GRANDMA!!!

What kind of a grandma lets her grandchildren sleep with a pit bull?  My mom, that kind.  Yes, those are my kids sound asleep with my uncle's pit bull.  Yes, that is a pit bull sleeping with my kids, and knowing Amber, she loved it. 

Vacation

We had quite a vacation this year.  Me, my mom, my 4 kids, my dog and my sister's dog drove cross country.  Yes; 2 adults, 4 children, and 2 dogs driving cross country.  All and all, the kids and dogs were fairly good in the car.  We drove long and hard, but had some great times.  We saw lots of things: The Mitchell Corn Palace, The Badlands of South Dakota, Mt Rushmore, Custer State Park, Crazy Horse, Devil's Tower, Yellowstone National Park, The Grand Tetons National Park, The Great Salt Lake, and finially ending in Florida.  All and all, a total of 19 different states.  The best part, my kids said that going around seeing these places was better than Disney ever could be.....I love my kids.  Here are a few pictures from the trip.  I will have more at a later date.

A fun Sunday

Since it was a little chilly today (in the 50's) we decided to have a fire.  Of course, when you have kids and a fire it means smores!  The kids had a great time cooking their smores, and feeding the fire. 

Michelle had to have her's deconstructed, And burnt to a crisp.  She is so like her momma!!

While they enjoyed their smores, I cooked on my new grill. This is what we had, with herbed rice and grilled corn. I so love my new grill!

94 DEGREES????

Is it really possible that the temp was a whopping 94 degrees today? The day started nice enough, with lovely 60 degrees, post spring night rain, but driving home today the temp on the car read 94 DEGREES! How is that possible? It is only April 6th. Just a meer month ago we were swimming in snow, now it's sweat. The bees are all buzzing, grills fired up, tulips in bloom. It is wonderful to be warm, but do we really need 94 DEGREES in April?


The one benefit of living in a 90 yr old house is the old plaster walls. Why did they ever do away with them? They are a perfect insulator of weather and sound. Having good sound insulation is important when living on a busy road like I live. Weather insulation is even more important. When getting my new heater and central air a few years back, the HVAC guys were shocked how well this house held it's temps. When I reminded them that I have plaster walls, they smacked their heads and went, "Duh, no wonder!" Gotta love guys!

Spring? What Spring

What happened to Spring?  Earlier in the week the high for the day was maybe 40, now we are looking at a high of 80+.  Did I miss Spring? 
Today, I made the first lawn cutting of the season.   Cut it just enough to clean it up.  I really need to buy a new spindle for my riding mower.  At the end of last season, the star on the current spindle that holds the blade in place broke off.  The only real fix is a new spindle.  Luckily it doesn't take much to replace the spindle.  Just need to take the deck off.  Luckily, I know how to do it. 
There is way too much to do to clean up the yard.  All the raking, mulching, triming, cutting, planting....and it never ends.  I feel like I am running a rat race all the time.  Laundry, homework, charting for work, laundry, taking kids to school, making dinner and lunches, laundry, and more laundry.....I'm drowning in laundry.....

What's Wrong With This Picture

Something is seriously wrong with this picture, can you tell me what it could possibly be??

Maybe that fact that I have the clothes drying on the line with SNOW still on the ground.  The fact that it is warm enough to dry clothes outside with SNOW STILL ON THE GROUND!  When will it ever disappear?  Will spring ever come and will the snow ever go away?

Blessings

My job has been causing me much stress lately.  I have been worried about not having a full time job for several months.  I guess that is what happens when all new management comes in. 

Last week, my worst fears were coming true.  My bosses were talking about cutting my hours from 40/week to 30/week.  I know that might not sound like much, but 30/week means no benefits and a significant cut in salary.  Basically, I work all but 1 weekend a month.  If I could work every weekend, then that would be full time.  If I could work every weekend, I wouldn't have a problem.  I can't work every weekend.  As it is, I only get 1 weekend off a month.  In exchange for that 1 weekend off, I work 10 hrs during the week (2-5hr days).  Well, they are not happy with me doing 2-5hr days, because, sometimes I need to change days.  Mostly, I do Tuesday and Friday, but some weeks I may change that because of my kids.  That is not good enough for them.  They want set hours on set days, or my hours will be cut.  It has been killing me.  I don't know what to do, and I hate asking for help. 

I had to swallow my pride (funny, this weeks church sermon was on pride) and ask for help.  Luckily, I have 1 person I could ask.  She has been there since I started going to my church.  She has helped me through a lot.  I meet her when I first started going through my divorce.  She has seen my through my divorce, and I have seen her go through her seperation.  She has helped me a lot.  I have tried to help her too.  That's the way that I think people should be.  Help when you can, because you never know when you will need help in return.  I asked, she prayed, and she said that she can help.

This post is a THANK YOU.  Thanks Carmen for all your help!  Thanks for being there when I need you, I just hope and pray that I can ever repay you!

My baby....

Happy Birthday D.  Yes, you are still my baby, even at 7yrs old.  You will always be my little man, even if you are 6 ft 4 and 30ys old.  Please don't change your loving spirit.  You are so loving and caring.  You are so precious. 

This year you finially got your wish to know what it was like when you were born...30+ inches of snow on the ground. 

Seven years ago, we were in the midst of a major Nor'easter.  Record amounts of snow falling, and I was scheduled for a c-section on Feb 17.  Given the snow, you would not be born on the 17th, since the doctor could not get to the hospital.  Sure, me and Poppie laughed at that fact.  When the doctor was finially able to make it to the hospital, he called and asked if I could make it to the hospital..no problem.  Early morning on the 18th, Poppie, Me and your dad got into Poppie's truck.  Poppie drove us to the hospital.  Many a car was seen in the ditches, but luckily for us, we had Poppie to drive us in his 4 wheel drive truck (not to mention Poppie was a Colorado State Trooper in his past).  We safely make it to the hospital.  We were the only crazies able to make it there for an elective surgery.  Since I was the only one there, the doctor offered to let Poppie and daddy go into the delivery room.  Unfortunety, the hosital did not have a scrub set for Poppie.  Poppie even offered to drive back home and get his own, but it was not to be.  You always had a special place in Poppie's heart.  Shortly after 9am on Feb 18, 2003 you were born.  My baby boy.  I'm glad you had a great day.  May you continue to have a great year. 
Daniel Jackson, I love you and Happy Birthday.

More snow is a comin

Yes, you saw that right.  We are expecting up to 6 more inches of the fluffy white stuff today.  Of course....just got the driveway halfway decent.  That's it, I'm packing up the kids, leaving everything else, and moving to Florida.

Yes, the snow is really that deep

Kenny is 5ft 2 inches, and the snow is up to his hips......and he told me he was not touching the ground.   Yes, the snow really is that deep, with more expected on Monday.  At this rate, spring will come sometime around July.