After Thanksgiving

This is what we got Thanksgiving day. Snow! The kids dug out their mittens and snow pants so they could play outside in the 1/8 inch of snow. LOL! We went to my inlaws for dinner. The turkey wasn't alive when we got there, nor did they cook it on the car's engine. Everything was delicious and we had a nice time. (None of my inlaws touched my cheesecake!) :) Hee hee



Since I promised, way back in July, to show you pictures of my inlaws' garage, here you go...

This is ummm, I don't know. I think it's part of the outside of a car. Don't ask me what kind
of car. It's an old car.

This is another section of the garage. Note the shiny blue car up in the air.





Here is yet another section of the garage. Here are a million and one car building tools. And a TV. I think there may be a fridge, bed, and toilet around the corner too.

Shiny blue car. That's as technical as I get.



I was all set to hit the stores Friday morning, but when my alarm went off at 4:00, I thought to myself, "What, are you INSANE?!!! Do you really want to get up now and battle the crowds?" I answered myself with a big, "HECK NO!" and promptly fell back asleep.

I did brave the traffic to go out yesterday afternoon however. I met a couple friends for lunch. I only get to see my friend, Julie a couple times a year so it was great to see her and her husband Ron. And I haven't seen my friend Heather in several years, so it was wonderful to visit with her and meet her new husband Christian.

Ok, now I have to make fun of Ron a little bit. You had to know this was coming, Ron. ;)

So, Julie and I were talking about taking care of the kids and juggling all the chores that need to be done on a regular basis. Ron made a comment to the effect that stay at home moms don't really work. We "get" to stay home all day. It isn't really work. You know, since we lie around eating bonbons and watching Oprah all day.

He went on to say, not two minutes later, "And then I get home from work and she (Julie) expects me to watch the kids. After I've been working all day, she wants me to do more work watching the kids."

Wait a minute, Ron. I thought it wasn't work watching the kids. Oh, I think I understand. When Julie watches the kids, while paying bills, going to the store, cleaning, and doing laundry, it isn't work. When you come home and have to play with the kids while she makes dinner, it's work. I see. Yep. That sounds about right. :D

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Butt, Butt, Butt, Butt

Because we had over 800 comments on my "You Mean I Only Have to Cook Once a Week?" post, I've selected eight winners. When I first started this Blook Tour, I figured I'd write everyone's name down on a piece of paper and draw the names out of a hat. Well, that was before 800 of you left comments! So instead of writing down 800 names, I used the highly scientific method of scrolling up and down through the comments with my eyes closed. After a few seconds of scrolling, I stopped, opened my eyes, and wrote down the name showing on my screen. I did this eight times which is how I arrived at the winning recipients of Trish's book.

Ok the moment you've all been waiting for :::::::drumroll::::::: Here are the names of the eight winners of the Blook Tour! They will each receive a copy of Trish Berg's The Great American Supper Swap!

In no particular order....
Erin
Megan
Susan
Callie
Ann Marie
Leslie
Alice
Kristen

Separate emails were just sent to your email addresses. Congratulations and good luck on starting your own supper swapping groups! Trish has answered many questions in the comments section of this post. If you have additional questions for Trish, please feel free to visit her at her website and ask away!

Thank you to everyone who participated and left a comment!

I know I didn't update last night, but I have a good excuse reason. I actually went out with a friend. No husbands, no kids, just my oldest friend. Well, she's not really old. She's the same age as I. And I am definitely not old. I've just known her the longest. I remember making her laugh and getting her, and a couple other students who sat near me, in trouble back in high school. Ahhh good times, good times.

Anyway, as I was saying, one of my best friends on earth, Jen, and I went out to eat last night. We did really well too. We talked at length and didn't mention diapers even once during our conversation. Neither of us felt compelled to cut the other's entree into bite size pieces and we never told one another, "Finish your drink, a napkin is not a toy, or don't chew with your mouth open." We did very well being Jen and Dawn instead of just "Mom" and "Mom". All was wonderful until a little kid came running by our table and Jen nearly reached out to grab him and tell him to settle down until she remembered that he was not her child and she was out for the evening alone.

I thought of getting all philosophical about how we parents sometimes forget the people we were pre-kids and become "So & So's Mom" or "So & So's Dad". I was going to sing the importance of retaining some of you, the person. I was going to warn against becoming only you, the mom. I know the experts say to take a class, take up a hobby, learn a new skill, get out and exercise, make a little time, every day, for you. However, in the real world, I also know it's sometimes impossible. For those with tight finances, it's usually not affordable to just "take a class" or buy supplies for your hobby. For those whose spouse works long hours or is deployed, how are you supposed to find time to go to the gym or even read a book some days? And is it really so horrible to put your life on hold, so to speak, to become so & so's mother? So & so will only be little for a short while. You've got your whole life ahead of you to take up skydiving, poker, knitting, painting, tennis, or whatever it is you want to do. Just a thought.

Ok, back to my story. So I went out to eat with my best friend, Jen and after dinner, I went back to her home to borrow their video camera. So I'm sitting there talking to Jen, her husband, 3 boys, and 1 daughter. I'm not sure who started it, but suddenly the conversation turned to butts. (As you'll recall from a previous post, "butt" is the funniest word in the English language.) However, it's not just funny in English, as I learned from these guys.

"Dad, how do you say "butt" in Polish?
Dad answers, but I've forgotten what the word was. Apparently it was hilarious though as the boys all started parroting "butt" in Polish.

Butt, butt, butt, butt.

Jen looks at me, rolls her eyes and says, "I'm here all day with the kids trying to teach them not to say stuff like that. He comes home and in mere seconds has them being obnoxious in foreign languages."

And we're in Chicago. Chicago has the second highest concentration of Polish people next to Poland. Someone is bound to understand what they're saying in school come Monday. Gee, thanks Dad!


The hole Clay dug into his wall.


The instrument of destruction. Thankfully it was a safety nightlight, or I can only imagine what he would have done with the screwdriver. In fact, I'm actually pretty surprised he didn't try to unscrew the nightlight. Oh and where did he even get the screwdriver? Out of my middle son's tool box in the garage, of course.



Do not adjust your monitors. Yes, she really does have a white beard. Diaper cream - it's not just for butts anymore.


Brooklyn's artwork. Markers have a way of multiplying in my house. For every Sharpie I toss out, two more appear, much like the Hydra fought by Hercules. Thankfully this came right off with a diaper wipe.




And the Piece de resistance, the banana peel found in my car today. The only way I knew it was a banana peel was from the Chiquita sticker. Ok, this trend of finding food is getting embarrassing, quite frankly. I can understand the occasional fruit snack in the couch cushions, cracker under the chair, wrapper behind the dresser, and French fry on the floor of my car, but this is ridiculous. My wonderful husband cleaned out my van today. He filled the tires with air, the tank with gas, and he washed it inside and out. I'd like to say this disgusting banana was all he found, but alas he found enough nasty, moldy fruit to cover Carmen Miranda's head. I think I may have to put locks on the fridge and cabinets.

Is That my Hubcap?

My car is dead. Well, I guess it isn't totally dead. Just mostly dead. We first got it in 2003. I think it was 2003 anyway. My memory isn't all that great anymore. Anyway, I had been selling Tupperware and had been driving a company car for the past couple years when I decided I just couldn't keep up with the work any more. For those of us who look forward to dental visits just to get out of the house, those home party businesses are a great opportunity to get a little adult time a couple times a month. If you really want to make money doing it though, you have to work it like a full time job and with five kids, I was having a hard time keeping up with the business and doing two or three parties a week. So, I had to relinquish the company car and quickly find another van that could seat us all. Enter my current van. I remember going to the used car lot and seeing it for the first time. Much like Clark Griswold's metallic pea family truckster, there sat this stunning example of American car manufacturing. When I got in to give it a test drive, I was assaulted with the smell of a hundred wet dogs. And cigars. And an entire football team's sweat socks. And a few dozen poopy diapers.

Naturally my husband and I bought the ugly, smelly van.

After fourteen gallons of Febreeze, it was only mildly stinky and it's held up fairly well for the past four years. Until recently. My hubby replaced the alternator. Who knew? You can't actually start your vehicle without one of these.

We just had the transmission done. Again, this is an important part of a working vehicle. I knew mine was broken when I could no longer go in reverse or drive forward at speeds higher than 15 mph and since I always drive more than fifty, er um, fifteen miles per hour, this really needed to be fixed.

A couple weeks ago I stopped at a red light (because my 3 year old shouted from the backseat, "Stop, Mom! The light is blue!") and I saw out of the corner of my eye, a hubcap go rolling by. MY hubcap go rolling by.

It wasn't bad enough that the air conditioning didn't work, but now the family truckster is overheating. I need to pour a gallon or two of antifreeze in every day. Apparently, antifreeze is necessary for optimum vehicle operation. Again, who knew?

Because my car has been overheating, I borrowed my parents' car to take my son to the doctor a couple weeks ago. I nearly gave myself whiplash driving their car! Every time I just touched the brakes, the car stopped. Quickly. I didn't realize, until I'd driven my parents' car, just how bad my brakes had gotten. Looking back, I should've had a clue as to the deterioration of my brakes when I started having to drag my feet on the street Fred Flintstone style in order to stop, but it just didn't hit me until I borrowed their car.

My husband, car person that he is, can fix the antifreeze leak thankfully. He said something about blah blah blah leaking. Blah blah blah replacement part blah blah blah gasket. Take apart the blah blah blah engine blah blah blah two days.

Oh no! Know what I just realized? Looking at all that "blah blah" text written out like that, I've come to the realization that I listen like my husband does! Oh no! My husband's selective hearing has been making me angry for the past fifteen years and now I'm seeing that I do it too! Oh, this is bad! I can't be mad at him for not listening to me if he finds out that I tuned out his car repair speech! Shhhhhh! Don't tell him! He can't know! Really!

Anyway, I think it's time for a new vehicle. :::sigh:::

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Thank you for the suggestion of eliminating dairy to alleviate chronic ear infections. I've actually heard this from other people before, however, most of my kids don't get ear infections. They just have really large tonsils and adenoids which make swallowing and breathing difficult, and throat infections frequent. The big tonsils and adenoids also cause sleep apnea and prevent their eustachian tubes from draining well. Although their ears don't get infected, they're perpetually filled with fluid which has created temporary hearing loss in several of my kids. This is the eighth surgery like this between my children. Thank you so much for your well wishes. I'm sure all will go well. :)
Actually, your prayers and/or well wishes would be appreciated for Conway Beckemeier who just underwent surgery to repair the congenital defect in his heart, Julian Avery who has been battling a cancerous brain tumor, and Adam Sadda who has severe combined immunodeficiency and needs a bone marrow transplant. I have links on the right side of my blog with their stories. I believe you need to sign in to access Julian's carepages. There was another person who wrote me about their son who had a double lung transplant and I can't for the life of me, find that email anywhere. I'm so sorry I lost your email. I'm horribly unorganized and simply have too much mail to sort through. If you read this post, please send me another email, so I can add a link for your son.

Enjoy your weekend!

Happy Fifth of July!

Happy 5th of July! That's me - always a day late and a dollar short.


Anyway, for the 4th of July, the whole gang went over to my bil /sil's. We had a yummy dinner and saw fireworks. The usual. I just have to show you these pictures of their garage though. You see, I married into a family of "car people". Maybe some of you are car families or know car families. My fil has about forty cars in various states of doneness, a garage with more square footage than the White House, and every car building tool known to man. He even has one of those thingys that lifts your car into the air so the guy can change your oil. <--how very technical of me. Obviously, my husband's car family hasn't rubbed off on me yet.

My bil has only one car that he's working on as of right now, but I'm sure more are to follow as he has a garage that would fit at least thirty-five cars. Their garages are equipped with cable t.v., phones, refrigerators, and toilets so they never have to leave. OK, so maybe not toilets, but when they read this, I'm sure it won't be long until they head over to Home Depot to go commode shopping.

These are people who have perpetually black, grease stained fingers, go to car shows 360 days a year, and know how to fix anything, a skill which makes knowing car people very beneficial. For the average Joe, whose car knowledge includes nothing more than being able to locate the switch that opens the hood, car repairs can be tricky things. A mechanic can tell you almost anything and you wouldn't know the difference.

"Ah yeah, your concave lube conductor is out. It's a difficult repair. Pretty pricey. It's gonna cost you somewheres in the neighborhood of $1,800.00 to fix."

Oh no! Not the concave lube conductor! I think I just had that replaced last year!

So, it's a good thing to know car people.

Someday I'll take a picture of fil's garage and the car he'll probably want to buried in when he dies.