Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Muh-muh-muh My PIANO

Back at the end of the school year a colleague of BH's asked if he would be interested in a piano. A FREE PIANO.

Never being one to pass up a good bargain BH said, "Yes!"

BH and I are champeen procrastinators so we just got around to getting that piano today.
Boy is #2 excited. Her first words upon waking up this morning were, "Hoooray!! Today is piano day!!"

We had to purge the playroom and make toy sacrifices to make room for the new addition.
#2 was not at all happy with my procrastinating ways on Saturday when it came to making the playroom piano ready. At one point when I had told her for the 12 millionth time that I was not quite ready to start the purge she stomped off to her room in a huff. She found me a short time later in the laundry dungeon and said, "While I was being mad in my room I figured out that if I want to do what I want then I am going to have to help get other stuff done, so what can I do to help?" That very loud chorus of angels you heard singing about 2:00 CST last Saturday? That was coming from my house. That is what happens when your child has such an epiphany.
So she helped. We purged and now we have this:

It is older obviously and has some character, but it works. It needs to be tuned, but for now it is not painfully out of tune. It also goes well with our woodwork. Which is important you know!
Now #1 can tune her violin (praise Jesus!) and soon #2 will be plunking out tunes. As soon as we get her started on lessons.
A task which I hope won't fall victim to my procrastination disease.
Not likely. Persistent 7 year olds are a good antidote to that problem.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Hello, My Name is Missy and I Suffer From Low Blog-Esteem

I seem to once again been in the throes of to blog or not to blog angst.
This is an affliction I suffer from on a fairly regular basis.

My angst involves many questions:

  • Why exactly am I blogging?
  • Is anybody reading this damn thing?
  • Should I be more focused in what I blog about?
  • Are my posts too negative too frequently?
  • Am I as boring as I think I am?
  • Would having a regular feature be a good thing?
  • What would my regular feature be about?
  • Are my kids going to hate me some day because I put embarassing stories out there for the whole world to see?
  • Man I wish I could write about stuff that happens at work. THAT would be some good reading.
  • Why exactly am I blogging?
  • See above

There are more thoughts and questions, but I don't feel like writing them down.

I have had this blog up and running for almost three years now, and it seems a shame to abandon the ship. I probably won't. If nothing else this blog is the only documentation I have of many things that have happened with me and the family, and having it does encourage me to keep that up which is probably a good thing I suppose.

I go through periods where I think that I want to do something to increase readership, but I hold back. To get more readers means reading more blogs, commenting on them and all that stuff. I am not sure that I have nor want to invest that kind of time. Also I am quite shy about all that. There are many blogs that I lurk about with nary a peep, and my site meter tells me that I have lurkers on this blog too.

However just as often I feel no need to increase readership and stand firm that this blog is for friends and family...(well maybe not so much family, I don't believe any of my family know this thing exists which may not be such a bad thing....then again if I am in my increase readership frame of mind what better way than to inform all 8 million of my family members....oops rambling!) and that those who are interested visit here on a regular basis, which is enough.

Sooo.....that is what I have been thinking about recently. Among other things. Like songs that would be good for Rockband, my level of disappointment that Sebelius did not get the VP nod (minimal as it turns out), what has my dad seen at the Democratic National Convention (his bus company was hired to drive people there and around there), will he tell him that he is a Republican?

Apparently there is a lot of thoughts rolling around my pointed little head.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Playing Catch Up

I am still behind with blog posting. School started for my young ones last Tuesday and I am just now getting around to talking about it here. I know that all three of you have been waiting with bated breath to hear about our first day of school.

I am just now feeling sort of caught up from being on vacation. We got back late on a Saturday afternoon and Monday BH and I both had to return to work, I had a big training presentation to make at work the following week and we had to get the kids ready for school. So I been busy!

I don't know what posessed me to agree to present a training at work, since I really hate doing that kind of thing. Well....I hate writing up the powerpoint and all that crap. Getting up and talking about it is ok. I really just want someone to give me the script, I don't wanna write it. The presentation went over well. I got my evaluations back and they were all really good and complimentary. It was like getting an academy award. I wanted to run down the halls with that stack of positive evaluations and get all Sally Field on everyone...shouting, "You like me!!! You really like me!!!!" I controlled myself. For a building full of people who deal with crazy children all day there is a noticeable lack of humor at my place of employment.

So the first day of school. Since we did not have the starting a new school challenge this year, the children were in quite a positive frame of mind about going back. I now live with a 5th grader and a 2nd grader. Apparently once you hit this age it is no longer acceptable for your mother to walk you in to the school building. I was not allowed. This was very difficult for me. So I just sat there in my car, waving like a crazed woman until they could no longer see me. The first day went well, and positive school attitudes continue. Less than a week in to the new school year BOTH children came down with colds. I hope this is not a sign of things to come. I can not bear a repeat of last year's repeated illness.

So on to the pictures!!


#1's annual show us how you really feel about pictures pose
#2 giving us her "picture face" We cut her hair off at the beginning of summer and she decided to grow her bangs out, thus the interesting headband look. We are about halfway there with the bangs. Now....she has decided to grow her hair out and cut her bangs.
*bangs head against a strong concrete surface*

Happy together!







Monday, August 18, 2008

What I did on my Summer Vacation

It has only been about a month since our not so little vay-cay, so I thought y'all might wanna hear about it now. If you don't too damn bad. This blog is for me too ya know. I am getting old. I will forget about this soon if I don't put it in writing.

The first leg of the trip involved a short stop in Delaware, Ohio so that we could attend a celebration for BH's grandparents who were celebrating their 60th Wedding Anniversary. 60 years is no joke people. I would post a few pictures, but I am hesitant to put pictures out here on the WWW without the person's permission. (Husband and children are excluded obviously.) Gaining permission is going to involve telling extended family about this blog, which I am not too keen on and it would also mean explaining the term blog to the elderly and I am even less excited about that.

We were only in Ohio for a couple of days, but much fun was had by children playing in the creek ,(which apparently my husband and his brother were never allowed to do as children, so great-grandchildren get away with more than grandchildren did much in the same way grandchildren get away with more than children. At least that is how things roll in our families.)
swimming at the hotel pool, taking walks across town and other activities.

We left for the next leg of the trip which was Tennessee. We spent four lovely days in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. My in-laws put us up in one of their fancy condo-time share thingys. I was so excited to be in a King size bed again. I found it very difficult to go from my oh so comfy king size tempurpedic bed, to full size uncomfortable hotel mattresses that have springs! Springs are bad now, and at one point a full size AIR MATTRESS...but more on that later. The condo was lovely...large bed, jacuzzi tub big enough for two, huge shower, full kitchen, washer and dryer in the unit, FOUR pools. We swam every day we were there.

The first day in Tennessee was spent in a leisurely manner, outlet mall shopping in the morning, where I found lovely Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Children's Place bargains for me and the girls. My MIL had a coupon for a lovely store called the Fudgery. If there is a coupon then you must buy. ridiculous. amounts. of. fudge. Like almost three pounds. Because that is what it said to buy on the coupon. And because you have a coupon that says buy three get one free, it means that you don't have to check the price of the fudge per half pound. Let's just say that when the total came up MIL and I both had to go to the Hanes Outlet to buy new underwear. Of course when I got home new pants were in order because I consumed ridiculous amounts of fudge. By God every last crumb of that gold laden fudge was going to be eaten. The rest of our day was spent swimming and reading. Lovely lovely day.

Day two we headed to Smoky Mountain National Park. BH did a great job finding interesting spots o see. The first day did a 1.5 mile hike to Laurel Falls. I adore waterfalls. This one was gorgeous. It was amazing how it felt about 20 degrees cooler right by the fall. Honestly I would have been perfectly content to have set up a lawn chair and spent the rest of my day listening to that water, and occassionally dipping my feet in it. After the hike we found a great little picnic spot right next to a creek that was perfect for wading in. The girls loved it and I had to join in on some of the fun too. The rest of the day was spent on an auto-tour that was quite nice too. Some lovely turn offs, and we spotted some wildlife along the way!

Day three we went back to the National Park and hiked to the top of Old Smoky. Everyone was really disappointed that it was not covered with cheese. This is supposedly the highest point in the park. The hike to the top of the mountain was only .5 miles, but it was pretty much a straight-up vertical hike, at about an elevation of 6500 feet. It wasn't too bad really. Maybe I am in better shape than I think. Once at the top of the mountain, if you choose you can walk an additional distance to the observation deck that takes you above the treeline. I sucked it up and did it but only stayed a few minutes because I thought that people would not be very receptive to my screaming at them to step away from the rail before they fell to their death. (I don't do heights so well.) We went on to a lovely picnic lunch and a hike along a Quiet Walk trail. It was a beautiful hike along a creek. It was very woodsy and there was a lot to see. The coolest thing was this HUGE clutch of butterflies just sitting at the trailhead. I have never seen so many butterflies just sitting on the ground before. #1 the butterfly enthsiast was in sheer heaven! We then went on to do another hiking trail that apparently used to lead to an old ranger training station or something of that sort. It was a looong hike, and not as interesting as the others we had done. Me, MIL, and the girls decided to call it quits at the halfway point. We were tired, it was getting hot, and I myself was pretty much over hiking for the day. We drove down the road to a wading creek and spent a good hour and a half soaking our feet while the girls splashed around. I had a nice cat nap on a rock while the water ran over my feet. It was like a spa! BH and his dad finished the hike....they think.

The next day we left for Jackson, Missouri to visit BH's aunt and so the kids could play with their cousins. I didn't do jack shit except for take advantage of Missouri's tax free day and read. By now I was tired (because our bed here was a full size air mattress thus sleep was not quality. I promise you the first thing I did when we got home was lay down on my bed and tell it how much I loved and missed it,) and ready to go home. The kids were well occupied with their cousins, so little was required of me and BH much to our happiness.

That is the story. Now the pictures. I took a lot more, but blogger just takes too long to upload so here are some of my favorites from the Smokies.


This sign made me laugh and I also had a strong urge to stage a protest..


Laurel Falls.. so worth the hike

A snail near the falls


Splashing in the creek!


I would love to wake up to the view outside the window of this cabin every morning


A deer right outside my car window on the auto tour


A BEAR!! Don't you see it? It's right there see? There?
(actually there was a bear in there, but all we saw were ears and a paw)


Cute bunny on the trailhead on the way to the top of old smoky

The fam on top of Old Smoky. All covered in fog.

On the way up to the observation deck

The view from the deck. Photo courtesy of BH.



Clutch of Butterflies at the trailhead for the Quiet Walk

They even crawled up on your hand!

More creek splashing after a long day of hiking


Drying off a wet butt

Last view before we left the park


Monday, August 11, 2008

I know I know...I said no more pets BUT....

Last night the tiny kitty was going crazy in the office meowing and really wanting our attention. Of course we go in to see what she is all worked up about.

Turns out she wanted to introduce us to her new friend:

Seems that a bat has taken up residence between the screen and window in our office.
If you think I wasn't freaking out then you don't know me a'tall.
Mittens the Wonder Kitten is on the JOB!
Of course my children are ready to name it, adopt it, make a bat cave, you name it... and check often to see that it is still there. I have heard "OOOOOHHHHH!! It is so tiny and cuuuuuuuttteee!" numerous times.
I have had several people tell me how fortunate we are because bats eat mosquitoes and other annoying bugs. Pardon me...but this lil' fella/gal is going to have to provide me with a nightly tally of his/her spoils before I will be convinced that we are "lucky."
Now I must be off to make some garlic garlands and check necks for puncture wounds.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Home again home again jiggety-jig

Hi y'all! I am BACK y'all!

(full disclosure: We got back home late in the afternoon on Saturday)

Why so long in posting?

Because I had big ideas that my first post once we returned was going to be a photo-laden expose on our trip to the south.

Well that takes a long time, and once we got back home we had one day to recover before being thrust full throttle back in to real life. BH and I BOTH had to return to work on Monday. So between playing catch up, adjusting to phase one of Real-life with the Babble Crew, and of course my chronic case of laziness have all been playing a part in the little drama that has been my lack of blogging.

And maybe....maybeeeee...my ever increasing fixation with Faceboook. That MIGHT be a factor too.

Soooo. Soon..a long post about our trip complete with a display of my not so mad photography skillz.