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Increasing Traffic

I just checked Google Analytics which is a nerdy way of saying that I looked to see how many people have visited my blog site recently. It is not surprising that there weren't very many, as I have recently chosen the simplicity of posting via Twitter - 140 characters seems to suit me better than unlimited space to ramble incessantly. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that 13 people have visited my site in the last month. Even though I haven't written anything in it for the past 6 months! I like the thought that thirteen people or maybe even just one stalker checks back often to see if I have anything new to say. I don't, except this:

I'm sitting in the library listening to an older gentlemen explaining to other older people about websites. I think he's trying to sell them some sort of website building service. But he doesn't seem very knowledgeable - more like an Amway salesman - telling them they'll have more money for charitable giving if they can make more money (mmmmm...). He's talking really loud, so I don't think it is eavesdropping. I'm going to walk by and nonchalantly look into the room (I guess I just crossed the line into eavesdropping) ... Okay, he's trying to sell his services to a Chinese couple, that don't speak fluent English. That annoys me.

On another note, it is raining really hard right now and Quad Bash (on campus at Ball State) starts in an hour.

This is just for you people couple of people who have been hoping I would post something for the last 6 months. Google Analytics tells me that you're American ... Stalk me, I'll stalk you.

Hello World

It's been a while since I've posted anything on my blog. During my half-year haitus, I have discovered many new and interesting things. Here is one recent example. The title on the blog where I found this said: "If I become Lutheran, Anglican or Catholic, it will be because I watched this too many times." Me too.

Sickness Reigns

Well, I don't think you really want any pictures of this past week. Neil was out of town for the annual pastor's conference and of course I tried to rise to the occasion and act like it really doesn't matter that he's not around. :) I managed OK until my emotional meltdown on Wednesday morning because I couldn't find something. Well, on Thursday I awoke feeling a little strange. I was nauseated just cooking the kids bacon for breakfast - it was ISTEP week so I was doing the dutiful mother thing of a good breakfast before testing. Anyway, with Neil being out of town and Colbey's school time changed because of a field trip, I went from working out 6 days last week to none so far this week. I was determined to make it to this class on Thursday morning. I go. I make it thru, barely. I feel worse and worse as the day wears on. By the time Neil returns home from his conference at about 2:30 pm, I am crying and in bed because I ache so badly. I take some medicine and a nap and wake up feeling I can somewhat conquer this especially since I have back up. By 9 pm I am in extreme pain again, crying and feeling bad that I can't help comfort my son, Wesley, who is now vomiting. I take more medicine, cry as I explain my pain to Neil and settle in to watch Lost. I feel much better Friday morning but not complete. By Saturday Wesley and I are both feeling better and I'm ready to get out of the house. We have a nice day, go to the museum, mow the grass, go watch the Bulls/Celtics game at a friends and head to bed. Today, Sunday, was pretty typical. Now, Sunday night, Wesley has awoken and is having diarrhea. I'm a little frustrated. I'm suppose to have my regular babysitting job tomorrow (the Pittman girls) and 2 extras (the Garrison boys). Now I will most likely be making phone calls at 7 am to warn them of the illness level in our house. So, sickness has reigned - and I hope for not much longer. You can feel free to say a little prayer for us. And especially me who does not like my routine or plans to be boggled up with these sort of normal interruptions. :) PS I don't think I mentioned that it all started with Colbey last Sunday. Of course, he acted so "normal" in between his bouts of sickness that I sent him to school all week. Please don't crucify me. It's my nature to keep plugging away and make others around me do the same. I pray he didn't infect anyone with whom he came in contact - thus the much more cautious approach with Wesley. :)

Where it all started

Well, this is our back porch. Empty of all my crap. I personally enjoyed the warm living space but Neil felt it was a little crowded and a few too many design themes going on at once. Before you crucify him, I chose to empty it. I went willingly but I don't know how long it may take to get it redecorated. The big problem will probably be getting neil and I to agree. So, here's the long story. We were going to tear into our basement and finish the demolition that I started a year ago. WEll, my dad's truck was in the shop getting the transmission fixed. Therefore, we were unable to tear into the basement and start the demolition. So, we went on other errands. WE ended up at the attic window and Neil saw a barber chair he liked. Despite what Neil may have thought, I didn't think it would fit in with my decorating. I thought what if we change the entire theme. We started out with gusto and ended with this (the picture). Who knows where it will all end.

The Demolished Basement

Well, this weekend the weather was good so we borrowed someone's truck and dug into finishing the demolition that I started a year ago. Evidently the spring is a dangerous place in our house- if we get bored or have some extra time on our hands -watch out! We didn't realize the dump closed at noon on Saturday so we had to park all the junk in the garage for a couple days. On Monday Neil and I took the stuff to the dump and pulled another load out of the basement and took it. I told Neil if I ever want to go shopping - just take me to the dump. It just seems unreal the amount of crap we have, doesn't it? So, here is our basement now. Who knows how long it will stay this way but Neil felt it got us one step closer to fixing it and I'm used to living in transition. I lived in a house for over 15 years while my dad was remodeling it. We'll see how long it takes us to finish our basement.

Ended in a Mountain of Laundry

This is how it all ended. Because the basement was such a mess and all torn up, I couldn't do laundry. I usually do it on Sunday or Monday. I've gotten into a bad habit of doing it only once a week. This is a week's worth of our family's laundry and I think I still had 2 more loads to do. :)

The Never Ending Pet

You may or may not know that Neil is allergic to cats. Well, around Thanksgiving my parents were given a kitten to take out to their farm. Neil and Taylor happened to stop by my parent's place of business the day mom received the cat. Taylor convinced Neil to take the cat to our house- just overnight. We were going to take it out to my parents the next day when we went to celebrate Thanksgiving with them. Well, the cat disappeared within 10 minutes of being at our house. The kids were absolutely distraught! They thought their grandma would be so upset with them. The cat did not come back for 2 days. Well, the cat was so small and cute we were afraid it wouldn't survive on my parents' farm thru the winter so we decided to keep it on our back porch. Well, it is now Spring and Neil is more than tired of the cat - especially when he wakes up almost every morning to find it exploring our house. Taylor lets the cat in in the morning when she's getting ready for school. He feels no one cares about his asthma and extreme allergies to cats. Today we decided it was time for it to go to my parents' farm. Well. . . the best laid plans of mice and men . . . We trapped the cat last night, went to church this morning, came home to get the cat and bam - the cat had escaped. This may be our cat forever. I don't know. But for now our plans are foiled. We'll see how long the cat lasts - or outlasts us.

This is coloring Easter eggs at B's house in Indianapolis. In case you're not familiar with the name B - that is what my children and my niece and nephew call Neil's mom. The kids and I went down to Indy on Friday since we had the day off from school. It was a great time and of courser we continued our long time tradition of coloring easter eggs. Another of the traditions is coloring a brown egg for Neil - because that's what he does when he's involved in the coloring. Colbey's hands we quite colored as well. Wesley said this is the greatest lunch ever and he could eat it every day. B is very accommodating with the children which is wonderful. We had hot dogs, chips, veggies and dip, fruit salad and macaroni and cheese. Who could resist that? Kid or adult? We had a nice Easter.

Mom's Flowers

These are flowers from our backyard. On Thursday evening, Dad and I picked these flowers for Mom. Aren't they beautiful! Mom is so blessed to have us in her family! She loved them. She'll probably keep them forever. Even when they're dead!

Posted by Taylor :)

Spookley

Jaelen had to do a project for school. It was an edible book. He chose the book Spookley the Square Pumpkin. He did a great job. Mom had to help him. The cake was really good! The green stuff up there tastes like puke. It's edible, but gross.

Posted by Taylor, again :)

Taylor's Band Concert

Taylor had her band concert on Tuesday, April 6th. She plays the clarinet. She is an awesome player! Her band has done a great job throughout the year. Doesn't she look thrilled(she is the one in the middle). The concert was actually a contest. They were being graded on how they played. Her school has participated in band contests for every grade. They haven't gotten anything lower than a gold medal in over 15 years. Good job 6th band! Like I said before, Taylor is an awesome player. Rachel Jordan(on the left), is the best, so Taylor is the second best.

Posted by Taylor :)

Taylor's Band Concert

Get R Done

Well, we're finally getting some work done around here. You know how you have projects either written on a list or just constantly being elongated in your mind? Well, I don't even remember when one of the kids feet went thru their bedroom wall. We were the ones who built the lofts and then hung the hammock. Could we have even imagined that our precious little angels would use it as a jungle gym and see how many of them they could pile in at one time?! And then see how high they could swing them? Would they possibly be able to go all the way around without falling out? Oh, I'd say we expected it but I'm not so sure I anticipated the hole in the wall. When they bent the eyebolt that held the hammock (from all the weight), it was a good chance to remove it from the room and remove the chance of any further holes or a largening of the current hole. All that to say, we finally got around to fixing it this weekend. Neil got us going. Way to go! He said he realized how much time we all waste when he watched the kids last week while Taylor and I were away. Now the painting was another story. We decided to do a little "updating" to their tree house. It's still in progress but I think the kids enjoyed the work.

The New Grill

Here's the new grill. We did cook ribs on Sunday but we borrowed the smoker from the church. They weren't cooked on this beauty but we have broke it in a couple times. And Dyllan and I almost literally broke it. We dropped it trying to carry it up to the deck. Neil decided to help me even though it probably exceeded his 20lb limit. That was the only way that grill was making it up to our porch.

Taylor's Spring Break

Taylor and I went away overnight to Cincinnati, OH over her spring break. I think she really had a great week overall. She was able to help me in babysitting, play a lot with Colbey (since he's the only one still home half day), spend the day "working" with Grandma Penny at her store, take our trip, and end the week getting to stay with Grandma B & Papaw as well as visit with Aunt Donna and her cousin, Loren. I think it turned out to be a pretty fun and busy week even if she didn't go anywhere amazing. She got to spend her time with amazing people, right!? Here are a few pics of our time in Cincinnati. The pictures are really taken in Newport,KY where the aquarium is. It's right across the river from Cincinnati. I think we accidentally deleted the better picture of me sitting by the sign, but oh well. The ice cream was from Cold Stone Creamery and it's the first time Taylor remembers eating there. The first and only other time was with our wonderful friend, Linda Hunt, when she came to visit us at LT in Colorado. We picked her up from the airport and stopped in Boulder, CO and had ice cream. That will be 4 years ago this summer. So, I can't blame Taylor if she doesn't remember. It was so delicious. That turned out to be our lunch. The picture of the tree just is what it is. It was so pretty. lots of things were starting to bloom there. I don't think my picture does it justice.

Neil's Cooking

Well, we had a little disaster on Sunday. We planned to cook ribs for our House Church which meets right after church. So, having the lunch ready at the right time is always challenging. This week we decided to cook ribs and we started them around 9 am so that they could cook slow and long. Neil and our friend Ben researched and thought they had the process down and figured out. Well, it didn't go quite as planned. We return to see the hoses of our grill no longer attached, the knobs blown off the front of the grill, and the meat aflame. We're not sure why or how, but we're pretty sure the grill exploded. As you see from the picture, the meat was inedible and we had to make other plans for lunch. We're trying again this week with a different grill and it will be able to be constantly supervised, so we'll see if we have better luck. And we purchased a new grill of our own. It was kind of fun but somewhat of a fiasco as well. Neil drove to Marion IN (a 45 minute drive) to pick it up. Dyllan and I wrestled it up onto the back deck (remember Neil can't lift more than 20 pounds still) and Neil started to assemble it only to find that it had a huge dent in the front. Oh my. He was able to return it to the Muncie Sears and there he found another deal. We have yet to hook it up and try it out but Neil will have several opportunities over the next week. Wish us luck!

Neil's Birthday

Neil decided he wanted to go out to DoMo, the Muncie version of a Japanese steakhouse, with the family for his birthday celebration. We all had a great time. I think the kids especially enjoy it when we choose something that they get to enjoy as well. He also received tickets to the David Sedaris show that's coming to town next week. So, don't feel sorry for him that he shared all of his present with his family.

Installing My First Toilet

Boy, Neil is working this surgery/recovery thing to the max! Just kidding. He really isn't suppose to lift for at least 6 weeks. It's been about 3 and 1/2 so far. Well, our toilet started leaking and we found that we had a crack in the tank. So, I got to learn how to install a toilet. It really wasn't that hard. It's all about knowing what to do really. I guess that means Neil's a good "coach" or "teacher". So the picture is of me sitting over the hole where it all goes down. I'm scraping off the wax seal that was there previously. I learned that's a very important thing. If you don't have a good seal, the stuff out of your toilet does not exit your house properly. I'm sure that's all too much information for all of you.

Last, but not least, although I realized in blogging order this will probably show up first on my posts since it will be the most recent. I'm still learning. Hey, it's a miracle I'm posting anything. Thank Neil's Aunt donna. I think she's the only one who frequently checks to see if I've updated. This is Jaelen, our first grader. He is a very responsible child. He does well in school and really enjoys Math.

Wesley, 3rd Grader, or should we say, jack of all trades? This kid manages to do well at just about anything he puts his hand to. He's a natural. He said, "Math gets me excited, mom."

The middle schooler. Taylor is extremely responsible so the transition hasn't really been a problem. We couldn't ask for a better example for all the younger ones.

Colbey, isn't he lovely? They probably don't want to be lovely, do they? He's our baby, the kindergartner. Oh, I will be so sad when they are all gone all day this fall.

Here's some pictures of the kids. Aren't they lovely? I know I'm not biased or anything. Of course my very talented friend, Jayne Rohlfing, who took these pictures manages to make everyone she photographs absolutely beautiful. She is a very talented woman! Here's the eldest boy, Dyllan. Big 5th grader.

Christmas Photo Shoot

I know it's almost St. Patrick's Day but here I am posting our pictures of our Christmas picture photo shoot. Don't think you're off the list if you haven't received one. No one has. Hopefully you'll get one within the next month, but then again. . . . We did take them in December.

I would have had a hard time . . .

. . . not laughing.

Take That SAD!

After my office was damaged by a leaky roof, I rearranged my stuff and put it in the room with a window facing a hallway with windows. Now when I want to see the sun, I just have to look past storage shelves, and there it is. I can conquer the world now!

Groundhog Day

This is about right.

An Atheist Gets a Bible

This is really cool. Saw this on Noel's blog, who saw it at XXX church. . .

From Crackle: A Gift of a Bible

Testing Testing

just a test

Stache your cares away

Sometimes when life's got you down you just need to grow a nice mustache.