Thoughts for the new year

As I sit here, I am wondering WHO is shooting a semi-automatic weapon? Ryan and his dad and Oscar are working on the house, so it is either coming from the muzzle loading range across the way, or our "neighbor" in the back who made his own range and comes up on random weekends and camps. Those are the acceptable answers.

My thoughts for the new year:

I love New Year's. All new years. It seems like a fresh start; a clean slate. I have no resolutions this year, because I am still working on the ones from high school, I think. They are always the same: Eat better, excercise more. Now that I am 30 weeks preggo, I don't even care about that. Not yet, anyway.

I love my new camera- it takes movies! (I sound so old fashioned- I could've said "It shows movin' pictures!") I took a few minutes worth of video and it was amazing how clear everything was and the sound was great. My camera is a Canon SD 800IS and I love it. Not the same as our SLR, but I love it. And the movie feature is outstanding. I love seeing little clips of people and what they moved like and sounded like. I won't be able to post anything, because I have DIAL-UP at 24000bps. So SLOW. We are thinking of getting HughesNet. Anyone have it? Love it? Hate it? FYI: We have no cable or DSL. (or cell reception, or radio...)

Things I've done to get ready for 2008:
Organized the kids toys. (Waiting for the bunks to go up, then it'll be "done")
Figured out a budget and money plan for the year. I am "in charge" of the money, so to speak, and have a plan with some options that Ryan and I are going to go over tonight or tomorrow. It looks great on paper- we'll see how it works in real life. This plan includes savings, investing, and aquiring debt to build our house, and paying off our tractor. It's a John Deere.
That is it! I am going to spend the month of January obsessing over cleanliness and organization because that is what I ALWAYS do when I'm pregnant. Then in February, I have to think about moving to Bakersfield with the kids until Jessie is born. (Living in the middle of nowhere, with an hour and 20 minute drive to the hospital, not including time to ditch the kids... in town is better for all involved. We'll just hope Ryan makes it.) Then in March, Ryan is suppossed to take some time off and frame, frame, frame the house. I turned in our plans for a lumber bid, and that makes us completely nervous. That is fairly non-negotiable. Most everything else can be cheaper or more expensive- for example, we could put in $200 windows, or we could put in $1400 windows. We've seen both. So cross your fingers for us- we have no idea. Three years ago a guy we know had his bid come in at $27,000. His house is similar in size to ours, but it's still not the same house. The housing market is kind of bad right now too, so maybe lumber will be cheaper.

Tis the season

Will jumped in front of the kids I was trying to take a picture of.
Kacy got a new blanket that has long strings (her requirement so she can twirl them under her nose) and Uncle Oscar told her it was "too pink". This was her response.
A little thing we call JED- these two are funny in their own way. They are both growing up so quickly!

I am glad Christmas is over. I loved it this year-shopping online was the way to go for me, and I plan on doing the same next year. Maybe I'll get an earlier start, or put more thought into my gift giving. I have a hard time buying for men because everything they really want costs a fortune, and they probably bought it for themselves earlier in the month anyway. I was in the Christmas mood all month long, and I was relieved to see our little tree go into it's box by 9am on the 26th. It was time. NOW is my next favorite season- Tis the season to get organized! My kids got lots of toys, and with our limited space we have to keep it organized. Right now the toys are in fabric boxes from Target, and they hold the toys, but the kids can't see what is in the box so they dump everything. I am going to our hardware store tomorrow and buying more clear plastic storage boxes that have lids the kids can't open by themselves. This keeps toys organized by theme: dinosaurs, Little People, all things vehicle related, blocks, etc. and the kids can't open another box without cleaning up what they already have out. Plus, they stack nicely. I also used some of my Walmart gift card to buy some portable shelving for our little closet hoping that will help me keep our clothes neater. I love finding organizing solutions for my small space living problems. I'm looking into Command hooks next. And looking forward to our bunk beds to go up in a couple of weeks.
Unrelated-I heard my blog referred to as "the rants of a crazy lady". Maybe I should change the title.

Pics from my new camera

Kacy and Will
Ed. Enough said.
Kacy put her pants on backwards on accident.
Grandpa doesn't need the electric chair (oh- sounds crazy, eh?) but was taking a spin with the kids.
Our gingerbread house- thanks Jenny! Ed ate candy, Will and Kacy decorated.

Musings

*The Pointer Sisters should not sing Christmas songs. I'm all for "I'm So Excited" and "The Neutron Dance", and had a childhood memory come to mind when I heard them attempt "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". This memory includes My grandma's house, wearing my aunt Kristin's roller skates and listening to her record. RECORD. I'm sure I had on a nice pair of short 80's shorts, too.

*I always think I have so much time before Christmas to get everything done, and then BAMM! it's a week before and nothing is wrapped and the one little craft I want to do isn't even started.

*If I hear the Mannheim Steamrollers or Whitney Houston's "Do you hear what I hear?" one more time... I have XM radio in my car because we don't have radio where we live (so primitive...) and I love Christmas music, so we listen to one of their special holiday stations. My favorite station plays too much of the afore mentioned songs. I did hear "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" by the Bare Naked Ladies and Sarah McLaughlin (I slaughtered the spelling on her last name...) it was a great duet.

*I made Christmas cards. I addressed the envelopes. They are not sent yet, but will be today. I am going to post it on my blog so that my blogger friends whose addresses I don't know can get one, too.

*I am prefacing this one by stating the obvious fact that I LOVE COOKIES. (All you have to do is note my weight gain for evidence). I went to a cookie exchange and was disappointed in other people's baking skills. My no-bake cookies didn't turn out EXACTLY how I wanted them to- they were a little dry. But the taste was still how it was supposed to be. It just amazes me that a food that has essentially the same ingredients can turn out so differently. Now, maybe I am spoiled by my mom and mother-in-law's cookies. I love my mom's chocolate chip cookies, and my MIL makes a wicked oatmeal cookie and a snickerdoodle. It was just a little sad. There were a couple of chocolate chip cookies that were good, Costco brand included, but other than that, I was a little sad.

*Not holiday related- I am surprised that Ed is still alive. He has eaten two craft foam discs in the last two days. They were the size of quarters, maybe bigger. They only way I knew he ate them was when I changed his diaper. I refuse to dig out evidence for "fun" because that grosses me out. I have to say this about the boy- he has a really high metabolism. I think I'll find an example of the foam discs and the marble from last month and take a picture of those. He also had a very interesting diaper a few hours he ate three crayons. Where is his mother while he is doing this? (In my defense- I have pulled MANY, MANY items out of his mouth, including, but not limited to: more craft foam, crayons, hunks of play dough, money, small toys, rocks, dog food, Kleenex, cotton, fabric, string, and most anything else that he can find.)

*Last one- Ryan has finished all the digging for our house. This includes the house (finished long ago), septic, leech lines, and the trench for the wire, water, and phone lines. Our soil is so sandy, it's like digging in the dry sand at the beach. So the "trenches" are really more like canals and swimming pools. It's amazing how much dirt has been moved. The canal for our lines is 400 feet long, about 6 feet wide, and about 4 feet deep. If we had different soil, we would have used a trencher, not a backhoe, and the trench would have been something like 3 feet deep and 12-18 inches wide. Ryan was so happy to be done digging-so tedious and boring, and it doesn't seem like it helps in the actual building of the house. But, now he can start going UP from the ground. His goal is to be framing by March.

100th post

Always one for a test, I did the "readability test" that I have seen on two other blogs (Mandee and Kiahna). I love tests. I tried to take classes that were homework light, and test heavy. Here are my results, which is why I think my blog is boring. Sorry! I write for myself as a journal, and I write what is in my head.
*****Edit*****I did it again (12/17/07) and now it says my blog is high school level. Random!*****

Get a Cash Advance

This is my 100th post! That is more entries than I ever put in my journal. Now it's time to talk to SIL Jocelyn and see how to get it all in print. I think I'll do it once a year, and my blogiversary is in March.

Family Home Evening

Today we had our first real Family Home Evening. We had it this morning, because of Ryan's work schedule. For those of you not familiar with FHE, our church leaders encourage us to meet together as families once a week and have family time. We meet together all the time, because our kids are to little to be anywhere else. We had a lesson on the nativity and the meaning of the star for Christmas. I have to journal this because I don't want to ever forget that Will said the opening prayer with help, Kacy paid attention and looked at the pictures of the nativity, while Ed ate a Kleenex. Really. Will paid attention half the time, but after my little five minute "lesson" all was lost with the boys as Will started to do his monkey dance and I cleaned the Kleenex out of Ed's mouth. Ed did say "Star, star!" when I showed him my yellow construction paper star. After that Kacy and I sang a Christmas song, and then Ryan and Kacy and Will made a star for the top of our tree out of paper. Ryan made a perfectly symmetrical star freehand, which makes me jealous. He and Kacy decided it needed a happy face though.

Oh Christmas tree

I know the pictures are DARK, but I was trying something new, and this is what happened. The picture of the scary ghost Will is cool because of the lights on the tree. I have no idea how that happened- I was in full auto mode on my camera except that I turned off the flash, and this is it. To see the others better, you'll have to click on them to make them bigger.
We got our tree at Michael's, on sale. It is a fake four foot tree, undecorated right now. The kids LOVE it. Will insists it needs a star on top. Ed keeps saying "It's a tree, a tree!" (Think of that short guy on Fantasy Island- It's a plane!) and Kacy sings "Oh Christmas Tree" every hour or so.

Saturday I went to the temple, and the kids stayed with my cousin Caley. They had a great time, and Caley was still standing by the end of the day. We stopped at Claim Jumper to eat, and it was GREAT. I grossed out my family by getting my steak rare, only Kendra and I (Ryan likes it VERY RARE, but he wasn't there) like our steaks that way. It's because you can taste the beef. Any more cooked and it loses taste and texture. My dad said something about getting Mad Cow disease... I don't know about that.

This week is going to be BUSY- I won't bore you with details, but it involves appointments and parties. This is my busiest week of the season. After this, I have nothing going on besides Christmas and a December birthday party.

Happy to report that almost all my shopping is done. I have five more people to think of, and of course they are the hardest, which is why I left them for last. I love online shopping-the cost of shipping is worth it to me as a great trade off for not having to drive to Bakersfield (I estimate is costs about $35.oo for a round trip), driving around Bakersfield (I HATE traffic), and taking the kids shopping. Ann, our UPS lady will drop off our packages and voila- done! It makes me happy. The HARDEST person to buy for is Ryan. What he wants, he gets for himself. I have a few ideas, so I think I'll tell him to not buy anything for himself without checking with me first. He bought me a new digital camera that I ordered yesterday. (I shopped for him...) I'm excited to have a smaller camera. We have a digital SLR, which is nice, but it takes it's own bag and two hands and a lens cap removal- my hands are tied up with kids, and my bag is stuffed already with diapers. My MIL and SIL have the same camera, and they love it, and the reviews were good.

Not Twitching

I am happy to announce that I am NOT TWITCHING! I always tease Ryan that the kids are going to give me mental problems where I develop a twitch of some kind. Last week should have done it. But after going to church on Sunday, and then to the in-laws after, I feel much better. I had a great day at church-I went to Sunday School for the first time in months, Ed went to nursery (you have to be 18 mos. old before you can do that) and I didn't have to teach at all, so I had no responsibilities. It was refreshing. Then I went to the in-laws and visited with them, and that can be a double edged sword right now. 98% of the time it's great. The 2% is when my kids and my nephews run and scream the whole time and I end up with a headache. Good thing it's only 2%... (Before you start thinking "In-laws..."in that bad way, read on). Ryan works Sunday afternoons so I take the kids by myself, which is fine, but the coming home part is now starting to kill me. The kids fall asleep in the car on the way home, and as soon as I stop the car they start to wake up. They wake up just enough to cry and kick and scream (really- all three of them- like I'm torturing them) and I have to carry all three in because they are incoherent. With my belly getting bigger and the weather getting colder (29 when I got home last night!) I DREAD coming home. The trailer is freezing, the kids are crying, I'm huffing and puffing and tired- I'm thinking that our weekly Sunday visits are going to stop unless Ryan can go with me. We may have to start doing a weekday night visit when Ryan is off. This would make better use of our time also- we can run errands if we need to. I'm rambling again...

Little Devils, I mean Angels

How do I love them? Let me count the ways. One, um, one... I know I love them, but after being in the house with them since Monday, and having not talked to an adult since Thursday night (I did talk to Ryan, but it went like this: Me: Are you done? Him: Nope lunch break. Me: Can you open the root beer please? Will practically called me a liar when I told him I couldn't open it.) I am having a hard time putting up with my kids. Maybe because Will threw a fit about the root beer, threw a fit about breakfast (I said no marshmallows for breakfast) threw a fit about not being able to go outside with dad and the boys (paintball in 42 degree weather with a windchill and teen boys...), Kacy draws pictures all the time and then throws them on the ground, Kacy has an insanely high pitched pretending voice that I try my hardest to ignore because I'm not THAT mean to say "Stop pretending already!", because Ed can't keep his hands off the TV buttons, or out of the toilet, or off of the plastic kid chairs that he loves to slide across the floor, or because Lucy the dog has been locked up all day because of the boys being here and barks incessantly, or because all of this goes on at the same time- but I'm having a bad day. I forgot that one of the little darlings literally tore into a fresh loaf of bread that was meant to church tomorrow. My poor friend Kibbe has gotten long, rambling emails from me the last few days because of my lack of adult conversation. Luckily there is church tomorrow and I'll see people who are taller than three feet. And leave my trailer for the first time in 6 days. Yea!