Rough draft, revise, tweak, revise..

No, it's not a writing course!

It's my life.  Do you guys do this?  I think I've got the perfect plan of a schedule worked out, and then I realize that something is out of balance..  Because we all know that being a woman/ mom is just another word for rubber band.

We stretch it and pull it in one area until it gets tight, and then we boomerang back to the other side, all the while exploring the perimeter of this band from all angles.  And all the while we are hoping that the sides of this thing don't start to fray and break.

In fact, have you ever had the whole thing break?  In the rubber band of life, have you ever had it just go "snap"???

For those who have had it snap and collapse once, or even more than once, are always on a campaign to not let it happen again--not to us and not to our friends.

Define snapping.  OK, I'll define snapping-- something major that happens that brings to light all of the little things that we've been hiding or not dealing with or didn't even know were there.  Something that causes a complete meltdown in the family or an individual.

And then we spend a lot of time trying to figure this out so that it doesn't happen again.

So, life is basically just that--a rough draft that we keep tweaking and revising.. revising and polishing.  and reworking.

And we get a little older and a little smarter and we look for warning signs.  And we try to listen to the Holy Spirit and figure it out before it gets out of control.  Whatever "it" is, "it" needs to remain in balance.

So, I'm trying to rework my schedule in order to meet my family's needs better.  The problem is--their needs keep changing--sometimes faster than I know how to deal with them.  But it's O.K.

It's that time of year.. when all of the homeschooling mommies are planning next year's schedule while frantically trying to get this year's schedule accomplished.  Except the energy to finish this year's schedule is already gone, and we want summer vacation--NOW, and the snow is hardly gone.

So, there are 5 weeks of Hallstrom left (with one break week for Easter), during which we'll be headlong into all that spring entails--project fairs, bowls, bees, Robotics nationals, graduation, weddings, birthdays, summer jobs starting, etc. etc. etc.  So, pray for me as I try to figure out a "survival strategy" for the spring, summer and next fall.  You know that I will enjoy every minute of it, but I also want to make good choices with my time and do what is best for each one of my kids!

So, how is your rubber band stretching these days??  

New jobs..

O.K. so I got the job.

What??  You don't know what job? !! Duh. the lunch lady position.

This is how I know I got it.  My six year old walks into the room and asks me to pull her tooth out while I was talking on the phone.  See?  I'm hired.  I'm awesome.  I'm a lunchlady.

I was trying to find that commercial with those crazy kids singing in their garage about lunch ladies.  No can find. Do you guys know what I'm talking about??  Not that I want to upstage Adam Sandler's famous Lunch Lady song, but I feel I could add to the song, you know?  He's about my age, and I am quite certain that the lunch ladies on the east coast were just as Italian and bossy as ours up north.  And ours were efficient.  They didn't JUST serve lunch; they pulled teeth.

But I'm not the only one who got a job this week.  My mother.  She's awesome.  In fact, she's exploding from sheer awesome-ness right now.

What's her job?  Official family basketball betting consultant per final four extravaganza.

Oh, well, if you must know.  My mother was "highly encouraged" (pestered, cajoled, manipulated, etc.) into placing her bets with the rest of the family for the final four play-offs.  I think our entire (extended) family stops all normal functioning during the final four.  Not that I would be adverse to playing, but up until 2 weeks ago, I still had not been able to wrap my head around what a "bracket" is.

So, my mother placed her bets.  She used very logical techniques for deciding.

Let's see here--I like the way Villanova sounds.
I'm from Marquette, so that must be a good choice.
And Cousin Fred is near Butler..   and so on.

Meanwhile, my Dad and brother spent countless hours strategizing for success.  Can you guess who won the bucket of money?  My mother, of course.   She is trying fit in "successful final four betting strategy" classes into her already packed schedule.  It's gonna be tough, but someone has to do it, Ma.

And last, but not least, my son, Jamie,  got offered a job for the summer at Hamilton Sundstrand.  He was not to be upstaged by his mother and grandmother, so he opted for a paying job.  Imagine that.

We are thrilled on so many levels.  It's hard to not jump around the kitchen (in my knee highs, hair net and rubber gloves!)

And I don't even have a lunch lady...

For those of you who went to public schools, you may remember the infamous "lunch room".  The lunch room was actually the gymnasium turned into a massive cafeteria where the entire school gathered for lunch, except for the teachers.  The teachers were released from their duties for about 20-40 minutes.

Enter lunch ladies.  Lunch ladies were like the mini-gestapo of the elementary school.  They directed traffic, served lunch, monitored messes, broke up fights, and chided the kids for not drinking their milk.

They had other duties also.  My lunch ladies always pulled loose teeth.  If you walked in with a hanging one, you left with it in your pocket.  Lunch ladies were not a force to be reckoned with.  If they said, "open your mouth" and suddenly put their fingers in it, you were at their mercy.

In fact, my mother, to this day, insists that all of my loose teeth were pulled by the lunch ladies.

I can't remember her name, but she was Italian looking, short and plump and rather brusk.  She pulled the tooth that I ended up leaving in my desk at school.

What's a first-grader to do??  I had to leave a note for the tooth fairy, and hope that her all-seeing eye would somehow "know" that the tooth was in my desk!  And I had a very limited vocabulary, so half of my words were pictographs.   Picture this in a six-year-old scrawl.

Dear Tooth Fairy, 


"The (picture of a tooth) is in my (picture of a desk) at (school).  Put the (tracing of a coin) in my (desk).


Thank you
Love, Jena

Can you believe it?  The tooth fairy DID NOT get a clue and deliver my coin or pick up the tooth as scheduled.

At least my Emily knows her tooth fairy personally.  One of friends  found out that Emily lost a tooth and promptly reached into his pocket and pulled out a nickel.  Since we've never done the tooth fairy thing with our own children, we have dubbed our friend Ryan as a tooth fairy (in addition to his other titles like head dishwasher and most recently--job finder for oldest son)

So, Emily lost one tooth, and then she promptly lost two more, and now.. there's this one front tooth.  It's right smack in the top front.  It is hanging by a thread--a weak, spindly thread.  You know it looks ridiculous.  I just want to get my fingers in there and yank! but No!

I am not a lunch lady.  I can't even find a lunch lady within 100 miles of here.  I think I'll put an add in the paper.

Looking for a noon-time supervisor for a small school, located in the country.  Duties include: serving lunch, breaking up fights, pulling teeth and writing memos to various agencies, specifically Tooth Fairies inc.  No experience necessary.  You will be paid in nickels.

What do you think?  Anybody need a job?

Frugal fashionista/hacks/ entertainment

We are rounding out the final cool days and heading into spring around here.  It's kind of that transition time where you want to wear spring colors, but on some days, it's just too cold.   Joanna made this green/ white necklace to go with my thrifted turtleneck/ sweater combo.  Sweater ($3.99) Turtleneck (1.99)

Here's another thrifted combo.  I love this jacket.  It is a light-weight stretchy denim with a sweet tie and zipper.  ($2.39) and the orange top ($.49)  and skirt ($6.99)

Jewelry by Joanna.. (of course)  Boots from my mother..  And no, I did not buy them at the same time.  Everything comes in the house one item at a time..  It's the thrill of putting stuff together that is a fun time for me!

And for our frugal "hack", I volunteered one of our guests.  This is Lee.  He is an elder at our small church.

Everything he does is found on the pages of his little book.  He is constantly taking notes, writing prayer requests, figuring out whatever he needs to do, or places to be, or people to visit.  He's a busy guy, and his brain is in this book.  Well, can you imagine the horror he faces when something happens to his little book?  It's awful, but not insurmountable.  In fact, he didn't even read a frugal hack blog to figure out how to do this.

That's right.  When his book got soggy, he replaced the workings with the cardboard from a Raisin Bran box.

Downright brilliant.  Frugal hack times 42!  He gets 42 "organizing mommy points" which can not be redeemed at any store near you.  And of course, this guy is an engineer who thought I was a complete idiot for wanting to put this on my blog.  I assured him that there would plenty of my "fans" who would be thrilled for yet another way to save money and go green at the same time.

And last but not least, frugal entertainment.  There's nothing that says "free" like a free walk outdoors.

We have this great little place that is near our home, and I'm sure if you look around, you'll find them around your home also.

Outdoors is free, and it is so good for you.

Just drag those kids of yours off the couch.  Make your husband, kids and friends go with you outside.  Nobody is going to die from a little fresh air.

In fact, they may live a tad longer because of it. 

Or at least have a little fun with what time is left.

What do you think?  Any time for fresh air this week??  

Just a fun day goof-around time..

So, I am not even sure what normal people do at home all day.  I'm trying to figure it out.  It's Tuesday, and it's spring break for our homeschool.  So, we aren't at Hallstrom.  We are not taking 37 classes, eating lunch in the crowded fellowship hall.  I am not foraging around for more water to drink.  Nor am I groping for a cup of coffee to get me through the rest of the afternoon.  No teaching study skills or English or gavel club. 

I'm not planning to go into a coma at 6:49 p.m. In fact, I probably won't even hit coma status until midnight. Imagine that. 

So, I slept in until some late hour in the morning.. a lot later than I normally do on Tuesdays.  Unlike some people who complain they got groggy if they sleep in, I feel just the opposite.  I feel energized. 

O.K. coffee helps! But still!  So, what is a mommy to do with her six year old for fun?  Ever heard of this cool thing called photo booth?!  Yeah.

It's perfect entertainment for six year olds.  and middle-aged mommies.   So, we not only had coffee, I also made pasta for breakfast.  I know. I know.  I like weird stuff for breakfast. 

And then Emily goes ahead and loses a tooth in the middle of breakfast! So, we debated about what to do with it.  I think she's going to give it to her brother for his 15th birthday.  What a treat, eh?  And then it reminded me of a funny story that a young friend of ours told us about her mother saving every single one of her teeth in an envelope.  

But when she was presented with the tooth in the envelope offering, she wasn't impressed at all.  She said something like, "Euwwww, that's gross Mom"..  which probably made her mother cry.

I have no recollection of the where-abouts of any of my kids' teeth, except for the ones that are currently in their mouths, and I'm not even too sure about that.  Has anyone confused me with someone who is sentimental? No, I didn't think so.  

But blogging and taking pictures is sentimental in a non-cluttery kind of way.  And I just love to perseverate on the things people say.  I guess I'm sentimental about words and expressions and funny memories.  Comes from being overly verbal-linguistic, I guess.  

So, now that we have cleaned up the house, had pasta, raked some leaves, cleaned some more, and took a bunch of pictures, we are watching a movie.  

And this photo should convince you that the pictures taken after this were too weird to put up! But we had fun! Happy goof-around Tuesday.

Mittens, birds, and chaos.

I'm a flash-in-the-pan kind of blogger these days.  Someone has found a post that I wrote a million years ago about making mittens, and now I have four comments about asking instruction on mitten-making techniques. I  will try to answer the mitten-instructions as soon as my brain gets back, but it's been a bird-poop kind of weekend.  So, my goal is to post an update on making mittens by the end of the week, for those of you who are asking about it.

So, what is a "bird poop" weekend? Sounds exciting, eh?  Where can I sign up?  It all started Wednesday night when my dear husband decided to pull an all-nighter in order to get his other responsibilities in line in order to take most of our kids to the Robotics regional competition in Milwaukee early the next morning.

The combination of being worried about the state of health of my husband and having two sick kids at home probably put my brain in a state of poor decision-making.  I was trying to decide if I should try to make it to Batavia for pilates or not.  I asked a friend to watch the kids, and I left Friday morning for my usual Friday routine.

I should have known that when I had to scrape the windshield on the outside AND the inside for over 20 minutes that this was going to be a hard day.  But I kept on.  I did pray, and I kept going.

About 3/4 of the way there, a large un-identified "blop" landed straight down on the center of my windshield.  Bird poop?  maybe.. perhaps an ostritch?  a pteradactyl? The size of this mass was enormous.  It made me wonder if someone's dog was riding on the back of the car roof and let one fly.

I literally had to pull over at a gas station and use (several) paper towels to get it off.  Then I proceeded to scrub the windshield for what seemed like five minutes.  And yet I KEPT going.

I won't go into the drama of what happened for the rest of the day, but let's just say that the day ended with me begging my husband to come home that night.

With him home, I felt MUCH better, and I volunteered to go and pick up the kids from Milwaukee the next day.  So, Emily and I were all decked out in "robotics" gear from head to toe.  We were so cute and coordinated--grey and green--with buttons, pins, T-shirts, sweatshirts, matching scarf and sweater.  I was feeling like a real robotics mommy and ready to get in the action.  Go team 2039!

So, we set out for Milwaukee--around 2 hours to get there--perfect! We'll get there for lunch, watch a match or two, get back in the car with enough time to get Hudson to the Coronado for his cello concert.. perfect, right?

So, half way there, we stop for a potty/ food break and realize (as we are trying to pay) that the funds were low.  On second thought, who needs that icky food anyway, eh?  Jump back into the car and head into the city.  Except there's construction. and detours. and more construction.  and more detours.

And now, without food, money or sense of direction, I called my dear husband.

"I am lost.  I have no idea where I am, and I can't get back on the highway.  I think I will just live the rest of my life in Milwaukee because there's no way out."

Thankfully, he was able to transfer funds so we could have lunch! and then talk me out of the snarl over the phone.  He does this so patiently, you know?  Wouldn't any normal guy kill his woman at this point?

So, an hour later, I pull up the Cellular Arena and out walks Joanna and Hudson at the very same time.

So, instead of eating lunch and watching more robotics, we just piled everyone into the car and went back home.  Thankfully, my son, Jamie was there to drive us home.

And then Jamie brought Hud to the Coronado and back home again, and I vegged out on the couch.  I took a picture of myself at the end of the day, just to see if I looked at worn out as I thought I did.

And then I couldn't handle not smiling, you know?  My mother always says, "you look so pretty when you smile", so I smiled for my mother.  And I figured, what's the big deal anyway?  Nobody died, and everyone is fine.  I did not have to spend the rest of my life in Milwaukee even.  Imagine that.

Dinner Conversation chaos

One of the joys of having a bigger family is the joy of eating as a big family.  This week we have our oldest, Jamie, home from school and we figured the only night to go out for dinner together was tonight.  Funny how an entire week together can render only one night that everyone is available for a meal..

And so we did it.  We made our way over to the Thai Hut and filled up two tables, pushed together.  According to our oldest, there is absolutely no spicy food in the entire city of Houghton--and certainly no Panang Curry! So, the entrees were ordered: Panang and red curry, fried rice, pineapple fried rice, pad thai, etc.  and I ordered some tea.

I loved the tea that I had over in Thailand, and I think it was a green jasmine tea, but when I've gotten it in the states, it has been that bitter tea that comes in the bags.  So, I asked for whatever tea they had that was made with tea leaves.  Thai tea.  That's what they recommended: thai tea.  So, I love a good cup of strong, black tea made with tea leaves, and this is what this reminded me of.  Although, it had sort of a spicy, woody feel to it also.

So, Nathanael takes a sip of it.

"It has the taste of the smell of an antique store"

the taste of a smell, eh?

So,  Hudson tries it.

"Yes, definitely an antique store"

So, then Jamie tries it.

"It's the cedar chest from the living room.. definitely the cedar chest"

and then, Joanna tries it.

"Professor Digory"  "it is most definitely Professor Digory!"

from Narnia?

Hudson: "Wait a minute.  How can a tea taste like a character from Narnia?"

So, I tried it again.

What are these kids talking about?  It is definitely the sauna in my Grandpa Burt's home.  Or it could be the wood-burning sauna at the lake.  The smell when the sauna is just lit in the daytime, and it is just drying out the air.

Have you ever tasted Thai tea?  What does it remind you of, anyway?  the antique store? the old chest? a sauna? or a professor?

And is your family this weird? And if they aren't, what DO normal families talk about anyway???

In which I seduce the turkey..

There's a real live (wild) turkey that lives near us.   It usually lives down the street a few houses down, but on this particular day, it was closer than ever before.  

Like a thunderbolt, Joanna dashes out of the car to get a picture of it.  In so doing, she chases it into our neighborhood.

Here he is trying to take flight.

So, I got out all of the bird seed and made a little trail that ended up at our doorstep.

Here is the prize--a nice turkey at the end of our driveway.

It probably enjoyed the entire bag of bird seed that it found at the end of the driveway.

You can hang out here any time.

So, when I saw my friend, Regina, today, I asked her,

"Have you noticed that your turkey is missing?"

Regina: "Yeah.  I was wondering where it went."  (Regina lives a few houses down the road from us)

"I've seduced it down to our house.  I think he lives here now."

Regina: "I was wondering who put the bird seed on the road?"

"Yeah.  I'm guilty.  I wanted a pet turkey."

Regina: "You aren't going to eat it, are you?"

"I wasn't planning on it.  Were you planning to eat it?"

Regina: "No"

"Good.  I'll tell you if one of our neighbors gets it.."

And this isn't the first time that I've gotten some of Regina's animals to come to my house.  A few years back, I had put the skin from a grilled salmon out.  Sure enough, her kitties came over and enjoyed a feast.

Well, a few weeks after the salmon incident, I heard a strange meowing sound coming from the front door.  When I opened the door, I noticed a bunch of baby kitties all curled up next to my door. I had no idea what to do.  I racked my brain trying to figure out how newborn kittens would end up on my doorstep.  So, I called Regina and asked her if she was missing some kittens.  Sure enough, they were hers.  She drove the car over and tried to corral all of her kittens, which had promptly hid themselves all over our one acre yard.

So, Regina have the long history of sharing "pets".  For someone who doesn't actually own any pets, we have our share of excitement around here with squirrels, cows, birds, kittens and now.. turkeys!