Another busy weekend

Since this blog is about chickens (?whose idea was that anyway?) I will tell you what is new with them. They are not mine for starters. They are the boy's chickens. There are maybe 75 of them and they spend most of their time running around the yard, getting out of their fenced in area, and scratching at the ground. I don't think they have been laying many eggs lately so it may be time to call that Mexican family about their Christmas dinner.......I wish I could go to it.

The other chickens, known as my children, I have to stop and think what they did all weekend. Anna had a 'throw it out' frenzy in the basement and her room. I think she threw out her childhood and I am not sure what to make of that. Perhaps there is some deep, dark psychological meaning behind this behavior or perhaps she is tired of cleaning up after all the *&$%@# around here. I am sure with her. I directed her to a great collection of miscellaneous junk that was bought/given to us thinking we may be able to make use of it someday seeing as we do all this homey stuff. I remember a girl friend asking if we made our own sour cream and that was when we lived in the city. Hmmm........freedom!

Erik went shopping on-line last night and during the day yesterday, I think he was working on winterizing stuff outside. He spent today in a meeting and then watching Stefan during the voters meeting at church. It was meeting day. The kids are going to the Poconos for Higher Things. Whew! That decision took about 3 hours of wrestling over what to do in light of Pastor being the Chaplain in St. Louis.

Matthew did about the same. I do think he is somewhat disappointed over not being able to be a tall boy in St. Louis but he will cheerfully go to PA. He too tried to go shopping online and failed.

Martin......played. He also did some winter stuff outside and I chased him around with cream for his ever dry face and body, and chased him with water for his dehydrated insides. Drinking and taking care of ourselves is complicated.

Cecilia, Benjamin and Stefan played. C and B giggled a lot.

I assisted in cleaning and broke a trailer delivering some stuff to a certain house. That WAS entertaining. The trailer is back at our house now and I have been told it is fixable.

I am currently attempting to cook some yummy food as we are all HUNGRY and some actual cooking will cheer everyone up. Oh.......I did chase Charley around the not-a-garage room for asking too many questions and I do have some yarn shopping to do later. Har har.

Stay tuned for wreath sales and February retreat information.

Eating again

Just a quick note that Stefan has decided he likes to eat again. Happy baby, happy mommy......

So he seems to want to feed himself

The little guy seems to get much more satisfaction over feeding himself than seeing the evil spoon come his way. The trouble is of course the mess. He can green beans and we shall see about cut up bananas tomorrow but, oatmeal and applesauce is purely a lot of fun akin to finger painting. I did get pictures but will have to post later. Not every child has been so stubbornly independant. The first one was and knew full well what her parents were up to. The second child could eat soup at this age with great skill - stomach. He is still proud of the quantity of food he inhaled as a baby. I heard him bring it up just the other day ;o)

So.....we will continue the adventure again tomorrow. He is zonked now. Cutely zonked.

Getting back in the groove of school

So we are day two of getting school going full tilt. We took a few weeks off so the family we school with could get through the moving/get settled ordeal. That was a learning experience for everyone and all and all a good thing.

Yesterday, the kids were all a little nutty and in 'use my brain?' shock. It went ok. The smaller folk did a little grappling over toys and territory. The older kids were just readjusting. "I don't know where my math is Mrs. H". "Ok then.......we figure out plan B". Then the younger kids took turns asking lots of questions and forgetting that taking turns and raising their hands was a good thing. Peppered in between were a few falling apart episodes because someone may have given the answer away or wouldn't share their markers, or they suspected Mrs. H might make off with batman. "Mrs. H wants batman to help teach school" "Well, that is so-and-so's batman, she can't have him."

"Ok then, I suppose I should ask for Batman for Christmas?" That is a bit odd though really. Mrs. H is always a little odd and might bring out the wittiness of young children who aspire to be paid attention to a lot for their wit and charm. I guess I am a wimp. I am usually charmed and perhaps I am corrupting said children by encouraging such talk with an adult. A certain Maggers once told me I was like a big kid. That was such a nice compliment though. I will always remember that wonderful day in the car looking at Germany pictures on her camera and her giving me this lovely compliment. Perhaps that is why I don't deal exceedingly well with 'normal' adult activities. I am not into church stuff that requires too much food coordination or fussiness over details as I am one of the least detail orientated people. Just tell me what to do and I will do it. If left to my own devices, I can put on a great event but.........don't try to change my plan too much or you may be in charge. Naughty I am.

Stefan and the eating game

I had another kid who played eating games with me years ago. This game makes me a little nutty. Stefan needs to eat. He can easily fall into a non-eating pattern as I have seen before. I spent a good portion of the afternoon trying to get him to open his mouth and eat. I know there are those who theorize that if he gets hungry enough he will eat but......I have seen this kid jump off the bottom of the weight scale so I am just not going there. The game is.....give Stefan something interesting to look at and he might accidently forget and open his mouth. If there is a guest, they should come and talk to me as this may make Stefan forget.....and open his mouth. Sigh. Life is much smoother when that kid has calories in his stomach and he is most charming and the kids say he is hobbit face cute when happy. He is not a hobbit. He doesn't seem to like to eat. Sigh, sigh and double sigh. It isn't as if there were something else that might be nice to do on a Sunday afternoon so yes, I am whining. He just ate. We managed to get all his siblings to eat quickly too with no bickering. The latest trick is to turn on the tv and he might watch it and ......eat. But, what happened was his siblings heard the tv and inhaled their food so they could come see the kid hypnotizer. Somehow with miscellaneous stuff that was brought to Stefan, he ate too. Phew. I think it is 'get the kids ready for bed drill time now'.

A funny talk from the backseat

I was driving my kid's friends home about a week ago and the most hilarious conversation occured in the backseat between these pious Catholic brothers. The nine year old boy was gazing out the window and declared in disgust how silly and stupid it was that people were putting up Christmas decorations. Ramble, ramble, ramble about the decorations. He had clearly heard the rant from his siblings and parents his whole life of 'don't they realize it isn't Christmas yet?' Of course it was and is always sort of sweet to hear this chatter from the kids but then.......his older brother retorted "Oh brother, here we go again. I am getting so tired of everytime we get in the car, listening to people go on and on about the inappropriateness of these Christmas decorations during Advent. We all know this is wrong but why do we have to keep talking about it?"

Ahem, well......I sort of share his sentiment. I about bust a gut laughing too at this unexpected response from the brother. I guess I am more apt to arm my kids with alternative listening during Advent and turn off the radio and try to happily ignore the decorations. Of course if you are married to a liturgically obsessed husband, you probably can't get away with these sentiments. BUT......if you are a mom who drives around with pious Lutheran and Catholic children who prattle on and on and on about these stupid people.....then.....I do get a little tired of the rant. I usually put up the ignore front and be glad that they 'get it' but I must say I am in the older brother's ball park with this discussion.

Coffee

So Nat mentioned I may have had a little coffee yesterday. Well...I suppose you are right Nat. I am actually trying hard to cut back on how much caffeine this body inhales which is harder than this weak person thought. Stupid reasons I have not cut back include the fact that decaf is more expensive. How dumb is that? When Stefan was on the way my blood pressure was getting higher so.....did I dutifully give up caffeine? No. Sadly. Will having high blood pressure as I get older make my life easier? No. So I am slowly plodding along to lessen the caffeine consumption. I wonder if there is some sort of 12 step plan or something. I do get a big headache if I don't drink some coffee in the morning so there is another hesitation. Other people have given it up though so I suppose I can do it too. I started drinking coffee as a camp counselor and hyper I was. The first year I worked as a camp counselor I could hardly make it through the day and then I discovered caffeine. Well, kids, anyone up for a mud hike? Let's go! How about a few rounds through the 100 acre woods?

Now coffee just gets me jump started to deal with my own little campers and other people's campers. It does seem like just something hot would still do the trick so I will keep cutting back. Don't offer this weak soul a cup of coffee ok?

Time to pay the bills. They don't offer decaf in jail.

Hyper update

So.......we are listening to or rather reading the FlyLady thingy to try to get back on track. Sorry FlyLady, with 9 people working as hard as they can to clutter up the house, we are usually behind. I think we are 9 very un-focused folks who jump from one thing to another without finishing much of anything. Then.....the clutter rears it's big ugly face and the mom's eyes roll, she becomes paralyzed as to what to do next and then........run for the hills! It's the mommy monster! Ok, not usually the mommy monster but if you happen to cross her path she will give you a job.

The best strategy if you live here is to 'go do what mom gave you to do' then get randomly sidetracked by the great book that happens to be in your room where mom sent you to put something away......and wait for 10.....15.....30 minutes or more till you mom discovers you have disappeared. This is sort of self made time out. If you are put in time out in this house you will be forgotten. Time out for the number of minutes that you are old may translate into the number of minutes you might live to be.

The other weird side-tracked thing I noticed this morning is that if I give my dc something to do and ask them to focus and finish, their df might drift into the room and see something he may deem urgent to do and thus side track them by redirecting them to that other task. This leaves children very confused as the mom just gave them thus and such to do and then the dad gives them thus and such and soon two parents are asking why the child is standing there looking confused. I know I am confused. How about you?????

Focus and finish.....focus and finish..... Do you hear the hypnotist droning? Focus and finish.....and the little watch swinging back and forth in front of your eyes????? You are getting very sleepy.......side tracked.....focus and finish.........

My break is over.....back to the panic, hyper mom, try to whip this place into shape, not get mad at my children or side tracked dh, the dog or any miscellaneous relative who might call to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving......hmmmmm........what are you all doing today anyway?????

Too much to do

So I had to take a walk this morning to get my head on straight. Martin insisted on coming with and I took Anna along to talk her ear off. Martin started out strong but his crazy mother was walking a little fast for the little guy and he was soon walking/running/walking/running to keep up. It was cold and crisp and beautiful out so perhaps my head is a little clearer for it. We spent the time chatting about the weirdnesses of our different personalities in this family and how in the world we can manage keeping up with the random behavior around here. I am HYPER this morning and want to get too much done which can't and won't get done. THere is the whole weekend to work on getting rid of the clutter/random paper/dirty kitchen........bills.....laundry......take a breath. If only I had the energy and the want to of some of my friends. I don't enjoy these tasks in a 'love to do them sort of way' so I don't tend to keep up. Anna and I think we have a reasonable solution that will not grate too hard against our tendancy to want to be creative, random and our otherwise odd behavior. My kids could probably use a break from their weirdo mom but we will muddle through the day and enjoy a meal with friends who also understand the muddling we all do together.......sigh. So......off to the races. Do the next thing. Be happy with what gets done and try not to be cranky about it.

Sunday afternoon

I spent this afternoon taking books off some shelves in the basement. I discovered several books I had forgotten. They were books I had read to Anna and Erik when they were little. The younger kids haven't heard these books so it was sort of like finding treasure. I am looking forward to reading them to them soon. I think about how I spent a lot of time reading to the oldest three when they were little and I am sort of sad that I do not seem to find as much time to read to the kids who are younger now.

I had goals of getting caught up with the ironing too this afternoon. Charley told someone that he often times says goodbye to his shirts when he puts them in the laundry like he is saying good-bye to a good friend as it might take a long time till he sees them again. Sigh. So.....I thought I would reintroduce him to his shirts and it didn't work too well. I was sucked into a chair with sleeping Stefan and Benjamin to watch 'The Princess Bride'. Benjamin was ever so cute and he warned me of all the scary parts. He would cover my eyes with his little hand so I wouldn't be scared at times. I would ask him if it was safe to look and he would reassure me that the scary part was over. I am not a big tv watcher but perhaps a little more snuggle time with Benjamin would be alright. Of course I can read to him more too. He is going to be five soon. Sigh again.

Time to go tuck little people in bed and of course read to them.

Not very bloggy lately

It has been a busy month here in Horner land. I think there hasn't been much time for thinking too hard about anything. I had a nice chat with my dad this morning about stuff which was really very daddish/daughterish. That was very nice. I should probably haul him off somewhere for lunch on his upcoming bday. Hmmm.....that is thinking out loud I think.

We MUST start school soon or the kids will start to make me crazy. It has been nice to have some time off but time to get cracking again. I LOVE homeschooling as it SO helps me keep life goals etc in perspective. What DOES really matter anyway in what they study? It is great to be able to hone in on their strengths and work on their weaknesses to prepare them for what God has given them to do in life. I still am mystified by helping Anna figure out further study plans. I have crazy/sane ideas about what would be great and helpful and I think the two of us are busy percolating these ideas. I can see the old fashioned coffee maker bubbling in the little glass thingy at the top now. That would be Anna and my brain right now. Ideas....blurp.....ideas.....blurp. I LOVE it when I can see in her face that she is drawing some conclusions. It is of course heartbreaking to see her frustrated and distressed.

Speaking of Anna, she is almost done with the promised bribery to dancing. It is a 1950's full skirted, fitted, 3/4 sleeve dress with a great black and white print. Gorgeous da...ling. Daddy go get you gun!!!!!! Oh to be that thin but the seven squirts were SO worth it.

Benjamin is rambling some cute somethings at me and is waiting for me to read to him.....ta ta.

Throw stuff out '101'

So I pretty much had it this morning with the 'strew the toys' routine around here. My dh built cabinets for our basement years ago and installed locks. In theory the kids are supposed to not be able to randomly get stuff out and strew it. The intent of the toys is to play with them right? There seems to be no greater pleasure to the short people than to take the containers and empty them on the floor. The containers of random pieces to be sorted and put away was getting ridiculous so........we had a sort it, throw stuff away party and then.......I took the keys. My 4 yo is having the hardest time with this. I always have been the one who was supposed to be the key holder but magically they have gotten ahold of the keys and had their way with them. I told the kids that unless I magically mustered the energy to open a cabinet and remove 'a' toy that they shouldn't expect to see those toys soon. The keys are mine, all mine. Even though 4 yo was told this, he greeted me at the door after dropping off the catakids and asked for the keys. Oh botheration.

The funny thing that happened with the keys was I asked Matthew to bring me the keys and put them under my pillow. Well later I went in my room and there was a bag of frozen peas on my bed so I thought to myself "What is up with the frozen peas?????" Upon investigation I discovered it was Matthew who thought that I said to put peas on my bed......not keys. How silly.

So we were ruthless and threw away toys. These were of the worn out, broken, can't find all the pieces variety and it sure felt good. The basement is cleaner, the kids can't trash it, and otherwise there is not much to report.

I must move the babies bed

Stefan's crib is in the little walk through area to the bathroom upstairs. Needless to say, if someone needs to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, they are sure to wake him up. Ugh. They don't suffer too much for this offense as they can skip back to bed. It isn't that I haven't pointed out before that the baby sleeps there and they need to be quiet or go to the downstairs bathroom. So......where do I move it????? The one boy's bedroom might work but there is a 12 year old boy who sneaks and reads past his bedtime so he could wake up the baby. The other boys room is WAY too small and there is a 15 year old boy reading way to late in there. I know they do this now as I just came up to re-cover up the baby from earlier and discovered their lights on. Hmmmmmm.........where are the video cameras to survey their behavior. There is a winding staircase that prevents me from seeing their rooms unless I climb the stairs so who knows how long they stay up. I am all in favor of reading but sleep is important too. Then.......I never know exactly where to draw the line with making it their problem that they are sleepy in the morning. This hasn't exactly been typical family behavior either so what to do.......

Well, the baby is back to sleep so I better go back to sleep also.

Feed them and they will be happy

Not trying to be profound here but food is the answer to kid happiness. I seem to have a theme centered around the stomach. Their little cherub faces just light up at the thought of getting something yummy to eat. They become compliant relaxed cuties and are easy to live with. I think the trick is to give them something good for them before they get the screamie meanies and then they don't go foraging for the yucky stuff.

Wasn't that deep? Perhaps it is the giving of the food instead of their asking that impresses them. Would you like a big bowl of popcorn? Sure! How about a taco with cheese and salsa? Sure! I think I would like one too.

I have nothing else to say today. Our friends are moving, it is cool and fallish outside, and tummies want fallish food.

I am trucking salmon and oven fries over to the movers later this evening. I hope someone can find a bottle of wine. Then maybe the movers will all take a nap tomorrow........

Ha Ha -

I'm glad my 'sister' has a sense of humor. We went to look at paint and pick out colors etc. In our haste to return to our children I forgot that I was the one who drove us there. Well......I almost left my 'sister' at the store!!!! We both laughed. Oh brother, I must be losing it. At any rate we were able to get a lot accomplished quickly.

I am busy gathering paint stuff to take with me to dump my older kids off to clean the walls. It is great that someone's house is in good enough shape that painting is what it will take to make it nice. I am still amazed at how much work our own home has been and how seemingly impossible it is to get to all that needs to be done here. 140 year old homes are not rebuilt in a week. We have made a lot of progress though. I am still happy that our friends home will not require that kind of work. Only nutty, dreamers take on our house.

My back is better. Now there is just a twinge and the floor still seems a long way off.

My sympathies to back ache sufferers

Boy, this is fun. I guess ironically the back ache is giving me opportunity and excuse to rest. I suppose if I was needing some extra TLC I am not sure this would be my first pick but my brain seems to be getting a rest as well.

The funeral this morning was wonderful. Nothing like a little faithful preaching of Law and Gospel to lift ones spirits. I was praying for those who needed open ears. I am sure there are some at every funeral. Victor will be missed by me. There is nothing more humbling than seeing a 92 year old man plodding to his pew every week and having the watchful eyes of the parishioners keeping an eye out for him. Anna looked at me with eyes of someone who will also miss seeing him.

I am not of much help to many people right now but will slowly plod through the rest of the day. The kids are trying to find the house as usual. I wonder if children ever learn that there would be less work if they picked up as they went. I am sure my mother is smirking at that question. I don't think I learned that as a child and I don't have enough of me to keep up with it all now. Oh Flylady, can we get rid of some more stuff?????

I think I could take care of someone with a back ache now as I am learning what is needed in that department. The boy's Scout leader suffers a lot with this problem so I am not feeling too sorry for myself and I know I can't relate to what he goes through every day. I am thankful for health and hoping to get over this soon. So much for lifting honey supers........

What's new 2

So it took me till this afternoon to figure out why my back hurts. Sunday we went to work with the bees and I not surprisingly couldn't wait for Erik to get down to the hives to take a peek in the hives. So.......I tried to open up the one and it was sealed shut. I should never try to wrench a hive open as my wimpy back can't handle it. Hopefully sleeping right and resting my back will get things back to the way they are supposed to bee.

We are taking a week off of school this week to catch up on cleaning, bill paying, errands etc. THere are so many things that need attention that I have been ignoring it was sort of driving me to the brink -not of despair but perhaps mild nuttiness. I am feeling a little bit more caught up but hurting my back was not really good timing. At least I figured out why but will I remember not to do that again???? We'll see.

My teaching partner is moving this week so we are also floating back and forth helping in that department. The previous owners of their new home left it a wreck so that took more time than anyone wanted to take but it is better now. The floors were sanded on Sunday afternoon and the last coat of poly is going on this afternoon. I haven't seen hardly any of this but am sure I will be well familiar with it soon enough.

Stefan must be growing as he is loving to sleep again. He also loved the applesauce Grammy made for him. Yum, yum. Hands off everyone else!

Time to be responsible again........the end of every post.

Stefan turned one today

The cute little bugger is one now. He was pretty charming this evening. I thought I could pull a fast one on him and wrap his gift in front of him but it didn't work. He was on my back and started to hyperventilate so I just gave it to him. So much for the thrill of watching him open it but he will never know. He enjoyed the toy most of the day too and impressed his siblings with his talent. He put the little cube down the giraffe neck and then would clap his hands and give us a big toothy grin. Cute.

He seemed very intrigued by his carrot cake as well. He sort of stared at it for a long time and then took little hunks off. With a little help from his siblings, he ate it all. Not too messy either.

His first year certainly has been entertaining. I was thinking about how thankful I am to have him on Sunday considering his cute little incident over the summer. (I think I was basically thinking about too many things) He is still allergic but doing so much better than he was. He is not quite so work intensive as he was either. We pray he does not more difficulties with the colder weather but so far his skin looks pretty good. He is still allergic to dairy products though. I bought him some soy yogart and he definately gave me the thumbs down on that stuff. I will have to cook with it instead. I wish I had a picture of that look of disgust. Babies are so straight forward.

Well, he just got up to enjoy his birthday some more and now it is time to pitch him back in bed. (place him gently back in)

Teenagers

My heart goes out to all teens who are in the midst of figuring out future plans. I am really glad that is behind me. My 16 yo dd seems good and stressed lately with all the figure out college, what college, how to do all this talk that seems endless. I know she would rather be spinning wool, sewing, spending time being silly with friends and then.......the big yukky subject rears it's head again. Last night I threw out the possibility of her taking her life's savings and buying a small house in a safe neighborhood and set up shop sewing etc, and working a job. I always thought I was going to do something like that and then.......I met Charley. So much for the townhouse in Chicago. (I am sure I could never have afforded that anyway).

She could take some classes, take organ lessons, figure out how to make vestments, and live a quiet existance. Perhaps I could come spend the night there and we could call it a retreat center. This was just crazy, working in the kitchen ramblings but it sounds nice to me. I guess I am a dreamer too.

Everyone is busy working today and I am busy with those rolls. I need to get them cooked and drop them off so I can move on to the next task. Taking time to sit down and literally rest at church tomorrow is sounding grand. I hope no one takes a nap over the age of 5.

Stomach part two

So I think we just don't take time to eat or cook lately. I think I should probably spend my Saturdays cooking so I don't have to so much during the week. I think the little kiddos would be much happier if they could eat on time and there actually was something to eat. Of course if there is food made in the fridge that is yummy they may decide to eat it all on Sunday afternoon.......

Tonight Anna is whipping together some spinach quiche. I am re-making bean soup so it is a little more tasty. Then......a few hamburgers are are going to be cooked for the oldest worker bees later as they seem to gravitate towards finding junk food instead. Matthew and Martin made angel food cake. Isn't this riveting reading?

I hope to get a little house work done in between cooking rolls for the church dinner tomorrow. I guess I will begin that task tonight as the other roll cooker just wrote to say she was done with hers. I am just not sure how people define fresh rolls so I was hesitating.

My youngest kids were acting a little like wild animals earlier so Charley stuck rakes in their hands and sent them out to work. They seem much happier now. Why didn't I think of that???? Their stomachs are probably bothering them as well. Benjamin just asked if we were going to church tonight. I hope he wasn't too disappointed. We're not.......

Time to go hit the kitchen again.....stomach.

Long day again

It isn't even over but it seems long already. The kids were bubbly and talkative and I felt like I haven't stopped talking all day. I wonder how little I can talk for the rest of day or at least for the next few hours. I have a meeting tonight so I am not sure how that will work. I am already failing miserably as there are children who need to know what to do to help so we can get out of the door on time for church.

This was YUMMY

I made this recipe which was sort of a risk as we had guests over and it was great! Phew. Using guests as guinea pigs is a little risky but these guests eat all sorts of things so I thought I could get away with it. I used left over turkey breast on it so it should be great after Thanksgiving as well.

Turkey with spiced squash and apples:

1 pound acorn squash, seeded and cut into 6 wedges
3 red apples, peeled and quartered
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 cup apple juice (I used apple cider as I had no juice)
1/3 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
6 turkey breast cutlets

Preheat over to 350 degrees. In a baking dish, arrange squash wedges and apple quarters together in the pan. In a small bowl, mix together syrup, apple juice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour half the syrup mixture over the top of the squash and apples. Bake for 30 minutes or until nearly fully cooked. Add turkey cutlets and remaining syrup mixture, spooning sauce over the cutlets. Return to the oven and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until turkey and squash are both completely cooked.

Hope this helps someone with their leftovers. The cooked leftover turkey worked just fine. I don't think I have ever purchased turkey cutlets anyway. What are turkey cutlets????

Stomach

I have been thinking about this post for weeks. And this morning I humously stuck my foot in mouth (did it taste good?) and told my pastor to remember to eat as a happy stomach is the key to happiness. My husband shouts "You are telling the pastor what?" Well.......ok......not the key to all happiness but at least the key to some peace and some smiling family members and friends.

It is amazing to me how magical food is to the countenance of the people around me. I am sure it is not truly that amazing but the grumpy grouchies do tend to disappear if fed well. Junk food does not cut the mustard. Whole wheat rolls made from the buckets of wheat berries that I grumble about kicking around my kitchen seem to make people the happiest of all. Maybe I need to keep my own stomach happy too.

During the school week, if two short people fall apart crying and attacking one another, their whole disposition changes when offered a yummy apple with peanut butter on it. Food cut up in little pieces for little people is so appealing it is amazing. Then pour a nice cold cup of milk and peace and happiness returns again.

If dear husband comes home from that work thing and there are no whole wheat rolls and apples sitting around, he too falls apart. Sigh, how can I keep up with the gumpy tummies???? There is something ever so true about Edith bringing Archie a beer and something to eat when he got home (although that did not cure HIS gumpies - maybe he needed to hear the gospel) that is ever so true. We wifies kick and scream over this need of the dear husbands to have this yummy food presented but I guess if we want some peace it needs to be fit in somehow. "Back away kids, mom is working on some peace here". The kids know the benefits of yummy food too (but it also creates food snobs if I work too hard on it - sorry y'all).

So......I am currently searching for a yummy recipe for dinner tonight. I am taking it over to the pastor so his families tummies will be happier and they can keep packing. I better get at it.........

Dear husband wanted me to clarify

He is feeling misunderstood. ;o) His parents never bought junk. With the little money they did have they bought clothes that were quality, bought quality food, and basically did not buy stuff that was junky just to get by. They also took care of what they had which is saying a lot these days.

This clan also practices the same thing (although with seven kids bumping around, the taking care of things does not always work the way I would like it to). My smallest child is wearing what the first son wore as a baby as I saw their baby clothes as an investment. So there is a difference from being cheap and spending wisely. If we can avoid buying things like convenience foods we will avoid it. I have taken to breaking that though too if the cost of trying to be perfectly thrifty makes me a crazy woman and cranky at everyone. I do think that the extra work involved in thriftiness can sometimes cost more in grumpiness and exhaustion than is always worth the effort. Does that make sense? Pick your battles........

Tired, grumpy children downstairs, gotta scoot.

The wood god is back up and running

It is COLD and I reved up the old wood stove again this afternoon. That is complete learning curve all over again. It took four matches and two start overs to get it going. Hopefully it will successfully warm this place up. My eldest tells people she worships the wood god and bows down to it frequently in the winter. She is just weird. I realized all my kids are a little weird and kids usually take after their parents so that means..........we are all weird. I am glad they have a healthy sense of humor. Dd is currently cleaning a section of the basement up frantically so she can get her internet privileges back. The internet is very handy in motivating people. I guess it is then the internet god. I better go be responsible and stop thinking and writing.

What Polly said.........

So upon driving home to my dial-up computer I remembered the duh (that's Swedish for duh) that God richly and daily provides ALL of our needs. He richly provided for my dh's family growing up. Not everyone would define it that way, but He did. They had food on the table, decent clothes that his mom saw to it they had, they participated in activities that richly provided for their children's needs in learning to function in this world, and they had family that loved each other. Who could ask for anything more.

We just can't get frantic. I am sure we do still but that is the trick, the old 'trust God' thing. Some days are easier than others. We are richly provided for even if we don't recognize it. I used to take in everyone's hand-me-downs to find a new home for them and it got to be ridiculous. Yes, I wanted to help my neighbor but the stuff began to overwhelm me and I wasn't much help to anyone with the mess all over the place. I think we are still recovering from those days. Now I just want to get rid of everything (no I am not suicidal) and have less to take care of. We too are 'trying' to fix up the old yukky stuff in bathrooms etc and stop having the college fraternity room look. Perhaps that is just getting to be the age we are and getting our heads a little above water or recognizing junk when we see it.

Sigh. Yes, it is fantastic to be Lutheran. I am a little bothered by statements insinuating that other people evaluate one's thriftiness or whatever you want to call it. We all do that at times of course - breaking all of those commandments......rats. But oh yes, it is wonderful to be Lutheran and realize that is already forgiven. Phew.

frugality at our house

So Susan blogged on frugality. I can relate to her post in some ways. I am married to a 'depression era' 43 year old man. How can he be depression era? I say this pretty often actually. I am raising depression era children. This is why. My dh grew up sort of poor. There were times when the water heater would go out and a year would go by before they could afford to buy a new one. They had an old fashion tub, the feet kind, and they would boil water on the stove and mix it with the cold in the tub. It was never more than an inch of water and that stuck with him on into adult life. Our dear little first born loved taking a bath and he would come and inspect how much water I put in the tub. It cost money to heat the water and there was a water bill. If you spent months carrying hot water in order to bathe (no shower in that house then) then you might be concerned about water use.

There were also times when the well would go dry and they had to carry water from the spring (fortunately there was a spring) to cook or bathe. I am surprised he does not get the kids up before he goes to work and monitor their water use. If you had to work for the use of something, then you think about the use. If you did not have the money to pay for such things as replacing water heaters just because they broke, then you think about how you spend your money. There is no one that I admire more in getting by with next to nothing than my in-laws. They raised my dh so it also was surprising to me that they could not figure out why he was and is sort of careful about how he spends money. I can joke about my depression era husband but is it really that mysterious???? He is slowly growing out of some of these habits but waste still drives him nuts. Shouldn't that drive us nuts???? When you see people struggling to pay the bills, it makes you stop and consider how you are spending money.

Should we criticize people who are frugal? I don't think so. I think we just become dulled to what it means to live within our means. What IS living within your means anyway? I don't mean for this to sound like law either. It is just a perplexing subject and I think we all revisit it when we evaluate our spending habits. Wants/needs vs food/utilities: If the second one is the priority and glaring issue, than I guess a person would decide to be frugal.

As a result of growing up with a depression era dad, (my dh) my dear children do stop and think about how to spend money or not to spend it. People can criticize Charley or they can see that his kiddos are learning a little bit about balance in spending. I could go on and on about this but it has been on my mind lately. There is so much stuff in most people's homes that just don't matter but that does not make it wrong to have it either. It seems like balance is the answer. Should I feel guilty for replacing a pot that is worn out when I could survive another year with the one I have? Hmmmm............

Susan just made me think some more..........keep the balance and I guess cheerfully ignore the people who think we are nutty for not having cable, 60 dollar a month high speed, for having children who look confused at restaurants since they are clueless (we don't eat out), and the list goes on. As long as we are not to proud of our frugality. I think I am failing at frugality lately though, just for the record. I'll be quiet now.....

Getting kids out of bed

Just when I think perhaps my kids might be getting the picture that I really do want them to get up in the morning without all the nagging etc., they still need all the nagging etc. Bedtime will just have to be earlier. I am not sure even that will do any good. I could say it is all my fault as I am the one who has encouraged the use of the computer so my kids could have a life with other crazy Lutheran people but there still must be a limit to all this. The only kid who has no trouble getting up and being cranky is dear little Stefan. He doesn't know what he wants. Does he want oatmeal? Beef? to nurse? to sleep? to terrorize? It varies from moment to moment. But shouldn't mom be doing something other than dragging that kid around?

Hey mom! Practice what you preach and get off of the internet!

Mondays are weird

I find every Monday that the kids are always a little disconnected. The adults are too. I have no idea what to do about that but persevere. The weather is sort of weird too so it leaves the teachers feeling restless I think.

Over the weekend I think I got about half the yard mowed. I love to mow the lawn. It seems to grow very quickly lately. I really don't like it when it stops growing as I lose my outlet for exercise.

There was a tornado in Nappanee last Thursday. It came within 1/4 of a mile from a friends house. He wrote back that they had been spared and all his bees were safe and sound. That was sort of an interesting reply. We know what is important to him now don't we? The damage in Nappanee is pretty devastating though and I am sorry for the people there. It is an Amish community though so I am sure they will pull together and be back up and running soon.

The kids are upstairs watching "School House Rock" and loving it. That is so nostalgic. I remember singing those songs and even thinking about them on a Standardized test to see if I had the right answer. Yay Saturday morning cartoons! I miss the Road Runner, Tweety and Spider Man. Those were the days. I have not a clue what they show now-a-days and we are way too busy to watch anything on a Saturday morning anyway.

Charley made some good progress over the weekend on the new room project. Perhaps by Christmas he will be done. It is looking great. I have decided to try to move the couch and chair we got a few years ago out there but there is also some question as to whether they will fit through the door. When they were brought into the house there was no trim work on the doors and now there is. It was a very tight fit when they came in so I am not sure they will ever get out. Stay tuned to December to see what happens.

I was talking to my mom

and she made an interesting observation. We were discussing with Anna the upcoming joy of visiting colleges etc and would she mind if she lived far away from South Bend. (She didn't really answer). My mom scoffed at my lamenting a possible three hours and said that when she was in college she didn't go home until Thanksgiving for a visit. I asked her if she remembered my coming home to visit (Our house was about five minutes from campus). She said I didn't until I started bringing Charley home with me. Interesting........I think I have noticed this to be true of other young people I know as well. Thinking back to these times is always interesting as I haven't thought about them in a long time.

Other random Erik thoughts

I forgot about his tendency to collect things. Erik has always collected something. His most famous collections were of bugs and rocks. He has quite the impressive bug collection which I need to find space on the wall for in the new room. His funniest collection has been rocks. For several years of his life he spent quite a bit of time in people's driveways examining rocks. He could find a lot of amazing fossils this way. When we went to Sweden, we spent several evenings on the shore in Gotland looking for fossils. We found quite a few actually. Then he had to decide which ones to take home with him as rocks are pretty heavy! It was sort of heart wrenching to see this boy sorting through a pile of rocks in our hotel room trying to decide. Rocks are heavy. Perhaps I have mentioned that before. Ask to see his Gotland rocks someday.

One time Charley and I were going someplace out of town and Erik was left with a neighbor to help take care of the home place, animals etc. These neighbors are great. They are sort of like a third pair of grandparents to the kids. Erik packed to walk down the street (which is at least 1/4 mile down the road) for his weekend visit. I walked with him and beat him by at least 10 minutes. When he got there, Charlene asked what in the world did he have in his bag, rocks? He gave a sheepish grin and nodded his head. She was surprised. It turn out they were rock lovers too and they spent the weekend looking at their rocks too.

I love the innocent love of a small boy. Rocks. That is so sweet. He may not appreciate this love of innocence that I have but it is pretty sweet. Hours and hours of time examining stuff in the yard. Perhaps we should steer back to geology for a future. He still loves rocks.

Erik

Yesterday Erik turned 15! Wow. That does not seem possible. I do remember before he was born I thought I would never have a boy. Ha! Was I mistaken. Erik is the oldest boy with four brothers and two sisters. The boys have the advantage around here. I remember when he was born that he seemed to have more hair on his chest than his father or at least overall hair count. He was sort of squished looking and everyone who came to see us at the hospital quietly said something about how nice it was to have a boy now. Then......my girl friend Mary Lynn came to visit and being the honest sort said "Boy Karin, congratulations but he sure is ugly." I laughed and told her she was the only person brave enough to tell the truth. Sure he was a little homely as a newborn but by the time he was a toddler we thought he was pretty cute. He still is.........

As a baby he went from laying around eating and growing and talking himself to sleep, to climbing stairs and ladders seemingly overnight. He was usually happy and was content to build stuff out of afghans and hangers. We allowed him to destroy the furniture as we were sort of wimpy parents back then. He would tear all the cushions off the couch and build things with them.

I got Erik an Eeyore mug this morning and he just sort of stared at me and said something about how odd I was. I told him we were going to let him drink from it when he was saying some whoa as me sort of comment. I also told him he could let other people drink out of it when they were acting Eeyorish. I got a Pooh Bear mug for myself since I am a bear with little brain. We went out to breakfast and he was not too talkative. He said he was hungry so he didn't have too much to say. That was my mother/son bonding for the morning. He asked for a nice wool hat for his birthday so that was the other part of our mission. We succeeded in finding a black wool dress hat and he was quite pleased with himself. He strutted through the mall afterwards commenting on how disgusting the store displays were. How Horner of him.

Erik is a great kid. He is famous in my mind for ripping stuff apart, working hard, building bigger stuff such as forts in the woods, making great plans for himself and surviving being the younger sibling of Anna and the older sibling of the rest of them. It is a hard job you know. He and his dad are two peas in a pod. He, unlike his dear old dad, can sing well and always has had this ability. He sang a few boy soprano solos at church before his voice changed and I am sure he could handle doing that again with his grown up voice.

There is not much not to like about Erik. I am saddened he is already 15 but proud of him in all his endeavors. If he can find a career that requires hard work as well as work ethic, then he will go far. I was actually very attracted to his dear old dad's work ethic when we first met so this trait is being passed on to the next generation. Hopefully work ethic will count for something as he goes out into the world.

Happy Birthday Erik! Love mom.

Tagged

Me tagged me

The rules of this are:

1. Link the person who has tagged you.
2. Tell seven true things about yourself.
3. Tag seven new people.
4. Leave a message with the person you have tagged so they know about it.
I am supposed to name seven truths about myself............. and tag seven new people.

Seven true things about myself:
1. I eat herring for breakfast.
2. I love to play my horn better than almost anything (but rarely get to).
3. I want to go back to Europe - Italy preferred, Sweden second.
4. I love to mow the lawn.
5. I hate cooked cauliflower and pickled beets.
6. I have too much yarn.
7. I think too much.

I tag Nat, Anan, Maggie, Anita, Tarten chic, Presbytera, and Emily.

More homeschooling thoughts

So there is canned curriculum and then there are unschoolers and then there are little people who don't HAVE to have a formal curriculum. I have favorite canned curriculum and favorite flop around the house and call it school activities.

My favorite days I think have been the flopping around the house days. I have too much money invested in educational games. We never seem to get to them because I have money invested in curriculum too and I am brainwashed into thinking if I don't do the curriculum every day we will never get everything done. But.......I do see my kids and other people's kids respond with far more enthusiasm to the games then to their curriculum. We have fun too. Should I do that every day? Probably not. But, should I perhaps sometimes put the fun stuff before the formal stuff? Yes.

We have been playing math games this week. I can't remember the name of the one but for the younger set, they really enjoyed "Granny Apples". It involves fast figuring, is cute, and the kids really enjoyed it. Their brains were going clickety clack and one of them realized he needed to work harder on his math facts. They also loved "Shut the Box" which I found at Barnes and Nobles. Critical thinking fun. I like it.

My favorite history canned curriculum is still Sonlight. It isn't working great this year but the kids have definately thrived on it in the past. My boys especially liked it and kept me on task from day to day. I didn't have to plan or figure out anything.

Other years, with young kids, I have done history and geography by going to the library and start with the Roman times and just check out a bunch of kids non-fiction books on the subject and just sort of leave them in the read-aloud area. Those who could read would just pick them up and read them. My dh would also pick up these books and he learned a whole bunch of stuff he didn't know about too! That was a nice set up. I think I am going to go back to doing that sort of thing. I think the trick is somehow lighting the fire and have an environment of reading.
Oh, after the Romans I would move on into the next time period. That is how that works. I am sure that is not news to everyone but it is cheap as long as you remember what books you have.

We are currently using Rod and Staff's grammar with all kids. I would have to consult my teaching partner to see how that is going. I think it goes over skills and structure and is not just a simplistic one day chat about nouns etc. It seems to be working.

At any rate, I am constantly thinking of ways to make school more fun. I think the flexibility is there to just let the kids go with the flow. Stay tuned for more thoughts.......

sifting through the junk

I think I have made a little bit of headway in the ongoing 'get rid of it' project. Ugh, ugh, ugh. I have progressed from seeing junk that needs attention, feeling overwhelmed, ignoring it to being able to attack some of it. We spent our summer packing and unpacking and trying to clean the garage. Well, that took all summer. What happens when you ignore the rest of the house for at least three months (oh, I forgot the eczema plague that took up a great part of May through August)? The dust bunnies creep in and take over along with the plethera of paper scraps everywhere and random stuff that is randomly dumped everywhere you look. I think that is ugh.

Now most dust bunnies have been attacked and a lot of the random stuff has been taken care of. It is amazing how much random stuff can be ignored by 9 people. I am less paralized than I was and I am beginning to see the forest through the trees. Some form of sanity is returning.....

homeschooling thoughts

So I have been struggling with being boring. I decided to homeschool so that my kids would not be put through a school mill and just do busy work. I really wanted my kids to have a passion for learning and as I have homeschooled through the years I have only been able to accomplish the bare minimum. The kids have enjoyed it though. So we are homeschooling with another family this year as I have mentioned before and I found myself just being sort of boring. It has taken me till the middle of October to figure out that I just don't care how fast they get through math, or science, or whatever it is if they do not have a passion for doing what they are doing. Why plug and chug through math just to get to the next lesson? Is that so they can say they are on lesson 44? What if they don't own that information? And.......being the random person that I am, I want to do some things (finally) with math that are FUN! That challenge their brain cells to figure faster and logically. So....we are playing math games and doing math in sort of "don't move on unless I know you understand your mistake" sort of way. I still get blank looks but at least I have noticed recognition and enthusiasm on their faces more than before.

I am still processing Science and History strategies to make things more interesting. Some lessons are very interesting and some are so far removed from their life knowledge, especially in history, that they just nod their heads at me without realizing how these events effected the world at large. Hmmmm........stay tuned. I will process this someday and perhaps blog on how to make these more interesting.

I just don't know

How do you teach kids to think critically anyway???? I am sure they have to live it, to think it but that of course means that for now I live it with them. We had the misfortune of an upright freezer being left slightly open. I think the stuff in the main freezer will be OK but the veges on the door are history. So how can we possibly help these kiddos times seven know about everything there is to think about.

I have been told they won't learn till they are on their own. I am sure a lot of that is true. I can't remember how careless I was as a kid. I know I was basically a slob but I don't remember too many other mishaps. Once I burned the family table with incense that I thought was cool. That was my big boo boo. Who knew it would keep burning into the table?????

Sigh. Nine people living together who are all related and don't even think a whole lot about being polite to one another (or least not VERY hard thinking) is a recipe for mishaps. I do get sort of tired of these mishaps but I am not tired of the mishappers. They sort of just half hear my endless instructions about moldy towels, stinky diapers that need taken out, dishes filling up the sink, shoes that have mud on them, doors that need to be shut, lights turned out.......it is sort of endless.

I was thinking about how someday I might live to have grandchildren and started looking at the space around here in terms of taking time out to enjoy them. There is that old saying about enjoying your grandkids more than your children. I am certain that does not seem fair but I think I am also certain that is the perk of being a grandparent. NO, I am not interested in being one soon but I haven't contemplated my home in those terms before. We are finishing a big room and it occurred to me that my own kids may not be the only ones I spend time with there. Weird thought.

Behind the slightly open freezer there is a lot of junk that needs to GO! Perhaps we need a vacation from school to do another house reaming. Ugh. Stuff is such a pain.

Tomorrow is another day.......

Favorite Matthew quotes

Matthew is 12 years old today. It is his Golden Birthday. He figured out this morning that Martin could have kids who would have their Golden birthday before he did - his birthday is May the last. ;o)

Anyway, Matthew has great plans for Killer Bunnies and Root Beer Floats today. His middle name could be Enthusiasm as he has always been enthusiastic. That annoys his sister at times but really it is basically cute. When he was a baby he was known for his rather fat head and smiling all the time. He receives the happy Horner baby award. I distinctly remember him as a toddler sitting gazing at books a lot. He looked like a little professor with his legs crossed and very seriously contemplating his books. Cute.

As a five year old he thought he wanted to be an astronaut. Then about a year later he very seriously told me that he didn't want to be an astronaut anymore because that would mean he would not be able to be home with his wife very much. Awwwwww!!!!!!

Around age 8 or 9 (I can't remember) he decided he wanted to be either a doctor or a pastor. So one random day we were driving somewhere and he asked me very seriously if he were a pastor, did that mean he had to go to the cemetary? Being the naughty mommy that I am I told him, yes dear, at least once. Then being a nice mommy, I told him it was called seminary. Awwwwww!!!!!!!

Matthew is basically cute. He might scream at me for saying that but it is true. Most of the time he is cute. He makes random cute observations. He is a Nat, want to be, also. He sports a denim jacket, wants a driver's hat, and enjoys reading. He still crosses his legs while reading and is impossible to get up in the morning. That also may be like Nat but I will have to consult Nat's mother to see if that is true. Matthew has been known to be the little professor.

Oh, I remember one other funny. When we went to Sweden two years ago we had the opportunity to spend a layover in Paris so.........I drug the kids all over and we were able to go the Orsay. That was a big mommy thrill. Anyway, "Whistler's Mother" is at the Orsay and Matthew was famous at the time for his ability to do Mr. Bean. And.....if you have watched the movie "Bean" you would know that Mr. Bean has something to do with "Whistler's Mother". He did a great Mr. Bean impersonation right in front of the painting and several tourists were giggling at him. It was cute. I was laughing and the museum was about to close so my picture of this did not come out great but here it is......

Lately......

We have been doing the usual things. School, church, time with friends, trying to keep our heads above water. Birthday season is here so we try to mix in celebrating with school. No spontaneity though or kids will get upset. Now if we can just remember that. Stop contemplating fun you teachers or you will be punished!

I did go to the Marshall, MI retreat this past week with Anna, Maggie and Nat. It was good. It was nice to be fed and taken care of too. The services were nice, the kids seemed to have a great time, and Anna did actually dance a little. Now to get her the promised pattern......bribery.

I went to my old church today for a luncheon thingy and had fun visiting with friends. An 80 something dear friend of ours tried to make me cry and did succeed. He is so sweet. Stefan enjoyed some pasta salad and Anna escaped to the organ for some practicing. She sounded great. I didn't realize how much of the Divine Service she had worked on. Cool.

Tomorrow is Matthew's birthday and we are going to Culver's and then to our favorite weird toy store to pick up an addition to Killer Bunnies. He is having his buddies over for a round or two of the game and root beer floats. I will try to write up my favorite Matthew random thoughts tomorrow.

Ta ta

Keeping things in balance

If there were a way to know I was going to feel a little looney or overwhelmed then I would call in sick. Can you call in sick when you are homeschooling????? I am never 'sick' so the kids might tell their classmates or the rest of the staff that I was pulling a fast one. Sigh.

Felt more than a little looney today. I do think there is a direct relationship between Stefan being a crank and my being a crank. I suppose if the rest of the staff gave him a call and asked him how he was doing then they would know how I was doing. If he just screemed in the phone they would know it was a sick day and if he just breathed heavily in the phone and ate it then it would be safe to say we were going to have school.

Tomorrow is sort of short and Anna, Stefan and I are leaving for the weekend so I hope that all goes well and Stefan decides to be happy. I need to go pack.

Tomorrow is another day.......

Dd happy and Dh shocked

My Anna girl finished another dress. She just needed to make the jacket for a dress she wore this summer but it has taken since some time in August to get to this project. She has been working VERY hard in school so she could squeek out some sewing time. There is another dress that is at least cut out that I would not be shocked if I heard the whir of the machine tomorrow after school.

My Dh is shocked. We have been looking for flooring for the garage project and yesterday I was adamantly opposed to anything dark. To me dark meant dark oak, boring flooring. I wanted something a little classier so was looking at some lighter shades of other species. Then.....it happened. We rushed to Home Depot before Evening Prayer and Martin's Scout meeting, and I happened across a very nice display of a darker wood with much class! The price was great as well. We have not made our final decision but this wood is pretty dark. He said something about fainting or having heard me correctly as I rarely change my mind when my mind is made up. He is a very happy shocked husband. He is also drooling at my choice and contemplating replacing some worn out floors someday. We shall see if the budget allows.

Oh.....I have figured out a scheme to get Anna to dance at the retreat but will not reveal the scheme until after the weekend. It may not work and shyness may prevail. Sigh. I am certain she would have a good time but can't force her. At least I have tried.

Random noise

So, I need to go to my happy place more often. I think as a 'full time teacher' of various ages, I can get overwhelmed by noise at times. There seems to be a contagious effect to noise. One kid says some random thing and then another and then there could be random conversation between a few and finally I am wondering where a mute button is for all the sound effects. It does seem very difficult to stop once it starts.

Batman seems to have a pretty good effect on my little ones in math class. If Batman (stuffed batman toy of small boy) asks a small child a question who was not previously paying attention, then suddenly they are. This must be how puppet ministry was inspired but I will stick to ministering to their math needs. It is quite cute actually to see small boy start to answer Batman instead of me. You should try it sometime. He pops out from under the table and asks the question instead of me. It will be hard to give Batman back, smirk, smirk.

At the end of the school day today I realized why God invented tiredness in small children.....so they will take naps and will stop.....making......noise. I am most thankful.

Mystery solved - Yay

So I chatted with one of the folks involved in the mystery and yes, I was stressed out at the time they had that conversation - July.......stress month. I still wish people would call me themselves as when I called them it was great to talk to them. Or.....I am just 'odd'. Oh.....that is negative I think. Or paranoid......

Another productive school day. I was tired of talking by the time we were done as in tired of words needing to come out of my mouth. Quiet time is always a nice thing. I went to get Stefan's baby pictures and I would say he is not the most photogenic child we have ever had. He is simply not interested in charming anyone who tells him what to do.

I need to haul the boys to Scouts here in a minute. I hope they have a fun evening goofing off with the boys. I am not sure what all goes on at those meetings. But at least they get some away time.

It is birthday month so I need to figure all that out. I have not a clue what little something I should get the boys. It can be tough. I do like to take them to lunch so will have to plan on that. I was invited to a church luncheon for my birthday so will have to talk to the school 'staff' to see if that would work.

I'm going to write a book

"The Power of Negative Thinking" by Karin Horner. Perhaps it will hit the New York Best Seller list and I can hire a nanny who knows everything about shaping children into obedient little cherubs and all will be well in the world. Seriously though, LaRena and I have been chatting about how to help our little kids and big kids get rid of negative thinking habits. Hmmm......their mom should be on this program as well. We both had teachers who made it a rule that you couldn't say can't, or yawn, or complain. Mine was my 8th grade English teacher who I think was named Mrs. Monroe. We have not figured out the consequences entirely but they will be along the lines of sweeping floors and washing dishes etc. Our homes should be spotless.

Anna made the observation this morning that the people who were 'worried' about me do sort of waste their energy as their concern perhaps turns to gossip and fun. Her other observation which makes perfect sense is "why would they think that I may have a day or a moment of public stress? Isn't that a little bit normal and not worth talking with everyone about? How do we handle a mom appearing or acting stress? Do we smile knowingly or decide that they must be in the depths of despair?"

Perhaps (these are my thoughts) the mom might have been trapped in a van with four little children suffering from whinitis (sin) and what the mom (sinner) is really wanting is a chocolate festival or some rum.

So.......our thoughts are turning to how to help our little cherubs (there are a few specific ones involved) to get rid of their negative thinking habits and learn how to say to themselves "I can do this". I remember my English teacher because this 'plan' did work and I did excell in her class. (I also remember a grammar discussion with her which I WAS WRONG AND COULDN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT). She influenced my thought process of being able to accomplish great things in school and I thank her. Perhaps I will give her credit in my upcoming bestseller.

Long day

Monday ends up being long. We have the problem that is sort of unique to large families of having both toddlers/babies on up to older teens. School went very well and our ongoing tweeking of the schedule seemed to help at least for today. Our evening is a bit muddled still though and I feel like trying to figure out the best plan for the good of all children involved is similar to a brain teaser that hurts. Just when we think we have a plan that will work we get confused or muddled by loud, bored kids. Sigh. We will figure it out.......

Tomorrow is a little less hectic with only Scouts at night. That involves just two of the boys. THe rest of us can stay home and do home stuff.

I have a few conversations lately that indicated that other people saw me and said I appeared stressed out. Hmmmm.......I wonder which of my kids yanked my chain that day??? And.....I best be careful to put up some blinders or something. These comments DO perplex me. There was another similar comment that I suppose was just concern but being the paranoid sort, I would love to know who 'these people' are who have talking to my good buds about me. Why don't they just call me themselves and ask how I am doing???? I suppose there were certainly times this summer that I was good and stressed. I am feeling far less stressed (especially since I won't be camping any time soon). Stefan seems to be doing great and nothing could make me happier. That pain is behind me or so it seems. When we were in the thick of it, it seemed to never end and we just sort of survived. Now we just figure out from day to day how to make every day normal life less stressful. Hmmmm......life sure is interesting.

So.....if anyone out in cyberland is worried about me do give me a call and I would be happy to bring you up to date. :o)

Visiting Grammie and Grandpa

We went to Minooka to visit Charley's parents today. It was good to see them. Charley's stomach was in need of food so we went right to the park for a picnic lunch. His mom was pretty cute when I told her that Charley was ready for lunch as she rushed his dad out to the car. She must know her son's stomach needs well.

After moving our picnic goods to the third table (it was sort of like the three bears) we settled on the just right table near a pavilion and the I&M canal. The first table was pelting us with walnuts, the second table was too hot and the third table was just right. We should have had Benjamin tell them the three bears story as he is pretty good at getting all the details.

Charley and his dad and several of the kids took a walk on the path by the canal. It was full of bikers. His mom caught sight of a three wheeler bicycle (large tricycle) and asked the lady some questions about it. She even took a little test ride. I think she would really like one so I may start searching the want ads for a used one. She was pretty cute then too. The owner of the bike asked her if she remembered how a tricycle worked w hen she was young. That makes a person stop and think doesn't it? I guess I do remember what it is like to ride a tricycle if I stop and imagine it. Anyway, she tried it and is still dreaming of having one. We shall see.....

Stefan is ready for bed so signing off.......will perhaps elaborate later.

jokesters

So.......I recently received an email from a dear friend of mine who I will try to conceal his identity (Duluth) as I wouldn't want to expose the innocent (Valpo grad) from any feeling of having gotten me good (Ft. Wayne Seminary). I had just posted about my delightful camping trip when this email comes through suggesting our families go camping together in late October. Since I can not detect smirking always in emails and they can not see the stunned look on the readers face when receiving such an email, I did not quite how to reply. Should I send a blunt email back with screams of terror in it? SHould I call him and cautiously approach the subject of my now disdain of camping???? What is a friend to do when caught in such a predicament? No, I took the chicken's road and had my dh give them a call to make sure that we could do something more exciting like.......have them to our house and drink wine in the evening and sleep in comfortable beds. That is when the truth came out. Said friend reads my blog (I forgot) and thought it would be cute to suggest a camping trip. So said friend (Stefan's godfather) now holds the proud honor of being perhaps the only person who has ever fooled me that well. I do hope our alternative plans work out friend!!!! That would be far more fun and we can set up a little pup tent in the back yard for you. Smirk, smirk.

What Susan said

I cannot explain things quite the way Susan does but she has another great post on Singing the Hymns. When we came to Emmaus I must say it was somewhat purposeful that we chose the pew we did. There is a woman who sits a few pews back who sings out and I love it. I have told her so. When I have not been able to sing or had the tears experience, it has been encouraging to hear the words sung out behind me. When I hear my son who has found his voice sing out in church, catechesis or the yard, it is such an encouragement to me. This morning my nine year old boy participated with purpose and attention to catechesis as he never has before and that nearly brought tears to my eyes. He is a young boy who has struggled with reading and to hear that he is able to participate and hear the words himself as he engaged in singing was sweet. Those words will certainly minister to his heart as they did to mine.

When my oldest daughter laments missing the divine service, then we are commiserating together of how much that means to us. I need that encouragement more than I am able to receive it as the pastors are finite people. But we do still have our daily prayers to fill in the gaps.

I am not sure how to encourage others to sing out either. When my dh and I were first married he did not sing at all and I think that was because he felt he couldn’t. I think it also because his family did not sing out either. My family did (understatement) Charley and I had some singing lessons, conversation about how awesome it is to participate, and now he sings out and on key. Who cares if he is choir worthy or not, he still is able to sing out. Actually the singing lessons occurred when I realized I was going to be sitting next to him for the rest of our married life so……..I put him through the paces. Selfish eh? We don’t get to sit next to each other so much anymore but his kids can hear him.

So if you can, go to Susan's Pendulum and read her thoughts. I don't know how to make that a link.

Why we like Nick

Nick is the sort of boy who understands mommys and daddys. When small children are falling apart at the seams, he has this knowing look that I find quite comforting. Nick also has an uncanny ability to admit when he is clueless and not seem too bothered by it. He isn't clueless in all departments but when he is out of his league he is the first to admit it. Nice boy. He was the 'spare' kid on the trip. We were hoping someone would ask how many kids were in our families but it didn't happen. A family (understatement) from India was having some sort of gathering across the way from us. There was a sea of kids running everywhere so our little group looked.....little. There were 16 kids between our two groups and I guess we are the sedate variety when we aren't hiking so we weren't very impressive. And.....no one asked the lone kid how many kids were in his family. I am sure it was nice for Nick to be a guest too as the substitute mommy is less likely to be bothered by little habits etc. I was especially amused by the behind the trailer guy activities. They looked like miniature beer belly, chewing hillbillies without the beer and chaw.

So......in case you didn't know, Nick is a nice kid. Random post.

We're Horners. We hike. That's what we do.

Well, we are back. The trip had it's ups and downs. Hiking was definately the highlight. I can totally relate to those people who hate camping though. Evening food prep, clean-up etc has to be done by someone and needless to say, marshmellows seem more appealing to a lot of the crowd. Then there is juggling the younger set tromping back and forth to the bathroom, dealing with the ever elusive toothbrushes, and putting the littlest squirt to bed.

Anna is intimidating for those who may not have already known that. I would say she needs to stay home from camping trips in the future to rest up but it is also true that she knows how to do just about anything. She commented to me that someone was quite surprised once that she knew what wolmanized (spelling?) lumber was. She can hitch a trailer, guide the vehicle to the trailer to be hitched, unhitch and secure a trailer, check the lights and anything else pertaining to trailers. I am truly impressed. She also can pack anything into anything. Clothes, dirty or clean, cooking equipment, miscalaneous camping junk, food, trailer spare tires, are no match for her. But.......she wishes someone else knew how to do these things. So.....next time we have a family trip I am sending her to a resort someplace to be pampered (resort? or the Stuckwisch's? Same difference).

We did have a good time all around and the getting stuck in the parking lot at the end of the trip scenario (see Anna's depressing blog) was a cheap excercise in team work. Some people pay money to learn team work at expensive conference centers. We on the other hand pull into skinny parking lots with a mom who just learned to back a trailer. Backing a trailer should be a part of Horner driver's ed.

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........