I love hot water

Boy did I realize how water dependent I am. Yesterday as I was typing that post in the morning, C was getting into a new bottle of Ranch dressing that was opened during breakfast. Do you know how lovely your house smells when you have a ranch covered kid, a ranch covered table, and a ranch covered floor. EWWW! I did my best to clean her up but for some reason I had no water pressure either. Thank heavens for the plumbing man that saved the day for almost 900 dollars. It's not often you are so grateful to fork over a chunk of change like that. But I was loving him for it.

Last night I had a horrible run. The lesson learned is don't eat ground beef before trying to run and then go far from home. It doesn't work out well and you end up walking home with your head down.

I filled up my vehicle today. It was a huge chunk of change. Topher wondered why we were walking to school. Heck, I'm not paying to drive him to school. We are going to be walking everywhere we can. Maybe this oil thing will be good for my behind.

Today I am driving to ballet. My friend is really sick and I don't want to have M get sick before the wedding on Saturday, nor do I want my friend to have to go out. So I called the other mom and I am going to leave early and try to piggyback the trip with one to Costco. Now I am realizing that I don't actually have enough room to get the food home if I have every seat filled with kiddos. Hmmm... maybe I can go to Costco and then put the stuff in the two seats the girls occupy and then drop the food off to dh's work and put it in his car. UGH! What a pain. But I need to make it there.

What else? The boys had a good swimming lesson this morning. We had the talk on the way there about how T shouldn't be a wild boy in the pool and how that endangers other kids. Then, of course, I talked with D about how he can't constantly try to get his teachers attention. He agreed she needed to pay close attention to the kid she is working with or it's dangerous.
The talk didn't work. The lesson was a look at me lesson for certain. We'll try again. Maybe tonight, after reading 'You Are Special' we'll compare the stars to seeking attention at swimming. He does really love swimming though and it's nice to see he isn't terrified anymore.

The girls are fine. Last night M and DH were instant messaging each other while I was running. I came home and read the exchange and just laughed and laughed. Not only is M a good speller (which is NOT a sign of smarts) but she is pretty witty.

And lastly, we heard feet running in the hall this morning at 5:30. It was T sneaking Little Debbie treats. We don't usually buy treats much anymore because it really isn't great for the kids and that's all they ever want. But for family home evening DH picked them up. Yes, at 5:30 am, two little boys were sitting in the closet sneaking treats. DH and I just laughed and laughed. How dang funny is that. DH admitted that he probably would have done that at their age too. They didn't get breakfast though. In reality, they didn't really need it. They probably both ate about a thousand calories of snacks. I'm surprised they weren't sick. It's a funny memory. I'm just not letting them know it was funny.

Positive Note-It's GORGEOUS today and it didn't freeze my tomatoes last night. How lucky am I!

Mother's Day

I won't go into some long thing about how I dislike this holiday. This year, I got a fabulous gift. I mentioned to DH in the afternoon that I was tired and he said to go and take a nap. I slept for almost 3 full hours. Now that is a great gift!

On a sad note, part of our basement flooded. It seems that one of our two water heaters isn't functioning correctly. I told DH that we were lucky it happened before carpet and drywall. He asked why it had to happen at all. So today I am going to try to get a plumber here. Right now we have limited water pressure, nothing hot, piling up laundry and a sink full (okay both sinks full) of dishes. I may have to heat some water on the stove and get those puppies washed.

So to finish off Mother's Day, I read the kids 'You Are Special' by Max Lucado. I think for a little while I am going to try to read it every day. I'm hoping it will help D see that he doesn't need every action recognized to make it important and that he doesn't have to try to make others look bad to make himself look better. I figure it's worth a try and it never hurts to read an extra book or two.

I feel bad that I didn't post something to the kids' birthmom yesterday. I thought about what I could say all day long (okay, maybe not when the flood happened). I think I may be getting on there today to quickly send her belated Mother's Day wishes.

It's raining today but the boys can't stand letting the roller blades just sit. They are in the garage practicing. We'll be staying home hoping to get the plumbing done. Oh boy do I hope it works. And maybe, just maybe, I'll be really lucky and the rain will stop later today and I will have a great run tonight.

Oh, and I got a new church job. I'm mortified. More news on that next week.

Positive Note- I don't have to water my garden today.

Bargains scored!

I'm so thrilled at the moment. Today I went yard sale shopping with a friend. I bought a beautiful faucet for my downstairs' bathroom. It was new in the box. They wanted 25 bucks and I paid 20. The list price on it is $197 dollars. Can you believe anyone would pay that for a faucet? I'm more than thrilled.

I also bought M a desk for her new room, D some roller blades, T a magnetic board for his new room, M a coat, two 12 foot pieces of shelving for when we finish the closets (one dollar each!), and of course a 44 oz. Diet Coke. Don't feel bad for S. I bought her a shirt at Walmart tonight.

We went to my in laws to help plant flowers in their backyard. The kids had a good time. My SIL left out her kids' lunches and we found Sophia with a mouthful of previously munched on Wendy's. C was a turkey. As soon as we got there she sat down and took off her shoes and socks.

I ran some misc. errands tonight. I bought myself a Mother's Day present. Two new pairs of socks that wick. I'm glad to have those. My cotton ones weren't doing the trick so much. DH told me that he hadn't done anything for tomorrow and I told him not to worry. The kids have the things they have made and I would much rather have the dinero go to the basement. I don't need a bunch of gifts. I'm pretty low maintenance.

So I came home and didn't want to run. But I went out. It's too bad it was really late because I could have gone longer. Still, I got over a half hour in. I was happy enough with it. I'm always glad once I am out there.

Rainy day

I just did what I said I wouldn't do. I ran in my own 'hood'. I just couldn't help it. I told myself I would do better than Monday which meant I had to go around my block at the end of my run. Luckily, it was dark. It's harder to see the jiggling in the dark. I made it 1 hour and 3 minutes. It was a great night for jogging. It rained much of the day and everything smelled really delicious.

I was the washaholic today. I managed to get ALL of the wash done. I take that back. I may have a load now that the kids have gotten into pj's.

S just sneaked out. I can't figure out what she thought she was going to get away with. She just decided to come back out in the tv room two hours after bedtime. She is so exhausted.

I helped the boys clean their room today. It's no wonder they had a hard time finding socks. They were all under their bed with a ton of other things. Now I know they can't blame the girls for eating all the fruit snacks. Tomorrow I tackle the girls room.

And it's off to bed for me. It's not even 10 pm. What a treat!

Positive Note- T-ball was cancelled. I really wasn't in the mood. Gotta love that rain!

Hmmm... that dang circle of life

My grandpa is leaving the hospital. He doesn't know he is never going home. I'm so sad for him. He's going to a hospice type home to die. What's sad to me is that he is with it enough to figure it out. My mom said she went to see him at the hospital today and he got excited and asked her how her trip to Alaska went. Of course, I don't think that it's a great option to keep him alive on feeding tubes and respirators when his body is worn out. He has stage 3 kidney disease, heart failure, liver problems, and who knows what else.

I know it's the right thing to do but I'm still sad. Won't he figure it out when they fail to bring him his blood thinners and asthma meds. He's had them most of his life. Maybe his body will be so tired he won't care. I'm pretty comfy with death. It is a big part of my life. Still, I feel like it's a rotten secret at the moment. I would hate it if everyone else knew I was supposed to die in the next week or two but me.

And yet life goes on. We had a busy busy day once again. Then tonight I went to a class to get ideas on keeping my kids happy all summer. I just don't know when to find the time. Tomorrow we have the morning off, then D has therapy. We will cruise home with a cranky baby that couldn't take a nap because of therapy, grab the violins, go to violin lessons which end at 3:30, then rush over to M's swim lessons that start at 3:35. Then at 5:00 T has t-ball practice. I don't know how some parents do it. The swim lessons are more than we would normally do but the kids really NEED to learn to swim. But still, how did we get so busy?

I'm not sure what is going to happen if my grandpa dies right about the same time as dh's sister is getting married next weekend. UGH!

Oh, and I didn't run today. I wanted to but I just couldn't squeeze it in. That means I have to do 3 more days this week.

Positive Note- I almost got through my laundry today. I am sure by now there is a load to do but earlier I was down to less than a load.

Is it Friday yet?

Who's ready for a break? The week just has to be about over.

Really, today wasn't that bad. I ordered a dress to wear to my SIL's wedding. I did more laundry than I should admit to having. I actually folded and put away said laundry. I took the kids to the nursery and bought a bunch of plants for my garden including a gorgeous tomato plant with big tomatoes on it. Wouldn't you know I snapped the whole top off of it getting it out of the car. What a waste of 7 bucks. The kids and I planted the garden. C, the baby, LOVED plucking the plants out that we put in. She also wanted to play with dangerous garden equipment. D, T, and S were thrilled to help. As you can guess, all of the kids required showers tonight. I took M to swimming lessons. It's the coolest pool. This lady has a 3 lane 25 yard indoor lap pool in her backyard. M might be in over her head (literally) and have to move down a level. We'll see after Wednesday. Then I came home and made some homemade spaghetti sauce from some of the last tomatoes I have bottled and waited for DH.

Then came the exciting part. I managed to run for just over one hour. Okay, I had to stop for one minute because people in my town just can't manage to keep their dogs in yards or on leashes and I couldn't make it up this super steep switchback. But I already subtracted that out. I still made it over one whole hour and now I'm almost dead. But I feel great! (Talk to me tomorrow when I can't move from the 'running' and gardening.)

D did much better today with his emotions. He was very worked up over something T did but he managed to come to me and speak in a clear voice. I was really proud of him. S was a bit of a turkey. She went to bed late last night because we stayed at the in laws too long. That schedule is really important to her. She whined and complained for a long time last night and didn't go to bed for a couple of hours.

Tomorrow is a busy day as well. Of course, there is cleaning to do. Then D and T have swimming lessons, then D has preschool, T has kindergarten, we come home for about and hour and a half, pick D up, wait for kids to come home from school, drive the carpool to ballet, and then attend a church function.

I can't complain though because it's what I asked for.

Oh, one last cute thing. Today, someone was saying the blessing on our food at lunch. I looked over and C was folding her arms. It was adorable.

Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

Today was a really random day. I was in charge of decorating T's teacher's door for teacher appreciation week. I spent much of the day working on it while trying to keep little paws off of it. It turned out pretty cute. There is a reason, however, that I was NOT and elementary teacher. I'm just no good at bulletin boards and cutesy things.

I felt like I needed to call my grandma today. It turned out to be a really sad call. She was home from the hospital. I guess my grandpa went in last night with congestive heart failure. It was bad enough that when he wanted to leave last night, the ER doctor told my grandma if he went home he would die overnight. She sounded so lost. She said she was looking everywhere for their will and couldn't find it. In my mind I think, he hasn't been himself for a while and my grandma has had a hard time taking care of him. But still, it would be so lonely after being together 50 years. I called my mom in Alaska to find out more details tonight and my mom told me that my grandma had been in the hospital (this according to my aunt) stroking his face pleading with him to not die. That just makes me so sad. I haven't decided what I am going to do yet. My mom said she thought they were going to try to get him stable, take him off his meds, give him meds to make him comfortable, and send him with hospice. Do I take the kids out of school and drive the five of them 11 hours each way myself? Do I let it go and say that the time spent with him while living is what is important? Out of all the little kids in the world, he picked T to adore. I don't know why T was so drawn to him. He was starting to get grouchy by the time T came around. Nevertheless, T would run right up to him. When my grandpa reached the point where he had no desire to get up, shower, and take care of himself, we would announce a visit and he would do it because T was coming. UGH, I hate making decisions.

I did a 40 minute run tonight. I would have gone longer but I was home and I had seen a big scary dog loose earlier in our neighborhood. It was a gorgeous night. I figured out my splits when I got home. I can't believe I can be that slow. I keep thinking the calculator has got to be wrong.

Tomorrow we have a race at the kids' school. It'll be D's first race. I hope he has the courage to be happy with his effort.

And with that, I am off. I need to make sure M's running clothes are washed.

Positive Note- NO SNOW today!