Now that we have a new house the joy of packing the old one up has arrived. Thankfully, I have until next June to do it all so I can do it gradually. Not a fan of the packing. Nick keeps threatening a small house fire and we start over.
Parent Teacher conferences are this week. This will be the first year that I think Turbo will get a fairly good review. He loves High School. And his grades reflect that. The kid has the best grades he's ever had.
Bruiser has started reading the Harry Potter series by himself. I had read the first two books out loud to him a couple years ago. This year he needed a book to read at school, what they called a Good Fit Book. He took the first Harry Potter book and is over halfway through it. I have a reader!
My friend got me several paint by numbers for my birthday. Should be a fun way to pass the cold winter days.
Nick and I have been trying to get out of the slump we have been in for the last year or so. It's a process to get out of a rut. Date nights and trying to rediscover conversation that is not work oriented is helping. However the up shot of our conversations has been we need to travel more.
So, hi everybody! Yeah, not so many of you left these days. I have fallen off the blogging wagon of late. But I'm hoping to get my mojo back and start blogging again.
We have had some changes. The biggest is we just bought a house in a town about 150 miles north. Work is moving us there so there we go. We did find a fabulous house though.
It has tons of space and a truly huge backyard. We do the big move next June so the boys can finish the school year out here, but we will be trickling up various things for the rest of the winter.
We took our first load up this past weekend so we could make the house livable for Nick. He gets to spend a couple weeks a month up there for work this winter.
So MMMM this week has a theme of Cars, Trucks, Boats, things that move, so here are my picks:
Yes, I have been terribly inconsistent with posting. I think I needed to get my mother's estate finally finished and over with to be able to move on. It's like I have been frozen in place and now I'm finally thawing out.
So how about we get on with this whole blogging thing. A little Hodgepodge?
1. May 17th is National Pack Rat Day. Sidebar-should we be celebrating this? Hmmm...
Are you a pack rat? Even if you're not a full fledged pack rat, most
people have one thing or another they struggle to part with. Tell us
what's yours.
I'm a bit of a pack rat, but Nick has helped with this admittedly learned behavior. My mother was a definite pack rat. I learned from her, but Nick is a clean it out kind of person (with the exception of his clothes) so I have cleared out a lot of unnecessary clutter. I still have a bunch of boxes from my mom that I need to sort through and put things away and get rid of the unneeded things.
2. What are two things you know you should know how to do, but you don't?
Change the oil in my car. My parents wanted me to know how but they sent me to the garage to get it changed and I'm not the most assertive person and I just avoided the process and later said I watched. Yeah, introvert here.
Change a tire. I have a vague idea of the process but I have never done it myself.
3. Do you crave sugar? Do you add sugar to your coffee and/or tea? Do
you use artificial sweeteners or sugar substitutes? When dining out is
dessert a given? Are you someone who has slain the sugar dragon, and if
so tell us how you did it.
Not really a sugar fan. Oh, I like sweet stuff, but I like it tempered with the savory. I can take or leave dessert, but I like ice cream. I like dark chocolate. I like homemade cookies. Just not a lot of them. I am not a big fan of artificial sweeteners. They give me headaches.
4. What's a trend it took a while for you to come round to, but now you can't imagine living without? The smart phone. At times I feel a bit too connected, but it is nice to be able to call/text the teenager and know what he's up to.
5. What's a song that reminds you of a specific incident in your life? Please elaborate.
Savage Garden's Truly Madly Deeply
This song takes me back to Nick and my wedding. It was 19 years ago this summer. Here we are still together through the ups and downs. Love him so much.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
We went as a family and saw Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2. I was a bit worried about whether Bruiser would be able to sit through the whole thing (it's a long movie) but he was fine and loved the movie, especially Baby Groot. I liked the movie, but thought the family is what you make theme was pushed a bit hard. Hopefully the next one will be a bit less touchy feely and more standard superhero like.
So, it's Tuesday and I haven't blogged in over two weeks now. The urge is there but the follow through is lacking. And strangely, right now I have stuff to blog about. Ss let's get this train rolling again with some Tuesday random thoughts:
I'm getting my hair cut tonight. I'm seesawing between just getting it trimmed and getting something more drastic. No, not going short. Just some layers and some shape around my face. I love my long hair, but it looks very similar to how it was my first year of college, some 25 years ago. I think I might need a bit of a change. How ever, I need it to be quite simple to style. Right now I scrunch some styling gel in it and give it a shake and a finger comb and call it good. I'm just not one who can devote 20-30 minutes to doing my hair any more. So I'm looking. Hopefully, I'll be brave enough to play with it with my stylist tonight and see where it goes. After all, it's just hair and it grows back right?!
We get to go see the Harlem Globe Trotters next week. It sounds like it will be fun and an evening out of the house with friends and the kids. All plusses in my book.
I am finally almost back to normal after my back went out last month. Stupid snow and stupid snow shovel. All I did was turn around, OK, maybe a slight twist with an empty snow shovel in my hands and holy mother back spasm. I've been moving like I was 90 even since. So much fun getting older.
Our cat Freya has discovered that she must kill the toilet paper so it does not attack us while we are in the bathroom. Or she just likes playing with it, either way we must now hide the toilet paper from the cat.
We only have one cat but she still spends time plotting...
Or Weekend happenings. Either way, it's currently Monday and here we go off on another hectic week. No, really, this week is wildly busy.
For starters, today Nick is taking his truck in to get the back up camera fixed. It stopped working about three weeks ago or so. It is such a handy thing to have. Cuts down on the frustrating directions from me when hooking up trailers and campers and such. With luck it's an easy fix.
Then tomorrow all the fun starts. Nick has to go to Casper for work. Turbo has a swim meet in Casper, and I am going to the Eric Church Concert, in Casper. I will be the only one staying over night. I am so looking forward to the concert. A friend got tickets for us and let me know at Christmas. Looks to be a fun time!
On Thursday, Turbo has another swim meet here in town against a junior high from Cheyenne. We will be there to root him on. After the diving is over of course. He did take second in his Backstroke race last Thursday. We were so happy for him.
Now, I was going to tell about our weekend, right? So here it is:
There was archery shooting. Nick took the boys and they had fun shooting balloons.
There was naps. Mostly me.
There was wine consumed--two particularly good merlots.
Swimming happened. All four of us. It was fun.
I got some girl time watching the ACM awards.
We watched Transformers--the first three movies.
Overall a good, busy, but not too busy, relaxing but not lazy weekend. We need more of these.
Now for MMMM. It's a Freebie week and in honor of the Concert I will be attending tomorrow night, here is some of my favorite Eric Church songs:
Tuesday means random so here you go, some of the random things roaming around my brain:
Turbo has put his turboness to use and is on the junior high swim team. He is finding that he really likes swimming. We are glad he likes it as it is a sport that both Nick and I participated in during our high school careers. Go Turbo!
I'm sure lots of you have encountered this story of the Roomba vs. Dog Poop. WE shared it last night with Turbo and he loved it. As a result we had to share the story of The Lizard Birth. Turbo still giggled this morning about the lizard. Sometimes a funny story makes a day better. It was nice to have a laugh for a Monday.
This:
My mother's house sold, finally. So that whole estate thing is almost over. Happy and sad over this one, but life goes on.
Bruiser is 8 now. How can the time have whizzed by so fast?
Our weather has been rather mild, but is gearing up to be our typical snowy "spring" type weather. The trees are budding, the tulip leaves are peaking up and the snow is coming to freeze them all. What fun!!
So, one of my New Year's promises was to try new things. Last night I did try something new. I attended a Pop Up Paint Party. It was held at The Library, a local bar, because what college town doesn't have a bar called the Library?
A good friend went with me and we painted a really fun picture:
I'm on the far right, in front
Definitely made me smile.
Fence Post Daisies
I am going to do this again, next week in fact, but that one is with a different group. I will be doing the Pop Up Paint Party again. It was so much fun!
1. What is one area of your life where you're a perfectionist? Is that a good thing?
I'm not really much of a perfectionist, I'm more a get it done as well as possible, but get it done kind of girl. Striving for perfection can really slow things down. My mom found the saying that finished is better than perfect and she started applying it to her crafts because trying for perfect can cause a project to never get finished.
2. What's something you find perfectly ridiculous?
The "style" of boys wearing pants that hang so very low. The over sharing that goes on via the internet. The over offense people take at the slightest hint of criticism. I could go on and on...
3. What's a skill you've developed by way of that old fashioned saying, 'practice makes perfect?
Meal planning. I learned the basics before I left home, but mom was the cook at home. It wasn't until I moved out that I started learning the making of a meal, not just cooking parts of it. There is a skill to having all the elements of a meal come together at the same time. Pleasing multiple people with that meal is a whole other issue.
4. What's your idea of a perfect breakfast?
Biscuits and gravy. Nick makes a mean version of it too. Although, Nick's hash browns, eggs and bacon is really good too. I guess, mostly, a perfect breakfast is one my hubby cooks!
5. What's a trip, holiday, vacation, or day outing you've taken that you'd rate a perfect 10? Tell us why.
We have so many trips that could be perfect 10s. We love to get in the truck and hit the road. It helps that we have so fantastic scenery within driving distance.
Rocky Mountain National Park
Death Valley National Park
The beach at LAke Michigan
Rafting the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument
Road trip to the Snowy Mountains
The Black Hills
Yellowstone
Arches National Park
Four wheeling about an hour from home.
And so many more...
6. What quote or saying perfectly sums up your life right now? If you can't do perfect, how about one that comes close?
It always gets better. No matter how bad things look now, it will get better. Just keep moving forward.
7. How would you spend $300 today?
I'd got to Bed Bath and Beyond and get new flatware and towels and sheets. It would be easy to spend it there.
8. Insert your own random thought here.
I'm going to my first wine and paint party tonight. I'm looking forward to it as something new I have wanted to do for a while now. I have a friend going with me and we are looking forward to having a fun night out.
Yeah, still here. Not to diligent with the posting, but still like having the outlet. I think I can do a bit of random today, so here goes:
I have really been missing my mother recently. I keep getting little reminders of things I used to do with her. Bruiser had a school program and I was reminded of the last one she got to see. Nick and I went to lunch and I was again reminded of the Friday lunches we used to do when the boys were little. I just miss her.
On a brighter note Bruiser had a very cute school program and he got to be the shark that ran across stage at the end of a song. It was the punchline of the song. It was so cute.
Turbo has joined the swim team. He is just getting into the whole idea of a sport. I hope he ends up enjoying it.
Our spring break is creeping up on us. We aren't doing anything exciting this year. Some home improvement and just hanging out with the kiddos. Might be a trip to Cabelas for some camping supplies (sleeping bags, sleeping mats, a new tent, possibly ice fishing stuff like a hut/shelter, and whatever else strikes our fancy). There might be a sleep over with cousins and a garage party, weather permitting.
This:
Although I have been doing better in the meal planning and execution department. I do think I want to introduce a bit of variety, but Bruiser is still a bit picky. Or a lot picky. Yeah, the kid drives me nuts with eating dinner sometimes.
Turbo on the other hand is fixing to start eating us out of house and home. He's right there with the increasing appetite. Swimming will only increase it more. Goody.
We have had a run of very nice weather recently. Just about all the ice has melted away. It's been in the 50s during the day and sunny. Yes, we have had some wind but still, warm weather for us. That all ends tomorrow. We will be getting snow again. Not sure how much. Could be an inch, could be a foot. Weather is so fun in it's unpredictability.
Turbo gets to start swimming next week for the junior high/middle school. Yeah, since this is the first year that 9th grade has been part of the high school here, the former junior high is now a middle school--I think. It's all rather murky. Anyway, Turbo and swimming. He's excited. I'm sort of excited. Mom's taxi gets to go into service. It's really good that Nick likes to cook, and he's quite good at it too.
Tax time. We do our taxes tonight. Shouldn't be scary, but it's kind of like going to the principal's office for adults isn't it?
Freya has been fitting in well. She loves Thullee. Really, really loves him. He's less sure of her, but since all his experience of cats was mostly them telling him to stay away at claw point, it's understandable that he's confused by this little cat that wants to cuddle.
Bruiser is in swimming lessons again. He had to start out in level 3 again (about his 4th time in level 3) but on the second lesson he moved up to level 4. He was so excited to move up. I had told him he wouldn't be in level 3 for very long. He was less than thrilled about going to lessons, but he's all excited about them now. I'm just happy he's swimming.
I've been finding my mojo, motivation, or whatever again. I've been cooking more, Nick and I have been doing more things both together and separately. It's been good.
Nick started snow biking. He has always been a fan of biking, most especially mountain biking, he raced when he was younger. He had a friend finally convince him to try snow biking and he fell in love with it. So much so he bought a bike to do it with. (He only rented the bike to try it first) So now Nick is the proud owner of three bikes: the old hard tail mountain bike, the full suspension mountain bike and the snow bike.
So hopefully the weather is good where you are this week!
