Merry .... Whatever

I don't enjoy Christmas. I never have. I cannot remember a time I enjoyed Christmas since I was 10 or so.
I have a very poor sense of what people would like, so I live in constant agony of how much people will hate what I spend time and money on buying them. (I actually have a collection of things I've given people that I've found [sometimes years] later, some of them UNOPENED, that they were giving away or left where they moved or some thing.)
I absolutely detest driving during the holiday season. I detest how other people - MOST of whom are out buying things to give as gifts - act. In my opinion this is the most selfish time of year!!!
I don't like how we are close to broke most of the year, but when we get a little extra cash it goes mostly to decorations that I don't even care about that much (the Mr LOVES Christmas).
I don't enjoy the feelings of obligation other people experience.
I am perfectly aware that Christmas was derived from a "pagan" celebration, but it is still considered a Christian holiday. People go out and buy for loved ones but for the rest of the year they ignore the homeless and the abused...and quite frankly that makes me sick.
Not only that, but I consider myself in a deeply committed relationship with God and I firmly believe Christ was the ultimate gift and that He died for us to be able to have that relationship...and I don't enjoy Christmas in today's highly commercialized form, while literally every atheist I know absolutely adores this holiday. That doesn't make sense to me.

I don't know, maybe if I had a job and could contribute to worthy charities, or maybe if I was involved in an actual church again I could enjoy Christmas more. Maybe if the transition of autumn into winter didn't make me so depressed I'd like it better, or maybe if I surrounded myself with different people... I don't know.
I just don't enjoy it. I'm glad my kids like it, but I'm afraid they like it for the same superficial and selfish reasons the majority of people around here like it, and I feel separated from everyone since I'm not into it.
I certainly hope YOU ALL are enjoying your holiday.
In the meantime I will get through this season and will start feeling better around New Year's Eve.

LONG time, no see

This year has been dreadful. Probably the worst year we've had in a long time, although maybe it just SEEMS that way because of how awesome the two years before it were. I don't know. We've been pretty effectively broke all year, which is no fun at all. I've been looking for a job for over a month now and no one has even offered me a job yet. It's hard to keep a positive outlook during all this.

As fall has settled in our area of the world (and winter is soon to follow), I have had to get ready for much colder temperatures. I am very nearly literally allergic to the cold. My skin breaks out in severely itchy hives and then it cracks like broken glass and I bleed a lot.

It's starting already!!

mini-hives on my hands

hives on my fingers

my knuckle splitting (painfully)

See the little red bumps?? They itch INSANELY. Also my very first crack.
So I have to get into the habit of wearing gloves no matter what, and using my super-lotion at least three times a day. The lotion doesn't prevent the hives, but instead of cracks that bleed my hands will just turn red.

I'm already looking forward to Spring.

New Vlog up!

NEW VLOG UP!!!

Trying to get back into it

We had a nice little vacation (photos coming soon to Facebook, if you're interested) but other than that this has been a not-great summer.

We didn't put up the pool because the ground still hasn't been leveled and because frankly we can't afford the maintenance.

My husband is a foreman for a small group of diesel engine mechanics for a major recycling company. This past Spring he (and nearly everyone in the company, including office personnel) got their hours slashed due to budget cutbacks.  This has happened before, but everyone got their hours back in a few weeks. This has been nearly five months now. We didn't realize how dependent we were on the Mr.'s overtime until it was gone. We have no problem feeding ourselves, our five kids and 8 - 25 pets (depending on how many fish we're feeding atm), but other bills are becoming more and more difficult to get paid.

So not much of a summer.

I'm now actively looking for AT LEAST a part-time job so we can get our bills paid a little easier (it would also be nice to have a steady income going into my bank account so I can avoid monthly charges).

I went to print my old resume so I can start working on it and OF COURSE my printer is out of ink.  I'm not sure most employers will take a hand-written resume, but when I put some effort into it with my artistic skills I can make it look nice and I'm sure it will stand out! Ha ha.  In any case I'm almost positive there's a website where I can list my digital resume or CV, I just have to find it.

My biggest roadblock is going to be the fact that I've done NOTHING but be a stay-at-home mom of five kids for 13 years. I'm now 37 and to be honest I don't enjoy standing up for long periods of time. I'm a fantastic proofreader, I'm a great typist, I am pretty good at photography and I'm a passable artist - but all my talents limit me pretty severely where I currently live.

Still, I'm MORE than willing to try new things and I'm pretty motivated to go find a job so I'm looking.

If you guys hear about anything or have any suggestions, I'm all ears!! My older kids are old enough to be responsible for the younger kids so I have nothing stopping me, really. :)

Sicky

My Mr is sick. He has missed two days of work, and because he is sick, so have I.

When he is sick he insists I stay in the room with him, sometimes asking me to lay in bed with him. I don't have any idea why, except maybe by draping an arm over me he doesn't compress his rib cage too much and it's easier for him to breathe. So I'm not getting a whole lot done around the house.

It's only a real problem if he passes his illness to me....because then I'm sick. And just like he expects me to do nothing if he's doing nothing, he gets mad if he's being productive and I'm laying around useless.

So hopefully I don't get sick!!!

In the meantime I have done ONE load of laundry and not one single thing else. I'm thinking of doing a family home video since I'm  stuck in my bedroom taking care of sicky. :)

FEEL BETTER HUSBAND!

New Vlog up!

I've been way too busy to blog, vlog, or anything else!!! But on my "day off" yesterday I went ahead and put this together from the end of March to the beginning of April. Loves!

New Vlog

:)

New Vlog Link

New Vlog Up!!!

I'm not in near as much pain today. I still hurt a little, but after what it's been I feel wonderful. Getting things done even! Hooray!

New Vlog link plus BAD DOG!

New Vlog up!!

TBone (13 years-old) got out of his cage this morning. He promptly ate every package of Ramen Noodles we had in the house and then wasted no time eating and spreading the garbage. So I threw him outside into our fenced-in backyard.

So after we got his mess in the basement cleaned up we went to let him in the house....only to find he tipped over the garbage out there (consisting mostly of bagged-up dog poopies!!) and spread THAT all around.

WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO HIM?!?!?

So he stays outside until we clean THAT up.

BAD BAD DOG!!

New Vlog Link

Another new vlog up!!

Vlog Up

New Vlog UP!

Nothing interesting happening lately...seems like I've been sick with some kind of virus or another for the past few weeks. I also hurt my leg (if you read my twitter you already know that) but it's better today....it only started hurting after my 8th trip up the stairs.

Oh, and the A/C is in for my husband.

Guess that's it. :)

My birthday!

I got another year closer to 40 this weekend (I'm all for 40!).  Some of you know the problems I had getting to these pictures so I hope you like at least one of them!!!

Photo made for me by the Diva:










Did I get to sleep in on my birthday? NO WAY. I three kids doing four performances at our school's annual "Solo & Ensemble" review, which they do for a grade. That is why the kids are in nice clothes in these photos. I'm wearing nice clothes because it was my birthday.

My 11 year-old's very first year doing this and she got a PERFECT SCORE!!! So proud of her!!

My middle child and my oldest also did their solos, but we didn't stay long enough to see what their score was.

(Me with the kids):

So after that we dumped the boy back at home and went into town to look for dresses for the little girl. She has her very first"formal" dance coming up and she wanted it to be special. (I noticed she wants it to be as special as the oldest daughter's prom....jealous maybe? lol) So we've been doing the dress thing. The day before we had went around looking at different stores and trying on different dresses, but none were "formal enough" for her. So we took the oldest daughter with us and she began to try on dresses in the same place we found Poinsettia's dress.

I think she had lots of fun and all the appropriate attention to make her feel special. The dress she picked (sorry, no spoilers, ha!) was only $15 so we were more than happy to get her a couple of accessories to make the deal sweeter. Now all she needs are shoes since she's outgrown all her nice shoes but she's still too small for mine (I wear a child's size 3 and 1/2).

We then had lunch at Cracker Barrel!!

I had my favorite trout and, of course, a raspberry lemonade

Since we were in town we browsed a few car lots for our ongoing search for an acceptable/affordable car for our oldest. While perusing those, we came across this amazing Jaguar!!!

I have LOVED Jaguars since I was a kid and saw one at the beginning of "Romancing the Stone" roughly 150 years ago (lol). This was the first Jaguar I've seen in real life. I also really love Corvettes but do not yet own one. Maybe someday.

I told Poinsettia she may not have this nice a car any time soon because I'll be jealous and she doesn't have enough driving experience IMHO.

Anyway, this car will make someone a gorgeous ride, I'm sure.

Oh, yeah, while shopping I realized that the awesome 90s are coming back!! Check out these awesome biker pants!!!!

Anyway, after all the performing, shopping,and car browsing the girls were getting a bit sleepy.

On our way home we stopped to see my in-laws (my husband's parents). They were working outside even though it was pretty cold:

THE REASON I WASN'T WEARING MY COAT: 

After we got home I made my cake, a strawberry jello "poke-cake" with cool whip instead of icing. My husband grilled dinner and we played a little Magic: The Gathering.

I also started to teach my stepson how to properly shuffle. I've been a card-fanatic ever since I was 12, and I taught myself how to shuffle in such a way as to avoid bending the cards and to keep them all "right side up." I taught my oldest stepdaughter a few years ago and now my stepson wants to learn (sorry the pic is blurry):

Hes getting it.

We finished off the night by watching "John Wick" as a family

and then I read until I went to sleep.

Here's how much I had left to go on my birthday. I'm 94% done with the book today, and I'm hoping to finish it tonight so I can get started on "Revival" (FINALLY)!!!!

Great birthday!

Thanks Tom, Lois, Grandma and Grandpa for calling me!!

And thanks to everyone else who left Facebook birthday wishes for me.

:)

Time for another year!

Pot-Blocked!

I started reading "Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone" (J.K. Rowling, in case you live under a rock) to my daughter, the Diva.

She loved every minute of it and when we finished we watched the movie and discussed the things they didn't put in the film.

Now she wants to read "Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets."

I thought it wouldn't be a problem because my son has the entire Harry Potter series...except half of them are still hiding in the garage.

I looked through about half (if that) of the boxes in the garage, but I couldn't find it. I found the last three books in the series but that was it. I went to a library book sale and found another few books, and now I have every single book in the series EXCEPT "Chamber of Secrets."

So I started looking in our local libraries....

Home library: "We don't have it anymore. Someone took it and never brought it back."

Dear whomever did that....SHAME ON YOU!!!

Sister town's library: "Nope we don't have that one, sorry."

So we drove all the way into "town" and went to the big library. After some searching we finally found it, and we smugly went to the front desk to check it out.

And then were promptly told my library card expired last September.

WHAT???? I checked out "It" in December!! But it is a very small library (here) so I can see how they'd let me check books out without checking the expiration date (I didn't even realize it HAD and expiration date....) so we had to leave without the book.....AGAIN!!!

I drove home and found out the library is closed for whatever reason, so there's no point in trying to get back into "town" today.

SIGH.

I will try to look through the garage some more...its' ridiculous that a book that popular isn't anywhere local LOL. Oh well.

So here's what happened.

Many of you (who check my facebook anyway) know what problems we have been having with vehicles lately, but if not, here's the rundown:

Three years ago we bought a pretty Monte Carlo for our oldest kid to start learning on. It was a solid car and a good size.

Two years ago we bought a Firebird for our next oldest kid to start learning on (and I was extremely ticked off to learn he didn't get put in the driver's ed class....he only just now has his permit and he's already 16!! I'm STILL mad about that!!!).

A year ago we got a cool little BMW 365i that was almost exactly like the one the Mr had in Germany. It was labeled as the Little Star's car but in all honesty I kept (and still am) driving it around. It's smaller and a convertible and is generally amazing.

We bought all three vehicle's cheap because my husband is a mechanic and can fix virtually anything that goes wrong with the cars. The Firebird in particular has had several things to be fixed.

I've had my Dodge Caravan for a while....we got THAT supercheap because the guy who had it before wrecked it TWICE (that he told us about) and used it as a truck to haul (among other things) garbage. We had to do a lot to that van to get it family-safe (and legal) but it was SUCH an amazing van it was worth it.

So last year we suddenly kept having car issues. You all recall that the BMW needed a new throttle pin and a new alternator, which was fixed quickly and pretty easy at that (the alternator was a bit expensive). The Firebird suddenly stopped working and the Mr, my PROFESSIONAL MECHANIC, hasn't been able to identify the problem yet (he doesn't get to spend all that much time on it). The Mr started using the Monte Carlo to go to work, and one icy morning to avoid six deer he slid off the road and into a shallow ditch, which seems to have exacerbated several problems, which ultimately caused the rear wheel shock-housing (the back wheels) to come up off the frame and bent the front axle to the point where it could fall off any moment (not something you want your kid learning on), so the Monte Carlo is set to be scrapped (whenever I find the title o.O). That left us with the BMW and my minivan.

We had problems with the water system on our minivan last winter, but we always got it okay again, other than the fact that it would have the same problem every three days or so. THIS winter the van has zero heat. ZERO! I nearly got frostbite one day just going to the bank! So I drove the BMW pretty exclusively, and since the Monte  Carlo was critical and the Firebird was dead, that just left the very cold van for the Mr to drive to work. We found out the van needs a new ENGINE, which we got, but we don't have the time to put it in the van ourselves or the money to hire someone else to do it. It is still driveable, but we wouldn't be able to take the family anywhere, and to be honest it is just on it's last leg.

So we got a new van (see Vlog on YouTube [soon, I'm a bit behind]). This is the first vehicle I've bought from an actual dealership, and it's the newest vehicle I have ever owned ever. It's amazing!  I still love the little BMW so the Mr isn't allowed to use it to go to work (as a mechanic he gets covered in grease and diesel fuel and coolant and all sorts of dirty things) and I will still use it during the week as I'm only driving myself around.

However LAST NIGHT (now here's where we tell ya what happened!!) we were grocery shopping and when we were done we were cruising car lots with my oldest (the Monte Carlo 'owner') to see about a new car for her. She just got her license and wanted to be able to start driving herself around places. She could feasibly drive the minivan....but only if it's not too hot or too cold, which pretty much limits her to these next two months and then two months (if that) next fall.

So we were pulling into various car lots and looking at their cars. We were in a small car lot at the south end of town  (going about 2 miles an hour) when it felt like I ran something over, it caught on something under the car, and then broke. It sounded kind of like a huge rubber band snapping. I said, "that was weird....did you feel that?" then suddenly all kinds of warning lights lit up all over my dash AND the ceiling check-systems panel. We stopped immediately and checked under the car (all good) then the engine....and the Mr pulled out the alternator belt!!!  We tried to make it home anyway, but the engine started overheating (SMOKE!! SMOOOOOOOOKE!!) so we limped it to my father in-law's house (he is also a mechanic). We were forced to leave the groceries in the trunk and get a ride home to pick up our new van and come back and get the groceries.

I didn't make it home until after 11pm, and I didn't get to go to sleep until 2am!! (Groceries had to be put away, dishes done, and we had to eat dinner because we didn't get a chance to while dealing with our poor car!!)

The Mr did try to start the BMW after we came back for the groceries (overheating is BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD for engines!!!) but it started back up so FINGERS-CROSSED HOPEFULLY it still just needs an alternator belt (the Mr says he will just replace ALL the belts!).

The thing of it is....we just bought this new van to have two vehicles.....and now we're back to ONE.

I sure hope this ends our streak of bad luck with vehicles!!!!!

P.S. ~We did find a few cars to inquire about for the older two to start driving.

New Vlog up!

New Vlog! Number Six

I'm way behind!! But I am working on catching up, so you may see a few posted over the next week or so.

I feel so much better today!!

In other news I don't use my Instagram all that much so I've decided to start using it exclusively for all my pets. I was thinking of starting one just for them for the past month or so, then I got the new phone and thought eh....I don't really use it all that much anymore. So it will pretty much be pets only.

The fantastic weather added to my feeling so much better made today such an awesome day!!

LOVE,
AmyG

New Vlog

Can't really type anything today......I'm fasting for a blood draw tomorrow and my brain doesn't function correctly when I don't eat.

So here's the New Vlog. See you later.

Great Pause

I checked my YouTube channel and realized my last upload was from the start of the year. It didn't make sense because although I've been sick the past couple of weeks (all better now, thanks) I have still been working on the vlogs, so today I checked them, and it turns out the last couple videos I made were damaged and/or degraded in some way and I was unable to upload them. So all I can do is keep making them and upload as I have time to,and right now I want to make some family home videos first so I can delete a bulk of videos and maybe make a picture CD or two.

So there were a couple really cool vlogs (in my opinion, at least) buuuut they're gone so sorry! On to the next one!

Pet Day

I usually put the dogs to bed when I do a workout, but I wasn't really expecting today's workout to be anything special since it would be the first workout I attempted after being sick for over a week, and my husband being home for a few days before that, so I let them stay with me.

When I tried to weigh myself they jumped up on me so the machine thought I weighed more than I did. This wasn't a problem except it weighs you before every exercise (one can only assume to make sure you weren't having someone else do your exercises, and if that's the case LOL) and when it said I was a different weight, the machine threw a fit.

Push-ups were impossible, because one was trying to lick my face while the other one climbed underneath me and flipped, looking like she was trying to hold me up with her paws.

I tried a bridge move, but they were both up against me, one on one side and one on the other, and it was hard to move.

So finally I gave up. I did put them to bed while I took my bath and let the cats out.

Crush, our orange tabby kitten, was worried about me the whole time I was in the tub. First he stood on the toilet crying to me. Then he had two paws up on the edge of the tub and started knocking things into the water. THEN (and most frightening to me) he had all four paws on the edge of the tub and looked like he was searching for a good place to step (ON me without getting INTO the water). I was scared because I knew he would fall and then he'd claw me trying to get out. Finally I put the kid's rubber ducky into the water to distract him. He smacked at the duck a few times, got his paw wet and went back to the toilet to cry. About that time I was ready for a quick rinse and then I'd get out, and as soon as I turned the shower on he shot out of the bathroom. But as I was drying up in my room he refused to leave me alone. I think either he hates baths so he was consoling me or he was worried I would die in there. It took a whole Friends episode before he'd leave me alone enough to get dressed!

Crazy pets today.

What I'm Reading

The last two posts were rather sad and stressful, so I thought I'd put in a boring post to even it out ;)

I have recently finished a bunch of my books, so I am changing things up a bit.

I have lost the two books I was using as my "Take with me" books (previously known as "van" books but as I no longer have a van per say, it is now whatever book I can fit in my bag), so I currently do not have one. I was hauling "It" around with me to get through the third part, but now I'm done with the third part and I'm not particularly excited to start part four until the book club is ready to move on to part four.

I finished my "bathroom book" and replaced it with "The Voyage of the Luna I" by someone named David Craigie. It's an older book (I do not enjoy old book smells....it just smells like mold and allergies to me) and I've never heard of the author, but I don't want to keep a paperback in the bathroom because of the humidity, and I certainly won't keep a Stephen King book in there [I'd never leave the bathroom lol] so this was the only other hardback I have [atm].

Because of my book club, my "Officially Reading" book is "It" (Stephen King), but while I was cleaning the other day I found my "Once and Future King" book (T.H. White) so since I don't want to read any more of "It" until the rest of my group does, I'll be reading that. :)

For my "Quick Read" I am rereading Stephen King's "Just After Sunset," which is a series of short stories....of which I only remember half. So instead of rushing through the whole thing I will read ONE and then think about what I've read for the rest of the day. :)

I may find the book my stepdaughter wanted me to read and make that my "Take with me" book. I doubt I'll sit and read it (it's vampire YA...double-blech) so that might be a good place for it.

The kind of adventure you DON'T want.

My day yesterday:

Woke up craving Cherry Pepsi horribly, because it was the third day without any. Historically, the third day is always the worst when it comes to withdrawal symptoms, and sure enough...bad cravings. There wasn't a headache and I decided I wouldn't take an Excedrin (it has caffeine) unless I started to get a headache.

The kids left at their usual time. School starts around 8am.

8:30am, the school called. The nurse said my stepson (16 years-old) "Tank" had problems seeing. He said everything was "hazy." I said, "Hazy as in white or hazy as in blurry?" He said it was a white haze. His school nurse and I decided he should take out his contacts for a while. I asked him if he wanted me to bring him his glasses. He said no.

9ish, the school called. Tank said his eyes burned. I asked him if he needed to see a doctor and he said no. I told him to keep his hands out of his eyes and asked him if he wanted me to bring him his glasses. He said no.

9:30am, Tank called and said he wanted his glasses. I took them to school. His eyes were red and a little swollen, and his sister told me he needed to go home. Tank and I discussed it and he kept insisting he wanted to stay at school. I told him he shouldn't mess around with his vision and if he needed to see a doctor we should do it sooner rather than later. He washed his eyes out with water and said he should be fine and chased me out of the school.

On my way home I started obsessing about it (I'm a mom, I do that) so I called the Mr and told him what had happened so far. The Mr told me if Tank said he was fine, then he was fine.

10:30am the school nurse said his eyes were STILL burning, and in fact he could barely open  them at all. So I immediately picked him up and headed to the Walk-In clinic. He kept exclaiming that the bright light was hurting him so he rode with his winter coat over his head (my little car has EXCELLENT heaters lol).

The walk-in was pretty busy, so we were waiting there quite a while. Once we finally got in and the (very friendly) nurse practitioner saw us she told us she really couldn't do anything because eyes were very important and they only did general health, so she made some calls and got us an appointment with ophthalmology. We barely had time to go grab a bite to eat before we headed over, and the whole time I had to lead my 200 lb stepson like he was a blind elderly person and I was a seeing eye dog.

At the eye doctor's we had to wait OVER AN HOUR just to see the doctor. He was finally able to see us and he gave Tank some numbing eye drops and checked his eyes. He told me there were no scratches and no ulcers. He also said this sometimes happens with contact-users. We had to throw out his contacts (less than a week old and no, he never sleeps in them [that he says and that I'm aware of]) we had to throw out his case, and we have to throw out the solution that he and his brother uses. He is not allowed to wear contacts for a couple weeks (not a problem since those week-old ones were his last pair until I order more) and JUST TO MAKE SURE he has antibacterial eye drops he has to use three times a day and pain-relieving drops to use as needed AND he gets to go back to ophthalmology next week.

Phew!! You'd think that would be enough adventures for one day, right? WRONG!!

WHILE waiting for over an hour I suddenly realized something. The 16 year-old was with me. The 17 year-old had play practice and then pep band, and the 14 year-old had been staying after school with the 7th grade basketball team helping them get ready for their state championship game this weekend............who came home with the 11 and the 9 year-olds??? At one point 11 had a housekey, but she has since lost it and did they know where to go if they couldn't get in the house??? I ALWAYS lock it up and set the deadbolts, I also make sure all the windows are locked before I leave,even the 2nd story windows that people shouldn't be able to get to.

I began trying desperately to email my husband at his work, telling him we were transferred to an eye doctor and there was no WAY I could get home. Email one, multiple tries, DID NOT SEND! Email two DID NOT WORK! I kept getting messages that my iPod couldn't connect to the server. I assumed it was crappy wifi. We recently stopped our cellphone service because it never freaking worked anyway so I had no phone. All I could do was HOPE they remembered what they were supposed to do.

After a while my facebook messenger dinged. I looked at it, surprised, thinking, my EMAILS wouldn't work but freaking MESSENGER would?

It was 11 telling me they were sitting in the backyard, freezing and telling me to come home. I said there was no way! I told her to go to a neighbors or go to a friends house (she did say 14 was with them, thank goodness!). I also Facebook-messaged the said friend's parents asking to go get them.

So 14 was with them, apparently did not bring HIS key, and didn't think to get them inside a house even if it was the neighbors. SIGH.

So after we were through with the doctor I went and picked up Tanks prescriptions and we headed home only to find that even though I had told 11 and 14 where I was when they Facebook messaged me AND their friend's parents knew where I was, NO ONE thought to tell my HUSBAND where I was. He was less than pleased.

So yeah. Crappy day.

All's well that ends well, so they say. :)
AmyG

SCARIEST MOMENT EVER!

My husband decided he was going to borrow his brother's truck and get rid of some of our broken appliances that we've collected over the year we've lived here. We got the oven out of the garage and some random garbage that was too big or too heavy for cans, and then he and our 16 year-old "Tank" went to the basement to get the TWO dishwashers and the washing machine. I went up to my room to fold the laundry and when I was done with that I sat down and got on the computer. I don't remember what exactly I was doing on the computer so it was likely I was just farting around on Facebook lol.

I heard a very loud profanity come from Tank in the basement. I didn't concern myself with that because I often hear profanities spew from my three oldest children. I don't condone it (I certainly don't swear much -- I kind of feel cursing is for people who aren't intelligent enough to find words to describe a situation, but I do say *bad* words occasionally, so I don't forbid it. I just tell them NEVER around teachers or people of authority who deserve more respect than that, and NEVER EVER around ANY of your grandparents , and so help you if I catch you swearing in front of my littles) but it does happen so I let it pass, but then I heard MULTIPLE LOUD crashes and he kept on screaming swear words. It was obvious that all the crashes was something large and heavy going down the stairs and I did NOT hear any yells from my husband, and if you know my husband you know he's not above screaming every swear word in the book so loud that people  in the next town look up from whatever they're doing and say, "what on Earth was THAT?!?"

Even before the crashes stopped I was out of my chair like a shot out of a gun and flying down the stairs screaming, "ARE YOU OKAY?!? ARE YOU OKAY?!?" with no answer from either my husband OR Tank.

As I rounded the corner and headed down into the basement I saw the dolly and the washing machine thrown to the side of the stairs, my stepson Tank (16) looking down and yelling, "Dad? DAD?!?" and I looked down to see only my husband's legs sticking out from under the pool table and on top of Christmas boxes.

~*~
After packing all our Christmas ornaments and decorations I was going to put them away (they have a corner of the garage dedicated to just them) but my husband had told me not to until we got some palettes to set over there in case our floods this Spring got to be as bad as LAST Spring....something we decided to do when we lost quite a bit of our child-made decorations to mold when we had over a foot of water in our basement last year. So I had left them all in front of the pool table until we got the palettes.
~*~

Anyway, I ran down the rest of the stairs and since my husband was not responding to my stepson's screaming his name, I ordered Tank to "Get me a phone. RIGHT now!" He stood staring at his dad wile I placed a hand on The Mr's leg and I again told him to get me a phone, except this time I screamed "GET ME A PHONE!!" in case he still wouldn't respond and maybe one of the other kids could hear me and fetch me one, since I wasn't going to leave my husband there to get a phone. My two older kids are certified in CPR but I have a lot more experience in dealing with emergencies, I keep a cool head like you wouldn't believe and even though I'm not legally certified I remember every bit of my CPR and emergency response classes.

Just at that moment, however, even though he didn't move, my husband croaked "I'm okay." I began checking his legs for breaks while asking him questions, I began removing the boxes under his legs so he could straighten them out on the ground and then I started checking what parts of him I could see for gashes or broken bones. After a few seconds he attempted to get up, and it took a few (he said he had the wind knocked clear out of him) but he did stand up. I began checking his head for blood and fractures, checked his eyes for a concussion (which greatly irritated him) and checked his back. One very long but VERY shallow scratch that barely bled is all the injury he seemed to suffer.

STILL I forced him to take a break, because I know how adrenalin can mask pain. While he took his wife-enforced break I checked my kid to make sure HE was okay! He said the washing machine didn't strike him as it did his dad but The Mr said Tank was the one that threw the washing machine to the side with his bare hands to get to his father, so I made sure to check him for strains.

After a while they were both okay, and my husband Stephen-Kinged the washing machine by tearing it up into several pieces and throwing the pieces into the back of the truck to get rid of it.

Meanwhile, I had gotten my fair share of adrenalin and I had nothing to do to get rid of it so I just had to wait it out. Generally it makes me very nauseated. I felt sick the rest of the day and could barely get any dinner down.

What they say happened was The Mr was underneath the washing machine pushing it up the stairs while my stepson had the dolly and was pulling it up one stair at a time. Somehow Tank angled the dolly wrong and my husband didn't realize it to compensate and the washing machine slipped right off the dolly and struck the Mr in the chest, knocking him clean off the stairs. Judging solely on the length of time I heard the crashing noises, they were pretty close to the top of the stairs. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing that all those Christmas decoration boxes were scattered on the ground to catch his fall, but he must have at least hit the pool table because it moved almost a foot. I have not checked the boxes to see if anything broke yet, I'm still watching my husband for telltale signs that he hurt his back again (last time he had a slipped disk he was out of work for 8 months!!!!)  and lecturing BOTH of them about TYING LARGE APPLIANCES TO THE DOLLY SO THEY CAN'T SLIP OFF!!!!!!

My macho husband complained that "back in the day" he would have "caught that [expletive deleted] and held it until we got the dolly back under it."

Well whatever.

In any case I will keep my eye on him a while longer yet and I hope that will be the scariest moment of 2015 because I was TERRIFIED when all I saw was his legs and he wasn't responding or moving whatsoever!!!

Thank God they seem to be okay.

New Vlog Up!!! (Click here)

It's about New Year's Day, so only a little over a week behind LOL. Oh well.

As I was getting dressed I realized I only  have dress pants to wear. This is bad because dress pants are pretty flimsy and it is below zero degrees (F) outside, so I need to spend a significant amount of time in the basement doing laundry. In the meantime, I am wearing my husband's jeans. They are WAY too big and they make me look enormous, but I'm the only one here so I don't really care. I'm wearing a pair of my work pants under them so I should at least be warm. Now for shirts....I do have plenty of those, so I should be fine. :)


So the other day I went with my husband to his office so he could move a vehicle. We were going grocery shopping when he was done and I knew it wouldn't take too long so I sat down and read some of my "vehicle" book:

Then my husband came storming in announcing that the people who were supposed to put 2015 stickers on the trucks failed to do so and since it is illegal to run without current stickers he had to drop everything he was doing, clock in, and get the stickers on the trucks. He recruited me to help him:

 

It was cold and it took a while but we got it all done! (I only made three mistakes but we corrected them anyway)

The children decided to do a puzzle race. We had girls in one room and boys in the other. 

Neither have finished so far, but here's where the girls ended up for the evening:

 

and here's where the boys finished:

I'll keep you updated ;)

Welcome 2015!!!!

December just wipes me out!!!

I am very happy to be getting back into my schedule again! The kids are back in school, which sucks today because it is SO AMAZINGLY COLD outside!! It will be even WORSE tomorrow! The ACTUAL temperature isn't going to get above zero degrees (F)!!! The "feels like" temperature is said to be around TWENTY BELOW!!!! (Things that make you think, "Forget this! I'm moving to Arizona!!!!")

I have a new keyboard!! It's a little hard to use.....here's a pic:

It doesn't have a "print-screen" button, it doesn't have an "end" or "home" button (I use those when blogging and renaming photos & albums), and it doesn't have a numeric keypad....all things I'm used to using quite often, so I'm re-learning how to type in a way. But it's mess-proof, drop-proof and it barely takes up any space at all!! You do have to press the buttons kind of hard to get it to work but that's not a huge deal. Quite frankly I type so fast that some websites don't recognize what I'm typing anyway (100+wpm at last actual test for a job - that was a WHILE ago, tho heh heh) so pressing the keys harder forces me to slow down.


So far my New Year's Resolutions are as follows:

-Be more balanced
-Create a cleaning schedule and (force the kids to help) stick to it!
-Unpack!! I still have a garage full of boxes!
-Portraits of TBone, Penny & Bully (for Christmas presents this year)
-Plan meals - no more "what do you want for dinner/I don't know/whatever you want" fiascos
-Drink a gallon of water a week
-More "me" time
-Go through documents on PC because I went through my computer's documents and it turns out I would have to go through over 40 files a day to get rid of them all! Well obviously I can't do THAT, but I can try for one a day. There's no reason I need to keep so many. I'm a digital hoarder!!!
-"Deal with" photo folders immediately & aim for 4 folders after that. I have a bad habit of going through photos whenever I feel like it and as a result I'm about 4 months behind. It's harder than it sounds, I take a lot of photos!!

I am also starting a Vlog for a year ~ if you're interested at all here's the link. My Vlog Channel on YouTube!

So far it's slow-going. I don't have a lot of time to sit down and organize and publish the vlog,but I'm trying! If no one watches it (it's mostly for family & friends, like everything I do online ~ not looking for internet fame here, people) I'll quit after the year is up. It just takes so much time. But if my family & friends like it ~ especially my out-of-towners ~ then I'll keep it up. :D