And another one bites the dust!

Mickey came to visit!

I would love to say that the reason I haven't been on is because I am sooooooooooo busy. But the truth of the matter is that I haven't had much to blog about! Summer is now quiet. Most of our activities are over. VBS is done. And so we are just being lazy and watching movies and going for walks and reading books and just basking in the sun. That isn't very exciting even if I personally find it so!

It has been rather peaceful.......till this weekend. And then I noticed we had a visitor! Someone or something had the nerve to chow on my chips! When I noticed the hole in the bottom of a bag that was just brought up from my pantry, I went downstairs to have a look. Sure enough there was some little critter munching open my bags of chips, cookies and such! The nerve!

Now I am already on the 'kill the vole' kick. For those that do not know, a vole is pretty much a field mouse. Which is what it now IN my house. He probably ate all the flowers and decided he wanted something a little tastier!

I cleaned it all out on my pantry shelf and watched. For 4 days it was good. Today I notice another bag of chips is opened and a box of cookies.

Todd was going to handle it himself. But if you do not remember, Todd about came out running from the bathroom screaming over a year ago when we had one in the attic and it fell into the bathroom vent cover while he was in there! The only thing you saw was the tail dangling from the vent cover. I told Todd to put on gloves and hold the tail and I would pull the vent cover open and we could set him free. The man looked at me like I had about 5 heads on my shoulders. All of which was not thinking clearly!

And so, after an eye roll, I called the exterminator.

When I noticed our new visitor this time and Todd said he would put out traps and handle it, I mentioned that someone had to check those traps. And that one day a mouse might actually be IN it. Yeah, that didn't sit well with him! I guess he hasn't gotten past the purchase of the trap idea!

And so, after an eye roll, I called the exterminator.

If nothing else, the mouse isn't eating my plants!

But he will very very sorry he touched my cookies! If he is smart he is on the run.......... Cause I am going to take him DOWN!

Odd and ends

There isn't much excitement going on today. I am playing it risky and filling the kiddie pool even though the weather man says partly cloudy with storms in the evening again. So far the sun is out and I will take the dog with me! Keeping fingers crossed that we don't have the skies open up on us again. At least this time we will be in swimsuits!

I have been getting ready for vacation. Only one month to go. 4 weeks. 30 days. COUNTDOWN! There is good points and bad to this. Good in that I have been planning this for a year and so looking forward to it! I cannot wait to bask in the FL sun and scream on some rollercoasters!

But it also means the end of summer. I like having something to look forward too for summer but I am thinking next time we might change the date cause it is kinda depressing that when you return, you are returning to work and school and soccer practices and meetings and school buses, etc etc etc.

Maybe I should move vacations to July. Then I still have a year to look forward to it but another month before I have to jump full force into mommyhood again! Just a thought.....

And I think I am going through some form of a midlife crisis. Ok not really. More like a midlife panic. A hit of reality that I am getting old! I have passed youth and young mother. I am midlife. And as I look around at women who are not much older than I, I have to admit that I am about ready to go into panic mood!

I ran into one of Todds cousins not long ago and his wife, who is my husbands age (which is just shy of 50) looks OLD. Lordy did I just say that?? Ok well she does. She looks to be late 40s. If not older. Then I ran across a blog on here and saw a picture of a lovely lady who turns out to be........

..... 50 'something' . Roughly 10 'something' years older than me. 10!

I have to say I am not ready for grey hair and old lady elastic pull up pants! I like to think I don't look my age. But when I ask Todd, he rightly says I don't. But then he isn't stupid either and I don't' blame him for lying. I probably would burst into tears and tear his head off if he said anything otherwise!

*sigh* I am soooooooooo not ready for this!

But for right now I guess I am going to focus on heading to the pool and bleaching that grey hair in the chlorine water! There might still be hope for me yet!

Partly Sunny with a chance of surprise!

I awoke this morning to the weather man saying it was pretty much going to be a hit or miss week. Partly cloudy....partly sunny......evening thunder storms etc etc etc. Today was supposed to be partly sunny with a chance of thunderstorms later this evening. Now to me that pretty much says that the morning and afternoon is going to be a chance to get out and play.

I sent the kids out for a romp in the yard and took the opportunity to sweep my sidewalk while they played. I had noticed the sun was in but that was a given on a partly cloudy day, right?!

About 5 minutes went by and Cherokee, who was laying next to me while I swept, jumped up and started to run. This should have really been my key. But like a dork I just went on sweeping and the kids went on playing.

A few minutes later I look down and notice that there is some quarter size drops on my sidewalk. And before I could think about it, I notice a strange sound. I didn't have a chance for it to register before the curtain of rain came barreling at us through the woods and over our heads!

How I miss living in the open fields and you could SEE the curtain coming. Here, there is no warning except for the brief rush of sound through the trees before it empties on you!

Well and the dog running!! If you don't ignore her!

So I yell for Cherokee to follow....but in truth she was ahead of me and in the door before I even rounded the corner of the house! I screamed for the kids who were screaming back at me and we all made a mad screaming and yelling dash for the same small door opening. My poor little 2 year old didn't stand a chance! He was the last to chug in and was the most drenched!

What happened to partly cloudy with a chance of thunder storms in the evenings???

Next time I will nix the weather man and take much better notice of the dog! She not only made it in before us but had time to run downstairs and hide before we all even got in the door!

Me thinks she might know much more than the weather dude!

The complex conversation of a 12 year old and a 40 something!

Well Megans visit with her Grandparents is coming to an end. We head up tomorrow to pick her up. I just got a new phone (I know that sounds like one has nothing to do with the other but hang in there) and I thought I would flex my texting wings and send her a message. It went downhill from there. I am not sure if I have ever had a more confusing conversation with a person in my life...........

Me: Having fun?
Megan: Who is coming to pick me up?
Me:All of us. Why?
Megan: Why what?
Me: Why are you asking?
Megan: Asking what? (huh???? It gets better......)
Note: as she is sending the above response I am sending.......
Me:What cha doin?
Megan: What cha doin?????
Me: Yeah. What ...are ....you.... going?
Megan: You didn't ask me that.
Me:Yes I did (I should have been giving up at this point!)
Megan: No you didn't. You asked why.
Me:Never mind
Megan: Never mind??????
Me:Next time I will draw you a picture.........and don't ask me what that means!!!
Megan: Huh? Can I stay longer?
Me: We will be up there tomorrow. (I figured this pretty much answered that above question)
Megan: I know. But can I stay longer? (cause...yeah....I plan on driving three hours there only to tell her OK and she can stay and then drive three hours back?)
Me: I answered you with saying I will be there tomorrow.
Megan: I know you will be here tomorrow but can I stay?
Me:N.............O!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (thinking this is rather clear now)
Megan: No what? Can I stay?
Me: I said NO
Megan: Why? (now my kids normally know better than to ever ask my why when I have said no!!! No means no ....period)
Me: Good night Megan. I will see you at lunch time.
Megan: K. But does that mean no?



*sigh* After this 1st real taste of the texting world, I think I shall stick to phone calls or emails!
I found this way too confusing. Too frustrating. And I believe my daughter has lost her mind! Or I have. I am not sure right now. My head still aches from the conversation!

In the end..........I never did find out "What cha doin??"

I was NOT going to go back there again!

Where did they go?

So Megan is still off at Mimi and Papa's house. And I have to say that it feels rather odd not having her around. Where is the endless texting? The IM's popping up on my computer asking me if I knew so and so liked so and so? Or the lovely teenage tude I get when I ask her to empty the dishwasher? But the days are passing and I am spending my afternoons distracting Delaney. The nights cuddling on the sofa distracting Delaney. And Joy is still in the bathroom!

Last night we took advantage of our childfree night. Ryan ate dinner early and was not thrilled about an idea of going out to dinner. In fact, when I asked him, his answer was more of an eyeroll and a huff response as if I should have known better than to ask in the 1st place. And Delaney went off to a friends house. Since we had to head into town anyway, Todd and I totally jumped at the idea of an adult dinner.

I would like to say it was like the good old days but not exactly. I remember going out, pre-children, to be more like a date night. Movies. Nice restaurant. Dancing. Laughing with other childless friends.

I am not sure that going to the Elmer Diner for soup and salad really constituted a 'date night'. BUT it was child free and I should not complain. In fact, come to think of it, there was not a child in the whole place. More like older people.........eating soup and salad for dinner........


.............which really says a lot when I say it outloud!

A must see!

(turn off music)

Delaney was really getting into her VBS music. I thought I would share some of her talents!

Anyone got some Tums?

Well we survived VBS! And the replacement of my back door. Both at the same time. In 100 degree heat. With a house full of kids! It was one very busy week!!!

On Sunday, Megan packed off to go stay with Mimi and Papa as they headed back to NY. Delaney wanted to go too. So much so that she was caring around her car seat and insisting she was going to put it in Papas truck and go to his house. There was little else on her mind and she was not going to be persuaded otherwise!

After much thought, we decided it might be in our best interest if we told her that Megan was going some place else rather than to Mimi and Papa's. In other words, we totally lied to our 5 year old to benefit ourselves so that we did not have to hear the wails over the next 7 days. And I am not ashamed of it in any way, shape or form. I totally made up a lie and would do it in a heartbeat again!

We headed off to church Sunday morning while Mimi and Papa waited for us to pull out. Then them made the great get away! When we came home, Delaney noticed that Mimi and Papa were gone but we told her that we would see them next weekend and she was happy. It took most of the day for Delaney to notice Megan too was missing. I don't think she was as pleased with that information though. We told her that Megan had gone camping.

Now most 5 year olds would accept that. And she has. But not easily. Each day Delaney calls Megan to ask her what she is doing and who is with her. Megan told her she was with Joy (a friend from school) Delaney knows Joy well and has asked to talk with her each time she calls. And each time Megan tells her that Joy is in the bathroom. On Sunday. All day Monday. And each time I can hear in her voice that she is getting rather shocked at how much time Joy is spending in the bathroom! Which is making her ask more detailed questions like "how did you get there" and "who else is with you" and "who dropped you off" and "where are you [exactly]", etc.

Myself, it gives me a chuckle cause I know that Megan should be grasping at straws about now on how to make Joy 'disappear'. Even a 5 year old might find the fact that someone spending two whole days in the bathroom is a shocker! Poor Joy!

Wonder what will come of Joy tomorrow? The suspense is killing me. And I admit I am rather enjoying the story each day! There is something about lying to a 5yr old that is sort of amusing. Maybe it is more the fun of trying to pull the wool over her eyes. The challenge of it. Or maybe it is the thought of Megan on the other end trying to come up with a new diversion or story.

Now how we explain to Delaney when we pick up Megan on why she is with Mimi and Papa instead of in the backwoods camping with Joy, I am not 100% yet. But I got 6 more days to think on it. In the mean time it will be interesting to see what happens to Joy............
Hope she packed a LOT of toilet paper on her camping trip! It sounds like she is going to need it!

A what?

Well I survived the 1st night of VBS. If you call sore blistered feet and an achy back surviving! But I still breath so I guess I am good to go for a few more days!

My youngest is in VBS this week and she seemed to love her class. She came running up to me and says...
"Mommy we are going on a farie!" (It took me a bit to realize a farie meant a safari! And it might be a good heads up to know our theme is safari and jungle)

"Really!" I said "A farie?"

"Yeah! We are going on a farie and I am going to find elephants!"

I asked her where she would find these elephants

"Outside! Cause they aren't allowed inside!"

My comment was "That is good news cause elephants have lots of big poop and Mr. Hall (our custodian) would NOT like to find that in the church!"

She just rolled her eyes at me and said she was going on that farie tomorrow and was going to bring those elephants to the church no matter what!

Wonder if I should tell her to give her a heads up?



.......Or tell Mr. Hall!?

Opps! Did I do that?

Well my 4th of July weekend should have been full of swimming pools, suntan lotion, apple pie and hamburgers....but it wasn't. It wasn't even close!

Saturday my day was spent running errands and opening our church for teachers to come in and decorate for VBS. We spent the whole day in an un-AC building. In 90 something degree heat. And when that exciting event came to an end, we came home to clean house and run more errands. It was late....VERY late before we fell into bed!

And yesterday was not much different. In fact, not only was it a busy weekend, it was kind of a weekend full of 'oops'. A rather costly weekend to make up for those many 'opps' too!

I opened my van door on Saturday morning to run to swim class and was hit in the face by the most disgusting smell I have ever had pass my nose! Thinking it was a left over sippie cup full of milk that was forgotten, I went on the hunt. What I found was all my meat for the weeks dinners still in my car that my husband forgot to bring in. In 90 degrees. Sitting there still in their plastic Walmart bags. For two days. Need I say much more??

Then we began work on replacing our slider door along with everything else. Cause we are insane and thought to throw in a big project along with VBS, family visiting and all the other things going on this week! And little to no home improvement ends up being simple. We opened Pandora's box. We couldn't remove the door without taking out some of the deck. Which meant we had to take down the rails. Which would make the much needed to repair steps to be replaced too. And so that project began and soon grew into a torrent of construction!

And the helper in the deck/slider door project, ended up knocking down my mailbox. (did you honestly think I wasn't going to bring this one up?? ;) ) Which was replaced. Right into the gas line. Which resulted in having to not only call the gas people that we had a leak but also made for a day of take out since we also had no stove. Or hot water for that matter. And since there was no hot water it also meant that there was no swimming because we wouldn't have been able to take showers before we left for the fireworks.

Which, by the way, fireworks was about the only 4th of July activity we actually did this weekend!

I would love to say that my day today is going to be relaxing. Filled with the much needed day of sitting by the pool but I doubt it. The slider/deck project is still in effect. Family is coming over for a visit this week. And I am working. Throw in a little VBS in the evening along with 100 degree days.......and I am looking forward to a very busy, hot, tiring and probably crazy week!

Wish me luck! I think I am going to need it!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!