Life and such and such

I tried when it come to blog posts. There has been so much and things I don't want to blog about yet. Other things I should blog about.
I made a comment the other day about feeling like a mother from a Jane Austen book. I hear about Amber's dating prospects. "Yes, that boy is suitable, But be careful with that one. DOn't lead him on if you really aren't interested. The other one you are waiting for, he shouldn't be talking about when he comes home already, he has only been gone 6 months. Lots of things can change." The world of Amber's future prospects interest me. And then there was the moment she had with Kellen Moore-the quarterback, Heisman candidate from the BSU football team. SHe spent a few minutes with him alone in an elevator. Amber!! You didn't say ANYTHING? Don't you realize the potential of even a date with that boy? She says he was not that good looking in person. I tell her "If it was your sister she would have had his number!" But that's all fun and silliness.
Amber did take a picture of him with her second encounter. Look! She was THAT close.

Then with Kelsea, Almost 18. One boy she had some conflicts with months ago. "Don't do anything with him." The missionary in Arizona-"When did you last write that boy?" And the boy she gave her number to on the freeway, he is totally in love with her even though she has never seen him in person, younger than her and talking about his mission. She's a little overwhelmed with the attention and he is talking about marriage. He lives in Nyssa Oregon. "That is why we don't give our phone numbers to strangers on the freeway." And then she was at dinner at PF Changs with her grandma and low and behold, who is sitting at the table next to hers and she has no clue. She texts me 'Kellen Moore is sitting right next to me' 'Did you say hi?' "No he's with a date.' 'How about making eye contact' 'He's too into his date and he just left.' Another opportunity slipped away. Geez these girls.
Then one that is a little too young has a boyfriend. EGADS!!! How come we can't lock them up until we are ready to let them go?

We have the Blue and Orange going on but Kelsea doesn't want to go that path. She has to make her own way. She has been accepted to University of Idaho. In Boise you get scowled at for being a Vandal. But the black and orange school has it's loyal followers. Someone told me I need to get a flag that says "This house is divided." Hannah made what I thought were rivalry brownies with blue and orange on one side and black and yellow sprinkles on the other. She said they were get along brownies. She is so funny. Just for the record, the blue and orange ones disappeared first.

The past few days I have had electrical shocks put through both my arms, blood drawn, x-rayed my hands and feet and will be getting an MRI on Thursday. I get to wear braces on both my hands at night. I feel like I ready to start boxing when I go to bed. I feel old and frustrated. I am not even 40. But I will hopefully have answers soon. But the direction they are headed now makes me worry a little. Could be a different diagnoses. We will see.
I am reading books by Wayne Dyer and the Secret's the Power both at the same time. The both said the same thing when I was reading last night. I have to make a serious attitude adjustment in my perspective of everything. It's doesn't come easy for me because of my crazy ability to worry about all things out of my control. Blech. I am working on it.

I know I have said this before but the soundtrack from "How to Train Your Dragon" Is the best ever!! I know that was random but that is what is blasting from Amber's room at the moment.

Train Ride

Before Christmas Lee Joe and I got invited to ride a train for his friends Company Christmas party. Lee Joe only worked for him a few times this year but they are good friends. The only hang up we had about going was that Lee Joe was working in Utah. Because his company party was on Saturday, his company rented a car so they could come back for the weekend. Well, Lee Joe had to really push to get everything together so they could leave in time for us to get to Horseshoe Bend where the train is. So they left around one in the afternoon because one of the guys they work with that got the car dinked around for over an hour after he got the car before he showed to get the guys on the way home. Well, my husband upon occasion has a lead foot. So I was getting updates over the course of the afternoon on how close they were to getting home and wasn't looking good from every report. But he kept saying we will still try to get there. So he got his own car in Grand View and was 45 minutes away somewhere around six. In the meantime I had Christmas shopping to do and the dogs needed food so I was at Target waiting to meet him there so we go the rest of the way from Boise to Horseshoe Bend which typically is another 30 or 40 something minutes from there. We kept thinking, I don't think we are going to make it, but we might. And then I get a call that he got stopped coming into Boise. I was keeping pretty relaxed about the whole thing with no expectations until that moment thinking "Crap, what's that going to cost?" I am kind of wound up and know I need to check out. I am pretty sure we need to make some other plans for dinner and maybe we should just write off the train. Minutes later he's laughing when he calls me back saying the cop let him off. "Man you are the luckiest man, how did you manage that?"
He says, "He asked me why I was speeding and I told him that I was trying to catch a train. He said I should have left earlier and I told him that I left Utah at 1 this afternoon. It only took him 3 minutes to check my stuff and he let me off on a warning!" You have to know my husband to know that this is the best luck in THE WORLD because cops love to stop him and give him tickets and it has been really hard work on his part to avoid that affliction in his life. So he was off again but we are really writing off this train trip. He picks me up and he is driving not too much over the speed limit but we are driving through mountains now. I am not relaxed about this thing anymore and ready to give up on the whole idea of making it. It just doesn't look good.
The secretary from his friends company calls Lee Joe and he tells her where we are. So they start talking to the staff on the train. "It leaves a seven, it doesn't wait for anyone." We are so not going to make it. It is 7, she calls us back. We know we are almost there. About 5 after 7 and we can see the lights of the town. She calls us again. "They are waiting not much longer." We are on the main street and try to turn too soon and we figure out where to go while he's on the phone. It is like 10 after 7. He pulls up next to a straw bale where they have marked for parking, not really a parking spot where we should park. We jump out to run to the train and go the wrong way. We can see the party we are about to join in the windows and they are pointing for us to go the other way and we jump up the steps and board the train onto a dining car. It's full of people staring at us as we make our way back to our dining car. Mortified! That is what I am. Way strung out now from the turns on the road to get there with my husbands driving and maybe not making it and now all the people watching our arrival. The train starts going before we sit down. We hear that there were 350 people on the train that we just held up.
It was a nice experience. But it was dark so we couldn't see much outside. They had taken our salad and water when they didn't know that it was for us we were still coming. The dinner was Ok. Some of it was a little cold. Our fault I guess for holding up dinner too. Haha... They had Santa and Mrs. Claus visited our car and a lady with a guitar came and sang Christmas songs with a bunch of construction guys and their wives and girlfriends. So you can imagine how uncooperative some of them were. But it was a fun night. Lee Joe in the white elephant gift exchange won a free eyebrow and upper lip wax. But in the end we used it to get the 2 youngest girls haircut. I have pictures I will add when I get on the other computer to share. I just thought it was an experience to share. Really this is a typical day being married to my husband. Just so you know.

It's coming....But for now

So I do have some great things to talk about. Some fun and crazy things I can elaborate on. So I will be hopefully getting to those stories soon and will be posting pictures again.

The Lupus junk has me all over the place. I think I am fine maybe in the morning and most of the day and think I am getting better only to get knocked for a loop later. But I finally have appointments with both a neurologist (that I have been seeing for my migraines) and the rheumatologist here soon. Needless to say I am learning some important things about my body. When I am tired the pain and the fatigue get crazy bad. When I take extra time to recover from feeling tired I have several better days before it gets me again. I am taking a ton of supplements that I have researched. Not a ton but quite a bit and when I take them I feel somewhat better. I know how to do transcedental meditation. I don't practice it the way I was taught how to use it but my body loves it when I come home from work and need a boost to get throught the rest of the night. Sometimes it doesn't help enough but I know I need that 20 minutes of rest and at the end of the 20 minutes my body says it's done before I look at the clock again. So extreme self care is the key. But not easy to do with my crazy house. I was interested to see what happened over Christmas vacation. The first week I was struggling. But it got better the closer to Christmas I got. Then the next week was so much better. By the end of the week I started really cleaning and purging my house. It felt so good and I had so much stamina that has been lacking for some time now. I only missed church because Hannah was dealing with food poisoning. That is where I fooled myself early this week thinking I was doing better. I had some really bad evenings and then when it was rough early in the day I picked up and had a great night. Here I am this Saturday. I only managed to have a good half a day. That was only in the morning. ugh.
I don't look forward to what drugs the rheumatologist might suggest. From what I have read it might be a rough road to getting better.
In the meantime I have some less whiney blogs in store. I need a Christmas update and I need to recap the adventures of catching a train.

I apologize

I like blogging. I like to see other people's blogs. But I haven't been good at keeping up with mine lately. I will blog more. But I am way past my bedtime. But I really have so much to say, I am also trying not to complain so much. Result of that-not a lot of blogging. Or it could just be that I am a mother of five with a hubby who is out of town way more than we thought he would be with this job-Jobs are wonderful things!-while I work full-time and cope with an illness that is made worse by my job. I forgive myself. But I do like to blog-I like it more when I have found my sense of humor though. And the kids at school aren't giving me much to write about this year. Geez..Yeah, I am getting chatty like I get when I am tired.

Wasn't it just December?

I mean seriously, I say this every year and every year I am amazed just the same. It was JUST December like last week and now it's the middle of December AGAIN. I am never ready for Christmas anymore. Because it gets here too fast. I would like to bake, but I haven't had a chance to think about it. I have presents to put under the tree but they aren't wrapped yet. I guess I could do that now. But I am blogging instead.
In December comes the illness, Kelsea's hacking cough coming and going and then coming again. Poor kid, every year she's coughing during her orchestra concerts. I guess it's a good thing she doesn't sing or play a wind instrument. Tonight I am hoping Hannah doesn't miss her concert tomorrow. I didn't see the dress rehearsal today and she is feeling sick tonight that might wind up landing her at home tomorrow. A few years ago she had chicken pox during the time she was to dance in a little recital. But I recall last Christmas I had a nasty cold. I had a horrible cough and completely lost my voice. This year so far I am just dealing with waves of pain and fatigue that comes and goes. I am learning to just let things happen.
Every year now, the tree becomes a thing. I am ready for an artificial tree because of the headache. Lee Joe has the right attitude that it does make for some memories. This years was almost out of "Christmas vacation." We about had a Griswold tree. Lee Joe has a friend that got a bunch of trees to sell here. But he was selling them in Emmett. Lee Joe is out of town all the time right now. I didn't want to, or I didn't even have the time to drive to Emmett to get a tree. So he asked the friend to bring us a tree. He did. I was happy. But it had to sit for a few days before we put it up. Hannah said it was too small. It was laying on it's side in front and I said we had to wait until we saw it standing up to decide. Lee Joe put the tree up while we were gone and he said it was too small. We came home and looked at it and thought-yep, kind of small for all the ornaments we have to put on the tree. So he talked to his friend, he decided to help him deliver trees as well. So when he met up with his friend, he put the biggest tree he could find in the truck. He brought it home. It was too tall and beastly heavy. I said it was too big. All the girls said it was too big. He said he would make it work. He trimmed up the bottom, and it just fit in the house once in it's stand but it looked like someone hacked off the top of the tree or that it was in the ceiling. Our angel wouldn't fit on the top of the tree at all. So Lee Joe went out and found a star. I actually like it a lot. He trimmed up the top and the long branches that looked like the tree had been topped and it looks quite nice. But man, the arguing about tree size and then where to put the beastly thing. My goodness. It was so late getting it up. I guess it wasn't that late. It was last weekend, but it didn't feel like Christmas yet without the tree. I still don't know where the roof of my stable is for my nativity. That is this Christmas memory I guess. I will post pictures of the tree here next time. These are the memories from 2010 so far.

Snow, Snow and more snow.

I loved snow as a kid. There is nothing better than a that perfect temperature where you can build things and play in all day, as long as it is fun to build things.
But as an adult I have a different perspective. I like it when I am in the house, with my favorite things in the kitchen. And having the perfect snow day so I am not required to drive in it at all. Wednesday was that day. We got a snow day. I got to stay home from home work because it was a snow day and hang out inside while the kids played and played in the snow in the yard all day long. Then we walked to Jack in the Box because of my lack of soda and it was a fun sort of walk we don't get very often because we never get anywhere like the 8-10 inches we got overnight. Boise does not know how to plow snow. They know how to throw de-icer out on busy streets and that's it. But the kids built a snow cave and a little sled hill in the front yard. Our gazebo collapsed from the weight of the snow. I heard of about 2 or 3 more friends had the same thing happen. I remember one winter in Kansas growing up where we had several snow days from a blizzard we had. There were 10 foot drifts in places. One was in our backyard and we did nothing for days but dig snow caves. That was the most memorable winter ever. I loved it when you are a kid and you get a little cold but it's too much fun. Then the winters in Alaska where we would ice skate or sled for hours after school.
So going back to work/school on Thursday was not fun. When the temperature got warm enough to rain on all that beautiful snow. The kids were able to make snow men all day as it sprinkled on us all. It was like walking on a snow cone how the snow was melting. And then, I am all for not throwing snowballs at school but you can't keep a kid from picking snow up from the ground. I mean really. They were able to make giant snowballs and snowmen but they had to leave the snow on the ground and then not climb on any snow thing they had made. Fine, just keep the kids inside- what's the point.
Then having 8 inches of snow try to melt in the course of a day. Oh man, what a mess. Try to walk on it for several hours telling kids to leave the snow alone. Then try to navigate kids across a busy street with enormous puddles and piles of slush. I think a rain downpour is easier to deal with.
I liked Wednesday..... Very Very much. I do appreciate that we really don't get weather like this here all winter long. Just enough for you to say "Ok I am done." and then it is done. I wish I still had that attitude of the happy fun that snow use to bring.

November already?

I can't believe it is November already. We are in the week of Thanksgiving. I don't mind the money I lost this year for the 3 extra days off this week. I really don't mind since the weather is awful and super freezing cold.

Just so you know, I haven't posted any of this on Facebook. I haven't posted very much on Facebook anyway, I haven't been feeling the greatest. It started with a sore elbow from push-ups in the spring that got a little better then got super bad. Along with that I felt like I had the flu all the time with muscle aches all over. Some super crazy tired where I am in a store and I don't feel I have the energy to get out of the store and take myself home. So I did go to the doctor. He did blood work and wanted me to come back for more blood work. So far it has possibly come back positive for Lupus. So those of you that know my family-my mom has had it for long time. For those of you that don't know what it is-it is an autoimmune disease. I have had a good attitude about it some days and other days it is frustrating to do next to nothing and feel like you ran a marathon. What is really frustrating is the next step is to see a rhuematologist and they are taking their time looking at my referral and then they are making appointments for March right now. Hmm... But I know if I take really good care of myself I can get better. But trying to figure out how to that with the 5 girls in the house still and a husband that is always out of town working (yes that is still a blessing) and my working full time with a job that could be making my symptoms worse ( sun can cause a person with Lupus feel worse) but I need the job for the insurance. Loads of fun. I will try not to complain. I will just state that I do have some challenges ahead of me.

The three ring circus

Just so you know, it's a 3 ring circus here right now. I think it was a zoo over the weekend but this week is definately a circus. Tally on drs appts--5 for 3 people this week. 2 down-3 more to go. I took today off and am really suppose to be getting a bunch of financial crap togother but it's SCARY!! but I will do it and I have an hour left. I shouldn't be here.
Autumn has 3 tennis matches and tournament this week. I might make one. I missed watching her yesterday. I have a husband driving from Montana all week and I just laugh because that is typical of weeks like these. It is out of our hands and the way it is that I get to become a super woman but really by the end of the week I am a frazzled SUPER big mess. But to everyone else I guess I look fine. Concert tonight for Kelsea -missed Kylee's last volleyball game. Amber might be down for the week after today. The cyst she had last fall/winter came back and I have to tell you it is one of the worst things I have ever witnessed someone suffering through and she gets to do it again. Poor kid and not great timing with marching band. By the way I so enjoy watching the BSU marching band! Yep, just love it.
We now know Kelsea is allergic to all trees, grass and weeds, some mold and dustmites. Somewhat allergic to dogs. But she is NOT allergic to cats. I loved how the doctor put it. "You got an A on your allergy test today." I took pictures of her back on my phone. I can't really put it on here but she was red and irritated all across her back. Just imagine that.
Somehow I am working full-time (fine, not today) with a spouse who's away, managing my house of 5 hormonal girls and I guess I am still alive, you will have to ask me 20 questions yourself to find out how 'all there' I am. Because I don't think I will even know. Back at it... where are all those darn papers????

Still here

I wish everyone would blog more. I would probably blog more if everyone else would. I think people must be rediscovering their lives more anyways because they don't seem to be on Facebook much either. Or they are doing what I am doing, watching everyone else but pretty much speechless on the status updates because everything else you could say seem so much less important than it once seemed.

Life is nuts like it always is this time of year. Kids are in school sports-8th grade volleyball and 7th grade tennis. Kylee made Jazz band. I am excited over that for her but they are a very small group this year. Kelsea quit color guard. I was kind of disappointed over that. But it's not about me. Amber is in full swing with band at BSU. Kelsea is still in Chamber orchestra, Kylee plays trombone and Autumn is playing flute. Hannah is Hannah at the moment. Her teacher is keeping her plenty busy with homework. We will see what she may do this year. But I am really hitting burnout with sports. I enjoy the music so much more. It is so much more enjoyable and relaxing watching a performance rather than the stress of competition. I am way too anxiety prone.
We had some birthdays. Kylee turned 14. She wanted a phone really bad and since most people don't have house phones anymore, and she needs one while babysitting, it was the thing to do. She got a phone. It is handy.
I had my birthday and got a Kodak mini camcorder. I am still trying to get it figured out. Right now I am waiting for a video I made today to download on Facebook. It has taken an hour already for a 10 minute video. I am still figuring it out.
Kelsea went to homecoming with a good friend of hers. She went with a big group with kids she is comfortable with and she had a really good time. I was happy for her that this one went well. We have had a rough time with her too. She can't text on her phone right now.
I thought I had something more to go on about. Besides the fact that we had big bunch of Kylee's rowdy friends over for a party. They had a good time. I guess I am getting more experienced with this teenage party thing. I gave them food and went away downstairs while they did party things. Much less structure than the young kid parties.
If it wasn't taking so long for Facebook to get a video, I would post one here but it will have to wait I guess. Watching Amber this year in band is a total blast. They are loud, and fun and really good. She is thinking about trying out for drum major next year. She is taking crazy hard classes, working at the jr high tutoring. She is busy all the time. There are some internships and scholarships she is looking at. Lee Joe and I keep telling her to try for the ones at NASA and she is thinking about it. Wouldn't that be cool?
I saw Autumn do the coolest thing the other day. I knew she was fascinated with sign language a few years ago and she got a bunch of sign language books for Christmas. I wasn't sure how much she really used them. A friend of mine was signing to her daughter the other day. She was signing to her to tease her I think and her daughter just looked at her like she was nuts because she doesn't know sign language. Autumn started translating everything my friend was saying. I looked at her in shock. My 12 year old can translate sign language. I love that I can discover something new about her like that. WOW!
I guess since my stuff is still slllooooooowly downloading, I will have to post pictures of all these events later. Because it's late.

Favorite memory

I have a favorite memory when it comes to my job. It's something that happened last year and it literally gave me chills. I probably shared it when it happened but I need to share again.

There is a family that has adopted all their kids from Korea and Vietnam. I guess I assumed that when you are adopted from there you are an American. One day this mom came and brought a little American flag for us to take to her son in class. I was curious as to why it was so important for him to have this flag. When I gave it to his teacher, the other teacher that taught his grade was there too. I lingered as they asked why he would be given an American flag by his mother, What did it mean? Kids are so funny. For a minute he said he didn't know and then it occurred to him. He said that he was adopted but he still wasn't a US citizen yet. The flag his mom sent him meant now he was. He was smiling ear to ear as he explained this to us. And we were all so touched. He is the best young man. He just left to attend another school. I will miss him. But that memory will last with me forever.

senior picture

Kelseas first senior picture! Isn't it great?!

BSU!! & Life

So I am learning new skills. Like how to post youtube videos to my blog. There you have it, some fun BSU band stuff. Amber's first performance day at BSU. You can see her in the one on the bottom as they are marching to where they did the flash mob. I find it exciting and fun and especially after BSU football's first game of the season. It looks like another exciting year. If BSU gets to go to a bowl game, Amber will so get to to go. Lee Joe is just dying to go to the BSU vs Oregon State game. That will be Amber's first football game performance.

She has started her sophomore year. She is looking into internships in the summer for the next two summers. She has been contemplating Colorado for some reason. I am not to sure the nature of what those are. She is thinking about the INL here in Eastern Idaho. Because Barbara Morgan being an Idaho teacher. They offer some internships at NASA. That would be exciting if she could do that. She just found out about this crazy great scholarship opportunity with them so it would be so exciting to see what happens if she tries for that.

We are down one person in the house. We had gained one in May and Justice Emilee went to BYU-Idaho this past weekend. It made for an interesting summer with the female hormone factor upped up another notch. Drama-but not the worst. Her last week before she left was bumpy with a fresh root canal as the last preparations for going were taking place. She got her driving part of her license done and now she needs to get the written part out of the way. We tried to get there before she went but she was so sick and miserable and then the envelope was lost when she was ready to try and go. It wasn't found until after 6 on Friday. We shopped, she packed and we loaded up the van minus one seat and a couple of girls and took the 3 youngest and her to Rexburg. We stopped at Craters of the Moon on the way. It was CRAZY windy but not hot. We climbed through a cave and some of us had issues with the part where you could hear bats. But we climbed through to the end. Then we had to climb up and through the lava rock to get back to the trail on the way back. We got to Rexburg and got her moved in early Monday. She is so social so she is in social paradise there right now. Pretty funny.

I am back at work. Exhausted like always. Lee Joe is gone just as much as he was with his other job. The pay is better. But life here is still like I am a single parent and so tired I am quite detatched from the kids and now I feel like my kids are falling apart. Kelsea is a serious challenge at the moment. Then last night Kylee was at football game, then she was home for few minutes before she went to babysit for awhile. When she got home I was so exhausted that I went to bed before I really talked to her. I find out on Facebook today because of her status that some mom of a boyfriend she had kept calling her terrible names and were telling the kids that she knew horrible things about Kylee that were unbelievable coming from a mom. I had to ask her several times "The mom said that? She said that?" and then flipped my daughter off as she drove away. Oh my goodness!! I am a terrible awful mother!! No I'm not, that woman is. But that is how I feel. Just awful. How come I wasn't better about talking to her. Kylee is quiet about things like that. It's heartbreaking. I would have been contacting everyone at the school I could think of had I known about it last night. But this is a mom of a kid that now attends another school. I will be knocking down doors tomorrow for sure. I think she will be getting a cell phone a little sooner rather than later.
That is where it hits me. My kids are not being cared for up to the standards that I have set for them. Yes, life happens. But I really need to be there for them the way I really like and want to be there for them. And working doesn't do that for them even though I am there for other people's kids all day long. Hopefully soon I will be in a position to make some decisions and make some choices that I want to make not the ones that I have to just to get by.

Boise State University Flash Mob - Spirit Day 2010

Boise State Rally for game against Virginia Tech

Pictures

Kylee and Autumn had a church activity where they got pictures taken in our favorite picture taking park. Anna had a friend come and take these pictures. Anna took some too but I haven't seen all of hers yet but theones I have seen were really good too.

Kelsea is getting her senior pictures done on September 11th. We will see if that changes. We are going to get hers done downtown and we will see what else happens with those.

I am back to work tomorrow. Not excited at all. I am having memory issues remembering kids names I have usually known well. And the busy is starting to happen already. I still can't get Kylee and Autumn home long enough to get them ready for school. Oh well. So Maybe I will keep up with my blog, maybe not. I will try.

Summer's end

All good things come to an end. Our leisurely summer is rapidly wrapping up. I am glad that we had no activities or obligations to meet. That is surely picking up already and school hasn't officially started yet. The past two weeks have been getting kids "registered" they are already in classes. You just get to pay lots of fees. $76 total for the jr high girls and a whopping $107 for Kelsea and we still have to sign her up for an online class for $50 dollars. YUCK!!
So here are this years stats-Amber is a sophomore at BSU. She is in the Blue Thunder Marching Band. They have had band camp all week. She is excited. BSU was ranked #3 in Sports Illustrated for top football teams so it is a really cool year for Amber to get to be a part of that. Maybe we will actually go watch a BSU football game in person!
Kelsea is a senior. We are trying to get senior pictures lined out and her schedule is killer. We can't even get seminary in her schedule even with her zero hour class and online Econ. She wants to go to BSU. She might be doing color guard but at the moment she is sitting on the fence. She is captain this year and that will look really good going into college but like I said her class load is huge and even more so for her. Tough mom moment in what to do. I still don't know the best advice. She is working at the mall to make it even more of a challenge and determined to keep the job.
Kylee is in 8th grade. That means volleyball started this week. She was disappointed she made jv but then both her sisters did too in 8th grade. It has made this last week that was suppose to full of last hurrahs fall totally flat. You can't do much when practice is running from 1-3 everyday. She will be in band and hopes to do jazz band this year.
Autumn is in what will be the glorious 7th grade. She is excited and not at all nervous. Kylee is worried Autumn will embarrass her. Those two actually get along the best out of the girls so it's weird to see the beginning of strife. But we went through the same thing with Amber and Kelsea but Amber had good reason to be worried. Autumn will be able to play tennis in late September and she is going to be in band also playing flute. Autumn's schedule is just like Kylee's was last year with the same teachers. Autumn has been babysitting with Kylee this week and that has furthered my dliemma of a last week of fun. Getting their school stuff for them has been difficult as well. Geez, this kids with jobs and lives of their own!! :)
Hannah will be in the third grade this year. There has been a reall sassiness I noticed here lately that I usually don't see until a few years later on. I am not really sure what this year will bring with her. She is not offered anything extra-curricular at school yet which is helpful. This is the first time I will only have one kid in elementary school since Amber's first two years at school. That was a long time ago.
Lee Joe started his new job. The first week had us a little nervous. He went up to Montana and back and then they didn't have work for him the rest of Weds and Thurs when at first he was suppose to go back from the orgional plan. They gave him work on Friday and then the beginning of this week everything that was suppose to line up and keep everyone busy all hit at the same time so he is going to be working hard through Saturday this week with the Montana trips and then the job he was hired for starts Monday and we will see what kind of busy that brings. He will only have one day off a week. The job he has had with Simplot has had him gone just as much.
I didn't get as motivated as I hoped. I notice that I accomplish more when I am secure in how "life" is going. This summer has been better than the last but still challenging. When things look up I get motivated and either super clean things or finish unfinished things. I have almost finished the bathroom completely. All that is left is to put something in the border I put on the wall but it will be fine if I don't do it either so I pretty proud of that. It has taken years to finish it to where I had to completely repaint the upper half of the walls. But it's trimmed out and the trim is painted and above to shower has new beadboard that is also painted. I replaced the shower curtain so it's updated. I just need to get to the kitchen that might be working on 3 years unfinished and I have decided to paint the walls in there yellow now instead of the blue they have been.
It's late, I am rambling. I finally know where my husband is at midnight. Still about an hour away from coming home from work. He is such a hard worker and I love him for that. Thank goodness he has a job.

I wish I had something more to say, I think it's too late for me to find my sense of humor. I will find it again. I am sure once I start back at work and have some crazy drama I will find it again to share. Oh, my next blog will be the story of the mystery plant.

Crazy sleeper

This is a random post but it needs to be noted that.....Hannah is crazy and terrible sleeper. When she is sleeping with her mother who happens to be a very light and sensitive sleeper it makes for a really super bad night's sleep.
Hannah slept with me two nights ago. Lee Joe has been gone most of the week with work while Kylee Autumn and Kelsea are gone on a church trip. She moves all night long. She pulls the covers, almost scratches up my legs with her long toenails, and she sits up and looks at you like she's drunk and gives the goofiest smile you have ever seen in your life before she laid back down to sleep some more. Rough night. She seemed rested though.
Night two-last night. I tell Hannah she can't sleep in the bed with me. But she can bring in her princess air mattress thingy she has. That is the most noisey air mattress EVER!!! Every time she moved it squeaked and scrunched. THEN she was talking a lot in her sleep. There were only 3 of us at home last night. That meant Spot slept with me too. She was piece of cake compared to Hannah.
Thank goodness everyone is home tonight. I would rather fuss at Lee Joe to roll over because he is snoring than put up with another 2 nights like that.
I feel bad because I do just love that little girl so much. I have never really minded sleeping with my kids but this is kid is restless.

Lee Joe starts his new job- for real-- On Tuesday. YAY!!

This Summer so far....

Last summer was a really rough one. I can truthfully say we went nowhere. We stayed close to home. We lived off my paycheck which was sad and the kids went to the pool only a handful of times if that. The recession hit this house hard and it took a long time to get better. I can tell you I was seriously ready for this one. Even just going to the pool is good news. This summer is quite an adjustment with kids growing up. Everyone is coming a going at all hours of the day. We have one more member in our household-Justice Emilee. A lot going on always. While we work around Amber's summer school schedule and her college friends, Kelsea and Justice bonding and sometimes not and both girls are working at the mall, Kylee has a consistent babysitting job, Autumn is just getting started in babysitting, and Lee Joe's wacky schedule with his job-yes we are happy with the paycheck even if it comes with cow poop covered clothes and we never know what his schedule is until the day before-I am not farmer material by the way... This is what we have done-
*Went to Nevada for a several reunions at once
*Cut 10 inches off Autumn's hair and hi-lighted it. Now she looks like Melissa!

*Let Kylee hi-light her hair for the first time.

*visited 3 pools in Boise
*Gone to Roaring Springs with the 3 youngest.
*3 oldest went to Roaring Springs later
*tie dyed shirts
*Went to Cascade Lake on a day trip
*Went to Shaffers Butte for a shorter day trip
*Been to some cheap movies on Tuesdays
*Hannah and Autumn did the reading thing at the library and got a bunch of free stuff
*Amber, Justice, Kelsea and I all won gift certificates to sunglass hut. That is MY favorite hi-light of summer.
*Sewed and prepped 3 girls to go to Wyoming for their Faith Quest Trek. 3 days in pioneer clothes pulling handcarts and walking for miles. Remembering those who risked and lost their lives.
*Went on the paddle boats at Julia Davis park. I have wanted to do that for years and now it's out of my system.
*Took the 2 youngest to the zoo.
*Picture taking just for fun.
*Almost finished the bathroom. Not quite there yet.
*Learning or teaching self sufficientcy (made up word or just misspelled?) Mother fixed van-last blog and took apart and fixed the dishwasher.
*Teaching the girls how to love unconditionally. They do it easily. I am very proud of them all.

Especially when we tie-dyed. There was no fighting.

.
This is what I still want to do but now time is getting short-
#catch up on photo albums that are more than 8 years behind now.
#Finish unfinished house projects. I am almost there!! I just need to finish it already.
#Use the free vouchers for Discovery center, ice skating, free meals out
#Spend some time at the mall because I like that place even if I don't buy anything.
#Clean the garage.
#have a yard sale.
#Go to Lagoon. Or just visit Utah again. But I don't know if this is happening this summer.
#Get all the kids pictures taken at JCPenney's
#Get haircuts. This one is the most ridiculous for me. It's not that hard to schedule a hair appointment is it? That's why my hair is always so long.

There is probably more. We have been waiting all summer for Lee Joe's new job to start. It's a better job with no cow poop involved, just moving hazardous material. More like contaminated dirt and they get to wear something over their clothes when they are near it. It was suppose to start June 1, then the end of June, then the beginning of July, then middle July, Now it's next week. But last notice he gave we found out on Friday that Monday was a no go. Contract work and hazardous material moving-lot of hang-ups. But Simplot still has kept him going they like him so if this doesn't work out they know he's good. Hoping for good news to pull through.

Car Fixing Superwoman!

You would think that I would blog more with more time at home. I don't think there is much to comment on I guess. Then there is an occasional day like this. When I have something to say, well it can be a lot more than you bargained for.

I should explain this latest quote from me "If people would tell me the stuff they don't remember, my day would have been a whole lot easier." I had one of those days the other day. I haven't had one in awhile. I can say I didn't really miss having one of those days. I thought all was fine. I was playing zoo tycoon with Hannah that morning a little bit. I guess I took over because she told me "It's not as much fun watching you play it for so long." I took a hint. But she went to a friends house and I played it a little more. Then I was about to take Autumn to the doctor for the umpteenth time for her toe. But this doctor was giving us an option over loosing her whole toenail so we were following up before the big Wyoming camp and walk trek she is going on next week. That would be bad to deal with the infected toenail during that. So we get in the car to go. I go down my street to go the no stoplight way to the doctor's office. I just past the church and I turn. There is water in the gutter and now as soon as I turn the power steering is gone. FLASHBACK!! Two summers ago, Lee Joe was in southern california, I loose my power steering and here a clunk on the busiest road in town. I lost my tensioner pulley. This time, I am familiar with the loss of power steering CRAP!! I pull into the parking lot and lift the hood to see and the belt is there but not moving. That means I need to get the car home before it overheats (know this from past experience) I get the car home and have to take the little car, the Neon. I have driven it twice maybe 3 times. It has no AC and it's a stick. I can do this, it's gonna be a hundred degrees by the way. But we have to get to the doctor. I get there just barely late. But I can't get the keys out of the ignition. I call Amber "I guess my key works the best." There is a blanket in the back and I cover the steering wheel. It looks like I don't want a hot steering wheel but I really just don't want someone driving off with a hot car. I mean like stolen. Doctor tortures Autumn with stuffing a cotton ball under her toenail but it is helping. I tell Lee Joe about the van. He remembers that he took the splash guard off the van to fix the water pump a few weeks ago. The water I went through probably made the belt slip off. He is not going to be home until the next day. I tell him I can't get the keys out of the car. Hmm, that's weird he says. I wonder why. Then I have another appointment right after that. Chiropractor. Glad to be there after the past 2 hours. I got there on time. Phew. But my shoulders are up to my ears by now.
3 stops later and still can't get the keys out of the flippin car. I finally get home, I go in the house and I tell Kelsea that I can't get the keys out of the car. She says there is a button you have to push to get them out. YOU ARE KIDDING ME!! I talked to Amber and Lee Joe and they don't tell me this????
I have helped Lee Joe get the belt on the van a few times before. I know how to do it. I really want my van back. I look online for how to get the belt on. There are like 7 different wheels it goes around. And then you have to move the tensioner pulley to get it back on. I know this but I don't know how it goes around each of the wheels. On the internet it says to look on the fan cover in the van. I am pretty sure that in vans that haven't been repaired in the past that it is there. But no picture on my van. Guess what? I have manual sitting 3 feet away from me. So I find my picture. I hunt for a 15 mm wrench. I will not be using proper tool names here. I just know how to use them. I find some rubber gloves. I hate grease under my nails. So I get the belt put where it needs to go except for the last pulley. The wrench isn't quite long enough to get the leverage I need and to get the blasted belt on. SO I try the jack handle. Not enough. I use another wrench in end of the wrench and see if I can get it to stay so I can move it. I am scared to death of it moving or slipping off and loosing a finger. I freak out about stuff like that. I try and I try and I try to get that belt on that pulley. It's not working. Hannah is dropped off at home and I go talk to the mom. I have grease literally up both arms past my elbows. Amber comes home with dinner. I am fixing a car and not cooking people!! It is about a hundred degrees now. I am shaking from heat and so I eat and wait about an hour. Everyone leaves the house except Hannah. So I recall something I read in the manual and I think I will try putting the belt on a different pulley. So I set it up, I move the tensioner and I slip the belt on like it was nothing. Not even 3 minutes and I had the freaking thing on! YEAH!! What the crap?!!! I could have had this done hours ago if I KNEW that!! There is nobody home to pat me on the back. I call Lee Joe to let him know I fixed the car and wondered if he knew how easy it was to put it on the other pulley. He knows, he learned later that it was easier to do it that way. And oh yeah! you have to push that button in to get the keys out of the other car. GRRRRR.. But you know what? I fixed my car myself and I didn't need any help. You really need some muscle to move that tensioner pulley. Good thing I have that. But I don't want to be responsible for car repairs in the future. So this is a one time celebration.

What's up?

I guess there is something to blog about finally. I will just start with, I don't think I have ever really won anything really great before. Nothing all that significant really. Maybe a candle holder once, I don't know. But Amber became a "fan" of the Boise factory outlets and she told me about a little contest thingy where if you comment on a status you might win a gift certificate to Sunglass hut. Amber, another Kim and I all commented and we all 3 won $100 gift certificate! I have spent less than $15 on most of my pairs of sunglasses. I wear sunglasses whenever I go outside so I really use them. I have never cared about brand of glasses. Just so I don't look like a total dork. I would never consider spending even $50 on sunglasses. But it was fun to go and shop for brand name sunglasses just because you could. In the end I found a pair of Ray Bans that I REALLY liked and they were $99. Most everything else was around 119 or 150. I got them and then they were 6 dollars over my gift card. I can handle that. So now I feel super silly wanting to find some silly excuse to wear them. Amber got herself a pair of really cute Vogue sunglasses and hers happened to be on sale so she go back and spend $15 more. I like them and can't wait to enter another contest. Amber also won a pedicure. We will have to pay attention and there will be more fun for us.

We went to Nevada to catch up with Lee Joe's long lost relatives. We spent time at Lake Lahontan on the first full day we were there and then we managed to get to Tahoe and spent some time there and had pictures at Molly's new house that was just a wonderful house that she has worked so hard for. I got to catch up a little with a high school friend I had not seen in 20 years. That was great. My 20 year high school reunion will be in August so I might be able to catch up with more people then.

I left late that night. It is about 7 hours of driving to get home. I had the other licensed teens with me. Amber drove some and then I did. FYI-the rabbits are breeding like... rabbits out there. I had seen 3 going to Nevada-hit one bunny :( I had a close encounter with an antelope. On the way back there were 7 we didn't hit any. Getting back to this really cool experience, I like to listen to my ipod while traveling and when everyone is asleep I put on my big headphones as I drive. We love movie soundtracks. We have all 3 Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks on my ipod. We just got the soundtrack to "How to train your dragon" (I LOVED that movie by the way) So anywho.. I was listening to that as I drove in the rolling mountains around Jordan Valley. They roll up and down and around. Nothing way to curvy or any real treacherous drops on the side. But the road isn't that smooth so it kind of feels bouncy at times. But when you are listening to music that goes to the part in the movie where the boy is flying with his dragon, it's pretty cool. What was absolutely breathtaking was rolling down and up and around and coming around a corner and you are listening to the flying music and then all of a sudden you see the valley covered in lights and the sun is starting to glow over the top of the distant mountain range on the other side of the valley. With the music and how beautiful it was, it did take my breath away. It was real life with a soundtrack. You couldn't even take a picture or recapture the moment. Everyone was asleep so it was only my moment. But it was so cool.

The rest of my life-Recovering from not working by getting next to nothing done. Took kids to the dentist two days in a row. Used the kids free roaring springs tickets so I took the 3 youngest. Starting our public pool visits. Favorite part of summer! Kelsea has a job at Justice. We have another teenage girl in the house! 6 girls. Kylee is babysitting a lot. Kids are finding ways to earn money and it's actually difficult to plan things with all the girls because someone is always coming or going.

By the way, I appreciate the comments left on my blogs. I haven't been that good at responding, but happy summer! And the dog is still with us. He has his good days and bad days. We will see how he handles the 4th. He doesn't handle the fireworks well at all but I think his hearing is going because he hasn't reacted to the fireworks much today as he has in the past.