I have no clue what to write about today. I’ve spent fair share of time alone with my children the past two weeks while the hubby was gone flying. I’ve been working at home after they go to bed to get my hours in while hubby is gone. I’ve been playing volleyball on Mondays. I’ve been carting kids to gymnastics and ice skating. I’ve been going to the chiropractor. I’ve been making Halloween costumes. I’ve been hosting dinner parties. I’ve been buying birthday presents. And I’ve been watching the Rockies lose, which means I’ve been staying up too late.
So today I’m takin’ a break and getting to work.
Happy Friday!
I’ve been tagged by Regina! So here goes . . .
10 Years Ago… I was 25, had been happily married to my prince charming for 1 1/2 years, and we had just bought our first house. I went skydiving with my friend T to celebrate our 25th birthdays and also got my first tattoo - my Peace Mickey, which I’d wanted since I was 17. I had said that if I still wanted it when I was 25, I’d get it . . . so I did 
The hubby and I were having tons of fun enjoying our beautiful new home state and meeting all kinds of new friends through work, volleyball, softball, and just being out and about.
20 Years Ago… I was 15 and a Freshman in high school. I had just transferred to a new school and was making all kinds of friends on the volleyball and basketball teams. I moved in to a house with my mom, and I was happy as a clam. Just as I am now, I like being busy and always had something to do, whether it was playing sports (volleyball, basketball, softball), going to sporting events and playing in the band, or just hanging out with friends. My poor Mom put lots of miles on the car and spent lots of time IN the car.
30 Years Ago… I was 5 and having the time of my life - well as much as a 5 year old can. I remember finding stray cats and my brother and his friends and me trying to sell it from a stand we set up on the highway - pretty tough to sell a cat in a farm community. We also set up lemonade stands and pretty much had the run of our tiny little farm town with our friends. And we never got in trouble, because we knew that mom and dad would know we were in trouble before we did! Everyone was watching everyone else’s kids all the time. We spent the weekends at my cousins farm, driving the 3-wheelers and snowmobiles, playing hide and seek in the dark, trying to climb from one end of the shed to the other on the farm machinery without touching the ground, and jumping off the ladder in the grain bin into a huge pile of corn or beans. We saw a ton of our extended family and were best friends with my cousins. I will always remember the day when we were playing outside at the farm and it started to rain. My cousin and I were in the shed and wanted to be in the corn bin with my brother and my cousin’s brother. So we ran through the pouring rain down to the corn bin and jumped in. When we got called in for dinner, my cousin and I were covered from head to toe with red corn shucks, stuck to us from the rain! Mom and my aunt made us stand outside in the pouring rain until all the red shucks had come off. Lesson learned - do not jump in to corn bin after running through rain.
Most every blogging buddy I know has already done this, but if you haven’t and want to play along, feel free!
I love the few minutes each day that I get to spend alone in my car, listening to whatever I want. But Who Knew you could hear one single song on the radio every single time you got in your car for an entire day.
8:17 a.m. - Get into car after dropping Keira off at school. Hear Who Knew by Pink. OK in the a.m. - kinda fun to get going.
10:15 a.m. - Get into car at work to head to chiropractor appointment. Who Knew by Pink is just starting as I pull out of the parking garage. I like the tune, so no biggie.
11:20 a.m. - Get into car after chiropractor to head back to work. Whew . . . something else is on radio;Â however, at 11:30 as I pull in to parking garage, yup, you guessed it - Who Knew by Pink. Kinda gettin’ weird.
3:04 p.m. - Get into car after work to head to pick up Keira at school. Jammin’ to Santana and Chad Kroger’s new one until I come to a screaching halt 5 minutes in to my drive. Yup - Who Knew by Pink. Did I just get thrown into the Twilight Zone? do DO Do do, do DO Do do.
8:05 p.m. - Get into car to head to volleyball (icky 9:00 match). And hey, guess what song I heard as I pulled out of my driveway? YES - Who Knew by Pink. Really? Again? Does ANYONE need to hear this song AGAIN?!
10:10 p.m. - Get into car to head home from volleyball. Jammin’ to some fun laid back tunes until I turned on to my street and a new song came on the radio. I know, total shocker, Who Knew by Pink. Friggin’ ridiculous. I hate this song and will most likely change the station when it comes on.
I am working at home today. I usually do not work at home . . . I don’t like to work at home . . . it’s chilly in my basement office . . . it’s quiet (except for iTunes) . . . I like PEOPLE . . . and there are just too many fun things waiting for me at home that it’s difficult to concentrate (one of the many reasons my office is down in the cold dark basement instead of on the warm sunny deck!) So why, you ask, am I working from home on a day when I got up early to shower, made my perfectly healthy kids breakfast, and dropped them off at school? It’s certainly not because I WANT to be alone in the house with the nasty mouse that ran across the laundry room counter this morning, almost sending the littlest one in pigtails in to orbit! It’s because the pest control guys are booked and busy and are going to try to stop by the house when they get a chance. So until that happens, I’m sitting not-so-happily at the computer in my home office basement, with my feet as high off the floor as possible, waiting for the doorbell to ring.
I’m also turning on every light possible when I walk in to a dark room - no more roaming around in the dark and reaching into dark spaces - ICK! I can just imagine stepping on or touching “that thing” - bluck! I’m also having a sudden urge to empty out every closet, drawer, cabinet, cupboard and scrub scrub scrub. Who knows where that thing has been since he got here!
ICK ICK ICK! And yesterday I was freaked out by a little spider that I made my 7 year old “get” and take out to the trash. He of course trapped it in his bug catcher and let it go outside to be free and find its family No, I do not like bugs, spiders, or RODENTS! That’s why I had a boy first . . . so he can do the bug work while Daddy is gone flying
1 -Â Soccer game left this fall
2 - Wonderful children I have
3 - Days until I play volleyball with the girls
4 - Pumpkins we need to pick out at the pumpkin patch on Saturday
5 - Runs the Rockies scored in their win over the Diamondbacks last night
6 - Days I’ll be on vacation with my mom, grandmother, and 4 aunts
8 - Days until the BBQ for our previous daycare provider and other families that used her
11 - Years I have worked for this company as of this week
11.5 - Years I have been married to my wonderful husband
12 - Number of hours I’ll spend scrapbooking with my friends on Sunday
14 - Days we’ll spend with family over Christmas
15 - People who will be at the BBQ for our previous daycare provider
19 - Days until Halloween - BOO!
20 - Days until I leave for vacation with my mom, grandmother, and 4 aunts
22 - Days until we fall back one hour
25 - Days until we vote
35 - Years I have been on this Earth
41 - Days until Thanksgiving
64 - Days until Keira’s birthday party
67 - Days until we leave for our Christmas in MN
71 - Days until Keira’s birthday
74 - Days until Christmas
My friend, Ami, at Cup Runneth Over introduced me to this short quiz. My results, I think, were dead on . . . however, since self-perception is not always reality, I’ll be interested to see what those who know me best think about my results 
ENTJ - The Executive Mother
Competent and confident in a management role, the ENTJ mother organizes the needs and schedules of family members into a workable family system. Within the system, she provides her children with care-taking, direction, and limits, but she also gives them space to develop their own self-sufficiency and judgment.
Analytical and adept at problem-solving, the ENTJ mother listens to her children’s concerns empathetically and then strategizes with them how to improve the situation—either by intervening on their behalf or backing off to let them solve problems on their own. She particularly enjoys watching them take responsibility and accomplish something they find important on their own.
Intense and insightful, the ENTJ mother is cued in to her children’s intellectual and emotional development. She uses her quickness and communication skills to talk things through and help her children connect with people and better understand life.
Yes, it’s my birthday today. I LOVE birthdays . . . mine, yours, anybody’s . . . everyone should have the best day on their birthday. And everyone else should know it’s your birthday and be extra specially nice to you. I guarantee you that nobody ever forgets my birthday - well, once my mom did - she forgot my 18th birthday - but that’s because my brother had been in a motorcycle the evening before and was laying in bed with a concussion - so I’ve forgiven her
I ran across this post a couple weeks ago . . . it’s a post from a 30 year old to her “younger” self. While I’m not turning 30 today- I’m a bit past that - this was fun to read
Now I’m off to enjoy my birthday - enjoy the cake - enjoy the birthday lunch - leave work early - and head off for a birthday weekend of camping with my family. Yes, I chose to go camping for my birthday! And the birthday person always gets to do what they want in my house
We have officially arrived in the land of humidity, potlucks, fish fries, and the long ooooooooooooo. Ya sure . . . you betchya . . . we sure have.
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Noisy Grandma was talking to all of us after we came back from Grandpa Miller’s house. Jason said “Why does she sound so crazy when she talks!?”
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Noisy Grandma did our laundry yesterday. I had told her we would do it today because we needed the clothes we were wearing to be washed before we headed Up North on our adventure this weekend. I told Grandma I wished she’d not done it like I asked her not to. After she left the room to do something, Jason said “Mom, she’s just nice. And crazy.”
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Today my dude turned 7! I can’t believe it. He’s 7. Going in to 2nd grade in a couple weeks. A 7 year old. It seems like just yesterday I was changing his diaper! I had planned on this whole post with some pictures of him for his birthday, but I totally forgot to do it before we left. And with this dial up connection it would take forever to get photos uploaded. So I’ll probably do a J’s B-day post next week for his 7 year and 1 week anniversary
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We went to Grandma Sherry and Grandpa Miller’s farm last night - lots of fun! The kids drove their remote control cars around and tormented the dogs and cats. It was hilarious! Keira of course asked a gazillion times if we could bring one of the kittens home and we of course continued to say no. I don’t think she’ll ever quit asking!
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Dan and I met our friend Darren at the bar for a drink last night. We realized we’d arrived in the upper midwest when we heard a girl say “Oh nooooooooooo. He’s from Mineoooooooota!” (Insert best “Fargo” accent on those long ooooooooo’s)
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Breakfast in the midwest consists of the following menu:
Sweet bread with frosting
Breakfast sausage fried in grease
Eggs with lots of butter
Bread with lots of butter
I can feel my arteries hardening just thinking about it!
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Gotta run - there’s food to be eaten - as always at Grandma’s house!
To start off, my son will be devastated if he ever reads this entry - let’s hope he doesn’t find it for another, oh 15 years.
On Tuesday when I picked them up from school, I asked him how swimming lessons were (they have swimming lessons every day at school). He said they were great - he had fun and dove to the bottom in the 5 foot deep end etc. etc. And somehow we got on the subject of where they change in to their swimming trunks. He said that he changes in the big stall in the bathroom. I said it must take a long time for everyone to wait their turn to get in that stall to change. He said only he changed in there . . . the rest of the guys change in the big open area in the bathroom. I questioned him about why he was the only one who changed in the stall and his response was . . .
“Well mom. Wearing Nemo underwear in front of the other guys just isn’t cool.”
I was like Buddy, you need to tell me these things! We can buy you new underwear! Sheesh. 3 months ago HE picked out those exact underwear from the store . . . but that was before group swimming lessons started. So, on Wednesday I went to the store and replenished his underwear supply - none of which had any character whatsoever on them.
He was thrilled when he got home to see brand new plain underwear next to his new soccer shoes. He couldn’t open the package fast enough and get them in the laundry so he could get rid of everything else in his underwear drawer.
Under Do - Do let your kids choose their own underwear.
Under Don’t - Don’t assume that 3 months down the line they still like chosen underwear, because quite frankly, their coolness factor may change overnight!
The color yellow is beautiful:
- on flowers
- on my daughter
- on the sun
- on bananas
- on the walls of my daughter’s bedroom
The color yellow is NOT beautiful:
- on my carpet
- on my furniture
- on my kitchen counters
- on my white down comforter
- on my kids’ beds
‘Tis the season for pollen, pine dust; call it whatever you want, but I prefer to call it “that friggin yellow crap that’s an inch think on everything in my house!” I love living in the forest, except for the 2 weeks in early June every single spring when the pine trees grow these lovely yellow bunches of beauty and then shed that beauty all over the neighborhood. This results in tons of yellow dust all over the inside of the house, and when I say tons, I mean it. I get to dust and vacuum the house every single friggin day for the next two weeks. Last year we were lucky enough to get a great hailstorm just as the trees were beginning to release their yellow beauty. It knocked the yellow beauty to the ground, and the yellow beauty did not have the opportunity to fly through the air with the greatest of ease. Yesterday, we were not so lucky - instead of a great hailstorm, we got a great windy day - 70 mph gusts to be exact - which blew this lovely yellow stuff all over in my house. I know I know - shut the windows - but I LOVE the fresh air in the house, and it gets pretty toasty in there in the afternoon without that breeze flowing through.
So, I’ll be spending my evenings vacuuming my light carpet, cleaning kitchen counters so I can make dinner, dusting furniture, and washing comforters. I have decided to shut the bedroom windows so the bed thing won’t be an issue every single day, but I just can’t bring myself to shut the living room, bathroom, and kitchen windows. I guess a couple weeks of cleaning up pine dust is a small price to pay to come home to a house that smells of fresh mountain air.
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