Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Yeah!

How do you get a vacation day in Wisconsin?

Wait for the wind chill to dip down to a "balmy" -35 degrees.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Do I Say That?

More laundry. I told Anna we needed to head downstairs and do some more laundry. She would prefer to stay in her room. That's not a choice, let's go girly. She expressed again the need to stay upstairs. I said, "Anna, that's enough, let's go." To which she replied, "Mama, I no think dat be a good idea. I no have enough money fo' dat." I wonder where she heard that phrase?

Tub Time

As I was taking Anna out of the tub last night she said something I didn't understand. She waved good-bye to the "Poe-day-doe". I couldn't figure out what she was saying. Potato? What? The word she said, although sounded like potato, was not what she was saying. The way Anna says potato is not the way she pronounced this word.

I felt like Pooh and said think, think, think.

The tub was draining and she was pointing to the swirl of water going down the drain. Tornado? Aha. Yes the "tornado" of water. Very good then. Good-bye poe-day-doe see you tomorrow.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Still Here

We made it.... almost. I think we're in the home stretch for this flu to be gone. No fevers yesterday. Everyone's eating and drinking. We even took showers and baths yesterday. Just like real live humans. Can you believe it?

Today Matthew's attempting work and I'm attempting laundry. The laundry situation, after assessment, wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I haven't even entered the laundry room in a week and thought I'd have to shovel my way to the washer. I was surprised to find I maybe have 3 loads of clothes. I was wondering why there weren't mountains of laundry to do and then remembered we all wore the same pj's and bathrobes for three days straight. Aahaa! Light bulb moment. That worked out nicely I thought.

Also, I'm taking what God has given and am thankfully opening windows a crack to let in the fresh air. My sinuses aren't cooperating fully yet but I can vaguely smell freshness. This is my attempt to blow the germs away. I thought about hanging my entire family on the clothesline to air out but we don't have a clothesline at this house yet.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Blech...

I sent my boy to school on Monday and he came home with what I thought to be another round of bronchitis or walking pneumonia. We seem to get that a lot around here. Tuesday we went to the clinic and we came home with Zithromax, yet again. Tuesday night Anna and I got our fevers and thought let's go get some antibiotics for us so Isaiah doesn't have to feel like the odd man out. No such luck for us, however, we have - da da da dummmm - influenza. Excellent. The doctor suspected that Isaiah also has influenza and that he did not, in fact, have bronchitis.

Tuesday afternoon Matthew came home also with a fever, aches, runny nose and a cough. We have had a wonderful week and I'm happy to say yesterday was the worst. I'm pretty sure it's all down hill form here. In a good way, I think?

What really bugs me though is that I was invited to two parties on Sunday and now.... I can't go. I was SOOOOO looking forward to the get togethers. I can't even remember the last time I went anywhere fun, by myself. I get invited to two different fun things and what happens? The flu. Why? Where's the justice in this situation? Honestly I think the last time I went anywhere alone was my sister-in-law's candle party last summer. I'm talking months.

I'm hoping the rest of you are all healthy and have fun for me. I will be sitting in my bathrobe eating my mom's chicken soup and blowing my nose.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Not What I Had in Mind

Isaiah has probably got to be THE pickiest child to ever walk this earth. I'm willing pit him against any other child out there and test their picky-ness. I'm thinking he'd win hands down. Seriously. He wasn't always picky. He weighed in at a whopping 18lbs. at 3mos. old. Now granted he was on a very limited diet but still. The boy could chow. He still can as long as it meets his high standards.

The other night we once again had sub-standard fare for supper and Isaiah was still picking at his food after the dishes were done and drying in the rack. I told him he'd better have that plate cleared by the time Anna was done with her bath....or else. (I know, real scary mom. I was desperate at that point to just get the kid out of the dining room)

Anna was washed, diapered and jammied.

STILL EATING.

All right! That's it. Dump your plate, no snack tonight, I don't want to even hear you start to mumble how you're hungry at bedtime. You know, the usual blah, blah, blah.

I sometimes think I must sound like Charlie Brown's teacher as I think I witness the same effect.

As a punishment I made Isaiah wash his own plate, fork and cup. Knowing how much I "enjoy" doing the dishes I foolishly thought Isaiah would also dislike the chore. Fifteen minutes later I decided to remove that punishment option.

Note to self: Isaiah thoroughly enjoys washing the dishes. Not on recommended form of punishment for oldest boy.

A couple nights later I again made horribly gross dragon tales and fish scales for supper. Before he even ate half of his supper he gleefully asked if he could dump his food and wash his plate. He said all this with a huge grin by the way. The look I gave in answer to his question ceased all further inquiries.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Genesis 2:24

You know in Genesis when God says how a man should leave his parents and cleave to his wife. I totally paraphrased that. Pastor Larry always mentions how when you get married you need to leave and cleave. Well folks, the same can be true when you move to a new home, in a new town, in a new county with everything that comes along with that being, key word here, NEW. I'm not comparing this with marriage by any means just saying how you need to leave the old town and cleave to the new, obviously in a lesser degree.

I feel a bit like Sally Fields. Kristi and Kelli like me, they really like me. I too want to come visit at AWANA. I'd love it actually. But you see I need to stay away for now, just a little bit longer. I'm such the introvert that I'd rather stay locked up in my house than go out and actually meet people....gasp.....oh the horror. I have now been living in my little hole pretending to hibernate and the small amount of extrovert in me is now starting to win out.

We've been attending the monthly Pleasant Lake 4H meetings. I've met a couple people and you should have heard me scream with excitement when I noticed one of the dads from 4H in the paper recognized during Crossing Guard Appreciation Week. "HEY, I know him!!" I actually knew someone who was in the Osceola paper. Well that started the downward tumble into extrovert land. Anna and I attended storytime at the Osceola Public Library yesterday and at the end of February the kiddos are registered for swimming lessons at the aquatic center. I'm doing it. I'm actually leaving my house and getting involved in my new community.

I had to stay away from my "crutch", that is my hometown for the last 25+ years, where I couldn't go anywhere and not see a familiar face. If I kept running home I'd never have reason to make Osceola my new home. I think I might be ready to accept the blessing I have that can now be two places in which I know lots of friendly faces. I'm working on it.

I promise to come visit in the spring. Thanks for thinking of me. I miss you all a whole bunch. I will come visit on a Wednesday.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Passport

Initially I planned on feeding my family Hungarian Goulash. I'm not sure how authentic this dish is as I'm not Hungarian. Basically you brown round steak cubes dredged in flour and then add about 3C onions. You are also supposed to add some beef stock, pepper, salt and PAPRIKA. I believe this is the Hungarian part of the dish.

After I did all these steps I went to check on my dear girly to make sure all was well. It was. I ventured back to the kitchen and sniffed. I sniffed again. Yep, sure enough that smells like chili. Apparently I was adding my red spice a bit too quickly because I chose the chili powder not the paprika. After I said a not so nice word I decided all will be well. You see right before you serve the "Hungarian" Goulash you add about 1C of sour cream.

Knowing sour cream can solve many, many ailments I decided to grab my passport and head to Mexico instead of Hungary. It may be warmer there anyhow.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Super-Size on the Dollar Menu

You know when you only have a couple things to wash and so you turn the load size dial down to small. Well, this is just a thought, be sure to adjust the dial back up to super size when you do a full load next time. I'm just saying. Also, if you accidentally forget this piece of valuable information try not to do more than two large loads dialed down to small as it only wastes time when you have to re-wash.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Matilda update


Matilda, our new puppy dog, is really doing quite nicely in our little family. She is still very calm, quiet, kind and gentle. She would be very happy to sit in your lap all day long and just cuddle. Although she's a small lab mix (around 40lbs) she appears to think of herself more as a toy poodle.

We keep thinking her old home must really miss her as she's very well behaved and has been very well trained. She will not go on the furniture unless you invite her. She will not even go into bedrooms unless invited. She does not beg for food although it's apparent she knows exactly what happens in a kitchen. We think she may have been fed a good amount of scraps as it took her awhile to eat dog food. The shelter even mentioned she'd daily skip one of her meals. She's doing much better now.


I was extrememly concerned the first week we had her as there was no mention of her not getting along with other dogs. On two occasions Matilda nearly had an altercation with two of the neighborhood dogs. One dog I knew for sure is kind and gentle as well and I was very surprised at Matilda's behavior. After going to the vet last Friday, for her free check-up and rabies shot, the vet rather thinks Matilda was protecting her family. The vet attempted to find the aggressive behavior in Matilda while socializing her to other dogs at the clinic. Dr. Bray said she acted just fine and mentioned that Matilda may have been trying to prove to me that she is part of our family now and just wanted us to be protected. I felt honored. Now, if only she will realize the other dogs in the neighborhood just want to be friends. I would think with time she'll feel better about her new surroundings and will enjoy playing with her neighborhood puppy-pals.
Isaiah was thrilled this morning when I told him Matilda whines a bit when he walks down the driveway for the bus. "Wow!", he said, "Nobody else does that." Oh if only he knew the truth of that statement. Anyhow, here are some photos of our new Matilda enjoying her new family life.
Photo 1: Isaiah and Matilda giving hugs (don't mind the laundry basket at top of stairs, that's Anna's reminder to not go down the steps :) )
Photo 2: Matilda very much enjoys watching the squirrels and rabbits out the window. Stands as still as a statue, amazing.
Photo 3: Getting the mail with Papa and the kiddos. Notice Anna was pulled on the sled and she "carries" the mail back to the house.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

My Hero

Anna had a wonderful case of the stomach flu Sunday morning at 1am. She pulled through only to leave me feeling like junk by Tuesday afternoon.

Isaiah gets home off the bus at 4:03. By about 3:00pm Tuesday I knew it was a'comin'. I was hoping I could at least wait for 4pm to fully experience all the fun that is the flu. I knew I'd be able to count on Isaiah to take care of Anna, the dog, snack, supper and jammies. I had already declared Tuesday to be a "No Bath Tonight" day.

Isaiah was my hero. He came home and I told him I was indeed not spared Anna's bug. The first thing he said? "Well... I suppose I won't be able to go to school tomorrow, 'cause who's gonna take care of Anna?" I assured my knight in shining denim that I thought I'd probably just need help for the evening and tomorrow will be okay. He got their snack, don't know what they had, didn't care. He later got himself a turkey and cheese sandwich, applesauce and milk for supper. Anna received the same except she had PB&J. I was able for about 10min. take care of the puppy dog. Isaiah even got Anna's jammies on her. He was indeed my hero.

Papa got home very late, from a meeting. I divulged as much info. as possible and Matthew took over.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Sun Dogs



Did you see them this morning? Very cool. Literally.


Spinnin' Yarns

Anna and Elmo spend a lot of time together that I'm unaware of until she informs me. Today at breakfast Anna was telling Isaiah and I about her day spent with Elmo. It sounds very interesting actually. Elmo sounds like he'd be a good friend.

Anna: Elmo and me feed da baby dinosaur.
Mama: Oh really? When did you do that?
A: At 8 o'clock.
M: Huh... what did you feed him?
A: Food. And Soda. Elmo have soda and I have soda, too.
M: What color was the baby dinosaur?
A: Oh.....he was brown.
M: Where did you feed the dinosaur?
A: In the highchair at Elmo's house.
Isaiah: How did you get there?
A: In my orange car. I drive it there.
I: Well, where is your orange car now?
A: At Elmo's house.

Isaiah looked at me at this point like, Huh? How's that supposed to happen? I gave him a look that meant just humor the girl she's on a roll. The conversation went on for about 5 minutes and it sounds like they had a good time.

Another incident regarding my dear story teller involves her insisting Matilda, our dog, is a boy. She's not and this drives Isaiah nuts that Anna keeps saying, "Good boy!"

This morning Anna repeated the "Good boy!" phrase and from a completely different room Isaiah yelled, "She's a GIRL!" To which Anna replied, "No her not, her a boy!"

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

I Don't Wanna

Happy 2008! Hope all New Year's Eve plans went well for those who celebrated. I do believe we were all asleep by 8pm. Very exciting I know. We are wild and crazy over here. Today? I'm washing clothes and snowpants, gloves, hats, jackets and scarves. Why? I have to send my boy to school tomorrow. I.Don't.Wanna.

I really don't want to. I like having him at home. How much longer 'til summer? I'll buck up. If Isaiah knows how much I hate sending him to school it could only lead to disaster. I'm sure he'd take that bit of info. all the way to the bank.

Happy New Year and here's to a quick finish to the school year.