Don't worry. More is coming. I have been doing a little spring cleaning. More later (but sooner than later). Much sooner.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Words from the Boys
Will:
While watching some Irish dancers Will looked enthralled so I asked him,
"Will, do you want to dance like that?"
"Yeah. I want to wear one of those fancy dwesses."
Matthew:
Yesterday morning at 5:00 A.M., the alarm on Chris' blackberry went off playing every body's favorite happy song "The Entertainer." Unfortunately there are other things besides Chris' blackberry that use that song as a mascot and Matthew, who happened to be in bed with us, sat bolt upright proclaiming
"The Ice Cream Man!"
I'm sorry buddy. It's 5 a.m., pitch black, and a blisteringly cold March morning with 2 feet of residual snow still outside. It's not the ice cream man. I swear.
But just in case, here's two bucks. Hop on out there in your skivvies and bring me back a dreamsicle!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Ready for the lamb
March's LION has been in full swing here. A little photographic history of the past week for your viewing pleasure.
What I've Been Doing With My Free Time
OR
Why My Back Aches Like I'm 89
(and my Arms, and my Legs)
(and why my hands are cracked and bleeding)
(not that I'm complaining about any of it)
(it was really a boat load of fun)
(several boat loads)
This is how it started. ICE STORM. Didn't get any good pictures of it but the next morning I started to shovel the inch or so of snow off the driveway only to find another solid inch below it of ice. Nice. Oh well, it will surely warm up soon and melt that ice away.
Don't count on it. Before the ice could melt the snow came. With a furry. Lots of snow and lots of wind made fore huge drifts. Here's me trying to get a picture of the enormous drifts on the deck. Unfortunately I couldn't open the back door and my night time flash glared against it. We'll just pretend it's a really cool artsy picture.
This is why I couldn't open the back door.
We made a valiant effort to dig ourselves out the next morning and with a little help from Ben we did it. Although we were up bright and early shoveling, since school was cancelled, the city plows all allotted to spend the morning at Starbucks enjoying cozy hot beverages and swapping stories about how to best block in freshly cleared driveways with mounds of frozen snow and ice. Needless to say, for anyone who ventured out, clearing the driveway was the least of the problems. Our car did take a short trip (thankfully with another driver) and came home with wheels looking like this.
She did a good job though, valiantly plowing her own trail through the snow and safely transporting her passengers to and from work. When the wind died down the next day and the sun peeked out the kids couldn't wait to play.
Just so you're not wondering, we do not keep our mailboxes on the ground. Matthew found snow angels much easier when you just have to lean back a few inches.
And a nice little lick of snow is a cinch when it's already at lip level.
Matthew conquered the biggest mountain and planted his flag on behalf of stir-crazy-5-year-olds everywhere.
And Joseph pattered around trying not to slip in his snow suit.
A fun snow day but luckily this only happens once a year or so. And lucky I have good friends. And food storage.
Friday, March 7, 2008
LONG {but not LOST} FRIEND
It's Friday evening and I am blogging. No, nothing better to do. Kids are asleep and due to nasty nasty winter storms, hubby is stuck in Chicago.
I do have one other thing I could be doing. One of my oldest friends has been wanting to get together. Nagging at me for some time actually, to hang out, spend some quality time. But the truth is, I hate to say it, but, um, I'm getting a little tired of this friend.
{Don't worry, this friend doesn't read my blog, I promise.}
I'm sure you all have a friend like Miss "D." It's a classic high maintenance relationship. We'll go a few days without communicating, I'll think she has gained some self-sufficiency, and then, when I'm not even paying attention. SHA-ZAM! There's Miss D. Out of nowhere, in my face, needy, involving me in problems I want nothing to do with.
{I tell you, she has got more dirt going on than anyone else I know.}
I know I should have a more "Christ-like" attitude. If I were a better person I would happily clean up the problem, tidy her issues, help her get organized, and send her on her way but I'm starting to get resentful. If it's not one thing it's another--there was that accident at school, the gardening mishap, that whole mud problem, and just loads and loads of crap.
Even if we aren't talking, just enjoying a movie, I can tell Miss D is not happy. I feel the vibes-- Quit watching that show. Pay attention to me. I'm here. Pick me! Choose me!
{Ahhhh! Is there no respite from Miss D!}
The truth is: No. There is no respite from Miss D. In fact, she's here right now. In the kitchen. She's spread her untidy self all over my counter in her passive-aggressive way of silently yelling at me,
"HERE I AM! THERE'S NO WAY YOUR WALKING PAST ME AGAIN!"
Oh well, I suppose now's as good a time as any to face the beast. And I guess now that you know all about her I should formally introduce you. Here she is.
Miss Dirt E. Klose
{If she ever comes knocking at your door, don't let her in.}
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Odds and Ends
- Yesterday it was a blessed 65 degrees here. We went to the zoo and roamed in nothing but our shirtsleeves and had a fantastic time of it. Lovely.
- Today there has been more than a 30 degree drop--complete with blazing winds and freezing rain. Lovely.
- This is the view out my windows.
No, those aren't specialty antique glass window panes. That's ice. Yes, my house is currently covered in an ice coating. Good thing we already went to the grocery. - I realized I never actually answered my valentines trip geography question. We did in fact visit Amsterdam and congrats to all of you who guessed correctly! For trivia's sake, we stayed in the Hotel Pulitzer (payed for by the firm) which is the hotel where George Clooney and his gang of thieves stay in "Ocean's 12." I felt a good knowing Messrs. Clooney, Pit, and Damon also roamed those same curving corridors. (I will never wash the soles of my shoes again . . .)
- Staying at a swanky hotel sometimes gives the wrong impression. Sometimes people forget that certain other people might only be staying at said swanky hotel because "work" is paying for it, their own measly wallets being far too light. This exact assumption led to a somewhat embarrassing/awkward moment at the diamond factory--more on that later.
- When leaving a home-drawn map of all the important stuff for your mother-in-law while you go out of town, the fact that you included all your friends' houses, Wal-Mart, Target, Wendy's, McDonalds, preschool, the Library, the grocery store, the nature center, and Cheesecake Factory will not make up for the fact that you forgot to include the one place she needed to get to in a hurry . . . the hospital.
- The Emergency Room (or: I'm so very sorry, Grammy). Upon making it back to U.S. soil after our trip we made the requisite call home to say we've landed, we're okay, we'll be home in a couple hours (because of Chris' work we had flown out of a different city). Although our morning on the plane had gone by without incident, back at the ranch things were not quite so calm. Earlier that day while sliding off the counter, Matthew had slammed his chin and bit his tongue fairly severely leaving a nice gash right across the middle of his tongue. Luckily Grammy called Tara, who is a dental hygenist (and married to a dentist). Tara confirmed it was a very bad slice and was nice enough to tend the other boys while Grammy took little Moo to the E.R. The E.R. doc wanted to stitch him up then and there but being a mouth injury it required sedation and they couldn't do that without talking with us, the parents, who were lounging on the plane and unreachable. Once they got the bleeding under control they allowed Grammy to take him home to await our phone call. So we got the news and spent the next 2 hours while driving home on the phone with various doctors and dentists trying to figure out what to do. After many calls and various opinions, the E.R. doc said it wouldn't hurt to wait until morning, take Matthew to an oral surgeon, and go from there. We did just that and thankfully, although it looked like the devil, the oral surgeon said it would probably be fine without stitches. Relief. For me at least. I wasn't worried about the actual stitches but was not looking forward to the sedation. I have been surprised how fast it has healed. Grammy said right after it happened the inner muscle swelled quite a bit and was pushing out of the gash like a mushroom. Blaaaah. I took an early picture but I think it is too gross to actually post. Here's what it look like now.
Matthew was explaining to one of his friends about it: "Yeah, I had to eat soft foods for a couple days but then Mom got me back to normal so I could have nuggets and fries." Oh yes, what would we do without nuggets and fries. Thank heavens!
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