The Outspoken Mom Blog

2 spring break and 2 dogs

Good Evening Everyone!

I couldn't do it, I couldn't wait any longer to write!  I am going nuts trying to build my own website for my new blog and frankly, it is very frustrating.  I just want to write, I don't want to be a computer programmer!

Life has been so great the past couple of weeks, yes things are still stressful with hubby's job and life is still busy with 4 great little people however, last week and this week have been awesome!  Last week our Kindergartner was on Spring Break and this week she is back at school and my 3rd and 1st Graders are out!  But, as most of you know my 6 year old only goes to Kindergarten MWF so, today was a glorious day of nothing to do but, hang out and have fun!  Top off the no schedules, no stress weeks and we are watching our friends dog Toffee for 10 days while they are in Florida.   He has been quite the addition to our little family and frankly, I am going to miss the guy when he goes.

So, as my husband is really starting to worry about me getting a 2nd dog, in addition to our cat and our 2 hermit crabs on top of the 4 children and our 2200 sq ft house, life is good.  I also started taking Ritalin last week again for the first time since 2005.  It has helped me so much with just relaxing and being able to enjoy the day and enjoy my children.  It hasn't cured our over-cluttered house issue but, it is helping me at least start one project and actually stick with that project and not get bored!  I even finished an entire load of dishes one day, truly a miracle there people.  Yes, dishes are so insanely boring to me, I often quit with only one glass left, or quit clearing the table with just silverware left after clearing about 20 dishes and glasses off. 

Yep, this momma is actually starting to FINISH some things!  Granted, I am still tackling WAY too big of jobs but, it is ok, the stress is gone and my head is clearer.  Although, I have discovered that part of what made me a blogger was those scattered thoughts running rampant through my head 24/7.  I might need to become a late night blogger instead, after the pills have worn off and my mind has had time to fill itself up again.  My mind still races while laying in bed so, I have found myself needing to go to bed a bit later or SUPER tired otherwise, I just lay there with a million things running laps in my head, driving me nuts.

I even find my temper a bit more in check on Ritalin.  I know, I am such a hypocrite.  Here I am that mom that says over and over again, no drugs, no drugs, no drugs, clean living, good diet and no drugs.  I still believe parents should try to avoid putting their children on drugs at all cost.  As it has been proven that drugs like Ritalin and Adderall change the physiological make up of the brain in children which is NOT a good thing. 

However, no such testing has shown that happening in adult brains(when adults start taking those drugs).  Also, frankly I am truly experimenting right now.  I started taking Ritalin because I thought I was going to be homeschooling my son starting next Monday for the rest of the year and I knew I didn't have the patience nor the discipline to be able to do it all without a bit of 'help'.  I truly found myself at the end of my rope, many times and found myself over-whelmed and over-stressed and frankly very short in my temper.  It wasn't fair to my children and my son truly needs a more organized home, schedule and life so, I am trying this drug thing to see how it goes.

Obviously as with everything, I will let you all know how it is going.  I plan to only take it until June and maybe try it again in September as I don't need to be organized in the summer!  Hence why these past two weeks have been such a delight to our family.  No evening activities, no school, very little homework and just fun. 

Off to bed I go, I think I am finally tired enough to calm my brain enough to fall asleep.

Blessings to you all!

-Liza

Laughing to and at myself

Good Morning Everyone!

I finally feel like life is slowly getting back to normal and it feels good!  I am finally taking my supplements daily and trying to eat healthier food and it is amazing how quickly my spirit and body perks up!

Anyway, today I am giggling and sort of tickled.  Why?  Well, as many of you know I blog in a couple other areas one of them being for the Star Tribune, our local paper.  I just laugh at how upset some people get by some things I write and after writing a handful of blogs now and reading people's comments, it is so apparent that people are very opinionated(which is a good thing) but, many of those people don't bother to either one get the facts or two they must not read the entire blog written!

Many times I read the comments and just say to myself, "huh?!"  Seriously having NO clue where that comment came from and sometimes wondering if they accidentally commented on the wrong blog!  Then of course there are those comments of assumption which really crack me up and get me jazzed.  Sometimes they make me want to strike back but, alas I know that is what they are hoping for.  I will give you an example, I love the comment made from my very first blog which was a 'fluff' piece (no pun intended) just to introduce myself to the Trib readers and boy, some people are so I don't know what!  But, one person felt like I didn't even belong because I live in Edina and I obviously can't relate to others in the community.  Yep...wow, you got me there!  I am a cake-eater!  HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  For those of you who don't live in Minneapolis, this doesn't make sense to you but, it would be like living in Orange County (which is Edina) but, I actually live in Chino(Richfield).

Then this past blog I wrote I wrote to try and let people know about some of the things people go through when there are food allergies in the family and how yes there are many options to choose from however they are spread out and not all in one place.  Anyway, apparently me just talking about myself and my family really offended people again!  Yes, some people praised me for trying to give my children what they need but, I also got people telling me to save time and money by having groceries delivered(apparently missing the point that not just ONE store carries everything we need), I had another person tell me that I am obviously rich because I stay at home and I can't relate to others(hahahahahahahaha!!!!) and yet another telling me to buy directly from farmers, nice in theory. 

I truly appreciate people trying to help that doesn't bother me at all, in fact none of it really bothers me but, I am amused by how much people assume and how angry people get sometimes!  Yes I am writing to hopefully invoke thought in others and to educate people.  However, really do I upset you THAT much?  WOW.

I think those people are the ones teaching me the most.  I am gaining a good following from people that like me and enjoy my writing and I love it.  I am also glad that I have people following me because of apparent dislike of me.  It gives me a good perspective on how clear I need to write when writing for the Trib because those are people that don't know me and don't know how I talk in real life. 

However, it also tells me how many people don't read the entire story and only skim through.  I wonder how many of us skim through the stories we read?  Do we honestly read something 'cover to cover' or do we skim?  I think I saw an example of this that most of us can understand on Facebook.  It cracked me up that I could read something like this without hesitation and understand every single word even though it was typed so messed up.  Here is it:

"Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. If you can raed tihs, psot it to yuor wlal. Olny 55% of plepoe can raed tihs."

(By the way, my spell check FREAKED OUT on the above paragraph!  Apparently it doesn't skim)

So, is it our human brain that isn't reading entire blog posts or is it us?  Are we rushing through life only skimming the words that our brain already skims for us?  If so, how much of life, words, books, articles, blogs are we missing out on?

Blessings to you all and try to skim less.

-Liza

A day in the life.....

Good Morning Everyone!

Sorry I have been so sporadic with my blogging lately, it has been CRAZY here in the Schwab house for well over a month!  I predict January being a busy blogging month :-)

Today is a much slower day for me though!  Yep, I was up at 545am, will get the older two off to the bus by 713am then, feed the younger two and leave to drive my 6 year old to Kindergarten and have her at school by 845am.  Originally my calendar then went on as follows:  Be at my 1st Graders "Celebrations of Latin America" presentation at 9am, bring my truck in to have speedometer fixed(apparently you need those to work!) at 10am, back to my Kindergartners school for lunch and recess duty from 1215pm-120pm.  All while dragging the baby around in -0 weather!  Then, quickly running home to get the baby down(really late) for her nap.  Then, my older two get off the bus at 235pm and at 3pm we hop back into the car(hopefully with a working speedometer now) to go pick up my 6 year old from school.  Phew!

But, Praise God I have my husband!!!!  Praise God everyday for him!!!!  Because as I laid in bed this morning in shock that it was already time to get up, I asked him if he could go to our 1st Graders program and he said, "Sure!".  OK, have to laugh!  After typing that last paragraph I didn't realize how stressed I was getting and didn't realize I was clenching my teeth and holding my breath!  Not until I typed the word 'sure' and I caught myself loudly exhaling!  Hahahahaha! 

OH!  Also, about my hectic schedule, didn't find out about my 1st Graders program until Wednesday and they want all the students in blue jeans and white shirts.  AHHHH!  Seriously!! Am I the ONLY parent who has children that don't wear jeans?!!!!!!  I just had to run out last week and buy my 6 year old a pair of jeans for her hip-hop dance group at church for their performance and now my 7 year old needs them too?  Blah!  So, last night after my children's cousins left (I watch them Thursday's after school), we finished making some Christmas gifts, did some computer games, and cleaned up from dinner, I was finally able to head out to Target, at 945pm to go look for some jeans.  $145 later, I left Target with those jeans.  Wow, Target's prices on jeans sure isn't as cheap as it used to be!!!!  OH....haha, turns out once I was in Target, I discovered I needed, paper towels, dishwasher detergent, gluten free/soy free/wheat free donuts, Organic 100% fruit snacks, Little Debbie's Zebra Cakes(for hubby), more boxes/bags for Christmas treats, some stocking stuffers, little gifts for my little cousins, and then some brie and french bread for mommy.  So, those $12 jeans, they were pretty expensive.  Don't you all just LOVE Target?  Not only that but, it makes me mad that was my 2nd time there not only this month but, in a week!  I try to avoid that place as much as possible.  It is like crack for impulse buyers like myself.

So, off to officially begin my day today.  Just another day in the life of a Schwab mom :-)

I truly don't mind as being a stay at home mom, this is my job to do all these things and I do them joyfully, most of the time. 

Blessings to you all and thanks for sticking with me!

-Liza

Where is the Ritalin?!

Good Afternoon Everyone!

So, as I was sitting here super bored because 'there is nothing to do' around my house (hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha) I started giggling and realized I just had a deja vu moment if ever there was.

Just an hour or so I was talking to one of my girl friends telling her the same thing, I was super bored and just then remembered, I had 4 bags of groceries just sitting in the back of my truck(with ice cream in the bags), the milk crate with the milk order was still sitting on the front steps from when my milkman delivered it this morning at 730am and I hadn't started the crock pot yet with tonight's dinner.  Yet, I was bored.

I was so focused on cleaning my bedroom and putting away clothes, sorting through clothes I am getting rid of and switching the summer out and the winter back in I couldn't see anything else that was around me that needed to get done.  I was just so focused on the baby taking her nap so I could finally get 'something' done I wasn't doing anything.  Oh I bug me sometimes!  Seriously, where is the Ritalin?

I just have to laugh and my girl friend and I shared some giggles over the phone at me.  Yes, to know me is to truly love me because if you didn't love me, I would drive you to drink.  When my brain gets overwhelmed by many things to do, it completely shuts down to anything.  That is usually when I get so focused on something else that is so silly and meaningless.  Oh my poor hubby!  What do I put you through?  Oh an my 3rd born who is so completely organized and loves a clean and pretty room/house, what do I do to that poor little child?!
Or my son who has Asperger's, which it is a proven fact that they need structure, organization, and stability...sorry son, mommy has a more messed up brain than you do sometimes.

I have to laugh at how my brain works because to focus on how dysfunctional it is would truly spin me into a deep despair.  I bug me and that is OK.  I thank God on a daily basis that I found a man who loves me to spite myself and truly find it a miracle I haven't driven him to hard core drugs (other than his 'crack' addiction to nicotine and caffeine), or he hasn't smothered me with a pillow in my sleep.  I must look pretty adorable when I sleep or I think he would have by now.  Maybe I am just really good in bed!  :-)

Truly I am helped and much more manageable when I am on Ritalin but, unfortunately, it does change what a lot of people find endearing about me and I become a functioning adult, so boring!  Plus, the Ritalin is the true miracle drug for about 3-4 months and then my body becomes immune to it.  So, I am super great around the house and very organized around the house for about 4 months.  Then, good ole Liza comes back drugs or not.   I keep trying to get them to up my dosage but, they fear addiction...hahahaha, do they know who they are talking about?!  I don't have the addiction gene, for if I did, I would be laying in a gutter in a back alley with a needle sticking out of my arm.  OK, maybe not but, I would be pretty bad.

So, to drug myself or to not drug myself, that is the question.

My girlfriend answered me and told me she doesn't want me drugged, she likes me just the way I am and she likes my personality.  Me too.  So my house is crazy, unkempt and cluttered.  My children are happy for the most part and our family functions (most of the time) so, hmmm, I guess we have all figured out how to work around mom's 'crazy' brain.

Maybe I will just do like the school children do and be on it for the school year, lol.

So, my head is starting to feel like it is going to explode and I am getting super sleepy.  That is a sign that I know I need to do something else other than write my blog and my brain is fighting it.  But, alas, I do need to pick up some things around the house while I have the baby down for a nap.

Thanks for following this crazy lady!

Blessings to you all,

-Liza

Back to School and facing fears

Good Afternoon Everyone!

Another glorious day here in good ole Minnesota.  Today is the day after Labor Day, the day my older two children started school for the year..finally.

As Nemo would say, "First day of school, first day of school!"  That excitement is exactly what I feel today!  Tomorrow will be even better when all 3 of my older children are gone for the entire day.  I know I shouldn't wish away summer, I really do love summer but, toward the end of summer, I am over it, I am ready to get back to schedules and some normalcy.

I like it when I know every Tuesday we have girls and boys scouts, dance and gymnastics.  I like on Wednesday nights we have church, I like it when the weekends actually mean something!  I like it when my dinner club starts up again, when my children are playing sports and coming home with great tales of school and their friends.  I like knowing that Monday through Friday at 7:13am my older two are on the bus on their way to school and on MWF at 8:20am I am in the car driving the 3rd one to school.

It makes me very, very, very happy to have a schedule.  I am thrilled to be able to finally workout again on a normal schedule!  I am excited to know which days I will be heading to the Y and which days are errand days and getting back to laundry day, mopping day, changing sheets day!

I work so much better under the demand of a schedule, I don't do well flying by the seat of my pants or with sudden changes in plans.  To me the beginning of school is the beginning of a life of normalcy and a bit more peace.  Ahhhhh, I feel like I can breathe a bit more now.

I will say however, we had a very fun summer!  This was one of my favorites so far and we really didn't even do that much stuff!  We just hung out together as a family.  We had the cabin to ourselves a lot this summer which doesn't happen very often.   That was a nice break and fun to just be together as a family.  We didn't end up getting to do a road trip this summer which was a bit of a bummer but, we really had a full schedule somehow!

We only went to the pool a handful of times, the weather just wasn't that great this summer.  But, it was fun when we were there.  This past weekend was really fun!  My son had been putting off water-skiing all summer and we told him he had to do it ONCE before the end of the summer.  He finally did it this past Sunday and then again on Monday after seeing me ski.

I love water-skiing, just wish I wasn't such a ninny.  Really, I am a baby when I ski.  I just started water-skiing about 5 years ago and I still won't go out of the wake.  lol, yes, I know ninny.  I tried it a bunch of times the first summer I started skiing but, would crash and burn every time I tried.  I watched my nephew learn how to go out of the wake this weekend and now he looks like a pro!

See, for those of you who don't know me or know me very well, I am a baby.  I was raised by a woman who never tried anything because she was afraid of everything!  So, I will try things but, I will never let myself go past a certain level because of fear.  Also, doesn't help when I don't like speed :-)  Yep, if I could just cruise around the lake at about 5-10 miles an hour behind the boat....I would LOVE water-skiing.  I don't like going fast, I don't like the feeling of being out of control.

Very similar issue when I downhill ski too except for, you add in another thing I don't like, height.  Oh, I bug me!  So, slowly, I am trying to crush down all of those fears.  This winter will be my first true winter of skiing.  I have made the decision to go skiing with my Kindergartner at least once a week this winter and hopefully a few times with my family.  3 of my 4 children all ski and I can't show them my fears. 

I have been very conscious of trying to not let them see or hear of my own fears as I don't want to transfer mine to them.  Hence why I got up and skied this past weekend, my son was saying it is too dangerous and he was scared(even though he loved it last summer).  So, I threw on my favorite skis, my USA ones(they are now collector/vintage ones) and grabbed my life jacket and lowered myself into that FREEZING cold lake and took off.  I even skied again after biting it at the end of one of my runs.  I even braved skiing with one hand so I could wave to my children as I passed by the dock.  See, I can fake it with the best of them!

Actually, I really do like water-skiing, I am not good, probably never will be but, I get up at least once or twice a summer and I really do enjoy it.

Sometimes life hands you things that scare you to death and really, it would be so easy to just walk away and say, you are too scared.  But, as I have learned over the years, that is the easy way out and that isn't really living it is just existing.  I want to live my life.  I want my children to learn things from me and to see me doing things. 

My goal is not to become the best skier downhill or water but, to be able to do it with my family and to get out there and enjoy that time with my family.  I have a lot of things I am fearful of however, I need to get over those fears for myself and for my children.

Here is my current list of fears and things I haven't either done yet or done alone yet and need to work on:

-driving a boat...my goal is to someday be able to pull skiers and drive and park the boat without fear

-downhill skiing, I just want to be able to go out skiing for the day with my family and hold my own with little or no fear.

-water-skiing, to get OUT of the wake AND back into the wake!

Those are my current goals right now and the ones I am actively working on each year.  What are your fears?  What are your goals?  Mine may seem silly and small but, they are the easiest ones right now and the most important to my family and me.

Get out there, start your life, live your life and have fun!  So you might crash a boat, get hurt or whatever, big deal, at least you will have a good story to tell!

-Blessings to you all and again, Happy New Year and praise God for school being back in session!

Liza

A quick take on a Tabloid Headline

Good Evening Everyone!

Just got back in town from a great weekend at the cabin.  Our family, especially my hubby SO needed the break from reality!

So, tonight is going to be a quick blog as I am super tired and wow, I have a really, really busy week ahead of me!

I have decided I have another reason not to get fake boobs.  Yes, really didn't need a reason before because frankly, until they can take the fat from my 'rear end' and put it in my boobs....well, you get the picture.

So, I now have another reason to not get boobs.  I never want to have to be identified by the serial number on my breast implants.  It is sad but true, there was a woman murdered that supposedly was famous by her even more famous reality TV star hubby.  He had cut off her fingers and pulled out all of her teeth so, they used the serial numbers on her breast implants to ID her body.

Ugh.

First of all, I couldn't imagine dying at the hands of my husband let alone what my family would feel like if they could only ID me by my fake boobs.

Life in the fallen world...ick.

Please pray for that woman's family and that they won't remember her only by how they ID'd her body but, for who she was as a person not how she looked or who she married or how she was murdered.

I am off to bed.  Blessings to you all!

-Liza

Stress. How do you handle it?

Good Morning Everyone!

Well, wow today is Friday.  It is another dark and gloomy and rainy day and I am praying my basement stays dry today however, does it really matter since the floor is already torn up from a couple days ago?

Talk about stress!  Or me trying to get organized for the big garage sale on Thursday knowing we are heading up to our cabin sometime this weekend so, I will only have 2 days to finish preparing and cleaning out the house for it!  Not to mention labeling and pricing and sorting everything!  By the way, I am not joking when I say this, I have enough clothes to start my own consignment shop.  It is sick.

Or my husband, going through a bunch of junk at work right now that has really nothing to do with him or his company and the stress he is going through.

Stress, we all have it, we all deal with it.  It is HOW you deal with it that makes the difference I believe.  I think the biggest thing when it comes to stress is do you let it fester inside of you or do you deal with the stressful situation and move on.  I guess there is  another way, you can completely ignore the stress but, it will come back and bite you in the rear eventually.

I am the type of person that most things just roll off my back and out of sight.  Really, I don't get too stressed out very often.  I just figure the next day will be better and somehow, everything will work out in the end.  If not, oh well, I tried and there really wasn't anything I could do about it.

I have seen how stress works in different people.  I have watched my mother over the years become a harsh, cynical person without much joy in her life.  She is skeptical of pure joy and love.  She stresses out about a lot of things and very rarely now truly laughs or relaxes.  I have seen first hand her personality change over the years and how when you hold on to stress how it truly can change your outlook on life.

I have also seen my dad with stress.  He truly doesn't get stressed out.  He is living life, happy, still smiles and laughs a lot and is happy as a clam for the most part.  Yes, things stress him out sometimes but, he doesn't hold on to that stress, he lets it go and moves on with life.

Here is where I see the major differences in my parents.  On one hand, my mother is college educated, married a college educated man.  They live an upper middle class lifestyle, drive nice (but not too nice) of cars.  They live in a beautiful home that is quite good sized for 2 people(my family could live in it very comfortably!) and my mother is a 3rd Grade teacher and my father(step-father) is in sales.  They are for the most part able to do what they would like, although, that is not how my mother would put it. 

You can't say hi to my mother without hearing the words, "this economy", "we don't have enough money", "I wish I could travel more", "I wish I could add on to my house".  More, more, more but, never happy.  Her stress level is extremely high thinking about how she has been wronged over the years and how it all started way back when with her having to help raise 5 brothers.  What?!  Yes, seriously she has held on to the stress for that many years.

My mother is healthy, she is young, she is only 59 and her husband is happy and healthy and young, 61.  Together they have 6 grandchildren and truly should be in the prime of their lives as far as enjoyment and less stress.  I think the stress level has actually risen over the past 5-10 years than relaxed.  Why?

Now my 'real' dad.  He is a college dropout, is a true blue collar worker.  He has been married(and divorced) 3 times and is currently in a relationship with a woman he has been with for over 10 years.  He is truly happy even though he doesn't have a lot to give financially.  He is 63, lives on a farm in Southern Minnesota.  He doesn't own the farm, he helps out the owner and drives a school bus.  He is great with our children and is up for just about anything.  Lack of money doesn't or hasn't really stopped him from traveling(may not be Europe or 5 Star hotels but still travels), he really has been able to do most things he likes.  Relationships mean more to him than money.  He is in contact with and still talks to most of his family members on down to probably 3rd and 4th cousins.  He has a lot of friends and if you ask him how life is, he will laugh a bit and say, "Ya know, pretty good."

On paper, my mom should be the happy one, life hasn't been overly difficult(on paper) in well over 20 years and she is miserable.  On paper my 'real' dad should be the unhappy one, life has really been overwhelming yet, he is happy as a clam.

This is a direct function I believe, on how you handle and deal with stress.  If you compartmentalize it and can deal with it, you are the happy one in the later years of life and during life.  If you let it fester and can't let it go, you are the angry and unhappy one.

I am probably somewhere in the middle.  I suppose somethings I should probably stress out about more and other things less.  We don't have a lot and while it would be nice I am pretty happy with my life.

So what if I don't get to live in a big house(maybe someday...maybe not), so what if I don't ever get to put that big addition on my house, who cares is my 'fancy' car is 11 years old, it is still pretty darn fancy and I really like it a lot!  Who cares if I can't keep up with the Jones' in life?  Hey, I live in Richfield...we ARE the Jones'.

In my 'real' dad's eyes, Steve and I are pretty well off, in my mothers eyes, well.....

I don't know if most people would call this a blessing or not but, I believe I was truly blessed with the parents I got in life.  Yes, it hasn't always seemed like a blessing with those 3 but, I have learned that stressing over stress just isn't worth it.  Most things you have no control over (like who your parents are) but, it is how YOU deal with what you are given in life.

Life will always be 'unfair'.  Someone will always have more, someone will always have less.  Very often you will feel alone in your stress and that sucks but, you are the only person who can change you.  You can't change the world, you can't change your parents(although if you are like me, you certainly can try), you can't change your family but, you can change YOU.

We live in a fallen world.  We live in an imperfect world.  This isn't the 'good life'.  The good life is after this world!  So, relax, don't let this fallen world get you down.  This is like your stress test.  How do you come out of it in the end?

Blessings to you all!

-Liza

Happy Monday

Good Morning Everyone!

I am not sure how much time I have to write but, there is some time so, I thought I would take advantage of it. 

Wow, Monday again.  Is it bad that I actually look forward to Mondays?  Actually, it is a mix of emotions.  I miss having my husband around all the time like he is on the weekends but, weekends are usually a let down for me.  See, I am always working through what I think should be happening on weekends and usually what is in my head doesn't happen.  Could be because I very often forget to vocalize what I would like to happen but, after almost 8 years of marriage shouldn't my husband be able to read my mind?!!!
Really, when does the mind-reading start?! 

I can read his mind why can't he read mine?  Oh yes, I am a very good mind reader when it comes to my hubby.  When I am talking to him, I know he is thinking, "I know she is saying, 'Look at my boobs, look at my boobs, look at my boobs'."   When I say I am tired, I know he is thinking, "Oh, that is my cue, she wants to have sex." 

Just kidding, all laughs aside, I really can read my hubby pretty well, I am not sure if it is me or him or the two of us together but, it is very apparent when things are good/bad at work, when he has had a cigarette or not, when he is hiding something, and when he has a project on his mind.

So, I do really like having Steve around but, I really like Mondays because it feels like life is back to 'normal'.  I know the hours of stores, I know schedules, I know which friends are available when, and I feel a big sigh of relief.  Maybe it could also have to do with me having a nanny Monday mornings (except this one) and date night Monday night?

Whatever it is, I am starting to like Mondays.  Yes, I said it, 'like Mondays'.  I guess that might be a true sign of a stay at home mom, huh?

So as my week and yours gets started, many Blessings to you all!

-Liza

Cabins, bugs, and summer camps

Good Afternoon Everyone!

Well I am back!  lol.  We have been up at our cabin a lot this July and we are planning on a long vacation up there while our son is at his first time ever of overnight camp.

So, for the rest of July, and a little of August, I will be writing only bits and pieces as computers are not compatible with cabin life...at least in our family :-)

We had a great weekend up at the cabin this past weekend!  We had a couple other families up there with us and it was a blast!  I do long for the days of having our own cabin so we can have friends up whenever we would like and we can go up there whenever we like without worrying about who is going to be up there.  But, for now, we are just blessed to have a place to go at all and are VERY grateful we don't have to pay for any of it!   :-)

So, summer camp.  Wow, our 8 year old son is heading off to overnight camp for about 6 days.  I hadn't been one to go to camp.  My first experience with a week long camp was the summer between jr. high and high school when I went to a German Language camp and we were fully immersed in the language and culture.  THAT was super fun!!  I loved it and would have loved to have gone back but, it was super expensive.

This camp our son is going to is quite a bit different, well for one, there is no foreign language but, it is a Christian Camp and one of his camp supplies he needs to bring is a Bible.  I love that.  I am grateful that he will be surrounded by other Christians and will be learning about God's love not only from his counselors but, from his peers too.  I pray it will be a good experience for him.

I also pray he will actually participate in activities as that is always a 50/50 with our son.  He tends to sometimes be a loner and very strong headed which, I have NO clue where he gets that strong headed attitude from with parents like me and my husband!  (very big joke there)

So, as our 1st born heads off to overnight camp for the first time and his first time not doing a YMCA day camp, please pray with us that he will be safe, learn and grow, follow the rules if just some of them, have fun, grow closer to God and friends, and most importantly, not get kicked out...sad but, true fear on the mothers part here.

I pray my son will be understood and be loved.  I pray he will fit in with someone and participate.  Please let him participate! 

I just want this to be a fun experience for him and I pray he won't close his mind to the fun that could be had.  He is a great little man and I know this could be the beginning of something so amazing for him!

Ok, change of subject here, I am giggling, I have been itching like a crazy lady the past 24 hours.  I am convinced there are bugs crawling all over me as we have been up north and our dog I am convinced is covered in ticks however, I am so grossed out I will never check.  Also, right before we left, our cat came home with fleas so, we treated him before we left but, I am certain(in my crazy lady head) that my house is crawling with fleas.  Then, last night our 6 year old daughter had a centipede in her bed and she still doesn't believe me that I didn't put it in there on purpose.  Uh huh, she actually believes I threw a centipede on her bed to scare her because I am mean...that is what she told my hubby last night.  Great huh.  By the way...really off the subject here, how sad is it that I only know how to spell Centipede because of the arcade game Centipede from when I was growing up?!

Ok...back to bugs.  Then, on the way home from the grocery store this afternoon, I had something splat onto the top of my head and I very hesitantly put my hand up there convinced a bird had pooped on my head...instead, it was a bug caught in my hair.  ICK, yuck, icky, eww!  Of course, couldn't say any of that stuff as all 4 children were around and I have to be brave mom.  So I calmly..as calmly as can be in this retched situation!  I calmly try and pick the bug out of my hair and finally I get it out and it flys away.  I do not know what kind it was, frankly, I don't care, all I know is I don't want it around especially in my hair!!

And that brings me back to why I am itching and flinching and sort of grossed out right now.  I am convinced there are bugs all over me, I am convinced I have fleas, ticks, deer ticks(that are all carrying Lyme's disease), and a million other types of creepy crawly's all over me and my house.  OHHHH, forgot to mention the spider that was in my suitcase that my son didn't tell me about until I had already zipped it up and put it in the car yesterday.  So, lets just say...mommy hasn't unpacked her suitcase from the cabin yet :-)

Yes, I am a nut bag, I know I am crazy and yes, I will be one of those old ladies people are probably afraid of or that people think is very nice but, behind my back whisper about how a little coo-koo I am.  It is ok, I am secure enough in myself to be able to handle people feeling I am a little nuts or missing a couple screws up there.  

I would like to believe it is all part of my charm :-)  Isn't there any way I could make  HUGE smiley face there?  lol.

Boy, I wish I have been able to write, I might have to figure out how I can post things from my cell phone to blog because there are so many things flying around my head right now!

By the way...did you all know that President Obama is the first president to NOT attend the Prayer Breakfast since they started having prayer breakfasts?  Instead...he decided to have hamburgers with some guy friends.  Hmmm, are you all sure this guy is a Christian?

Anyway, just some food for thought for you all there.

Blessings to all of you and thanks for continuing to follow me.  It truly is a joy for me to write to all of you.  

-Liza 

What?! Huh?

Good Morning Everyone!

I hope some of you made that chicken enchiladas recipe last night for dinner!  If you did, tell me what you all think.

So, I am hoping starting tomorrow, I will begin the process of moving all of my children's bedrooms around...ugh.  We have decided that our son and our daughter are now getting too old to share a room so, we are moving the baby upstairs into our 6 year olds room and our 6 year old is moving into the bedroom our 5 year old and our son used to share and then our son is moving to the main floor by us in what is currently the baby's room.

It will be great once it is all said and done but, ugh it is going to be a lot of work!  I told our son that I am NOT going to repaint the walls in the main floor bedroom for him and he said he didn't care so, lavender walls it is for him!

It will actually be a perfect bedroom for him and it is the bedroom he started in when we first bought our house.  Had we known we were going to have 3 girls after him, we would have never moved him!

But, it will also be so nice to have the baby upstairs so I can shower now without waking her and my husband can get ready in the morning without waking her at 6am!  My older girls won't be able to play in their bedroom anymore as they would wake up the baby but, oh well, we have a full finished basement they can run around in now instead.

Us moving our son down to our level has also changed our remodeling plans AGAIN.  We are hoping to remodel our house next summer and were going to have all 4 children upstairs but, decided it would be better to just have the girls upstairs instead.  Then, all 3 girls can share the bathroom upstairs(that will be put in during remodel) and they can girl it up!

Then our son will get our old master....goodbye my dream den/family room with a fireplace but, oh well.  Then, instead of making our main floor bathroom bigger, we will just put a small bathroom with a shower in our master bedroom instead...goodbye my dream whirlpool tub.

However, we will now not just have a bigger house but, we will also have a 5 bedroom house instead of just 4 so....I guess that is ok.  Wow, that sounds really big doesn't it?  A 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom house in Richfield?  For those of you who don't know about my neighborhood... our entire city of Richfield was built as a place for GI's coming home after WWII.  So, every house is a small story and a half or rambler style home averaging about 1500 sq. ft. in size.

Our home is already just under 2200 sq. ft. but, with our remodel I think it will be closer to 3500-3800 sq. ft. which will be great for our family.  We will definitely have the largest house in our neighborhood but, I think it will finally draw some new families and hopefully some developers into our neighborhood!  Considering that our 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2200 sq. ft. house is valued at around $200,000 and just blocks away in another city the exact same home on a very similar lot would cost between $350,000-450,000 depending on the block it sits on.  So, we are due for some families to move in!

OK, I am back, sorry my children needed me.  The baby needed her nap and the older children well, they don't think they needed me but, I had to round them all back up and get them back into our yard.  I have wanderers, they are all free-spirits that need to be reigned in once in a while.

Well I am so far off subject and so empty headed now about blog writing....sorry today's was a bit scattered and really lacking a subject.  It is hard to write and be creative with a baby sitting on your lap and you getting up every 10 minutes or so to make sure the other ones are making a break for freedom.

Blessings to you all!

-Liza