Sunday, September 30, 2007

Changes

I have started a Family Happenings Blog for DH's side of the family and invited all those that we have e-mail addresses for to join us.

I have done the same thing for my side of the family. This way I/we hope to have our families join us and share what is going on.

I probably will continue to use this blog more for our wonderful friends and business associates. But please come here if you'd like to see what is happening here. Our family blogs will be more suited for sharing our moments of family life and things we hope will be interesting to Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins.

If anyone has questions on how to post your own message, let me know and I will try and help you through it. It is simple, once you see how to do it. Just to let you know, I was unsure of what to do at first, but through reading other blogs and reading the how-to information, I was able to set these up. I am no expert! But I have learned enough to put this together and we are excited to hear how everyone is doing!!!

My children love their extended family members. They love to hear about you and I am so pleased that they do really care.

Please come and have fun with us. E-mail me if you need instructions or further help. We love you all. And hope to hear from you soon.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

A Great Joke for the Snowy Season

It is SNOWING!! I said earlier that I was not ready for Mr Snow and still he showed up today! It is a very cold and blustery day. So in honor of the snow- here is one of my favorite jokes.


As a trucker stops for a red light, a blonde in a Porsche catches up. She jumps out of her car, runs up to his truck, and knocks on the door. The trucker lowers the window, and she says, "Hi, my name is Heather and you are losing some of your load." The trucker ignores her and proceeds down the street.

When the truck stops for another red light, the girl catches up again. She jumps out of her car, runs up and knocks on the door. Again, the trucker lowers the window. As if they've never spoken, the blonde says brightly, "Hi my name is Heather, and you are losing some of your load!" Shaking his head, the trucker ignores her again and continues down the street.

At the third red light, the same thing happens again. All out of breath,the blonde gets out of her car, runs up, and knocks on the truck door. The trucker lowers the window. Again she says, "Hi, my name is Heather, and you are losing some of your load!

When the light turns green the trucker revs up and races to the next light. When he stops this time, he hurriedly gets out of the truck, and runs back to the blonde. He knocks on her window, and as she lowers it, he says... "Hi, my name is Kevin, it's winter in Michigan and I'm driving the SALT TRUCK!"

Happy Snowy Season to All!!!

Friday, September 28, 2007

Friday Night Freedom - Almost !

I was so excited to have tonight come as I was going to be all alone- it is nice to have alone time. So as DH got ready for work, DS got ready for his Scout Campout and DD got ready for her sleepover with her 'college aged' cousin. There was a bit of hustle and bustle going on but soon everyone piled into the car and DH left for work and to drop off the kids. I was in heaven! All by myself, I was thinking about what to eat and if I wanted to read or watch a movie.
About 30 minutes after my Freedom began, the front door opened and in walked DS. He said that the scout leader needed to talk to me. So I went out and Mr Scoutleader hated to tell me that my son and the other neighbor boy could not go on the campout. Mr Scoutleader is one of the most honorable men I know and his integrity is top notch. So he proceeded to tell us that since we have had some changes in the scouting program, which I knew about, that there were some issues that were unresolved. Our new Scoutleader who is in charge of our neighborhood was for some reason unable to get our boys registered and therefore could not pay for the upcoming campout. He kindof let the ball drop and so my DS (and others) were unable to attend the campout. The boys are not happy, even though they sort of understand.
Mr Scoutleader, (our old one, the one we know and love) felt bad that he had to be the bearer of bad news and not allow our boys to attend tonights campout. Rules are rules and I understand, but what a wrench in my works!
No more freetime, private time, my own decisions, my choice of to or not to eat, to watch or not to watch, etc. However, I am glad too for the one-on-one time with my DS. He can be a lot of fun to be around. And so far, 5 hours into our evening, we are having a good time. He made bagel pizzas for dinner and is pampering me. So who am I to really complain?
The kittens are doing well. We have 4 little girl kittens and one little male. They are really cute with their eyes open. They are getting a bit better in getting around. They are not really walking yet, however Mousie is almost walking the correct way. BeeBee is still very protective of them, but does share time with us. She keeps a very close watchful eye on her babies and I am really enjoying having them around.
It is windy tonight and we might have some thunderstorms later. But I doubt we will have thunder, we never have enough to make me happy. The lightning and thunder seem to always go around us. It is supposed to be quite chilly tomorrow and the storm is supposed to be the coldest one of the new season. I am not ready for winter! It was forecasted that we could have a mix of rain and snow in the valleys tomorrow too. No I say! NO!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

BeeBee and Her Kittens

What is up with the Kittens? Well BeeBee has decided that my wonderful Garden Bathtub is not where she wants her babies to be right now. They have lived there since they were born and we change the blankets everyother day so that it is clean and inviting. However, last night our little mommy decided to move her babes! I did not even think anything was up, I only thought that they were meowing amongst each other. I finally decided to check on the furry family. I saw BeeBee going into DD's room. I went in there and under her bed, I found little Calie and Mousie. So I took them back to my bathtub and low and behold, there were NO kittens in my tub. So I put those babies in the tub and went to find the others. I found them also under DD's bed bunched up together and asleep. So I gathered the other three babes and took them to the tub too. BeeBee was not happy about my moving them back. She just meowed and meowed.

I went back to bed and turned off my light. I was not too bright as I did not shut any doors. Big mistake! About 10 minutes later, I hear a commotion again, and found little Licorice under DD's bed again. So back to the tub she went. BeeBee kept talking to me, but I have no idea why she was trying to get me to allow her to move the kittens. It probably has something to do with instinct and the natural protection of her babies. But she is safe in our house, for now anyway. So this time I got her and the babies settled back in the tub and then I shut my door.

Soon after I was settled in bed myself, I heard a little meow and a tiny thud. I turned on my light, again, and looked for BeeBee and there she was at my door trying to get out with Calie in her mouth again. When she realized that she couldn't get out, she put Calie down and laid with her. I let Calie nurse for about 5 minutes, some one on one time with her mom, and then returned her to the tub.

I settled myself back to bed with my light off and again I thought that I had made it clear to BeeBee that the tub was her place for the kittens. But she again had a different idea! I was comfortable and ready to fall asleep and I heard the now familiar little meow and the tiny thud and BeeBee coming out of the bathroom on her quest for a new nest for her family. So on went my light again and I looked for my BeeBee and found her at the end of my bed. She had Mousie again and had set her down and was now trying to get out of my shut door again. I gently put Mousie back in the tub and listened as BeeBee meowed her objections to me. I waited right there for about five minutes until BeeBee laid down and all her babes latched on and began to eat. Then I left the bathroom and shut that door! Now she had nowhere to go. And guess what? I went to bed and settled my self for the millionth time and finally went to sleep!

Just about 7:00 this morning, BeeBee was trying to move Licorice again! DD put Licorice back in the tub and it is now about 11:00 am and I have not heard any commotion. I have not checked on them either. But all the doors are shut upstairs, except my bathroom and bedroom and she really has nowhere to move them so I am hoping that they are still in the tub. I will probably check on them in the next half an hour. I guess I am going to have to figure out an alternative. Maybe she is ready to move to the basement for a while, that actually would be better in the long run. As that is where her litter box is. So maybe that is where we (DH and myself) will move them this afternoon.

The kittens are all growing fine. Little Calie (the runt) is also doing well. She is still half the weight of her siblings, but we are watching her and she seems to be fine even though she is small. She really is cute!

Sunday, September 23, 2007

My Parents 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration

Yesterday turned out to be a very wonderful and fun day with my side of the family. We celebrated my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary. We did a simple get together of eating dinner at Golden Corral, everyone was there except one son-in-law and one grandchild. It was sad to not have them with us, but getting together as a whole family is very difficult. There are two families that live out of state and all together we had hoped to get 32 people there, but settled for 30. I guess that is not that many people, however it is hard to get everyone's schedules to be free on one afternoon, between jobs, hobbies and everything else that keeps us busy.

The weather was just on the line of fine and chilly, but we were able to still do it outside without too much discomfort. We did end up getting jackets and blankets for the very end. We took family photos and gave Mom and Dad some fun gifts. They loved the simplistic way we handled the afternoon and were relieved that we did not have a great big ta-do or surprise party. One of the best things was the reproduction of the Wedding Cake from their Wedding Reception. The hardest part of the reproduction was that there was no photo to go on, so my sisters did their best and my parents loved it. The girls also ordered M&M's with my parents names on half of them and 'now & forever' on the other half in yellow gold color. That was very fun and creative, everyone loved that.

It was fun to visit with my siblings and their kids. I can't believe how grown up everyone is getting. The oldest is my 22 year old nephew and the youngest is my now 9 year old nephew. My parents have 17 grandkids, 9 boys and 8 girls. Some of the kids are off to college and have their own apartments, that is unreal, where has time flown? I am happy to report that I am proud of ALL of my dear nieces and nephews. I am also proud of all of my siblings and their spouses. I have been blessed so much, good parents, good siblings and wonderful extended family.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Where does time go?

It seems like it was just yesterday that I was blogging away. But it was a couple of days ago. Really, where does time go?

Soccer Gal is doing very well in school this year. So far she has reported that she has received 100% on all her schoolwork! She is one hardworking cookie. We are so very proud of her. She is enjoying her new school and friends. Her teacher is just right for her this year. She is -Kind, Smart, Compassionate, Firm, a Great Leader and I am happy that DD has her. Soccer Gal likes to ride the bus to and from school. Sometimes she imagines that her dad is the driver and she gets to imagine what his job as a bus driver used to be like. She loves to sing and has joined the school choir.

Pilot Kid is also doing well in school. He can check his grades anytime he wants and always knows where he stands. He knows what assignments he needs to turn in and he is so interested in keeping grades up. The Power School is a great tool for those kids who wish to stay up on their grades and not get behind. I am proud of him too. He is a very smart kid too, too smart somedays. He even likes gym some days, those are the days they do soccer moves and play soccer. Go DS!

I was thinking about the kids soccer games, they are doing very well for their first year on a team. The kids have played in 4 of the 5 games so far this season. They have tied two games, they tied with the same team twice! The other team has won all their other games. Our kids team has also won all their other games! DS and DD rock!!

They will miss their game tomorrow as it is more important for them to be with DH and myself at my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration. WOW - 50 Years!!! That is so awesome to me. I thank them every day for the great example they have been to me. Marriage is not easy, but it sure can we worth it. They actually have been married 50 years, 3 months and 23 days! It is sooooooo fantastic! They are my Heros!!

The baby kittens are all doing very well. Calie, our littlest one is growing at the regular rate for her size. She is still very tiny compared to the others, but she is 2cc's shy of being 120cc which is the average weight her siblings were when they were born. So i feel she is doing well. BeeBee is very protective of her babies. I am so very proud of her. Today is the first day she has wanted to go outside, so I let her out. She was out about a half an hour, and then meowed like crazy for me to let her in. She was so impatient! It was pretty funny.

She ran right up to be with her babies and I have not seen her for about 5 hours now. The babies are not crying as much as they did when they were first born. Those first two nights were so noisy! They seem very content and are all kept full enough to just want to sleep and eat and sleep. Works for me.

aaaargh! We have flies in the house!! I do not know where they are coming from, unless it is at the bottom of our sliding glass door. It is soooooo frustrating. I hate flies. I have killed a bundle of them today and let more out through the screen and then still I have some dive bombing me. It is not funny anymore. They think they are house pets and should be here, but I have told them a million times to get out, they are not welcome in my home!!! We always had flies at the old house- outside that is. But here they are inside. We get mosquitoes too. I have a feeling that the screens must not fit right, or there is a hole in the basement we can't find or ??? It is frustrating to have bugs in your home, and a new home at that.

The weather went from really warm to cool and the flies seemed to dwindle. But it has been warming back up again, and with the warmth comes flies. Yuck. I am not ready for winter yet, so I will try to put up with the invaders for a while longer. The weather is forecasting snow for our mountains this weekend, down to 7000 feet. Good thing we are just below 5000 feet.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Whats been going on......

Sunday afternoon we welcomed 5 new kritters into our home. BeeBee had 5 little kittens! They sure are cute. We have been waiting for over two weeks for the delivery. We really had no idea when the babies were due and I was guessing towards the end of August. I was wrong. So each day has been watching carefully and waiting in anticipation. Our cat has been quite offish for the last month and did not like to be held or even looked at. She used to be such a wonderful sweet purring thing.

Then Sunday morning she came in my room and snuggled up to me in my bed and stayed there for about an hour. That was very comfortable and she makes me feel so relaxed and content. Then later in the afternoon, DH (dear husband) brought me home from Church early to check on Pilot Boy who had stayed home. I decided to make some meatballs for dinner and while I was in the kitchen putting the meatballs in the oven, DS called me to come and see the cat. She had put herself on his lap and was cuddling. So unusual, she had really not liked being around DS (dear son) for the last month or so. So when I was done and the meatballs were cooking, I came in and sat by DS. I saw the cat was definitely in labor and DS got her box where we hoped she would have the kittens. She would have nothing to do with the box, even though I had introduced it to her several weeks ago. So we got a water proof mat and a sheet and put them in the middle of the living room floor.

Before DH and DD (dear daughter) returned home from church we had 2 and a half kittens. It took nearly 6 hours for her to birth the 5 kittens. Just when I thought we were done, as it had been 80 minutes since the last of the first three were born, I changed out the birthing bedding and put down a new piece of material. Then she started to have contractions again. So we quickly put down some plastic under the new clean material, since the water proof mat was in the washer. Then she had a breech birth. It was extremely difficult for her and I ended up having to help her by gently pulling as she pushed. It took about 5 or 6 contractions for me to help the little one out. The others came with 2 or 3 pushes and our cat mommy did everything herself. I was so worried that the little one was not alive, as the feet and tail were not moving. After it was born, there was very little motion and finally it started to come around. It took longer than the others, but after an hour or so, it was doing as well as it's siblings. Then about an hour later, BeeBee had one more contraction and I didn't think much about it, and all of the sudden I noticed that there was another kitten! That was the easiest one delivered.

BeeBee is a Calico, very pretty we think, except she is a long hair and that is quite a problem for me and my allergies. The first kitten that was born is totally tan in color - named Carmello. The secon kitten is a calico, named Calie and a runt, she weighed about 70cc. The third is black with a bit of white, named Licorice. The fourth, the breech kitten, is named brownie and is also black with a tiny bit of white. The last kitten is grey and tan, named Mouse or Fudge, at first it looked like marble fudge, but it is quite mousie in the grey color. I reserve the right to change any name as the kids and I get to know them better.

All of the kittens except the runt weighed in at 120 to 130 cc's. So the runt is only half the size of its' siblings, but it is doing quite well. We have been watching Calie closely to make sure her belly is full. Ok, I don't if they are girls or boys yet, I hope to be able to tell in a couple of weeks. It is fun to have these kittens, it is the first time myself and the kids have ever seen a kitten be born and we have decided that we hope it is the last. It was awesome though. I am grateful we have had the experience.

Today the kittens are two days old, and they are all doing well. I hope I can report that every time. We are going to start to weigh them so we can track Calie's progress and know if we need to help her along with supplimental feeding.

The weather sure is nice. Coolish-Warm almost perfect. It is fall weather but the leaves are still on the trees and it has not felt much like Fall yet. We finally got the landscaping completed in the front, that is the re-do that our warranty covered. It looks finished finally. Now we have to find out if we are getting replacement bushes or not. The concrete is also cured enough for us to use. It is sooooo nice to drive on it!

Today was my last iron injection for this round. Yes, I am feeling better. Now I wait two weeks and have a blood draw to see what my ferriton level is at and then either more injections or wait several months to see if I can keep my level up myself.

Karen & Shawn, our business partners, were going to meet us tonight for our Tuesday Night at the Office, but the Open meetings were cancelled for tonight. This is the first time since May (when we started) that there has not been a meeting, however things with the business are in a transition and so it is understandable. It was sad not to have the association time with our business partners, but thank heavens we got our cd's and book today that will help us keep up on our training and learning. We really missed not getting to see the Cottle's, but maybe next week.

So finally I am caught up enough to feel better about this post. It has been a busy week. Have a great day!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Well it is Tuesday and DH and I get to go to our weekly night at the office! We spend every Tuesday night at 'the Office' and once a month we have a Seminar. I just love our Business!!

Tomorrow is Soccer Gal's birthday. Wow she is going to be 10 years old. Time is flying so fast. There is still so much to teach her. I am so proud of her thus far. She is a social butterfly, has good friends and makes friends easily. She does so well in her school work and her grades show her enthusiasm for learning. I love her and am glad she is mine!!

Last night I was so ambitious that I made dinner for last night and tonight at the same time. Wow, that was good. Actually it was necessity, because I went to get the pork out for dinner and decided that I had better cook it all before it went bad! Yuck, I hate that pressure of possibly wasting food. So into the oven went the country boneless chops on a bed of Stuffing mix, covered with a can of cream of celery soup. They cooked for about an hour and a half until they were just right for my kids, and then we ate them with mashed potatoes (I wanted rice but ran out of time), green beans and applesauce. It turned out great, and both Soccer Gal and Pilot Kid thanked me for the food. DH was at work. I failed to get the dinner in the oven early enough for him to be able to take dinner to work.

The other meal was pork chops in the crockpot cooked in left over gravy from a previous meal. That is what we are having tonight. We will probably have this over mashed potatoes again, with corn and cranberry jelly sauce. I usually don't fix complete meals nearly the same two nights in a row, unless it is leftovers, but bad timing and planning led to this one. The best thing is, though, DH is home this time to eat with us and he didn't eat the meal last night. The kids are really glad when DH is home to eat, so they won't care if we eat something they like two nights in a row.

It was my day to fill up on Iron. The regular IV Tech was not there and so I was able to go into the back room where the recliner chairs are for my treatment. It is nice, quiet and homey in that room and the chairs are really comfy. However, it would have been a treat to be in the soft cushy chair except for my broken tailbone! Ouch! It was way too soft- reminds me of Goldie Locks and finding Mamma's chair too soft. It wasn't so bad just sitting, but getting out of it was a painful experience and I'm still ouching 8 hours later. Tailbones are a pain in the butt!! Also, the back room tech couldn't find a vein on my inside elbow and so used my forearm. That is a little less comfortable but I lived through it. I think I have two more to go in finishing my treatment for this round.

So since I was in town, it was shopping day- to keep down on the gas usage and traveling time. We live 10 miles from Wal-mart and the main shopping stores. We did get a Smith's Food here about 4 years ago and since our move it is about 2 miles from our house (rather than the 4 1/2 it was). This has made life a whole lot easier for last minute stuff, but we still try to make do and not run to the store for every little item.

I actually would rather shop on line and have all my stuff delivered to our home, but alas times in my business are changing and our empowering internet site that has been our shopping source has changed the rules on us and we have decided to move away from them. Sad. Sad for them and sad for us. Now we have to go back to driving to the store and spending our time shopping and moving product from their shelves to our car to our house to our pantry. My time is better spent clicking my choices on the internet and putting the food in the pantry from the delivery truck. But this is only a temporary bump in the business road. We should know soon what, besides our Leadership Development Program, is on our business opportunity outline. Go TEAM!!!

Well I am off soon, I am Fired Up! The meeting tonight will be great and I am ready for my future. Thanks family for your support. I love you all!!

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Big Trucks, Little Trucks

To day we were lucky enough to have a cement truck and a cement pumping truck at our home. Our driveway at our wonderful new home, had cracked and buckled and sunk below grade. The driveway has been morphing for the last 3 and a half months. We really did not like the shape it was taking on, and we finally got our developer to tear out the offending portions and re-pour today. The work looks wonderful. And we hope this is the end of the concrete problems. Time will only tell.......

We have a model of a front discharge cement truck and we took the model outside to be photographed with the full size truck. If the photos turn out I'll get one up soon. It was fun for the kids and myself to do. We have a history with the front discharge truck, sometime I will get into that.

Now we hope that since the driveway is re-done, that the landscapers can come and finish their re-do on our landscaping. That too has been on hold for a couple of months.

Our neighborhood is brand new, the first two families moved in during early winter 2006. Our 'spec' home was built in October 2006 and we bought it in February 2007. The builder has completed about 23 homes in the first phase and they have opened the second phase with 30 more homes to be built, I believe. We love our new home! We love our new neighbors! We love our new area! It is such a nice place. The only sad part is that we MISS our old neighbors very much. We have been so blessed in our last two moves to be in wonderful homes and have amazing neighbors.

Well my kids are asking why I have been on the computer so much today, so I think that is my clue to end for now. I finally decided to try the bloglife, and it has taken a little while to do some research and get this up and started. Even though I have spent time on the computer, I have still accomplished a bit as well. Thanks for reading!

Saturday is a Busy Day

8 yards of driveway concrete
photo opps of model cement truck with full sized cement truck
clean concrete trowel
soccer games (the kids won!)
soccer team photos
crock pot dinner
kid rivalry control (referee)
dad needs sleep so keep the kids quiet
dishes, laundry, pick up rooms
take care of neighbors house and animals
visit with other neighbors
water vegie garden
read/study- for business
get caught up on internet news
called mom to talk about the cement truck
reminded DH to return rented dvds on his way home at 6am
listening to DD Soccer-gal read
helping DS Pilot-kid understand what blogging is
looked at Cub Scout stuff for the Bears and Wolves for this week

I still have 3 good hours to go before early bed at 9:30- so there is plenty of time for more things to get done. I now get to put the Crock pot dinner on the table and we should be eating in 5 minutes. I really love my Crock pot!

Crock pot Scalloped Potatoes and Ham - http://www.recipezaar.com/251856

My family loves this and it is really easy, we will put green beans on the side and have fruit (watermelon) for dessert.

Well, see ya later. Thanks for reading!