school threats and blood pressure...

and never a dull moment. Our high school received a threat yesterday, which school officials deemed serious enough to call/email/AND text all parents. My three high school girls started texting me and telling me there were police at the school. Meanwhile, I am getting ready for my doctor's appointment. By the time I got to the office, I knew my kids were safe, as they said the kid who made the threats was arrested, but still, my heart hurt because I knew the whole matter scared them. These school shootings are terrifying, horrific, and I just wanted to get my girls home safe and sound and make them some coffee.

(These threats against the schools are ridiculous! One poor kid in a private school in the city posted a video of himself shooting a B.B. gun at a can, saying he was perfecting his "school shooting skills". It's the sort of thing a boy might say, thinking he was funny. I didn't see the video, but to me, it didn't seem like a real threat, just a stupid comment. Now he's in jail, charged with a felony, and a huge bail amount to get out. I am worried this thing will get out of hand, in the zeal to stop more violence, the cops will arrest kids who are just being unthinking teenagers. If there is a real threat, like if this kid had a "real" gun at home, and actually threatened directly, sure, get him, but...it bothers me.)

So as I was checking in at the desk at OB/GYN, I told the receptionist what was going on, and if my phone was pinging, I didn't mean to be rude, I just didn't feel I could just silence it and ignore the girls at that point.

Imagine my surprise when I got called in, and my blood pressure was 126/76. I was shocked. I felt shaky and nervous, between my hatred of doctor visits and the stuff going on in school, I thought for sure it'd be higher. My weight...blah. Still much better than a few years back, but not as good as it could be of course.

And, the bottom line is this: whenever post-menopausal bleeding occurs, the first thing they look for is cancer. The midwife told me repeatedly that I was wise to come right in. She's a really nice lady, she hugged me when she came into the room. She delivered several of my babies, and I do love her. When she was saying goodbye, she said, "It was so nice to see you, Della, I just wish it was under better circumstances." dismal forebodings, get far from me!

I have to go back in for a sonogram and a few more tests, and then a consult with the doctor who did the D&C when my last baby didn't make it. I remember him as a nice guy.

I did ask the midwife if there are cases where there is no cause ever found, and the bleeding remains unexplained. "Absolutely. We just look for cancer first."

So there it is. The Big K, no one wants it, everyone fears it, but sometimes, people get it.

God knows the big picture, and there are countless verses about not being anxious. To trust that He knows what's best for me is what I want to do, with all of my heart. This trust doesn't always come naturally, we have to fight to come into rest about it sometimes. By fight, I mean saying a big huge NO to those "what if" thoughts, and those worries. Don't jump off the bridge 'til you come to it, right?

I do have better things to occupy myself with, anyway. Here is some excellent news: Our son Joseph is engaged!


Joseph and Bethany!


Are they not the sweetest couple? (My niece Susan took their pics, strykingphotography)

We are all pretty excited about this, she's a super nice girl.

Today is warm weather again, by warm I mean 50 degrees (10c), and rain is moving in. But by tomorrow night, a snowstorm is hitting, dang it, Samuel is supposed to drive up from Virginia. He has to be on base near the airport tomorrow for Army Reserve training. So he is bringing Grace and baby Grant with him, so they can spend time with us.:) Now I am not sure what will happen, we almost forgot it was winter here.

Last evening, all the older kids were at a meeting, so I went in the hot tub with Char and Cam. It was so lovely, the moon shining and the stars out, living out here in the country, you can see the sky at night, no light pollution. The hot tub is everything I dreamed it would be, all those years it wasn't working. It isn't just that you're sitting there in hot bubbly water, it's that no one has an iPod or phone, and you can talk. It's just a nice little break, always fun.

Sweet little Anne is coming soon, and the homeschooled kids need to get up and get busy. The three high school girls went out the door this morning, glad I was up with them, one of them never leaves herself enough time, so I threw some things together for her lunch, and put a bagel in the toaster...I know, I spoil her. Evelyn texted me from school and said there were "cops" there. What is this world coming to?

the house is a mess!

In my dream life, I would never utter this phrase, nor even think it in a panic upon hearing of the imminent arrival of company. I would just calmly register the fact that someone was coming over, straighten the couch pillows, and sit down sipping coffee waiting for friends to come over.

Why do we always long for what's just out of reach?

I know, I know, I can hear you...Just Clean The Freakin' House.

And I try. I really do. Every day, I do the basics, I keep the floors swept and mopped and the counters cleaned off, the dishes done, and I keep up with the laundry these days. But the closets get unorganized and filled with things we don't need, and things get haphazardly crammed into cupboards, and I get these piles of stuff in my room. I have bags of good things I bought, which I can't find when I need them, and sometimes, ha, it's like mini-Christmas when I find these treasures when I'm not even looking for them.

I read about the 40 day garbage bag challenge, where, yes you guessed it, you remove a garbage bag full of stuff from your house every day for 40 days, hopefully to the second hand store. I am going to try that. Seriously. I want to go minimalist. Ha. I THINK that, then I see some really cool stuff I would like to have, and...

But I am doing better. I went to the thrift store the other day and parked my cart back in the front of the store with nothing in it. I don't want any more junk. I don't want a third dog, and no more kitties. I hate to say it, but I think I may have grown up.

But not all the way. Here's how I know: give me a sunny day and I'll abandon this challenge, and every other lick of housework in a heartbeat, and leave for an adventure.

I will also still stay up way too late reading my book, and be too tired to think straight in the morning, but will still do it again the next night.

I am trying to get back on the no sugar lifestyle after the stupendous trip to Florida. Peanut butter M&M's, you made me gain four pounds! Now that doesn't seem like alot, but I worked for weeks to go down a few pounds before the trip, and blah. But, I am going back to Keto eating, and am looking forward to seeing some results. A few weeks ago, I complained to my son Benjamin about my lack of weight loss...how I do well all week, then eat two cookies and gain two pounds back, and I kid you not. He said, "Well, you have to choose...is it worth it to you to NEVER eat the cookies, and lose fifty pounds? Or just keep doing this...?" I want to lose the fifty pounds. I do. I want to feel better and be able to wear things that I'm not super-muffin-ing out of, and I don't want to be so hot and sweaty and have to cover my upper arms, ha.

I am going to the doctor this afternoon, and I'm dreading the blood pressure reading. I know it gets better with good diet and exercise, and the good diet thing I have been doing better on, but blah.

Ah well...things to do, children to teach, little Anne to play with...

appointments and messy houses...

Here's the thing: I am shocked and surprised at how messy my house still gets.

Monday morning clean up, blah. We do have two Labs, and they bring in plenty of dust, dirt, and then there is all the dog fur. My daughter Margaret and her husband have two Boxer/Labs, who visited yesterday, doubling the dust and dog fur.

Yesterday, I was busy in the kitchen. On such a dreary rainy day, baking chocolate chip cookies was just the thing to do. I put some chicken drums and thighs in lemon and lime juice, olive oil and rosemary, salt and pepper, to marinate for dinner. Then it was time to go to the baby shower. I brought some of the cookies, because once I make them, I rather want them to be all gone. I didn't eat any cookie dough this time, because that is like opening the gateway to eating more cookie dough, then a few cookies. I did eat one cookie. And let me tell you, it was good.

The baby shower was really special. The mom-to-be is my sister's second oldest daughter, my only sister Cheryl, who has seven daughters. Becky is 12 days older than Emily, and I can clearly remember the first time I held her. Cheryl's girls grew up with my kids. Anyway, the shower was encouraging, as we heard about how no two babies are alike, God makes each of them unique, and gives them into the families He chooses. It takes a village to raise a child, and we need our friends! The older ones mentor the younger ones, and make it so good for them. We are all very excited to meet this baby, she is due a few weeks after my daughter Margaret...which is coming up in less than three weeks!

So we had our nice dinner last night of mashed potatoes (I peeled ten pounds of potatoes in the living room while talking to Emily, I felt like the proverbial southern grandmama sitting in the rocker on the front porch snapping beans or shucking peas.), roasted chicken, and a nice big salad.

Lots of stuff is going, on as usual, never a dull moment here. Our older kids are planning a huge trip to Norway for Easter, there's Easter Camp, with tons of activities to choose from, mostly to get to know kids from other countries, and build their connections to God. We are still short on the money they need to go, so we are getting busy here...bringing back the bottles and cans, and I am going to check a few places to see if there are things I can buy and resell.

I have a doctor's appointment to cancel this morning, because I was supposed to get a mammogram first, and haven't done that yet. I just had one last year! And then tomorrow I have to go in for this other stuff that surprised me a few weeks back. I'm pretty sure no one likes going to the doctor, but I really really hate it. Getting weighed, blah, and hey, ignorance is bliss, I don't want to hear any bad news. I have a busy life going on here, ain't nobody got time for bad health.

Our friend who has struggled with cancer of the esophagus has had some bad news, he has a tumor in his lung that is cancerous. He has battled this for over ten years. He has a wife and eight kids, they are an amazing family and I would love and appreciate any prayers for him, and for his family. He has really worked hard to take the trials with a good spirit, and has grown in wisdom and grace, for sure. God has blessed him in the midst of his sufferings.

And that is all for this fine morning.

dreary day...

You know what's almost as nice as a brilliantly sunny day? A dark rainy day. The kind of day that makes you want to hunker down inside and put on a pot of soup, maybe bake some chocolate chip cookies. The kind of day that if the sun peeks through, you want it to go away again, and leave you to the delicious gloom.

When the kids were little, I welcomed those dark rainy days because maybe there wouldn't be as much pressure to get outside. I mean, having...um...let's just say ten kids twelve and under...who want to go outside...and there are dishes and laundry and the floors are sticky and you are in the middle of sewing new curtains, and haven't the foggiest what's for dinner tonight...and kids want to go play out in the sunshine!

Anyway. It's one of those cozy days. The only thing I dislike is that the dogs get so muddy, and they go in and out so many times every day. They are Labs, they love water, and they see that creek in the back yard as their personal vacation spot. They are still sleeping in Charlotte Claire and Camille's room, so shh, I don't feel like letting them out then wiping them down, so I am tip-toeing around here, put on a pot of coffee, and am here sneaking in a post.

We got home safe and sound Friday night. We left as planned, at O-Dark-Thirty, really at 4:30 a.m. on Thursday. We drove through Florida, hit Georgia as the sun was up and shining...Georgia is a long state to drive through, but it's fascinating, with it's mossy trees and it was so warm when we stopped. Then South Carolina, North Carolina, then finally, Virginia. We had a hotel booked in Richmond. We stopped first to get some dinner to eat when we got to our room...Wendy's. Evelyn and Irene and I really like their salads. But I do NOT like blue cheese, or any kind of cheese, unless it's on a pizza or in the dreaded mac-and-cheese, but whatever. I asked for mine without. And lo and behold, we got to the hotel, and blah, it was permeated with blue cheese. So I did text the 1-800 number and complain...but I made sure to say that the employee was super nice, just made a mistake, but oh I was hungry. Anyway. It's good I ordered some extra stuff.

And the hotel: I booked this hotel instead of a few other ones that looked promising because of one particular feature: the hot tub. There is nothing like a soak in a hot tub after fourteen hours in the van. So you can imagine the look on my face when the seven of us suited up and walked into the pool room, and there was a swimming pool...and the hot tub had been cemented over, filled in, was no more in existence. The girls were disappointed too, but they had too much fun looking at my face. I couldn't stop saying, "Seriously?"

So the next morning, I had every intention of having a nice conversation with the manager about how it was pictured on the CURRENT online reservation site, with no mention it had been removed, which swayed me to this hotel, when I could easily, for the price I payed, have reserved somewhere else. But as luck would have it, the manager was out, the girl in the breakfast room said, getting more...half and half! Ha. If you know me at all, this is a coffee deal-breaker, no half- and half. I could do whole milk, but they had skim, or low-fat. They had flavored sugary creamers, but I can't drink those. It was almost funny.

We had to make a stop for coffee after we left.

And we survived. And I am well aware that I sound like a spoiled First World Probs girl, and I am sorry about that.

It was nice to get home. We had lots of fun travelling, sang the Phinneas and Ferb song too many times, and the girls have a song about the periodic table, and then there's the presidents song...and stopping for chicken nuggets and the spilling of barbecue sauce in the van and the dropping of the bag of M&M's...good times.

It's so nice to be with Paul again. He made us dinner, but we weren't really hungry, so we saved it and had it last night.

Yesterday afternoon, I went on an outing all by myself. Paul was working from home, Jonathan was at my brother's house helping install new flooring, the older girls all at a conference, and the two little girls just wanted to stay home. Char was playing dollhouse and Cam was practicing the clarinet. So off I went, to the library...I got a stack of interesting books for them, a few for me. Then to the thrift store, where surprise, I bought nothing. Then to Aldi, where I bought bacon and half and half and veggies and some Halo oranges, they are so yum. Then to the dollar store for a gift bag for my nieces's baby shower, which is today.

It wasn't half bad going out by myself. I am used to hearing a chorus of protests and opinions about every stop and every purchase, too. I bought two huge bags of marshmallows at the dollar store, for 25 cents each, we can make rice krispy treats with them. If my girls were there, they would be like, "Mom, we don't need those!"

The coffee has finished brewing, so I need to sneak out and pour a cup, all tippy-toe quiet...let sleeping dogs lie, and all that...

saying goodbye to florida isn't easy when there is snow at home!

So we have made our Go Back Home plan: we are getting up at 4 a.m. and heading north...hopefully uneventfully, all the way to Richmond, Virginia. We booked a room with lots of beds, a little pricier than I wanted, but who wants to sleep on the floor after driving all day long?

The hotel also has a pool and a hot tub, just in case we want to soak or use up some energy.

We will still have over five hundred miles to go on Friday, but it will be warming up from tomorrow's snow in New York, and hopefully the travel conditions will be better.

It's a loooooong way home. Twelve hundred miles.

Our van is packed, and we have had a very good day.

We went to the pool this morning. We sunned and swam...and the same lady from the other day told me her friend didn't believe her how many kids I had, and wanted me to confirm it...they were okay about it, until an old man came along, over to the pool, and she blared the news to him, in a rather coarse way. I wasn't sure what to do, so I just ignored them. The man declared he was the only guy at the pool, so the Loud Lady made a sweeping gesture with her arm, at all of us, and said, "Well then you can take your pick." I was absolutely horrified. I still didn't say anything, but I was ready to pack up and leave. Sometimes I am just struck plain dumb by people. After mulling it over all day, I have concluded that I SHOULD have said something. I didn't want to fight with her, but sometimes there are just these spirits that people bring, and I should have stood up for the girls and told her to clean it up, pipe down, or just to shut up if she was going to be derogatory.

We headed back to Grandma's, and yay, went out to lunch at Panera Bread! It was very pleasant, I had a huge salad and a yummy coffee with nutmeg in it. The kids cleaned up their food nicely, they really enjoyed it.

Back to the pool for the afternoon, and it was much better, the Loud Lady wasn't there, and the kids felt much more comfortable. With temperatures in the high eighties, and plenty of sunshine and a nice breeze, perfection. Just lovely. Delicious weather.

Evening: Grandma ordered chicken wings and pizzas to celebrate Suzanne's birthday! We also had cake and ice cream, and watched the Syracuse basketball game, which was weird because if I were back in New York, I would have been at the Dome working at that game.

It's hard to say goodbye to Grandma. She's so much fun, and has been very good to us. We came here and messed up her nice tidy house, ha.

I probably won't be blogging on my way home, so goodbye for a day or two...pray for our travels...have I mentioned how much I don't like driving?:)

pictures of fun...:)

Magic Kingdom! I'm not gonna lie and say that you MUST bring your children here. In fact, we felt a little sorry for some of the little ones there, it was quite warm, and they got tired, and we saw more crying children than we usually see at Walmart. But then there were thousands of people in the park, and the lines were a little long. I think that kids under four would rather just play at the beach, but that's just my opinion.


There was singing in this van on the way to Disney. Singing along with ABBA, and the songs from Barbie movies. They sing the Natural Elements song. They were excited!


Camille and I...


Miss Cam and Evelyn Joy...


Suzanne and I...


Suzanne and Sonja, Char, Cam, and Evelyn...


Char, Ev, and Cam...they spun their teacup like crazy, and were dizzy. Suze and I just sat there and watched people get dizzy.


Miss Char stood in line for the Ralleye cars and did her hair.

The girls are better picture takers than their mama, and they were sending them out all day, snapchat, ect. :)

Anyway...today is essentially our last day of vacation, tomorrow morning we hit the road, back to New York, back to reality!

come along to the magic kingdom with us!

Our plan: get up early, get the lunch packed: one lunchbag with the wraps (olive oil rosemary wraps with turkey, or ham, and lettuce...with pepper), the other with grapes, cucumber slices, and cheese. And a bag of pepperoni slices. Then one backpack with baggies of SunChips, peanutbutter filled pretzels, granola bars, M&M's.

Stop for coffee, fill the gas tank, then, yay! We were heading to Disney!!!

Our breakfast was in the van...ready cooked packaged bacon, and for the girls, croissants and corn muffins. We also had some yummy Bolthouse smoothies, and no, I didn't get paid. The girls enjoyed picking out their own flavor. I got a vanilla protein shake, but only drank half of it because it was so sweet.

There was traffic near the theme park...then we got there, and it's twenty three dollars to park. ouchie. We ultimately decided to actually pay $45 to park! Premium parking, near the gate, no taking the tram...it seemed like a good idea, because it was so pricey already, why not?

Once you get there, you wait in line to get your bags searched. Then you wait in line to get on the metro train that takes you to the park. Then you wait in line to get in. Then yay, you are all used to doing what you'll be doing all day!

But: we had a blast. We went on Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain, and the Mad Tea Cups and the Dumbo ride and Pirates of The Carribean. We cooled off under the mist station, and we took a spin in the gas powered cars. We got ice cream, then we went and got iced coffees and iced teas, they have a Starbucks there!

We enjoyed the 87 degree day, sometimes the little clouds floated by, and a nice breeze helped make it lovely.

Space Mountain was just way too much fun, and having a FastPass for it was great, we just walked right by the line.

Overall, we walked for 6 and a half miles today.

My feet hurt. My knees hurt. But oh it was fun.

The girls really enjoyed it, and they are exhausted. I am the last one up, and I am falling asleep too.

Grandma is too good to us, sending us off to Disney like that. Tomorrow is our last day here, and we are going to celebrate Suzanne's 17th birthday. Grandma ordered a cake from Publix, and the girls are really excited about it. We plan to get in some more pool and sun, and some talking to Grandma...I hope it's a really long relaxing day....because Thursday, we head back to New York....but ha, I get to see Paul again, yay!