Time Wasters

It's Saturday and I'm sick. Headache, lethargy, sore throat, cough. I keep asking people to feel my forehead for a fever. I feel so awful, I am SURE I am at least 106. It's not. I'm tired, but can't sleep.
Since I'm in bed with acres of time on my hands, I changed the layout of my blog from 2 columns to 3. I like it. Now, I can do more blogging ... still about nothing ... since that's what I'm doing.

I love Sudoku. Click HERE and you can also enjoy this wonderful brain-strengthening game, too. The object of the game is to continue to fill in the rest of the squares making sure that each row, vertically and horizontally, have numbers 1-9. Also, the 9-blocks should have numbers 1-9. This is not addition. This is a study in logic and a bit addicting. It's a true time waster, but perhaps will give you some mental gymnastics. I already feel more brilliant!!

As soon as I'm finished with this post, however, I think I will do some hand-quilting. I'm almost finished with an Americana-looking wall hanging. I really feel the need to get it finished and hung. It must be understood, however, that QUILTING is NOT a time waster.

Housework, now THAT'S a time waster. Talking to a teenager, that also is a time waster, if you are actually thinking that you will be understood. Someone once told me that reasoning with a teen is like trying to nail jello to a tree.

March Madness

Ok, I lied. It's not Spring here. Since my last post, only 5 days ago, it has stormed, blizzarded and snowed on us. At one point, we went to the Metropolis-over-the-mountain and on our return trip home, we had to follow a snow plow to get over the pass. That's a picture of Clint's soccer practice yesterday after school. Note that it also still hasn't really gotten light here, even after Day-light Savings.

I have to admit that today is very pretty. The sky is blue in some parts of the heavens. Even though the grass is still dead and brown there is pristeen, white snow covering much of it. It is breezy and I have Old Glory waving at my front door. It's still a nice day outside.

Inside the house, however, we have had much illness this week. Victor has been sick with the flu which made his Diverticulitis flare. It scares me when that happens. He runs a high fever and is in so much pain.

Today I have Clint, Nathan and Megan home with the flu. Yesterday, Nathan, Megan, Matthew and Rachael were home sick. The coughing, fevers and lethargy is a strain. I have hand sanitizer at every sink and have been sterilizing door knobs, light switches and sink faucets. I want Spring to REALLY arrive and STAY!

It's Officially SPRING!!

Hurray, Spring has arrived! My crocuses are up and so cute. The horses were frolicking (look that one up!) in the pasture and the sun was out, for a long time today.

Meggie's birthday was on the 8th but we had a bad snow storm and we got snowed in (AGAIN) and had to be dug out. I knew the mothers of all those little girls wouldn't be able to get up to the house (even if they could find it) so we waited until we had good weather.

The girls had so much fun. Megan got TWO birthday cakes. One was carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and the other was a homemade gluten-free chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream frosting. She got to blow out the candles on both cakes. They had Sprite and ice cream, too.

She got to eat the gluten-free cake all by herself!

Then she opened her presents, which consisted of stuffed animals of every kind and art work. A little girl's dream. We made little crafty bracelets, had a bubble-blowing fest in the front yard, ran through the sprinkler (until Dad turned it off) and drew with chalk on the sidewalk.

The drama of the party was that 2 white horses got out of their pasture and ran onto our property which ticked-off our dog. He thinks he's so tough! Victor got the horses back into their pasture before the dog got kicked in the head. Then we put FOR SALE signs on the 1979 BMW 733i that we bought for the teenagers last year. They don't want to pay the insurance or gas to run it and we are tired of having it hang around the yard. So we got it ready to sell today. We have had some snoops but no one has bought it yet.

All Iced-Up and No Where to Go

My husband saved my life today.

I spent the morning cleaning the house. Shees, the germs were taking over! I stuck my hair in a pony tail, stayed in my jammy pants, and a short-sleeved tee, and typical of me, I was cleaning the house in my barefeet. Usually, not worth mentioning.

Anyway, I scrubbed everything that didn't move. The dogs just got out of the way as I sprayed commercial household cleaners on surfaces and then sucked-up or washed-up dirt, mud, dried-on-food and dust and crust.
Sometimes, it's easier to go through the routine of ungrunging the abode, by yakking on the phone to a friend (sister, adult child or mother) about more interesting things than scraping frosting splatter from the walls.

At 11:55 a.m. (not that I really looked at the clock at this time) I took a floor mat out onto the front porch to shake the crud off of it. Mind you, I was still dressed in mostly nothing. As I talked to my sister, I shook the rug and the dog closed the front door behind me. When I was done snapping that rug into the yard, and holding my breath so the dust mites didn't get inhaled, I turned to open the door and to my horror, IT WAS LOCKED!
I still had nothing on my feet and realized that I was going to have to run around the house to the side garage door -- through 6 inches of crunchy, icy snow. I still had Lee on the phone as I was running and screaming from the pain of the cold. Incidentally, it was 9 DEGREES BELOW ZERO!! That is deadly COLD!!
The garage door was locked! I was crestfallen to think that I was not out of my misery but had to, now, run to the back door through 12 inches of glacial crust. I knew I couldn't gracefully make it down that hill on my frozen feet, which now felt like I was running on stumps weighing 100 pounds each and were now totally numb. I had to run around the hill which was about 300 feet further. When I finally got to the back door, I found that it was -- LOCKED!!

My misery had graduated to suffering. I was shivering and panicking. I was officially locked out of my house, not dressed for the elements and knew I could freeze to death soon. I told Lee goodbye and called Victor, at work, who didn't answer. I knew I had to warm my feet and conserve my body heat. Having no close neighbors, I knew I was in trouble.

Miraculously, I had hauled that rug around the house with me. I threw it down on top of the snow, and squatted down on the rug, leaning my body against the back door, out of the wind, with my chin resting on my knees and my hands trying to warm my toes.
Victor called me back! I wailed on the staticky phone, telling him my dilemna in a very immature whine. I had poor phone reception as it was a mobile phone (not my cell) and it was not very close to the base, which was in the lusciously warm home, in the master bedroom. It was a miracle that I had the phone with me in the first place!

It was Victor's lunch hour and he was already leaving work. He would be home as soon as he could. I called Lee back and she was so sweet to keep me talking and not thinking of the pain of the cold. Every minute felt like an eternity.

Finally, Victor made it home, came in the front door, raced through the house to open the back door. I found it hard to stand. He held me for a long time. Oh, the exquisite pain as the blood starts to warm those near-frostbit digits.

After snooping around on Wikipedia, I learned that I was close to 2nd degree frostbite and possibly well on my way to 3rd degree stages. I am fine now. We are working on putting a hide-a-key somewhere outside.

Exploders and Explosions

I have finally gotten to the end of a very odd day. Some days are uneventful, or exciting, or just normal. But today was truly different. It started out with the usual flurry getting everyone down to the bus stop.

Rachael finished her project on "the wheel" and perfected the final touches of her Kleenex Box Car. This invention had to roll rather than scoot. It had pencils for axles and cardboard wheels.

Matthew was downloading his english assignment, onto a disc, which had to be a song that had some different elements of poetry, (rhyming, alliteration, personification, onomatopoeia, metaphor, simile, etc...). This is the youTube of the song his used.

When they had finished, were fed and jacketed, I had to plow through 6 inches of snow to get them to the bus stop. The snow was blowing horizontally and it was cold. You really have to punch the gas, in 4-wheel drive, to get up the hills.

When I got home, I tended to Heather, who had her ear drum break, earlier in the week, from an infection that, I believe, was brought on by the flu. She has been in a lot of pain and was very uncomfortable. Her fever is down now and the heating pad seems to work.

Nathan called at that point. He told me what no parent wants to hear. He, Kayleigh and Clint got into a car wreck on the slick roads as they were driving the Ford Explorer to the High School. The cop gave the ticket to the woman in the Honda (whom Kayleigh hit), because she didn't yield the right of way as Kayleigh slid into her. Makes no sense to me, but I guess someone had to get the ticket! Thank goodness no one was hurt. We call the Explorer, "The Exploder".

After I found out that the kids were okay, the phone rang AGAIN and it was Lee from the Metropolis over the pass. Was I listening to the radio? Did I hear the news? A 100 year-old section of Main Street in my hometown was blown to smithereens!

There was a gas leak in a business (a restaurant) which eventually leveled at least the seven businesses (2 bars, 2 sandwich shops, an art gallery, and a dress shop) next to it. This picture was taken right after the initial blast. After this shot, the buildings would eventually be burned until there was just a crater in the ground. There is still one person not accounted for, though there were no other injuries reported. We lost some wonderful historic buildings. In the end, we lost half a block. It was emotional for the whole town and I am so sad.



This evening, Clint came home from soccer practice and decided that he couldn't see the ball as he ran down the field and would we cut off his hair tonight? Kayleigh started the job and Victor finished it. The whole family sat in the audience as his lovely, curly locks hit the floor. He really looks nice.

Now, we are getting the kids ready for bed. We hope to relax and recuperate from our very emotional and eventful day.

My Hero, Erma Bombeck

My tribute to one of my favorite authors, ERMA BOMBECK. I love her sense of humor about being a wife and mother. I remember reading once about how she was untying her son's wet shoes laces with her teeth when she realized that the child had wet his pants, and had not been running through puddles. IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER - by Erma Bombeck

(written after she found out she was dying from cancer).

• I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.


• I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.


• I would have talked less and listened more.


• I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.


• I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.


• I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.


• I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.


• I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
• I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains.


• I would have cried and laughed, less while watching television and more while watching life.


• I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.


• Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
• When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, 'Later. Now go get washed up for dinner.'
  
  
• There would have been more 'I love you's'. More 'I'm sorry's.'


• But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute, look at it and really see it . . live it and never give it back.


• STOP SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF!!!

There, isn't she brilliant! In her book "Adventures in Mommying" she wrote, "Being a mom is one adventure after another. You never can tell what new challenges each day will bring, like removing peanut butter from the dog’s fur, finding the time to take a shower, or coming up with something for dinner that everyone will actually eat." The reason why I love Erma is because I would have written that line myself, if I had only had the time!!

Hail to you, Erma!!!