Getting ready for camping

I am taking the kiddos camping this weekend. My dh is staying home to work on the garage project. I personally am not a fan of getting ready for camping. It is WORK! (I know, I said we work when there is work to do but it doesn't mean I always have to love it). I have tried to parcel out the work over the days so the kids don't get gipped of school work (aren't I nice?). We are almost there but the day before is always the worst. I cannot depend on the baby being happy or that every kid has listened to the instructions I have given them. We have been on campouts with kids who brought someone else's clothes that didn't fit them or one pair of underwear etc. Oh, joy. Once my cot was left behind because I did not specify I wanted it. Ugh. Glad I brought the food along and no one specified they wanted it....... Anna must be counting down the days (years....) till she is not part of the get ready for camping ordeal. I am hoping someday she can just join us by packing her little bag and not going through the cooking/packing torture.

What I enjoy about camping is the yummy food that is already ready, hiking, talking with the young folks who are along for the trip, and visiting with the friends we go with. The camp counselor comes out in me but I don 't sing the 'spark' song or much of any songs really. I should decide if I am taking my hammer dulcimer or not. I probably should.

Well, Stefan is asleep so I should return to the job. I can't seem to type anyway so I should give up.

Side note.....Anna just came upstairs with the mail and there was a flier from the local Christian bookstore......they are selling pastor teddy bears now. What next?

The Weekend

Charley, Anna, and Erik went to Indy to the Worship and Spiritual Care workshop. I believe they had a great time. They were gone all day. The rest of us prepared for our upcoming camping excursion. I got most of the food shopping done. Now we just need to throw it all together and pack our clothes. Anna and Erik packed the trailer Friday before they went to bed.

Saturday night we called CHarley's dad and had a great time talking to him. He seems to be doing very well after some out patient surgery Friday. He was talking up a storm anyway and really I think my father-in-law is quite cute. He says the funniest things and his accent is priceless. We wish we could get him recorded so we will always remember these talks we have.

Today, we went to church (surprise!), struggled a little with small children falling apart because they don't know where we are in the hymnal all the time (no this is not a plug to have it all written out). Came home and Anna and ERik went to sing for school dedication here in town.

My mom and dad and cousin Linda came in the afternoon. It was good to see Linda (I know now she reads our blogs). She is a fixture in my going to Maine as child memory bank. (That was probably bad grammar right?) My grandmother called me Linda all the time. She was a little forgetful. So the funny thing was, my mom called Linda, Karin this afternoon. That was sort of funny to me. We traded places!

Stefan is feeling a little sick so he is sleeping a lot. I hope everyone is well by Thursday. Charley is staying home to work on the 'project' in peace. I am praying for no rain over the next weekend.

School in the morning......

Realizations

Life is sort of busy with school, church, life on the farm and trying not to get too distracted from responsibilities. Here are a few things that occurred to me this week which will fall into the thinking on the blog category.

I think I have worried too much about who our family is. For instance......members of our family work. I mean there is work to do and so we do it. There is rarely time for recreational reading, tv watching, or generally sitting around and vegetating. To some people this is really cool and to others this has been 'how ridiculous'. So......I have this general paranoia about what other people's opinion is of our weirdness of not acting American. "What, you don't watch tv?" (or at least not the type that is piped in through cables or anteneas). "No," we say and frankly we don't care. Is that weird???? No, it is just us. Our kids are ok with that.

We do weird things like work on projects on the weekends and then......we don't have time to do other things. It doesn't happen all the time but it does happen. There is a dad at our house who likes to build things and tinker around in the great outdoors. Is he weird? Not usually, that is just who he is. Why am I saying this? Because there have been people who have said we are weird and seem to insinuate we need to change who we are. NO WE DON'T, THAT IS JUST WHAT WE DO. If someone thought that my dh would suddenly start playing golf or watching football because that is what they enjoy, then they are kidding themselves. These people are from the past but I think they formed a sense of paranoia about how I react in the present. If there is work to be done than we better get doing it. Can we sit around and be deep thinkers or vegetables on a wim. Not usually. Are we ok with people who can? Yes, of course. I do have to explain to my kids why people enjoy golf but that just stretches THEM to think of what other people enjoy. So this is realization number one.

Realization number two is.....don't laugh......I have a need for quiet on a regular basis. I am happy being on my own for a certain time period of each day. But the obvious problem is, that is not always possible. So I will be ranting the rant to my kids to learn to carry a book with them always and be prepared to entertain themselves by being quiet and not necessarily filling the air with noise. We are a witty bunch but wittiness CAN get annoying. I guess we need to get some more books (kidding) or read the ones we have.

I also have a need to do something creative on a regular basis. I have been craving a good horn playing with my piano playing friend session because making music is SO refreshing to me. Listening to music of the same variety is a close second. Pavarotti died last week and Andrea Bocelli sang at his funeral. Boy I would have loved to heard that. If I am stressed, I put on some Andrea Bocelli and life gets better. A cd full of horn concertos works too. These are just random thoughts to bring you up to date to where Karin's brain has been.

Washing floors and such

Today I am addicted to cleaning. It felt a little bit like swimming against the tide but some progress was made. Charley in the meantime made quite a bit of progress on the garagee (spelling?) (that is supposed to sound sophisticated by the way....). He got most of the floor insulated and laid. The outside side door has mysteriously disappeared and the basement door has also changed form. This will take some getting used to I think.

In my cleaning, I located Lloyd (or maybe it was Lola) and Matthew ceremoniously paraded him around for everyone to see. I am sure that was quite entertaining for him. I just freaked myself out by accidently rubbing my elbow against a piece of paper and thinking it was a mouse running around in the room. Sound does weird things when you are trying to be quiet.

None of us are going to Charley's parents tomorrow as they are afraid his dad will catch whatever Cecilia has and he is going to have surgery next weekend. I guess I can see that as getting his dad to do anything can certainly be a challenge, let alone surgery! Getting Charles Jr. to have surgery was a challenge as well so my heart goes out to Charles Sr's wife. I am sorry we won't get a chance to visit with him. He is 81 now which is hard to believe. Charley and I have older dad's than most but it is still hard to think they are in the 80 range. My dad will be 79!!!!!! Ahhhh!!!!! Oh well, that is just weird to me.

I am hoping to tackle some more sanatizing tomorrow and perhaps knitting a few rows if I can get myself to sit still. I think I sit enough during the week to account for some perpetual movement over the weekend. We can't go outside thanks to rain and mosquitos. It is another night so am hoping once again for uninterrupted sleep. Last night sleep was interrupted by my dear little daughter who, on top of feeling yucky, is afraid of the dark and the electicity was out so......her nightlight was not on. Poor kid. I camped in her bed for the rest of the night and the electricity must have come on around 7:00am.

lightless land

This is my cute son's blog. He is beating me since I called him cute. So.....if you would like to read it see the link.....

Quick afterthought....reason to have babies after 40.....

Anna pointed out that perhaps it was cute Stefan that helped to call my age into question. How many 40 year old moms do you know with cute little buggers on their hips that are THEIRS!!!!!! He is mine all mine but if you feel like looking younger you could borrow him and go shopping with him ;o)

I was carded tonight! LOL!

So, I went to the store to get pizza for my kiddos tomorrow and liquid refreshment for my teacher friend, partner in crime and......this message comes up at the register that asks the cashier if she thinks the customer is under 27. Lo and behold she says....hmmm....I am not sure, could I see your id? I sort of giggled and dug it out and told her not to laugh. She said "what?" then looks and raised her eyebrows and said "Oh...."

A few days ago a different cashier guessed I was 25. So.....I am getting younger I guess. That's refreshing. Thanks Mom for the looking young genes!!!!! I remember when I was Anna's age someone asked my mom if she was my sister. She beamed! I guess I would too. So, thank you, thank you mom! and grandma, and any other young gene donater.

Posting in the middle of the night

Never say that you don't do this anymore. Cecilia is coughing again and it is hot upstairs. I think this humidity is not helping her cold and the air conditioning does not get upstairs too well. So it not Lloyd and Lola who are keeping me up but wondering how to help her stop coughing. I turned the house fan on and gave her some Benadryl. Stefan of course woke up with me walking around so once he is back to bed I will probably want some Benadryl too.

School is still going well and I am figuring out what my students are struggling with. It is sort of interesting to have more time to devote to this, especially in Math as in the past Math boiled down to just doing the best we can and hope we were doing ok. Now I can see what each kid needs to work on to improve their math skills and make it a happier experience.

I am a little tired of humidity and mosquitos so colder weather is sounding sort of attractive to me. Of course then I will have to hunt down the winter clothes for the kids and start the clothing shuffle again.

Well, I think Stefan is back to sleep and Cecilia has stopped coughing.

School days

So......school seemed a little intense today but good. A few of the boys took a math placement test today and both did very well. They were both pleased with the results but of course it was fun to tease them and let them wonder for a little while.

Silly me took the kids swimming for a LONG time yesterday as the pool closed today. A few were overly tired and could have done better if they had slept till noon today. Everyone was scurried into bed as soon as possible. I am struggling a little to make the time to plan a little better but am hoping for catch up time tonight. Working with another family does keep us accountable and I do think the other mom is handling things better than me. I do wish Lloyd would go away so I can get some rest at night. He was busy again last night.

I am also struggling with how to manage an older child with accountability. I know what he needs to work on and how much time that should take but I don't think he is taking things seriously enough. It is sort of painful to watch. We are giving grades to the older set.....Sigh. I know I struggled with knowing how to study but not until college. No one ever taught me and high school was too simple.

The pool is now closed so it will be another nine months till I see their cute faces splashing around. Benjamin is particularly cute with this little routine he has of dipping his head under the water over and over again. Cecilia discovered the diving board at literally the last hour we were there. Now she will have to wait to build up the confidance to do that again next year.

The mosquitos are horrific outside. I am keeping the kids in most of the time. Bzzzzzzz.......close the door kids! Better go be responsible.

Named the little bugger

Lloyd is his name. He was last spotted too close to where I sleep. I am not very happy about this. I am stepping up the battle. The ants ate the peanut butter off the new 'better' trap so I moved it from there. I think we better wage war against the ants in our spare time as well. We think Lloyd's wife's name is Lola and they are raising their family somewhere nearby. Yuk, yuk, and double yuk.

Stay tuned......

Mouse hunt continues

Got the traps this morning. Charley and I were looking around the garage at 'the project' this evening when he mentioned he had spotted my friend. I hadn't set the traps yet so it inspired me to get them out. Isn't this exciting? When I am in the mouse hunter mood there is no stopping me. The little boogers do remind me of some movie or cartoon but I can't place it. It is not "Mouse Hunt" but some flick where the mouse moves quickly across the floor and they only show the top view. Whatever it is I am thinking of, they must have been familiar with mice.

I have two mom mouse memories. One was when I was about three and was eating my 'soggy' (see Melynda's blog) and a mouse darted behind the refridgerator. Mom was suddenly on the table. Another time was in Maine at my grandparents house. We slept in the basement and in the middle of the night a mouse ran across my poor mother's face. She screamed. I must have been less than ten years old. Mom and I moved to the couch upstairs for the remainder of the night and I don't think I slept too much knowing there was a critter that made my mom scream lurking in the basement. My grandma had a chronic cough too which I was not so keenly aware of till that night. Mum Mum (Grandpa) took care of the little critter the next day. What interesting memories we have.

We shall see if I get the little bugger tonight. Where there is one, there are more........

Mouse Hunt (house?)

Last night Anna attempted to trap the mouse (mice?). Well, strike one. I am not sure if we didn't set them right but nothing happened. What has happened is that a little trail of ants found the peanut butter on the trap and took it with them. I guess ants are not heavy enough to snap the trap. So.....it was suggested to try poison and I do not really like this option as the the little mousies can decide to expire in the walls. This a VERY bad thing. But, I resorted to that today. We will reset the traps as well and see if some mouse hunter knows the proper way to set them. Have I mentioned I hate mice? I do have a few stuffed rats (not real ones) that sometimes lurk behind couches and chairs. Stay tuned.

Cranky me

There is nothing that sets me off more than whining of any type. Well....ok....some kinds of whining are not so bad such as commiserating. But.....the kid variety is more than I can handle at times. I don't know if it because it is Friday or because when you have a large family whining can multiply. So I am going to try to go ease my nerves and mow some lawn. Sweat and hard work is good for my mental state. I know it isn't as bad as I think but frankly a break is what this mommy is ordering up. I may sneak some ice cream into the back yard when no one is looking as a treat. SHhhhhh.....don't tell anyone. Oh.....I realize I am whining here so no comment from the peanut gallery. The day was otherwise fine and the kids are still enjoying school. I need to plan some fun for math so that doesn't become a drudgery. Random thought.

Week in review

Monday: Had school, had anxiety attack over the mess in the basement, went to the pool and had fun, goofed off with friends.....

Tuesday: Had school (that went well all week by the way), removed and extracted honey in the afternoon and evening, collapsed into bed. We got approximately 13 gallons of honey this year. I can't remember what we got last year but I do know that if anyone has any excess water weight to get rid of, that donning bee suits in 87 degrees weather will do the trick. Water!!!!!

Wednesday: Had school, (it is always easier to be cheerful at someone elses home just for the record), went home and prepared for church and Cecilia's first communion (she's six..... ;o) couldn't resist). It was sweeter than pie to watch her and the other sweet little boy listening intently to Pastor talk with them before the service. Their eyes were wide and VERY attentive to what he had to say. Anna had done Cecilia's hair up cherub like, and she had on her Easter dress. She received two crosses as gifts afterwards and she lugged them around like teddy bears. We had to convince her to put them someplace safe before we could hang them up but they did keep reappearing......at breakfast, lunch, then finally on the wall. There was some crucifix jealousy drifting around the house that night and the next day. Who knew my kids would all want a crucifix of their own. That will make Christmas and birthdays a cinch I would say. We gathered at our house for ice cream and socializing afterwards. I know Cecilia will not soon forget the day.

Thursday: That was today, we had school....broken record.....and I could tell the kids are settling into the rhythm of the routine. There were less kids not listening (very good thing) and the house stayed relatively clean. Pretty good for 14 kids wandering around. My kids went to friends in the afternoon and I enjoyed a few hours of just Stefan and I bumping around the house, cleaning, sorting laundry and making a decent dinner. The bathroom got cleaner while Stefan took a bath. He took a second bath in the dog's water bowl and had to be stripped down and redressed. I spoiled his fun. I managed to wallow in some depression over my inability to keep up after the abyss of despair (the basement) and other places that seem to constantly be trashed. Pretty negative huh? I have NEVER been good at keeping up with this sort of thing and it basically leaves me feeling inadequate. Even more depressing. I know, I know, just do the next thing. Easier said than done some days.

This evening Anna and I went on a run to Walmart for mouse traps. It is getting closer to fall and the mice have decided to try for an early entrance. Ugh. I hate mice and this is the one thing I really hate about living in the country, critters. I saw a large possum (yuk) skipping across the driveway when we came home (yuk). I hate rodents more than ticks. Yuk, yuk, and double yuk. So......they make me feel like I am not keeping up as well. Aaaahhhhh!!!!!! The mice that is. The possum is just yuk.

Tomorrow we are having......school.....than going to the park to play. I might even have supper planned. Salmon!!!!!! Yum. One kid said something about pizza but salmon sounds better to me. Yum, Yum.

Memories of Ann

So my mom called to let me know my neighber, growing up, died. It was her grandson Dustin, who died this spring. I wasn't shocked really as her health had been bad for years but with every death of someone I know, it made me think of my memories of her.

She and her husband Bill were a huge support to me growing up. I would go hang out at their house after school and we were sort of like family. They were from Tennessee and she was the only person I knew with a Southern accent. Boy did she have an accent! I learned all about southern cooking over there. I also learned what a diet was. They had four girls and I was closest with their youngest, Sarah. We would all spend our summers in the backyard perfecting our tans with lotion and iodine. A hilarious memory I have is the time my mom hung towels on her clothes line and Ann questioned how much detergent she used in the wash. Then....to my great surprise Ann turned the hose on the towels and soap bubbles starting running down them. It was funny. She was fiesty.

She taught me to cross stitch and she was town expert on Victorian decorating. Her living room was very South to me. Queen Ann furniture (how appropriate) and velvet coverings. She had a unique Christmas tradition of laying all of the girls gifts out, unwrapped, on seperate chairs and of course it was beautifully decorated. They would wake up and go out to see their gifts. THat was just different to me as wrapping paper was our tradition. Oh, it was in this living room that I first heard Elvis died. Being from the Memphis area this was big news for them. "Where were you when you first heard Elvis died?" There, now you know.

I 'rebelled' by going to church with her at the Baptist church. I remember her telling my mom that at least my rebellion involved going to church. I am back at the Lutheran church but going there did make me think. I suppose I would spaz if my kids did the same thing but Ann did try to get her to keep things in perspective.

One time when Charley and I went out on a first date there were cat howls from the next door when he said goodbye. My mom was alerted by phone and soon they were all peeking out the windows at us. Smirk, smirk. She reminded me of this often and told me she thought he was pretty cute. Come to think of it, she must have always peeked out the window as another time in a date situation (some other guy) that I was not crazy about, she told me she never saw anyone run so fast to the door. Ha! She wasn't kidding. She also came to see Anna when she was a newborn and said she had never seen a more beautiful baby with such perfect little ears.

Ann was a good friend which distance kept us apart. She always supported my family in many ways and was a good friend to my mom as well. THey lived on the phone together when I was young. I am sure her family will miss her as well as her friends.

Sunday

Another busy day. Church was grand this morning. Stefan took a nap at the appropriate time and a great sermon is icing on the cake. Bible class was sort of a blur but I did have a nice talk with another mom while chasing Stefan through the basement hallway.



We went on a shoe hunt this afternoon for Erik. He has officially outgrown or bypassed his father in shoe size. We got a pretty good price for a nice pair of shoes so I am satisfied. It was odd to shop for such large, grown-up shoes for the child who used to have such cute little feet. How did that happen? We have not figured out pants too well for him as boys this age are skinny and long. None of them seem to work great. Perhaps I can drag him to a tailor to try to straighten out the one pair that seems to work the best. I got him two pairs last spring that he seemed to grow out of literally overnight. He work floods for the summer till I found the time to update last weekend. Poor boy. He doesn't seem to complain too much.



This evening I worked on a little lawn mowing, lesson planning and laundry folding. The lawn mowing was the most satisfying. Tomorrow we need to yank the honey supers off. I am giving up on finding the perfect day to do this. We may have to yank them off early Tuesday. We shall see but the honey must be extracted soon and things cleaned up for the fall. I am most curious if the bees ate all of the honey with all of this rain we've been getting. Stay tuned.....

Busy day

So it rained all morning and I dodged the raindrops to do some errands. I have a horn mouth piece again so can warm up Krispy Kruspe again. I should make some time just to do that.

My friends came as scheduled and we all had a very nice visit. Their little guy is our Godson and he jabbered away at us most of the day. He even told Anna he was taking her home with him and to get in the van. Pretty smart guy for a three year old huh? He is just cute. The weather did cooperate so we could all spend some time outside. The time went too quickly and they were on their way home. THey forgot their camera and we fortunately saw it right away so Charley got to have a MacGyver moment and jumped in his car to chase them down the road. He caught up with them in time to their surprise.

Charley got some work done on the garage which was nice. I think we should put a car in the garage and take a picture just to see what that is like. We had some good conversation about some possibilities for that room. We haven't had too much time to process that though so I think just processing the possibilities will take some time.

Our friends left a little before dinner as one of them was not feeling too well so....we were spontaneous and had some other friends over for dinner. I had already prepared a meal and we had been struggling to find a time to get together with them so we were delighted they could be spontaneous as well and come over. What a social day!

Then.....after that I took a quick walk with a friend which was also nice. It was neither raining or sweating hot out. Now the dh wants to finish the movie we started a few nights ago so the day is still not done. It was a good day though.

Toot-a-loo

Saturdays

So it is Saturday again and Ihave too many goals. I also only have about three hours to complete them in. We our out of liquid gold (otherwise known as milk) so need to go get some of that. I would love to plan my meals for next week so I don't get caught off guard on a busy afternoon. Then.....I was reading the kids science book and see that there a few little supplies that we need to have the best experience so would like to go get those.

Old friends are coming over later this morning. We have tried to get together all summer but due to some very odd ailments, it has taken till this weekend to get this to work. The news is that a few of the kids have grown a lot so it will be fun to see them. Is it any wonder that kids in their teens are cranky when they grow literally inches in a short period of time. Our oldest son grew at least nine inches last year! Talk about needing sleep!

The lawn has grown a ton in a week so perhaps I can squeeze a half an hour of lawn mowing in this morning. I hear it is not going to rain today but will have to check out the forecast again to make sure. My sympathies to those who have water in their basements. THat is a job and a half. I remember the summer I was expecting Matthew and all it did was rain and be incredibly hot. THat was the summer our drier broke and trying to keep up with air drying the clothes was a royal pain. My cute husband thought his dear wife could handle it and I was not quite as obnoxious as I am now so I just endured. If the wife isn't whining too loudly, then everything must be fine, right? Then.....a dear friend told me to give him a deadline to fix it and lay the ads out on the table for drier sales. It worked. THe drier was declared dead and off to the appliance store we went. He had a happier wife and more clothes to wear.

Off to tackle the list.

Second day and road trip

School went smoothly again today. We teacher folk realized that we are going to be whooped puppies by the end of the day when we do full days. I guess we will sleep well. But what about when we don't want to sleep and we would rather play and do irresponsible things like watch a movie or whatever? I think I am going to be a very naughty old person. When old people say they can't sleep well at night why don't they go hang out with their friends? Sounds like fun to me. I should have gone and played cards in the middle of the night with my grandma when she couldn't sleep. Clearly I need to go to sleep.

I did take a road trip this afternoon to my parents. We had the traditional Mac and Cheese - homemade mind you - and chocolate pudding for desert. Cecilia asked why I never made chocolate pudding. I told her it was because grandma makes it. It was raining when we left their house and it is raining again, with severe thunderstorm warnings. I let the kids go back to bed since it looks like the worst is past.

Yawn.....off to catch some winks before tomorrow.

First day of school and weird letter

So far so good. We are schooling with another family this year and wow! The potential!!!! That is one reason we are cleaning the basement so I can keep track of the toy clutter and actually have math etc. The kids worked hard, the noise was not bad, and I do feel like we will be able to accomplish a lot more. THe kids are divided into older and younger groups so I suppose we are not really unschooling but have a little school (14 kids). We should name it or something. There is little danger of the adults talking to each other as we seperated ourselves into totally different rooms. She was worried I might get sick of her so we joked, no - we might get sick of a kid before that happens.

We got a VERY bizarre letter in the mail yesterday from a non-trinitarian family. They have invited us to join their daughter's 'Bible study' for three years. We have of course made no reply. So.....the dad sends us a letter insinuating that because we have not sent our dd to their dd's study that she will certainly be lost spiritually, get a boyfriend, be ruined by aspirations of a higher education and something about how church is not just Wednesday's and Sundays. HA! If they only knew. Perhaps I will tell them but am not sure it is worth the effort. These are also the people who feel that music with a 'beat' is scandalous. All music has a beat, duh! Well, those of you who know us and our lack of attendance of church and how we basically have this daughter who is selling her soul to the world will probably 'exhort' us to send her. NOT! OR......our dd can start her own 'Bible study' and invite them. Frankly I would not send my dd to their 'Bible study' because I AM concerned for her soul. She is downstairs playing music with a beat on the piano. Do you think they struck a chord????? Pun intended.....

The basement day two...

So, back to the basement we went. I sorted books seemingly all day. Stefan played in the dust on the floor which cannot be a good thing. He enjoyed it though. Little children discovered forgotten toys and ran upstairs with them. It looks a tiny bit better now. At least I found a lot of non-fiction books and old favorite picture books to read to the kids. I threw out a whole bunch of junk again today. The carcasses of food eaten in the basement (mostly food snuck and eaten in the basement) and we didn't quite get to vacuming the cobwebs, dust, etc. up. I think someone is going to have to go on a little lego piece hunt or say goodbye to them.

The boys discovered walking on feed barrels like lumber jacks. That was an interesting discovery. I suppose that could be some sort of agility skill we could have them practice.

Charley and I discussed the garage project some. He has been working and working and working at the paid job so I think the garage project is still somewhat overwhelming and will have to wait till he is doing less at the paid job. We did clean the garage out some today though (for the third time I think). We still need to get rid of the unwanted furniture somehow. It really isn't worth anything to anyone so will probably have to have a bonfire and get rid of it. I think I may lock up the garage and bar the doors to it so they can't fill it back up with junk again.

I also paid the bills - wow. There's a sense of accomplishment. Now I am going to bed and try to get to sleep so we can start school tomorrow. Yay! Hello math and learning how to read and spell, here we come!

The basement

I think I have cleaned out our basement more times then I would like to think about. My dh dug a five hundred square foot room out from under the front of our house, by hand, about ten years ago now. I guess that is the first time the basement was cleaned out. Har, har. The intent was for it to be a school room and I am working towards that finally becoming a reality. The problem has been keeping track of what the small kids are doing down there in the line of trashing it. We even put locks on their cabinet doors so the toys with the little pieces would be somewhat under control. My younger kids are pretty bold though and would get a hold of the keys and then......stir the soup. My dream is that if we are finally going to use that room for school, that I will be down there to police the mess. We filled the garbage can yesterday with misc. stuff that has accumulated and the recycling bin was added to with a bunch of magazines that I will never read.

I think I am giong to try another round today. The dust down there is trying hard to give me a sinus headache. WE shall see what we can get done today. I am sure the dh would be pleased if it actually became usuable. Anna sews down there and leaves sewing debris. Erik pins bugs down there and leaves bug debris. Matthew and Martin promptly grabbed wood yesterday afternoon when the floor was clear to design a new Civil War era musket.......I kicked them out to the barn. THe sewing and pinning aren't happening right now but the fall out still needs to be addressed. I am amazed at how quickly this all happens......

A Busy Weekend

The highlight of the weekend was going to an old friend’s 50th wedding anniversary. There were so many people there that I knew from through the years . Our first pastor was there and the smile on his face and words of pleasure in seeing us was worth the whole evening. I took some funny pictures of him as some of my favorite memories of him were of the silly things we did at meetings. He has not changed too much despite losing his wife a few years ago. If there ever was a teddy bear of a pastor he was it. His preaching was great too. That was why we joined that church to begin with. Gospel and liturgical practice…..

The wife of the couple was and is one of my best friends. We spent the most time together when we attended the same church. We have been through the joys and sorrows of life together. Her life and mine have drifted as she is busy with her own kid’s lives and helping with grandkids and my life is busy with my own kids. We can still connect quickly and we still know what the other person is talking about without filling in the grey areas. I miss talking to her. So….we will make an effort to get together more often.

Seeing their kids, who are my age, was also a treat. Her daughter and I used to play horn and piano together and we would raise the rafters at church just having fun playing concertos and making music together. Sigh. That was a lot of fun. She would call me on a Friday and ask if I wanted to play a prelude with her on Sunday morning and we would just do it. We made awesome music together. It was an experience I value and will never forget.

We have both changed in many respects and our conversation was peppered with sharing what each other lives have handed us. Her life has certainly been far more challenging than mine through many health difficulties. Her life hangs in the balance literally but she looks good now and plugs along in a way that I am not sure I could. Her ability to do so does not make her super human either so my deep thoughts were of how no matter what our health or position, no matter how much someone holds a person up for their amazing abilities, challenges, busyness, ability to contribute to others, talent, etc….we are still sinners alike in need of forgiveness. I could be depressed that her life is so precarious or realize that none of us is any better off. Her worries and fears or faith and hope just get focused in a different way. My own grip on this issue is sharpened through 9 sinners bumping around together. The sweetest thing about our conversation was actually a small difference of opinion that came up. It was sweet in that our conversation was not focused on her frailty but was more like old times of discussing music, liturgy, old friends, etc. I am sure it was a treat for her as well to just have a normal conversation. I still think of her frailty but know I will not always remember to pray for her – guilt. Thanks be to God Jesus has that covered better than me.

So…..that was the weekend. Now we are gearing up for school and watching the rain. At least we are stuck inside and are forced to focus.

Stefan and church

The little guy has become very vocal lately so it seems I spend more time pacing and chasing than participating at church lately. This is VERY hard for me as I love to be able to participate. True I can participate quietly from the 'rubber room' (that is what I call it at times) and I can sort of see what is going on. I can hear almost everything too. I just miss being in the midst of things. I know this too will pass but I must admit it is hard for me. This is a time when I wish we taught our kids to love pacifiers or that they weren't genetically so active. Their cute selves are their cute selves though so I guess I should stop whining. Some of the moms seem to take this all in stride. I do but.....I guess I am a whiner.....today.

He is doing a lot better it seems in the health department so I am thankful for that. His well-baby appointment is tomorrow so we will see how big he is. It will be interesting to talk to the doc about the allergist visit. I will try to update that whole confusion tomorrow but I am feeling much better about his overall well being lately. His skin has been beautiful for which I am truly VERY thankful.

Broilers and turkeys back.....

A good part of today was spent going to the butcher to get the pork, chicken and turkeys back. I have an amazing inability to stay awake while driving so that is bugging me. Yes, I stayed awake but there is something about driving that puts me to sleep. I am not even a daytime napper.

So.....all the critters are stored away now. Charley, with a little help from our friends, cut chicken into pieces, bagged and put them in the freezer. The pork was already wrapped so I just squirreled it away. I think since we are also getting a quarter beef from a friend, I am going to make out a menu that sort of revolves and doesn't need to be 'figured out' from day to day.

Stefan has been a little on the fussy side. I don't know if he is bored with his surroundings but when he is at someone else's home he is happy as a clam. Right now he is busy standing up and sitting down.

The kids are also a little on the crazed side and do silly things and run and scream just to charm me. For some reason I don't really find it charming. Why can't they be one of model groups of children who sit around and read books quietly? I suppose though if you are four and can't read this isn't really appealing.

Stefan just tipped over.......he's ok and heading for the stairs.....

Wrapping up the summer

The turkeys and broilers go tonight. Phew. This is a relief for the worker bees. It is a relief for me as well. We need to hunt down the extractor for the real bees now too so we can finish that project up. Erik's one hive has four full supers. We have a hive at a vege farmers that needs some attention as well so the days don't get any less busy.

School is staring at me and I need to get stuff ordered. We have most of what we need but a few bigger purchases to make. I am excited to get going on it but on the other hand the family seems addicted to fun so it might be hard to transition.

Charley has a yucky case of poison ivy. He must have touched some and then rubbed it on his face and neck. I HATE poison ivy so I am hoping to figure out some sort of relief for him.

LEt's see......we had great fun with friends last night and just relaxed, ate, and chatted. The teens seemed less active then normal and content to just sit around. That was a little odd or perhaps Erik just wanted to spend some time playing football but he seemed happy enough.

Matthew is still book hungry and a trip to a local branch of the library left us less than satisfied. I will have to take him downtown to the main branch from now on. We have A LOT of books here though so am going to give him a tour of the bookshelves.

Anna seems motivated to start studying again. I'm glad. She has been practicing quite a bit too so I don't think she will need to catch up.

The house is clean, the baby seems fatter, what more can I say to update the readers.

The Snitch Cake

Anna had the inspiration to make a golden snitch cake for Zachary's graduation party and I think it turned out great. I especially enjoyed the moment when some ladies from church asked what the snitch was made out of and the look on their faces was priceless! "Oh, it is four layers of cake with frosting in between and then frosted on the outside. The wings are molded fondant." There is nothing better to a mom than to see the stunned look on a group of women's faces when they realize this thing is made out of cake and frosting. I think they thought it was clay or something. We didn't eat it this morning as Zachary's dad wanted to take it home with them. I hope I don't find it in their living room a few weeks from now.........

So.....those years of cake decorating do pay off with moments like these. I will have to hunt down pictures of her other odd cakes to post on here.

He's done

I haven't figured out how many pages he has read since the beginning of the summer but HP was through the month of July and finished last night. He is sad it is over. I suppose we should give him Lord of the Rings next. I suppose he could start with The Hobbit. He also read Eldest and I think the next book. That is a lot of pages to fit into our hectic life. Anna has observed that large families do not have the same leisure time since we are busy chasing each other's messes. Ugh.....if only we were one of those perfect, jumper wearing families (but since we have so many boys we couldn't sport too many jumpers), then our house would be perfect and we would have more time to read HP. Wait......we wouldn't be reading HP if we were in a perfect jumper wearing family. So you see, that is why our house can be a mess and why we read HP and we don't wear jumpers.......

Back to fight the clutter fight. People are going to lose toys amoungst other things so there is less clutter to make.......but I have find the time get to that project. Enough prattling.....

My Son Matthew the HP addict

Son.....please go get dressed so we can get something done around here and......don't read HP ok?

"Oh, ok mom."

Silence in the bedroom........"Matthew? Are you reading HP????" "Uh, uh......yes, mom"

Ok, so it is sort of fun to see my obsessed son addicted to reading HP. He is in the middle of number seven and even upon threat of losing it the rest of the day he will still risk reading it. Isn't that cute????? He is still alive so that is good news. Others have expressed their pride in his enthusiasm. Ok, ok, so have I. What to do with this enthusiasm though when the house is a veritable dump. Ok, so I will try to restrain my blogging so we both suffer.

The picture was taken at the beach after the van break in.......still reading HP in the face of adversity.

Higher Things Reflections

Here are a few thoughts about my week with MANY young people at the Higher Things Conference in Minneapolis. I will try to make this make sense. One of the quotes that stood out in my mind is from Klemet Preus I believe. He was standing in front of a large group of kids and some chaperones in a classroom. He looked out and made the comment that watching all the young people and their escapades reminded him of his own youth and that his memories were full of many scary times. I know from the rest of his comments that he was referring to the scariness of growing up and feeling your way in the world. I could certainly relate to this comment. I too was staring at many a young person, some I knew and some I didn’t, as they listened intently or not so intently and thought about life at this stage. Thinking back on Valpo days made me remember how desperately I wanted to make my own way and be known for who I was. Sure that sounds selfish but I think that is pretty normal. I know a lot of young people going through the same thing right now and in fact am surrounded by them. It makes sense that most of my friends my age have kids who are in this stage. If I tell my own children that what they are going through is not surprising but normal they have at times thought I meant that when I was young I did not make any such mistakes. Far from it! I say this to them because I do remember. Perhaps I shouldn’t say it at all but I think it is also hard to see my children struggle through and sometimes be disappointed, disillusioned, unrealistic, mad, jealous, etc. We do this too of course but perhaps what is normal for High Schoolers is totally the same AND totally different from 40 year olds or 70 year olds. It made me mad when I was younger for someone to insinuate that they could relate to being my age. I guess we all do this too – “how can this older person remember what it was like to raise kids in this day and age – certainly it must be harder.” Really?????

A Ha-ha memory was Pastor Cwirla’s talk on Baptism and he was musing about how the baby would certainly not display any realization of his baptism and may even cry, scream, spit up, or wet their diaper……” Then there was this male laugh from somewhere in front of me – sort of a solo laugh and I recognized who it was……Pastor Franck! Later he asked me if I was in the Plenary on Baptism and did I hear the part about……”Yes, Rob I heard you laughing” He changed the Pastor Cwirla quote to “and may even pee on their sponsor”. Har har. He is Stefan’s Godfather. Yes, Stefan peed on him. Then…..Rob went on to laugh about how Pastor Stuckwisch later told him that they always kept a diaper on their babies in sort of a thanks for telling me sort of way. . Pastor Stuckwisch encourages (I’m fine with it) the baptizing of babies naked and then ‘clothing them with Christ’ with their baptismal gown afterward or at least symbolically speaking that is what he means. I did think that was pretty cool, but I do remember Rob getting peed upon. So if you heard the laughing at the odd moment that was the reason why.

This is getting long. So……the services were great and reminded me of……Valparaiso University. I knew that was going to be true from Anna’s description from Colorado. Of course at Valpo I don’t remember any explanations for why a person crosses themselves so the worship folder was certainly nice for those not familiar with things. The brass choir in particular reminded me of my horn playing days in the brass choir at Valpo. Those are sweet memories. The director I had at Valpo is now at St. Louis Seminary, Dr. Berght. I would love to play in a brass choir again. Maybe next year I will tote the horn along if I am able to go. Oh, I did find it curious that some turned to face the cross processing out and then turned back to the front even though the cross was still in the back. That was just an observation and not a criticism. Perhaps I will muse some more on the Minneapolis Higher Things Conference. I am certainly very happy for the young people who were able to attend. The speakers certainly put their all into their presentations and I can say that every effort was made to speak to these young people and encourage them in their faith. It is a good thing and I am thankful that there are pastors willing to put forth so much effort.

Revisiting the Valpo post

So here's the thing. Going to college where both of your parents work and most of the parents of your best friends work can be awkward at best. If I say I smirked when asked if I knew who a certain professor was, it was said all in good fun and not as an insult. In those days I wanted to live a secret life as I wanted my own identity and not be known as a professor's brat. These situations came up by chance and frankly if someone did say anything that should not have been said to me, I did try to stop them. Remember all you shocked readers, the prospective students of said professor were asking if I knew him. I simply stated I did. (It is REALLY hard not to smirk when maintaining a secret life) Also remember that I stated that I DID try to stop the poor girl from prattling on. For those of you who took it all in fun and awkwardness, thanks. I am a raving paranoid middle aged woman so I have to state this all here on my blog. No need to comment but do know it isn't my style to cut down my parents especially in PUBLIC.

I will add one other cute story related to said professor that I thought was FUNNY. I took a course by another professor in the subject area of said professor. They were colleagues and I often times babysat this professor's kids. So here I am trying to live my secret , don't know anybody at this University life, and the colleague decided to ask me to give the definition of Sociology on the first day of class(this is the subject matter they taught) and I was suddenly sweating. Here the dad was the head of the department and his daughter was put on the spot in class. Phew......I remembered the answer! I think that was one of my most relieved, saved from embarressment moments. See dad, I was paying attention to your life! I did well in the class and can't help bringing up Sociology type observations when people make ignorant, culturely related comments.

Oh......one more thing......one of my favourite memories at Dear Old Valpo was graduation day when I let my secret identity out of the bag. Valpo has the tradition that if a professors kid was graduating that they got to go up on the podium and give each other a hug after receiving their diploma. We got a great picture of this and yes, it is a great memory.

I think I need an 'Ode to Dad' post now. THis is just a start. If I have offended anyone, I am truly sorry and that was not and never is my intent on the good old blog.

Sincerely

The middle aged paranoid woman

Auction day

As it turned out, I ended up buying back our turkeys and we already planned to buy back our swine as it was sold already. Martin's turkeys went for way too low so I suddenly became a buyer for the first time. Matthew took his birds out to the table and I proceeded to bid with a set goal in mind as to the acceptable minimum. THe bids never went above the goal so home they come. I figured we could sell them on the side for more than what was offered and when I got a hold of Charley at work he realized that yes, this was true and he thanked me for thinking on my feet there. The boys need to work on a buyers group if they intend to make anything off of their animals at the auction.

Other auction observations were of the my favorite older 4-hers. Some had class and courtesy down to a fine art and it was nice to see these young people handling themselves well. There were the cute first year 4-hers who did well with cuteness. There were a few young ladies who had the fake, model smile down to an art and I did observe they did not necesarily do well with their sales. THe ones who did the best had a group that worked together.

Needless to say I was VERY tired from being out in the heat with Stefan all day. I even went on a walk with Cindy this morning before it heated up too much. Charley made it to the auction a few minutes after the boys were done. I did eavesdrop on a few farmers behind me discussing the price of corn and the general farmer debates so that was entertaining as well. It was sort of fun to watch these farmer families in action. THe older generation dressed like the typical farmers with the feed coop hats, farmer shirts and they talked shop. THe little farmer kids were cute and you could tell who the real worker kids were. Our kids don't have a chance against the old timer farm families. It seemed the Grand Champion must have been decided before the show even started as the winner was VERY young and it seemed unlikely to me that a first year 4-her would know how to produce or find a Champion without help.

Well....once again it is time to toss kids in bed. Erik leaves tomorrow for Colorado. Animals are picked up, and Anna will probably want to sew all day. Maybe I will begin the throw out festival again and find some more of our house.

Kids flying the coop

Favorite Apron is discussing not believing she is a year away from her son flying the coop. I just got back from discussing such things with friends. We weren't really talking about my oldest flying the coop but I now have a funny question for my parents. I was a professor's brat and took advantage of the free tuition thing at Valpo. So......the deal was that I would stay in town but since there was not tuition to pay for that I could live in the dorm. Did MY mom and dad cry when they dropped me five minutes from home????? I know I kept my identity top secret as both my parents worked on campus. But did they cry? I am sort of doubting it as the phone wasn't long distance so budget was not a concern and.......I worked with my mom at the bookstore at least for a year so I guess we ran into each other.

Because I worked at the bookstore, the subject would sometimes present itself at the checkout counter where I would be asked if I knew a particular professor. Yes, I would smirk and reply that I did know him. Of course they wouldn't know that I knew NOTHING about his classes and only that he enjoyed an occasional beer and his kids talked his ears off. This did not happen all the time but it did on occasion and it was hard not to laugh as it was VERY awkward to work there. I knew MOST of professors and their families so how does one work at a check out counter where people do a lot of complaining about the cost of books, what they have heard about classes etc. I did wise up and I got a job at the computer center so I could work more on my secret identity. There I was the computer Super Hero.


The worst was a day in Art History when a girl I had gotten to know very well started in on the Professor (my dad) tale and the tale started getting pretty uh.....how do I say......uncomfortable or too much complaining is how I would put it. (There is not a professor who has not had somebody complain about them). Then.....the question......."Do you know him?"
"Uh, uh.....yes" and then......she caught on that perhaps I was not telling her everything and somehow I weasled out of telling her he was my dad as I think or rather know she would have felt badly. I truly did try to stop her and I think that is why she figured out that there was something more to why I was trying to stop her. Sigh.....wasn't college fun?

I can't imagine either sending my kiddos off to the next stage in life. We can laugh about it now and think of how odd that will be and ask people to hold our hands. Did my parents cry? I still doubt it. Will I? I am pretty sure I will. If we can open the local University taught by all the PHD's around here then perhaps I won't have to cry. This is just a dream from the dreamers though so stay tuned till a few years from now.

Hot!

It's fair week still and of course it is hot. It is always hot this week. I took the kids to do the peddle push this afternoon and when we got there I asked them the big question....."Do you really want to stand out here in the grandstands and sweat????" The answer....."but we want to get ice cream". So.......I asked them if I could buy them ice cream and we could go home. Cecilia said, "Oh, I thought we had to do the peddle push to get ice cream." So......short explanation, I bought them ice cream and we went home. It was miserable out there.

Anna's rabbit got best in breed,
Matthews got a blue ribbon
Erik's 6 year old geriatric rabbit got a red ribbon.

Tommorow is the auction. I hope Charley finds out what time we need to be there.

Hot.

Reserve Champion Poland China

Matthew was very pleased to win Reserve Champion Poland China this afternoon. I was happy for him as well. He worked pretty hard this summer taking care of all the animals while his family flitted here and there and everywhere. The last two weeks he has done quite a bit in the line of chores. He said he would do the project again as it is pretty easy overall.


The boys turkeys won blue ribbons so that was better than last year. THe judge was pretty tough in poultry so they should be pleased. We know what we did wrong with the broilers this year so if they want to do better next year (yes, I think they will do it all again) then they know what they need to do to get back where they were last year. I am sure with Stefan being older that the project will be better as the naggin mom can at least have a little more time to access how things are going.

Anna and Micheala hung out together. She and Micheala were 'friends' as little people or rather her mom and I were until her mom moved. (We're still friends, we just don't get to spend time together) THey get together every summer and boy did they have fun this year. Micheala is a very nice young lady and I was pleased to spend time with her. The time was too short really and she goes back to South Carolina tomorrow. Bummer.

I still have HT posts to do so perhaps later I will get to that.

4H fair 2007

So far so good. We are cheerfully, casually surviving. I thought I better post something about the fair to keep the relations on top of things.

Anna:

Honor group sewing (grand champion in her parents eyes)
Reserve Champion fine arts in her division
Reserve Champion misc. crafts her division

Erik:
Reserve Grand Champion beekeeping
Red ribbon entomology (that is third place)

Matthew
blue ribbon beekeeping

Martin
Champion fine arts in his divion (so proud and pleased he is)

Cecilia and Benjamin are too young and their mom forgot to get their mini 4H stuff done or turned in - oops.

High School Chums

I had a great visit with my high school friend Jeanie last week on the way to and from Higher Things. Jeanie was one of my bridesmaids and she always wanted to marry someone like Charley. Well......she did. Alex is a hoot. Both have a love for the outdoors, dinking around with their projects and......both families can feel at ease with each other and the lack of trim and strange piles of stuff here and there in the yard. I am certain they both would have been placed on Ritalin if they had been born 20 years later. Both cute husbands laugh at the oddities of their property and their nervously giggling wives. Alex collects outboard motors and his friends cast off chain saws. He has more chain saws then my husband (don't get jealous Charley). Alex and Charley MUST get together to pool their ideas too. They met once at our 20th HS reunion and talked the whole time. If only Chicago weren't in between us I am sure there would be more road trips. Their property is fantastic! They are in the middle of no where, with roads that are well built, a town nearby that brews beer and wine, beautiful country side and neighbors who are far, far away from them. Neighbors are nice but so is space.

THeir kids were great too. David is 9 and couldn't remember Stefan was a boy most of the time but that is ok. He had fun holding her.....uh....him. Their Matthew turned 4 while we were there. He was so much like Benjamin it made me wonder if we really are unique or are all four year old boys pretty much the same. Anna and I sort of stared at him and kept muttering "it's Benjamin.....he's here"

Alex gave Erik his old Cabella's catalogue and Erik has placed his first order. It would be great to send Charley and Alex on a real adventure with the older boys and get their money's worth out of all their cute outdoor equipment. Jeanie and Alex are headed for the Boundary Waters this coming weekend. They stay in the same area for two weeks I think and go fishing etc in the area. That sounds like fun too.

Till next time.......

Back again

The kids and I had a fun trip to Higher Things. I didn't get a chance to fill out my evaluation form but will try to email my thoughts to the powers that be later. Despite a few behavior issues from a few attendees I do think all went well. I was itching to play in the brass choir but that would have been sort of tricky with Stefanopolis. Plus I realized while listening to them warm up that my horn mouth piece was in the purse that was stolen earlier this summer. Rats!!!!!! Off to the Woodwind and the Brasswind with my horn to buy a new one. I think I need to and want to practice regularly and be able to play on the drop of a hat if my phone rang and was asked. I miss my horn.

I will tell about the details of the conference soon. Today we took the chickens and turkeys to the fair. Tonight we will go see how the fair projects did. We are SOOOO not worried about anything this year. There has been too much going on in the line of stress and travel to really care about how things go and.....and.....if we do well. The kids seem to just be going through the motions and waiting for time in between to do things like read Harry Potter, sew, and goof off with their friends. Charley is pleased with how things are going so that is good too.

Maybe I will go and take a nap.......

Taking off for awhile

We leave this afternoon for Higher THings. For Stefan's sake and really mine, we are going sort of slowly. Tonight we will be near Madison at a friend from High School, Jeannie Elkins. We may be tempted to stay up all night giggling so hopefully we catch some sleep sometime this week......

Charley and the rest of the kids will be here. THere are several people 'helping' him survive. Pray for them.......

See you next week!

Got it

Dogs are good for some things. Chip finished off the ground hog......now the boys get to do another boy thing which is bury it. I don't know if there is a ground hog cemetary established here but I guess we could start one now. Maybe I will get cucumbers now.

Ground Hogs day

Yesterday was full of anticipating rain which we finally did get a pretty good amount. We went to the pool beforehand but had the hardest time getting going. My cucumber plants have been serving as a salad bar to the ground hog family under Charley's wood pile. The boys set some traps for them and.......don't read this if you are eating......found one snapped with a foot in it. YUKKKKK!!!!! Then.....they found the pest dead with........two feet still in tact. Isn't that pleasant? I think the dog finished that one off. He does it for sport and not for dinner.

So......the mama or papa ground hog was still hanging around and they set traps again and snap, they got it. It is HUGE and still under the wood pile. Matthew tried to pull it out from under and had a hold of the chain. This thing is strong. We were supposed to be meeting the Hubbards at the pool so I could tag team with her to watch both sets of kids for a longer time so I told Matthew to nail the peg back in the ground and his dad could take care of it later. Matthew was extremely frustrated that he could not pull that thing out. SO.....Charley tried after work and HE couldn't pull it out. THey caught sight of it still attached to the chain and it is the mother of ground hogs. Charley said it was no wonder Matthew couldn't pull it out seeing as he couldn't either and at the sight of it.

At the moment it is still under the wood pile. Yuk and double yuk. I have no clue what they are going to do with it but it is the source of much boy talk.

It's the little things....

that make me nuts. Big things like purses being stolen or expensive things getting broken or animals kicking the bucket generally don't make me nuts. No, those other things have not happened recently. It is the little things that make me nutso. My dear neighbors had a party and kindly gave us their left over soda. THe kids enjoyed some yesterday and did remember to ask before they indulged. THis morning I went to the check on Stefan who crawled into the kitchen and discovered that the kids had left the soda on the floor and did not screw the caps on. Well.....Stefan was having a great time in there. After he was bathed and the floor was washed (good news right?) the rest of the kiddos came down from their nests. Nothing awful happened but taking care of these little things for some reason makes me on edge and when little Stefan decides to have an itching festival it is hard for my nerves to watch and smile at these antics.

A friend and I were chuckling at how some of these details just escape people. The one detail we were laughing at was the ability to see a pattern in life such as eating at a regular hour. Is it a surprise that we eat between six and seven or do we keep fiddling with things until it dawns on us that our crazy wives are looking a little exasperated. How do the wives just smile, chuckle and overlook? Should knowing when dinner is be important? It is sort of comical in that it really isn't surprising but to have cute husbands bumping through life without realizing that it is more convenient for the dinner cooker to come when expected can sometimes raise my eyebrows. THese same cute husbands can do the most amazing things.

Last night my cute husband risked heat and itchiness to crawl in the attic and replace the attic fan. What a pain. It is done though and I am glad he can do such great things. The kids will sweat less at night and the airconditioning will not run as much. Cooler sleeping kids makes for less whining as well. Did he eat with us? No, but that is ok right?

I was also thinking about how some people eat in the twinkling of an eye, like my eldest daughter. We can have dinner on the table and our seats will barely be warm and she is done. Then there are other cute kids who eat their breakfast like there is all the time in the day and nothing at all facing them in the line of responsibility. THat is the way they eat. They have two grandpas who eat the same way and make their dear wives crazy. How can eating take so long?????? The kid I have in mind is not necessarily reading anything either. The one grandpa is. It is their personality and I guess the good part is that they will probably never be fat as taking longer to eat makes digestion go more smoothly - har, har. Now that is a deep thought!

The baby is miraculously sleeping so I better go clean the bathroom or something. The kids are outside washing pigs.......

Deep thoughts....hmmmm

Here are the deep thoughts of the day. If you call a utility company to get help because your purse was stolen and you closed your checking account to protect yourself from theft.....and.....you get ahold of someone who treats you like a crook (sp?) then hang up and try again until you get ahold of someone who knows what they are talking about and gives you a satisfactory answer. The trick is to remember to hang up and not to argue with the poorly trained employee. If the employee actually laughs with you at your stress they will probably be easier to deal with.

Second deep thought. It might be good to keep money in the mattress in case you yourself cannot get money easily. Teach critical thinking to your kids so they can figure out what the latest and greatest glitch is and then......do remember to do just one of these annoying things per day instead of thinking you can accomplish them all in one day. It is far less stressful to just deal with one headache per day then to give yourself a migraine wanting to get rid of all stressers.

Be sure you kiss your kiddos and then of course the spouse. Party hard with your family doing things like swimming, camp fires, taking your kids with you to the store and bank so you can keep your humor and.......don't forget to just try one thing at a time. THank the Lord that there are some civil human beings who understand that there are SOME honest people left in the world who are trying to get their finances in order responsibly.

How was that for deep??????

Older kids away

Anna, Erik, and their buddies Nat and Maggie are off helping at a camp for the handicapped or at least developmentally handicapped. I am not sure of the extent of their disabilities but Sandy took them there this afternoon. She said they were each paired with a camper to help through the week. I am sure this will be an experience unlike any other experience they have had. They weren't sure what to expect and I know I will be very curious to hear about it when they return.

It will be odd without the older two here. I will be spending the next week when they return with my older two and Maggie at Higher Things so I am sure I will hear all about it on the way to Minneapolis.

We spent the evening out by the campfire. Martin and Matthew roasted marshmallows and Matthew did his best to keep reading Harry Potter book five until the fire got too low to read it. I shared with Charley that Matthew's reading appetite paled in comparison to the reading nut I was as a kid. He wanted to know when I found time but quickly observed I did not have chores of the animal variety and lived in town with both parents working. When did I read????? Every chance I got. So......I sort of sympathize with Matthew's reading appetite. Oh, Charley asked what I do with my vast knowledge and I told him I use it torture him.....heh, heh, heh.....

We will try not to have too much fun while the older ones are away......

Cecilia spreading the gospel

Cecilia has been very enthusiastic about learning the catechism since she can now read it on her own. Pastor asked Erik to help her with it while she was gone. Well......she studies it on her own all the time. This morning she asked me when Pastor was going to be getting home and I gave her the news that it was still over a week away. Why I asked? She cutely and sincerely explained that she wanted to tell him what she knew about the catechism. Aaawww..... I did mention that we had two pastors so she could talk to our other pastor. SHe seemed pacified.

Last night we had a couple over who help the boys with their pig project and Cecilia brought her catechism down, plunked herself in a chair and proceeded to tell our guest everything she had been learning and was especially excited to share what she had memorized about the Sacrament of the Altar. The lady took a lot of interest and asked to see her book. She talked with Cecilia some about how all we had to do was to step outside the door and even look at a weed to see that God was the Creator of this world. So the two of them had a great talk. It was humbling to watch and listen to this six year old tell a stranger everything she knew about Jesus. How sweet is that? The lady told Cecilia that her book was a wonderful book and that everyone should read it.

I SOOO love the simplicity of little children. They say it like it is in plain language and we complicated adults stand humbled. She is looking forward to Pastor's return.......

What's wrong with my apprearance?

I have been restraining myself from posting about this but.....last night's 4-H meeting 'forces' me to chat about the issue of appearance. Anna and I went to Micheal's to get her painting framed for the fair. So......we get back to the counter and waited for someone to help us and who should appear but a tatto laden, ratty t-shirt, ear rings everywhere young man. He also had a nice sun burn with a line from where his ball cap was on his head. Ok....that was not so shocking but it did sort of add to his 'look'. Well.....being the naughty, intolerant woman that I am I started to sort of giggle nervously. I asked him something like 'are you able to help us?'. 'Uhhh....why?' says the professionally clad young man (not). 'Well" says the mom, 'you see, it is your appearance' "Uhh....what's wrong with my appearance?". says the young man in a powerful way as if to say to me that I should not have a problem with his personal expression.

So....I briefly explained with my best Cindy B. smile, that his lack of professional appearance did not lead me to believe that I could trust him with my daughter's painting. I did not give him time to respond and went on a manager hunt.

My point? Why in the world would this young man assume that he should be treated as if there was a brain upstairs? Appearance in my book speaks miles towards one's attitude toward their job. What does this have to do with 4-H? I opened my BIG mouth last night at a poultry meeting, to address (pun intended) the recent ignoring of proper attire in the animal barns - wet t-shirt, fraternizing etc. If you are representing someplace then you should dress and act accordingly. My dear friend Cindy asked what my problem was with tattoos as her dh has one. Well....I have no problem with tattoos, it is fine to have one but to dress properly for the occasion, which her husband is one of the best dressed men I know! Then she got it.

Oh.....just for giggles. We were discussing the Deaconess 'uniform' with Sandy and there was the idea of a jumper from Polly. There was also the idea of keeping the emblem on the shoulder. Sandy asked what they could do if they wanted to go sleeveless? I suggested they get a tattoo on their shoulder and that would solve the problem. So......some people should just have tattoos but they just need to be the right ones!

Cutting teeth

Stefan is definately cutting his upper teeth. Wow, yuk, and poor thing. I don't think I have ever paid attention to this in my other kids as it didn't seem to affect them. Stefan lets us know frequently when his teeth are bothering him. He is hungry and then he stops eating.....he is hungry and then he stops eating. There is a lot of crying in between.

His other new talents (?) are banging on the floor, squeeling loudly, and giving high fives. He has a particular grunt when he is excited about his oatmeal cooking which is definately different then his other noises. He sort of waves bye bye too - cute.

He is back to sleeping through the night and actually drank some rice milk from a bottle at our lovely beach escapade. Hopefully he is so easily charmed by Anna, Erik, or Maggie in the back seat of our car on the way to and from HT. Someone lost the top to our one and only bottle he likes though. Walmart, Target etc. love us.

Time to go barbaque the chicken (I can't spell anymore so I think I am going to stop apologizing for it - my brain is lost somewhere).

My Great Aunt Marion

My Aunt Marion is going to be 97, Lord willing, two days after I see her on the evening of the 23rd. I finally got ahold of my cousin and we have made arrangements to meet at Marion's the evening before the Higher Things conference. I was afraid this wasn't going to work out and I would miss the chance of seeing her but....yippee! It is working.

I have always had a fond place in my heart for Marion. She is my grandmother's sister. My favorite memories are going to her farm and visiting. Her home to me was my image of the perfect family home, atmosphere and everything. She had five kids, was as faithful a church attender as I've ever met and her kids seemed close and still do. Perhaps I was more inclined to a larger family thanks to her and her husband Leanard. Leanard died two years ago now. I loved him too. They sent the best letters to me through the years. I remember the last time I saw him, he talked a blue streak and was amazed that we had canned 200 quarts of green beans that summer. Every time I open a jar of green beans, I think of Leanard. Charley always enjoyed talking with him as well.

I remember going to my grandmother's funeral with Marion and boy could she get around. She was eighty years old that year and we drove in an older vehicle with the flip down front seat to get into the back seat. She climbed in like a teen-ager. We talked about how the liturgy was being tossed aside and how it grieved her and her husband. She was missing it at their church. I am not sure if they stayed at that church or not. I suppose I could ask her daughter. It was that conversation which stuck with me as well and I have no doubt influenced my love for the liturgy. We all pray we won't be eighty and have no liturgy to go to. Yikes.

So......I may get to see her again. She looks so much like my grandmother. It will be bittersweet to see her. Jean says she still gets around but it is exhausting and I know she wants to be with her husband. I am her sister's only granddaughter so I do suppose that means something to her. I also hold dear memories of her other sisters, Hazel and Vera. I don't remember much about Vera as she was sort of sickly but Hazel was warm and wonderful. She wrote to me faithfully. It is the end of an era.

If time allows I would not mind getting directions to my grandma's burial site. Dad's dad and sister are there as well. I have not been there ever as she died in the winter....in Minnesota. We didn't make it to the actual burial. I guess that will mean getting more directions but since we are up that way it would be worth the effort.

So.....we shall see if I see her.

Credit cards/fraud protection

I personally feel it is the credit card industry which has caused this whole identity theft problem. I remember my parents had one credit card when we were kids - I think it was a Master Card and I am not sure when they even got it but I am pretty sure there was not much use if any of such a thing. Today everyone has lots of cards or at least it seems that way. We used to get applications all the time in the mail. It seems they will give anyone a card. SO.....if they have your personal information they can try to get a card. That stinks. As I said to Nat in the comment section a person used to have to work through their personal bank before they were ever given a card and they were also expected to pay it off. Even the Horner folk at one time in married land did not pay off their card every month. Fortunately that isn't true anymore but this idea of carte blanche was created by these companies. (Yes, I am venting). Then......it is our problem to protect ourselves from someone stealing our identity. It is also our problem (which I know is obvious) to discipline ourselves to not fall into debt traps. Sigh.

Why can't they have pin numbers for every transaction. The merchant is supposed to check the signiture of every purchase. I was sort of happy when you could pay at the pump since I had small children but I would bet our parents figured out how to pay for gas inside. I started paying at the pump because of all the scary stories of your children being stolen if you left them in the car and also that you would be accused of child abuse to boot. I guess I would send my dh to get gas for the car to avoid having the kids with me. But......you don't need a pin number to use a credit card or debit card at the pump.

So the credit industry does not hold you responsible for fraudulant use. That's nice (very) but.....if they just required a pin number then this money would not be stolen from the merchants or the credit companies. Why is this so duh to me????

So there you go.....the Karin credit rant.

husband's wallets

Hey guys and gals. Since I am the paranoid type I decided to look through my dear husband's wallet last night to see if he carried his Soc. No. in there. (He was watching Macgyver) and......his cute little wallet had his SS card with my number neatly identified on the back, his blood donation card from when he lived in PA with his SS number on it, old insurance cards which also had SS numbers on them. Ahem.....cute that he still doesn't have much in it but.....it is time to clean the wallet!

I had recently switched purses so much of my 'old' stuff was out of there. I am not positive now that his SS number wasn't on one of those health cards so am now going to go through the 'protect yourself from identity theft' dance this morning. I made several of those calls last night at 11:00.

Moral of the story, clean house and carry very little identifying anything with you.

Robbed - oh bother...

Yep, you read correctly. The kids and I went to the beach today. It is our favorite beach because it is not heavily populated. Well......there is a down side to that. It is not heavily populated so robbers know they can get away with getting into people's vehicles and robbing them. I have mentioned to several people lately that the seemingly bigger things in life don't bother me and that it is the little things like whining kids that do. Ok, Stefan's episode was not little and it did bother me but that was a life or death thing. I saw the broken window and just went about the business of reporting what happened. We have already called the Visa and Discover people and my bank and fortunately there is nothing on the cards that we will be held responsible for. THe bank was fine. What puzzles me is that once they try to use it and it comes up as stolen, wouldn't they get arrested? I know where they used it and there are also supposed servelience cameras. Do I call the company? I probably will at least make an effort tomorrow.

In the funnies on Sunday there was a comment by one of the characters that real life criminals are idiots and not at all like the movies. This seems sort of idiotic to me and perhaps they will never catch the people. I did not have my Soc. number in there or anyone else's so that is a good thing.

The window on the van is being fixed tomorrow. Our friends the Hubbards were with us so they took the little kids home so they weren't blown away by the open window and they wouldn't have to deal with the glass. That was a good thing. Stephen helped me look up phone numbers on the way home to call and cancel things like my library card. I have to call them back tomorrow as we got disconnected.

So that was the adventure of the day. See how worked up I am? It is a nusiance. I also think our poor Asst. Pastor has been worried enough with worrying about the Horner's. I am sure he can handle it though. He seems rough and tough to me.

I need to find a more populated beach........

Oh....here's some things I learned. Take just your liscense to the beach and enough cash to get by. Don't leave your cell phone in the car (I didn't but I guess they do weird things with them). Also you should never carry your Soc. Number, ever. Make sure it is not on any documents that you carry. I fortunately did not have that with me either but I sure can see how that can be a big problem called identity theft.

The picture is of the Beach Tree in our yard. It is cheerfully getting a drink tonight.

Leeks and butterflies

Despite the heat and no rain I took a photo trip around the yard looking for cheerful things. I have never seen a leek bloom and thought this was pretty cool. The honey bees love it so does that mean all of our honey will taste like oniions? Actually I think it is going to taste like mint again. A chocolate company grows mint north of here and the bees head that direction. Most of them anyway.

I thought this butterfly picture came out well too. We love butterflies even though some budding entomologists collect some of them. So.....we murder butterflies. Shocking. It is raining a few little drops of rain right now. We were hoping for more. Tomorrow we are supposed to go to the beach. We shall see.......

Warped sense of humor

Sorry if the book discussion was offensive to anyone......I have a warped sense of humor. I was just visualizing clean house challenged me vs. the pristine housekeeper type knocking heads and I thought it was sort of.....giggle.....funny. Murder of course isn't funny. Don't forget to smile all you shocked people.

Beans

My goal of getting a lot of beans grown successfully has been reached.....now we have to do something with them. I have three kids out picking and I think we will get a lot of tv watched this afternoon while snapping them. I suppose if I were a romantic I would have them sit out on the lawn and snap them but frankly it is hot and snapping beans and watching tv is more fun for them. They pick them cheerfully because they know they will get to watch tv. How is that for motivation?

Cindy and I walked this morning and talked about a book she is reading (I have to get the title - I forgot) about these women in a neighborhood who live the 'perfect' life and their vans are clean, their homes are clean, they cook perfect meals and their two children are pristeenly (spelling?) dressed. Well.......one of them gets murdered. So Cindy in Cindy style thinks this is hilarious as it seems no surprise that someone might want to murder a woman who behaves this way. It is sort of a spoof on the 'perfect' American suburban life. I will let you know the title when I ask. Oh......(take no offense mom) instead of suburban 'Robots' the women are called 'Tal-bots'. (My mom is not the 'typical' Talbots shopper - she is the go in for the hunt and get a clearance bargain and she exercises proper restraint). Anyway I have never thought of 'Tal-bots' before and found that VERY amusing. I went with my mom for the 'hunt' on her birthday and I do remember wondering about these perfectly dressed women and what their life must be like.

Time to snap the beans......

I'm glad I'm not a chicken

It sure was hot. I know it was hot all over the country and my greatest sympathies to those without air conditioning. I am sure there is an art to living through heat without it. I can imagine people 'chill out' in the afternoon and do any work they can manage in the evenings. We put our barn chores off until 8:00pm today for this very reason. The chickens and the turkeys got sprayed down several times today to get them through the heat of the afternoon. I remember a few years ago we didn't know about doing this and nearly lost a whole bunch of them. A fellow 4-Her stopped by our house just in the nick of time to tell us how to handle high heat and poultry. It seems pretty logical now but didn't occur to us then.

The 'boys' are home. Charley seemed to have a ball at summer camp. That amuses me a little. I used to be a camp counselor and actually I would love to go on one of these excursions but that will probably have to wait till Martin, Benjamin and Stefan go to Boy Scout camp. Charley apparently helped with some painting and seemed to enjoy things overall. Matthew earned 5 merit badges and is as usual full of cute stories. Anybody want to hear some camp jokes? Call Matthew and he will bend your ear for awhile. Gosh I missed having that kid around here.

The kids are having a Harry Potter reading marathon. Anna is rereading them and Matthew is somewhere in book four. Erik has not caught the bug yet. I tried to reread them but have only gotten into the second one so far. I think Matthew is going to make it before book 7.

Charley and I also had a throw stuff out party in the basement. Hmmmm.....we are always in shock by how much junk gets stuffed here and there. I am sure the kids kept hearing gasps of how ridiculous it all was. My book shelves are looking thinner (more room for new books.....) and many things were thrown out of a little tool area down there.

Stefan seems to be packing on the weight. Prednisone will do that to a person but for him it is a fringe benefit of treatment. His thighs are actually looking fat! I wonder if this will last. We tried to get some pictures of him today but kept forgetting and then he would be cranky and uncooperative.

That is all for today......

I told my mom

So the news is out to the mom about Stefanopolis. Phew. Ya know she did well and now I can update on my blog. It is interesting to me that dear mom does not necessarily do as well when it is her husband who in crisis so I unfairly assumed she might not handle Stefan's episode as well. So.....I am like my mom. I handle other people's crisis much better than my own. Why is that???? Mom did a great job in 'taking care of me'We go to the doc tomorrow to discuss what exactly the plan is from here with the little guy.

In the meantime he is a cutie pie and I love to feel his cute little arms around my neck as I pray with him and put him to bed. How sweet is being able rub his back and love him? He is getting into everything and I bet the house starts to get cleaner and cleaner. Not because he is cleaning it but because we will save him from other hazards of life - small things.

So I love this little guy so much it hurts at times and Christ loves him more. Sigh. Isn't he the cutest thing? We think so.

"A Mighty Wind"

A recipe to know you ARE sane. Thanks person who recommended this movie. Where do I (we) begin. So, I watched this movie this evening on a day that I thought I was a nut case. Stress can make you feel nutty. This riveting film bore me up on a vessel of enlightment. My eyes were opened WIDE to how sane people behave (sarcasm).

Earlier today, my 4 year old screamed at me about how he didn't have enough fun yet. My 6 year old ran screaming across a field after being doused with water in front of a cage of turkeys. My 9 year old lit a sparkler in the woods and told his siblings not to tell anyone. Can you say drought? Nothing happened and the sparkler worked.

So I learned from this movie that nine year old boys should wear helmets while playing chess. I learned that Swedish PBN producers used to dream about being folk stars in their garages with card board figurines. I learned to sing loudly at appropriate scenes to drown out inappropriate sounds. I learned that my children might be right that the folk scene was a little hokey. Do audiences really neigh and crow?

I concluded I am sane. Stressed, with deranged normal children who scream on cue, right after I tell them that I think I am going nuts. At least I don't walk around squeezing little squishy ball toys and I now think my 14 year old son is going to work on growing his hair out and looking at people with very wide eyes and talking very slowly using words that are intelligent sounding.

Sigh. Tomorrow is another day. Stefan continues to eat oatmeal and applesauce and he is not convincing me that we were not evolved from monkeys. He says ooo, oooo, oooo when he sees me mix the oatmeal. How can oatmeal do such great things? Certainly not just oatmeal but the oatmeal combined with a smidge of brown sugar and the boiling water and of course a good dose of applesauce. (I think this every time I am cramming it down his face) (this is what Lutherans do when feeding stubborn babies). Did I say I wasn't crazy? Oooooo, oooooo, oooooo.

Anna and I were inspired after this movie to suggest that we break out in song during the next service with guitars, banjos, auto harps singing "It only takes a spark." Does that sound like a good idea? The movie WAS spiritually inspirational. Indigo.....violet.....and......we can't remember.

Thanks oh person who suggested this movie. We feel much better now.

Hanging in there

I have been feeling a little stessed lately but am trying to take some steps to relieve some of that stress. The next few weeks are extremely hectic and there is still the garden to take care of that if I had my druthers would take first place in priorities. Everyone loves what comes out of it and it has to be packaged up somehow. We got some beans today but not nearly enough to can yet so I am giving some away to be enjoyed fresh.

I have an appointment for Stefan on Friday to talk to the doc about strategies for the future. He indicated that a visit to the allergist was in order so I am sure that will be part of our discussion.

Charley is away at Boy Scout camp with Matthew. He wanted to cancel and stay home but that would have punished Matthew and the rest of the boys as apparently no one else could do this. A part of me wanted to say yes, stay home but I know we will muddle through. I need to give him a buzz about the realities of what we can accomplish this week.

Erik and Nat are cleaning the garage out today. I am not sure where all that stuff is headed but at least we can move around better now. I think the barn is gaining weight. Charley reinforced the barn floor to handle the extra load.