What Were You Doing When Kate and Wills Got Married?

It's been a while since I pulled an all-nighter.

I think the last one was a several years ago when I drove Loren up to Mayo with a fever, where they decided to keep him for a day or two. I was going to stay the night, sleeping in a recliner in his hospital room, but the nurses kept coming in and turning on lights and finally, fed up, I drove back home and crawled into bed around 6:00am.

Just another fun trip down memory lane!

Last night was because of the wedding. I decided it wasn't worth getting a couple of hours (coverage started 3:00, our time), so I thought, "Eh...why not."

Watching the ceremony was great, however, and the the four youngest were right there with me (they had 2-5 hours of sleep...Trevor and Nolan nodded off during books, tonight).

But by 7:35am there was a definite "doormat" feel to things. Very hard to hop on the treadmill before breakfast, but I did, and then hopped right into bed after my protein drink.

Another small stretch in the afternoon and I think a squeezed out 3.5 hours of sleep, today :-)

School was a bust, but we needed a break from that, anyway. Now there are two weeks (minus a day) 'til the graduation trip, and then two more weeks after that.

Then we see what academic tidbits are left to be devoured. I know I'll have to do some things with Trevor and Nolan throughout most of the summer, but I'm not going to think about that right now.

Instead, I was pondering my tree situation. Namely, the amount of rain we've had which postponed the planting of my 10 Wildbird Garden trees from the Arbor Day Foundation.

Ended up just heeling them in, this afternoon. How I hope my flowering/fruiting trees survive!

Moderate chances of rain tonight, along with heavy expectations of sleep.
 

Tweet

It Seemed Like a Good Idea

It was suggested to that instead of having movie night on Friday, when we'd be tired from getting up at 3am to watch the British doin's, that we see something tonight, instead.

I had my minions scrape up an old DVD I'd found at Goodwill: Casino Royale, with Peter Sellers. I thought it was the original which inspired the one made in 2006 by Daniel What's-his-name....but apparently it's a spoof.

A really terrible and utterly worthless spoof.

And since Ethan had noticed the packaging was old and "not rated," he asked if he could stay up, too. However, after giving it more than a reasonable chance, I finally halted it. Too many bimbos and hardly any plot.

But now I feel compelled to let them stay up, since after the movie is over, it's traditional to watch, Star Trek: the Next Generation.

Looks like we might get 2 hours or so of sleep. But I figure we can always nap, tomorrow. And I've already told the kids they can have part of school off, as well.

If Kate and Wills had only gotten married earlier in the year, I could have had a break before now.
 

Tweet

Small Miracles

Every once in a while something goes right.

Then I wake up from my afternoon nap.

No, no....I'm kidding.

There have been several strange and wondrous occurrences of late, so Ma will have to dish :-)

First and perhaps most amazing, Trevor and Nolan have been getting up--without benefit of reminders, nagging, or threats,--and starting on their schoolwork, before I even get out of bed.

I know !

They finally figured out they could have guilt-free play time, I guess. Or maybe someone is paying them on the side....still, it looks like a good deal, to me.

Makes me think the 20 minutes or so I spend getting their next day's (first) assignments written out for them, is not without meaning, purpose, and dare I say it, THE KEY TO PEACE IN OUR TIME.

Secondly, I ran to the grocery store again, with the express intention of keeping it under 50 dollars until next Wednesday. And it worked! Helped in no little way by several items being on sale.

I wasn't getting that much, but almost every time I turned down a new aisle, there was a gaudy, pink tag by something I wanted.

Could this be a sign I should shop, more often?

More importantly, can I make 3 sticks of butter last for six more days?

I'll give that some thought, but in the meantime, getta load of this bird that I saw while driving home on the gravel road...
...a Great Egret

(yes, that's what they're supposed to look like if you don't go into temporary shock, can't find you camera in your purse, and don't find the mode dial in the wrong position)

Really though, I saw it.


I was totally surprised, as the only other place I've seen one is along a quiet back-stretch of a river.

They are a white version of the Great Blue Heron, only bigger.

And now for the fourth miracle: posting 3 days in a row :-D
 

Tweet

Dieting 101

Cooking for a family is not the greatest environment for losing weight. This is why you should have your kids make the treats!

Doesn't always happen around here, but yesterday, Carolyn decided to make her famous Peanut Butter Candy Bars...
...generously delegating some of the responsibility to Trevor and Nolan :-)

Trevor is crushing the graham crackers and Nolan is mixing up...something.

I'm tellin' ya, they taste just like a Butterfinger candy bar!

Ma didn't have more than a nibble, but it was extremely tempting.

Speaking of ye olde diete, this week's weigh-in shows a loss of one more pound, bringing it to 31 pounds lost over 15 weeks. Decent over all, but dwindling down in pace so that my goal of 4 more pounds in the scant three weeks left is losing viability.

Fast becoming truly sick of the whole business, but I should really get myself in gear and clamp down for these last days. It's just getting harder and harder to forgo a few chocolate chips when I pass through the kitchen.

Or make a special trip out TO the kitchen.

For chocolate chips.

Really hankerin' fer the chocolate!

On the treadmill front, I put in 50 miles for last week, a new record. However, there seems to be some correlation between more exercise and wanting to eat more, so I have to wonder on the advisability of working my legs to stumps each day. Then too, some of the kids have started saying, "Bye, Mommy!" when I go down for my five-mile stretch in the evenings.

They know it will be an hour and twenty minutes before I emerge from the basement. Then again, maybe they are really glad to see me go, ha ha.

'Tis a pickle.

Which is safe to eat, but with less "melt-in-your-mouth" qualities than a chocolate chip.
 

Tweet

Life in the Yard

Not to be confused in any way with a prison yard. I refer, of course, to the bounty of nature exhibited by birds, butterflies, flowers and the occasional varmint that wanders through our vast acreage.

Today I ventured outside to snap a few of the first blooms. Naturally I waited until the wind had picked up before the coming rain. I'm just good with timing, that way.

I like violets in the spring.
Especially when they are seen in little clumps against the house or the bare dirt.

As opposed, say, to scattered all over the lawn.

Oh hey, my peas have sprouted!

Right next to the pruned cherry and pear twigs which shall act as supports.

Let's hope the pea plants follow orders and climb the makeshift trellis.

Probably my all-time favorite spring flower, the daffodil.


Radishes and lettuce are also peeking out of the ground. Still waiting on the spinach, beets, and potatoes.
 

Tweet

The Weekend Doin's

Wow, that almost came out "The Weedend Doin's" but I guess we'd better not go there.

My only acquaintanceship with weed is the kind that grows in the garden. And pretty soon I may have some growing indoors, if I don't get control of the clutter.

But then as I always say, "You can be on top of the housecleaning or you can spend extra time at your computer...but you can't do both."
_______________

Man, I can hardly wait for school to be done. Yesterday was one of those six times per year that we go to the libraries and I barely made it home without falling asleep. These excursions during the academic year are really taking a toll on my schedule.

Working this activity into the narrow window between when it is acceptable to take them out (did your school let out early? is it a snow day? *knowing stares*) and get back in time to throw together supper, is tricky.

Basically, I have four hours to hit two libraries and two stores, and that includes 1.5 hours just for driving.

Fortunately, the librarians in Hampton know we homeschool. I can arrive there before the end of a normal school day and get nothing but friendly greetings (you can take the awkward and suspicious looks for a couple of years, but after a while it's harder and harder to ignore....sorta like a couch that's been handed down from two other families).

Next time I do this and miss my nap, I may want to take along some caffeine, just to keep my mind sharp.

As in, sharper than when I stopped for a red light and pulled out as though it were a four-way.

I spent the next 20 minutes looking in my rear-view mirror for the black helicopters.

There were swirling blades, but they were only the ghostly white wind turbines shrouded in the light mist of Iowa's pseudo-spring.

In the city of second librariness, we also stopped at the Mart-of-Wal for weekly shopping needs. Because, in a tight economy, it always makes so much sense to shop two times per week.

Cutting our margin of book procurement extra close, we dragged our limited supply up to the check-out desk, 15 minutes before closing time. It was then I was reminded of a 2 dollar fine.

And you cannot check out books owing more than a dollar in fines.

Mining my wallet for change, I scrounged up $1.55, making me feel exceedingly adrenalized and relieved.

You don't want to experience the hassle of library day, once every two months, only to leave one library sans libros.

The grocery store presented another challenge, in that the rest of this month's food allotment needed to last two weeks, but I think I've got that problem licked.

It's just going to involve a lot of eggs.
______________

April is poetry month, which I discovered from the display of poetry books in Iowa Falls. I grabbed Garrison Keillor's Good Poems, and already, it has lived up to its title.

Here is one I opened to at random...

Bats

A bat is born
Naked and blind and pale.
His mother makes a pocket of her tail
and catches him. He clings to her long fur
By his thumbs and toes and teeth.
And then the mother dances through the night
Doubling and looping, soaring, somersaulting--
Her baby hangs on underneath.
All night, in happiness, she hunts and flies.
Her high sharp cries
Like shining needlepoints of sound
Go out into the night, and echoing back,
Tell her what they have touched.
She hears how far it is, how big it is,
Which way it's going:
She lives by hearing.
The mother eats the moths and gnats she catches
In full flight; in full flight
The mother drinks the water of the pond
She skims across. Her baby hangs on tight.
Her baby drinks the milk she makes him
In moonlight or starlight, in mid-air.
Their single shadow, printed on the moon
Or fluttering across the starts,
Whirls on all night; at daybreak
The tired mother flaps home to her rafter.
The other all are there.
They hang themselves up by their toes,
They wrap themselves in their brown wings.
Bunched upside-down, they sleep in air.
Their sharp ears, their sharp teeth, their quick sharp faces
Are dull and slow and mild.
All the bright day, as the mother sleeps,
She folds her wings about her sleeping child.

-----Randall Jarrell

Tweet

Learned Recently

Meant to post this yesterday....oh well.

1. In keeping with a weekly diet update, I have good and bad news. The good news: am now down 30 pounds! 'Tis a milestone, to be sure. But the (slightly) bad news is that progress has slowed to the point that I am no longer as confident I can lose the last five pounds in the remaining scant, four weeks. Keeping things exactly as they are, that is.

I'll give it until Monday or Tuesday and reevaluate, to see if stronger measures should be taken.

Okay...enough of the self-doubt.

2. Did you know, that it can snow more times in April than in March?

Yesterday morning the snow came down mucho thicko for a bit, thundering several times.

Not sure if that was true "thunder snow," but it did look weird against the green grass, casting a slight pall over the whole, "Spring is HERE!" scenario.

The snow was still there when we woke up this morning. but now has faded enough that I can once again gaze upon the vole trails created under last winter's drifts.

3. You can go to bed early, but it doesn't guarantee extra sleep.

Take Monday. Shopping and no afternoon nap left me pretty tuckered out (I took Nolan and Trevor, so that in itself counts for added fatigue). Feeling terribly responsible, I climbed into bed earlier than usual. And that was the night (well, early morning, actually) when I was awakened in the wee hours by a recurring dream....someone knocking on the bedroom door.

I really hate that. The three knocks are so real that I've often gotten out of bed to see if one of the kids was sick. No one is ever there, but by then I'm totally awake for a good hour.

This time, however, I decided to stay in bed. And there were only two knocks...surely significant, ha ha.

As long as there aren't four knocks.

Anyone who has watched Dr. Who knows you don't want to hear four knocks...
 

Tweet

Normal is....normal (part 2)

Only a month or so late, we continue the outline of Ma's Day, started lo, two months ago.

When last we checked in, the pre-lunch treadmill time had just passed, with Ma tiredly clumping up the stairs only to be met with an anxious and hungry Ethan, inquiring as to the time of lunch.

Except, I've trained him not to do that anymore.

Instead, I utter a few groans, grab a drink (or a morsel) and plop into my computer chair, hoping the kids will cut me some lunch slack for just 10 or 15 minutes.

Eventually though, it does become apparent that the family should eat. Hopefully before the clock strikes "two."

Lunch is one of those things that sounds simple, but in reality, consists of transferring half of the refrigerator's contents onto the dining room table.

Testing recent probability lessons in math, we see no less than 28 possible combinations are required to keep everyone happy. This includes bread or tortillas, and a multitude of fillings and condiments. If people didn't make their own sandwiches, Ma would indeed go balmy.

Adequate fruit and fiber must also be supplied for people not satisfied with the simplicities of sandwich, chips and a pickle.

"Dessert" is another potential bonus, but not all that exciting since Ma seldom varies between her three standards: cookie bars, brownies....I may have miscounted.

After that it is "time to clear," wherein the children rush to put back all of the things into the refrigerator, all the while nibbling on chips to make the bags less heavy for stowing in the cupboard.

DISH-WASHING time. This is Ma's chore, after every noon meal. It would normally be the lightest dish-washing segment of the day, but I always seem to end up cleaning the bits and pieces that were "too hard" for Trevor, or pans I felt too guilty to give the older kids at last night's supper.

(It is about this time that the three boys race upstairs to partake of their computer game time. I may not hear from them for an hour. Particularly if multi-player games are forbidden)

DISHES done, I finally get to toddle off for my nap, which can cover as much as 90 minutes.

Some of this time is spent sleeping, some spent prioritizing my worries, some spent praying no one ends up in prison, and some is spent with an ear toward the boys room for any "projects" I might be extremely sorry about, later.

By 4:00 or shortly after, I have reluctantly dragged myself out of a warm cocoon and back to the computer, which is visited intermittently throughout the day.

(you just can't let 138 Facebook friends--some of which actually converse with me--wander aimlessly about all day in cyberspace)

However, if spring garden or yard work is required, I have been known to ignore the World Wide Web, the news, and even have Carolyn make supper.

Around 5:00, depending on the complexities of the meal, I start putting a few things together with the intention of having it be capable of inattention while I watch the news.

Six-fifteen or six-thiryish we eat supper, that family together-time lasting as long as 10 or 15 minutes (one of the reasons I don't believe in spending a great deal of time fixing the meal).

After that it is clearing and preparing for a good 4-5 mile stint on the treadmill.

With the knowledge that Carolyn or Ethan will do the dishes, I am left to enjoy a crime show, sometimes followed by a good, stiff, protein drink.

More computer perusal, followed by "ready-for-bed" activities, including reading to the kids, most nights.

Once they are in bed, I am free.....no, wait...I have started writing out Nolan and Trevor's school assignments for the following morning....after which THEN I AM FREE to read on the couch, cruise the Internet, and watch TV, munching my before-bed apple.

The goal is to stay up late enough so that:

1) I can enjoy time by myself, with no one wanting anything of me, and

2) to become so tired that I fall asleep within minutes, usually around 1:00am.

And that's about it.

Pretty boring stuff, but it keeps me out of the bars.
 

Tweet

The Great Shrub Take Out

I ask you, has there ever been a more pathetic bush?

This is the worst of two disappointing yews, in front of the house.

There was a time when they were decent, but that time is no more.

Every year they've died back more, necessitating me sawing off increasingly large branches (which you can see).

Today I took out the both of them with the bow saw. The other bush had more foliage, but I saw no reason to prolong the inevitable.

During the procedure, my budding adolescent dropped by:

"I really liked that bush...it was a nice looking bush," his tone oozing with disapproval.

But then, he hasn't been mowing around the bushes, their sawed off ends jabbing him in the leg and thigh.

Like all tree/bush removal jobs, it took longer than expected, but thanks to Carolyn making supper for me (thanks, Carolyn :-), I was able to beat it down the road and wrestle several Red-twig Dogwood specimens from the ditch.

These I planted just in front of where the bushes had previously been malingering. It is hoped they will eventually hide the stumps until I can find some way to detach them from the soil (a hatchet would be quite handy).

Naturally, once I got them all tucked away, the weather changed from "60% percent chance of rain today," to, "best chance of rain on Thursday evening."

But at least I didn't have to make supper :-D
 

Tweet

Spring Clean-up

We finished the laborious chore of clearing stones from the ditch, today. We must have been out there four or five different times, this spring, and the kids are plenty glad it is over.

It was even shorter than usual this afternoon, but that gave us time to pick up all the pine cones. They fell in prodigious amounts this year, and He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named utilized every method of work stoppage and slowdown in his arsenal. Add in belligerence, constant complaining, and frequent queries, "Are we almost done?" and you get the #1 hassle in my life.

(I'll have to delete some of these posts if he ever gets Internet privileges, but I don't expect that to happen any time soon)

(at all)

But at least the yard is now cone-less, and tomorrow I can get started on cleaning up the flower beds.

I also have several little projects in mind, one of which involves cutting down the pathetic evergreen bushes in front of the house and replacing them with Red Twig Dogwood from a ditch down the road. Should look nice in winter, against the snow.

I mean, what you can see of them after the snow gets bermed against the house.
____________________

Loren has been working like crazy to fix up the Camry so Kendra can use it for graduate school. The boys like to go out in the garage and "help"/watch, though maybe they are part of the reason it is taking so long, heh, heh. That, and the fact that more stuff turns up that needs fixing.

At some point, however, it should be a nice little car.
____________________

This is the time of year when one is supposed to be hot into spring cleaning the house, but I am still finishing up school, not to mention the diet, so that will be enough to keep me busy.

The cobwebs can breathe easy for a bit.

I'll content myself with cleaning up garden litter. Much more fulfilling, and amazingly enough, the outdoors remains relatively free from Legos, army guys, or Happy Hollister books.
 

Tweet

Life on the Big Band Prairie

*cue "Moonlight Serenade"*

With the promise of rain, last week, I forced myself outside (during my naptime, no less!) and dug up a few places fer plantin'. Got in spinach, peas, beets, lettuce, and radishes, Wednesday. There was a light sprinkle on Thursday, but the promised drenchings never came. But at least the early things are "in," including the potatoes which came a week earlier.

The exercise must have been good for me--I certainly enjoyed digging in the dirt--and I now have another dieting update:

The 13-week report--29 pounds lost ! This is the first weight-loss project where I have made progress every single week. Fairly gratifying. Particularly since I can now wear a few things I haven't gotten into for over two years :-D

Yay for Ma!

No more queen-size pantyhose.

Don't think of it as self-absorption. It's not my fault the others aren't doing interesting things around this joint and forcing me to talk about myself.
____________

It was nice to get back to a regular routine, today, after going to extra church meetings Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. All that sitting was a bit uncomfortable on the ol' back. But I am glad to say that the sharp, stabbing pains only lasted 1.5 days. I can almost turn my neck 90° again, both directions! Just a dull knot in the back, for the most part. I can live with that.

When I mention "regular routine," that's not to say I enjoy the usual Monday rigmarole from Nolan. It was another typical rough start to the school week, but at least it wasn't as bad as last week. He seems to be allergic to responsibility and work, and I haven't figured out the right kind of pill for it, yet, ha ha.

Also on the docket for today: grocery shopping. Getting to be rather shocking, as a head of cauliflower now goes for almost $4.00 at HyVee. I abstained and hit my usual cheap place. Hardly any meat on sale. And I notice they've been putting up neon stickers--4 different colors--in front of every meat item. It's so gaudy you can hardly pick out what's what. I think that's the plan...have the shoppers go half blind so they'll break down and buy something. Not me. I've started buying half-pound packages of ground meat, when I buy it at all.

If they have to post such high prices, then I'm taking it out in butcher paper.

______________

In other news, I need to start our practice for special music on Easter Sunday. Since the older boys won't be here, I was going to "borrow" a couple of guys from a family at our church, but they're not coming anymore, so I had to reconfigure the parts. Luckily it didn't take too much fiddling, but it sure would have sounded nicer with a real bass.

Time presses and we're almost to the best time of the day: putting the kids to bed and settling down with a good book/computer/TV program.

*cue "St. Louis Blues"*
 

Tweet

The History Teacher

(a poem, by Billy Collins)

Trying to protect his students' innocence
he told them the Ice Age was really just
the Chilly Age, a period of a million years
when everyone had to wear sweaters.

And the Stone Age became the Gravel Age,
named after the long driveways of the time.

The Spanish Inquisition was nothing more
than an outbreak of questions such as
"How far is it from here to Madrid?"
"What do you call the matador's hat?"

The War of the Roses took place in a garden,
and the Enola Gay dropped one tiny atom on Japan.

The children would leave his classroom
for the playground to torment the weak
and the smart,
mussing up their hair and breaking their glasses,

while he gathered up his notes and walked home
past flower beds and white picket fences,
wondering if they would believe that soldiers
in the Boer War told long, rambling stories
designed to make the enemy nod off.

 

Tweet

The Diet/Life Update

Pretty shocking to actually post two days in a row! At least, I think....too lazy to check.

For the ol' diet report, as of 12 weeks, I have lost 26.5 pounds.

I think this is the first week I haven't lost 2 pounds or more in a week, so I'm trying not to get nervous, with only 6 scant weeks left and 8.5 pounds to go.

However, there have been some issues since the last report, not the least of which was waking up on Monday with a pinched nerve.

Third time it's happened, though the first time I've figured out what it was (I think). Next time I will be aware the night before, when I start to feel pressure in my neck and head.

Frankly though, it is quite a shock to turn over in bed and suddenly feel sharp, stabbing pains in your back.

Hoping I'm on the mend, though. Taking naproxen sodium (Aleve) which is only 5 or 6 years old, so that should work, right?

I had to default to the old bottle after the Tynlenol/Motrin combo did nothing, and the aspirin let me down, too.

Getting out of bed and out of a soft, deep chair can be very tricky, but I am learning.

The first time this happened it gradually went away in a month or two, but the second time was much faster. This episode is more severe but I am determined it will be significantly better in a week or so

At least I am still able to go on the treadmill, otherwise my grand plans of losing the rest of the weight would be shattered.

Probably came about from digging up that potato bed on Saturday afternoon. Or maybe it was playing ping pong at church on Sunday...? Nah...probably the digging.

But Ma will just have to get tough and teach the ol' body a lesson, because there is no way I am giving up doing the garden.

I think.
 

Tweet

River City Barbershop Chorus

Ma took four of the kids to enjoy the spring concert of the River City Barbershop Chorus and mercy! was it a good show :-D

Of course, when you see this many guys in suits gesturing and singing loudly...
...you had better show a little respect, people!

No, I am kidding. They are animated but that is part of the whole spiel. And an excellent time was had by all.

Their special guests this year was a group called, "Lunch Break."
Granted, the outfits are a bit campy, these guys are just super.

One of them plays a mean jazz sax (for Basin Street Blues) and another song--a parody--had us all laughing so hard...well....let's just say there was very nearly an unintended consequence.

Oh...that reminds me...on the way up, I had to stop not once, but TWICE, for two young lads, because their bladders could not hold out for the 60 minute trip to Mason City. But being boys, it is not too hard to pull off the side of the road and dash out to some spot fairly hidden from view. Shortly before our arrival found me pulled off the four-lane to open a convenient door. So glad we girls were sitting up front.

But getting back to the concert...

Here's one of the final numbers, "76 Trombones."
Good stuff. And we won't even mention who was out of step, ha ha :-)

What an enjoyable evening. Already looking forward to next year's concert!
 

Tweet