it's vacation week!

I'll get back to last week and share some pictures before the week is out,

but for today ....

I'm not exactly lounging spa or pool side.

I'm calling insurance companies twice a day trying to get some action.

Not my insurance company. They have been awesome.

 

 

I finally erased the messages off the answering machine.

It was really blinking 34 messages for the past several months.

I gave up on the phone a while ago and unplugged it.

Now if you call my house you are very likely to get a nasty fax machine instead

of me telling you that you've got the wrong number.

We all have cell phones. I figure if you need us you can find us.

 

Baby Loves has been visiting this week several times and I'm due for another fix tomorrow.

He is such a good baby.

This week has seen much more interaction including coos and smiles.

I imagine that the next several weeks will be even more exciting!

He's packing on some rolls. Takes a lot of food, energy and plenty of rest.

 



 

Hanging out with his cousin who is also working on growing!

 

 

About three weeks ago my car got fatally smunched.

If you know my dear hubby at all ....

when he's on a mission to find a car I should probably go on vacation.

It is downright painful.

Over the weekend he actually started to suggest getting a vehicle from Minnesota.

By this point I was done running to look at any.

Said "no more .. you bring one home and I don't care what you get".

Minnesota?!

I think he was looking for an excuse to skip the heat for a bit.

We went and finally got something on Monday. Gave up on the little SUV idea.

I really don't need one or want to spend money on one.

 

We took it for a drive Monday evening and found that it is governed at 80 mph.

We didn't have the admin key and couldn't change it.

That isn't going to work.

Some other klunk going on so back it went on Tuesday.

I'm hopeful that the keys will be in my mitts today sometime.

 

Jari took off yesterday to Colorado since he couldn't head to Minnesota.

I'm sitting on my ever widening buns working on things like Power Point and eportfolios.

And cleaning closets and paper piles.

Love this kind of week!

21.52 motivational monday

Opportunities are often things you haven't noticed

the first time around.

- Catherine Deneuve

 

Don't we all have these opportunites that we miss or take for granted?

I am sure that I am not alone in that.

An opportunity passed by that someone else seizes upon

perhaps a generation later?

 

Latch on to the opportunities when you can

for you never know if they'll be available later on.

This past week we spent several days in eastern Texas with family

as my uncle Lauri, my dad's only brother, was laid to rest.

Yes, there would have been plenty of opportunities to visit

while he still lived. While his daughter, my cousin, Mona was still alive.

Both are now gone and so are the opportunities to spend time with them.

I cannot explain my days in Texas.

I'm not sure there are adequate words to describe the feeling

of family mixed with Southern hospitality and kindness.

It's time to make opportunities happen ...

not wait for them or watch them as they pass on by.

 

Now for another blog visiting opportunity ...



20.52 motivational monday

I don't know what the big deal is about old age.

Old people who shine from the inside look 10 to 20 years younger.

-Dolly Parton

 

She certainly does shine, doesn't she?

We joined Esther in celebrating the engagement of her grandson on Sunday afternoon.

I don't know how many grandchildren and great grands she has,

but there are a lot of them.

Blessings have been plentiful.

 

On around the circle to Marcy again this week!

Enjoy!

 



the last couple weeks have been ....

Hi! My name is Anita.

My eyes are really blue and my hair is streaked with

increasing amounts of gray every day.

Well ... at least those strands that I'm not pulling out.

 

How does life get so crazy?

 

Saturday 5/2: Jari and I headed up to Kamp Kipa bright and early for the day to attend Parent's Camp. Our plan was a wee little weekend getaway. At about 4 that Saturday afternoon we got a call that Tia had been in a car accident. She was fine, but being under the age of 18 needed to be transported to the hospital to be checked out. A bit of anxiety going on. Today she told me she had a few firsts that day: accident, ambulance ride, cab ride home. We headed straight home. End of that weekend.

 

Wednesday 5/7: The runs to the chiropractor started with Tia. We have a crazy relationship with our chiropractor. We now live across town from them, but we still truck ourselves down there. Jari did the trek on Monday, I did Wednesday morning. After that little trek, Tia had a dental appointment to have her wisdom teeth removed. All four impacted. She was quite a nut case leaving the place. I did video her upon her request and it has provided great entertainment value. That evening she woke up in time to head to a program at the church honoring this years high school graduates. She really should have been in bed.

 

Thursday she was in no shape to go to school.

 

Friday another visit to the chiropractor and a short stint at school.

 

The weekend was miserable for her ... Mother's Day was wonderful for me with kids around.

 

The insurance company totalled our car over the weekend. I'm driving a mean little Niisan Altima that just goes like mad. Guess I'll be driving it for a while. My hubby looks at about 1,000 cars before he settles on one.

 

Monday 5/12: Happy Birthday Wylon!!

Tia managed to go to school but was still swollen beyond ridiculous. Sore throat and bleeding. It's been long enough so I brought her into the dentist to have them check her. They're not concerned ... I still don't understand it. I know everyone is different but this experience is lasting way too long.

 

Tuesday 5/13: She woke with a voice that barely croaked and couldn't even swallow liquid. Okay. I know there's a virus going around that is nasty. Maybe she has that on top of whiplash and wisdom teeth extractions. Now Jari and I are both at work and I can't leave. I convinced Anna to bring Tia to the Urgent Care for me. That, of course, entails faxing permission and insurance cards. Paying bills by credit card over the phone. I also sent them to the wrong place. Oi! They finally made it. Negative strep test. Ordered to drink more fluids and call if she wasn't better by Thursday.

 

That evening my hubby had a brilliant idea. He's allergic to Penicillin ... a fact that I never seem to remember. Could Tia be allergic to the amoxicillin she had been taking for nearly a week? I tested her and got a resounding yes. First dose of Benadryl in and Jari & I took off to an engagement party for Annaliisa and Joe. Came home and had her down another dose.

 

Wednesday 5/14: Happy Birthday Blayde!!

Tia has a voice and the swelling is nearly gone! Chiropractor again this morning. Miles of driving. Drive south to the dr. Drive north to school. Drive south to work. Drive north to home.

Seriously annoying.

I'm back at church again in the evening for Bible Class with organ duty and church cleaning on my agenda.

 

Thursday 5/15: The kiddo is back to normal I think. Maybe better than normal. She actually cleaned her room top to bottom. No new organizing going on, thank goodness, but clean it is.

 

Today 5/16: Happy Birthday Char!!

Eyes open at 5:30 (yes ... that would be a.m. not p.m.) to try get some school work done. Left at 8:15 to get to the chiropractor. Back up north to drop her at school and meet Jari. Jump in the truck and head back even further south to meet a car salesman. At least we're ruling out things! Back north and off to look at another one. It is 104 degrees today and I'm getting a wee bit cranky about this.
I want to be home!

Especially 'cuz I know that the little love is there for a bit. I had an hour there and then took off to pick up Tia from school.

 

Are you sick of this yet?

Good.

I am too.

You aren't alone.

 

Tia is off to camp for the weekend and I'm sure I'll see 5:30 tomorrow morning. I write papers best in the morning and still haven't mastered the 20 minute paper. Nor will I settle for a grade that is less than I am capable of. It sort of poses a time problem. It also creates a bit of a stress problem.

 

After Sunday ... I'm down to 4 weeks and that, my friends, is why I've been absent from this blogging world.

19.52 motivational monday

Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes,

by dozens and hundreds.

Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers and sisters, aunts and cousins,

but only one mother in the whole world.

-Kate Douglas Wiggin

 

It is a first Mother's Day for Alyx.

There is a definite mutual adoration going on

that I am thrilled to be witnessing.

I never knew this part of being a mother.

Watching your own daughter become one

and fall in love with her little one

just as I did with her.

 

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there and

a very special wish to the mothers in my life.

 

Around the circle to Marcy .....



18.52 motivational monday

The glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time you fail.

-Chinese Proverb

 

I've not shared these here before so am taking the liberty of using older

photos this week.

It's been one of those weeks.

 

Alyx wanted wedding favors at her wedding in February and requested strawberry jam.

Mom said sure thing and got right on that.

I didn't realize that adding a bit of butter and skimming the stuff off the top was necessary

until after the first batch was done.

We added that to our own kitchen larder and quickly ingested it.

The rest ....

We added cute little doilies and labels ..

 

along with our invitation to take a treat as our thanks for guests

sharing their day with the bride and groom.

It is fun having girls that have all kinds of creative ideas.

 

On to Marcy for this month's hop around the blogs!

blueberry delight

Apparently, mastering the art of Blueberry Delight is going to take me a while.

I finally made this for the first time recently and decided to do it again the other week

for some dinner company.

I got in a hurry.

I didn't let the stuff cool.

I just slathered on the Cool Whip while it was hot.

Uhm.

Just so you know .... that doesn't work so good.