Surprise Party

Had to spend 4 hours in town yesterday while waiting for TDQ to get off of work. While I don't mind waiting too much, FL went with us and I had to try to keep her occupied for 4 hours. Tried going to the library, but it closed 1 hour after we got there. Went to the park, but left after 30 minutes due to thunderstorm warnings. Tried Burger King next, hoping they still had an indoor playground. While I waited in line, FL informed me that there was a closed sign on the playground. (You know she can read now. Nothing is safe anymore.) I asked the cashier about it and she said there was a birthday party, but we were ok to go in and play anyways. After 15 minutes or so, the birthday girl's Grandma came up to me and asked if FL could join their festivities, including a kids meal and cake. I said thank you but no, (how do you politely say no to that, being from a stranger and all???) Grandma insisted, and that is how FL got her surprise party at BK. As FL said, "The party was a surprise for the girl and a surprise to me too!"

Michigan Weather

Watched the weather today and thought I was in Michigan again. You know, snow one day, 76 degrees the next. Oh, and thunderstorms mixed in between.

One Year Blogiversary

On this day, one year ago, I commenced in writing this blog for the sole purpose of recording my family's going-on's. But it has evolved into much more, more for me that is. I have so enjoyed being able to write down something and not losing it somewhere, somehow. Playing around with the technical aspects of blogging has helped me be creative. I have renewed my interest in photography, much so that my camera has been worn out.

So on this day, I am taking a jump from a privacy to publicity. All I have to do is hit a button. . . . . .

Ok, there, I did it. (of course I did, or you wouldn't be reading this.) Now that this is public, I guess I should set a few rules.

1. I don't post every day, so don't think I've run off to Tanzania without telling you. I'm still here, same time zone, same station.



2. I don't have a comment section on my posts because I take criticism very hard. I try not too, but it happens anyways. If I know you and you have my email, then just use it.



3. If you are a stalker, please go away. I don't have time for you.

Spring Peepers

Just ordered my new chickies today. Mostly a mix of good brown egg layers. Still am looking for a couple of Easter Eggers, hens that lay blue/green colored eggs. Can't wait to get them! It's been almost 2 years since I had little chickies and I was having chickie withdrawals. I've been to TSC about 6 times just to watch the chicks there. My chicks should be here just in time for Mother's Day. I would post pictures of my first chicks from 3 years ago, but I'm afraid those pics have been lost in cyber space. I just hope the USPS doesn't lose my new chicks.

Opening Day

You know it's close to opening day when you find wax worms in the frig, hip waders in the bathtub, and a tent in the living room.

No, we're not talking Detroit Tiger's Baseball. Yup, it's trout season again.

CBS camped out the night before, all by himself after his buddies backed out because of the "cold and rain." (Can you call teenaged boys wimps or is that not socially acceptable anymore?) CBS called me opening morning at 9:45 and asked me to come pick him up. "You're done already?" I asked. (While thinking about all the camping equipment we had just hauled out there the day before.)

"Yeah, It's not raining that bad, but I already caught my limit. And I figure why get more wet? There's plenty of days left to fish." Wow. Maybe he is growing up, thinking ahead. When I picked him up I found out he had run out of Mt. Dew.

I did see his 15 inch brown trout he caught. It was very impressive.

New Baby

Introducing my newest nephew, Mr. Chubby Cheeks! A whole 8 pounds, 12 oz. which is pretty surprising since he's 3 weeks early!

And so no one is jealous, here's a pic of his big brother, Mr. Curly Head, at the same age, I was sure they would look alike, but Auntie Em was wrong!

Here's a pic of Mr. CH's curls from the back.

Mr. CH is now talking, mostly to the babysitter's husband I guess. I did get a "Bye, bye, LOVE you!!!" in a very angry voice once. I didn't mind, I got the "Love you" before Grandma did, hehe!

One of Those Days

Oh, I hope tomorrow is a bit better than today. Today wasn't all bad, just too eventful for a single day.

• I woke up to discover the trash had been taken out before the school bus came. If I need to expand on that, well . . . .


• a neighbor was in a car accident, but she is now home resting. Her car is totaled.


• the youngest started her acting career today, performing in a kindergarten play about a werewolf. (???)


• Jake the dog is still acting weird after yesterday's incident when he went crazy, started growling, jumping, choking himself on his chain, and then scaring himself by doing the toenail skid across the wood floor which resulted in his water dish spilling and him shaking for hours.


• one teenager came home from school in a good mood.


• one teenager came home from school and asked if I could take him and a friend to the funeral home for a viewing for another friend's mother who had passed away. Soooo sad.


• The last teenager got a call for a job they applied for. YES!!


• But the best of all is that I got a call saying my new nephew was on his way! Auntie Em is sooooooo excited! I kept checking FB all night to see if there were any updates, since phoning isn't always the best idea when there is such a time difference.

Guess Who?

This is a picture of the kid's cubbies in the mudroom. Can you guess who has which cubby? Not as easy as you think, huh? (The top one is just art projects.) And, yes, the mess to the right is mine, it's my "desk."

The "S" Word

Our local weatherman has been saying alot of "s" words lately. (I blame most of them on the groundhog, who I don't believe in anymore.) But tonight he said something I hadn't heard in a long, long, time. Can you guess what it was?

"Seventy."

Stop! Go Back!

I do love spring! Not only is it the start to gardening season, it means the garage sales are staring also! I used to go to these huge rummage sales in church basements where you could get as much as you could cram into a paper grocery bag for a huge sum of $2. I would take all three little ones with me, plop the littlest in a large carboard box which I would push around the church filling with whatever treasures I could find. I even bribed (shame on me!) the kids with promises of "new" toys if they were REALLY good during the free-for-all sales. To make a long story short, our house was full of garage sale toys and I came away with clothes for the kids (some of which we still have today, I stocked up so well) and so many blue jeans for my quilts/crafts!

The funniest part of my early garage sale memories is one October/November day when TDQ was about 4 years old. We were driving somewhere and she started sobbing and yelling, "Stop! Stop!" When I asked her why, she replied that she had seen garage sale signs and she was certain we were missing some really great sales (toys!) It took me a long time, but I finally convinced her that garage sale season was over and the signs were really political signs for the upcoming elections.

Horses: Regular or Unleaded?

Top Things I Did This Week To Drive My Kids Crazy

I try to be a fun mom, really. The problem is that I don't like to play board games or sports, or freely hand out money for pop, or buy an endless supply of Hot Pockets. What I really like to do is play pranks. Harmless, no-one-gets-their-feelings-hurt-type pranks.

1. I love to yell "I'm in There!" when someone knocks on the bathroom door and I am really in the laundry room.


2. I leave random notes on their FB page for the whole world to see.


3. I throw their shoes into their shoe cubbies in the mud room. Right where the shoes belong, but the kids go crazy looking for them.


4. I pause the tv with the DVR, hit skip backwards, then hit skip forward. This makes the tv move frame by frame, which can make the people on tv very funny looking with half open eyes, or mouths really opened wide or just generally hilarious.


5. Another tv trick I play is to turn the channel to something the kids really don't like to watch, like The Cosby Show, or M*A*S*H. Nothing clears the room faster than 1 minute of Bill Cosby. I don't know why, I always loved listening to his comedy on my parents records.


6. When their friends come over, I ask the friends about school. Or their parents. Or what they've been up to. I'm always warned later, "Don't do that! You embarrass me!" I make sure I ask more questions next time.


7. And finally, I wave at their friends as I drive down the street. And I might even honk the horn. All while my kids are cringing in the passenger seats. Ahhh, I love being a mom!

April Fool's!

April Fool's!

from the weatherman

Milkbones From Jake

Hi, it's me Jake again. I thought I'd let you know what I've been up to lately.

I like plastic Mt. Dew bottles. I can chew the cap off in 30 seconds and will trade the chewed cap for a treat. Then I drink the last drops of pop and chew the bottle into about a million pieces.

I still love to shred paper. Esp. any paper that came from the kindergarten room at school.

I know what time the kids come home from school. You can't fool me either. If the people ask me if FL is home, and it's not time yet, I won't even go to the door.

My people ask me all the time, "Is someone here?" and I look out the window to see. Funny thing is, alot of times there isn't anyone. I wonder if my people are tricking me.

I tricked the people by breaking my outdoor leash, so now they have to walk me 80 times a day instead of just letting me out the door. More quality time I say.

I have chased and caught my tail so much lately, I wore off about 2 inches of my tail. It doesn't bother me, but my people keep saying, "Poor Dog! Your beautiful tail is gone!"

I am true border collie in the aspect that I can't STAND it when the chickens are loose. I don't know why the people keep letting them out, and they won't let me herd them back into the coop. So I just bark my head off and eventually the chickens get put up.

And finally, I have succeeded in chewing thru the entire chair leg while "somebody" was supposed to be watching me. I am very proud of myself. I love that "somebody" so much! Except when "somebody" forgets to feed me. But I forgive easily.