Life got away

Life certainly got away from me.

I honestly thought that taking on a child who has lived with us before could not possibly be that difficult. Wow, was I wrong. We had to work through school enrollment, immunizations that were not up to date, driver's license and getting a job. The dear child had to learn and test every rule that was put before him.

I am happy to report that we have all survived. I think.

This photo is one of the first real smiles I saw on the kid. He came with a ton of baggage and still struggles with it. But he really seems to be settling. His birthday is tomorrow and that coupled with the Holidays are proving to be rather rough for him.

This is a picture of him at work. I found an ad in the paper for someone that needed a hand around a barn with feeding and cleaning the stalls. It is proving to be the best job for him. The barn takes on rescue animals, horses mainly, that owners no long care to take care of. This boy and the horses seem to have a lot in common.

There it is. That's a driver's license certificate. Necessary item for a 16 year old boy!

I hope he continues to find a home here in this house and feels the love we have for him.

The additions

We have some new additions to our family. Nathan is our nephew who decided for himself that he wanted to come live with us. He has stayed with us many times throughout his life so it just feels natural to have him in the house once more. I would have thought it would be hard to give up the spare room I use for my work or all of the free time I enjoy with just one child but it just works. Somehow, you just make the room and find the time. He really is a good kid and is eager to make the most of this opportunity.


Within a couple of weeks of Nathan moving in, we adopted Mary. She came to us through a rescue organization. We were told that she came from a puppy mill that was trying to create designer dogs. This litter didn't quite turn out as was hoped and so all of the puppies ended up in a shelter. She is very sweet and extremely playful. Unfortunately, she has a boat load of puppy ailments. One is a bladder infection. We should just name her "Tinkles".

I love my son

I really do love my son. His belief in me never wavers
He has listen to me complain about 40 for a while now (and I'm not even there yet). He's heard me complain about gray hair, muscle strain and weight gain.
He's downstairs right now watching the Olympic trials in swimming. It seems a 41 year old woman is heading to Beijing. My son felt that I needed to know, as if this piece of information might encourage me some how. "See," he so lovingly proclaimed, "If she can do it, so can you!"
Now, I just didn't have the desire to crush is faith in me by explaining to him that this woman is an athlete who has been training for this event her whole life. I however have been...hum...not training for the Olympics my whole life.
I guess the next time I fear that I will see one of my own lungs come out of my body in my attempts to get air after cresting a "hill" on my bike, I will think of this 41 year old Olympian and remind myself that I am actually younger than her.

Great Day Camping at Home

We are officially still on our vacation at home. With one parent at home and one on a business trip, home needs to be fun and special. Yesterday we took in the town. Not much to take in. It's not very big. But the train went through twice while we were there. That's huge to a kid. So is dinner at the ice cream shop followed up with one huge ice cream for dessert.Today was fun as well.

The day started in a rush. We slid into church as the priest was coming down the aisle. That's a first for us. We over slept. I have to say, I've never gone to church before with sheet wrinkle marks still on my cheek. After church, we got into the Legos. Those are the most perfect toy. Then we spent some time out on the swings and driving cars through the dirt. It was all about my son today. What a great way to spend the day.This evening just after the child was tucked into bed, I went out onto the deck out back to watch the fireflies sparkle in the woods. It's always one of my favorite things to watch on a summer night.

It really isn't hard to imagine that we are on vacation right now. It's all about looking around and seeing your own town, your own yard, and your own home as one of the best vacation spots in the world. It's cheap and the kids will remember it forever.

Set aside the laundry, the dishes, and the work that followed you home from the job. Go on vacation with your kid. It's worth it.

The tabloids

I'm really not a big fan of tabloids other than to read the head lines as I am checking out at the grocery store. To be honest with you, they confuse the heck out of me. I can never remember who is with who? Who is a being portrayed as a bad guy? Who is in rehab and who is pregnant?

I picked up a People magazine from the library the other day. Now I am really confused because it is from last month. Same drama though, just different people.

I just can't imagine what it must be like to have every move documented it pictures with absurd head lines.

Could you imagine the head line to this one if I were famous. "Celebrity laughs as she nearly ends her life by driving her car over a cliff." In actuality, the driveway was solid ice and the back end of the car was sliding, ever so gracefully, toward the drop off along the edge of the drive

Or how about this one:
"Mr. Big Movie Star attempts to disguise himself to have a private walk outside." In actuality, this is how my husband looks when he goes out in the winter to clear the snow from the driveway.

Now this one could actually work for the People magazine that I have at home now. One of the articles featured celebrities without make up. Honestly, that's the norm for me. Now the problem is, some other tabloid would pick it up and run it with the headline of, "Super Star is secretly a closet slob!" Well...that would be true as well I guess.

I'm famous!!

This is today's Pajama Diaries from the paper. Yes, I have been known to scrub the unlikeliest of household items to avoid working on certain logos. I had told the cartoonist behind the pen of this strip about my ugly logo avoidance tactics and she worked it into a strip.

Terri Libenson does an excellent job representing not only work at home moms but moms in general. Check out some of her sample strips here: http://www.pajamadiaries.com/samples.php

Summer Vacation

Ahh, summer vacation. For me that means I get to sleep in an extra hour. It also means that I get about an hour of quite to myself as soon as I wake up. What a treasure that is.

No major plans for this summer other than camping in the driveway and taking full advantage of local fairs and attractions. With the gas prices they way they are, trips to the Upper Peninsula are a thing of the past.

Today's major plan involves Legos. I do not even try to hide the fact that I LOVE legos. With two older brothers, it's a fact that I was born and raised with legos. Not surprisingly, my son has quite a collection. The plan is to clean up the mess that's there, vacuum the carpet and create a whole new mess. I picked up a garbage bag full of legos at a garage sale last year and we have yet to fully sort through it. My son is excited about the potential of Star Wars legos. I am excited to get anything neat that I can build a house with. That's right, I'm a house builder. Give me tons of legos and I will build a house every time. I wanted legos for Christmas this year. There was a neat house set out in the stores at Christmas. I guess my husband thought I was kidding because I got an MP3 player instead. He wrapped it in a huge box with misc legos. The size and sound was right, I was giddy to think I was getting legos. Yes, for a little while I was actually disappointed that he gave me an MP3 player instead.