Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

Blizzard 2011

February 2, 2011

Yesterday Feb 1, 2011 was quite an historic day here and I’ve got the pictures to prove it. Drifts in our backyard are really deep and I think Jeff and I may be intrepid enough to wade through it this afternoon. For about 4 seconds maybe – it is COLD out there baby!
The snow started overnight and then really began in earnest after dawn with a brutal wind helping to swirl the snow into little whirlwinds and drift it into unusual patterns. We watched the snow piling up in the yards all day and marvelled at the beauty of it. At one point I measured a drift next to the back door and it was 9″ deep just to the first step! There was still snow on the ruler and we looked at the sparkling ice crystals on it – a very dry snow yet but beautiful. That is one thing about nature – it can be mesmerizing, beautiful, amazing and yet so terribly dangerous all at the same time.

Luckily we didn’t lose power or satellite and now the battle is on to make sure that no pipes freeze. I’ll be keeping water faucets dripping overnight as the temps dip to below zero. Say a prayer for us on that front!

College classes were cancelled, Mike’s office was closed for the day, and Matt is 40 miles downstream in a hotel so that he can get to work. I have to say, I’m not thrilled about his getting out and about on the roads Thursday, but the main highways should be cleared. We’ll see. I’m envious though – a two night hotel stay sounds like a vacation to me!

So, it’s going to be a long week or two with snow on the ground, but as long as I can get out this weekend to get more food in the house I’ll be okay. I’m counting down the days to March when warmer weather arrives. In the meantime, here are the pictures I took yesterday.

Here is the snow drift that is against the door - made sure to open the door carefully so we could see how high it would get over the course of the day.

This is looking from our office to the gate - it was 9am.

Two cinder blocks half covered in snow with elf hats - that was interesting.

The snow is drifting deeper against the door now.

The cinder blocks are now covered

And the grill awaits the return of spring.

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No, it’s not a phone book

January 28, 2011

Earlier this week I opened the mailbox and found a really huge book the size of a phone book. From New York City. When I pulled that book out I looked at the cover and saw the words “Rainbow Resource Center” and immediately realized it was the catalog I had sent for last week! I had heard their catalogs were big, but WOW that is a really big catalog. I have to say, if I was a new homeschooler I think I might be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of products they have. However, as a veteran homeschooler it is going to be a lot of fun drooling over the products they offer. I know I will spend many an hour and coffee cup curled up and gleaning much information from this catalog. Hmm – I think it’s just a few months until the new Sonlight catalog comes out ;-).

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Fit Me Makeup by Maybelline – One More Time

January 26, 2011

Third time’s the charm right? It took a couple of weeks for the 110 color to get into the stores again and I picked up the last bottle at Wal-Mart when it finally did. This is the perfect color! It doesn’t wash me out at all despite it being pretty light. It also does not have pink in it like the 115, and when you have rosacea, more pink is not the way to go. It looks natural and a little really does go a long way. I am going to try mixing the 110 and 120 colors to see how that looks and I’m also thinking of getting the light bronzer for summer just to have that glow that the extra color in the 120 gave me. Overall, I’m really pleased with this makeup line.

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A Message from Robert Smith

January 24, 2011

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What I Like About Me

January 23, 2011

Well now that sounds somewhat narcissistic doesn’t it? However, I did mention in yesterday’s post about writing down the things I like about myself so I think I’ll go ahead and do that while I’m thinking about it.

1. I like my hair – it’s always been the one thing I’ve liked about my appearance. Mind you it is going kind of a funky blondy-grayish color, and it’s long again, but still I do like it.

2. I’m a good teacher – I have homeschooled my kids for 16 years now and I can honestly say I really love it and enjoy being a teacher. My eyes glaze over when school supplies come out in the stores and I get all giddy planning the new school year’s curriculum too. Matt told me one time, “Mom, homeschooling works for us because you enjoy it”. I had never thought about it before but he was right – I do enjoy it and it has worked a really long time.

3. I have a desire to help others even if sometimes I don’t know how to do that – I really do want to help other people, but for the last few years I could barely help myself. Now that things are looking up, I’m starting to see small ways I can help when people need it. It’s one of those things that I need to intentionally work on so that it becomes a way of life. One thing I have realized – you don’t have to have a lot of money to do something to help someone else. Even getting a can from a high shelf at Wal-Mart for someone is helping.

4. I am a good mother – Now, I didn’t always think I was and there was a time when there was a lot of room for improvement. What was that quote I heard years ago? “You did then what you knew how to do. When you knew better, you did better”. And I did become better and there is still room for improvement, but I think motherhood is a learn as you go process because it sure doesn’t come to you when you leave the hospital with that baby.

5. My fingernails – I was trying to find one other thing about my appearance that I liked and it would be my nails when they are long which they haven’t been in awhile. Right now my hands are cracked and bleeding because of the cold weather and I can’t keep my nails too long anymore, but when they are long and shaped they really are pretty and I do enjoy them. I would love to have a french manicure sometime or learn how to use those press on nails they make now (the ones that are better than the old ones used to be). I am a girly-girl you know.

Okay, those are five things about myself that I like and I think it’s a good list. Oh, and to give credit where credit is due, God did give me the talents I have, I just had to develop them with His help.

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I want to lose weight because…

January 22, 2011

I was reading an excerpt from a book the other day and in it the two authors listed the reasons why they wanted to lose weight. The reasons ranged from the usual, “I wanna look hot” to the more serious “I want to be healthy so I can see my grandchildren”. I thought that this was a great idea and so I wanted to put out here my reasons for losing weight so that I can look at the list and keep myself motivated as I go through my journey. My goal is to lose 60lbs by the end of the year – that averages out to 5 pounds a month. So far I’ve gained 3 pounds *sigh*. That’s okay, we all start rocky and things will smooth out later. So, here are my reasons for wanting to lose weight.

1. I want to wear boy shorts (I can hear my sons saying, “EWWW MOM!” right about now :-)).)

2. I want to find a really cool denim jacket to wear again – I don’t care if I am 40-something, I still want to look cool.

3. I want to have more energy throughout my day.

4. I want to look and feel healthy.

5. I want to feel comfortable in my own skin.

So, those are my starter reasons. I’ve thought about things before but never really written them down. One of the reasons given in the book was to stop crying when watching transformation shows like What Not To Wear – I can so relate to that. However, Stacy and Clinton always encouraged the participants to accept who they are right now, where they are, no matter what. I think that is so important because we are who we are and we should be happy with who we are. The things we aren’t happy with are usually within our power to change, other things aren’t and we just have to accept those as uniquely our own. Maybe I should write about that next – the things I like about myself. Stay tuned!

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Paper Doll Clothes

January 19, 2011

Okay, you might think this post is about paper dolls, but it isn’t. I wrote in our Christmas letter that the girls enjoy making clothing for their dolls out of paper towels and that I’d post pictures. Well, this is that post – a little late but I’m on it now :-).

The girls each have a Barbie doll and a Disney Fairy doll and they went through a period recently of making clothing for those dolls out of paper towels and even leaves. I must say they were really good at it, but especially Katie who seems to have a really good eye for design.

One day I brought home a new package of paper towels and the girls were squealing over them like they were bolts of fabric, already able to see the dresses they were going to make. Here’s a couple of pictures of their work – a fashion show if you will.

Tinkerbell, Silvermist, and Fawn in beautiful dresses made by Katie, Maggie and Becky respectively.

A closeup so you can see the details - yes, they even colored the "fabric" with crayons to jazz it up even more.

I wish I’d taken more pictures because it is something I’ll always remember and it will be interesting to see if Katie does go into designing of some sort when she gets older. Ah, but that is a long time away yet.

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Week in Review

January 16, 2011

For those of you wondering where I’ve been the last week, I thought I’d post my week in review report – it was not a good week. Plenty of OH CRAP moments to keep this woman going.

We started Monday off with one of Jeff’s college textbooks not being delivered as it should have been. We’re talking the $185 before tax and shipping math book. He was hesitant to re-purchase because it was so expensive and I was more worried that he would have a high price to pay in class if he didn’t have one. As it turned out, the teacher was very understanding about his plight and he called all the right people so the book was found and delivered on Friday afternoon – yay! Very glad he waited to see what was going to happen before ordering a new textbook. Good call Jeff!

Also on Monday we had snow and I must say it was pretty – looked like someone was sifting powdered sugar from sky. However, I was worried that I would not get kids to and from school and that there might be ice, but as it turned out the roads were clear by Tuesday already. I think it was too dry for the snow to really stick and the brisk north winds helped to dry the streets as well. Now that’s the kind of snow I can appreciate!

On Thursday I heard a bizarre squeaking noise in the living room and could not figure out where it was coming from. At first I thought it was someone’s phone, then I thought it was someone’s DS game that had been left on, but then I realized it was coming from the area of our fireplace. Okay, it’s not really a fireplace, but I think it was at somepoint and it’s not the traditional kind – it’s a gas fireplace. So immediately I start panicking. Until Matt tells me that he’s been hearing the squeaking for weeks. (Weeks? And you didn’t tell me??) We did a little detective work and figured out that the noise was coming from the gas meter outside. So, I got all the kiddos out of bed just in case of whatever emergency was sure to ensue and called the gas company at 8 am. They had someone out within 30 minutes. Luckily it wasn’t a big deal and the gas meter was replaced. Of course I worried through the whole thing, and I’m sure the poor guy thought he had a live one that morning, but he also reassured me every step of the way so I would feel better. Now that’s what I call service!

On a smaller note, I had misplaced one of the twins’ school books and I looked and looked for it all week long. Finally on Friday I found it under piles of paper on the school shelf. I swear I looked there at least 10 times already!! Luckily, it wasn’t nearly as expensive as Jeff’s textbook.

Friday came and all the problems had been solved and we eagerly looked forward to bowling that night. Lucky for me, Mike was having a bad first game and he only beat me by 5 points – bwahahahahaha! I really messed up the last few frames or I could have beat him and in a bad way too. Oh well – there’s always next week :-).

So, that’s my week in review – busy with a couple crises, two boys starting college classes, and a little snow because it is still winter after all. Hope this week is better!

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A Night At The Bowling Alley

January 8, 2011

When I received the email from my husband this week about a bowling special at a local alley I perked up. Alot. They’re running a special that goes like this: families of any size can bowl as much as they want for only $10 shoe rental included on Friday nights. Now, for our family of 10 that is only $1 a person and an absolute no-brainer. Of course we’re going to take advantage of that!! Besides, the twins haven’t been bowling ever in their lives so it was TIME.

We played two games which was plenty long (almost too long) for Becky and Katie. Steve ended up winning the second game on his side with a score of 135. Maggie had a score of 71 her first game and 91 the second game – she’d improved! Okay, so she was on the bumper lane, but she still threw a few balls which did not touch the bumpers. Becky has tapped her inner bowler playing on the Wii so she was a natural at this. Katie really was at a loss as to what to do, but she had a good time anyway. Mike, the big bowler of the family, did well considering he hasn’t been on a team for a little while and Matt tried to recapture his bowling expertise of earlier years before college. Me? I just had fun helping the little kids and throwing a couple of balls down the lanes when it was my turn. I think we were the loudest family there because we cheered (and sometimes jeered) all the bowlers in our family. It was truly a family night out and we can’t wait for next Friday!!

Joe is getting ready to throw his ball.

Katie bowling for the first time.

Can Maggie pick up a spare?

Jeff waits for his turn on the lane.

Becky and Maggie waiting for their turn.

Chris is counting pins.

Mike scoring for the little kids, Becky helps Matt score on the other side, and Steve watches the game.

Is Steve making a funny face there?

Chris watching the others bowl.

Maggie can't wait to bowl again next week!

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Happy Epiphany!

January 6, 2011

Yep, today is Epiphany – Three Kings Day. We celebrate the arrival of kings Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar in Bethlehem to worship Jesus – the King of Kings. In our home we celebrate by having the kings to our nativity go on a long journey through the house until they find the Christ Child (who resides on our “fireplace” mantle). Each day the kids try to find them and it is met with a lot of excitement when they do. This year I let some of the younger kids “hide” the kings – they thought this was a lot of fun too. I got the idea of having the kings travel from a priest (or two) and started the tradition years ago. Also traditional is either spice cake or stollen – a spice cake with fruit – that we get from Aldi. Today it’s stollen and, after supper, we will celebrate this feast which ends the twelve days of Christmas officially. However, I keep our nativity scene up until February 2 – Candlemas – because that is the official end of the Christmas season in the Church. So, while the tree goes this weekend, we’ll still keep our focus on Christmas for a little while longer. Happy Epiphany everyone!!

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