Full Circle

As I'm sitting here at the computer, my husband sits next to me at his. We are at the dining room table with laptops. He is doing schoolwork and I am working at my job. Remember how I work from home? Well, here's the thing: I was talking to my husband about an e-mail I got regarding an endorsement on LinkedIn from a long-ago friend. I recall telling him about my friend a while back and how she was in a bad car accident and needed physical therapy and... my husband said to me, "I'm trying to work." I said, "Now I know how K feels." (K being our youngest son who always talks to me while I'm trying to work and who is often told to be quiet). My husband then said, "Do I have to move?" Aghast, I said, "No." I felt just like my boy, who is 10, and very talkative. I feel for that kid, now that I know exactly how he feels!

Dreaming

Wish I was there.

God is Great, Beer is Good...

... and people are crazy. --Billy Currington (I don't know if he wrote it, but it's on t.v. right now). I'm just typing this to see if it takes because Blogger hasn't been cooperating with me at all for several weeks now. Today I am using Google Chrome instead of Internet Explorer and things are working ok, so far.

It's Fall. It's Cold

I originally tried posting this on September 27 but Blogger was having issues, so I'm trying again: You know when it's Fall when the leaves change on the trees, right? And they fall to the ground and then the trees look all ugly and scraggly? That is happening in my neck of the woods. And the house is cold. It is cold because we don't use the furnace. We use the woodstove. Remember last year's posts about the stove? Let's not go there right now.

The woodstove is currently empty and cold. Today's afternoon temps are supposed to be 74, so we opted not to get a fire going. However, I sit in the house, working away at the computer, feeling a slight chill. I've made a pot of decaf (I've already caffeinated myself, but I wanted a large amount of ready-made hotness to be waiting whenever I needed it) and am trying to warm myself up.

In a few hours, for my lunch break, I'll turn on the Wii and play Just Dance 2 for a bit - that'll warm me up right quick!

EEEK! Where is Summer??

Egads! Is summer really almost over? Are the mornings really that crisp and chilly? Is my basement freezing all of a sudden? It is September 11 and I have just turned on my space heater in my office. My arms and legs are a bit chilled as the sun has moved on past my windows and shade has creeped in. I'm totally not ready to start wearing layers down here in my basement office. I'm in denial. I don't want summer to end. So, the reason for this post is to say that this is the first time I've turned on the space heater while it's still summer.

Farm Dreams

One day, we'll have our farm. I don't know how I stumbled upon it, but I found a really neat website called Rural Living Today ( and it looks to be very good reading. Hubby and I want to move sometime after he graduates but we don't want to jump in blindly to farming, even if it's just a mini farm or mini ranch. We aren't getting any younger and our dream of owning land for growing things and having livestock keep seeming to get further and further away. Why is that always the case??

Channeling Meryl Streep

You know what I was thinking last night as I was walking back up to the house from the garden? I was thinking that I could imagine myself doing the same thing many years from now, possibly walking up a dusty path back to the house. I was wearing a t-shirt and capris but also my strawberry apron and flip flops. My hair was up in one of those claw-type clips and I had some strays that escaped the clip. I straightened one of the hoses that was stretched out on the concrete path but as I did so, I took my time. It was as if there was no need to hurry. No need to rush. And the funny thing was that I kind of thought of myself as Meryl Streep in "Bridges of Madison County." Not the way that she had an affair, but the way that life was so simple for her. She had no reason to hurry. She wore those classic dresses (and aprons, right?) and her hair was up a lot of the time. Life should be like that. Simple.

And the Kitchenaid mixer goes to...

I did not win the red and shiny KitchenAid stand mixer. Oh well. It would have been nice. And I found out that Ree doesn't go through all those posts herself. She has someone named Don doing it for her. I don't blame her! Yesterday afternoon, when I went back to see if she had posted the winners, there were well over 60,000 comments/posts on the blog! Good grief!

Congratulations to the winners of the red and shiny KitchenAid mixer! I already have a Kitchenaid mixer. It's not red. It's not exactly shiny. I think it has a nice dusting of flour or other dry ingredient on it. And egg goo.

Red and Shiny and hopefully mine?

Yesterday I entered Ree Drummond's Kitchenaid stand mixer giveaway. All I had to do was comment on her blog post in the Cooking section of her website. I think my comment was on page 90 and there were a few thousand entries prior to mine. The winners are to be announced sometime this evening. When I looked today, to perhaps see if she posted the winners, I see that she hasn't because, I'm a-thinking, there are upwards of 59,499 comments! I would not like to be her, or whoever she has, reading them. Good grief! I guess a lot of people want that mixer.

The Key To Getting a Teen to Wake Up

I've figured it out. The way to get my 15-year-old son out of bed on school days is to: a) take away his cell phone the night before and b) don't give it back until he wakes up and eats breakfast. It works!

The sugar bowl disaster

Yesterday morning, my nine-year-old son asked to have sugar put in his Cheerios. I said he could get the sugar. He chose the sugar bowl in the upper cupboard. He should have used a stool. He was trying to put it back when he said loudly, "OH GREAT!" I said, "What?" I walked over to where he was in the kitchen and saw the shattered lid. So sad I was. My mom gave me that bowl when she moved out of state. All I said was, "My mom gave me that. I feel like crying." And that broke the flood gates of my son who was in tears and went to his room. Moms don't say the brightest things all the time. Strike one for mom. A little while later, while my son was eating his Cheerios and I was sitting at the same table, working at the computer, I said, "Well, I guess I could use a sugar bowl for Mother's Day. Just sayin.'" This put an idea into my son's head, because later in the day I saw him walk up to his dad and say, "Can we go to the store today?" My work here is done. For now.

A bomb went off. I think.

What is this??

And this??

Well, I thought a bomb went off in my son's room. This was after hubby and I told him that we had given up on asking him to keep it clean. Big mistake. BIG.

Dinner... what can I do with hamburger?

Dinner is all me. I mean, it's all mine tonight. No, wait, that still didn't come out right. What I meant to say was that I'm in charge of making dinner tonight. There's a 2-pound blob of ground beef sitting in the fridge with my name on it. I'm sick of the usual things that I make with ground beef. My youngest always wants hamburgers, but last night when I asked out loud (to anyone in hearing distance) what to make with ground beef, he said, "Hamburger Pie," to which my husband flat out said, "NO."

I have a large assortment of cookbooks that I'll peruse in a little while, but if anyone is reading this, would you kindly give suggestions? I like new recipes!

A little sugar = craziness

I may have mentioned this before, on my other blog that I've since neglected, but somewhere along the line I (or me and my hubby) came to the realization that sugary snacks in the evening create sleepless nights for everyone in the house but the one causing the problem.

My youngest son, age 9, has had night terrors for quite some time, and about a year ago I noticed a pattern as to what set it off. Excessive screen time (t.v., adrenalin-rush movies [which, for him, would be Harry Potter], video games) and/or sugary snacks (which could be anything from Kettle Korn to cupcakes to ice cream to candy) are the culprits. We limit his screen time and he really doesn't watch t.v. much, except on weekends, and we limit his video games to two hours on weekends only.

Last night, the kids had activities at church. Hubby retrieved them and brought them home, and they proceeded to get ready for bed. After they had gone to bed, all was right with the world. Until the screaming began. K (I'm using initials, yes) started screaming and hubby went to calm him down. Eventually, K went back to sleep. This morning, I asked K what went on at church last night, and he said, "We had cupcakes." WHAMMO. That's what set him off. If only I could convince the church to have healthy snacks instead of sugary snacks.

What I really want to figure out is what can we change or what can we, as parents, do to help our child? How long will this screaming-at-night thing last? Is it a psychological thing? Does he need help? He's already on meds for ADD, so I really don't want him to take anything else. And really, I almost believe that sugar is the cause of his ADD because most foods contain some amount of sugar and studies have shown that if children ate no sugar, their ADD/ADHD symptoms subsided. And no, I don't feed him Pop Tarts and candy and cookies. We try hard to have nutritious meals and snacks at home. I don't have much control over what he eats when he's not at home.

Anyway, I'm hoping that tonight there is no craziness and that we all get a good night's sleep.

I met The Pioneer Woman

Yes, The Pioneer Woman was in town and I stood in line with my hubby and child for a while, but Ree Drummond did sign my books! In person, she is just the same as she is on t.v. and I enjoyed every minute of her presentation. Here is proof of our meeting:

Been to the dentist lately?

When was the last time you went to the dentist? Do you remember? Has it been at least four years? If so, I urge you to go right away. Find a dentist you can trust, one who is caring and sympathetic, one who won't torture you in the chair.

I have had a root canal and a crown which was done by a dentist at a certain clinic which I will not name here, and the crown has fallen out twice. Now, mind you, it's been a while since I've had a cleaning, but after the crown came out a second time I refused to go back to the dentist that put it in. I called my insurance provider for my dental coverage and they suggested I look at their website for providers. I found a dentist, went to have them do complete x-rays, and today I went in for a cleaning. Well, I was there 1.5 hours and the hygienist worked on my lower teeth only because they were so neglected (however, I didn't feel bad because she told me that it's very common for the lowers to get all the plaque).

Now, the only reason I'm telling you this is because you (and your teeth) will feel so much better when it's all over. My mouth might start to hurt a little bit later in the day and my gums might be a tad swollen, but that's nothing a little warm swish with saltwater won't cure.

I did it!

Sometimes I amaze myself. I think that by talking about the fire issue here, I managed to figure out the problem with my poorly-built fire. I also think it was due to poorly-placed fire starter. After all my attempts and after all my posts here, I used the torch to start the fire again, but I had it on higher so that it had more gusto and more flame was hitting the wood. So now, I am proud to show you my creation. The door wasn't closed so that air could get in:



Sorry, you'll have to turn your head because even though I caught it straight on, it has decided to go horizontal on me.

Efforts of building a fire

In the woodstove, that is. It is chilly in the house, which I do believe I mentioned in an earlier post today. My husband is at work and the house is cold. I put some wood in the woodstove, along with a chunk of fire starter. I laid out the wood in a grid pattern so that hopefully once the fire gets going, it will latch on to all the pieces. I'm still cold. The only thing burning is the chunk of fire starter. I thought it would be marvelous if my husband came home to a warm house, but I think I've failed at fire starting once again.

Maybe I should join the Boy Scouts. Maybe I should look for a YouTube video. I did just add two more pieces of wood to hopefully catch the flames that the fire starter is making. There is enough wood in that box now to keep the upstairs warm... if it would only start. If I succeed, I'll let you know.

Brr? What happened to the sun?

The past few days have been incredibly lovely with low-70s temps and a lot of sunshine. This morning, however, is a completely different story.

I woke up to see clouds outside my window along with sprinkles coming out of the sky. When it was time for my nine-year-old son to get out the door for the school bus, I noticed he was wearing the same exact thing he had on yesterday - t-shirt and shorts. Um... I told him, "You wore that yesterday and it is NOT warm out today." He said, "I like this outfit." Well, he's a kid and doesn't realize that once you get to be an adult, if you wear the same thing twice in a row, people will look at you funny.

Anyway, so it's cold outside and that means that it has cooled down indoors as well. And here is where the novice fire-builder comes into play. I always leave the building-of-the-fire to my husband as he is downright the best at it. He knows how to stack the wood in order to get the flames to go. He knows exactly where to place the little piece of firestarter so that it catches onto nearby wood so that the fire will get going really good. Whenever I try to do it, it takes a long time for the fire to actually start, and to keep it going is another story entirely.

So I shall sit here and ponder about it for a bit. Or turn on the furnace. Which I really don't want to do because it's electric heat and we all know how expensive that is to run.

The Pioneer Woman is in town!

I am beside myself. This day has been on the calendar for a long time. Well, of course the actual DAY has, but the event... I am so excited! Tonight is the book signing where I will get to see Ree Drummond live, in person! I watch her show on the Food Network and I read her blog and she seems so normal and fun. I have two of her cookbooks which I would like to have her sign. Every recipe I have tried has turned out amazing! Hubby mentioned I should bring my camera so as to hopefully get a picture. Now, if only I could figure out how to get the pictures off my camera. I have a new camera and haven't figured that out yet.

Bathtub drain

I took the kids with me to church yesterday. When we got home, hubby announced he had fixed the bathtub drain. Yay! The problem we had with it was that the lever to hold the water in with hadn't been working at all. It wouldn't move. This is the only tub in the house, so when I learned that I couldn't take baths, I was not too happy. Anyway, when we had all gotten into the house, hubby said, "Everybody come into the bathroom so I can show you how this works." All four of us stood in there, looking at the new drain. It's one of those pull-up-and-twist types, and he said that it drains real fast (our old one took FOREVER to drain, sometimes hours). He said that if anyone wanted to take a bath ever, they'd have to make sure the water level NEVER gets within two inches of the round silver thing (he didn't call it that, but I don't know what it's called - it's the thing under the faucet) because, and get this, if the water touches and/or goes over the round silver thing, THE DOWNSTAIRS WILL FLOOD. Omg.

Excuses or just lack of time?

I'm pathetic. I can't even post in a timely manner (i.e., daily, weekly, monthly). I just come along when I remember I have a blog. Sorry.

In any given day, specifically a weekday, my routine consists of (in no particular order):

* showering and getting ready to sit at the computer for 8+ hours
* making sure kids get out the door in time for the school bus
* doing my at-computer job for 8 hours or so
* playing my daily games on pogo.com
* visiting the message boards that I moderate or administrate
* eat
* help kids with homework (this also may include helping hubby with his)
* cook dinner
* write a letter
* do any chores that need doing (not ones the kids are supposed to do)
* drive kid(s) to before school and/or evening activities
* keep the woodstove going
* take dogs out to do their duties

I try to finish the day with a good book. Evening t.v. ain't the best, and even though hubby may like to watch it and fall asleep, I'd rather read a book.

So as I sit and drink my Diet Coke and type this, I have in my head all the things I need to do today before bed. I haven't quite eaten lunch yet and it's 2:31 p.m. In 30 minutes, my oldest son will arrive from school. He'll want a snack. Twenty-four minutes from then will be three more kids (one of which is mine) arriving and in need of snacks. I'll try to be done with any computer stuff by then because it is near impossible to get anything done with three kids age 10 and under wanting my attention. For some reason, my oldest (age 15) has got this all figured out and ends up in his room with the door closed. Gee, thanks, Jared! Grrr...

Ok, enough rambling. I'll try to post tomorrow... but tomorrow is full of activity (besides work) as I will be able to go bowling with my 9-yr-old son at his school. Should be interesting. Maybe I'll snap a few pics so I can show you (whoever reads this... does anybody read this?) what went down.

Bye!

A birthday around the corner

I took the kids shopping for their dad's birthday next week. Last year, my husband's special day got overlooked because I was lying in bed recovering from foot surgery. Silly me, guess I should have thought ahead and shopped online, but in my drugged state I guess I didn't think of it. Today we were armed with a long wish list and hit about four places to shop. I think hubby will have a good birthday.

When we got home, I went online (to JC Penney, remember them?) and thought I'd shop for shirts for hubby. Well, darn, they didn't have his size in the color I wanted. Poo. So much for them. That ended my search for shirts. Guess I'll use that money to take him out for his birthday dinner. Upon much thought, he decided it would be fun to go for pizza and beer as opposed to a nice dinner out. Fine with me as the kids have school the following day and there's a pizza place close by with yummy food and good beer on tap.

Some of the things on hubby's birthday list don't require money, just time. Do you know how precious time is? Oh wait! Maybe I should be attempting one of his presents instead of typing! He would like the basement to be clean. That's a major undertaking, but... while he's at school perhaps I can work on that. Hmmm... my scheming mind is at work! I could pitch all the VHS tapes that never get watched. Does anybody even want those things anymore???

Side note: Do you know a good crispy pizza crust recipe? We've been looking for one and have not been successful. We don't have a pizza oven or a pizza stone and we make BIG pizzas.

Back to the birthday thing. Hubby wants one of those small cheesecakes you get at the grocery store. Last time I made one, it bit. It was sooooo bad! I used a pre-made graham cracker crust but you know what? I didn't do anything wrong, but it was our refrigerator to blame. It wasn't chilling properly and that thing didn't set! It was horrible! May as well have been pudding. Bleh! So I am going to save my sanity and buy him a cheesecake that we can cut into at least 4 slices.

Today started out sunny but turned to rain later in the day. Figures. I wanted to go for a walk!

It's 2012, yessirree

Happy New Year! Guess it's a little late to say that. Maybe I should say something like Happy Super Bowl as that's the next major event for this month.

I was going to start a brand new blog where I can just say what's on my mind on any given topic but then I remembered this was here. I've got two others that are kind of in limbo, but I like the name of this and I think I'll use it more or just use it 100% of the time. If you like what you read, tell your friends. <3

So here we are in January. It is 40 degrees outside on my deck and I was outside with the dogs (so they could do their duties and most likely eat their duties because they are dogs) and it was just a bit too cold for my liking. I shall say that it was 26 this morning on the way to Costco and I was in the car but still I was cold as my wonderful hubby decided to open his window. Um.... hello?? Too cold! But he likes to have some fresh air whilst in the car.

I'm just rambling - get used to it. I tend to do that when I feel like babbling about everyday things.

Did you know that JC Penney is trying for a new image? Have you gotten the new catalog in the mail? Let me go get it. Well crud. Hubby took it. It's got a picture of a small girl's legs and feet in adult high heels. It's the February issue. February issue? ISSUE?? Like a magazine? It's basically just a waste of paper. It's thick and too busy, in my opinion. I was going to take pictures of it and post it here. If I can find it, I'll do that. But maybe you don't care. I just thought it was weird.

I'm trying the Special K 2-week weight loss challenge. You basically eat their food for breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and then you eat a sensible dinner. They have recipes on their website but they are for a single serving. I usually quadruple or double-quadruple them so I can feed my family as well. The recipes, so far, are quite tasty. You can also eat as many freggies (fruits and veggies) as you want if you get hungry. I'm all over that!

We are down to one income again as hubs got laid off. That's what happens when you work seasonal. It snowed. He got laid off. He's on, oh what did his boss call it... standby! He's on standby. He's also in school, so at least he can concentrate on homework while he isn't working.

I work, yes I do. From home, thank God!!! When we had the snow last week, and the power outages, I was either able to work (or not) when I could. No need to commute (hallelujah!).

Kids are doing typical kid things. My oldest, he's 14, has a friend over and they were supposed to be "quiet" while playing in his room. I hear them now. It is 5 p.m. It is almost time for son's ADD meds. Both my kids have to take meds for that. One of my sons has ADD and the other has ADHD but I think most people glom them together and either call it ADD or ADHD but not both. The kids have to take their evening meds around 6 p.m. or there will be serious issues. I really wish there was no need for meds but what do you do? Take them off the pills and let them freak out? I heard that sugar is to blame. Do know how many foods have sugar in them? How can I know what my kids are eating when they are away from the house? I can't control EVERYTHING they put in their mouths.

Guess that's about it for now. Have a good rest of the day and Happy Super Bowl!