...if it wasn't screwed on...

After lunch today Anna and I ran to Wal-Mart. I had to get snowpants for Isaiah and cool-whip. What a list. I decided to wear a winter stocking cap on our ventures since I didn't do my hair today and it was pretty cold. I would say we left the house at about 12:30.

It's now 6:58pm. I am about to tuck in my babies for bed. I just realized the stocking cap is STILL. ON. MY. HEAD. What in the world?

Just so You Know

I purchased some individual chocolate milk containers for Anna's birthday party last week. I thought since we rarely have real chocolate milk it may be a treat if one of the children's beverage choices be chocolate milk.

It was a hit and most of the kiddos at the party chose a chocolate milk. I have a few left over and I just noticed a warning on the one of the bottles that I'm really feeling bad about. I'm wondering if I should alert the parents and let them know what the warning said. Nobody has called though and said their children were sick so I may just let it go.

This is what the warning said: WARNING - Contains Milk

I Broke Down

We have not had real Kool-Aid in our household in years. Years! If we drink something other than water, milk, juice or coffee it's typically been Crystal Light. I believe when Isaiah was about 2 years old I purchased sugar-free Kool-Aid as a treat.

Today, at the store, I actually purchased two big containers of Kool-Aid. The kind with the measuring cup top.

What in the world was I waiting for? I just had a big ol' glass of grape Kool-Aid and all I can say is, "Oh yeah!". Yum, really. Who knew?

Coincidence? I Think Not...

This morning Matthew made a pot of coffee. Approximately half-way through the brewing process I hear a shout, "Katie, there's something wrong with the coffee pot." I chose to ignore this statement as I was not prepared to acknowledge such a travesty.

After I summoned the courage to enter the kitchen - hours later. I saw the carafe sitting in the sink and bravely examined the damage. The bottom of the glass carafe was, dare I say it, broken. Gasp, nooooooooo!

Over the past decade or so we have shared our kitchen counter with numerous coffee pots. Some lasting years, like the one that just died this morning, and some lasting weeks. I am serious. We had one that lasted for only a few weeks.

Now normally when I receive junk mail I toss immediately. For some reason when Matthew brought in the mail yesterday I left the junk mail on the counter. Weird? Perhaps no. You see one of the junk fliers was for a Gevalia coffee pot/Coffee of the Month type of deal. I was shocked!

How did they know?

Amazing.

At this point I'm leaving the information in it's envelope. Tomorrow, however, when I am in desperate need of coffee I plan on not only reading about the extremely wonderful offer Gevalia is choosing to share with me, but also force my dear husband to understand how wonderful the deal actually is. Can you imagine how satisfying it will be to know we can spend a mere $210 on a pot of freshly brewed coffee? I know the idea will sound much better at 4:45 in the morning. I just know it.

I'm Imagining What 80 Degrees Feels Like...

I have a roast in the crock pot right now cooking low and slow. I plan on shredding it when it's nice and tender and adding BBQ sauce for sandwiches to feed the troops at supper time. The roast is cooking in beer and onions, among other various herbs and spices.

Can I just say I LOVE the smell of beer and onions cooking together. I completely forgot.... Bring on summertime. I'm going to pretend that instead of a plain ol' beef roast in the crock pot that my husband is par-boiling brats for the grill.

Wondering Why Wonderful White

I just have one question.... The entryway in our home has white tile. I say, excellent. This will never look dated, super. The grout in said entryway is also white.... Why, oh why was WHITE grout chosen?

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.

I Elfed My Family.....gasp!

Silly? Yes. Did the family enjoy thems"elf"s? Why, yes they did.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1264111186

Inevitable

Because of the "snow storm" Matthew wanted me to have LOTS of food in the house, just in case. I obliged and picked Isaiah up from school as we had to run up to St. Croix Falls to pick up their Christmas card pictures. The pictures were at the Wal-Mart Supercenter so one-stop-shopping it is! Yes!

We have sled casualties at our home. We use 'em and loose 'em? No idea where these things go. Now that I think about it the casualties may have happened because of our lack of a garage. Not a problem anymore hopefully the problem will be no more. We shall see. As a result of our sled shortage I splurged and bought two different sleds of two different styles. I thought it might be neat to try out some of our hills in the yard and see if they are sled-able. I also bought enough food for a week, even though I don't usually go shopping until Mondays or Tuesdays. All the preparations are ready and set for at lest a foot of snow.

Know what? Because of all planning we did I bet we'll receive a whoppin' 2 inches of powdery fluff. Ya think?

Nice Try - Updated

I don't know if all the other computers in the world do this or just mine so I'll preface. When I type in a designated "box" my computer remembers the other things I've typed in similar boxes and offers popular choices. For instance, when filling out a box for my name it'll pop up the choices I usually type like Kathryn or Katie. If I have to fill in my email for a certain reason it'll pop up my old email from Hudson and my new email address. I can use the down arrows, hit enter and there's less typing. I type pretty quickly so the suggestions don't save all that much time. It's a nice offer however.

Anyhow, my point is in regards to the word verification deals that one must go through to get a comment published on blogs. As I was commenting on a blog today and attempted to fill out the word verification all of the other words starting with "s" popped up. I didn't count them but the scroll bar popped up as well. Now why, I ask, would one want to search through the list to see if there's a possible match? As if. Wouldn't it be quicker to just put on the 3D-glasses you need to figure out the letters and type it? I get the name boxes, address boxes and email boxes but, word verification boxes? Really? Is that necessary?


ps Word Verification? In what language?

New Clinic

Well, I gave up. I'm still coughing using an inhaler and two days ago I felt a sinus infection starting up. I toughed it out for two weeks, since last round of antibiotics, and can't take it anymore. I've had it.

We filled out appropriate paperwork at the Osceola Medical Center and saw a very nice nurse and Dr. I felt as though I could speak at my normal speed and that I wasn't required to condense everything because they needed the space for the next patient. Wow! What's that like? Nice. I now get to try Zithromax and Flonase for bronchitis and a sinus infection. I'll let you all know how it's going. I'm sure you're on the edge of your computer chair.

I will be eating yogurt and blowing my nose until further notice.

Born Cheesehead

Dear Viking fans,

Yikes!

Love, me

Pros and Propers

During a conversation with Anna I thought I'd ask some questions, just to see how she would answer. I asked Anna what her brother's name is and she didn't have an answer. Then I asked her what her boy's name is and she said, "Ee-ah" (Isaiah). She doesn't think of him as her brother but as "her boy".

I was surprised when I asked what her Papa's name is and she said, "Matthew". I thought that was pretty good for a two-year-old. I figured if she knew Matthew's name she must know my name, right? I asked what is your Mama's name and she looked at me like I was goofy and said, "Mama". Silly me. I can't figure out why she has caught on to Matthew's name and not mine? I just thought it was interesting.



ps I have a cold and I feel like junk, so this is all I've got.
pps We have found another house, our offer's been accepted, more on that later...

Just for Fun!

Anna really enjoyed her supper on this night. Believe it or not she got lots in her tummy, too.

















One of the guys that works at our shop is a volunteer firefighter. Neil, let Isaiah try on the gigantic set up. Isaiah felt pretty cool wearing the official gear.

Random Thoughts

Last weekend of summer vacation. That was THE fastest summer ever. I have decided that summer has past so quickly not just because we were a little too busy but because of percentage. What do I mean? Every year you get older so that would lead me to believe that the three months of summer vacation is a smaller and smaller percentage of your life. Summer vacation for a 12mo. old is 25% of their little life. Three months of summer for a 32-year-old is quite a lower percentage of time therefore, the reason things seem to speed by as you get older.

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On Saturday Matthew and I took the kids to the Minnesota State Fair. The kids had never been there. We knew it would be expensive but before we even got into the fair we had spent 50$ on parking and admission tickets. Sheesh! My favorite part was the Miracle of Birth Center. We watched the early stages of a Holstein laboring. It was too warm in the barn for Matthew and Isaiah so they left before the big event. Anna and I watched the two front legs emerge and then the beginning of the nose peek out. All the moms in the audience were pushing for the cow during the contractions. Sort of funny. I did feel sorry for the cow though. Can you imagine having such a large audience. Maybe she didn't care? Either way it was fun to watch what we did.

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Isaiah starts first grade tomorrow. We are all so happy about which teacher he'll have. She seems kind and organized. Very good. Isaiah mentioned how he'd like to stay in first grade forever because he just knows he'll love his teacher. I'm hoping that sentiment changes by the start of 2nd grade next year. Sending him to first grade is so much easier then sending my little person to kindergarten. What a difference a year makes.

A New Beginning

I love fall! Can't tell you how excited I am that we're nearing September, October and November. I love this time of year. It's cool, no 90+ degrees, no 60+ dew points, just sweaters, jeans, apple picking, colorful leaves and walks in the woods. (sigh) It always reminds me of John Denver songs and the Grizzly Adams tv show. Must be a grew-up-during-the-1970s-type-thing?

Then there's the start of school. The wonderful smelling new pencils, markers, paper, notebooks, crayons and folders. So exciting. Meeting new teachers and learning new schedules.

I even enjoy fall cleaning. It seems so much more fun than spring cleaning. You're preparing your home to be snug as a bug for the looonnngg winter months.

The cooking is excellent. My favorite things to make are soups, stews, bread, apple pie and crock-pot stuff. The house is warm and smells so yummy and homey.

I know it's still the middle of August and we do still have warm/hot days in September but....I'm just sort of dreaming today.

Misc.

First off, Isaiah was saddened by the bridge collapse. He didn't see too much but he did notice the school bus and wondered about the children. I explained to him what happened as best I could without too many details. He was glad the children on the bus were all okay. This led to conversation about what he wants to be when he grows up. He told me he wants to invent real web fluid (think spiderman) and will go to all the police officers and tell them how to use it. He wants everyone in the world to be mandated to have web fluid on them at all times so that if they do fall they can just shoot out the fluid and be safe.

Secondly, Michelle Duggar from Arkansas apparently had baby #17 yesterday. I thought I needed a break today because of VBS all week. This talented mama homeschools her children and I think they are a christian family. You could probably go to Discovery Health Channel's website and find out more info. You might be able to google the family as well. Man, I'm worn out just thinking about her job.

Third, Isaiah just asked me if when I was little I had vacuum cleaners. I told him I did. He was wondering if it looked like ours or if it was the old fashion kind. I have no idea what he means by that so I just appeased him by saying it was an old fashion kind.

All very random, I know. That's just what's floating around between my ears to day.

A Lost Art

I've recently figured out how to download songs and burn them to a CD. I know it's not that tricky I just never really wanted to do such a thing. Now I have a list going at walmart.com until I have enough for another CD.

This new trick I've learned saddens me a bit. You see my kiddos will probably never, ever learn how to anticipate a song on the radio and press the record button. Remember KDWB's Top 8 at 8? Maybe they still have it, don't know? I remember patiently waiting and hoping the song I wanted would be coming on next. Then there's the is it really the song I want? problem. Do you press record when you're not sure only to risk the hassle of rewinding and queuing the tape correctly again for next time? Listening to the tape you finally made with either a DJ's voice cut-off at the beginning or end of the song was always fun, too. Not to mention the chopped up commercials on either end of the song as well.

Ahhh, the good ol' days!

Redneck Swimming Pool

Matthew's birthday was on Monday. We celebrated on Sunday because during the work week that guy is just too darn busy. The kids and I gave him a free-standing hammock. We were all pretty excited to imagine our Papa relaxing in his hammock in the shade and enjoying the Sunday paper.

Matthew wasn't able to use his birthday gift yet because it was just too hot on Sunday to enjoy much of anything outside. He did mention he could set it up and put the sprinkler on and read the paper while cooling off in the hammock but then realized the paper would get wet. Oh well! That did remind me of the Plugger comic strip. I could send the idea in to the writer and label it Plugger's Swimming Pool. If that doesn't work I could send in the idea to Jeff Foxworthy. I can hear him now, "Ya know yur a redneck if yur idea of jumping in the pool involves a sprinkler and a hammock."

Getting to Know Your Neighbors

We live on a busy highway and we do not live close to our neighbors. We can see our neighbor's homes but, due to the busyness of the highway, we'd have to get in the car to get to their homes. Our address is just not conducive to chit-chatting over the picket fence. As a result, we don't know many of the neighbors.

Today I did get to know one of our neighbors, however. You see we received some of their mail by mistake. Tomorrow or the next day they will receive a magazine about African Violets, a letter from friends in Chisago City, MN and another magazine with lots of western ware and cowboy boots to purchase. I'll assume our neighbors enjoy horses, gardening and people from Minnesota. We should have them over for a cook-out as we have lots in common, except for liking Minnesotans .......... just kidding.