Happy New Year!!!!

Where do I even begin? I've been absent from my blog for it seems like forever. But events have kept me away and a touch of some kind of flu or something, since the day before New Year's.

The picture you see is (left to right) David and Myself, Nikki, Josh, Emily and my brother Brian. We attended a Masquerade Ball held in Indy for New Year's Eve, and it was soo much fun. We were upstairs in VIP enjoying the drinks, the munchies and lots of laughs. This is something we do believe we will be attending again next year.

It's been a long hard year for all of us. Me in particularly. From Birthdays to Home Remodeling to our wedding in June, all the way to my best friends Tera and Myles who joined their union in October, to working on the front porch, things have been quite a blur for us. But the year is over and yet we are looking forward to all the blessings of this year, and the ones for 2009.

The kids made out like bandits for Christmas, there are still toys that have yet to be opened and played with, but hey we will have all year for that. LOL I'm looking forward to it. David and I have no particular major plans this year, but as always we take the days as they come and smile and love with all our hearts. We hope to spend many days with the kids and with our friends and families. We have so many people in our lives we are blessed to love and know. And we wish them all the very best with the New Year. We are there to help when you ask, with what we have, and can't wait to spend the fourth of July or the weekend around that with the celebration we have held for two years. Along with our special cookie party celebration in December, and all the blessed visits and events we will attend with Tera and Myles, Nikki, Phillis (Mom #2), Emily and Josh, Brian, my own parents, and all others who wish to see us once in a great while!

Christmas Events!

There's been so much going on that I have not had time to blog! Christmas is in full swing for our household. This weekend was sooo much fun, and I wish I had even more people come to the cookie party, but it was a blast either way.

My cookie parties are a little different from most. I do all of the specialty cookies, several dozens and different kinds along with candies and little extras. This year was even more special because David helped ALOT and so did Grace. I made doughs and David rolled and cut them and helped bake while I produced yet more items during the process. I can't tell you how many dozen or all the types, but it was really awesome. The shaped cookies we saved for the girls to get there to help decorate. When the girls arrive it's time to eat, chat, relax and decorate then pack up their boxes to head home to give to their own loved ones. Whatever is left over, or if I have to supplement and bake some more go to David's work for everyone. (In fact, it was asked just last week why I hadn't brought Halloween cookies as I did the year before and when the Christmas cookies were coming? LOL) So it worked out nicely. We accomplished getting all cookies decorated and by 4:00 we were headed out to watch a movie. Some came and others decided it was time to go home. But the one's who attended got to see 4 Christmases with us... A great movie by the way, it makes our families look tame in comparison.

After the movie David and I ran home to change and attend his company Christmas party. It is enjoyable to go to this. And waiting on Mr. Rohrman always seems to be what we do. It's really funny after all these years he knows the party starts at 7, yet he doesn't get there until 9 or 9:30 every year. :0( Then we can eat. So if you haven't eaten all day, it doesn't fly with your stomach's schedule, but there are hor' duerves and lots of free beer, so you are full of carbs by the time you get to the main course.

I've had my christmas tree up before thanksgiving and my house has been decked out for the holidays and I'm just so excited. My christmas presents have been huge and expensive this year, a Honda Pilot, a new bathroom, and a new television for the family...so I'm not asking for anything and David isn't either. That's more than enough, although most were necessity, it's just the simple fact that it was way more than anyone could ask for in a year, and I'm okay that we will not be doing anything else for ourselves this christmas. The kids will get the benefit of that.
:0)

I've had so much fun so far, and I am due to make two cakes for this week, along with some more cookies, and whatever Mrs. Harshbarger has decided for Grace's school party this friday (which I have not received notice for). This is my favorite time of year...although it isn't for my waistline. :0) We have so much more to do. Looking forward to every minute of it.

I get to visit my friend Ingrid whom I haven't seen since highschool. She is an extrodinary individual and she was so kind to remember me after all these years and look me up on myspace. So I will be making a visit to her to deliver cookies, and see Heather who is coming in from Florida for the holidays. I'm so excited! Heather used to work with David and I at Honda. Ingrid and Heather both will be located in Crawfordsville, so it will be a day trip that I can make all at once, and enjoy yet some time with people I don't get to see often.

Kevin has picked up on how to "play" people, from crocidile tears, to batting his beautiful blues, and puckering up when he is pouting. That and he's figured out how to antagonize his sister now that we've warned her multiple times if she continued with that behavior he'd pick it up and dish it out ten fold. LOL The other night driving home she was saying something to him, and he said, "I didn't hear you all I hear is blah blah blah." LOLOLOL David and I laughed for five minutes over that one! He also went to lunch with us yesterday and at Wendy's when he figured out he didn't get that toy he wanted in his kid's meal he puckered up lip quivering forming tears in his eyes and David and I both looked at him and laughed and I told him, "Kevin give it a break we know your faking." lo and behold...he STOPPED INSTANTLY and giggled.

I can't wait to see their faces on Christmas Day. The best part of it all....is that we had to sneak presents to my folks house, because one of his toys WOULDN'T shut up in the car. LOL...so they'll have a few extra to open at Grandma Marie's. :0)

Hope the holidays are finding you all healthy and well. Wishing you lots of love!

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Christmas cookies. My sixth annual cookie celebration for my girlfriends.

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More yummy cookies.

Rover Saves Christmas...

Well the exciting post from last week (not really but okay)....I have survived another week.
As you have seen, we have traded in the Suzuki and purchased an 07 Honda Pilot. LOVE IT! The goal for the week is to prepare for the Saturday's Cookie Party and David's Company Party. I am excited. Once again I will only blog once or twice this week I believe, but who knows I may find time. LOL

Grace's birthday party was a lot of fun. We went bowling, and most of us showed up. I invited her dad and part of his family, but they had to go to Ohio to visit Grace's great grandmother who is failing in health. I want to say 6 kids bowling and 8 adults bowling and I was greatful that Carrie was there to help with the kids. She was managing when I couldn't and her poor girls were real troopers although Kaitlyn was tired and cranky and Emmie was moody. It was a great time, and we would likely do it again just for fun. Thanks to all who showed up and shared that special day with Grace, it's been the best birthday she has had yet!

Okay so the title of my blog.....It's a children's book, authored by Roddy Doyle...
It was left by one of David's Ex's kids I think...but I picked it up to read it...because it was a kids book about Christmas right? So I'm reading it to kevin, just the first chapter and it started itself over three times, claiming about Christmas in Dublin and cacti and two lizards who met and changed their name with the weather....at the end of the first chapter....this is an excerpt...

"Hans chewed and smiled at Heidi. Heidi chewed and smiled at Hans. They were full of fly and falling in love. But this story isn't about Hans and Heidi, although they're in it. And it definitely isn't about the fly. (He was tumbling down into Heidi's tumy, humming a sad song called "Torn between Two Lizards.") The story is about Robbie and Jimmy and a dog and some other people and what they did on Christmas Eve. It starts on the next page, Chapter Two. And that means that you just wasted your time reading Chapter One. Sorry."

Yeah and reading into Chapter Two with Kevin I stopped reading allowed, cuz it got more messed up and confusing yet funny...something about supergluing Granda's teeth to the top of his car then using his can opener to retrieve them from the car. LOL Really nuts....and then their teacher from Ireland named "Eejit" which means "idiot" but...that's another messed up story as how he got the name to begin with...Yeah I'm gonna read it...just really I had to blog, because it's messed up...for a kids story. LOL

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Replaced suzuki after accident. It stayed clean for fifteen minutes. Lol

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our new truck

Guess I should catch you up...

Okay, so I flipped my Suzuki this morning. I'm an idiot....road hazards at its best.

Dropped Grace off at school and was headed home. I was doing well, Kevin was sleeping, went around the two S curves on morehouse, and low and behold after the second curve started to accelerate, doing only about thirty, hit an ice patch year end swung around, I steered into it, missed the ditch by about 20/25 feet, went into the field...no big deal right...except the field was just plowed! The wheels dug in about a foot and tossed us on the passenger side.

Kevin woke up and asked me, "What happened mommy!?! Help me out I'm stuck! Get me out!"
I told him, "Hold on buddy, mommy is a little stuck too, let me get out and I will get you." Of course the whole while I'm braced on the steering wheel hanging from my seat belt. LOL What a day.

He was sooooo wonderful and did really well with the whole thing, and I am ever so thankful.

So many more things that I am thankful for! Kevin being asleep. That the field was soft to make a cushy landing. That I have such wonderful friends and family, that helped us smoothly through the horrible chain of events. I love you all. Kevin and I are safe, and all was taken care of in less than an hour. I am so grateful that everyone was looking out for us. And that big man upstairs, who loves us enough to keep us safe.

The Suzuki still survives and it runs, so I will be driving it to the collission center to get the estimate done. I am sooo grateful that we are okay, and hopefully for all who come visit me, know just how dangerous that road can be, even when you think it's just "okay". You don't have to be going fast to lose control of any vehicle, any where, even if it is four wheel drive! Mind you I wasn't using mine at that time.....sometimes I'm just an idiot. But I am here!

Lots of love to you all!

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Lots of crumples :(

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My monday morning excitement.

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Setting up the christmas tree saturday night. May not be designer but the kids did it themselves. :)

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Dinner with tera and her phone was awesome!

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Bed head then sock hat head. "Makes me a monster, mommy with spikey hair." Lol

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This is for the one's who've never been here. The peeled logs are to cover the old siding. We will be eliminating windows or converting into shelving. :)

Giveway....from Michigan

Go visit this blog that I visit faithfully....We will build our log cabin eventually.
And Shelley's is sooooo beautiful. Enter her giveaway!


http://logcabininmichigan.blogspot.com/2008/11/giveaway-from-building-log-cabin.html

HUGE DILEMA...

Apparently David's company Christmas party is December 13th!!!!!!!!! This is a dilema...it runs into the cookie party and such. :0( If I start it at 10 a.m. and we end the festivities by 5 p.m. all should be well. Anyone from out of town is welcome to stay if David and I attend the dinner and a little festivities....after all, you have other relatives to visit here also....just let me know if this throws a wrench into all of your plans! :0( Man, I am soooo sorry. I planned on having overnight visitors and you are welcome to stay here no matter what...but hopefully this year...David gets his ring for being at Honda since 1995...he should have had it and a diamond put in it already for his ten year anniversary. But someone drops the ball on him every year.

FW: To nice

Too nice. Greeting from nikki in arizona.

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My office on right side lol

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My front porch left side

It's already Thursday!

Man, what a busy week..... I had a root canal on Monday that took up my day. Worst part was, the dentist asked me what I'd been doing for pain the past week or so since it's been giving me issues, and I said, Ibuprofren and my antibiotic, so he said, "Stick with that, and if you need anything call me." Oh...that was a dumb move on my part. So a few narcotic pills later (leftover) and a loaded warm apple cider, I was off to bed. So no production on Monday.

I have an office now, in my front porch again, and I'm soooo stoked about that. It's about time. Now on the other end, will be a temporary guest bedroom, until we decide in the summer what we are going to do (if we are going to move the deck or not....or how this is all going to go. We still do not have the log work done, but, it's going to have to wait. We'll peel the logs, and get them prepped to install. But the two main windows going into the house that still exist, we have to figure out what we will do with them. The one going into Kevin's and the one going into the living room. We are thinking an open bookshelf from living room to out there would be great, but Kevin's room needs to be shut in...No doubt about it. So we can close it in from the porch and then leave it open on Kevin's side to remain as a bookshelf area. :0)

I don't know at this point what we will be doing after the holidays, but since everything is fast approaching I will be working hard to getting house decorated and organized and then baking starts. :0) Yahoooo...my favorite part of the year.

I have slacked on cakes because there's too much time being taken up doing all the necessary stuff with this house. So, it'll be nice to get to do some holiday stuff. I'm happy!

Wednesday Grace had a filling put in, and promptly went to school (with mouth numb), and accidentally yanked out the loose tooth that's been loose for TWO months. LOLOL I think she caught the "tooth fairy", but I told her I was just checking to make sure the tooth was still there, that the tooth fairy had left it as requested. But she told me that it was ME that left the dollar. Then on the way to school she promptly told me, that the tooth fairy still hadn't read her request for EIGHT DOLLARS...I nearly choked on my drink. And I told her, "I'm sorry but you don't set the tooth fairy rates." Then it was dropped. LOLOLOL

Kevin, he's been a great little guy this past week. And Chiquita...well she loves him and hides from him sometimes. Kevin wants to play all the time. But Chiquita likes to go hide and chew on things or eat kitty crunchies out of the litter box. BLECH! :0P We are working hard on the no chewing thing, and for the most part if you keep your clothes out of the floor, she's good. She just eats random tid bits of paper and such. She hasn't tackled a rug in a week, so I'm happy about that. LOL

Any takers to watch my kids tomorrow night? I need a break, and Tera and I need to eat El Rodeo and have a small bit of margarita. :0) The girls have been so busy, we haven't got to spend much time together recently. :0(

Nikki is still in Arizona, and she texted to tell me she loves it, and that if she could she'd just get a job and stay there. I told her she should. David said we need someone else to come out and visit when we get out to see Michael. LOL...I just think sometimes we should just pack up and move out there. But what do I know...tooo many people who'd hate us for taking the kids when they are still young....but I bet when they are 13, and 16 they are going to be begging us to leave town. LOLOL Just kidding.

I'll keep you posted with pictures soon! I have some finish work this morning on the front porch and furniture to move tonight, then tomorrow, it'll be posted I believe! Hope life finds you all well!

We thought we'd be done....

And no, we are not..... *sigh* Last night we took time out to visit with the "family" My sister's husband Josh celebrated his 24th birthday I believe it is 24th...LOL so, we went to O'Charleys for dinner. :0) But to no avail...we skipped the birthday cake and went home to work.

Well as things go, nothing ever goes as planned. Grace (although not here this weekend) caused some drama. She failed to tell us the cat litter was running out. So the last time she cleaned Smokey's litter box it was not full enough to use really. Well, guess what? Yeah Smokey used the litter til it was sopping wet then decided to hide her piles of you know what in various toys and clothes that Grace had scattered about her floor. :0( Although I've stressed a million times over the importance of cleanliness, Grace still has not gotten it...and now she's lost 3/4 of it...it all went in the trash. :0( What else was I supposed to do...cat poo is not good. So there will be drama when she gets home.

Chiquita has decided that dirty socks and underwear are good chew toys... :0( We have managed to lose three pairs of underwear torn to little cotton ball shreds, and one rug so far during her "puppy" training. Someone had called her a "land pirhana" one time, and now I get why they collect this nickname. So once again, she is in "lockdown" for a period of time to curb her shennanigans. But soon she will be broken of this behavior. :0) I'm just wondering how much she chewed at the original owner's home?????

So, the drama with Grace's room put a damper on progress of the front porch, we are still progressing, but the peeling of logs has once again come to a hault so we can deal with other things. From the time we got home from dinner until 1 a.m. I was working on Grace's room, and I still have to completely SCRUB the whole entire floor before she gets home and it is almost 2:30 p.m. Wish me luck! LOL

As for replacement of items for Grace, I know her birthday and xmas are around the corner. So purchasing of educational items, craft supplies will be handy, only if they come in their own organizer or tote, or can be placed on a bookshelf. LOL I'll update soon!

Oh..an afterthought, I figured out how to post from my phone "mini blogs" with pics....so once in a while if you get one...you have to click on the link to take you to the blog, to see the photo!

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Happy birthday dear josh happy birthday to you!

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We've torn the house apart today. :( major reorganization tonight. I'm sad there's more work to be done. Big television will be out though. :)

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Molly with her halloween costume on. Lol mom bought one for chiquita too!

To finish filling you in....

As most "soccer" mom's lives go...I have been a busy bee.
So for the rest of story, he he he.....

We acquired a new family member as you seen by the picture. It's Chiquita she is a 4 month old Chihuahua.....and simply adorable and full of little vibes. She likes to chew. Teething seems to do that with babies. But we are training her that toys and chew bones are better than paper... with all the drywall dust around, paper bits are just even more annoying. I want my home back to normal! LOL

But Chiquita is a "rescue"...the brother in law's son and his girlfriend (who bought Chiquita (formerly known as Paris) and realized when looking for apartments they would not be able to afford to keep her. So we decided we should! I was so excited when I seen her. She's adorable.

Kevin's picture I posted was of him wearing Hammerhead Shark goggles he had gotten from Taco Bell, don't they show his personality? LOL Don't even need the horns...the goggles do it all.

Grace's performance was phenomenol! She has a wonderful voice, and I'll gush about it a bunch. I'm so proud of my little girl. When she got up to that mic...and just let it flow I was astounded. She received tons of applause from her whole entire third grade class when she arrived tonight, it was amazing. She asked me why they did it? I said that they were proud that she had done so well. :0) Simply awesome!

We are still peeling logs...well David is currently doing yet another, while I blog to keep everyone updated, and then I'm headed to work more on the front porch....in fact...that's where I'm going now!

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New member of the family! Chiquita!

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Goggles from taco bell have been amusing.

Front Porch Remodel

So once again, where have I been? On the front porch.
David and I have not lost momentum, well last night we did, we relaxed, we had to, we have been tired. But what have we been doing so far?

Drywall is finished on the front porch! Tonight is Grace's performance at school at 7 p.m. Thanksgiving is coming up soon and we want to have this done, at least almost done. :0)

I haven't forgotten you all, just really busy and working right along. I'll post more later.
We are going to try to work on the porch some more on the weekend, we are hoping to make a lot of progress!

Peeling Logs....

Either we are lucky or crazy, I haven't figured it out, but David and I have started the front porch project. Apparently Butch (the ex father in law) with the tree service, has had a customer asking for planks out of the wood cut off his land. This leaves lots of scrap half logs and such. :0) David had an idea, and off we go. The idea is to install the log cabin feel into the front porch. :0) I'm stoked, but either we are stone crazy or just happy to be so lucky. We peeled our first log last night. :0)

What? Peeling logs? What are you talking about? It's the removal of bark and cambium layer to get your solid wood, so it will dry, so you can add stains or oils of your choosing. He will be headed over to collect more from the pile this week, so I'm stoked to have what we need to do what we want out front. And for the low low price of some hard labor! LOLOLOL And we all know that David and I aren't immune to that.

Let's see we have had no word from the appraisal report at this time, and I am working on the second layer of paint on the ceiling on the front porch. Mind you it's not what we want to do with the ceiling, but for cost reasons, we are going to leave it as is right now for the time being. This is disappointing but we have no choice. We tried scraping and it's just not a go....we can't get all that paint off those slats, and some are bowed from wear and tear and weather, so we scraped off the big chunks and painted it. For now it'll do, but it will eventually be replaced with drywall if we are here long enough. :0) I am disappointed that we will not be able to make it as "unique" and "finished" as the bathroom at this time, but you do what you can with what you have in some situations and that's all we can do. It's a matter of consequence we are going this far with the front porch to begin with. LOL

So as for now, things are going well. The kids go back to the dentist on Monday, for cleanings and Grace receives two fillings. :0( There's so many projects going on it's crazy. I've decided that December 13th will be the cookie party and that will be held at our home, starting at 10 a.m. and ending whenever. If you plan on attending email me, and let me know. Let me know how many projected dozens of cookies you will be taking with you, and of course, bring your decorative boxes!!!! Also Grace's birthday is the 10th of December, which is going to be a factor in all of this. I have her the weekend of the 6th, so doing a birthday of some sort the 5th, 6th, or 7th is fine with me. Although Kevin will not be with us until the 7th probably. Denise's older daughter Danny will be marrying and Kevin is the ring bearer on the 6th, and I'm not sure how the schedule is working out for that. :0(

Any ideas or opinions just let me know. Thanksgiving will be another one to think about since it will be here so shortly. My family from Kentucky, who didn't make it to the wedding will be up visiting. It's the only time I've got to see them since March. So Thanksgiving plans need to be decided on when and where we are all supposed to be. LOLOLOL Let me know your thoughts and ideas on this as well.

Lots of love to you all, and hope life finds you well!

Bathroom Remodel Done!

Was completed this weekend....
Here's the slideshow if you didn't get it by email.

The appraiser came yesterday and we have to finish the front porch to get the refi loan in action, that we know for sure, once his report is turned in, we'll have to verify the rest of the "little fixes". Wish us luck!

I will be working at the shop thursday and friday, so I won't be available, and the kids will be disbursed for trick or treating to their respective parents. :0) But there is nothing but work lined up for us. **Shaking my head** ho hum...i'm tired

Sneak Peek!!!

So the only one who has got a sneak peek at the project has been Phillis and Nikki! But it's not done yet, there are a few trim pieces that need to go up, and the window, yeah I'm tiling the window. It's been the dread of the whole project from the start and we knew we would have to do it. David is at work, and Grace is on Fall Break today and Monday so four day weekend with the kids! :0) ***The secret to the tiling of the window...when David is still contemplating a project, more like not wanting to go there...he procrastinates...I just tackle it. So he's coming home today to a tiled window. LOLOL.. works out wonderfully! That way he doesn't have to stress anymore about it...and my bathroom can be done, and we can get on with our lives. LOL Wish me luck!

Kevin has already been dressed up in a dress and a pink cowgirl hat, with cowgirl boots, and clip on earrings....very studly, yes and I got a pic on my cell phone! LOL As Myles said, great bribe material when he is older! LOL

Collecting paperwork up for refinancing of the house. And I have to fax that today. It's almost noon...so maybe the window won't be completely tiled. Oh who knows. Wish me luck all! And in a few days, you are going to have some pictures to look at, or maybe you should just schedule to stop by. LOL

Life

So it's a few days away from being a month long bathroom remodel, and I have walls. I have been working feverishly to finish mudding the drywall. It has been just a really busy few weeks and the bathroom has went by the wayside, but as you can see by Tera's wedding blog. It was well worth all of it.

We are laying the basecoat of paint down as different sections of the drywall mud drys and we have a ceiling, and it's all painted except for one corner! Mind you if I post pictures of the bathroom, the color is not what it is going to be but it was spare paint we have a lot of and it works out nicely as a base paint. :0)

I'm excited to get the finals done and there are lots of suprises in store. And to see it coming together David and I are getting really excited. The past few days have been slow in progress also, since Grace has had a half day of school, and that has thrown me into yet another loop.

Half days due to parent teacher conferences! My gifted and talented child has made it into the AB honor roll after her first two week scare of trying to lie and turn in her homework not done, which received her an F in all her subjects except math. :0(

When they do work in this class, it incorporates almost every subject, so she has to be careful about slacking and focus much more. It's hard to recover from an F, and her social studies and science class grade was sitting at C's for a while there. :0( But she got it, and I couldn't be prouder of her!

I have had a busy schedule this week with helping take care of Tera and Myles's "kids" (The cats Nikon and Piper). But I've managed to get stuff done. I just can't wait until I can reorganize my bathroom and my life again. The house is a shambles and there is drywall dust EVERYWHERE. Ho hum...drives me nuts but we are going to get it done.

David and I make a fantastic team when it comes to getting things done. And as you can tell emails and blogs have come few and far between, I haven't had much time to log on and do a lot of stuff. But in most cases I have managed to fill people's emails with forwards when I can!

Wish us luck on the bathroom. We are headed to Indy tomorrow afternoon to spend Saturday with Nikki. To celebrate another year getting older, and how much wiser, and beautiful she is getting. ( Although she denies it ) Beauty comes with age. :0)

The wedding is over!

http://s173.photobucket.com/albums/w51/bluemist1977/Kleinfelter%20Wedding/?action=view¤t=861e10a6.pbw


Click on the link...it will take you to the link of the slideshow of Saturday a.m. Prep. LOL

Okay so the events of last week were just tiring in itself....so where have I been?
On the Wednesday I was doing some final stuff with Tera, started packing favors...on Thursday well...I was working on Groom's cake Wednesday evening, then on Thursday I went to Tera's for some more stuff, took her mom to do a trial run on her hair, then went back home...took a little short nap and got up at 3 a.m. to finish the Ferrari Cake, which ultimately squashed into a lamborgini...but none the less Myles loved it, and it made an appearance at the wedding too, because..NO ONE ATE IT!!!! LOL Friday was half day for Grace but we managed to get our nails and pedicures done, just Darsha (Mom) Tera and I. Dawn was having allergy issues and stayed at her hotel, and well Stephanie just needed some sleep because she flew in from Hawaii and was having some jet lag. :0( Needless to say it went off without a hitch though. I ended up having my mom rescue me from tripping over my gown at the wedding by doing some pin tuck stitches. THANK YOU MOM!!! FOR ALL YOUR HELP!!! Grace stayed with her so Emily and Josh could bring her to the wedding. Kevin stayed with David and those two handsome men arrived at the church on time in their tuxes. Although he had a struggle with having to wear daddy's black socks...he preferred his white ones to keep his legs warm. There's a photo where Tera is in my truck talking on my dead cell phone which was plugged in, to convince him to wear Daddy's socks...(cuz ummm it's the only thing that mommy had forgotten to get him). LOL

Sleep deprivation was my goal...not really but that's how it happened for EVERYONE! And it was a blast. Many pictures to be seen...but since I was in it...go figure there are none of the group or the wedding, just the pre getting ready stuff and the reception and what nots... :0)

I met a twin of mine who lives in Washington. And Tera wasn't even kidding when she said so. Dawn, which you'll see in the pictures. She's same height, personality, just about amazing how uncanny it was. Even Dawn's son Andrew walked up to her and asked her when she got a tattoo on her back. LOLOLOL...Yeah she's the same height and build. Kevin her husband even discussed that with David, just how freaky it was. So now, with fingers crossed, we are hoping that Kevin and Dawn move back home...because Tera and I will have the third musketeer...and we would literally be inseperable. Dawn and her two kids....which amazingly enough Ashley is one year older than Kevin, and Andrew I think is a little older than Grace. We've decided that Ashley and Kevin will definitely make a great pre arranged marriage and some simply beautiful grand babies! LOLOL....But as parents we can only hope.

There are 213 photos that I am currently uploading for all to see, I'm hoping to set them up into a slide show so it's easier for viewing. :0)

I'm glad that it is now done, and we can get back to the bathroom that desperately needs our attention. With the market being the way it is, and all, David and I are pressing to get things done, so we can refinance so that just in case our "new president" doesn't rescue our economy, we will be secure in knowing that all is well. :0) I want to be able to stash some major cash, so that David can retire...and well you've seen the stock market....where are your retirement funds going to end up? See that's what I'm sayin'....no good right now.

I had some major camera issues throughout the whole thing. First it was Grace's camera that mom bought, apparently Grace dropped it while it was open because it kept reporting a lovely lens error and hence I disovered that it wouldn't zoom in or out because it was cockeyed...then I had mine, so I had to buy batteries for it, but in some cases it took some bad shots, and in others not even visible, and then even others were just simply perfecto....so I don't get it. Myles will have to teach me because apparently it's operator instead of camera...I prefer to blame it on the camera though. LOLOL

Oh and a little other snafu...while the bride and groom are on their honeymoon I am watching the house and the cats. :0) But when they got home on Sunday part of their ceiling in their kitchen is now lying on the counter and the floor...so yet another project for Myles and David to tackle...we are not sure of if it's just the water damage from years ago when they moved in or if there is yet a leak to be repaired. It seems our work is never done. :0(

The drama sets forth...

Well the bachelorette party was not a huge success, it entailed a big fight between Tera (the bride) and her other maid of honor (Ann) which she has now pulled herself and her daughter from the wedding. I'm glad Tera had two of everything, two maid of honors and two flower girls..so guess what. She has backup and it's no big deal.

The bathroom is temporarily on hold until the events of the week are over with, and hopefully by the time their honeymoon is over, we'll have the bathroom done, so Myles can come and use it the following week...just in case he wants a vacation from his vacation/honeymoon. LOLOLOL Just kidding..but seriously. I'm hoping we get it all done soon!

I currently finished 14 lbs of chocolates for the wedding favors which I will feverishly work with Tera to get packaged up and ribboned tomorrow with the poems attatched. I still have to pick up David and Kevin's tuxes on Thursday, and finish the grooms cake I am working on. :0) Then make it to Tera and Myles for Thursday evening meets and greets and then prepare the fammily for Friday. Grace gets out of school half day thank goodness, but David still has to work until five and they are down to three techs. :0( I pray he makes it to the rehearsal early but we know it will not be on time. But he does not have a difficult job. It's the training of Kevin that will be worse than anything. LOLOL

Then it's off to the rehearsal dinner where I'll have the cake to deliver also. :0) I'm torn into a million pieces on everything I have to do, but that's okay. We love Tera and Myles, they are the bestest friends and people anyone could ask to have in their lives, so if they make my life a little hectic now and then, that's okay, cuz we do it to them too. LOL David and I could not be happier helping them in any way we can.

But hopefully Myles still doesn't have to worry about coming out to help work on the bathroom when he gets back from the honeymoon. I want it finished so he does not feel obligated to do so. :0)

Into the Blue Lagoon....

Okay, so where have I been you ask? LOL Good question. Many of my beloved blog followers have asked why I haven't been blogging much lately. Where do I begin?

I don't even remember what I did last week...it was that crazy...or the weekend. Oh yeah that was Myles' Birthday on Saturday, so we took him to dinner....Kevin has started another phase of NOT EATING, he'll sit with a plate of food and nibble for two hours and not be done, last night was three, with no TV at all and starting at 6:30-9:30 well needless to say he went to bed, and no television, and he didn't finish his dinner. Today on the other hand, he couldn't stop eating. LOL I just don't get kids and their growth spurts.

Myles and David are hard at work in the bathroom again this evening. I'm not much for the stuff up until finish work, so I helped with deconstruction...reconstruction is another process, and then finish work, like mudding and taping the drywall and stuff, yeah that's my line of expertise...and then I get to paint, trim and all that jazz. I still don't have a vanity in there yet...I have it in the middle of my living room floor, and no mirror, I still have to purchase that. I have all accessories for the bathroom at this time, but geez...I can't do anything with them.

The Blue Lagoon...is my nickname for the bathroom at this time, no one sees my vision and no one can see my bathroom in my head and the guys have NO IDEA, they have a concept of mechanics but that is it when it comes to this bathroom. LOL But right now, the protective coating is on the tub surround and the moisture proof drywall is blue, so yeah it looks like the bathroom is blue, umm...but you are all soooo wrong. LOLOLOL And I'll take pics of it up until it's time to do finish work, and then well...when it's FINISHED...completely. I'll make you all come to visit me just to see what Myles, David, and I did to our bathroom. LOLOLOL
Myles said with all the complications and dramas we've had with it, he was going to come and bath at our house for at least a week. LOL...and that's the honest to goodness truth, I think he would.

Oh and the pic of Myles on the ladder, the man is so decent, that he'll never have plumbers butt a day in his life, but for humor...I got his "plumber's belly" while he was hanging drywall. LOL

I don't know what we would do without such wonderful friends. Tera and Myles are getting married next weekend..and this weekend well it's no kids, and bachelorette and bachelor party weekend. David is skipping out to work on the bathroom, staying home, and well I, I will be following Tera around like a lost pup.

I've been working hard on making their favor chocolates for their gifts at the wedding. And I also have been working on a long standing "private" project, that is indeed very important and special for me to get done, but if I told you what that was too...well then you all would know and some just shouldn't right now. LOLOLOL

I've found myself also spending lots of time watching the stock market thanks to Myles, and sitting in front of my sewing machine. Yeah that has been fun, mending a pair of pants for Tera, hemming my old jeans for Grace to wear, because well, let's not deny it, I put on a little poundage, and she can wear those for now. But soon enough I'll be back in them! *Fingers crossed* (I hope) :0p

Wishing you all well and lots of Love!

Plumbing fiascos....

Well let's see today is Thursday right? I'm pretty sure I think that's what day it is. Who knows? Well we have not managed to get any drywall up yet or the surround around the tub, I think they are going to try to do that tonight.

Plumbing was some sort of an issue. Now Myles and David are not novices at this stuff by any means. But like all projects nothing goes as planned. The pipes would fit together for the tub, and had Myles in fits. Then the night before last David and Myles took turns soldering the pipes for the tube TWICE, removing and reinstalling...then removing and taking them out to the garage to do it so they wouldn't burn the house down. LOLOLOL Yeah when I went to check on them I asked how it was going and David was wrenching a pipe in, Myles had started to explain then all the sudden the pipe fell through the hole into the basement and ting ting ting...Myles just looked at me and said, "That's how our whole night has been." LOLOL

So needless to say I have a tub, that we have to clean debris out of from construction every night so we can use it in the morning. And a toilet. But still no walls. David did electrical last night, he got soooo frustrated because they were installing a vent but the hole that was cut wasn't big enough, so he just started hacking at the ceiling. LOLOL...I laugh, but it wasn't all that funny because he was WAYYY TOOO frustrated. He literally has had no luck with putting this bathroom back together. One piece at a time. Each project has become a fiasco in one way or another. Tonight is a little more electrical and I do believe they are starting on the drywall...at least for the ceiling. So they can throw their backs out before the weekend. I'm still clueless as to why the false wall behind the tub has not been studded out yet. Yeah the width of the bathroom is 5'8" which leaves a gracious 8" behind the tub, that we have to fill. I was thinking a really skinny shelf would work out beautifully...But what do I know? :0(

Ohhhh.the woes...
The kids have done fairly well with the whole matter. They really enjoy seeing uncle Myles here. And to see us all working together, I hope it instills teamwork, and ummm..good Work Ethics later. :0) *fingers are crossed* Although last night all the little complaints and arguments I had from them to do the requested chores that they were supposed to do, I did prewarn them would "Scare Uncle Myles into not having children so they can play with them." LOLOLOLOL

I really can't say I have done much, There's only enough for two in the bathroom with all the lights and materials sitting around. It's really cramped with three, but I do work when they aren't in the bathroom. Last night I started doing dishes and such, but I'm home today, trying to catch up on life, because well it's gotten ahead of us, and we're still stuck in the bathroom. LOL

An email to the teacher....

I wrote:
Currently this past weekend Grace was with her father. So if you find that she is distant or has attitude, please let me know, this is a hard transition the first day back for her to get back into the groove of things. His life is very unstructured, leaving hers...well you can imagine the same. Please let me know if she has difficulty.

Also, Currently she is reading Eragon for Oct. 3rd on her reading log, she is having a hard time getting into this book, and is not enjoying it, where Old Yeller was a very thrilling read for her. The reason I say this is due to the fact she went on a mini-strike and refused to read the rest of it, because Old Yeller had been shot. She wound up in hysterical tears, and once convinced to finish reading, she wound up in tears once more. :0) I explained to her that the author did a wonderful job if you feel you connect with the characters in one way or another, that is the reason the book is now a classic. LOL It was touching to see her do this. My reasoning behind this email is to ask if she can change her last book. Unfortunately I wrote it in ink when we agreed upon the book when she started school, but she found this to be tragic because she isn't getting into it. I do believe that she is fine with reading it, she is intimidated with the length of the book. Any suggestions here? Or can we change it?

Thanks so much!


Mrs. Harshbargers Reply.....

Mrs. Romack,

Yes! Grace can certainly find a new book. The second book does not even have to be a chapter book. Old Yeller was her Newbery Award chapter book, so she can read anything of her choice for the second book. I warned Grace that Old Yeller was a sad book, and I wondered how she would handle the traumatic ending! Your reference to author connection was great! Feel free to have Grace choose a new book.

As far as Grace's behavior today, she did not have a productive morning, and she basically sat at her desk for thirty minutes ignoring my prompts to get started on morning work. She ended up paying several fines, and by mid-morning was back to her more productive self. Thank you for the information because it helps me!

Sincerely,

Mrs. H.


Grace's progress report came home also on Friday...
It was stressed that most children are improving greatly but since the curriculum is much harder not to stress about the bad grades. ;0) I know Grace has a hard time focusing which is most of why she has fault in some areas.

Reading she is at 90% A-
Writing she is at 81.1% B
Spelling she is at 96.8% A
Math she is at 90.9% A
Science/Health is at 70% C
Social Studies is at 75.7% C

There was a part of the Lesson of learning Lafayette's history, that she failed to do the work a few weeks into class (I would assume to test her limits)...and lied to me about it. This received her an F and directly impacted her writing, science/health, and social studies grades at this time. :0( That was discouraging to say the least, but we are doing much better.

We are now into day ummm...4 of the bathroom remodel...an hour into the work, My husband and Myles are feverishly working on the plumbing. Last night we got the trim around the window outside the house, this evening I was painting. Needless to say one of the kids decided to push the plastic bag into the tray of paint I was storing from sealing one side of the boards before they were hung, and I had paint all over my hands. Nothing like having paint goop to contend with. The worst part, when I came into get dinner out of the oven and get the kids fed...low and behold they had shut the water off. GARRRRR......... So shower cleaner and a towel have been my best friend. Because there has been two applications so far on the bare boards to get a good seal on them. :0P It never ends.....

Deconstruction....Reconstruction...

So as many have been anxiously awaiting my next blog....I have determined, I love doing this way too much. But it gives me reason and a place to vent, so it is all good.

The news is, as most of you know the bathroom remodel is underway...and under time constraints. It's Sunday evening and deconstruction is done, and Myles and my wonderful husband (who has been battling a headache for two days straight (figuratively and literally)) are now finally trying to install the tub, we have not started the vinyl installation or the drywall as of yet. But they want to be able to turn on the water to the toilet and tub tonight for the kids sake. Wish us luck. Because this is all too frustrating.

We managed to convince Denise to bring Kevin up and drop him off. It's the second ever trip she has made here to drop him off!!! Surprise Surprise. But we have valid reason for her travel, as does when squared drops Grace off tonight.

Grace managed to tick off Grandma Dianna and Grandpa Lee, and her father with her cell this weekend. I let him know she was going to have it, but he called to inform me that she is holding it over everyone's head again, that if they say or do the wrong thing she will be calling her mother. LOLOL..This makes me curious, what are they saying and doing that is SOOOO bad that she has to call me. And why are they making her upset? She should be enjoying her time there. Or is she up to her old antics of playing others against one another? Who knows. This is just something that I wish I could get a straight story out of one of them. But as it goes, I knew when the divorce happened, that he was messed up and so was his family and I knew it when I had her, that her life and me raising her wasn't going to be an easy one. I made my bed, I will lie in it, with my eyes closed, hoping that no one covers me with dirt in the process. LOLOLOL

I feel absolutely horrible about the party, I miserably failed when it came to my mother in law, in fact I've miserably failed a lot of people. Grandparents day came and went without special visits to the grandparents, the party to be held in honor of us, we had to cancel last night at the last minute because, well the bathroom remodel is not even halfway what we wanted to get done. I feel like a heel because Phillis went through all the trouble. I just don't know how I am going to manage to make it up to her. :0( I'm sorry Mom #2...I really am. David said we couldn't help it but I can't help but sulk, and the crow's have landed on my lip today because I've pouted so much. But I did get to take some of my anger and frustration out on myslef by doing demolition in the bathroom, so that was a nice change :0) A crowbar and a lot of plaster shattering, makes for a pleasant time and a lot of stinky sweat...

Yeah sweat...and there's no shower...no one wants to be within the vicinity of David, Myles, and I, the people at Menard's stayed at least a two foot distance from me when helping me this afternoon...probably of me emitting testosterone odors and sweatiness like Linus the little boy with the blanket and the dirt cloud that follows him...is that Linus, from charlie brown? I don't know but you get the picture. LOLOL

I had a great time yesterday with Nikki, I made my annual trip to Zionsville, I did manage to get a little something for Mom#2 that I hope she likes. :0) I felt bad that I scheduled it and then the mayhem started and I still went, but again David told me there was not much I could have done yesterday to begin with. :0( And if you ever get the chance to go to Zionsville, make sure that once the town closes down at five, that you have reservations at the Villagio...best italian I've eaten in oh FOREVER....puts papa vino's to shame!

..Lost without the avenger....

My little man..."the avenger" is with Grandma today. He's having withdrawals I suppose. We practically have not seen her much since the start of school. :0( He refused to go with me today, and wanted to stay with Grandma Phillis. But it's okay. I had lots to do. I was pricing out the bathroom remodel project we know have to do.

It seems funny how this all works out...the "buyers" never called us back. They were notified of the water leak in the bathroom, in fact David pointed it out. But low and behold the leak is worse, and we have to tear into it, no matter what this weekend. So I went to Lowe's, Menards, and Home Depot to get prices on things we need for the bathroom project. And now, ho hum..it's off to graph it out.

I'm bummed that once again it's a set back and we'll pull the sign down and not start looking until spring to try and move again, but what do you do? It's still cheaper to live where we are for the time being, and we enjoy it out here, although it's hard to get many to visit since we are so far away. Sad but true.

I'm stoked about the upcoming events though...This means once again, we get to do something cool to make the house look nicer. And in the process remodel some other areas and maybe finish my front porch / office area I spend so much time in. And the KITCHEN, yeah rock the kitchen idea! LOL

Friday we have Samantha's birthday party, and an old friend who may come up for a visit, who is not well, her heart is giving way at such a young age, but she is a fire fighter by trade, and I respect and love her enough, to say we need to see you, before she says goodbye to this world. It's been 5-6 yrs since I seen her last. Saturday, we are visiting with Nikki, and doing our annual trip to Zionsville which is awesome, and if you've ever been there, you'll know what I mean, and if you haven't..you should go sometime, it's shopping but its a quaint artist town like little Nashville. The upcoming event on Sunday is one to be expecting an invite if you live close to us. Sunday afternoon there will be an adult only pool party, held at Dennis Romack's house in honor of David and I, for the rest of Phillis's family to meet me. Hosted by Phillis herself. :0) I'm so proud to call her mom #2. :0)

In the midst of all this, we still have the upcoming wedding for Tera and Myles and I have to start making chocolates for that. :0) That is exciting and work out making the grooms cake...Where is the time? I don't know.

Grace is yet again ahead of her game, at least I think so. She's still as spunky as ever, and trying not to get fined too much at school, there are a few C's arriving home, but all of them are over her not reading directions and not double checking her work. ;0) Man, that was so much like me when I was her age. The difference is, in this class, she can't wake up from her daydream and expect to get it right, she has to focus and pay attention. This is a stepping stone for her, and Mrs. Harshbarger says she's progressing beautifully. :0) Me on the other hand, I was in a daydream starting at grade 3...and never stopped, in high school I was the same way, but everytime I "woke up" I couldn't figure it out by that point. LOLOL I hope she does not try and do the same.

Off I go to start the measurements on the bathroom, wish us luck!!!!

Emergency Bathroom Remodel.... ARRRGGGHHH

Well after all is said and done, we haven't heard from the "buyers" and if things can't get worse enough, David went in the basement while Grace was in the shower to find that we have another shower underneath it in the basement!!!!! ARRGGGHHH!!! So on top of all the plans this weekend, we are going to have to tear into the bathroom.

Hope momma Phillis is ready for us to rampage her house for showers for the next week. ARRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!! We can't win can we?

Head Colds...and what nots...

Well as it stands, the 3rd inspection came and went and no word from the "buyers" on our house. Garr...this aggrivates me.

The kids and I are ill, we have head colds or something, and David is yet to be effected by this epidemic at our house, so I guess that's a good thing. :0)

We did receive Grace's Star Reading Diagnostic Report...it is as follows:

This studen't Grade Equivalent score is 5.0. Her reading skills are therefore comparable to those of an average fifth grader after the start of the school year. Grace also achieved a national Percentile Rank of 94. This score is in the above-average range and means that Grace scored equal to or higher than 94% of students nationally. The PR Range indicates that, if this student has taken the STAR Reading test numerous times, most of her scores would likely have fallen between 85 and 97. It reflects the amoun of statistical variablility in a student's PR score.

These scores indicate that Grace is probably learning to apply her readin gskills to different academic areas. Grace likely uses textbooks and other nonfiction resources to achieve her content area golals.

For optimal reading growth, Grace needs to:
*Maintain a min. of 60 minutes of sustained silent reading daily.
*Understand text structures for expository materials, especially textbooks.
*Develop study skills to tackel content materials systematically.
*Exhibit self-direction in reading assignments within a wide range of materials.

This student's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) for independent fiction is 3.7-5.1 reading level. This is the adjusted level that will provide appropriate growth.

On yet another note....

Grace just finished Old Yeller... she stopped and had a mini strike when yeller got shot, she was bawling, and all tore up about it, and said she could not finish the book. I did explain that it is a good book when you get wrapped up in it, and you feel all the emotions the characters do, and she finished the story last night. I am so proud. It was definitely a step in the right direction. Little does she know she has many more sad stories to read and contend with.

AS for us, if we haven't heard from the buyers by Wednesday David and I are pulling the sign and refinancing this place and starting the remodeling. It was by happenstance in the first place we left the sign up, let alone the neighbors that practically live next door stopping by to take a look at it. But I think in the long run we'd be better off. :0)

Unexpected visitors....revisiting...

Well as the day goes on I can't seem to make progress at least it doesn't seem that way. Talked to Jay today and a possible lender and they are working through the tape. The soon to be visitors will be coming by once again to view the property and crunch some numbers on possible contract sale on our house. I am so excited about that. I have to continue to work on this place and work on paperwork.

Kevin has not stopped eating all day long, every five minutes he is saying he's hungry, I do believe this is yet another growth spurt. Because although his diet is structured he is driving me nuts and wayyy tooo aggressive the past two days. A hormone burst for sure. :0p I hope he gets over it soon, I have to order his ring bearer suit soon for Tera and Myles wedding. :0( We can't have him shoot up two more inches overnight, but what can you do? LOL

As far as everything else stands, I feel as though I'm going crazy. I had another exposure to the allergen that caused the major problems last month, it happens to be home defense insect stuff...this time it wasn't near as bad as the first. So although I was dead and tired last night and really foggy, I wasn't near as foggy headed this morning, so the exposure was brief and not inhaled too much. But I am pretty sure we found the cause. :0)

Natasha had her baby last night or this morning....it's a girl we knew that...and for you that don't know, that's David's step daughter. She's 6lbs and 7 oz or something like that. And for an absolute fact, Denise got married on the 3rd, so she is now Mrs. Gold Digger ( Oh I mean Mrs. Nugent) LOLOL Oh who am I to judge? Bite my tongue...I'll use my filter. I promise. ;0)

This weekend is going to be hectic, but isn't it always for us. David has to work until noon, they will be here at ten to look at the house, then when he gets off work and gets here, we will go over numbers. Then David has to help Brian do some things with the Expedition, so there goes our Saturday. And Sunday, I hope for some rest and relaxation...but I doubt that will happen.

Wish me luck! LOL If you haven't put in orders for Grace's fundraiser, please do so. It ends on monday!!!! And if you have already, thanks! She'll be happy to know she didn't have to do any footwork. LOL

Mommy...do you remember me?

LOLOL...Kevin grabs my face, and squeezes my cheeks...and says..hellloooo mommy do you remember me? We were sitting at the table discussing the drama of the day.

So we work out some good contacts thanks to Myles and Jay Benner we found our home in question....http://lraor.fnismls.com/publink/default.asp?GUID=ffe6cb3d-6189-4f17-81a3-3e5c0c445197&Report=Yes. I say home in question because low and behold we have to wait on our buyers.

Their "investor" is coming for house review on Saturday at 10, they believe there may be some red tape on an FHA, we don't believe there will since this was originally a VA loan at one time. :0) Good stuffs maynard. But they asked if we were interested in a contract sale. *Fingers crossed* this all goes through.

In a few months in the midst of Tera and Myles wedding, we may be MOVING...ARRGGGHHHH
And things are going to be significantly up a creek without a paddle. Talk about crazy...this is nuts! But ha ha ha..>I wouldn't have it any other way! Progress is being made. :0)

As for all other life in general, Grace is still being Grace. She's been fined at school multiple times now for not focusing and paying attention. And she's now spent her first several weeks of paychecks in economy at the stupid store they have every tuesday, and she's complaining she has to pay for health insurance since she has a dentist appt and they have to pay a $5.00 fine for any day that they miss, or have to be gone for a few hrs..unless they pay for health insurance. LOLOLOL
Oh..the moral dilema! I explained to her how this wasn't so bad...and that mommy wishes she had insurance when she got sick and had to go to the ER it would have been cheaper, but she doesn't get it. LOL

All in all life is good.

Going to the Chapel....

And Denise R. Romack (David's Ex) will be getting married! Two sundays ago, her marriage license was in the paper. She will be Marrying Eric Nugent...the man she spent her whole life screwing all other men in her life over for. We do believe that she will get hers this time...but only time will tell.

So what does it mean that when we went to pick up Kevin this last Sunday, that she kept hiding that bling on her ring finger? Who knows...LOL Maybe she is embarrassed of herself for submitting into a relationship that is doomed from the get go....oh well, who are we to judge. ;0) At least we do not have to be embarrassed because she was carrying the Romack name, and now she won't be..... HOOORAYYY!!!!!

We processed more apples last night, and there is so much more, but we have to get on the road....I will blog from wherever I get to. Today is friend intervention day for me. :0) Many people to talk to. I should charge for psycotherapy I believe. This would gain me lots of dollars....LOLOLOL Just kidding. I love my friends, when they need me, I'm always here to help.

It's Naptime....

So I'm at Tera's house, and it's nap time for Kevin, we'll be leaving in an hour to head out and go to get grace, pick up some munchies! Yahoo! I'm stoked about that. It's been a long time that Tera and I had some "girlie time". Now going to South Bend a few weekends ago was wedding stuffs, and it seems that all of it revolves around that, but this is some time for us to enjoy just being stupid, like ourselves.

We are going to be doing a dance class tonight. To see if this ol' timer can learn that "booty roll" thing. LOLOLOL...It'll be funny to see all of my rolls roll. LOLOL But it sounds like great fun. I'm looking forward to it.

As for the phone call from the teacher, Grace put a guilt trip on her. Last week Grace's face started to peel because of the sun burn from labor day...instead of sucking it up and going in there like a pro..she walks in with her hair in her face. Yeah drawing attention to herself is not socially exceptable. As Mrs. Harshbarger (her teacher explained) it's normal for these things to happen and it is not normal for you to draw attention to it, it would not be a big deal if people asked, less mystery and curiousity. So then she convinced the teacher that she had called her NOT NORMAL...and so she had to call me.

I told Mrs. Harshbarger this is just Grace , and she said she has dealt with MANY eccentric children and they teach them social acceptance and what is socially acceptable behaviors throughout the year. So lets keep our fingers crossed! LOL The best part, I told her to grab a cup of coffee and visit Mrs. Walsh, the teacher from last year, she will have some stories to tell.

But all in all, Grace told her teacher I was on my deathbed a few weeks ago when I got sick, and took myself to the ER, so I had to clarify a few things there. Let's just pray she gets past this drama! LOLOL I love my crazy 8 yr old.

As for me, I'm going to plop on the couch and chill, I can't wait to leave already! I'm looking forward to tonight!

Oh..after thought. Yet no more comments from the "neighbors" wanting our house, but there was positive head shaking when they were leaving this last time. So one final inspection from the "investor" and we should be making contracts, hopefully we get that call!

Tera's Bridal Shower weekend....

Well it's complete. Tera's bridal shower was on Saturday, and it went off without much of a snafu. :0) I spent the past few months coordinating all this stuff in a notebook, writing things down and just going to town with ideas. The cake was the hardest. Actually Grace was the bright one for the idea...and David. And from there we had two bridal shower cakes! LOL I was very happy how it all turned out. The shower didn't have a theme per say...other than it was ALL ABOUT TERA...everything from the foods that she loves, italian, mexican, and the hick little mini pigs in a blanket she asked for. ha ha ha

We had meatballs, bruschetta which all raved about how wonderful it was, although I was worried because Mr. Myles was eating a bunch of the french bread before I put the bruschetta on them to toast in the oven with some mozerella. Then we had fruit salsa, with cinnamon chips, Taco Dip with different crackers and Tortilla Chips and Doritos...LOL If it wasn't for her wonderful Dad making a trip to Meijers to pick up last minute supplies, I wouldn't have had crackers or Doritos. LOL Then there was the mini pigs in a blanket with some melted cheese, that I was displeased solidified instead of staying liquid after it cooled down. :0( But maybe I'm just too picky. We had some sparkling punch for the kids. and homemade Sangria for the adults. It was a great time.

The games were fun, and I made sure everyone walked away with a gift or two with momentos of Tera. I had made mini white chocolate high heels to stuff in miniature boxes of wedge heels and purses. The gifts were mini wooden elephants, glass calla lilly coasters, mini ariel keychains, and lockets, ice cream cone bubbles, and ice cream sundae candles, love note post it cubes, elephant blank cards, pens with high heels, lipstick bubble batch gel, high heel bubble bath gel, stickers with lipsticks, sports cars, and many other items.




The greatest part was the toilet paper bride, Grace's team won the "adult category" which was awesome, and if you want to see Tera's response...her blog is at this URL http://editortera.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-bridal-shower.html
Tony (Tera's father) and Darsha (her mother) were ever so greatful and a huge help in assisting the setup, along with David, to give me a helping hand where needed. I couldn't tell you how many times people told me I did a great job, but I can't count on both hands how much Darsha and Tony both told me they were so please their daughter has someone as a friend who loves her as much as they do and they were greatful at the thought I put into all of it.

It's my nature, just as it is David's, that if you are our friend, we love you and give you our 100% no matter what. That's who we are, and I wouldn't change it. I brought Tera to tears a few times. I was so happy with how the recipe scrapbook turned out, and my sister Emily put in the best ADVICE ever since she is a "new wife" herself! Tony, Darsha, David, Myles, Tera and I, got a really good laugh out of that one, but it was sooooo TRUE! If you cook something, and Myles says "it's okay" just hold your head high, and you can try again tomorrow! Or something like that. LOLOLOLOL Awesome stuff. Myles' family contributed a bunch, and so did Tera's Grandma Wegernowski (not sure if I got spelling right) LOL She almost doesn't have enough pages left to add some things that she wants to.

I feel like I could have done more, but all in all I was pleased with the outcome. There was one game that was "test your memory--What's in Tera's gift bag..." She went through it, and at the end of the party, we were supposed to have our quiz...um...well guess what, my memory was tested because I forgot!!!! But when I was upstairs chilling so that Tera could socialize with people getting ready to leave, I heard Great Grandma Zelma say "what about Tera's bag?" then I remembered. LOLOLOL...oh well. It was how I wanted it...to honor Tera, for one of the biggest changes in her life. She need not forget who she is or the things she likes, she just needs to remember to blossom with change. :0)

AS for this week, I'm looking forward to a short slow down! Just a few days anyway, Grace's school pictures are Tuesday. Monday evening, if I can find childcare arrangements I have a three hour "class" to attend with Tera. She doesn't know what it is yet, but boy oh boy will she be THRILLED to find out. ;0)

I'm signing off for now...but I have to fill you in on the Teacher phone call I received on Friday....I'll do that in the a.m....

Love you all!

Mania!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so yesterday was a blown out of proportion day. Grace's father decided after telling me he didn't want to fight about having her on the weeknights, threw a tissy about this weekend! I emailed him about the bridal shower about a month ago, and carbon copied it to his mother, to notify them of the invite and request grace be at Tera's Bridal Shower, and he went and bought tickets to the Indianapolis Zoo!!!! HELLO DUDE, ARE YOU THERE? IS YOUR MIND FUNCTIONING? (This is what I was thinking the whole time I was talking to him.)

Well he went manic and hung up on me twice, and on grace once, because I had her call him, because this isn't my fight, it's hers and her fathers. Then he laid one huge GUILT trip on her that made her cry. But I had explained to her BEFORE she talked to him it would happen this way, and that, it was no big deal. Then I called Tera and had her "talk down" the event to Grace (who didn't buy it for a minute cuz she's way too smart), but Grace said it made her feel a teeeny bit better. Then her dad called back and said I could pick her up on Saturday morning, and I'll have her the rest of the weekend I suppose.

I told him that she WANTS to be there, that this isn't MY THING, and he accused me of threatening him by text message that I was going to withhold visitation. One thing straight here, I said I reserve the right of PROTECTING my daughter. And this whole mess started over him pushing her down and holding her on the floor and having some manic attack because she didn't move the clothes right or she didn't do something right. It was only once, but it scared her enough and upset her enough that she feels the need to come home and say something and say she doesn't want to see him anymore. The man can twists things around so that they don't sound like what really happened, then he tried to convince me yesterday it didn't happen, after he admitted to it the wednesday before when I called him to let him know she didn't want to see him.

Ho humm....never a boring moment, but the guy is a jerk, and everytime something like this happens it worries more and more that Grace will turn out like this when she's older. But she gets to go to the Bridal Shower and that's important.

Big News: David will be in the wedding as one of the groomsmen also! He's a new "addition" to the clan. LOL If they hadn't started planning this two years ago, before David joined our "clan" he'd a been a part of it then, but Myles asked him yesterday to be a part of it now. :0) David is happy to do it, he asked what he should do, and Myles said, "Just make sure I don't run for any doors." So David has decided to wear a security sign on the back of his tux to reinforce the position. LOLOLOL Just kidding, but it's a great thought!

We got a phone call today from the people that came by and looked at our house, we are now going to pass an inspection of HIS parents coming to look at it. His father apparently does all their electrical work, then once that is decided, the INVESTER FATHER...hers will come to look at it. LOL What's there to look at? You can't buy land this cheap out here for what we're asking for the whole kit and kaboodle. LOL...give it up people. We want your $$$$ and a house in town!!!!!

But in the midst of this, the visit will be at twelve thirty tomorrow afternoon! While I'm in the midst of doing the catering for an event!!!! OH PLUEEEZZEEEE grant me the serenity I need to make it through the day! Friday night I will deserve a margarita and some fajitas or something.

I've been working really hard on eating properly this past week, and it's paying off in huge amounts, not only am I feeling a million times over better, I am awake from the time I get up until time I lay down, and seems to be a miraculous recovery...stay tuned though, the gym starts up on Monday. LOLOL

Where did I come from?

That was definitely a question that came out of Kevin's mouth yesterday, and it put me on the spot. I fumbled and told him a mommy's belly quietly and he kind of left it at that. David said next time, tell him home hospital. LOLOLOL

So I've been working feverishly to prepare for Tera's Bridal Shower on Saturday. It's been one heck of a week. I've been wrapped up in many different things, and I'm doing it all in stages.
So today was completion of the "cake" and tomorrow is food prep for the rest of it for Saturday.
Then Saturday, after a few things are heated, we'll be ready to parteeaaa'....LOL And celebrate Tera getting hitched. It will be fun.

It seems like not a lot of work, once you put together and have it, but I've been planning this for over two months, with a two week STALL of sickness in the middle of it. Although I was half out of it, I still seemed to get little things here and there done.

Kevin decided today he wouldn't take a nap and it's 2:10, so we are leaving the house to head in, we are supposed to leave until 2:40, but that's okay, we can sit, well I can sit, while he snores. He'll pass out in the car! LOLOL.....

You have to say the magic word...

Well as it goes the holiday has came and went. Exciting stuff to come.
I'm anxiously at home preparing for the upcoming bridal shower this weekend.
It's an exciting time, my BFF is getting married, FINALLY! To make up for all the crap I've put her through I get to do the most wonderful thing for her, have her bridal shower, which I am stoked about. Not at my house but at hers. None the less, it's all the more exciting. :0)

So as most holidays go, it was a great one. The kids got to bicker and argue and fight ALOT. And mom as usual was unprepared when Aunt T came to pick us up. I had everyone packed up but me! ho hum...then David was like, you packed a lot of stuff, yours would have fit in my suitcase. LOLOL But as most mothers do, you always pack extra "Just IN Case". You just have to, you have no choice.

It was a pleasant weekend, Tera and I dropped the kids off with Emily, Josh, and Brian, then we went to the dress fitting, only to excitedly report, the DRESS zipped UP!!!! Then for Tera to ask to have them let it out 1/2" on both sides, so she can eat on the delicious food, we are going to force down her throat at every weekend event, for the next 38 days until the wedding. LOLOLOL But it zipped, and I'm so proud of her!

Me on the other hand, I am yet bummed about my weight. I've kept myself down to at least 148 for a few years and got down to 132 last year, so this year...yeah well..I'm not happy about it. I mean 158 is just too much in my book, although I'm down to 152, I just want it to go away again. Without the gym this makes it twice as hard. Ho hum...I am sad about this.

We took the children to the beach where they enjoyed it tremendously. Emily took her camera, but until she posts the pics, I can't steal them from her, so it may be awhile...but I'll get them to everyone. Uncle Josh has found a new buddy...I've NEVER in my wildest dreams figure that Kevin and him would hit it off so well, but that little man was screaming and laughing in delight as soon as Uncle Josh showed him Demolition Derby on his computer. OMGosh! What a thrill.
Little did mommy do to pack any toys for the boy other than what was in the truck from the travel trips and his preschool stuff. :0( So yeah Bad Mommy for being over packed and too underprepared. But the kids had fun none the less.

Sunburns yes, we all got some sun. Mine was stupid me not sharing the love on both sides, so my bottom half on the backside was a little to overdone, my thighs look like christmas hams right now. David of course..tanned all over except for his ankles and his white feet. Man wears socks all the time, otherwise he looks like he walked away from the bahamas after a week. Garrr...I'm jealous. LOLOL Kevin...same thing. It's just sick, I think the only pink place was his cheeks and his ears. Blah..>Grace...fried of course. And well Josh...Same thing. Poor guy, looks like an atomic fireball. And Emily, she was a tad, but like mine, it faded and goldened. :0) We spent 5 hours at the beach and got there early to get a good spot. And lots of COLLLDDDD water in the beginning. LOL

Emily even lucked out by getting Josh in, I don't know how LUCKY you would call it. She dropped her ring, got her foot on it, and Josh dove for the $$$$. LOL...yeah, he mentioned it was a way dirty trick to get him wet. But none the less, it got me a good laugh. Tee heee hee.

We survived the trip back, with the exception of the children bickering, grace putting body parts on Kevin's seat and Kevin putting body parts right back on her. GRRRRR.....this disrupted in a flip flop slapping Grace, Emily taking it away from Kevin, Grace arguing with David, and Mom who was pleasantly napping in the back a wake up call to giving Grace a smack on the back of the head for arguing. Just a nudge. To let her know I was still back there listening. *rolling my eyes* It never stops.

We made it home that night to have a few margaritas and brave the hot tub. With sun burns it didn't sound like such a great idea, but all in all, we found that it took the heat out of most of our sun burns. Stung for the first few seconds, but after that, presto chango...no more burn, it actually felt cool. Hot tubs + Sunburn= Pleasantly recovering. :0) The first night we tried to do margaritas and that didn't hit me very well. Made my stomach burn. So I gave up. Second night wasn't so bad.

Believe it or not I think I am pretty close to recovered, the day at the beach wore me out, and the trip home yesterday evening I could have done without. LOLOLOL But all in all I'm doing a thousand times better.

The trip home....Grace hasn't figured out that no matter how much you eat, no matter how much you complain and we've known what you've eaten and when, that restaurants sometimes just don't pop up out of nowhere. LOL So we made her wait until she was absolutely quiet with the exception of a few moans until we got to Monticello and went to Arni's. 15 minutes before this her and Kevin and begun the arguing and fighting again, which resulted in, her telling him he had to say pretty please for something, then when she THOUGHT we would be stopping somewhere trying to get him to put on his flip flops. Smart little devil he is, turns it around and tells her to say pretty please, and her stubborn behind wouldn't say it which resulted in him throwing one flip flop, that was MIA somewhere in the car. Which finally got her to say, Pretty Please....but then he said , "No you have to say pretty please wif cherry on top." LOLOLOLOL One day she will get that everything she teaches him is coming back to bite her in the rear.

For now I have to go... I have tons to do..and it's halfway through my exciting day already.
I'll have much more to blog about later. Hope the weekend was loads of fun for everyone else too! Lots of Love to you!

Fun in the Sun, wishing for shade...

The family will be headed to south bend, then michigan this weekend, so we won't be around.
Tera's final dress fitting is tomorrow, and then we'll be headed to spend the rest of the weekend with Emily and Josh. Exciting stuff.

It was a typical Friday, which is good, easy going...and now we are home, and the kids are full of energy, and as usual daddy and I just want to chill and relax. After all, the week has been a little hectic. :0) Glad for the weekend! Hope everyone also enjoys themselves.

Random Buyers...Horrible Children

So as all things go, we do the usual schedule, with the exception of a phone call from a nearby neighbor. They saw the sign, they do the mail routes, and guess what? They really like the house. The lady called David today and told her they wanted to stop by to look at it.

The strange part is, David and I have mulled it over and thought we might as well stay, and never took the sign down. LOLOLOL...We know we need to move but we love it here. But we know we NEED to move, no doubt about it.

Well as it stands, they came to look, and the woman loved the charm of this old house. :0) I told her about the horrid colors that it was painted, and she LOVED the colors the living room is painted, that yellow green antique color I found, I told her I'd give her the rest of the five gallon bucket if they bought the house. :0) They loved the attic space where Grace's room is, and she digs the hardwood floors. So needless to say, she loved the house. :0) It's great, I guess.

I'm torn, I may have to give up my apple orchard, and plant a new one. :0( But there are so many possibilities it's ridiculous. So we'll see. They said that they have a van to pay off in the next three months, and they want to talk to her "personal banker" (good ol' dad) before they jump off the deep end. But they've lived in rentals and fixer uppers, so they really like this one too, as much as David and I have a deep effection for it. Ho hum...

So house hunting I go again, to see what we can find. Just to be sure we are set if they come back with the banker and say okay. :0) No more debts if that's the case, and that's okay by me.

Oh and her horrible children, yeah two of them climbed the ladder at the apple trees, started picking and hiking my apples across the yard, I was not so happy. She sent one to the van, and the other to pick up the "wasted apples" I told him to load them in his van and take them home. What's a few apples. Then he took the liberty to pick all my ripe cherry tomatos off my volunteer plant and put them in his van too. :0( Garrr...that did not make me happy. But I gave him a gallon bag of appleslices and a jar of applesauce so he'd stop theiving. If I gave him something he was enteretained, and no more stealing. :0)

My children were complete angels to these horrid boys. One couldn't walk or talk yet so he wasn't so bad, the other three, yeah, I would say my children are so well behaved, and that's saying something!!!!!!! LOLOLOL

God Granted me the Serenity to withhold my sanity and my ground, because if she hadn't there, I would have gave them a good whoopin! LOL

I hit the lottery!!!!!!!

At least I feel like I did. So I got the vitamins from the clinic, and I'm happy to report, I'm a million dollars feeling richer!!!! Didn't really hit the lottery, but ya know we can always dream. LOLOL

I had another bout of symptoms yesterday morning though, where the confusion was there, headache, and head was swimming out to the east coast and I couldn't catch up with it. I napped, then got up when David called, to tell me to take some benedryl. By the afternoon I was much better, by the evening! I'm all smiles! Sweet!

So I'm on top of the world and fidgiting like crazy cuz I want to get on the treadmill again so bad.
But at the same time I've dropped a few lbs. since this all started, but it's nothing like getting my excitedness and jumpiness out during exercise. I feel like Kevin locked in a closet. LOL Although I've never done it, I think that Kevin would tear the door down.

Oh speaking of, we have a leak in the basement, from the infamous SHOWER in the house. GAR...so the bathroom remodel may be really soon...since it's rotting out a wall, above a SUPPORTING BEAM....wish us luck on this one! So tonight, I have to get measurements and what not, and we'll be graphing out how we are going to do it. :0) Not happy about spending the extra cash we have because there's not much left, but what do you do? It's not like we didn't know that we were going to have to do something!!!! We were just procrastinating. We can't have the house fall out from underneath us either, so we have to do it. Blah.

Kevin and I have taken a break from preschooling this week. Randomly I will ask life questions...what I mean by this, is everday when I come across a color he can simply pick out, a letter, and such, I ask. His attitude this week has been less than desirable, so he gets stubborn at times. But we are working through it. Just like Grace, it takes time to get them to transition from one home to the next easily. And even then, Grace isn't a pro at it.

So once again, I have to say I am proud of someone. My cousin Mary Jo, she's now on Gmail...if you don't know what it is, you need to figure it out. Cuz when I'm online, I can chat with people without downloading a bunch of stuffs on my hard drive. Tera uses it to talk to me at work, so she doesn't have to download stuff on her work computer. AWESOME! So she's now online with me. And using her blogs on myspace. I have a tear in my eye, she is staying connected to my information age. LOL, I say mine, cuz it seems if it isn't by email, text message, or blogs, I don't seem to get to talk to anyone. LOL

The next thing on the agenda! Lunch with David!!!! I haven't got to see him in two days for lunch and I am missing him BADLY, yeah I see him every night, but dang it...his handsome face is just so welcome during the day, and that smile.....oh.....LOLOL okay enough mush....

Halloween will be sad.....

So I just got an email, with a sneak preview to the halloween candy coming out this year. Yes, being a mom, I have avenues to buy candy in bulk if I like, and it keeps me up to date with the latest fad. So what's so sad about halloween.....Red Dye #40...think about this one.

Kevin is not going to like me.

Fund Raising Time!!!!

Two weeks into school and it's fundraiser time already! Boy do I not miss this stuff, so if you get an email that says Grace M Shaffer, open it.

If ordered online by the link provided not only does she gain prizes, but it also gets shipped directly to you!!!

Thanks so much ahead of time.

Busy Mom's Brain Commits Suicide....

Guilt sticken and lost....mom turns to men in white coats. LOL...this is a twitter I posted yesterday. I thought I was doing really good seriously. But alas, I was not. Where do I start, I got up yesterday got everyone ready. David has been so good about things even though I feel like an absolute failure.

I ended up coming home to tearing the house apart looking for supplies that I had gotten a few weeks ago to finish up Tera's bridal shower stuff, to no avail, I did not find it. That was the first disappointment. During this rampage, I cried, did all the laundry, and cried some more. David called on lunch, and after I got off the phone and my phone was going dead, I plugged it in, only to get a voicemail a few minutes later. It was the school. It was a half day. And I didn't remember it, Gracie didn't remind me, and wham! I'm racing across country to pick up the frantic little eight year old! I felt like an absolute heel. It makes me feel bad to not be functioning like I used to. And it is driving me INSANE!!!!

So needless to say I try to make it up by getting her a banana split, kevin a shake, and David something to drink from Sonic, from 2-4 it's half off or something like that, but for $7 you can't go wrong for what they got. I stopped by Honda to tell him all the crazy stuff that I did. :0(

As it goes, Grace's attitude has been fowl ever since I got her back from her dad, and she's about made me have a coronary two days in a row. Gar, I just don't know how to get her past it. Kevin got into an aggressive streak the past few days, where he likes to hit things with other things, and run and bump into you and hit you. :0( This is disheartening, because before he went to Denise's I had him pretty calm. I hope this is just a phase.

I managed to make a tater tot casserole, that I had no complaints from Kev other than it was too hot to eat, then once it was cool, he did not say a word, he kept shoveling it in!!!! It took him 15 minutes to eat instead of an hour!!! LOL...The kids didn't know that it had zuchinni in it, they just kept shoveling. LOLOLOL So don't worry, they got their green food too, just didn't know it. I love being sneaky like that.

The score today is that I am sluggish and very tired. My brain is somewhat foggy...and I think I overdid it yesterday with the rampage of the house and the work in the kitchen, and the fast and furious drive to the school. :0( So I have to take it easy today.

I did get my stuff from the clinic in Maine today along with the book on the things I need to be doing, glad I've already got part of them covered. No coffee for me today either, I have to cut it out. Caffeine is what has been saving me, but it's only to keep me awake, you can be awake and not AWARE. David and I are hoping that the stuff from the clinic may improve all the other stuff. Like memory loss and what not. For the most part my long term has been fine, it's the short term that's really shot. :0( But what do you do, it started fading when I became a mother. There seems there is no hope for sanity at that point. LOLOLOL

Off I go to do a list of things ( I mean rest), you know me, I can't sit still. Even though I try to put forth a major effort to try (sometimes) *wink*wink*.

I can't wait for the weekend to get here. I will be able to relax with the kids and such, it'll be exciting. David and I and Josh and Emily and the kids, the beach, the hot tub, the relaxation will be well needed. It seems it has been way too long since the honeymoon already. LOL

Hope life is finding everyone else well!