Grey hair

As I was getting myself ready for the day, I noticed a bright white hair showing in my copper colored ones. I know they are there, but I really don't like that they stand out so much more than they used to. I showed it to Brian and asked how I could miss such a stand out hair in all the red. Well, of course he has to point out that there is about 10 of them there. What!?!? Of course, he was kidding, but there were a few more than the one that so strikingly stood out to me. And of course, I had to investigate further to see if there really was more than the one. Mostly I found blonde or lighter red hairs mixed in there, but yes indeed, there were more white ones than I like to think about. I don't know if it is just because of my age or not, but I seem to notice alot more of them in the 2 years since my illness. I think that may have contributed to some of it, but I know that my genetics have something to do with it also. Grandpa John was white for as long as I can remember and I think mom's would be too if not for some help in covering it up.

Not so long ago, I had an elderly lady come up to me in WalMart to compliment my hair color. I've kind of become accustomed to it as it happens often. She asked if it was natural and proceeded to tell me how hers was that color once. And, it was obvious that the color in her hair was not a natural red. :) My great aunt Pat once told me that hers was my color too and that it just went white/grey overnight. Oh, joy! just what I wanted to look forward to.

I guess aging is inevitable, but after so many years I have become accustomed to having a beautiful shade of red. This, despite the fact that I hated it as a child. I guess the other kids were just jealous and felt they had to call me names to take the focus off themselves. I know that now as an adult, but it hurt as a child. I guess now I can look forward to experimenting with other colors, but I would really love to keep the color I have, cause only God could have done such a great job of getting the color just right. And, there are so few of us redheads that I have to remind other little redheads of how special they are.

I lived

Funny how we stress over having company and worrying about making sure things go ok. Only to find it was not that bad. Everyone enjoyed each others company and Bridget's boyfriend said the food was awesome.

I was pretty proud of myself with the food. I cooked a turkey myself and then made turkey/dressing sandwiches with it. A coworker gave me the recipe and it was really easy. I had looked up the recipe online, but the one I found was really complicated. I didn't use as many of the ingredients as she did though, because her recipe called for a 16-20 lb. turkey and mine was only about 11.5 lbs. Besides, I have plenty of leftovers with what I had. I also made baked beans, which I never have gone wrong with. Guess I get that from my mother, she always made great baked beans. Throw in some chips and Kay's cake and it was a good meal. Plus, there is lots of cake leftover. I've had a couple pieces already and there is still enough for the kids to have some when they come back tomorrow.

Brian's ex even let us have the girls over for lunch without a hassle. I noticed a little tension between his sister-in-law and sister at first, but then things seemed to ease as we all joined the conversation. So glad to have everyone there together again. Since the death of Brian's nephew, the family has had some troubles and I hope today some fences were mended.

So, now my house is still clean after having company and I can relax for a few days before I have to start over again.

Cleaning

I've decided that I need to entertain more. I've been cleaning all morning and making food for tomorrow. (Heather is getting confirmed) I've always thought my house was fairly clean, but boy when I know that someone is coming over, I have looked really closely in the corners, etc. and I have some killer dust bunnies growing. Yuck! So I have come to the conclusion that if I entertain more, I will clean better. Then maybe I won't be as stressed when I have people over, I will become accustom to it. It is also a good thing that I did a lot of cleaning last week. I don't feel that I have to pack it all in today. Plus, when Brian wakes up (he worked last night) he will help me. I'm assigning him the entryway. He can clean around all those deer antlers, they are his after all.

I suppose, now that I have eaten and refueled, I should get back to work on the next project.

Mom and Dad

Thanks to my sister for posting on her blog and reminding me that it was Mom and Dad's anniversary today. I remembered to call her this evening to wish them a happy day. Sounds like Dad is gonna make them some beer butt chicken. You'd think I'd remember that they have been together 39 years considering I will be turning 39 next spring, Ugh! One year closer to the big 40. Yes, Jules, that means you will soon be 30. Ha! I would love to go back to 30, I didn't mind turning 30 at all. Maybe I will say that about 40 when I turn 50, and 50 when I turn 60. :) My good friend Ruthie, who just turned 70, reminded me that it isn't so bad, cause you know more when you get older and you can sit back and just watch people and just know stuff. Does that make sense?

I have the news on as I type this and am amazed. A couple weeks ago when we went on our last trip for the season, we went through a little town called Balltown, where there was a big line of people waiting to enter a restaurant there. A couple nights after that we learned that this place was kind of famous in that the previous building had burned down and had just recently opened after being rebuilt. They also said how good the food was there and I have heard some other people since then talk about how good it was. So, just yesterday, I was telling my good friend Tracy and her husband that we should think about going there to eat some night. Well, she emails me this morning and says the place burned down again!! Can you believe it? Sure enough, I have the news on and that is what they said. Guess someone doesn't want them to be in business. One of the ladies I was talking about said they had just been there on Tuesday of this week and there was a long line to eat there then. It must have been good, too bad we may have to wait to get to try it out, if we get to at all.

Well, Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. I love you.

I tried to add a picture from their wedding day, but I can't seem to figure out how to transfer it from my scanner program to my post.

Death and Affirmation of Faith

Not sure how to title this one. Maybe I should start doing that after I have written my post. As I look back, my posts seem very long. Maybe because I don't write everyday.

Found out this week, that one of our former PE teachers and long time coach passed away. I think anyone that attended Valley in the 30 years that he was there can relate to all of the games that he taught us and Mr Mack's rules of play. Mostly the rules that he made up for good sportsmanship during class. Like, never throwing the volleyball over the net to the opposing team when it was their turn to serve. Brian and I are going to attend the visitation tonight. I feel obligated and so does he since we went to school with his children and now our kids go to school with his grandkids. Also, we have grown accustomed to seeing him and his wife at every one of the grandkids' sporting events. And, joking with them when we disagree with a call made by the referee.

We decided last night that we will host a gathering of his family after Heather's confirmation on Sunday. Ugh! Nothing like making last minute plans. We have been going back and forth on whether we would do it or not because her mother couldn't make up her mind. And, she is known for waiting until the last minute. So, I guess I will be spending the next couple of days stressing and straightening the house for company. He reminded me that it wasn't that bad. But, you know how it goes when you have different company over and you just think you need everything perfect. Luckily, I had done a major cleaning last weekend, so I don't have to do so much, just the things that I didn't get done like the front entry. That is one that I put off because it seem so be such a big project. I think I will enlist Brian's help with that because most of the problem is dusting around his deer antlers. Yuck. I already have most of the shoes put away or arranged anyway. But, will need to vacuum. Then, there is always the bathroom and picking up the little clutter piles that I put off until they bother me too much to stand any longer.

Well, I better find something productive to do here at work. Some afternoons are kinda quiet, so I can get away with this. :)

Spending the day with my kids

Ok, so I haven't been on in a while either. Too many distractions at home sometimes. Actually, it's hard to get on the computer when Ty is connected online with his Xbox. He would play all day if I let him. I did get him off long enough to help Brian to mow the yard and rake up the leaves on Sunday afternoon. And, he helped me move the couch. I got a wild ambition to rearrange the living room. I like it, it seems a little cozier. I hope I can leave it that way for the holidays too. Will just have to find a new place for my tree.

Well, yesterday I took my kids shopping. I figured that Brian would be sleeping most of the day and he already had planned to take his daughter to get her haircut. I won't even go into the pain that turned out to be. But, shopping with my kids was actually pretty fun. We all kind of share the same sense of humor and they didn't even pick on each other as badly as they have in the past.

KJ needed basketball shoes and that is the main reason that we went. Of course, there were other things that I had to battle her against getting, because after all, she is my daughter and she enjoys shopping and getting new girlie things. Luckily, I held her off. Ty is the one who I thought needed things, but he said he had enough jeans to wear. I thought he might need some sweatshirts for the cooler weather, but he said that all he really needs is one, as long as, that one is clean. I did end up buying him one. Gotta love him. He is so easy to buy for.

We tried to stop by to get his license reinstated, but unfortunately, his dad hadn't gotten the SR-22 insurance filed soon enough, so he will have to go back and try later this week or wait until next week, when they are off for parent teacher conferences. I did have a chat about their report cards over lunch. They both said that they were doing well, even in the ones that I was a little worried about. I guess we will see for sure when I retrieve them. I'm glad that I don't really have to speak with their teachers much. They are basically good students. KJ struggles a little with organization and it usually takes one night of sitting out a game for her to get back on track. She doesn't like that much. And, neither do I.

Like I said, I really enjoyed the day with my kids. We laughed together, talked, and just all around had a good day. I have to enjoy them as much as I can before they are grown and moved away from me. I sometimes wonder if they talk with their dad as much as they talk with me. It seems they are starved for my attention when they come each week. Some days, when I get home from work, I can hardly break away to go to the bathroom, without them stopping me to share what they did the previous week. But, I wouldn't change it for the world. I love them and I have really enjoyed watching them grow into adolescents. They test my nerves sometimes, but I don't think I could ask for much better kids.

I was complaining about Brian's ex to them as we got home and of course, I was just blowing off steam. Ty looked at me and asked if I would like him and his friends to egg her house!! HA! I almost agreed to it if he wouldn't get caught, but of course, he said he was just kidding and I would never actually let him do that no matter how mad she would make me. That wouldn't be very Christian of me, would it. He just laughed. I hated to take them back to their dad after such a great day, but at least I got to spend the day with them rather than sending them off to school and me going off to work in the morning. That means the week without them will be that much shorter. Besides, they usually have to come back to my house for something anyway. Like, KJ's cell phone charger which is sitting on my dining room table waiting for her right now.

I suppose I had better wind things down here at work for the evening before I go home. It hasn't been too busy, I've only been interrupted in my typing a few times. :)

Teenagers, ugh.

I'm writing this on a chilly Saturday morning. Was tempted to stay in bed, but then the bedframe broke as I rolled over to give Brian a kiss. So much for sleeping in. Actually, I had been awake for awhile, engrossed in a book that my daughter loaned to me, "Twilight". I think her grandmother bought the series of books for her on her trip to Colorado to visit her aunt and cousins. I also finally acquired the Chronicles of Narnia series back that her aunt bought for the kids awhile ago. I'll have plenty of reading material for winter.

Brian, who is known for sleeping in on Saturday, because in his excuse 'I'm a third shift worker', ended up having to get up to fix the bedframe. While he did that, I made my usual Saturday morning breakfast pizza. It turned out good, as usual, even though I cooked the second one a little long. We were engrossed in one of the movies that we rented last night. We/I only made it through 2 of the 3. His girls went upstairs and he fell asleep during the 2nd movie, "Iron Man". That is what they are watching at this time. Ty went off to work with his dad this morning and KJ is sleeping off her short night. She went to a Luther League lock-in at UNI last night and she said she didn't get to sleep until 6/6:30 this morning. Then, they left to come home around 8. She fell asleep almost immediately when she got home. Right now, she is in the middle of the living room floor as the others watch the movie. Hal is coloring quietly by herself. Which, if you listen closely you would wonder if she is actually by herself, because she is usually talking to herself.

Heather is watching the movie, but I think she is secretly seething due to her current exile into grounding. Early yesterday morning, around 3:30 am, her mother left a voice mail on her father's phone stating that someone had left an anonymous message on her home phone. The message said that Heather and another girl or girls had been out drinking at her last sleepover and was getting drunk. She stated that we shouldn't let her spend the night with a friend that she was planning to stay with on Friday night and that we didn't need to have a daughter that was getting drunk and getting hurt or raped or whatever. Kind of ironic, considering the older 2 have already done all of these things, with maybe the exception of getting raped. Or at least, I don't know if they have ever been raped, I do know, however, that they have been sexually active for quite some time. Heather, is only 14, and I was just telling Brian the night before that I felt that we were making progress with her and that she was so far, making some good choices in her life. Well, anyway, her mother also took away the new phone that she had bought her last weekend. As we were watching the movie last night, I noticed that she was holding her old phone, which I didn't think probably worked. I pointed it out to Brian. Soon after, she retired upstairs to her room and her sister followed. Then Hal came back and I asked what Heather was doing. She said she was talking on her phone. I said where and she pointed upstairs. I had Brian, go up to take it away from her and come to find out, she had taken his phone since hers did not work and was talking to her boyfriend on that!! Can you believe that? What nerve. In checking, she had been on there about 10 minutes before he took it away from her.

I seriously, do not like being the mother of teenagers. I don't think my nerves can take it. I don't even want to think what Ty has done when he is out. I don't think he has been drinking, but I most likely may be wrong. He has had plenty of opportunity, but I pray that he has made the right choices and has abstained for now. He basically has a pretty good class that is not prone to partying and drinking, but we all know that can change. And, he does have it in his genes. I have preached to both children how I feel that if it is a choice they choose to make, that they at least wait until they are adults and are able to deal with the consequences that can arise from making bad choices. This also applies to sex. And, he is a teenage boy and I do know that the opposite sex is on his mind quite often lately. Heaven help me. For some reason people keep bringing it up that I should be cautious that he may get himself into trouble in that way too. Once again, I hope he waits until he is an adult and can deal with the consequences that can arise from that subject too.

Well, it is after 12:00 and I still have not taken a shower. I have lots of stuff I want to get done this weekend, to prepare for winter around the house, and since I have seen this movie already, I should get going on some of it. Luckily, I am off on Monday, so that gives me an extra day to do things. I did spend some time on Thursday night doing some vacuuming and scrubbing of floors, so that helped some. But, I'm sure I'll take another break when the next movie starts. I'll probably be done showering by then.

Love to all.

The week ahead

Well, here it is Monday again and we have another busy week ahead. Tonight is pretty quiet, although we are a little disappointed that tonight was the for the concert that Heather needed the dress for. If we had know about it, we would have attended.

Tomorrow night the girls both have volleyball games. KJ is away and it is her last. She was a little disapointed that I said we wouldn't be there, but Heather's game is home and it is Parent's night. Brian and I are hoping that only the senior parents have to walk out on the court as we do not want to have to deal with his ex for that. As she said in one of her many rants, I don't want to talk to her because I can't deal with it. And, yes she is right, because I shouldn't have to. If she was agreeable and not so defensive all the time I wouldn't have to.

Wednesday night the kids have a cookie sales kick off for their fundraising for the Luther League convention in July of next year. For those of you that I have not informed, the 3 oldest are going to the Luther League convention in New Orleans next summer. Until then they have to raise the money for the trip by doing fundraising events throughout the year. So, if anyone is interested, they will be selling cookie dough. I'll fill you in on the details when I find out more after Wednesday.

I don't think anything is going on Thursday because it is the end of the volleyball season. Koree just reminded me that she is going to need basketball shoes and they should be starting practice already later this week. Time flies, huh.

Then it will be the weekend and who knows what we will do. I know I have to start getting this place ready for the winter. The camper needs to be winterized and there is plenty of other stuff to do. For now, I'm going to bed.

Full Moon Psychosis?

I said in an earlier post that I would sometimes post to rant about exes and today I have a rant. On Friday, Heather had asked her Dad if he would pay for half of a dress that she apparently needs for choir and also half of a new cell phone that she thinks she needs. Her phone still works it just broke a spring in the hinge. Well, recently Brian had asked her mother to pay for half of the down payment on a Luther League trip to New Orleans that will take place next summer. He also asked if she would pay half of the cost of a t-shirt and some other things that she wanted to be part of the volleyball team. Both times she refused. He also pays her child support and is also responsible for all of their school expenses.

Well, today she called again to ask if he would pay for half of the dress. He told her no, that he had paid for these other things and her mom would not pay half so he didn't feel obligated to pay half of these things. Well, of course he could hear her mother making threats in the background. He didn't feel that Heather should be put in the middle so he hung up.

Well, of course her mother calls back and leaves a voice mail, which states that he is a coward for hanging up the phone and not talking. Since he didn't answer that message she calls again. I answer it and am very angry at this point and tell her how she is the coward for not speaking to us when she saw us face to face the night before and also for putting Heather in the middle then hung up. Brian turned off his phone and she proceeds to leave 3 messages on his phone and one on mine. (We do have a home phone, but she never even calls that one). Each message she leaves is more psychotic and frenzied. I'm not an expert, but I swear we go through this about once a month or so, whether it has to do with the moon phases or just her manic phases. I don't know.

She went on to say what a bad father he is because he doesn't spend time with his children and that I must wear the pants in the family and tell him what to do, etc. What a nut! Oh, and she thinks she is the one that pays for everything, and that she is going to have his paychecks reviewed and try to get more child support because he makes more money than she does. I am hoping and praying that it backfires on her. I hope that a judge will see that she could make more money by getting a better paying job and working more hours and that he is paying more than enough considering that he has shared custody. They split like I do with my kids every other week. So, in a sense, he is paying for them to live here and at her house. Who is paying for everything here? Besides she signed a paper agreeing to accept the amount specified for child support and she has promised in the past to drop it if she and her current boyfriend got a house together. Well, they have since done that. I hope it doesn't come down to us having to get a lawyer, but we may have to fight to drop the child support all together or get full custody.

I am just so frustrated with it all and hope that by writing this I can express some of my anger in a more creative way rather than doing or saying something that I may regret.

Perfect Fall Day

Stopping at Barney's.





The view just past Osborne, we had to stop and wait for some road construction.




A bluff overlooking Guttenburg. The picture doesn't do justice to the colors.

Yesterday was the perfect day for a ride. We have done this ride in the past it is an emergency services ride that benefits St. Judes. This is their 3rd annual ride and each year it gets bigger. They couldn't have picked a better day for the ride. The leaves were at their peak of color. Unfortunately, I couldn't get pictures of the best colors because we were moving down the road. We found a new route that we will definitely do again. I can't believe we haven't done this route before on our own. We have been pretty much everywhere around NE Iowa. This route showed some beautiful scenery and then ran along a bluff overlooking the Mississippi river valley. It was awesome. There were tons of bikes out. It is a thrill to pass others and wave knowing they were enjoying the ride as much as we were.

Living with teenagers

I have been wanting to get on here and get another post done, but it has been another long busy week. I have had to come into work early every day too. We have started opening the clinic early for fasting bloodwork and this week was my turn to come in early and open up. So, my usual evening hours for being online have been cut short because I am too tired by then to think of anything to post. Right now I am sitting here at work, posting while I wait for the first patient to come in. So, it will be short.

KJ had another volleyball game last night and also one on Tuesday night. I just love watching her play. She has really gotten good and it makes me proud to watch her. You can tell that she loves it. And, Brian also loves to go and watch her play. Both girls had away games last night and he and I chose to go and watch KJ. Not that Heather isn't pretty good too, but KJ is so much more fun to watch (at least in my opinion). Heather has a good serve but she doesn't get as much action as KJ. I can't wait until they are all in high school and we can watch them all play. I think they will be very good by then.

I so enjoy watching the kids grow up even though their teen years are and will be trying, but they could be so much worse. Reassures me that I did do something right in raising them. KJ is still defining herself as a person, figuring out where she fits in, and which classmates and friends suit her best. Ty has moved on to different friends than he had when he was younger, some choices I am not so sure about, but I know that he knows what is right and trust that God will lead him to making the right decisions. He didn't even fight me this past Sunday about going to church. The last few he has argued with me about not wanting to go and wanting to sleep in, but this time he got right up. I guess it helps that church is at 10:30 now instead of 8:30. :) I wonder about his faith sometimes, but I guess time will tell.

Well, I better get to work and will probably post this evening and definitely soon after our ride tomorrow. The leaves have really changed colors and I hope to get some beautiful pictures along the river. Maybe I can get a friend to take our picture together with the bike too.

Beautiful Fall Day

Our ride yesterday was beautiful, but cool. We made sure to dress very warm as you can see from the pictures. Tracy had to stop at Dollar General, to get some warmer gloves to put under her thin leather ones and also a stocking hat for her head. I wore the nice camouflaged one that my mother knitted for me. It worked great. I also have a warm headband that can be used in different ways, yesterday I chose to wear it as a neckwarmer.

We were a little disappointed as our trip did not yield much for color. The leaves have not quite turned except on some of the north facing slopes. We hope our ride that is planned for next week will be prettier. The forecast also says that it will be cold. Around the 50's. Last year, on this same ride we were wearing short sleeves and it turned out to be 90 by the end of the day. Yesterday was in the mid-60's. Our faces were cold, by late afternoon it wasn't too bad.

I took a picture of the view from the side of our yard, where you can see that some of the leaves in town have changed, but the ones on the far hillside have not. Also, a couple of the pictures show that we indeed have leaves falling and will soon be raking. I've got one pumpkin in the yard as you can see, but need to get a couple more to add to my decor. If you look closely in the one picture with Brian's truck, you can see that we made a corn shock, from our sweet corn stalks, around the utility pole at the bottom of the driveway. I don't dare put any pumpkins near the end of the driveway though. I'm sure they would disappear and end up smashed on a roadway somewhere. The ones we grew last year, never did. Some people said they would but I think we are far enough back from the road that no one would dare try to get that close to the house.

I also added a nice picture of our motorcycle. It sits there so nice and shiny in our friends driveway. If you look in the background of that one, you will see pine branches laying on the ground. Their back door neighbor was at the top of that tree cutting them off. By the time we got back from our ride, he had the whole tree cut down. It was a very tall old pine tree. Our friends son said that his room would be alot brighter now without the shade of that tree there.

After our long ride we came home exhausted. Today, is cold and rainy. After church and Sunday school it will be a long lazy day inside watching movies with the kids. Ty, I'm sure will be back on the Xbox after I am finished posting this. They just finished off the leftovers in the fridge for lunch. I have a roast in the crockpot for supper and will probably also cook up the squash that I got from Brian's parents' garden. Will probably also have to make something else, as I don't think the kids like squash, except maybe Ty.

Busy week

I'm taking the moment to add another blog and fill everyone in on our busy week. I think it was Monday when I last posted. Tuesday evening I worked and maybe it was a short one then. Brian had a fire meeting on Wednesday night and I went to church choir practice. We are working on a new song for Thanksgiving service. It's interesting. I struggle a little because I have a hard time hearing due to the fact that most of the women in the group are over 65 and their voices are a little on the warbly side. Besides that, I don't read music. On this night, there were only a few people that showed. Mostly men, one alto and another soprano besides me. I really would prefer to sing alto as I can't sing the really high notes, but they are short on the sopranos. Well, the one soprano that shows up besides me happens to be my neighbor lady and she is a really nice lady, but her voice has passed it's prime. She even used to be the choir instructor in her earlier years. But, nowadays her voice is really warbly and it is really hard for me to know the right notes when she sits beside me and you all know how bad my hearing is, so I try really hard to hear the notes from the piano. Luckily we sit right in front of it.

On this particular night the flies also have taken to going into hibernation mode and must have decided I was a nice place to do that. They kept clinging to me and I felt like I was crawling with them. Blech!

On Thursday we went to Heather's volleyball game. That was a disappointment. The other team was much better than ours, all teams lost. Last night, we went to the football game and that was also a disappointment. I think they lost 41-8. Reminds me of when I was in school and our teams were really bad. This is sad considering only a few short years ago our guys were consistently in the playoffs. This has been a bad year. The guys haven't won a single game.

This morning, I am sitting her typing and listening to KJ and her friends randomly playing their ringtones. She had 4 girls spend the night after the game. She has really been struggling lately with finding out who her real friends are. I like this bunch much better than the ones she has spent time with in the past. I hope she sticks with these. I'm sure everyone woman can remember their early teen years struggling through puberty and figuring out who they are. Heather ended up staying the night with one of her friends. I'm not really crazy about her choice of friends either, but then her class doesn't have the best choices. KJ and her still get along like sisters and I hope it stays that way. Hallie decided to spend the night with her grandparents so she can play with her cousin today. Ty of course, decided he was going to stay elsewhere since we had a house full of girls.

Today, Brian and I are planning on riding with another couple who I hope will still be able to ride. They called last night to say that their bike was still in the shop being fixed. They are hoping to borrow one today. We really wanted to go leaf looking. The leaves are changing like crazy and Brian had a good route to take. We will be leaving later this morning, hopefully. And, yes, I am taking my camera. It's gonna be chilly too.

Well, the girls think I need to make them pancakes. I was planning on feeding them anyway. It was TJ's pizza of course last night. Didn't take long to finish off 2 larges. Especially when big brother and his friends decided to help themselves.

Will post pictures later.