the proof

You don't have to be an x-ray tech to see it.


Kelsea chewed him out for giving the camera the bird.

Amber informed us earlier this week that she is student of the month. Someone congratulated her and that is how she found out. There are only 2 students picked out of the whole school every month so it is quite and honor for her. Way to go Amber. She was as excited as she gets about it. Excited, but mildly so.

It's broken

Lee Joe's finger is very broken. He went to get his stitches out and told them how it was feeling. They x-rayed it and the bone is pretty smashed. The doctor is worried because after a week it is not even trying to regrow bone. He has to go see the bone doctor. Now it is in a splint. He is pretty bummed. I kind of am too. No insurance or workman's comp. It is his right hand. When he gets hurt he sure does a good job. But I have to say. He is still handling it all well. Still has only had tylenol for pain and is still working. I will post pics of the x-ray later.

We are heading into a birthday weekend. We had a nice break. Kylee is 12 on Friday! My b-day is Tuesday next week. Kylee is having a party and then a few friends will be able to stay the night. Not very many.

I won't go into details but I am starting to hate car-pooling. Especially people who think that the car pool is only there for themselves. I am refusing to be a doormat. It is like I have to make people help me back. I would almost rather do all the driving for my own kids so I can be done dealing with selfish people. I am a little cranky.

Kelsea started it!

Kelsea has had dishes this week and on Friday night she got on a roll. She did dishes. She put all the lost stuff away. She started cleaning out a cabinet and then I started cleaning out another cabinet. And then another one got clean. I couldn't believe it. She even mopped the floor. I went through our lid "box and we almost half filled it with cool whip lids and frosting lids. I want to know where all those bowls went. Not that I needed that many. On Saturday afternoon she didn't want to help Lee Joe change oil in his truck or the car. So she started on the fridge. What a kid! I got one that is a cleaner out of the bunch. On Thursday after her last driver's ed class she rode her back to a senior home here and applied for a job. She has some mojo. She is one hard worker.

No, I haven't finished my kitchen yet.

It has not rained at all in over 2 months. Amber and Kelsea decided to volunteer at the Women's fitness challenge. They left the house on Saturday morning at 6 am. At 7:30 the rest of us woke up to the dog barking at the thunder and lightning. It started pouring rain and lightning strikes downtown where the girls were. They were trying to find a food booth to volunteer at once some of the rain eased up-for a minute. Everything but one of the coffee stations were taken. So my girls maintained a coffee booth for some cold and grumpy people that missed their coffee fix. They came home before noon with all the layers of clothes they were wearing soaking wet. And then the sun came out once they were home.

We had one of Hannah's little friends stay the night over Friday. He brought a photo album his grandma made for him. Autumn, for some reason took it outside and left it there. It rained something crazy. We were getting ready to take hime home when I found the book and realized how wet it was. I quickly and carefully pulled all the pictures out. They all needed to dry. I told him I would fix the book for him. I had to find a new photo album. I went to all the really close stores to see if I could find one. I was looking for those cheap plastic ones you can USUALLY find anywhere. I couldn't find one. I went to Fred Meyer. They had them in girly glitter. That wasn't going to work for a little boy. I had to go home because another nasty storm blew in. Later that night I hit 2 more stores and found them but used one I found at Wal-mart. It had flowers on it but I realized I could salvage the cover on his if I let them dry out. Sunday everything was dry enough to put his album back together. All I was trying to do was find something close to home and should have just gone for the drive to Wal-mart. Even though I usually have the same complaint as most people do lately. They either have no selection or are out of what I am after. I was trying to find Swedish fish for Kylee to take to school for a gift basket they are doing in her class. I had to get them at Wal-greens. I was not feeling good to top it off so that made the whole photo album seeking mission miserable.

HEY!!!

I fixed my COMPUTER!!!!! I did it MYSELF!!!! It was really acting stupid and now its not. I fixed it! I fixed it! Now we can watch you tube videos without it acting really slow and wasting a ridiculous amount of time. Now I need to replace my Wii sensor bar. The rabbit was not watched as well as she should have been and ate the wire. I bought one but it doesn't work.

Why?

I am slow. But You wouldn't believe how fast my regular laundry accumulates. I am washing the 2nd sleeping bag from my trip and I am wondering why? So I can put them in the shed freshly cleaned so they can collect fresh dust until next season I guess.

TA DAH

See! Super cute and yummy too. It doesn't take much to make me happy really. We all were after this. Lee Joe just happened to be home for the delivery too.

Super cute

You are going to have to wait a little bit for the picture. I am heading into the busy part of my day even though this whole day has been that way. Anyways, we got this super cute thing delivered yesterday. It was adorable and totally made my day-and everyone else's in the house because things do not get delivered here very often. It was so appreciated!! Just typing this little bit I had 2 phone calls, on one my cell and one on my landline. Sheesh. A new CUTE picture is coming so you don't have to look at Lee Joe's ugly hand anymore.

And Hannah went to the eye doctor and finally has improved her vision in her bad eye from 20/40 to the 20/30 - 20/25 range! That is great news after 6 years of eye doctor visits every 3-6 months. And just speaking to Kelsea just now, I have to make ANOTHER dr's appointment. jeez louise. Keeping it happy! Do you see me smiling my cheezy smile? Got to go!

I have a minute to post a picture. Was gonna jump up and get the camera-Oops Amber has it for YW tonight. They are doing photography at the park. Lee Joe and I did Amber and Kelsea's schedules at the high school last night. There are some amazing teachers. Kelsea's acc Chemistry teacher was a hydrologist and the girls math teacher (they have the same teacher) was some sort of engineer. I got Kelsea into the doctor today. She has something weird going on with her ribs that could be caused by her hypermobility joint issue. I am working tomorrow. Some day you will see the super cute thing that made my week.

EWWW

Here is the big bad owie. It is really swollen.

More good news. Melissa fared well in the storm. It moved to the East a little. They had lots of wind only about an inch of rain. Their house held up well. No damage to cars or to David's family store. A rather large tree branch fell on a neighbors roof and that was the worst damage they saw. The kids slept in the hall and in the end Dylan felt the storm was a let down. They still have power. We didn't hear from my grandfather and uncle for awhile. He is without power. But word finally got out and they fared well. And he has a generator he got after Rita. They might be without power for a while. Since Janika hasn't blogged in awhile I bet she is getting hit now.

Something better

Here is the something better. I know I have been griping progressively all week. Probably scared all the 2 readers that are still reading from reading anymore. Anyways, another store where we bought formals for Amber this past year is going out of business. We hit that store today. 2 girls in high school with homecoming around the corner, that is a big bonus especially with 3 more girls that have the potential for wearing them in the future too. We found dresses for 30 bucks! and little sweaters for 7 and 8 dollars. So the Amber and Kelsea got dresses. Amber got 2 and Kelsea got one. We are keeping an eye out on another one for Kelsea that is not quite 30 bucks yet. They put their dresses on at home and it was like the big girls were playing dress-up. So funny and cute. I have to repair and alter some but they are great dresses. Some fun news. Dove will have to let me know if the JCPenney outlet is still in Reno. That would be a great place to visit if we get into Reno again.

The not fun news. My problem seems to becoming more of a kidney stone issue. I know Devanie relates. I have been waving in and out of feeling really bad and OK. I found some meds from my last episode so that is helping.

More not fun news. I wish I had cable right now. I am blogging so much because I am trying to find out everything I can about Ike and I keep searching for updated info on the internet. I am not finding much. Hopefully I will be able to reach my sister in the morning. I did talk to her a bunch today though.

Lee Joe's hand is doing well so far. He is going to an air show tomorrow at Mountain Home. Good diversion for him. I think he is taking 4 girls. Kelsea is not interested and I shouldn't go far either.

I think I have blogged plenty in the past week alone.

Hurricane

I know Janika may get a little bit of Ike but here is what my sister and grandpa are in for-
From an e-mail I got today from her

"Well, initially the eye of the hurricane was going to pass directly over us (Sealy) as a Cat. 2 hurricane still. Can you believe they are projecting it will be a hurricane this far inland?? But, it shifted slightly to the east and now the eye will pass over Houston. We will still see some pretty extreme winds and rain, though. They say that hurricane force winds are extending 115 miles from the center of the storm and tropical force winds are extending 275 miles from the center.

It is looking like Galveston is going to be devastated!!! You should see the flooding in Galveston already and landfall is still projected out 18 hours. Waves have topped the seawall already and they are at low tide. The storm surge is projected to be somewhere around 15-20 feet with 8-10 foot waves above that and the streets are already flooded! How awful. They have been under mandatory evacuation since yesterday. Some of the people that have been here for years have said they haven't seen flooding like that so far in front of a storm ever!!!

I talked to Grandpa yesterday and he says he is pretty prepared. He has a generator and water and food, so hopefully he will be fine. I will check in with him after the storm. We are all warned we will most likely lose power and be without it for an "extended period of time." Yippee! At least a cool front is coming in behind the storm and we are supposed to be in the 80s instead of the 90s for a few days afterwards.

Great timing! I was supposed to start working on Monday...now I have no idea what the plan will be. Anyways, the storm is supposed to take a sharp northward turn once it hits landfall, but they are showing it still being hurricane strength until Livingston. I don't know if you remember where that is, but that is like really far inland I would think for a hurricane."

She tells me Kailyn is very distressed but Dylan thinks it is cool.
I have been to Galveston a few times so seeing pictures on the news I recognize some of the places they show. It is a neat little town. Hopefully it won't be all gone after the storm.
My grandfather is on the west side of Houston. Where Sealy is, where Melissa is at is a 30-45 minute drive to my grandfather's house.

I am pretty miserable. I think I will have to go to the doctor whether I like it or not. Lee Joe went to work. He is limited on some of what he can do but he is doing OK.

Pete's sake

You Lay people are sure good at one upmanship. Lee Joe didn't want Zach to get all the injury attention so he tried to cut his finger off. But it hurt too much so he really just hurt the heck out of the top of his middle finger. He has 17 stitches and just barely missed severing a tendon. He hurt the sheath around it but it is still in tact. So dealing with him in situations like these is on the super obnoxious side. I have a hard time feeling sorry for him when he is really being a pain in the you know what. He argues about EVERYTHING!! And the nurses and the doctor also said how "sensitive" he is to pain so it isn't just me and my super human tolerance for pain that thinks those thoughts. He will be fine and better off if he will decide in the morning that he doesn't need to work. I am sure the pain in the morning will change his mind. He got a shot in the butt too that is almost hurting more at the moment than the hand injury. They did say that it was going to hurt.

I was having a ridiculous day. I was so tired I don't what was wrong me except I am fighting a UTI with cranberry capsules so I didn't have to go the doctor. It is working slowly. I worked a half day, got nothing done around here except I started my sheets and with everything tonight I am waiting for them to dry right now. I was going to watch the marching band at the game but got there at the beginning of the 3rd quarter so I missed seeing it. Last night the rabbit escaped and was lost for hours and the little girls found it on the otherside of my animal hating neighbors house. I had to zip tie that door closed on its cage. This whole week has about become a nightmare. I have parents that seem to think I am the neighborhood chauffer for their kids and I am trying to get them to help me out a little more so I don't lose my mind. I think I did it but I keep mulling it over and over and I get more frustrated by trying to become less of a door mat. If I keep going on it will be more of an irritating blog than it already is. I will have to take pictures of Lee Joe's wrapped hand I guess. By the way Hannah must have had some monster trophy teeth. They were big with the roots in tact. She got 7 dollars for 4 teeth. She is still on a soft diet today.
And my sister is outside Houston. I have been trying to call her back all evening and can't get her. I think they will be OK where they are at. I haven't talked to her so I don't know.

I have had it. I just thought I would let you know before I lose it completely.

Procrastination

Blogger, I have found, is great form of procrastination. I need to clean up my disaster living room before piano and have not been hope long enough to do anything about and here I am. I wasn't going to blog but I want to procrastinate some more.

It was uneventful really until this morning. I worked for 2 days and besides the one kindergarten class having a crazy nutty day, there was not much to report. It was our stake temple day last night. They made such a big deal out of it but I hardly saw anyone I knew from our stake. But that doesn't mean they weren't there because they were mostly people much older than me and couple of couple's younger.

The girls drug themselves to the temple trip this morning. Amber was fine and got Kelsea moving a 5 when they were suppose to be at the church. I think it was men thinking like men saying they had enough to get ready for school. The girls did not and they were 20-30 minutes late for their zero hour classes. In the course of their home time getting ready for school, Kelsea was scared by a mouse. Screaming at 7am is hard to ignore. And there was a big katydid as well. Ok, Socks and I need to have another talk about the condition of mice brought into the house. Bring them dead, very very dead, not playing dead. It might be under the piano. The katydid was sent outside. Makes for good stories though.

Poor Hannah had a rough afternoon. She got 4 baby teeth pulled in front and did not handle it very well. The dentist we have right now was so good and tried to be careful and get her to calm down. I said just go for it. She is like that with band-aid removal and use to be like that when I trimmed her nails. Nice mom aren't I? So he did the last 2 real quick. He just wasn't sure and didn't want it to be traumatic and I appreciate that. Anyways Hannah is hanging out at home now and is having jello, pudding and mac and cheese for the next two days. Amber had 2 cavities filled but no drama there.

I have to get those band uniforms finished tonight. It has gone a little bit better. But I still grumble how much I hate them when I do them. Well, now I have hustle. Procrastination time is over.

stupid--

Here is me cursing the fact that I can not do a decent slip stitch to save my life on some stupid cuffs on the band uniforms. And cursing the person that stitched the elastic on with the smallest, tightest sewing machine stitch there ever was. I am diversion-ing my self as I wish I said no to 4 band uniforms-8 pant legs. I am working tomorrow and they need to be done Weds. I did one pair and even though I redid one cuff it still looks bad. AND AND AND . Wah wah-pity party is over. Back to stitching my crappy stitching. By the way-I do not envy kindergarten teachers. Fun day there.



Wouldn't you love this in High School? They are having a temple trip at 5am Weds morning before school starts. They are suppose to be done in time for 6:30 seminary and zero hour seminary and classes. Being a girl, wouldn't that just make your morning? They say their best turnouts have been the very early morning ones. Maybe we should skip those in favor of the later in the day trips. I am kind of grumbly. I guess I should quit now and go sew more bleeping pants. This really isn't suppose to be a vent fest. But that is the kind of mood I am in besides tired.

Don't like it!!

I don't like all the back to school stuff! Take it back! Take it back!!

The days are quiet and seem short and long at the same time. Depends on what I am up to I guess. I will be subbing already for 2 days next week. Could have added another day but I have to take 2 kids to the dentist. I have been asked to sub 3 days the next week but I had a conflict on one of those days too. I had 2 back to school visits last night and we rented a viola from the school for Autumn which meant I had to be a the Jr high in that window of being at the elementary school. And kids were everywhere it seemed. And the husband was working late again. Needless to say I was frustrated. We have 4 kids playing instruments at the moment-besides piano. I am kind of excited except for the fact that the Elementary orchestra teacher is the same one from the jr high that we had problems with last year. It is one year and she wants to play flute next year. Kylee is playing trombone this year.
We are going to a football game tonight. Mainly for the pep band and to hear their marching music and see Amber be bossy. I am helping hem band uniforms as of today and we are to make a quilt before the end of this month for a YW thing. It isn't even started yet.
I have plenty to do this weekend but I am hoping for a helpful husband to be home and help take care of the outside so I can get things in order in here before I have to work on Monday. I STILL have several loads of laundry left. And many other messes.

The kids are doing well at the moment. Kelsea did a hilarious powerpoint presentation about herself. She did it while she was still very tired from the trip. We were still very tired from the trip so we laughed a lot harder. Both girls said they were crazy hyper on Tuesday and they didn't like it. That was kind of funny. Hannah is on some sort of accelerated learning thing it is like going through a new experience that could get overwhelming. She loves learning but is learning things so fast, I don't know. The first week of school she is reading at a 3.5 grade level. I have never, ever experienced this. The teacher just bumped her up in her math group to see how she does and she is doing great. This teacher sounds great at figuring out the kids in her class and how each one learns and where each one is at. There are only 17 kids in her class. With the 5 and 6th graders we will have to see if they can keep up and get things turned in on time. It is prep for jr high right now and that could be a problem for them both. But they are doing all right for the moment.

I got all my pictures back from Penney's. So I am happy about that. I like pictures. But I am depressed too. My favorite store ever is closing here. I have shopped at Mervyn's for years and they have had store closing signs every where. I forlornly walked through the store very sadly this afternoon. I didn't buy anything but mourning never being able to shop there again. Or park in my favorite spot at the mall in front of the upstairs at Mervyn's and work my way through the mall from there. No more sundresses for little girls or jeans for me. No more great clearance deals. So sad. Yes I like the mall. And have always liked Mervyn's since we lived in Nevada. I am done mourning. I need to get Kelsea soon. She is almost done with her very first driving experience in Driver's ed. That is so scary!!!!!! I have recovered. Have a great weekend!

A couple more pics

The first elk picture. Another beautiful view picture.

Trip

Here are the words to go with the pics. I ran out of time last night after I posted all this pics. I was copying a ton of stuff for Amber while I posted. So anyways-
This is Mount Hood coming into Portland. Very pretty mountain

We stopped at Multnomah Falls which is just before Portland. It is a fantastic place to stop after nearly 6 hours on the road. We walked up to the bridge to see the falls up closer. It is a beautiful waterfall.

On the other side of Portland we found this little diversion for Lee Joe. He found a happy place. He just got out with the girls and looked in that big window and at the planes in front.


We stopped at Depoe Bay and got the best whale spotting. So cool! The whales we saw this time were much closer and easy to spot. It was just difficult to get the digital camera to take the pictures fast enough. But we saw it come up many times. It was awesome. That was the first little diversion once we hit the coast on Friday.


We stopped at a Science Center in Newport. They have these "tide pool" things where the kids can touch everything. The center is a donation only place so it is almost free. 10 dollars for all of us. Can't beat that kind of deal.

Kylee is touching the octopus. Out of all the aquariums we have been to the past few years this is the only place I have ever seen where you get a great view of an octopus and have an opprotuniity to touch it if it is awake and active. The other picture is in one of the tanks there.

We drove a little farther down and the kids were itching to get near the water. It was very close to low tide and Lee Joe took them up some rocks and this is what they found. Real ocean tide pool.

We drove as far South as a town called Bandon. It was too late to find a camp ground and it was acting like rain. Lee Joe took the loop in that town that went by the ocean and we found this motel. It is the cutest nicest and best night sleep I have ever had in a Motel. The first picture is the view out our room. The 2nd is the room the girls stayed in. They had a princess room that the little lasy that owns the place fixed up her self and it was the cutest room.

We knew that low tide was at 6am that morning. So Lee Joe and the girls got up early and took the walk down to the beach from the Motel. We have never found tide pools like these before.

Hands on the sea stars

Sea Anemones and WOW look at all those Sea stars. Shh-I was still in bed.

We drove all day down to the red woods and we were looking for a camp ground that wasn't full and wasn't a dump. But we had to take this diversion to drive through the tree.

This is the potty stop in a giant log.



We set up camp and this is the next morning. We were able to find our own food. At least a snack. And they are good in cereal too. Blackberries are everywhere there.

We went to the scenic drive and found this area where there was a trail. It was called Big Tree and we are all standing in front of big tree. And then we found Big hollow log, big stand of trees, and the enormous root cluster.



It is place where you feel quite small. But beautiful and breathtaking.

We heard that they filmed a lot of Jurassic park here. I have only seen parts of it on the TV version but this field reminds me of a scene. But that is Lee Joe taking a minute to pick blackberries. We were going to go to this other area where they did film some of the movie but the place was too full people and we weren't allowed to go the rest of the way up.

Back to our hike. I think we were hiking for about 2 miles on this trail. Towards the end we told the little girls to stop running ahead and then we saw elk tracks on the trail. They looked like fresh tracks so we were trying to keep our eyes open. Then Kelsea and Kylee and I were trying to speed walk in first just playing around and laughing at each other where we all of a sudden heard something move in the brush and we looked over to see a bull elk really close. Dead stop and I grabbed both girls next to me and covered Kylee's mouth as she screamed. I said Elk to Lee joe and I wasn't sure what the Elk was going to do so we just stood still Lee Joe and the other 3 girls joined us and I was able to get my camera out because he wasn't going to charge us. I got a picture as he moved away a little and then we saw 2 doe and 2 babies in the trees. We went on our way all jumpy after that but our walk was near the end.

The kids were still so excited about the ocean. We ate lunch in a picnic area. Not really. We sat in the car because it was too windy and cool. But we spent awhile on the beach collecting driftwood and watching pelicans dive in the water. That is a bunch of Pelicans and other sea birds sitting on the beach. We could spot seals here and there but they were never there long enough to get pictures. The waves were just crashing into the beach so the girls couldn't touch the water.


We took a drive up to some bluffs and here is a pretty view.

On our way we tried more beach combing Monday morning. The girls found a few shells that day and they even found some pieces of sea glass. The sea gulls were quite pretty compared to the inland ones. This guy even posed for me.


So yes, we got a flat tire. I have never seen anyone so excited over it in my life. "I can get extra credit in driver's Ed if I change a tire!" So she did. She dressed like that for two days. What a dork.

And there you have it. It seemed like so much longer. We spent hours and hours in the car and the kids were so well behaved considering. The only regret we have is that we couldn't camp closer to the ocean but it was pretty windy where we were so it probably wound not have been as nice as our other trip years ago. And 3 days later I am STILL cleaning up the mess AND doing loads of laundry. But it was all worth it.

There is so much to say but...

We had great time. I have loads to report and pictures to upload but life doesn't stop around here because you want it to, darn it. We had a slow time getting going yesterday. You try packing up the gear for 6 females and one ADD male and see how fast it goes. Our poor car was so loaded and the back end sat real low. We got home at 2:30 am-would have been sooner if it wasn't for the flat we got around Hermiston Oregon. We had to unload all that crap on the side of the road to change a tire. Kelsea got so excited because she said if she changed a tire she would get extra credit in Driver's Ed. So I took pictures of her changing the tire. So there is the positive spin on a flat. I still have not been able to get to the tire place to fix it. I have spent hours today getting stuff out of the van and trying to put things away. There are piles of laundry in the kitchen. But we had a great trip.

But I did get the van cleaned and to the car wash today. Hooray! I am very tired but still buzzing along somehow. I have a back-to-school night for Hannah and we have to finish taking Amber's senior pictures tonight. Hey, what's for dinner? Who needs dinner anyway.

Guess what?

The man of the house is home as of 2:20 today. The girls made a welcome home banner. The little girls made him sit and watch a movie. We should be off to the Oregon coast/ redwoods in California for the weekend. I tried to type redweeds. I don't want to see any redweeds. Anyways I am super behind for the departure and have been fighting anxiety attacks all day. We are making real food! Tacos are for dinner so I better get busy.

So everyone is happy. Happy Labor day weekend to all.

Sheesh

Crazy!! I am not the only one with car trouble. My carpool person was suppose to take the kids. She had all of them in the car and then her car wouldn't start. So I loaded everyone up, took them to school and came back and jumped her car. It started right away. By the way. I have always had bad juju when it comes to cars. This car has been the kindest to me the longest but once this stuff starts I just want a newer more reliable car because I don't enjoy getting stranded frequently.

Don't you hate this? I HAD to get gas yesterday morning, I didn't fill up completely though. In the afternoon when I went to get the kids, the price at that station dropped 5 cents a gallon. That is a big drop!

Last night we were getting Amber's senior pictures taken. We were getting ready to go to the train depot for outdoor pictures when an awful wind storm blow in. We are not in Nevada so it is not typical. The winds were gusting at about 50 miles and hour. We had to reschedule, darn it. We were so with it and getting things done. Anyways it was a terrible wind storm without the storm. No rain or clouds or lightning but a brush fire started in Southeast Boise and burned to the ground or damaged 19 homes. So it is quite sad. That is the biggest disaster to happen to Boise in many many years and it is in a part of town we have been to many times. I just saw it on the today show just now.

I got a lot done yesterday even with the kids coming home early. It is so quiet with no one to talk to periodically. I have so much more to do. But that will be the story always.

Lee Joe is packing up to come home and can't wait. He will be leaving tonight. We are still trying to head out of town this weekend but we have a glitch in Kelsea's drivers ed. Amber is trying to manipulate me into letting her catch up in the KIA on Friday. NO NO NO. Either she goes Thursday or stays and that is all it is.

I better get busy. Maybe I will get a chance to post pictures a little later.

They're gone!!!!!

It was a Monday morning. Amber used all the gas I had Saturday night. I think she was lucky she made it home. I was on very empty on Sunday. I debated all day Sunday whether to get gas. I walked back to church when I came home in between Sacrament and YW. Walking home was painful. I know why I usually drive past the 13 houses to church. Dress shoes are not kind to my heels and Autumn has some sort of bite that is swollen behind her knee that was causing her grief. So back to Monday. I put some of the lawn mowers gas in the car because I was that concerned, which meant I smelled like gas. When I started the car it sounded like it still needed gas. Amber rode her bike but I drove Kelsea. I took the time to get gas on the way to school. And then I found out the LEFT BLINKER ISN"T WORKING AGAIN!!! That ticked me off. I dropped Kelsea off and she was nervous and I felt bad for her and wished Amber was with her. So I came back home without my left blinker and supervised the other 3. Hannah was walking around the house with her backpack on at 8 and we didn't need to leave for another 30 minutes. She was soo excited. I was going to walk her to where she was to line up but she was way ahead of me. I really don't think she needed me at all. We found a family at the school that we went to church with a few years ago and she has a daughter Autumn's age and we helped her feel better. Then a little boy that was in Hannah's class last year was in tears. I asked him what grade he was in because he looked familiar and he said kindergarten I took him in and he said that the kids were different. Poor thing, he didn't understand. How scary for the little guy. I walked off the playground feeling a little lost without a kid. But I am OK now. This is my first peace and quiet in I don't know how long. Now I should stop blogging and take advantage of no mess makers.
Lee Joe can't wait to come home. He will be leaving tomorrow night. We don't know what he is doing when he gets back. He may not be home for good. Twin Falls is a possibilty but it got iffy all of a sudden. Sacramento is an option if things don't work out in Twin and Southern California is still an option again this winter if things are bad here this winter. So I could be doing this alone for awhile but I manage pretty well. I just need a car still to have that 2nd driver I need so badly.
The cat has been stalking the stove for 24 hours now so I suspect she brought in a mouse. I don't want to chase mice anymore than 2 inch spiders.

I think..

I think all the school supplies are bought. Shoes for the 2 youngest were found for $7 a piece. We know who the girls teachers are and all their classmates. We will go to the school Friday and drop off their stuff and see their teachers. Pictures for 5 kids have been taken. We are almost ready for the big day.

My Olympic analysis and update. Still up too late watching Volleyball. I watched the gold medal matches for mens and womens beach volleyball and was almost like a guy going "Yes" and "AHH" at all the ball whacking. I think indoor volleyball guys like the dramatic effect of flopping on the floor when the ball is on their side of the net to make it look good and make them look tough even if the ball wasn't anywhere near them when they flopped. But really they are just polishing up the floor so it is easier to flop the next time around. We watched and Kelsea laughed pretty hard at one of the US guys throwing himself across the finish line and on the ground in a track race to take 3rd. It's a lot harder to plish up a wet track that way and you don't slide so well.
I don't like to talk on the phone much(mainly because I can't hear very well on the phone and I only have one good ear to listen with) but I talked to my sister and Lee Joe and my good friend so long tonight that my good hearing ear is in pain from phone pressure. Kind of silly huh. I had good visits on the phone though.

I told Hannah it is 6 days before her daddy comes home. I made a mistake and said Lee Joe was going home when he called me on his cell when it cut out and she thought I meant our home not the hotel home. She was sad.

You play, you pay

We spent all day at the fair yesterday. It has been 2 years since we did the rides. So everyone got a chance to do the rides. Lagoon and our other amusement park visits sure has deflated the fun of the fair rides. And the fact that 90 percent of them go around and around enough to make you sick real fast is further deflating. But the 3 youngest had a blast. The 2 oldest were finished fast. I supervised. I go in a circle once and I am sick so not a lot of fun there for me anymore. Amber met up with 3 friends. She invited the boy who likes(d) her who is recovering from heartbreak over her very brutal honesty this summer. (He asks"Do you like me at all" She says "not as much as you like me")OUCH It was probably a good thing so they could reestablish their friendship. Kelsea was in a good mood that morning and most of the fair. I was happy to see that. Then she lost 60 dollars. Somebody else had a great day at the fair. It cooled off here but the humidity went up a bunch so we were still pretty hot all day. Autumn and Kylee rode on rides I would have never ridden as a teenager. Hannah is officially too big for a few of the kiddie rides at the fair. And yet she was too small for rides she has been on at Lagoon. The little girls won a prize at the fish pond. Hannah rode the ponies and the 3 girls did spin art. We saw the Splash dogs and an acapela group. They were really good. We saw Amber's friends art in the art show and had funnel cakes, fries and cotton candy. We were so exhausted. I wore tennis shoes but they were brutal to my little toes. I have blisters on top of one of toes for proof. I think flip flop ankle ache would have been better. Autumn woke up puking in the middle of the night. Poor thing. She has been fine all day all day though. And we ticked off the neighbor with our dog shutting the screen door on himself so he barked and whined all afternoon I guess. They are grumpy old people. But my dog can be seriously obnoxious when he is left outside. We never leave him out like that. It seems like anytime outdoors give me a miserable sinus problem aftermath. Oh well. I have lots pictures to put up to get a better feel of the fun we did have. The girls did enjoy themselves.

I am exhausted today. We got up early for dentist appts on Tues for the 2 oldest. I had an allergy attack the night before that kept me up awhile. Amber has two cavities but everyone else had none. But Hannah has to get some baby teeth pulled. Kelsea is signed up for drivers ed and we got her permit lined out today. I am not wanting the kids to start school yet but I know it is just aftermath of last year still. It should be pretty nice having the school day to myself to get things done. When I went to the elementary school to sign Kelsea up for Driver's ed- The secretary there takes care of all the drivers ed sign up for city- And she told me they were looking for a temporary part time position to help a little boy in kindergarten with brittle bone syndrome. I told her I didn't know and she says still she likes having me available to be her sub. I still like subbing better I think. I have already had to book several appointments with the kids in September.

I have one kid left to get studio pictures of. We were real behind on studio pictures and I don't buy what the school puts out. I don't have all the kids school supplies or shoes for the 2 youngest yet. We have couple more days left to try and get to the pool. I need to show everyone Fabios brother. Amber is having senior pictures the first day of school. We are suppose to have a quilt made by my Young Women girls before Oct 1. We haven't started yet. It is for one of the really big conferences when the YW general president comes in October. Kylee will be 12 at the end of September so she is suppose to help too. We already know Amber has a conflict for that day. One of her big band competions is that day.

Lee Joe will be home soon. One week to go now. He is so ready to come home, he is counting down the days. I think I am ready for a hug.

I guess this is my random informational blog where I process all my thoughts. Hopefully keeping Lee Joe informed of things I might have forgotten to tell him and what he is spared listening too in his absence. I haven't found my funny today. I must need a little more rest before the humor comes back.

I am glad everyone, with the exception of Thomas, had a good laugh with the birthday thing. I know I am easily entertained so it was great fun for me. I still can't wait to see Janika's though.

Good news

On the weight loss (not so much) and inches reduction(some of those) quest, I was able to wear a skirt comfortably today that was miserably tight a couple months ago. Hooray!

I am trying to ride 6 miles on the stationary bike everyday that I don't do a video. I did take 2 days off for recovery from exercise and some sort of mild flu. But I did swim on Saturday and I only did 3 miles today but it is Sunday. I have to go back to the pool this week and get pictures of Fabio's blonde surfer dude brother that is a lifeguard there.

Bad news is Kelsea tried out for volleyball and with all the politics and networking we did not do, she did not make a team. There were girls that missed tryouts that made it. Big high school sports stink that way. I am proud of her because she knows she is good enough and is mad about it. But now she is afraid at the moment to try out for basketball but we have done our networking there and can keep at it. But it is so stupid. She is pretty depressed. Good news about that is, less running around as soon as school starts and I might be able to get her into drivers ed right away. Two drivers! How scary is that? Good thing you aren't here. That one might be scary on the road.

One more thing

The funniest thing I heard someone say on TV-Mary Carillo the late night olympic coverage host, I guess, after the US gynastics team lost the gold. Alicia Sacramone was beating herself up over her mistakes. Mary Carillo is emotional at the beginning of the broadcast and says-"Anyone with kids, anyone that is a parent, knows what kind of pain that is to watch Alicia beat herself up. Now you know why some people just raise Chinchillas." At midnight it is even funnier to hear that come out of someone's mouth out of the blue.

Who does this?

Read previous post to explain this picture.
2am spider-


Kelsea somehow, in her state of fear, before tearfully coming to get me, had the presence of mind to take a picture of the spider and it happened to be sitting on a ruler to prove to all how big it was. Those are inches.

We found the rabbit in our neighbors yard eating the grass at 9pm and when the rabbit saw me she hopped right to me. I was kind of shocked she didn't hop away.

Dead spiders and found bunnies are a relief to us all.

rough day, good laugh

I have had a rough night and day. Kelsea woke me up at 2 am because there was a big, yes it was big, spider in her room. I don't like to kill big spiders like that so I squished it with books. It took awhile to fall asleep after that. Then I got sick with some intestinal cramps then they woke me up every hour until 6am. Then after running kids around this morning I found out our rabbit is lost. We have been looking for it all day. We spent almost 3 hours at a hair salon getting 2 haircuts but the cuts turned out really good. I am feeling stressed. So then I read this e-mail. It tells me that-I danced with a llama because my family thinks I am stupid anyway. Go ahead and try it and when you comment tell me about yourself to continue the laughter for my sake anyway.

Pick the month you were born:
January-------I kicked
February------I loved
March--------I karate chopped
April----------I licked
May----------I jumped on
June----------I smelled
July-----------I did the Macarena With
August--------I had lunch with
September----I danced with
October-------I sang to
November-----I yelled at
December-----I ran over
Pick the day (number) you were born on:
1-------a birdbath
2-------a monster
3-------a phone
4-------a fork
5-------a snowman
6-------a gangster
7-------my mobile phone
8-------my dog
9-------my best friends' boyfriend
10-------my neighbor
11-------my science teacher
12-------a banana
13-------a fireman
14-------a stuffed animal
15-------a goat
16-------a pickle
17-------your mom
18-------a spoon
19------ - a smurf
20-------a baseball bat
21-------a ninja
22-------Chuck Norris
23-------a noodle
24-------a squirrel
25-------a football player
26-------my sister
27-------my brother
28-------an ipod
29-------a surfer
30-------a llama
31-------A homeless guy
Pick the color of shirt you are wearing:
White---------because I'm cool like that
Black---------because that's how I roll.
Pink -----------because I'm crazy.
Red-----------because the voices told me to.
Blue-----------because I'm sexy and I do what I want
Green---------because I think I need some serious help.
Purple---------because I'm AWESOME!
Gray----------because Big Bird said to and he's my leader.
Yellow--------because someone offered me 1,000,000 dollars
Orange--------because my family thinks I'm stupid anyway.
Brown---------because I can..
Other----------because I'm a Ninja!
None----------because I can't control myself!

I can't wait to see what you get stuck with.................
Janika's is going to be hilarious, I hope you comment with yours.
Melissa sent me this- Melissa I kicked a surfer because I'm cool like that. Kailyn said I sang to a smurf because my family thinks I am stupid anyway. Dylan's said I smelled a fork because I'm sexy and I do what I want. David's said I did the Macarena with my science teacher because I'm cool like that. If my brother would do it his would start-I did the macarena with a snowman--that is funny enough on its own without the rest. My mom sent me-I Loved A Smurf Because I'm Awesome. OK I am done for the moment.

humph

I don't feel so good today. I mowed last night and today it is the sinus headache thing. It is finally going away. Back to the neti pot again. I guess I need to do that when ever I am outside. I need to stop watching the olympics until 1 and 2 am and that might help too.

Good news!

I have been exercising off and on, not as consistently as I would like, but kick my butt workouts when they happen. I have been riding the stationary bike too. Unfortunately my butt still measures the same-that really sucks. But the rest of the parts of me that I have measured are down 1/2 inch to an inch already. I have not changed my diet much. If I cut out soda that would probably be the significant difference between minor weight loss and major weight dropping. I have an allergy or something to diet soda and most zero calorie drinks. I haven't been able to part with the soda completely yet. Dr Pepper is my weakness and only Dr Pepper. So anyways I am happy.

There is a bicyclist from Boise that just won a Gold medal at the Olympics. We watched her at a bike race here a couple years ago and Amber's friend is her neighbor. That is pretty cool.

Kylee got her glasses and they are the wrong ones. Wrong color and wrong frame. They are getting the right color in and we have to wait for those but I don't know which frame it was we picked out but I recall ruling the pair out that she got. They are too big and with our insurance we are not likely to get another pair. But she sure enjoys seeing things clearly. I might have to buy her a pair that fits.

Autumn won a t-shirt at the library for reading this summer. We picked up the girls ceramics today and they were so excited. They turned out really cute.

The run is on trying to cram everything in before school starts. I made a bunch of appointments today. Amber has band camp and Kelsea has volleyball conditioning and they are riding their bikes to the high school. Spares me 4 trips to the high school. They are on a get fit kick too so they don't mind the bike riding too much. They have been doing the same workout I have been doing. We are trying to get as much pool time in as we can since the pools will be closing as well. We are planning a trip over Labor day weekend when Lee Joe gets back to the Redwood forest and the Oregon coast. The Oregon coast has been one of my very favorite vacations. Next to last summers trip to California. We are going to camp and all our camping gear is either hammered or doesn't accomodate a family of 7 so I need to update our stuff before we go. So I am busy getting things together for that too.

unloading something

Since I bellyache about the lack of my ability to unload the pounds I took it upon myself to unload more crap. I went to a metal recycle place with an old swingset that has been in the garage for 8 YEARS now. I said 8 YEARS, Lee Joe. He has been mourning the loss of the swingset since I told him. He has had grand intentions of who knows what for that thing everytime I tell him it needs to go away. It went away. And the old screen door went to DI with some other stuff. I cleaned the van out since I had to take the seats out to take two big panes of glass from the sliding glass doors that use to be inside the house, to the glass recycle place. There are 3 recycle places here that I have visited this past week and they don't all recycle the same things. I THEN I took a dead moniter, dead batteries and dead flourescent light and a neighbors TV and another neighbors microwave and other similar stuff as mine to the land fill to the hazardous waste drop off place. A few things left by way of leaving it out on the curb with "free" on it. I had hoped it would seem like more things have left. There is a much better path in the garage now. There is a little less junk around the house but it does not seem huge. Oh well. But everytime these reminders of neglect left, I felt a little better. I might be motivated enough to attempt a yard sale! That would be big news if I could pull that off. I hate dealing with the people.

The two oldest came back from camp exhausted but did enjoy their girls camp week. The boys on their high adventure camp called the girls camp a girls retreat. They were in cabins with beds. I guess they had a nasty thunderstorm and rained really hard too. They were glad for cabins. The boys were not as lucky 20 miles away in their tents. The girls went to the SND on Saturday and it was a great turnout for our stake. They said everyone was there. The little girls enjoyed their time with mom for those 3 days we did stuff.

This is the week I dread. The indication of what is to come. Amber has band camp and Kelsea has volleyball conditioning. We have no spare car. And their registration is this week too. They will be riding bikes so I can keep up the purging momentum. Amber can register herself but Kelsea will need me. Hey-2 schools and 2 school schedules. What a novelty! I have had kids at the jr high for 6 years and I will have one year off before we do it again. I don't want school to start about as much as they don't want it to start. I have enjoyed our down time. It will be my last summer of all my kids being mine for sure. It was Amber's last girls camp. Who knows what Amber will be doing after high school. She is a Senior!!!

We have been watching the olympics off and on. Tonight's mens swim relay was the most incredibly awesome thing to see! It is worth looking up and watching it again. I can't get enough of the replay. It was unbelievable.

Lee Joe is ready to come home. He will be back in the middle of the week that school starts. The guy he is working for offered to keep him working until October. He has work in Sacramento after these jobs he is doing now. He doesn't want to keep doing this much longer. His other buddy has steady work that starts in September and it is in Twin Falls. He is going to go after that. And this winter when things really slow down, the guy in California will be busy still and Lee Joe could do that still if he needs to. It sounds like I will be doing what I am doing for awhile the only thing that makes it a real pain when school starts is we really need another car.

Cure the hoarder!! That is the motto for this summer. Lee Joe's departure has helped in the accumulation department-there has been a lot less of that. I am afraid when he gets back he will find ways to fill the empty spaces again.

So I am doing the midnight ramble again. Thanks for listening. Even though there seems to be not so many out there lately.

It is late but yet I must speak

I must"speak" since no one is here. This is not a "here is a day in my life" update but more contemplative on a personal thing. I have exercised 3 times in the past two weeks. Not a great track record but if you can count mowing the lawn in 98 degree heat that seemed to take hours and left me drenched in sweat we can add another day to that quota. So we all envy Janika's ability to drop weight but she has admitted that is due to hyperthyroidism that helps contribute to her ability to drop weight easily. She is also just one of THOSE people. My mom and my sister have always been light weights. They are 2 of THOSE people too. But not so for me. I have always had a muscular build. My sister has said she was jealous of me because my body changes a lot(so she says) with not so much effort. I think my body's problem is-being female it is a problem, if I were male I would be envied-is I build muscle very easily. Lee Joe somewhat envies me. I am overweight and yet there is a lot of muscle in there. I have thought that even though I don't want to be muscle bound at all I could probably do very well as a female bodybuilder-I would still have along way to go to be one, but I would look pretty buff without any performance enhacing supplements of any kind. When I have been working out with weights, the ones I have are 10 pounders and I can lift them fine and I get pretty fatigued at the end of a set-and that is at the END of the set. I guess it would be like 3-5 pounds for most women. I have been using these weights off and on for some time now as my weight has also gone up this past year due to stress and how I react to it. But I noticed even with my not very frequent exercising is that I am getting a body builder look to my upper back. Hmm, maybe if I don't want to look like that I should invest in some lighter weights. But maybe secretly I do. I will never be skinny even if I lost all the extra weight I have. So I might as well look strong. I can pull the trampoline across the lawn without any help and it is a piece of cake for me. But I could be using my weight to my advantage in that one. I look at my oldest two daughters. They are not fragile either. I joke and say we are just descendants of Amazon women. In June Amber had 4 weeks of PE 3 hours a day. She toned up and trimmed down a little. She looked really good and still has broad shoulders and really muscular legs. People who see Kelsea's abs are so jealous because at 15 she has six pack abs. Ok, even I am jealous. Once upon a time I had great abs too. I could do 50 situps in a minute in high school. But now I call my abs my 5 baby trophy. As much as I am proud of my 5 babies I am not that proud of that trophy. We will see what happens. I will keep working on working out and we will see if I lose weight, stay the same or maybe I will just look like one of the female gladiators when I get done.

I am trying to announce I am really setting forth on putting in an effort to make a change for the better for myself. I already have been, but here is THE announcement so that means I had better make good on it. My goal is not really in pounds as it is a size since muscle weighs more that fat. I would be happy as a skinny size 12. Not a stretchy pants 12, but a real size 12.

I must face the music and post this picture of myself with my skinny sister. I can say I have lost a smidgen of weight since May when this picture was taken.