Church

People. Drive. Me. Nuts.

Blog Changes

Long past overdue, I'm making some changes to the background and layout. It may stay like it is, but it's likely to change. Hoping I don't confuse anyone while I "play". :)

Family Tree and Diabetes

So I've been working on my family tree for years now. My husband bought me a family tree program when we were first married, and he and I did extensive work on it. I got completely stumped when it came to my maternal grandmother's mother's family. It got to the point where I couldn't sleep, and all I could think of was finding information on her. I had to walk away from genealogy stuff altogether. And then I had kids. And who has time for anything with two babies rolling around?

In the last year or so, we've picked it back up. We have an Ancestry.com account, and a couple other accounts that greatly help in our search. I've located some of my grandmother's cousins' children, and I keep searching to find anyone who knows anything about that line. I think I found someone last night, but I am having a difficult time finding a phone number. I made a call to someone last night; we'll see if they call back. I have to tear myself away from the computer some nights to go to bed. I am getting a little better about walking away from the computer. Maybe that's because I have so many other irons in the fire? sigh

I'm on a FB page for parents of Type 1 Diabetics. A mom posted today that she's sitting in the ER with her son who overdosed on insulin. He had texted about it to a girl who called 911. The police came to their house at 3 am. He wouldn't be here today if she hadn't called. It's so heartbreaking. And way too close to home. As tiring as it is to count carbs, tell Little Boy to wash his hands and check, make sure his prescriptions and supplies are up to date, get up at 2 am to check his sugar... As tiring as it all is, I know it's infinitely more draining on him. And it makes me wish I could take it all on myself.

I'm sitting here getting teary, and my kids just started fighting. God wants me to stop thinking about it, I guess. ha.

Just a little bit chilly

Schools here were cancelled today. I guess the roads were bad? IDK. Ours doesn't look too bad. Or maybe it was the cold weather? IDK. With the windchill it's 0. That's not terrible either. Or maybe the administration wants an extended vacation as much as the students? Hmm. I know when I taught, that was the case. :)

Regardless, homeschooling trudges forward! 

First Snow of 2014

I guess we're supposed to get a few inches. It's snowing very lightly, and the grass isn't covered yet. It will be nice when that happens.

Baby got a bracelet loom for Christmas. She's been making little rubber band bracelets. The dog seems to like the rubber bands, too. We keep finding them in her poop. yuck.

I haven't accomplished much today. The kids and I have worked on a little school work. I have to get some things rounded up for the homeschool review next week. It seems to have come early, too, like Christmas. Little Boy was almost done reading a book, and it has completely disappeared. I have no idea where it went. I suspect foul play so I've given him a different book to read for his book report. He definitely doesn't seem concerned.

I played Apples to Apples with the kids. Little Boy gets so pouty when he is losing. :( I think we need to play win/lose games more often. He really needs to learn to win and lose gracefully.

After today, DH has one more day of day shift and then he's off for four days. The union pres asked him to fill in for him next week. I convinced him that he needs the time off more than we need the money. He's been working for more than two weeks straight. There are other people who can fill in even though DH is the preferred person.

Need to go check on the kiddos. They're too quiet. Even at 10 and 8, quiet kids can be dangerous. haha

Waking Up

It's been so long since I posted. This past year has been full of blessings and a few challenges along the way. I think many of the challenges have been self-inflicted. And as I look toward the new year, I plan to be intentional and break some very bad habits.

I struggle with many issues that all break down to being very undisciplined. And so I am going to work on these areas a little at a time with the intent of building new habits.

So, one area that is very visible is my house. There is clutter everywhere. We hate it. My kids hate it; my husband hates it. And I hate it. It's how I grew up. Every so often my mom would get tired of the clutter and make us kids all pitch in and clean it up. Basically, move it to another place. That's not the solution. So I've started. Yesterday I unburied the countertop on one side of the kitchen. Today I cleaned out the cupboard and straightened out my son's diabetic supplies. Tomorrow I'll get the other countertops. I just have to keep at it.

I need to get more disciplined with laundry, homeschool stuff, getting up and going to bed at a decent hour. And the list goes on. And of course, my weight.

I started a diet a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. And I've done fairly well sticking to it. 2 protein meal replacement shakes a day and a "sensible" ? meal. It's not fun. And they don't taste all that great. But when I find myself turning up my nose or feeling resentful, I remind myself that I am the one who did "this" to myself. I have seen results, so that is encouraging. I do wonder how long I can keep it up, but for now I'm just sticking to it the best I can.

I'm still hoping we can go to Disney in February. My husband and I need to sit down and look at the costs, etc. I would feel better about going if we had about another $500 saved up. :(  It's aggravating that the money I made from my summer yard sale ended up covering a shortfall in our checking. That could have gone a long way towards the trip. But it happened, and we just have to deal with what is.

Church stuff is going ok. I'm just glad the holidays are over now, and we can focus on 2014.

I don't know if it will be a happy new year, but I'm hoping that in a year I can look back and be satisfied.

Dog

I've only been seriously looking for a dog for a few weeks. And I've already gone through the list of my wants, but I prayed that if we found a dog we liked it wouldn't cost an arm and a leg. Even rescues can be very expensive. And some rescue places want you to fill out a long questionnaire and then they decide if the dog fits into your family and home situation. So I prayed that we'd find a dog without a bunch of hoops to jump through.

As it turns out, the dog we found was more than 3 hours away. DH was working last shift, and he slept when he got home so that we could leave earlier than later to go see the dog if the shelter felt she'd work here.

We left later than we intended, and we had to stop a couple times on our way. So we got there and had about 40 minutes to meet the dog and decide. It took me about five minutes. It took Baby much longer. Baby still gets upset when the dog gets too excited, but she's much braver about being in the same room and petting the dog.

We got home late Thursday, and I had to take DH straight to work. That also meant that I had to get up early Friday and go get him from work. :/  Thankfully, I can park the kids in front of the TV or on their computer game and go there and back and they are ok by themselves. They know their grandparents' phone number and my cell phone is on speed dial. They're almost 8 and 10, and I figure that's old enough for a few minutes alone. Anyway.

I got the dog into the house; thankfully we had put up the baby gate in the kitchen doorway to the dining room. We closed the hallway and basement doors, and that's the dog's area for now. She hasn't had any accidents in the house, but we're pretty good about getting her outside frequently.

She was supposedly trained as a bird dog, but the only command she seems to know is lay down. She was pretty wild on the leash, and I started looking for local dog trainers right away. I found a guy who has 40+ years experience and has spent 3 years studying a few different wolf packs.  He had me buy a choke chain collar, and he worked her for about 45 minutes. Then he handed me the leash, gave me some instructions and I worked with her for another 15 minutes or so.

We paid up front for the training and got a discount. He says the training usually takes 8-12 weeks, but he was impressed with our dog and said he thinks she could be done in 6-8 weeks if DH and I can keep up. ha.  He also said that there is an opportunity for us to learn to train dogs; the rate is $75/hr. and beginner trainers put 20% back into the company, and senior trainers put 10% back in.  We'll see. Big scary dogs are not my idea of a fun career.

She seems to love us all, but Daddy may be her favorite. IDK if she just feels more comfortable since she was with a man for hunting? Someone also told me that as a bird dog she would have been trained to not bark. That explains why I've only heard her bark twice - both times were her first night here. She growled a long growl followed by a bark. IDK if she heard something outside, if she was just scared or if she heard the furnace or something. But she hasn't barked since.

She reminds me of Scruffy. That's a definite plus. 

Dog Possibilities

I'll have to wait until noon to call a couple places tomorrow about a couple dogs. It's too bad that one is 3 hours to the ESE, and the other is to the West of us.  That would make things too easy, huh?

Baby is having a hard time emotionally with this process. She is weepy, and dramatic, and "what if we don't get a doooooog?" "We can't get a dog if we don't have our baby gates!" waa waa waa

We hope to get through this.

Sleep

I have terrible sleep habits/hours. And occasionally it all catches up to me. I slept like a rock last night, had a crazy dream and woke up in pain from arthritis. I'm having a difficult time getting moving, but it's almost 9:30 and my kids probably need breakfast. (blush)

 

An Excuse to Craft

Crafting seems like such a guilty pleasure that I am happy when I have an "excuse" to pull some stuff out to play with. I'm working on a bulletin board for church that is in a common area in the basement/fellowship hall. I am excited to see what it looks like when it's up; I'll be sure to post pictures! I found some cute wrapping paper at the dollar store, and picked up a coordinating solid color - yellow. I struggled with what to put up there after it dawned on me that the yellow bees I was planning to put up wouldn't show up against the solid yellow paper.  I wanted something spring-y without being holiday specific. It had to be bright, and cheerful without being childish. And it had to be more interesting than just a two-dimensional board. So I left it. I was too exhausted last weekend to worry about it.

I finally came up with the saying/theme, "Showers of Blessings" and found an adorable umbrella to work into the design.  I couldn't find the right shade blue streamers to use for the border, so I sat and cut strips of cardstock today.  I have the raindrops cut out, too, and I was going to write words on them in white jell pen, but they won't show up well enough. I searched my craft stuff; I am almost positive I have small white stick on letters, but I can't find them. I looked for plastic alphabet stencils in Baby's room, but I can't find the little book that has the stencil sheets in them. sigh. So for now the raindrops will be silent. haha  As soon as Little Boy comes home from his friend's house, we'll go down to church and get the stuff put up. And then I need to get stuff put away where I can find it again the next time I have an excuse to get crafty. ;)

Here's the board. :)  It's not perfect, but I think it's cute.

Gotta get a little more serious

about avoiding nitrites and nitrates! I have been fighting terrible hives for several days. Right now their place of choice to pop out is on my scalp. So when they're itching terribly, and I scratch, and break the skin, I keep pushing my hair coloring farther into the future. :(   And way too many grays are visible right now. So tonight I got Pizza Hut pizza for supper, and the boys ate pepperoni pizza and Baby and I had a Veggie Lover's pizza (w/o green peppers). 

Not only are we fighting off hives, Baby and I have been trying to get rid of her terrible case of athlete's foot. She picked it up last year when we went to a pool in a hotel. We got rid of it, and then last month she wore her Crocs, and it came back even worse. Crocs are supposed to be anti-fungal, but it didn't help poor Baby. We've been soaking her feet in domeboro and putting on the Lamisil. They still look terrible, though. :(

If a website falls in the forest....

So a while back, some of the ladies at church said the church needs a website so people in the community know the church is still open.  DH was standing there, and I said that he knows how to build a site. They asked him to do it.

He made a comment recently that he really didn't want to do it, so I found wix.com. A site that has free templates and is pretty self-explanatory. So I muddled my way through it, and put together a basic site. He seems relieved to not have to do it, and thinks it looks ok.

I posted it more than once on the church FB page. - crickets -

I messaged the person in charge of the FB page asking them to list the website in the "about" section. - crickets -

I messaged the same person through the FB page. nothin'

What is going on? No one has commented on the site, and finally the website is listed on the FB "about" section.

I'm looking around... am I really invisible? sheesh

To Dog or not to Dog

We've been talking - ok, I have been talking - about getting a dog. I wanted to wait until after our trip to Disney, but I guess I could have gone forward before that. :/ Anyway. 

I don't want a small yippy dog. I don't want a short-haired dog, because I do not like little short dog hair poking me from the furniture. I don't want a black dog because I think their faces are scary. (I know, I'm weird.) I want a female. So we've narrowed it down to the following breeds - Collie, Sheltie, Golden Retriever or Setter - and we're open to mixes, so I've been watching the local shelters carefully.

We don't really want a puppy. I would not be very patient when it comes to the potty training. So we're looking for a dog that is already house broken. 

So with that long list of wants, it may take us some time to find the right dog. But meantime, maybe we can get the toys off the floors!

From the outside

looking in. That's how I feel very often. And now that we're going to a "new" church, I feel it even more. You'd think with "family" there, I wouldn't feel that way. But when even they huddle together and talk, without more than a couple words for me, it's hard. There are a couple older ladies who like to share their aches and pains with me, but other than them, I rarely get a hello. But I love teaching the Children's Church class, and so I concentrate on my love for those little people. 

Referee

What's black and white and so very not happy?

Mommy Referee! We have a new neighbor boy who is Little Boy's age. They get along very well, and play together almost every day now. But then there's the third wheel named Baby. She's very jealous that he has a friend to play with and she doesn't. And she doesn't do well being left out. I keep reminding her that when the weather gets nicer, she can play with the little girl who lives next door, but that isn't soon enough for her cranky little self.

So almost daily, I'm calling her in. She is loud and rude and mean, and I can't seem to get through to her that if she would be nicer, they would be nicer. sigh

Today I took her with me to put up paper for a new bulletin board at church. She likes to go with me, but she gets bored very quickly. I needed her help, and she played with my new Kindle. We ran to the dollar store to see if they had streamers the color I want for my border, and I let her pick out a movie. When we got home her new magazine came in the mail - Clubhouse Jr. I think she really likes it. Little Boy just started getting Sports Illustrated for Kids. I think it's awesome that they're getting something in the mail. I know how exciting that is.

I've been working on a logo for our new church. I'm almost done, but I'm still searching for the perfect font.

Back to cleaning the living room! It's a pit!

8 Months

So where have the last eight months gone? That's how long it's been since I posted here.

So many things have happened since then!

July 2012 - I turned another year older. sigh  The kids went to baseball camp. Little Boy did well; Baby played in the dirt. a. lot.  We survived VBS.

August 2012 - In August, DH and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. Baby turned seven, and I threw her a party at the ballet studio. I LOVED planning and decorating. But it took up all my time and focus for weeks. I should write a separate post just for her party. The next weekend we had a small party at the lake with family. She FINALLY got her "big girl bike".

September - Baby donated her hair to Children With Hairloss - a non-profit that collects hair, and supplies children with a new wig every year until they turn 18!  She was SO relieved to finally have it cut.

We went to Indiana to see my other family in September and we had a wonderful visit. It was so relaxing. And when we got back, we started school.

October and November were fairly uneventful, unless you count the election. So sickening to have another four years of the same, or worse. :(  But God is in control. I took the kids to get pictures taken at Walmart. I think they turned out pretty well.

December - I got my act together and got our Christmas cards out on time! We put our tree up late, but it couldn't be helped. We have battled sickness all winter. Baby had her ballet recital - she was cute! And then Christmas - I limited the kids' gifts to four this year. Of course they got stuff in their stockings, but they liked what they got. And then we went to G&Gs and they were loaded up with stuff. sigh. And I'm still trying to figure out where to put the "stuff".

2013 - January - We let the kids stay up to see the ball drop. We toasted with sparkling cider, and put the kids in bed. We were all still fighting the "crud". At the end of January, we let our church know we were leaving to go back to the church where DH attended for 30 years. It's been a transition, for sure. We left a growing church where things were getting way more organized, to a tiny, struggling church that is a mess. But we're needed, and it's nice for the kids to go to church with their family.

February - Finally feeling close to normal, and then we all got hit with sinus infections and Baby threw in an ear infection, too. Little Boy went to baseball hitting camp at the local state college. It seemed like it went really well. I wouldn't know, b/c Baby decided she could not sit there any longer. So I ran her home and went back. Little Boy had a great time.

March - We got a big snowfall here. Not what I would call a blizzard, maybe a storm. But the kids have loved playing in "good" snow. We've built a snowman, some forts and they've been scolded MANY times about throwing snowballs.

And I think that catches us up.

I'm not a hater

I am getting tired of "the left" labeling proponents of traditional marriage as haters.  It's a lot like my 6 year old daughter calling people who don't let her have her own way a "big bully." 

Note to self

I don't think I've ever met someone who second-guesses themselves or theorizes as to why someone does something more than I do.  Until today. 

It's annoying.

Stop it! 

Frustration Bible School

Our church's VBS is in 10 days.  Our director is not with it, to say the least.  I've been angry, frustrated, irritated and indifferent and many various combinations of these feelings.  But I keep reminding myself that VBS is for the kids.  I want it to be awesome for them.  So I have to keep giving myself an attitude adjustment and keep refocusing my attention.  I've had to raise my hands and give up on things I cannot control.

So when Baby asked me the other day if I was working on stuff for Frustration Bible School I had to laugh.  A much more accurate name for our program right now, for sure!

Letting go

I seem to have a very difficult time letting go.  Especially if I see someone taking over and doing a poor job.  But I need to let go for my sanity.  And I'm trying my best to let go. sigh  I find myself chanting (in my head - I'm not that crazy yet) "Let it go. Just let it go."  I wonder how long I'll have to say this?