Company Coffee 6.11.2010

Figured I should write for a Company Coffee. Haven't in a long while. I had to go out of town and then getting back into the routines of life have been more of a challenge than I thought.

This week was interesting. The girls decided that this past week and a half was the week to exercise their independence, use those vocal cords and throw tantrums. Bugs has perfected the art of the attention seeking tantrum. She has spent a lot of time in her room to calm down this week. She has a lot of perseverance. Beans has been quite the two-year-old. I mean quite. She has also taken to stripping whenever the whim strikes. Not a good thing as I have been babysitting eight and six year old boys for most of this week.

Monday night after Judo, Hubbs came home and washed and dried his gui. Well, on the gui's way to the dryer, he knocked a box of fabric softener sheets into the washing machine. Tuesday, I go to do laundry, don't think to check inside of it and drop my load of darks right in and start it. I had no clue what was going on inside the washer until after the cycle ended and I opened it up to see bits of brown cardboard shredded all over my clothes. At first, I think, hhmm, wonder what was in a pocket. I get some out and into the dryer and start finding washed dryer sheets. Now, I don't normally use fabric softener as a general rule due to all the chemicals in it, but I do have a few boxes of dryer sheets for the occasional need for extra scent on my bed sheets. Well, the laundry smelled wonderul when it came out of the wash. Thankfully it didn't stain. You wouldn't believe the lint trap on my dryer after the load was done. Wow, it was full of cardboard pieces, and extra lint for some reason. Tuesday night Hubbs went right after work to Parsons to see O-Sensei Porter do a demonstration. He got home right before midnight. It was a long day as that was the absolute worst day with the girls. He had a great time. The chance to go was his early Father's Day present.

The trip that I went on that threw me sooooooo far off schedule was a trip to watch my sister graduate from Mortuary school and then she and my mom took the girls and I up to Pennsylvania to see my Grandma who is in hospice. It was so nice to see Grandma for more than likely the last time. We have no idea how much longer she has with us, and I am grateful that I got to see her one last time. I'm also grateful that she isn't dying of Alzhiemers disease or anything else that robs the mind. I will be the first to admit that watching her suffer from this cancer is hard, knowing that as the pain increases, so will her medications, which will affect her mind, but I'm glad she is still with us in mind, can carry on conversations and knows us still. I have seen people die with Alzhiemer's and that is a hard load to bear for the caregivers. I can not imagine.

We are in to tornado season here. A week ago this last Wednesday the family spent quality time in the interior closet of our house. Thankfully the girls were asleep and slept through being moved from their beds to the floor in the closet, then back again. I even changed Bean's diaper during this and she never flinched. I'm sure that won't be our only chance for bonding time in the closet this year. As it is, the weather today is feeling very odd. I should go check a radar.

I'm working on putting on a garage sale next week. I have a ton of stuff to get rid of. If you live in the area, feel free to stop by. I'm getting rid of quite a bit of baby girl clothes, baby toys, books, and whatever else we happen to decide to get rid of. I also have a friend with boys who is joining me for the sale, and she has tons of boy stuff.

Well, I have a chicken in the crock pot for tonight. I'm looking forward to it. It is too hot to run the oven this time of year, so I use the crock pot a lot. All I did was rinse the chicken well, then sprinkled on some salt, basil, bay leaves, oregano and Cavender's All Greek Seasoning (love that stuff). I like to add rosemary too, but we are currently out. I'm thinking of serving rice and asparagus with it.

They resurfaced our road yesterday. It reminded me of that scene in the movie Cars where Lightening McQueen is hooked up to Ol'Bessie. Then after he was done and they all cruised on it. I wanted to go cruising on it and playing oldies, but I was babysitting and not everyone would fit into our little Ford Focus. Think I may have to go watch that movie again.

Well, that is pretty much it. Kids are squealing again, so I should go and check on them.

Company Coffee 4.2

I decided to write at least for company coffee every week. Otherwise, I forget and can go weeks without writing, and if I don't write, my husband says I get cranky :)

This week has been full of work. We are going to my MIL's for the weekend, so I've been cleaning and packing and kid wrangling. Every day they want to leave. It's been a fun lesson in delayed gratification and the days of the week for the three-year-old. We leave tonight after my husband is off work. I get to load the car and finish packing today. And it is raining here too.

My husband finally got me my own domain name! No longer do you have to type in http://createdforhome.blogspot.com. Now you can just go to http://www.createdforhome.net (sorry, I can't remember how to imbed links again, and well, you are already on this site anyway :)

My ankle is getting better. My chiropractor told me when I was in earlier this week that he doesn't understand how it didn't just break. He popped the thing back into place yet again (you know, when the tendon's and ligaments are stretched and ripped, the bones don't like to stay in place, especially if you are me and um, don't wear the boot like you should. Yes, I was a bad girl and went without it in the house a few times...and yes, I paid for it with pain.) Today, with everything, I'm just in my black brace (looks like an air cast). It's feeling much better, however, if I'm not driving or in the house right now I have to wear the boot. Unfamiliar terrain can do a lot of damage, and frankly, I don't want to go down that route.

This week we added some new members to the family. My husband was helping a friend move and they offered us their 40 gallon fish tank for only twenty-five dollars. Now, this is the tank, gravel, filter, heater, fake plants, a driftwood decoration, stand and six fancy goldfish! We have two black moors, a red capped orana (I think, it will have what looks like it's brains bubbling out when it is full grown) a calico goldfish and two algae eaters. This was a steal considering how much money is in the fish alone, let alone everything else. My husband and I have just been sitting in the living room watching them swim in the evenings. And the girls love them. Bugs named both the black moors Blackie. One is a bit bigger than the other so it is Big Blackie and Little Blackie. The calico is striped like a tiger, so his name is Tiger, and the red capped one is Lily. The algae eaters are William and Jefferson, don't ask.

It has been an insane week with family crises. My grandma's lung cancer had returned and they were getting ready to start radiation when she had to be hospitalized due to a reaction with her blood thinners and a starting to come down with pneumonia. Then, my sister had to have a ct scan as they thought they found a mass on her liver when doing a scan on her gall bladder. Grandma was released on Tuesday and they aren't sure they are going to be able to give her the radiation as they think she is too weak. So, hospice may end up involved sooner than we thought and wanted. My sister got her results back on the ct scan yesterday and was told her liver is fine, it just isn't assembled the same way everyone else's is. She is scheduled to have her gall bladder removed in May. She's only 28.

I have a ton of things to get done to be leaving this afternoon. Like finding the library books that need returned, finishing packing (not until the dryer is done though), bathing the dog and the kids, putting the weekend feeders in the fish tank, paying a few bills and generally keeping tabs on the bedlam. We are hoping to take the girls to the children's museum before coming home on Monday. They will have a blast. And friends of ours are having us over for an egg hunt this weekend too. I'm looking forward at getting away for a few days.

Keep safe, and please remember and focus on what this whole week has been about. The death, burial and resurrection of our Lord. May you have a blessed Resurrection Sunday and truly rejoice in the day that death died.

Company Coffee 3.26

It has sure been a crazy month or so around here.

We went to visit my MIL nearly two weeks ago. One of those, Hubbs is getting off work at a decent time on Saturday and we just needed to get away for a few days. I was cleaning the house the day before and I pivoted on my left foot and felt it pop and it was sore for the rest of the day. It was kind of stiff to start out the next morning, but it felt better so I thought nothing of it as I am always doing this sort of stuff to myself. Well, this past Monday, after a trip to the salvage grocery store and Lamberts (took the girls for the first time, they loved it.) Hubbs and I sat down to watch Where the Wild Things Are in our room for a date night thing and after the movie was over, I got up for a drink of water and my ankle hurt the second it touched the floor. I figured it would be fine, but the next day it was worse so I wore my old ankle brace. I finally get it checked out yesterday (Thursday) night as it wasn't feeling much better. Turns out, I must have started a tear in at least two ligaments two weeks ago and they finished themselves off on Monday. I'm in my moon boot indefinitely. I get to go back next Tuesday for it. Trust me, it isn't easy chasing kids around in one of those boots.

Our car decided to have issues too. We were told at first it was a crack in the manifold. However, it was so tiny they had to find it with a stethoscope. Being leery of the diagnosis, we took it to another shop and were told the same thing and the same price. Then, the vacuum house decided to break too. So, we take it in on Tuesday and they take it apart to fix, decide that the manifold is "salvageable" that the catalytic converter is egg shaped, a bunch of tubes are bent and the tube that hold the freon for the a/c is broken and rubbing on the serpentine belt and they had ordered the wrong sized of vacuum hose, so they put it all back together. We are going to have a friend look at it over Easter and see what he thinks, and if he can get us the parts from a junk yard, or possibly end up trading in the Focus and getting a minivan. Which, wold be more practical for us anyway. We do want more kids eventually, and we can't fit another car seat in the Focus. We'll see.

Hubbs applied for a job as a music minister in IL. Praying we get called for an interview in the next few weeks. We are getting so tired of retail. The crazy hours and days off are driving us all crazy. The girls never really know what days Daddy will be home consistently, if he goes in to work in the morning, or afternoon and all that. Having more stable hours will really help the family. I know the perfect place for us is out there, and in the right time, God will show us.

My MIL gave me the money to order my preschool curriculum for next year for Bugs. We got Sonlight Core P 4/5. It came in on Tuesday. I love it. We are starting the language arts with Bugs after Easter as I had also ordered the readers 1 and LA 1 for the school year. I'm keeping most of the stuff for the "official" start of school in the fall.

We got new sandals for the kids today. Fasted trip to shop for shoes for them ever. They both spotted something they liked right away and that was in their size. I was happy. However, the price wasn't happy. We spent thirty dollars on new sandals for both of the kids. I don't like spending that kind of money on shoes that will probably be outgrown before the end of summer. I don't spend that much money on shoes for me! They sure are cute though. Bugs chose some neon slip ons, and Beans got metallic flowers in nearly a gladiator style.

That's it for us. Just been crazy.

Company Coffee 2.12

Thankfully we don't have any snow here in SW. Missouri. We've had our fill, thank you very much. If I see any more this winter, I may just totally loose it. Though, Bugs keeps asking to go out and build another snowman. We told her it had to snow again and stick (totally bare yard finally), and she is praying for God to send us some more.

Bean's birthday is next Wednesday. She is going to have a Bob the Tomato cake. She loves Veggie Tales, and she is totally going to love it.

Monday was do our taxes day. After this year's return, all that will be left of our debt is my student loans and the house!!!!! You have no idea how excited this makes us. We will have the credit cards paid off (mainly all medical from having the Beans two years ago and an emergency car repair and subsequent car rental that the warranty didn't want to cover when it was supposed to. So those along with fixing the few things that need fixed on the car, paying off the car and the hospital bill from when Bugs was born will be done in the next week or two. It is such a relief to have this taken care of.

Hubbs is closing at work, like nearly every Friday night. I can't wait for him to get a job where he isn't gone at least two nights of the week, leaving me to tuck the kids into bed by myself. They behave worse when they know their daddy isn't home. They miss him. Can't say as I blame them, I miss having him home too.

We did get our dead car sold this week too. Was supposed to have been Sunday afternoon, but they guy didn't get back over here with the money for it until Monday night. Oh well. It is no longer in our driveway, which is fine by me, but in a way, it is still kind of sad. I wrote about it a while back. Blog titled Goodbye Old Car. Also wrote one about how providential selling it was. If you are interested in reading them, just go to my blog archives and click (right side of page, scroll down, I have it on the bottom for some reason... I don't have time to go link. I've got the Beans crawling around in my lap trying to help me type. It is nearing supper time and both the girls get very cranky if they are hungry. And I mean very cranky.

Got to go for now. Have a blessed coming week! And remember, do something wonderful for your husband on Sunday that he isn't expecting. Even something as simple as a cup of his favorite coffee in bed in the morning.