new member?

i think i have an additional child.

my children keep referring to "it wasn't me" when we ask them who did something.

wish he would leave

oh, rexburg spring

got up this morning to take elizabeth to school, and had about 4 inches of snow on the ground. spring! gah!

on my way to take her to school, i lost one of my wipers twice. it wasn't staying on the arm very well to begin with, and was not going to stay any longer. i was able to put it back on, but decided that it was past time to replace it. so, i drove the 3 blocks to kmart, and lost it again on the way into the parking lot. this time, there was no putting it back, it got broke. when i pulled into the parking lot, the snow that was on top of the car fell down onto the front windshield, burying the wipers. when i got back out, they wouldn't work. so i took 5 minutes, and dug the snow out of the window well. my hands were freezing, and tingling when i got done.
kmart didn't have the size i needed, so i had to drive down the street to the parts service store. they had the size i needed and they replaced them for me.

look harder update

i know know why i didn't look any harder for someone that had a gun.

i was talking with a friend about it, and he reminded me that if i took care of it myself, i would be the one in jail, and then where would my kids be? i couldn't do that to my kids.

justice may not always be served here on earth, but it will be in heaven. i am content with that.

grounded

just as i was heading out the door this morning to go pick elizabeth up from school, taylor walked in. not normally a problem. i had decided to take shannon with me this morning, so i told taylor that dad was in bed, and i was taking shannon. he asked me if he could play outside, i said no. he asked if he could play the wii, i said no. he asked if he could put a puzzle together, i said yes. then shannon and i got in the car and left.


when i got home, taylors bike was no longer in the yard where it had been when i left. i was not happy. when shaun got up a little later, we found him at one of the neighbors. since he had gone after he was told he couldn't, he got grounded for 3 days.

this afternoon, i sent the kids to grandmas, like usual. (they go there twice a week for a few hours. grandma has projects for them to do, and they get to spend some time with some cousins. they always have a ball.) as i had heard them call to friends when they opened the door, i thought i would call and see if they made it there. they hadn't yet, and this was 10 to 15 minutes later. so, we started looking. they hadn't gone far, they were riding bikes out front with the neighbor kids. but, since they knew they were supposed to be going to grandmas and not playing with the neighbors, they both got grounded. taylor got another 3 days, and elizabeth got 3.

taylor is grounded for 6 days, and elizabeth is grounded for 3.

it's going to be a long week.

bathroom, please!

saturday, i went out to bring the kids in for something, probably dinner, and discovered a pile of poop on the lawn. i got upset cause i hadn't seen any dogs around. that doesn't mean they weren't there.

sunday on the way to church, elizabeth informed me that she and taylor had done the deed. (AHHHHH!) when shaun saw it he had the same impression i did, that a dog had left it. when i told him that the kids had, he was even more upset than i was.
when we got back from church, i handed the kids sandwich bags, and sent them out to clean up their crap. thankfully, they didn't fight me too much.

look harder

i was informed last night, by the father of a friend that i didn't look hard enough for someone who had a gun.

hole in the head

shannon fell off a chair in the kitchen this afternoon.
landed on her head somehow.
her barrette punched a hole in her head.
has a nice little bump with a dark brown scab.

poor baby!

no insanity

we met with the prosecuting attorney this morning. the newest development is that he's pleading dementia (cause in idaho, you can't plead insanity), and they may try to put the blame on a friend that we moved in with us for a few months earlier last year.

preliminary trial is set for next friday, and trial sometime mid may. as we have the right to get specialists to examine him and prove that he's faking dementia, those dates will be moved back.  (when i say we, i mean the state, they are the ones that are pursuing the case, not us.)
going to be an interesting summer.

hungry

i think this diet may kill me. it didn't use to bother me, but now it does.

as of right now, it's been less than two hours since i ate dinner, and i am STARVING! that and there's still all this easter candy lying around.

tasks started

i mentioned to shaun the other day that we needed to get some stuff out of storage for this baby. (since we only have about 7-8 weeks until she comes. if she holds true to the standard.) namely the cradle. i also wanted the bouncer and the swing.

yesterday, shaun wanted to go get said stuff from storage. we didn't make it. so we went today. we got the cradle, the swing, the bouncer, and the tote with the 18 month clothes in. (it has REALLY bothered me to have to buy clothes for shannon cause i have some. i just couldn't get to them without some help.)
next project is to go thru those 18 month clothes, and get them washed and in drawers. then i need to get the other stuff cleaned up and ready for baby to use.

birthday

my sister sent me flowers for my birthday. they were fresh lilies and tulips. so beautiful, and very welcome as the next day it started snowing again.

we didn't do much for my birthday, especially since i wasn't feeling well that day. we did have cupcakes and ice cream that evening, though.

putting my foot down

i have recently tried something that finally seems to have worked. my four year old has a serious problem making it to the bathroom in time. typically, just in time to pee on the rug in front of the toilet. there were some weeks that she would easliy go through all her pants by tuesday, and laundry day isn't until thursday. we've threatened with putting her back in diapers, she doesn't care. we've yelled, and spanked, and nothing seems to work. finally, i told her that if she runs out of pants between laundry days, she's out of luck. i'm not going to do an extra load just for her. she'll stay home from school and not go anywhere, cause she can't leave the house without pants on. since i told her that, she's only wet her pants once.

HALLELUJAH, a solution that's working!

easter bunny

when i was growing up, the easter bunny visited our house on saturday instead of sunday. my parents decided that easter sunday should be about the savior, and not the easter bunny.
the other day, we told our children that we were going to ask the easter bunny to visit our house on saturday instead of sunday for the same reason. taylor was immediately ok with that idea, but elizabeth took some convincing. basically, we just told her that we were going to ask him and that was it.

now, if the easter bunny can just remember about the change in days!

rain

so, we're sitting in the front room after taylor got home from school. right now, it's pouring rain outside. not quite a midwest storm, but still heavy. out of nowhere, taylor says, "mom, do you know why it rains?" i ask him why, and he ways, "because Jesus is crying." i wasn't sure whether to laugh, or cry. still very cute.

later, when it slowed down a bit and the sun tried to come out, he said, "Jesus is happy, now!"

to do

so, my to-do list is so long, that i have no idea where to start.

laundry
   folded and put away
sheets & towels
   folded and put away
sheets and blankets
   washed and folded and put away
socks to make
a dress to alter
a cross-stitch to finish
2 cross-stitches to design and make
train table to make
a bed to make
   it'd been peed in and i haven't put it back together yet
scrapbooking to do

i know, i'm just looking for excuses. but with little desire and even less energy, it's not hard to find one.

wherefore art thou, sleep!

so, i think in the last month, i've had 3 nights where i wasn't sharing my bed with a child. namely, my youngest, shannon. if she wasn't constantly kicking me in either the head or the belly, i think it might be okay.
now, granted, she had a very upset belly for 2 weeks and was on the brat diet because of it. now she's running a high fever and severely congested, and dripping rivers of snot. even so, i would much rather she sleep in her own bed, because then I can get some sleep. i do much better when i get some sleep!

oh, brat

shannon has been a pain lately. she wakes up at least 3 times a night, and one of those times ends up in bed with us. it's kind of hard to sleep when you have a child kicking you every 10 min.

but, she's also been a little sick. 3 days of diarrhea and she's now going on the brat diet. won't make her happy, but it's better than having to completely change her twice a day. that, and i can do without the needing to sanitize the laptop every day.

cheese!

elizabeth is playing in the front room with some stuffed bears, because shannon is asleep. in her playing, she's set up a couple of camp chairs, and they are all sitting in them. all of a sudden i hear her say, "cheese!" i look over, and she has the bears posed with her, they are getting pictures taken!

breakfast

so, my typical diabetic breakfast consists of this:
2 egg, ham and cheese omelet (because eggs, ham and cheese are carb free)
2 pieces of toast with cinnamon sugar (cinnamon is carb free, and the amount of sugar is miniscule)
6 oz of juice

very tasty breakfast, but not always that filling

broken keyboard

ok, taylor was playing some games on the laptop before he went to play at grandmas. problem was, he didn't put it away. shannon got a hold of it, and i'm now missing 3 letter buttons. she had already broken the "v" button. the "g" button is completely missing, and there's a part missing for the "t" button. sure makes typing an interesting time!

amazement

it never ceases to amaze me that teething can turn a normally happy child into a crab, or a crab into a bear.

diabetic diet, here i come. again.

today was the dreaded glucose test. that drink tastes like straight soda syrup! i took the drink, and didn't make it into the office to take the test in time. the results weren't terrible, but they want me to take it again. since i have to take elizabeth into school in the morning, i'm going to stop by on my way back and redo the prick test.
then she ran numbers and said that even if it comes back negative, she wants me to follow the diet cause she doesn't want me to gain any more weight. i gain A LOT when i get pregnant. as i've already gained close to my allotted 25 pounds, they want to see me either plateau or lose. SO, i go back on the diet starting today. joy.
the diet itself isn't all that bad, but she put me on a 1600 calorie limit. after my skimpy lunch, i was still very hungry. this could be interesting.

cleaning = exhaustion

so, i just spent the last 2 hours deep cleaning the kids bedrooms. i put everything in it's place, got rid of toys they no longer play with. i ended up with a big box of stuffed animals to send to the DI, and a very full 13 gallon garbage bag to put in the trash. their clothes are all put away, they all have clean sheets, and i feel like i've accomplished something huge. and i am now ready for bed. sadly, it's only 5:30 pm.

on a not quite so nice note, i did disaster management yesterday afternoon. taylor, once again, cut elizabeths hair. when i get the pics uploaded, i will post them. i took her in to get it fixed, it was bad. when i got back, shaun was trying to put the laptop back together. shannon got a hold of it and pulled off half the keys. still can't find the 'g' key. then when i went to start dinner, i discovered that the kitchen counter was covered in water. so i had to get that wiped up before i could even think about starting dinner. as i was putting the last load of laundry in the dryer, i kept repeating this mantra to myself: i love my kids, i love my kids. i think it worked!

fingers

lately, shannon has discovered that her fingers fit in her nose. and in my ears. and that baby goldfish crackers will fit in my ears as well.

i really like this stage, i do. the whole discovery thing is so much fun. but why do i have to get dry willies, and goldfish in my ears?

baby, baby, what will you be?

turns out, it's another girl!

sad and pathetic

 just found out that if i tried to sell my van, i couldn't even pay off the remainder of the loan with it. my van is only worth $6500, and i still owe $8500 on it.

just my luck!

"washing" dishes

the kids just spent the last hour "washing" dishes. they had both sinks filled to the brim. they ended up using 1/4 of the bottle of dish soap. they had the floor and counters covered in water. not to mention themselves.

but, i suppose the important thing is that they had fun, and they weren't trying to kill each other for that hour. so worth the mess!

stress killer!

so, we got a call from the landlord last night. they wanted to talk about our delinquent rent, and to do their quarterly inspection. (as if i wasn't stressed enough. i have no idea how to pay rent right now.) except that the house was in no shape to do a walkthrough. we cleaned until 11p, and then cleaned this morning starting at 8:30.
shaun knows me so well. i'm already stressed to the limits, so he puts yanni on the stereo. i don't know why it is, but that's an instant stress killer. i was able to stop thinking about everything that had to be done, and focus on doing it instead.
we apparently passed the inspection, and they are letting us check a few things out to see if we can find some help for rent. what a relief.

whoa, frosting!

the kids got into some cookies that i bought today, and decided that the baby needed one also. she came into the front room eating said cookie, so i picked her up and hauled her back into the kitchen. in the process, the cookie ended up all over her forehead!

o, the drama!

sometime in the last two weeks, elizabeth knocked a tooth loose. course, it could have happened while we were in missouri for christmas; who knows. i think if she had left it alone, it might have solidified back up. but, as she didn't, it keep getting more loose.
got home from picking her up from headstart and getting a few things at the store this afternoon. she decided, even though they feed her at school, that she was hungry again, so she made herself a sandwich. she took a bite, and screamed.
"my tooth came out! waaahhh!" and the tears came flooding. and the blood came dripping. it was still mostly attached to her gums, so when the tooth popped out, it tore her gums, which caused the blood.
i chuckled, still am, and got a washcloth wet so she could suck on it, to get rid of the blood.
oh, but how i laughed!

hand-me-downs!?

so, a member of the RS presidency came by this evening. she asked me if i liked hand-me-downs. are you kidding me?! i grew up with them, we love them! so she brought in 3 black garbage bags that were all partially full. they will fit shannon and no one else, but i think the best part is there was a partial bag of diapers. in the exact size that shannon uses! thank heavens for little miracles!

shannon's newest thing is going around the house saying, "na, na, na," and pinching her thumb and forefingers together. she's walking around the house saying, "no!"

storage

so, i just spent 35 min putting up 10 lbs of hamburger. if you buy in bulk at all, i highly suggest getting a food saver device. one that sucks the air out of the bag. they are so nice!

um, help?!

now that we're home, and life is getting back to normal, we are trying to figure out how to pay the bills. shauns loans don't come in until the middle of feb, and last semesters loans are completely gone.
have a business opportunity, but don't know where to find the money to take it. can't get anyone to listen about melaleuca. very frustrated and concerned.

oh dear

as our vacation to missouri for christmas ends, we sit here trying to figure out how we are going to make it home, dreading the 22 hour return drive, and wishing that the drive was already over.

christmas haul

so, Christmas is over, the kids are having a ball playing with their new toys, and the rest of us are trying to survive their craziness.
when we got here, my sister took the kids shopping and got mom and dads presents. my kids already had stuff for us, so we got doubled up on.
grandpa gave the kids a train table that actually has 4 other activities on the table. how that works, i haven't figured out yet. the boys got swords from my brother, and shields from my sister (that was not coordinated). my girls got dresses galore. we'd had a large swingset we were going to give the kids from santa, but as we could not get it in the van for the trip here, nor did we want to, we had to figure something else out. elizabeth had apparently wanted a barbie for christmas, but the first i heard about it was 2 weeks ago, so we got her one from santa. taylor got a transforming bumblebee car, complete with sam. shannon got a drop and slide toy that teaches cause and efffect. the kids made a haul. shaun asked me the other day how we expected to get all this stuff home. i reminded him that we had brought three boxes of christmas with us that could be used to put our christmas in to get it home. the only thing we're worried about is the train table.
this has been a fun trip. not the actual trip, but once we got here, it's been fun.

driving, and driving, and driving some more

so, we left friday evening, and drove down to ogden. we got there about 9:30. had a good talk with my grandparents, and then went to bed so that we could get up and leave early.
left at 9:30 in the morning, and started on our looooooong drive. tried to find somewhere to stay for the night, but were not willing to pay $95 for a room, so we kept driving. got here this morning around 6:00. woke everyone up so that we could get in the house, it was cold, and we had to go potty.

21 hours in the car, 3 kids . . . long drive, glad we only make it every now and then.

finals . . . check!

i finished my last project last night (well, i guess technically, it was this morning). 2 am, i got everything put together. it still needs to be hemmed, as well as the sleeves, but other than that, it's done.

now i need to focus on packing so we can leave tomorrow.

all i want for christmas is my front tooth

so, taylor is almost 6, in a month. as is the case around this age, teeth start coming loose and falling out. taylor lost his first tooth on wednesday. he was out shovelling snow, and decided to eat a piece of ice. well, the tooth that was REALLY loose, finally popped out. shaun says he walked in and it was sitting on his collar :) we forgot to put it under his pillow that night, so the tooth fairy came the next night. she left him a whole dollar!

happy day!

the preliminary hearing was today, and i was scheduled to testify. the prosecuting attorney decided to try and expedite the process and see if the judge would bond him just based on the testimony of the detective. he did! i didn't have to testify today, but probably will at trial. we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

no gingerbread :(

so, the lady who wanted the gingerbread house did some searching, and discovered how long it can take to make one. she came to us and told us not to worry about making the house.

we both decided that we were a little glad, but sad too. we were both looking forward to doing it, and yet we really didn't have the time.

gingerbread anyone?

so, i think i may have gotten myself in a little over my head. we were in church the other day, and a lady mentioned that she wanted a gingerbread house for her son's reception. i mentioned to a friend that it would be fun to make that for her.
you guessed it, we're making a gingerbread house for the reception. not only that, but the date got moved up a week. we thought we had a good 3 or 4 weeks to do it, turns out, it's next saturday!
right now, we are making a mock up in cardboard. we will them use those pieces as templates. it really is going to be fun, but i also have a dress pattern to make and then the dress itself to put together. not to mention, the half-scale pattern work to finish.

oh, as for the gingerbread, i looked through my cake-mix dr book and found one. problem is, it calls for a plain spice cake mix, and you can't find any plain mixes anymore. they are all added moisture. the dough turned out really soft, and all my attempts at making it stiffer were for naught. i had to google a gingerbread recipe. hope it works out better than the other one.

"nice guy"

one of the news channels went around the neighborhood to get their response on this issue. according to the neighbors, "the real issue is the kids." right, if you read between the lines, it's their fault that they were abused. I DON"T THINK SO!! you can't blame a child for what an adult does.

if we were to find out that he as a mass murderer, we would still say he's a nice guy. there's no way that a nice guy would do something like that.

this is the reason that these instances get under-reported. no one believes the victim cause there's no way that this perpetrator would ever do something like this.

thanksgiving

this year we are doing thanksgiving at our place. we have the most amount of room. i'm actually kind of excited about it.

so, today, i started the baking and cooking for dinner. pumpkin roll is cooling, and the filling will be put in tonight. jello is in the process of being made. with the leftover pumpkin, i made bread. haven't ever done that before, we'll see how it turns out. tomorrow, i need to make rolls. that way they are still warm for dinner.

finally, some snow

the weatherman has told us for a week that we're supposed to be getting snow. we had a storm come through friday night that was supposed to drop 2-4 inches. and then they said it would happen saturday night. it didnt' start until we were in church. we now have our 3 inches of snow. not our first storm of the year, but it did drop the most, and this time, it'll stick!

great news!

we just got some news this afternoon that is the best news we've heard in months. got a call from the detective, i missed it so he left a message, he wanted to let me know that they had just arrested the guy in question, and that he was in jail until he met with the judge.

oh, a huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders. the end is now in sight.

thank you Father!!!

church vs screaming baby

so, shannon started screaming in church during the last hour. nothing i did worked. i changed her bum, no go. i tried giving her some food, nothing. finally, i'd had it and just took her home.
if she does this next week, i might start skipping church for my sanity!

travel . . .

so, we went down to provo this week. rachel lost a baby, and the funeral was on wed. spent some time with gma brady and shawna. got to see gpa brady and harass him.

but, i have never wanted to strangle a child so much. on the way down, shannon cried from tremonton till provo. actually, screamed would be the better description. ok, to be honest, it wasn't the entire way down, it was periodically, but it sure felt like it was the whole way.
then on the way home, she did the same thing from blackfoot all the way home to sugar.
if this is the way it's going to be on the way out to missouri, i think i might go insane!!!

moved

so, we are finally all in, not put away, but all in. we're starting to get on top of things (sort of). my baby is finally comfortable with the new place.

elizabeth

so, we came to the conclusion that it doesn't really matter in the end if something did happen with this neighbor. (ok, it does, but for right now, there is a more important issue) what really matters is that elizabeth knows that her parents believe in her, and that she can come to us with problems and we will do what we can to help her fix them.
however, it is hard to talk to the neighbors about it. one neighbor has a hard time believing that anything happened. one knew that there was something wrong with him when he moved in years ago, and warned her daughter to stay away from him. one thinks we did the right thing, even though they aren't sure what to believe. the police have spoken with him, and he has admitted to stuff. he ADMITTED it. what more do you need?

ring instead of serger

so, we went down to IF the first of the month to get some of shauns school supplies. in the process, we upgraded my ring. the ring that i had was a little thing from walmart. at the time, it's all that we could afford, and it served it's purpose, but, it was yellow gold. for years we had talked about upgrading it, but could never justify it. we finally did it. this one is white gold (yeah), and it nests. you can see here that it has a bridal band. the two diamonds that sit on the side are actually part of the band that the bigger diamond "sits" in. there's no need to weld them together, cause unless it's taken off the finger, they won't come apart.
the best part is that we got it for half off. it's a $1600 ring, but looks like it should be much more.
it wasn't until later that it occurred to me that i could have gotten a serger (or 3) for the price of what the ring is. oh well, ces't la vie. it just goes to show where my priorities were at the time.

life . . .

life has been extremely crazy lately. we are searching double time to find a place to move to. the front half of the house we are currently in has a dirt foundation. the dirt is starting to erode away from the house. we can actually see daylight in the basement. not good.
elizabeth recently started at head start (YEAH!). she has the morning session, which isn't really an issue, except that my classes start before hers. that means that shaun has to pack up all the kids, drop me off at school, and then rush elizabeth over to head start. then he has to take them all in the building cause they won't let him leave the other two in the car.
so, there are now 4 of us in school. which means that mom has 4 times as much homework. i have my own, fortunately, some of it can double as taylors. i have taylors, i have elizabeths, and i have shauns that he frequently needs help with. however, with everything that has gone on this last week, not much of anyone's has gotten done. i need to get a handle on our lives again.

SCARY!!

ok, some have heard this and some have not. since i don't want any incorrect stories floating around, i should tell you all.

elizabeth the other day mentioned some very scary things that led us to believe that a neighbor might be a sexual predator. if he is, he either hasn't registered as one, or he hasn't been caught. i checked my neighborhood, and didn't see any near me. so, we reported it and are in the process of an investigation. it involves having the children questioned by specialists trained in child "interrogation," talking with neighbors, alerting teachers, and questioning of the gentleman in question by the police. right now we are waiting for the detectives to get back to us with their initial findings.

since i know my daughter so well, i know that the only way to keep her away from this gentleman so that nothing further can happen is to move away from him. so we are in the process of trying to get into another house nearby, but far enough away that she can't easliy visit this guy (currently, he is only 4 or 5 houses away, on the same block. the move would put us about a block away, across streets, but still in the same ward; we hate bishop hopping!) if this house doesn't happen, there are a few others that we are considering.

more crafts

these are my 2 newest buildings in my christmas village.
the barn house

the ice cream shop

tired girl

this is what happens when a certain little girl is up before 8 in the morning. typically her place of crashing is the couch or chair in the front room. NOT a camping chair on the front step.

school, here i come!

taylor started school today. grandma and nana got together and got some new clothes and shoes for him. peek-a-boo shannon!

i was able to find this way cool backpack at wallyworld for ten bucks. it's bumblebee from transformers, and has a motion sensor light in it.

the wrap on his arm is from the stitches from yesterday. we replaced it after school.

more boy trouble!

my front door is made of panels of glass. and the bottom corner sticks. so when the kids go to open it, they typically push hard on the panes of glass. the panes aren't in the door very well, and the whole thing rattles when slammed.

we were getting ready to go up and meet taylor's teacher and see his classroom yesterday when taylor comes in crying with blood dripping down his arm. he had gone to open the door, and pushed through the pane of glass.

i called my visiting teacher to come and watch the girls and he and i went up to the hospital to get his arm taken care of.

that cut is about 4 inches long. there's a ton of scratches and 2 puncture wounds. the long cut took 5, and the 2 punctures took 1 each. 7 stitches and 1 1/2 hours later, we're home. what a way to start school!

girls and their accessories

shannon has become quite the little girl. i put this scarf on her head, and she became rambo baby!

we put her in the walker to keep her off the floor and out our hair for a little bit, i think we were cleaning. she turned herself around completely, and managed to walk better that way.

i have this little case that i used for my sewing stuff at one point. right now, it's empty. shannon likes to carry it around though! oh, she really likes pens too!

boys!

the other day, taylor comes in the house crying. he's got blood on his hand, and his head. he had been playing on a pile of dirt at the neighbors house and fell and cut his head.


i didn't take him in, cause it would have been a waste of time. one stitch and a bill of $300. no thanks.

elderly

i love the elderly. their wisdom is priceless, they adore my obnoxious children, and their supply of advice is never ending. however, i do not like it when they try to tell me how to raise and discipline my children.

tonight i got a call from an older sister in the ward. informing me that the children were getting into things and that she told them she was going to call the cops on them. she called me first to let me know.

turns out, she's old, she's not well. she doesn't like kids. ookay. she REALLY doesn't like mischevious kids. what kid isn't mischevious? thankfully, shaun was with us, and i could let him take the conversation and i walked away.

the kids were trying to start a lawn mower. there's no way, even if they both pulled on the cord at the same time, that they could EVER start that lawn mower.

what am i going to do with my "unruly" children?

christmas, here i come!

okay, i know, it's the middle of august and my post is about christmas. but i've had so much fun! i've had a christmas village that needs to be painted for about 3 years. i'm finally getting around to it.
#1, the church
#2, the school
#3, the bakery

#4, the queen anne house

harvest

so, i've gotten peas, and onions out of my garden and used them. but this is something else.
this is my happy face after my meager harvest!

concerned neighbors

i just got a call from a concerned neighbor. one of those that thinks they could do a better job at parenting your children than you. to be honest, they have kids of their own, so it could be worse. apparently, my children were spraying water and throwing dirt at a neighbors house, not the one who called me. he kindly told me that he thought i should keep a better eye on my children. i CANNOT watch them every second of the day. i don't have a fenced yard. short of tying them to a post, i cannot keep them in our yard. and if i did tie them to that post, i would get a visit from CPS; not something i want to have happen.

why is it that my children are angels to everyone except me?

cops and peaches

so, the local grocery store has had peaches on sale for the last week. 93 cents a pound. needless to say, i have bought a lot in the last week. i've dried them and put them up. i can fit about 14 pounds of peaches on my eight dehydrator trays. granted, once dried it only takes up about 1/4 the space, but still good. i'm on my third batch.

i took the neighbor girls to the park for lunch with us today. nobody ate a whole lot, but i got to talk with one of the moms in the ward. just after the truck left, the kids decided they were going to bike around the park on the path. (they did this without informing or asking me) but as they were all 4 together, i didn't see a big problem. until all but elizabeth came back. i asked them all where she was, and got the same answer, "i don't know, i haven't seen her." since i couldn't see her, i started looking. when i found her, she was sitting on the grass next to the path. apparently, the others had left her there after she complained she couldn't go anymore. not sure how long she was there, but someone who saw her there called the police, and reported her "abandoned." i got to her about the same time the officer did. she's okay, i was a little rattled though.

saving money, we hope

in the effort to save some money, as everyone ought to do, i did something that i have wanted to do for a LONG time.
for a little over $9, i made myslef a clothesline. we already had the posts in the backyard, so, all i needed was the line and the clothespins. gotta love the dollarstore. i got 140 feet of clothesline for $2, and 56 clothespins for $4. then, i discovered that i needed some more clothespins, so at wallyworld, i got 100 more for $3.
if i don't have to run the dryer all the time, i wonder how much lower my power bill will be? we'll find out!

streaking?

so, i just caught my two children outside. not normally a problem, except that elizabeth was buck naked and taylor only had underpants on.

when did i suddenly get two streakers?!

oven

so, i haven't heard from the landlord about the oven since the 4th of july when we saw them at the parade. i was going to sit down tonight and type up another letter to send to them.he called this morning and said that he was going to come and put the new oven in this afternoon.

WHAT! he didn't tell us he was getting a new one. he told us he got a replacement part.

so, he showed up and put the new oven in, and i'm currently cooking dinner in it!!!

YEAH!

government programs, sheesh!

shauns school money finally came in. unfortunately, it's already gone. i didn't have enough to pay off the credit card, or pay mark and my mother-in-law back. all the bills are current, but there's nothing to get us through until fall semesters loan money comes in.

the food money finally came in also. interesting story that one. i had sent in all the verification paperwork and everything they wanted for both the food stamps and the medicaid. a month later and i was still waiting to hear back about them. so, i tried calling in to get some info and find out what was going on. i got an automated message that said, "for english press one, for spanish press two." i pressed one, it repeated itself, i pressed one again, it repeated itself again. it kept looping.
so, i drove down to the local office, which by the way no longer takes care of anything except the initial interviews, and tried to get some info out of them. they gave me direct phone numbers to call.
so, on the way home, i called those numbers. about the food stamps i was told they were VERY sorry, and would have someone run the case right away and call us back that day with numbers and the money, if there was any, would be in the account in the morning. it was.
as for the medicaid, i was told that they would get someone on it soon and i would be informed. still waiting to hear on that one. when that comes through, i can take the receipts for elizabeths medicine back to the pharmacy and get my money back. that will help, that's a hundred dollars.
basically, they had everything they needed for both of them, but no one had bothered to check back and run them again. idiots!

now if we can just figure out how to survive until fall semester starts.

oh, btw-still no oven, this really sucks!

solved!

so, it occured to me on the 4th, that we have a credit card with a $500 limit on it. it's not being used and hasn't been for almost 2 years.
activating it would solve 2 problems. 1: we have necessities that we can't get because the loan money isnt' in yet. 2: it will help build our credit back up if we use it and pay it off each month.

yes, i activated it and have gotten the things that we needed.

now if the money food would just come in. . . .

money issues

we called the school today to find out where shauns loan money was. turns out the school doesn't get it until the 6th. then cause he's out of town, they will mail it on the 8th. we'll be lucky if we have it by the 11th.
the semester will be halfway over before we see the money that is supposed to get the supplies. there's something seriously wrong with that!

frustrating

ok, still no oven, but the good news is that the landlord did come over and take a look at it. he's ordered a part and we'll see if that's the problem.

the neighbor knocked on the door yesterday morning with a complaint about the kids. apparently, the kids are getting into their garage when they are not home. AH! so i had a talk with them and tried to get them to understand that they can't go in there. i was told by taylor that if they would lock the door, they wouldn't get in there! he's way too smart.

oven

there's something to be said for taking things into your own hands, i.e. threatening. i've tried to get a hold of my landlord for over a week because the oven doesn't work correctly. it won't get up to the level of heat it needs to. so, i finally sent a letter that said i was going to wait until jul 1, and then i was going to call a repairman to come and fix it and take the costs out of my rent payment.

the landlord showed up today. he's going to try and get it fixed. yeah!!

sad and depressing

when i was in pocatello, i had a group of good friends. there were four of us. one of the group is getting married in 3 weeks. her bridal shower is tonight, and shopping for lingerie was this afternoon.

the sad and depressing part is that my babysitter bailed on me, and i am currently sitting at home with the kids instead of shopping with the girls. i even had backups lined up, and they fell through as well.

bug bite!?

so, taylor last night had a visit to the ER. the only reason i took him in cause this thing kept growing even after i gave him benedryl.
i know this pic is hard to see, but right at the hairline, there's a mosquito bite. it's swollen clear to his eyebrow and past the smaller bite in the middle of his forehead. not only that, but it was at least 1/4 inch tall, maybe 1/2 inch.
the dr said he was fine, there was no anaphylactic reaction, and sent us home.

shaun gave him a blessing before he went to sleep, and when he woke up this morning, there was no swelling left! thank goodness for the power of the priesthood!

elizabeth turns 4!

okay, elizabeths birthday was last thursday. and today we had a small party for her. grandma and grandpa and nana and kaitlyn were also there.
here's the pile of presents she got
there were some coloring books, some socks, a princess set with a tiara, a necklace, a ring, and some earings, a headband, and a second helmet. we will return the second helmet. we had her go back to her bedroom while we pulled things out and brought in the bike. she walked out and matter-of-factly said, "oh, my bike." like she knew it was there the whole time. weird!!

some pics of her with her stuff. . .






























i was going to borrow a pan from a friend who has her own cake decorating company, and make her a doll cake. when i called to ask her, she said that she'd do it in exchange for some of my close to my heart paper. OK! i can handle that! so, here's a pic of the big girl with her cake.

dishes

so, i was washing dishes this afternoon and stabbed myself. with a fork. it hurts.

magic school bus

i take the kids to the library once a week. they can get 3-5 books depending on how i'm feeling, and 1-2 movies. their favorite movies are the magic school bus series. they watch them all the time, and then they start quoting them around the house. right now they are saying, "hey, mikey, come in!"

i think i might start going insane!

teeth!

it's official, the youngest member of the family has teeth now. her bottom teeth broke through the gum yesterday.

MICE!

so, we just had an interesting experience. earlier today, shaun thought he heard a mouse munching and scratching on something in the house. we went looking, but couldn't find anything. later when shaun went downstairs to get something, he heard some squeaking. he shut the door, and we tried to figure out what we could put down there to kill mice. (sunday, no money, therefore, no d-con) we called his mom to see what ideas she had, just d-con, which she brought over, she had a couple at home. shaun proceeded to go down to try and get what he needed, and found the poor creature in the glue spider trap. it was just a little thing, but still a mouse. little being the key word, there has to be more of them, this was just a baby.

so, we replaced the trap, put some d-con down there, and we'll see what happens.

can't afford to move, but in light of recent discoveries, don't really want to stay either.

new words

we were laying in bed this morning playing with shannon, and could swear that she spoke. she consistently babbles, and some of them make sense. but this one was obvious and after some coaching.

she frequently babbles da-da, but shaun coached her to say taylor, and she did a pretty good job.
WOW!

grades are in!

i am happy to report that both shaun and i passed with flying colors. i got two c's, two b's, and one a. shaun got two b's!

it would appear that staying up all night long and turning in late assignments worked for shaun this time. next time it may not, but it did this time.

YAY!!!

children of god

so, our houseguest is no longer with us. i'm not quite sure how i feel about it. in one way, it was way past time. in another way, he was kind of nice to have around. when i needed extra help, i could always ask him.
however, i grew to love him as a brother of god and will worry about him constantly.

home evening

so, nadia did home evening by herself tonight. was supposed to be planting the garden, but since no one was helping, it will have to wait until later. besides that, i didn't have the seeds anyhow.

so, here's what i did do.
i made sure the ground was nice and dug up(again), i got my rows started(each row will have a diff veg in it), and i started the water so that it's wet when i get around to planting it.
these used to be about 8 feet long, and are the boards that enclosed the garden spaces. when we combined them we dug these up and put them off to the side. imagine nadia out there with a hatchet trying to chop them in half so that they can put out on the curb and hauled away with the rest of the yard trash.(about 20 minutes into my pounding, shaun brought out the circular saw for me to use instead. it was my first time with that particular power tool. :)

shauns finals

ok, i have just spent the last 3 days trying to help shaun with his classes. i spent one entire day finding reference for him, and the last 2 hours organizing with him. hopefully (fingers crossed), he will pass this one class and still be able to attend next semester. if not, he will probably be looking for a traditional job, as the art has not come to fruition like we had hoped.

today is the last day to turn anything in. he's working on a few late assignments and then will do the final. we hope that this will work.

projects

don't know if you can tell or not, but my fingernails are a bright pink. i have been making homemade paper, and decided to color some red. because it requires my hands to be in the goop, they turned pink.














a friend gave me some strawberry starts. so i got this planter cleaned out and planted them at the back of the house. they won't produce this year, or they aren't supposed to, but will next. can't wait. in order to clean out this flower bed, i had to dig out a bunch of tulips. since the strawberries were not in a pot, they had to planted today. unfortunately, the flowers had to go, so here they are drying. (if the wind doesnt' blow them away, they'll still be there.)














on the right is the garden spot. there used to be two seperate planters here. we yanked out the wood, and combined the spots. now i just need to get the seeds and do some work in it.










this one on the left might seem a little weird. this is where the garbage can goes. it was a dying grass spot, but i didn't like it much. so i found as much stray brick as i could and built a little tiny patio for the can to sit on . it's just barely wide enough, and not quite long enough, but it works for now.

above it, you can kind of see the brick that goes around the front flower bed. one of these days, when i can afford it, i plan on ripping that out and replacing it with red scalloped brick. and at some point, the railroad ties will also be replaced with the same thing.

one of these days, all of my projects will come to fruition. course, it might take me just short of forever and a million bucks!

pics

okay, as promised, here are some long overdue pics

this is taylors chin after it was sliced.



and this one is with the bandaid on it. i
didn't want him picking at it.

this is characteristic of the attitudes of my children lately.
this it the cute baby girl. she really does like to sit in the high chair, she's just not seen the camera much.

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

yum, fresh strawberries

crazy week!
so, elizabeth had her cavities filled today. everything went fine, until she woke up. all she could do was cry for daddy (daddy wasn't there. it was just us girls). the only way we could get her to calm down was to tell her that in order to go home and see him, she had to stop crying. got her home, and she slept for about an hour, and then was perfect. taylor slept the entire day away when he had his done, she's up and running around like it's a normal day!
i had taken the kids to the library last week. they can get a few books and a movie each when we go. the books are 3 week rentals, and the movies are 1 week. they didn't get back in time, so we have fines that need to be paid before we can borrow again. such is life. then, i went to return them, and they close at 6p on friday! i wasn't too happy.

broulims has a fabulous sale on strawberries. it's about time too. my freezer jam has run out, and we needed some more. they were $10 a flat, ($17 normal) so i bought 2! however, they were all out of freezer pectin, and no one else in town has any. seems like i may have to freeze them all whole until i can get some pectin to make the jam.

stitches (again)!

we just had an interesting day. the kids were playing outside, and taylor comes into the house crying. he had been at the neighbors house and the screen door flew open from the wind, and knocked him in the chin. he got a cut about an inch long, and about a quarter inch deep. there was a lot of blood. i cleaned him up a little, put a rag over it, and ran him up to the er.
they were able to glue it shut instead of using stitches. when i get a chance, i'll take a pic and post it.

Isn't she great?

My wife's a sweetheart. Give her a kind word and keep in touch with her. We don't want her to live only in the dry and sometimes miserable atmosphere I generate. Oh, and if anyone wants a painted family portrait, just let me know. :) Otherwise I do science fiction and fantasy stuff.

egg substitutes

so, i went to make a perry dinner tonight (cake), and realized that i didn't have any eggs. how do you make a cake without eggs? so, i called my mom to find out what you can substitute for eggs in a recipe. she was talking with stephanie, so i had dad tell her to call me back. it took a little longer than i thought, so i went online, and googled egg substitutes for cakes.
HA, vegans have many substitutes! they suggested applesauce or bananas, not an egg substitute. you can use those for oil substitutes, though. they suggested eggbeaters. those are just egg whites with food coloring in them, not a substitute. (oh, btw-it's sunday, no shopping) they also suggested substitutes that you can find from a health food store. then i found one that the ingredients were staple pantry items. it works for baked and cooked things, but not if you want just eggs. the cake was a little dry, but not bad overall.
for 1 egg:
2 Tbs flour
1/2 Tbs butter
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp water

on top of things, i think

so, i've done some cleaning and organizing that last few days. i got all my stuff, minus notes taken care of from last semester (i still need to type them up and print them out). i got my food storage labeled and organized again. i made master sheets that i put up on the doors so that i know what i have and what i don't. i've gotten my desks mostly cleaned off. we actually had an fhe this week, where we are trying the "bribe" thing.

oh, btw-the kids decided that they wanted to change their reward to swimming at a pool.

dead dishwasher

so this morning, i discovered that the dishwasher is full of mold. not only that, but it only sort of cleans the dishes. so, we decided that the dishwasher is toast, and we will proceed to wash them by hand.
sucks to be me!

bribery, or reward?

so we went down to provo last week for candice's graduation. the girl was practically giddy. got to spend some time with my mom and her family. i had such a good time. it's too bad that it all had to end. i wish, and i know they do to, that we weren't so far away from my parents. it was really hard to put my mother on the plane and send her home.
of course, because i can't go anywhere without having health issues, i had two gall attacks on the same day. talk about a killjoy.

so, i've started something new with the kids. we'll see if it works. i took a pint mason jar, and told them that when we got the jar filled with beans, they got to do something special. how do they fill the jar, you ask? by obeying, by doing the jobs i ask them to, by behaving. they can also lose beans, by not doing what they're told, by sassing mom and dad, and by running off. so, when the jar gets full, they get to go choose some new toys. let's hope it works.

tonsils, to be or not to be

ok, we took elizabeth in today to have her tonsils looked at. we became worried about them when we noticed that there was less than a 1/4 inch between them. so, we got a referral from the dr and had them looked at. we are supposed to keep an eye on her, see if they cause any sleep apnea. if they do, they will take them out. if not, they will leave them in.

holy crap, this is awesome!

http://confessionsofabyuco-ed.blogspot.com/2009/04/love-story.html

it takes awhile for it to load up, but the wait is well worth it.

catch up

ok, life has slowed down for a bit, and i have a spare moment to write something.
my mother-in-law, one of them, gave us a trampoline. i know, it's crazy! but, they don't use it, and it's too hard for dad to be putting up, so they gave it to us. it now sits in the front yard, and the kids keep begging to go play on it, it's dark, hello!
we got the rotten apples cleaned up from underneath the tree, so the yard looks a little better. i went to clean up right around the base of the tree. someone had put landscape brick around it, but it needed fixing and cleaning up. in the process of trying to clean it up, i found the mother lode of ladybugs.
taylor had cavities filled on friday. so we spent the rest of the day, and majority of the weekend making him feel loved and more comfortable. he got milkshakes, and puddings, and all sorts of goodies that they don't have on a regular basis. we opted to have it done in the surgery center, because his fear of needles and anything that causes pain would make him freak out. so, they completely put him under, and took care of it that way. he did have a problem when he woke up and discovered the iv. he tried to take it out himself.

milestones!

as it's the easter season, i thought perhaps we should update and post something.

the kids made a haul for easter. the easter bunny was very generous, grandma williams and nana got new clothes for them. we did easter dinner at our place, since we have room now. it was fun, but i was ready for it to be done long before it was over. apparently being a hostess wears me out fast.
as we were going through bags of candy that morning, shannon pulled a milestone on us. i had her laying on the floor, on her belly, and she pulled her knees up underneath her and started rocking. i have the feeling that she'll be crawling in the next few weeks. aahh, mama is not ready for that!

i forgot to mention that taylor registered for kindergarten today.

what?!

we went down to provo for little benjamins funeral on friday. drove home during conference satruday morning. then, i started on homework, and got in trouble for trying to do it during conference. called about a house that we were interested in looking at. sent shaun off to the priesthood session, and got to work on homework again.
about 20 minutes before shaun got home, i started having pain in my back. i tried curling up on the couch and relaxing. it didn't work. the i went and laid down on my bed thinking that might help. it didn't. shaun got home, talked with the kids for a minute, and came into the bedroom to find out what i was doing. i started moaning and not being able to talk or think. he called his sister-in-law, and she said to get me up to the hospital. he gave me a blessing, we informed rosie about what we were doing, and went to the hospital.
to make a long story short, i have gall stones and need to have my gall bladder removed. however, since it's finals week, and i'm already going crazy, it will have to wait for a bit. i need to finish up the semester, have elizabeths tonsils removed, and get the kids cavities taken care of first. i can't be down and have to deal with all of that as well.

rachel, we feel for you

for those of you that know her, rachel mothersill abbott had a baby this week. he was born alive at 22 weeks, but sadly didn't survive. they are having a funeral this friday.

our hearts and prayers go out to the abbott family.