Adventures at the Library

Well our family have had an extreme rash of not so good days in the last few week, but I thought that everyone would enjoy our library adventure yesterday evening.

Hubby and I picked the kids up from daycare yesterday and decided to get them signed up for the summer reading library program on the first day.  In route Pumpkin announces that he needed to use the restroom.  The restrooms in the children's department are a lot nicer than the main library restrooms.  So Pumpkin and I headed upstairs while hubby and Princess returned our previous library books.  Pumpkin raced up the stairs and ran into the bathroom.  

He must of really needed to go.  He came back out of one of the two children's department restrooms.  I noticed that he had not flushed (he also did not use toilet paper).  So I asked him to flush the toilet.  He ran over pushed the button and ran back out.  As he reached the door, waste water shot about three to four feet out of the floor drain and started spreading across the floor.*  Shocked I tried to tell one of the children's librarian at the desk while guarding the door so no children could enter.  We turn around just at the right time to see a flood of water snaking out of the other bathroom door that was closed.  It probably went a good five feet outward.  

I turn back around to let them know of the second problem and the head children's librarian (who is a real sweetheart) is calling into the radio "EMERGENCY!  Maintenance to the Children's Department!  EMERGENCY!"  Within minute staff are rushing towards the bathrooms.  Hubby hear the radio call downstairs and rushed up the stairs with Princess.  Of course we are in the middle of all the chaos.  We did find out that they had been having problems with the toilets earlier in the day, so thankfully we really were not at fault for the whole diabolic.

Now that I am sure that you are indeed laughing!  Have a great evening!  Don't forget to visit your local library and collect some of your own unique memories!

*Please note- No children were harmed during this misadventure at the library.

Vacation Days

This week has flown by and I only have one day left before returning to work.  Honestly, it would be nice to stay home with the kiddos.  I will miss morning time leisurely snuggles.  I will miss taking Pumpkin to and from school.  The kids have seem to have less behavior issues since they have spent time home with me.  Although, Princess has apparently started the tantrum stage.  She was crying and sulking in our bedroom earlier because Pumpkin was mopping the kitchen floor, not her.  But Pumpkin was mopping the kitchen floor because he had decided to make apple juice on the kitchen floor.  He gathered a large bowl, about six apples and the potato smasher for his unsupervised experiment.  It was not too successful and the floor was quite sticky. So we had to clean the floor. 

Anyway, during this vacation we checked quite a few things off our to-do-list: 

We took a drive north of our town, down an old rocky road to watch part of the meteor shower Sunday evening.  Since we were in the middle of no where, we were standing in the middle of the road watching the sky.  We saw the Milky Way (which we cannot see from out house), the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, the crescent moon, and a handful of shooting stars.  We let the kids lay on the hood of the car to watch the stars.  As we saw headlights in the distance, we scrambled into our car to be better protected.  A very old, old car drove by (maybe something from the 1920s or 1930s), then "Aaauuugah! Aaauuugah!"  Hubby and I burst into laughter!  Then the little car chugged off over a hill and we continued star gazing for a while longer.

On Monday the kids and I visited the children's museum.  The kids had a lot of fun.  

On Tuesday we went to the state fair.  Boy was it expensive.  A bottle of water was $3.00, that is absurd.  We did get to partake in some fair favorites: elephant ear, funnel cake, and lemon shake-up.  Yum!  Both kids got to milk a cow and we saw the Butter Cow.

On Wednesday, Pumpkin started the first grade.  We met his teacher on Monday.  Pumpkin and I went over the class expectations at least once a day every day this week since the meeting.  For example, one expectation is to be respectful of the teacher.  So I asked Pumpkin how he could be respectful and he said listen.  He was so nervous on Tuesday night that we prayed for him and his teacher and that has seemed to help.  So much so that he asked for the same thing the next night.  What a sweetie!   Anyway, I was so happy that first half day when he came out of the school to be picked up that he was not the child holding the teacher's hand.  Yay!  Oh, Wednesday afternoon and night we cleaned Pumpkin's room.  It is a miracle, I can see the floor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Thursday, Princess and I ran a few errands and she got a new pair of shoes.  We played with chalk outside and swung on the swing.  She passed out in the hallway about an hour before we were to pick Pumpkin up from school.

On Friday, Princess spent the day with great grandma and I completed a few volunteer hours as required by the school.  It was an enlightening experience and gave me some ideas that I can utilize when I return to work.

Today we visited the library and then went on our regular routine to the grocery store.  Princess wanted some Fancy Nancy books and I found a few Elephant and Piggie books for Pumpkin.  He was too busy playing with the train set to look for books today.  We even picked up a few Halloween and Christmas books too.

This week I have read the following books: 1) Daughter of Jerusalem by Joan Wolf.  It was really good and was a fictionalize journey of Mary of Magdalena that utilized facts from the Bible.  It really made me think about the miracle, awe, and uncertainty of the times when Jesus lived. I discovered Joan Wolf about a month ago and am impressed by her biblical fiction.  2) Positive Discipline by Jane Nelsen Ed.D.  I only have three chapters left of the book.  It has some very interesting concepts and focuses on encouraging children not discouraging them.  I have applied a few of the concepts on the children and they do seem successful.  I have been reading this book for a while.  But once I decided to take notes restarting from the beginning, it has gone a lot smoother.  I have been reading one chapter a day during vacation.  3) A Reluctant Queen by Joan Wolf.  I just started this afternoon.  It is the fictional story of Esther based on the facts of the Bible.  It is definitely interested reading about the women of the Bible and getting a glimpse of what their lives may have been like.

Well things will start to get back to normal on Monday.  Pumpkin will be in school and hanging with great grandma before and after school.  Princess will start at her new daycare that has a preschool curriculum.  Daddy will be working and I will be working.  It has been nice to be on vacation and my batteries are recharged a touch.

Quirks

 

We all have our quirks.  That is what makes us different from our peers.  That is what makes us individuals.  

Depending on the person and the quirks . . . . quirks can be fun.  Quirks can be frustrating.  Quirks can be cool.  Quirks can be annoying.  Quirks can encompass a whole variety of areas. 

Like everyone else, I too have some quirks.  Some are cool and some are frustrating to me. 

Writing quirks- I can write with both hands.  My dominate hand writing is very legible.  Typically when family members are writing a memento note to remember an event or information for a special item, they ask me to write it for them.  My maternal grandma, who quilts a lot, always has me fill out the tag for the back of the quilt with all of the pertinent details.  My non-dominate hand writing looks like a kindergartens.  It is large and shaky, but it is readable.  This skill comes in handy when leaving anonymous funny notes on co-workers desks. 

Reading and Speaking quirks- I think that I may of had some undiscovered learning hurdles in this area.  If I see a word that I have never read, I have a heck of a time trying to figure out how to pronounce it.  During college, I was reading the Left Behind Series and one of the characters had the name Chloe.  I had no idea how to pronounce it and I never quite asked anyone how to pronounce it, so I thought it was pronounce Coal.  Yes, I know way off.  I do not think that my hearing always correlates with my speaking and reading skills.  Sometimes I can not figure out what someone is saying unless I see their lips move.  Another example, my boss corrected me just about a week ago when I was talking about ricotta cheese in a recipe.  Apparently I added a few extra letters sometime during my life, so I was saying rittacotta cheese.  Unfortunately once I get a word stuck in my head the wrong way it can take me quite a while to correct it.  He had correct quite a few times (ha ha ha ha).  Thankfully I have a understanding and kind boss. Anyway, the words that I have the most difficultly with are words with "m"s and "n"s mixed together.  I think I may have a form of dyslexia when it comes to those words, whereas, I just switch the letters around.  A college friend that had a dog named Cinnamon delighted in the fact that it sounded nothing like cinnamon when it came out of my mouth.  More like cim-a-mum-mum.  I have been able to train my self to say it right, if I say it really slow.  Other words that I seem to get corrected on:  Pastor apparently sounds like pasture.  Washing sounds like warshing.  Napkin sounds like nackin.  For a while I thought Marcia was pronounced Mar-seat-a.  Bench, well you can figure that one out yourself.  Artisan comes out like art-tish-an.  Then, I also can forget how to say words or spell them.  "The" is terrible and I have actually forgotten at times much to my chagrin.  You never know what is going to come out of my mouth and I seem to add letters, drop letters, change letters and invert letters.  Oh, I will also switch the order of words in a sentence.  That is always great for a laugh.  So listen closely if you are talking with me (wink, wink). 

Number quirks-  This one is my weirdest one.  When I hear numbers verbally, I switch the numbers around.  So I always have to read numbers back if I am writing them down.  Answering machine messages with phone numbers really peeve me off because the caller rattles them off so fast that I have to listen to the message about three or four times to get the number down.  So for my sake and others just like me, slowly say your phone number and your name then repeat a second time.  That is how I leave message, if I get an answering machine while returning a phone call through my workplace.  Anyway, on the other side of the coin.  I am great at remembering numbers.  I can rattle off my boss's home phone number.  I can tell you the four digit number for bananas and donuts in the self check out line at the grocery store.  When I worked at the card shop, I was in charge of the Willow Tree Angel display.  I could look at an angel and tell you the last last three digits of the stock number in the back room to locate the box or unshelved product.

So, do you have any quirks that you would like to share??

Whew . . . What A Week!

Definitely an interesting week. . . . .

We woke up Monday morning to about 14 inches (35.6 centimeters) of snow.  Thankfully my boss called and told me to NOT come to work.  Hubby on the other hand was not so fortunate and had to work.  The kids and I had a good snow day.  I shoveled and shoveled and did not quite get any progress made until hubby got home from work and finished up.  So since my car could not go any where we built a snowman and took the sleds down the hill in the yard.
 

View from the back of the house

View from the front of the house down our driveway

 View of the front of the house

 Kids with the snowman

The heron . . . . 

On Tuesday I caught a few good pictures of these beauties through the window at work.  It was so funny watching the toms walk through the snow.  They would take a step, then flump down they sank into the snow and pluff went their feathers all fanned out.  Then they would repeat the process.  Oh, how I laughed at the sight!

Reminds me of a mirror image

 Two toms hanging out

 

Today the kids and I were home for the holiday.  A friend came over and installed a new garage door for us.  Yay!  The old solid wood one was on it last leg, literally.  It started to fall apart as it was taken down.  Princess and I went to the grocery store this afternoon.  When we returned home hubby and Pumpkin had found a painted turtle down at the pond.  Spring has to be right around the corner!  Then we came inside and had a "tea party" with the tea set Aunt L gave her on Wednesday.  We served pink lemonade and letter crackers.  
 

Before view of the garage door (earlier in the week)

See the rotting panels at the bottom of the picture

The beautiful new door

 Painted turtle . . . spring is in the air

We wish all our family and friends a happy and joyous Easter!!!!!   

Broke The Mold

Have you ever heard the saying "God broke the mold when he made you."?  I certainly hope that is true.  I seem to be a walking catastrophe at times and hope that others do not have my uniqueness. Being unique is a good thing at times, but other times it is just not fun.  Certain parts of my uniqueness I just refer to as being very special or unusually blessed.  So what about my mold is different?

I am a giant . . . . now I know that I am not really a giant but that is how children and some adults see me.  I hear "Whoa, you're tall!" a lot from children.  Being 6'1" is not always easy.  Sure you can reach the top shelf at the grocery store.  Sure you can see over a crowd.  Sure you can be 9 months pregnant and only look like you are 3 months.  I like sitting in those super tall chair that you can sometimes find at restaurants so my legs dangle.  I like to sit in the back pew at church, so I can have some leg room.  But being tall comes with its own disadvantages, too.  My name is not "Jolly Green Giant".  My name is not "Big Bird."  I don't answer to "Hey, you up there."  Shopping for clothes is terrible. . . I have to special order my long sleeved shirts and my long pants and jeans (36" inseam).  Shoes . . . ha ha ha ha . . . I am wearing mens size 11, which would be about a 12 or 13 in womens.  I whack my head a lot in this world designed for shorter people.  The first two used cars that I owned I had to contort my legs and knees, cramming them at an angle under the steering wheel just so I could drive it down the road.  Glad I have a Mailbu now, plenty of leg room!  There is so many more disadvantages to being tall, but that is enough for now.  

I could be a bubble girl . . . . Oh, so many of my friends tease me that I should be inside a plastic bubble.  The older I get the more allergies I seem to develop.  My biggest allergy is to capsicum (peppers).  So that would include green peppers, red peppers, sausage, pepperoni, chili, salsa, paprika (which is in EVERYTHING), etc. . . .   It is one of those triple header allergies- food, airborne and skin reactions.  But according to the tests at the allergy doctor's office it is just an intolerance so it won't kill me, instead I get hives, feel like I have the stomach flu, loose my voice, get a headache, and I want to curl up in a ball and not move.  Oh the newest reaction to the list. . . . my cheeks and ears turn bright red.  But don't worry it won't kill me, it just will make me EXTREMELY miserable.  Within the last 18 months, I have discovered that I am allergic to SLS (sodium laureth sulfate) a foaming agent which was in my shampoo and toothpaste; peeling, blistering skin is always so joyful to deal with.  Like I said I am special.  I have discovered that Burt's Bee Balm has an amazing shampoo that is SLS free and Sensodyne Pronamel toothpaste is SLS free.  Oh my gosh, Tom's of Maine mouthwash is SLS free and is amazing!  Now you might be laughing at this point, go ahead.  I laugh quite often about all of my strange allergies.  I have a whole list more of allergies, but I'll stop at the big ones.

I have four eyes . . . . Yep, I wear glasses.  I have tried contacts, but I must have been allergic to the cleaning solution.  Glasses are a pain when it rains, when you go inside after being out in the cold they fog up, and you always have to clean them.  It would be cool if someone invented wipers to clean your glasses with, so much easier.  Something cool about wearing glasses, if I have a headache I can take the glasses off and the world blurs around me which can lessen the throbbing pain.  Nice!  Strange fact- the eye doctor has to leave the lights on for my eye exam because the difference in light changes my prescription.  I am nearsighted with astigmatisms, so my daughter comes by it naturally (although her vision is worse than mine).  Even though I got teased about wearing glasses growing up, it is nice to wear them now.  My daughter loves to wear her glasses because she gets to be like mommy and that I would not trade for anything.

If it is going to happening to anyone, it WILL happen to me . . . . I just have this wonderful magnetism for the strange and unusual.  Did you know that only about 30% of women have to have a c-section? Yep, this was me twice.  Have you ever walked into the edge of a screen door with your face as it is mid-way through closing?  Happened to me.  Have you woke up in the middle of the night with a mouse sitting on your shoulder?  Happened to me in high school.  Have you had a pheasant almost fly through the open passenger window of your car?  Yep.  Have you been surrounded by a flock of wild baby turkeys with an angry momma turkey standing right in front of you?  Why, yes I have.  Have you had one of those automatic check-outs at the store that calls for the attendant after every single action you take?  Oh yes!!!  Have you had your turn signals on your car short-out?  Yep, twice!  Have you had the head gasket blow on your car on Christmas Eve spewing antifreeze from the tail pipe?  Yep.  Have you had a baby pee in your ear?  Ha ha ha!  This one was actually my husband.  We learned that valuable lesson of covering Pumpkin with a wet wipe when we changed his diaper that day. Are you laughing yet????  That is what I do when something weird happens.  I figure you can either laugh or cry, so why not laugh!

Life is really what you make of it, but I am still hoping that the mold was broken when I was born. We have a lot of blessings in our life, but everyone often has challenges that lay hidden too.  So if someone if having a bad day, give them the benefit of the doubt because you never know how much they are going through unless you travel a mile in their shoes.  I know that I cannot shrink my legs, that my allergies will run amuck, that I have goofy eyes, and that the weird and unexplainable WILL happen to me . . . . but that is what makes me unique.  That is what makes me who I am. . . . Me.  And who better to be than yourself?   What weird quarks do you have?

Whirlwind . . . . . .

Sorry to be away for a while.

We have been awful busy in this household lately.  

Highlights of the last few weeks include:

1) Pumpkin falling into the water fountain at the neighboring cemetery last night bike and all.

2) Visits to dad's house.

3) I have read a few good books (hopefully some posts coming soon).

4) Battling the constantly moving ant invasions.

5) Visits to paternal grandma in the hospital. 

6)Princess being able to see (now that she has glasses) has definitely made life more interesting and she has been getting into more mischief than normal.

7) Going to Pumpkin's last Family Fun Night at preschool.  Princess loved the pink grocery cart obstacle course and Pumpkin liked the coloring with sidewalk chalk and hop scotch activity.

8) Family dinner nights with auntie and maternal grandma.

9) Princess falling into the pond on Monday. It took several washings to make the pond smell go away.

10) Church and Sunday school.  For Mother's Day they made a candy pot for me.  A flower pot lined with rocks, then candy sticking out on colored popsicle sticks.  Really cute!

11) I made a jelly jar basket during a workshop.

12) I visited Pumpkin's preschool class and taught his class about bugs.

13) Me spraining my knee last Friday.  Leave it to me to find a camouflaged root knob stick out of the ground.

14) Pumpkin had his kindergarten screening.  Both of the kindergarten teachers took turns screening him. First Teacher: "I just wanted to let you know that (pumpkin) was wiggling around in his chair.  And he fell off the chair and hit his neck on the table.  But, we knew he was fine after we gave him a glass of water and he finished it with a loud burp. He definitely has a large personality."  Oh boy!  

15) Pumpkin and daddy have caught fish coming from the pond's overflow pipes.  At one point we had 50 little green sunfish in the kids kiddie pool.  On Mother's Day we had the Great Fish Release back into the wild!  

Out of the mouths of babes

Pumpkin:  Carrots "Go".  Chocolate cake "Whoa."  Bananas "Go".  Candy "Whoa."

Mommy:  "Are you talking about foods that are good to eat and foods that we should not eat as much of?  Did you learn that at school?"

Pumpkin: "Yes"

Mommy: "Well auntie made chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and fresh strawberries last night and you did not eat any of it.  Those are "GO" foods."

Pumpkin: " I know, but God made me special so I don't have to eat those foods."

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Princess Finally Gets Her Glasses

On April 10th Princess was diagnosed with nearsightedness and astigmatisms.  It took 17 days to find frames for her narrow face and another 7 days to get the lenses.  Yesterday we picked up her finished glasses.  So, it took a grand total of 24 days to get our little 3-year-old daughter a pair of glasses.

She was really excited to get her "princess" glasses.  

Below you will find a simulation of what her vision would be like without the glasses.  It is based on her prescription, which is accentually 3/4 of what she needs.  We will be returning to the eye doctor's office in October to strengthen the prescription a bit more. 

 Normal vision on the left.  

Princess's vision simulation on the right.

http://www.billauer.co.il/simulator.html 

  

At first she was not too sure about the glasses.  She wanted to show them off, but was not sure that she wanted to wear them all the time.  

We stopped by the cemetery and showed grandma and great-grandpa the new glasses.  Then we went by daycare and showed our glasses off there to the other kids.  Then we saw auntie and daddy at home and great-grandma drove over to see the new glasses.  Hopefully later today, we can model our glasses for a few more family members.

Last night we went back and forth with wearing the glasses.  She watched Cinderella and Peter Pan last night without standing in front of the television screen. We have yet to try to read a book, but hopefully this afternoon.

This morning there was no trouble getting her to put the glasses on.  We have had a few revelations today.

1) At breakfast:  "Mommy!  I put water all over my glasses!"-  Ugh, out came the cleaning cloth.  "Princess, try to not get your glasses wet.  If they are wet you cannot see very good."

2) Grocery store:  "I want CINDERELLA!"  "No, that is cake gel.  We don't need that today."  Lots of tears, poor great-grandma pushing the shopping cart.  A little later:  "I want CINDERELLA!"  "No, that is lip gloss.  We can't get that today."  Kicking and screaming and lots of tears on the way to the check-out.  Well, to look at the bright side at least she is seeing better. Hahahaha

3) In car after grocery store:  Screaming from the back seat.  "Take it off!  Take it off!"  What is it????  Pumpkin placed a banana sticker over one of the lenses.  So we had to pull the car over and get the sticker off.  Then I had to talk to them about why we do not put stickers on Princess's glasses.

Oh, I also forgot the surprise from yesterday.  Princess could see so well last night with her new glasses, that she took pruners from their shelf in the garage and cut the sensor wires for the garage door opener in about four places.  So until we replace the wiring, we will be manually opening and closing the solid wood garage door.  Well, I guess I should be happy that it was not anyone's hair. 

I can not wait to see what happens this afternoon.  Hopefully when the newness wears off, things will calm down a bit.  Until then, I'm sure we will be having quite a few laughs.

Snooze On!

Beep, Beep, Tap

Beep, Beep, Tap

Beep, Beep, Tap

Beep, Beep, Tap

Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, Tap

Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, Tap

Click, Click

Why am I so tired?  

What the crap! 

It is 7:00 a.m. 

We are going to be late!  

Light too bright can't find my watch!

What!!!  

It is 12:35 a.m.  

Whose has been messing with my alarm clock?  

Must of been one of the kids.  

Fix the clock and back to bed.

Yep! 

And this is what happened early this morning!

Thank you to my two beautiful, but ornery children!