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.

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.....

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.

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!!!

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.

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!!

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)

Sorry

No...update...tonight.

My...spacebar...is...not...working...right...now.

Hope...to...get...a...new...keyboard.(AGAIN!)...tomorrow.

Will...try...to...update...before...I...leave...for...my...grandmother's...camp...tomorrow...afternoon.

Let's try this again....

Computer time is at a minimum for me lately. Even the little ones are insisting on getting a turn. I think we've gotten to the point where another computer or two or three would be best for the house. It probably won't be a reality until we get our income tax return though. Maybe until then I'll just ship them off to public school! Then I'll only have to fight Olivia for it during the day. LOL

Poor Michelle! She woke up Tuesday morning with her right eye swollen shut. Her face was covered in poison ivy. I had some a series of steriods that was prescribed for me when I poison ivy on my face. (was given to me as a just incase measure...seeing as I was at the dr's on a Fri...I never used it) Her face is looking a LOT better already today. Problem with all this though is....she was suppose to get her senior pictures taken this week! Figures! I'm hoping it'll be gone by next week. She needs to get them taken in the next few weeks. Here's a picture we took of her. She looked a lot worse a few hours before we took this. Shhhhhhh...she thinks they all got deleted.



Luke and Jake had a fun day on Tuesday. R's mom came and picked them up for a game of minature golf and lunch. Jake had never been before, Luke had gone once before....my kids are so deprived. ;o) They were suppose to go on Monday but R's mom came down with a sudden headache. I'm wondering if it was what Luke had on Sunday. At least it doesn't last long.

I went shopping on Tuesday with Drew and Liz. We had to pick up Liz's glasses first. The second stop was the dollar store where I broke an all time personal record and spent $95! Record before that was $87 for Christmas. If this wasn't bad enough we then went to Wal-Mart (have I mentioned lately that I hate this store!?!?!) I spent another $300!!! It wasn't as bad as it might seem, considering I came home with a bunch of groceries. I can't wait until school shopping is done! Then I will be able to avoid the stores and stop spending money!

The phone woke me up at 8am this morning. It was K...she wanted to know if J and her could come stay with us for a few days or a week. Seems their grandmother is in the hospital in NC and isn't expected to live for much longer. J and K's parents were driving down to be with her. I immediately got Michelle and Val up and asked them to help me clean up quickly. They both cooperated and did a great job (although you wouldn't know looking at the livingroom right now) They arrived about 10:30am. I forgot that I wasn't going to be here this weekend so I called Tom to tell him how much fun he's going to have while I'm gone. LOL Luckily K and J aren't any problem and can take care of themselves.

I'm going with my mom and her friend up to my grandmother's camp on the St Lawerance this weekend. We're leaving Friday after B (mom's friend) gets out of work. There's a huge Arts & Crafts festival up there that we'll be cruising. I probably won't be buying anything, I just like to look. I like to see what's selling and maybe get an idea for gifts. (for me to make) I've never been to this festival so I'm not sure if I'll be able to use any ideas from there...it's a juried show so might be out of my league.

Drew and Pat both had an interview for a job at Wendy's today. They both were asked to return on Saturday to talk to a few managers. It's about 2 miles (if that) from the college so would work out great if their schedules worked out. (meaning no big time blocks between classes ending and job starting time) So cross your fingers they'll both finally have a job by the end of the week! Their college classes start next Wednesday. So their life may change drastically in the next week. :o)

Grrrrrr!

I just spent an hour writing a post, just to lose it. Don't have time to rewrite it now...hope to get to it this afternoon.

New room, booboos, blahs and uhohs

Drew is home for good now. We decided it would be best for all if Drew and Pat were in separate quarters. So, Drew made himself a little room in the library/craft room. It's kind of neat. Now if everyone will stay out of it, we'll be ok.



This weekend has actually been a decent weekend with Drew. He's gotten really chummy with Jake and Luke and they are eating it up! Now that Drew is here so is his PS2 and all his games. Joy of joy for the younger boys!!! As long as Drew shares nicely that is. Pat has been using the main computer more now that Drew has taken his computer out of the upstairs bedroom. He's talked about buying himself a new computer once his school loan money comes into play. I'm sure he's spent it a zillion different ways already even though we told him to be very conservative with it!

Luke and Jake went to R's house for a few hours of play. When R's mom dropped them back home we started talking about the gardens and took a tour of our's. By the time R was about to leave, Luke was puking his guts out!!! UGH!!! Figures, I was JUST thinking that we've been lucky as far as illness goes. Thought it would hit after I got done washing all the bedding though LOL I'm not sure if he's throwing up because of his headache or because he has a virus. He's been soundly sleeping on the loveseat for a while though.

Carrie was out biking with Liz this afternoon. The kids came running into my room yelling...Carrie got hurt!!! I thought it was BAD the way they were acting. She skinned her knee and elbow a bit. I've seen worse, although I'm sure it hurt her. Wonder if they'd notice if I threw the bikes into BIL's scrap metal pile! ;o)

This afternoon wasn't such a hot time. I'd say I was PMS'ing but I didn't feel all jittery like I normally do while PMS'ing. I ended up grabbing my shoes and purse, jumping in the car and taking off. WHY??? Because of Pizza!!! What a stupid thing to get all worked up about. It wasn't really about the pizza so much as Val using it as a power ploy.

She brought two boxes of pizza home from B's party last night. Some of us had it for a midnight snack and she put the rest in the refrigerator for today. At lunchtime Tom asked if we could have pizza. Val got it out and was handing it out to everyone. She wouldn't let Liz get her own and only offered her a choice of two gross pieces (all broke up with hunks of cheese missing). Liz got upset and then I got in the mix. Val got disrespectful and I fell into the trap. *heavy sigh* I HATE when I do that!!!! It went on for a while and Tom tried to get us to stop. Which meant I then turned on him.

I knew I was in a situation that I didn't want or should be in. Felt that if I stayed around too much longer I'd probably end up saying something I shouldn't or slapping Miss Disrespect across the face (which I do NOT want to do!) So out the door I went. Tom tried to talk to me but I just drove off. I only drove around the corner (less then 1/4 mile) and parked on the side of the road. Turned on a Queen CD and sat there listening to it blasting (the rearview mirror was vibrating thanks to the bass LOL). After a few songs I went back.

When I walked in the house...everyone was cleaning! :o) I should do that more often ;o) They all gave me my space for a while. I talked to Val and told her I won't be pulled into a disrespectful yelling match again. If she talks to me like that again ALL activities will end IMMEDIATELY!! Even if it means driving friends that were suppose to spend the night home (and yes, she's pulled this garbage in front of K and J...they just sit there with their mouths hanging open). So far she's been fine the rest of the day.

I wanted to share a picture of my newly cleared craft table. To see a before pic you'll have to visit here



I didn't get anymore sewing done today. Between the blowup with Val and doing some cleaning my brain wasn't up to it. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get back into it.

I remembered!

I remembered what it was that I wanted to jump out of bed and write about the other night. I remembered it just before I went to bed LAST night. LOL So it's a good thing that I remembered after all that sleeping. :o)

I wanted to talk about people and how they deal with situations. Someone once said that people can be classified as two types.....the ducks and the eagles.

The ducks get into a situation and quack quack quack their way through it. You know they're dealing with the situation and exactly how hard it is to do it. The eagles are faced with a situation, figure out how to deal with it and just go and do it...soaring through it. Most times you never know that they are dealing with things.

I HOPE I can be classified as an eagle, although I admit I've been a duck on occassion. Generally though I think I am an eagle. I think most Tons of Kids (TOK) moms can be classified as such. It would be a miserable life for everyone if a TOK mom was always outwardly showing what she's dealing with on a day to day basis.

What brought this topic to the surface was an exchange I was a part of on Thursday morning. It was the last day of Carrie's "Summer Fun Club" with her teacher. They were meeting at the library from 9-11. Later that afternoon her teacher was having her class summer pool party at her house from 2-4.

While waiting for the library to open I was talking with Carrie's teacher and getting details (it had changed from the original plans) I figured out that I had eye dr appts and planned on going shopping in the opposite direction at 3...in the middle of the party. I stood there thinking a while and then told the teacher....we'll figure it out. (I lucked out that Tom had suddenly decided to take a half day off of work that day!)

I was getting in my car to leave and another mom came up to the group. She started talking about how hectic having kids is (she has 4) and she's going crazy dealing with all the different things! Carrie's teacher turns to me and says...You just deal with it, right Mrs G. I said yeah, no problem at all! LOL The mom says..."You wouldn't believe everything I have to deal with, with all these kids!" Carrie's teacher and her assistant at the same time point to me and say...She has TEN kids!!! ROFL!!! The mom countered with....Well I have twins and they can be a handful!!! (they are almost 10yo btw) I just smiled, told Carrie I'd see her at 11 and drove away. That was the first time that day that the Eagle/Duck personality hit me.

The second time was going through Wal-Mart the same day, filling my cart to the brim with school supplies. A lady with her two kids turns to me in an exasperated voice and says...School shopping with all the kids is ridiculous! This is just insane! Where do all these people come from!?! I wasn't too sure if she was speaking about me or just spewing to me, looking for a sympathetic ear. I just smiled, walked back to my cart and called the kids to follow me over to the pharmacy so I could pick up my prescriptions. I thought...another duck! What I felt like telling her is...Lady! It's a 24hr store! Put the little brats to bed and come back by yourself later tonight if it's that bad!

Don't get me wrong. School shopping is the pits (see my post earlier this week). I even threatened the kids with leaving the cart where it sat and walking out the door with NOTHING if they didn't stop fooling around so much. I guess I just wouldn't think to say something to a stranger about/against my kids in FRONT of my kids. Well, I wouldn't say anything to a stranger about/against them period. I'd like to think that I have enough respect for them to not portray them as a problem. Maybe it's just that I've conditioned myself not to complain because after all...I wouldn't have this problem if I didn't have so many kids!!! I hope/think it's the former.

The mail came!! Carrie and Drew got a package from Tom's Aunt Barbara Jean. It was a card and a Live Strong Bracelet for both of them! COOL! THANK YOU Aunt Barbara Jean! (for those that don't know....Carrie had a bone marrow transplant when she was 2.5yo. Drew was her donor)

A Live Strong Bracelet is a yellow band of rubber with LIVESTRONG stamped on it. The original price is $1, ALL of which goes to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. I've heard about these all over the place and noticed Bob Costas was wearing one while broadcasting the Olympics, but I've never seen one in person. From what I've read these bracelets are on back order and are being sold for about $10 a piece on ebay. No comment.

My kids are now bugging me to buy some more so THEY can have one too. LOL We'll see. Hey! Maybe if I order it now, my order will come in time for Christmas. Hmmmmm....

Oh...and Michelle's skirt I was making. We've looked at it in the daylight and declared it a lost cause. It was a neat idea but the fabric was wrong for what she wanted it to do. So we'll think of something else for her, but she'll have to move to the back of the line for now. LOL Onto Val's skirt...hope this one fares a little better.

Consider yourself spared.....

I went to bed last night after posting here. My head was working a mile a minute and I thought of something I wanted to talk about. I fought with myself about whether I should jump up and write it then or stay in bed and get some sleep. I made myself stay in bed. Now I can't remember what it was I wanted to talk about!!! LOL I guess it wasn't important. So consider yourself spared from some mindless drivel.

Tonight should be short and sweet seeing as I'm typing this while looking out of almost closed eyes.

Tom DID stay home today. I think he wanted to go to the state park and visit his brother, but neither of us was moving any to fast to get out the door. So we stayed home. I got to work in the library to organize my craft stuff. The girls have been bugging me to sew some clothes. I'd been putting it off because of how unorganized my sewing stuff was. I started a skirt that Michelle thought up. It's taken me HOURS to do!!! It would have been easier and faster if I'd KNITTED her a skirt! LOL Her idea required a lot of thinking and reworking to get it right. I'm still not exactly sure how it'll come out, guess when I finish it tomorrow we'll know. Val has a skirt idea for me too..at least her's is easy! One side seams needs to be done...inserting a zipper into it, then just hemming and turning under the waist. Shouldn't take TOO long. All the girls are lined up to be the next one. So I guess I'll be sewing for a while. LOL They want skirts, lounge pants, skorts and maybe even a shirt or two.

Drew came home tonight. I thought it was to sleep but when he didn't get done what he wanted to go...he went back to Allison's. Allison is due back to her college dorm on Wednesday, so he'll be moving back soon enough. This house is totally different with him here. Wish I could say he has a positive influence on it...but I can't. :o( He's not a very positive type of person.

He's trying to get the library rearranged so he can move into it. I don't have a problem with it but Tom isn't too keen on it. I don't really think it's fair that Pat has the HUGE room to himself once Drew moves out. Unfortunately Michelle and Val don't want to move back upstairs. They say the room is too big...whatever. First kids I've ever known that didn't want MORE room. Maybe I'll have Pat switch rooms with Luke and Jake. We'll see. I kept shutting down ANY talk about rooms tonight. By the time they wanted to discuss this it was after 10pm. I had been sewing for hours and my brain was fried. I just wanted to go chat for a bit and then go to bed. So I'll have to deal with it tomorrow.

I noticed that my nose and eyes were bothering me after I sat at the computer. Usually working in the areas of the house not used on a regular basis causes my allergies to flare up. Usually it starts within 15mins of starting the work. Guess I should consider myself lucky it didn't start for a while tonight. Probably should hit my room now that the allergies are already acting up. We'll see. I'd like to get some more sewing done though.

Not sure I should be posting tonight

I'm tired and feeling a bit upset and grumpy. I've been reading a blog about an 8mo named Allie, who is having a bone marrow transplant. The timeframe and experiences were almost the same as what Carrie went through. Until this week (week 16...8/16/04-8/22/04)....this week has NOT fared well for Allie. My thoughts and prayers go out to Allie, her family and all involved in her treatment. I so hope that Allie's mom is still writing about Allie's shenanigans in 7yrs like I'm writing about Carrie. CANCER SUCKS!!!

I'm also upset because I HATE how some people play games with other people online. WHY do people have to mess with others like that. Usually trolls are harmless but there are times when they take a heavy emotional toll on those around them online. It kills me to know what I know and have to watch them play their games. It's also ruined my online experience in general. I tend to find that I'm slower to allow people around me in. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

Grumpy tends to do with school shopping. I took Michelle, Val, and Liz on Tues...spent a good chunk of change. Took Liz on down on Wed...another huge hunk of change. Today it was eye dr appts and new glasses for Liz and Luke...no big deal in and of itself. We have a great vision plan. It was after the eye appt that was what caused me to be grumpy. A trip to the $100 store (Wal-Mart). Only $100 is only a fraction of what I spent tonight. How about over $400!!!! That didn't even include groceries, foodwise I bought milk, bread, donuts for the way home and corn on the cob for dinner....that's IT! The rest is all stuff for school. AND I'M NOT DONE!!! I have to get sneakers for two kids still. Not to mention I didn't buy all the school supplies...although I'm almost done. What I do have left though is a good chunk of change...BINDERS!!! Why do they need so many binders? Why don't the stupid things last longer then a school year? Why do the teachers insist on needing the $5 or 6 ones (2 or 3 inch ones) instead of the $.50 ones!?!?! Why does each teacher insist they need one for their class, and require a specific color!!! Like I have nothing better to do then to run around town looking for a black folder or orange binder! I don't feel like Luke and Jake have enough clothes....I think they need more shirts. I'll have to get everything organized and check to see if my feeling is a true one or not.

Drew and Pat wanted to know if I got them anything. Drew wants to know when I'll be taking him shopping. ROFL!!!!!!!!! Nice try BUD! I can't believe I managed to almost max out my brand new credit card in less then 3 days. At least I hope it's almost maxxed and not over maxxed. I think I'm ok. Did I mention how much I HATE credit cards and how much they scare me? Well they do!!! Thankfully/hopefully we'll be paying it off totally by the end of Sept, beginning of October. Just in time for Christmas shopping. UGH!!!!!!!! Someone hand me a pair of scissors PLEASE!!!!

The kids did have a ball filling their new backpacks with their new school supplies. I probably have enough leftovers to run a small bookstore. LOL Too bad it won't last until NEXT year. Most of the kids know what they'll be wearing to the first day of school now. LOL Guess you can't be too prepared...the start of school is only 19 days away. Now to keep the new underwear and socks away from them until they really need them!

I've put everyone on notice tonight that starting on Sunday or Monday we'll be trying to function on school hours. The older girls were bragging how they still get up early once in a while. I reminded them that means BEDTIME too!!! I don't think they were very impressed or happy. LOL

I THINK Tom has tomorrow off. I keep asking him but he never gives me a straight answer. He took half a day off today. I think he wanted to go visit his brother who is camping at a state park on Lake Ontario. Too bad life decided to get in the way of his plans. Who knows if he'll want to go. I partly would like to go up there but I'd also like to sit home and vegitate, seeing as I've been running all week. I'd also like to get into the library and finish organizing my crafts and setting up my sewing area. Wonder if Luke and Jake would mind homemade calico shirts for school? ;o)

Head is hitting monitor...time for bed!

*SNIFF SNIFF*

I finally did it. I finally got my wedding ring cut off. :o( I took the 6 youngest kids to the mall for a round of school shopping. It wasn't really bothering me today but it's been a thought quite a few times the last month or so. My finger tends to get raw under my band. Also with the heat of the summer my edema has caused my fingers to swell more then normal. Usually when it's bothering the most is at night, on weekends or when there is NO WAY I can get to a jeweler to get it off. So, while there I decided I'd get it done. It HURT when they did it and I had to ask for a break in the work for a bit. I almost started crying once or twice (because of emotions, not pain) but made it through without tearing up all the way. The kids got a kick out of watching it...I'm sure we made quite the picture.

Before I forget...B UPDATE...He's HOME!!! He's doing really well although a little weak from being in bed for so long. All is brothers and sisters are loving him being home and are treating him like a King...at least last I heard LOL Thursday is his dr appt, so they should know how long to expect him to be laid up and such.

Patrick Soccer update....There will be no more updates this year. :o( He emailed the college's soccer coach, explained about his back and that he'd need a week or two to recoup. Coach suggested he keep working out and try again next year. Patrick said today that he'd like to join an evening adult soccer league and also a volleyball league. He seems to be ok with it. I almost wonder if he's TOO ok with it. I think he was surprised by the quality of players at the college. He mentioned almost all of them were from England and South Africa. Oh well, maybe he needs to be playing it just for fun for a while.

Oh yeah....forgot I wanted to mention the pool. I FINALLY got the thing to register a chlorine reading! Of course I've had to feed it TWO chlorine tablets at once and it's been on the chilly side out with us hardly using it...but it's a reading nontheless. As soon as we start using it I'll probably lose the reading again. LOL Figures the year a family with 10 kids finally gets a swimming pool it's one of the mildest and rainiest summers. Always seems to work out that way.

What have we been up to lately??? SHOPPING! It's the dreaded school shopping time. I decided last year that I would NOT take them all shopping for sneakers at once ever again. Well this year I've HAD to break them up due to the van not working properly (it wouldn't start for a time at my parent's on Sunday either). Yesterday I took Michelle, Val, Liz, J and K to the mall. We found a few deals. Val and Liz got their sneaks. We closed up the mall then went to a pizza place and grabbed a sheet pizza and 50 wings...YUM!!! There were wings leftover for those at home and we all had pizza for breakfast.

This morning I got up about 8:30 to find Michelle, Val, J and K up and all made up for the day. Seems they called J and K's mom at 8am (woke her UP!!!!) and convinced her to take them to the mall again. Michelle and Val never came home, they're spending the night at J and K's...they should be home early tomorrow morning.

I took Pat to Jess's house for the day and then came back home and picked up the rest of the kids (Drew is still at Allison's). I hate putting more kids in the car then there are suppose to be, but I didn't have much of a choice unless I wanted to leave Liz home alone. She wasn't too keen on that and neither was I. So we doubled up Eileen and Olivia in the middle back seat. *looks for her BAD mommy award*

The kids were pretty good while we were out and I didn't notice too many gawkers toward us. Although I was pretty busy shopping and herding kids through the crowds to notice/care anyways. :o) When we were first shopping all Jake kept asking is...are we going to the toy store now? Are we going NOW?!? My mom and dad gave him money for his birthday and it was burning a hole in his pocket!!! He wanted to buy another Yu-Gi-Oh card starter pack. Then after he made his purchase it was....are we done now? Are we going home now? Can we be done now and go home? LOL He got what he was there for....let's GO! Poor guy had to wait until the mall closed before he got his wish. We stayed until closing again, I never did get to Sears. I feel like I've walked a marathon though!

I'm so thankful that the kids I was shopping for are NOT the picky ones. We seem to have found quite a few deals including Reebok sneaks for Eileen for $10 and some cool looking ones (not sure the brand) for Luke for $11. So 4 pairs of sneaks down....3 (or 4 if Olivia gets her way LOL) more to go. Tomorrow Luke and Liz have an appt to get their eyes examined and new glasses. The plan is to hit Wal-Mart afterwards and try to get the shopping mostly done. The little boys, especially Jake needs some jeans!!!

I'm starting to feel the heaviness of using the credit card though. I won't be carrying a balance on it at 20% interest...but still...there is a heaviness there. It's weird to be using a credit card again after not having one for almost 4yrs. I guess I should consider that a good thing...so I don't take using it too lightly.

I've noticed a few times tonight that I've tried to twist my wedding ring on my finger. Waaaaaah! I didn't realize how often I use to do it. It still feels and looks like there is a ring there. There's a huge dent in my left ring finger. Guess I'll have to talk to Tom about covering it up soon. The jeweler said it would only cost $20 - $25 to resize it. Not too shabby! Much cheaper then buying a new one, especially since Service Merchandise is gone from the area now (if not completely gone from existance). Still, even then it would cost me at least $50 to get a new one from there. OH! Just hit google. Service Merchandise is still around. I see they don't even sell my cheap ring anymore. (10K gold...only sell 14K or better)

Well, dragging my exhausted, swollen body (you'd think I was 9mos pg! LOL) to bed.

Hellooooo Old Friend!!!

Patrick soccer tryout update...He made the game but only played half a game. I'll explain why a little bit later. No word on whether there are cuts or not.

B update....If everything goes as planned, he'll be coming home TODAY!!! Yippeee! Pat and I went up to visit him yesterday afternoon. He's looking well and said it didn't hurt too bad. He didn't seem to be too uncomfortable. I told him the story about me running to him and wetting myself. He was amused like I knew he would be. LOL He's in the same ICU room that Carrie was in for 3wks in Dec/Jan (she had meningitis). I saw Carrie's 2 favorite nurses and got a hug. :o)

I got a phone call on Saturday night that I've been wanting to get for quite a while. It was from my best friend since 3rd grade, Connie. She lives in Georgia and we haven't talked in quite a while. Although when we do talk it's like we've never been apart. I feel blessed to have a friend like her. Connie has 6 kids (one was born silent at 42wks) her baby is 4 days older then Carrie, so is about to turn 10yo.

We made plans to meet at my parents's house. I've been wanting to get in for a visit seeing as how I haven't been there in about a month. She considers them her second set of parents and wanted to see them too. So we were suppose to meet at 3. Unfortunately circumstances beyond my control made me half an hour late! We had a great visit, although it was much too short. When she left it wasn't too sad though. I ended up with her email addy. So now we'll be able to keep in touch all the time!

Connie's younger brother (11mos younger, Connie was the 2nd child of 7 children) and mom came too. It was great to see Joe. He was always extremely shy when we were growing up. I used to pick on him a bit but didn't think he really cared whether I was around or not. LOL (we used to live at one another's house) Guess he did. :o) My mom and Connie's were talking in the diningroom while Connie and I were on the backporch/florida room talking. Connie's mom laughed and I just stopped dead in the middle of our conversation. She has the greatest laugh. I excused myself, jumped off the couch, ran into the diningroom and gave her a HUGE hug. I told her I missed that laugh. It was SO great to hear it! *Ugh! I'm crying while writing this...I'm such a heel*

After they left my mom and I got into a very interesting conversation. One I never thought my mom and I would have. We were talking about our sexlives. ROFL!!! It was a very interesting conversation although it was a difficult one to have. My dad and the 6 kids I brought with me kept walking through the room or interrupting us. I guess we'll be able to continue it uninterrupted the weekend of the 27th when we have a girl's weekend at my grandmother's camp. There's a huge arts and crafts festival up there (Cape Vincent/Alex Bay area) then...I'm looking forward to it!

My dad cooked burgers and hotdogs for us. I made some cole slaw and sauteed some zucchini (he grew it) and mushrooms for dinner. Everyone ate well. We brought the kids' bikes to ride (they live on a dead end street) so they enjoyed being able to ride them without too much thought toward traffic. I took a tour around my dad's gardens and we talked for a long time about what I want to do around my house, what he wants to do around his house. He kept asking me if I wanted plant X that he was planning on dividing or digging up. I told him...I'll take ANYTHING you want to get rid of! I have so much garden space...I can use anything. I don't think he's growing anything that I don't care for. So looks like I'll have to start planning and getting plots ready. I asked him if he wanted to help me make some plans for the different areas...he said sure! He just finished landscaping my sister's yard, so hopefully doing the planning and not the work will be ok. Although I'm sure I'll be wishing for his help once I have to do the actual WORK! LOL

Oh yeah, why did Pat only play half a game on Saturday? His back is bothering him. It bothered him last soccer season on and off but while playing Saturday it really bothered him! I took him to the dr's yesterday morning (one of the circumstances beyond my control! And yes, my dr has office hours on Sunday...I love the guy!). Dr said it was sciatica related to stress/sprain. Pat has to rest it until Wednesday, then has limited activity for the next week. Dr wrote him an excuse from soccer until the 25th. Hopefully it won't hurt Pat's chances to be on the team!

Ok...EVERYONE is home (except Tom, who's at work) So hopefully we can all work to get this place back to a liveable habitat. The mess is driving me crazy...so you KNOW it has to be bad!

Just wanted to make a note...AF arrived late Monday night. Of course it waited until AFTER I used up my last FRE test. I am now testless! UGH!

I'm up, I'm down, I'm up again.....

Are you sure today isn't Friday the 13th? LOL

First I want to say....WELCOME TO THE WORLD LEVI BENJAMIN!!! Levi was born to Gretchen/Stillwantmore on Friday at 2:40 pm. He weighs in at 7-14 and is 19.5" long.

Second...update on B...I talked to his oldest sister E yesterday. She said he's all stitched up and still on massive antibiotics. He was running a slight fever for a short time but seems to be doing really well. Discharge looks to be Monday or Tuesday. I'm hoping to get to visit him tonight or tomorrow (need a car first)

Now onto my rollercoaster of a day so far. I'm wishing it was bedtime and it's only 2pm! Today Pat had try-outs for the community college's soccer team. He had to be at the field by 10am and left in plenty of time. I was excited and nervous all night and didn't sleep well. I'm sure he didn't do too better himself. He was home by noon. I thought it was odd. It seems he went to the field and hung out for an hour but no one showed up. He was dejected for sure. I talked to him and then went out front to sit on the porch and started crying. The main reason he wanted to go to college was to play soccer. He acted like it was no big deal but I could see how upset he was.

While cleaning up my computer desk I ran across the mail that Carrie got yesterday. One of the envelopes was to Pat from the college. I sent it upstairs with one of the kids. Pat came down a few minutes later to show me what it was. It was a schedule of today's try-outs. 10am....meet in the college cafeteria for an introduction meeting, 11am-12:30....time trials, 12:30-3:00....lunch and R&R, 3:00-5:00....game. UGH!!!! WHY didn't the coach tell him this when he emailed him the directions to the soccer field!?!?! It was 12:30, I encouraged Pat to call the college and see if he could talk to the coach and see if there was a chance for him. He got a secretary, she assured him that a few of the recruits didn't know where to go and missed things, she had the coach call him back a few minutes later. The coach told Pat to come to the school for lunch. So he was out the door by 1pm. Yippeee!!!!

HE CAME BACK AT 1:45!!! WHAT is going on!!!! I'm about to have a heart attack here. This is ridiculous! He forgot he cleats. UGH!!! He was suppose to be at an elementary school field by 2 and it was almost 2 now. He wasn't even sure what school or where it was. The coach gave him directions. I hope they are clearer then how he told them to me becuase they stunk otherwise!!! All my mother henning was driving Pat crazy. He kept telling me....I have it under control mom. I'm 18 mom. I can handle it mom. Why can't we just shut off when they turn 18? About 10 mins after Pat left, his coach called here. I hope everything works out! I don't even care about grocery shopping now, as long as he gets to try out for the team.

I'm wanting another cup of coffee but feel like I've drank 10 cups too many already.
On the upside of things. Between rounds of dealing with Pat I spent all the other time sitting outside talking to Tom. We haven't had a real conversation in almost 2 wks. It was nice to just sit there. I got a composition book and started plotting out our gardens this year. Making notes of what we grew, how it's doing and what we'd like to accomplish next year. Now if only I can keep it from getting lost! LOL
Liz just called for me to pick her up from church. Hopefully I'll have news of how Pat did by the time I write again. Keep your fingers crossed!!!!

ARGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!

Before I start going on and on about my day so far, let me say. I have NO new news about B. I was hoping to visit him tonight but I'm unsure of it now.

Now my day. I got up at 8 and jumped in the shower...determined to get something accomplished today. I was dressed and out the door by 9am, on my way to grocery shopping. I was hoping to get it all done and be home by noon (yeah right!) I had my list and my menu made up so it was a no brainer trip for the most part.

Pat needed the car to go to his soccer workout at 11 (he's never driven the bus) so I took the bus. My first stop was Save-A-Lot. As I pulled into the parking spot I was thinking....this bus has been running great lately...WRONG thing to do!!! I went through the whole store and got tons of groceries for $85. Loaded the boxes of groceries into the van, jumped into the driver's seat and turned the key. The engine turned over but never started. GRRRRRRRR!!! I tried and tried. Afraid I'd run the battery down I gave it a rest. Figured if I flooded the engine it would have time to sit too. Retried and nothing.

I decided to go call Tom at work so I wouldn't have to sit in the parking lot all day. Do you think I could find a payphone!?!?! NOPE! No a one in sight. I had to walk about a mile down the road to get to one. I called Tom and got his voice mail. Called home and found out Pat had left already. So left a message with Liz and told her to keep trying to call dad. I decided to break into the kids' plastic bags of change in my purse and buy myself a coffee and something to snack on (hadn't had breakfast or coffee before I left). Sat down, enjoyed a meal that I didn't have to share and then walked back to the bus. Tried to start it again...nothing. Opened the windows so I could catch a breeze, settled into the drivers seat as much as I could and drank my coffee. Gave the key a turn once or twice just for good measure. Just as I was finishing up my coffee, Tom pulled into the parking spot next to me. He jumped out and came around to my window. I explained what was happening and turned the key to show him. IT STARTED!!!! STUPID BUS!! It's bad enough my kids are always making me out to be a liar, but my bus too!?!?! Tom just took it as a sign that he was an awesome presence to be dealt with. LOL

Tom didn't think it was a good idea to use the bus for the rest of my errands. He told me to go home and get the car before I finished up my shopping. So much for being done early and getting lots done. Well, here I sit and my car still hasn't shown up in my driveway! Liz is due over to the chruchgrounds in about half an hour so I can't leave yet anyways. Then I'm not sure I'll have anyone here to babysit...seeing as Tom's on call and has to leave in a moment's notice. I don't have enough seats to take everyone in the car. *heavy sigh* WHY does everything have to be so complicated!!! I just want to run to the store and grab a few things so we can eat for the next 2 wks!

I just found my car. It's at Jess's house with Pat. Why do I never remember my kids telling me things that they swear they've told me? He'll be home in 5minutes so I can take Liz over to church. Guess I may have to wait until tomorrow morning until I go shopping. I wish transporters were real. Then again if there were transporters, there'd be replicators...so I wouldn't need to go to the grocery store!

Talked to D this morning....

B was going into surgery at 10:30 to partially close up his leg. I guess the previous surgery made the wound even bigger. There was a lot of wood in it. There's a little confusion on how long antibiotics will be needed. Some heard a week inpatient, a week at home. B seemed to hear a week inpatient...6-8 wks home. BIG difference! I'm pretty sure there'll be more definite news after the surgery is complete.

Michelle and Val went home with K and J this afternoon (they spent the night last night). They'll be gone until at least tomorrow. I'm slowly but surely digging out the kitchen. It's actually be a lot easier to do if everyone would stop eating and dirtying dishes!!! I'm actually looking forward to getting it done. I'd love to get into a clean kitchen and dirty it up again LOL The laundry is still waiting for me to take it downstairs. It's TOM'S fault that it's not to getting done. I've wanted to move my machines upstairs for years. He refuses to use living space for the machines when we already have space in the basement.

Pat's been working out at the soccer field. He JUST told me that Saturday is tryouts for his college team. YIKES!! Fingers crossed that he makes it. It'll be hard for him to go to college if he doesn't. I'd love to go watch but he's said NO!! I guess I'd make him too nervous.

Kids are bugging me to make something to eat. Time to feed the masses.

Quick note

B update...there is no update which is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. I called D/sil about 1:30 yesterday to see how things were and she hadn't heard anything new. I didn't talk to her as long as I usually do because she'd been on the phone all morning. She assured me she'd call if she needed me and if anything changed. So no news is good news. I messed up on the date of stitching him closed though. I said they'd do it Wednesday if it still looked bacteriafree. It's Thursday. I'm totally messed up on my days and dates this summer!

My house is still a mess and I really want to try to get it gone!!! The counter area is looking better but not picture ready yet. LOL Laundry is still sitting here waiting for me to get at it. I really should do some so I can go grocery shopping. I've written out a list, along with a menu of meals...now if I can find it I'll be all set! LOL

I'm already balking at going to the store today. Thinking maybe I'll go first thing tomorrow morning. I'd really rather get it over with. I just know if I try to go in the middle of the day I'll have everyone begging me to go too. I hate dealing with that as I'm a softie...so would rather sneak out when everyone is sleeping and get back for lunch. LOL Thing is, I'd really like to go, get some things for B and run up and visit with him. I guess I could just run into the store, grab a few things and then visit. Either way, I'll have to get my rearend out of this chair!!! Where's that dynamite when I need it?

Hope my next entry is filled with tons of work that got accomplished and great news about B.

*Heavy Sigh* Where to begin....

Warning this entry may be quite lengthy...so if you're going to read...get comfy. (it may also be too graphic for those who get queasy easily...marked the most graphic part with a warning)

After I posted on Sunday we went back to our campsite where I cooked shells and we all had tacos. I was quite fried by then due to cooking combined with the heat, so we decided to go swimming before the sunset (pool closes at sunset). I got everyone ready and even put on my suit. The kids were jumping up and down excited because mom was actually going in the pool. Just as we were about to open the pool gate someone informs me that the pool is closed until 5pm Monday. It seems someone POOPED in the big pool, the wading pool and on the cement patio between the pools. So the pool was being superchlorinated and had to be closed for 24hrs. We then visited with sil, D, at her trailer then took showers and got ready for bed. I had everyone go to bed early because they've been running all week.

Monday was a toasty day. I wanted to go home and go swimming but didn't want to do the work of getting ready to go. I decided to visit my sil to see if she had a better idea. We ended up sitting while the kids played. They opened the pool a little early and by 2pm we were all in the pool again. We stayed until 4:15 or so and I was about to faint from standing along side the pool trying to get a group of boys to calm down around the little ones (they were wrestling and dunking which is NOT allowed) We finally got back to sil's site and sat down in the shade with a bottle of ice water. One of our nephews, P, came riding up on a bike yelling...Aunt D!!! B (different B nephew then the one that visited us a few weeks back) got hurt on his 4 wheeler!!! D asked how bad? 911 bad? He said yes....that started us all going. D freaked and started yelling for kids to run down the meeting hall and get her dh who was directing the church band. Told another to go get her cellphone. I immediately took off on foot, yelling for P to show me where he was.

I ran...I don't know how I did it but I ran at least a 1/3 - 1/2 mile non stop. And in my birkenstocks to boot...through the woods! I'm not even sure if I could run HALF that distance now if I wanted to. Adrenaline is a very powerful thing! D's kids said I was passing kids on bikes LOL I don't remember but I do remember thinking I'm not going to make it. At that moment I started wetting myself. I just kept hoping that if anyone was running behind me they didn't notice it running down my leg *blush*

*graphic part*
I finally got to B (15.5yo...child #3 of the 14) who was laying on a trail with his 4 wheeler sitting (upright...thankfully) beside him. BJ had gotten to him first and attended to him...PHEW! I thought he was hurt and alone. It seems he tried to move to the right of a trail to allow someone else on a bike to pass and caught a log on the side of the trail with his vehicle. It split in at least thirds with the top 2 sections wedging his handlebars between them. The third piece was low and went under his front fender and gouged out his shin to the bone. It's about 4 inches long, going across his shin, starting with about 1/4inch opening...ending at the top with about a inch and a half opening. He also cut the back of his foot...stretching his tendon...it was thought to be cut at first.

I had sent P back to sil and tell her he was hurt enough to go to the hospital but was ok. After I saw what had happened, talked to B a bit, realized there wasn't anything much more I could do. I told B that his dad was on the way and I wanted to go let his mom know what was going on. I was sure she was hysterical and she had all her little ones and mine! I passed B's dad on the trail, told him what was up and that I was going back to the site to let D know what was going on.

BIL came back to the site, got his truck so he could transport B out of the woods so the rescue crew could get to him after they arrived (it seemed to be taking FOREVER for them to come). They transported him to the hospital. D couldn't go with them because of all the other kids and baby. Their oldest E went with B in the ambulance....bil followed in his truck. We all just sat around kind of numb. Finally it was time to go back to my site to make dinner. As soon as I walked away from D's campsite I broke down and started crying. I scared my kids but tried to assure them that B was ok...I was just dealing with the stress of the day.

We got a phone call from bil about 8'ish. It seemed that things weren't so great. By the time B had gotten to the hospital he already had bacteria going to work and it was all the way into his foot! They had to put him into surgery to clean it out and he's require at least a 3 or 4 day hospital stay. D decided she needed to go home and needed to go home NOW! Her and I along with a few kids threw tons of things into bags, baskets and boxes. E came back to the churchgrounds with the truck and we loaded the 15 passenger van and truck with stuff and people.

I didn't sleep well Monday night to say the least. I found out that it was suppose to be rain the next day. Oh yeah, and the pool was closed again. Yep, someone pooped in it AGAIN! So in the middle of the night I decided we needed to go home too. I was up at 6am and tried to sit around doing nothing. I couldn't so went for a walk over to sil's site and cleaned it up a bit (we had given the kids a bunch of candy while we packed and I needed take care of her trash can). I finally couldn't wait any longer and made all my kids get up by 8:15. We were packed up and heading over to sil's campsite for her trash bag by 9:30! LOL I didn't even let them eat!

E was at the campsite getting some things like SIL's purse (oops), some pans, and the camcorder I found on my first check that morning. E told us that it looks good for B as the fast growing bacteria hasn't been seen since last night. But of course he's not out of the woods still.

Most of Tues was spent unpacking the van and collapsing! I am sore and wiped out!!! D was up at the hospital most of the day. I did run over there last night for a few minutes to give her something and see how things were going. They are talking of maybe stitching him closed on Wed if there is no trace of bacteria! He's in a lot of pain though because there is an exposed nerve that has to be kept alive, therefore continuing to creating pain impluses. He'll need at least a week of IV antibiotics in the hospital, with maybe another week of them at home.

I'll be calling her in a bit and update later today.

Waving Hi....

We're having a ball over at church. I just ran home to bring Liz home for the night. She's now decided she doesn't want to stay at home after all. Oh well. I decided to take advantage of the situation and stole some ground beef out of the fridge, cooked it up as taco meat and will cook the shells at our campsite.

We've been really busy even though the weather has been cool with tons of sprinkles here or there. Saturday was children's day and there were free activities from 12:30 until 5 with a hour long magic show after that. They had a bullride machine, dunking tank (hit the target and knock the person in), bouncy house, make your own tiedye shirt, and lots of easy games and obstacle courses for the kids.

Today was the last official day of the summer conference and it's decided to heat up. We went to the pool and are getting a little crispy being outside all day. The kids have their bikes there and are finally learning how to ride them. I didn't realize until yesterday that Jake didn't know how to ride...he use to just jump on and coast down our grassy hill. LOL He's gotten a few scratches and bruises in the last day but he'll survive. He's greatly improved today over yesterday.

Well, kids are bugging me to get back over to the campsite. Out the door I go again.

Running out the door....

I've been running nonstop since 9am. I've made all our food (pasta salad, french toast, pancakes, and hardboiled eggs). I lost count on how many loads of laundry I've done but the last load that HAS to be in is about ready to get thrown into the dryer.

I still have a few kids bags to check before I consider them ready to go. My clothes haven't even been touched as far as packing. Looks like it'll be another late night before we're totally moved over to the camper.

My back is killing me right now and I still have tons to do. (unpacking, cleaning the popup, setting up everything. I'm not a good person to be around either. I'm short tempered and totally impatient. Even Tom can do nothing right tonight.

My house is a mess, not a total mess but messy from packing. At least the older kids will have something to do while I'm gone! ROFL!!!!

I know I forgot something...a lot of things. At least I can run home if it's really important. I would prefer to avoid rounding up everyone and taking a trip home though.

Oh well, I'm off!

Guess What!!!

No I'm NOT pg! LOL I now have 2 very clean rooms that were knee deep in stuff. Pat, Michelle, Val, J and JW cleaned the library and playroom/boy's room today while I was out shopping with sil. It was totally on their own and totally surprised me. Although they did have ulterior motives...they wanted some $$ and the use of my car so they could go to the drive-in. I gave them all I had....$20. The job they did was worth a LOT more then that.

I'm very happy right now. I bought an 8qt box of tomatoes from some Amish kids at the farmer's market today. If I had my camera here (it's at A's house! grrrr) I'd have taken a picture of the tomato that was too big for a sandwich! YUM! YUM! YUM! I thought Tom would be mad because we're starting to get some red roma tomatoes. But there wasn't enough for all of us to have sandwiches. Besides, I"m going to use the roma's for salsa...not sandwiches.

Well I'm getting ready for the summer conference but it's not going very fast. I'm getting nervous that I won't have anything done come Wed night and I'll spend the first day of fun working on my campsite. Guess I'll have to bust my rear tomorrow. I have a TON of laundry now. Between the cleaning the bigger kids did and what Liz brought down from the younger girls' room......not good!

SIL picked me up before 9:30am today. We headed to the farmer's market and I spent half my farmer's market checks from WIC. I bought the box of tomatoes, 2dz corn on the cob, and 6 cucumbers. I ate a tomato like it was an apple before I got into sil's van.

We headed over to Wal-Mart. I spent WAY WAY too much money. Granted I bought a bunch of school supplies, but still..YIKES!!!! I'm letting the kids get a notebook and box of crayons to take this weekend. Eileen and Olivia are already having fun drawing pics and sharing them with everyone. On the way home from WM we passed through the next village over and sil saw her brother (oldest boy in the family). We honked and immediately heard some weird vibrations. AFter sil went over a double bridge and around a curve she pulled over. We had a flat tire! BIL pulled up in front of us and ended up taking one of my neices to a party he was heading to with his daughter. SIL called AAA and it only took about 50mins before we were back on the road. Luckily the garage was less then 1mile from where we stopped :o). I got a bit of my babyfix in that I held my 3mo nephew (yesterday I think I said he was 2mo...I was wrong...time IS flying LOL)

I stopped at my house and dumped the groceries at about 2:30. I grabbed a tent from the bus and jumped back in sil's van. We headed over to the conference grounds. I picked a site (it's suppose to have electricity but wasn't working when I left there tonight) and set up the tent so no one else could claim it. I feel guilty for taking a site when I live down the street. But sil reminded me...that staying with everyone is a LOT of the fun for the kids and my kids are entitled to enjoy this experience to it's fullest...just as much as someone's kids who live far away. OK...I'll stop feeling guilty. I realized I always put my priorities as others/strangers, my family then me. NOT good and not the way I should be doing things.

After holding my nephew for awhile, while sil unpacked things we headed to our houses. I found out that Tom came home early to pull the popup out of the yard before the ground got wet again. I started doing some work around here, enjoyed the clean rooms mentioned above and made everyone sandwiches. I then went outside, took apart our screenhouse, drove over to the conference center and put the screenhouse up on my site. Tom had to deal with a nest of bees, a flat tire falling off the rim and a bossy wife, but he DID manage to get the popup over to my site. :o) So as of right now it looks like we'll be staying over there past the conference's Sunday finish. I'm playing it by ear though. The popup is a MESS still but it's small enough that it shouldn't take too long to clean up.

I still have a LOT to do around here though. Need to wash laundry and pack clothes. Wash bedding, make some dishes (BBQ pork, pasta salad, french toast and pancakes at least) I don't have anything packed for the camper...NOTHING! I feel like I'm going to forget everything. I know this is par for the course and keep trying to remind myself this. I'm not going to even worry about making this place spotless. It'll give the older kids something to do while I'm not here LOL My huge plan to do a bunch of laundry tonight while I chatted has come to an end. I am EXHAUSTED!!! I've thrown in a load or two but that's as far as it's getting tonight.

The kids are super excited especially since they realize we're staying there in the popup and won't be going home each night. Eileen was crying and digging in her heels to stay there tonight. Liz talked her into coming home with us. LOL I hope I can use some of their excitment to my advantage and get them to work quickly. The faster we work the sooner we get over there and start having fun!!!! ;o)

Getting ready

Tom went back to work today. I was sad to see him go, although there were a few times this week when him being at worked seemed like a GOOD idea. LOL

We're starting to get ready for the summer conference. I finally got the popup's roof repaired....at least I hope it won't leak anymore. I had to sew a seam in a few spots then I sealed it with canvas cement. I didn't get it cleaned out like I thought I would but hopefully I'll do it tomorrow. I may not need to clean it though. It looks like it's going to rain tonight and tomorrow so I don't know if we will be able to tow the popup out of the backyard :o(

I've figured we can put a few pup tents up, using the screenhouse for protection if we need it (and it looks like we will need it...rainshowers in forecast almost everyday). I think we might be able to use the popup mattresses to sleep on in the tents....but they might be too big. I'll have to check.

Tom's oldest brother called tonight to tell me go get myself over to the conference grounds and get a site NOW! People are grabbing all the spots pretty quickly. I don't need any water or electricty...just a flat field to set up my tents and screenhouse! With so much construction going on over there though I'm not really sure where I'll be able to set up if the site BIL told me about is gone.

My sil with the 14 kids is going to pick me up tomorrow so we can go to the farmer's market and run to get some things at the store. I feel like I'll have to run out again after that anyways...but I hope not. I know I'm definitely going to need propane which I can't get at the grocery store. UGH! I need another week!!! This thing has just jumped up here. It's usually held the second week of August but for some reason it's the first week. It's thrown me for a loop. I'll be pretty busy for the next few days to say the least.

While getting ready I've had a monkey wrench thrown into the mix...It's my back. I keep getting a shooting pain into the lower right of my back. If I sit too long, stand too long, lay too long. It's like it's on the verge of truly going out on me but not quite. I do NOT need this right now!!!! I was just in tears carrying clothes down the cellar stairs. I had to do a load so I'd have clean clothes to go shopping in. I'm wondering if I'm going to be able to go shopping really. If it gets any worse or becomes a constant pain I can't see me doing too much of anything. It seems like there is always something happening to us when summer conference comes around.

'94...was 8.5mos pg with Carrie and blood pressure was off the roof. Ended up being sent home to get on the couch.
'95...was in the middle of a miscarriage that took over 10 days to end.
'96...Jake was born. Came home from the hospital the day the conference started
'97...Carrie's bone marrow transplant. We were in Boston still
'98...I had Eileen in July so that year was fine. I even camped with everyone (except Tom).
'99...Was newly pg with Olivia...exhausted and morning sickness. We still camped.
'00...Pretty sure this was a good time..although I know we had hand foot and mouth this summer.
'01...Summer of chronic sickness. Had kids with mono and pnuemonia
'02...REALLY bad case of headlice
'03...Was a very good time!

Let's just hope that this weekend proves to be as much fun as last year did. And my back decides to behave!!! Well back is hating my chair right now. So I'll try and update tomorrow as to how things are progressing.

Late night ramblings

I went to bed with Tom at a decent time. Ended up tossing and turning so came back out in the livingroom and here I am. I really wish I'd stop these early morning hour romps online. I'm going to be needing to get up in a few hours if this was next month!

I hemmed and hawwed about going to church this afternoon. The kids were whining because it was hot and they wanted to jump in the pool. I was drenched in sweat and was wishing I could take a dip too. I ended up deciding to go. There was NO meeting!!! GRRRRR! All that work for nothing. The kids had brought their suits so I let them go in the church's pools (3ft deep inground kids pool and bigger 3ft graduating to 5ft inground regular pool) The kids loved it and whined when I tried to tell them it was time to go. At least I got to pay my fees for the summer conference and I ended up visiting with my SIL who has 14 kids. She was out at her trailer unloading non perishable groceries for the conference. I even got to hold Jonathan, 2mos old, while she did some things....so my baby fix got a dent taken out of it. LOL

The kids are getting excited about going over to the conference grounds and camping. I'm still not so sure what I'll do. At the very least I'll put up my 18x18 screen house and grab a table or two. I'm even thinking of sleeping in the screenhouse with tarps up for privacy or weatherscreens. Tom doesn't think we should. I just don't want to do the work of fixing the popup. We're talking of staying out at the grounds longer then the 4 days we normally would. A lot of people are staying past the summer conference because the band is having a huge recording week immediately following the conference.

What is the summer conference? It's when fellowships (churches) from Missouri, Montana, Michigan, Toronto, Ottawa, Ohio, Connecticut, Delaware, and New York, along with individuals from across the world get together for about 4 days at the church down the street from me a few miles. We'll have at least 800 people there with over half of them being children LOL. We'll have bible studies/meetings for youth, men, children and everyone. We'll have fireworks, games, snacks, treats and lots of fun stuff. It's a blast! With activities starting at 10am and ending at 1am each day. It's also very busy as our local fellowship has a lot of responsibilities due to using the main church. We also run a grill/snack bar for lunch, dinner and nighttime snackbar.

Anyways...back to Sunday's goings on. We got home from church at about 6pm. The kids ran around to the back of the house and jumped into our pool! Tom was napping and I went to wake him up. It was a very frustrating time...seeing as I'm most likely O'ing. At leats I feel like I am and Tom's reacting as though I am LOL Between me wanting to have another baby, him not wanting to, me scared to get pg....UGH!!!!!!! I was frustrated to tears (literally). I then decided to suggest the next best thing....GOING OUT TO DINNER!!! LOL Tom agreed which threw me for a loop.
I started some frozen chicken patties for the kids, gave Michelle and Val instructions, called the other kids out of the pool, forbid them to go back in after we left and went out the door on our date. Another one of those times when having older kids is a GOOD thing. We went to a really great Chinese all you can eat buffet place. I only had a few things that one might consider being chinese....seasame chicken and fried cheese wontons. LOL I also had crab legs, roast beef, fried shrimp, shrimp cocktail, grapes, strawberry ice cream and jello (there's always room for jello! LOL) I didn't get stuffed to the point of feeling sick. Tom seemed to be on the verge of feeling sick.

After dinner we went to Wal-Mart. I wanted to get some snacks and things for us to eat and drink at the summer conference. Tom wanted to get something that would allow us to end our frustration. He was not happy to let me meander through the store. He HATES shopping!!! Next time I'll leave him home LOL We got home about 11pm...picked up Pat at his girlfriend's house, dropped C off at his house and got the kids to bed! End of day as far as anyone is concerned. ;o)

Ideas....

Quite a few of my ambitious ideas stayed ideas. I kind of knew it when I wrote it...I was just being optimistic. Guess I should be realistic instead.

I cleaned out the 3 food cupboards and ditched a bunch of stuff. I had stuff that was MAYBE ok but I wasn't sure. It'd been saved for a few cupboard cleanings so decided it lived in this house long enough and ditched it.

I did a boatload of dishes but didn't finish them all. *GAG!* Being out of dishsoap for a few days while it was almost 90 here and humid turned the sink into a gag machine. My counters are still waiting for me to unbury them. I start to get them uncovered then someone comes by with a bunch of stuff to stick on there (mostly me). I'm a terrible pilemaker, it drives Tom crazy. He really doesn't like clutter and untidiness. I don't mind it, especially when I figure I'm going to deal with it when I get up.

Tom's always asking...who's bowl is this (UMMMM...it's on the computer desk...I'll give you ONE guess! LOL) Who left "A" out...I find myself raising my hand, hemming and hawing about how I was going to use it again in a sec and would put it away later.

I've always said if I had an EXACT place for everything I could keep a spotless house. But knowing myself as well as I do...I don't think even that would keep me from making piles.

The kids went out swimming a few times today, even in the rain. I was going to go this morning when it was REALLY humid but I was up to my waist in a cereal cupboard washing it out. I think I would have been in it if it as warmer!!! BRRRR! I'm getting worried about the water. With so much rain lately it's throwing my chemicals off. The ph is almost to the bottoom (to low) and I still have barely any trace of chlorine in the thing. I'm going to have to vacuum it again, seems like I just did earlier this week but I can see it's diry. I hope I don't have to buy more supplies for the pool!

On Wednesday we have our annual summer conference at church. I have to decide if I want to stay or commute (2miles). If I want to stay I have to fixup the popup and maybe even get it registered...although for 2miles.... (no comment) I think we'll probably stay over on the grounds but that requires me to get a set amount of work done before I leave. Who knows if we'll be able to get the popup out of the backyard actually, what with all the rain we've had this week. When our soil gets wet it turns slick like ice (it's hard clay). NOT fun!!!!

So I have my work cut out for me now, just need to get on a more reasonable schedule! Well my forehead has hit the monitor once too many times for my liking....off to bed I go!