2008 was not a good year for my close relationships. It was a year I stumbled to do what I should be doing.
I’ve learned sometimes people surprise the heck out of you and do something so wonderful for you, there are no words to even begin to thank them.
This was the year I learned my husband is always right, he doesn’t really listen to what you’re saying before he tells you the right way to think. But since he’s always right, you should just listen anyway.
It was the year I learned that the people you need the most, don’t need you and the people who need you, are not people you need.
This year I learned sometimes it’s best to tackle a project by yourself. Sometimes it’s best to have a second set of hands.
Randy hates to work by himself. Reanna is the same way. She wants you to participate in everything she does. Randy doesn’t see that the two of them are alike. I think it’s amazing.
I’ve learned no matter what medications I’m taking, I don’t have the patience I should have. I’ve also learned that Randy is much better at explaining things to the kids than I am.
I’ve learned if I listen, God will speak to me and if I search his word, I should find my answers.
I’ve learned if you search for answers in the Bible, several people will give you a verse a day calendars.
I’ve learned there is nothing like a good cup of coffee and the stuff we have at work is nothing like a good cup of coffee.
I’ve learned for a mom there is no such thing as a vacation and if you take one, you’ll pay for it forever but if you don’t take one, you’ll pay for it forever too.
I’ve learned it’s different for Randy to go somewhere with his friends to recreate, then it is for me to go somewhere with my kids.
I’ve also learned that staying home with the kids is sometimes more work then going somewhere.
I’ve learned that six or eight three day weekends for a man is much less time then 2 full weeks for a woman.
I’ve learned summers are short.
I’ve learned emotional outbreaks are only my problem, even if the outbreaks aren’t mine.
I’ve learned puppies grow very fast and before you know it they are full grown dogs.
I’ve learned these same puppies and dogs don’t wag their tail, their tail wags them.
I’ve learned “straight run” chickens are mostly roosters.
I’ve learned sparrows can eat a lot of chicken food.
I’ve learned when it comes to driving, you can’t teach experience. That’s something that has to come with time.
I’ve learned if Randy asks for your help he means side by side.
I’ve learned laundry, dishes and cooking are not work and are completed by elves or some other mythical creatures while you work side by side with your husband.
I’ve learned it’s more expensive to go to a potluck then it is to cook at home.
I’ve learned I really hate to talk on the phone.
I’ve learned if you’re really constipated the best thing is to relax with a glass of wine.
I’ve learned sometimes God gives you what you deserve be it good or bad.
I’ve learned no matter what the instructions say, never put the cap on a muzzleloader until it’s ready to be fired.
I’ve learned that life is short and sometimes kids don’t outlive their parents.
I’ve learned parents who have lost a child have the greatest belief in God.
I’ve learned that even a new heart condition will not make believers out of all men.
I’ve learned according to the human resources at Qwest, that new heart condition is not considered a serious illness.
I’ve learned that our insurance only pays for 40 weeks of therapy a year.
I’ve learned you can see a therapist 40 times in a year and she still will never see the outbursts.
I’ve learned the maximum amount you can put into a health care spending account is $4000 and that doesn’t even come close to covering a families total out of pocket health care even with good insurance.
I’ve learned you really can give and give and give until you’re just a hollow shell of a person.
Did I mention I’ve learned I really hate to talk on the phone?
I’ve learned I don’t even know what I’ve learned. You don’t know what you don’t know so how can you learn what you don’t know?
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Christmas 2008
Well, we made it through another Christmas season. They are never without concerns or trials. My beautiful sister fell at work and ended up with a gnarly concussion for the holiday. She was lucky to be able to join us for Christmas dinner. She has a very limited amount of time each day that she can be awake and she’s in quite a bit of pain, but she did her best to survive the wild crowd at moms.
Christmas dinner was fabulous. We had ham, turkey, and all the stuff to go with it. We were a place setting short but with all the last minute preparations it went unnoticed and with Mary’s short span of being able to participate it wasn’t a problem at all.
Mary’s X, Claudia’s dad, Jeff came to Christmas dinner with us. He and Randy sat and gabbed for quite awhile. Claudia also brought her fiancé, Lee and it’s always nice to see him. I sure hope he’s as nice all the time as he seems when he’s around us.
Bert was in good spirits and Rachael actually joined us this year. I didn’t realize it but this was her first year having Christmas with us.
Cassey and her kids were there too. It seems a little weird to have Bert’s X and her kids still joining us for Christmas but I guess just because they aren’t together anymore doesn’t mean she’s not still part of our family.
Even Celestia was in good spirits. Who can say why on that one.
Jon and Sherry seemed good and man Josie is sure growing fast. I think Jon really liked the Snoopy shirt I gave him for Christmas. He put it on right away and wore it all day. It was very cute.
I think Christmas morning was great at our house too, but boy, it’s a lot of work to be the mom. I realized quite a while ago that Randy doesn’t participate in Christmas. He really doesn’t shop, decorate, prepare meals, set up Christmas eve, wrap, or do anything else. Every now and then he asks what he can do to help, but if I told him to wrap, shop, bake, decorate etc, he would tell me I was stupid to do it and I shouldn’t go to all that work. “You create all this work for yourself, you know.” So why ask?
I realized that most of our Christmas traditions are from Randy’s family. The big breakfast Christmas morning with crepes and strawberries, orange juice etc is from Randy’s mom’s house. There are days of preparations that go into just that meal. You wouldn’t think so, but if you buy fresh strawberries you run the risk of them going moldy before Christmas morning and if you buy frozen you have to make sure and defrost them the night before. So you have to plan which kind and then if you do choose frozen, don’t forget that Santa should take them out the night before. If you choose cool whip, that has to be defrosted with the berries, but the canned stuff doesn’t. If you choose the real stuff that’s one more step in your morning process.
I don’t think the morning process would be such a big deal if I got a little bit of help cleaning up afterwards. But as soon as I’m done with breakfast, I better have dinner stuff ready too because by the time breakfast is over, it’s well after noon and we’re supposed to be at Mom’s at 2pm.
I’ve learned even if you tell people, we need to bring chairs, and not to forget the box of champagne on the front porch, they will get left behind regardless. At least mom’s is close and we’re not traveling 800 miles and forgetting the chairs.
The jello salad with applesauce is another tradition from Louise’s house and it wouldn’t be Christmas without it.
I made a couple of JoAnn’s cheesecakes for the Christmas Eve party at Todd & Polly’s, and one for mom’s house too. Normally I don’t do that but since Mary usually is in charge of desserts and with her concussion, she was very limited, I volunteered. I also got the assignment of mashed potatoes for 20 people. That in its self is a big deal. I didn’t think I had a pan big enough for that, but as it turned out, I did fine.
I still find it amazing that you can get 20 people together in a small house, everyone cooking and working around each other and the only one with a temper is me… I threw a little hissy fit when I realized how hard I was working to get everything together and my kids were playing. In addition to getting everything ready, I had to plead with them to get their dang shoes on, and after that we forgot the chairs and champagne after I had reminded everyone days in advance not to let me forget.
Anyway, that hissy fit was soon forgotten and everyone was fine.
If I have the biggest temper in the entire house, you can imagine that the merriment was abundant. No fights, no quarrels, no arguing, only love and acceptance.
Boy do I feel stupid. If I would just remember Colossians 3:23 and keep it in my heart so I would understand that this isn’t someone else’s fault.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” Would I have expected God to bring the extra chairs and the champagne? You know, I think I would have. My guess is he would have taken them without asking because he always looked for a way to serve. He would have not taken a seat at the table if we were one short.
“Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men.” (Proverbs 22:29)
So should I feel guilty because of my little outburst.
Maybe, but I’m not going to. I apologized and told everyone I was sorry and I’ve already been forgiven. 1Peter 3:18. “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.” I just need to keep my focus where it belongs and keep my focus for this holiday on Christ. The king of Kings the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and the Omega and every knee will bend and every person shall bow.
I’ve been working so hard on humility including humility with my own children. I need to value them for who they are. I also need to teach them to serve.
My sister still needs help with her concussion. The kids have each volunteered to spend an evening with Mary and they need to have the expectation of serving, not being served. Imagine what the world would be like if we were all Christ like, wanting to serve and to love.
That’s another thing I’ve really learned from my husbands family. Louise serves her children endlessly. She never complains. She is amazing. I feel the same way about JoAnn except she serves and these aren’t her biological children. Her health isn’t as good as Louise’s but in every way she is capable, she continues to serve. I never hear her complain, she just continues to serve.
I don’t have that physical example in my family. My mother isn’t capable of physically serving at all. We as her children should be honored to serve her. I think we leave a lot of that to Rosie and we shouldn’t. My mother is more of the emotional server.
How amazing is it that I would end up blessed by these women so much? How amazing is it that God would give them to me to lead me even from 800 miles away. I can only look at these woman as a gift. Something I don’t deserve. Like Grace. I don’t deserve Grace but God has given it to me.
So it comes full circle again. We celebrate the birth of Jesus and from this gift I realized I’m blessed. I’m blessed with great examples and I’m blessed by grace, that I don’t deserve.
Ephesians 2 8&9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
If I try to boast that I work hard doing everything to celebrate Christmas, I need to realize Christmas celebrates me.
Christmas dinner was fabulous. We had ham, turkey, and all the stuff to go with it. We were a place setting short but with all the last minute preparations it went unnoticed and with Mary’s short span of being able to participate it wasn’t a problem at all.
Mary’s X, Claudia’s dad, Jeff came to Christmas dinner with us. He and Randy sat and gabbed for quite awhile. Claudia also brought her fiancé, Lee and it’s always nice to see him. I sure hope he’s as nice all the time as he seems when he’s around us.
Bert was in good spirits and Rachael actually joined us this year. I didn’t realize it but this was her first year having Christmas with us.
Cassey and her kids were there too. It seems a little weird to have Bert’s X and her kids still joining us for Christmas but I guess just because they aren’t together anymore doesn’t mean she’s not still part of our family.
Even Celestia was in good spirits. Who can say why on that one.
Jon and Sherry seemed good and man Josie is sure growing fast. I think Jon really liked the Snoopy shirt I gave him for Christmas. He put it on right away and wore it all day. It was very cute.
I think Christmas morning was great at our house too, but boy, it’s a lot of work to be the mom. I realized quite a while ago that Randy doesn’t participate in Christmas. He really doesn’t shop, decorate, prepare meals, set up Christmas eve, wrap, or do anything else. Every now and then he asks what he can do to help, but if I told him to wrap, shop, bake, decorate etc, he would tell me I was stupid to do it and I shouldn’t go to all that work. “You create all this work for yourself, you know.” So why ask?
I realized that most of our Christmas traditions are from Randy’s family. The big breakfast Christmas morning with crepes and strawberries, orange juice etc is from Randy’s mom’s house. There are days of preparations that go into just that meal. You wouldn’t think so, but if you buy fresh strawberries you run the risk of them going moldy before Christmas morning and if you buy frozen you have to make sure and defrost them the night before. So you have to plan which kind and then if you do choose frozen, don’t forget that Santa should take them out the night before. If you choose cool whip, that has to be defrosted with the berries, but the canned stuff doesn’t. If you choose the real stuff that’s one more step in your morning process.
I don’t think the morning process would be such a big deal if I got a little bit of help cleaning up afterwards. But as soon as I’m done with breakfast, I better have dinner stuff ready too because by the time breakfast is over, it’s well after noon and we’re supposed to be at Mom’s at 2pm.
I’ve learned even if you tell people, we need to bring chairs, and not to forget the box of champagne on the front porch, they will get left behind regardless. At least mom’s is close and we’re not traveling 800 miles and forgetting the chairs.
The jello salad with applesauce is another tradition from Louise’s house and it wouldn’t be Christmas without it.
I made a couple of JoAnn’s cheesecakes for the Christmas Eve party at Todd & Polly’s, and one for mom’s house too. Normally I don’t do that but since Mary usually is in charge of desserts and with her concussion, she was very limited, I volunteered. I also got the assignment of mashed potatoes for 20 people. That in its self is a big deal. I didn’t think I had a pan big enough for that, but as it turned out, I did fine.
I still find it amazing that you can get 20 people together in a small house, everyone cooking and working around each other and the only one with a temper is me… I threw a little hissy fit when I realized how hard I was working to get everything together and my kids were playing. In addition to getting everything ready, I had to plead with them to get their dang shoes on, and after that we forgot the chairs and champagne after I had reminded everyone days in advance not to let me forget.
Anyway, that hissy fit was soon forgotten and everyone was fine.
If I have the biggest temper in the entire house, you can imagine that the merriment was abundant. No fights, no quarrels, no arguing, only love and acceptance.
Boy do I feel stupid. If I would just remember Colossians 3:23 and keep it in my heart so I would understand that this isn’t someone else’s fault.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” Would I have expected God to bring the extra chairs and the champagne? You know, I think I would have. My guess is he would have taken them without asking because he always looked for a way to serve. He would have not taken a seat at the table if we were one short.
“Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men.” (Proverbs 22:29)
So should I feel guilty because of my little outburst.
Maybe, but I’m not going to. I apologized and told everyone I was sorry and I’ve already been forgiven. 1Peter 3:18. “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.” I just need to keep my focus where it belongs and keep my focus for this holiday on Christ. The king of Kings the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and the Omega and every knee will bend and every person shall bow.
I’ve been working so hard on humility including humility with my own children. I need to value them for who they are. I also need to teach them to serve.
My sister still needs help with her concussion. The kids have each volunteered to spend an evening with Mary and they need to have the expectation of serving, not being served. Imagine what the world would be like if we were all Christ like, wanting to serve and to love.
That’s another thing I’ve really learned from my husbands family. Louise serves her children endlessly. She never complains. She is amazing. I feel the same way about JoAnn except she serves and these aren’t her biological children. Her health isn’t as good as Louise’s but in every way she is capable, she continues to serve. I never hear her complain, she just continues to serve.
I don’t have that physical example in my family. My mother isn’t capable of physically serving at all. We as her children should be honored to serve her. I think we leave a lot of that to Rosie and we shouldn’t. My mother is more of the emotional server.
How amazing is it that I would end up blessed by these women so much? How amazing is it that God would give them to me to lead me even from 800 miles away. I can only look at these woman as a gift. Something I don’t deserve. Like Grace. I don’t deserve Grace but God has given it to me.
So it comes full circle again. We celebrate the birth of Jesus and from this gift I realized I’m blessed. I’m blessed with great examples and I’m blessed by grace, that I don’t deserve.
Ephesians 2 8&9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
If I try to boast that I work hard doing everything to celebrate Christmas, I need to realize Christmas celebrates me.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Christmas Season
I find it amazing that the God of all creation, the one who hung the stars, who spoke and it was, chose to come to this earth, not in a fiery chariot blazing across the sky above the temple, or even in a sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer, but came as a helpless infant baby born in a cow trough. The creator of all heaven and earth came not to the religious leaders of the time, but to the poor. God, who is and was all things, was not born in a palace with angels to care for his every need, but in a manger. He came to the meekest, not to the best. He came to give us a gift, a relationship with him. So when you’re out shopping this season and you’re thinking of Christmas gifts, remember the greatest gift of all.
Monday, August 4, 2008
r yacht
We own a 1956 14 ft aluminum fishing boat. It is nothing special to anyone’s eye except mine. Some would go as far as to say it’s an eye sore. Do you know how a fishing boat can be an eye soar? The person who owned it before us painted the bow glossy silver with a paint brush. It’s hard to get a nice high gloss with a paint brush and why would you want something reflective and glossy on the bow of a boat? The first time we took it out, the reflection off the gloss nearly blinded me.
The trailer is so small we can’t even haul a full cooler in it without the worry of it causing the wheel wells to rub. Everything must be loaded in the truck on the way up to the lake and then loaded in the boat when we launch it.
It’s usually my job to back the trailer into the water so my husband can fight with getting the 6 horse power, Johnson Sea Horse motor to start. The motor is almost as old as I am so that’s not always an easy task. I’ve learned the best place for me when there is motor trouble, is as far away from my husband as possible. Even if I’m just trying to hand him tools, my very presence makes him uneasy. Yep, the truck is the place to be when the boat first goes in the water.
I’m not a very good backer of trailers. I’m an over the shoulder backer and I have to be able to see the boat to think in my head, tongue this way, back of the boat that way. I’ve heard the “put your hand at the bottom of the steering wheel and turn your hand the way you want something to go… I can’t remember if it’s the front of the boat or the back of the boat, but nothing works for me except looking over my shoulder. Of course this makes my husband even more uneasy because I should learn to back a trailer with the mirrors and this tiny aluminum fishing boat is a perfect example of why. You can’t see the boat because it’s narrower than the truck. I have to stand on the pedals while I’m backing. I have to look out the back window at the trailer to know which way the trailer is going.
I doubt you’d know this but if you’re standing on the break, craning your neck to look out the back window at a trailer that is barely visible, trying to remember tongue this way, back of the boat that way, you can sometimes forget which pedal is which. I think this is caused by thinking, “to go left, I turn right.” This is even more complicated when you normally drive an automatic and you’re behind the wheel of a clutch thinking left is right and right is left. The truth is, I’m lucky my husband is still alive after all of the times I’ve jerked the truck so bad I tried to knock him out of the boat. I’ve thought of installing a seat belt so he couldn’t fly out of the boat seat but I don’t think the coast guard would approve of such a device. Since I always get caught when I try to break the rules, I don’t think I even want to attempt the seat belt on a boat seat rule.
Who among us has never tried to launch a boat while it was still connected to the trailer? I’ll tell you who; everyone who has never owned a boat. So I’ve tried to launch my husband and keep the boat on the trailer. That’s not bad considering all of the times we’ve taken “R Yacht” out fishing.
R Yacht. Nice name for a 14 foot eye sore isn’t it? It got it’s name because it isn’t and never will be a yacht, but when we tell people we’re taking R Yacht out for the weekend they are impressed. They think big and grandiose and we try to remember that when there are four or even five people sitting in it and nothing anywhere is out of reach. Someone in the boat, no matter where they are sitting, can reach everything in the boat without even leaning forward.
So what is a typical day like in R Yacht? Well, we start the day by loading all the fishing gear and a cooler in the truck and instead of backing up to the trailer to attach it to the truck we pick up the ball end of the trailer and roll it to the truck. It’s light, it’s easy and no one needs to be guided back to just the right spot. (You see, my husband knows I’m not a very good backer.) Then we stop at the gas station and fill the 6 gallon red plastic gas tank with gas. It’s high tech. We drive to the lake launching area and we all get out and load the cooler and the fishing gear in the boat and my husband backs the boat down the ramp until he can get in the boat without getting wet. My job is just to back it down the extra 10 feet. I back it in the water and wait patiently until the kids are loaded and my husband is sure the motor will start. When it doesn’t start, I only have to drive straight up the ramp to a shady spot where he can work on it. I stay far, far away until he’s fixed the problem. Then, because he’s a smart man and doesn’t want to spend the rest of the day telling me how to back a trailer, he climbs back in the truck and backs the trailer to the edge of the water. One of three things can happen at this point.
We can either forget to put the plug in, requiring I pull forward just far enough so he can do this without getting too wet but not so far that he has to fear for his life and I try to back up down the ramp.
The second option is, we remembered to put the plug in, but forgot to unhook the boat from the trailer. This is my favorite mistake to make because over the years my husband has learned to make this mistake look like he meant to do that. The third option is we did everything right, the motor starts and he pulls away, a tiny little boat in the middle of dozens of speed boats in a vast lake. At this point I pull out of the water and desperately search for that one parking place I don’t have to back in to. It has to be the perfect one that is a pull through so when it’s time to leave I don’t have to back up. It might be 3 miles down the road and it might be that I just pull off on the side of the road, but better to walk 3 miles then to back the trailer into someone else’s trailer or even worse, into the side of a mountain. You see when you back into the side of a mountain the mountain usually wins, but that’s another story.
By the time I make it down to the boat dock, the kids have devoured most of the snacks I brought and have each spilled a soda in the bottom of the boat. I climb in taking my seat and my weight shifts the boat so bad, momentarily I feel like we’re going to capsize, and we’re off.
I like to drift fish. I like to put a worm on a bottom bouncer, open a book and drift. Once you get to the other side of the lake you motor back to where the wind meets the shore and you start over. I think my husband likes to troll because it’s a motor thing. Men like motors. With the history we have of being able to start a motor once and if it dies, not being able to start it again, I can understand my husband’s love for trolling. Basically, it’s, “don’t turn the motor off or it may not start again.” I hate to get stuck in the middle of a lake with no way to shore so I like to troll too.
My father liked an orange diving Rapala and to this day it’s always been one of our favorite lures, but nothing beats a worm. However, my husband’s love for using worms ends right before pop gear. He hates pop gear. He says it takes all of the fight out of the fish and you can’t tell when you get hits. I agree and that’s probably why I like to drift. I love that nibble nibble nibble you get right before a good strike and there’s no better sound then the zzzzzzz you get when a fish starts to take the line from your reel.
So there we are, traveling the enormous lake in R Yacht pulling a wedding ring and a worm through the water at the break neck pace a six horse power motor can propel four or five people, when one of the poles bends like a sapling in a hurricane and someone in the boat yells, “Fish on!” What happens next is symphony in motion. My husband puts the sea horse in idol and hands the pole to one of my children who either frantically tries to reel up as fast as they can or who plays with the fish, depending on which grandpa had the most influence on their fishing style. I reach behind me for the net, which is stuck under the seat and usually requires some kind of English to get it released. I get the handle extended to full length and hand it over to my husband who is coaxing the child on where the tip of the pole needs to be in order to make his catch possible. With a dip and a scoop we have a fish in a net and somehow or another, if I’ve remembered to attach the stringer on the boat and not just throw it in the lake, (again another story) we have a fish on the stringer and we’re off again. Sometimes the action is fast and furious and sometimes we joke about smelling of skunk but either way the day always ends too soon.
My husband motors back to the dock where I make the three mile hike to that one perfect parking spot. I drive back to the loading dock and stand on the clutch and the break as I look back over my shoulder to back the boat. As long as the trailer isn’t at a 90 degree angle my husband can usually load the boat on the trailer without having to get out and reback the truck.
I lurch forward wishing for the boat seat seatbelt and hoping our health insurance will cover his whiplash induced by me and that both children are still alive. We wonder, “What are the poor people doing today?” You see, R Yacht, might be an eye sore to you, but to us it is a fabulous adventure so full of laughs and good times we even forget we have to worry about the wheel wells rubbing on the tires.
The trailer is so small we can’t even haul a full cooler in it without the worry of it causing the wheel wells to rub. Everything must be loaded in the truck on the way up to the lake and then loaded in the boat when we launch it.
It’s usually my job to back the trailer into the water so my husband can fight with getting the 6 horse power, Johnson Sea Horse motor to start. The motor is almost as old as I am so that’s not always an easy task. I’ve learned the best place for me when there is motor trouble, is as far away from my husband as possible. Even if I’m just trying to hand him tools, my very presence makes him uneasy. Yep, the truck is the place to be when the boat first goes in the water.
I’m not a very good backer of trailers. I’m an over the shoulder backer and I have to be able to see the boat to think in my head, tongue this way, back of the boat that way. I’ve heard the “put your hand at the bottom of the steering wheel and turn your hand the way you want something to go… I can’t remember if it’s the front of the boat or the back of the boat, but nothing works for me except looking over my shoulder. Of course this makes my husband even more uneasy because I should learn to back a trailer with the mirrors and this tiny aluminum fishing boat is a perfect example of why. You can’t see the boat because it’s narrower than the truck. I have to stand on the pedals while I’m backing. I have to look out the back window at the trailer to know which way the trailer is going.
I doubt you’d know this but if you’re standing on the break, craning your neck to look out the back window at a trailer that is barely visible, trying to remember tongue this way, back of the boat that way, you can sometimes forget which pedal is which. I think this is caused by thinking, “to go left, I turn right.” This is even more complicated when you normally drive an automatic and you’re behind the wheel of a clutch thinking left is right and right is left. The truth is, I’m lucky my husband is still alive after all of the times I’ve jerked the truck so bad I tried to knock him out of the boat. I’ve thought of installing a seat belt so he couldn’t fly out of the boat seat but I don’t think the coast guard would approve of such a device. Since I always get caught when I try to break the rules, I don’t think I even want to attempt the seat belt on a boat seat rule.
Who among us has never tried to launch a boat while it was still connected to the trailer? I’ll tell you who; everyone who has never owned a boat. So I’ve tried to launch my husband and keep the boat on the trailer. That’s not bad considering all of the times we’ve taken “R Yacht” out fishing.
R Yacht. Nice name for a 14 foot eye sore isn’t it? It got it’s name because it isn’t and never will be a yacht, but when we tell people we’re taking R Yacht out for the weekend they are impressed. They think big and grandiose and we try to remember that when there are four or even five people sitting in it and nothing anywhere is out of reach. Someone in the boat, no matter where they are sitting, can reach everything in the boat without even leaning forward.
So what is a typical day like in R Yacht? Well, we start the day by loading all the fishing gear and a cooler in the truck and instead of backing up to the trailer to attach it to the truck we pick up the ball end of the trailer and roll it to the truck. It’s light, it’s easy and no one needs to be guided back to just the right spot. (You see, my husband knows I’m not a very good backer.) Then we stop at the gas station and fill the 6 gallon red plastic gas tank with gas. It’s high tech. We drive to the lake launching area and we all get out and load the cooler and the fishing gear in the boat and my husband backs the boat down the ramp until he can get in the boat without getting wet. My job is just to back it down the extra 10 feet. I back it in the water and wait patiently until the kids are loaded and my husband is sure the motor will start. When it doesn’t start, I only have to drive straight up the ramp to a shady spot where he can work on it. I stay far, far away until he’s fixed the problem. Then, because he’s a smart man and doesn’t want to spend the rest of the day telling me how to back a trailer, he climbs back in the truck and backs the trailer to the edge of the water. One of three things can happen at this point.
We can either forget to put the plug in, requiring I pull forward just far enough so he can do this without getting too wet but not so far that he has to fear for his life and I try to back up down the ramp.
The second option is, we remembered to put the plug in, but forgot to unhook the boat from the trailer. This is my favorite mistake to make because over the years my husband has learned to make this mistake look like he meant to do that. The third option is we did everything right, the motor starts and he pulls away, a tiny little boat in the middle of dozens of speed boats in a vast lake. At this point I pull out of the water and desperately search for that one parking place I don’t have to back in to. It has to be the perfect one that is a pull through so when it’s time to leave I don’t have to back up. It might be 3 miles down the road and it might be that I just pull off on the side of the road, but better to walk 3 miles then to back the trailer into someone else’s trailer or even worse, into the side of a mountain. You see when you back into the side of a mountain the mountain usually wins, but that’s another story.
By the time I make it down to the boat dock, the kids have devoured most of the snacks I brought and have each spilled a soda in the bottom of the boat. I climb in taking my seat and my weight shifts the boat so bad, momentarily I feel like we’re going to capsize, and we’re off.
I like to drift fish. I like to put a worm on a bottom bouncer, open a book and drift. Once you get to the other side of the lake you motor back to where the wind meets the shore and you start over. I think my husband likes to troll because it’s a motor thing. Men like motors. With the history we have of being able to start a motor once and if it dies, not being able to start it again, I can understand my husband’s love for trolling. Basically, it’s, “don’t turn the motor off or it may not start again.” I hate to get stuck in the middle of a lake with no way to shore so I like to troll too.
My father liked an orange diving Rapala and to this day it’s always been one of our favorite lures, but nothing beats a worm. However, my husband’s love for using worms ends right before pop gear. He hates pop gear. He says it takes all of the fight out of the fish and you can’t tell when you get hits. I agree and that’s probably why I like to drift. I love that nibble nibble nibble you get right before a good strike and there’s no better sound then the zzzzzzz you get when a fish starts to take the line from your reel.
So there we are, traveling the enormous lake in R Yacht pulling a wedding ring and a worm through the water at the break neck pace a six horse power motor can propel four or five people, when one of the poles bends like a sapling in a hurricane and someone in the boat yells, “Fish on!” What happens next is symphony in motion. My husband puts the sea horse in idol and hands the pole to one of my children who either frantically tries to reel up as fast as they can or who plays with the fish, depending on which grandpa had the most influence on their fishing style. I reach behind me for the net, which is stuck under the seat and usually requires some kind of English to get it released. I get the handle extended to full length and hand it over to my husband who is coaxing the child on where the tip of the pole needs to be in order to make his catch possible. With a dip and a scoop we have a fish in a net and somehow or another, if I’ve remembered to attach the stringer on the boat and not just throw it in the lake, (again another story) we have a fish on the stringer and we’re off again. Sometimes the action is fast and furious and sometimes we joke about smelling of skunk but either way the day always ends too soon.
My husband motors back to the dock where I make the three mile hike to that one perfect parking spot. I drive back to the loading dock and stand on the clutch and the break as I look back over my shoulder to back the boat. As long as the trailer isn’t at a 90 degree angle my husband can usually load the boat on the trailer without having to get out and reback the truck.
I lurch forward wishing for the boat seat seatbelt and hoping our health insurance will cover his whiplash induced by me and that both children are still alive. We wonder, “What are the poor people doing today?” You see, R Yacht, might be an eye sore to you, but to us it is a fabulous adventure so full of laughs and good times we even forget we have to worry about the wheel wells rubbing on the tires.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Rosie
What a roller coaster life.
My darling Reanna had decided she needs a new puppy. She has been HOUNDING me for weeks. At first I thought her BARK WAS WORSE THEN HER BITE but the need seemed to be growing. She was GROWLEY and began to show signs of RABIES. I was in the DOG HOUSE. Randy finally got her convinced that the two dogs we had were more then enough and since Rosie has had a cough for about a month, Reanna decided to treat her like a PUPPY. She brought Rosie in the house and bathed her and pampered her. She had Rosie sleeping in her bed and was really given her the royal canine treatment. Last month when we took Rosie to the vet, the vet thought she had kennel cough even though she had been vaccinated. Over the past week we saw that she was really beginning to struggle with breathing. We took her back to the vet on Friday and he did an x-ray of her lungs. Our poor little Rosie dog had very advanced lung cancer. The vet gave her days, not even weeks because of how quick it was advancing. Just one month ago he couldn’t detect it in her yearly exam and exactly 3 weeks and 6 days later, it had filled one lung completely, and 70% of the other lung. It had even completely taken over her bronchial tubes.
Sometimes, God has our children throw fits to remind us to take care of what we have. If Reanna hadn’t wanted a puppy so badly, we might not have brought Rosie in the house in her last few days of life and treated her like royalty. She might not have been pampered and cared for while she was in pain.
Our God, is a powerful God. Our God is a loving God.
I have had a bad month with death. April 15 I lost my grandmother, two weekends ago a dear friend lost her 23 year old son in an accident and Saturday, I lost my dog. I’m really not afraid of dying and I’m not sad for the ones that pass before me. I’m only sad for myself for not loving everyone and everything as much as I should.
The new puppy… (You didn’t think Reanna was going to let us get out of getting a new puppy did you?) is a yellow lab. Her mom is chocolate and her dad is yellow. She is yellow with a light brown nose. Hopefully that means the chocolate gene is fairly strong in her and if we ever decide to breed her, she could possibly throw chocolates. Reanna has named her Abigail von Happy Tail Duckworth. We are just going to call her Ducky. We’ll see what God has planned for us on this new adventure.
My darling Reanna had decided she needs a new puppy. She has been HOUNDING me for weeks. At first I thought her BARK WAS WORSE THEN HER BITE but the need seemed to be growing. She was GROWLEY and began to show signs of RABIES. I was in the DOG HOUSE. Randy finally got her convinced that the two dogs we had were more then enough and since Rosie has had a cough for about a month, Reanna decided to treat her like a PUPPY. She brought Rosie in the house and bathed her and pampered her. She had Rosie sleeping in her bed and was really given her the royal canine treatment. Last month when we took Rosie to the vet, the vet thought she had kennel cough even though she had been vaccinated. Over the past week we saw that she was really beginning to struggle with breathing. We took her back to the vet on Friday and he did an x-ray of her lungs. Our poor little Rosie dog had very advanced lung cancer. The vet gave her days, not even weeks because of how quick it was advancing. Just one month ago he couldn’t detect it in her yearly exam and exactly 3 weeks and 6 days later, it had filled one lung completely, and 70% of the other lung. It had even completely taken over her bronchial tubes.
Sometimes, God has our children throw fits to remind us to take care of what we have. If Reanna hadn’t wanted a puppy so badly, we might not have brought Rosie in the house in her last few days of life and treated her like royalty. She might not have been pampered and cared for while she was in pain.
Our God, is a powerful God. Our God is a loving God.
I have had a bad month with death. April 15 I lost my grandmother, two weekends ago a dear friend lost her 23 year old son in an accident and Saturday, I lost my dog. I’m really not afraid of dying and I’m not sad for the ones that pass before me. I’m only sad for myself for not loving everyone and everything as much as I should.
The new puppy… (You didn’t think Reanna was going to let us get out of getting a new puppy did you?) is a yellow lab. Her mom is chocolate and her dad is yellow. She is yellow with a light brown nose. Hopefully that means the chocolate gene is fairly strong in her and if we ever decide to breed her, she could possibly throw chocolates. Reanna has named her Abigail von Happy Tail Duckworth. We are just going to call her Ducky. We’ll see what God has planned for us on this new adventure.
Friday, April 25, 2008
How to get rid of a man.
This is advise I learned from my Grandmother. I'm going to miss grandma but she was ready to go. She was mad that no one had come to pick her up. She'd say, "Why aren't they here yet?" I should have been gone years ago." She was a funny lady. She had been carrying on about it for awhile. She said my dad had come to get her, and her first husband had come to get her, but she was waiting for her last husband and dang it, she wasn't going til he showed up. Then she would talk about how he was always letting her down. He was never there to pick her up when he was supposed to. She would tell the story about when she met him. She went to a party with a friend and met him there and then she could never get rid of him. She'd wake up in the morning and he'd be sitting on her front porch and invite himself in for coffee. She'd come home from work and he'd be sitting on her front porch waiting for dinner. She said, "I couldn't get rid of him." Then in a stroke of brilliance she realized if she married him, he'd never be where he was supposed to be and "Voila! Now you know, according to my grandmother, how to get rid of a man.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
church
Last week in chruch we talked about Ruth. Your land will be my land, your people my people and your God my God. The girls and I had discussions about them looking for our own Boaz. Our pastor is so wonderful. He pointed out to the men in the congregation that before he talked to the girl, HE HAD A JOB! Then he mentioned before he talked to her he protected her. He admired her from afar but guarded his heart. My girls went home sure they want a Boaz not some joker that doesn’t have their best interest at heart.
Wow, I love the way God puts his will in our life. We think we’re in charge and doing what we want to do and all of the sudden he speaks to us.
This week, we talked about David. A poor shepherd that even his own family didn’t believe in. David marched to the beat of a different drummer. Literally. I imagine if he lived today he would be a very skinny, scrawny long haired, poorly tattooed kid with ear phones listing to an ipod and dancing the most ridiculous dance, singing out loud, out of tune and enjoying every minute of it.
My kids were so inspired they came home and opened their bibles to the psalms. Wow, how does a pastor do that? Say things to them that make them excited to go home and read the psalms? I’m amazed. I’m in love with God for putting these people in my life to help me bring the important things to the attention of my children.
I truly am blessed!
Wow, I love the way God puts his will in our life. We think we’re in charge and doing what we want to do and all of the sudden he speaks to us.
This week, we talked about David. A poor shepherd that even his own family didn’t believe in. David marched to the beat of a different drummer. Literally. I imagine if he lived today he would be a very skinny, scrawny long haired, poorly tattooed kid with ear phones listing to an ipod and dancing the most ridiculous dance, singing out loud, out of tune and enjoying every minute of it.
My kids were so inspired they came home and opened their bibles to the psalms. Wow, how does a pastor do that? Say things to them that make them excited to go home and read the psalms? I’m amazed. I’m in love with God for putting these people in my life to help me bring the important things to the attention of my children.
I truly am blessed!
life
Life really is short isn't it? Even if you live to be 90 years old like my grandmother do you ever accomplish what you want to accomplish? It was amazing to really experience the difference between my dad’s funeral, my grandmother’s funeral and the last funeral I cooked for, my Great Aunt Betty. Wow. I’m amazed. My dad’s funeral wasn’t a somber experience. It was sad, but don’t confuse our mourning with grief for the deceased. My dad lived. I don’t know a better way to say that. His life was something you could stand in front of a group of people that loved him and talk for half an hour and just tell his stories. People laughed. He was fun, he was kind and he was loving. He was everything you’d ever want in a dad.
Does that mean my grandmother was less? No, but she was different. My grandmother lived her entire life serving others. She wasn’t funny. She didn’t paint for sale on the school house. She didn’t put a cow in the gym. She didn’t talk her way out of traffic tickets. She didn’t borrow $10 to go to the liquor store. Instead she stood in the background making boiled raisin cake, baked beans and sloppy Joes. She canned her own chili sauce and beets. She could mash potatoes at 80 years old with strength I didn’t have at 30. No one had anything funny to say at her funeral. All they talked about was her service.
So was my Great Aunt Betty’s funeral based on service or based on fun? No, hers was based on love. She was the kindest most loving person I’ve ever known. She was a fierce mama bear and her cubs, not just her son, but anyone she loved, knew there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for them. At the same time she was more delicate then my grandmother. Her voice was softer and her words always kind.
So when you ask yourself why I’m such a smart alec, you can know it’s in my genes. When you ask why would you ever volunteer to do the things you do, you can know it’s in my genes. When you ask how could you love so fiercely or care for so many? It’s in my genes. How lucky am I?
Does that mean my grandmother was less? No, but she was different. My grandmother lived her entire life serving others. She wasn’t funny. She didn’t paint for sale on the school house. She didn’t put a cow in the gym. She didn’t talk her way out of traffic tickets. She didn’t borrow $10 to go to the liquor store. Instead she stood in the background making boiled raisin cake, baked beans and sloppy Joes. She canned her own chili sauce and beets. She could mash potatoes at 80 years old with strength I didn’t have at 30. No one had anything funny to say at her funeral. All they talked about was her service.
So was my Great Aunt Betty’s funeral based on service or based on fun? No, hers was based on love. She was the kindest most loving person I’ve ever known. She was a fierce mama bear and her cubs, not just her son, but anyone she loved, knew there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for them. At the same time she was more delicate then my grandmother. Her voice was softer and her words always kind.
So when you ask yourself why I’m such a smart alec, you can know it’s in my genes. When you ask why would you ever volunteer to do the things you do, you can know it’s in my genes. When you ask how could you love so fiercely or care for so many? It’s in my genes. How lucky am I?
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Pocatello.... the results...
Life in Pocatello wasn’t easy. First, I talked Aunt Rosie into coming with us. I am so lucky that Aunt Rosie supports my children in all their endeavors. She knows what to say when any of my children are upset. She knows how to make light of a difficult situation. She knows how to keep my kids in adventure mode. She knows how to make them sing when they are upset. I am sooooo blessed to have her for my sister.
When I asked her to come, she paused and said, “I can’t think of any reason I can’t go.” So six of us packed tight in a car made for 5 and six of us slept in a room made for four. We were close but that part was easy. Love grows in small places.
The hard part was the games. Oh my gosh! The first game we started out six to nothing. I like games like that. Reanna has had that hurt tendon in her knee and wasn’t able to play as much as she normally does. When she was pulled out partly to rest her knee and partly because they combined the 3rd grade and 4th grade team so they had to let everyone play the other team took the lead. They were up by 1 point with about 30 seconds left in the game. We did score but I’m pretty sure that kind of game ages my 30 years. The second game was much better. The kind I really like. It was 34 to 6 I think, something right around there. Then we learned the second team had played the first team and when the person we talked to who had watched the game, had left the night before, the second team was winning. For some reason we could handle that second team better then the first team.
The next game, just because of how the wins losses went, was against that first team again but the outcome wasn’t as pretty. It was basically the same story but in the last 30 seconds they scored again and we didn’t so we lost to them by three.
The fourth game we played the second team again and the score was about 24 or 26 to 1. Then those two teams played each other to see who would play us in the finals. Of course we were all cheering for the second team. However, the first team won. The championship game against the second team was following the same routine as the first two games against them. We ended up down by 2 with just seconds to go and we scored to send the game into overtime. Now if the regular game aged me 30 years an overtime game aged me 100. After that weekend I’m officially 200 years old. Overtime was 3 minutes and after about the first minutes and our little player who is no bigger then a bug made a bucket. For 3rd and 4th graders it’s not unusual to go 3 minutes or 6 minutes or even an entire quarter with just a single bucket. That one bucket allowed me to breath. The same little bug got fouled and made a single free throw and then the other team scored. We were up by 1 point and time was running out. We tossed the ball in from the other end and Randy said he hates this kind of thing. This is the kind of play where the other team can steal the ball in the inbound and because our team is on the other side of the court, when they steal the ball there’s no one to stop them.
That’s exactly what happened. The ball was thrown in and the other team stole it and headed to their basket for a free lay up while all of our girls were down on the other end. Remember we are up by 1 point so this basket will put them ahead. Every now and then God just smiles on you for no apparent reason and the lay up was missed. We got the rebound and at our end another bucket and the buzzer sounded. We won by three points. Our girls are all champions! It was sooooooooo worth it.
Before we left to go to Pocatello, we made a poster to support our team. The one game we lost, we didn’t have the poster with us. We made sure it went with us to every other game and it became the good luck poster. Now I think we’ll be keeping that poster with us for every game forever.
Pocatello wasn’t easy on us. We didn’t win without working for it. But we won and we have another basketball champion among us.
We also have some fantastic basketball supporters including Aunt Rosie who is always there for my kids. Another big surprise was Squishy who has never liked attending sporting events. She really is coming a long way into being a fun, happy kid. I think she even had a good time. I think everyone had a good time.
When I asked her to come, she paused and said, “I can’t think of any reason I can’t go.” So six of us packed tight in a car made for 5 and six of us slept in a room made for four. We were close but that part was easy. Love grows in small places.
The hard part was the games. Oh my gosh! The first game we started out six to nothing. I like games like that. Reanna has had that hurt tendon in her knee and wasn’t able to play as much as she normally does. When she was pulled out partly to rest her knee and partly because they combined the 3rd grade and 4th grade team so they had to let everyone play the other team took the lead. They were up by 1 point with about 30 seconds left in the game. We did score but I’m pretty sure that kind of game ages my 30 years. The second game was much better. The kind I really like. It was 34 to 6 I think, something right around there. Then we learned the second team had played the first team and when the person we talked to who had watched the game, had left the night before, the second team was winning. For some reason we could handle that second team better then the first team.
The next game, just because of how the wins losses went, was against that first team again but the outcome wasn’t as pretty. It was basically the same story but in the last 30 seconds they scored again and we didn’t so we lost to them by three.
The fourth game we played the second team again and the score was about 24 or 26 to 1. Then those two teams played each other to see who would play us in the finals. Of course we were all cheering for the second team. However, the first team won. The championship game against the second team was following the same routine as the first two games against them. We ended up down by 2 with just seconds to go and we scored to send the game into overtime. Now if the regular game aged me 30 years an overtime game aged me 100. After that weekend I’m officially 200 years old. Overtime was 3 minutes and after about the first minutes and our little player who is no bigger then a bug made a bucket. For 3rd and 4th graders it’s not unusual to go 3 minutes or 6 minutes or even an entire quarter with just a single bucket. That one bucket allowed me to breath. The same little bug got fouled and made a single free throw and then the other team scored. We were up by 1 point and time was running out. We tossed the ball in from the other end and Randy said he hates this kind of thing. This is the kind of play where the other team can steal the ball in the inbound and because our team is on the other side of the court, when they steal the ball there’s no one to stop them.
That’s exactly what happened. The ball was thrown in and the other team stole it and headed to their basket for a free lay up while all of our girls were down on the other end. Remember we are up by 1 point so this basket will put them ahead. Every now and then God just smiles on you for no apparent reason and the lay up was missed. We got the rebound and at our end another bucket and the buzzer sounded. We won by three points. Our girls are all champions! It was sooooooooo worth it.
Before we left to go to Pocatello, we made a poster to support our team. The one game we lost, we didn’t have the poster with us. We made sure it went with us to every other game and it became the good luck poster. Now I think we’ll be keeping that poster with us for every game forever.
Pocatello wasn’t easy on us. We didn’t win without working for it. But we won and we have another basketball champion among us.
We also have some fantastic basketball supporters including Aunt Rosie who is always there for my kids. Another big surprise was Squishy who has never liked attending sporting events. She really is coming a long way into being a fun, happy kid. I think she even had a good time. I think everyone had a good time.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
pocatello
Life in Pocatello seems to be going great. The first game was so close; nail biter doesn’t do it justice. With less than a minute we were down by one. Our littlest, youngest player dribbled the ball and went straight to the hoop and we were up by one. However, there was still plenty of time and all they needed was one basket. We did end up winning but holy mackerel. Could it have been closer?
When the game was over I told Reanna it was too close., I told her I wanted this morning’s game to be more like 20 to 2, or 40 to 4, I told her I don’t freak out as much when there is a bigger point spread. Reanna is a fabulous at doing things just the way she’s told. When her team had 16 points the other team got 1 point for a foul shot. It’s a funny rule in this league. Instead of shooting free throws when you’re fouled in the process of shooting, you get one point and the game goes on. When the other team got their second point, we had 18 points but Reanna knew that’s not what I wanted so she scored another bucket and came down the court gesturing that it was 20 to 2. She did a fabulous job keeping the score right where I wanted her to. The final score was 34 to 2. I was so excited because about 2 weeks ago she pulled a tendon in her knee and she hasn’t really been able to practice. She hustled and made shots and did a fabulous job. The girls are playing in a 4th grade tournament and half of our team is third graders so the fact that so far we are undefeated is pretty cool.
We drug Aunt Rosie with us and Squishy too and we only reserved one room so we’re back to 6 people, 1 room and 1 bathroom. We’re okay though. We’re doing well. We brought an air mattress and we blew it up right before bed. We let the air out first thing this morning so no one would know we’re
The bad part was I sent Randy to pick up the rental car and he decided to spend the extra $5 a day and get a fancy SUV. It’s a black Ford edge. Very nice ride but he missed the idea of good gas mileage. He told me never to send a man to pick up a rental car. He’ll always come home with the good looking one. The back windows in this car are very tinted and so when the girls took the window paint and painted the windows to say GO TIGERS! It really stands out and looks great.
We think there’s a spring fair down by the university so we’re going to head over there for awhile. Reanna’s next game is at 7pm and then another one at 9pm so it’ll be a late night. I’ll let you know how it ends up.
Xoxox
Karen
When the game was over I told Reanna it was too close., I told her I wanted this morning’s game to be more like 20 to 2, or 40 to 4, I told her I don’t freak out as much when there is a bigger point spread. Reanna is a fabulous at doing things just the way she’s told. When her team had 16 points the other team got 1 point for a foul shot. It’s a funny rule in this league. Instead of shooting free throws when you’re fouled in the process of shooting, you get one point and the game goes on. When the other team got their second point, we had 18 points but Reanna knew that’s not what I wanted so she scored another bucket and came down the court gesturing that it was 20 to 2. She did a fabulous job keeping the score right where I wanted her to. The final score was 34 to 2. I was so excited because about 2 weeks ago she pulled a tendon in her knee and she hasn’t really been able to practice. She hustled and made shots and did a fabulous job. The girls are playing in a 4th grade tournament and half of our team is third graders so the fact that so far we are undefeated is pretty cool.
We drug Aunt Rosie with us and Squishy too and we only reserved one room so we’re back to 6 people, 1 room and 1 bathroom. We’re okay though. We’re doing well. We brought an air mattress and we blew it up right before bed. We let the air out first thing this morning so no one would know we’re
The bad part was I sent Randy to pick up the rental car and he decided to spend the extra $5 a day and get a fancy SUV. It’s a black Ford edge. Very nice ride but he missed the idea of good gas mileage. He told me never to send a man to pick up a rental car. He’ll always come home with the good looking one. The back windows in this car are very tinted and so when the girls took the window paint and painted the windows to say GO TIGERS! It really stands out and looks great.
We think there’s a spring fair down by the university so we’re going to head over there for awhile. Reanna’s next game is at 7pm and then another one at 9pm so it’ll be a late night. I’ll let you know how it ends up.
Xoxox
Karen
Friday, March 28, 2008
pocatello
Pocatello, here we come.
Reanna has a basketball tournament in Pocatello starting today. So we’re off to Pocatello. About 5 minutes before we’re ready to leave, Reanna says she has a sore throat. We checked it and… yikes…. We ran her to the doctor and he said the rapid strep test was negative so we’re still off to Pocatello.
We’ll write when we get there.
Reanna has a basketball tournament in Pocatello starting today. So we’re off to Pocatello. About 5 minutes before we’re ready to leave, Reanna says she has a sore throat. We checked it and… yikes…. We ran her to the doctor and he said the rapid strep test was negative so we’re still off to Pocatello.
We’ll write when we get there.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
St. George
Oh boy, what a life we have. Could we be more blessed?
This weekend we went to St. George for a softball tournament that Raina’s high school team was playing in. Now we knew when the coach told us last year they had broken the curse and they actually won a game, that a game meant 1 game the whole season and since there were only 5 return players and a couple of them shouldn’t have returned, that our expectations shouldn’t be too high. It’s nice to have very low expectations so you can focus on fun. If you’re expecting me to say we won all our games, you weren’t listening. We lost the first four games by the mercy rule. Once a team gets way too far ahead, they call the game so it’s not too embarrassing for the loosing team. Then the team with the worst record played the team with the equally bad record. Both teams had lost 4 games by the mercy rule. It was a close game. Time ended up running out and… yes, it’s true. Raina’s team won their 2nd game in two years.
Raina played center field in the first game. First base in the second, third and forth game and third in the winning game. I think this means she’s going to letter in her freshman year in softball. I was amazed at how wonderful her team captain Alex is. She is so supportive and caring to the freshmen. She is a fabulous kid. There is one girl on the team who is a fabulous softball player. If all the girls were as good as she is, they’d never loose a game. But one girl doesn’t make a team. She’s a senior and I’m beginning to think that by the time Raina’s class are seniors East might really have a team. A lot of these girls are kids Raina had in her elementary school from kindergarten on up and kids I’ve known since then. They were at Raina’s birthday parties and I’ve watched them grow up. I feel like they are my girls.
We drove home with a van full of “my” girls in a blizzard. I’m not talking about a little snow. I’m talking about white out blizzard. Then to top it all off, I left my purse in Cedar City and didn’t realize it until we got home.
It could have been a ton worse.
Reanna had a good time. She spent a lot of quality time with her dad playing catch. We found a room when we were told there were no rooms. We didn’t break down on the way there or on the way back and since the van has close to 210,000 miles that’s saying something. Now tell me, isn’t that blessed. The kids were all great. Not a single outbreak from anyone and everyone behaved. It was a great weekend.
This weekend we went to St. George for a softball tournament that Raina’s high school team was playing in. Now we knew when the coach told us last year they had broken the curse and they actually won a game, that a game meant 1 game the whole season and since there were only 5 return players and a couple of them shouldn’t have returned, that our expectations shouldn’t be too high. It’s nice to have very low expectations so you can focus on fun. If you’re expecting me to say we won all our games, you weren’t listening. We lost the first four games by the mercy rule. Once a team gets way too far ahead, they call the game so it’s not too embarrassing for the loosing team. Then the team with the worst record played the team with the equally bad record. Both teams had lost 4 games by the mercy rule. It was a close game. Time ended up running out and… yes, it’s true. Raina’s team won their 2nd game in two years.
Raina played center field in the first game. First base in the second, third and forth game and third in the winning game. I think this means she’s going to letter in her freshman year in softball. I was amazed at how wonderful her team captain Alex is. She is so supportive and caring to the freshmen. She is a fabulous kid. There is one girl on the team who is a fabulous softball player. If all the girls were as good as she is, they’d never loose a game. But one girl doesn’t make a team. She’s a senior and I’m beginning to think that by the time Raina’s class are seniors East might really have a team. A lot of these girls are kids Raina had in her elementary school from kindergarten on up and kids I’ve known since then. They were at Raina’s birthday parties and I’ve watched them grow up. I feel like they are my girls.
We drove home with a van full of “my” girls in a blizzard. I’m not talking about a little snow. I’m talking about white out blizzard. Then to top it all off, I left my purse in Cedar City and didn’t realize it until we got home.
It could have been a ton worse.
Reanna had a good time. She spent a lot of quality time with her dad playing catch. We found a room when we were told there were no rooms. We didn’t break down on the way there or on the way back and since the van has close to 210,000 miles that’s saying something. Now tell me, isn’t that blessed. The kids were all great. Not a single outbreak from anyone and everyone behaved. It was a great weekend.
Friday, February 29, 2008
In everything in life there is some kind of art. There is art in reading a radiology report and there is art in dipping chocolates. Today we’re laughing because of the differences in art.
Yesterday, at the youth group at church, we had a mystery party. That’s all we knew about it before hand other then we were supposed to bring a treat. Now a mystery party, I think, calls for a mystery treat. So I did what every red blooded mom would do and I put my thinking cap on. What could possibly be a better mystery than Bertie Botts Beans from Harry Potter? It’s a treat where you never know just what you’re going to bite into. Of course… that’s the perfect mystery treat… One where no one will know what they’re going to bite into. So I went to the store and bought those chubby fat little pretzel stubs and seedless grapes. We brought them home, dipped them in chocolate, let them dry, put them in the same bowl and headed off to the Mystery party. Now I realize most churches don’t try to teach kids to tell lies, but that was the first thing we did. We learned to tell lies and detect them. They we did a relay race where you try to put cooked spaghetti noodles in a 2 litter bottle. It’s a lot harder then it sounds. Then we played a game of assassin. We had a lot of fun. When it was time to eat the treats I just stood back and watched. The size and shape of the pretzels vs the grapes was almost perfect. The first victim came over and bit into a pretzel. You could almost read his mind. “What is this chocolate thing. I guess I’ll try it. Oh, a pretzel. I like pretzels. I’ll take a few more.” Then you watch as that same victim bites into the second chocolate and voila, it’s a pretzel too. And one more and yeeeekowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwummmmmmm, what the heck was that? The faces and the reactions were more fun then the rest of the evening. It was so fun to watch. One person would ask another standing at the bowl what was in it. “Oh, it’s chocolate covered grapes. So the next person would be expecting something soft and instead get a pretzel, causing the second victim to think the first victim was lying. They would compare sizes and shapes and still not have a valid way to tell the difference. There were the adventurous people who would just eat what ever they picked up, there were the picky people who would prefer to get just grapes or pretzels but not both, there were the friends trying to convince friends they were all one thing and then purposely feed them something else. It was sooooooooooooo funny. I think I enjoyed that more then the rest of the party. I even heard pastor Bill tell someone that this was Karen’s mystery. Since I’ve been going to that church for over 2 years it’s nice to know the pastor really does know my name. It was a genuinely good time.
Tonight the doctors office called because they got the final radiology report on Raina’s foot and they’re not sure it’s not broken. We’re supposed to take her back in in the morning to get it checked out again. It just seems to be getting bigger and more bruised. If they can't fix it, we're just going to dig a hole in the backyard and bury her.....ok, not really but it's something my dad would have said.
Squishy is spending the evening with her mom, who drove down to Cabellas for something again this evening and got in another auto accident. She drives like a hot rod maniac and somehow gets people to hit her on a regular basis. I'm as blatently confused about that as I am about how Tonya finds people to marry her. It just flat out amazes me. Wow.
Well off to bed with me.
Tonight I'm saying a prayer for everyone in California, kentucky, texas, arizona and nevada that I know and love. You know who you are..
xoxoxo
Yesterday, at the youth group at church, we had a mystery party. That’s all we knew about it before hand other then we were supposed to bring a treat. Now a mystery party, I think, calls for a mystery treat. So I did what every red blooded mom would do and I put my thinking cap on. What could possibly be a better mystery than Bertie Botts Beans from Harry Potter? It’s a treat where you never know just what you’re going to bite into. Of course… that’s the perfect mystery treat… One where no one will know what they’re going to bite into. So I went to the store and bought those chubby fat little pretzel stubs and seedless grapes. We brought them home, dipped them in chocolate, let them dry, put them in the same bowl and headed off to the Mystery party. Now I realize most churches don’t try to teach kids to tell lies, but that was the first thing we did. We learned to tell lies and detect them. They we did a relay race where you try to put cooked spaghetti noodles in a 2 litter bottle. It’s a lot harder then it sounds. Then we played a game of assassin. We had a lot of fun. When it was time to eat the treats I just stood back and watched. The size and shape of the pretzels vs the grapes was almost perfect. The first victim came over and bit into a pretzel. You could almost read his mind. “What is this chocolate thing. I guess I’ll try it. Oh, a pretzel. I like pretzels. I’ll take a few more.” Then you watch as that same victim bites into the second chocolate and voila, it’s a pretzel too. And one more and yeeeekowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwummmmmmm, what the heck was that? The faces and the reactions were more fun then the rest of the evening. It was so fun to watch. One person would ask another standing at the bowl what was in it. “Oh, it’s chocolate covered grapes. So the next person would be expecting something soft and instead get a pretzel, causing the second victim to think the first victim was lying. They would compare sizes and shapes and still not have a valid way to tell the difference. There were the adventurous people who would just eat what ever they picked up, there were the picky people who would prefer to get just grapes or pretzels but not both, there were the friends trying to convince friends they were all one thing and then purposely feed them something else. It was sooooooooooooo funny. I think I enjoyed that more then the rest of the party. I even heard pastor Bill tell someone that this was Karen’s mystery. Since I’ve been going to that church for over 2 years it’s nice to know the pastor really does know my name. It was a genuinely good time.
Tonight the doctors office called because they got the final radiology report on Raina’s foot and they’re not sure it’s not broken. We’re supposed to take her back in in the morning to get it checked out again. It just seems to be getting bigger and more bruised. If they can't fix it, we're just going to dig a hole in the backyard and bury her.....ok, not really but it's something my dad would have said.
Squishy is spending the evening with her mom, who drove down to Cabellas for something again this evening and got in another auto accident. She drives like a hot rod maniac and somehow gets people to hit her on a regular basis. I'm as blatently confused about that as I am about how Tonya finds people to marry her. It just flat out amazes me. Wow.
Well off to bed with me.
Tonight I'm saying a prayer for everyone in California, kentucky, texas, arizona and nevada that I know and love. You know who you are..
xoxoxo
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
the normal ankle to compare
Don't look at the next blog unless you want to see something totally icky. If you do look at the other picture this is her NORMAL ankle so you can compare!
Warning! Don't look!
I have to warn you, this will scare you. Remembr this is not broken it's just sprained but have you ever seen an uglier sprain? You also need to remember this is skinny twiggy Raina's ankle, not the ankle of an elephant. We're hoping she'll be able to walk on it soon and she has her first Softball game next week. I'm taking bets if you think she'll be able to play. Whaddaya think?
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
I want bleacher butt back!
Well, Raina's basketball season is over but we're still looking forward to Reanna's Pocatello tournament. While we patiently wait, Raina is trying out for softball. She's very excited about her softball pitching coach and was talking about how much she has learned.
She called me today to come pick her up after practice and was just hanging out with her friends. By the time I got there she was in tears. Seems she's not as perfect as I think she is. She was sliding down the banister at school and fell. Her ankle was the size of a softball by the time I got there. Of course we ran to the doctor to make sure it wasn't broken. Nope, it's just sprained and she has to wear a brace for a few weeks but boy is she upset. How is she ever going to make the softball team with a sprained ankle? I was sure looking forward to getting bleacher butt from watching softball.
Trevor showed up just as we were off to the doctor so he went with us so he could hold her hand. I was telling Mary about it and it made me realize, he's been hanging out with her since July. Seven months is forever when you're as young as she is.
Reanna got her braces tightened today so her teeth are a little sore. She had a friend over after school and Squishy had her step sister Rachael over too. With Trevor that makes eight. When you have eight people over for dinner and one sprained ankle it's a sloppy joe night! You're not going to get anything else done so don't even try.
Well, I'm off to bed!
xoxoxoxox
oh, and chickens are doing great. I accidently left the door open last night and so they free ranged all day. They are always happy when they are out and about.
She called me today to come pick her up after practice and was just hanging out with her friends. By the time I got there she was in tears. Seems she's not as perfect as I think she is. She was sliding down the banister at school and fell. Her ankle was the size of a softball by the time I got there. Of course we ran to the doctor to make sure it wasn't broken. Nope, it's just sprained and she has to wear a brace for a few weeks but boy is she upset. How is she ever going to make the softball team with a sprained ankle? I was sure looking forward to getting bleacher butt from watching softball.
Trevor showed up just as we were off to the doctor so he went with us so he could hold her hand. I was telling Mary about it and it made me realize, he's been hanging out with her since July. Seven months is forever when you're as young as she is.
Reanna got her braces tightened today so her teeth are a little sore. She had a friend over after school and Squishy had her step sister Rachael over too. With Trevor that makes eight. When you have eight people over for dinner and one sprained ankle it's a sloppy joe night! You're not going to get anything else done so don't even try.
Well, I'm off to bed!
xoxoxoxox
oh, and chickens are doing great. I accidently left the door open last night and so they free ranged all day. They are always happy when they are out and about.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
earthquake in russellville
Today, I was sitting at the computer at home printing Raina’s homework and I started to feel my chair.. sway isn’t the right word cuz what it was doing was kind of a circular motion, round n round… At first I thought I was experiencing an inner ear infection and was just dizzy. It started to make me feel like I was going to fall off the chair. I asked the girls if the house was shaking or if it was just me. They were up and moving and all of them said it was just me. Then I found out it was an earthquake. I wish the kids would have felt it but they didn’t. I’m happy to report no damage or injuries to anything but my ego. I guess I already knew the kids think I’m dizzy so no damage to even my ego. That was the first earthquake I’ve ever been awake for. I was impressed.
Now I’m sitting in a sixteen story glass building built on rollers so if we get another one… yippee.. I should know what Reanna’s experience is going to be like at Space Camp today.
Raina’s school is right on the top of the fault line and Reanna’s is right below the fault line. I can’t worry about how big the problem is, but trust the Lord. He’s much bigger then the problem.
We are making lasagna for lunch today at work. It’s my recipe so everyone assumes I’m the expert but like everything else I do, I kinda make it up as I go. I sure hope 50 people eating lunch today don’t figure out I’m a fraud. We cook it in several crock pots and I think that’s why everyone thinks it’s fabulous. I mean, who has ever heard of someone cooking lasagna in a crock pot. Well, again, I didn’t know it could be done. I just made it up. We’ve had it before and it worked well so let’s hope my cover isn’t blown today.
If the building falls, at least we’ll have lunch til they dig us out!
Now I’m sitting in a sixteen story glass building built on rollers so if we get another one… yippee.. I should know what Reanna’s experience is going to be like at Space Camp today.
Raina’s school is right on the top of the fault line and Reanna’s is right below the fault line. I can’t worry about how big the problem is, but trust the Lord. He’s much bigger then the problem.
We are making lasagna for lunch today at work. It’s my recipe so everyone assumes I’m the expert but like everything else I do, I kinda make it up as I go. I sure hope 50 people eating lunch today don’t figure out I’m a fraud. We cook it in several crock pots and I think that’s why everyone thinks it’s fabulous. I mean, who has ever heard of someone cooking lasagna in a crock pot. Well, again, I didn’t know it could be done. I just made it up. We’ve had it before and it worked well so let’s hope my cover isn’t blown today.
If the building falls, at least we’ll have lunch til they dig us out!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Russellville on a Wednesday
Not much new since basketball ended. I'm really not used to this having enough time to use my own bathrooom and spend time on the internet. This is wild! Can you imagine a day without 30 things planned? Oh, nevermind... neither can I.
Tomorrow Reanna is off to space camp! She packed her lunch tonight and I'll drop her off at school in the morning. She'll be gone to camp until about 7:00 pm tomorrow. It'll be a long day for her and I sure hope she's up for it because she's finally come down with that icky cold the rest of us have had.
Raina is in training for softball. When I came home today she was doing pushups and she's been lifting cans of veggies for weights. Silly girl.
We had dinner with my sisters tonight. I really do have a wonderful family. We always have so much fun. Next month we are meeting the day before Dad's birthday.
I had a dream about my dad last night. He was so content. He had come to show me that he got a hunting license and was going hunting with us this year. He looked so good and his big message to me was not to worry about the little things. Just enjoy life. He seemed to be surrounded by people that loved him. I don't know that I've ever seen him happier.
Chickens are great. I got 9 egges between today and yesterday. Even Fancy Pants laid an egg for me. Poor girls were out of oyster shell so I sent Randy on a trip to get some. He said the farm store has their baby chicks in. I'm going to have to go take a peek. I know the girls will want to.
I let the chickens free range for a few hours today. Funny thing is when the chickens are out the rabbit comes out of hiding too. Today after I filled his house with alfalfa and filled his food dishes with rabbit food, he was out grazing on chicken scratch I had put down for the chickens. I think my bunny thinks he's a chicken. For some reason, he just really gets along well with the chickens. I don't know if that means my bunny is weird or my chickens are weird.
My eggs are so beautiful. Green, light brown, dark brown, speckles... and they're big. I'm guessing they're extra large size.
The chicken yard was a little muddy so I put down some more straw and filled their hopper. It's getting warmer out there. I'm guessing it's almost warm enough I could turn their heat off in the day.
We're thinking about an adopt a chicken program for easter. I'm still working on the details. I'll let you know how it goes.
East girls won the first round in the state championship tournament. I don't know when the next game is but I'm looking forward to it. My bleacher butt is missing basketball!
Well, off to bed with me and I hope to write more soon.
Tomorrow Reanna is off to space camp! She packed her lunch tonight and I'll drop her off at school in the morning. She'll be gone to camp until about 7:00 pm tomorrow. It'll be a long day for her and I sure hope she's up for it because she's finally come down with that icky cold the rest of us have had.
Raina is in training for softball. When I came home today she was doing pushups and she's been lifting cans of veggies for weights. Silly girl.
We had dinner with my sisters tonight. I really do have a wonderful family. We always have so much fun. Next month we are meeting the day before Dad's birthday.
I had a dream about my dad last night. He was so content. He had come to show me that he got a hunting license and was going hunting with us this year. He looked so good and his big message to me was not to worry about the little things. Just enjoy life. He seemed to be surrounded by people that loved him. I don't know that I've ever seen him happier.
Chickens are great. I got 9 egges between today and yesterday. Even Fancy Pants laid an egg for me. Poor girls were out of oyster shell so I sent Randy on a trip to get some. He said the farm store has their baby chicks in. I'm going to have to go take a peek. I know the girls will want to.
I let the chickens free range for a few hours today. Funny thing is when the chickens are out the rabbit comes out of hiding too. Today after I filled his house with alfalfa and filled his food dishes with rabbit food, he was out grazing on chicken scratch I had put down for the chickens. I think my bunny thinks he's a chicken. For some reason, he just really gets along well with the chickens. I don't know if that means my bunny is weird or my chickens are weird.
My eggs are so beautiful. Green, light brown, dark brown, speckles... and they're big. I'm guessing they're extra large size.
The chicken yard was a little muddy so I put down some more straw and filled their hopper. It's getting warmer out there. I'm guessing it's almost warm enough I could turn their heat off in the day.
We're thinking about an adopt a chicken program for easter. I'm still working on the details. I'll let you know how it goes.
East girls won the first round in the state championship tournament. I don't know when the next game is but I'm looking forward to it. My bleacher butt is missing basketball!
Well, off to bed with me and I hope to write more soon.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
easy come, easy go
The world famous East High School womens varsity basketball team will be playing for the state championship on Tuesday. Of course Raina played on every team except the varsity so she's really out of it. Reanna's team, who won first in their division, lost in the first game of the playoffs. It was horrible for Reanna. So, Raina's three teams and Reannas team, the 25 hours plus of basketball we were involved in over the last 3 months... is over. All of it.. Just over. Whoa, now what. We have done nothing but basketball for the last three months. Six days a week and hours and hours every single day. Reanna's team will still practice if they want to go to that pocatello tournament but other then that it's done. Randy and I have been talking about maybe running our own basketball camps over the summer. There are several girls who won't attend basketball camps and there is so much they need to learn. We're thinking we might plan a few weekends up at the hot springs camping, swimming and doing drills. Things Randy thinks the coaches aren't teaching. I guess that means it's in our blood.
Softball is starting soon. I've volunteered to be some kind of step and fetch it person. Just because the company I work for will give the school some money if I volunteer.
I don't have much more information on how to feel empowered again and how n0t to let this time of year turn me into a basket case. I'm still working on that. What I do have is the first few free nights I've had in months where I can sit with my kids and actually spend time with them that's not at a basketball game.
I tried to call my sister-in-law tonight but since she has recently moved, I'm not sure I have the correct phone number for her. I wanted to provide a little bit of support for her just in case this time of year turns out to be as hard on her as it is on me.
I need to spend tomorrow with my mother. I need to hug her and love her and just miss my dad. I need to talk to people who knew my dad and my sister-in-law and I need to share heartwarming stories. I need my husband. He is my strength in everything. I need Jesus whose plan is never to hurt us but always for our good. I need to pray to him and ask for guidence and strength in the coming days. I need time to find out just what I need to do and where I need to be to get through this horrible time of year.
This too shall pass.
Softball is starting soon. I've volunteered to be some kind of step and fetch it person. Just because the company I work for will give the school some money if I volunteer.
I don't have much more information on how to feel empowered again and how n0t to let this time of year turn me into a basket case. I'm still working on that. What I do have is the first few free nights I've had in months where I can sit with my kids and actually spend time with them that's not at a basketball game.
I tried to call my sister-in-law tonight but since she has recently moved, I'm not sure I have the correct phone number for her. I wanted to provide a little bit of support for her just in case this time of year turns out to be as hard on her as it is on me.
I need to spend tomorrow with my mother. I need to hug her and love her and just miss my dad. I need to talk to people who knew my dad and my sister-in-law and I need to share heartwarming stories. I need my husband. He is my strength in everything. I need Jesus whose plan is never to hurt us but always for our good. I need to pray to him and ask for guidence and strength in the coming days. I need time to find out just what I need to do and where I need to be to get through this horrible time of year.
This too shall pass.
Friday, February 15, 2008
unempowered
Have you ever felt like you don't have the power to make any decisions? Have you ever felt like someone else is in control over your entire life? Have you ever felt like you're going backwards? I remember when we were given power to do what was right for our customers at work. It was a fabulous feeling, however I am feeling like all of those empowering abilities have been taken away.
So do I have some problems? I do have a problem with stupid blind referees who let other players hit my daughter, push her, elbow her, kick her, scratch her and hang on her. I do have a problem with boys who think they deserve my daughter’s time. I do have a problem with taxes. I do have a problem with walking around with a timer in my pocket to make sure I’m not late from work breaks. . I have a problem with filling out 3 different sets of forms for disputes. I have a problem with my time not being flexible. I have a problem with email. I have a problem with schedules. I have a problem with people not caring for their kids. I have a problem with people using children for nothing more then a means of support. I have a problem with a ton of different things and it's all just coming to a head.
Then when I started counting all the things I have a problem with, I realized, yesterday… it's been 5 years since I've talked to my dad. Every year at this time everything rubs me the wrong way. Everything makes me mad and the real problem is me. For the first three years I called out sick on the anniversary of his death. I worked very hard on it and have made it the last couple of years but last year, my sister-in-law died on the same day as my dad died. No wonder this time of year I feel unempowered. No wonder this time of year I can't seem to do anything that makes me feel like I've accomplished anything. No wonder I'm flat out mad and I have no control. No wonder this time of year my very delicate emotional balance is tipped and I don't have the ability to fight it off with humor.
So if the problem is with me I have to ask why would loosing my dad and my sister-in-law to death make me feel unempowered? I no longer have the power to call them and just chat about anything. I no longer have the power to hug them or to hold them. I do, however, still have the power to love them. I just miss them. I miss them both so much that my heart aches.
If I want to spend time with them, really all I have to do is look around me. Everything in my life that I really love is a product, somehow or another of my dad. The man I married was my dads best friend for the last 15 years of his life. He is so much like my father. He is so caring and hard working and despite being a man he is loving. Not that superficial flowers on holidays type of love, but the get up early every time it snows and clean off my car type of love. The type of love that stays up late and does the dishes. The type of love that allows me to sleep in on weekends. The type of love that would never deny me anything he was capable of giving me. The type of love that will change my flat tire and bring me an iced tea to a basketball game. The kind that really thinks about me on a daily basis. He is like my father.
I have my fathers sense of humor and my father’s love of family. I have a very delicate emotional balance and the only thing that keeps me sane is humor. Sometimes my sense of humor is way out there. But so was his. Sometimes my sense of humor can get me in trouble, but I learned that from him.
My dad loved me. I have no doubt of that. I have no doubt that he would have done anything for me. He loved my mom and he loved my brothers and sisters. He only ever wanted what was best for us and he loved to spend quality fun time with his kids. Hmmm, I think my kids would say the same thing about me.
What about Aunt Lisa? If I want to see her, all I have to do is look at Raina. If I want to feel her love sunshine is the only thing I need. There are some memories that are so full of her laughter that all I have to do is picture a Christmas tree on top of a car and I laugh out loud. She had same real type of love that her brother has but she had a more emotional and sensitive love. Wow, sensitive is the perfect way to describe her love in my life. She knew what I needed even before I knew I needed something and she was always there to help.
Great, so I know the problem and I know the cause, what’s the solution? I’m sure the solution is as close as this book I keep on my desk and I’m going to work on finding it. If you have any suggestions I could sure use them but I’ll update as I get more information.
So do I have some problems? I do have a problem with stupid blind referees who let other players hit my daughter, push her, elbow her, kick her, scratch her and hang on her. I do have a problem with boys who think they deserve my daughter’s time. I do have a problem with taxes. I do have a problem with walking around with a timer in my pocket to make sure I’m not late from work breaks. . I have a problem with filling out 3 different sets of forms for disputes. I have a problem with my time not being flexible. I have a problem with email. I have a problem with schedules. I have a problem with people not caring for their kids. I have a problem with people using children for nothing more then a means of support. I have a problem with a ton of different things and it's all just coming to a head.
Then when I started counting all the things I have a problem with, I realized, yesterday… it's been 5 years since I've talked to my dad. Every year at this time everything rubs me the wrong way. Everything makes me mad and the real problem is me. For the first three years I called out sick on the anniversary of his death. I worked very hard on it and have made it the last couple of years but last year, my sister-in-law died on the same day as my dad died. No wonder this time of year I feel unempowered. No wonder this time of year I can't seem to do anything that makes me feel like I've accomplished anything. No wonder I'm flat out mad and I have no control. No wonder this time of year my very delicate emotional balance is tipped and I don't have the ability to fight it off with humor.
So if the problem is with me I have to ask why would loosing my dad and my sister-in-law to death make me feel unempowered? I no longer have the power to call them and just chat about anything. I no longer have the power to hug them or to hold them. I do, however, still have the power to love them. I just miss them. I miss them both so much that my heart aches.
If I want to spend time with them, really all I have to do is look around me. Everything in my life that I really love is a product, somehow or another of my dad. The man I married was my dads best friend for the last 15 years of his life. He is so much like my father. He is so caring and hard working and despite being a man he is loving. Not that superficial flowers on holidays type of love, but the get up early every time it snows and clean off my car type of love. The type of love that stays up late and does the dishes. The type of love that allows me to sleep in on weekends. The type of love that would never deny me anything he was capable of giving me. The type of love that will change my flat tire and bring me an iced tea to a basketball game. The kind that really thinks about me on a daily basis. He is like my father.
I have my fathers sense of humor and my father’s love of family. I have a very delicate emotional balance and the only thing that keeps me sane is humor. Sometimes my sense of humor is way out there. But so was his. Sometimes my sense of humor can get me in trouble, but I learned that from him.
My dad loved me. I have no doubt of that. I have no doubt that he would have done anything for me. He loved my mom and he loved my brothers and sisters. He only ever wanted what was best for us and he loved to spend quality fun time with his kids. Hmmm, I think my kids would say the same thing about me.
What about Aunt Lisa? If I want to see her, all I have to do is look at Raina. If I want to feel her love sunshine is the only thing I need. There are some memories that are so full of her laughter that all I have to do is picture a Christmas tree on top of a car and I laugh out loud. She had same real type of love that her brother has but she had a more emotional and sensitive love. Wow, sensitive is the perfect way to describe her love in my life. She knew what I needed even before I knew I needed something and she was always there to help.
Great, so I know the problem and I know the cause, what’s the solution? I’m sure the solution is as close as this book I keep on my desk and I’m going to work on finding it. If you have any suggestions I could sure use them but I’ll update as I get more information.
more from russellville.
Well, it was another action packed day at basketball. When the first game starts at 3:30 and the last game ends at 9:00 it’s no wonder it’s so easy to get bleacher butt.
Raina’s first game was a nail biter til the end and her team lost by 2 points in the last seconds of the game. It was horrible. Of course the refs were horrible. Randy keeps reminding me, “it’s just a game and the refs are going to suck.” I’ve found that sentence can fit into any cheer. It’s amazing. I think it’s just hard to watch when someone is pushing your daughter, hitting your daughter, smacking her, tripping her etc and there are no calls. I just want to get out there and slap the refs. There was an amazing woman sitting below me in the bleachers who was explaining to her sons that it’s never the refs fault if your team does badly. It does no good to yell and them and tell them they’re blind. I asked her if she gives lessons on how to get over being so angry at games and she said no matter what horrible thing the ref does, find something positive the team did and yell that instead. I’m going to try it.
The East High School girls varsity team won the regional championship last night. They will go on to play in the state game on Tuesday. I think we’re going to have to go to that too.
Raina’s second game wasn’t even really close but Raina played hard and I was proud of her.
We had a big bake sale at work yesterday and so at 3:00 pm when I was ready to leave work, I boxed up all the leftovers and took them to the team as end of season treats. It was a nice treat.
Reanna may have two games over the weekend, one on Saturday and another on Sunday if they win on Saturday. Her team has also been invited to a tournament in Pocatello Idaho and we went on that trip with Raina when she was in fifth grade. It was a blast. Reanna is looking forward to that. It should be a ton of fun.
Yesterday was Valentines and I think we had a good day. Treats for everyone but with all the basketball we didn’t really get a chance to celebrate our love for each other. Hopefully we don’t need to set aside a day just to tell each other we love each other. It seems kind of silly really. It’s something we should do every day.
Hopefully we’ll have a fun filled action packed weekend and after the snowstorm over the last few days that dumped feet of snow all over the valley, there is lots of wet muck that needs to be dealt with. The chicken coop will need to be cleaned out and we’re starting to see the grass come up from under the snow. Spring is on it’s way.
Today I’m struggling with empowerment. There are certain things that I take for granted that I have been given empowerment to handle. Today I need to remember to let go, and Let God.
Raina’s first game was a nail biter til the end and her team lost by 2 points in the last seconds of the game. It was horrible. Of course the refs were horrible. Randy keeps reminding me, “it’s just a game and the refs are going to suck.” I’ve found that sentence can fit into any cheer. It’s amazing. I think it’s just hard to watch when someone is pushing your daughter, hitting your daughter, smacking her, tripping her etc and there are no calls. I just want to get out there and slap the refs. There was an amazing woman sitting below me in the bleachers who was explaining to her sons that it’s never the refs fault if your team does badly. It does no good to yell and them and tell them they’re blind. I asked her if she gives lessons on how to get over being so angry at games and she said no matter what horrible thing the ref does, find something positive the team did and yell that instead. I’m going to try it.
The East High School girls varsity team won the regional championship last night. They will go on to play in the state game on Tuesday. I think we’re going to have to go to that too.
Raina’s second game wasn’t even really close but Raina played hard and I was proud of her.
We had a big bake sale at work yesterday and so at 3:00 pm when I was ready to leave work, I boxed up all the leftovers and took them to the team as end of season treats. It was a nice treat.
Reanna may have two games over the weekend, one on Saturday and another on Sunday if they win on Saturday. Her team has also been invited to a tournament in Pocatello Idaho and we went on that trip with Raina when she was in fifth grade. It was a blast. Reanna is looking forward to that. It should be a ton of fun.
Yesterday was Valentines and I think we had a good day. Treats for everyone but with all the basketball we didn’t really get a chance to celebrate our love for each other. Hopefully we don’t need to set aside a day just to tell each other we love each other. It seems kind of silly really. It’s something we should do every day.
Hopefully we’ll have a fun filled action packed weekend and after the snowstorm over the last few days that dumped feet of snow all over the valley, there is lots of wet muck that needs to be dealt with. The chicken coop will need to be cleaned out and we’re starting to see the grass come up from under the snow. Spring is on it’s way.
Today I’m struggling with empowerment. There are certain things that I take for granted that I have been given empowerment to handle. Today I need to remember to let go, and Let God.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Now this is funny
I was sent this in an email today and since the last egg post I thought it would be fun to add to the blog. This is life with chickens!
bleacher butt
It occured to me today when I was thinking about how I spend my time, that I should only have a couple more weeks of bleacher butt from basketball. Then I get to have bleacher butt from softball but I think that'll be a different kind of bleacher butt. At least I'm hoping. Now I know how come parents all have square bottoms. It's not from aging... it's from sitting in bleachers half their lives.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Happy Valentines Day.
If you're reading this, chances are pretty dang good that I love you. I've probably been thanking God for your presence in my life for years. What better day to tell you how much I love you then St. Valentines Day? How lucky am I that you are part of my life.
I do have some regrets however. I regret not telling you face to face every single day. I regret being so busy that I don’t call and I don’t write. I do love you. My family and my friends are the most important thing in my world.
Speaking of my world, boy did we get a snow storm today! It was so bad several school buses couldn’t take kids home and they had to turn around and head back to the schools. The kids are spending the night at school. How cool would that have been?
It took me 45 minutes to drive from work to Reanna’s school. During morning rush hour it normally takes me about 10 minutes to get from school to work and if it’s not rush hour it takes 7 or 8 minutes tops, even if I stop to pick up an extra kid every now and then. Well, my mothers house is 10 blocks away and it took me 20 minutes to get 10 blocks and the only reason I got there so quick was my van has all wheel drive so I took the back roads. If I would have stayed on the main roads it would have taken me at least an hour and a half. There were 5 or 6 accidents in between my house and my moms. The roads were slick, slick, slick and the snow was just white out conditions.
Well my kids are home safe and sound and didn’t have to sleep at the school. I did go to school today for Reanna’s parent teacher conference and learned that her teacher really adores her. Raina had this same teacher and I don’t think she ever said the kind of wonderful things about Raina that she said about Reanna. Of course there was only one area Reanna had for improvement and that was in the amount of reading she does at home. Her grades are all top notch and her teacher says she is the biggest joy she has ever had as a student.
Now Reanna is the class mayor and she’s also on the party committee so she decided that for tomorrow’s party everyone in the class is supposed to bring a white elephant gift. She’s planning on taking two boxes of microwave popcorn. We figured no child would be too disappointed to get that gift and they were on sale for a dollar a box. They still do the traditional valentines cards with all kinds of candy and they are having a snack smorgasbord. Reanna insisted on marshmallow popcorn balls. Now I’m pretty sure that’s something we made up. We made the marshmallow cream you make for rice crispy treats, pour it over pop corn and try really hard to make balls out of it. We died it pink. I think the other girls are fine without valentines. Except I’m sure Raina will have to come up with something for Trevor. Every time I think I can find something about him I don’t like, he finds some way to make me like him again. Now if I could just get him to play with Reanna for a while when he comes over she might be more accepting of him too. I hate to say we have to get used to him cuz it looks like he might be around for awhile
So after we made marshmallow popcorn balls we dipped strawberries in chocolate. We’re having a valentine’s bake sale at work tomorrow and my contribution is chocolate covered strawberries.
I would also like to tell you how much I love my husband. He amazes me. He works so hard at work and then at home and he still has time to spend quality time with his kids and even saves some time for me. I love him so much… Oh, I must have PMS cuz all I can think about is how perfect he is. Give it a few days and he’ll be some kind of devil husband….after all, we have been married for 20 years. Or ask me around my birthday or mothers day. I hate both of those holidays and they make me angry with him for no reason. Let’s talk about how much I love him then.
Well, marshmallow balls are done, the fish is fried, the zucchini is fried, the strawberries are dipped, the dishes are done. I think that’s a successful Valentines Day eve.
Love you all!
Karen
I do have some regrets however. I regret not telling you face to face every single day. I regret being so busy that I don’t call and I don’t write. I do love you. My family and my friends are the most important thing in my world.
Speaking of my world, boy did we get a snow storm today! It was so bad several school buses couldn’t take kids home and they had to turn around and head back to the schools. The kids are spending the night at school. How cool would that have been?
It took me 45 minutes to drive from work to Reanna’s school. During morning rush hour it normally takes me about 10 minutes to get from school to work and if it’s not rush hour it takes 7 or 8 minutes tops, even if I stop to pick up an extra kid every now and then. Well, my mothers house is 10 blocks away and it took me 20 minutes to get 10 blocks and the only reason I got there so quick was my van has all wheel drive so I took the back roads. If I would have stayed on the main roads it would have taken me at least an hour and a half. There were 5 or 6 accidents in between my house and my moms. The roads were slick, slick, slick and the snow was just white out conditions.
Well my kids are home safe and sound and didn’t have to sleep at the school. I did go to school today for Reanna’s parent teacher conference and learned that her teacher really adores her. Raina had this same teacher and I don’t think she ever said the kind of wonderful things about Raina that she said about Reanna. Of course there was only one area Reanna had for improvement and that was in the amount of reading she does at home. Her grades are all top notch and her teacher says she is the biggest joy she has ever had as a student.
Now Reanna is the class mayor and she’s also on the party committee so she decided that for tomorrow’s party everyone in the class is supposed to bring a white elephant gift. She’s planning on taking two boxes of microwave popcorn. We figured no child would be too disappointed to get that gift and they were on sale for a dollar a box. They still do the traditional valentines cards with all kinds of candy and they are having a snack smorgasbord. Reanna insisted on marshmallow popcorn balls. Now I’m pretty sure that’s something we made up. We made the marshmallow cream you make for rice crispy treats, pour it over pop corn and try really hard to make balls out of it. We died it pink. I think the other girls are fine without valentines. Except I’m sure Raina will have to come up with something for Trevor. Every time I think I can find something about him I don’t like, he finds some way to make me like him again. Now if I could just get him to play with Reanna for a while when he comes over she might be more accepting of him too. I hate to say we have to get used to him cuz it looks like he might be around for awhile
So after we made marshmallow popcorn balls we dipped strawberries in chocolate. We’re having a valentine’s bake sale at work tomorrow and my contribution is chocolate covered strawberries.
I would also like to tell you how much I love my husband. He amazes me. He works so hard at work and then at home and he still has time to spend quality time with his kids and even saves some time for me. I love him so much… Oh, I must have PMS cuz all I can think about is how perfect he is. Give it a few days and he’ll be some kind of devil husband….after all, we have been married for 20 years. Or ask me around my birthday or mothers day. I hate both of those holidays and they make me angry with him for no reason. Let’s talk about how much I love him then.
Well, marshmallow balls are done, the fish is fried, the zucchini is fried, the strawberries are dipped, the dishes are done. I think that’s a successful Valentines Day eve.
Love you all!
Karen
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
never a dull moment in Russellville.
Yep, that's my official name for it now. Russellville.
Raina had two games today.
Actually three but because they were at opposite ends of the valley so we could only make two. I completely missed the first one and couldn't even tell you what the score was. But in her sophmore game they lost. Raina had a pretty good game but she seemed to loose gas at mid game. She drank an iced tea and said she felt better so I'm guessing that what she really did was run out of gas.
I had a small run in with Cassey today. She has filed for Celestia's social security check. I hope it doesn't land her in prison. The social security administration already knows Celestia doesn't live with her. She applied for welfare and food stamps and said Celestia lives with her. Since DCFS has already investigated us, the state knows Celestia doesn't live with Cassie. Since I've already talked to social security about Celestia's checks, social security already knows that Celestia doesn't live with Cassie. Cassie has already claimed Celestia on her taxes even though she has lived with us for 10 months and she got very angry with me when I explained I had known about the checks for awhile and didn't want them. I told social security to keep the checks and Celestia can claim it when she's 18. She yelled that she was entitled to them and she was going to get Celestia's money. I just hope that works out for her and doesn't land her in prison. Best of luck to her.
Rosie says we should plan an intervention with her and explain to her that she's an idiot. I know there is a ten step program for just about every addiction but is there one for just being an idiot? I don't know about that one.
All I'll ever be able to say to her is, "I hope that works out for you."
Raina had two games today.
Actually three but because they were at opposite ends of the valley so we could only make two. I completely missed the first one and couldn't even tell you what the score was. But in her sophmore game they lost. Raina had a pretty good game but she seemed to loose gas at mid game. She drank an iced tea and said she felt better so I'm guessing that what she really did was run out of gas.
I had a small run in with Cassey today. She has filed for Celestia's social security check. I hope it doesn't land her in prison. The social security administration already knows Celestia doesn't live with her. She applied for welfare and food stamps and said Celestia lives with her. Since DCFS has already investigated us, the state knows Celestia doesn't live with Cassie. Since I've already talked to social security about Celestia's checks, social security already knows that Celestia doesn't live with Cassie. Cassie has already claimed Celestia on her taxes even though she has lived with us for 10 months and she got very angry with me when I explained I had known about the checks for awhile and didn't want them. I told social security to keep the checks and Celestia can claim it when she's 18. She yelled that she was entitled to them and she was going to get Celestia's money. I just hope that works out for her and doesn't land her in prison. Best of luck to her.
Rosie says we should plan an intervention with her and explain to her that she's an idiot. I know there is a ten step program for just about every addiction but is there one for just being an idiot? I don't know about that one.
All I'll ever be able to say to her is, "I hope that works out for you."
Communal refrigerator.
We have a cafeteria in our building and it is a nice cafeteria however, they just doubled their prices. In a moment of rebellion we decided to make our own breakfasts in the morning. I volunteered to bring eggs because, of course, I have chickens. Someone else brought ham, salsa, tortillas etc. We decided to just keep the breakfast items in the office communal refrigerator and that’s where today’s story begins. Gloria went in the kitchen this morning to make a breakfast sandwich and cracked an egg and it was hard boiled. We had used some out of the 18 pack on Friday and they weren’t boiled. This mystery just didn’t make sense. So Gloria tried one from the other side of the pack. No, it was hard boiled too. She came and asked me if I had hard boiled them. No? Hmm, maybe Randy boiled them and I didn’t know about it. It’s so unlike him to boil them and not mark them, but who knows. Anything is possible.
Somehow it came around the office that someone was playing a trick on us. What a funny trick. Take someone’s eggs home and hard boil them? Sounds like a lot of work for a joke.
Anyway, today there are 5 women in the office who are celebrating 30 years of service today and there is an anniversary party. One of the women had gone out during her lunch yesterday and did some of the shopping for the party. She was planning on making potato salad and bought a bunch of eggs. When she left work she got home and realized she had forgotten the eggs. She called another coworker and told her she had forgotten the eggs and asked her to take all the eggs out of the refrigerator and take them home and hard boil them. So she did just what she was told. She took all of the eggs out of the refrigerator and took them home and boiled them. This morning when they realized what they had done, at first they were worried I’d be mad. When they really thought about it, I assume they realized they were dealing with me and really, how mad do I ever get? So they decided not to tell me and just watch to see what my reaction would be. Funny thing is the joke ended up not being on me, but on poor Gloria. So the eggs weren’t a joke they were a mistake and we all got a good laugh out of it.
The woman who was supposed to take the eggs home originally felt so bad she made deviled eggs out of them and we had breakfast anyway. What a hoot. Or a cluck….
Oh look…. A chicken.
Somehow it came around the office that someone was playing a trick on us. What a funny trick. Take someone’s eggs home and hard boil them? Sounds like a lot of work for a joke.
Anyway, today there are 5 women in the office who are celebrating 30 years of service today and there is an anniversary party. One of the women had gone out during her lunch yesterday and did some of the shopping for the party. She was planning on making potato salad and bought a bunch of eggs. When she left work she got home and realized she had forgotten the eggs. She called another coworker and told her she had forgotten the eggs and asked her to take all the eggs out of the refrigerator and take them home and hard boil them. So she did just what she was told. She took all of the eggs out of the refrigerator and took them home and boiled them. This morning when they realized what they had done, at first they were worried I’d be mad. When they really thought about it, I assume they realized they were dealing with me and really, how mad do I ever get? So they decided not to tell me and just watch to see what my reaction would be. Funny thing is the joke ended up not being on me, but on poor Gloria. So the eggs weren’t a joke they were a mistake and we all got a good laugh out of it.
The woman who was supposed to take the eggs home originally felt so bad she made deviled eggs out of them and we had breakfast anyway. What a hoot. Or a cluck….
Oh look…. A chicken.
Monday, February 11, 2008
it's been a busy week
Wow, Can you believe I went this long without a post? We have had nonstop basketball games and no one ever really believes how busy we are with them. Between the two girls there are easily seven games a week and over 15 hours of practice. Once you put that all together it's 25 hours of basketball each and every week. But we can't get enough. When I asked the girls what special thing they wanted to do for Valentines day, they agreed... The Harlem Globetrotters! So off we went for a fun night of basketball in the cheap nosebleed seats. Once the game started we did what every red blooded american family would do... we looked for open seats a little closer to the floor. We stayed up in the nose bleed area but at least we weren't sitting right under the cat walk, and the first row in the nose bleeds is as good as the top seat on the floor, right?
We bought some kind of family package and we told the guy at the counter that we wanted the $120 seats put in the family package. He didn't fall for it, but we did get a hotdog in that package. Much better deal then the $120 seats don't you think?
Reanna is so mentally into basketball that it's fun to watch her little mind work with some of the tricks on the refs. She's wondering if she could stuff a basketball under someone's shirt and get them called for traveling. She's thinking to herself I could just hand the ball to the other team as they are falling out of bounds and get the ball right back. I wonder if I could put the ball on the floor and have the other team be baffled as to where it went. Hmmmmm, you can see the little wheels turn. Raina on the other hand wanted to take some dribbling lessons. She saw some mad skills she thinks she could use. It was just a barrel of laughs and everyone went home happy. Squishy especially liked it. It is so much fun to take her to experience new things. You can just watch the light go on in her head. I wouldn't be surprised to see her dribbling a ball when no one is looking. She said it was a comedy show and somewhere in the middle a basketball game broke out.
Raina is still doing well in school dispite up to 30 hours of basketball every week in addition to her school work. She is still on the honor roll and really seems to have come into her own in high school. She's in her element.
I nevr know what to think about the grading in Squishys school. The do an entire different type of grading instead of a's b's and c's they call it initial, reaching, strong. but they don't directly go with an a, b or c so I can't figure out what kind of grades she's really getting but her teachers all seem to like her. I just have to find her nich. I think with her it might be music. I need to get her piano lessons.
Well, nothing exciting today at therapy. We talked about squishy and reanna being uncomfortable when trevor kisses Raina or either of them sit on each others laps. We've decided to not allow that. We're going to talk to Trevor about that when we see him tomorrow. Raina's basketball games are at Trevors school so I'm sure he'll be there.
Well, it's my bed time and hopefully I'll be able to update more later.
I'm counting my blessings tonight and you'll be in them.
xoxoxoxoxo
We bought some kind of family package and we told the guy at the counter that we wanted the $120 seats put in the family package. He didn't fall for it, but we did get a hotdog in that package. Much better deal then the $120 seats don't you think?
Reanna is so mentally into basketball that it's fun to watch her little mind work with some of the tricks on the refs. She's wondering if she could stuff a basketball under someone's shirt and get them called for traveling. She's thinking to herself I could just hand the ball to the other team as they are falling out of bounds and get the ball right back. I wonder if I could put the ball on the floor and have the other team be baffled as to where it went. Hmmmmm, you can see the little wheels turn. Raina on the other hand wanted to take some dribbling lessons. She saw some mad skills she thinks she could use. It was just a barrel of laughs and everyone went home happy. Squishy especially liked it. It is so much fun to take her to experience new things. You can just watch the light go on in her head. I wouldn't be surprised to see her dribbling a ball when no one is looking. She said it was a comedy show and somewhere in the middle a basketball game broke out.
Raina is still doing well in school dispite up to 30 hours of basketball every week in addition to her school work. She is still on the honor roll and really seems to have come into her own in high school. She's in her element.
I nevr know what to think about the grading in Squishys school. The do an entire different type of grading instead of a's b's and c's they call it initial, reaching, strong. but they don't directly go with an a, b or c so I can't figure out what kind of grades she's really getting but her teachers all seem to like her. I just have to find her nich. I think with her it might be music. I need to get her piano lessons.
Well, nothing exciting today at therapy. We talked about squishy and reanna being uncomfortable when trevor kisses Raina or either of them sit on each others laps. We've decided to not allow that. We're going to talk to Trevor about that when we see him tomorrow. Raina's basketball games are at Trevors school so I'm sure he'll be there.
Well, it's my bed time and hopefully I'll be able to update more later.
I'm counting my blessings tonight and you'll be in them.
xoxoxoxoxo
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Raina did it
Raina did it. She brought home a chest cold. So far everyone but Reanna has it. It's an icky one.
Last night Raina's JV team won but her sophomore team lost. She played well. Reanna had a bye today so no Saturday game for my tiger. Reanna did find a new sweat jacket at old navy that is green (the color of her basketball team) it has a basketball on the front and a tiger on the back. She thought it was quite a find. Dad bought it for her because when it comes to sports, the girls can have whatever they want.
Raina had practice again today-on a saturday? that makes 6 days a week and after practice the girls all went to a game at the university. With practice six days a week it's no wonder she's so skinny.
Reanna went ice skating last night at a friends birthday party and was happy to announce she only fell down twice.
I stayed home in bed today trying to get over this cold. If the kids are out of the house it's the only time a mom will ever get rest.
At church tonight I had child care so I had to make sure I wasn't giving any of those kids my gomboo. We played the hokey pokey and head shoulders knees and toes. I think considering I felt like death we did a good job. Reanna helped. I couldn't do it without her. She is such a great kid.
Trevor- Raina's male friend, (she's not allowed to date but he seems very smitten with her) took Raina and Kayla (Raina's friend since kindergarten)to church after the game at the university. Trevors my space page has a picture of Raina on it and some long blah blah blah poem about how much he loves her. I guess since we never allow them to be alone and we know him from church I won't have to kill him yet but I told him if he ever makes her cry his kidneys will be for sale on the black market. His parents are very nice and his mom is pregnant. I'm so jealous.
Randy took great care of me today. He kept me medicated and warm. I'm feeling loved.
I let the chickens out of the chicken yard today to wander the yard and all of them roosted on the wood box on the deck. Seems so weird that they have free roam of the backyard and they all decide to sit in the shade on the porch. This is the first sunny day we've had in weeks and they decide to sit in the shade? Oh well, now I know where the term bird brained came from. My sister bought me a doormat for Christmas that says, "Welcome, now shut the door so the chickens don't come in." Pretty fitting don't you think?
The free range rabbit was sure happy to see me fill her bowl. Normally she doesn't want to have anything to do with anyone but she was so happy to see me today she let me pet her. I think it's because her food dish was empty.
Sorry there's no humor in todays post. But you can blame it on Raina's gomboo. I'm surprise Raina's been able to still play through this. It's icky.
Last night Raina's JV team won but her sophomore team lost. She played well. Reanna had a bye today so no Saturday game for my tiger. Reanna did find a new sweat jacket at old navy that is green (the color of her basketball team) it has a basketball on the front and a tiger on the back. She thought it was quite a find. Dad bought it for her because when it comes to sports, the girls can have whatever they want.
Raina had practice again today-on a saturday? that makes 6 days a week and after practice the girls all went to a game at the university. With practice six days a week it's no wonder she's so skinny.
Reanna went ice skating last night at a friends birthday party and was happy to announce she only fell down twice.
I stayed home in bed today trying to get over this cold. If the kids are out of the house it's the only time a mom will ever get rest.
At church tonight I had child care so I had to make sure I wasn't giving any of those kids my gomboo. We played the hokey pokey and head shoulders knees and toes. I think considering I felt like death we did a good job. Reanna helped. I couldn't do it without her. She is such a great kid.
Trevor- Raina's male friend, (she's not allowed to date but he seems very smitten with her) took Raina and Kayla (Raina's friend since kindergarten)to church after the game at the university. Trevors my space page has a picture of Raina on it and some long blah blah blah poem about how much he loves her. I guess since we never allow them to be alone and we know him from church I won't have to kill him yet but I told him if he ever makes her cry his kidneys will be for sale on the black market. His parents are very nice and his mom is pregnant. I'm so jealous.
Randy took great care of me today. He kept me medicated and warm. I'm feeling loved.
I let the chickens out of the chicken yard today to wander the yard and all of them roosted on the wood box on the deck. Seems so weird that they have free roam of the backyard and they all decide to sit in the shade on the porch. This is the first sunny day we've had in weeks and they decide to sit in the shade? Oh well, now I know where the term bird brained came from. My sister bought me a doormat for Christmas that says, "Welcome, now shut the door so the chickens don't come in." Pretty fitting don't you think?
The free range rabbit was sure happy to see me fill her bowl. Normally she doesn't want to have anything to do with anyone but she was so happy to see me today she let me pet her. I think it's because her food dish was empty.
Sorry there's no humor in todays post. But you can blame it on Raina's gomboo. I'm surprise Raina's been able to still play through this. It's icky.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
busy thursday
Well another nonstop day. It started with carpool and work, where we had a soup fund raiser so I made 3 gallons of taco soup. I love the stuff but my family isn't very fond of it so I never get to make it. I had done most of the work last night after the game... frying burger with onion etc, so when I got to work today I just put it together. It must have been a sucsess because we made a new personal record for the soup fundraiser. The diversity group I am part of at work has two major public services they do throughout the year. The first one is the road home homeless shelter Halloween party. It's a party for homeless children the Sunday before halloween. It's a blast. Anyway, after work I went to Squishies parent teacher conference. None of the teachers had anything bad to say about her! Dang it! I was going to take her home and yell and scream for awhile but now what do I do? Now the girls and I have volunteered to prepare and serve dinner at the same road home homeless shelter we do the halloween party for. So much for a nice quiet family evening. Raina and Squishy are off to do the service project and Reanna is at basketball practice. Randy says she is doing so well. He says she really understands the game. Could I have better kids?
Just a question.
thanks,
Karen
Just a question.
thanks,
Karen
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
a good wednesday
My wonderful husband dug my car out of the snow this morning so I knew it was going to be a good day. Well even though Raina's freshman basketball team lost their game tonight it was still a good game. Raina's team only scored 14 points total and Raina had 12 of them. It was her personal high score and her jersey number is 12. We're going to work on scoring an average of 12 points a game from now on. It was fun to watch. Raina has a cold and was complaining that she couldn't breath but she played all but maybe 5 minutes of the game. She still out hussled all the other girls. I think the freshman coach is happy to have her on her team. I think the sophomore and Jv coaches are pretty happy too. She's so close to being so good. She needs to have some serious basketball time with her dad.... just playing... not being coached... but learning by being schooled.
Reanna brought a friend over after school. When she does that she always seems so happy. I really think bordom is the worst thing for her. She is so happy when she's got friends around her and so angry when she doesn't. Tomorrow I hope she brings the same girl home. For some reason her mom doesn't seem to mind if she spends time over here.
Bert took Squishy out to lunch today. Can I just stop for a second and say how much I appreciate that he does that for her. It makes her feel special. He has been supportive and wonderful about her living here. He is one of the few people that can actually make her feel loved. Tomorrow is Squishy's parent teacher conference and I think she's kind of surprised that I have already scheduled time to speak to her teachers. She's not used to this kind of "under the thumb treatment."
We went out to dinner right after Raina's game tonight. My sister Mary has decided we need to get together as an entire family once a month for dinner at a restaurant just to sit and have a nice meal and laugh together. We really do get along great and it really is a shame we don't do it more often. I met Mary's boyfriend and Mary sat him in between Randy and me and accross from Jon thinking we would all scare the heck out of him. He held his own fairly well. There were plenty of laughs to go around and I think everyone had a good time. Poor Jon could barely keep his beautiful wife from kidnapping the butter dish since we were all telling her to take it. Jon asked the waiter to bring her a to go dish for the butter which did work out better since it had a lid on it, but Jon really thought we were trying to corrupt his wife. Then we started talking about how we hate to pay to get into events to see our kids preform. We do this thing that in the stamping world is called "huffing" You huff or blow on the stamp and it gives dryer ink the ability to be stamped.
We send Raina out to the bathroom and she asks for a stamp on her hand. Now she has the most wonderfuly moist skin and the ink doesn't sink into her hand. she can double transfer a stamp without even blowing on it. Even if the stamp is light and we can get any of the stamp to show up at all then we all ask for a new stamp because we washed ours off.. It just makes sense.
We pay to put them in the sport, pay for their equipment and then they want us to pay to watch our own kids play. It really is quite the money making scheme.
Well Daryl was fabulous. He took all of our kidding and joking and some of it was not pollitacally correct, but he took it with a grain of salt and laughed with us. I gave him the final handshake when I was sure there was too much going on for him to really be listening and I smiled and said, "I killed my grandmother this morning." I love saying that to people and they dont have any idea what you just said and they just let it slide. If it was important, they'll tell me again. Right?
Well it's 10 pm and Randy is soaking his dry skin in the tub and I thought I'd fill up a page about the day. Girls were on time to school. I only had my usual 5 today although we did see a city academy student that lives on our way from emerson to City academy out trying to catch the bus. If we see her in the future we'll stop and offer her a ride.
Today in my quiet time I questioned myself on how will I know the voice of the Lord? Or could I possibly be one of the people he will say," I never knew you." So I talked to Greg and he said prayer and reading the bible is the only way to know that you know Jesus. Work on that one on one relationship until you know Jesus. So that will be the goal of my private time tomorrow.
My wonderful husband dug my car out of the snow this morning so I knew it was going to be a good day and it was.
Reanna brought a friend over after school. When she does that she always seems so happy. I really think bordom is the worst thing for her. She is so happy when she's got friends around her and so angry when she doesn't. Tomorrow I hope she brings the same girl home. For some reason her mom doesn't seem to mind if she spends time over here.
Bert took Squishy out to lunch today. Can I just stop for a second and say how much I appreciate that he does that for her. It makes her feel special. He has been supportive and wonderful about her living here. He is one of the few people that can actually make her feel loved. Tomorrow is Squishy's parent teacher conference and I think she's kind of surprised that I have already scheduled time to speak to her teachers. She's not used to this kind of "under the thumb treatment."
We went out to dinner right after Raina's game tonight. My sister Mary has decided we need to get together as an entire family once a month for dinner at a restaurant just to sit and have a nice meal and laugh together. We really do get along great and it really is a shame we don't do it more often. I met Mary's boyfriend and Mary sat him in between Randy and me and accross from Jon thinking we would all scare the heck out of him. He held his own fairly well. There were plenty of laughs to go around and I think everyone had a good time. Poor Jon could barely keep his beautiful wife from kidnapping the butter dish since we were all telling her to take it. Jon asked the waiter to bring her a to go dish for the butter which did work out better since it had a lid on it, but Jon really thought we were trying to corrupt his wife. Then we started talking about how we hate to pay to get into events to see our kids preform. We do this thing that in the stamping world is called "huffing" You huff or blow on the stamp and it gives dryer ink the ability to be stamped.
We send Raina out to the bathroom and she asks for a stamp on her hand. Now she has the most wonderfuly moist skin and the ink doesn't sink into her hand. she can double transfer a stamp without even blowing on it. Even if the stamp is light and we can get any of the stamp to show up at all then we all ask for a new stamp because we washed ours off.. It just makes sense.
We pay to put them in the sport, pay for their equipment and then they want us to pay to watch our own kids play. It really is quite the money making scheme.
Well Daryl was fabulous. He took all of our kidding and joking and some of it was not pollitacally correct, but he took it with a grain of salt and laughed with us. I gave him the final handshake when I was sure there was too much going on for him to really be listening and I smiled and said, "I killed my grandmother this morning." I love saying that to people and they dont have any idea what you just said and they just let it slide. If it was important, they'll tell me again. Right?
Well it's 10 pm and Randy is soaking his dry skin in the tub and I thought I'd fill up a page about the day. Girls were on time to school. I only had my usual 5 today although we did see a city academy student that lives on our way from emerson to City academy out trying to catch the bus. If we see her in the future we'll stop and offer her a ride.
Today in my quiet time I questioned myself on how will I know the voice of the Lord? Or could I possibly be one of the people he will say," I never knew you." So I talked to Greg and he said prayer and reading the bible is the only way to know that you know Jesus. Work on that one on one relationship until you know Jesus. So that will be the goal of my private time tomorrow.
My wonderful husband dug my car out of the snow this morning so I knew it was going to be a good day and it was.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Well, today was a typical Tuesday. We had a hard time in the morning getting ready for school. I don't know what it is about Mondays but no one wants to get up on Mondays to go anywhere. But for some reason by Monday afternoon we're all in a great mood. Then comes the terrible Tuesday. For some reason it is harder to get up on Tuesdays then it is on Mondays. Tuesdays are grumpy. Tuesdays are angry. Then it doesn't help that Raina has basketball at 3:30 and another game at 7 pm. The hard part of that is the game thats in the middle of her games. If we were early enough to make it to the first game before they started to charge to get in then we've saved ourselves $15 or $20 just by being early. Well the East High leopards kicked some Highland ram butt this evening. JV, varsity and sophomore all won and they were all good games. I don't know how Raina did in the jv game but in the sophomore game she scored 6 points had a couple of steals and a couple of nice blocks.
I didn't get mad enough to hit any of the refs but some of the highland fans were throwing things at me while I was taking pictures. I gave them an evil glare and told my husband if they continued to throw things at me he was going to have to defend my honor and beat some respect into them for me. That escalation moment never occured.
Squishy put a pork roast in the crock pot and peeled some potatoes to boil for mashed potatoes so even at 9 at night we still had a lovely family dinner. Girls are in bed and we're waiting for another snow storm to hit the city tonight with 6 or 8 inches.
Good night family and friends.
We love you.
I didn't get mad enough to hit any of the refs but some of the highland fans were throwing things at me while I was taking pictures. I gave them an evil glare and told my husband if they continued to throw things at me he was going to have to defend my honor and beat some respect into them for me. That escalation moment never occured.
Squishy put a pork roast in the crock pot and peeled some potatoes to boil for mashed potatoes so even at 9 at night we still had a lovely family dinner. Girls are in bed and we're waiting for another snow storm to hit the city tonight with 6 or 8 inches.
Good night family and friends.
We love you.
just starting to blog
OK, this is my first attempt at blogging and I'm very excited about this. This can be a journal for everyone to read who is interested in the day to day lives and struggles of my family. I know I have family and friends who live far enough away that they don't know all the stuff going on in our lives every day. I've also wanted to keep a journal of sort where people can know what's going on and I can have a record of what's up in the russell household. It will be so much fun to see if I'm really the only one that cares what the scores to the basketball games are and if I'm succeeding in my journey to raise responsible Christian children. So here we go.... brand new journey.
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