Decide the tomatoes aren't going to pick themselves and go out to the veggie garden.
Eww each time your thumb goes into a half rotten tomato.
Grumble that it wasn't worth your time....the tomatoes are pathetic, orange or rotten on the vine.
Take the tomatoes in the kitchen.
Look at the dishes still sitting in the sink.
Turn around and go back out the kitchen door, climb the pool deck stairs.
Sit on pool deck while kids #7, 9 and 10 go swimming.
Yank kids from pool.
Go in basement to find soup for dinner...can't find the kind everyone wants.
Remind yourself you NEED to go grocery shopping when you get a reliable car.
Empty dehumidifier.
Switch laundry, throw in another load.
Start dinner.
Check boards and eat dinner.
Sit on couch and work a math puzzle.
Watch TV with the 3 kids
Pick up #3 at friend's house, passing kid #2 as you go out the door.
Decide it's too late to make so much noise washing dishes. Put it off for tomorrow.
Put kids to bed
Switch laundry, throw in another load.
Look at sink again as you get to the top of the stairs and shake your head in unbelief.
Get on computer and post in blog.
Find out how kid #1 and #5 do at church today. Talk about tomorrow a bit (don't mention dishes)
Send kids off to bed, continue writing.

It's not easy being me!!! Things would be so much easier if I was telekinetic! Hmmm...maybe I should be working on that in my spare time. I'll have to look online to see if I can find exercises and.....



Saturday, September 11, 2004

We've survived

The first week of school is over and we're all still ok. I had a small glitch this morning when I woke up early, thought....Oh good it's Saturday! and went back to bed. Val woke me up telling me it was late about 15mins before the bus came. Luckily we didn't have to rush to get out the door.

Next week is a full week...UGH! I have everyone's backpack on ignore...not a good way to keep up on everything like I was so proud of in an earlier post. As long as it gets done by Sunday night I guess we're all good. Although I think some people have until Friday to do their homework...have to read all the papers they brought home for me!!! The area above my desk is starting to fill up again with menus and schedules, etc. The kids have been going to bed really well these last few days!!! I'm not sure if it's the excitement of school or they're exhausted! LOL As long as I can keep up the routine of getting dinner done at a decent time...I'm hoping we'll be ok. But don't hold me to it! LOL

Next week also starts the hard chore...trying to get Carrie up an hour early and out the door. She starts Sunrise Scholars (a reading assistance program for 3rd and 4th graders) on Monday. She needs to ride in on the first trip bus, instead of the second one. After she was really sick last winter it was quite difficult for her to get up every morning and hardly attended. We can't let that happen again this year. It's wasting a spot that someone else could fill.

Speaking of Carrie...I just have to state...I HATE being the mom of a cancer survivor sometimes. For the most part it's a not a big deal, but days like last Friday and today....I wish I was ignorant about cancer. At the fair on Friday she kept complaining that her knee and hip were hurting and at times had a difficult time with walking. After wracking my brain trying to think of what she could have done to be sore (we hadn't walked that much) my thought is...relapse. I kept gauging her all day...trying to watch her without her noticing. Luckily she didn't complain about it after that day...until this morning! Her knee is bothering her again. I'll definitely have to mention it at her 6mo checkup in October. (will take her in if it gets to be a regular thing though) For all I know it could be a relapse of her rheumatic fever type arthritis she had in Feb after her bought of meningitis. Then again....it could be just normal aches and pains. Wish I could automatically think it's the last one.

I think it's also on my mind because I'm following 8mo Allie's fight against AML and through her bone marrow transplant. Her mom announced this week that they've stopped medical intervention for her and are only keeping her comfortable. I thank Allie's mom for allowing us all into a very difficult and private part of her life. It was a blessing to get to know and love Allie. I'm so sorry that the time with her dd is so short. She is a very special little girl. My thoughts and prayers go out to the whole family.

Friday, September 10, 2004

Change of plans again and again

Within an hour of my last post here my plans changed. I went to get ready for bed only to realize....AF is here. I was hoping it'd wait until Monday like it should have. I am NOT going primitive camping (dig your own latreen, no running water) with the old hag along. Tom decided to go anyways and take Olivia along.

Until....Olivia woke up in the morning and started crying when she realized that leaving mom and going bye bye with just daddy was going to be a reality. I was trying to talk her into going when my SIL, D, called. She suggested to Tom that it'd be a great idea and total fun to yank Luke and Jake out of school and take them. So that's what we did!!! They left here about noon.

Pat is not happy. Tom took the Olds instead of the bus. He was going to relent and take the bus but it wouldn't start after going to school and getting the boys! UGH!!!!!!! Luckily I have Drew and the Saturn here so I can go grocery shopping without worry of getting stuck somewhere. Unfortunately for Drew though...his driver door isn't fixed yet, still bungie closed and sometimes tries to fly open. We'll have to get that done next week.

Well off to get some shopping done.

First day of school

The kids started school on Wednesday. I always hate the start of school. Actually I hate school ALL year! I don't like having to live on a schedule. I don't like having to force the kids to do homework after being in school for 6+hrs. I don't like having my kids gone all day.

I will say though that these last few days have been going well. I don't have anything ready ahead of time like I wanted to do. But I'm managing to stay ontop of everything. (even the 20 odd forms I had to sign and/or fill out on Wed night!) I even have them fed before 7pm which is a HUGE change here.

I have some pictures of the second trip kids (we have 2 bus runs in our district. Older kids go first, younger ones go second) Unfortunately I have no idea where my camera is at the present time. I'll have to do an investigation in the morning.

Tom took tomorrow and all of next week off (although he may go into work some days next week). He'd heard it was going to be a great weekend and wanted him and I to go camping. I couldn't go because the weekend after Labor Day is the weekend I watch my sister's girls. (she goes to a car show in Lake George). Well my sister called tonight and the girls aren't coming out. My parents will have them all weekend, seeing as they're not going along. (my parents usually go with my sister)

At 10pm tonight we decided we WILL go camping. I haven't really done anything to get ready, but it shouldn't take long. I have to go to the grocery store in the morning, although I could go right now. But I won't. We have to wait until Pat gets home from his courses anyways. He needs to babysit Olivia. If we play our cards right though, we should be out of here by noon. I hope the weathermen are right!!! I'd hate to get up there and end up wet and freezing!!!

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARRIE!!!!

Today is Carrie's 10th birthday. We've been so busy that I feel like we don't have anything for her in terms of a birthday. We usually let them pick out dinner for the evening. I think she's decided she'd like the chicken leg quarters that are in the freezer. I can think of a lot more tastier things in the freezer then that...but it's her birthday! I'm also suppose to be getting everything ready for school tomorrow. Not fun to have to work on your birthday. I'll try and be easy on her. I have to go into my room and see what's in the closet for me to give to her. I know I have some things, just not sure what I want to use now and what I want to use for Christmas. She's asked me for a present a few times already today. Guess I can find something small to give her. I'll give her the main present/presents after everyone is home. Because I don't have an oven we've been buying birthday cakes. I don't really want to run to the store today, maybe I can get Tom to stop on the way home from work and pick one up.

I'm starting to want a working oven!!! This is the time of the year where I like to start baking. I did bake banana bread and lemon poppy bread. The first was yummy, the second...I've been asked NOT to make it again. I think it was the recipe's fault! ;o) I'll have to ask my online friend ma for one of her recipes. She always has good ones. Actually need to ask her for a few that I lost in my last computer crash. Looks like the garden is going to be demanding me to make some salsa soon.

I need to get an area outside cleaned up and turned over so I can plant all the plants my dad brought over last week, before they all die!!! I think today would be the only day this week that would be good enough to work outside. I think the tailend of hurricane Frances should be here starting on Wed. If we get as much rain as I've seen predicted, looks like Tom will be working some overtime.

Well, now that I'm up to date (I hate being behind here) I can now get on with things and do what needs to be done! I'll update later on how Carrie's birthday and how ready I am for school to start.

Monday....A day at the beach with friends

On Monday we went to Fair Haven State Park for the day. A few of the families from our church went up there also. We had a lot of kids running around!!! (lost count at 61 last time I tried) I don't think we had one fight/disagreement though.

It was another great day (was a great weekend weatherwise actually!!!) With it in the high 70s and a little windy. We got to the beach a little late...3pm. It was sad when they closed the beach, knowing it was the last time it would be open for the year. I do NOT want summer vacation to be over!!!! School starts on Wednesday and I am NOT ready, although I'm sure everyone will be dressed and have supplies when they walk out the door that morning.

I tried to forget how close it was til the start of school. One of the dads tried to point out how far away it was by saying it was 40hrs away, then how many minutes that was, seconds, etc. I threatened to dig a huge hole in the sand and bury him head first if he didn't STOP!!! LOL I have a few cute pictures but don't feel I can share them as the kids in the pictures aren't all mine.

I tried to make it as easy for myself as I could, instead of dinner I packed a bunch of snacks....pretzels, apples, veggies and dip, banana bread. When we got home at 8:30 I threw some frozen meatballs into some spaghetti sauce and we had meatball subs at 9. YUM!!!! I had been dying for them and they were just as delicious as I imagined them to be! I wouldn't mind having another one right now. ;o)

Saturday and Sunday....Family Clambake

Every year my dad's side of the family has a clambake on the Sunday before Labor Day. It's been a tradition for over 50yrs! On Saturday some of us get together and get things ready for the next day. My job the last two years was slicing onions for the sausage peppers and onions. At first I had tears running down my face and had to fight to control my nose from running all over the place. By the time I was done my eyes were fine but I was still sniffing. Saturday night/Sunday morning I kept waking up with my hand in front of my face and smelling of onions! Not fun at 3am. LOL

My dad is one of 13 kids and we had a ton of cousins. Nowadays I hardly can figure out who's little ones are whose anymore because my cousin's kids are having kids, making my cousins grandparents. YIKES!!! Seems like we were all just running around playing kick the can and collecting fireflies together. My dad's family has always been the type that did things together. When I was a kid we used to go on picnics together every Sunday, either at a park or my grandparents house. In the winter is was dinner at Grandma's and watching home movies or The Wonderful World of Disney with popcorn.


The day is filled with lots of catching up, eating, balloon toss, eating, egg toss, eating...you get the picture. We definitely get our's money's worth, seeing as all my kids like steamed clams. Doesn't matter if they didn't though...it's a great day. I realized on Monday, this year was the first year that someone didn't make a comment toward the fact that I was having ANOTHER baby, or asking why I wasn't pg yet.

After my grandmother passed away we started having the clambake at my uncle's house (he's the baby of the family). They have a BEAUTIFUL place!! My aunt is a landscaping engineer and now owns her own perennial business. I wanted to take pictures of her gardens so I could get ideas for my own yard. The battieries died before I could get them taken (thanks Michelle and Val!!!!) I did get a few good pictures taken though.

Carrie and Eileen in the bus on the way to the clambake...


My dad and my sisters husband, Ed cooking...


I even found a picture of me that I didn't mind too much...




FRIDAY...Fair Day

I kept debating on whether or not to go to the NY State Fair. My head said NO WAY but the kids and my heart said...why not, it only happens once a year. The kids and my heart won out. LOL I brought Michelle, Val, K and J, Luke, Carrie, Jake, Eileen and Olivia. We got there about 3pm and planned on staying until after the fireworks show (which was after Kid Rock's concert ended).

It went really well!!! Liz was already there with a family from church. Pat went with Jess and her mom. We ran into Liz, never saw Pat. The kids were well behaved, didn't whine, and kept to a tight group nicely. Makes it easier when they cooperate. :o) The weather was perfect, sunny and in the 70s. Although walking along the midway, you became quite parched.

The smells of food cooking were driving me crazy! I think if I were to go to the fair with a hunk of money to waste, all I'd do is EAT! Unfortunately we were on a budget. We managed to find some food deals though. Shortly after we got there everyone had a hotdog and soda for $1 each. Later in the evening I had the girls go order 2 Little Ceasars pizza for $6ea. Wish I'd gone to get them myself because it was a mistake. I thought they were the size they sell in their stores for $5.55, it was a SMALL! Although everyone had some, I wouldn't have considered it a meal. I could have gotten everyone a hamburger for $2 less! We finished off the night with a few orders of fried dough. I'll have to make more of that here...everyone was wishing for more.

I tried to convince the kids that they didn't need to go on a rides before we left the house...it didn't work. So I bought a sheet of 40 tickets for $25 and told everyone they could go on one ride. While the girls were going to get the pizzas I was trying to get the little kids to pick which ride they want to go on. While looking at the tickets with 5 little ones ringing my legs, someone approached me. He wanted to know if I wanted some ride tickets. I said sure and he handed me a 40 ticket sheet with 2 missing and a prebought ticket book with one ticket still in it.!!!! My jaw hit the floor and I couldn't stop thanking him enough. I then went to go look for the girls to give them more tickets and put the pizzas on hold. While looking for them another man approached me. He explained that he'd won this huge stuffed Donkey from Shrek and wanted to give it to my girls. Olivia was all too glad to take it off his hands and carried the thing for the rest of the night. She could barely see where she was going! LOL

I let the older girls meander the midway by themselves for an hour and a half, with plans to meet at a certain spot afterwards. I took the younger ones around to spend their tickets. It worked out perfectly that everyone got to ride on 2 rides. Kid Rock was still playing when we met up at 9:30. We sat, snacked and talked for a while. As were got to the parking lot where the bus was parked, the fireworks started. We sat in the grass and watched those before we left. On the way home we dropped off K and J and crawled into the house about midnight.



Thursday, September 02, 2004

Showing off

Had to put on my outfit and take a picture of it to show off. I even found my one piece, tummy control paneled foundation garment...so I look even skinnier then I really am. Of course I wasn't so concerned with my look that I actually put on SHOES! ICK! I don't think my brown Birkenstocks would actually do the outfit justice though.



If you notice I had Michelle take the pic outside. I couldn't find a spot inside that I was comfy taking a picture of. *blush* Maybe next I'll take a pic of my pants and sleeveless shell outfit, and maybe my house will be clean enough for it to be an inside picture. Recharging camera batteries right now. Then I can have a fashion show! ;o)

I've been shopping and now I am SORE!

I'm not really sure why though. Yes, I went on a 8hr shopping trip today but I usually take 5-6 hrs to go grocery shopping...so not too out of my norm. I forgot some important things because I never got to Wal-Mart, so I'll have to head back out eventually. UGH! I think I ran out of money (that's what I get for keeping a running tab in my head and not on paper) So I'll have to crunch some numbers in the morning and see what's doable and what's not.

I did manage to get Michelle and Carrie's sneaks bought. I even managed to buy myself some new clothes!!! Something I don't like to do and don't normally do. I bought myself two things I haven't purchased in YEARS!!! A pair of shorts. Last time I bought those was in the spring of '97. I'd bought them to wear for pjs in the hospital with Carrie. I figured it wasn't any too modest to have my undies peeking out at the nurses from under my covers while I slept. I also bought a pair of PANTS!!! I haven't had a pair of those in over 13yrs. So I now own a pair of pants. They aren't slack pants, they're like activewear. A step or two above sweats, loosefit...not clingy like leggings. And the other thing....they are RED! I don't buy red for myself too often. It was nice to feel good while trying things one. I couldn't pass up the deals...they had a huge rack of plus size clothing that was 70% off the lowest marked price. (didn't know it but I got another 15% off the end price for some reason) I got a whole outfit for $10.73!! It's a nice long black poly skirt for $4.33 and a pink with black trim layered twin set for $6.40 (most expensive thing I bought for myself). The shirt is similar to this...no pockets or belt...solid pink. I think my camera is in Drew's room...that's my guess at least. If I find it tomorrow I'll post a pic of me wearing the outfit...I think.

After clothes shopping we went grocery shopping...which is a whole other topic. Like I said earlier I didn't get to WM to get some regular things, but I also didn't get to Save-a-Lot for regular cheap stuff like canned olives, ketchup, hotdogs and such. I think that's why I'm feeling like I didn't get too many groceries. Although I did spend a little more then what I'd figured I would. I went to Sam's Club and Price Chopper. Just with what I bought I now have 13 meat dishes in the refrigerator/freezer. Here's what I bought....

6.5 lbs of 93% ground beef...now made into 3+lbs of sloppy joes, two baggies of cooked ground beef...one for chili, one for stroganoff.

2 Beef bottom roasts. One in the crockpot as I type turning into BBQ beef sandwiches, the other in the freezer waiting to be cooked and made into beef and gravy with mashed potatoes (although I might just keep it a roast if I get lazy)

A porkloin roast which has been cut up into thirds. Biggest section is in the freezer with Teriyaki BBQ sauce marinade, next biggest will be a roast/pork sandwiches, smallest will be stirfry or pork and gravy with stuffing.

Whole boneless black forest ham cut into thirds. Most of it will be a ham dinner with boiled cabbage from our garden. Have a section already diced...ready to be used in scalloped potatoes. Last section is waiting to be used in some ham and cheese rollup or ham and eggs with homefries.

6lb bag of meatballs...not the greatest in the world but tolerable. Half will be meatball subs (which I've been dying for!) Other half will be used with spaghetti and sauce.

Well I have just found my head resting on the computer desk and I almost fell out of my chair. If there is more to talk about...it'll have to wait!!

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

I'm still here!

Sorry!! My keyboard survived the spill and I didn't need to buy a new one. Thanks to everyone who offered to get me a new one this week. I appreciate it. :o)

You'd think with having gotten a weekend away by myself I'd come back all refreshed and raring to go. I find the opposite usually happens to me though. After being away and getting to concentrate on only myself, I have a hard time going back to the TOK mom mentality. I've been fried! Monday everyone's action kept getting to me...the bickering and fighting...how did I put up with it before!?!?! LOL I'm happy to say I'm back to my tolerant self (I think)

Even though the house was kept up, things still weren't done that probably should have been. So I was also playing catch-up. I guess you could also say I was raring to go, just not online. We've been digging out closets and getting loads of laundry done. I did at least 7 loads yesterday alone, today the machine has already been going for a few hours. Was going to hang bedding outside after I get this done but now I see the sky to the west is pretty dark. Looks like I won't be doing anymore bedding for a while.

It's been raining a LOT here. Tom had to go into work at 11pm on Sunday (had only been sleeping 1.5hrs when they called) and 11pm on Monday (not having gone to bed yet) Poor guy was exhausted when he got home last night. He went to bed about 6:30 last night and slept through till this morning. He must have been exhausted....he didn't come out and complain about anyone stomping down the hall or banging around the house all evening. LOL

My weekend was boring and relaxing. We went to the craft show on Saturday morning for a few hours. I didn't see too much that I hadn't seen before, although a clock made out of a gift bag (sits on a shelf/table) was original and pretty cool. I might try a few of those for my December show. We visited my Great Aunt and Uncle whose trailer is a few spots down from my grandmother. I hadn't seen them in a while and it was a nice visit. We had goulash for dinner Saturday night (family joke...grandmother ALWAYS makes it when she has company). I LOVE it and totally enjoyed it. Even had it cold for lunch and brought the leftovers home. It lasted about 1 minute once it was discovered. I didn't get any at home :o( I came home with battle wound though. I smashed the bridge of my nose/eye brow on an open jalousie window. I thought I took a huge hunk out of my nose and would have a black eye. Luckily it didn't need stitches, it didn't even bruise up. (but it's still a little swollen and sore)

Michelle's poison ivy on her face is almost gone. Unfortunately it's spread to her lower body now and she's still dealing with it. At least most of it is hidden by her clothes.

My dad came out yesterday and brought me a bunch of plants and bulbs that need to be planted. I hope I can plant them this weekend. I'd do it now but need to get some grocery and sneaker shopping done today. I also want to finish getting a handle on things now that I'm on a roll. I would like to have it done by Sunday so I can assure my dad at the annual family clambake that they are taken care of. He hates when he gives me plants and I don't do anything with them...allowing them to die. I don't blame him.

Drew and Pat went to orientation at the community college yesterday. Today's their first day of classes. I think Pat will be home by 11:30...lucky duck! Of course he had to be at school by 8. So there's a not so great side to that schedule. Val had freshman orientation at the high school last night also. Since Michelle is a senior she went too and show her around. They're growing up so FAST! *sniff* *sniff*

OK...I've decided to start holding myself accountable for what gets done around here. Today's TODO list....

Dishes...finish clearing out the sink and counters!!!
Laundry....get everything upstairs taken care of, wash some bedding, start working on stuff in basement...get whites separated and put away (socks and underwear)
Groceries...get lots of yummy food with as little money as possible
School shopping...get at least Michelle's and Carrie's sneaks bought
Hallway...finish taking care of fabric and clothes(goes with laundry)
Finish cleaning out hall closet
Food...prepare what I can of what I purchase. Make a loose but definite menu.

What would make my day to get done....get kids clothes organized, out of baskets and into dressers! Get some sewing done!

Ok...nothing on that list will do itself (unfortunately) so I have to get out of my chair! Where's my whip? ;o)