Peanut butter seems to be bad too.....

Stefan snitched a bite of my peanut butter toast this morning (great breakfast eh?) and he began to sport a few hives and swell up a little. It wasn't of the variety of this summer but I do think it was the peanut butter. Sigh. I guess I will try it one more time with Benadryl handy to see if this is true. Since everyone and their cousin eats peanut butter around here it will be sort of hard to keep it away from him. Perhaps we will have to discover a new lunch material.

Supposedly we are going to get a lot of snow today. I haven't seen any so far. Thursday morning the driving was the pits and I was ready to go buy a few new tires. My dh seems to think spring will be here soon so he wants to wait till fall. We shall see on that as well. I am admittedly getting a little tired of being cold. It is warm near the stove but can be a little chillier in the further points of the house. Yes, we dress for the weather.

Stefan is also in the habit of getting up in the middle of the night. His new bottle habit has created some problems in the staying dry enough department. He tends to wet throuh in the night. He is not a happy camper to be wet and cold and is REALLY not a happy camper to be stripped naked to remedy the problem. I suppose I should have gone to bed early but we were watching some ridiculous Mr. Bean episode about his trip to the dentist and I can't pass up Mr. Bean too easily. Then we watched the first "Pretender" episode and were amused by Miss Parker's get up and how they changed her character quite a bit as the episodes progress. She seemed a little too athletic for the later Miss Parker. So.......close to 11:00 we hit the hay and now it is 1:30am and here is the Stefan. I think he is ready to be pitched back in bed. The dry bed.......

Two naps a day

That is the way it should be. Stefan thinks so too. So it rained a lot yesterday then turned to snow and bitter cold. Thus art classes were canceled and LaRena and I cheerfully called a snow day as we knew the roads were a mess. So.......we kept the wood stove stuffed and warm, did laundry and I discovered with our new found space that the dear children will escape from their mother leaving her falling asleep on the couch with Stefan. This happened twice! Unbelievable. Perhaps I should pray for more snow. I don't seem to sleep at night too well so this could be another alternative. Stefan enjoyed it too.

So most the laundry is caught up and I just sent hte kids to the kitchen to get it cleaned up. It sure needs some work. Leftovers for dinner is the plan. No new pots and pans to clean.

I need to make contact with my dh sometime but he seems to mysteriously disappear whenever I try his number. What? Is he working or something?

I chickened out

So I went to this meeting last night at church where they are all very excited for me to be in charge of the Used Book Sale to raise funds for the window replacement project. I had sent out an email expressing that I was not sure how I would be able to handle being in charge of it and certainly could use some help if not have someone else take over. I mentioned that as the mother of seven and every other crazy thing that goes on my life that this project might not get done without other bodies involved. Hmmmm.......so they thought Anita could be my helper and I mentioned to them that she was expecting and they all looked sympathetic to the weariness she may be experiencing......and then they asked when she was due. I missed my opportunity. I should have said "I think right after me" but instead I said, "I think sometime in mid-September but I wasn't positive". SO.........I have been appointed delagator (Is that like an alligator?). And in Karin style I delegated to the man who volunteered me to call Anita and ask how she would feel about helping me out. Ha! I am so naughty. He sort of blanched and said "Yah, yah, I could do that". Just wait till the poor things find out I am expecting as well. Perhaps Dave S who reads this blog will let them know quietly on the side. I will very sure to delegate this whole thing out as I am not sure if it will ever happen unless I do. Ramble, ramble......

She'll be shopping at the Hanna store till she's dead

So said my mother after she asked if the doctor's appt. I was going to was because I was pregnant. What was I was going to do? Lie? I was on the other end of the phone listening to my mom having a small freak out as she realized that number eight, God willing, is expected in early September. I tend to wait to reveal such information to anyone really. But, she just happened to call when I needed to scoot out the door and going to the doctor for me must mean to her that I am pregnant. Why else would I be going to the doctor anyway???? In the midst of her little freak out she blurted out "I will be shopping at the Hanna store till I'm dead!". I found that most amusing. The Hanna store is the Hanna Anderson outlet in Michigan City which sells the most beautiful cotton clothing which shops for her beautiful grandchildren. Thanks mom. Smile.

So Charley of course called his mom and she wasn't the least bit surprised by this news. He told her to go ahead and tell his siblings as the last time he sort of forgot to and was harrased a little for not mentioning it. Well......when it is your seventh some things slip your mind.

So keep us in your prayers as the little guy (of course it will be a boy) is cooking along and the mommy continues to deal with the rest of life her in Hornerdom. A few other friends I know have announced such news on their blog. If you don't know how to comment, now is your chance to figure it out.

Ah shopping, my poor mom suffers many hardships........

Interesting day

I would say school went well this morning. The kids were better than I have ever seen them this morning for catechesis. Wow. All kids worked hard on their math and listened to their history attentively. Wow. I do need to spend some time preparing more for history. I feel we bounce from one thing to another and prep time is lacking.

It snowed a lot this afternoon which I do love but it makes for hazardous traveling. The kids all came home and were somewhat productive which was also good.

Weird email but that is ok. Muddle, muddle.

Charley is working hard on plans for the vestment cabinet for church. I am very excited about this. It looks awesome from the drawings and I am sure the pastors won't know what to do with themselves when it is done. I am baffled that the vestments stay up on what they are on currently. I haven't gone and examined it as I have never set foot in the sacristy but I have heard stories.

Have thought to talk to Erik about visiting a different troop before he makes his final decision. He is Scout material if there ever was one. Sigh again.

Tacky posts

So I vent sometimes. I was talking to a friend about how there are some things that I would LOVE to vent about but can't as I am not sure I want everyone to read them. Not major yucky venting or anything but venting that is about some stuff about ME. Venting about misunderstandings is just that, venting. I don't find it that shocking myself but if I blog enough I can at least make that post go further down the list of posts. Sure I could delete it but why? I do feel strongly that friends should talk to one another if there are problems and that is what it means to love each other. I have friends who would chase me down if I didn't talk to them and those are what friends are supposed to be like. So......I suppose I should chase them down who refuse to talk????? That is a good question? Feel free to respond. It is refreshing to have friends who do care though and who would chase me down if need be.

Fighting the housecleaning fight

I have no energy lately to attack the various areas of perpetual clutter, mess, smell, etc......so I wonder how to devise a new plan. A new plan......always a new plan. I suppose not blogging, venting, finding a place to take a nap, being tired of being cold and feeding the wood God, does not help me tackle the mess. I think I should go have a blitz for the next hour and clean this disaster. My poor darlings are tired of getting food for the wood God, going out in the cold to feel animules, facing the dishes and so I guess some sunshine and just goofing off with some friends is in order. There is plotting amongst the boys to get together with friends this weekend. An hour of cleaning won't kill them.

I should go ride herd on the oven fries so they actually get done early enough so we don't have to inhale them as we walk out of the house for church.

Anna and I are discussing all the shocking things we do. I suppose not chasing the dishes 24/7 is shocking. Sigh. We are fine but feeling like social misfits at the same time. Happy boys downstairs being ridiculous. They must be enjoying each other's company or something.

Scouts

My ds Erik is contemplating whether to remain in Scouts. He is so close to Eagle but is not seeing much point to the whole thing. No, it is not because he is academically challenged or anything. Erik really is model material for Eagle so it will be a little struggle and a process for his dear old mom and dad if he in fact drops out. Sigh. I am not sure how much more energy I have to help with such things and he clearly has strong feelings so we will talk it out and see what happens. He is the hardest working, generous with his time, kind young man that I could ever wish him to be. Sure he has his struggles with some things but as far as things in general I couldn't ask for a nicer son. I am proud of him no matter what and hope I can help him reach a conclusion if he is not already set on his decision.

More muddling.......

Two and half hours till Charley gets home.

Resolution to conflict rant

How in the world does one make resolution to conflict without talking about it????? Ignoring a problem/misunderstanding/hurt feelings are never resolved by just glossing over the problems. THat is just the way it is. I personally am famous for saying it like it is and so I suppose I have a reputation for being difficult or surprising or not everyone's favorite person. I do not go around plotting to be 'forthright' but sometimes it just happens. Why do people pretend there is nothing to talk about!!!!!!!! Or......let's see......there is a log in your family member's eye so there must not be any specks in mine???? I never have stated that I don't play a role in misunderstanding and so that is just part of fuel to the misunderstanding! Ugh. If we talk about things then we can understand how the other party is different or has a different perspective on a situation. Ugh, ugh and double ugh. I too attempted pretending and nope, not working. I am not a 'Pretender' (but we do like that show, lavender trench coats and all - Miss Parker is such the feminist - shocking really).

Hmmmmm......so we muddle through another day of being social weirdos, but the pastor said that sometimes we Christians just are perculiar. I believe it is in Matthew that conflict resolution is addressed by....'gasp' Jesus himself. Hmmmmm.......could this be important?????

Rant, rant, rant.......

Lots of stuff

So the State sent us a little rebate on our property taxes. Weird. I am not complaining. Then we got Charley's retirement statement - ugh. Try not to think about the stock market........

Let's see......Matthew has a bombing headache and is in sick bay. Perhaps it is just a headache. Stefan is teething and must have gotten a little cheese with the chicken he snitched from me......cleaned up the mess. He is happy enough though.

Asked about car insurance for Anna and decided our children are never driving. HA! We should get her a permit but she would have to have a pretty good job to pay even part of a 16 year old's insurance. I am not sure how people afford that. We did learn that since boys insurance is even that much more expensive, that they do get a break if they are married. HA! again. The insurance lady was plotting a newspaper article about a lady who gets her boys married off early to help cut the cost of car insurance. We were kidding. She did have a good sense of humor and appreciated my shock at the price and blatent -'Uh, that isn't happening any time soon' comment.

My boys are obsessed with Transformers. I think they need to take up drawing them. That would be cheaper.

Um.......Charley is in Mexico where it is warm and we are home fighting the cold. It was a little better this afternoon but I understand it is getting colder again tomorrow.

Erik told me something very surprising this evening about something he has been thinking about. Nothing earthshattering but none-the-less surprising to me. Stay tuned.....can't tell.

Well, this has been a thrilling post. I must go be responsible once again if I can muster up the strength and energy. Hopefully Stefan is done reacting to his little bit of cheese. Vigilance......

A much younger Benjamin

He isn't smiling but he is ever so cute. He was two years old in this picture and it has always been one of my favorite pictures of the little guy. He is feeling much better today and spent the day playing with army guys and watching his copy of Ratatoulli from Grandma. Happy boy.

He has a new screaming green winter coat as well to keep him warm(er) in this awful shivering cold. I like winter but this is a little too cold for me.

Anna and I went and got some winter 'play' boots for her which are screaming white. All she needs now is a sixties dress and long hair with sunglasses and a spot in an old James Bond movie and she is all set. I don't think these boots will be making too many public appearances but if you want to go sledding with her I am sure will enjoy seeing them. They were a bargain, what can I say.

Benjamin's Bday- because I'm Benjamin

That is his favorite pronouncement. Benjamin turned 5 on Thursday, because he's Benjamin. He is such a smiley cutie pie. He was sick as a dog though and I think he was last year as well. We tried to get his dinner on the table in a timely way so he wouldn't be too tired and he managed to nibble some of his dinner. Charley looked at him and asked him if he would rather wait till another day for his cake and just go to bed and he said yes. Sigh. He was wiped. He did manage to open his gift "I'm Still Here in the Bathtub" by Katz and we read/sang a little bit to him before he trudged off to beddy bye land.

Last night, we got out his cake and sang happy birthday to him again and he was still feeling awful. He could barely blow out his five candles. It was really quite pitiful. Blow! Cough, cough. (Yum, yum). Off he went to bed again.

This morning at 12:30am he got up hallucinating with a high fever. Ugh. I loved him up, drugged him up, prayed with him and tucked him back in bed. He slept till 9:00. His little brother got up at 4:30 am so my plan of having a lot of energy and getting caught up has not been real successful.

Benjamin is much better today so he is back to his perpetual playing mode. Happy child, happier parents. Maybe some sleep tonight. Happy birthday Benjamin!

Six coats later

I guess my motivation to blog has not been real great since the new room is complete. After six coats of finish on the floor, we moved the furniture in and I could just stay in there all day. It is really quite remarkable. All the smaller variety children have decided it is the place to slide and collapse on the floor. I suppose it looks like a gym floor to them and since they are short people that is what they feel needs to be done there.

Our couch purchase of a few years ago moved in the new room. These couches were far larger than we thought they were so they made our old furniture look like hobbit furniture. If you are ever over here and we suggest we sit on the hobbit furniture, it is because of that huge furniture that was in there before. I think we must be hobbits. I feel like one lately. Hybernate, eat yummy food, fall asleep on the huge furniture.......The huge furniture which I suppose should be named something - Ent furniture???? Is that how you spell that? So anyway, life is good in the new room. Sandy was able to cycle through all the kids for piano and I am sure it was a far more pleasant experience than being squished in our old dining room.

I hope to get the rest of the house in order so that it doesn't retain that clutter look. Just moving the furniture around has made a huge difference.

Now......the view out the window is the next project.......come visit when it is dark for right now.

Floor done

The floor looks absolutely wonderful. Perhaps furniture will move in by the weekend. Phew.

Cecilia is in love with hymn 880 so we sang it together tonight. She is so sweet. Then she went through the hymnal with me as I told her how it was laid out by the church year and different categories. She thought that was cool too. She told me all her favorite hymns she could think of, and why she liked them. She said she loved the words too. Sigh.

Now maybe I will get to bed. The kids are all reading or quietly somewhere. Tomorrow is another day.........

Lord Jesus, since You love me,
Now spread Your wings above me
And shield me from alarm
Though Satan would devour me,
Let angel guards sing o'er me;
This child of God shall meet no harm

Sanding done, coat number one on

So I think I am just sick of projects. This particular project will be incredible for our family so I am grateful. The upheaval to the family is more than a little wearing. So.....yay......the sanding is done and the first coat just went on. The hubby is a much happier person. He has had a magical transformation (Hey, he's a transformer!) Cool. The floor is beautiful as well.

I had my fun walk with a friend, my mom fought the fog to bring Martin home, and I went to deliver Marissa's sweater. New babies are ever so sweet. I had a good talk with her mommy and how fun to talk about her children instead of her child. Cool again.

Epiphany service was great this morning. Marissa's mommy wanted to come but thought it was at night. Oops. There were a lot of people in church and it was great to see people home for Christmas. We are finishing off Christmas presents this evening so all and all this has been a full day. Is it time for bed yet?

Fighting alert from downstairs........later.

Still sanding......

It is 10:00 pm and Charley and Erik are still working on the sanding. This is the last round and perhaps in an hour they will be done. Ouch. It has been a long day.

Anna is finishing her 16 gore dress which looks great. I am happy for her. She SO loves that pattern.

I seemed to bump all over today between church, taking Anna to work, getting sanding supplies, taking boys to the movies, taking them home, going to Sandy's so Anna could finish her dress (our zipper feature doesn't work.....). After not sleeping much at all last night I hoping to get some sleep tonight.

Nighty, nighty

My pastor's wife

It is our Asst. Pastor's wife's birthday today. I have been thinking about her this morning. She is such a great example to me of all things sweet and how to look on the bright and loving side of things. Regina is gifted at saying a phrase that is ever so valuable to those around her both in her immediate life and the people who know her. The phrase is "I love you". In relation to the previous post of presumptions etc. it just strikes me that what I would love to hear is not the stress involved of misunderstanding or whatever but just the words 'I love you.' As Regina also so often says 'Sweet!'.

So on the way home from church this morning after much stress over decision making etc and thinking that I must be the most worthless wife and mother, I received a phone call from my husband telling me he loves me and is grateful for the wisdom God has given me to help us make decisions in and around the house for the good. Was he trying to make me wreck? THAT was sweet. There are no sweeter words than to hear that someone loves you. The sweetest words to anyone are of Christ's love for us poor miserable sinners. But to hear from my loved ones that they love me is really very important to me as well. That phrase is ever so hard to say. Regina says it all the time and I appreciate her loving example to those around her. This stress etc is just SO not important and muddling along in Christian love is SO much more productive.

So I love my husband too and told him so. We will need a good strong drink at the end of the day and I look forward to being able to use the room that he is working on for his family. His skill is a great blessing to us and to others. For that I am grateful.

Happy birthday Regina! Hope you have a good one! We love you!

Floor sanding and finishing

So tomorrow morning is the big day. Charley sands and finishes the new floor. He is CLEARLY a little nervous and looking forward to it being OVER with. I am looking forward to it as well. I was thinking about how we have sort of moved as many times as we have redone rooms in this house. Every time we revamp a room everything has to be taken out of it and maybe there is some random container or two from every room that has been done that still lurks in storage land. Charley and I have only moved twice in our marraige but seemingly endless times in rooms. I am not sure where the time comes from to go through all that stuff that doesn't get put back into the rooms. THis room is completely new to us but the garage stuff had to go somewhere. Sigh.

We will have to throw a room warming party or something. This is the year our mortgage finally goes away. Phew. There is another reason to party. The room looks fantastic in my opinion and someone said something to the effect of Charley laying down his life for his family to get this room done. I said he is looking forward to laying down his body tomorrow night and also to not working this hard for awhile. We figured out he hammered around 14,000 nails in with this floor laying hammer thingy. Ouch. He did manage to read a book to the little people tonight and tackle one very messy diaper.

Stay tuned

The Fugitive

I just love that movie. My dh gave a fresh copy to me for Christmas. We wore out the video. I love it because it is not the run of the mill bang up shoot up sort of mystery story but the characters have brains. Perhaps I just enjoy people using their brains. I know this is an old movie but if anyone knows of some fresh movies or old movies that are also brainy I am open to suggestions.

I love how the characters play off of each other in this movie too. They are both sort of beligerant and know what they are after and it takes much of the movie before they start to see eye to eye. The desperation in the doctors eyes to prove he did not kill his wife. Love it.

Maybe I am too much like the Marshall "You are not in prison so I am going to put you there - that is my job". Me: "You did not do your job, go to bed" "Your dog is legally dangerous, keep it away from me" "This is not your business........I am not asking for your input" (Ew that was sort of yucky) He just says it like it is. Maybe I would like some of his other movies. I don't like ALL of Harrison Ford's movies.

So there you have it. That is what we watched New Year's Eve by-the-way.

Presumptions and forthrightness

I have been thinking of how these two words go together. If we presume we understand another person because of what we may or may not do in their situation then we forget that they are different people. If we presume upon any tension experienced that we 'know' what is going on then we may be wrong.

I have been told I am forthright. I think I am forthright because I don't think it is a good idea to guess what is going on. I may forget that a person is VERY stressed or not even know. I just like to ask questions to clear the air so there is no confusion. I also am known to just say it like it is. I can see where a person may even sin against another because they are guessing and not seeking to understand a given situation. I am certain I HAVE done that. Perhaps I am forthright mainly because conflict drives me nuts and knowing what in the world is going on seems so much more productive and supportive to everyone involved.

Of course I may not be forthright with a young person I barely know picking their nose in public, for instance. That is a tension that is best left to the parents or some kid who just says it like it is. I am not into embarrassing people to 'fix' the 'problem'.

The two words go together to me because our presumptions will never go away unless we are forthright. Given the right timing, we can speak to one another in love. This could be heated at first but if another person brings up the conflict is usually because they truly care for the person they are upset with. You don't even have to be upset to talk things through. What is the crime in having a better understanding of where people are at? It gives people a chance to really love each other I think. It may be upsetting at the time but usually things come out better in the end or least that has been my experience.

So.....warning......I usually can tell if there is something wrong and I usually will want to clear it up. My bad I guess but I also have seen things so improve with a little communication. So there! Sticking my tongue out at everyone - I am so naughty.

Mommy rant

So I decided to put a new twist on responsibility or lack there of, around here. I have found I am still their brain so we broke down jobs into weekly and daily jobs. Weekly are to be done on Saturday mornings and daily need to be done before night activities. THe penalty will be not going to Scouts and going to bed early and on church nights it will be plain going to bed as soon as we get home. I am having to break myself of the habit of reminding them. That is hard actually. I am the great reminding machine. I figure if they can get into an automatic mode then there will be less screaming and barking at people around here. Stupid arguements fall into the go to bed early category as well. Stupid fits over who is holding the catechism papers will get you to bed early too. How silly.

On the lighter side the floor is completely laid and Charley is investigating the sander/poly plan. He is trying to please me in trying to keep the color natural but so far is not coming up with a completely satisfying solution. The floor is gorgeous and I am so looking forward to using that room to listen to my children play the piano, read to them and to myself and of course to knit. THere are details to finish and we will keep plugging along with them with a little encouragement from our friends.

I am reaming out my room of random, weird stuff and hope to sleep more peacefully and at least be less injured in the middle of the night for making my way through it. Ugh. The home of every random thing is my room. I have banned my room as a dumping ground. Figure out where it goes kids. We adults are guilty too of randomly placing things wherever because we don't know what to do with stuff. Stuff.....stuff......stuff.......not too much added this year at CHristmas. More books and music then anything else. Some needed clothing was the other item. Phew.

Off to work some more on our room.