Coming thru! Got a package people!

Colter received a package in the mail yesterday. It was a birthday present. It was addressed like this.......

Colter Lastname

Paula Rules Inc.

Address

City, State, Zip

I was a little afraid to open it, in fear of what be inside. It was obvious that it was from PAULA, and she has sent me some weird things over the years.

This is what was inside......

Thats right. A t-shirt. Funny that it is similar to AC/DC. Al loves them, and I happen to like them myself, but Paula is a hater, or so she says. I think she is really a closet AC/DC fan. So Paula, this is what I say to you.....

Parking complaint

I am not sure what has gotten into me lately, but I am still laughing about this one, so I thought I would share. Its probably one of those things that you had to be there, but oh well.

When we pulled up to the races on saturday night, there was a vehicle beside me with its doors wide open. I am not 100% sure what the driver was doing, and it really did not matter. I parked far enough away, so that we could get our doors open too. I commented to Al that may be I should not park so far away because someone might get mad that I took up so much space. Looking around, there was still plenty of parking, so I decided it would be okay. It was getting close to race time and I couldn't imagine that there would be a rush of people with no place to park.

When we exited the track, I was not to happy to discover some moron had decided they could squeeze into that spot. They were parked so close to my vehicle, that you couldn't even walk between them, unless you were a 2 year old. I had to pull forward, so that my family could get in. There is no way they were able to get out the driver side of their car. I guess they would rather climb across their front seat and get out the passenger side, than park four cars down, where there was a whole field to park in. My guess is, they get leg cramps if they walk a few extra feet. Ouy!

Lately, I have found myself having less and less patience for peoples complete stupidity. After I pulled forward to let my family in, I was overcome with the urge to leave a nice little note on their windshield. So that is what I did. It said....."Next time, park closer. I could ALMOST get in." Still brings a smile to my face.

Here is to a stupid people free day!

Quality family weekend

We had a very busy weekend. Al took a couple of days off of work, and we spent some quality family time together. Al had been given some free tickets to the races, so we headed out there on saturday night. It was Colter's first time at the races. He did much better than I thought he would. He stayed up the whole time, but he was very tired. He loves action, and doesn't want to miss anything. Of course, I forgot my camera.

Tanner was very excited to go to the races. He has not been to a race in a long time either. I am sure it is a bummer for him, now that his dad is no longer racing, and we hardly ever go out there. That track was our life for a long time. It was fun, but I am so glad that it is over. When Colter gets older, he will probably find it hard to believe that his parents were not always fuddy duddies. All though, I am not sure how much of that I want him to know any how. I am sure Tanner can fill in some of the blanks, but luckily, he is not aware of half of the happenings of our wild days. Yikes!

Sunday, we all headed out to prairie village. Also a first for Colter, and once again, I forgot my camera. Am I alone here? Please tell me that I am not. I am hoping that this is just a super busy forgetful mommy disease, that is going to pass when life does not seem so hectic. If that is even possible. Anyhow, we had a good time stuffing our faces on all the greasy food. And funnel cakes! It seemed all Tanner talked about was riding the train, so we finally gave in. He sat in the caboose with a friend, and us fuddy duddies :o) sat elsewhere. I guess he had enough parental embarrassment for one day.

Monday, Al and I ran to an antique store that has some great stuff. It is jam packed, but you can find some great things if you dig. I saw an old photo that caught my eye. It looked like it was of some beautiful flowers. Upon closer inspection, I realized that I was looking at it the wrong way, and what it actually was, was a picture of a casket and flowers. The word mother was scrolled across one of the arrangements. I still find myself intrigued by this picture, however I did not purchase it. I thought it would be a bit morbid to have hanging in the house. Besides that, I don't know whose mother it was. I am really not sure why I feel so strongly about this picture. Strange.

After our visit to the antique store, we headed to target. Colter's stroller has definitely been used, and I thought it would be a good idea to get a jogging stroller. His el cheapo stroller, was just not cutting it for our vigorous walks anymore. I was starting to fear that the wheels would snap off. They only had one jogging stroller to choose from, so that is what we got. Colter has some new wheels....

Have a fantastic day!

Troubled Thursday

What a day yesterday. I don't want to bring you down today, but I need to vent. Just call me the dark angel.

I don't know why, but for some reason I decided to check the obits on www.argusleader.com yesterday. I was very sad to see that an old childhood friend of mine, gave birth to a still born baby last Saturday. My heart is aching for her. Please say a prayer for Heather, Dan, Aubrey, Jacob and the extended family. God bless them all.

With that sad news out, I now need to rant a bit. Tanners bike was stolen once again on wednesday evening. We were lucky enough the first time to find his bike about 3 weeks later. I don't know if we will be that lucky this time, but you can bet your butt I will be out there beating the pavement trying to find it. We have a lot of naughty kids in the neighborhood, who could be the culprits. If I have to drive every street in town to find it, I will.

I don't understand why kids do this stuff. I also don't get why the parents of these kids are not questioning them about where their new bike came from. Last time it was stolen right from the bike rack at school. When we found it, it was leaning up against a tree in the front yard of a classmate of his. We made sure that if it was taken again, there would be no mistake that it was his. Okay, enough ranting for the year.

I hope everyone has a super weekend!!

Much better!

Mom finally let me use the big boy tub!

House pictures

So I know I have been horrible at posting house pictures, so here you go.........

This is the reason we fell in love with this house.

We love the wood work.

We also love the fact that it still has all of the original doors, hardware, floor vents and fixtures. They are in need of some elbow grease and TLC. That is the fun part. Its like unveiling a hidden treasure.
This is the living room. Obviously a work in progress. We have taken down all of the trim and are refinishing it. It was not that bad, but someone was not very careful when painting the walls and they slopped paint on the trim. We also decided to sheet rock the ceiling because we figured with kids jumping around upstairs, the old plaster would just keep cracking. I am painting this room green. Not green green. Its more of a light moss green. It really isn't as bad as it sounds. It is a very neutral color, and has a very "rich" feel to it.
This is just some of the things we are dealing with. I told you this house was almost untouched. Its like a time capsule. This is the walls in the downstairs bathroom. There are several layers of gorgeous wall paper, with the top layer having been painted over. I think someone got a little to paint happy in this house. They even painted over the old tile that was on the floor. It was hideous. This bathroom will be totally gutted and sheet rocked. It is going to be MY own personal foofy bathroom. My own little get away. It will also be somewhere my company may like to hang. :o)
I never did post a picture of the finished deck. I guess it is not 100% finished, because we have not bought the lattice for the bottom yet, but that is a minor detail that I am not concerned with right now.

I love my deck!

Recycle pickup day again

I put the bags out the night before this time. 10 bags Mr recycle man. Have fun!!

Orientation

Tanner had his 6th grade orientation last night. This all seems so crazy to me, because we never had anything like this while I was a kid. I guess I am a dinosaur. The kids had to be there from 3-7. I really do not know what they did that whole time, but it must have been something. The kids could actually come between 2-3 to get their school pictures taken. I don't know what is going on. They are really throwing me for a loop this year. The price of pictures has also gone up considerably. mumble.

The best part of orientation, was one or both of the parents were required to attend supper with their student. So, I managed to wrangle Al into coming with me. We had to be their by 5:30 to listen to the principals little speal, then we got to eat some good ole school food. Yum! For 8$, we all got a BBQ, and a pop & bag o chips, perfectly sized for a midget. Or should I say, a 2 year old. I guess you really couldn't call it a supper. It was more like an appetizer.

After supper, Tanner was suppose to give us a tour of the school. He gave us his version, which was a much shorter one, but I was okay with that. We saw his homeroom, and his teacher briefly, he showed us his locker, WITH a padlock! Thats right!! A PADLOCK people. That means your big time now. After all of the excitement, we made a fast exit and headed to DQ to fill our bellies. Of course, we all decided blizzards would be an appropriate way to end the day.

It was an interesting experience. This is sad to say, but I did not recognize to many of the parents. Probably because for the most part, they were much older than me. :o) I have to enjoy it while I can, because the next time I have a 6th grader, I will be an older mom.

Its hard to believe school is all ready starting. I am sending warm wishes and hugs to all of you moms & dads who are sending yours to kindergarten. Take a deep breath moms, it will be okay!

Useful Tip from Paula & Miah

Do you ever find yourself shopping in Walmart and being annoyed by the huge volume of jerk offs and dum dum dittys who are there? It never fails that there are some rude people who walk were they want, when they want, cut in front of you, and obviously have no concept of excuse me, please or thank you. Then there are the ones, who seemingly have no destination. They are just there to stand in the way, look around with a lost blank stare on their face, wasting space and perfectly good air.

I love Walmart, but I can't stand going there when there are so many people. While Paula & I were there, during prime time on sunday, I was about to loose my mind. I asked the crowd who wanted to get punched in the face first, but for some reason they were not lining up like I asked. People were still being rude and standing in the way. Well, by total accident, Paula & I managed to find a solution.

Whenever you find yourself in this dreadful situation, just head straight for the mop isle. Pick up a mop, and put it in your cart with the handle end pointing out towards the traffic. Its amazing how people steer clear of you. You will never have to worry about people getting in your way again. Even the rude ones move on over.

Happy shopping!

House work

I haven't had anything really interesting to say this week. I could have vented about the toy recall, and many other things that have been on my mind, but I didn't want to bore you and put myself to sleep. Al has been busy stripping (settle, let me finish) the woodwork from the living room. He also got the ceiling sheet rocked and is working on fixing some of the cracks in the walls. Plaster, ugh. I believe he managed to get all of the woodwork refinished. I can't believe all that woodwork was in our living room! I was hoping to be able to get it painted this weekend, but I don't think it will be ready for me. I did manage to pick out some paint colors. Al is not thrilled with the colors I picked, but I am sure he will change his mind once he sees them on the walls. He says that every time, and ends up loving it. Men!

I have been working on my kitchen cabinets whenever I get some time. Which is not a lot. I am actually thinking about staying up today and working on them all day. I'll see how I feel when I get home. If I wasn't so anal, then it probably wouldn't take me so long.

I am really excited to get a much needed haircut on saturday. Pathetic, I know. Paula and I are also going to try to get together. Watch out Sioux Falls. It should be a great weekend. I hope all of yours are too.

Jr.

Al Jr that is. When I was pregnant, Al used to tease all the time that Colter was somebody elses. You know, like the mailman, drunk neighbor, etc. Well, sorry Al. You can not deny that this kid is yours any longer. Colter is definitely Al's minnie me in these pictures.

Doh!!!

Have a great day ya'll, especially you lover!!!

Babble

My luck just keeps getting better. On the way to work, I managed to step in some dog doo. I have tried several different removal methods, many different times, but there is still some doodie lingering on the bottom of my shoe. And let me just say, there is nothing quite like the essence of mans best friend waste.

As the doodie removal saga continues, the darn cable decided to go on a hiatus. It has been off for over an hour. I spend most of my time surfing the internet anyway, but I have to have the sound of the tv in the background. The constant sound off fuzz coming from the tv is more like a lullaby and it is not helping me one bit. I am not even going to speculate what could happen next, because that could be disastrous. :o)

I have been racking my brain the last few nights, trying to decide on some paint colors. For the past month, I have had these annoying little paint cards staring me in the face. All of them seeming to say, pick me! pick me! Al is getting closer to having the living room ready for me to paint, so I need to get serious. But its so hard!!!! I am just going to have to have the gals at kolorworks help me decide. They always do such a good job. Its amazing how much paint can change a home. I can't wait to see the results.

I often get interrupted while I am blogging, because I people think I should be working. :o) So it often takes several hours to write these amazing tidbits about my life. On one of my most recent interruptions, one of the officers brought in a really neat picture for me to look at. It was a picture from the late 1800's to early 1900's. It was taken about 3 blocks east of our house, and it was looking in our direction. Our house was not there, and neither were almost all of the other ones. But some of the other landmarks were present. That would be a neat picture to have, but I would really like one of our house back when it was built.

In my search, I have managed to figure out that the original owner of our house was a railroad conductor. I am sure some of you have seen the show "If walls could talk." I love that show. So far, we have found some neat things stuffed in different crevices of our house. I can't wait to discover more. I think the whole mystery and wonderment is what draws me in.

Enough babble for today. I wouldn't want to overload your brain with to much my wisdom. :o)Have a super weekend everyone! And stay cool!

Wait! What about me?!

A little over a week ago, I decided it was time for us to start recycling. I was absolutely shocked when I realized how much garbage we throw out that could actually be recycled. In just over a week, I filled up 4 bags. Yikes!!! Who ever says one person cannot make a difference is full of it. IT being whatever your imagination wants IT to be. :o)



Yesterday was pickup day in my neighborhood. I had thought about setting it out the night before, but I decided I would just do it when I got off of work in the morning. After work, I got Colter ready and off to the sitters. On my way back home, I remembered that I better put the recyclables out on the curb. When I pulled up to the house, I was relieved to see that the neighbors bags had not been picked up yet. I hurried inside, let the dogs out, and gathered a few more items to stick in the bag. By the time I rounded it all up, it was time for the dogs to come back in. So, I let them back in. I then grab my bags and headed out the back door to the curb. As I am walking out to the curb, I see a truck, much like the one that looks like the recyclable pickup truck, heading up the block. I glanced over at the neighbor's curb and realized there stuff was gone. I look back to the truck, and sure enough, it was the one I wanted. He obviously did not hear me yelling "Your going the wrong way!" He just left me there. Like a sad wet little puppy dog holding a bone. He did not want to play with me. I was devastated. I had thought I was doing such a good deed.



So after all my super great luck, I decided to just leave the bags out on the curb in hopes that he would come back by. Much to my dismay, when I awoke, the bags were still there. I had to tell myself, "Self, they are not coming for your bags today." I reluctantly walked out to the curb and then looked both ways down the street. I was hoping to see the truck coming back. No truck. I slowly picked up my bags, hung my head, and drug my feet all the way back to the house. I guess I will have to wait another two weeks before I can do my good recycling deed. I should really have some stuff accumulated then. :o) Thats right Mr recyclable pick up man. You will have triple the load on the next pickup day. Perhaps next time you will think twice about leaving me in your dust. (mmmwhahwhahwhahwhaaa!)



Wishing you all a hassle free Thursday!!

A 12 yr old & the internet

We have had internet for at least the last 5 years. During this time, I have not allowed Tanner to be on the computer. Partly because in our old tiny house, there was no room for the computer so it was in our bedroom. But mostly because I am scared to death of my kids being on the internet. There are so many predators out there just waiting to find their prey. I am sure most of you have heard of the website perverted justice. That is some scary stuff there.

I bit the bullet, and set the computer up so Tanner has his own account. I knew I had to allow him at some point, but it is hard. I will not allow him to have a password at this time, because I want to be able to check up on him. I have very mixed emotions about it though. I swore I would never spy or snoop through my kids things. However, I feel in this situation, I need too. I also tell myself that it is not really spying or snooping, if he knows that I will be checking what he has been doing from time to time. I have been tossing around the idea of getting one of those monitoring programs. I am still on the fence about it.

I made sure to tell Tanner about the dangers of internet, but I don't know how much good it did. He just stared at me blankly. I sometimes think he thinks I am making things up to scare him or something. Anyhow, he has been playing some online game where you can talk to other players and put "friends" on your friends list. He told me one girl said she was 14 and asked if he had a girlfriend. I asked him how he knew it was a 14 year old girl and not a 56 year old man? Again, just a blank stare. I think he may have rolled his eyes when I walked away though. :o)

I love technology as much as the next guy, but I also think its not always the greatest thing. Our grandparents would be overwhelmed by the changes today. They had to walk to school, uphill both ways in a snowstorm, with no shoes. I wonder what our grand kids will be telling their grand kids someday. Ouy!

Happy Tuesday!

Busy Weekend

We have a super busy weekend ahead of us. Yuck!! I need to get to Sam's again. I need to get some party supplies for Colter's birthday. I need groceries. I need to clean. I need to pick some paint colors. I need to take my recertification for medical dispatch. I really should get started staining my kitchen cabinets. I should be doing a million other things, but I am only one gal here. (Deep Breathe.)

Saturday evening, Tanner has a sleepover birthday party, so I need to make sure I get back from my Sam's trip in time to get him to that. It just so happens that he is suppose to be there around Colter's supper time, so that will be interesting. (He loves his food.) After Colter goes to bed, I will have to try to fit some of these things in and get started on Colter's Birthday invitations. Its a month away, but its hard to find the time. You mother's know how it is.

Sunday, the nephew that I mentor (mmmwwhhhahahaha) is turning 5 and is having a birthday party. So, I have to make sure I get out to Tanner's friends house to get him picked up in time for that. This reminds me that I need to get Brayden (nephew) a present while I am shopping and I need to get some cash for Tanner's friend.

I better make a list, because knowing me, I am going to forget half of this stuff and be left trying to wrap a present at the last minute with toilet paper or something. Then I will probably realize that I have none of that either. And for whatever reason, I just remembered that I need to get some dog food too. I am putting that on the list. The list that will also most likely be forgotten, until I am almost to my destination. I need to take some ginkgo biloba, but I forgot where I put it. :o)

Have a great weekend everybody!!!!

Back to normal

Tanner made it home safe and sound. I think he may have gotten a little taller. It probably won't be long, and he will be taller than me. I think he had a good time at his mom's, but he always seems to be happy to be back home. I am super happy that he is home. Things can get back to normal and I will have someone to yack at that actually talks back. The best part is, the things that will drive me nuts in a week from now, made me laugh today.

There was no doubt that he is home, because he left all of his things strung throughout the house. I told him to take the stuff to his room, he said okay, and 1/2 hour later, I see some stuff still laying in the middle of the floor. I call to him to pick the stuff up, he comes down, takes the stuff out of the bag, throws the bag away, then precedes to wander around with the bags contents in his hand. He is about to sit down, and I tell him take that stuff to your room first, because you know if you don't, I will be telling you again in 20 minutes. Ouy! In a couple of more years, there will be another one for this broken record to play too. :o)

Tanner went with me to pick up Colter from the sitters. Colter stared at him for about a minute with this look of who are you, then he must have decided he remembered and he got really excited. He wouldn't take his eyes off of Tanner and kept giggling and trying to touch him. It was very cute. When we made it back to the house, Tanner spent a little time playing with his little brother.

So glad your home Tanner!!

Have a great Thursday!!

Welcome home Wednesday

Tanner is coming home today! Hooray!!!!