The 40's have begun!

Well, this is my first post as a 40 year old, and I don't feel any different! For the past two days that I've been 40, I've been ok with the new number. When September first arrived, I knew that this day was coming, but it didn't bother me that much. I was busy enjoying Fall, teaching my kids, running my errands etc. Then about two weeks ago, it hit me that I was almost to the middle of my life (I plan to live to be 100 ) and I wasn't at the place in my life where I had hoped to be at this age. When I turned 30, I was just fine with it because I was where I had hoped to be at that age. However the past 10 years brought with it unexpected things that weren't pleasant at all, and pretty much changed the course of how life went and the dreams that I had had, slowly died, and at times I have felt like I was dying inside as well. If I didn't have Christ in my life to depend on, I don't know what kind of choices I could have made. God hasn't "rescued" me from the hard times and the difficult issues, but He's certainly helped me through them and is still helping me. (ok, this is probably the end of the not-so-perky-depressing part of this post).

So 40 was coming whether I liked it or not. My sister-in-law and another friend have told me that the 40's are much better than the 30's. I hope so, or it'll be a dull ride. I've also heard that the 40's go by fast. They did for my dad, but I think that had a lot to do with the fact that he was busy raising my sister and watching her get older and not necessarily realizing that he was also getting older. I really hope that the 40's don't fly by so fast that I reach 50 and wonder "where did that time go?"

So, anyway, my birthday started kind of early. We were supposed to have some snow, and I woke up early (on my own, because I just don't have the ability anymore to sleep in), peeked out of the window into the semi-dark early morning and I could tell that the back yard was still green and not white. My husband sleepily asked if I saw any snow and was disappointed when I said "no". He was able to sleep in a bit longer, I couldn't. I did finally doze off after Kevin left to make breakfast for me (as the routine goes, Kevin cooks and serves breakfast in bed on my birthday and Mother's day). I didn't doze for long because I could hear the kids talking to Kevin as he was cooking. While I waited, my dad called and I visited with him. I think that he's had a harder time with me being 40 than I was. He just can't believe that he has a kid who's 40. He still feels like he's the one who should be 40 still. Our chat ended just before breakfast arrived. Breakfast consisted of biscuits & gravy, vegetarian sausage, fried eggs and O'Bryan potatoes (I love potatoes for breakfast!) and a vanilla latte, and several presents. My husband gave me a card that reads "More and More over the years, you and I see things the same way. We hold them up close and squint".

The snow that was forecasted for my birthday, didn't come. It was pretty cold, and I stayed home because I didn't want to go somewhere and then have it snow while I was out and then have to drive home in it (for anyone who might be reading this, we only get snow about once per year and it never lasts long so we're not well practiced in the art of driving in the snow and we all tend to stay home and close schools). I just kind of relaxed a bit during the day, sitting on the couch watching "Gilmore Girls". While I was watching that, Kevin made a birthday cake (from "scratches" he said as he scratched the box of cake mix--funny guy!) So I had a very good birthday and 40 doesn't look so dreadful after all.

The snow finally came yesterday. I realized just how ill prepared we were for it. Last year for Christmas, we bought the kids snow gloves (after so many years of knitted gloves, we thought that they might like being in the snow longer if their hands weren't cold and wet) and we kept them in the kids dressers. So yesterday, the snow is here, and the gloves aren't in the drawers and we can only find one. So, the kids went out in knitted gloves and they were cold and wet, and the snow wasn't rolling right for a snowman (according to my daughter) and they were back in the house within 15 minutes. My son decided that he will stay in the house for the duration of the snow. So, I'm on the alert and looking out for the missing gloves (and other gear) so snow will hopefully be more enjoyable to them.

While the kids were outside, I came out with my camera and took pictures of the white neighborhood. The kids noticed that a hummingbird was at the feeder and were calling for me to take a picture. I've only seen a hummingbird at the house 3 times in the 11 years we've lived here and this one hung around to have his picture taken which was cool. I was able to take about 5 pictures of him while he was in our maple tree. I hope that the little guy stayed in the tree because there were 5 cats roaming around on the ground below who would have loved to have him for a snack!

So today is day two of the snow. Yesterday, the roads were more icy and the bus that Kevin was riding to work bumped into the curb a few times. After work, Kevin had to wait in the freezing cold nearly an hour for his bus to arrive to take him home. He was pretty cold when he finally arrived home. This morning, it was 11 degrees outside. Kevin told me later that the roads were better and he made it to work on time.

So, that's the latest update here.

Lp

Thanksgiving, and the goings on afterward...

Thanksgiving has come and gone rather quickly. Christmas is just around the corner. The kids keep lamenting how slow it is in coming, but I'm lamenting on how fast the time is flying and hoping that I'll be ready in time.

Our week was off to a rather sad start. My mother-in-law, who has Alzheimer's, was moved to a care facility on Monday. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's about 2 years ago (as I was writing this, I asked my husband how long ago it was that she had been diagnosed, and his reply was "I forgot". Yes, we did have a brief chuckle about that). We've tried to help my father-in-law out by staying with her on Fridays. My husband and I took turns, so every other Friday, she was with one of us. Now it looks like we'll be visiting her on Fridays, and another other day that we can.

For Thanksgiving, we went to my dad's, as we have for at least 11 or 12 years. My little nephew was there too. He's walking now, which means that he's more interested in everything that my dad has around the house and wants to touch it. His parents were saying "No" alot because my dad's house isn't baby/toddler proofed. Eventually, my nephew was frustrated with the limitations, not having anything to play with really and he was due for a nap. So my sister and brother-in-law rushed through their dessert and left. They were going to the other grandparents' house and fortunately for them, my nephew had mellowed out by the time they got there. Plus there were little cousins for him to play with there. Hearing all of his fussing at my dad's house though, made my husband very glad that our kids were not that age and no longer in that stage of life.

After leaving my dad's, we came back into town and visited my mother-in-law at her new home. She was really happy to see us (especially my husband). We visited for about an hour. We were able to check out the facility and see her room and the courtyard. It's a really nice place. The kids drew some pictures for their grandma so she could hang them in her room. The ladies that worked there brought out a game for the kids to play with so they wouldn't be bored. So it was a good visit, yet a difficult one. No one wants to see this happen to their parents and it's hard when it does happen, and in this way. I can't really understand what my husband is dealing with, really. When my own mother died (from cancer), I had less two weeks notice really that it was going to happen, and when it did, it was sudden. Alzheimer's is just cruel and slow. For now, we're grateful that my mother-in-law remembers us (not our names, but she knows who we are), and we plan to visit as often as we can with the kids (though I think that my husband plans to visit daily).

Anyway, on Friday, I did not get up before the sun to catch the sales. The tradition we have is to put away the fall decorations and get out the Christmas ones (I think that I have about 9 Rubbermaid containters of them now.....time to purge them maybe?). My husband cleans up the front yard, and gets all of the lights (I think we counted about 8 containers of them) and starts planning the "outdoor illumination". Today, he spent most of the day outside and was even up on the roof. He'll probably be out putting up lights tomorrow too. Yes, it's that time of year, where the lights will come on at dusk, and during that time, we won't be able to use any hairdryers or vacuum cleaners (we know our limitations during the Christmas season, from experience).

So that is all for now,
Lp

Well I thought that I'd take advantage of the time that the house is quiet to blog again. Kevin and the kids are out in the garage at the moment. Kevin is practicing his drums, Kylin is playing with the model train set, and Heather is videotaping everything that is going on out there. There is also the possibility that a cat or two has joined them and will be in Heather's "movie"

My daughter has a job for next week cat "sitting". The cat will stay in her own house and I'll drive Heather over every day to make sure that she has food and water and that anything needing cleaning up will be taken care of. This is one of those perfect jobs for her as she loves cats!

Yesterday, the kids and I went with my grandma to Shari's restaurant for lunch. I was in the mood for soup and their menu showed this very delicious looking baked potato soup. So I ordered that, without the bacon bits on top (we don't eat meat). The waitress said that there were bacon bits in the soup too. So I switched to the soup of the day which was Wisconsin Cheddar. Well they didn't have that either because they had forgotten to order it and were replacing it with a chicken & dumpling soup. Well that just wouldn't do......so I ordered a veggie omelet with hashbrowns (I still had a potato in some form!). Still having a craving for potato soup, I made a batch when I arrived home. I blended a little sour cream into it too. It was soooooo good! I did eat too much of it, but I got the craving out of my system. I have about a cup of it left, in the freezer.

Tonight, I thought that I'd make chili, which is what Kevin likes. I also chose a cornbread recipe that I hadn't made for my family before. It was called Cheesy Corn Spoon Bread. It was alright. I guess we're used to the Marie Callender's sweet corn bread (really it's more like cake). The chili was declared delicious, the cornbread will take some getting used to. Kylin declared that he liked Marie Callender's cornbread best.

The kids are getting anxious for Thanksgiving to arrive next week. The Macy's parade is something the kids will get up early to watch. Then we'll go to my dad's for dinner. My sister has been telling me that my nephew walks and has started saying a few words. So Thanksgiving at my dad's may have some extra entertainment this year! The kids are also excited about the day after Thanksgiving as that is when we put away the Fall decorations and get out all of the Christmas decor. Kylin has a singing snowman that he's looking forward to seeing again. We usually put fresh batteries in it when we get it out and then let them run out of power. It only takes a few days. While I'm inside with the indoor decorations, Kevin will spend most of the day (and into the evening) putting up the Christmas lights. By Christmas day, aircraft flying overhead will know where we live. :) Maybe next time I blog I can post some pictures of the goings on during "decoration day".

Lp

General Update (because I really don't have a title for this one)

The rainy weather seems to be in full swing these days. I don't mind too much. I like to hear the rain when I first start to wake up in the morning. I wouldn't mind having my cup of coffee in my cozy bed on those mornings. However, the sound of kids in the living room indicate that I really can't do that for several more years Rainy days also bring more regular hot cocoa days for the kids.

Two weeks ago we also went on our annual drive through Cheshire, Veneta, Crow and Lorane (very rural areas near where we live). We've been taking this drive every year at this time since we started dating (so about 14 years now I guess), and every year, we are just so fascinated with the pretty colors of the fall leaves, and at the end of each drive, we comment on how we should have brought the camera. So this year, we brought it, and took about 64 pictures (one of which is the picture at the upper left of this post). Some of them I actually tried to take while the car was in motion (I had read the blog of someone else who was traveling by motorcycle and had taken pictures while still in motion, so I thought I'd try it as well, just in the safer car). A couple of years ago, Kevin bought me a really nice camera for my birthday and it takes fabulous pictures. I just love it! Anyway, some of my pictures in motion (or "drive-by-shootings") don't look half bad (note the picture at the upper right). Maybe just a hint of a blur in one area but not too bad. We took the kids on this trip too. They've been going with us ever since they arrived, and when they were little, all we had to do was buy a basket of French fries and a soda for them and they thought it was a great trip. Not so anymore. Hopefully one day when they're our age, they'll actually have fond memories of it.........maybe.........I hope so. They are both very artistic and only one is currently interested in drawing pictures of scenery.

It seems that a cold that has been going around has made a visit to our house as well. Just as my husband is starting to feel better after a week of having a cold, my daughter has the beginnings of one. Hopefully it won't last long. Thanksgiving is coming up and I'd really hope that our extended family will be giving thanks that we didn't give the cold to them.

So that's just about all there is to report. It's evening, the kids are in bed, and it seems like a good time for a cup of tea.

Lp

An odd commercial for sponsoring a child

Just a short post on something I saw on TV yesterday that made absolutely no sense. There was a commercial for a children's charity for children overseas, and the spokesperson was a well known former child actress asking us to sign up and sponser a child, and by doing so, you'll provide the child with food, clothes and an education, AND have the love and gratitude of your particular child. Now that's all fine and good, I have no problem with that. What I found odd, was what they used as the carrot to dangle in front of the public to get them to sign up. The first 3 months you can sponsor a child for FREE! So for the first 3 months, how is this child going to get the promised food clothes and education from your sponsorship if you aren't paying anything, thus not truly "sponsoring"? After 3 months, it'll be $22 per month, but buy then, will person who signed up remember to budget that in. Who knows, I'm sure that there are some who will. We're also told that we'll receive a letter from the child we sponsor. So if we get the first 3 months free, should we expect a letter from "our child" in that first 3 months that says, "Thanks for nothing!"

This isn't buying a car or a piece of furniture with the promise of "no payments 'til after New Years!". It's rather sad that a charity feels that they need to offer this kind of motivation to get sponsors.

Ok, I'm off of my soap box for now.
Lp

We have a stash.........

of tape!
I don't know what it is that is so fascinating about tape with kids. I know that I loved tape as a kid, but I don't remember why. But today's topic title was inspired by my kids when my son asked my daughter if she had any tape in her "stash". My son has such a fascination with tape. My daughter had one when she was younger, but now sees that it's only a necessity for wrapping gifts and fixing pages in her books. My son uses tape for building things and hanging things up. He uses it to hang up pictures on walls, to tape yarn to shoeboxes ,hoping to hook it up to one of the cats so they can pull it like a trailer, or in the case I'm seeing right now, taping it to the back of himself so as he's picking up clutter, he can put it in the box. However, he's realizing that the tape won't hold the box and everything he's putting it in.

Before my son discovered tape, there was plenty available for gift wrapping, closing boxes to mail, and preparing to paint. Not anymore. We are always rather hardpressed to find tape in the house. I have hidden it and he's found it.

Maybe for Christmas, we should just give him a box of tape for his own........that blue painter's tape so as not to wreck the paint on the walls.

Lp (as I end this, he is still trying to tape a box to the back of his shirt)

Fun facts About This Mom

My husband did this several months ago, so, I thought I'd come up with something similar. Anyway, trivial stuff about me! Enjoy!

1. Until I was married, I had had maybe 2 coffees, and I didn't know how to make coffee. I married a major coffee drinker, and learned from him how to make it and my coffee intake is now every day, more than once per day. A friend of mine refers to it as "Mama's Little Helper", and I would have to agree.

2. My desk is currently covered with teacher's manuals, school books and the kids art papers, a large printer. My desk seems to be the "catch-all" here in the livingroom.

3. I haven't ridden a bicycle in at least 20 years

4. Current favorite soda is Wild Cherry Pepsi

5. I've been to a Star Trek convention (I went with Kevin when we were engaged. He got Marina Siritis' autograph).

6. Favorite comic strips are "For Better or For Worse" and "Stone Soup"

7. When I was in 6th grade, I went to a Christian School and we went to our state capital to hear Jerry Falwell speak. There were several tv stations and protesters there as well.

8. I've been to Canada twice. The first time I went to Edmonton with my parents and I was about 4 or 5. My mom and I swam in a hot spring and I think that it was snowing there too. The second time I went was on my honeymoon and we went to Victoria B.C.

9. I've never flown on an airplane. All of my traveling has been done by car

10. I've visited at least 10 states

11. I took piano lessons for 2 years (most of my lesson time was spent listening to my teacher tell stories about her youth).

12. I'm not a huge cat fan, but because my husband and daughter are, we have them in the house. We have 5 of them.

13. We are organic gardeners. Actually my husband does most of the gardening and I do the harvesting and preserving.

14. I went to a taping of "Who's The Boss" nearly 20 years ago.

15. Celebrities I've seen. The cast of "Who's The Boss", Scott Baio, as he was entering the parking lot of the tv studio, as we were leaving a taping of the show. Marina Siritis from "Star Trek: The Next Generation".

16. amateur photographer (I took a photography class 20 years ago, but it would help if I took it again since we now have cool digital cameras).

17. I used to work for the 2nd largest computer software company in the world (hopefully it's still the 2nd largest).

18. I grew up with dauchsunds as our family pets.

19. Related to Daniel Boone as I'm a descendant of his older brother Samuel.

20. My first 8 years were spent around a dairy. My granddad owned the dairy and my dad managed it. For 8 years we lived out in the country surrounded by cows. If anyone who lived in Lane County back in the 60's and 70's ever drank Lloyd's Milk, that was from my granddad's dairy.

21. There is a quilt with my name on it in the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum in Burr Oak, Iowa. My fourth grade class made a 9 patch quilt and donated it to the museum.

22. When I was in college, I studied to become a television director

23. I'm mostly Scottish, then Danish, Welsh, and a little Native American. My maiden name is an Irish one, but I think that's about as far as it goes.

So anyway, fun little facts that you never knew, and probably never wondered about, but now you do!

Lp