Busy Day

I'm taking a moment while here at work to fill in the remainder of my day. I also enjoy a productive day and yesterday turned out to be a good one.

After leaving to go shopping, the weather turned out not to be too bad. The sun came out, although it stayed a little overcast and was still a little cool. I limited my purchases at Walmart and then hit Fareway big time. With the weather getting cooler, it was past time to stock up my pantry.

I got home and put everything away. Then finished the laundry, did the dishes, and got out my halloween decorations. By this time, the kids got home from school and there is always catching up to do when Ty arrives. The older girls decided to stay for the JV football game. I had to pick them up around 8.

I warmed up the leftover chili from the night before for supper and made cornbread to go along with it. The chili didn't turn out as good as we usually make it. We only had a can of Rotel tomatoes to put in it and that made it extra spicy hot, which I don't like. We were also out of chili beans, so we substituted black beans, which I love. Good thing I stocked up because now I have plenty of the ingredients that I normally use.

Well, maybe I'll add more later, for now I have to go.

Weekend fun?

I'm finally getting a chance to sit down and write about my weekend. Today is a typical drizzly fall day and I'm off work. As soon as, I finish, I need to get to the store and stock up before the kids get home from school.

I apologize now. I did not get my camera out of the bag!! If the weather is nice, I promise to do it this weekend as the leaves are quickly changing and it will be beautiful.

We took off around 10:30 on Friday morning after packing up our bags and taking Eddie to the vet for boarding. We find it easier to do that than try to get a babysitter for him every time we are gone for the weekend. Although, I wish he didn't have to be in a kennel most of the time. And, I'm sure he doesn't like it either as he is used to moving about freely. So, we get everything loaded and head off for a beautiful ride. We mapped out our route, taking some roads we haven't yet been on. We have found that going to central Iowa, especially north central, is not one of our favorites. It is just too flat and windy. We arrive in time to take off and do some errands before our friends have to play in a coed softball league.

This couple is so busy. I really think they have too many irons in the fire because they are always meeting themselves coming and going. She was planning a 70th surprise birthday party for her mother, meanwhile also trying to keep up with their busy schedules. After the softball game, which was entertaining, and luckily they just play for fun, because their team really wasn't very good, we head to the other side of Ames to meet up with my friends brother. He has flown into town from Las Vegas to attend the birthday party. We visit with them at his friends house for a while and then decide we need to get back to their house and get to bed at a decent time as we had a lot planned for the next day.

Bright and early the next morning at 6:30 am, Dan and Brian head out to meet the mother of his oldest daughter's boyfriend to pick up his daughter. They have about an hour and a half drive to meet him halfway. She lives up near us, but since we were riding the motorcycle, we couldn't very likely bring her along with us, which we have done in the past. Meanwhile, JoJo and I are getting up to go to her gym for a workout. We spend a killer (for me anyway) hour working out and then spend half an hour in the sauna. I haven't sweated that much in ages. Whew! Ok, so you gotta understand that my friend's clock does not run the same as anyone elses. She is forever misjudging time and crams everything she can in, with no sense of how long it will actually take to get it all done. So, we are about 10 minutes late for the workout and then as we are finishing our sauna she looks at the clock and says we need to get home take a shower and be to Ames by 9:00 for her facial appt. The clock says 8:45. Now mind you, it is going to take us a few minutes to get home, take a shower and then it is about a 10 minute drive to Ames. She is thinking we can accomplish this. Yeah, right. So. nevertheless, we are 20 minutes late for her appt. I have some errands to run, but, I really don't want to go out in public with no makeup on and not having had a chance to do my hair. So, I decide to wait. I also have a facial appt but not for another hour and a half after hers. I'm not really sure why hers took so long, mine only took and hour. The facial is alright, but I much preferred the massage she gave to my face and shoulders. I caught myself dozing a couple of times as we had such a short night the night before. So, I get finished and find that my friend is nowhere to be found. I give her a call and she has gone shopping!! and getting her nails done!! Ugh. I'm starving, because by this time it is noon and I haven't eaten breakfast or anything all morning and she has ditched me. So, I decide if she is going to be a while, I'll walk over to a coffee shop that is not too far and get a sandwich and wait for her. I finish the sandwich, use the bathroom and buy a drink and she is just pulling up.

Then it is on to run around and pick things up from the party. Luckily she has gotten most of this while I was getting my facial. So, we are rushing around and she is brainstorming on what we have to get yet. She gets a call from one of her daughters who has a softball tournament of her own to go to. So, she arranges for another mom to pick her up and we also have to arrange to get another girl picked up. Meanwhile, during all of this, her other daughter also has a fishing outing for girl scouts, which her husband has to attend in between lining up the keg and doing some of the other errands for the party. See what I mean about meeting themselves coming and going. So, we have picked up the odds and ends, drop them off the party location and now it is midafternoon. She has to attend at least one of the softball games for the first daughter and Brian and I are worn out by this time. So, we lay down for a nap before we have to get ready for the party. Oh, and it felt good too. I could never spend every weekend on that schedule. Weekends for me are supposed to be relaxing.

The party is a hit. Her mother is thoroughly surprised and is elated that her son and his wife also showed up to surprise her from Vegas. Everybody pitches in for clean up and we head out of there to their garage where a bunch of us hang out and have a few drinks and share stories.

The next morning we get up late. The youngest daughter of our friends, she is 10, has decided that she wants to make us all french toast for brunch. It turns out really well. By then, noontime is closing in on us and the weather is not looking so good. We decide we had better hurry and pack up to go. The sky is overcast and cool and looks like it could possibly rain on us. Luckily, it did not. The further we got north, the more the sun came out to warm us. Luckily we had our heavy leathers on too. The sun was warm, but the air was much cooler than a couple of days before. I was wearing a sweatshirt and then just a tshirt that day. But, this day was long sleeves and warm jackets. I hadn't brought my heavy leather jacket though, which would have been much warmer. We took a different route home, which I enjoyed much better than the few days before. I think we will use that route again. It was 4 pm by the time we reached West Union and dropped off Dan's daughter. By the way, Dan rode his motorcycle with us to take his daughter home. Too bad, he had to ride his home alone. At least the weather, was nicer than when we began.

Since, we were in town, we had to stop by his daughter and her boyfriends place for a short visit, then it was on to home, where we warmed ourselves with a pot of chili. Brian ate then fell asleep as he had to work that night. I busied myself with doing up the laundry and catching up on stuff on the computer. I never did get on to do this blog. Figured I'd save it for today. Which brings me to a close since I have to get that grocery shopping done. My list has grown quite long.

I'd really rather stay in today, since the weather is drizzly and cool. Oh, well, it's gotta get done. Catch ya next time.

I feel better

Didn't get any posting done lately and I'm sure my sister is ready for a new update. Wasn't feeling well on Wednesday evening. I think there was some virus going around where I work as my coworkers were all feeling yucky. It lasted about 3 days. Just felt achy and tired, no fever or other symptoms. Was glad to wake up on Thursday feeling better. Had to go to Ty's meeting with the DOT.

The meeting overall went well. Although, she did not lift the suspension of his license. Apparently the violation was much more serious than I thought. I went away from there ready to cry and feeling very humbled as a parent. I've always trusted him to make good choices and boys will be boys. But, apparently the statistics regarding boys in his age group are very high for being killed due to car accidents. Especially when there are other kids in the vehicle. This is one of those instances where we feel invincible and think it will never happen to us, but he was very lucky that someone was not killed or hurt. And, I'm taking it a little more serious than I did before. Although, I do believe he has learned his lesson. I still believe though that the he is paying a much larger penalty than someone who is caught drinking and driving. He paid $180 for the fines, his license is taken for a month, and he will be on a probationary driver's license for a year. On top of that, he will have to pay another $50 and file SR-22 insurance before he can get his license back again. Like I said, much more serious than I thought.

Then at noon, had to go to my annual health screening for work. We have to fill out a questionnaire, schedule the appt online, nurses from Gundersen in LaCrosse come down and take our height, weight, and CO2 levels and then tell us whether we have jumped enough hoops to qualify for a discount on our health insurance. We also were awarded a Gundersen windbreaker this year for doing it. I'm of course overweight. All that weight I lost being sick found it's way back. So, we can print off a risk assessment plan for how to improve, which I did and am working on. It will be more fruits and vegetables for me and get some more exercise in my week. And, I still qualified for a $360 discount off my health insurance for the year.

Went to lunch at the Townhouse next. I was sure to make better choices from the menu. Brian, however, stuck to his favorite pork fritter and fried cheese curds. Even though, he was classed as being obese on his health assessment. I wouldn't say he is obese, maybe overweight, but not obese. But, because of his height and weight, that is where he falls. At least on the very low side of it. I'm pushing him to exercise with me more too.

Then in the afternoon, we got a short ride around the countryside before we headed to volleyball games again. We planned to hit a couple of Koree's before going to Heather's but unfortunately they had some bus trouble and the game was postponed until 5 instead of 4 so we missed her. Went on to home where I had a message from Ty who was desperate to get into our house. Apparently, he had big plans to go to see his girl--friend. Not really sure why he had to get ready at our house, but the friend that he was taking him lives here in town. (Ty is at his dad's this week) So, we got him settled, changed our clothes and headed to Heather's volleyball game. The freshman didn't do too good. I missed the JV/Varsity reserve game as I was volunteered to help in the concession stand. Apparently, the junior class is in charge of it to raise money for prom and since I have a junior this year, I got to help. I hope to never have to do it again. I was pretty much in charge of making sure that the airheads that were working didn't mess up the money. In fact, the other mother that was working, didn't want to deal with the money either because she couldn't count back change. So, anyway, I snuck out as soon as I could to watch the Varsity play and I am glad I did. What an exciting game. I think the opposing team really thought they could whip up on us. But, the girls rose to the challenge and beat them 3 out of 4 games. It was really exciting.

So, now I better get off this thing and get packed and ready for our riding trip. I will try and remember to get my camera out of the bag and get some pictures posted. This weekend won't be as pretty as the next couple though. I hope to especially get some good pics in the next couple weeks as the leaves change.

We ride

Finally got to ride for a little while tonight. The weather was warm and a little breezy, but it felt so good to get out and let go a little. Believe it or not, Brian and I have some of our best talks when we ride. May be hard to believe considering how loud our bike is, but I just lean into him and talk and he turns his head and talks back. Most of the noise from the bike goes behind us anyway. Ask anyone who has followed us.

Today was one of those days that reminds me that I really do need a few days off. The clinic where I work has been under construction for the past year and is finally coming to a close, but the worst has come before the best. Everyday, we hear the complaints from patients on how hard it is to get in the place and where can we park. Plus, for the past few weeks, we haven't a had a full week go by where either the computer has gone down or the phones have not worked properly. If you had an employee like that, wouldn't you fire them?? Kinda how I feel about our computer system.

I also believe that NE Iowa contains some of the most ignorant people in the world. Of course, I haven't been around that much, but boy some people are just stupid. You wonder how they remember to breath everyday. I certainly have my occasional 'brain farts' but.....wow. I guess that is what you get when you work in customer service most of your life. You meet all kinds.

Family

Just got back from Heather's game. They played Indy and who should be in the hall when we arrive but my cousin Kelly and aunt Michelle. We sat with them on the opposing side, but cheered for our team, of course. It was good catching up. Spotted Ty across the way and texted him that #15 was his cousin. He says "why do I have so many cousins that I don't know?" I say, "because I do!" Funny. Also, discussed the fact that she will be turning 40 next week and that reminds me just how old I am getting. Although, I have another year and a half to go. Guess I better hurry and get busy trying to accomplish all those things I wanted to do before I got OLD!!

The week ahead will be a busy one. She has another game tomorrow night, but is away and we pretty much told the girls that we would only make the away games this year. Wednesday night choir and then another home game on Thursday. Thursday, in itself will be a busy one. Meet with the DOT in the morning to discuss Ty's "ghost surfing" episode, gotta go back to work, but just to do a health screening, then go to the game in the evening. Friday is a fun day!! Weather permitting, it will be riding the motorcycle. I can't wait!! The weather is still warm and the leaves are changing. It should be great! Will be riding to central IA to see friends who are throwing a surprise 70th for her mother. Gotta pick up some gag gifts on the way. She is such a fun lady and will be like gagging a friend my age rather than a 70-year old. Hopefully, Saturday we can ride a little with our friends down there before the party and then ride home again on Sunday. I am so looking forward to having a long weekend. I even have Monday off.

I really should take a week off for vacation. There are somedays where everyone at work can just grate on your nerves. The patients, the coworkers, everything. Hopefully, this weekend will help me to recharge and be fresh and ready to face another week. It really is hard to be nice all the time.

The kids are at their other parents this week, so hope to update this a little more for the week.

Weekend update

I'm taking the opportunity at a chance alone to add yet another post. The kids are still asleep and it isn't quite ready to get them up and ready for Sunday School. Today is the first day for the year. I like the later hour much better. Because we share a minister with another small local church they alternate church times each year. Last year church was at 8:30 am with Sunday school following. This year Sunday school is at 9:20 and church is following at 10:30. This allows us all to sleep in a little from our weekday schedules, yet we still have a purpose for getting up for the day. Not that we don't on Saturdays, it's just that the older 2 teenagers like to sleep most of the mornings away.

This weekend, however was an exception for Tyler. He went to bed early on Friday night and was up earlier than usual on Saturday morning. The loss of his license for the month has put a damper on his social life. He actually spent the whole weekend at home with us. Although his cell phone kept him in touch with everyone. Namely a certain girl.

Ok, so let's back up a little and go back a couple days. KJ had a volleyball game on Thursday. It has been amazing to watch these girls grow up in such a short time. Last year they were fumbling first time seventh grade players and this year more experienced 8th graders. And not just a chosen few, but all of them. I can't wait to see what they do when they reach high school. KJ, I am glad, has a few more athletic skills than her mother, or at least she does in volleyball. My niece, however, reminded me of myself. She was a go-getter, but the ball went everywhere, much like me when I play volleyball. Which is why I never played competitively in school. Just in the backyard with her father when it was just him and I. I'm sure her skills will also improve with experience.

Back, to KJ. Brian was doubtful upon seeing the size of the opposing team that the girls could beat them. But, boy did I love rubbing it into him when they beat them 4 out of 5 games!! With the 'scrubs' as he likes to call them, losing the 4th game by only 2 pts and then beating their better players in the 5th game. HA! take that!

Well, Friday rolls around and the football game is away so we decide to just hang out at home with the kids. We decided that it would just be a family weekend for a change. No friends over or going to someone elses. I don't mind them doing it sometimes, but it gets to be an everyweekend thing and it gets tiresome when your home sanctuary is invaded. (I don't think they get to do it much at all at their other parents) I really wish we had a bigger home, so that I could send them to the basement or off into another side of the house. It's not that I don't want them around, I just wish for them to have their own space to hang out. A family room or game room all their own and another where we can be too. It was really needed last weekend as we watched the Iowa/Iowa State game while the girls were wrestling with each other on the floor. This would have been a great opportunity to send them somewhere else. Even though it was funny watching them.

Saturday morning comes around and this is always my opportunity to make a big breakfast. I gave up making them during the week long ago when the kids became big enough to do their own and I got tired of trying to do it and then having them wait until the last minute to get up and then not eating what I made them anyway. So, they began making their own toast or frozen waffles or pouring their own bowl of cereal. I reserved pancakes, muffins, eggs and sausage/bacon for the weekends. I've gotten really good, thanks to Brian, at making a breakfast pizza. It dirties alot of pans, but it is soooo good. And since my kitchen is so small, I can wash the dishes as I go. Anyway, this Saturday morning was one of those times when I was trying to get Brian to make up my mind on what to make for breakfast and he wasn't getting the job done. So, I decided that I'd try my hand at making the fixin's for breakfast burritos. Turned out pretty good. Although, Ty and I were the only ones that actually ate them as burritos. I also made plain eggs as I knew that the picky girls wouldn't eat anything with peppers and onions in it. Oh , and some good crispy hashbrowns.

It's finally getting late and I'm trying to get myself into the shower but the phone rings, so I'm discussing the call with Brian and then the doorbell rings. It's a boyscout selling popcorn. Not a clue who the boy is but I decide that he is the first to come to my door, so he gets my business. Although, I can't understand why someone would let their child come to the door with crusty snot and food all over his face. Especially while in a boyscout uniform. But, then I find out who he belongs to and then I understand. They take care of their home the same way. I get him squared away and start for the shower again. (I really hate answering the door in my pj's) I realize my daughter has beaten me to the shower. And, then the doorbell rings again. Oh, for Pete's sake!! It's AJ and Amy and they have come to sell popcorn too!! Well, it's Brian's turn to fork over the dough. $20 for popcorn, ouch! I guess it's for a good cause. And, if I had known my nephew was a boyscout, I would have just gotten from him even though it is really hard to say no to young kids even with snot-crusted noses.

I finally get my shower taken and chores around the house done with lots of delegating to the kids. KJ pouting and grouching the whole way. By this time, it's mid afternoon and we decided to get movies to watch for the evening. It is so much cheaper doing it that way then trying to pay for the 6 of us to go and get popcorn, treats, and pop. Besides we decided to get out our fryer which we purchased last winter. We got chicken which I cut into strips, HUGE sweet onions, and some cheese curds. We breaded them all ourselves and dipped into the fryer, learning tricks as we went. It was fun, but of course not really good for my triglycerides. We learned that you really need a good wet and dry coating to make the batter stick, one large onion was more than enough, (I didn't even cut up the second and we will still be eating the leftover rings today) one pound of chicken was enough, and don't dump the chicken all in at once, they really stick together.

Enough rambling for the morning. I need to get the kids started showering. I've finally figured out how to add pictures, although, I do not have one of Heather.

As I proofread through this, I realize it is a lot about food. I hope that my future rambling aren't all about food. Even though I enjoy it. Brian and I both do, cooking and eating together, not just motorcycling. Oh, we did get a short ride in around town Friday night too. After getting the lawn mowed we needed to cool off. Ok, now I really do need to get the girls up.

Finally an update

I have finally gotten a chance to sit down and actually add another blog. For you my sister, I do not always have the chance to sit down at the home computer by myself to do this uninterrupted. Mostly on the weeks that the kids are here. Ty has become so addicted to his Xbox that he had me subscribe him online so that he can play with his friends remotely. This means he has to hook up to our internet connection and that means no one else can use it for the hours that he plays. And, since I have the day off, I have taken the opportunity to sit down and type. This may be long. :)

And, as I say that, I am interrupted by the dog who needs to go out to do his business.

Ty--for those that don't know, has finally gotten himself a girlfriend. You will find him endlessly with cell phone in hand, texting her at any time of the day. Unfortunately, since he has lost his license for the next month, and she goes to another school, he won't be seeing much of her, unless he is driven around by one of his 'cronies', as Brian likes to call them. But, I think they pretty much owe him anyway. He has done more than his share of carting them around.

KJ--busies herself with school activities, the current one being volleyball. In fact, we have a game to go to this afternoon. It is a home one, so that is the one we will go to this afternoon. Since I have the day off, I will go early to watch my niece. She also has a cell phone now, but mean mom has limited her to 250 texts a month. (so far, so good) It helps that they are in school now.

Then that brings to the blending part:
Heather--Brian's 3rd daughter and one of the two that lives with us. She is also in volleyball this fall and also has a game this evening, which is away, so we have chosen to save the gas money and go to mostly home games this year. It was easy last year when they were both in jr high and games were the same day in the same location. Can't wait until next year. Not sure what we would do if Ty was in more activities. Heather has informed her Dad that she will not be going out for basketball, which I knew was inevitable. She is not exactly the overly athletically ambitious type, so I figured by the time high school rolled around she would be done with that. She really likes volleyball though and that is why she chose to stay out for that. And, she apparently has a talent for singing, so there will be choir activities to attend.

Hal--Brian's 4th and youngest daughter being just 7 is in the 2nd grade this year and just continues to annoy the older girls. She has been the biggest challenge as she doesn't really know how to act her age. She wants to hang out with the older girls and act older, yet from what we can tell, she is spoiled by her mother and treated like a small child. But, then she also lets her choose her own bedtime, which seems to be late into the night. At least we can somewhat offer her some structure and guidance at our home. She has grown physically by leaps and bounds this past year. Things that KJ grew out of last year, she can wear now. (but KJ is not real crazy about passing on her clothes to her). She would rather pass them on to her cousins.

Bridget & Abbie--Brian's 2 oldest girls and the biggest challenges of all. Actually, Bridget has really come around and is maturing the way she should. She has even taken to hugging me the last couple of times she has been to see us. She has a steady part-time job and is attending classes at the local community college. She lives with her on again-off again boyfriend which we are not real crazy about, but yet, I have seem some of the good that he has done for her. That doesn't count the many tattoos and piercings. Then there is Abbie. Believe it or not she was the one I liked the best at first. But, not so much, since she called me a f'ing b****. She has been affected the most by her mother and father's divorce. And, with her rebel personality, that hasn't been much fun.

The most recent difficulties with her are the fact that she called a week or 2 ago to ask her Dad for money to do her hair so that she could have her mother take her senior pictures. Ok, this is coming from a girl that should have had the pictures taken last fall like a normal senior and then graduated last spring. But, she messed that up by not attending and now is trying to finish at the local community college by taking alternative high school classes. Which is actually what she was doing last year. This just means that she can take the courses at her own pace, taking about 16 hours a week. She was getting A's in the classes she attended and even made the honor roll. But, she was dropped from the program last spring because she couldn't get her lazy behind out of bed and to the classes. So, frustrating. If she would have just followed the rules at our house and lived here, she could have benefited by some guidance. Instead she chose to live between her mother and her sister's houses or with friends for as long as her friend's could tolerate her mooching. She still has a lot of learning about the real world. So, anyway, we made the hair appointment for her and paid for it ($56 for a hair color!!). At least we know that it went for that and not more beer and cigarettes.

Then there is Brian, my hero. The one who enjoys spending time with me and has shown me the world on a motorcycle. The one who has helped me through my medical illness. (and no I haven't forgotten what Mom and Dad did for me either) The one that amazes me everyday with the things he does without me asking him to and is always thinking exactly what I'm thinking. Is that what it is like to have a soulmate? If not, I'm guessing it is the closest thing to it. Ok, so he isn't as perfect as that, but close. He is still a man after all. :)

I'll try to post pictures later when I have figured it out.

First time

Ok, so this is my second time trying to write my first blog. I've been inspired by my sister to start this. I've always wanted to start a journal and I guess this would be the modern day version of the handwritten journal. I'll be venting my frustrations with trying to blend two families and dealing with exes.

I also hope to use this as a way of sharing my motorcycling adventures and love for it. I've seen more of Iowa in the past year since starting to ride than I have in the last 38 years. God has blessed us with some beautiful country in NE Iowa and we really take it for granted when we don't get out and take a good look at it.