Monday, June 30, 2014
I feel like................
I think there's some shoes in here that keep hitting me in the head every time the washer turns too ;-)
.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Painting
God kept the rain at bay yesterday until 4:30pm. We were able to get the entire house primed and a majority of it painted. Don says it should only take about two more hours to finish so we'll work at it again on Monday evening.
I really wanted to post a picture but my stupid phone is going crazy. I noticed I was getting a text when I saw it scrolling on the top of the screen but when I tried to look at it, it didn't exist. When I tried to send Linda a picture later, my phone wouldn't cooperate. That's when I learned I couldn't send or receive texts. Or look at pictures I've taken. They're there, I just can't get to them. When I looked more closely last night, I realized my phone also had the wrong time by two hours and it was telling me that it was June 22.
I tried shutting it off and turning it back on but that didn't seem to make any difference. I finally went into the settings and manually changed the time and date. The part of the phone that makes calls still works though. Except I rely on texting a lot more than calls. I might have to take it in on Monday.
On another note, I found out yesterday, from my sister not in that family, who found out through FB, my bio mom and her husband were in a bad motorcycle accident on Monday. The short version is that he broke both his hands and wrists and some other stuff and she had only bad bruises and road rash all over.
I think I got my phone working correctly again!!! So here are some pictures :-)
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Sophia Says
Me: "Sure!"
Sophia: "Thanks! You're the best mom in the whole city!"
.
Friday, June 27, 2014
Painting
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Dentist - part 2
Not so Positive: Taylor has to go back to have two baby teeth pulled because they haven't come out by themselves. It's a scheduling nightmare to coordinate her, Brittney and Zeke. :-/ (Tay to get baby teeth out, Brittney's re-scheduled cleaning because she had to work today, Zeke to finish root canal and front tooth restructuring)
Negative: Anthony kept chasing Sophia in the waiting room while I was trying to re-schedule Taylor and Brittney. After talking to him twice, I finally had him stand by me. He copped a huge attitude and you'd have thought I was killing him. He still refused to stand there. So I was trying to keep Sophia quiet, deal with Anthony's meltdown, keep an eye on Zeke and work with the scheduling gal. My stress level was a bit high at that moment. :-(
I finally got done and rounded up the kids. That's when I realized Sophia was missing. Perfect. I lost a child. I quickly checked the floor we were on. I didn't see her but Taylor said she went to the bathroom so I found the bathroom. I tried the door but it was locked. I yelled, "Sophia!?!" a few times through the door. I knew Sophia could lock the door herself but she can't always get it open. I could hear someone in there so I kept shouting until the elevator doors on the opposite end opened. Taylor came out and told me that Sophia was in the downstairs bathroom. Oh........ I guess I'll quit yelling at the poor innocent person in the bathroom then.
I already had my fill of stress by the time we made it back to the van. The kids tried to open the sliding van door but in the process, they broke the handle. They'd already broken the one on the other side last year but since it would be over $300 to get it fixed, I figured we could live with only one useable door. Except as of today, we now have none. Not only would the door not open from the inside OR the outside, but there was also an incredibly annoying beeping to tell me the door wasn't shut completely. I couldn't get the door open and I couldn't get the beeping to turn off. I finally had all the kids climb in through the front door. Then I turned a movie on for them, turned the radio up for me and drove home as fast as I could.
So if you see me at baseball tonight, it might be wise not to ask how my day was ;-)
Dentist
Today I get to sit at the dentist with my children. I can only think of a few things that I enjoy more. Like having my eyeballs pecked out by ravens, or maybe having lemon juice poured onto a thousand papercuts, or perhaps rolling naked over a million tacks.
So far, we survived the drive to SF but Sophia fell asleep. That meant I had to practically drag her, kicking and screaming, into the dentist's office so I could get everyone checked in on time. She eventually woke up and settled down in time to have Anthony pick a fight with her over baby toys. I made Anthony sit on a chair by me. Then Riley & Taylor started fighting because they wanted the same chair. Then Riley became even more upset because Taylor was playing with the velcro on her shoes and the sound bothered him. Zeke was just being his loud and not-always-socially-appropriate self.
There is a silver lining. As of right now, they have ALL the kids back there and I'm in the waiting room.
Never mind. That lasted all of five minutes. Riley is back already. I was wondering if his brushing was going ok, if he had any cavities, etc, so I asked him if they said anything to him.
His response was,"Yep. She said I had nice hair."
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Random Kids
Courage
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Everyone's Crying
*Sophia cried because I wouldn't let her drink mountain dew.
*Steve nearly cried because I wouldn't let him bring his taco into the girls room upstairs when he was tucking them in.
*I had a terrible headache and had just settled into bed when Taylor came into my room sobbing. Seriously sobbing. I though someone had died. I finally got her calmed down enough to understand what she was saying.
My friends, Ted and Alissa, are moving and their new rental house doesn't allow dogs. So they asked if we would be willing to keep their little dog, Daisy. They brought her over last night, along with all her doggy stuff. The kids love her and she loves them. Our older dog, Buddy, is kind of indifferent.
Anyway, in exchange for being able to have the dog sleep with her every night, Taylor has volunteered to be Daisy's main caregiver. So last night as Taylor was snuggling into bed with the little dog, she was devastated because our friends had to give up their dog. That's why she came crying to me
So we had a 45 minute discussion. I told her it was ok to be sad and cry because it was a sad situation. But Ted and Alissa were also glad that Daisy was going to be with us. Our conversation went way longer than I hoped but Taylor eventually finished her crying and went back to bed.
.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Riley's in the Community Band
Riley is playing percussion in the Brookings Area Community Band this summer. Tonight was their first concert so I took Taylor, Sophia & Elisabeth. Riley is the youngest player and probably the shortest. He's in the back rockin' it out on the bass drum!
They perform on Sunday nights at 7:30pm in Pioneer Park. Bring your lawn chair and enjoy the show!
Pictures :-)
Detour (Updated)
Me: "Why would you even begin to think that 'Sex Sent Me to the ER' would be an appropriate show?!?"
Me: "And why would you let the little kids watch this?!?"
Me:"Since you obviously aren't using good judgment, I'll be selecting the tv show. Hmmm. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse looks like an appropriate show. And don't even think about touching the remote without permission unless it's to watch Disney or Nick!
.
I'm supposed to be de-escalating situations, not making the tension escalate.
At least I didn't hit him over the head with the remote ;-)
So I already know that it's pointless to ask a rhetorical question that just makes a kid defensive. But at that moment in time, I didn't really care. I was just frustrated. Had my therapist been there, her conversation would have gone more like this:
"Riley, it looks like you're really curious about this. Do you have some questions I could answer? Maybe we could talk about it in private later. This show probably wasn't the best choice for an appropriate show. It seems like we need to discuss what makes a show or movie appropriate or inappropriate for you. Would you like to talk about that now or later? If you don't want to talk about it now, would you like to find another show or would you like to find something else to do?"
.
When I told Dawn this story, she said her response would have been to plop down on the couch and ask, "What did I miss?"
.
Pretty sure I should try to stick with the therapist's version :-)
.
.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Another Cool God Story
My husband checked on the price and possibility of having a new key made for my van. I needed my driver's license, insurance and title information and $53. So away I went to the car dealership. The first guy wasn't particularly interesting in helping, but my paperwork and money convinced him. It took about 20 minutes and we were on our way with a new key. Brittney was with me and on the walk back to the van I was telling her how sometimes I just need to be patient and let God work. What a great Christian parenting discussion.
We got to the van and the key didn't even fit into the ignition. Why, oh why did I just have to talk about patience?!? So I kept my cool and back to the car dealership we went.
I had another person help me this time and he did a little research. Turns out that my particular van has 'wings' on the ignition cylinder, making a different kind of key necessary. They didn't have that key base in stock. He made a quick call to a dealership in another area to have one delivered. So again we waited. This time, we went home and waited.
Meanwhile, the air conditioning guy my brother sent over came to check things out at the house. That's a whole different story. Anyway, a few hours later, the car dealership called me to let me know they had my key ready. So Steve gave Brittney and me a ride on his lunch hour. We got the new key and instructions on how to program it. It was a process that was supposed to take a little over 30 minutes. Another walk back to the van at Walmart and I started the programming process. I was pretty sure after 15 minutes that it wasn't working like it was supposed to but I continued through the entire process just in case. So an hour later, when Brittney and I were sure it wasn't going to work, Back to the dealership we went. I told the poor gal at the reception desk that we really missed them. She smiled and said she was pretty sure that wasn't exactly true.
This time I was passed to the head service guy. I told him that God was just developing my character because I needed to work on my ability to handle things with patience. He just smiled. I think he thought I was going to yell at him. He did more checking on the computer. My van seems to be one of the few that can't be programmed with just the key. They need to hook it up to their computer. I thought maybe I'd have to get it towed. AAA knows me personally now anyway. What's one more call?
The car guy did more research and discovered that they could take their computer to the van, hook it up, bring the computer back to the shop, hook it into their system, take the computer back to the van and program it that way. He was going to try to pull one one of the service guys from another project to work on it. The longer I though about it, I more I realized that they were really busy and I didn't really need my van that afternoon. I wanted it.......but I didn't need it. When he came back, I told him he could just keep the key and they could get to it when they had time later that evening or the next morning. The relief in his eyes was immediate. He promised to have it ready by the next day.
Brittney called my mom to see if she could give us a ride home and it turns out that she was right across the street at Chocolatte. We walked over and joined her and two of her friends. She bought us iced coffees and let us hang out with them. My sister picked up Brittney so she could get to work on time. After a while, Deb and her friend needed to leave. By now, it was around 5pm and it was just my mom and me. She didn't have a vehicle there but she thought that they could give me a ride when my dad picked her up. Unfortunately, when my dad called her to tell her he was on her way, he didn't have enough time to take me home before they went to work at The Valley. I was really bummed out. I have an issue with being left/stuck somewhere.
It only messed me up for a few minutes. Then I decided I could handle it. The more I thought about it, the better it became. I was in my favorite coffee shop, no chattering/fighting kids and no responsibilities. Hmmmmmm. This could be ok. I had money and my phone. I've been stuck in much worse situations with much less.
I texted my mother-in-law to see if she could stop at Chocolatte. She thought I just needed coffee and immediately asked what kind I wanted. She's so good to me!!! When I told her the situation, she said she would pick me up after work. :-)
So there I was sitting by myself at Chocolatte. Only about 10 minutes into my alone time, God sent Debra back. We chatted for another hour :-)
Then something happened that made me realize the entire point of my unscheduled, untimed trip to hang out at the car dealership and then the coffee shop was all part of God's miraculous timing. As I was talking to Debra, there was a really cute little girl about 2 years old that kept coming over to us. The two ladies with her were at the counter so I talked to the little one. She brought me over some coffee cups and we talked without talking. When her mom came back, I told her that her little one was good at sharing. Then I took a good look at the mom. She looked really familiar to me but I couldn't place her. So I said, "You look really familiar to me. Do I know you?"
She said, "Yes. You're Tricia, aren't you? I'm Joni's sister."
Then I realized who she was. Her sister, Joni, has been a friend of mine for at least 10 years. I'm not going into specifics because it's not my story to tell but I can share a little. I was very close to Joni and her husband Eric for a lot of reasons. Joni and I worked together on lots of kid projects like VBS, Eric helped us a lot with our electrical issues and computer issues, they adopted three older kids, they were persecuted by Social Services, we were one of the few that understood part of what they were dealing with and didn't judge them, and most importantly, they were just good people and good friends. The short version is that one child is in JDC custody, Joni and two kids moved out of the state last year and Eric committed suicide. I've only seen her once since the funeral, although I do text occasionally.
Joni's sister lives with her husband and family in Mexico and works at an orphanage there. They're only in the States for 10 days and only in Brookings for one day. I was able to visit with her for a half hour. I'm not going to share our conversation publically but I KNOW God allowed me to be in THAT place at THAT time for THAT reason.
.
Friday, June 20, 2014
Grandpa
He said, "Hey, how far do you think I can kick this bucket?"
.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Ups & Downs
Down: We have two expensive air conditioners, neither of which are working as of yesterday.
Up: My brother could talk Steve through some things to check. When none of that worked, Steve knew a guy who was able to come over right away this afternoon.
Down: The compressor is broken in one air conditioner.
Up: Carrier was having trouble with those compressors so they will replace the entire air conditioning unit at cost, minus time used.
Down: The unit is eight years old so it will still cost us around $2,200, which we don't have right now. Then he checked the other unit in our addition. It needed two new capacitors. He replaced one right away and needs to order the other, which won't be here until Tuesday. That will run us at least $200.
Up: Replacing the capacitors in that unit will probably fix the issue for that air conditioner, so the boys will have air in their wing of the house.
Down: It's 81 degrees in our house.
Up: Steve's bank had their company picnic tonight so our entire family was well fed and I didn't have figure out what was for supper, cook supper or clean up the supper!!!
Down: I forgot one thing at the grocery store earlier and we figured we'd better get some more fans so I had to go to Walmart. I took the 15 year old and the 4 year old.
Up: I still got Anthony and Riley to their baseball games on time.
Down: Anthony got to pitch tonight and I missed it because I was at the bank picnic with the other kids.
Up: While on our way to Walmart, a call to my sister got us three fans that we could borrow so I didn't need to buy any. We were able to get in and out of Walmart in 15 minutes.
Down: I had taken my van key off my keychain so I wouldn't have to carry the whole thing around at the picnic. I drove to Walmart, parked, shopped and went back outside. When I got into the van, I realized my single key was missing. Looked around van, retraced steps, checked customer service - still no key. I had to call Steve to pick us up.
Up: Steve knew to come pick us up right away and not leave us stranded there.
Down: I've never had a spare key for that van, which I realized was a bad idea last time the keys were lost at Walmart. I obviously didn't follow up on correcting the situation. Incidentally, the only place I've ever lost my keys is at Walmart. I think I just need to avoid that place. That won't be hard now since I have no vehicle to get there anyway. Ha! I'll look again tomorrow but I think I'll just have to go to the dealership and have another key made. I'm not sure how long it will take to get one and how much it will cost but it has to be done.
Up: It's not raining, our basement isn't flooded and we haven't been hit by a tornado. :-)
.
Texting
*One I sent just for fun. It was short and wouldn't really mean anything to anyone but the person I sent it to. It has a story behind it from a couple of years ago .
My text to Holly simply read, "Coffee!!!! Just wanted to make you smile today :-)
The best part was her response: "Haha!! It worked! I MISS YOU, my long lost friend!!!"
We actually live in the same town, we just hardly ever see each other ;-)
*One I received wasn't so fun. A friend texted me to let me know that they are moving next month. :-( They're expecting a baby and Alissa was offered a job in her hometown. They're excited and it will be better for them and their family. I completely understand but it will be hard to see them go.
*This was my favorite. Annie had asked me earlier in the day if I would be home so she could stop by. I gave her a time-frame. Then she said they might go to the pool in the afternoon if the weather cooperated.
Me: I'll text you if we go :-)
Annie: TReater Hafez sthiz
I wasn't sure if that meant she was upset with me or it was a butt-text.
Me: ????????
Annie: Tate had my phone lol
Me: Tell him it was the best message I got all day!!!
I Think You Meant 'Fashion'
S: "Yah. We're the passion police!!!"
.
Conversation
Too many kids are awake too early this morning. You'd think my kids would've figured out long ago that I do not communicate in the morning before I've had at least one cup of coffee. It's not even like I make them try to guess. I tell them. "Do not even try to talk to me before I have a cup of coffee."
I tell my friends (yes, I'm using that word again. I figure too many good people have stuck by me for this long, I'd better give them the credit they deserve) that the first cup lets me function, the second awakens me and the third cup brings me to life. Kinda like alcohol but healthier ;-)
So the best shot at a fun and enjoyable conversation is definitely after a good cup of coffee. Or if you're my kid, your best chance of getting what you want from me.
That being said, the best shot at my most intense and vulnerable conversations occur just like when I was a kid having a sleepover; in the very late night hours when I'm too tired to have as much of a filter. Or sometimes on a long road trip, right Nan? Better start preparing yourself now for our next trip!
But the moral of the story is: DO NOT ATTEMPT CONVERSATION IF I HAVE NOT HAD AT LEAST ONE CUP OF COFFEE YET.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Story #4: Emergency Room Visit
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Me on My Email All the Time
Hi this is Taylor and this is my story
I am always on my email......................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................
...............................
Story #3: Friend Saturday
And every year they fuss at me for taking their picture and refusing to get in it myself ;-) |
We leave early on a Saturday morning, meet in the middle in MN and then hang out at Perkins. We get there at 11am, have lunch and talk and laugh for the rest of the day and finally pry ourselves out of the booth at 5pm. I actually think it might have been closer to 6pm this year. We always ask for a booth in the back so we don't bother anyone. That's only because we tend to laugh a lot! I grew up with these two and I love that we have past experiences in common but we still have so much to talk about in our lives now, even though we're all so different. I'm so lucky to have such great people remain in my life!!! |
Story #2: Zeke Eats Ora-Gel
This story actually began last Labor Day. Anthony knocked out 3/4 of both of Zeke's permanent front teeth, all the way to the nerve. I'm sure I posted the story somewhere on here. They were temporarily fixed. This past Thursday, the cap part of one of the teeth broke off.
Steve and I were at Riley's baseball game and Uncle Shane came by the house and then went and got some Ora-Gel for Zeke. He told Zeke to just use a little bit and then give it to mom. Fast-forward to the following day: I saw the tube sticking out of Zeke's pocket at breakfast. I told him to use a little bit and then go put it in his room. I watched him go upstairs to his room but I forgot to check his pockets as he went out the door. My mistake. I dropped Zeke and Anthony off at The Club (I know, I said I wasn't going to take them there anymore, but it was a necessity. A mistake, but I thought it was a necessity at the time.)
When I picked them up that afternoon, I was on the phone so I sent Riley in to get them. When Riley came back out with Anthony, Riley said that something had happened to Zeke. When I asked him what, he said he didn't know, just that he thought someone had punched Zeke in the face. I asked if The Club gave him an incident report. Riley said they didn't give him anything.
About that time Zeke walked around the corner. His right cheek, upper lip and nose were all so swelled up that he could barely talk.
Sophia
Who wouldn't love to wake up to this face?
This morning she and her puppy, Smudge, crawled into my bed and laid right on top of me.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Three Powerful Messages
Lots of Stories (but you only get one tonight :-)
So tonight I'll put on my headphones and start writing something that actually takes a while to read. Feel free to fast forward if it's not interesting.
Story #1: Anthony and the Gas Can
Story #2: Zeke Eats Ora-Gel
Story #3: Friend Saturday
Story #4: Emergency Room Visit
Story #5: SF Flood
Story #6: Fairly Major House Paint Problem
We'll see how far I get tonight. Have I mentioned I've been in kind of a bad mood for the past three weeks or so? I've been really crabby with my family and I have a really low tolerance level for almost anything and everything. I've also been really tired lately so I think I'll try to make it to bed at a decent time.
....................................
STORY #1 - ANTHONY AND THE GAS CAN
If you're Steve's friend on FB, you've already heard this story and can fast forward to the next one.
The other day, Steve went outside to finish mowing. He came back inside a few minutes later to ask me where the gas can was because he couldn't find it. Knowing that he has a bad habit of not seeing what's right in front of his face, (wait, did I say that out loud? I'm so sorry!), I just told him that the last time I saw it, it was in the garage. He went back to look in the garage again.
I could hear him moving things around and grumbling out there. A few minutes later, he came back inside and told me he still couldn't find it. Being the good wife that I am, I remained seated in the recliner and figured that he could look until he found it instead of me getting up, looking and seeing it right away. Did I mention that he doesn't believe in putting things back in their assigned spot so it seems like we're always looking for something he can't find? (Did I say that out loud again? I'm so sorry! I've had a bad few weeks and have very little filter left.)
I did make the helpful suggestion that he ask the boys if they had seen the gas can, again from the comfort of the recliner. So Steve went upstairs and woke Riley up from a sound sleep. Riley told him it was in the front of the garage. Steve made him get up and show him where it was. Riley walked sleepily down the stairs, out into the garage, pointed to a spot and said, "It's right.................." But as he tried to say, "there", his voice trailed off to nothing because there was definitely NOT a gas can where he was pointing. He shrugged, said, "I don't know." and went back to bed.
By now Steve's
"WELL THEN, WHERE IS IT?!?"
"It's in the bottom of the trash can."
"WHY IS IT IN THE BOTTOM OF THE TRASH CAN?!?
Anthony's calm and very logical response was simply, "It was empty so I threw it away."
Even my angry husband had no good response to that. So he simply turned around, came back down the stairs, sat down on the couch and started to laugh. Then I started to laugh. We laughed so hard that we probably woke up the rest of the kids too. But we really didn't care by that point!
Thus ends tonight's storytelling session. Tune in tomorrow morning for Story #2 :-)
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Reality
PS: Happy Father's Day
Saturday, June 14, 2014
It's too wet to paint the outside of our house today, which is a blessing in disguise because I'm off to spend the day in MN with two of my oldest & dearest friends!
Friday, June 13, 2014
It's Not Illegal
A friend told me today that it's not illegal to talk to her two days in a row.
This started with a text from me asking if she had time for a call. She called me back within 30 seconds. God seems to know when I need her the most, and vise versa. At the end, she apologized for not calling last night for our usual two hour Thursday night chat. I said it was because God knew I would need to talk to her today. That's when she said its not illegal to talk to her two days in a row :-)
I started the day with a headache and then went into full-blown crisis mode by mid-morning because of events out of my control. So tonight I'm thankful for friends & therapists who are accessible and available in a crisis. Just a quick text, a short message, or a long phone call from a few people helps remind me that I'm not alone and I don't have to wade through it by myself.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Maybe
.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
More Projects
After Steve did some yard work tonight, it started to rain again so he came inside and helped me hang some things up.
He also thought it would be a good idea to get my special cups out. I had unpacked them quite a while ago but just put them away in a cupboard. It's fun to be able to look at them again. Back in my old life, I used to purchase a glass or cup from different places I traveled. They bring back lots of memories :-)
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
I Officially Resign
I had appointments for five out of six kids at the eye doctor this morning, plus myself. I think I'm done for the day. Oh wait, we still have baseball tonight.