Oh this is ridiculous!

Why does it seem that all the forces in the world are against me? I was bound and determined to go to church this morning even if it wasn't going to be easy.

Michelle had to be at work at 10. Technically I could drive there and back in time to make it to the meeting at 11:00. Tom graciously offered to drive her so I wouldn't have to worry about it. It also allowed Val to go and fill out some forms for a job she applied for. One obstacle down.

We are out of propane. That means no hot water, stove or dryer. I wasn't sure there were clean clothes for everyone (behind in laundry as usual) but found ok things for the kids to wear. Would it really kill them it they wear shorts when it's jacket weather? We made plans to go over to church and use the showers over there. So we should be all set.

It was decided that the girls and I would run over to the church grounds early enough so Michelle could shower too. Then we'd head to church a bit early so the boys could shower and I could throw the little ones into the utility tubs over there. Everyone that needed to get up did and we headed out the door with time to spare. Problem was...the van was dead as a doornail!!! The headlights had been left on since yesterday afternoon. So the 6 of us squeeze into the car and get our showers. We got home with plenty of time to jump start the van. Or so we thought. Problem is the van was SO dead that it took forever! The van hadn't started and it got to be past the time that Michelle needed to leave for work so Tom had to give up on getting the van going and leave. Unfortunately that meant that we wouldn't make it to church...AGAIN! *heavy sigh*

Just so you know

I'm still around. There's some things going on here that I can't really talk about so I've opted to not blog at all. We're fine and nothing major is wrong, it's just a private matter. Hopefully things will be resolved within the next week and I'll feel free to post whatever I want.

In the meantime other news around here...

Drew starts a new job on Monday. It's not the best one in the world but it's better then the one he didn't have yesterday. lol Now he needs his car fixed. He has the parts, just needs the repair person to do the work, hopefully this weekend.

Pat started a new job yesterday. It's a warehouse job which isn't so great when you're afflicted with a bad back/sciatica pain but he's plugging along. He also registered for classes for the January session at a nearby community college. It's nice to see he's getting some direction in his life.

Michelle turns 21 on Thursday. She's still working at her job as a cashier. There's talk of training her to be on the front desk soon.

Tom's union just settled their contract for the next 5 yrs. So there's a few raises in his future. He should also get a retroactive check for the raise he should've received in January (been working without a contract since then). It's already gone as usual...this time for heating oil.

This Thursday we went to our 19th straight elementary school (K thru 4th) open house. While getting ready I realized we have 8 more of them to go to. lol 27yrs of elementary school is INSANE! It's also one of the harder aspects of being a mom to all these kids. To keep the enthusiasm alive. To not adopt a ho hum...btdt attitude. It'd be SO easy to do. Afterall, how many times should one person have to guess which self portrait is drawn by your child. I guess it's hard for the teachers too. One teacher seemed to blow us off a bit quicker then the other parents. Kind of a...you know the drill type of attitude. Oh well it made me appreciate the visit to teachers who get a kick out of seeing how big the babies have gotten and to catch up with old students.

After we were done in the classrooms we hit the new playground even though it was dark. (added an element of fun to it) Everyone had a blast with Tom being one of the biggest kids. Sean LOVES the slides and Danielle was swinging on her belly almost the whole time. We finished off the evening with a late dinner of sandwiches, a practice spelling test and a few wound up kids not wanting to go to bed.

Sean's sleeping habits are leaving much to be desired. He's so restless! It's a good thing I don't need a lot of sleep. He's not looking to nurse as much during the night as before which is good, but he's constantly moving. It doesn't help that he's been waking up really early...like 4 or 5am. I'm usually awake by then but I'm also selfish. I want a FEW minutes of alone time. So I nurse him and try to get him back to sleep so I can attempt to sneak out alone. Instead what happens is that he thrashes around for almost an hour, touches Tom (which Tom does NOT like) and I get frustrated. Then we end up creeping into a dark living room and have some fun until one of the sleepyheads decides to join us. I'm not really sure if moving into his own bed or room would help. He seems to seek someone to touch while he's sleeping. I guess I should just adjust my attitude and embrace our one on one time while I have it. He's not going to be this little and adorable for ever.

Today looks to be a chilly rainy grey day...perfect working inside the house weather. This house really needs some attention. I'd even like to start painting but it won't be happening soon. I'm limited as to what I can do around here today as we seem to be out of propane! UGH!

35 hours later....

The power has returned to our house.

Our neighbor told us she called the power company when she got home from work and was informed that our power was restored at 3:30. I let her know it had come on at 3:30....for two minutes!!! Then I heard a loud zap and we lost it again. She assured the lady at the power company that we were indeed still in the dark. The kind lady said she's look into it. A phone call at 7 reported that our power was restored at 5:10. Ummm no it wasn't. We're still in the dark here. They were sending someone out as soon as possible. We were still in the dark when we woke up this morning. Most people had power restored by last night so school was in session. I didn't bother getting the kids up and ready since no power means no running water.

Bright and early this morning I called the power company myself. The recording let me know they were aware of the interruption in our area affecting 17 houses (there were 13 houses on our section of the street that were out). The estimated time of power being restored....6pm TOMORROW!!!! Oh no! I found out power was restored to the church grounds the evening before so we made plans to go over there and take showers tonight before bed. (allowing clean kids to go to school in the morning)

We (actually mostly I) got to work...dipping water from the well by hand to fill big totes for each bathroom and the kitchen. Wiping down tables and counters with wipes. Heating water for dishes. The kids cleaned up their bedding (they got to sleep on the living room floor last night). There was food in the fridge and freezer that wouldn't last until tomorrow and would need to be dealt with.

The kids have actually been enjoying these last two days. They did lots of drawing, bike riding and board games playing. Carrie and Luke finished the books they were reading (by flashlight or ds screen light) and enjoyed them...which is a big thing for both of them.

Around 11ish we started seeing a pretty sight...power company trucks driving up and down the road (first time we'd seen them since the power went out). Someone mentioned the power was on and everyone tried to tell them they were crazy. Finally enough people turned on things to see that they weren't full of it. While everyone was glad to have running water again...they were sad to see the fun end. That didn't stop them from running for the computers and video games though. Me being the mom...I ran for the washing machine. lol

So we're back to modern living. There's been talk about having a powerless weekend on purpose in the future (the fridge would stay powered up). I can't see it happening until next year though (wouldn't go without heat in the late fall and winter). Hopefully mother nature doesn't decide we need to have one sooner. :o)

Ike got us!

We've been without power since I'm sitting in my running car with my laptop and my modem plugged into an inverter which is plugged into the car's cigarette lighter. I'd say I'm sadly addicted to the net but really I was just trying to get some news about what's going on around here.

Last night was an awesome night even if it meant us losing power. Luckily Michelle and I went and did a good amount of grocery shopping before all this happened. We were getting shoved around by the wind. The kids were fighting the wind while bringing in the groceries at 11 (yes, I know they should've been in bed but I wasn't home to make sure they were).

Unfortunately I now have a bunch of perishables in a non working fridge. We HAD to have a backwards dinner tonight (dessert before the meal). The kids' eyes popped out of their head when I plopped HUGE scoopfuls of ice cream into their bowls. It was a brand new gallon and it was turning into soup! What was I suppose to do?

Anyways, last night...After I got all the cold stuff put away (into the working fridge lol), I took Sean and went outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. It was HOT and humid with the warm winds blasting. For a while the clouds disappeared. The moon was so bright that I could actually make out colors of things. While sitting outside I was wishing I could wake up the other kids to enjoy this, but of course they had to go to school in the morning and I couldn't interrupt their precious sleep. I made the comment that if I homeschooled I could wake them up and let them enjoy it and even turn it into a lesson! LOL

It started getting cloudy again about 1am'ish and the wind kicked up a notch or two. Everyone had started to go into bed, leaving me on the front porch alone. Then I saw it....flashed of green, red and orange against the clouds. I called everyone back just as this HUGE bunch of flashes went off. I'm assuming it was transformers and substations going offline especially since we also lost our power with that huge bunch of flashes.

Danielle woke up due to losing the lights (WHY does that happen...they're sleeping!) and I brought her outside with us. She wasn't very comfy with what was happening so I tried to appease her by bringing her on the couch while I sat and watched out the window. Still too close for comfort for her, she wanted to go in our bed. So I did and I fell asleep. I'd have stayed up all night if could've.

We lost a smallish tree, no big deal. We're all ok and we're actually enjoying the powerless day and unexpected day off from school (it was canceled). It's dark out and the neighbor just pulled into the driveway so I'll have to log off. I'll be back as soon as the power's back on.

WHAT! What, What's going on?

Sorry I've had a bit too much of crazy frog being slammed into my ears. It's Sean and Danielle's favorite bopping song. I don't mind it...the first 10 times! LOL Still I have NO idea why I'm up at 4am. Actually I've been tossing and turning since at least 2:30. I only decided I'd had enough of my bed at 4. I know I haven't been sleeping well lately but this is INSANE! You'd think being bogged down with a cold which came on yesterday would leave me snoozing. At least it's all I could think about last night....my eyes just didn't want to stay open. Still, I didn't go to bed too early for me to be up at this ridiculous hour. Oh well at least I'm getting some alone quiet time...until Sean starts fussing. (and it took 45mins btw) Maybe I can actually get something accomplished on here. I keep thinking I should be in the bathrooms picking up and wiping down. But I might wake someone up doing that. I guess I could manage to go throw in some laundry quick. BRB OK...done, now I don't have to feel like I'm wasting valuable hands free working time, I'm doing something lol. I love the human's ability to reason.

Can someone PLEASE tell me HOW a toad got into my livingroom? As I walked down the hall just now I thought I saw a mouse (it's getting that time of year and I've hard some activity). Only this mouse was acting really weird, running sporadic. I decided to follow it and try to get rid of it. When it hit the light of the kitchen I realized it wasn't a mouse but a toad hopping. Now I don't mind toads, I'll pick them up, pet them and carry them around. But I do NOT want anymore live creatures taking up residence in the house....thankyouverymuch. If it's still dark out...why are my roosters crowing away? I think I need to adjust the lighting situation in there. I'm afraid to mess with it and risk my hens not starting to lay in a few months. It also doesn't help that there are too many roosters in that coop...at least 13. We're going to have to cull some out VERY soon....maybe this Friday (day before trash day so we can take care of the waste expeditiously.

I can't share the pictures I was going to since my camera and card are in the big girls' room and I don't want to disturb them to get it. I'll try to get some up later today. I didn't manage to put them up on Thursday because I ended up running to Walmart AGAIN! Just for a few things...yeah right. Walking down the aisles it was...oh yeah I forgot we needed ketchup. Hmmm we're out of mayo and instant coffee too. Next thing I know my cart is full. Yet it lacked on of the major things I went there for....CAT FOOD! So I'll have to go back...AGAIN! Where are the days when I could go grocery shopping once every 2wks and not step foot in the store for another 2wks? (Tom would do milk and perishable runs) Someone has got to put a stop to these kids growing!

OH! Speaking of growing...Sean is walking!!! He started last Thursday with about a half dozen steps at a time but it was with a distinct purpose. Now he's trying to do it as much as possible. Although crawling is WAY faster for him so that's his goto locomotion when things are important. It's amazing how the little ones seem to sprout once the big kids go back to school. I don't know, maybe I'm just seeing them differently without the others' interaction.

I'm waiting on pins and needles here...one of my friends is at the hospital having baby #13 as I type. Well I'm assuming he wasn't born yet. She could be done and enjoying her new bundle this very minute (or catching a few z's) It's amazing to think how much our family has grown since we met in 1999...I had 9 kids then, she had 7! I thought I might have a problem with baby lust when she had her baby but I'm good. I joked that maybe it's because Sean is still so needy, I'll see how the NEXT one goes. ;o) Either way, I'm thinking of her and can't wait to hear about the little man. (so if you're reading this Catherine...you can call me!!! *hint hint*)

Hmmmm look at me. Get a few minutes to think for myself and I turn into a rambling fool. I'll spare you guys anymore of my nonsense for now. Hope the weekend is the best it can be for everyone.

Note to self...

If purchasing a laptop is in your future. It'd be a good idea to make sure you have a LAP to put it in!!! I've been looking at laptops for years now and drooling. I just couldn't bring myself to commit to spending that large sum of money for something for myself (mostly).

Then I saw it...a refurbished Toshiba with 2G of RAM and a huge harddrive for $200 less then the price at Walmart (which also happened to be the the max price I was hoping to pay) . With us down to one computer and having to be referee all summer I finally made it all the way through the checkout process without chickening out.

It arrived yesterday to much fanfare. The kids know it's MY computer but they're excited that they won't have to wait until I'm done to use the desktop. To add to their excitement we also added another desktop yesterday. I LOVE back to school sales...and Bill Me Later. So most time was spent setting it up. I'd get it downloading a program and head downstairs to throw in laundry while I waited. EVERYTIME I tried to sit on the couch with the thing...Sean would have a fit. It was either that he was mad because I wouldn't let him slam bang on it or climb across it. Or he was mad because there was something besides him in my lap and he'd be trying to push it out. *heavy sigh* My poor poor needy guy.

I'm sure it'll get better. Either Sean will need my lap less and/or get used to something besides him in my lap. Or I'll find more opportune times to use this thing. Right now though I'm really wondering if giving up my computer chair and desktop was really the best choice. And here I thought a laptop would be awesome. LOL

It's been really busy here with school starting. I have some really cute pictures to share from a trip to the zoo this week too. I'm hoping to get them up tonight after I get back from picking up Michelle from work. That is if Sean decides I can. :o)

I really should....

* Check my hotmail account more often! I missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime. No not all the lotteries I won. No not the hidden money of someone dying of cancer who wants to give it away to a total stranger...ME! (how do I get so lucky?) The opportunity to be a MOVIE STAR! To have my own ongoing docu series. Excuse me while I pick myself up off the floor. Even IF I wanted to do it and could get Tom and ALL the kids to agree to it. WHAT would the show be about? I keep thinking of Seinfeld's tv show about nothing they were pushing . I can see it now...
- Mom on the computer, ignoring the mess behind her
- Kids running amuck
- Mom driving in car
- Mom home and running like a chicken with her head cut off
- Mom driving in car
- Mom home, throwing dinner on the table
- Mom driving in car
- Mom yelling at kids to go to bed
- Mom sitting at the computer, ignoring bigger mess behind her

Ok, so not all my days are like this but it feels like it lately. I REALLY need the girls to get a car they can learn to drive on. Well, Liz and Val having their permits might help too. lol Michelle doesn't want to learn to drive a stick shift and she definitely doesn't want to learn on a 4mo car! My thinking now is if I can get the 3 girls to get their license and then their own cars...I can downgrade from a fullsize van to a minivan. :o) But I'm not holding my breath.

Well I never finished/published this post. Wouldn't you know I now have some fodder for the show. On Friday night I took Carrie and Liz over to church then headed to Michelle's work so I could pick her up. We get home and I jump into the TOK chat. The phone rings at 12:30am, it's Liz...Can you pick us up at 1? Instead of saying what I wanted to...No, I'm coming to get you now. I answer...OK...then I hang up, jump back into chat, talk to Michelle, yell at Jake to get to bed because it's 1:24 and he has to get up early in the morning! Chat a bit more, fall asleep in my computer chair until I hear Sean crying. Then I jump into bed with Sean and fall soundly to sleep.

What you say? I forgot to mention picking up the girls at 1. Did I? Really? Yeah I did and totally forgot it until the phone rang a little after 7am. The ringing phone jumpstarted my memory and I realized what I'd done (or more like NOT done) the night before. With tears in my eyes I answered the phone (I just knew it was them) with a quick...I'm SO SORRY! I'm on my way right now! Be there in a minute!

Liz forgot her phone and couldn't call me after she realized I wasn't coming. Luckily the meeting hall was unlocked and they could go into the mother's room and doze in the recliners. They were exhausted though and had a looong day/weekend ahead of them. I felt guilty for most of the weekend but luckily they weren't here to play off of it too much. It might've snagged them a new pair of shoes a few days later though. lol

Yeah the worst mom of the year award line starts here.