Monday

I woke to the sounds of spring in Iowa. A good old thunderstorm. Is there any sweeter sound? I don't think so.
My weekend went fairly good. Austin wasn't too big of a pain in the butt. We now have all the drywall up in the back entryway. Austin even got most of the mudding done. He is going to pick up some more mud on the way home and finish it up tonight. Next I have to get my butt in gear and get it all sanded. That doesn't sound like any fun to me. Especially since Austin's mud job isn't the neatest. We will just say that you can tell he knew he wasn't going to be the one sanding. On hindsight I should have told him I would sand after he got the mudding done.
Sunday Austin worked outside while it was nice out. (until he ran out of chainsaw gas) We walked all over the property and mapped where we wanted certain kinds of plants to be. We also walked all over the tree grove. There are a lot of dead trees out there that need cut down. Austin was marking them with spray paint. He thinks we can get it all cleaned up this spring. I am not as optimistic this time. Usually we are the other way. I am the optimistic one and he is the pessimist. Although I think some of him is rubbing off on me. I think he has forgotten I won't be able to give 100% like usual. One of us has to watch Mason. I don't like the idea of him being around the loud chainsaw too much. I know his parents would be willing to watch Mason but I don't want to take up their weekends by having them watch him. Once in a while is OK ... when I need some quite time. Like yesterday Mason went to their house about 1 and we picked him up about 6. I got to go to the store alone. Be assured I have never, ever, driven that slowly before. I wanted to... savor... the time alone. Ya... savor... it.
I also made some Monkey Bread yesterday. It didn't turn out very good. It usually turns out great in my normal bunt pan. Well my bunt pan had a tragic accident and had to be retired (thrown away). So while at the store I picked up a new one. I wasn't able to get a metal one all they had was one of those flexible ones. I can honestly say 'what a piece of ****'. I was not impressed. I think next time I am at Wal-Mart I will just have to pick a replacement.
I actually have to go to town tomorrow. Mason has a doctor visit for shots. Should be fun... I get to see how tall he is though. At least there is an upside for such a torturous trip.

Blank...

It is Friday yet again. Where did my week go? My days seem to fly by and I get nothing done. It isn't that I don't try to get something done. I do! Really!! My problem is that 'the kid' is crawling and getting into everything. I can't turn my back for a second. Right now he is fascinated with the door to the office. Open, close, open, close. Stop already.
So far today he has gotten stuck in the dog kennel, on the couch, hung up on the baby gate, and tried to be a gardener. The last of which Austin isn't going to be very happy about. I have already e-mailed a warning. He shouldn't be too surprised we are on day 4 of the nap protesting. I felt bad last night because I was making supper and Mason fell asleep in his high chair. Well on second thought maybe I didn't feel that mad. He was worse yesterday than today. At least he only got in one plant today. Oh did I forget to mention that he tried to go up the stairs this morning. I couldn't believe it. He isn't even 10 months yet.
I remember when we first got Hyde we did leash training with him. That is where the pet wears a leash at all times and it is attached to your leg, wrist, or belt loop. Well the first 6 months we did leash training so that he would stay out of trouble. I wonder if it is legal to do that with your kid. It worked wonders for the dog. Although even now Hyde doesn't usually get farther than 8 feet from me. At times that can be a pain.
Next weekend we are buying Mason a baby swing so that we can go out in the afternoons. I would go on walks but the gravel (dirt, river rock, mud) road just isn't conducive to that at this time of year. It is way too muddy out. I am ready to get outside and play.
Austin asked if he was going to get to mow the yard at all this summer and I nicely replied 'NO!'. The way I figure it he has about an hour a day of alone time. Thirty minutes to work and thirty minutes home. He sure isn't going to take away the one thing that will give me alone time. Sometimes I wonder if he is truly insane. He should know better. I can't wait until next summer Mason will be old enough to follow him around. Which will hopefully keep him from doing anything that will endanger his health. Like tear anymore off the corn crib. That is a whole other post in itself. Although I do wish he would go ahead and get it torn down. The stupid thing has become an eyesore.
Now my major thought all day is what am I going to do with Austin all weekend. The drywall project will only keep him busy for so long. Don't worry his sister put in a barb at Easter about our home improvement project and hers. Evidently hers is done and we are still working on ours. Um... ya, we have a baby to take care of also and ours involved demolition not just painting and wall fixtures. Anyways I got side tracked, it is just that she really makes me mad. I've just never met someone so hateful and I have Cameron for a little sister. Sorry back to the subject at hand. What to do with Austin this weekend. I think I'll let him sleep in till noon both days and argue with him the rest of saturday. Sunday after he wakes up I am going to go to the store and leave him with the baby, I haven't decided if I will come home yet or not. I probably will after all I would miss my guys. I am just really in need of a quite day to myself. It has gotten especially bad since Mason has decided that he is afraid of my sewing machine. I don't know how that happened. He had heard it everyday of his life almost and then just decided that he was afraid of it. Hopefully he gets over soon. Maybe Grandma Robin would like to baby sit this sunday. That would be nice. I've got a curtain and an apron that I need to get finished.
Well until next time...

Where Did Spring Go!!!

I honestly thought we were done with snow for this year. It was getting warmer out everyday and we hadn't fallen below freezing in a week or so. I was wrong. Very wrong!! Last night on the news they were talking about a trace amount of snow for this morning. When I hear trace I think a dusting should be gone in a couple of hours. The stupid weather people didn't even change the forecast until 9:30 this morning after we already had about 3 inches on the ground and it is still snowing out.

I am really hoping that this is a one day snow event. Hopefully it all melts tomorrow. At least this makes supper seem more fitting. Chili and cornbread. Yum!! It would taste even better if I didn't have to cook it.

Easter

We were early! I know I can't believe it either. For months I have been having conversations with my husband that go a little like this.

Me: Now, Honey, tomorrow I expect you to get up in a good mood and help me get baby ready so that we can be on time. I really hate being late! It would be a great help if you could do this without me having to nag you.

Austin: Good luck!

Me: No, I'm serious. He is half yours so I expect you to get him dressed and ready. I'll have the clothes laying out all you have to do is put a clean diaper on him and get him dressed right down to the shoes and coat. I will get the diaper bag ready. Okay?

Austin: No, why can't I get the diaper bag ready?

Me: Do you even know what goes in the diaper bag? You can get him dressed and keep the two of you entertained while I finish getting ready.

Austin: FINE!

Why should I have to do this. He should be grown up enough to help without me having to coerce him to. Maybe someday these conversations will begin to pay off and I will no longer have to go through them. Probably around the same time Mason can get himself dressed and entertain himself.

Everything went good. We were early and his sister couldn't make any snide coments about it. Don't worry she did other things that pissed me off. If she was my sister I would have put her in her place. I had promised Austin that I would be nice though. So when she started to make me mad I would take Mason to "change" his diaper. She is a serious baby hog. She has decided that she doesn't want any kids. I can't really blame her after seeing how cute Mason is and knowing that her kids would never come close to him. I know that was mean to say. So here is a picture of her, her husband and my Mason.

Now for some cute photos. Mason got a push, scoot, play John Deere toy.

My Mother-in-laws dog Cheyenne.

Someday Mason will be able to play as rough as Cheyenne wants.

Funds

I had to take the lid off and clean up his slobber.

Mason found my runaway fund.

Someday when this will buy a tank of gas I am going to run away and never look back.

Wait, how far will a tank get me? I might have to save for 2 tanks;)

Just 15 Minutes!! PLEASE!

This perfectly describes how my day is going!!

Doodle by Lee.
The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use for you blog can be found at Doodles.

AAADD

This was e-mailed to me a couple of days ago. Most of my days go like this. I always wondered why I was so tired but nothing ever got done. I can't even blame preggo brain or newborn brain anymore.


AAADD - KNOW THE SYMPTOMS


Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. -


Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests:

I decide to water my garden.

As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys n the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only one check left.

My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke I'd been drinking.

I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over.

The Coke is getting warm, and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need water.

I put the Coke on the counter and discover my reading glasses that I've searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote.
Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I'll be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.

So, I set the remote back on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:

the car isn't washed, the bills aren't paid,

there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter,

the flowers don't have enough water,

there is still only 1 check in my check book,

I can't find the remote,

I can't find my glasses,

and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing go done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day, and I'm really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail....

Photos

More of my photos!

Bath Time

I think I got wetter than Mason. He had so much fun. He even tries to pull himself up in this little tub. He is one scrazy little kid.

Push Play!!

New Things

Mason has a couple of new things.
1.) He has started to grind his teeth. He now has two teeth on bottom and one on top with a second not far behind. His new favorite thing to do is to grind his teeth. I don't know if this feels good to him but it makes my skin crawl. I hope this ends soon.
2.) He has started to pull up to more things. For a couple of weeks all he would pull up to was the couch and us. Now he has started to pull up to the fish tanks and tables. Walls it doesn't really matter as long as he can lean against it.
3.) He has learned the word 'NO'. This is not a good thing. We were walking around Orschelns and he is trying to pull stuff off the shelves so I take his little hand and place it on the cart and tell him 'No'. He looks at me, his face gets all red and he screams 'NO NO NO'. Now when we tell him no he throws the biggest fit. He just throws himself back and just screams and cries.

We were in Wal-Mart and I saw this shirt. Austin looks at me and says 'No, no way'. That just made me want to get it more. So, I did. There isn't a better shirt to describe Mason.

My Hobby

For those out in blogland that don't know me I love to take photos. Not of just Mason. He is a great subject but my passion includes so much more than small children. Here are a couple I took Sunday afternoon. I'll post more soon, right now I had better play the good wife and go make supper (put leftover homemade lasagna in the oven). At least it was fresh and homemade yesterday. That should count for something!

Fresh Tea! HUH?

This is how most of my days go! I have tried to make tea for the last couple of days and the next morning I throw it out.

Doodle by Lee. The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use for your blog can be found at Doodles.

My New Door

I feel brave today. I am going to broach a subject that some might find controversial.

My Sister-in-law

Usually before saying something insulting I would say "Love them to death" not today. I don't love her; I don't even like her. She is ... for lack of better words... hateful, rude, condescending, malicious, etc. (What do you know there are words to describe her. They just aren't very nice.) Well she heard we were putting in a new back door. Mind you out of necessity. Well it is like she is trying to outdo us. She has decided that they absolutely need to redo the master bathroom. So she comments me on MySpace acting like she didn't know what kind of home improvement project we were doing. One: Her parents wouldn't just tell her we were doing a home improvement project. They would have told her exactly what we were doing and why. Two: They wouldn't tell her that much unless she asked. For these two reasons and many more, we avoid her. She acts like we talk all the time and tells the grandparents that we do. She tells grandma stuff and then grandma will call me all upset because I have supposedly said something. I have recently gotten tired of it and informed Grandma Hansell and Robin (mother-in-law) that I don't talk to her and that she lies, A LOT. Now mind you this did not make them too happy. They were rather upset with me for talking bad about their "perfect" little girl. Once in awhile they will look at me questioningly and all I have to do is say it has been X amount of time since I have talked to Raquel. That seems to clear up a lot of stuff. I have no idea why she dreams up these conversations and then proceeds to get me in trouble. Austin and I have come to the conclusion that it is jealousy. I have no idea why she would be jealous of us. I guess I don't really care. I just wish she wasn't such a pain in the ass.

Spring

It is going to be about 60 today and I have spring fever really bad. If our gravel road wasn't so muddy I would put Mason in the stroller and we would go for a walk. I cannot wait until the weather is nicer so that we can get outside. I informed Austin last night that we needed to get Mason a little swing to put in the oak tree. He doesn't see a reason for one but I have convinced him (told him firmly so that no argument ensues) that we do. I also informed him that if we have any more kids that we will need to buy a new p-n-p. Ours will most likely get destroyed this summer. Taking them outside seems to be a little rough on them. O'well, I sure am not going to stay inside just to save the stupid thing.

While we were at Lowes getting 2*4's I looked at all the flowers that they have out. I have some flowers that we are going to be moving but my honeysuckle got destroyed from the corn crib demolition. I also need to buy a couple of Lilac bushes. I know just how I want everything and where everything needs to go. Now I just need to find my husband in a good mood so that he will help me with a minimum of complaining.

Hopefully this summer we will get the rest of the corn crib down this summer. It has turned into an eyesore. I have tried to convince him to just put a chain around the copula and pull it down. Evidently my way was way too easy and he has decided to torture me with it.

I have informed him that when he is ready to tear down the barn we are going to do it the safer easier way. He can pick the weekend and I will make the necessary plans with the electric company and the fire department.

We lost all of the fish out in the goldfish pond over the winter. We will be cleaning it out completely this spring. I am going to try to put it off until April. I don't want to get it all cleaned out and have fish in it only to have it freeze again. New fish can be somewhat picky. I am just glad that Austin is going to help me clean it. The outside of the tank goes to my hip and it goes deeper on the inside. I have no clue what is on the inside of it. Everything that we pulled out of it is covered in this black slim stuff that smells of sewage. I am sure it will be super gross. One of those day projects that we get to do while Mason plays over at Grandma's house. We usually get a lot done when Mason is gone. Well at least after we get out of bed again.

As I am writing this I look over to see the little brat smooshing an animal cracker into his hair and all over his face. He has learned that he can spit stuff out of his mouth. Now feed time is especially fun. For him that is. I don't enjoy it so much. Well I do when it is Austin he is misbehaving with.

We have a new rule. Who ever Mason is with when he is naughty has to take care of it. That includes any clean up. I was tired of doing it all alone and then when I would get a break if he was naughty Austin would just hand him over and go outside so it wasn't like I was really getting a break anyway.

New Door

Today we are drywalling the entryway. We finally had to break down and buy a new door. That means we had to cut a bigger hole in the wall. The door we had was very old and wasn't the standard size. We went from a door that was 30*78 to a door that is 32*80. I would never have thought that the little difference would change that much but it is surprisingly a lot easier to get baby out of the house with all of his stuff now. That and I now have a window in the door. Now that entryway isn't so dark and I can see who is in the driveway. I love the window, well at least after noon I do. This door faces directly east so that morning sun really comes through and is blinding. Hyde LOVES it. Now he has patches of sunlight in almost every room until late afternoon. I know that dog is spoiled.

These are the best photos I have of the old backdoor.
I know I had some better ones but Austin erased them before unloading the camera. Therefore I didn't think we needed to take any "before" photos, I thought we already had some.

Don't mind the mess these are from when we redid the kitchen floor and painted.

My new backdoor. I love it. Another good thing is that when we are all done there will only be a memory of that horrible green. YIPEE!!

This is how it looks on the outside. We are going to paint the trim tomorrow night. Later this spring we are getting a new doorbell to cover the hole beside the door.

I have complained about this doorway since we moved in almost 2 years ago. It is always cold which in turn makes my kitchen cold. We tore down all the old plaster and lathe and what do we find, NOTHING, that is right, nothing. There never has been any insulation in the outside walls. There is now. I have already noticed a huge difference.

I cannot wait until it gets warmer outside. We are going to put o a plantation style screen door. Just plain wood and screen. The winter wind is not conducive to an actual screen door. So we want one that we can put on in the spring and take off in the fall. We will have to put a little lock on the inside that way Mason can't just go outside whenever he wants. Can't wait for those arguements to start. We plan on putting up a jungle gym/swing setup later this summer. We have a whole acre side yard to play with and we are 6 miles from town so it will have to be something that will keep Mason entertained but strong enough to last for years and years. Austin already shot down my idea for a pool. I will broach the subject again next spring. For right now I am just thrilled to have a new backdoor.

Mason Procrastinating

Push Play!!

Mason just wouldn't quit and close his eyes. After this was shot he screamed for about 5 minutes and then gave up and fell asleep. You'll have to excuse the mess I was in the middle of sorting out the clothes that are too small for Chunk and believe it or not I hadn't gotten around to vacuuming. I know the horror.

...

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see."

~Hebrews 11:1

Just me

I think we are finally over being sick. Let me just say that I think it is about time.

Mason is getting bigger everyday. It is getting harder to keep up with everything new he is doing. Every night Austin and Mason play for a little bit. Mason's idea of play and Austin's idea of play are right around the same thing. Crawl all over everything and anybody in their way. I will just say that I feel bad for Hyde because he is usually the 'anybody' that is in their way.

Mason is finally getting in his top two teeth. I say finally because it feels like I have had to deal with crabby butt for what feels like forever. This last week he has been much more pleasent. I know that sometimes it can seem like I am "complaining" about Mason. Whether it is because he is being naughty or whatever. Please don't get me wrong, I absolutley love my little guy and wouldn't know what to do without him. I am not usually so morose but today I ran across a blog that actually chocked me up. It was about a family that knew their little baby wouldn't live long after birth. I found myself thinking what would I do. I don't really know what I would do. To imagine just having a couple of hours with Mason right after he was born and what that would have been like. I would still be in bed that is for sure. To carry this little miracle around for 9 months and then go home without them. I pray to God that I never have to find out. I am not strong enough to do that.