Dreams

So I just want to take a few minutes to brag on my husband ...

We've been married for nearly 17 years.  At some point in the past ... probly when things were okay but not great, finances were still pretty shaky and our relationship was recovering from a nasty valley ... I gave him a list of "dreams".  They ranged from the relatively minor - "I'd like to be able to go out to eat now and then without having to budget it in and save for it" - to the big one about building an earth home.  Honestly I don't remember all of the things I listed out ... it was one of those thinking out loud, daydreaming, what-if types of thoughts.

Josh took notes, and has made a point of checking off those "dreams" as he has worked hard to make each of them come true.

Well, today he really stepped it up and checked off one of the major ones.  All week I have been almost giddy with anticipation, but trying to keep it reasonable and not really allowing myself to hope that it would actually happen, and not wanting to say anything until it actually did - almost for fear of jinxing the deal.  But this morning, we took a little drive and I came back in this gorgeous beast of a black Mustang.

Of course none of this would have happened without God's blessing and favor ... without Him, Josh and I would have failed long ago and none of what "we" have accomplished would be possible.  I was listening to a radio broadcast the other day, and this daddy was talking about how he had to braid his daughter's hair one night.  He didn't have a clue how and really kinda botched it, but did the best he could.  Well, his wife later taught him how to braid hair, and he was struck by how the braid looks like two cords of hair weaving back and forth ... but it's really three.  Without that third section, the braid doesn't work.  Just like a braid, a marriage requires three strands all working together to hold strong - God, husband, wife.  If any of those strands disappear, the whole thing unravels.

Thoughts ...

Today is my eldest's birthday.  Ashleigh is now 17 ... still can't quite figure out how that went by so fast.  Seems to go faster every year too.  For her birthday dinner, Josh told her it was her choice - she could go anywhere in town, take any or all of the family ... whatever she wanted.  She chose to stay home and have him cook - said he's the best cook in the city :)  I kind of have to agree ... but it's nice to have time to just sit and chat while someone else waits on us, which is why I generally choose Bella Milano.  She treated us to a movie tonight in the "new" family room - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  I had seen the previews but just hadn't gotten around to the movie - she loved it and insisted on watching it.

Earlier today, I was looking at copies of the kids' birth certificates that I had to get for insurance verification stuff and noticed the times of their births.  Each one came a little earlier in the day - Ash was 3:15p, Michael was 10:47a, and Daniel was 7:55a.  As I looked at those times, all side by side, I was struck by a little correlation I had never realized before.  Ashleigh is most like me in her sleeping habits ... she likes to stay up late and sleep in, but she's *able* to get up and get moving when needed.  Michael moves a little slow in the mornings, usually has to be coaxed out of bed, but almost never is in bed past 8 in the morning.  Daniel ... he's the oddball child who is up no later than 6 am nearly every day, regardless of weekday/weekend or what's going on (or not!).  So at least in our family, it would appear that the earlier in the day you are born, the earlier of a riser you are in the morning.  I'm curious how other families are?

My lilac bush has decided to bloom in somewhat spectacular fashion ... there are little buds all over it!  I'm really looking forward to seeing the soft purple cascading down the sides.  Last year's one little bunch showed me she wasn't dead, but man I missed the color!  The rest of my flowers are sprouting and throwing a lot of green up into the red mulch, but only one (so far) of my tulips has a little bud.  It should blossom in a couple days, by the looks of it.  That's one of my favorite parts of spring ... watching the flowers peek out.

My other favorite part is the neighborhood waking up.  Right now, the kids are all outside playing basketball with Josh - he got the hoop fixed and, as dark as it is, they are out there with spotlights and extension cords, playing with several of the neighbor boys.  They are all hollering and calling shots and fouls and generally having a blast, and it's after 9.  Another month or so and they won't even need the spotlights and extension cords :)  I could listen to them play all night - I always wanted to have "that" house ... the one where the kids all congregate and know they can have fun and be safe.  I love being in a neighborhood that we can do that!!

What a month !!!

Well it's been a bit, but here I am again.  We've had quite an eventful month overall. The kids and I spent a bunch of time outside over Spring Break - I took the week off work rather than try to deal with the racket that three teenagers can make.  We spent Monday out in the yard clearing out weeds and old mulch, then spreading new mulch.  Tuesday we spent recuperating.  Thursday we spread some more mulch and then that Saturday Josh and I planted some new flowers that I got from a FreeCycle member.  I'm still looking for them to take hold and bloom - might need to wait til next year but we'll see how they go :)

I'm in the middle of training at work - nothing spectacular - just a refresher on a line of business that I haven't worked for nearly 3 years.  They're wanting us to all be cross-trained eventually, so this is my turn.  It's mostly reminders and "oh yeah I remember that" type of stuff, so honestly I'm a little bored.  There have been changes since I worked this stuff last, so I do have to pay attention.  Fortunately I have a great trainer and she gives us plenty of examples to work through and get practice.

This weekend we've been dealing with a wet basement.  We've had so much rain in the past week that the ground simply couldn't hold it all ... and so it tried to invade our house.  The last couple of years have been much drier, so we never realized that our sump pump wasn't really doing anything ... well we found out this past Thursday!!  It was quite the saga, really ...

Long story short - after assuming the sump pump we had was working (it was, but only temporarily), finding out it had stopped and allowed a half inch of water into our finished basement, buying a new pump (and running out of gas in the process), the pipe breaking during the install, fixing the pipe and finally getting the new pump installed, and sucking out 12+ loads of water with the 10 gallon shop vac, the basement is now being dried by 4 box fans and a dehumidifier.  We are leaving the basement door open in an attempt to allow moisture to escape upstairs and out the windows (when we're able to open them - temps dropped into the 40s!!).  I have borrowed a carpet cleaner from a friend and will use it today to try to get rid of the wet-dog smell that the basement currently has going on.

And the good news is that Ashleigh's birthday is in a few days and we are gearing up for that.  She's decided she wants to have a few friends get together at Skateland - not for a full-on party with the cake and all that, but just a few of them to go skate for a while.  Then we'll have the family party back at our house with all the adults who have no interest in skating :P  She and Hallie decided they want to have a joint party again because "It's just not as fun when we do them separately".  And the icing on the cake (for me anyway) is that our new couch is being delivered just in time for the party, so there will be plenty of seating for everyone!

More events in May and June - we'll be going to the RenFaire in Wentzville, then Daniel and I will be headed to Dallas for YFN.  It's going to be a great summer !!

Lazy Sundays

Thoughts from yesterday:
Ashleigh had her highway driving class Saturday morning.  They had enough time that she was able to take her driving test that day instead of having to wait for Tuesday morning.  She passed with flying colors - only 2 points (points are bad).  I guess you can still pass with 36 points - I'm really not sure what that says about the quality of some drivers currently on the roads ?  And then I learn today that the Drivers' Ed car had been rear-ended Friday morning in a hit-and-run by someone from Missouri ... I feel sorry for whoever was driving - talk about a teachable moment!

As we were replacing the ceiling fan in the boys' room, Josh made a comment about how we need to get a magnetized screwdriver.  Daniel chimed in about how the IT guy at his school has one and quickly moved on to "and he let me tighten my screws!!".  There was a slight pause, and I just couldn't help it ... "Daniel, I always knew you had a couple screws loose."

Tim and Ashley got married on a gorgeous stereotypical spring day - bright and sunny and ever so slightly warm.  I really enjoyed how beautiful and unique the ceremony was - from Ashely's Cinderella dress to the bubble wrap aisle runner, planting an acorn in place of the traditional unity candle/sand.  I love it when a couple takes the time to personalize their wedding in such a unique way that so totally fits "them" without sacrificing any of the tradition and ceremony.

And then the snow came ...
Having been warned of a massive early spring snowstorm headed our way, Josh and I decided to stay home and watch church online today.  We had a nice big brunch - bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, waffles - and then Josh took the kids downstairs to play Ratchet & Clank while I killed some time on Facebook and the REGAP site. I'm wondering if school will be cancelled tomorrow.  The theory is that there will be 6-9 inches of snow.  I'm horrible at judging this kind of thing, so I will let images speak for themselves ... what've we got so far ??


Either way you slice it, it's not nearly as bad (yet?) as the "blizzard" of Feb 2011 - 13 inches and all that jazz. I think this one just has a bigger emotional impact cuz the flowers are all trying to come out and it's the end of March!!  I guess I'm just a sucker for how peaceful it looks out my living room window ... all white and clean and fresh.  I do wish we'd had this at Christmas, but ... it is what it is.  Maybe next time!

Update:  The final total for all this snow was 18.5 inches - officially breaking the previous "Snowpocalypse" record.  Of course it was all gone within a few days!!

March Madness

Random thoughts of the morning ...

1. In about two months I will no longer have "kids".  I will have all teens.  I'm not sure I'm old enough for that ???
   
   
2. The last couple of weeks have been pretty stressful ... mostly just life with short-lived critters, a little bit of work blah thrown in, plus tax time and court filings.  On top of it, I have been having dreams lately where I try to talk to my sister and she either ignores me outright or tells me "no" - very painful and I seem to have lost my ability to control my dreams while having them.
   
   
3. We'll have Cheryl's girls, Belle and Hildy, over here this week while she recovers from knee surgery.  They're good girls - they love Nitro and he loves them.  Hildy is Josh's girl and would sleep on him if he'd let her ... as it is she has to be content on the dog bed on the floor since I don't share well.  Belle will sleep on Daniel's bed and allow him to have a corner.  Only thing I will have to watch is the kittens and Belle ... last time she was here, she decided Smoke was a plaything :(
   
   
4. I'm looking forward to seeing the flowers come up in the yard ... already have a few little green shoots coming up.  I think when I take my "Spring Break" vacation time, I'm going to spend some time in the back yard mulching and trimming and cleaning things up so that (hopefully) there will be less work to do over the summer.  I really do love spring - just hoping the weather over that week agrees with me !!