Ohh the Excitement!

Well we had quite the excitement today when a local bank was robbed and an armed and dangerous man was running around. As a matter of fact he is still at this time on the lose although they do have some idea where he is and they now know who he is, thanks to his accomplice ratting him out and all. A police officer was shot in the leg, but is expected to make a full recovery. I am thankful that we have a dedicated and well trained police force to protect us! We are still on lock down and this is just a reminder that we need to replace our doors soon so that we can lock our doors while not making it a completely inconvenient thing to do. Our keys somehow do not work on our doors so we cannot lock them without someone being in the house to let us in again.

In other less exciting news little 'un has had a nasty cold most of the week and my house cleaning has fallen on the wayside to take care of him. I am glad he likes baths because I have been giving him one everyday and locking us in the bathroom with the humidifier to clear out his awful congestion. Poor thing his chest hurts so much from coughing that he cries every time he needs to cough, totally ruins his day. Lots of cuddles and extra story time on mommy's lap for comforting. I am hoping that he will be well enough tomorrow so that we can keep our weekly play date, he looks forward to it all week and so do I! The heat has been so bad lately that we have become quite reclusive.

On another note a friend of the family is giving us some of her canning supplies so that the produce that had taken over our garden will not go to waste. She also teaches a canning class up at the Cooperative Extension and I am planning on going asap so I can learn how to properly use the stuff she is giving me. We'll be putting our root cellar to good use!

Yes I am still Alive!

Had another ruckus weekend with friends all while trying to juggle family responsibilities! Friday we had relatives from out of State come by to see the house because they hadn't seen it yet. So I was in a frenzy to clean the entire house and make it look nice. Had an almost relaxed Saturday, because of the frenzy on Friday there wasn't anything to do around the house, but we did run a few errands in the morning before it got too hot.

Sunday we went up to the Renaissance Fair in Sterling with a dozen of our friends or so. This has been a tradition for the last five years or so, we go in costume like the total geeks we are! This year I really tried and wanted to get there for the opening because I had never seen it and since I had seen everything else there a million times I wanted to see that too! Well to make a long story short we were all too unorganized to actually get out the door in time so we ended up missing it again. Ahh well we might be going back this year and if not there is always next year. I did finally get something I have wanted for the last 8 years or so....A Boudran which for anyone who doesn't know what that is it is a drum of Irish origin. Being a Kitchen Witch and all I am now able to properly drum in circle to raise energy, which is what I did last night to celebrate the full moon! I was also able to discuss with the maker of the drums and got a free lesson on how to play from her. Awesome!

Here is the website that she and her husband run:

www.fireomearth.com

To-Do List!

I forgot about it yesterday so here it is today's to-do list!

Get me and little 'un dressed

Feed cat and give them fresh water

Clean glass on china cabinet, French doors, front, and back doors, and all mirrors.

2 loads of laundry

15 minute project; today I emptied a box that has been a catch all for my junk.

Dust

Wipe down table and counter tops

Give little 'un a bath

Go grocery shopping

Make Dinner and do the dishes

Help little 'un pick up all his books and toys before bed

Not that much today, Tuesdays and Thursdays tend to be my take it easy days so that I am ready for the craziness of the rest of the week! This is stuff that isn't necessarily things that I do on a daily basis like read to little 'un or feed him or work on potty training.

A Post of the Weekend

Well another crazy weekend at my house has just concluded and I thought I would pop in and list all the amazing wonderful goings on that kept me from posting sooner. Well to start off we had plans with some good friends of ours for dinner on Saturday so all week was a rush to clean and make the house look presentable which is really hard with frustration and swollen feet. (See previous post for all the details of frustration and how I am not dealing with it well!) So instead I went out with my family on Friday night and just had a lot of flight of the bumblebees on Saturday morning to get the house clean. This time I hope to be capable of keeping it up with my endless to do list for more than two weeks. I said it now I am going to do my best to be responsible and not let discomfort lead to procrastination lead to downright laziness. The dinner went well; I made this really delicious Chicken and Broccoli Braid that I learned to make at a Pampered Chef party I went to.

Then after our guests left to put their 6 month old to bed some of our younger set friends came over and we commenced the geeking out! This comprised of listening to Sublime, playing World of Warcraft, and discussing a new campaign for D&D and creating the characters until very late at night. Or early in the morning depending on how you look at it. We crashed and then spent most of the next day doing the same, with a little Magic thrown in for good measure. While everyone was doing that I took a walk with the little 'un and we went for a short ride in the swing. One of the uncles stopped by for a quick break from studying to cuddle and play with the little 'un. Who is a little ball of stress relief cause he's just great like that! Then an Auntie took little one out for the second time today while I made dinner for everyone. After dinner the little 'un went to bed and so did hubby who had developed a doozy of a headache. I'm lef up to put the finishing touches on the house and maybe find some time to unwind and have an early night. Sometime this week I hope to post my to-do list for each day and a few simple recipes.

And just for fun here is a few things I have learned in the last week:

1. Sometimes it is nice just to have people around. Yes I am totally wiped out at the end of every weekend but it's your friends that keep you from going completely off the deep end. They also give you a good reason to stop being lazy and get your house clean.

2. Friends also inspire you to embrace your inner hippie and braid your hair in a funky cool style. You get a creative outlet and figure out how your going to do your hair for the next weekend. We are planning on going to the Sterling Renaissance Festival and now I will have kick-ass hair to go along with my costume.

3. Order additional costume pieces when you get the urge even if it's December and you wont be able to use them until May. Otherwise by the time you decide to spend the money on yourself it will be too late, they wont arrive in time.

Frustration

Lately it seems that I have been in a constant state of frustration. I can't sleep at night no matter how hard I try, which means that I just keep getting more frustrated and can't sleep. It is a very vicious cycle. It's kinda becoming a self-full fulfilling prophecy. I look at the clock and groan about how it's 10 o' clock and I want nothing more than to be asleep at that time but I am not at all tired. I want to go to sleep but am not in the frame of mind for it until about 2 am. Since little 'un is a morning person to the degree I never will achieve that means I am averaging about 4-6 hours of sleep counting those unexpected naps I keep taking. You know the ones where you sit down in front of the tv with your toddler and before you know it the show you wanted them to watch is over and your halfway through the next show? Yeah those.

In the same vein due to the long lasting lack of sleep I am more clumsy than my usually clumsy self. I can't turn around without spilling or knocking something over. Which brings me to the heights of frustration all over again. Alls I want to do is clean out the fridge (or fill the cats' dish, or make lunch ect..) without making a mess and having to take twice as long with those simple tasks as I should be taking. I want to get through my day with few (because asking for none is just not sensible) bumps along the way.

My cat is in heat. Anyone who has or has had a cat in heat understands.

I have a toddler. Any mother of a toddler knows that even the best most wonderful toddler has his bad days.

So yes now that we have taken a trip through my days of frustration now we just have to think up some ways to deal with it. Anybody got any ideas? Anybody?

July 4th Mutterings

Hope everybody had a wonderful Fourth. I ate just the right amount of food to not totally kill my diet. I walked away satisfied but did not over indulge according to my weight watchers points. I then promptly passed out for most of the next day. Still in the middle of cleaning up from the festivities because this year hubby and I went crazy and decided to have 30 of our friends and family come over for the fourth. Well guess what I learned some things here they are!

1. When you ask people to bring something please be specific, if you are not specific you will end up with people coming with crazy wonderful amounts of food that you will then have to avoid like the plague because you're on a diet gosh darn it!

2. Neutrality is not apparently an option. I tried this and that makes me wrong.

3. I have some really good friends so I shouldn't let people who don't like me get under my skin. If I tried my best to be friendly and they still hate me, it should no longer be my problem.

4. #3 isn't as easy as it should be. I like people, and I would like to be liked in return.

Also I would love to post pictures of this awesome amazing BBQ however, I was too busy to remember to take any pictures. I always do this, and I always kick myself afterwards.

Welcome to the Blog!

Just wanted to do your average hello and welcome to the blog post! What am I doing here exactly? Well I really love to read other peoples blogs but found as I looked around that I was reading about women who kinda had it all together. They had been raising kids/ keeping house/ ect. for a few years and had some sort of clue about what they were doing.

I do not have that. They are nice to read for inspiration and good ideas but I was kind of looking for those who like me were just starting out in life and had so much to learn! I wanted to watch someone go whoops I never knew that before. I wanted to see where the people in those blogs had been 5-10 (or more!) years ago when they had so much to learn. Then I had a thought. What if I wrote the blog that I was looking for? What if I put it all out there like I was hoping someone else would? That brings us to this blog and that is what I am trying to do here. I am at the beginning of the long road of adult life and I am going to post about all those things that I learn along the way. Here are a few things I have learned in the last year.

1. Lavender doesn't like to be near other plants. I learned this the hard way when I planted my seedlings and they died and never came back. The books I read and the people I asked at the time did not tell me this. Now that I know, next year I will plant them by themselves and hopefully they will grow.

2. When planting seedlings you should make sure your toddler and cats cannot get to them! (Goodbye cabbage and broccoli!)

3. Those swiffer mop things are really great, but you don't need the spay fluid cleaner, a simple mixture of vinegar and water does the same job, and it's cheaper too!

4. Toddlers destroy stuff, it has been like that since the beginning of time. So trying to have a clean organised house all the time will just make you crazy and take up all your free time. Just let it go......

5. Confessions of a pagan soccer mom is great. Read it at every opportunity and enter as many giveaways as possible. Just going to put it out there that yes, it did cross my mind that I may just have a better chance at winning things if I had a blogger account! (Just being honest)