Ma's Extreme Makeover, Week 4

Hey everyone...got some good news to report.

After four weeks, including two 17.5 hour travel days and a family reunion, I weighed in this morning: down 11 pounds!

Whooee, ah is HAP-py :-)

For that, anyway. And good to know that I could get through a reunion without gaining back some that had been lost.

Now I have another three days of being away from my family, coming up later this week. This could prove to be rather draining, so I would appreciate your prayers.

Also, Carolyn came back with a cold from the reunion and wasn't feeling too hot, last night. Hopefully she'll be better this morning (still sleeping). In addition, she had too much vigorous action at the pool one afternoon last week and her heart was doing some weird things.

Actually, if you can only pray for one person, pray for her...I can muddle through.

This summer is starting to look busier than school.

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Back Home

 This is what greeted me as I went out the door this morning to hang the two loads of towels and swim items on the line (the dryer made a funny noise last night, and Loren is picking up the new heating element this morning).

A gorgeous sunflower from the bird seed leftovers :-)

All the more beautiful since the crazy green bugs that usually eat up the flower heads have not found it, as yet.

Then I decided to take a short walk about to see what is happening in the garden. Mostly weeds, I'm afraid. But the squash and cucumber that I planted right before we left have sprouted. I could spend a couple days out there...

 Then I remembered the thrasher nest! "Oh boy," I thought to myself, "I can hardly wait to see these little guys...maybe they have the start of reddish brown feathers..."

So I circled 'round to the bush and something seemed odd...very quiet....I had a bad feeling and pretty much guessed what I would see...

Empty.

The nest is tilted a bit so I imagine a raccoon came along and cleaned it out one night.

Well. That's that.

I'm a little heart-broke but it has to pass because I don't live with a sentimentalist.

So Monday will be a recoup day. Squaring away any last bits from the trip; maybe giving the bathrooms a good going over by Ma, since things have slacked off in that department with all our activities.

Grocery shopping and then gearing up for more school tomorrow, though that will surely get interrupted as well.

Anyway, we had a wonderful reunion down in Georgia but it's time to get back to regular life. I'll try and put up a Picasa album in a few days.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for safety in travels

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The Day of Des Moines-ing-ness

Nolan and Trevor climbing on "dinosaur bones"

After climbing through a tunnel they get to look more closely at the prairie dogs

Feeding the budgies

Over to Union Park, where they have a tremendous playground apparatus!

Now we're at the HyVee Convention Hall, waiting for the junior delegates to walk onto the stage

Then it's back to Union Park again, and another ride on The Heritage Carousel

And here they are....can you find Carolyn (front row) and Ethan (back row) ?

Seriously, this new picture posting scheme is completely bonkers, but I guess I should be glad I finally got a series of photos to get on....never mind the bizarre placement.

We had quite the day, and even though I'm somewhat shot, I figured if I didn't get anything on the blog, it would never get done. Besides, I'm still waiting for towels to come out of the dryer. It's the last thing and then I will head to bed where I hope some sleep can be had before rising just prior to FOUR O'CLOCK, so we can head out by five.

Taking breakfast with us--boiled eggs and muffins--as well as lunch and snacks. Guess we'll grab something from the dollar menu at McDonald's for supper. Then we'll  cruise into the reunion around around midnight, if everything goes alright.

Hopefully I can post a time or two while there.

We have several audio books, DVD's and most importantly, I have a bag just for my coffee supplies.

Welp, it is getting hard to think straight and the towels should be about done...

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Counting Down..

Red Admiral, caught during a rare and quiet moment of peace.

We have been going like crazy to get things done. Only one huge day before the big trip to Georgia!

--Carolyn baked the last of our 16 dozen cookies we are required to bring.

--The boys folded their laundry and packed their bags. Hopefully there will still be some clean clothes left in them before we leave....

--I baked five loaves of bread and five loaves of banana bread. Also assembled a casserole for tomorrow, since four of the kids and I will be gone all day to Des Moines. Leaving at 6:45....whew! And then I had to make a few contingency plans, seeing as the forecast went from 20% to 80% chance of rain. But hopefully we can still hit the zoo in the morning before storms roll into the area.

Loren has been working and scheduling work on the van. Just today the air conditioning got fixed (which means I can go on the trip, heh). The front part, anyway. We're going to take along a fan and blow the cooler air to the back. The classy moments just keep acomin'.

And then it worked out to get the van aligned, which was supposed to have been done earlier, until the mechanic cancelled. Another "whew."

As if that wasn't enough, Loren proceeded to take off the shocks to put on new ones...which went pretty well until that one bolt. That had to be drilled out but he got it done and the new ones on this evening :-)

Mercy!

So now all that's left to do (other than get through a busy and long day tomorrow) is to finish packing and do a bit more laundry, and fix up more food to take on the trip.

Breakfast will be in the van, as will a packed lunch. Then I suppose we'll hit the dollar menu at McDonald's and let the kids indulge in a McDouble or two.

We'll be pulling into the reunion site around midnight. I hope the relatives can still recognize us.

Now all we have to do is get through the next two days...

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Made it Through the Day

 Just to recap the day, we got a lot done, but not in the way I'd planned.

The dryer stopped drying late last night, and with a big trip coming up that presented a dilemma. But fortunately the dryer has stopped working on previous occasions, leading me to buy a clothesline.

And so I spent a fair amount of time setting up and fiddling with the "design," helped in no small part by each of the three remaining sons.

All but one person got their laundry done so that's another thing off the checklist except for a few last minute loads on Saturday.

The heating element is busted on our dryer, but Loren managed a temporary fix. Don't know how long it will last so I'm saving it for the last minute laundry. A new heating element is on its way from Amazon.

In weight loss news there is progress to report. After two weeks I have lost 7 pounds :-)

That is a decent start. My goal for the big Hoyt reunion in Georgia not necessarily to lose any more, but definitely not to gain any, either. We'll see how that goes. At the moment I am feeling like I can keep it up. I even got through Nolan's birthday meal with small helpings and just a sliver of cake and smidgen of ice cream.

One day at a time.

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Thrasher Cam

Let the hatching begin!

Looks like three of the five babies are here. I expect the other two to have arrived by tomorrow.

(I do NOT know what is wrong with Blogger but it is driving me nuts, causing problems with formatting the text, captioning, etc....anyway)

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In other news of today, Carolyn and I drove into Waterloo to visit the large Goodwill store. She needed some things and so did I. The main problem for me is my short stature. Apparently no one under the height of 5'4" gives away clothes.

I did find something usable, with only a few stains (woo-hee, we are livin' now) but made the executive decision to visit....hold your breaths, now....the MALL.

Yes, for the second time in  5 or 6 years I have bought a pair of pants from a real store. As in, new, and made and labeled, "short." I know this sounds shallow but once in a while it is so nice to try on something that feels good and hasn't been worn by who knows who.

Tomorrow will be a momentous weigh-in day for Ma. Two weeks from the start of my latest "diet." I forgot to record the first week's progress here but hey, tomorrow isn't that far away. Hope y'all can sleep waiting for this news.

Let me tell you, I am getting pretty tired of the fare. Been living mostly on protein drinks, eggs, coffee, apples and Diet Coke. That can't be good, right? I know. It will change, but I do get annoyed making something completely different from the rest of the family. Sometimes I will eat a bit of what they have, but it can be hard to limit the portions. That's why it's often easier to simply nix a lot of stuff. I don't expect any of the people who need to understand...to understand. Oh wait...just remembered I often eat a small sandwich for lunch and a piece of fruit. Guess I'm not as bad as you thought, right?

Frankly though, I don't think I can stand another egg for a bit. Couldn't even finish tonight's fare, though part of that is due to a nausea-inducing headache.

This too, shall pass. I wonder if a cup of decaf would help?

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Thrashing Through Life

Mother on the nest

And let me tell you, this momma can really put up a fuss! She has a harsh and insistent call and stays right nearby in the bush. I try not to rattle her too often. The eggs had not hatched as of yesterday.

And speaking of busy weeks, we seem to be racing from one activity to the next.

Vacation Bible School is over, as is Carolyn's ACT test.

Loren had a board meeting after church and didn't get back until 4pm. Made me glad I requested taking two vehicles so I could drive back with most of the kids.

Now the kids are tucked away in bed, since Loren is getting up at 4am (!) to take DeFords up to the Minneapolis airport. I think Caleb is going to owe Loren, BIG time.

As for this week, we'll be getting ready to leave on Sunday for the big, Hoyt Reunion in Georgia. There will be stuff to buy and clothes to organize and bags to pack...

However, before that gets going, I lobbied Loren to leave after Saturday so Ethan and Carolyn could attend the Iowa State Convention as junior delegates.

I'm doing a repeat of last time...driving them down to Des Moines, along with Nolan and Trevor. After dropping off the politicos the boys and I are going to hit the zoo, the botanical garden and the Union Park calliope :-D

I've got my maps and directions all planned out. Should be a fun but busy day.

Then it's just a little matter of returning home and leaving the next morning for an eighteen hour trip.

Hopefully in a van that's had the air conditioning fixed.

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Week Be Done

Almost.

Vacation Bible School is over, all but the program this evening. Then Carolyn goes in to take the ACT once more, tomorrow morning.

It's been a big week for her since she was the teacher for the littlest class. She loved it but that kind of thing is tiring.

I was working at the kitchen on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and today. Guess I'll get back at it, tomorrow. There are still two cupboards and eight drawers to clean out. And that's just one wall. A whole 'nuther wall to be done, but I doubt every nook and cranny will get covered this go-round. Still, I did throw away coupons dating back to 2005 so I guess that's progress.

Next week is crunch time for reunion preparation. Also getting back to some of the school that hasn't been finished. I have a feeling I'll be working with Trevor and Nolan into July. Then it will be time to start on Carolyn's transcript...

Feels like summer is either half gone or half planned and I haven't finished the 2011/2012 school year.

This morning saw an interesting incident with the caterpillars. The eggs of which were found on a milkweed plant and presumed to be monarchs.

Alas, they have turned into the fuzzy-wuzzy type, and since there are 9 of them it looks to be a good sampling for winter weather prediction.

However, what happened in the flurry of getting ready for Bible School and me harassing the boys to get their charges new leaves is this: I picked up Trevor's jar (which has at least 7) not realizing the lid hadn't been fastened securely. The jar fell away and broke. A rather unfortunate incident as Melinda was in her bare feet by the stove. And there was no one to do clean up but me.

I don't think anyone cut their feet, but I do have a slice across my thumb. And through some confusion on my own part, I ended up putting all the caterpillars into one jar for a bit. Then I had to guess which ones were Nolan's.....(I think I can get away with this since they seem to change color as they molt and grow).

Who knew when I graduated from college that I'd end up doing such important work.

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Introducing....

Thrasher Cam!

Yes, we have a nest full of Brown Thrasher eggs: five, to be exact. I would have posted  earlier, and with accompany pictures of the mother bird, but Blogger has been completely uncooperative with posting photos.

That this one got on is probably a mistake on their part. The person who's assignment it is to deny my photos must have looked away for a second and in that brief moment I was able to upload a picture....oh well.

More on the nest and eggs, later (I hope)

Today has been very full. Not long after the kids went off to VBS I loaded up my lunch and tools and took myself to the Butler County Courthouse.

There I did battle with the binderwee-of-evil for more than two hours, And then worked my way across the various parts of the north side of the building. Six hours in all and my, am I whipped!

But if you're going to drive 25 minutes to work on a project, you may as well make it worthwhile.

Seems to me I did this last year during Vacation Bible School.

It is really nice being able to plan my day without any school responsibilities. Tomorrow I'll get back to work in the kitchen, delving into corners that have not been seen for....awhile.

Only two more days and then Carolyn takes the ACT a second time on Saturday. Her prep with Anna Scholl went quite well, I thought, so we'll see what happens.

I can hardly lift my fingers to type, so I think it's time to go soak my aging corpus in the tub and veg out on the couch.

I'll be needing a rest to work up strength to go to bed.

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In Lieu of Pictures...

Blogger is being very uncooperative with Ma. She has several photos of "Life in the Yard" subjects, including this year's exciting "Thrasher Cam!" but alas, the site, in its inimitable unworkability, will not load the pictures.

Still, we be doing stuffs.

On Sunday evening, Melinda and Ethan attended an orientation class and signed up for detasseling. And when I say "signed" I mean they filled out a multitude of forms. I had to sign a couple of things for Ethan since he is not 18 (there's something very strange about that sentence...).

They should be called to work right after we return from the Hoyt reunion.

Today was the start of Vacation Bible School. So not only am I home (practically) alone, but there is no homeschooling this week and therefore, no writing up of assignments the night before.

A little bit o' heaven, as they say.

Went to the stores in the morning for a change, which completely disoriented my shopping karma. But somehow I still managed to find four or five tops from Goodwill, at least one of which was brand new.

This endeavor was made all the harder by a lady who had both dressing rooms occupied by her kids, but  I can identify. It's not easy having three or more children to clothe and fulfilling this responsibility by pawing through rack after rack of clothes that are different sizes and colors.

I'm pretty sure that in heaven we all get to shop at Vera Wang and there's no wait at the dressing rooms.

I was reminded today that without the responsibility of homeschooling, I could actually get something done. So besides the weekly shopping, there was bread-making, cookie bar baking, and strawberry picking.

Not to mention the arduous chore of fixing hot dogs for supper, but hey, no one ever said meals were easy.

Tomorrow I hope to do something rather novel and clean up the kitchen. Maybe find some missing knives or dishes or somethin'. Possibly a stray child that we've forgotten.

Also stash away the stuff that Kendra brought up from her apartment. She came bearing blueberries, crunchy peanut butter and other high-priced commodities.

That's all the news for tonight. I should really put up some pictures of Emily Currier's recital (ding, ding, ding...can you hear me, Blogger?)...preferably before next year.

One of these days I'm going to catch up to only being a decade behind.

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