Sheesh!

Day 10

Today I packed everything I needed for the day into a laundry basket, and headed outside.  Yesterday I did not do this, and ended up coming in and out of the camper all day.  The door to the camper is so loud, and Josh was trying to sleep.  I felt so bad.  So, today, I tried to get it all at once, and get out, so Josh could get some sleep.  It took me an hour!  Sheesh!

I spent some time reading my Bible for the first time since we moved here.  I couldn’t figure out where I put it for a few days.  It’s one of those times where you stick something some where so you won’t forget where you put it, and then you forget where you put it.  Another SHEESH!

A big chunk of my morning was spent washing lettuce.  Does anybody else find this task a bit over whelming?  I am trying to figure out the best way to go about this, and I am not having much luck.  Although I have learned what NOT to do, and that is good.  I think the first few times I harvested lettuce; I just stuck all the lettuce plants, roots (and dirt) and all in the sink, and then tried to wash it.  A big no, no!

I have a hard time enjoying lettuce from my own garden.  I have found things in my salads that would make even a person with a strong stomach want to vomit.  I have found parts of caterpillars, whole spiders-big and small, and any time something crunches I am just sure I am eating sand.  Ugh!  So, even when I do a good job of getting it clean, and have no weird crunches or other things, I still can’t enjoy it like I would if I bought lettuce from the store.  Sheesh.

I played soccer with the kids this afternoon.  I think this was the first time little dude has ever had a crack at kicking a soccer ball.  It was so cute to see him running around trying to kick the ball.  Eldest A has gotten really good at kicking the ball where he wants it to go.  Little Princess, on the other hand, a bit of a whiner when things don’t go her away, and that goes for any sport.  We played catch after we were done with soccer, and she got “hit” with the ball, and could hardly handle it.  Is she my daughter?  Sheesh.

We ate our first organic watermelon today.  I was totally UNDER whelmed.  It was tasteless.  But the kids didn’t know any better, they gobbled it all up.  It was cold, and a bit refreshing, but so is water.  Sheesh.

On a super positive note, I LOVE BRAWTWURSTS!!!!!!!!!!  SERIOUSLY!  Nothing tastes as good as pig flesh in a animal stomach casing!  No siree!  MMMMM!  And when you grill them they are even better!  It like multiplies the flavor, and it is just bursting from the casing!  My mouth is watering this very minute.  I am pretty sure that more than half of my birthdays celebrate since I have been married have included bratwursts.  And this is a gooooooooooooooood thing!  Up here they have a company that makes brawts and bologna and other pork products called Vollwerth’s.  They make a bratwurst that is basically natural seasonings and pig.  It is so good!

I think the coolest thing about this move has been our NEED to buy brawts!  SERIOUSLY!

Worth The Time

Day 9

Today I was pleasantly reminded of how fun it can be to just hang out with my kids.  When my first born turned 4, I started reminding myself how important it was/is to spend time with my kids, doing things they enjoy.  I knew then, as I know now, that if I want my kids to want to spend time with me when they become young men and ladies (aka- teenagers) then I am going to have to spend time with them now.  I can’t ignore them, or put them off because what they are doing is not the funniest thing on the planet, if I want them to enjoy being with me and spending time with me when they are older.

This is easier said than done, for me, though.  I am a do-er.  I want to be doing practical and “important” things all the time.  I can hardly watch a movie let alone play GI Joes or Barbies.  And with my kids, at least, it is never enough.  I could spend all day on the floor playing batman and robin, and then get up to make dinner, and they would beg me not to go, like I never play with them.  I try to find a balance.  Lately, with the move and all, I have been way off balance, sending them off to entertain themselves, while I try to get life back in order. 

So today was a laid back day of fun.  I just hung out with my kids, something I have not been able to do in weeks!  It was still difficult for me, especially as we approached the end of the day, when my brain automatically starts to replay the day in my mind, analyzing the heck out of it to see if I am a worthless human being, or a valuable member of society.  This is also about the time that littlest A starts to fuss and refuse to be put down for any length of time.  *Deep Heavy Sigh*   Tomorrow is a new day, full of more adventures.  I only pray that God would help me to not sweat the small stuff, and to know how to engage these amazing little people He has put in my life in such away as to point them to the ONE person that matters at all in this world.  I guess I can start by reminding myself of that every thing. 

It Just Got Worse

Day 8

Well, it’s not like life is hard enough as it is.  A bug had to go and bite me IN MY BELLY BUTTON!  I mean seriously.  I have never had a bug bite in my belly button before.  I am racking my brain this morning, trying to figure out how a bug even got close enough to my belly button to bite me when Josh reminds me of my new out door shower.  Gggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!  Little stinker.  Of course, it took me a whole 24 hours to even realize I had a bug bite.  I was seriously wondering if I was pregnant or something, because I kept wanting to scratch my belly.  It was ridiculous.  Finally I have the sense enough to look, and sure enough there is a big ole’ bite in there.  Stinkin’ bug!  Bring on the distractions!  Thankfully today, there were plenty.

Littlest A had her first swim today!  The river water was not cold!  I was so surprised!  You notice I said, “not cold” instead of warm.  I still wouldn’t call it warm, but I was able to walk into it, and not shriek.

My husband bought me a bug zapper racket type thing.

Josh is the Little Gadget King, I tell you.  I know most of you ladies out there will call me nuts, but my husband has a do not buy list for me.  I made it for him.  He is a gift giver, and as such, likes to lavish gifts on me.  I am too practical for most of the gifts he wants to buy me.  On this list are the following: jewelry, chocolates, appliances.  Yup, appliances.  Apparently I need to change that from appliances to gadgets!  This bug zapper is not quite an appliance, but it should have been on the do not buy list!   The only positive thing I have to say about it is it’s PINK!  In order to prove to my husband that I am right, and it was a waste of money I have been trying to use it for the last two days.  I have killed ONE bug.  That’s it.  And I am almost sure the bug was stuck on something, and couldn’t have gotten away anyway.  Eldest A keeps telling me I am just too slow, and I should give it to him to try.  Yeah right, like I am going to give my 8 year old something that can ZAP things!!!  I can just see it now, “Mom!!!  Big brother told me to put my finger in the bug zapper!”  Or even worse, “Mom!!!!  Big brother hit me in the head with the bug zapper, and now my hair is on fire!”  I DON’T think so dude!

I think I might give Josh the zapper and ask him how many bugs he can zap.  That might help my cause.  But, then again, it might back fire.  He could kill tons of bugs, and then I will look incompetent. 

The one really cool thing I noticed today is the lack of mosquito bites my kids have been getting.  We used an all natural “fogger” from OFF! brand and it seemed to work really well.  I “fogged” about three days ago, and it has rained twice, and still no mosquitoes.  It was $6 at Wal-Mart, and if it keeps them away for a week or more, it will be worth it.  It has lemon grass oil.  I am wondering if I could just plant lemon grass in my yard and it have the same affect, which could be awesome! 

Well, my belly button is itching, and it is getting late, so I can’t think of an end to this blog post.  Hopefully I am tired enough to fall asleep, and not be kept awake by my inconvenient bug bite.  Stinkin’ bug!

Tears

Day 7

Today I feel like ranting.  I apologize in advance to any of you who have front loader washing machines and love them.  To each their own.  But me?  I HATE them, with gusto!  I have never had a good experience with them.  Today I hung all my clothes on the line to dry.  Yesterday I went to the new and fancy Laundromat to wash all the clothes at once.  They had really big machines that did 4 loads in one.  It cost me five dollars to do one of the huge machines, and $2.75 for each of the two regular size front loaders, which is supposed to hold two loads worth.  I had a lot of laundry to do!  I even made sure to leave the 4 or 5 inches from the top that they suggest.  When all was said and done my clothes were anything but clean!  I was terribly disappointed!  I spent $10.50, and I can’t say that a single item was cleaner than what a normal old school washing machine does.  Pathetic.  I am so irritated at those stupid machines. 

I have had previous experiences with front loaders.  I borrowed my uncle’s really nice front loader washing machine, with matching dryer.  I could wash three times the amount of clothes at once, which was great, but if I did not get to the washer the minute it was done, and I am not exaggerating, the clothes got stinky.  They had that smell that your towels can get when you leave them in the washer over night, or for more than 12 hours; not mildewy, but close.  More of a musty smell, really.  It drove me crazy.

My mother’s front loader would also do the same thing, but not as bad.  I could get to it with in an hour or so and the clothes would be fine.  My sister has had problems with her front loader, but she might say it was that brand of washer she had.  I have gone to the Laundromat before and had similar problems.  I just HATE them.

There really is nothing more annoying than spending time, energy and money on something, just to have to do it over again.  NO! THANK! YOU!  I didn’t wash them again.  But I really wanted to.

Well, now that I am done ranting about that, let me move on to the hilarious part of the day.  I mean laughing so hard there were tears in my eyes, part of the day!  Here is the shower Josh rigged me!

Isn’t he awesome?!?!?!  I am so happy to have this!  I got my first real (if you can call this a real) shower in a week.  Of course it was freezing cold, but I didn’t mind!  It was worth it.  And actually it wasn’t cold at all at first.  We have a spray nozzle on the hose for the garden, and it works really well as a shower.  The coolest thing about the hose is, after a few hours in the sun the water is really hot, at first.  So, I tried to use it sparingly, but by the end of the shower it was freezing!

So, that’s not the hilarious part.  Over the course of the week I have used the hose to clean up several times.  Each time Josh just shakes his head at me.  Josh, on the other hand has been using baby wipes.  Not a big deal when he just cleans up for bed, and then goes back to working on the house.  But, he had to go to work tonight.

Every so often, during the last week, I would offer to help him “shower” with the hose, and each time he looked at me like I was crazy.  Today I told him he was going to have to use the new shower he jimmy-rigged.  He gave me a look that said he knew I was right, but he wished I wasn’t.  I told him that the water would be nice and hot from sitting in the hose all afternoon.  This seemed to give him some encouragement, but not much.  Well, about 20 minutes before Josh is going to get cleaned up for work, I come out of the camper and see Abby watering her “garden”.  I suck air, and then get her to stop.  She feels horrible, and now I get to tell Josh that his hot water is all gone.  Then comes shower time.  I just have to say that I have NEVER laughed at my husband as much as I did today, EVER!  It was the funniest thing I have EVER seen!  I so wish I had recorded it!  Seriously!  The look on his face as he got in that cold water, and sounds he made as he tried to wash up quick and get out just brought tears to my eyes.  I can’t even describe to you.  But, he did sound a lot like a little girl!  I am laughing even now, writing about it.  I will never forget it!  It was awesome.  Of course he hated it, and since I was in charge of holding the nozzle, and at times I couldn’t even hold it still because I was laughing so hard, I don’t think he was very happy with me.  But, after all was said and done, he was clean, and he eventually got warm.  So it was a success in my book!

Oh, and here is a picture of our camper.  :)

Adventures In Sleeping

Day 6

So, the day was uneventful, but the night more than made up for it, and not in a good way.

The camper has a big bed above the driver and passenger seats of the camper.  It’s quite handy.  It even has curtains that you can close.  So, we stick the kids up there, and close the curtains at bed time, and Josh and I hang out for an hour, and then go to bed.  The table and couch turn into beds, and are located behind the driver and passenger seats of the camper, making them below, but not under the kids’ bed.

Some time in the wee hours of the night someone- and we literally do not know who, leaned over the side of the bed and threw up.  The most disturbing thing about this was nobody woke up!  I am not quite sure what dragged me from sleep, but I found myself coming to and standing by my bed, wondering why I smelled throw up.  I have tried and tried and tried to figure out what woke me, and I can’t think of anything.  So, I have concluded that it must have been the smell, for everyone else was sound asleep.  I woke Josh up with my shuffling around.  Then I turned on the light (remember, the camper is PITCH BLACK at night) and saw the fullness of the situation.  I am so amazed that I did not have it on my head.  It was a MIRICALE!  Josh escaped with nothing on him, as well.  We went back and forth over which one of the kids it could have been.  Eldest A is known for his weak stomach, but he has never done it quietly and on his own, it is always preceded by moaning and calling for mommy.  Eldest girl A is known for doing weird stuff in her sleep, obviously, so it could have been her, but she never throws up.  For all we know it was the little dude.  But, we will never know because none of the kids remember a thing about it.

After having Josh check my hair (I was sure I had it on me, and just didn’t realize it), gathered up all the bedding and clothes that got splattered, and wiped up everything else with almost a whole package of baby wipes, I crawled back into bed.  Sometime later, I am not sure how long, eldest A came tumbling out of bed.  Josh says he woke up to him panting or breathing heavy or weirdly, and then saw him almost leap out of bed.  He did not hit head first, but kind of bounced off of one bed onto another, finally coming to rest on the floor.  After much screaming, calming and soothing, he went back to bed.  Some time later Josh got hit in the head with an Insect Field Guide, which the eldest girl A some how kicked of the bed in her sleep.

What a night!  When I finally pulled myself out of bed in the morning, Josh was sleeping with his head on the other end of his bed.  Why didn’t we think of this before?  I actually did, but the camper is parked at a slight incline, which isn’t really too noticeable until you sleep with your head pointing away from the driver’s seat.  I slept like that one night, and I literally felt like I was sleeping upside down.  Very strange.  That was also the night I dreamed the little dude fell out of bed, and I had to catch him and woke up holding the baby by one of her legs! 

Sleeping, turns out to be its own adventure around here!  

Happy Birthday Dude!

Day 5

The big day!  Littlest boy A’s birthday.  And what you are all wondering is HOW DID I MAKE A CAKE!  Right?!?!?!  No, I did not buy something from a bakery…although, now that I think about it, that would have been so much easier.  Oh well.  So, back to the question of how I made the cake, well, let’s start with what kind of cake the little dude picked out.  I decided to let them pick out their own cakes, since I wasn’t going to be able to sculpt a master piece of a cake for them this year.  They seemed fine with the arrangement, PRAISE THE LORD!  So, the little dude picked out *drum roll* a brownie mix, with sprinkles…oh boy.  So I decided to use the crock pot.  I was a little leery of the whole thing, and with out the internet as my guide, I wasn’t so sure it was going to work.  I started it at two o’clock, but it wasn’t done when it was time to leave for his birthday festivities of bowling and dinner out.  So I had to turn it off, and hope it would kind of finish cooking on its own.  Josh saved the day by saying he loved raw brownie batter.  What a man.  By the time I got back the brownie was mostly done on the outside and just a little mushy on the inside.  Josh said, “Oh good, that’s my piece!” 

 Then came for the part where we get it OUT of the crock pot.  That was a bit of a challenge.  The part that was fully cooked ended up plopping out just fine, but the little mushy inside stuck to the pot.  So, we scrapped that off, and kind of pieced it back together, and then I spread some frosting on it- he picked out frosting to go with it, WITH sprinkles.  Sheesh.  How much sugar can we get there.  So, biggest girl A begged me to help with the sprinkles….this is the end product!

I still have sprinkles all over the camper kitchen counter.  *sigh*  Well, it least it made it more memeroable!

Expectations

Day 4

THE FOURTH OF JULY!  My all time favorite holiday, hands down.  I love the family togetherness, the food, the sun, the fire works, the warmth and outdoors!  I have had my disappointments in previous years though. 

There was the year it rained, and the year after that when it rained again!  One year we had a picnic on our nasty pink carpet (we had just moved into a fixer upper house then too), with bologna salad, Doritos and diet pop.  Another year we spent it driving home from Kansas (in my husbands defense, we did celebrate it the day before).  So, I’ve had my fair share of disappointing Fourth of Julys (I looked that up, that is the proper plural form of July, you learn something new every day).  And the one thing in common is expectations. 

Expectations can be there and you don’t even realize it.  I have, mostly out of spite, turned my back on the Fourth of July and crossed my arms and given a big “humph” and declared that I would never “expect” anything from the day again.  That never works.  This year, I just was too tired to have expectations.  Or maybe I just truly expected to have a rotten day?  I really don’t know.  But, I do know that the day was fantastic. 

After a long talk on the phone with my dear mother, and much thought, I have come to the conclusion that my attitude (due in part from being able to blog about my situation in a humorous light) about life has taken an unexpected turn, for the better.  I thank God for this change.  With out it, I am sure I would be huddled in a corner some where, crying my eyes out, asking God what in the world He is doing, and what in the world does He want me to do.

So back to the Fourth, a very fun day, even if it did not have as much family, food, sun or outdoors as I would have normally liked.  For lunch we had thick peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!  I tell you, what is more American than that?!?!?  (When I asked Josh this same question, he did not even hesitate for a moment to say, “Hamburgers.”  *shaking head*) The kids played in the little kiddy pool for 3 hours straight.  It was glorious.  While they were so happy and entertained, with out ME, and Anna was taking the longest nap she has taken in days, Josh and I were doing my favorite thing- ORGANIZING!  He had finished mowing the lawn that morning, and that brought a sense of peace and organization all its own.  I am not quite sure why.  I won’t bore you (seriously, I started to type out all the things I organized before I realized most of you could care less) with all the details, but it was glorious.  And it made life just a bit easier.  Thank you, Lord.  We also purchased a grill, and a rotisserie thing-a-ma-bobby.  We cooked up a whole chicken, and let me tell you, it was worth every penny!  Seriously.  Of course, Realist Josh, when asked what could have been better, with out hesitating said, “Steaks.”  *shaking head again*

The evening came upon us quickly, as we literally saw a front move in, and big storm clouds swoop down.  It was, in a word, beautiful.  We kicked butts into gear and got everything put away, and everyone into the camper before the storm hit.  It was only six o’clock, so we got out the card games and put in A Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (we have the dramatized version, on CD, in a word, AWESOME).  It is by far my favorite one of the series.  My littlest boy almost made it through the whole book (more than 3 hours), but headed to bed by saying, “I have to get to sleep; I have a big day tomorrow.”  (It’s his birthday today.) 

All in all it was a great day.  And I am thankful for all the days that have brought me to this point.  This journey I am on is an amazing one- even if sometimes I have to hold on to the rails, squeeze my eyes shut and say, “Help me God,” over and over.