Proud Mamma

Somebody told me just the other day that I looked really sad. Really? I wasn't surprised to have heard it. I was surprised nobody had said anything before that.

I have been feeling out of sorts lately. Tired, mostly. Not the kind of tired that a long nap or a good 10 hours of sleep would fix, either. It is purely emotional from this job of mine. The one I took without ever even reading the job description. Of course, there was no job description. I'm not so sure I would have been on board had I known all the unknowns before I started. Today, I can honestly say I would do it all again. Yes. I would do it a million times over. However, there have been many days you would not have heard those words from my lips. When I think about all we've been through I can't help but feel melancholy (tired? sad?)

22 years and 5 months ago I brought a little teeny tiny girl home from the hospital weighing less than 6 pounds and next week she graduates from college. GASP!

She has experienced so much these past four years. All those trips to Union Station in Chicago on public transportation with all of her luggage that was as big as her and her 75# backpack. In the rain. In a snowstorm. The time that half way to Newton at 3 a.m. she realized she did NOT have a train ticket for her return trip to Chicago. The flights into KC and into Wichita. The almost missed flight. The delayed luggage. The roommate changes. The trips walking to Aldi's for milk. Heartbreak. Chemistry. Greek (not finished with that yet) New friendships that will last a lifetime. 2 laptops. Several jobs. Whirlwind romance and marriage and motherhood.

I never ever thought that I would live to see this. It always seemed so very far away. Getting here has been a lot of work for both of us. It has been difficult and a joy, It was awful and wonderful. It has been a wild ride. One that I am proud and blessed to have shared with Abby. I am a better person because of her.

Thank you God, for this daughter of mine.

almost finished

Two days and I am done with my college class. Two semesters of accounting just about did this old brain in! I'm glad I did it but I will be more glad when it is Friday morning and it is over!

Abby is on countdown to graduation. That means we are on countdown to go to Chicago. Next week will be a huge milestone and I can hardly wait.

Annie is almost finished with her freshman year at K-State. To say this year flew by would be an understatement. Before we know it we will be going to her graduation!

Two grown up girls and one almost 9 year old boy. It really is a wonderful (and strange) place to be.

Happy Earth Day!

Randy and I joke that we have been "green" long before it was cool. We have always had to "recycle" and "repurpose" because of our budget. OK. To be completely honest - our LACK of budget. For 25 years we have garage saled and went to auctions and even picked up other peoples junk from their trash heap. I am not the one who has to be at the garage sale first, either. The stuff I like is always there at the end! I know that saying way too well, "One mans junk is anther mans treasure."

I have recently realized that I have large motor art skills. I have all these brilliant ideas and then I don't have the skills to get them done. However, I do my best to do things on my own and manage to drive Randy completely insane in the process. An example is this project from this week.

I bought these chairs at a tag sale years ago. They have been rebuilt several times and are totally falling apart right now. But I still love them. They have also been many colors and since the paint was peeling I decided to re-paint them all by myself. Shocker, I know. I went in our basement and found some paint I liked and I went to my craft box and dug out some sponge brushes and went to work. When Randy saw me using those sponge brushes he laughed so hard. He offered me a real paint brush. I told him the idea was for these chairs to look old and I wanted the paint to look like it was WEARING off not peeling off and I didn't need a professional paint job, thankyouverymuch. When I was all done he said, "Oh! I get it now." That statement sums up 25 years of marriage. That honesuckle in the background was from a shoot that somebody gave us. I don't even have a green thumb and am shocked how it completely took over that space.

This is our new shed. I will post the finished picture after it is painted. We got those doors at a garage sale. The siding is from our old carport and the shingles and tar paper were in our garage from the previous owner. The concrete was poured from a left over batch. I LOVE it!

So go out and recycle, repurpose and replant!

My faves

My current list of indulgences.

1. Oral B Pulsar Toothbrush. I have never liked electric toothbrushes but this is a cross between a manual and an electric. I absolutely love it.

2. Venus Spa Breeze. No need for shaving cream!

3. My Blackberry. I adore it. I think that I am way more of a "techie" than I would like to admit it. All the sibling rivalry between my brothers, I guess.

Checking in or quiet possibly I am checking out

It seems like I am busy as ever. I just can't pinpoint (no pun intended) with what.

I think I have a dairy or casein allergy. A lot of celiac patients have a casein intolerance and so it's not as hypochondriac as it seems. I have been in complete denial for sometime because for goodness sakes! I have already cut out gluten. I am not a milk drinker or a cheese eater- but I love yogurt (it makes me feel not so good, though) and cheese IN recipes. This may be the thing that pushes me over the edge. So I decided to take an alternative route. I have visited the other side. The side of alternative treatment.

I feel like I'm walking a fine line between thinking I have went off the deep end and trying to have some sort of faith in something that I think is absolutely ridiculous. But I also think that maybe God has led me in this direction. I have no other explanation.

I am on day 6 of homeopathic treatment (at least that is what I think it is). I have eaten chocolate chips and soaked my left heel. Next up? Acupuncture.

I always thought that I was a "normal" person, whatever that means! Why do I have all these food issues? What have I done wrong? It was always so bizarre that Abby had so many food allergies when Randy and I were perfectly fine. Fine being a relative term.

No Easter Bunnies

The bunnies didn't make it and Abe did not take to that news very well.

He dug a wooden box out from under his bed and emptied the contents all over his floor. Then he wrote on the top of it with a sharpie:

Here Lies:
Bugs II
Jr.
Sissy (Annie's nickname)
Lullaby
GoJo (Abby's nick name)

This morning we could not find his glasses. He went to school without them. He remembered taking them off when he was crying really hard about those bunnies. When we were looking for his glasses earlier I could not help but notice the MESS his room was. Before work I did a quick run through of all the loads of laundry laying on his floor. Low and behold what do I find? His glasses. Mixed right in with all the junk treasures he had dumped from the burial box.

I was really frustrated and am trying to see the positive. I am thankful that we did not step on the glasses in our frantic search this morning.

Live and Learn

Remember this? Now we have 5 babies! When we got bunny number two last summer - Randy thought we were getting two males OR two females. What does he know anyways? Let me tell you! He knows nothing about bunnies.

When we got our dishwasher (see here) there was a slotted organizer on the silverware basket. I promptly took that annoying thing off and stuck it in a junk drawer. When we were at a neighbors Friday night she was loading her dishwasher. She had that divider on her silverware basket and how cool it was! All of her silverware was separate and not all nestled together. I went home and promptly dug mine out and stuck it on. Thank goodness it wasn't one of those things I had given away to Save-and-Share or trashed because that would have been so typical of me.

I have exactly three Accounting II classes left. My brain is totally sick and tired of it. I sat down last night to do my homework and I ain't got nothin'. I looked at it and scribbled some numbers down and shut my book. Tonight I will attempt it again. What is wrong with me?? I am so done with that class.


Abby was accepted into North Park Seminary. We are so happy for her. Abby and school are like the energizer bunny. She will keep going and going and going. And when she is finished I am guessing her job will be at a school.

so sneaky

I can tell that I'm not as young as I used to be. OK, besides the gray hair, laugh lines and cellulite. I cannot stay up as late I once did. The consequences of too little sleep follow me around for days.