Leaking Roof

The sound of dripping water at 4am, not usually a good thing.  In fact, I can not think of a time it is EVER a good thing.  Well, all the snow has been melting in the warm day time sun and freezing in the single digit nights.  This caused a good 6 inches of ice built up in our gutter causing ice to seep in under the roof where it then melted and started leaking through the ceiling of the bay window.  Scott got up at 4am when the dripping began and tore off the framing around the window and then climbed up in the atic to mop up the water, then got on the roof and chipped away at the ice.  Hopefully everything will be ok tonight.  Only time will tell as the temperature begins to plumet again.

Blogging Spurts

So I was just perusing some blogs reading about everything from crafts, to being and Army wife, to loosing a first tooth.  Exciting stuff, but what I noticed over and over were the words"I haven't stopped blogging"  "I haven't falling of the face of the Earth" and simply "I'm back".  Now as you may I know I myself keep my blog up to date.  If by up to date you mean at least a post a year.  What is it about blogging that makes it so touch and go?  Is it Facebook, because let me tell you that baby gets updated every week.  Even if I am in the hospital, oh who am I kidding, ESPECIALLY if I am in the hospital.  I find my blog to be more of a personal journal more than a public "Hey everyone, TJ just learned to ride his bike without training wheels!!!!"  Now I know there are a few close friends and family that are subscribed and do keep up with my blog, but I still find it to be a more personal outlet for my frustrations or compltely random thoughts.
  Do we blog less often, because we think our entried need to be profound?  Maybe beacause they should be longer than a one sentence status update.  I don't know.  If I only blog once a year it is still a snap shot back into that year.  I love looking back at old blogs.  I especially enjoy the ones that may mention one of the dogs or the cat as I miss them all so much.  Maybe one reminds me of something quirky my kids did as children.  I just like to relive those moments.  So, even if I seem to have fallen off the face of the Earth, I will be back...

It almost did me in

I am slowly coming out of a week with a terrible cold.  Sat/Sun of last week I started off with a cough.  Nothing a tough guy like me couldn't handle.  So I spent Saturday flinging and counting cases upon cases of Girl Scout cookies.  Then I spent Sunday teaching Sunday School to a class of out of control 2nd grade boys then drove to the Springs, well, I didn't acctually make it before my truck decided not to go another inch as I was barreling down I25 at 75 miles and hour.  Thankfully I was close enough to call my dad and he came to my rescue jumped the truck bought me a new battery and I was back on my way to spending and hour going door to door in the wind selling cookies with Katie.  This may have been part of the reason I spent Monday on the couch sleeping in between starting new cartoons for Delilah.  Tuesday was slightly better as I sent Delilah off to school and went back to bed.  By Wednesday I got the call everyone dreads from the school.  "What were you thinking sending your sick kid to school?  We don't want them here, come get them."  Sigh, this call comes an hour before I am taking my Scouts to JumpStreet.  Calling all Moms, calling all moms.  I NEED BACKUP!!!  This was followed by 3 days of taking kids temps, drugging children, getting puked on and napping on the living room floor.  Good times.  I am happy to report I sent 2 kids back to school today and ran a few erronds, but I am exahusted already and want to go back to bed.  But, on the bright side, my pants are a LOT looser.  I guess not eating for a week is one diet plan that works, although I don't recomend it.

4

Ok, this week I came up with a list of 4 names of people I strive to imulate for different reasons.  I know one wasn't a wonderful person and one is fictional, but that isn't the point.  The point is to have a goal, a mind set per say.
1.  Porverbs 31- the perfect wife
2. Mother Theresa- the perfect missionary
3. Mathra Stewart- able to make the most beautiful creative things
4. June Cleaver- the perfect mother with the perfect string of pearls

It is all about goals, no matter how lofty.

Over Acheiver

I am beat.  Beat down, face in the dirt, BEAT.  And it is only October (school calander mind you).  I have been saying no and yet things keep coming at me.  Ok, there are the occations where I was not given the oppertunity to say no and hence have been burried deeper, but come on!!!  Where is this all coming from?  I did get roped into the Clothing Sale, and although that is over things keep trickling in.  Then there is what was supposed to be the simple thing of Boy Scouts of which I wanted nothing to do with it.   Girl Scouts where the events just keep coming in one of which I am hosting.  Parent teacher confrences, easy?  No, we have to supply dinner for the teachers.  Making playdoh (which I love to do) & make colored pasta (which I don't remember how to do) for preschool.  Then there are sick kids!!  No free time in 2 weeks.  And this "free time" I was expecting... I am running to Boy/Girl Scout Council, grocery shopping, or other such nonsense.  I have this lovely gift certificate for a massage waiting for me.  I saved it to use after the Warrior Dash...  that was in August... and I am still sore.  Now, I would love/need a hair cut, but some how can not fit either of these 2 simple things into my 6 child free hours a week.  The hair cut was going to happen today, but alas, I had a sick kid home from school.  I shouldn't complain.  It is an honnor to be able to do these things right?  This is why we SAHM do just that...stay at home.  We want an active part in the raising of our children right?  Right???  RIGHT?????  But we are cranky and exhausted, because 10% of the people do 90% of the work.  And I am starting to see that within that 10% is a smaller community of over acheivers we will call them the 1% that do 50% of the 90%.  That has to be gramatically incorrect, but you get the idea.  Don't get me wrong, I love doing things like the yearbook, but the dang website is so slow I could race it against a snail and I dare not leave the computer while I am trying to upload pictures, because if the computer goes to sleep I have to start all over.  Sigh.  Ok, tomorrow an upbeat post.  Promise.

Blogging

I was just looking back on my blogs.  In early years, I had 100 plus blogs, but in recent years, with the help of Facebook I am sure, I am down to just a hand full in the last few years.  I wouldl ike to see this number go up again.  There is so much more you can say in a blog.  Much more than just a status.  A status is more what are you doing at this very minute.  Blogging is about recording your life, your thoughts, your dreams.  Now, don't think I am giving up Facebook,  not yet anyway.  Where else can you conect with gradeschool friends, co workers and family with a single click?  There are events here in my blog that I hold dear, but wouldn't even reember if I hadn't writen them down years ago.  I was just looking back over the past years since I began blogging.  I have lead a somewhat interesting life.  I think my next blog will be my birth list.  The oppisite of my bucket list hat I posted the other night.  My birth list will include all the awsome things I have done since birth.  And there have been a few.  Some I must say I might not be so proud of, but others are stinking awsome.

My Bucket list

My Bucket List in no particular order:

1. Go to Italy
2. Run the Bolder Boulder
3. Learn to swing dance
4. Climb Mount Kilimanjaro
5. Finish my Degree
6. Learn to play the flute
7. Learn how to use a sewing machine
8. Make a standing rib roast
9. See the monuments in DC
10. See a whale
11. Work in a zoo
12. Forgive someone
13. Read the bible in 90 days
14. Sell a photograph
15. Grow an apple tree
16. Go Christmas caroling
17. Build a dollhouse
18. Support a missionary on 6 different continnents
19. Write a book
20. Ski black powder
21. Photograph an endangered species in the wild
22. See the Red Woods
23. Go to Las Vegas
24. Rappel
25. Visit all 50 states- 20 down 30 to go
26. Donate blood
27. Sleep under the stars
28. See the Northern Lights
29. Ride in a hotair balloon
30. Do 100 push ups
31. Go white water rafting
32. Go on a home building mission
33. Go on a spay/neuter mission
34. See the pryamids
35. See Machu Picchu
36. Do a multi pitch climb
37. Use a pottery wheel
38. Walk the Great Wall of China
39. Meet the President (or a previous president)
40. Meet the Pope
41. Restore a ragtop '57 Chevy Belair
42. Help Night Lights open 10 sites
43. Have a chemical free home
44. Help a Girl Scout get her Gold Award
45. Call into a radio station
46. Get on a jumbotron
47. Get a part in Fiddler on the Roof (even if it has to be Yente)
48. Volunteer 500+ hours at the Denver Zoo
49. Get a hot stone massage
50. Develope a Sunday School Curriculum VBS counts, right?

CrossConnect Bible

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First Mammoth Home Winn of 2011

It finally happened. For the first time this year the Mammoth walked away with a win at home. The crowd went absolutely wild. Don't get me wrong I was just as giddy as the rest of them, but I can't help but miss the old days where we lost one game a season instead of winning just one. It is just not the same with out Gait (obviously) Stilley, Miller (or Nash), and the rest of the old retired foggies. I still love the game, I mean I did sit through many a 1 point loss the season, but I miss the days of old. I guess even in lacrosse it is never as good as the "good ole days."

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apps

"There is an app for that" or so they say. I must admit I rarely look for an app I can't find. I write this post from my Droid using the Blogger app. I currently am using a gardening app to track where I intend to plant my seeds and to track harvest time. Then there is Pandora app that allows me to rock out to a little Brooks and Dunn as I write this. You can't forget Jorte, the calender app that work with Google calender and has an awsome widget. How would I keep track of my grocery list without Colornote? I can't get over my Craiglist app that sends me new listings from my searches. My newest Tasko is like a calender, but better! For recurring tasks like anything from changing the sheets to changing the anon rod in the water heater can be set up to have a due date and a recuring after completed option anywhere from repeat in 1 day to 9 years! Want to watch a movie? But what is playing close? Open up moviefone! Oh, but how do we get to the theatre? Um, navigator, duh. Then there is the fb app, email app. What I am getting at is... hang on... I got a new email.

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BibleGateway.com- Audio Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, and Bible study tools.

A easy Lent reading plan. Even has "take a break" days.
BibleGateway.com Lent

test

Testing blogging from my phone

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9NEWS.com | Colorado's Online News Leader | 9Slideshows Gallery | 10-08-10-Jefferson-County-grassfire

9NEWS.com Colorado's Online News Leader 9Slideshows Gallery 10-08-10-Jefferson-County-grassfire

Lack of interesting psychobabble

After reading my fav blog this morning, I realized my blog lacks psychobabble. And isn't that really what makes for a great blog? Interesting pschobabble, yep, that's what draws 'em in. On the other hand, since my blog is really just for me since the on slaught of Facebook. Do I really need psychobabble to juice up my blog? I don't really care if anyone reads it, btw, why ARE you reading this? Yet, I love the mental jog psychobabble provides. And yes, I love the word psychobabble as well.

Another thing that makes me crazy is align left!!! Why cann't the default be justify full? It looks so much better so, what is up with that. Who really wants anything is align left anyway?

And the boy breaks my silence. More when I get another free minute. AKA in 3 months.

Troubling

I am having a troubling day of worry. I need to give the Lord my worries. People need to make their own mistakes. One can not learn from the mistakes of others, they must learn from their OWN mistakes. Why is this? At any rate, one can only give advice not make decisions for others and we must be ok when someone makes a blatently obvious mistake. And above all remeber to hold ones tongue and not uttter "I told you so" Ugh. That is the best way to describe how I feel today. Back to prayer or worry. I think I will take prayer.

Summer briongs change

This time of year is so depressing. Here you are you have to buy presents for the teacher, coach, librarian, principal, ect ect ect. It is a little crazy. Then you have the transition from schedule to everything changing on a daily basis. Sure there is still swimming lessons, piano lessons, cheerleading, and gymnastics, (oh, almost for got Girl Scout camp) those things will get you out of the house and make you responsible to be somewhere at some time. But for the most part you are a free spirit. And what you do have scheduled changes from day to day!!! How is one supposed to keep u with the insanity? Please, keep in mind this is only the first day of summer for the boy and the girl is still in school for 8 more days. I might loose my mind by the fourth of July.

Busy

When are we not busy. I just the other day said "well, it is that time of year" Really, late March is "that time of year" Sure I jetted of to San Diego for a few days and will be leaving for New Mexico, and there are things going on with my little sister's graduation, oh, and we had a little holiday Sunday, don't forget getting ready to put the garden in and Girl Scouts as usual oh AND Katie just started Piano lessons. Not to mention we have to start planning swimming lessons, where are the kids going to VBS and should I put them BOTH in gymnastics and pull Katie out of Ballet so I don't have to wait around during 2 classes? And then there is the trip to IA with an optional extension to WI, that I REALLY don't want to go on. When does it end?

Krystle & Levi

Me, Rachel, & Brandy Chris, Jerry, & Wes

Levi & Krystle

South Dakota

The first night we hit massive billardball size hail!! Katie was yelling "Daddy make it stop." We were in the storm less than a minute, but it did $3,000 worth of damage to the truck and added 3+ hours to our trip as the next town to wait out the storm was an hour and a half away.
We stayed 2 nights in Wall at a Best Western although I wouldn't recommend the place normally, it looked like the best place in town to stay and it was right outside the Badlands. The Badlands were great we hiked around and ate lunch there. That night we went to Wall Drug, you will see signs for it in Wyoming! It was fun lots of silly photo props. Just don't eat there the food is expensive and terrible.
On our way into Rapid City we stopped at the Air and Space museum. The museum is free but there is a tour onto base and to see the minute man missile that is $4? a person. We didn't do the tour, but the museum was neat.
We then had lunch at Storybook Island. A MUST with the kids. mine could have stayed there for hours (as it was I think we were there 2 hours). Very neat, and you have to hit the merry go around ;-).
We then headed to Jewel Cave. We did the 90 min tour which was a little much for TJ, but Katie LOVED it. So much so she asked Grammie to take her to Cave of the Winds. There is a shorter (20? min) tour.
We were supposed to camp that night, but because of weather forecasts we stayed at Holiday Inn Express in Custer. Great hotel, highly recommended. We also recommend the Purple Pie Palace for Icecream.
The following day we went to Flintstones, we were going to skip, but the kids could see it from our hotel room. We are glad we went, it was a lot of fun and they have a nice playground.
Then we did Crazyhorse. Not a huge fan, but in it's defense I was hungry and grumpy.
We then did Needles Hwy. A lot of fun and we saw a TON of wildlife.
Last for that day we did Rushmore. We LOVED Rushmore. So much more than you see in pictures. We were both really moved. It is really well done. We just loved it and could have spent a whole day there had it just been the 2 of us. Do the .2 mile hike it is amazing.
The last 3 nights we camped outside Rapid City at Rushmore Shadows. It is a KOA kind of camp, but nice. Pool, laundry, playground ect.
We went to cosmos. Quick fun, cheap and easy to get to. Highly recommended.
We went to the Geology Museum at the SD School of Mines. Small, but free and worth the time. Don't miss the fluorescent rocks! Our personal fave.
We went to Reptile Gardens. Another not to be missed. Expensive though. Snake, Croc, and bird show all start about an hour apart. We watched and liked all 3.
Finally we went back for the Rushmore lightening ceremony. The kids fell asleep and our arms were killing us by the time we got back to the car, but AGAIN not to be missed.
The next morning we went to Bear County. It is a drive through zoo. LOVED it, but VERY expensive I think it was $38 for us. I wasn't a fan of Babyland, but the rest was great.
We then got rained out for lunch so we ate at the Gaslight between Rapid City and Keystone. It came highly recommended by people at the campground. Apparently, they don't have taste buds. Don't go there.
Since it was raining we did Needles Hwy again in the opposite direction. The clouds broke and we were able to get out and climb and hike some.
We hit Mammoth site on our way home. It is nice if you can fit it in on the way there or the way home, but it is 45 min South of Rapid City. Not sure it is worth the drive.

Pictures fromLilah's Baptism

I tried to upload the video without success. I will try again tonight.