Just another day in...

Paradise
I was late leaving the house to get KD to school early for choir practice, Two houses to clean this morning before noon. Painted at my mom's, another school run at 3, took one to piano lessons, went to the store with my mom & sis to look for stuff for my mom, picked up KB from lessons, back to store, took Meshayla to guitar lessons, back to my moms to clean up paint mess, back to pick up girl, picked up supper for husband & dropped it off at his work, brought kids home, House is a mess, dishes to wash, supper to make, Vacuum motor burned out yesterday, Washer is not repaired still after 3 weeks, (Do you want to guess how much laundry is piled up?)
Sent sassy son to bed with no supper, discovered my green lampshade is now faded to blue, Mirror cabinet is still off the wall after falling 3 weeks ago.  Bible study here tomorrow night, 3 cleaning jobs on Thursday, one on Friday plus mom's painting to finish up this week. Company coming in a couple weeks for 2 days that I would prefer having clean bedrooms & bathrooms for besides some food in the house, a new grandbaby that will make her appearance sometime in the next 3 weeks, plus the next three Sundays being our Winter Specials in this area.


Oh, that was facebook that asked me what was on my mind, not you???

"Just" another Monday

Wow, have I said that before? (shhh!)
Mondays are nearly always good. This one ranked right up there with one of the best. Wonderful weather too, and that can make about any day good!
Jeanne & baby stayed over today since Jana was coming to town, and would be here to have lunch with us this noon. Not only did we have Jana & Bernita, but also Darla & Barbara!

Friday night we went out to Applebees for supper and I tried their "Orange chicken bowl" for the first time, and LOVED it! I have a (bad?) habit of trying new recipes when I have company, so I goggled a recipe for it to make for lunch today since I liked it so well!
I thought it turned out awesome & am going to put it with my favorites. All my kids liked it, yay!
(well, I think all the company liked it too!)

Relyssa was gone all weekend, but was sick, still sick today so was home from school, and will have to stay home tomorrow since she still had a slight fever this evening yet. She wanted chicken noodle soup tonight, so I made some from scratch. It turned out really good, but I put a bit too much cayenne in it....should cure any of the rest of the bug, that's for sure!

I was going to take Jeanne to North Platte tonight to meet Lynisha & she would take Jeanne back to Sidney, but we changed our plans since my mom wanted to go visit the girls in Sidney anyway. I was happy to stay home and it made it possible for me to have a couple good hours with oldest son.
Mom and Jeanne stopped to visit my grandpa and my step mom on their way, so they got some more generation pictures. Tomorrow I'm going to post those pictures and ones of this last weekend.
Tonight my sink is shiny, the kids are all in bed, I've enjoyed some play time on the computer, Leon & Morgen left this evening to go out of town for a couple days on a job, and I hear a book & bubble bath calling before bed yet!

Entertaining themselves

While Kara prefers to stay inside by the fireplace where it's warm, reading,


Kaela takes her dog outside to play,




And Meshayla takes my camera to take pictures of them.
One of our friends is home from school for vacation, and so this morning we got to have her and her guide dog in meeting with us. Eldora had her winter boots on, so Kaela had to find some doll boots for her dog.....

Weddings are contagious

When Mom is in her office working on wedding stuff here's what's going on in the other room.

Friday

It's Friday,
Memorial day weekend
The kids are out of school
The first day of "summer" vacation
It's raining, pouring, WET
My flower beds are weeded
My garden is NOT in,
The grass is green, green, green!
The trees are green
The sky is green....Well, not today, it's GRAY! But last night it was rather green. Storms all over.
We were actually just on the edge of a severe storm system moving thru, and got lots of lightening & some hard rain, some wind, but nothing serious like some places!
Jim and Lynisha came from Sidney last night, after being in Denver and coming home through the horrendous weather out there that did result in some tornadoes around the area.
It took them 2 hrs longer to get here than normal, lots of hard rain & wind, so they were pretty wiped out by the time they got here.
This morning Jim and Ryan are out van shopping for us, and there is a van that Leon found while he was in Hastings that they're going to check out too.
I'll be glad to have a vehicle again that fits us all instead of having to juggle rides!
Here's a current picture of us that my friend Sharon took last week when she was here for the weekend.Have a great weekend everyone!!
Next post.....Another birthday!!!

Shopping is only fun if:....

*You are really in the mood
*Your shopping companions are happy
*You actually have some $$ to spend
*You can find what you want
*You can find what you like
*You and your companions can agree on what to buy
Well, MY opinion anyway...

Maybe there's more sometimes, but today everyone of these qualifications were actually met, and believe me, that is a rare occasion here. Actually the truth is, we do very little shopping. It almost never happens "just for fun", and although we had some necessary shopping to do today, it was combined with some "just for fun".
Of course there had to be a little pout somewhere in there... littlest missy really thought that the shopping trip was all for her benefit. She needs new shoes. We looked for some, but didn't end up finding any, so although she did get a couple new items of clothing, in her opinion, the day really wasn't a success without the shoes!
Mom came over this morning when we were getting ready to go, so we invited her to go along.
She was a pretty good sport...I have to admit, the dynamics's of 4 girls and one boy for shopping companions & having to wait for your lunch while the two teen's tried on & looked at "just one more thing" is a little trying. (no problem putting up with me...I'm easy...! LOL)
Lunch at Perkins, Ice cream cones before heading out of town to go home, and as soon as we got home we loaded up the guys who came home earlier & went to some friends for supper & a fun evening with other friends. Thanks Jim & Shelley, and HAPPY Anniversary Duane & Gina!! Fun to be with you tonight!
When we got home the kids got to finally unload their stash & oggle over everything.
I did a little shopping for me...2 new T shirts, 2 shirts & pants for Leon, a baby gift, a birthday gift (she doesn't read my blog anyway!) a new cookbook (that I DIDN'T need!) and some really fun cute beads to make a belt out of! TOTALLY unnecessary.
The end to another perfect but really not ordinary day!

Yesterday...A pretty normal-"Perfect" day!

So, in regard to my post yesterday, Here's what our day was like. Pretty "hum-drum", not much excitement, nothing glorious. However when I was having previous post conversation with my sister yesterday morning after my "AAHHH moment" she reminded me of a saying she has stenciled on her bathroom/laundry room wall.
"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure that you are."
Got 5 kids up, made one change her outfit, signed last minute permission slip and initialed 1st. graders folder, and out the door to their rides to school
cleaned up breakfast mess
Did dishes, swept floor, put a load of laundry in
Made bed
had a bit of computer time
picked up hot spots in living room
went downstairs to find dirty laundry, put one load in basement laundry (yes we have 2)
stripped 3 beds, remade one
put clothes in dryer upstairs
went out and worked on weeding raspberry's for 1/2 hr. BEAUTIFUL day!
downstairs laundry in the dryer, & another load in
Upstairs laundry in out of the dryer, wet clothes in, and another wash load going.(you don't want to see a picture of all my laundry...dirty OR clean!!)
Back outside to rake up all the weeds, debris, & water flowerbeds
Leon headed to Hastings for window treatment job
took care of mail
wrote some e-mails, had some computer time (ie blogging!)
Did I eat lunch? Don't remember, that was yesterday. Food isn't a priority unless it's sitting in front of me!
Changed clothes
grabbed snacks for kids
went to grade school to pick up younger 3, then back to town to pick up
Meshayla at middle school.
Headed out of town with no time to spare...45 miles to Hastings for Relyssa's last track meet of the season, 35 minutes till scheduled to start.
Arrived 15 minutes after scheduled track meet starting time and waited 20 more minutes for it to start!
Leon arrived 10 minutes after we did.
Enjoyed the track meet, weather was beautiful, although rain predicted.
Relyssa came in 1st place on 100 M. hurdles
She came in 3rd place on 300 M. hurdles. Her best placing on those, although she said not her best time.
Kids had a great time running around on the grass, & Morgen took his roller blades.
Left the track meet and went celebrate by eating Chinese, Relyssa's favorite.
Left town just as the storm clouds were really building up and coming in fast.
The storm hit about the time we got on the interstate, and since we were heading into it, we traveled in it all the way home. UGG not my favorite part of the day! I hate lightening and there was alot of it. Also had to slow way down, as the rain was coming down pretty hard.
Home at last
Grab clean sheets from dryer & re-make little girls bed
Didn't even have to hound the kids to go to bed, they were all tired!
Checked my e-mails & read
My nightly bubble bath ritual...Personal pampering :*)
Wow, actually got in bed by 10:30. That's early around here for me!

Morning Musings on "The Perfect Day"

So this morning when I read Lani's post It really made me stop and think about what I would consider a perfect day! We could consider alot of different things making up a perfect day, the weather, our children, our spouses, our jobs, our friends, what we eat, & just in general how we spent our time. I realized in thinking about this, that it really boils down to our attitude!!
I have to admit this morning as I was cleaning up some messes that got left last night (not by me) that my attitude was a little less than cheerful. In fact I'm sure if you were near-by you could have heard me muttering under my breath about how my little darlings DID NOT LISTEN (again!)
And, here I was, wasting my day picking up and cleaning up after them when they were plenty old enough to do it themselves.
And, it was taking away MY time when I needed to be doing something else (what?)!!
So what is my idea of the "Perfect day"?
I remembered that when I was young, my answer to the question "What do you want to be when you grow up"? was always
1. A MOMMY
Wow, I did it! In other words, I'm doing each day, EXACTLY what I always wanted to do! Now granted, I didn't realize at the time what ALL that was going to entail, but that's life. (be careful what you wish for...hee hee!!)
We all have options. Basically when it comes right down to it, we are, or can do exactly what we want to do. What is most important to us?
We can go to work, stay home, change jobs, go to school, have a family, clean our house, play with our kids, cook meals, read a book, socialize with our friends, design/decorate/create our houses or yards, travel....Oh yes, and BLOG! And the truth of it is, if there's something on our list we'd like to do but can't, then it's usually because there's something else on the list that we are spending more time or more money at.
So today, I wanted to go out and work in my flower beds first thing, however I had to clean up first. Oh wait a minute here. It all boils down to a value thing. No one is MAKING me sweep the floors, wipe the counters & finish up the dishes, put in another load of laundry or swish & wipe the bathroom before I go out, It's my choice. I chose to be a mommy (and all that comes with it) and I chose to stay stay at home. I chose to (try) and keep my house clean. SO why am I complaining? obviously it's an attitude thing, & maybe just a bit of a bad habit too.
You can check back later, and I'll post my "perfect day"!!
Thanks again Lani!

Sunday evening at our house

***
So tonight while I was having my catch up on blog time, my youngest decides to play waitress. She appears in my office with her offering in hand, announcing that she's made me banana bread!! I think it was low cal too!! For some reason my kids tend to get rather bored, and therefore extra rambunctious on Sunday evening, and of course if I'm glued to the computer screen not paying attention, that doesn't help matters.
So on tonight's schedule was make banana bread, insist that we all try it, eat all the ice cream, make freshly squeezed orange juice (and leave the mess for mom) go biking, & of course, ask for mom's phone to make the daily phone call to boyfriend!

Did you ever wonder...???

What big families were like?
What they did for entertainment?
Why I retreat to my computer for blogging company of ADULTS?
Why 2 of my daughters got married quite young?
Why the older kids don't come home very often? (lol!)
Why I hesitate to have company for meals?
Why you don't see pictures of my "middle" kids on here?
Well, This should give you a good idea of why! Here they are in their "best form", going strong. Tonight it was pick on Relyssa night, and those two boys can about rival the funny video below.
By the way, it's not really like this every night at Dinner...THANK GOODNESS!
(A reminder here, sorry about the quality of the photos--no new camera yet, but hey, it matches the quality of their table manners!)

Gearing up for the weekend!

A good walk in the morning is a great way to energize you for your day! (If I keep telling myself this long enough, I really WILL believe it!) It did work today anyway, it was a little warmer, so that helped. Yesterday I had to walk in circles inside my house, and that was exercise, but it's really the good fresh air that energizes me. Now that I have a walking partner (my S-I-L, who just moved here from Montana to be with her mom) it makes it easier for me to walk, as I don't do it by myself. To be honest, I do have several others I could walk with, however it means either me going across town to them, or them driving over here to me, so it's not as convenient as someone 6 blocks away. The tower in the picture above is at a new park about a mile from here. That's where we usually head to walk, they have great walking paths, and this morning we went to the top of the tower also. The hawk was sitting there, and I got a quick picture before he took off at our intrusion.
This morning I looked out my back window and discovered Ryan had gotten home sometime after I'd went to bed last night. When I went downstairs to check bathroom & Laundry & bedrooms, peeking in Relyssa's room I see a blond head in one of the beds there. WHAT? I thought the girls all went to school today, It took a moment to realize that it was Kayleen, Ryan's girlfriend, not one of my girls who had went out the front door, snuck back in the basement door & went back to bed :*)
So, I'm on with my day here... there's "hot spots" to put out, menu's to plan, groceries to buy & beds to make. Today's also our Thurs. "Scrap-gals" lunch, so maybe I should get my work done first?

Today its...

Blue sky and Sunshine!

It's a SNOW day!

From other blogs I could see that many others around the country got dumped on last week. We didn't get any here, but today it finally started snowing again, and this morning after the first school call that told us it was a 2 hr late start, an hour later we got a call that they cancelled for the day. Of course my 6 yr old was QUITE dismayed! She HATES missing school, and sees no reason for not being able to go! The 16 & 14 year olds didn't have that problem, when they were told, they just grunted & pulled the covers over their heads~
Looks to me like it's a good day for the fire place & bread baking!

Update on our day... How some of us are spending it!
I'm not sure whether it's a kid or a blob-
The wind's came up & the snow's a blowin', but that doesn't stop the kids from wanting to be out in it!
Me however, I'll stay inside, do my baking & enjoy the results with my coffee!

Hiding out

Electronic games are a scarcity at our house, and the one game-boy (a very old one) is in hot demand if it is visible. Today when I was trying to get the kids to do their after-school chores, Kaela was not in sight, and putting some things away in our room, I spotted her around the corner in our bathroom, perched on the ledge behind our tub. Too bad, you're found out, but it was a nice quiet spot while it lasted!!

The end of Christmas week...

- Ryan, Jana and Derek-

This was taken before Jana headed to Sidney to spend the rest of her vacation with her other sisters. I'm sure it will be a much calmer way to finish up her time at "home"!! I was really happy to get a picture of these three together tho, since it's unusual if it's more than a once a year occasion.

I was really happy with this picture. My camera is toast, so I'm using Jeanne's, which something is wrong with the light meter (or something!). In case you thought the former pictures I posted were horrible... well, you were right, but it wasn't really my fault. I can still get outdoor pictures, so until I can replace mine, I'll have to put up with it I guess.

All healed up!

This picture was taken a week after the sledding incident... wow, it's healed so quickly, and well! Probably given the fact that she was very good at keeping her med. on it, and not picking at it...(like I would have done at her age!)

Random pictures from Christmas week

In looking thru these pictures, I realize I got a picture of everyone that was there except for Jeanne! I don't know how I managed to do that, except I really didn't even set out to try and make sure I got everyone. Usually I don't. Maybe I'll manage to get some good pictures to post the first week in Jan when we get together to go to Gma Jane's. Ryan will be with us then also, and he wasn't in Sidney.

Plenty of food to keep us all happy... we didn't stress over it, cooking that is, I guess we all like to cook enough that it doesn't seem a very big deal. There's always new things we want to try, and old favorites that we "have to have"! Lynisha has lovely counter space, and a nice open kitchen, so we didn't feel secluded from the rest of the bunch.

Uncle Derek found a unique place to play peek-a-boo with Trey

Morgen's favorite pastime inside--getting anyone to play pool with him!

The house fairy brought toe socks for the girls last week, they were a big hit!

Trey enjoyed being pushed around the house by Kaela

On Monday we loaded up and went to Sidney to spend a couple days with Lynisha & Jim, & Jeanne. We took a pickup load of stuff out to Jeanne for her apartment, so it's looking a little more livable now!
It was fun to see Trey walking around, and sure enough, he did learn to walk & crawl the same week. He's pretty good at doing both now.
We had plenty to eat...games to play, as you could see, plenty of music & enjoyed being together. Relyssa's friend Emmett came over on Tuesday morning and spent the day with us all, then Wednesday morning she went back to his parents place in CO with him.
We enjoyed seeing snow when we woke up on Christmas day, they got more out west than here in Kearney. Seems like so many years lately it's been a "brown" Christmas, rather than white!

We had planned to head home Tues. eve, but with the snow and blowing we decided to wait till Wed. a.m. too. Nothing urgent we needed to be home for anyway.