Life...

Wow, we are more than half-way through August already! I can't seem to keep up with everything. I thought I'd do a person by person update and that would be the easiest for me.

T had a hectic first full week of back to school technology glitches. Things all seem to be working correctly now. He had a birthday since I posted last. He is still happy to be working on the ugly boat when he feels like it. We (T, J and I plus my dad) took my dad's old boat to the lake yesterday and it wasn't without it's drama. It was nice to be at the lake but jeepers, how much time/money can we sink into those darn boats? Anyway, it fired us up to work on the ugly boat and two more seats are ugly no more. Yay! He also found out that he does indeed have an umbilical hernia which can thankfully be left alone for now. And since he was at the doc's office and that happens so rarely they took a couple of suspicious moles off his head and arm. Praying for good news on the biopsy results.

Me. Well, I'm one class away from being a junior. I wanted to already be there but life keeps getting in the way. At least I'm not too far off my mark. I'm gearing up for wrist surgery-take 2- in Sept and not looking forward to it. Praying for good and lasting results this time. I made 4 batches of cookies today to sell where I work. I led music at church the last two Sundays. I enjoy it but I'm glad I'm not doing it all the time. I got two new textbooks. Call me weird but I enjoy getting them. Kinda like a kid with new school supplies. Or something.

R and JT. Yes, they are a set. And they are having a set! Ha! Both babies are boys, both are doing well, and R is doing well too. She's seeing a regular doc who has experience with twins and she now feels much more confident about her and the babies care. The babies are estimated at about 11 inches long and a pound each. They are head down and facing each other if I understand R correctly. One was head up but last week they did the wave across her tummy and now they are both head down. JT recently finished his schooling for promotion. Now he just has to have his time in at his current rank and then he can move up again.

A is working and getting ready to start her junior year in college. I've enjoyed lots of moments to connect with her this summer as she hasn't been gone to either work, school or with P at all times. She is a fun person to be with.

J is loving high school and loving basketball. I hope it continues. He still cracks us up at times. It used to be more with his words he was trying to speak. Now he's trying to read everything and getting things confused. The other day we had been to the airport to pick up Bampa and he said, "What's dat 'super me' gas for $3.59?" I said, "Umm, son, that's 'supreme' gas." So funny! Super me/supreme. So close!

Wowzer!

We have been unable to take a vacation or to sell a vehicle this summer. Those two items are inter-related. Sigh.... But we have had some fun along the way and some crazy busy times.

T is working on the ugly boat and nearly has it running. He never ceases to amaze me. It's still ugly but it has a new floor and we are working on that ugly part. Carpet and vinyl will go a long way towards making it not ugly.

J is sort of back to school this morning. He's at "camp" today. He gets his schedule, finds his locker, gets help opening it, finds his classes, etc. He was pumped and ready to go at 6:15 this morning. High school is a big deal. I cut his hair last night and I'm always a little nervous doing that. He loves it and proclaims it the best haircut ever and says he looks like Will Smith. I said, "Will Smith probably gets $100 hair cuts." And J said, "I know where to get it for free!" What a goober! But I'm relieved that he likes it.

A rode back to CO with R and JT and flew back home on Monday by herself. She navigated the airports just fine. She hit the ground running yesterday morning at work.

R and JT and T got here last Monday with the horses. Everyone is doing well except Dante can't believe that we expect him to forage for his own food. He keeps waiting for someone to give him hay. He's such a city horse. We had a nice time with the kids and had a baby shower for them. It was so much fun to watch R's stomach move around with the babies. Amazing at 4 1/2 months to see that. Nephews baby is due today and we had "the girls" lined up together for a pic. M is not much bigger than R. Ha! I will post a pic when I can.

I had a CT scan on this crazy wrist and there's a bone spur that's causing problems now. I'm trying to decide what to do. Gotta be able to hold those grandbabies when they get here!

How about a thankful list. Let's see; I 'm thankful for the promise of new life growing inside R and M. I'm thankful that J is pumped about high school. I'm thankful for our pets (most of the time). I'm thankful for our jobs. I'm thankful for God, family and friends.

Hmm....

I know I haven't been posting much but life is just so busy. And now I can't even figure out how to get my pics off my phone and on to my computer much less uploaded here. Sorry. And yes, T is a computer tech but he claims he can't figure out the droid stuff because he has an iphone. Whatever.

J has been very busy since school let out with his basketball career. You know, his freshman high school basketball "career". To hear him talk about it you would think it's a career. He is on his second basketball camp. Keeps us hopping and he's loving it. He certainly has the build for it. He eats constantly and there's not an ounce of fat on him. He just keeps growing. He has grown a foot in the not quite 4 years since he's been home.

A is enjoying her summer a bit more than last summer. She actually has time off to do some things.

T currently has all of the vehicles running, thank God. The truck, montero and A's car were all down for the count. Now he's working on the boat again. We are hoping to get it going for Father's day. We shall see. If he ever gets all the vehicles and boat running at the same time he has plans to make a "redneck theater seat" for when we go to the drive in. J calls it "a fe-ater seat".

I paid for milk, bread and eggs with coins from my last piggy bank today. Come on, payday! We NEED to sell a vehicle. I don't care if it's the van or the montero, we just need to sell something and try to dig out. So much for trying to simplify life. Ha! Men make plans and God laughs.

R and JT and the babies are doing okay. Little bumps in the road of life but they are healthy. They are keeping an eye on some fires near them.

Maybe I should do a thankful list. Let's see...I'm thankful for God, friends and family. T and I had a nice weekend near Atlanta a week and a half ago and I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful for the beauty in the nature all around us.

Lost in translation

We were on spring break last week and went to my parent's place in FL. I'll post pics when I can. We had a nice time and also got to see T's aunt and uncle and several cousins. We had been to the beach one day and then to our favorite "top 5 weirdest places to eat in America" and J was telling about an older guy he saw on the beach who "must have been a sumo wrestler" or something. He said, "Dis guy had big muscles. He must have been on hydraulics!" We were all like, what? Do you possibly mean steroids? Yeah, dat's it! Hydraulics/steroids. Not all that close....

We stayed in T's uncle's RV part of the time we were there. One day J and I walked into the rv and there was a terrible smell. J started laughing. He was laughing so hard he could barely talk. He said, "You should have seen your facial impression! It was like dis," and then he tried to immitate what I looked like. I asked him again just to make sure and he said, "Your facial impression! It was so funny." Impression/expression. So close.

Still choosing to focus on the positive (and some pics!)

Wow, it's been a while since I posted and even longer since I posted pics. But blogger has decided to be nice today.

 

So far, I'm not very impressed with 2013. My parent's beloved little dog BB passed away Monday eve. Thankfully she went quickly and seemingly painlessly but they will miss her. She was almost 16. We are struggling financially, struggling with some health issues, struggling with health issues of some people we love. We are trying to trade out vehicles and land right side up financially and the montero we bought to replace the van is having issues. I guess we are just tired of issues.

 

But we are choosing to focus on the positive. My foot is healing. I'm actually starting to wean out of the boot. I put a tennis shoe on my right foot Monday morn for the first time in over 2 months. It felt weird. And tight. Apparently swelling is still an issue (see, there's another issue!) But it's healing!

 

T's uncle is getting better. My mom celebrated a birthday this week. Spring break is coming and we plan to be in FL, even if we have to rent a car to get there! Good stuff!

 

A is liking her new assistant manager position. We are meeting to sign J up for high school classes this week. High school! And he's doing well. He gets to take ESL english classes the first 2 years and I'm very relieved about that. I didn't know how he would take English 9. They have to pick a "focus area" and take appropriate elective classes. Seriously? How many 8th graders know what they want to do with their lives? Oh well, he's probably going to focus in fine arts. Or carpentry. He's getting a personal tour of the high school tomorrow if his ESL teacher extraordinaire can arrange it. Should help him decide his focus area. Or it could muddy the waters....?

 

Now, some pics. These back up a ways because blogger has been so weird about pics.

 

A "fireplace dinner". That was probably some time in Jan or Feb.

I love where we live and the beautiful scenery. This was a cold morning after it had rained and the icicles along the rock on the side of the road were awesome.

I do love a pretty sunset.

We celebrated A's 20th birthday.

Diesel still loves to get up on my lap and drool. Then he falls asleep.

Cooper is growing like crazy....

...and into everything. Including mud puddles. Large ones by the looks of him!

Diesel loves to play in the bathtub or in the sink. Love this cat. Love his markings. What a creative God we have!

Another nice sunset. Love God's handiwork.

Misty still loves to "help" me with my schoolwork. She thinks I will learn better by her absorbing the info into her body and me absorbing it by petting her.

My old horse Lady. She's 26 or 27 and thankfully in good health. Good old horse.

Well, that's all that blogger would allow me to add today without much trouble. Here's a lost in translation. We play a lot of games and teasingly accuse each other of cheating if one person is doing really well. J still gets a lot of little sayings mixed up and has taken to saying, "Cheater, cheater, pants on fire!" Last night he said that and then he said, "Oh wait, dat's supposed to be liar, liar, pants on fire, isn't it?" Too funny! Stay positive!

Lost in translations-but not from J!

My new walking boot thingy came. It's huge. It's lighter though and maybe a tad lower so that's good. It has more of a rocking motion to the stride than the other boot has and I have to get used to it. I told my mom this and she said, "Be careful, you don't want to fall off your rocker!" Bahahaha!

T came out of our bedroom/bathroom the other day and was complaining about the shoes. He said, "There's like a half dozen assorted left shoes in there to trip over." All my right shoes are in the closet.

T took a pic of me in the recliner the other evening. Both cats were on me. He titled it "Puss-n-boot." Ha!

The dogs are proudly carrying around the skull and backbone of an unidentified animal. Oh great. Trixie is teaching Cooper to be a gatherer. Sigh... Based on the size and shape of the skull I'm guessing it was a possum. Shudder. So. gross.!!! I was complaining about it and T said, "It's better than a live one." Ah yes. Yes it is. Simple mercies.

Weather....or not. Ha!

Apparently we had some bad weather last night, or early this morning to be more exact. We slept through it. My brother and his family didn't. They have some shingle and chimney and water damage but are getting things taken care of. It's supposed to possibly snow tonight and/or in the next 24-48 hours too. Weird weather.

My dad called me at work earlier and said Cooper was muddy. Ya think?! Besides the fact that our driveway resembles the Grand Canyon and we had flood like conditions, Cooper knocked over another planter. And then he and Trixie played in the dirt. While they were wet. Which made them muddy. Cooper is worse than Trixie plus it shows up more on him. His mother is a mountain cur and he usually looks like a yellow lab but today he looks more like a chocolate lab. Gotta love puppies. Their exuberance for life can be overwhelming though.

Dad picked J up at the end of the driveway after school in his new and improved scout. Woot!

Please pray for JT. He's not feeling well. Hope they can find some answers and get him some help tomorrow.

I went back to the foot doc and it's been decided that I'm dealing with a stress fracture and tendonitis. He took one look at my old boot and told me to get a new one. It should arrive tomorrow. At least 3 more weeks in the boot. Makes exercising difficult. Heck, it makes walking difficult.

How about I close with a "lost in translation". J was telling me how much dish soap he used to wash a water bottle. He said, "Just a tad, mom." I thought that was awesome that he used the word "tad" correctly and was excited about that. Not two minutes later he was walking forwards and backwards and saying, "I go closer. I go backer. I go closer. I go backer." Sigh....but too funny!

Too funny!

I mentioned earlier that J said fewer and fewer "lost in translation" things as he masters using the English language. But the last couple of weeks he has had quite a few funnies. Maybe his vocabulary is expanding? I don't know but last night he was telling me all about this new school fund-raiser he's supposed to be involved in. I hate school fund-raisers. And I don't have any extra money at the moment but he was trying to get me to buy a candle. He said, "Look at dese candles. Smell dem. Dey have scratch and sniff, here, smell dis one. You want to buy it? You can write a check." I declined and he mused whether or not to ask nanny or aunt S... He kind of gave it up for a while and then out of the blue he said, "I need to take dose roman candles to church." I asked him what the heck he was talking about and he said, "You know. Dose tings I am selling." I said, "Honey, those are Yankee Candles, not roman candles. Roman candles are fireworks." He said, "Whatever." Bahahaha!! Yankee candles/roman candles. So close!

Sunday evening, for some unknow reason, we were talking about thong underwear and A quipped, "There oughta be a weight limit on those things." I thought that was funny and texted R and she texted back that her friend said, "that would be worse bc then they wear spandex type pants and the cover the butt type underwear cuts the butt in half, creating four butt cheeks instead of two." Only she hit the wrong letter on one very important word and it said, "creating four nutt cheeks instead of two." Nutt cheeks. Bahahaha!!! We had fun with that one! A said, "If that creates four nutt cheeks you have bigger problems than spandex and thongs!" J said, "Dat makes me uncomfortable to tink about." Life is funny!

A couple of J-isms

As J gets better and better at using the English language the "lost in translation" stuff he says gets less and less. There are still those times though...

You know that slightly sarcastic way we have of saying "obviously" when someone says something which is very obvious? J was going for that one day only he said "eventually" instead. In that sarcastic way. It was too funny. We now use eventually in place of obviously. Captain Obvious has become Captain Eventually at our house.

Last night J decided to untwist all his hair. He now has really. big. hair. It's fine with me as long as he keeps it picked out. On the way to school he said, "Dude, if I fell on my head I don't even tink I would feel it!" Ha! I suggested not trying out that theory though. Funny kid.

He's going to be in a Christmas play at church. He was very monotone and struggling over the words at first but he's really getting it now. It's sounding good. I will keep you posted.

Home again, home again, jiggety jog.

Last weekend my mom, a friend and her mom took a trip to MO to see an elderly family friend of theirs and to do some sightseeing. We stayed in a quaint little town and travelled around to different areas each day. We had a great time.

This is a little crooked house at a "heritage seed" place. It cracked me up and I get the "Little Crooked Man" song stuck in my head each time I look at the pic.

They have a little pioneer village where there is a "pioneer day" festival the first weekend of each month.

They had beautiful gardens...

...with beautiful flowers...

...and very unique flowers.

They have a miniature donkey who cracked us up and reminded us of "Donkey" on Shrek. So stinkin' cute and absolutely full of himself.

And little mini horses too. I love minis.

We stopped at several antique stores and I got this pic for A.

This is D, hanging with her homies, sportin' her bonnet.

There were gorgeous sunsets.

You know how I love a sunset.

 We went to the Laura Ingalls Wilder home place and museum. This is where all of the "Little House" series of books was written. Rose Wilder Lane wrote several books here too.

Mom and I.

We saw the little rock house....

the setting....

and the gorgeous front door of the house that Rose had made for her parents.

We visited Amish country...

scooped the Amish Loop....

saw farms, bought tomatoes and baked goods and had fun with/watching the Amish. It amazes me that their lifestyle is still so well preserved in this world.

And to top it all off there was a rainbow when we were just about home.

Three years ago yesterday we brought J home after a 4-year wait. He continues to do very well, thank God. He has some attitude issues but he is a 14yo boy. So far this school year he is doing his own homework with just a little help now and then. He is earning gum by doing it himself. He has a part in a play at church for Christmas and I hope he can pull it off. I asked him if he was going to remember all those lines and he said, "If dey turn de projector around and I can see de words I will remember dem!" Smart boy. Turn the projector around and shine the words on the back wall. He's always thinking.

A started her sophomore year at college on Monday. So far, so good. She isn't driving her car with the standard transmission yet but there were title issues.

Remember our refrigerator saga from 2 Christmases ago? We are having a dishwasher saga now. We bought a new one and it was leaking. It was determined that there was a crack in the tub. A new tub was ordered and a service call set up. They didn't come to the service call. It was rescheduled and they came today but when they opened the box the new tub had been bent and possibly cracked! So, a new, new tub has been ordered and another service call has been scheduled. Sears in case you are wondering. It's really laughable if you think about it. What are the chances? Apparently high at this house. Too funny!

I love where I live

Dad's boat died last weekend. Well, the outdrive died. I emailed him some options from CL but he was so busy with everything Haiti that he didn't have time to look at them 'til much later in the week. We were bummed because we were planning to go to the lake after church on Sunday and dad couldn't take his boat. Well, he and T went and looked at a "parts" boat Sat afternoon and hauled it home and had the outdrive off of it and on to dad's boat by 9 Sat eve! And it worked! We had a great time and pics will follow.

We were "gleaning" things off the parts boat and J piped up with, "Oh look! Dere's de fire exterminator!". Extinguisher/exterminator. So close. And then when we were heading back to the house he saw a toad and said, "I should take dat to school to digest it." Upon further questioning it was determined that the word he was searching for was "dissect". Digest/dissect. So close. This kid cracks us up!

A and P didn't go to the lake with us Sunday. It's probably the first time since we've had the boat that A didn't make it out there with us. They both work so much and P is in school and A will be starting soon, I guess they just wanted to be alone.

Both of our daughters are currently learning how to drive a vehicle with a standard transmission. I think that's hysterical. A friend has been teaching R and I've been teaching A. Both vehicles have been stalled repeatedly in the learning process. I think the girls are both getting the hang of it though.

And now the pics. I love this little face peeking at me through the door. Too cute!

This is how I do schoolwork if one of the cats is around. They think I learn best with one of them laying on my chest in the way of what I'm trying to read. I'm not so sure.

Yes, she still loves to get in the stroller and drink from her sippy cup. And no, we haven't sent the video to AFV yet.

She also loves the ironing board, not that she gets to see it very often.

I love that we live close to some beautiful lakes.

And that the "Old man of the sea" (or lake in this case) was able to get his boat going again.

J and his friend fishing off the bow of our boat.

Dad relaxing on his. It was a gorgeous day. Temps were just right.

The water is still down but not quite as low as it was. Look at the beautiful rock formation here. J was impressed with the echo it created.

The view from the other side of the rocks (and the top of J's head).

There were a few herons fishing over here. I love the contrasts of the blues and greens in the sky, land, water and reflections.

I love that I live where this morning sky...

...becomes this evening sky.

We get some pretty sunsets 'round here.

I love it here even when the oatmeal boils over in the microwave. And yes, I scraped it back into the bowl and ate it.

I love where I live because of the people here with me, even when they leave things like multi-function levers from their car on the computer desk. 'Cause everyone should have a multi-function lever on their desk.

And now I must go do some schoolwork. I wonder where those cats are?

Olympics, back to school and other things...

We are having a good time watching the summer olympics. Well, J and I are. T is not interested and A is never here. It's been fun to watch them through J's eyes. He's only been home  for just under 3 years so it's his first time really watching them. Everything he watches, he says, "I want to do dat! I want to be in de olympics!" He gives me a play by play if I'm not in the room. This morning he turned it on and said, "Dey are playing beach volleyball in de pool."

My friend K and I developed our own olympic event. Syncronized noodles.

J registers for school on Friday. I'm loving summer and feel like it's much too early to go back but he's ready. He has not liked staying home alone this summer and is looking forward to seeing his friends every day. A is all signed up and ready to be a sophomore in college. I started my schooling yesterday. T is gearing up for back to school too. Inservice starts tomorrow so they are getting all the tech stuff ready for that.

Please take a minute to go to http://www.realhopeforhaiti.org/ and take a look at what this ministry is doing. They update Jn Edward, who captured my heart a while back. And now Sequam and Saint Vique have captured my heart as well. The ministry that they are providing to the people in and around Cazale, Haiti is outstanding.

Speaking of Haiti, my dad is there now. My mom has gotten reports that all things are going well and it's a good team of people. He will fly back to the states on Thur and be home sometime on Friday, Lord willing.

Please keep JT in your prayers as he is in Afghanistan. He is doing ok but is very tired. All of them are tired.

R plans to move her horse, Bridget, from here to CO. She hired a company to move her and they should pick her up the end of this week. We will miss Bridget as she has a lot of personality. For a horse.

Well, I think that's all the updates for now.