Of Colds, Plumbing, Taxes and Such...

I've not been blogging because it is no fun when others can't read. AND I don't FEEL GOOD ::whine::. I've not been sleeping because I have a nasty cough - now my diaphram, tummy muscles ache, my head hurts when I cough, and it's gross. I may go buy cough syrup tonight because I need to sleep.

We are getting school done, and I am going to the gym (and disinfecting the machines when I'm done). I washed my fancy new cell phone - you know the Christmas Gift.

Wait until you hear about my day yesterday!

I woke up and discovered the freezer door had been ajar overnight. The NEW freezer - the BIG one. I lost a few things but most was frozen enough that I shut the door and shuffled off.

I was cooking breakfast when Zander informed me that someone had gone potty in he and Nolan's closet. After lecturing all on how silly that would be I went into their room and discovered that their closet was flooded...and it had seeped out in the room. Now we have no working plumbing in the kitchen.....still today the carpet is wet. It stinks. I can't get it dry or get under it well.

Mike has been at a 3 day exercise, and I hope to really see him tonight. Poor man - no kitchen plumbing, molding carpet, computer woes, AK PFD's to file, and NOW a TAX PROBLEM too. I'm working on the tax problem. It seems the form the base filed was rejected.

Mom's Night Out was Monday night, and I missed it. I was too sick to go anyway. Tuesday night was Bible Study - and we survived. Betsy, a local friend, said SHE had cleaned her cell phone also. That made me feel immeasurably better. Always nice to know you aren't the ONLY ONE!

Here are a few photos from yesterday:

Look how much it cost to fill the tank yesterday!


This is their closet - carpet removed - toy/movie closet - got one bucket of water from here.


See the water in the main room - 3 buckets of water sucked up


Stuff everwhere


Preparing Beans in the bathroom


I hate being sick. I want to go to bed. I'm going to go have lit/Bible/history discussions with my rhetoric level boys....then maybe sleep.
OH HEY - I DID buy some Amy's organic freezer meals and some paper plates - that's a bright side to the wet...I don't feel like cooking this week anyway. ::snort::
AND - my new/used cell phone is working! Now everyone just needs to call me so I can harvest their numbers....

Weekly Fitness Goals

Weekly Goal - 240 Minutes (40 minutes most days)
Total Weekly Mins - 345 mins
Annual Goal - 11,700 minutes (2900 by end of March)
Minutes to Date - 2,522

MONDAY - 70 minutes (43 minutes - elliptical machine; 27 recumbent bike)
Tuesday - 75 Minutes

Wednesday - 50 Minutes (45 min recumbent bike, 5 minutes elliptical)


Thursday - 70 Minutes (45 minutes elliptical; 25 minutes recumbent bike)

Friday - 65 Minutes (recumbent bike)

I'm most excited about this week's totals because it represents 5 days of workouts. Still not 6 days but certainly better than 4 days of long work outs. I'm going to try to bump my cardio workouts to 60 minutes (most days of the week) because even with all this working out my weight is simply not budging. I've also upped the intensity on the machines as my cardio health has increased.
I also realized this week that I'm starting to like working out. I enjoy the gym with Fox News, shows I've never watched, time to read on the bike....AND I discovered that I CAN sweat. ::snort::
I have to focus on the fact that all this working out HAS to be helping cholesterol and my heart - regardless of the scale. LOL Click here to hear from more of this week's participants; click the icon at the top of the post to join the challenge yourself.

Big Family Myths

September 13, 2006, I promised to do a weekly "Big Family Myth" post; then life got busy. I am still considering creating a graphic and hosting a weekly carnival (or is it meme)...but for tonight....I wanted to get all the Big Family Myths on one page. Truly, according to MY perspective, I sought to clarify what was myth and fact in a large family.

If you are wondering if you may be a large family, I suggest you check out my very own list of litmus tests: You know you're a large family when.... (the different colored text are clickable links).

An idea is born - an explanation of big family myths

Myth 1 & 2 - Your washing machine never stops running; Someone always needs a bath.

Myth 3 - Individual needs cannot possibly be met in a large family

Myth 4 - Those with large families don't know "what causes that"

Myth 5 - Laundry spewing from all corners myth - Part 1

And there you have it. I WAS going to past date this and post it in the sidebar. I will still post it in the side bar, but I'm going to date it for tonight. That gives YOU an opportunity to leave a topic in the comment section that you'd like me to tackle....are YOU wondering if something you've observed or heard is fact or myth? Are you a large family and been asked repeatedly to answer some question that you think I should deal with her? Leave your comments....

Terminal Cowlicks

Some of our boys have terminal cowlicks. One cannot get his hair to "lay down" regardless of how long we let it grow.
Zander has a spot that refused to lie down today. This is him after I told him, "Ah, don't worry, one day you won't have any hair and this won't seem like a problem!" ::Snort::

Easter 2008

Stacia and Arielle in their finery (I can't believe our 2 yo wears Size 5 dresses)

She even let me "do hair"

The ruffly socks and white shoes were the first casualties

One of the 6 ft brothers was teasing her, "I'll touch your hair Stacia" . "NO YOU WON'T!"

Yes, we are working on instilling a gracious attitude...we also figure God has something for her to do with her incredible determination and lack of intimidation. Mom, we see more and more of Grams in her as she matures.

We attended Sunrise Service. Then we attended a parish wide breakfast. Then we attended the 1100 Easter service. Then we had dinner. Then we came home.

The older boys hid the Resurrection eggs (Thanks, Debbie in NY, for the idea).

This one led to quips about wisemen with skillets and spices

Bre called while Mike was corralling littles in their room, and the olders were hiding eggs. Evidently, I talked too long....which is the obvious cause of these 2 6 ft brothers mauling the 3rd brother.

The littles found the Resurrection eggs.

After all eggs were found each child opened their egg and we discussed which part of the Resurrection story the symbol inside represented.

Working all day and writing until wee hours of the a.m. seems to be taking a toll on Jamin.

Mike napped. (He has a 3 day training coming up that promises 14 hour days).

Jamin, Stacia, Jared and I went out to measure Jared's last big run. 9 miles! NINE MILES - I can't imagine.

Nolan got out his circuit system from Home Training Tools, READ THE DIRECTIONS, and made this little doo-dad that plays Happy Birthday.

Josiah worked on homework. Mike is checking homework. Littles are in bed. Jamin and Jared are going out for a late night run.

It's been a great family day! I won't even mention the two that my heart longs to see....August is coming.

Of Lovers and Pregnancies

Zander has long claimed Krista as his lover. It's been difficult for him to have her grown up and gone.

For the past month he has talked NON-STOP about our "new baby". Tonight at dinner he told me, "Mom, when dinner is done, I'm going to go talk to God and ask him to give you a new baby. Then I'm going to pray for my lover to have a baby, because she's never laid a baby yet."

Sure enough he went to his room, and I discovered him praying. He gave me a hug and said, "God says it's o.k., and you can have a new baby - because we are all growing up already."

Girls Day Out

Mike and the older two boys had to work today.

I took the girls out shopping. We don’t do the “new Easter outfit” thing, or Easter baskets, dyed eggs, or candy for that matter. We used to – somewhere along the line we rebelled at the external emphasis…..and then we got very busy on Easter Mornings……

However, Nolan and Jared have grown a couple of inches since I bought them pants in December. We bought them both pants. Stacia found a new dress she wanted. She wears her dresses 7 days a week so it seemed o.k. to buy her a new dress – this one I will keep for SUNDAY. We laughed at how Stacia hung her favorites on the shopping cart. I also bought her training “panties”. She sweet talked the cashier into giving them back to her and carried them until we got home (2 more stops). ::snort::


Arielle needed new shoes. We couldn’t find any at Walmart. Payless Shoes is right across the parking lot. The gentlemen there informed us of something that Arielle had already discovered. Children’s size 3 ½ - 4 are the same size as Women’s size 5 – 6. We DO wear the same size shoe. She found a nice pair of white shoes. I found a funky pair of canvas slip-ons. I limited myself as I’d been looking at FPU yesterday. Stacia also got a pair of canvas slip-ons. Again – she’s been wearing her Sunday shoes 7 days a week – so I think this may actually prolong the life of the “good” shoes.

We still have DQ cards from Christmas. I treated the girls.

Stacia promptly stripped to try on her new panties when we got home. Evidently, one must take off all other clothes when wearing such stylish panties....and they may be worn in a variety of stylish fashions.

I also bought these.

Long time blog readers will know that I USED to often use the timer, but they all mysteriously disappeared. I replenished the stock and bought poker chips too. I’ll write about that more after Mike and I collaborate on the rules of engagement.