Poison Control

We were planning to visit Normal, Illinois again this weekend but we didn't make it and our weekend was anything but normal. Christine, Talia, and Talia's friend were making pbj sandwiches in the kitchen while I was at the door talking to my tiger neighbor. After a little while Talia walked over and she didn't look right. Her face was pale and her eyes looked hazy. I picked her up and she laid her head down on my shoulder. She said her tummy hurt. I said good-bye to my neighbor and turned my attention to Talia. I set her down and she immediately collapsed to the floor. I made her get up, but she couldn't really stand or walk straight. I started feeling panicked. A quick glance to the kitchen revealed the problem. There were two open pill bottles, which both have child safe lids. One a prescription and one a sleep aid. I searched frantically for my phone. I couldn't find it for 15 minutes. I called poison control. They said take her to the ER RIGHT NOW!!! I don't normally panic but this time I did. My super-crazy-hyperactive-monkey child was laying in a heap on the floor not moving and now I couldn't find my keys (probably because I was panicking). In my head I was trying to force myself to think clearly. I called Chris, I counted the pills, I put them in my purse, I called my friend -because I had her son with me - then I realized the Children's Tylenol Cold & Flu was sticky on the outside and empty. Suddenly I realized I had no idea how to get to the hospital. My friend came to pick her son up and drove to the hospital so all I had to do was follow and not think. I did have the presence of mind to grab Talia's stuffed animal named Puppy and her blanket on the way out the door. On the way to the hospital I called Jenn, because I needed to have a freak-out moment and I couldn't do with someone that would freak-out too. My friend then took Christine and took care of getting my other kids home from school - even though it was her husband's birthday and they were going out of town - she very calmly helped me out, again so I didn't have to think about anything else.

So long story short Talia and I were taken by ambulance (and the ambulance hit black ice and spun out by the way) from this hospital to the children's hospital where we stayed over night. She lay motionless for over 18 hours, sleeping some but mostly just laying there hooked to all kinds of monitors. Late into the next morning as I was asking her what she wanted for breakfast she couldn't decide between waffles and pancakes but I told her to pick one so she said, without slurred speech for the first time since arriving at the hospital, "Hmmm... how about I have waffles and Puppy has pancakes." My Talia was back!! I felt relief for the first time all night and laughed. She proceeded to ask anyone that came into our room (the janitor, nurse, doctor, etc.) to "please take this off of me?" Referring to the monitors and I.V. We had long talks about not taking medicine unless mommy or daddy gives it to you. I thought she got it.

Then today on the way to school (we missed the bus) Talia was telling Christine about the movies she watched at the hospital. Christine asked if we could go there sometime to watch them. I said probably not. So Talia said to Christine "if you take some of those medi-meds (medicine) you can go the the doctors too so you can see that new Cinnerella and Frosty Snowman too." I was quick to correct her logic. I never want to repeat that experience!

You will be glad to know that no medicine is within her reach anymore. But then again that's what I thought before.......

Tagged again

This is a different Tag than the last one (sent to me by my friend Jordan) so I hope you learn something new about me....

8 TV Shows that I love to watch:

I don't think I can even name 8 TV shows however I do watch a few but only 1 faithfully so it is #1
1. Psych (of USA network - it is hilarious the new season starts in Jan. on Friday night)
2. Monk (also on USA network also starts in Jan. on Friday night)
3. Burn Notice (you guessed it USA network also starts in Jan. on Thursday night)
4. House (sometimes I watch this, I have seen maybe 20 episodes total as reruns on USA)
5. Dancing with the Stars (a few times)
6. Project Runway (sometimes)
7. Hannah Montana and Suite Life (with my kids)
8. Chuck (on NBC)

8 Things that happened to me yesterday:
1. got the girls off to school
2. did the dishes
3. made french onion soup and burned the onions had to start over (very annoying)
4. went to Tristana'a house for lunch (took the soup) and crafting
5. cleaned my refrigerator and decided to ditch the remaining left over turkey (I gave it to my
tiger neighbor to feed to his animals - I've come a long way with accepting his animals)
6. helped with homework
7. washed all the bedding and made all the beds
8. decorated the Christmas tree with the family

8 Favorite places to eat:
1. Longhorn Steakhouse (I just went with Chris's aunt it was awesome)
2. Panera Bread
3. Chevy's (I miss my CA food favorites)
4. most places with Mexican food OR pizza (not both at the same time)
5. Leatherby's for ice cream (not with Melinda if she chokes on ice ha ha)
6. anywhere I don't have to do the dishes
7. Arby's roast beef sandwiches and curly fries - so gourmet
8. I need to eat out more so I can come up with a better list

8 things I am looking forward to:
1. Christmas
2. Winter break from school (I love having the kids home)
3. The New Year
4. Christmas shopping and Christmas baking
5. Warm weather (but I will be waiting a while..... today it is 20 degrees burrr!)
6. Movie night tonight with the girls and their friends tonight
7. My mom coming to visit (not until April)
8. Family reunion in Colorado (not until July)

8 things on my wish list:
This is hard for me to decide I don't usually think about the things I want so these are some unrealistic wishes I came up with.
1. More energy
(I feel tired all the time but I honestly think it is from the weather, I'm sure I'll adjust)
2. More minutes on my cell phone so I can call certain people - who aren't part of my cell plan -
more frequently (you know who you are)
3. An unlimited travel budget to visit home when ever I want
4. More time to read and write
5. Less time that needs to be allocated to chores
6. Really warm gloves and fuzzy socks
7. Sidewalks to run on (I don't know why but the no sidewalks thing is really hard for me to get
used to. I never realized I was taking sidewalks for granted when I had them.)
8. And now for my most unrealistic wish list item of all...... to be caught up on my scrapbook.
Who am I even kidding? That will never happen. Scrapbooking and I have a love hate
relationship for this reason; I love to do it but being caught up is as likely to happen as me
running a marathon in under 3 hours.

8 people I tag!
1. Sarah
2. Maly
3. Angela
4. Bethany
5. Amy
6. Tanya (no I am not narcissisticly tagging myself this is my sister in-law, to eliminate
confusion in our family I have generously changed my name amongst my family to 'Tanya
the Great,' isn't that thoughtful of me?)
7. The Hall sisters (any of you that check my blog)
8. Jackie

Cut and paste this post into your own blog and replace my answers with your own then let me know you have completed the tag so I can check it out.

Anyone that wants to be tagged you are tagged too because I'm not sure all those on my list will be thrilled and I would love to hear from anyone! Just post a comment for me if you copy the tag to your blog with your answers so I can read it.

Twilight

Ok it is 3 a.m. and I just got home from the midnight showing of Twilight. I am not a psycho-crazed fan or anything but I didn't hesitate to join a few friends from church that wanted to brave the snowy conditions to view the movie at the first showing. So weigh in everybody what did you think about the movie? I won't give my opinion in this posting because I don't want to be a spoiler in any way for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. But I am curious what you all thought, especially you other crazy people that stayed awake all night just to see Edward.....

Pepe Le Pew

I think I have been a pretty good sport about living in the country and all the lifestyle changes it has created but this past week, I confess, I have struggled. I'm not an animal person but the deer I can handle. The raccoons, owls, coyotes, buzzards, and even the bats I tolerate fairly well. But last week I had the unfortunate experience of running over a skunk. I've never hit an animal before! It waddled out into the road, I slowed down and I thought it was going to make it all the way across the street in time but then it just stopped. The outcome was not good for either of us. I could smell it all the way home and into the next day. Then a few days later we can home late at night and I could see an animal rummaging through our trash. Chris thought it was a raccoon but no such luck, you guessed it, it was another skunk. Peee-ewww!

Halloween

I am not sure what I was doing on Halloween but I apparently wasn't taking pictures. We went to a Halloween party for Girl Scouts and I took some pictures there but Taylor and Talia wore different costumes for trick-or-treating. I injured my foot and ankle on Thursday and could hardly walk on Halloween night. I forgot to put on my costume and I forgot to put makeup on the girls, I am amazed I even remembered their costumes. It was a super crazy day. Halloween is so weird out here. Each town has a designated trick-or-treat night with set hours and most towns don't even trick-or-treat on Halloween. Being that we live in the middle of nowhere we had to drive 20 minutes to get to a trick-or-treat location (we could have gone someplace closer but this is where some friends from church were meeting). So here is how it went:

4 pm girls get home from school except Taylor she's at a friend's house, I fed them a quick snack while being bombarded with information about the happenings of the class parties - even though I planned them and I was there

4:30 cousins come over to decorate

5:30 cousins get picked up and I quickly get the three girls dressed

5:50 we leave to pick up Taylor who we find not in her costume and while I frantically try to change her back into Hannah Montana Talia and Christine decide they need to get out of the car to come into the friend's house to use the bathroom

6:35 We finally meet up with our friends at the town fire station where hot cider and donuts were served for half an hour (for those organized enough to show up on time - we didn't make it). Then the fire station siren sounds (the siren used for tornado warnings) and then the mass of dressed up children storm the surrounding neighborhood until the time is up at 8:00. In CA I think we just went door to door until we could no longer walk. It was a new experience for the girls, I'm not sure if they were impressed but they ended up with plenty of candy and my ankle/foot was so swollen and throbbing by the end I was glad to have it over. I did think to take a few pictures when we got home. Our neighbor, the one with the pet tiger, stopped by dressed as a werewolf and gave each of us a big Hershey bar. He said it was the first time since 1954 that he has handed out Halloween candy. He hasn't ever had trick-or-treaters in this house. We had a totally decorated yard with ghosts, corn stalks, glowing eyes, tomb stones, pumpkins, candles, we covered our windows with black fabric and cut out scary eyes that glow from the light inside and......no trick-or-treaters.




Aubrey and Taylor sorted through their loot but the rest of us were tired.

Bobby Socks

I don't spend a great deal of time talking about my older girls in my blog postings so this one is dedicated to Aubrey. When Taylor was little she called Aubrey, Bobby, which then somehow evolved into Aubrey-Bobrey-Bobby-Socks. I have no idea how, but isn't that the mystery of unusual nicknames?

For anyone who isn't familiar with Aubrey you should know that she has an unusually creative mind, a trait she undoubtedly inherited from my dad. At least once a week she comes up with some entrepreneurial scheme ranging from the classic lemonade stand to band concerts, art shows, making and selling soap, and raking leaves. She usually develops a business plan that involves younger sisters as grunt workers being paid low or no wages (though they happily go along just to be involved) while she leaves herself in the CEO position where she runs the business and marketing side of things and of course oversees the work. I generally try not to reign her in too much because I think creative thinking is a talent worth developing. Right now she is reading the biography of ......... Bill Gates. If she could find a poster of him I am sure she would hang it on her wall by Hannah Montana and Lebron James. (ok, so we actually took the other posters down but you get the idea)

This hobby of hers is not just a creative outlet, apparently it is also about making money. The other day as we were driving to Wal-Mart I overheard part of a conversation she was having with her younger sister Taylor. Taylor was trying to decide what she was going to waste (my description, not hers) her money on. If Taylor has money she likes to go to the store and find something that costs the exact amount she has rather than finding something she really wants and then trying to save enough money for it or finding something she wants and then verifying she has enough for it. Apparently this is a pet peeve of my money-hoarding Aubrey. "Taylor you should really start saving for college. Do you have any idea how much it will cost? If you start now and put just half of your money aside you will be surprised how much money you have when it's time to go to college." This is a concept I thought I would discuss with them in high school when they have a job, we've talked about saving money for things you want but not specific to college. Aubrey came up with this savings plan on her own. Taylor's response, "but I wanted to buy some candy." Because of course there is a shortage of candy in the house after four kids trick-or-treating for two hours a week ago.

At parent teacher conferences Aubrey's teacher said she liked that Aubrey can think outside the box. When the teacher assigns a project she gives the students a list of possible project ideas, the kids pick one, and turn in their proposals. She said that Aubrey likes to think of her own project concepts, something most students don't even consider as an option. When she does choose from the list she puts her own Aubrey twist on things. Her current project is based on the book Diary of a Wimpy Kid which, by the way, is hilarious. It is what Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) or Dennis the Menace would have been like had they ever reached junior high. Her project is collecting items that explain the book. Her items so far include cheese, a foil ball with toothpicks, and vinegar and green bean salad, she had also wanted to take in speedos, a loaded diaper, and a door with Roderick's name on but I didn't think those were good choices. You have to read the book to understand the humor. And by the way this project isn't due for over a month, who knows what it will eventually evolve into.

Last week there was a picture in the local paper of Aubrey casting her vote at school. She took this job very seriously. Constantly asking me about issues and what the differences are between the candidates. I am sure much of the information I gave her was bias but as much as possible I tried to give her the idea and let her reason it out. For example I'd say "lets talk about health care, one sides says this and one side says that. What do you think?" She would break it down into very logical steps and talk herself through the decision making process then I would tell her if that made her a Democrat or a Republican. We did this with alot of issues and it was really fun. This activity, however, is not limited to an election year and her interest in politics began before she started kindergarten. I used to listen to Rush Limbaugh when I was driving around and even at four years old she started asking very big questions about politics and world issues. I took me a while to make the connection between her questions and her listening to Rush until one day when he was ranting about something and she asked me "Why is Rush using his angry voice?" I never knew she even paid attention to anything he said. Then another time we were playing 20 questions and she began with the clue "I'm thinking of a person that lives in Florida." I replied, "Aubrey we don't know anyone that lives in Florida. Do you mean Mickey Mouse?" "No!" She laughed. "A real person mommy." When I never guessed who she told me the answer. "Rush lives in Florida!" I still don't have any idea how she knew that. I cut her off talk radio after that because I wasn't sure what else she would pick up on.

She is a unique little girl that is becoming too grown-up too quickly. I received an email recently that asked where I saw myself in 10 years. I realized that in 10 years Aubrey would be as old as I was when I was pregnant with her. I panicked and avoided answering the question. I definitely know what personal goals I would like to achieve in the next 10 years but I just couldn't fast forward over ten years of her life without hyperventilating. She'll always be my funny, crazy, enthusiastic, imaginative little girl.

Here is the snapshot I took of the picture in the paper. Aubrey is in the dark hoodie with the green headband. Not the best quality photos. But she was excited to see herself in the paper.

Tag You're It

Shauna, Chris's cousin, tagged me. I've never been tagged before but I thought this would be fun.
Answer these questions in just one word. If your name is on the bottom, it's your turn next!
1. Where is your cell phone? charging
2. Where is your significant other? couch
3. Your hair color? brown
4. Your mother? amazing
5. Your father? workaholic
6. Your favorite thing? laughter
7. Your dream last night? real
8. Your dream/goal? celestial (someone else's answer but I liked it)
9. The room you're in? family room
10. Your hobby? reading
11. Your fear? dark
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? hmmmm
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? shy
15. One of your wish-list items? shoes
16. Where you grew up? sacramento
17. The last thing you did? dinner
18. What are you wearing? pj's
19. Your TV? on
20. Your pet? none
21. Your computer? laptop
22. Your mood? anxious (election results!!!)
23. Missing someone? everyone
24. Your car? squeaky
25. Something you're not wearing? jewlery
26. Favorite store? Target and Macy's
27. Your summer? Humid
28. Love someone? completely
29. Your favorite color? red
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? today (My great uncle passed away yesterday, completely unexpectedly, and all day long he was in my thoughts. I am really going to miss him.)

I Tag:
1. Melinda
2. Jenn
3. Jen
4. Jackie
5. Rachel H.

Shoplifting and Bank Robbery All in One Day

Today I had to set up a bank account for my Brownie troop, of course I had Talia and Christine with me. The vault was open but horizontal bars prevented any normal person from being able to enter....Talia is not normal. She used the bars as a latter then tried and succeeded at slipping between the bars but I did stop her from getting all the way through. I never thought I would utter the words "sorry my daughter tried to rob your bank," to anyone.

Next stop was the Girl Scout office and store. As I was looking for the merchandise I needed for my troop Talia left the play area, came inside, and filled a basket of patches (that was not fun to put back), then took her lifted merchandise back out of the store with her. Shoplifting is a little better than bank robbery, but not much. It is definitely not part of the Girl Scout code.

Fall Family Photos

I wanted to take some photos to show off the pretty Fall colors. Sadly the colors of the changing leaves are not clear in the pictures at least not the way I thought they would be. In real life the colors are so bold and bright I am so disappointed in these photos. At least the girls look cute. Here we are in Chris's parents yard. This is near where we planted our garden this past summer. The girls were good sports about getting their pictures taken considering the temperature was about forty degrees. Maybe their smiles were just frozen in place.

Bee-ware

Today we were invited by a family from church to come and watch them extract the honey from their hives. Sounded pretty interesting so the girls and I headed over after a long day of soccer. I forgot to take my camera so as far as pictures go I am at the mercy of another family from church that also came to watch, I am hoping they will email the pictures soon. Kelly, the bee-keeper, put his gear on and took us out to show us where the hives are stored in wooden boxes. He lifted the lid and explained the process. He brought out his smoker to help calm the bees, I guess. Using the borrowed camera I crept a little closer, encouraged by Kelly's fearlessness even though I wasn't wearing a special suit, ignoring my general fear of insects that sting I attempted to get some photos up close. Suddenly there was an angry buzzing in my ear. I batted at the sound in a vain attempt to shoo the bee away. Finally I made a run for it. I joined the rest of the on-lookers 10 feet away but we were all in dangerous territory now - I think the bees may have followed me back. Soon all twenty-three of us were batting at angry buzzes in our ears. I told my girls to run but only Aubrey and Christine listened. A pregnant lady got a bee stuck in her hair and began to holler to her husband to get it out, in a rather panicked voice - apparently she has an allergy. Another lady holding her newborn began to panic as she had a bee stuck in her hair as well. I grabbed her baby and ran to get him away from the other bees flying furiously around us. The bees were mad that their honey was missing. The baby was safe and Talia, who continued to stroll along at a leisurely pace amused by the pandemonium that had spontaneously broken out, made it safely too. When we were to the front of the house, far from the bees for the most part, I took a head count. I thought Taylor had been in front of me but now I heard her screaming from behind. Her yells escalated from panic to pain as she took a bee sting right to her eye (actually the eyebrow). She had selflessly gone back to get Talia's flip flops, which had been left behind in the flee, and unfortunately took a sting to the eyebrow before she could retrieve the flip flops (we left for home without them, no one wanted to go back out). All in all the casualty total was 6 stings, one little girl had two the rest were divided evenly, one per family.

The rest of the process was less eventful. We watched Kelly take the honeycombs from the wooden boxes, remove the wax, then place them in a centrifuge. The kids all took turns turning the handle to spin the honey out. The honey was then poured through a strainer (to remove remaining wax and any bee parts - gross!). Then it was ready to eat. This was some of the best honey I have ever tasted. Hopefully pictures will be coming soon!

Far From Normal

Friday we spent an emotional day attending Chris's grandfather's funeral. As soon as we were through with the days activities we loaded the mini van with girls, bags, pillows and blankets and headed to Illinois. Chris had a kinesio-taping continuing-education course to take which was only an hour or so from my friend Stephanie's house so we all went along for the ride. Sometime between midnight and one a.m., as I drove to a chorus of snores and heavy breathing, I passed a sign listing the miles remaining before we would arrive at our destination just outside Normal, Illinois. With a sigh I thought to myself, we're still along way from Normal. I smiled. How true that statement is! We finally arrived at 1:30 am and after a quick debate I consented, primarily because I was too tired to keep driving, to stay at the less than desirable Blue Star Inn. The following morning as light poured into the room we realized just how horrific our room really was. I am glad the girls and I weren't staying there another night.

As Chris wandered around for over an hour and a half trying to find his class Saturday morning the girls and I headed to our rendezvous point with Steph, Curtis's Pumpkin Farm. The only problem was I forgot the directions. No problem. A quick call to my awesome brother Jake in Texas and I was set. Who needs a Tom-Tom when they can have the interactive Jake-Jake GPS? It comes complete with jokes and pleasant conversation. Everyone was getting lost first Chris, then me, and then Steph...... By the time she figured out where the pumpkin patch was it was pouring rain. We ended up playing at McDonald's instead where the getting lost continued this time it was Stephanie's keys. Thankfully a nice lady found them in the bathroom and saved the day.

The rest of the weekend went somewhat more smoothly, but we never made it to the pumpkin patch due to continued rain, and despite Talia's melt-downs and the girls sibling-spats caused by exhaustion, we had a blast. The kids played with Ollie, the dog, and Steph & Matt's cute kids Olivia and Andrew. We watched alot of High School Musical 2 and Happy Feet, rode bikes, went for walks, had picnics, and played in the mud. No visit with Steph is complete without some new concoctions. She and I sat up late laughing and talking and eating chocolate ice cream with hot fudge, whipped cream and granola. Personally I never would have tried granola on ice cream but I always try Steph's creations and it was great. In high school we had hash browns and ice cream, root beer with milk, and potato-cheese-ketchup burritos to name a few. They always taste good when I'm with her. (She also had me try this Greek yogurt called Oika, really good.)

Steph has been church shopping lately and decided she and the kids would join us this week. On the drive to the Mormon church building Olivia (4) asked me if she would be able to dance at our church. I think she was disappointed. Steph ended up sitting with five kids while I wrestled with Talia in the foyer. When we left Steph looked at me and said very seriously, "I think you might be a saint." I denied such a label. "No, really. I don't know how you do it. Not just church but everything." The truth is I am not sure that I am doing it, balancing everything and maintaining my patience, but I just keep trying. Talia had a shorter than usual fuse but thankfully was not up to her usual antics of creating disasters though at one point there was an incident with butter and diet coke that was somehow blamed on the dog, I let him take the wrap but in the back of my mind I wondered if it was really him.

Now we're home, seven hours from Normal. Normal. I'm no longer sure what normal even is. Here are some pictures of our trip. I think my girls want a pet now. I think I'll stick to Webkinz!

Surviving Storm Christine

The next entry was supposed to be first don't know what happened can't figure out how to fix it. Read it first then this one makes better sense. I'll work on fixing the problem later.

The girls dragged themselves from bed this morning still tired from a late night of panicking though their nerves were now calm as the wind had cease. But a new storm was coming a category 5, Hurricane Christine. From the moment her eyes opened she insisted she would not go to school today. I ignored her. As the time quickly approached to wait outside she became more insistent. The bus picks our girls up then makes a few more stops on our road before turning around. This means when we miss the bus the first time we can catch it on the way back. Or, on days like today, if I can't get Christine on the first time I can use all means of bribery to get her on when it comes by the second time. Unfortunately for all involved no bribery would work today. As the bus headed towards us for the second time I picked up the screaming and kicking (literally) kindergartner and carried her across the street to try again, nearly being hit by the bus as I crossed. I am sure Aubrey and Taylor were hoping no one would know who I was as I walked up the bus steps in my white pajamas with bright green flowers and my knee high galoshes, black with white polka dots and draped with a hysterical 5 year old throwing a kicking-screaming-crying-death-gripped-to mom-temper tantrum. I looked at the bus driver and said "I don't know what to do." She kindly lied and replied. "Don't worry it happens all the time. Christine why don't you go sit by Blake or Angel?" More screaming. She got up from her seat and pried Christine off of me. As I made my way down the steps I resisted the urge to turn and see Aubrey and Taylor and I wondered if they were denying all affiliation with our family. I slowly backed down the steps until Christine could no longer reach me. She instead turned and grabbed the hand railing to prevent the bus driver from being able to pull her to her seat. I carefully unwrapped her fingers and then made a break for it, off the bus and back across the street to my other screaming-half-naked daughter standing on the side of the road. I noticed as I plodded back to my porch the backed up traffic the flashing red bus lights had caused and I wondered how long I had been on the bus. I stood on the porch waiting to see if by some miracle the bus driver could persuade Christine to stay where my bubble gum bribe had failed though I fully expected to see Christine flee from the bus and bolt back into the house at any moment. Much to my surprise the bus driver returned to her seat, opened her window, and with a thumbs-sign said "she's sitting with her sister, don't worry." I felt grateful that either Aubrey or Taylor had still claimed ownership of us and had somehow managed to get Christine to stay. Returning to the house I noticed the time, all the kids on the bus would be tardy today thanks to Hurricane Christine.

I realize that this seems very heartless to send a child off when she screams as if being tortured. The thing is Christine loves school but hates being away from Mom. I find myself frequently in this dilemma with her. Any time I need to leave her whether it be at church or school or a friends house or even to take a shower she freaks out, and yet I always come back. As often as possible I have Chris leave her places because she doesn't respond that way for him. Unfortunately he leaves for work too early to put her on the bus. I am afraid that if I give in to her tantrum she will continue to throw them. I am lucky to have a bus driver that seems to understand this. Hopefully she enjoys the snickerdoodles I made her as a thank you for her assistance today maybe then she'll be willing to help me agian tomorrow if another storm is brewing.

The Remains of Hurricane Ike

Yesterday the Cleveland area was hit with the remains of Hurricane Ike. The original storm warnings said winds would be about 35 miles per hour but I saw on the news today that the wind gusts hit 70 miles per hour, judging from the number of trees in the road I would guess this is closer to accurate. We didn't have any rain just lots of crazy wind and 6 or 7 hours of no power, which means for us country folks no pump for the well and no sump pump. There was, however, just enough power left on the battery for the portable DVD player to watch Island Barbie with the kids before bed in a vain attempt to calm them down and give them something to do besides sit in the dark and listen to the raging wind. And I admit I was a little nervous too, considering our house is surrounded by trees and the tree that fell on our house landed right above where I rest my head at night - Chris humored me and we turned around and slept with our heads at the foot of the bed last night. Every time there is a tornado warning or storm warning the girls get stressed, our nerves have not adjusted to these extreme weather warnings - the weather warnings we are used to involve poor air quality or stay inside because it's too hot, not your house may blow away so hide in the basement while the storm rages above rattling windows and uprooting trees - in the past to calm the girls down I have said something like "This house is over a hundred and thirty years old. I am sure it has withstood storms like this before. You have nothing to worry about." Last night at dinner Aubrey, to put it mildly, was very concerned about a pine tree in our yard. She was convinced it was coming down in the storm I gave her my little speech about the age of the house and the age of the tree blah, blah, blah, but in the back of my mind I was worried too. Turns out she was right, it came down. We weren't here when it happened. Chris was flying a kite with the girls at his parents' house and I was at the church listening to an artist describe his work (since the power went out and we couldn't see it). If either of those two trees had fallen at just a slightly different degree there could have been some serious damage. Amazing how much power a storm can have. I'm glad we're not in Texas.

Yes, Again!

Not to turn this into a "Naughty-Little Talia" blog but today her messes involved a tube of toothpaste, a gallon of hand sanitizer, a box of graham crackers, a bottle of chocolate syrup, Windex, two containers of glitter, and her staple - makeup, all while wearing a swimsuit and rain boots which she changed herself into. She is quite the energetic and curious little girl. Just had to vent a little before recovering my house while she naps. Yes this was all before nap. Hopefully she doesn't wake up too rejuvenated!!

Talia does it again!

Talia, Talia, Talia........she loves to get into EVERYTHING!

Stuffs the entire cupcake in her mouth. Yum!

Getting into my makeup is a regular habit of hers.

I need to teach her that lipstick is just for lips!

Permanent marker on walls, thank goodness for magic erasers.

oatmeal and nail polish.....

.......fingerprinting dust and baking powder. Nothing is safe! And oh what joy to clean it all up!

Everyone seems to enjoy hearing about the incredible disasters that Talia leaves in her wake so here are some more pictures to make you smile. This time the disasters involve lipstick , nail polish, oatmeal, fingerprint dusting powder (don't ask), cupcake, permanent marker, and baking powder - and no I don't take pictures of every mess, only when the camera is handy. By the way don't I look tired in the picture with lipstick on my forehead? (Can't imagine why). It seems everytime I turn around she is getting into something else. If I need to switch laundry, answer the phone, or use the bathroom I just expect to find that Talia the Tornado has blown through.
I didn't take pictures because I was trying to prevent complete destruction but last night at a wedding reception we attended in addition to tearing up the dance floor she also tried to tear down the arch wrapped with lights that the bride and groom had been standing beneath. Luckily that was one disaster we were able to prevent.

Grandma came to visit and share the last few days of the summer with us. I have been trying to potty-train Talia, unsuccessfully. As soon as grandma arrived Talia decided to use the toilet. That's all it took! I should have had my mom come months ago!






While grandma was visiting to say the girls were spoiled is an understatement. But I was spoiled too. The girls ask grandma for everyting. I'm sure she was tired after her vacation but I was rested.
In this picture after swimming all day we indulged in one last ice cream cone.



Do you think I look like my mom? It was great to have her visit. I wish we could have had her longer.

First Day of School!

We were all sad to see summer end, especially Aubrey and Taylor since they know what 'back to school' really means - homework and early betimes. Christine had her very first day of school this week complete with first bus ride. I can't believe it is just me and little Talia the Terror at home now!

Bigger than Life

The girls and I had a Hannah Montana 3-D concert pajama party in our living room. I learned that an at home concert with 8 little girls is just at loud as being at the actual concert however using 3-D glasses that are free from Wal-Mart is not the same as watching Hannah Montana perform live in concert. Chris escaped the estrogen fest and barricaded himself in our room upstairs, however, with the decibel levels downstairs he hardly missed any of the action. The girls consumed enough sugar to induce a diabetic coma then burned off all the calories giggling, dancing, and pillow fighting. I did have to break up a real fight between Taylor and Christine concerning who was going to marry which Jonas brother (the Jo-Bros were guest performers at the concert -a Jonas bonus for us which meant more shrieking from the girls) but we worked it out by drawing names and the rest of the party went really smooth. Finally the girls all hit a sugar drop and were ready for bed. Once the friends had all gone home for the night Chris decided to brave his way downstairs to help me get our girls to bed. All in all it was a rockin' party!

Talia - the 'T' is for Trouble!!!

So little miss Talia was at it again. After marking her territory in the bathroom (not in the toilet), dumping out two bottles of lotion in two different rooms, getting into grape juice (never very easy or fun to clean up), she then moved on to the mustard. What you can't see is that inside the air vent there is about 1/2 cup of mustard - maybe even a little more. But how can I help but not love that smile!!! She went on to also wet on the couch which was the last straw for me - oh did I mention this was all within an hour and a half - so I decided to put her in bed. She pouted as she slowly dragged herself up the stairs then pausing halfway up she turned and sat down and said in her sweet little voice "pweese mommy, don' put me in bed. I pwomise I not be wotten any more." Then she pushed out her bottom lip, cute as she was I couldn't handle any more messes. After a forty-five minute screaming struggle she fell asleep. I then spent the next hour shampooing mustard out of the carpet and pee out of the couch. Needless to say I embraced sleep with less of a struggle than she did last night. And it's a good thing I slept well because this morning she was at it again this time taking nail polish to our leather chaise! I am always grateful when she falls asleep and I have time to regroup, recover, and regain control of my house. Talia is definitely synonymous with Trouble, but most of the time she just makes me laugh - if I didn't laugh I would probably cry and life is too short for so many tears! I love that she is full of life and curiosity I just hope I have enough energy to keep up or at least enough to clean up!

Surviving the Winter

The snow got pretty deep this winter but we managed to live through it with the assistance of hot chocolate, warm coats, and a tow truck. Spring was wonderful but short and we are now well into our yucky-humid summer climate but when I see Sacramento temps hitting over 110 I think I might be better off with Ohio humidity even though we have no a/c in our 130 year old house. And breathing our clean country air sure beats the smokey Sac air quality. Sigh!!! But somehow I can't help but miss California! Maybe it's the wicked thunderstorms and tornado warnings that materialize when I least expect it that make me leery of this new climate, maybe I miss predictable weather even if it is roasting. All I know is that when I stepped out of the Sacramento airport a month ago wearing jeans and a 3/4 length sleeves the dry 90 degrees wrapped itself around me like a warm comfortable blanket and I couldn't help but smile. This was my kind of weather, I was home.

My New Year Resolution

Christine (4 years old) was trying her hand at photography and took this lovely photo. Sadly this was one of the only photos I had of myself - I will have to work on that!



My New Year Resolution was to begin a blog so here I am in July finally getting to it (with the assistance of my sister-in-law Tanya). Since we moved thousands of miles and began our new year in a very new place we have had many adventures, well they are adventures to me since I have never experienced rural living like this before. Dealing with a septic tank that needs repair (gross!), having well water that smells of sulfur and iron (and to me tastes like blood) also took some getting used to, as did the smell of our fuel oil heating system. Then there are all the mice, that I can't get used to. There is our neighbor "Bob" (not sure he wants his real name used - he's an interesting guy) and his pet tiger Nefertari that I pretend I don't know about. Sometimes when I'm outside and it's dark I have this mental image of her hiding behind the treeline ready to pounce. It freaks me out a little, it is a long walk from the garage to the house and I don't think I can out run her. But she is securely locked behind a series of fences - or so I tell myself... I have gotten used to stores being further away and in less variety. But I really miss sidewalks. The other night I was sitting out on the porch alone when the sky was just getting dark and across the open field in front of me were hundreds of fireflies. I sat there in silence breathing in the fresh air and watching the fireflies grow brighter as the darkness set in, uninhibited by light pollution, and I was truly moved. Maybe country living isn't so bad. Now I'll just have to learn to deal with the mosquito bites!