Almost done.

The year is almost done. It's altogether surreal and relieving at the same time. It does seem, in retrospect, that time has flown. But thinking of all the hard times where the minutes dragged, it is nice that those are behind us and there are better times (and possibly worse) ahead. Either way, we know not what the future brings and the prospect of a brand spanking new year awakens an air of expectancy. Some things will definitely be different this year. For instance, it is not always a wonderful thing to be the one who eats the most black eyed peas on New Year's Day. Especially if you forgot the Beano. We got a new vehicle, after the December debacle. So there are no impending repairs looming over our heads (or under the hood) with their money hungry claws and disconcerting clunks and grindings. Just a long line of payments. But we are thankful that they are within our reach.

Erin and I had the stomach flu before and after Christmas, and my HC had half of the stomach flu earlier this week. Ian missed it and I am thankful for that as well, since I'm not as confident that he would have made it to the bathroom to retch as successfully as Erin did. Erin is more of a take-action person, where Ian just kind of freezes and stares. For example, if my HC jumps out and scares them, Erin will either turn and run away and hide under the nearest surface or run at him screeching back and jump on his head. Ian will stand there and scream like he's the lead in a b-movie. One long, shrill scream, feet planted. There is no obvious remedy for this.


Now I am waiting until the end of the week, when I can start taking down the Christmas stuff. We really enjoyed our gorgeous hand-me-down fiber optic Christmas tree this year (thanks Mimi and Grampa!). It is enormous and shimmers. It doesn't need any garland and all our ornaments fit on it without looking like a flea market stall. It was well worth driving from FL in July with the giant box strapped to our roof. Our yard was also one of the drive-bys with our new lawn ornaments and lights (complete with Santa, sleigh and reindeer). It was exciting for the kids to drive home from Wednesday church to see all the pretty lights coming from OUR yard. ;) (We have gotten lots of compliments on our yard, thanks to the creativity and industry of Mimi and Grampa!) It makes it even better that they remind us of one of our favorite places in Florida. I'll bet it's the first time any of those ornaments have seen the snow we got last week. haha.
We are trying to make it through our last week of Christmas vacation before the Spring semester of school. Ian and I are doing great. He is staying in his pajamas all day as late as possible and I am getting some extra cleaning, organizing, reading, websurfing done. Erin is overset. Her routine is completely messed up and we need to get back to work as soon as possible. She's not used to having Ian in her way every time she wants to watch something or play with a toy. Siblings!
We are also still waiting to see what will happen with the new boss that was elected in November. He officially starts on Jan 3 (read December 31, or earlier, since almost everyone has either gotten a pink slip or a phone call confirming their continued presence; everyone except for my HC!). Then the fun really starts as everything is restructured to his liking. It is always the hope of politics that the things that work well will be retained and the things that are broken will be fixed. It has been our experience that most campaign promises go out the window with the first enormous paycheck. We are more interested in who the new supervisors will be (and if my HC still has a job, of course!). Either way, it's always interesting to see how things work out.
I hope everyone else is having a nice settled, sick-free week and I wish you could see our Christmas lights. :) (or you could wait until next year)

December December

December already? It seems like 2010 flew by but dragged at the same time. I guess that's how all things go. But things especially seem to drag when you are deprived of something that you enjoy, love, are addicted to, etc. Like, diet dr pepper, your car, your sanity because it's too cold to play outside and the kids are bouncing off the walls.... :)
Thanksgiving was good, HC's birthday was good, his trip was good. And now we have Christmas to look forward to. And after Christmas is the long slow wait for spring. But in the blur of days are small moments that make up the things that we remember the most. Tiny cold toes squirming their way to your lap under the couch blanket. Popcorn and hot chocolate in special mugs while watching the weekly Disney movie. Watching the dog have the fastest pee in history due to the temperature change of snuggled-next-to-the-heater to frigid winds and frozen ground. Remembering how miserable it was in the summer every time I was forced to use the oven and now, having it on almost constantly with roasts, cookies, chex mix and muffins in there. Cute winter hats. Looking outside and seeing snow (our yearly quota of 3 snows a year...).
So no matter how things seem to drag, there are other things to focus on.

Corn Maze!

Today we went to the Right Choices Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch in Southwest City, MO (pop. 855). It was a nice drive up, about an hour and change for us, and pretty much a straight shot, so we made it there without hassle. It's a working farm, run by nice, pleasant Christian folks. We got there and promptly visited the small, red, barnlike structure that were nice, clean restrooms. We paid, went inside and ate a picnic lunch at the picnic tables next to the concession stand. Then all the homeschool group gathered in a large wooden area filled with benches for a lesson about the history of the area, the history and uses of corn, and how to farm a giant corn field. We had a great time, as you can see in the following:



Everyone piled into tractor-pulled carts with hay seats for a tour of the fields and woods. We went all the way around the maze, ending at the line of farm equipment and attachments that were used to farm the field (and new pumpkin patch). Erin had more fun pulling hay out of the bales and scattering it everywhere.



After the hay ride, we lined up to ride the cow train. Erin hopped right in.



Ian decided that he wanted to go too, and the Train (tractor) Conductor said that the big barrels were for grown ups, so I piled in too! (I was the only adult in the whole train.)



The Train went into one side of the maze. The tractor moo-ed the whole time. It got slightly annoying, but there were enough little kids moo-ing along with it that it wasn't so bad.



This is a picture looking into the outer wall of the maze. There ain't no cheating by going through the wall, folks. And there are also mesh walls to hold it together, as we found out later.



There were two slides built into the side of this big hill. The other one was slower, for smaller kids and required riding on a gunny sack. This one was the roller slide and required plywood squares. My adventurous cutie piled into line with the big kids and loved every second. Doubters be gone!



This was close to to the concession/picnic area and was a triple level accumulation of shin-deep corn kernels. And yes, it got everywhere. Ian dumped plenty out of his shoes in the car. Erin shucked her shoes off after a few minutes and kept playing.



This was on one side of the Corn Box.


There was a Hay Tunnel and an Echo Bale. This was the Hay Jump, outside of the opening to the Short Maze (the long one is a couple of miles; I was completely fine with the short one).


Ian took the map with the clues and did absolutely nothing with it. He guessed at every turn and it took us about 20 minutes longer than it should have, but he had fun being in charge. Erin just ran around. I trudged behind with the cooler and my purse.


We survived and were completely worn out.

We went to the Farm Zoo and visited the cute animals. The pig and chickens were Erin's favorite. She 'talked' to one chicken for quite a while (I was going down the slides with Ian, yee haw). Then we did the Corn Cannon, where they help you shoot ears of corn at targets. It was noisy and Erin was tired and crying, so we did not linger. I could tell that Ian could have camped out there for another hour.



So we quickly picked out our baby pumpkins and piled our tired selves into the car for the ride home with a movie and a cold drink.

And guess who conked out on the way home? So now I am ready for bed and everyone else is recharged. Sheesh.

Homeschooling

I have been reading a lot of blogs and articles lately on homeschooling. As a normal female, I am inherently curious as to what everyone else in the barnyard is doing and am also on the lookout for new helps, advice, curriculum, etc. And of course, I want to evaluate what I am doing to and for my kids. :) One blog in particular I read is the Pioneer Woman Homeschooling blog. She has different moms contribute to this particular facet of her site. It talks about homeschooling, has discussions on general opinion and stigmas, what different homeschool moms face, etc. I have been asked why we homeschool by a few different people. They seem to expect a passionate diatribe about spiritual conviction, the evil of the world, or some kind of mental genius or handicap. So, for personal clarification, this is why WE homeschool.

1) Easy situation. We're different. Not in the, hello, I'm-a-freak-of-nature-way. I am already staying home with a younger child. I am not quitting a job to stay home. It was not a huge sacrifice to keep the older one home and torture him with Phonics. (Ask me that later when I am lying on the floor with a cold compress on my brow, moaning "Why?!" to the ceiling.)
2) Food allergies. We are allergic to a bunch of stuff. It was a pain in the butt to pack breakfast and lunch and various birthday cupcakes and holiday treats last year for Ian. And he still got a hold of stuff that made him sick. So, it was a mark on the + side when we considered homeschooling. (Yes, I made a list with little pluses and minuses.)
3) Concern for our child. Our kid seemed bored in kindergarten and was redoing stuff that he had learned in pre-k. When he was out of school for a week with a broken elbow, he did his entire week of make-up work in a hour. I asked for harder stuff for him to read at home. I didn't get much of a result by asking. I got the feeling that his teachers, who are great ladies, thought I was a pushy parent. I saw my kid getting disinterested and lazy and stop trying.
4) An Inkling. My husband and I homeschooled (but not together, though he did pretend not to understand math so I would 'help' him). I did 11th and 12th grade enrolled in Christian Liberty Academy, which is a correspondence-type school. They send your books and tests, you do the work and mail in the tests. You get graded and graduate when you're done. I liked it. I also tutored a bunch of younger kids in their various subjects. So I know how it feels to get to a point where your parents are no help at all and hide in the closet when they see you enter the room with a textbook. Like...Chemistry! Or Saxon Algebra 2!
No permanent scarring, though it shook my belief that my mom knew everything. Haha, Mom.
With the younger kids that I tutored when I was in high school, it was an eye-opener. There were kids that did just fine. There were kids that were several grade levels behind what they should have been. There were kids that the other kids thought were weird. There were normal(ish) kids. There was one boy with atrocious table manners. Those who were in the tutoring group will remember him as well as their inability to enjoy a meal when they were seated across the table from him. Or next to him. Or in the same room with him.
The point is, it's easy to say that you have these beliefs, opinions or feelings and you're going to homeschool. It's quite another thing to sit at the kitchen table for 5 hours a day, more or less, and try to get your child to understand the rules of plural, why you have to carry the 1, and why qu is spelled with a qu when it makes the 'kw' sound. And that is just first grade, with just one child.
I know the parents meant well and they thought they were doing the best for their children. But I wonder if they would make the same decision again, now that their children are grown and their lives are set. The ones who did not do well homeschooling hated it. They still hate school. Some of them got so far behind that they quit school. The ones who did well may have loved it, or may have secretly pined to be in a public school. Others did fine and went on to trade school or college and lead productive lives. We did not suffer from not going to prom or having a commencement ceremony. [Be honest! When you reach the 3rd hour of any commencement, are you still excited to be there? No! You wanna get it over with and go eat! All during my college graduation, I thought about how nice it was to have skipped the high school one.]
But it is important that I remember to give myself the option and freedom to change my mind if things don't work out the way I have envisioned. One day we may go back to public school. If the kids absolutely want to, then they have a say. But right now it's going pretty well.
5) State laws. We live in Oklahoma, a very accomodating state for homeschoolers. A couple of miles away, and the state our co-op is in, is Arkansas. I'm not exactly sure, but I think they are required to do state testing every year. Different states have different requirements. Some states make it very difficult indeed, like having lesson plans and checking in with a state-certified teacher once a month. We avoided a lot of these difficulties during my childhood in Florida by being enrolled in an actual school, even though I completed it by mail.
6) New oppoortunities! There are some neat things in our area that I wasn't aware of (or interested in) in my time. There's a play group at the library every Tuesday. The library is continuing it now that Cherokee Nation has pulled out. At least it will be a specialized play time and there are books to read and crafts. It is for children 5 and under, but Ian is still welcome. It is good for Erin to be around other kids (sharing is always a noisy debate) and Ian as well. We also joined a homeschool co-op. It costs $20 a year for dues. They have low-priced field trips, learning days, special classes, special ticket prices to performances at the Arts Center in Fayetteville, and more. We went to a swim day at the coolest pool ever in a nearby larger town. There were lots of other homeschool kids there and mine had a blast. Next Friday we're going to a Fire Safety Field trip at the Fire Station there. And October 1 is the Corn Maze in Southwest City, Missouri! There's no way we could find out about (or afford!) these things on our own. And meeting other families that share our daily trial is a great encouragement.
7) Curriculum Choices. I can't give all of the above reasons without mentioning that we get to focus on learning opportunities that would not be an option in public school. Our curriculum includes science from a Creationist's perspective as well as a Bible course. And if we want to take a bunny trail and make a covered wagon out of a shoe box, then we can do it together and have a good time. We take extra time on things we're interested in, like pirates, castles and volcanoes. And it's really nice not to get every question wrong because you skipped a line and wrote all the correct answers on the wrong line. Had to put that one in there.

If anyone is making or considering a decision to homeschool, here is my humble opinion. These are our reasons. I won't gush and say that everyone should homeschool because it's the ONLY way. To quote Pioneer Woman, "It's not for everybody, but it works for us." And obviously, I also don't think that public or private school is the only way. In the end, our goals are the same. We want our children to learn and grow and prosper. And we want to make it through without bald spots and facial twitching. I'll let you know how that goes.

The Blur of Summer

Wow. I see now when my last post was. That was quite a while ago. And so much has happened since then. We had the summer library program and I wrote about 6? 7? articles for it, including a kiss-butt sponsor article to thank the sponsors for all their donations. I felt very shmoozy, but tried to keep the cheese level down. We went on vacation (sort of) back to the home-town, and got to see a lot of family. We were there for the kids' birthdays, and had their party at the park. They had a blast! It was one of my goals (and parental desires) to have a big bash with all their family there to play with them and spoil them. Previous parties have had 2 people there. One year we had a couple of much older kids and some coworkers, but it felt more like a barbeque type thing than a party. Anyway, the kids had so much fun and played with all the family and still talk about it.

Another time, we will discuss the difference between visiting-family vacations and other vacations where you sit and do nothing until someone decides to sight-see. We had fun, but we were really tired when we got home. :) And of course, no one reads this but my family members and they will be horrified: "We thought you had fun! We tried so hard to make it fun for you!" [dissolves into sobs] We had some really fun times, but it is hard to coordinate schedules with 10 people and the 'are we or aren't we?' aspect. We also wish we could have spent more time at the beach....a lot more?


We got home and recovered some. Then it was my birthday! The big 3-0! We went to one of those Japanese Hibachi restaurants and freaked the kids out with the flames. It was funny.



The rest of August was spent doing schoolwork, keeping the house together and trying to find a way to save Play n Learn, the library thing we go to every Tuesday. Cherokee Nation cut the funding and it will be ending next week. So we wrote some letters to the Council House and fussed a bit, but I'm pretty sure that no one will go against the Mighty Budget Cut! The decree has been made. There have been noises with the other mothers about continuing it independently, but it is a lot of work and I think it will fizzle out eventually. I have volunteered to read stories, but it won't be like the 2 hours of playing at stations, crafts and snacks that we do now. But at least it will be free.
Something else that happened. [sniff sniff.] My friend, my homeschooling encouragement, the one with the 2 kids conveniently the same gender and ages of my own kids, has moved! As soon as we got back from FL, they moved to TX, following the awesome new job her husband got. We are so excited for them, but I am selfish and I miss her! And the playmates for my kids.
And now it is September. In a couple of weeks, Ian will be finished with 1st grade. We will take a couple of weeks vacation and then start 2nd grade.
We joined a homeschool co-op out of Siloam Springs that has great activities. We went to a group swim at the Aquatic center there and it was fantastic. There is a Fire Safety trip in a couple of weeks at the fire station there and a trip to a Corn Maze in Missouri on October 1! Woo hoo! So everyone who thinks that socialization is an issue can relax. Though honestly, socialization is the LAST thing I am concerned about. It's not like we are hermits in the Canadian wilderness. Those are kids I would worry about socialization, yet I'm sure they are pretty normal too.

I am almost done with Ian's quilt! This just the quilt face. I have put the back on and am doing the final handwork. It seems to be so slow, but only because I am so close to finishing!
I have been using my free time (haha!) for the treadmill, and even then I am interrupted several times. Eventually though, the kids will come to respect Mommy's quiet-don't-mess-with-me-or-I-will-trip-and-end-up-smeared-on-the-wall-with-carpet-burn treadmill time. And the dog will quit trying to jump on with me while I am trotting.

So with our normal routine, the kids, the dog, the homeschooling, the travel, the HC's job, etc, we have been busy. If you need an example of how hard it is to do anything for more than 2.47 minutes at a time, then know that, while writing this, I have been interrupted about 8 times due to a schoolwork help request (silly ones, like, what's that word? Oh! It's right there on the page.) and 3 times for a pee break, since Erin has fallen early into the ritual of girls going to the loo in groups. The dog is barking, my HC is texting, Erin needs a bandaid for some imagined boo-boo, the kids are screeching at each other because Ian won't quit making an annoying noise that Erin takes exception to. Sigh. Another squabble. Sheesh!
Summer was such a busy blur, and the fall promises to be even more fun. But don't worry, I'll try to keep you posted. :) It could have been worse, right? I could have posted all my summer articles again (yawn!).

Too Many Funerals

It seems as if we've had funerals every time we turn around. As if we needed more reminders of our mortality. Today's funeral was for a fellow cop. He and his state trooper friend went to a car dealership to pick up a surprise new car for the trooper's wife. The cop was driving the new car back to the trooper's house and would wait until the right moment to drive it into the driveway. The trooper was following his friend in the new car when a tow truck pulled out in front of the cop. The new car was totalled. It took 30 minutes to pull the cop from the mangled car. He died. He was 31 years old and had a wife and two small children. He served warrants with my HC for a day. He was the only cop my HC knew in Wagoner. This is a very sad thing for us. My HC went to the funeral today.
The last funeral he went to was for his boss's husband who died from a brain tumor less than three months after he was diagnosed.
So I guess I'm in a pretty somber mood.
On a lighter note, I did get to pet a chinchilla today. Erin wanted to take it home. She also didn't want to let the 9 foot boa go back in the box. Or the toad. Or the tree frog. But she did not like the stuffed otter. It was weird. I agree. I'll take a real otter any day of the week.

Busy as a June Bug

This month has been pretty crazy. We've got our homeschooling (I am such a slave driver, but my kid is smart), we've got the summer library program, which is 3 and sometimes 4 days a week, we've got a garden, a grassy lawn and a pool, which all need to be tended regularly, and we've got a house with two active kids, which is hard to keep clean. Oh yeah, and I write the newspaper articles for that library program, so no ducking out for me. So it's been crazy nonstop. I haven't watched any tv (pbs kids does not count as tv for me), I haven't been able to work on my quilt (tick tock, Mandi!) or have much me time, but everything else is coming along nicely. Erin is having a bunch of fun with Ian home all the time. They play, fight, love on and screech at each other. This is the pinnacle of sibling affection, to me. My HC has been busy going to one training session after another. Some have been good and educational, some have been a waste of time. All I am concerned with is that he gets to eat out more than me. Aren't I so shallow? Then again, he did gain a little weight....lol. But being home trimmed it right off. No fair.
Now that June is almost over, Ian's favorite holiday, July 4th is coming up. The kid loves fireworks! And there are fireworks stands everywhere. We bought a few bucks worth of smoke bombs, sparklers and poppers and he is already putting in his order for the big day. Our town has an ordinance (there is an ordinance for everything...) that you can't let off any fireworks until the week before and the week after the 4th. The small noiseless ones are ok. They won't get you reported to the cops, anyway. And we don't go for the screaming ones anyway, since our kids are still little and our neighbors are close. But Ian is very excited. Of course, after the 4th, it is not long until his birthday, so that is thrilling for him too.


Saturday we went to see Toy Story 3 and since we couldn't find a theater that showed it in 2d, we were forced to watch it in 3D. We had promised the kids that we would go to see it in the theater, so 3D it was. Erin wasn't interested in wearing the glasses and I don't know how she wasn't cross-eyed afterwards, because the picture is blurry if you don't have the 3D glasses on. I will admit, though, that my HC looked adorable because the glasses are plastic and black-framed and he looked kinda nerdy. A new look for him, to be sure. Ian had to be reminded to put his back on. I was in and out with an antsy Erin. It made it worse that there were no seats together and we managed to find 2 on one row and one seat in the row directly behind it. Erin and I ended up sitting on the steps next to the seats for the last 30 minutes of the movie. Yippee.
Here are some pics of the kids, just in case you've forgotten what they look like. :)

My Lonely Bad Self

My HC is gone again, this time within driving distance. This is week 1 of Investigator school. What's the big deal about Investigator School? From what I gather, "it guarantees you'll never be put on night shift again." Which is a big deal to someone who spent the first 3 years of his law enforcement career in the dark. There were vampire jokes long before Twilight movies ever came on scene.
So here at the homestead, I am strangely getting a lot of stuff done. I'm not sure it's because I need to console myself because my HC is gone, or because his not being here frees up a lot of time...uh, I may just stop there. Either way, the house is pretty clean. Sort of. At least until Curious George is over and Erin starts up again.
Yesterday was our 6 month checkup at the allergist. It went very well. I can start weaning the kids from some meds and our next checkup is in a year. Yay! This is very good news. Our elimination diet (not eating the foods we are allergic to) and our rotation diet (testing our tolerance of foods we are allergic to once every 4 days) are working very well. We still have our meds for the odd flare up of symptoms (sometimes foods get cross contaminated or we have an oops moment), but I am very optimistic and pleased about the whole thing.
Ian was not happy about having to go back to school after our appointment, but he went back anyway for the last 2 hours. This is the last full week of school and I guess things are getting a little funner, because Ian hasn't been moaning or complaining half as much. No homework may have something to do with that. Hm...
Yesterday after school I decided to break out my new workout DVDs and try it out. Ian was gung ho to do it with me. We decided to do the kickboxing one. I pulled on the weighted gloves and committed myself to 10 minutes. Ian stayed for about 90 seconds and left me, the punk. Erin participated by riding her tricycle in front of the tv during kicks and lunges and imitating me (har har) behind while I was trying to do back kicks. It was very hazardous. I'm not sure if I'm sore from doing exercises improperly while trying to avoid my kidlets or because of the actual workout. I decided to finish out the DVD. By the last part, the ab workout, I was getting pretty frustrated with Erin. Ian had abandoned both of us for Lego Indiana Jones and Erin was convinced I was doing this to amuse her. The ab workout involved lying on the floor on a towel and contorting yourself into interesting positions to work your abs. There were a lot of chuckles behind me on the couch. No comment. Then Erin decided to improve my form/spot me by sitting on my stomach and hopping up and down. No comment again.
But I finished! Is there anyone close enough to give me a massage?!
Today is Track and Field day for Ian. He'll be in the gym doing 'real' exercises and tearing around vigorously. He has his running shoes, his 'fast' shorts on and his water bottle. I can't wait to hear about this one.
We finally finished Double Fudge. Now we are reading Otherwise Known As Sheila the Great. And while I was typing this, Erin decided to beautify herself with my makeup bag. She needs to go easy on the cover-up next time. Thank the Lord my lipstick is in my purse! Last time, it ended up in several lines all over the walls.

The Power of Styrofoam!

We are so happy about our Netflix Instant Play. I love watching nonstop seasons of Bones. Erin loves Caillou and VeggieTales. Ian loves the Mario Brothers Supershow, circa 1986 (save me) and Lilo and Stitch episodes. My HC likes to choose a bunch of B movies that we end up turning off. That's not always the case, but we're on a roll right now. But what we have watched at least 27 times in the past week (and I wish I were joking about the number) is Bolt. Erin always asks for it and Ian always gravitates to where it is playing. We all laugh at the same spots every time (well, we do not find the same spots funny, but I laugh at the hamster every time and Erin laughs at the cat every time and Ian laughs where Bolt gets the traffic cone stuck to his head every time. You get it. And just so he's not left out, my HC laughs at the hamster in the kayak, the hamster stealing a french fry and the animal control guy getting pepper sprayed in the eyes. Every time.) So when I say something like "You don't know the power of styrofoam!" or other related comments, especially those in the overzealous fan voice of Rhino the hamster, forgive me. It is now subliminally imbedded in all our minds.
We are in the last 2 weeks of school. Huzzah. So we are wrapping up homework, testing, the washing (again?!) of backpacks due to leaky thermoses. Sigh.
We also ordered next year's curriculum, which we may start half-time after school is out just to give us something to do.
(Ian just interrupted me. "Mommy, uh, are you wearing sunscreen?" "Uh huh," I said, "Erin and I went to the park today for Play and Learn." "Oh. I can smell it. I wanna go to the park."
Considering that when we went to the park today, I had to call in a broken step where Erin and I almost fell through, I'm not a big fan of the park. They did come and fix the step, where a bolt had broken on one side, but there are too many other areas that need repair (or broken things removed) that I'm not too fond of the playground at the park. But when school is over, we will be available to play with our other home school friends. Yay!
This week, my HC is home, having a normal (haha!) week. The laugh is because he's been having to be here and there at 5am yesterday and today to assist with this and that. And he's been coming home at the normal time. Next week he is starting his first week of Investigator school in Ada, OK. It's a bit of a drive, but he'll be home on the weekends. It is a very good thing to be in that school, however, as they handpick who gets to be in (everything is all about who you know. sigh!) and only allow 30 attendees at a time. I think there may be 2 such classes a year. So it is well indeed. Now about that supposed training class in Hawaii? (waaaah!) We'll see if that comes about. You'll hear plenty of whining and crying from the peanut gallery if it does (mostly from me and Ian the Vulcan (volcano lover)).
Meanwhile, we are enjoying the goodies brought back from New Mexico, including the cactus seeds we are attempting to grow. We'll find out in another couple of days if they will grow.
I got my sweepstakes prize in the mail today. It came FedEx and they called again to ask where my house was. 'Rural route what? Do you have a house number? Uh, that house number is not registered either (duh, if it was, we wouldn't have a rural route in town). Um. What street? Oh, hey! Didn't I just deliver something to you last month? (yeah, the Blackberry replacement). Oh! Now I remember your house. Alright, I'll be there in about 30 minutes.' (Uh, just how lost WAS the guy?)
So I get this box from Anchor Bay Entertainment and the first thing I think is Thomas the Tank Engine. Hmmm. Maybe the grandparents sent something? Uh. It was kind of heavy. Well, it was this:





Is this a sign? Mandi, you need some help. The first thing Mom said was "so they think if you do this video you'll look like her?" Clearly my mother is not a fan of the workout DVD. Not that I am either. I am not very consistent about such things. I get turned around when I'm facing someone chirping "Left! Left!" while they're going to my right. But these are a bit different. One is a boxing type DVD, another is pilates (I'm frightened) and they all come with something. Resistance band, weighted gloves, etc. I will report if they ever get used. Or unwrapped. Or if I can nag my HC into doing some with me, just for fun, in case he starts mocking me.

But he's just ignorant. Because he doesn't know the power of styrofoam.

Coming soon: my Mother's day present, as soon as it comes in the mail, barring any more complications from the FedEx guy or UPS.

I Just Won 11 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

I Just Won 11 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com

Holding the Fort

My HC left this morning for a training session in New Mexico. Today has been crazy. I'm not sure if it is a result of him being gone or just a Monday or what. But come on! We were late getting up this morning. Erin has had a bad cold for a few weeks and it is on the downward slope with a bit of sniffles and coughing/asthma. Which means lots of breathing treatments and less sleep for me. So I'll try to quit blaming it on the kids and admit that I didn't get up when I heard the alarm and everyone was late. Ian had a bit of weird eye goop this morning in one eye, but we wiped it off and kept on. Erin's appetite is off due to sickness, so coaxing her to eat is time consuming and futile. So I spent the morning cleaning and finding blue play doh in strange places. My HC texted to say that he had to check his bag in because our tiny suitcase was too big to carry-on. I'm pretty ticked about that. Besides the cost, it was a pain in the butt to fit everything into that tiny suitcase. If we were going to check, we would have packed everything we wanted into a larger case...argh. But he made it to Texas and said he'd text when he got to NM. Meanwhile, Erin was fussy, the dog got into the shed outside and mutilated a bunch of stuff in boxes and had it strewn everywhere.
I finally sat down to finish Gosford Park and sew a couple of quilt squares.
Then I got a call from the school nurse. Ian's eye was red, swollen and itchy, they think it might be pink-eye.
It would be best if I came and picked him up and took him to the doctor. I called the doctor. They said "tomorrow morning ok?" I mentioned his kindergarten program tomorrow night and asked how long he would have to be on meds before he was out of quarantine. They said to bring him in, they'd fit him in somewhere.
So I got Ian from school, loaded his bike into the Jeep and got him from the nurse.
We got into the doctor rather quickly (shocker!), then went to the pharmacy.

Then we hit another snag. The cream the doc had prescribed wasn't in stock, but they would have it by tomorrow after 1pm. Argh! 24 hours of meds before tomorrow night? Yeah right. I called the doc, who called the pharmacy, who checked. Insurance didn't cover the other choice. On to Plan C. The doc was busy and had to sign off. We waited for over 45 min at the pharmacy. Since Ian has pink-eye, he is contagious. Trying to get him not to touch anything in a crowded, small town pharmacy? Nigh impossible. Erin's whining, squalling and meowing didn't help either. But of course everyone there thought she was cute as a button. They weren't holding her squirming, gymnastic little body, either.
We finally got some eye drops. The ones you have to put in every two hours the first two days? Then every 4 hours for 5 days after that. While Ian is awake, not during the night, thank you Lord! So no school tomorrow. If the eye gunk is drastically reduced by tomorrow night, we may make it to the kindergarten program/reward assembly. Otherwise, nope. As for Wednesday, how can he go to school when I have to give him drops every 2 hours? No one else at the school will/can administer them. And 5 days after that, every 4 hours? Argh! Oh well, I just hope that no one else gets pink-eye!

My HC landed in NM. They are an hour behind us, so that's neat. It looks flat and pretty, with mountains in the distance. Ian was disapointed that there were no cactus in the picture. My HC said he'd keep looking. I told him to eat well, because isn't there supposed to be some phenomenal Mexican food in NM? Mmmm...yeah yeah, thinking with my stomach.

He did end up having Mexican on the 70 mile trip from the airport to his hotel. And I haven't heard from him since, so he must be busy and having a good, educational time. :) Because that's what training sessions are for: learning. Right? We'll see, because really, it's all about hotels and restaurants. Mmmm... We at home will take this time to feast on cantaloupe.

An Interesting Week

This week has been interesting. Really interesting. It seems as if I've won some kind of sweepstakes through Redbook Magazine. It is my "grown-up" magazine that I get, though I am suspicious that my HC also reads it when he's bored. You didn't hear that from me. April was it's Sweepstakes Every Day month or something and I entered everything. I guess I was bored. Well, I got an email saying that I won April's Work It Out sweepstakes and I cannot for anything remember which one that was. I remember there was one for workout videos and one for athletic shoes and a few more that has something to do with 'Working It Out'. I guess I'll find out when it gets here in 3-6 months, like the email said.
Another interesting thing that happened. We opted out of Ebay and decided on CraigsList for selling our Xbox stuff and for the Kelty Kids Child Carrier (which we only used once for Hiking Devil's Den and then my HC was so sore from toting Erin around he vowed never to use it again! And we didn't.) Yesterday we got an email about the xbox stuff. Then came a flurry of texts resulting in a sale last night! It only lasted 8 hours before it was sold and we are very pleased. Now we are waiting to hear about the Carrier. Please, Lord let it sell!
These things, of course, will go into our Florida Fund. We are hoping to make a vacation-type trip sometime this summer. And my HC will be coming this time, too. Woo hoo! It was so bleak without him in January. Everything is always funner with Daddy around, as the kids will attest. And Mommy is a little more fun with Daddy around, too.
There are 26 days of school left and Ian is becoming increasingly difficult to get out of bed and to school in the morning. Sigh. At least we have the weekend to look forward to. Relief! Another Friday is almost over.
I am watching Gosford Park right now and finding it hard to do with Erin crawling over me like I am her personal tree/trampoline.
Everyone is almost better, just some lingering coughs.
The garden is doing very well. Some peas showed up, as well as a couple of watermelon and cucumber. The morning glories are sprouting up as well. Now we'll see if they get big enough to actually climb the fence. We'll see.

Fried Ears

The weekend was an incredibly busy one for us. Do you ever get those [incredibly rare] days when you just feel energized and actually get a whole list of stuff done? Then you spend the rest of the week wondering why you can't feel like that all the time and have a Donna Reed-esque life? Well, last weekend was incredible. We put our entire garden in, ironically the biggest one to date. We had said that we weren't going to do a garden this year, but we are forgoing the weed mat (waah!) and got the seeds very cheap at the local farm store. We did spring for chicken wire to put a barrier between the yard and the garden, to signal the dog to stop (it doesn't exactly keep her out).
We also changed our garden menu a bit. We are not doing corn this year, since it has been set upon by Japanese beetles every year and we only get a 1/2 gallon baggie of shucked corn total after they've finished with it. And we didn't plant anything that we didn't like this year. In the past, we've always planted okra since we love pickled okra. But there was never enough ready at the same time to pickle. And this year I am not making cucumber pickles because we have approximately 27 jars from last year that no one will touch. I am trying, but there was that one mushy jar....yuck. And I have discovered, by a majority vote, that no one else likes zucchini. And no one wants to eat any more zucchini bread or muffins. Ever.
So that saves me a bundle of work right there. So I get a break from pickling, harvesting gigantic okra that is inedible and shredding pounds of zucchini to freeze that no one will eat. I feel better already. Am I REALLY the only one that likes zucchini?! Really?!
I was outvoted again when I suggested opting out of the tomatoes. Phooey.
So this year's garden menu is: (drum roll)
Early Alaska Green Peas [along the whole back fence]
Maxi Beans (green beans) [3 short rows, bush style]
Carrots [a short double row]
Tomatoes (100 and Rutgers) [5 plants total]
Strawberries (Quinalt) [2 plants]
Crookneck Squash (yellow) [3 hills]
Cucumbers (burpless) [3 hills]
Cantaloupe [a short row]
Watermelon [4 hills, with 3 plantings in each hill]

Keep in mind that half of our garden is watermelon, since they need a lot of space.
We are hoping that the peas will shoot up and cover the whole 6 foot back fence, since the lot behind has been turned into a gravel parking lot...whee.
Personally, since we are not doing weed mat this year (bigger garden = more weed mat= too expensive...), I am hoping that a mulch truck will stop at our house and ask us if we need a ton or 2. In the meantime, we'll be out weeding....

So we spent all weekend outside, with the kids going in and out, depending on how many flies they wanted to let in. My HC got fried around his tank top and then burnt weird the next day, so from the back it looks like he was wearing a sports bra. It's a really good thing he can't see himself from the back. Try to smother a laugh or he will find you.
So all my lotion has been used up for the Greater Good (translation: HC). Erin's little pigtail part got red and she has a nice farmer's tan. Ian's nose is a bit red and my ears are fried to fire engine-like proportions. And I am sore all over from raking and shoveling and hoeing. My HC only had to do the rotor tiller, don't know what he has to be sore about. (I am only pouting a bit; watching him till with that thing was enough for me.) Erin also loved a few earthworms to death and pulled one apart ("Mommy! Wum boke!")

In addition to the garden success, my HC mowed and weed eated the front and back yard. We scrubbed all the winter muck off of the siding (as high as I could reach with the scrub pole), cleaned out the yucky corner of the house/yard, cleaned out the tupperware cabinet, cleaned out the shed, cleaned up some stuff to sell on Ebay, did all the laundry, etc. Still can't believe we did all that. Boo yah!

So you'll have to forgive me if I don't have any pictures, because I left my phone inside while I was performing all that manual labor. There's not much to see now except for dirt and hills, anyway.

But as with soreness, the after-effects remain. Now I have garden fingers, because my left hand is all scraped and rough from planting and there's dirt stuck in my nails that will just have to wear off. But I got me a garden, man!

Easter

We had a pretty good time this past Easter weekend, even though we missed the family. Saturday night we colored our eggs. We told Ian that if the Easter bunny liked our colored eggs, then the Easter bunny would leave treats. And in our house, the Easter bunny hides the baskets, because bunnies are skittish and like to hide. And Lily sleeps inside, though she sleeps hard enough that we could hide the basket under her, but she would smell jelly beans and go nutso. She has acquired a real taste for jelly beans. The Starburst kind. If you trick her with generic, she tastes it and will spit out a sticky, goobery mess wherever she happens to be. And people tend to step on sticky, goobery messes around here. Namely me.



On Sunday, we had our Easter dinner (our piglet ham, I meanly called it. I apologize. It turned out to be a good, solid ham and I shouldn't have mocked it.) And, of course, The Hunt. The kids and I put a bunch of plastic eggs together inside while HC cleaned up the yard (a constant endeavor with an energetic young dog). We got 55 plastic eggs assembled and counted and waited inside, where every second seemed like an hour. Finally, Daddy was ready! And then Mommy had to take pictures. Groan!





We hid and hunted eggs until everyone was tired of it (it was rather windy; a normal spring Oklahoma wind of 20-30 mph).

And later, my wonderful HC started tilling my garden plot!!! Woo hoo!