Blech

Today has just not been a great day.

Ever have one of those days when nothing seems to go right? When everything you try to do takes much longer than it should and anything you try to accomplish simply creates more work in the long run?

Today has definitely been one of those days around here.

It took me forever to get out the door this morning. As I was plugging in my hair dryer, I thought I blew a fuse. It turned out to be much more complicated then that. In fact, it has turned out to be a whole day of work for Hubby.

In the process, we discovered something that is wrong with the outlets in our bedroom, so the guys who put them in are going to have to come back and fix them.

Also in the process, while in the attic, Hubby stepped through Little's ceiling.

I'm so thankful for my in-laws and my dad who graciously came over today to strip wallpaper in our guest room while Hubby fixed the hole in Little's ceiling and I floundered around the house trying to recover from all my mishaps.

I feel like I got nothing accomplished today. In fact, if anything, I only added to my to-do list.

I really just want to crawl in a hole and not come out for about a week - but only if everything on my to-do list is somehow magically accomplished while I am hiding out.

In other news, why I haven't been posting is because as I tried to post, I realized we had way too many pictures on our camera. I mean years of pictures. So, when I would try to put pictures on the blog, I spent much too much time hunting for said pictures. Thus, I have been spending the last week deleting old pictures off our camera and uploading them to Shutterfly so that I can have a clean slate. Hopefully, it will pay off in the long run and make posting much easier.

And I know the only reason you read this blog is for the pictures anyway, so I better start posting some. (Assuming anyone reads this silly thing.)

Until then, Happy Hunting!

...or something

Trying to redeem myself

I've been absent for awhile. Just let life get in the way, I guess. So today, I'm trying to redeem myself by posting some pictures!

Remember my last post? Well, here you go!

Last Friday, Big was crown bearer for homecoming.

I may not post again for a few days. Hubby and I are supposed to be going out of town for the weekend. Big is home sick from school today, so hopefully, our plans won't be thwarted.

Big is missing his Valentine's party at school. He missed their Christmas party in December, too. Poor kid. He seriously needs to stop getting sick on party days.

A boy and his tractors

A major part of the reason we moved back to Smalltownsville was for the boys to be closer to their grandparents. Hubby and I both grew up with our grandparents living close to us. We wouldn't trade that special blessing for anything in the world. We both will tell you that our grandparents played and huge part in shaping us into the people we are today. The morals and values they helped teach and instill in us are becoming more and more rare these days.

Big hasn't had school due to snow the past two days. When it snows, Hubby's dad, a farmer, is found throughout the countryside with his tractor and blades helping people dig out. He ended up driving to town today to see if Big would be interested in going to get the tractor with him so he could dig us out. Big jumped at the chance.

So, he rode out to the farm with Grandpa and got the tractor and rode into to town. I got pictures of the two of them in the tractor in our driveway (I seriously absolutely need to find the camera cord) and it was so precious. As I watched them out the window, I felt confirmed, once again, that we made the right decision to leave the city and come back home. I also chuckled to myself as I thought how this would never happen in the city. Don't get my wrong, our neighbors and friends were wonderful and would help us out in a heartbeat - and they did. But no one in the city uses a tractor that big.

Thankfully Little was napping while all of this was going on, or he would have been going ballistic to be able to ride in the tractor.

What is it about boys and tractors? Kind of like boys and superheroes I suppose. A girl will just never understand.

At least not this girl. I just go with it.

Winging it

Most of the time I feel like I'm winging it as a mother, especially as one that stays at home. My guess is most mothers feel this at least some point in their lives, regardless if they stay home full time or not.

My mom didn't stay at home with us, so I don't know what this is supposed to look like. I'm a visual learner. I need to see it to understand it. Although I suppose it doesn't really matter if my mom stayed at home or not. Even if she did, that doesn't necessarily mean I'd know what to do, but at least I'd have some frame of reference.

I've been in somewhat of a funk lately. Maybe it's the fact that Big is now is school full time. Maybe it's because I don't have a baby in the house.

But today it came to me.

It's simple really. My lines are blurred. This is my "career" and that confuses me. When I was a teacher, I had "work" time and "home" time. What's confusing for me is how to structure and balance my time.

I think I'll go contemplate that as I bake some banana bread. Or fold laundry. Or play with Little. Or vacuum. Or do a craft with Little. Or catch up on emails.

Wait. What?!?

Exactly my point.

Forecast

I'm feeling all ferhoodled and my mind is discombobulated tonight. I think it's because Little is sick and the medicine he is on makes him crazy. No, literally. Because of his asthma problems, Big has been on this medicine several times in the past. I call it "Liquid Devil" or "Devil in a bottle." Although that isn't exactly the correct medical term for it, that pretty much sums it up for me.

They're calling for 5 to 9 inches of snow here this week. My parents are on a cruise right now. Their first one ever. I often think of them and wonder what they're doing and try to live vicariously through them. I'm so ready for spring. I'm just hoping that if it does snow, we'll at least get a snow day out of it. I'd love to have Hubby home for a day this week.

Progress on our house projects has been basically non-existent lately. I don't wish to discuss it.

I'm sitting in the kitchen. The dishwasher is running. There's something about a running dishwasher that puts me to sleep. It's always been that way. Mmmm, I love a good running dishwasher. Except my parents'. Their dishwasher sounds like a lion eating the best lunch he's ever had. Not at all relaxing.

Oh, Hubby just informed me he plugged in our printer. I guess I take back the whole "house projects are non-existent" comment.

The end.

Sick and Snow

Little has croup. He woke up with it the night before last. He came into our bedroom fussing and making all sorts of horrible breathing noises. Thankfully, steam helped, but it really freaked me out.

Last night was Big's birthday party so it was a crazy day around here. Between taking care of Little and getting things ready, I was so ready for bed last night. Since we've been sleeping on Little's floor, I'm not exactly rested and my neck is pretty sore.

It is snowing today, so Little and I are having a couch day. We are currently having a Toy Story marathon. We're on the second movie.

I know my posting lately has been sparse, but it's because we've been under the weather and busy with birthday stuff. Big still has a bit of a runny nose and cough and hasn't been getting enough sleep due to all the celebrating.

We went to Pizza Hut for supper on his actual birthday. While we were there, he said, "We can't say
'We should go to a restaurant' anymore. We just have to say 'We should go to Pizza Hut' because that's the only restaurant we have."

Pretty much, buddy. Pretty much.

Cupcake Wars

I just looked at my last post and noticed I wrote it on Sunday. Then I had to ask myself if this was really Tuesday. Whatever happened to Monday, I'll never know.

Anyway, six years ago tonight, Hubby and I were in my hospital room watching the State of the Union Address by George W. Bush. I was in labor. It is somewhat amazing to me that I managed to not miss the State of the Union Address while in no epidural labor (granted I wasn't in active labor yet, but still), but have managed to miss it tonight, because I'm busy making cupcakes for Big to take to school tomorrow for his birthday. My, how my life has changed in six years.

I was actually quite organized and had the cupcakes baked already. And then after supper tonight, Big informed me that I was supposed to provide enough cupcakes for the entire Kindergarten, rather than just his class.

Um, come again?

Praise Jesus there is at least a small Hy-Vee in Smalltownsville, so I was able to run and get another cake mix.

Did I mention I only have one cupcake pan, so I have to keep baking a dozen at a time? Not exactly the most efficient way of doing things. I'm hustling and bustling so fast I feel like I'm on an episode of Cupcake Wars. Thank the good Lord above I'm not being judged by Florian Bellanger.

So here I am, eating a bowl of Lucky Charms for supper while at my computer trying to catch up on some things in between flying cupcake pans. Oh, the Lucky Charms for supper? Well, I simply wanted a night off from cooking. These people seem to think I need to feed them three meals a day! Can you believe it?

Yep, my life has sure changed in the last six years.

For the better.