What to pack?

Well I leave for a trip on Thursday for Texas. I am going to my hometown where all my immediate family resides. I have 4 siblings so for them all to have remained or returned to the place of our upbringing is quite unusual. Nonetheless there they all are so I am off for a visit.

I leave behind all my sweet boys and my dear husband. He very gracious took leave to stay home with the boys while I trek to Texas for 9 days. There were many things to decided leading up to this trip, most seemed out of my control. So I go for 9 providential days of family time and visits. I have older relatives to visit, some documenting of quilts, and perhaps a little fabric shopping.

As any good quilter knows, no matter where you are you must visit the local fabric shop. It has been quite awhile since I have been home and without kids in tow I have ample time to browse the quilt shop and enjoy the local amenities.

Although I grew up there much has changed. It is a small town but I have been "out" of town for quite some time. I usually come to see family and do nothing else. This trip offers a rare opportunity to explore, visit, and take in the town.

I have never been away from my boys for more than one night except to have another one or when our DS2 was hospitalized at 8 months old. Even then I saw my oldest everyday when he visited, and I was pregnant with DS3. I am well aware that I will suffer more than my husband and sons. My plan is to keep myself VERY busy so I won't miss them as much. Also, prayer, there will be lots of prayer.

Now I must decide what to pack. So much extra room when you are only packing for one. So many decisions! Do I bring that quilt I want to start or do I wait and use the extra space for supplies? Do I bring the 9 patch to work on at my Aunt's house with the fancy sewing machines or do I buy some new fabric and cut up those fat quarters? Oh I will throw in some clothing too, eventually.

A loaded needle

and I am not afraid to use it!

I started hand quilting 2 weeks ago. Some of you may ask why. Why would I do something so time consuming that I could do so much faster on a machine? Well I tried the machine and was not pleased with the results. Perhaps because it looked like I attempted it after 3 shots of tequila. Until I get a better machine with a fancy foot to keep me on the path I have chosen then I think my slow hands will have to do.

My other reason was the accuracy and control you have with hand quilting. Of course I used this reason before I actually started hand quilting. Now that I have started I discovered that I don't actually have that much control or accuracy because you need to build muscles and knowledge about how that needle is going to move through your fabric, your quarter inch seams, and those points you worked so hard to match.

Last night, at 2 am, in an attempt to force a needle through one hard spot I completely bent it. I didn't know you could do that. It was then I decided I should go to bed and try again in the morning. I will show you my results when I actually finish the little quilt.

I love my kids

I have always thought my boys were brilliant. I once spoke to a homeschooling mom who runs a curriculum business which is great, she also has 3 grown boys. I was describing my oldest to her and how difficult I found it to teach him because he was so fast. She told me many helpful things because she had one son who was very similar, but what stuck in my head the most was this statement. "They make wonderful adults."

My oldest is now 7 and absorbs many things, but rarely what I want him to learn. His best subject is not even a subject. He is a geogprahy whiz thanks to our SmartGlobe. If you don't have one for your kids you should. It is really amazing.

When DH's youngest brother, who is in medical school, visited a few months ago he was amazed at the oldest's ability to locate places and asked him to do it over and over again. Early one morning they were competing with one of the games where you find places as fast as you can in a certain amount of time. The 7 year old beat the med student. Good thing he just needs to know anatomy.

In fact he asked my son so often to repeat things from the globe he was finally told, "You really need to get a SmartGlobe". I love my kids! They can always make me laugh.

An Icky Tuesday

I know I have not posted in awhile as things change so quickly around here. I am attempting a few new things. I ordered an all natural weight loss supplement because the baby weight, now 3 years old, will still not come off. Granted I have not tried that hard but I have rarely tried that hard in the past and it usually comes off by itself. I will blame the Army like I do for most things these days! Hahahaha!!!!

That would be great to lay blame at another's feet, sadly it is my own fault I am certain. I will let you know how it goes. It isn't a stimulant but helps increase energy and regulate stress hormones which seem to be running rampant in me as DH brings home news of one more thing for him leave for weeks or months on end. So maybe it is a little the Army's fault. When I get stressed I hang on to every last cell like a squirrel storing nuts for the winter. I am surprised my cheeks don't puff up like I am hiding nuts!

Today is gray with a chance of snow and I am fighting off a little cold. No fever just tons of drainage that makes my head spin. Just enough to cancel appointments and slow me down.

I will start quilting again next week and have a great shopping day planned for Saturday that will include quilt shops and a delicious lunch. Plenty of reason to up my Vitamin C and focus on getting well. I love quilt shops.

Hi Ho the Dairy Oh......

......we finally made it home.

You know that you are truly desperate for your child to stop crying when you can make up endless verses to this tune hours on end.

After six hours there and back in the car by myself with my 2 year-old and 50 lb puppy, home is a welcoming sight. We made it home with little excitement but getting there and experiencing my family was, as usual, something to talk about.

We set out a week ago Wednesday and 2 hours into the trip my puppy threw up in the back seat. While I was on the side of the BUSY highway cleaning up the mess with baby wipes and telling my dog to not jump out of the car, my son picked up my coffee cup. It of course was easily within his reach because it was the only place to set it due to the large amounts of stuff in the front seat to entertain him. Although it had a lid on it he still managed to spill it into the toy bucket and just a little on the laptop sitting in front of him. This of course was put so close to play his DVD's so he wouldn't cry the whole way like he did last time we took a trip in the car for more than 3 hours.

The highlights of the trip included running endlessly around my mother's house trying to keep everything from breaking at the hands of the baby or puppy; watching my mother's little 12 lb schnauzer SCREAM in terror anytime puppy tried to play with her (I have never heard that sound come from a dog); pulling my son out of the disgusting backyard pond he fell head first into at the baby shower for my sister's new 4 week old daughter; getting my son to sit still for pictures in the front yard of my mother's house with his 4 cousins and not pull all the flowers out.  It may be time to rethink road trips.

(THIS WAS AN OLD POST I NEVER PUBLISHED FROM 5 YEARS AGO. MY LIFE HAS NOT CHANGED MUCH. THE DOG REFERENCED HERE IS OUR AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD WHO IS NOW BLIND BUT STILL THE BEST DOG EVER. MY SON IS NOW 7.)

Being the mother of little boys is not for the weak...

..when you are greeted like I was this morning.  I will spare you any photos and I apoligize in advance to any weak stomach readers.  Really, don't read further if you are easily grossed out.

From bed this morning, about 6:30 am, I hear "Ow, ow, ow, ow, Mommy, owie, owie, owie, help, help" in a little voice (not screaming) from my 3 yo in his room.  This can mean a variety of things because "ow" for him means anything that is currently touching him that he does not like.  The dog, his shirt, a booger on his finger, peanut butter, really anything, and it is my job to rescue him apparently.

So, "ow, ow, help, help, ow, owie, owie, Mommy, owie, ow, ow"...on and on and on.  I finally give in knowing it will never stop.

I will pause to say thanks for the ingenious little child proof door lock thingy that I put on the inside of their door.  It means they can't get out when I close it.  It keeps them in at night because if they knew they could get out they would and have, all night long, over and over again.  I like my sleep so I "lock" them in.  Trust me, I can hear them if they wake up.  Besides the 4 yo one can actually open it

Okay, I go in to their room to see my precious little baby with hands covered in POO.  His shirt too and the 4 yo explaining that he had a poopy pull up so he changed it.  Had the lock not been there, I would have had that all over me and my bed. 

We are currently in the process of fully potty training the extremely stubborn 4 yo who would rather pee in his underwear and put poo on the floor than be bothered to go to the potty.  So I took his pull ups during the day away and take him to the potty, all the time.  He has yet to do it on his own.  Really, he just runs around in pee underwear until I catch him and make him change.  I would rethink it and maybe he isn't ready but he is 4 1/2 yo.  Come on.

So the poo is on the floor, the 3 yo, the bed, various toys surrounding the poo, pajamas, and the 4 yo.  I would like to say this is the first time he has done it.  It isn't.  I would like to say that he is the only one in the house that I wake up to in this state.  NO, he isn't.

The dogs have greeted me with poo presents lately.  Normally they are very good about holding it all night.  Lately, since the Jack Russell Terrier moved in on the other side of the fence they are a little lax about getting the business done at night.  Instead they stand at the fence and bark at him.  I have had to rearrange our feeding schedule to earlier in the day which I don't actually have time for and forget quite often so they will poop earlier and not on my floor.

Well, I got it all cleaned up easily.  Why, because I know all the cleaners and have a STACK of cleaning towels.  I mean the stack you get at Sam's that no one ever uses unless they professionally clean.  I use them all the time.  Mine are NEON GREEN so I can find them in a poo emergency.

So, later as I am getting out of the shower I am greeted with the 3 yo running back into the bathroom with the plunger.  He was "working" on the toilet in the other bathroom.  I could tell.  It was dripping on my bedroom carpet.  This is also the toilet the boys use and don't always flush.  They didn't this time either.

It was at this point I realized today was going to be an off day.  Just one of those days that everything seems absurd and you are in the middle of it.

Well, I have some laundry to do.  I hope this story gives you peace and happiness that you are not me.  At least today.

Tomorrow they will do some brilliant and cute.  The 4 yo just came in to tell me his calculator is stuck in the neighbor's bush.  He said he got the calculator out of the tree.  Now I am curious what he means by calculator.  Off to the bush!

Facebook | The Daily Spurgeon: Gradual Decline

Facebook The Daily Spurgeon: Gradual Decline: "Remember, brethren, that decays in grace and backsliding are usually very much like the fall of the autumn leaves. You are watching the trees, forever now they are beginning to indicate the coining fall. They evidently know that their verdant robes are to be stripped from them, for they are casting off their first loose vestments. How slowly the time of the brown leaf comes on! You notice here and there a tinge of the copper hue, and anon the gold leaf or the bronze is apparent. Week after week you observe that the general fall of the leaves is drawing nearer, but it is a matter that creeps slowly on. And so with backsliders. They are not put out of the visible church all at once, they do not become open offenders all at once. The heart by slow degrees turns aside from the living God, and then at last comes the outward sin and the outward shame. God save us from falling by little and little! The devil’s little strokes have felled many great oaks.

From a sermon entitled 'Grey Hairs,' delivered September 13, 1868. Image by Chris Darling under Creative Commons License."