Tuesday Ramblings

Sorry guys for not posting the last couple of days. I don't know how these working moms get it all done. I leave the house at 7:30am to take the kids to school and by the time I pick Stephanie up at day care in the afternoon and get home it's close to 5:30-5:45. I usually try to get a load or two of laundry done, run the dishwasher and get supper cooked, served and cleaned up. By then it's almost 7:30 and our nighttime routine begins at 8 when Stephanie has to get in the shower followed by Ethan at 8:30. They're old enough to get their own selves ready to bed now, but the next thing I know it's bedtime for me. I fell asleep on the couch tonight 3 times. Now I'm wide awake. I'll crash in the morning at 5:30 when it's time to get up and start all over again. When do you have time to get anything done at your house (those with kiddo's anyway). My yard is neglected(pool is still up with water infested mosquito hatchery), my house is fairly clutter free, but needs a good cleaning and I just can't find the time. Help....calgon take me away!!!

I talked to my Dad and Grandma tonight. She is doing so much better, but has such a long ways to go. They have finally figured out what she has. It is called Blistering Disease. Don't look that up on Google, you'll be grossed out and it's not curable. They did a CT scan yesterday and took blood samples to see which type it is. Sometimes, this is caused by an internal tumor somewhere, so we're praying that's not the case. AT least her voice sounded good. I won't get to go up and see her for another few weeks or so. I'll keep you posted on what they find out.

Hopefully, I can get the photo's downloaded soon. I need to get caught back up again. I have parade pics and maybe a birthday pic or two. Eventually, I want to put my blogs into a blog book. If you have time, check out blurb.com I think it is to see how to turn your blog into a great book to have for a keepsake.

Okey dokey then. I need to hit the hay. 5:30 comes so early for this night owl.

CAN WE ALL SAY LOTTERY! LOTTERY! LOTTERY! LOTTERY! I need to win part of the powerball so I can work part time and get some sleep and work done around home! lol!!!

bye now, y'all come back now ya here!

Happy Birthday to Me!! Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Yep, today is the big 50! Who knew that 50years could fly by so fast. My mom and my Grandma always have told me to enjoy the time you have each day, because they all go so fast. And how true I'm realizing that is. I don't feel 50. And age is just a number right? Other than being overweight, I still feel like I did when I was in my early 30's. I have always thought that my parents were old, know what I mean? Well just wait until you get to be the age they were when you thought they were old. That's not very funny either. :(

I got to scrapbook yesterday with some gals and it was like heaven! I absolutely love doing that and for 4 1/2 hours we scrapped. Then we all went out with our families to La Hacienda. I had beef nacho's. Yummmmmm. I like other things on the menu too, but just wasn't sure about the carbs. With nacho's, it's cheese and beef, so I'm hoping it wasn't too bad for my diet. When we got done there, Greg, Ethan and I went down and walked across the river bridge. I think if you walk all the way over and back it's a mile. We got to watch a train stop, unload the crew, load up a fresh crew and take off. I had no idea that went on here at Boonville. There was a train coming behind it so as soon as it took off, the other finally started up and came on through. It took about 15-20 minutes for the first one to clear. There were only 3 engines but there were a boatload of coal cars on there. Anyway, it was dark and watching the trains with their lights on and the men with lights walking around was kind of neat.

We came home and Ethan wanted to play Risk. I had never played before and guess what, I WON! Beginner's luck I guess. Stephanie is spending the night with a friend who's also having a birthday. She'll be home sometime this afternoon as we have to count money at church this morning (11am) and won't be done till about 1:00pm. I hate to think about working on my birthday, but I've got a gajillion loads of laundry, dishes, cleaning, and taking down the pool to do. I/m not a procastinator but I have not been home all weekend so off I go to get that done.

Thanks for checking in on us guys.

Busier than...

Whew! We've had a busy week. Yesterday was Homecoming here and I'll have pictures to share soon. I've got them, just don't have time to load them right now. I took off work and went to the parade. Stephanie was dressed in 50's style clothing and walked with her school float. David Barton where she goes has been around 50 years this year, so they are celebrating in a big way. They had a balloon launch on Thursday to kick off and EVERY student in school got a balloon to release. I wish I could have seen that. I made a quick trip to Columbia last night to Hobby Lobby and Michael's for a scrapbook haul. I get to scrapbook today with Stephanie's daycare provider and her Pastor's wife. I haven't got to do that in sooooooooo long. So today I'm working from 8ish to 11ish, scrapbooking from 1-4 and then laundry, dishes cleaning, supper after that.

I FORGOT to let you know how my Grandma was doing. I talked to her Thursday evening and she is so much better. Her skin still hasn't healed but dr's think it's improving. She won't have the biopsy results until this week sometime. Her hip repair is going so great that she can put 50% weight on and it's not hurt in several days now. She finally got to sleep in her bed the other day and she sounded so much better on the phone. Maybe she's on the road to a full recovery after all. Thank you VERY much for all the prayers on her behalf.

Gotta run!

Yo Mon, Jamaican ME CRAZY!!!

BURSTING WITH EXCITEMENT TODAY!!!! Our local radio station KWRT, plays a syndicated national show from about 11am on. Currently, they are qualifying listeners to go on a CRUISE called Classic Country Cruise!
Visit http://www.opry.com/OpryCruise/PortsOfCall.aspx

I am excited for several reasons. I was able to get through the phone lines and get qualified! I had the right answer to the dj's question. The cruise includes airfare as well as one whole week cruising. One of the Ports of Call is where Greg and I went on our honeymoon, Ocho Rios Jamaica. OH MY GOSH would I be so excited if I won. We will be married 15 years this year and what an awesome thing that would be. The trip is in February 8-14 so perfect for Valentines too,(he could cover two romantic dates in one) and we've never been on a cruise before. Don't have a clue what we'd do with the kiddo's, but believe me you, if we win this thing, we're goin! They are going to take more names for another week or so and then they'll have a drawing. Please oh please, if you're the praying person out there reading this, please pray that I win. If you don't pray, could ya just send good vibes my way?

Ok, now that I got that out of the way...Here's Ethan's excitement for the week hopefully. He has been attending and YMCA Youth Fitness class and it isn't too structured or organized, go figure. Anyhoo, Monday afternoon, the instructor took the 4 kids to the creek on the grounds of the Y and let them play around it. Notice I said around. Well, at one point, Ethan jumped across to the other side and got his shoes muddy. He said he knew I'd be mad, so he went to wash them off in the creek water. In the meantime, one of the 5th grade boys, jumped in the sandy/muddy area and sunk up close to his waist. (He got stuck) The instructor thought it was hillarious as did a couple other kids. Ethan went over to this kid and started digging him out of the mud. He had on fairly new clothes and he was trying hard not to get them covered in mud. Apparently, the stuck 5th grader thought it would be oh so funny to get Ethan with mud. He picked up two big handfuls and slopped Ethan with it, all the while Ethan's trying to get him out. (We've had boat loads of rain with Gustav and Ike) He road his bike on home and took off his clothes so he could soak them. I immediately threw the shorts in the washer and soaked his WHITE t-shirt overnight in Oxy Clean. I had to scrub some places pretty hard, but after washing it's wearable. Needless to say, he is not going back to the class. But we were proud of him for stepping in to get the 5th grader out when it should have been on the shoulders of the instructor. Makes you feel good when your teenager does something responsible like that and especially when the adult present didn't know what to do.

Gotta run, it's really late and dieting doesn't work so well if you don't get enough sleep. And I don't want to get run down, you never want to stay on your diet when that happens.

Till next time,
Lana

New Blog and stuff

Hey all, good morning!

I have a new blog. It is going to be devoted entirely to my weight loss journey. They always say to keep a journal, and I know that means what you eat, but I am keeping a log of my gains/losses and all things diet related. I am going to give South Beach a whirl. I know people who've done really well with it. I don't want to pay for Weight Watchers this time.

Ethan has received two more special school awards this week and after last evening, I think he's more than just the average kid. More on that later.

Stephanie and I are going to go shopping for jeans and long pants today. She is excited to be shopping and fall has hit here with cool temps in the morning, enough for a jacket.

With all the negative news in the economy, Greg is busier than ever and people just keep calling for work to be done. Doesn't appear that Boonville is in a downturn just yet. Hope this trend keeps up.

As for me, check out my new blog at
For the Last Time
http://4thelasttimelana.blogspot.com/
Work is great as usual and I mean that. I love my job.

Have a good day, all for now, more on Ethan tonight.

Lana

Fun in the Sun, tee hee tee hee

CHECK THIS OUT!

Yesterday's weather was mild, and for Missouri in September, let's just say it was almost jacket weather. We did not get the pool down before now. Donning swim suits the 2 yayhoos decided to help the water get to somewhere other than our back yard. Our yard does not drain well and it always makes a huge water puddle till it finally starts draining. One would think that one would put the drain hole on the side that flows down and out, not on the uphill side. Go figure. Went in the house for a few minutes to start a load of laundry and I came back out to this....

Good thing our yard backs up to woods. Uh, the trench, hand dug by Ethan was a masterpiece! Not sure how many of the thousands of gallons of chlorinated water ran that way, but I think he was proud of his accomplishment. Before you green savers go harping about the chemicals released into the ground, the only thing I ever put in our pool is the chlorine tabs. The water here is treated with so much stuff, I never have to treat our pool. I do cover it when it rains, but otherwise change a filter 1-2 times a season and we're good to go.

I didn't have the heart to tell her her bucket wasn't big enough :(

Surprisingly, it only took a couple of hours to drain, maybe not quite that long even. And each year I'm getting faster and faster about getting it up. Don't think I'll put it up next year though. With both kids in baseball/softball we just didn't have much free time and when we did it was either raining or too cold. With all the woods near us, we get a whole bazooka load of horse flies and what bigger mosquito trap can you ask for? ahhh, but the kids love it and by the time next year rolls around, I'll have changed my mind and forgot about the woes of this year.

On a final note, PLEASE, PLEASE keep my Grandma Gen in your prayers. She went to the infection disease specialist today and it was not very good news. They now say what she has is NOT shingles but something else. They biopsied her skin in several places and we should know something in 3-4 days. Pray for healing from whatever it is, that it is curable, and her pain to lessen. She is still in a great deal of pain. The hip surgery went fine and she got a glowing report from that doctor. Thank you, and I'll keep you posted.

Good Saturday Morn'in to ya!

I've got a few more pictures to share but more on that later. I FINALLY GOT TO SLEEP IN TODAY! Anyone who really knows me, knows that I am NOT a morning person. Greg didn't even wake me up when he got up before dawn to go to work. There is nothing better in my world than sleeping in. I love being up late at night when it's quiet. I know, I know, ya all say it's just as quiet before sunrise. But when you have kiddo's, you know they'll stay in bed at 9pm, but in the morning, they could wake up and ruin that quiet time. Don't get me wrong I love my kids, but there's a reason for the quiet time too. Besides, I had to reserve my energy ;) we are going to work 8 hours at the Steam Engine Show with the Knights of Columbus. We are by far the youngest couple to help out, uhmmmm, ok, Greg is the youngest. We serve fried chicken, pork steak, catfish, and all the fixin's. So if you're in the area of I-70 and Brady Showgrounds by Columbia, stop by. It's a whole lot of fun for the family. Many things for the younger crowd to do.



Can't get a picture of an almost 14 year old, otherwise I'd show you why I'm proud of Ethan this week. I have to brag just a wee bit. All in one week, he received the highest honor at school for respectful, responsible and honorable in his actions. For that it was High Flyin' Hawk award. He received a nomination for the Y-Pals program in which a teacher nominated him for this program. In that, he will mentor to a younger child through the YMCA. He also achieved all A's on his homework this week, managed to get all his chores done, and attended 3 nights of class for youth fitness. Yep, I guess we're doing the right thing with him. And you will never hear him toot his horn, so I guess it's ok that Mom does once in a while.



Now for the pictures.....

Let me explain. I know you know that it's a penguin who's arms wilted and a dragon made from balloons. The story behind them is: Last Saturday night, Greg drove all the way to St. Joseph with the kids to meet me at the hospital where I was seeing my Grandma. They had stopped in Kansas City to eat supper, that I knew. He had called me and I met him out in front of the hospital, (they didn't get there until 11:30pm). The kids were waving these things out the window. I said, "Where did you get those?" Ethan said, "WALLY'S BALLOON WORLD". huh? I never heard of the place, so I said where did you eat then? He replied again, "Wally's Balloon World." I asked what kind of food a balloon place served. It was then Stephanie burst out laughing and said, "We ate at Joe's Crab Shack, Mom." Just so happened they had a balloonist(I don't know what they're called)making anything a kid wanted. They had more fun watching him create them than the experience of eating at Joe's.

Here's a quick video of Ethan and Stephanie at the hotel pool in St. Joe this past weekend. He was trying to splash big and she was trying to float upside down. Mission accomplished I think.

It's off to do the Saturday morning chores which I hate with a passion, but thankful I am healthy and able to do them and that I have a home and the mess to clean. Some people are not so lucky, and I am truly blessed with what I have. Till next time, Lana.

Finally getting back

Been gone a while again. Lots always happen'in. This past weekend my Grandma fell, broke her hip and ended up in the hospital having surgery last Saturday morning. That went exceedingly well and she was released on Tuesday of this week. But.....she has a horrendous case of shingles that has just about put her down and out. She could still use all the prayers she can get not only for her hip healing but the end of the shingles. She's had to live with them since late spring. She will 84 in November. She has ALWAYS been like a Mother to me. I am so close to her and it was all too familiar having to go to the hospital to see her in that condition. My mom died November 10, 1992(T-cell Lymphoma). I really love my Grandma, please pray for her.

Now for the picture deluge.
Know what these are? Umm hmm. That's right, THE SPINNERS! Ok, Santa Claus, this year when Stephanie asks for "Wheelies" can you make sure the elves package up exactly what she asks for. Let's just say Spinners were not only what she didn't ask for, but they ended up costing mom and dad a small boat load of cash at the ER office!







Moving on...I always make the kids pose for the first day of school pics. As each year passes, it's getting harder and harder for them to be excited however. This year was no exception. Here's a few of the better ones.





We caught this thing and kept it in a bug catcher for 2 or 3 days! Well, I admit I didn't catch it. Ethan and Stephanie did. They nabbed a grand daddy long leg, a cricket and a roly poly bug and tossed them in with it. We wanted a show. Bets were on as to whose demise would come first. At first both spiders checked each other out, but immediately the "garden spider" started webbing. I use the term garden spider loosely because that's what Greg said it was. He tells me stuff like that even if it's not the truth;) On about the third day he appeared to be dying, so we made the kids turn all the critters loose. I put him/her back by the window where we'd found it and within 24 hours it was webbing all over the window again. I suppose he lived. Haven't seen him since.(thank goodness)
Check out the zig zag cotton it was weaving! cool huh?
















Greg and Ethan were having a discussion at supper the other night and I just happened to have the camera nearby. Stephanie soaks up daddy's love any chance she gets, and after supper is as good as time as any. Gotta catch him before desk work. She was having so much fun while they were deep in politics, or maybe it was girls outnumber boys in his pre-algebra class.







I found this really neat counter on the net the other day and it tells you how many hits you have on your blog and whether they are unique hits or return visitors. I am amazed at the number! Kind of neat for the geek in me! Anyhoo, gotta toodle.

By the way, out of the blue here, how old were you, or your kids when Santa Claus really came out of the closet ;) ;)