MIA

Sorry I have not update for a bit. Right after my last post I started getting ill, and well, I'm still not over it. Ugh! I finally gave in and went to the doctor today. Surprise, surprise, it's viral. Not a lot that can be done, but they did get me a couple things that can help. Good thing though, I'm not contagious anymore, so at least I can say that as I hack all around town.

I will be working on getting pictures up, as well as working on my Christmas cards. Hopefully I'll get those out early, before others send cards to our old address.

In the meantime, here is a picture of the boys from Halloween.

It Comes to an End

Today I turn in my Gruve. My month is over. This past week wasn't as successful as I had hoped. I didn't hit green every day. Partly due to forgetting it, partly due to being zapped after Halloween at friends. I still had a hard time getting to green everyday I worked out. Despite the workout, since I couldn't wear it during that, not only did that not count, but then I lost that time during the day and I was a bit bushed some days. I think it was a great experience and I wish I could continue it. Maybe as time goes on and I get finances in my life settled I can get on and go back to it. I definitely will try to remember to be more active, it'll just be harder to know without something tangible to look at and be accountable for. Something checking up on me and what I think I'm doing.

I am a bit behind on posting about the week, especially Halloween. I do have some pictures for that and I will get them up later today or tomorrow. The weather turned chilly so the bulbs I want to get in will not go today. Hopefully I get a little bit warmer weather than this (20 and 30's this morning) before it goes icy and frigid until March/April.

Duncan's foot is healing well. He now has some random limp, hurt back leg that we have no clue about. It seems to come and go but certainly does not stop him from tearing through the house and around the yard several times a day like he's trying out for the Daytona 500. It also has not stopped him from trying to get Max to play with him, to no avail. When will he learn that Max's favorite game is charades, playing a log. We'll wait that out a bit before taking Duncan in about the leg. He really is pushing his limit on lifetime vet trips and he's not even one yet. Go figure.

Trying For A New Record

A record for me. Two posts in one day. I'm sending this as a post to keep myself on the hook, so to speak. I had my weekly check-in on my Gruve. Okay week, several green, several blue. This will be the last week with my free month on the Gruve so I'm going to try to end on a really high note, GREEN all week. This will be a challenge, especially this coming weekend, but I think I can do it. Wish me luck!

A special thank you for all of you that sent me such nice email messages after my last post. I know some people may not want to register here to post or follow, but I thin you can send anonymous messages and I don't mind those. I know I did that, and then signed my name without registering for blogs before I started this one.

Green and Almost Done

Yesterday I got on green with my Gruve a little earlier in the night than usual. I credit Sam's and Target shopping for that. I think they bumped me up earlier in the day and then working at night put me over. I have it today, of course still on red this morning. I go in to have it downloaded at the RAC. I think I only have it either a few more days or a week, maybe, then my trial month is over. I think since I tend to stay pretty busy, I'll do ok without it. I will definitely have to remind myself instead of having the Gruve to remind me and keep me in check. I'll see today how I've done. I think most of the week, weekend excluded, I was on green by the end of the day.

Also yesterday, I took Duncan in for the check on his foot. All is well. Healing up nicely. We still have to keep it dry which is a little tricky on a dog that kills anything we try to wrap it in for outside. I've given up on that and now just dry his foot when he comes back in. The yard was icy this morning so at least no mud on him. The vet, our regular vet, was so much better than the the other one. They were nice and cared well for Duncan, but our regular vet, Plainview Veterinary Clinic, is just more our speed. An animal is an animal, not a child. He still has to stay on his antibiotics, but doesn't need his pain meds anymore. They said he is fine and judging by his Daytona 500 tryout around the house this morning, he is fine. We don't need to put anything on it, vet said the more stuff we put on it the more he'll want to lick it.

So, all is well, and another day to the gym and cleaning and then work. Should be busy and good.

Duncan's Impailing and Conehead

So I have been off line for a few days. I have a good excuse, really. Besides the school fundraiser and the kids, we had another Duncan emergency. Yes, another one. Besides him getting himself sick and electrocuted, yet another emergency. I almost think he has a deal going on with the vet except we have had to hit several due to the days this stuff happens.

Thursday Charlie and I came home from the gym and having lunch. We had a short time before we would have to head out for his playdate and me to help organize for the school fundraiser pick-up day (woohoo Chip Shoppe!). When we opened the door we heard dog noises, as we always do since they are pinned-up in the basement, but the noises today were different. There was Max's usual barking, but Duncan's yap was different, instead of the typical bark, there was more cry with it today. When I opened the laundry room door to get him out of the crate, I saw a very upset Duncan, stuck in the back corner of the crate with slobber, blood and a small bit of poop in his crate. He was stuck, hurt and really upset, hence the #2, listed as #3. When I got closer to look and opened his crate I could see his front floor was stuck on the bars of his crate, with the wire going through the webbing between two of his toes. I don't know how he did it, be he was harpooned between the toes. His foot was over the plastic floor of the crate, under the side wire wall, and the curved part, holding the side and bottom together was through his skin.

I realized there was no way to get in the crate with him to try to release him, I couldn't even get my arms around him. I first started taking the sides off to try to loosen things. The piece was bent and thick enough metal I couldn't easily bend it. The side was able to lay flat, as it was the bottom piece that was actually through his foot. (I will have a picture to really describe, no blood though) After trying to pry the piece off I realized that I would need pliers. Problem with that, I was in the basement, trying to keep Duncan calm and the pliers were in the garage. I called to Charlie, upstairs, he came running down and asked what. I told him to go to the garage and get the pliers. I was really hoping that he could do this as in the meantime I had scissors to try to bend think metal.
Thankfully only about a minute or two longer, who really knows, Charlie came walking down, nice as could be, with pliers. Yeah! I didn't even ask until way later how he was able to get them, I didn't care and was just happy he did. It took a little prying, and Charlie holding up the top that was still attached, but the metal did bend and I was able to slide Duncan's foot off. He still was hurting, but much happier, even if bloody and upset. I had already called the hubby to try to get any assistance possible and a trip to the vet, as well as a remedy for now wht since the crate was now too much of a mess to use again. Voicemail.

We let Duncan outside to potty. Tried gently wiping off his foot and looking at it. While on the deck I poured hydrogen peroxide all over it. Figured couldn't hurt, might help and really my go-to move with the boys and certain amounts of blood or bloody messes. Got through to the vet, but nothing until hours later and we had the huge fund-raiser delivery and pick-up of stuff, like over $10k worth of stuff for hundreds of kids and parents to pick-up, that day. Hubby finally called back, finished his mid-workday run. Said he could meet us at PetsMart to get a new crate. While we were there, and realizing how much a new crate was going to be, hubby thought of seeing if the vet at PetsMart could look at his foot and see how bad it was. They could, and we would see how bad this vet bill would be.

After an assessment, and finding out Dunan is 84 lbs, Charlie was 34 lbs, turned out is wasn't just his webbed skin part, but also part of the bottom pad and oh yeah, the skin between the toes is a pressure point for dogs so they are super sensitive there. Youchy waawaa! They could keep him a bit, clean it out, get him antibiotics, we were concerned with not just his mouth, but also the 11 year old metal through his foot, a pain killer, and of course a lovely Elizabethean collar (yes, a lamp shade thing for his head:).

We were off again, Duncan staying with the repair team, Charlie to the playdate and me to the fundraiser. Duncan was fixed up shortly, and we picked him up that night. Bandaged foot, happier spirit, and the "idiot hat", as it has come to be known. It's now three days later. He has destroyed the original wrap they gave us to keep the bandage dry outside, destroyed 2-3 other wrappings we have done, taken off the "idiot hat" and bitten it up in the new crate, but his foot looks considerably better, although reddish. I take him tomorrow to our regular, and much preferred, country vet that is great and charges reasonably. Hopefully it will be a good visit, good report for Duncan, and not much more than some car sickness on the way there. Please see the pictures of him, too funy, and sad looking at the metal that was through his foot.

Gruvin' to the Laundry and SORE!

I was correct. Yesterdays workout made me sore. My shoulders are super sore and I have shin splints. Didn't realize what it was until I came home to my sick hubby and asked why the lower part of my leg hurt. Since it was the from of my calf, in all saorts of areas, that what he said it was, fun. I haven't had shin splints since ballet in middle school. Started back up in fall after easy summers always killed my legs.

I had my weekly check-in on my Gruve. Mostly good. I missed my green goal a couple days, but they were explainable, mostly. One I realized a chunk of the afternoon didn't help me as I was swimming with the boys. Yesterday I totally missed my goal. That's what happens when I forget to put it back on when changing for work. Just over five hours, and of my busiest time, didn't count, argh!

I discovered another way to help with my activity too. Music and laundry. A couple years ago I added a radio to my laundry room at my old house. Really helped, especially the night I painted, but really anytime I'm in there. With boys, a husband and now winter clothes and work-out clothes, laundry runneth over. Today, in adition to the regular listening I kind of gruved to it. Helped that it was "Sweet Home Alabama". Song I sang too way too many times with friends at parties back at UF. Oh, sweet college parties. Lots of fun, but my gosh, I'm old now. Anyway, I think even the rocking back and forth should add to my activity. Speaking of, I need to get off my duff in from of the computer and vacuum. I WILL get to green today!

I linked Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jacksonville, FL natives by the way, singing Sweet Home Alabama on You Tube. Not my favorite version, but certainly better than other home made versions I saw on YouTube.

I'm Gonna Be Sore and There IS Still Great Customer Service Out There!

So I went to the gym this morning. Had nothing but a typical workout in mind, then a friend got on the treadmill next to me. That can either be my downfall or a new push for me. Today it was Jen and she put in to be on 45 minutes, I had already been on 5-10 minutes. Needless to say, socializing got the best of me and I was on forever, ran most of the time, figuring if I'm on I should at least make it worth my effort. That was one thing. Then she was going to a Core and More class. Reassured me it was only 30 minutes, I would have time to get a quick shower and pick-up at preschool in time. Yeah, plenty of time, but I am already sore, less than a hour later. I'm not going to be able to move by the end of the day. So I'm sore, but had a GREAT work-out and pushed myself way harder than I ever do on my own. Thanks Jen!

Onto customer service. So I have my Gruve and have been good about wearing it, and am careful, seeing as it goes back to the RAC. Well, the other night part of the piece that covers the usb hook-up came off, something. I have no idea what I did. Either way, I was a bit worried. I contacted Muve, the people who make the Gruve and their great contact Joel Silverman. He reassured me it was an easy fix and he'd help me out and even contact the RAC for me. How great is that! And people say there isn't customer service anymore. I say you just have to look and be open for the opportunity.

What a day:)

I was Blue and the Wild Things

Yesterday was the first day I only made it to blue on my Gruve. Very sad. I will add in though that I played in the pool with the kids and I can't wear it in the pool. That aside, I will need to see what I can do today to make sure I get to green. I do have work so that will certainly help more than sitting around on my duff.

After a successful day of letting the boys survive, school holidays can be rough with bad weather, hubby and I took them to see Where the Wild Things Are. Pretty good flick. As we watched we started thinking that it was a bit deeper and more "adult" than we would have thought for the kids. I even questioned whether it was good we went or not, for their sake. After a short conversation about the movie, they don't do long thought provoking talks on film, turns out they did love it. All the deep stuff we had thought about went totally over their heads, but not in a rude way. I was nice because all the stuff that was really geared at the adults wouldn't have been a rude joke for the kids to hear if they understood it, like some kid movies. The boy that was Max was great, I am no good at actor names. All the creature costumes were amazing, just as wonderful as the illustrations in the book, but brought to life, Author Maurice Sendak. Hubby pointed out that they were done by Henson, of course! All in all, I do recommend it. Great movie for kids and adults.Check out the website. I looked at it a bit finding the link and it was pretty neat.

Wasted Gruvin' and Laundry

I goofed. I forgot to charge my Gruve last night and so today hasn't been logged at all:( While I was a bit lazy this morning (boys off of school for a teachers' holiday), we did make it to the gym and I even par-took in the Aeroball game (small trampolines in mess cages where you shoot hoops with a soft basketball). So hopefully I can make up for it or have Brad at the RAC do my average for the week without today. If not, having 0 for today will kill my average even though I have had green the rest of the week, since they upped my numbers on Tuesday.

Now for the topic of a good percentage of my waking hours, laundry. The laundry pile has certainly noticed the change in weather. While I slightly noticed a change in the amount of laundry in Florida in the winter, boy is it considerably different in Minnesota. Florida had some increase in summer laundry with beach towels. Beach towels though do not hold a candle to multiple layers and we haven't even really started on the snow pants and jackets with two little boys who play outside at school and home. Unfortunaly, I ran out of detergent a couple days ago so now I'm really behind. Luckily though prices and the environment are finally catching up to each other. I was able to get the Seventh Generation detergent (99 loads size) at Target for the same price as the Tide (96 loads). Woohoo! They didn't have the large size bottle of Mrs. Meyers, but I'm happy with the other option. Finally, I can afford to be environmental! Now if only other products would come on board.

An apology to all the Target cashiers for me thinking I was not getting a coupon for using my bags previously. I did find out today, from the cashier who game me my 5 cents off for my bag, that Target did just start this a few weeks ago. Thanks Target, especially since they don't care what store is on your bag.

Gruvin' and 5 Cents at Target

I hit Green! It was my first day with a higher Gruve requirement for activity so I wasn't sure how it was going to be, but I did it. It certainly took longer in the day and I was conscious of it. Considering I was wearing it while vacuuming the main level and down stairs, plus work, we'll see how today goes, although I do have an extra shift to help a friend out.

On a totally different note, but something that really altered how I thought about the last couple years, ok being a bit mellow dramatic. We, the family, went to Target to do grocery shopping the other day. Me, mostly shopping, hubby and the boys, Halloween looking. After filling the cart way full, we went to check out. No big deal. I actually remembered my bags (you know the reusable grocery bag type). The cashier went through all of my bags, even the one I use to hold the other bags, nine in all. Before he rang up the total he asked how may bags we used. I thought he was just being funny, as it does seem a bit obnoxious that I had 9 bags with me. Then he did something that I have never seen a cashier do at Target or anywhere else.

****Drum Roll****

He gave me a 5 cent coupon for each bag I used. That was 45 cents off. I realized that 5 cents isn't a big deal, but I started doing the math. Even if I only used 20 bags a month, that's a dollar a month off. $12 a year. I have used these bags for several years. I asked the cashier about it, seeing as he was the first to ever do it. He mentioned that most cashiers forget and to remind them and they'll do it. You can bet I will do my best to remember that. And now I have another incentive to remember my cloth bags.

Getting my Gruve on!

I started using this new little device, the Gruve, courtesy of my new gym, The Rochester Athletic Club, RAC. The tiny little thing hooks onto your belt or pants and then monitors your activity for the day. As you progress past certain activity measures it changes color. The goal being to get to green. I started this last week and managed to get to green each day, even Sunday when I was little more than a sloth for most of the day, my typical Sunday goal:)
Please note that it took about a dozen pictures to get this to turn out, flash and tiny white things don't mix. I took the picture next to my hand so you can see how tiny it is.
Today I went in for the "assessment" at the RAC. Brad hooked it up to the computer and downloaded my activity. The darn thing had not only a daily log of when I went from one color to another, but the calories burned during my regular activity (it's not meant to judge treadmills, and the like, they do that on their own). Plus, on top of that, it broke it down by the MINUTE! Seriously. I could easily see when "quiet time" was, seeing as I usually had to hang-out with Charlie to get him to do quiet time. I need to remember when I vacuum and see how many calories I burn doing that and laundry, seeing as I go up and down the stairs so much.
Very cool little device though.
Since my goal is to not just know when I'm lazy, but to actually be more active and burn more calories, Brad went in and changed the number I have to burn to get the color to change. Hopefully, I can be more conscious of it now and still get to green.

Snow in October

Well, it finally occurred to me, when my darling husband mentioned it the other day, that we will have to be concerned about the weather for the kids this Halloween. That had never occurred to me before, at least not as far as cold went. I guess that is the difference with Florida and Minnesota. Down south I worried about the kids being too warm, here, too cold.
On that note, it's snowing today. We had a little bit of snow this weekend, not much, but today is has snowed all day so far. Not so cold that it's all sticking, but it's still coming down. The boys woke us up by asking if they could shovel the deck. While we said no then, 7am and we were in bed, I'm hoping that excitement sticks around through February.
All of that said, we have been told this is very early for snow here and it won't continue through all of winter, we should get a break of more fall like temps before winter really kicks in. In the meantime, it's pretty, very calming since the roads aren't icy and still very new for this life-ling Floridian who is still new to the Great North.
By the way, the image above is our yard on the left, the neighbors yard on the right. I thought it was so strange that the snow is sticking more to their yard than ours. I know theirs was shorter, mowed more recent, but wow, what a difference.

Pumpkins and my effort to not be one

This week, as well as last, have been a little nutty. With working I'm trying to get a new schedule together, and it's not quite there. Things are ok, but not great. I need a new day to do sheets or I need to get a lot better at time management, actually both. I have been going to the gym more and that has been good for everyone. Really enjoying that and found out there is a program where you log in your exercise and you earn points to get stuff. Starts out with a water bottle and you can work your way up to a massage. Free stuff! What's not to love.
As far as cooking, I'm counting checking my recipe for meatloaf to make sure it was the correct time as my recipe last week. Tonight I'm making taco salad, recipe from the gym, so that will be counted too.
The weather was wet and cold today so I even got pictures downloaded to facebook and am waiting for the slowest download EVER to shutterfly of pics. If it takes this long with dsl I can only imagine how many years it could have taken if we were back in the days of dial-up. Oh for the days:)

The picture above is of the boys and I at Tweites Pumpkin Farm. It took about 15 minutes to get there and was SO much fun. We spent several hours there and honestly, the boys (and Jamie and I) could have stayed longer. That's saying something with as windy as it was. The wind here rivals, if not surpasses hurricane outer bands in Central Florida, gusts of 45mph.
We had such a great time playing at this place and then picking out the most amazing pumpkins. Charlie found his first and quickly named it "Pumpkin". Ben found his next and went with "Pumpkiny". I think I might have the spelling wrong, but it has a strong ee sound after pumpkin. Jamie and I took a bit to find ours. I know we have never seen this many great pumpkins at patches down south. It's like the tea in China I think, they keep the great stuff local and ship out the second tier to non-locals. Not specifically Tweites that is, I'm just saying pumpkins in general.
On top of the amazing pumpkins, we went through and honest to goodness Corn Maze. There were clues to help through and Charlie was great at all the other turns. I think he only took maybe 2 or 3 wrong turns. It was such a blast. I posted a bunch of pictures of that on my facebook page.
Have a great week, I'm hoping to keep up with exercising, the pictures, and maybe actually cook a real meal with steps and parts next week. One can hope.

A New Beginning

So, I'm a little behind on this blog of mine. I have a whole trip to Florida to post on, as well as the start of first grade and Pre-K for Ben and Charlie, respectively. I will get to that, I swear.

My new beginning here is not on updating, although I do need to do that. That will be part of my new beginning. I have decided a few things I need to get better on and I figure this blog would be a good way to keep tabs on myself. You could say I got a little inspiration from watching "Julie/Julia" yesterday. Which, by the way, if you have not seen, you really should. Pretty good little flick.

So here are where I am going to start new, and it won't be going through Julia Child cookbook.
1. Exercising! I started working the other week at the gym here, Rochester Athletic Club, fondly referred to as "The RAC" here in Rah Rah Rochester. Great place to work and work out. As a benefit of employment (even my 11.5 hrs a week) I get a free membership, woohoo! So my goal, seeing as I have not only gained weight lately, but my clothes are tight and that won't work when it gets super chilly and I have to put my long underwear under my jeans. Then they really won't fit.
2. Staying update on pictures, kids stuff.I am more behind on the boys pictures and albums than the worst procrastinator could imagine. I am spotty at best when posting to FB. Printing is just about non-existent.
3. Cooking. So I cook dinner most nights of the week, but I use the term "cook" very loosely. While I am a pretty healthy cook for the most part, pasta, with or without, is a meal for me. I do chicken and other stuff, but very few "recipes". I'm more of a throw in a pot what I see and looks good as well as somewhat balanced by food groups, kind of cook.

So here is where I am posting my goals for both me and you, if anyone decides to read this, to make sure I'm measuring up.
1. I will exercise at least 4x a week. I think, based on what I weighed at the gym today and what I weighed at my last doctors appointment in Florida, when I was teaching and fitting in my clothes, yes other a year ago, I want to lose about 12-15 lbs. Not crazy, but definitely reasonable, and it will save money seeing as I won't have to then buy new clothes.
2. I will empty out my camera of everything that needs to be downloaded, including the most recent boy camping trip, and actually save things to disk and start printing stuff. As time and sanity allow, I will put said pictures into albums.
3. Cooking, I will start by using a recipe to cook at least one meal a week, with a recipe. I'm going to try to use new recipes most of the time, but that will be budget and pantry dependent, seeing as I will need to get back to shopping after having planned my menu for the week (or at least one meal).

Ok, those are my goals. Please try to hold me to task. I have started the week off well, at least at the gym. I work tonight so the meal with be baked frozen fish, potatoes and some assorted frozen veggie for the boys until I get home.

All my love!

Heat Stroke Anyone?

The boys and I are in Florida for a couple weeks this August. I know, Florida in August, why? I am saying the same thing. It just worked out this way this time, but I will not be doing this again if I can do anything to help it. It is so hot!
I know I grew up here and lived in Florida until only six months ago, but now having lived somewhere else I just don't get the point of Florida summers. It's so hot and difficult being outside for even short amounts of time.
I will say though, it's been nice going in the pool and not being cold, that is awesome. And the beach is awful fun too. I'm just thinking my next visit needs to be in October or March. Heck, to get a break from Minnesota winter, even without the beach and pool, we can head down for January.

I love seeing friends and family though, so I'll take the Florida heat for that.

I'll have to update more with pictures when we get home. I brought the camera, but not the camera cord to download.

Lost Teeth

Well, Ben has now lost both of his front teeth. I'll need to get a video of him singing that song, first I'll have to teach it to him.
The first front tooth took a bit, was wiggly, but he finally got it. The second took longer. Thank heaven's for his appointment to have his six-year old molars sealed. First, he had a cleaning earlier this summer. During the cleaning they took x-rays where we were really able to see his grown-up front teeth pushing down. That gave him the extra oomf to start wiggly more. After that first front tooth came out he stopped a bit for the second. We tried to help him, may have caused a few tears, but we did our best. This last few days that tooth was sure loose, but Ben wasn't ready to yank it the last bit. Today, we had an appointment to get sealant put on teeth we had no idea came in. That in and of itself amazes me after all we went through when they were babies and toddlers and had teeth coming in. While we were there I had them look at his tooth to try and help it out. After the sealant was done, the dentist went in, gave it a little novacaine, and pulled it out. A little gauze on the way home, a very cute little tooth treasure box, and one less tooth. Yeah! So we will have a full toothless grim for our trip to Florida in 8 days!

This was a very unorganized thought. House is too busy this morning. I'll have to edit and think through this a bit more for the next post.

An Electrocution Like No Other

So, this past weekend I was working on trimming the shrubs. I forgot the name of what kind they are. Minnesota plants. After a bit of trimming I hear this awful howl from Duncan. Turns out he was a bit behind me, quietly chewing on the extension cord. Not a good idea. When I turned around, Duncan was twitching, rolling around, going nuts, overall crazy electrocuted motions. Horrible noises and all. I ran inside to get the phone and the emergency vets number (handy they give out those magnets). I start calling on my way back outside to check on him. Dan's flailing less, but in a not good way, foaming mouth and everything. I swear his eyes were rolling back in his head. I tell the vet he just electrocuted himself, they ask how quickly we can get there.

Of course this is a 70 pound (I thought) lab, that was going nuts again from having eaten electricity. I have no idea if I can get him in the car without being bitten or actually being able to lift him. I yell to the kids we have to go, convince them they are not going in to look for video games to play at the vet, get Max put away. Thankfully, during this 30 seconds, Duncan calms down a bit. I call him and he starts running over to the car and jumps in the back of the van himself. We head out so quickly to the vet, poor neighbor kids I don't think realized what all was going on.

Of course, the whole way to the emergency vet, the electrocuted idiot (aka Duncan) in the back thinks we are going to the dog park and is all excited and happy in the back. I think to myself, wasn't he the one with a couple hundred volts going through him a bit ago?

Once we get there I realize I ran out so quickly I forgot the leash. In the process of running in the vet to get a leash and out again the boys have gotten into a fit arguing about going out each others doors (when will they outgrow this?). Hook Duncan up, excited idiot runs in like it's his birthday. They run him to the back for the vet to check him out while I start paperwork and settle the lounge TV for the boys. And then get this, they come out to ask if I was sure I saw the cord.

Yes, they want to make sure he bite the cord, as they see no marks in his mouth and he seems fine. Lungs sound fine, although panting, and heart sounds fine. Of course we end up going through the asking about a radiograph and staying or observation. I decline both. Emergency is expensive enough and if they say he is acting fine, no marks, problems, I can watch him myself for free.

The rest of the day he was fine. Took him to the dog park the next two days, nothing. Just as idiotic as ever. So much excitement and worry in such a short period it was ridiculous. Although I will say, whether it was any reaction from that or just having worn him out at the dog park each day, he didn't try to get the vacuum cord since "the incident".

And for the update on size, Duncan, now seven months old, is seventy six pounds. Yikes!

Summer with boys

So, I remember summer days on break from school. Playing with friends, going to Dr. Jean's pool, watching cartoons, and who knows what else. It's amazing, eighteen years of summer breaks and I really have no idea what we did most of the time. I think we had about three or four family reunions, and a lot of trips to Disney (loved those 80's Florida resident discounts). All in all, that really only accounts for about two months of time, maybe three. Point is, eighteen times three, that's fifty four months and I can only really account for maybe three. So I have fifty one months of goofing-off, driving my brother and parents nuts.

For that I have to say, sorry.

After just going through now my second summer with the boys full-time, I have no idea how everyone does it. I don't want to be totally pessimistic here. We certainly have a fun time most of the time. In between chores we have spent a great deal of time playing games, going to the park, playing with friends. I do miss my beach and pool days back in Florida. That certainly wore the kids out and was a nice time with friends and family. Certainly wore the boys out too. I think here in Minnesota with the cooler days we have traded time at the pool and beach for playing at the park and not dying of heat stroke mid-day.

Thank heaven's for neighborhood kids, the park and our upcoming trip to Florida (my girl's trip with friends and grandparent help with Ben and Charlie).

Picture was May, camping with the boys and hubby. I seriously need to add some more pictures of the boys here. Especially our cool summer where I have wore jeans a ton, and not just for the dirt at the dog park.

New Book I'm Reading

So, I'm reading this new book, The Dugger 20, or something like that. I'm not good at exact titles. Well, you may have seen the show about this family on TLC or Discovery, they are a family with 18 kids of their own. No debt, no government assistance, home school, very religious, well anyway. I decided to get their book just read up on some of the things they do as a family. I mean I see this show and the mom has ubber (this is not spelled right, but I'm hoping you know what I mean) patience, doesn't yell, yet teaches all 18 kids, the whole 9 yards. I figured I could definitely use some of what they have.

After 2 days with this book, I have read at least 3/4 of it (quite a feat for me if you know how slowly I typically read). The book is a great read. Written both by the mom and dad, they go back and forth talking about their life, where they started from as a couple, married, their business and family life, etc. It is such a great read because they are so honest about starting out, their mistakes in business, how they used to have issues getting angry, and all sorts of normal stuff. They just worked it out using their religion and now they are where they are. The book explains it all much better than I did right there, but hey, I'm done with school and getting graded on book reports:)

Anyway, pretty interesting read, very insightful and a fun fast book to go through. I'm thinking I may just jot a few notes down though and post them around the house and car and use them as a cheater guide through my day.

By the way, I saved the book picture as clip art, don't try to link there. The Duggars web page is: http://www.duggarfamily.com/index.html

Do Over

I'm calling for a Do Over of the week. I started the week off schedule and just never could get back into the swing of things. Then I fell yesterday, or shall i say was knocked over, by my dog Duncan at the dog park. He went running through and I couldn't figure out whether to duck right or left fast enough and he wailed into me and back I went. Landed on the asphalt on my butt. Yesterday my hip was more sore, today one side of my neck is ridiculous. So, that's it, Do Over!

Already did the dishes, dog park, soccer, kids park, and vacuum. I will try to get something thawed for dinner for Jamie to grill, and finish moving the laundry so it doesn't mildew, but the rest goes for next week. I am calling the week over. Nothing this weekend but laundry room dumping!

Hot in MN!

So, it turns out it does get hot in Minnesota. Who knew? Today it was actually in the 90's. Depending on which bank sign you go by, it was either 110, 101, or 98 at 7pm this evening. I say evening loosely, given it's 9:46pm here and there is still a little light out that I can see through the basement window.

Although it was hot, and Jamie and Duncan both got super hot running to t-ball, I was very comfortable in the shade. Something that still never happens over the summer months in ol' Gainesville.

I miss the friends, the stuff we had to do to stay busy and knowing what was going on, but Minnesota in June still has Florida in June beat!

Happy Father's Day!

Well, another year goes by and it's Father's Day again. Growing up Father's Day was a bit of a combined holiday. My dad's birthday always fell the same week, if not the same day, and we usually did the two together. Between my brother, Mark, and I it was deciding what to get dad, blank cassette tapes, blank vcr tapes, socks or the rare tie. Men are so hard to shop for and my dad was always the hardest. Men in general seem to only ever want a few things, and typically if they want something, they go and buy it, no regard for anyone needing to shop for them in coming months:) Same ting happened every Christmas.

Now I have a husband of my own that I have to contend with, seeing as we have two little boys that are not nearly old enough to realize Father's Day is coming up, much less do anything about it. There was of course the Hallmark trip to purchase cards. That by the way is one way to really see if anyone is ready for kids, or at least to keep the population in control. Taking two little boys into a Hallmark. Thousands of cards to open, some that play music, lots of things that can be broken and aisles and aisles of people not really wanting to deal with little boys and of course, counters with candy at eye-level to top it all off. Some how we made it through. It always reminds me why I need to buy cards once or twice a year for every occasion, while the boys are in school.

If only they sold Father's Day cards a few months in advance (or that I thought about it before school ended). I think I'll wait until high school before I try to let them pick out cards again.

So, while my own father (love ya Dad!) was hard to shop for, my husband is a bit easier, as he likes golf. Worst case scenario I can always lean on something golf related and get a gift receipt so he can exchange if needed. This year a trip to the Christian Book Store turned out to be very lucrative (for them). I found a nice golf picture with a nice sentiment on it, perfect since Jamie is wanting to replace my Asia pictures in there with golf pictures to complete the golf theme of the basement bathroom. While there, Ben found the Golfer's Serenity prayer, very cute and a golf ball to boot. Father's Day complete.

Oh yeah, and the days activities . . . Jamie got up early to play golf before church, church, lunch, watch the US Open, hit balls at the driving range with family, US Open.

I think this is what they call the golfers version of Father's Day. Only beat out last year by actually going to the US Open on Father's Day.

Proudest Parenting Moment

Ok, this actually happened this past Friday morning, but things have been a bit busy to post it.

Jamie had just come home from golf and was telling me about his round and getting ready to head in to work. We wondered where and what the boys were up to, as they were very quiet, which is always suspicious with a four and six year old boys. Well, off I went searching through the house for them. I thought they were in the basement, or at least they were supposed to be playing in the basement. I went down, quiet, hum. Asked if they were there, they were. Walked down the hallway to their play area. They were both there, sitting together nicely, playing CHESS! Charlie had been asking us to help him learn and Ben I guess finally decided to help him. I immediately praised them both and left. Did not want to risk messing up a good thing.

I think I'm going to have to keep this little tidbit handy for those times that they really drive me nuts. A reminder of why they are great, why I love them so, and that they can't always be in trouble:)

Proudest Parenting

My Pet Peeve

So, I may not be the most environmental person out there, but I try to do at least my part. I use cold water to wash most clothes, I use a lot of vinegar and water as a cleaner, I love Mrs. Meyers lavender concentrate cleaner, I use more rags than paper towels, heck, I even reuse dryer sheets (equal part environment and money for a few of those). I am a huge recycler. I could actually recycle a lot more if my recycle bin didn't fill up way before they came for it. Who would have know that two little bins that I could stack up and put boxes under would in the end hold so much more than one giant rolling bin that they only empty every other week, and I can't put so much in it that it can't shut. Ok, that's not my pet peeve I was aiming at, but I guess it it too.

My real pet peeve is PACKAGING!

How, pray tell, in a work where we are all trying to be more environmentally conscience, can you actually end-up creating more trash? Yesterday I had to get more light bulbs for our basement lights. Turns out, I thought I had bulbs, only had one and I needed 5. Just the idea of needing that many annoyed me, seeing as those things aren't cheap anymore, and they don't grow on trees.

Well, off to the store I go. Look through about a ton of different bulbs, find the environmentally happy twirly ones that are the right size and wattage. Not a great price, but they were supposed to last years and I really don't like taking the whole fixture apart to change bulbs.

I get home, and eventually get a chance to change the bulbs. I open the cardboard package with my 6 bulbs in it, only to find more cardboard. Six individually wrapped little light bulbs. Not only do they each have their own cardboard box in the big cardboard box, but there was more cardboard inside that too. Seriously?! I mean, these little guys are not travelling to the moon. Why can't they be packaged like the old bulbs that used a fraction of the pasteboard these guys consumed?

All I could think was with the electricity I was saving using these environmentally happy bulbs, there would be so much more waste with the packaging not to mention that not fitting in my recycle bin, on top of all the energy needed to make that pasteboard stuff.

I avoid packaging when I can. I don't buy those individually packaged snacks. I am fully capable of putting stuff in little containers on my own. Speaking of, we use very few sandwich type bags. I have turned to the reusable containers for the boys and Jamie's lunch, less trash and less money re-buying stuff you plan on throwing away. I reuse the trash bags from the recycle stuff, since i can't bag that, and use the trash bags for the dogs outdoor waste. Yeah, our community doesn't have yard waste pick-up, so I have to trash that "stuff". Previously I just added it to my yard waste and it went to compost. Now, it goes to some landfill unless I want to haul that "stuff" in my car across town to pay an extra fee to dispose of it. Seriously? How is all this more environmental?

Ok, my one pet peeve about my light bulbs turned into a total rant that sounds like I'm about to strap myself to some tree and refuse to move when the bulldozer comes. I love tress and all, but really? I have way too many chores to do to sit there, although it would be a good chunk of time to read, hum?

I'm signing off now before I go on about tiny cars that wouldn't adequately fit safe car seats, and would prevent school and activity carpooling.

Favorite Things- Part Two

So as it turns out, these will not be in order, so please don't think this is. Also, I hope it goes without saying that my boys and my husband are of course my real favorites, but by definition, they can't be on this list. They are people, not things. With that said, here is another favorite . . .

My Laundry Chute!

What a wonderful creation. A little tube through my house that drops all the laundry from the second floor right into my laundry room. The chute is actually in Charlie's room. While I really was thinking I was going to have to put a lock on it to prevent the boys from dropping who knows what down, they haven't. They are really awesome though.

Now, if only I could reverse gravity and have the clean laundry travel back up. Oh wait! That's what little boys are for!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Ok, this will be a few posts, but here is my first, Peonies! I love them and actually have a couple peony plants in my yard! Gotta love Minnesota spring flowers. Of course, I found out what this plant was and then the next day Duncan decided most of the buds looked yummy and bit them off. I think I have about a dozen buds left, maybe a bit more, but there were at least 2 dozen he bit off. I got him back though, he was taken in to be neutered today. Just kidding, not about neutering, but it wasn't out of revenge.

So, here is my first real peony, it opened today. It's beautiful and smells as sweet as it looks.

Camping

We went camping this past weekend. Lots of fun. I cannot count the times Charlie told us he loved camping. I need to post pics and write a whole thing about it, just can't now, but I wanted to try to get updated a bit. Ok, better run, chores, library, and little boys call.

I swear I'll get pics on the computer soon!

My athletic boys

Well, we had Charlie's multi-sport class today, the last in the session, and again his coach mentioned how athletic he was. I can completely see it. He really does fairly well at most sports he tries. I think the combination of the sports he has tried, the gusto with which he attempts anything, and inherited talent (thanks Grandad and Daddy, didn't get it from me).

Ben seems to be doing the same with sports, doing well, although he has more of a sense of personal injury and a desire to avoid it than his brother. I think Charlie has had at least 3-5 bloody noses in the past week. If it wasn't for the fact that I saw how they all happened, or heard second-hand, I would think he had a blood disorder.

So, we'll keep up with the sports, keep hydrogen peroxide on hand, and know that we are lucky to have two "all-boy" little people living in our home.

Warm Minnesota weather

Yes, it does get warm in Minnesota. It was hard to believe it when we moved here back in February. It was very hard to believe it when I was freezing in the house in January, as the movers delivered everything and had the doors propped open for hours. I remember back to my call to Jamie, telling him I was going to need warmer slippers, as my feet were freezing even with fuzzy socks in the slippers. Turned out, my slippers were fine, although now slightly chewed from Duncan, and now it's toasty warm. I actually turned the a/c on as it was 80-something in the house and the dogs had started panting, water not helping the furry ones. Late as it is now, I think I can turn it back off and open the window tonight, yeah for second story windows:)
Today the boys got to run around in the twirly sprinkler and they even broke in the slip and slide Charlie received for his birthday. Besides regularly fixing the slip and slide when the water was no longer shooting onto the plastic, I weeded more.
I say weeded, but really I should elaborate. Our yard, well, a good bit of Rochester, is covered in dandelions. The soil here, unlike our old Florida, is not sandy and therefore impossible to pull a weed out. Our neighbor introduced me to this cool weed puller-outer he had. Turns out I'm an addict now. After a couple days using the borrowed "Weed Hound" I found myself in our local Menards (I'll go into detail in another post about Menards, Jamie can sing their commercial) purchasing my own weed-puller-outer. Mine is not a "Weed Hound" instead it's a pretty yellow, and works nearly as well, plus it was the only such apparatus there.
After several days of weed pulling, I have trash bags full of dandelions and a noticeable dent in the dandelions in the yard. The irony being, as you pull the darn things out, the wind blows the seeds all over, thus continuing the cycle. No wonder Rochester has so many dandelions, the wind factor is huge here.

So I said it was warm, it was, but for anyone who might wonder, or even mistake this as hot, I recall my 31 years in Florida. 80's are not hot when there is not the humidity and when there is a constant breeze. It's especially not hot when the kids are getting chilly from the cold sprinkler water and breeze, wanting towels when they aren't running.
It was so beautiful, warm, blue and breezy. I am so enjoying this weather and am really looking forward to the rest of spring and summer.

Staying Up to Date

So, I thought this would help me stay up-to-date, guess I still have work in that department.
Here is a run-down of our weekend.
Friday (I know it's not weekend, but still part of the craziness): Charlie had a soccer class make-up, I brain-farted and forgot about it on Tuesday. Charlie had school, we had Ben's friend Sam here, the pm kindergartner's were off school, they had a blast and I was able to get a little work done. Can't remember the rest of the day
Saturday: Ben had his soccer class; Jamie golfed (didn't like it as golfing w/ 20-30 mph winds is rough); I enjoyed the borrowed neighbors weed puller, very cool and worked on dandelion's; bowling birthday party (Charlie's 1st time and he beat all the kids the first game and he was the youngest); Charlie had his 1st golf class, did great, boy he loves that sport and continues to be athletic; Ben practiced chipping during the time, had dinner, and wrapped up the night.
Sunday: we were lazy, followed by an amazing wrestling match between the boys and Jamie and missed church, again, we need to work on this; Took Duncan to a new dog park where he swam for the fist time, loved the creek and was filthy; Charlie also filthy, slipped in and wet and muddy from the waist down, we got to follow a few paths through the woods there, Duncan ran and ran, boys collected all sorts of sticks, on the way out, Charlie tripped on a large root (busy studying his sticks) and got a bloody nose, covered wait up in blood; finally got a mower, spring in MN; had to get a new gas can, turned out the movers did not pack the ones in FL (note to self for next move); Jamie mowed, I continued being obsessed w/ the new weed puller (I bought one after having borrowed the neighbors); boys played, Duncan fell asleep in the yard, woohoo dog park; grilled dinner; Jamie bathed Duncan, boys showered, eventually I got clean and the night wrapped up with dvr tv.

Overall, busy weekend, but lots of fun.
Last week I started working on pictures and scrapbooking for the boys. I figured at some point childhood memories would be good. It was my first photo printing, other than Christmas cards in years, I kid you not. Digital has made me really bad at that. Hopefully w/ local prints for 15 cents each at the grocery store w/ childcare (yeah, I need to write a post about this awesome Rochester feature), I'll get better at this.

Ok, I will work on figuring out how to get photos on this thing and how to work on my writing so it doesn't read like a list. Sorry, I write very little these days and most of it really is my running to do list I keep. Speaking of, I need to get on that list and check on the boys. They have been very quiet and that is always suspicious:)

All my love to you guys:)

Let's see if this works

Ok, so I have heard of blogs, seen a few, and thought there has to be an easier way to share info and pictures than adding stuff to facebook and hoping for the best. First I thought, my mother-in-law does websites, we can do that. I did one for work before. Well, several months later and I still haven't downloaded the program, let's try this.

Hopefully this test run will work and I can actually get things going. Wish me luck!