Ramblings

Hello Friends! I’m still alive, believe it or not! Thanks for all of your congratulations. J It was fun to “break it to you” that way. Thanks, Rhonda for the meme that inspired me! I’ll try to update you on our lives a little bit…

Now that you know I’m pregnant, I can use that as an excuse for not updating much lately. J It’s crazy how with every pregnancy, the fatigue and nausea hit at basically the same time – 6 weeks. So, I have been just barely maintaining stuff around here. I’m a fairly hard-working, goal-oriented person, but it’s been really freeing to just not care about all the stuff that isn’t getting done around here! J That philosophy works pretty well most of the time, except that now…

We’re getting ready to go on a little trip – our holidays for the summer. Why does this “always” happen during my first trimester?? Anyway, there are certain things (laundry, packing, etc.) that must be done by Friday noon, so now I’m feeling some pressure.

We’re heading out Friday and stopping in the “big city” so Keith can take a driving test. I’m going to get Caleb’s picture taken at Wal-Mart and we want to stop in and see Debby and her addition that’s underway. Then we’re headed down to Sheldon’s for the night. The next day we’re going to a reunion on my first Dad’s side of the family. Yay! We haven’t had one for 15 – 17 years, or something like that. I haven’t seen Grandma since 2001! So, it should be a lot of fun. It sounds like there’s going to be a good turn-out.

After that, we’re headed over to the other side of MN to camp up the North Shore of Lake Superior. I’ve wanted to do that for a long time, so now is our chance. I hope I’m not too tired to really enjoy it! We might get to see our friends Mike and Connie on the way across MN too. J Then by Friday we will be at Blue Lake (a wonderful place!) where my family will be camping for the weekend. Then home again on Monday (a holiday for us Canadians.)

So, in “honor” of our up-coming trip, my dear hubby is outside working on putting a roof-rack on our van. Why does every mini-van in the world have a roof-rack except ours? Frugal Toyota?? Anyway, he got one off of a van at the junk yard, and today he and his Dad put it on ours. It looks pretty spiffy! Right now he’s putting the ceiling liner back up. What a job! Of course there are a few glitches… Have you ever thought about how much stuff you have to take off to take down the ceiling liner? Just take a look at your van ceiling some day! Anyway, now we can borrow a car-top-carrier from some friends and actually take all the stuff we need for camping and maybe even the boys’ bikes.

We finally finished school last week. We had really slowed down with spring here and me not feeling well, but we managed to finally finish – except for some science activities which I hope they can continue through the summer.

Well, it’s now a couple days later and we’re on the road. It’s fun to have a lap-top so I can do computer stuff while we drive. Then I wonder, is this what I really want to be doing?? J Anyway, we did manage to leave almost on time and so far I haven’t discovered anything that I’ve forgotten except my fingernail polish. So I bought some at Wal-Mart.

I feel sorry for little Josiah right now. Yesterday morning I had a “dumb moment” and turned on my curling iron where he could reach it. He got a dandy little burn on his thumb, and had a terrible fit when I put a band-aid with aloe vera on it. Now today he’s rubbed some of the skin off and has a patch of raw skin. L I’m concerned that it’s going to get infected. Tonight I’m putting a band-aid and polysporin on it and hopefully he’ll keep it on all night. Also, last night he was outside and got tons of bug bites. Some of them get so big and red! He got one on his finger or hand – can’t tell where the actual bite is – and today his finger and a bunch of his hand is all swollen. It looks nasty. L Poor little guy!! And, he doesn’t seem to like traveling very much. He only slept 30 or 45 minutes in the van today.

I guess that’s enough rambling for this time. I’ll try to post soon after we home. Hahahahaha. Well, I’ll try!

A Meme - you figure out the theme!

I AM: very tired.

I WANT: to sleep for a very long time.

I WISH: that I had the energy to exercise right now.

I HATE: being nauseated all the time.

I MISS: having energy.

I FEAR: gaining too much weight.

I HEAR: my biological clock ticking – but it doesn’t matter anymore. :-)

I WONDER: if it could really be pink this time?

I REGRET: not losing another 15 pounds.

I AM NOT: going to gain more than 30 pounds in the next 6 months!

I DANCE: when I see two blue lines.

I SING: “One little, two little, three little Grabers. Four little, five…” no, wait, just four!

I TRY: to cook something even when I don’t feel like it.

I CRY: whenever I feel like it. I’m hormonal, okay?

I LAUGH: when I think how I blatantly lied to and/or deliberately mis-led some of you recently.

I AM NOT ALWAYS: on top of things around the house. Who am I kidding? I’m never on top of things right now!!

I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: baby afghans.

I WRITE: the weeks on the calendar. Currently we’re at 9.

I CONFUSE: lots of things right now.

I NEED: a maid, clothes that fit and flatter (hahaha) my odd figure!

I (am)FINISH(ed): keeping secrets!!!

I START: wondering what day in January our lives will change forever!

I TAG: Wendy!!

"Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Over-doing!" and other nuggets from my week

Yes, that's my life motto it seems! My sister-in-law, Wendy, and I have been talking about doing work days together. So yesterday we had a baking day. We both wanted to get some stuff in the freezer. And it seemed like a good time because my niece, Sara, is here so she could help with the kids. I wish I would've taken my camera, but I didn't, so I don't have pictures of the amazing results. But we made: 28 loaves of bread, almost 11 doz. cinnamon rolls, and 10 doz. muffins. (Let's hear it for Bosch mixers!!) Sara helped too and it went pretty well, except for none of the kids taking good naps with all the excitement going on.

My friend, Phyllis (wonder-woman seamstress) did another sewing project for me (chair cushion and a pillow) and I'm paying her with baking. So, I got a good start on that yesterday, plus I have a bunch of stuff in the freezer.

The sun is now shining after weeks of mostly rain. So, I really hope we can get some planting done today. I don't know if the garden is still too wet, but I can for sure work on flowerbeds and containers. Yay! Forget the housework until the planting's done!

My friend, Mary-Jane, has been staying here this week. It's nice to have her around again. She's here because her Mom passed away one year ago yesterday and the Native tradition is to have a memorial then. So she was here for that and we went last night to be with her. There was a meal with lots of her Mom's favorite foods and then a program after. I think it's a really great tradition. Since I've lost both of my parents, I can see the value in having a time like that to remember and honor a person and acknowledge the on-going grief and healing.

I should post a picture of our lawn - or not! As I've complained about before, it's been raining off and on for two weeks. Not good for lawn care!! And then when Keith did try to mow, our mower had a broken part. So he borrowed his Dad's mower and did about half of the lawn, and then his mower wasn't working right either! So, it's just getting longer and longer, and the dandelions have gone to seed and look hideous! Sigh. He's planning to do something about it today! "Please, Lord, let it come to pass!"

It's 7:30 am and Keith and the boys have gone out for breakfast with some guys from Iowa that come up every year to fish. So, I'm going for a walk (Sara and Josiah are sleeping) and then I'm going to make waffles with raspberries and whipped cream! I wish you could all (all? I don't even know who all is reading this!) come for breakfast!!!