where's wednesday?

This is today after the pool! It was SO nice to get in that water and swim! Why oh why don't I go more often? The kids loved it too. Jonathan was with Margaret and Adrian, but we had little Davian with us for the day. The only problem with swimming is it makes me hungry, ha.

Yesterday, I worked out...and when I say, "worked out", you may envision something a tiny bit more intense than what my exercise routine is at this time of my life, as in HA. I can go down about an inch with my push-ups, can't even do a sit-up, so I lie on my back and lift my heels off the floor, keeping my legs straight, and lift them right into the air...that pulls those abs good. I lift my ten pound weights, and do some aerobic things, and stretches. It's not earth shattering, but it's a start.


Converse day...before we left for gymnastics yesterday.

We had a corned beef dinner tonight...cabbage, baked potatoes, carrots, and green beans. Mirielle and Margaret came over, and it was nice...but in the back of my mind was that I had to help Jonathan pack...he's leaving tomorrow for his cruise to Mexico/Caribbean with Grandma and Abigail.

So, tomorrow we are going to the airport. I am bringing Char and Cam with me, so we can go to the fabric store on the way home to get dress patterns...I want to teach them to sew.

Anyway...the days fly by. Paul is setting in over in Ireland. Aaron called today from California, and I talked to Samuel this week too, and also Benjamin from Washington state. I like keeping in touch with my boys. If I were rich, I would use all my money to fly here and there to visit them. And maybe another trip to Jamaica with Paul. I really want to go see Aaron...he's going to be moving into a house with a pool. And visiting Ben and Ashley and Anya is on my list too. Samuel will be home before we know it, but I will be going down to Washington D.C. to pick him up.

Ah well...we are going to miss Jonny around here next week.

23 years ago today....

Or rather tomorrow, to make this story easier to tell....

I had a baby. She was the most beautiful little girl. I was induced for her right on my due date because a stress test indicated she was...ha, stressed? So I checked into the hospital early in the morning, had Pitocin running into my veins all day long. Nothing happened. Contractions were mild, weren't progressing. I talked to my sister on the phone at a bit after four in the afternoon, lamented that things weren't going well...then, oh dear...a whirlwind of horrible contractions, and by five o'clock, I had a baby in my arms! I'm telling you, one push, and she was there. The doctor said, "God wants you to have babies, Della", as she was born.

So Mali Rose (aka Molly Rose) was born, and the very next day was our 10th wedding anniversary. Seven kids...Emily was 9, Abigail 7, Benjamin 5, Mirielle 4, Joseph 2, and Aaron 15 months.

(Mali with Kathryn)

Tonight, Miss Mali is coming over so we can celebrate her birthday. I can't wait to sing Happy Birthday and see little Lydia's face. She can sing, "Twinkle Twinkle". She can say, "All right!" She can give you "five". She can say a very emphatic, "NO". If she decides she doesn't like something you feed her, she'll simply scoop it all out of her mouth, and hand it to you. She's such a tiny thing with a big brave personality, coming into our big crazy house and taking over, ha. We love her...and her mama too, of course.

This morning is a headache morning. I know why, too, or at least I am theorizing that it was the brownies. It's a good thing to blame it on, anyway, I need all the help I can get to stay away from things like that.

It could be from waking up while it was still dark this morning to let the dogs out. I tried to go back to sleep with Duke in my room, but he was having none of it...it was like way back when I had little babies, and I had an antsy toddler in my bed, me trying desperately to sleep, small child trying desperately to wiggle around and sing songs.

Anyway. It's a good day. I am thankful for ibuprofen, and for coffee.

monday madness.....

Where oh where did the day go? We stayed home, we did school, I read, we painted some little birdhouses, they made clay pots to put pencils in. I made chili, rice, and brownies.

Tomorrow, we are not staying home. Jonathan needs a hair trim, and preferably some new sandals for his cruise with Grandma. Yes, his Grandma is taking him on a Caribbean cruise with Abigail! She asked Abigail first, and told her she cold pick a sister...so Abigail picked Jonathan!

They are leaving on Thursday, so I will be bringing them to the airport, which makes three trips to the airport in six days...(Paul left for Ireland on Saturday, Kathryn came home from California last night, and now these two are flying to Florida to meet up with Grandma for their cruise).

So tomorrow I need to get some groceries, a birthday present for Mali (she's turning 23!) It seems like she has been grown up for so long already...she graduated from high school a year early, with Aaron, then started nursing school. She got a job as an R.N. right after, because school loans don't wait forever to be paid off! She's a mom, and has all the grown up stuff like car payments.

Mali is coming over tomorrow afternoon, so I will make something nice for dinner, and have something good for dessert. I can't very well bake something when I'm not home, and if I was thinking ahead I would have made something today, so maybe I'll just get ice cream and put together an ice cream pie quick. (quickly is correct, but doesn't "quick" sound better?)

Anyway. Between buying lightbulbs and almond flour and flip flops for Jon and doggy chow and plastic wrap and coffee filters and gymnastics and birthday gifts...tomorrow will be fun.

As much as I wish I could say I didn't eat any brownies, um...well, I had a few. I like the chewiness of the corner pieces. The sad part is that I ate so well today! I had a few meatballs for a late breakfast, four chicken wings for lunch, and chili for dinner. It was enough food, and I almost made it through the day successfully, but dang it if I didn't get fooled into thinking the old One Taste thing. ugh.

Tomorrow is another day. I will behave.

I am very tired and am going to try to sleep early, because obviously Duke will be waking me bright and early. He hasn't been eating all of his food today, morning and evening he left some behind...actually for the last few days. He is also very shaky on his legs. And tonight, he snapped at poor Charlotte, she was trying to get him to wake up and go outside one last time, he can't hear, so he was startled when she shook him awake. I don't know...I am worried he is turning into a liability...you know, a dog who might actually bite, just because he can't see well, can't hear, and is old and wobbly. wah. Samuel is getting out of the Army next month, and asked me to please wait until he can come home and say goodbye. I will try my hardest to respect that. But my thinking is that if Duke can survive a harsh New York winter, it seems cruel to put him down when the weather is turning nice...never mind. I can't think about it tonight. Why oh why do we have to love these creatures so much? Is it not enough that I have given my heart to so many children? And Paul of course. But these are ANIMALS. My heart doesn't care about that though. No sir. I love those puppies.

Okay. enough for tonight.

it started to early, but oh well....

These three couch hogs...(the couch is a hodgepodge of blankets and coverings, they have to be washed quite often...) Duke is the chocolate guy, with half an ear. He's the wake up with the birds dude. This fine morning, I watched the sun come up while they went outside and romped around...they came in, I gave them their treat, told them to go lie down, and got back in my still warm bed. Well. This time, Duke wasn't even quiet for five minutes. I no sooner was covered and comfy, and he started in again. I put a pillow over my head to drown out his intermittent barks. I put two pillows on my head. I put my phone with the white noise on high volume, directly on my ear, with two pillows on top. I could still hear him.

Poor guy. He just wants people around. I think he's going senile. So I just got up. It's not terrible, being up with the birds on Sunday morning. It's not the end of the world to be tired. I gave Duke his medicine, and he's happy as can be. I noticed that as I sit here with my computer, he puts his head up every once and a while and looks around, making sure there's someone out here. I think that perhaps I am going to have to maybe perhaps start having him sleep in my room. I have resistance to that idea, because for years and years and years, I had children who would have rather bunked in with us, and though it wasn't easy, I drew that line. Once they were passed the nursing stage, I wasn't going to have a family bed, ha, there wouldn't have been room for me any more. And that takes something, to put a kid back to bed when they come padding in silently in the middle of the night...more than once, I had myself a good fright when some sweet child or other appeared by my bedside and said into the silence, "I don't feel well!", or, the real heartbreaker, "I had a bad dream..."

I know if I let him sleep in my room, even in a comfy bed on the floor, that dog is going to end up climbing into our bed. And I am not sure I am up for that. Labs are very hoggy, and have absolutely no concept of personal space, ha.

Besides being tired, it's a really nice morning. I have my pumpkin spice coffee, my new warm slippers, a furry blanket, and the house is quiet, now that the puppy has finished with her after-breakfast antics. (She has an energetic streak in the mornings, we have to play fetch, and she roughhouses with Suri so much I have to shoo them back out the door a few times until she settles down.)

Yesterday was the basketball game at the Dome...Emily, Abigail, Margaret, Evelyn, Suzanne, and I all worked. We dropped Paul off at the airport...he's in Ireland for a few weeks. Abigail and I rode together, and after the airport, we went to that magnet bakery...oh dear. Half-moon cookies...big cake-like confections with half chocolate/half vanilla frosting on top. And the eclairs...Camille has been asking for a while to try one, so I figured it would be nice to come home from the game with a little surprise...three huge eclairs....now the bad thing about all this is that no one really liked the eclairs except for Cam...and I heard myself say, "Let me have just a small try of that, Cam...." As if I wouldn't like it or something, who am I kidding? I DID like it, and dang if I didn't help Cam finish it off...now there are two in the box in the refrigerator, and that child better eat both of them for breakfast, or I am going to have to smush them into the garbage can.:)

Anyway. After the game, as tired as I was, I promised Sonja, who had stayed home all day with the little girls, that I would take her somewhere. Evelyn and Suzanne showered and we went out the door...it was almost seven o'clock on a frigid Saturday night, seven degrees(-13.88c), clear and cold.

We hadn't decided on what to do, these five girls and I. It was so cold out, and dark out...we decided our house is cozy and warm, so we ordered a pizza and some wings, went to town and got a movie, "Sully", the one about the pilot who landed the plane in the Hudson river in New York (It was pretty good, and the little girls were very intrigued, after we looked up actual pictures and accounts of it).

So we picked up our pizza and watched our movie, and had a nice cozy evening.

Then, because I had had a long busy day and Paul wasn't home, I read a book for too long into the night. I should know better, I mean, one would think that a Sunday morning would be a nice time to sleep in, but ha.

But life goes by in a blink, and these are good years. There will always be something, won't there?

all the cookies....

A triple batch of chocolate chip....



I told myself that I already know they're good, I don't need to try one and see. Because I know me. I know I want to eat all the cookies. Or at least four. And I do better on no sugar! So no tasting the cookie dough either. I can eat so much cookie dough! So it's better to just have none. I got used to this method of self denial way back when I started on this weight loss journey, and it worked for me. I can still treat the kids occasionally, still warm up the house, but not eat any.

Don't get me wrong, I am not going to never eat cookies, if that makes sense. I also plan to eat ice cream again soon, but not just any ice cream. I heard of this creamery that's semi-local, and I want to take a few of the kids, and my sister...

It's just that if I want to feel good, I can't eat the sugar on a regular basis, and when it's out of my system, I don't crave it as much, and I function better.

Anyway...this fine morning I am going with Mirielle to look at a house, and the refrigerator repairman is coming too. If he comes when I'm gone, he's going to have to talk to Joseph, who absolutely loves me for this, ha.

I am bringing Miss Charlotte Claire and Miss Camille too, because they LOVE houses, housing designs, decorating, ect.

So it's been a busy morning. I was exclaiming joyfully to anyone who would listen, how Sunny made it through THREE nights without peeing or pooping near the door. (she never does it during the day anymore, that's something:)). Sonja said I was jinxing myself, but I don't believe in jinxes. ha. I should've listened to her. This fine morning, Duke barked me out of bed at six, and there by the door was a little present from Sunny.

Of course I cleaned it up, swept the floors, then mopped, washed dishes and cleaned counters...washed my hair, got the kids up, had them shower and eat and dress neatly...

And now I am taking a break...guy is here...

spring yesterday, winter today....

It was so nice and springy! I went for my walk, we went to the playground...


And today...well, I woke up and it was no longer 67 (19.4) degrees...it was 20 (-6.6).

The wind picked up, the cold front came through, and brought snow, lots of it.

But yesterday...oh it was nice. We went to the park...sunshine on my face. I know, we were just in Florida, but still...it's my favorite. We went to the library, where we met up with a few good friends, it's always nice to see friends when you go out and about. Then the thrift store, and:

We found an American Girl doll for Camille, the 2013 Doll of The Year, Saige, for $3.99. When I lifted her hair and saw that logo, it was rather fun. Charlotte Claire found Adidas pants, a sweatshirt, and a nice gym bag. The pants are too big for her, but believe me, she found an older sister who was interested.

We stopped into the grocery store because I had cut some coupons and the stuff was all on sale...it's the time to get razors for the girls, and shampoo, ect. And who did we see in that store but my brother Bob! And, it was his birthday, of course I totally forgot and my sister reminded me later, oops.

Anyway...today we're back to winter. It stopped snowing, the sun is shining, but it's still in the twenties. The kids have almost finished school for now and are going to go out and play in it before they finish up for the day.

Mali is coming over today with little miss Lydia, yay! Lydia knows we babysit for her sometimes because her mama has to work, and I think she is smart enough to worry that her mama is going to leave while they visit here together, which makes her very clingy and we therefore get very few hugs and snuggles. When we do babysit for her, she cries when mama leaves, but then settles in and is fine. But I love the visits. She's learning to talk, and when she makes connections, it's a riot. She's only a year and a half, but she seems so smart.

My other granddaughter way far away in Seattle is doing well too. (She's going to be a big sister!!! Grandchild #3, this is getting serious! I really AM a Grandma!) I am hoping Paul and I can visit out there before long. Maybe we could just take a detour down the coast and visit California before heading home.

I am thinking of making cookies today...why would I torture myself, you might ask...I wonder the same thing, but when I think of the girls getting off the bus and being so happy...:)

never a dull moment...ever.

I know it's not only us, every family, ever person has struggles. And compared to the sufferings in third world countries, our refrigerator woes don't even register as a blip on the Problem Radar. But still, as the kids say, the struggle is real...the refrigerator isn't cooling...again.

But, I do have the receipt now:

There. Now I won't lose it, ha.

The appliance guy, Wayne, is coming over on Friday. Until then? All the food in the refrigerator? It will have to be transferred to the small 'fridge from our camper that still graces our kitchen.

See? In comparison, First World Probs.

And yeah, I had a very short and choppy night, thank you Dukester.

But, I am not complaining. This morning we are counting our blessings. I saw an article titled, "One In Eight People Have No Close Friends, Loneliness Epidemic", or something like that. So the girls and I decided to be thankful we have friends. And a house, that Daddy has a job, that we're going to the library. Cam's thankful for the blanket she's cuddled under. I am thankful for this cup of steaming pumpkin spice coffee, which I am sipping after sweeping and washing the couch covers and wiping down the counters. Charlotte Claire is thankful for homeschooling, and that she just found three pairs of scissors in the drawer.

It is interesting, you can decide all you want to be happy, or content, or thankful...but as soon as the wind blows in the wrong direction, oh dear. Sometimes we even think, "Why ME!!?", or the ever popular, "poor me...". But the reality is that it's just another trial, another test of our faith..."no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful: nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." (Heb 12:11)

So we need the bumps in the road, the rough days, the headaches, the muddy paws and mountains of dirty clothes...so that our faith can be tested.

It's a beautiful day here in central New York state. Later the cold front will come, the wind will bring rain and snow...but for now, it's beautiful. It's like a taste of spring. Camille is so nicely refilling my pumpkin spice coffee. We are getting ready for the library...