Pour Your heart out--Balance

Shell over at Things I Can't Say is hosting Pour Your Heart Out again.  Go check out her post and the others who have poured their hearts out this week.



Every one needs balance in their lives--between work and play, private and public, family and friends, being mommy and being a woman, being a wife and being mom.  I strive very hard to maintain balance especially in my life at home.

When we had Turbo I became a stay at home mom for the first fifteen months of his life.  It was very hard to not get lost in being mommy.  I had to remember there were other parts to me to keep my sanity.  There was the wife part, the friend part and the adult part.  Nick was very instrumental in keeping the wife and adult parts balanced, but the friend part was harder.  It helped when I went back to school.  I was able to make friends in my classes.

Nick and I have worked hard at keeping our marriage strong.  And it does take a lot of work and effort.  Anyone looking in from the outside would think it was easy for us.  In some ways it is easy, but mostly we work at it all the time.  It helps that we are friends (the lover part isn't too bad either).  I'm very glad he encouraged me to go back to school.  He is so proud of me and I'm very proud of him.

Balance is something that is not talked about in the baby books all that much.  Oh, they say you should make time for yourself but they don't say you need to make the effort to not let little Junior take over every loving minute of you time and thoughts and conversation.  I make time during my day to be me, not just a mom, or wife or staff member.  Me, the person who loves to read in the tub, scrapbook, play with my DS, blog, and so many other pursuits that can get pushed aside when the little people invade your life.

Random Tuesday Thoughts

It's Tuesday again--funny how it always follows Monday--it almost makes Monday worth getting through--but not quite. 


OK so we have the interesting purple button, let's random:

• Have you ever met someone and the name they have totally does not fit them?  Like they are named Ann but they look more like a Melissa?  And whenever you think about that person you can never remember their name, all you can remember is the name you thought it should be?  No?  OK, moving on.
• Bruiser can scale anything now.  I often find him on top of tables, chairs and such.  He's really proud of himself but does not have the self-preservation common sense to not stand up while on top of things like the arm of the couch.  Nick and I have had about 437 heart attacks in the last five days.
• We are hoping Turbo learns how to ride a bike this summer(without training wheels).
• Nick has rediscovered wind surfing.  We have a lake that is about 30 minute out of town but for the last ten years it has been more of a puddle.  This year, with the abundance of water, it is a lake again.  Nick dug out the old wind surfing gear and headed out this weekend.  He had lots of fun but also lots of sun.  Therefore, he is sporting a lovely sunburn on his legs.  At least he does not have the boot on his ankle any more.

Well that about covers the random I have for this week.  Go see Keely--she's hoping for the Apocalypse but she'll be glad to see you before that.

Monday Minute

It's time for the Monday Minute by Ian at The Daily Dose of Reality!  This week Jana from Boobies, Babies and a Blog is co-hosting!  So let's get started.




Has anyone you've known personally lived to at least 100?
Nick's great grandmother/aunt(the family tree gets murky) lived to be 100, I think.  She was an interesting lady--donated her body to science.  Which was cool.

What material possession do you value most?
Well let's see...there's the DS-no not that, there's the new fridge--no not that, there's the....hmm value the most?  Ummm....Oh! I know I value my book collection the most.  I love to read and my library of books are all old friends.

What do you think happens to us after we die?
Depending on what the will says--burial or cremation, a lovely service and then you get remembered on Memorial Day.

Most embarrassing item in your house?
There's this drawer in the bedroom---no I won't go there.  We have nothing embarrassing in the house--just don't get nosy.

And last but not least-
If you could rename your self, what would your name be?
I have hated my name and I have loved my name, but I really like the name we picked out for a girl--that we never had--Leanna Eilene.  It's my middle name and Nick's grandmother's name.  I think it's really pretty.

OK, go answer the questions for yourself and link up.

Five Question Friday

It's Friday!!
Time for Five Question Friday with My Little Life.

1. Do you know how to play a musical instrument?  No not really.  I had one year of piano lessons, played the trumpet for one year, and the recorder for one year--there might be a theme here.  I'm just not that musically inclined.
2. What is your pet peeve while driving?  Slow drivers--the ones who drive slower than the speed limit because that makes them "safer".  It does not make you safer it makes you a hazard to those of us who drive the speed limit.
3. Would you rather have a housekeeper or unlimited spa services?  Oh, the housekeeper--to never have to do laundry or dishes again, and let's not mention the bathrooms--that would be like going to the spa every day.
4. Is there a song that you hear that will take you back to the moment, like a junior high or high school dance?  Any number of songs will remind me of high school, but when I hear Kid Rock's All Summer Long I am reminded of my 18th summer.  I was home from my first year of college and lifeguarding at the outdoor pool in my home town.  I had lots of fun time that summer and this song reminds me of all that fun.
5. What song best represents your life right now?  Hmmm, this ones takes some thought.  I think for Nick and I, I'd have to choose Shania Twain's Still the One.  This came out the year we were married and it still works for us.

Friday Fill-ins

I'm doing the Friday Fill-in.


And...here we go!




1. On vacation, I like to do as little as possible--relax.
2. I love playing in the waves in the ocean.
3. One of my favorite vacation spots is Clearwater Beach, Florida.
4. You have to howl at the full moon.
5. Up, up and away is where I'd like to be this weekend.
6. Bananas are good in Banana Bread and Banana Splits.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxing with a daquiri, tomorrow my plans include going to the park and Sunday, I want to be lazy in the sun!

Writer's Workshop--Summertime

Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop is up and running this week.

The Prompts:
1.) The Love List. Write a list of 50 things you look for in a man.
2.) Write a poem about a picture.
3.) What does your child do that reminds you most of yourself? How does it make you feel?
4.) Write a letter to whatever is stopping you from losing the extra weight you’d like to lose.
5.) What summer means to your family.


I chose number five.

What summer means to your family.

Summer means:

• Hot days enjoying the sun.
• Camping
• Grilling on the back deck
• Staying up late
• Road trips
• Having the windows open
• Shorts--means less laundry or smaller loads.
• Longer days
• Spending time with friends outside--barbecue.
• Less structure to the days
• Eating watermelon, cherries, and fresh nectarines.
• Relaxing at the lake--this is new for us as the lake finally has water again.
• Red neck drive-in(setting up a small TV and DVD player on the back deck and watching movies.)
• Bug spray
• Grimy little boys after a day of fun.

That is some of what summer means to us here in our neck of the woods.
Go pick your own prompt and join up with the Writer's Workshop at Mama Kat's.

What I meant to say

OK, so it's time to do the What I Meant to Say with Angel and Brittany.  You know, the time you held your tongue but really should have said something else?  Well now you can say what you really meant.  Here are mine:


To the mosquitoes:  What I said:  Stupid biting bugs, I need more spray.
What I Meant to say:  Really, biting through my jeans?!  Jeez, if your that desperate find an easier meal, or do I just taste that good?

To My Back:  Please start feeling better.
What I should have said:  Get over your self already.  I'm not sure what I did to piss you off but be sure I'm getting pissed right back at you.  Get better already!

To my Mom:  When she told me why she was dropping her extra fruit on us:  Thanks.
What I should have said:  Thanks, but there was way to much info in your explanation.  I don't care if you have eaten too much fruit recently and I don't care what it has done to your digestive system.  Yuck--just yuck!

To Nick:  Last night when he asked if I wanted to eat outside:  Sure, I guess so.
What I meant to say:  Umm, not really, bug spray and dinner don't mesh well, and if I don't use the spray the mosquito beyotches will drink me dry.

Ok, go get What you meant to say off your chest and link up with Angel and Brittany.

Random Tuesday--It's Summer here--Finally

Kay, it's summer and finally warm here.  Of course the mosquitoes have come to visit too.   Beoytches.  Blood sucking beoytches.  Everyone here is sporting eau de bug spray.  It's a wonderful odor.  The stupid bugs love Turbo and I.  Bruiser has gotten bitten a couple of times but it does not seem to bother him.  Turbo still swells up and gets awfully itchy.  I do too.  It sucks.

We are looking forward to camping for the Fourth.  It's gonna be great.  We get to see good friends and spend time outside.  We are packing lots of bug spray and sunscreen.  However, one of the people we are going with has decided that we should all eat the same things at the same time--but cook for ourselves.  Not sure why they have decided this is the way to go--we may be rebels and eat what we want when we want--nanner nanner.

Our new water heater rocks.  We got a bigger one and we have so much hot water now.  That extra 10 gallons makes a difference.  The new fridge is pretty awesome too.  It has LED lights inside and they come on sort of gradually when you open the door--kind of like the fridge is saying Ta-da here I am in all my chilly glory.  I always feel like a choir should be singing when I open it.

I hate the dishes.  And the laundry, but right now the laundry is done but the dishes keep showing up.  Stupid dishes.

Now go check out Keely.  She has this random thing going.  Have a great Tuesday, cause you know it's not Monday anymore.

Spin-That's My (Kid's) Daddy!

My husband is the greatest guy.  But when we met he was not really excited about having kids.  I couldn't get him to even say the word, he stuttered on the word marriage too.  So we took thing slowly and worked our way around to the point that he could say married with out choking on the words. 

Once we were married, the next step and the question everyone asked was when are you having kids?  When we were ready was the general response.  However I told Nick that I wanted to have our first before I was 30.  The dead line was sneaking up on us quickly.  Nick was finishing up his second bachelor's degree and just had Field camp left to finish.  I told him that when he finished we were going to start trying.  It took us about three months to succeed at the baby olympics.

Nick was excited but a bit weirded out by the pregnancy--the movement was a bit to alienesque for his comfort (feeling it move was OK, but seeing it...).  When Turbo arrived Nick fell in love.  We both did, but Nick made a very proud daddy.

We had a bumpy road to getting around to having number two.  When we had Bruiser, he was a lot more difficult than Turbo had been as a baby.  Now that Bruiser is bigger, we are all enjoying him.  Nick loves watching Bruiser play and explore.  Now Nick is the happy father to two growing boys.  You couldn't find a prouder dad any where.

Bruiser and his daddy

Turbo and Daddy.

On another note--Happy 36 to Nick today!

Spinning the Mystery Spin

The spin cycle was a mystery grab bag this week.  If you wanted in, let Jen know and she would send you a  topic.  I got Pet Peeves!  Like Jen said, I love this topic!

Who doesn't have pet peeves?

I got to thinking about the words and decided to look up the meaning of Pet peeves.  Answers.com says Pet Peeves are: Something about which one frequently complains; a particular personal vexation.  Wikipedia says: A pet peeve (or pet hate) is a minor annoyance that an individual identifies as particularly annoying to them, to a greater degree than others may find it.  Yep that about sums up pet peeves.  What I find annoying is not necessarily going to annoy some one else.

I got to do a spin on pet peeves back in March.  It's here if you want to check it out. 

I do have some new pet peeves:

• The way Turbo likes to make nonsense rhymes--clothesy wosey or huggy wuggy.  He does this for lots of things and it makes me nuts--talk normal kid.
• Nick's socks are still left anywhere he takes them off.
• Appliances that die on weekends.
• Empty toilet paper rolls left on the bathroom floor.  It's not as if the garbage can is not right next to the toilet but those empty rolls just sit on the floor until I throw them away (or Bruiser finds them and snacks on them--soggy cardboard must taste delicious).
• The way the projects around our house are almost complete but not quite.  I'd like more lights in the laundry room, trim in the bathroom, you know, those finishing touches?  I love that Nick can do these things but I like the motto finished is better than perfect.  Let's finish some things soon.
• Getting I don't know in response to my question of what do you want for dinner.  Just a type of meat or pasta helps in the planning.
• Day when you look out the window and it looks all warm and sunny and then you go outside and freeze your tail off.
• The way Facebook insists on sending updates to any comment you have commented on.  This can sure fill up the inbox with useless emails.

I'm sure I have more pet peeves but I can't recall them right now.  My pet peeves are fluid and change with the situation.  The only thing I'm sure of is, I will always have something to complain about.  What are your pet peeves?

Writer's Workshop--Lack of Talent

“How long until you realized you had no talent or patience for this? Tell the story (true or fiction) of trying to learn a new talent or hobby that you only pursued briefly.”

My mother is very crafty.  She can do anything with a needle and thread.  Me, not so much.  I have tried crocheting, knitting, sewing and beading--none of which have held my interest.  I know the basics but have never tried to pursue any of them.
 
My first foray into knitting was for 4H when I was maybe 12.  I had high hopes--I got to be with friends and make something cool. I chose my yarn, got needles from my mom and excitedly went to the first class.  Things did not go smoothly.  I had trouble casting on, changing rows, and not dropping stitches.  I barely finished a dish cloth.  It wasn't so cool.  I lasted the six week course and never touched a pair of knitting needles again.  I think I ultimately dropped out of 4H, I just wasn't the type. 

Next I tried crochet--I did a bit better but never finished a row of squares for an afghan.  I just lost interest and motivation (besides my mom was much better at it than I was).
 
In seventh grade we had Home Ec.  Half was cooking and half was sewing.   The cooking I did pretty well at, the sewing on the other hand was much worse.  The pants I tried to make came out all twisted and never looked like a real person was supposed to actually wear them.

All I remember from that class was how to properly sew on a button.  Sewing is still not my strong suit.  Nick does a better job than I do.  The only saving grace I have is that my mom sews like a dream--she has come to my rescue at Halloween more than once.

Are we seeing a pattern here?

I have learned that my hands were not meant to do that crafty stuff that involves thread or string.  My talents lie in the design area--like scrapbooks and photography.  I'm good at composition and colors, not pins and needles.  I say go with what works.

Go see Mama Kat for more Writer's Workshop fun.

Wordless wednesday--Turbo Edition

Today's Wordless Wednesday is brought to you by Turbo.

Too cool!!

Bubbles!

Go link at Wordless Wednesday to see other Wordless Wednesday posts.

Happy Wednesday!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

OK, so It's Tuesday.  Random up and go see Keely to link up.  You won't be sorry, or maybe you will, which ever get your random out.

Well evidently the bad luck did not take my suggestion to go to Timbuktu.  Our refrigerator died on Friday.  This necessitated a trip to Sears for a  new one on Saturday.  We got it all set up ourselves, saved on delivery costs, they dropped it off, we got it in the house and all hooked up for water and such.  It's fancy--at least fancier than the old one.  Nick and I marveled it was so quiet when it ran.  The next morning it was still quiet but not cold.  Well let's read the directions a bit more closely.  This fridge has a display setting which needs to be shut off.  I did so and it's not so quiet now, but it is cold.  Now if only the washer will hold out (knock on wood, lots of wood).

We have flooding here.  This is unusual for us to have as much water as we have right now.  I'm happy we have the water but maybe not as much as we have right now.  Of course the river that flows through our town is not really big to begin with.  Most people back east would laugh and call our river a creek.  Right now it looks like a river and then some. 

Turbo decided that reading pages in a clockwise manner was the way to read Red Fish, Blue Fish, One Fish Two Fish.  I'm not sure where he got the idea but arguing about it with Grandma doesn't gain him any points.  Kid is going to send me straight to the funny farm before too long.

Nick's birthday is Monday so he gets two days to do what ever he wants--mostly.  He wants to go camping but we are not sure if the weather will cooperate.  He might have to come up with something else to do for fun this weekend.

OK so that's my random for the week.  Go see Keely, now, go on, go!

Monday Minute with the Daily Dribbles

This week the Monday Minute is brought to you by Kmama at The Daily Dribbles.  It usually comes from Ian at the Daily Dose of Reality.
And here goes:

1. What's the specs of the first computer you ever owned? It was a PC with a  256 processor with 8 MB of RAM.  Looking back it was such a dinosaur--it didn't have windows because windows didn't exist yet.  My hubby (then boyfriend) and I bought it in 1994.  It was top of the line then.
2. Are you on Twitter/Facebook/etc?  If so link it/them up.  I'm on Facebook but it's not linked to my blog.  I'm gonna keep it kind of separate.  If you can find me there, good for you.
3. Who's more to blame for the oil mess in the gulf-BP or the Gov't and why?  I think there is enough blame to go around.  I also think no one really wants to own up to the blame.  It's tragic what is happening in the Gulf and focusing on getting it cleaned up and the leak stopped is more important than pointing fingers.
4. What's your favorite Dr. Suess book?  I like so many of them--but my favorite from when I was a kid would have to be "There's a Wocket in My Pocket".
5. What did you want to be when you grew up?  It changed all the time.  A doctor, then I realized how much school they had to take and I was not dedicated enough.  A Writer, but you had to have ideas to write about and while I love reading, original ideas do not flow for me--fiction wise.  In high school I had no idea what I would do beyond go to college, in College  I liked history and majored in it but did not want to teach.  So, after college I floated through retail, commission sales and dabbled in insurance before getting a job as a chiropractic assistant.  After I had my first little boy I went back to school for geology and am now working in that field.  So now what I want to be when I grow up is a geologist.  Not what I first thought but I like it.

Go link up at Kama's and play along.

Spin cycle--ties that bind

Bind any family together that is.

I've talked about my mom before.  I love her but like any mother she has a special knack to drive me straight up a wall.

Nick's parents are great--his dad is a bit nutty but his mom is a sweetheart.  We get along with them pretty well.

As for aunts and uncles for our kids--well, I have a brother and so does Nick but we rarely see them.  We are also close to some of Nick's cousins (well second cousins once removed? First cousins twice removed? Oh, we just call them cousins, it's easier).  They have kids similar in age to Turbo and Bruiser--actually Bruiser is the baby of the bunch.  And I have cousins too but they are far flung and getting together is difficult.

So Nick and I have elevated friends to the role of uncles and aunts.  The nice thing about this is that you can pick your friends.  Turbo gets along really well with one of Nick's close friends--S.  S does all those cool uncle things like wrestle, play frisbee, foosball, go skiing and fishing, and he usually remembers Turbo at Christmas and stuff.  Turbo adores him and Bruiser probably will too.

 I have friends that are aunts to my boys too.  K is now living in Texas but when she gets back up here to visit Turbo almost attacks her he is so excited to see her.  Another friend I have recently reconnected with also lives in Texas.  I hope when we get together again my kids will find her as fun as I do.
We have friends that live across the state from us that we see regularly a couple of times a year.  This Fourth of July we are going to see them where they live for some camping and celebrating a 50th birthday.  We have known these people for over 15 years now.  Their kids are the same age as ours--mostly--and they get along well.  We are all looking forward to spending time together.

With the smaller families these days you have to make your own family sometimes.  We have gone about it in the best way we know how.  We love our immediate family but our friends have become family that fills in the gaps left by family that falls out of touch or moves far away.

Go see Jen at Sprite's Keeper for more spins on bonds, ties, connections, etc.

Writer's Workshop--Summer goals

So the writer's prompt this week is as follows:
30 things I vow to do this summer.

1. Go camping at least once a month.
2. Get all the windows clean, on the outside.
3. Go celebrate a friend's 50 birthday over the Fourth of July.
4. Visit Rocky Mountain National Park.
5. Visit Seminoe Sate Park.
6. Take several road trips.
7. Take Turbo to the movies.
8. Paint the back of our house(the only part that did not get painted last summer)
9. Paint the trim at my mom's house.
10. Help Nick build benches for our back deck and yard.
11. Read Clive Cusslers Medusa, Inca Gold and some others I have.
12. Read James Rollins The Doomsday Key
13. Read Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol.
14. Enjoy grilling out and eating out on our deck.
15. Go to the swimming pool with the boys.
16. Spend time at the nearest lake and play with the boys in the water (while watching Nick wind surf).
17. Try to donate as little blood as possible to the mosquitoes.
18. Grow enough vegetables to make a great batch of minestrone.
19. Visit the Black Hills again.
20. Get firewood from the mountains.
21. Keep Turbo from forgetting everything he learned last year.
22. Play video games with Turbo.
23. Spend time on the deck with Bruiser (he loves, loves, loves being outside).
24. Watch at least one summer blockbuster like the A Team.
25. Get away from the kids for an over night--probably for our anniversary.
26. Watch Turbo's butterflies hatch (his uncles got him some for his birthday--Painted Ladies).
27. Teach Bruiser to speak intelligible words.  Baby Swahili is not an effective form of communication.
28. Get the front porch floor replaced.
29. Replace the back porch.
30. Enjoy my summer to the fullest, no matter how many of these we get to do.

Now go check out Mama Kat and see if one of the prompts inspires you.

Wordless Wednesday-Summer Kids

This is my first adventure into Wordless Wednseday.

 Here is Turbo and the first watermelon of the season:

And Bruiser lounging away the evening:

Summer is here!

Go see Wordless Wednesday to see more Wordless Wednesday posts.

Post it Note Tuesday

It's Post-it Note time again.  I haven't played in a while so here goes:

Go see Supah for more Posties!

Random Tuesday Toughts

Random Tuesday strikes again!  Go see Keely and link you own random thoughts.

Summer has decided to come visit us.  We skipped over spring and went straight to summer.  Thunder storms and all.  Unfortunately the mosquitoes have come too.  And today we have rain.  Means we don't have to water but also means the boys are stuck inside.  There are only so many cartoons you can watch.   And I'm not really the crafty type.  It's gonna be a long summer.

Sunday night while consoling Reece to get him back to sleep, his diaper leaked and he peed on me.  Wonderful to have to change the baby and yourself at 10:30 at night.

And the laundry won this week.  I have all the clothes clean but not all folded or put away.  The towels are still dirty and waiting.  They lie there in the basket accusingly and wait.  I swear they are taunting me.  I'll get them- they can just wait until I'm good and ready to wash them.

Took Turbo to the doctor and it was confirmed--he is tall and skinny--all knees and elbows, bony ones at that.  Amazing that I have a seven year old son.  I swear just yesterday I was not sleeping and stumbling around like a zombie as a new mommy.  Now he is seven. 

I saw the grossest thing on TV--IHOP has a bacon and egg cheesburger.  That is wrong.  Eggs don't go on burgers, ever.  Bacon yes, eggs, no.

Photo from google images

Doesn't that just look awful?  Fried eggs and hamburger--yuck!

Ok, that's my random for the week.  Go see Keely and add your own random to the list.

Monday Minute--Kid Edition

THis week you need to take these five questions and ask your kid to answer them.  Or ask all your kids and provide multiple answers.  Don't have a kid?  Make one up. Then go link with Ian.

Well, currently Turbo is sleeping off his weekend (sleepover=no sleep) so I'll answer and then check with him later.

1. What is you favorite book/story?  Harry Potter. Story-Lord of the rings, Book-Scooby Doo
2. What do you want to do when you grow up?  Be a scientist like my dad (dad is a geologist). Geologist
3. What is you favorite game?  the Wii boxing, Tomb Raider
4. What is your favorite food?  pork chops, Pizza
5. Insert you own question to ask your kid---What do you like best about summer?  playing with friends. Staying home!

I'll check with him and post later any changes to these answers--we'll see how well I know my kid.  Turbo's answers are in Blue.  I did get one right--go figure.  I guess no one can know the mind of a seven year old.

Spin Cycle--Technology

Technology. 
Nick and I have come to each technology change kicking and screaming. 

We have seen the change from computers with 8 mb of RAM to the super fast, itty bitty things of today.  We financed our first computer and it had eight megs of RAM.  8 megs.  Now that kind of computer is such a dinosaur.  We have computers that will go with us where ever we go and have gigabytes of RAM.   It's amazing to me how much has changed.  We saw the internet start.  Nick was a journalism major his first trip through school.  He got to write for the first electronic news service the university had.  He got to use dial-up to connect to the university email service.  Look where we are now.

I do appreciate some of this improvement in technology--I get to talk to you wonderful people in blog land because of it.  I know it's good for me because I don't do IRL friend making so well.

We did not get cell phones until about three years ago (service is still hit and miss where we live).  It annoys Nick that the phones won't work where we need them too--mainly the boonies.  I finally needed one for work and we ended up with two of two of them.  I like having it for convenience sake but won't give up the land line for the cell just yet.

We finally got an HD TV last Christmas and a DVR just a couple of weeks ago.  At the forefront of technology we aren't.  We got a DVD player for Christmas about three years after DVD's became the new wave.  It has been kind of a pain replacing the video tapes of movies we had (although Nick would be happy to not have any of them).  I'm not ready to jump on the HD bandwagon just yet (and replace once again--Ugg)  I like having movies and DVD's of things we watch all the time (well really I watch lots of times).  Now that we have down graded our channel package, having the DVD's is helpful because sometimes there is nothing on TV to watch.

About the only technology we have kept up with is cameras.  We had a digital camera in 2003 when Turbo was born.  We have steadily upgraded over the years.  We have also upgraded the printing capabilities around our house.  Right now I am full on lusting after a digital SLR camera.  It will be a while until I get one but I can dream.

I also want my own netbook.  However that will have to wait too.  It can be frustrating trying to keep  up with technology and that is why Nick and I have often not kept up with the advances made.  In some cases that has saved us the trouble of upgrading. 

Anyway, go see Sprite's Keeper for more spins on technology.

Happiness Lost

Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop this week. 

I'm going to write about losing things.  The actual prompt is: What did you once lose?  Write about your search to find it again.

After I had my first son I lost my happiness.  Oh, I was thrilled to have a healthy baby boy but I was not genuinely, deeply happy inside.  I was irritable, sad and gloomy.  I didn't really notice how I felt until my husband said one day that I just wasn't smiling much any more and I was so very irritable.  That one comment made me look at how I was feeling and try to make the effort to perk up and let the little things slide more.  Looking back I think I had some depression issues connected with postpartum.  They were never bad enough to take to the doctor but they were more than the baby blues.

It took some work, time for myself and soul searching to fine the happy inside me again.  I started to smile even if I didn't really feel like it and that helped.  Finding things I like to do and doing them helped.  Then I went back to school and got to be more than mommy (not that I didn't love being mommy but I was a better mommy for having outside interests and activities).

When I got pregnant with my second baby, we knew going into it that I might have the same issues again.  This time I knew what to expect so my happy didn't get as lost as last time, it was only temporarily misplaced a few times.  (The middle of the night was the worse time when Bruiser would not sleep).  Happily I am through the worst of it and am back in a balanced place.  Blogging has helped me get there.  It's nice to know that there are other's who lose it sometimes too, I'm not the only one.

Pour Your Heart Out-Summer

Summer Vacation

Remember the magic those two words could inspire when you were a kid?  They have lost a bit of their luster now that I'm grown up but I was reminded of it when Turbo got up this morning and his first words were: "Today is the last day of school! Summer starts!"

I remember the days stretching out in front of me with nothing more important than remembering to return library books on time.  Spending the magic time of twilight outside rolling down a hill of grass, watching the stars come out, slapping mosquitoes, eating grilled food, watermelon, ice cream, going bare foot, flip flops, swimming, fishing, wading in the creek, all the summer stuff of childhood.

I'm hoping we can give Turbo and Bruiser some of those memories to look back on.  I know they will have good memories of spending time with their grandparents which I don't have.  We also get to go camping a lot and love to get into the mountains for hiking and fishing and bumping down dirt roads.  I want to see grubby, tired little boys lots this summer because that means they are getting to be little boys.  It's a good thing I don't mind mud between my toes and splashing in puddles holds appeal for me too--we all wash off pretty well.

Maybe, just maybe, some shine will come back to summer vacation, especially if I look at it through my boys eyes.  Summer is meant for magic and lazy days and fun.  I just need a seven year old to remind me of it.

I hope your summer is as fun and memory making as I know ours will be.  Bring on the sun and fun!

Now go see Shell for the other Pour Your Heart Out posts.

Random Tuesday--Why us?

So, it's Tuesday again, funny how it happens every week after Monday.  Anyway go link up with Keely and share your random.

Last Thursday, my back was a bit sore when I got up but I thought it would go away(I maybe was a bit enthusiastic playing the Wii the night before).  Then I dropped the checkbook and bent down to pick it up. My back decided it did not want to do that and it has let me know in no uncertain terms that it hates me.  Right now I hate it too.  I have been flat on my back most of the weekend--it hurts to sit down and turning over in bed is a new adventure in pain.  It's been a fun weekend.

We got the hand-me down wall tent set up and all the poles replaced this weekend and Turbo slept outside all night Sunday night.  The tent is pretty nice and Nick is looking forward to using is for hunting season this fall.  Turbo thought it was cool for the night.  He spent yesterday afternoon on the back deck playing in a large box.  What little kid doesn't like playing in boxes?

The reason we had a box was because Sunday night our water heater became a waterfall.  Water was dripping from the top of the heater.  That is a place where you should never hear splashing water.  So instead of a fun trip to the mountains to see the sights we replaced our water heater.  Thank God Nick is handy enough to do it himself (his dad came and helped but still).  While we had to buy a new water heater at least we didn't have to pay a plumber to come install it for us.

So we are hoping the bad luck will go visit Timbuktu, cause it has out stayed it's nonexistent welcome here.  First Turbo's teeth, then Bruiser's head, then Nick's ankle, then my back, then the water heater.  We're done now, thanks.

On a brighter note, the weather was beatiful this weekend.  Which in itself is odd, usually we have rain or some pretty good thunderstorms for the holiday.  This one was nice.  We got to spend some time outside--me not so much because it is hard to contain Bruiser when you can't run.  The kid has radar for the street and will beeline at every opportunity.  But he loves to be outside and will go get his shoes and then stand at the door waiting to go to out and yelling about it until he is outside.

Does anyone else like Good Eats?  It's so much fun but kind of snobby too.  I like some of the recipes he makes, but some stuff he does just looks like too much work for something simple.  I like watching it though.  I really want his new cookbook The Early Years.  It about his shows, the early ones (obviously).  I keep hoping for it for those special occasions, but no luck so far.

Well that should just about cover my random for this week.  Go see Keely--now, go!