I think...

actually I am pretty sure I broke the vacuum.
Everyday I vacuum. Everyday! Sometimes twice a day.
Well today it smelled really bad. Like burning rubber/hot electronics. I called to tell Austin and he says 'you probably just broke the belt'. Um... no! That is the first thing I checked. Duh!
I have learned not to call the en-g-neer until I have checked everything it could possibly be. Therefore I checked the belt and the roller thingy (thankfully he doesn't require technical names) and even changed the bag. So he says 'You used it to clean up those Cheerios didn't you?' Well I didn't. I swept them up and threw them right away thankyouverymuch.
I then reminded him that the stupid thing is 9 years old. He came back with 'Okay, your 28 what is your point.' I got a little irritated at that and said 'If you used me like I use that vacuum I would be dead too.'
I have to say that got to him and he said 'I don't have time to argue about this at work. If you think we need a new one just go buy one.' This made me very happy because I have been asking for a new for over a year.
I guess my problem was that I always asked him when he was at home. I think from now on I will ask about everything when he is busy at work.
I think next week I will ask for a new fridge...

My Son...

Whenever I am in the office Mason is usually in the living room destroying something playing. Occasionally he will play in the dining room where I can see him. It just amazes me as to what he thinks being 'bad' entails. He will absolutely destroy my living room everyday and doesn't think this is misbehaving. Yet when he is playing with say his John Deere ride on in the dining room and he is trying to stand on it he thinks that is being bad and doesn't want me to watch him.

Take today for example. I am Emailing and he is trying to stand on the John Deere toy, he looks over and sees me watching him. He stops what he is doing and smiles sweetly, steps down from the toy, still with the sweet smile, walks over to the door, still with the sweet smile, starts to shut the door. When the door is almost shut he sticks his head in and smiles sweetly again at me and then shuts the door all the way and pats it. Then I hear the sound of little feet running across the room.

I jump out of my chair and out the other office door and stand in the living room and watch what he is doing. Yep, trying to stand on the toy in the middle of the room. He looks over and sees me and gets all mad because I am watching him.

I am afraid that I am going to have start tethering him to me.

...

Every once in a while my son will come close to the office door and bend over. I was pondering this because he doesn't actually come over and look in. Nope he is going to that specific spot for a reason.

I looked out the door and there is a little bag of Cheetos. My husband had some Cheetos last night before supper in a little sandwich baggie and he evidently didn't finish them or put them away. (I know huge surprise) My son instead of taking the whole bag with him into the living room is coming and just getting one at a time.

I really need to get on my husband about not putting stuff away. This is what my son did yesterday...

Yes that is a whole new box of Cheerios. My husband didn't forgot to put away after he ate breakfast.

Where was I you ask. Well I was in the shower. I know I shouldn't be allowed anytime away from my child. I usually stick him in the highchair with a snack but he had fallen asleep watching CARS (he loves this movie) so I thought I had enough time before he woke up again. I would have too if the stupid hairless mutt Hyde hadn't gotten out of the bathroom and woke Mason up by jumping in the chair. My stupid hairless mutt sweet little dog can't get a normal door open even if it is ajar but has figured out the sliding pocket door on the bathroom. Go figure.

We Have Good Days...

And then we have bad days.

Yesterday was a bad day.

There was a certain number of things that I needed to get done. I had to get the C tax title and license done, my hair cut fixed, go to the grocery store, take a nap, wash dishes, clean the kitchen, and do some laundry.

I can tell you the only things on this list that we got done were the nap and the grocery store. I thought the day was going good until we had a mishap in the dining room and it just kinda went downhill from there.

We got to town to get the car registered and come to find out his parents need to get an Iowa title first. Evidently they have what is called a non-transferable registration because they have a Kansas title and Iowa registration. So it will be another week before we can get it done. Why couldn't they tell me that on my first trip to the court house I don't know. Hopefully trip #4 will be the lucky number.

After that upset we made it to the store where Mason proceeded to yell at the top of his lungs to listen to the echo all through the store. Fun times let me tell you. I am about ready to never take him again. He gets a little embarrassing. If I tell him to stop he says 'no momma butt'. I have his father to thank for that one. I don't put up with that and the old ladies who think he is just a sweetheart look at me strangely when they see me pop his mouth.

So then we get home and of course Austin isn't home yet to help carry in groceries. Not that he would have helped anyways but at least he keeps Mason entertained so that I don't have to listen to him scream from the baby gate. I knew a nap was out of the question when he fell asleep on the way to town and again on the way home.

By the end of the night I was more than ready to go to bed but Austin wanted to talk about the house in Indiana which is a sore subject with me. I didn't want to buy the stupid house to begin with and then he doesn't listen to me when he asks what we should do when we get an offer and so we have had a couple of deals fall through.

Anyone out there looking for a house close to Cincinnati but in Indiana let me know and you can probably get the house for a song. Literally. Cheap, cheap, cheap!!

I took some NyQuil and he started talking and what do you know I fell asleep. Thus ending a horrible day or so I thought. I woke up at 1 wide awake. I didn't have to pee, the dog didn't have to pee so I don't know what was wrong. I gave up the fight about 2 and went and cleaned my kitchen. What else was I to do.

Please tell me I am not the only to have days like that. Please...

I'm still here...

Well, it's Monday. I have been sick for 4 days with no sign of getting better. I still hate my hair which is unusual. Most of the time if I don't get it fixed I will start to like by day 4 or so. Not this time. I am thinking that it doesn't matter how sick I am I am going to go and get it fixed tonight. I will have to take before pictures though. First off though I need to go to town and register the silver car. I don't know why Austin couldn't have done that on Saturday morning while I was dying sleeping. Come to think of it he didn't do anything. Nothing. There are dirty dishes all over the kitchen and I am not happy about it and we all know that if momma ain't happy ain't nobody happy.

Well...

Remember my Email to Austin about getting my hair cut.
Yeah... um... well... she butchered it.
No joke.
I absolutely hate it.
I am just thankful that my hair grows really quick and should grow back soon.
On the bad side, I know your thinking there is a bad side like having my hair butchered wasn't the bad side. Nope having my husband tell me 'I told you so' is even worse.
I'll post pictures soon along with why he got to say I told you so.

He really does deserve it...

So today is Wednesday. I have come to dread Wednesdays. Especially the first and third Wednesday of the month. That means I need to come up with a newsletter for MOPS. I have run out of ideas. I doubt that I will volunteer for publicity next year. My writing isn't quite kosher for a MOPS group. They don't want to hear about my crazy husband and his family or my crazy family.

My husband works at answering Emails and phone calls all day about different product lines he supports. The last thing he wants is a long Email from me. I usually abide by that and just him short and sweet ones.
Honey,
Please bring home milk, bread, and diapers.
Love you
Laura

Well not today. I asked him if he was going to take the C to please install the car seat in the M. I come down stairs this morning and the car seat is in the kitchen. That is totally not what I asked. I would demand it but then he would just take the whole car seat with him to work just to smite me.

This is what I sent him today. I made sure he would have to read it twice just to understand what I was getting at. He is such a butt sometimes. He deserves it.


Honey,

Why do I always have to switch over the car seat? I didn't realize it was that hard. Just joking. It doesn't matter to me. Just imagine this was said with a light hearted lilt in my voice. No not the normal shrew you usually hear. Thank you for leaving me my gloves.

I will probably wait until you get home to run to town anyways because I want to get my hair cut. Let me rephrase; I need to get my hair cut. It is a little hard to do with a 19 month-old with me. I will be ready to leave as soon as you get home. I will also try to have supper ready.

I am thinking Eggs and Bacon with toast. Eggs can be scrambled or over hard. If that doesn't sound appealing we also have pork chops and chicken. Just let me know.

I forgot today was the Wednesday before a MOPS meeting and I have to get the newsletter done. (I cannot wait until this year is done.) I am not going to be publicity next year. I am thinking craft maybe. Anyways, I won't have it done until right before you get home so you might as well watch Mason and I can get some me time. That way I don't have to pack up the stroller also. God forbid they have carts at the mall and I refuse to pay 5 bucks for a mall stroller that will just make him sick anyways.

I have called State Farm and Sarah is faxing you insurance cards for the C. I have it set up that the insurance for the Firebird will end Monday the 26th. That gives you the rest of the weekend and all weekend to get it home. When it ends it will automatically transfer to the 99 since we will be still driving it after the 1st when it was set to expire. Did all that make sense.

Sorry so long winded today. Probably a good thing I won't be home seeing as that I am leaning more towards a chatty cathy today and would just make you mad.

Love you
Laura

Don't forget to let me know about supper.

Note: Even if he doesn't want scrambled eggs and bacon for supper that is what he is getting. It doesn't matter if he is okay with it or not or if he wants over hard. He is getting scrambled eggs and bacon. If he wants toast he can make it himself.
Yes, he knows this and will get the hint.

Now that I have procrastinated enough I had better get that newsletter written.

That isn't quite how I remember it...

So I reread the post I put up yesterday and I have to say that that isn't exactly how I remember it happening. I know hard to believe. Here is how it really happened.
We are in the awesome green truck. I am in the middle, Mason is on the passenger side all bundled up and in his car seat, Austin is driving. I knew this would be an adventure when Austin had to go back to his parents garage and grab the 2x4 block of wood that keeps his door shut. It is always a tight fit in the truck when we are all three in there because of the car seat and gear shift, this time we were really lucky and had the dog with us also. Hyde couldn't sit on my lap because of the gear shifter so he had to settle for Mason's lap. This made Mason really happy. I was hoping that Mason would sleep on the way home but the truck is too loud and he was too excited after he realized that Hyde 'wanted' to sit on his lap.
After we got all settled we were off to try to get out of the driveway. This might be where I suggested for the first time that maybe we should just walk back to the house and stay the night. Austin looks at me like I am crazy so I smile sweetly and say 'It was just a suggestion that I now realize was stupid.' Austin actually laughs. At me. I couldn't believe it.
About halfway down the drive we encounter a drift that easily covers the tires and is longer than the truck. We get about halfway through it and the back end of the truck starts to slide sideways but I don't say anything. We make it through finally and I am sure I just had a heart attack and we aren't even to the highway yet.
At this point I am thinking this could be interesting but at least it isn't too cold out for the walk back. I know I really played the 'good wife' and trusted my husband to get home in one piece.
We get to the highway and it looks clear so I am thinking that the road maintainers have been out and cleared the roads. Then we get to the top of the next hill and I know better. The road is covered in snow in areas and where it isn't you can see the snow blowing across it. About half a mile down the road we run into the first big drift. I am surprised that the truck doesn't have any problems getting through it. I say to Austin 'What is the strategy for getting through those? Speed.' He looks at me, smiles and says 'Nope. I didn't have you pressing my foot down on the accelerator.' I was speechless. I might have been wondering if I heard him wrong or something. Needless to say I didn't say anything back and made a mental note to ask him about it later. That is when we come across the biggest snow drift of the night so far.
We are coming up on this thing and Austin isn't slowing down so I look at him and he is smiling. A little excited type smile. I say quickly and a little frenzied 'Aren't you going to go around that thing.' (the last of which was said in such in a high pitch that I think only the dog heard it) as we hit this monstrous drift. To me it felt as though we had hit a brick wall. I closed my eyes vowing to myself not to open them again until we get home.
I didn't keep this resolve very long.
I had a moment to think about it and decided that I wanted to know what was coming. I open my eyes and it is like I am in some kind of nightmare. We are just getting through the drift and Austin starts laughing and says 'Don't you just love that feeling. Like a roller coaster where your stomach falls out the bottom.' and laughs again. Mason being awake is loving every minute of this. He has become a mimic lately and even if he doesn't know why you are laughing will start laughing with you. I feel as though I am surrounded by two laughing idiots that are taking me on some crazy ride down some redneck rabbit hole.
Again I am sure that he has just taken 10 years off my life. I am sweating and starting to feel queasy I ask him if we can roll down a window a little bit. I must have looked green because my husband who has an aversion to anything cold didn't hesitate to roll the window down.
The next mile or so was okay as were in the valley between hills. We come to the top of the next hill and I am sure this is where we are going to die. I don't think there is anything worse than this feeling. We are at the top of a hill where we encounter a couple of medium sized drifts but I don't notice them. I am frozen in fear of what is to come.
You see at the top of the next hill is a stop sign and what looks like a huge white wall. Austin asks me if I can see any headlights coming from either of the other directions and I can't so that is what I tell him. I still don't know if this was a bad idea or not. All of a sudden (I say all of a sudden because to me it feels like time has stood still) Austin punches the gas. I get a little frantic and grab his arm and say what the crap are you doing? Again he smiles. A little sardonic smile. I want to just slap him. For a split second I think it is my imagination and that we aren't speeding up but no luck. We hit that drift and I knew we weren't going to be stopping for that stop sign.
Austin and Mason start laughing again and are having a great old time. I feel as though I am going to throw up. I am sweating and dizzy and I think I taste bile in the back of my mouth. I don't know if it was my imagination or not but it felt like we were spinning and the walls were closing in on me.
Next thing I know Austin has pulled over and is asking me if I need to throw up. All I could do was ask him to roll down the window to give me some fresh air. He informs me that the window has been down for the last 3 miles. I tell him that I get by and just to get me home. He informs me that the worst is over. All I am thinking at this point is liar.
The next couple of miles are uneventful because it is flat ground so there aren't any big drifts. We are coming up on the second stop sign and I see that the intersection is drifted fairly bad. I also notice that my husband isn't slowing down and we have to take a right at the stop sign. At this point he notices that I am quiet and ask if I am okay. I am thinking great how sick do I look.
I yell at him tell him that I am fine. We barely get through the intersection and there is a huge drift. (there is a house close to the intersection and the wind blowing around their wind break causes a drift all the time.) I hadn't seen this particular spot drift that bad before. Austin tells me to brace myself. I really start to panic at this point. Austin being the ever observant one notices this and tells me that he has a shovel and it isn't likely that we would rollover if we happened to go into the ditch. Didn't that just make me feel better. Ha.
I don't know how it happened but I had a moment of clarity. A brief moment but a moment non the less. I look at him and say that is okay because if you really want to live to see another day if you at any point think we won't make it through one of these drifts you will pull over and walk home and get the chains and then come back and get our asses. Understood.' He didn't even blink but turned pale and agreed. We only encountered a couple of little drifts and one big one the rest of the way. The big one though we had to drive on the wrong side of the road where other people had driven through it. I was just glad it had some tracks through it unlike the other ones we encountered.
Finally we turned onto our gravel road and he asks if we can have some fun. I agree because the ditches on our road aren't ones that we rollover in. He was a little disappointed that we didn't see any big ones. I am just thankful that our neighbor knew we would be coming home that night, thought of us and plowed us a path from the highway to our driveway.
We pull into the driveway and Austin turns off the truck and opens his door, Hyde jumps out, Austin gets out and then I get out. Austin is still laughing so I tackle him. I was so mad. He just kept laughing. I put snow down his shirt and even managed to stuff some down his pants. He never did apologize for scaring the crap out of me. Nor did he yell at me for tackling him and putting snow down his pants and shirt. He just kept laughing. Probably figured he deserved it. He did.
I unloaded the truck of our junk and he took Mason into bed and came back out to help and make sure I was okay. We went inside and went to bed. I will never forget it. Never.

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

We have been really busy here lately.
I will have to update Monday when I will finally have some free time.
Right now I am thankful to be home and in one piece. Yesterday the wind was blowing and so with nothing to stop the wind but a couple of barbed wire fences the roads drift really bad.
Mason, Austin and I spent the day over at his parents house so that Austin could use their garage to work on the brakes of his car.
Not a big deal I followed him over in the pickup because he also had something he wanted to do with it also. So last night when we left to come home the roads were horrible. I am talking drifts that come up to the grill of the pickup and go almost across the road. I have never been so scared in my life.
I would never had put Mason and myself in such danger if I had known what the roads had been like. Robin and Jeff's house is off from the road in a really wooded area and the drive is a quarter of a mile long. You don't' really know how bad it is outside until you get a couple of miles from the house. We didn't turn around because Austin informed me that the worst of it was only for another mile. He was not lying but that 'worst' was really bad. Not that I could have gotten him to turn around anyway.
I will admit though that if Mason hadn't been in the truck it would have been fun. I think it is just amazing how your child being there with changes the definition of 'fun'. I might be an adrenaline junkie so flying through snow drifts is right up my alley. My husband on the other hand is just dangerous and life endangering. (no my thinking is not skewed)
I will just die if Mason inherits these traits from us. I would like to think that he will never be in danger. Maybe I should put it as that he will never put himself in that kind of danger. It is impossible to think that he will never be in danger. He is a boy after all and danger and mischief seem to go hand in hand.

So far...

So far today Mason has gotten caught on 2 baby gates, used his Tonka truck as a ladder support, got trapped under the fish tank, and pooped in the potty. Over all I think it is a good day.
I am ready to get out of this house. We have gotten so much snow and it has been so cold that we haven't left in a while. This does bad things to me.
Mason has been such a pill lately. We had to move all the dining room chairs away from the table because he was getting on the table and throwing stuff off of it. That didn't stop him though. he just rolled his little Tonka truck up to it and put his John Deere toy in the back of it and used it like a ladder. He thought that was okay until his "ladder" fell over and he was stuck.
As I was typing that above I look over and he is sitting on the John Deere toy leaning over the front of it to get a cheerio off the floor (shh is was part of snack so shoot me) and he just goes tumbling over the front of his toy. Being a little turd he didn't want to let go of his toy so it comes up between his legs and then he just kinda falls to the side. Everything was okay until he caught me silently laughing at him. Imagine his surprise when he finds out all his little antics are on here for the world to see. That is one teenage fight I am going to try to avoid.
It looks beautiful outside but the windchill is way below zero so we can't even go out and play. That has got to be the worst part of winter. The nicer the day looks the colder it is outside.
How many days till spring.

Do we have power?

My husband just called from work to see if we had power. Um... let me think... yes we have power. It kinda took me back for a second. I didn't know what to say the question was so stupid. So anyways.
I guess a couple of guys from work got calls from their wives saying that they didn't have power. The guys discuss it for a little bit and find out that they are all on the same power company so Austin calls me to find out if we have power.
Do you see where I'm going with this...
My husband thought I wouldn't have called if our power had gone out. It is like he doesn't know me.
Of course I would have called and bitched complained if our power had gone out.
I will have to remember to give him grief about this later.

Is it FINALLY over...

I didn't think this weekend was ever going to end. Seriously it was like we were moving in slow motion.
Saturday we went to Jess and Joe's for supper and to play card games. All the kids made it past midnight. Notice I didn't say they made it happily. All 3 of the older ones were crabby. The littlest, 9 week E, was happy and content as long as she was being held. Luckily there were enough people there to pass her around.
We finally made it home around 1. After my husband made me pump gas. Yes my husband made me pump gas in a vehicle that he has been driving. We had a discussion about it all the way home. He wanted to sleep but I didn't let him instead he got to listen to me complain having to pump gas for the whole 25 minutes. The bum.
When we finally got home I couldn't sleep. I laid down and tried several times but no dice. I gave up the fight about 5:30 and just got up for the day. Sunday took forever. We didn't really do anything. Mason and I played and Austin worked out in the garage. He is building Mason a dresser. I had to tell him not to go overboard on the dresser and thankfully he didn't. It is going to look a lot like my dresser which is a good size.
My antique dresser and vanity were in his room along with my vanity but with Mason being in a big boy bed and being able to get out of said bed in the middle of the night to play Austin was worried that my stuff might get messed up so we finally moved them into our room.
I was all for moving them into my room when we moved into this house but Austin didn't like how little they made the room feel little. Mind you we could fit another whole bed on his side.
I was surprised that he was okay with moving them into our room now. They both went on his side of the room so he complained that they took up too much space. I offered to trade him sides of the bed but he wasn't going for that. Then I suggested that we could rearrange the furniture but he was adamant that we wouldn't be doing that either. I had to explain to him that he needed to stop his belly aching. I am still not sure how I ended up on the small half of the room. I just did. Anyways I'm just rambling.
Mason took a long nap and we ended up having to wake him up about 6. I think he is growing again. I ended up making grilled cheese for supper. Austin had the choice of peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese. I was really hoping he would choose the pb&j. We ended up going to bed early at 8:30. I actually fell asleep right away.
If I had only stayed asleep. I woke up when Austin's first alarm went off and was unable to get back to sleep. I laid there awake waiting for Austin to leave so the house would be quite again. Naturally this would be the day that my husband decided to start the dryer on his way out the door. Thirty minutes later I was still awake when the dryer shut off. Then the dog started to snore really loud. After positioning him a couple of times it was the stupid clock with the tick tick tick that kept me up. I got out of bed at 6. My back had started to hurt laying there so I knew that even if I did end up falling back asleep I would have a huge headache all day.

more bad weather and other crappy things...

Yesterday Mason and I went to MOPS. I actually got to drive our new car. I couldn't believe it. Since we have gotten it Austin has decided that his car needs some brake work and is unsafe to drive there fore taking the car with the car seat in it to work. You can just imagine how thrilled this makes me. I don't know why he can't drive the black car to work. No I do. It is because it doesn't have the car seat in it. Anyways I digress...

We went to MOPS and had a wonderful time. I should have stopped at the store on the way home but didn't even think about it. It is very rare that I don't stop at the store while I am in town. It is also very frustrating that I am the only who can manage to go to the store without throwing a child like tantrum. I would hate to point fingers though since he is stopping on the way home from work. It doesn't happen often that he does that so I would hate to begrudge him when he deigns to do it. After all he wouldn't be stopping at all if the weather wasn't to get nasty this afternoon. No, he would wait and let me go after he got home. Most of the time I like it when he does that but then there are sometimes that I just wish he would come and pick Mason up and take him to the store with him and leave me... alone... by myself... for over an hour. That doesn't happen that often though.

Tonight we are having something with hamburger in it. Really we will probably just have hamburgers. If he wants something else he can cook it. I don't really care. Sometimes he gets upset if we have the same thing every night. I still can't believe he hasn't noticed that we have a weekly menu. Talk about dense. Anyways I actually thought this out ahead of time. He doesn't like to have hamburger every night and absolutely hates spaghetti so that is what we had last night. Yep, I played the 'good wife' and we had spaghetti. I didn't put hamburger in the sauce. I figured that way he wouldn't complain about what we are having for supper tonight. The only other option for him is left over spaghetti.

I know what a way to start off the weekend. I am hoping by annoying him today he will leave me alone tomorrow. I haven't decided about Sunday yet. I guess if I don't want him to bother me Sunday either then I will have to play the annoying card tomorrow night.

Sid The Science Kid

Have I mentioned in awhile how much I dislike this show? Well in case I haven't just let me tell I really don't like this show. That could have something to do with the fact that every time I am forced to watch it it is the same episode. I can only watch then melt the ice to eat the fruit so many times.
Maybe it is just me.

300+

Post 300 came and went and I didn't even notice. o'well.

WWWAT~ Change, Goals and New Beginnings

It's Wednesday and so it seems that it is time for WWWAT. The theme for this one is Change, Goals, and New Beginnings. I had some problems with this theme.

This year some of my changes and goals involve me and some do not. I really like the ones that do not... except for then they don't get done right... or at all... so I think I will just try to supervise everything... or maybe not... I think I'll just throw the towel in right at the beginning... yep... sounds good to me.

I think I will start with the change first.

We are changing Mason over to a big boy bed. He actually slept in it ALL night last night. He didn't even fall out.

It's amazing what a mother will take pride in.

(Don't mind the black sheets. This is Austin's old bed from high school and it is an Extra Long twin. The sheets are very hard to find, especially in anything little boy themed. I figured for now the black will do just fine. Eventually we will be getting a comforter that will cover the whole bed but such a little boy doesn't need a huge blanket for now. Hopefully in the next month or so we will be putting the bed up on its frame. We figured that this way he wouldn't have as far to fall if he fell out of bed.

Part of this change is taking the crib out of the room. It is not one of those cribs that disassembles easily. It is a huge piece of furniture that my husband made so it will involve some spouse coaching on my part.

It will be in Mason's room for a little longer though for nap times. He will stay in his bed at night but not during the day.

Goal #1:

We are already on our way to achieving this goal.

Mason has used the potty all day today. This makes me very happy. I am so over changing icky diapers.

My goal and I am hoping Mason's also is to have him potty trained completely by the end of the year. That would put him at 2 and a 1/2. I don't think this is unreasonable.

(upon closer inspection I need to give my toilet a little more love on cleaning day, which happens to be tomorrow)

(I also need to play with my white balance)

Goal #2:

My second goal for the year is to take more time for me.

More time to do what I like and broaden my own horizons. Not just to go to the store or shower.

I have explained to my husband that he is going to have to step up to the plate and let me have some alone time whenever I need it. Not when he is willing to give it to me.

I told him in my shrew like manner explained, as nicely as I could, that for every hour he locks himself in the garage that I want the same treatment.

Naturally, him being the butt that he is, he said 'You want to be locked in my garage.' He knows what I mean though. I know this because I asked him if he understood while he was sleeping. (SHHH don't tell! He hates when I take advantage of him that way)

I know your wanting to know what I would do with so much time alone.

Just this...

New Beginnings:

Well maybe not so new beginnings. I am trying to be understanding of my husbands plight of facial hair. It has been one year and 3 weeks since he has shaved. Don't get me wrong he has trimmed it but it has been a really really long time since he has been bare faced.

I thought at first that he was doing this to annoy me but he isn't, he says that is just an added bonus. My husband says he suffers from face irritation and shaving aggravates it to the point that he gets little sores. They look like zits but aren't and he says it is like pins and needles whenever he shaves.

It only took me a year of nagging to get that out of him. Sad to say that that is an improvement.

Goal #3:

As a couple our goal is to be more understanding of each other. Sometimes we get aggravated with each other over the stupidest things. We each have our own OCD tendencies little quirks.

(personally I think he looks good with a beard though I would never admit that to him. The part I don't like is where it hits his neck. If he would just keep that little bit shaved I would be happy. Well that and if he would wipe it off before kissing me when he comes in from the cold. He tells me it is wet from his breath condensation but I have my doubts. I know my nose runs when I'm outside in the cold!)



For more WWWAT be sure to go to American Mum.

Peace and Quiet

Austin went back to work yesterday. I was so happy to see him go.
I guess it is kinda like at the end of summer vacation and you get excited for the kids to go back to school.
Yep! Just like that.
He was driving me nuts.
I couldn't stand it any longer.
He always has to be doing something.
I swear he cannot sit still.
I even let him buy 2 video games to keep him out of my hair. The only bad thing with the video games is that while he is playing them he won't answer any of my questions. You know the 'good wife' ones.
'what do you want for lunch'
'will you watch Mason while I run to town'
'how about you bring the dinner dishes in from the living room'
'what do you want for dinner'
'when was the last time the dog was out'
'why is Mason crying on the dining room table'
'why is he crying'
'why is he on the table'
'can we watch something else'
'did you know that it is time for bed'
You know just the run of the mill questions.

It was icy all weekend so his car was all icy and he couldn't get into it. He tried the black car and it wouldn't open either so he tried the truck. Jackpot! It opened but do you think it would start. Nope! So finally he comes back in the house and he quietly comes up the stairs and starts looking for my car keys.
Mind you I am laying there awake so that as soon as I hear him leave the driveway I can get up and do my happy dance. I scared the crap out of him by asking 'What are you looking for?' I swear he jumped 10 feet in the air. I got a good chuckle out of it.
So he ended up driving my car to work thus stranding me at home.
I had plans yesterday to go to the store and post office and get caught up on my errands. I know you thinking so why don't I just do that today. Well quite simply because I don't want to.
I just don't feel like getting out of the house before I have to. I have a MOPS steer team meeting tonight and I don't like to leave the house more than once a day so I won't be leaving here until 5:15 and by then most of the things I had to go do are going to be closed. I know I could leave earlier but then I would be way early for my meeting and I don't feel like sitting there waiting for everyone to show up.
I have decided I will just complain about it.
Makes me happy what can I say. We'll just consider a late Christmas present to myself.

It did feel good though to have him gone yesterday so that we can get back on schedule. Somehow Mason got horribly off schedule. Then Austin decided it was time to try the big boy bed. I know I wasn't ready for the big boy bed and as it turns out neither was Mason. He likes the security of the crib and that is fine with me. We will be trying naps in the bed first and hopefully by, I don't know, June maybe he will be ready to do all night in the big bed. So far I think he has slept a total of 30 minutes in the big bed. I am not pushing it though because I don't want him to be afraid of it or his room. Right now he is happy to be in there with the light off and doesn't need a radio or night light to sleep and I don't want to mess that up.
Well that is all for today I have to get my MOPS stuff around and get him in the bath before I can put him down for a nap because he decided to smoosh peaches and banana in his hair and down his shirt. Yay for me!!

New to us

We finally have our new (to us) car. Everything works on it, all the windows roll down, all the lights on the radio work and the clock keeps time, the seat moves like it should and it has more than one working speaker so I am happy. It really doesn't take much to keep me happy and the price was just right. After all you can't get better than free.
One of these days I will get a picture taken of it but until then I can tell you it is silver with black tires. I know real descriptive.
I need to get all my stuff switched over. You know the stuff that makes your car your home. My radar detector, cell phone car charger, all my change, Mason's toys and extra blanket and my CDs. I also need to locate a backseat organizer that hangs from the headrest for all of Mason's stuff otherwise it all ends up on the floor boards and then it just looks trashed. I also need to get my little headrest hanging trash bag switched over for all of my gum wrappers. I might have a gum addiction and it is too cold to throw the wrappers out the window; for Mason's sake. Yeah... for Mason's sake...

Show Of Hands...

Who knew that a toddler in footie pjs could create enough static electricity to majorly mess up a computer?
No one?
Really?
I sure didn't.
I guess that is one of those things you have to see to believe and even then it takes a moment to sink in.
I couldn't believe it. All he did was touch the mouse but it affected so many things. It took me a whole day and a half to get the computer running correctly again. It took another 2 days to back up all the photos to CD. 30 700mb CDs. Austin then stole it for a whole day to work in AutoCad. And late last night I got the internet working again.
Let me just say it has been a very long week. Austin was ready to just go and buy a new computer. While a new one would be nice this one had all my photos on it. Everything!! All of Mason's baby photos that I just couldn't lose. Not to mention all of my other photos.
Needless to say I am very happy to have it up and running again.

I have some posts that will be back dated because I wanted them to be on 2008 so don't forget to scroll down. It might be tomorrow before I get them all posted but eventually they will be there.

Farewell 2008

2008 was not a good year. I have decided to share my year with you. I don't like to actually write on the calander so I write on yellow sticky notes and put them on the month that is past. I actually keep fairly detailed notes so here is how our year went. I notice that the farther along the year gets the longer and busier the month gets.


January- Started the year off with a failed buyer on our house in Indiana and an ear infection for Mason. The 7th Mason was 22 lbs 9 oz and 28.5 inches tall. After the doctor appt we went to Wal-Mart and Mason got called a slow toddler. (I still chuckle over this)

I missed the only MOPS meeting of the month because of bad weather on the 15th.

Towards the end of the month Mason started doing the caterpillar crawl. Mason and I went to Ames with Jess and V for a well baby visit for V and some shopping.


February- I had my annual girls day with Jess and Julie where we went to Des Moines to go shopping and left the husbands with the kids until late.

The 22nd thru the 25th we were in SW Iowa for my nephew Isaac's birthday on the 27th. Mason and I unknowingly went down there and took the flu with us. I say this because we came home sick and Austin was already sick. At Mason's doctor appt he weighed 24 lbs.


March- This was a busy month for Mason. He got his first top tooth on the 4th. Learned the word 'NO' on the 6th.

On the 9th learned to use 'NO' to talk back.

Started pulling up on the couch and everything else around the 11th.

Said Mama instead of MOM on the 13th.

The 22nd we attended a b-day party for a little girl of our friends.

The 23rd we celebrated Easter at Grandma Robin's and instead of candy Mason got a John Deere scoot and play toy from us and a bucket filled with little toys from Grandma and Grandpa.

A couple days later he caught onto how to scoot around on his John Deere scoot and play toy.


April- Mason turned 10 months and weighed 25.5 lbs and was 30 inches tall.

On the 4th Mason learned to get down from standing position.

On the 7th Austin left for Slovakia.

Mason and I went to SW Iowa to watch some nephew's soccer games.

We got home the 10th in the middle of a thunderstorm that produced tornados in SE Iowa.

On the 11th (the next day) we woke up to 1 inch of snow.

The 12th Mason learned how to hold his own bottle and got the hang of drinking out of a sippy cup.

On the 13th we learned that 2 gal of water makes a huge mess in the middle of the kitchen floor. Austin also got home from Slovakia on this day after some delayed flights and all around aggravation.

On the 15th Mason found out he could get into Hyde's kennel and that he could stand on the John Deere toy to get into stuff. Yay!!

The 18th after several days of a grumpy child his 5th tooth, 4th on the bottom, finally came in. I was blissfully gone for this occasion helping at the MOPS garage sale.

The 19th we had our friends over for a huge turkey dinner and Slovakian Brandy.

The 22nd Austin left for Pennsylvania for 3 days.

The 26th we went to my sister Marianne's for Hunter's 3rd B-day party.

The 27th Mason rode front facing in the truck to buy his tree.

On the 30th we planted Mason's tree. We also planted marigolds and Azalea.


May- On the 1st Mason and I went to MOPS and to lunch with several of the other Moms afterwards.

The 3rd Joe, Jess and the kids came to supper.

The 7th Mason started walking along walls and furniture and by holding onto only one hand.

The 8th Mason and I went to town to have lunch with Jess and the kids. On the way home we stopped to get b-day invites.

The 9th I went to a MOPS steering team meeting, afterwards Mason and I went garage saling with Jess and the kids.

The 10th Austin and I bought Mason's b-day present and hung it in the Elm tree.

The 11th was Mothers Day and we went to town and had lunch with Robin and Jeff. Later that afternoon while Austin and I were cleaning the basement we found 2 snakes.

The 12th Austin broke down after getting tired of my 'bitching' and got a new rear tire for the motorcycle.

The 15th was the last MOPS meeting of the year.

The 17th Joe, Jess and the kids came over for supper.

The 19th Mason gets sick...

The 22nd I got out of the house for a MOPS steer team meeting. A much needed break from a sick child.

The 23rd Mason woke up feeling better. Annoyingly like he had never been sick.

The 26th Austin went with me to town to order Mason's b-day cake and get supplies for the party.

The night of the 29th and the day of the 30th Ames got 7 inches of rain and flooded the streets getting to Wal-Mart and the parking lot thus closing Wal-Mart for the day. Had to switch my cake and sandwich order to Fort Dodge.

The 31st was Mason's b-day party. Too many people to name came and fun was had by most. Cameron and Marianne's boys were horrible and beat up on my friends sweet boys. I might still be a little bitter about that.


June- The 1st was Mason's 1st birthday.

The 7th Mason and I went to Marianne's for Major's 8th b-day party. We got stormed in and ended up staying in a hotel with Cammie, Ricky and the boys.

The 8th Ricky fed Mason his first taste of McDonalds.

The 17th Austin had to fly to Ohio for work so he drove my car to the airport and came home late the next night.

The 19th Austin decided that my car needed new front brakes before vacation.

The 20th Austin decided that my car needed new rear brakes.

The 21st we pulled out of the driveway at 3:30 in the morning for vacation. More on that can be found here and the photos are here.

The 24th Austin and I celebrated 8 years together with some alone time in the campground shower quality time away from the rest of the family.

The 26th we pulled in the driveway at 2:00 am with Isaac with us.

The 28th Sterling, Julie and the kids came over for supper.

The 29th Mason, Isaac and I went to mom and dads for the Farmers Merchant Picnic.

The 30th we went to the parade with Great- grandma and grandpa Hansell.


July- Mason and I got home from mom's the 2nd.

The 12th Austin left for Slovakia, after dropping Austin off for his driver Mason and I went to a b-day party.

The 13th Mason and I went and helped Jess pit cherries all day.

The 14th there was a suspicious truck in the field across the road.

The 15th found cig butts on the back step and to make the day even worse there was a live snake in the basement.

The 16th Mason got his 7th tooth.

The 17th Austin got home.

The 18th Mason and I went to work with Austin to unpack his desk after they rearranged the buildings while he was gone.

The 19th I had a MOPS retreat to plan the new year.

The 22nd I sat at a booth with Lisa at the fair.

The 23rd the Corn Crib fell over. Austin was excited he was home for it. Austin went to Sterling and Julie's to help re-shingle the roof.

The 24th Mason sat at a fair booth with me.

The 25th again at a booth at fair.

The 26th Grandma Robin watched Mason while I sat at the booth.

The 27th Jeff came over and Austin and him started making plans for my new bathroom. Mason went to Robins while I sat at the fair booth. We had horrible weather. Hailed while I was at the fair and Austin had to pull over on his way home from town.

The 28th went to town for bathroom supplies.

The 29th went to town again for bathroom supplies.

The 30th Robin came over. I am still not sure why.


August- The 1st was the beginning of a heat wave. Mason and I went to his great grandparents on way to my mom's. We ended up going to Shen to eat with them and Jeff and Robin. We stayed over at my parent's house Marianne and her family brought the camper to moms and stayed in the driveway.

The 2nd we went to Thurman and helped my mom clean a rental. That night we went to the Sidney Iowa Rodeo. Austin rode the motorcycle down and went with us. Mason got his first cowboy hat and fell asleep during the bull riding.

The 3rd Austin, Mason and I went to lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Hansell at the Elks Club in Shen. They just really wanted to show off Mason. Austin went home after lunch, in a long sleeve shirt with the temp outside at a humid 103. Mason and I drove to Grandma Shirley's and spent the day with my family. I went to Hansell's that night and stayed.

The 4th Mason and I spent the morning with his great-grandparents and went to my Grandma Shirley's to go shopping. Austin needed a new suitcase for international travel. We stayed the night with my grandma because I made the executive decision that I wasn't driving home in that heat.

The 5th Mason and I spent the morning with Grandma and my Aunt Cheryl.

The 6th Mason and I sat at the registration booth for MOPS. After registration Jess and the kids came over for lunch and we played outside.

The 7th Mason took off on walking. He walked all the way across the living room by himself. Naturally I was in the kitchen and didn't get to see but Austin did.

The 8th Austin started tearing apart the bathroom and for 3 days we were without a shower. Luckily Austin parents live close so we didn't have to smell.

The 10th Mason came down with Herpangina and was contagious for about a week so we stayed home and didn't do much.

The 16th we went to the Iowa State Fair. The weather was wonderful, a much improved 76.

The 23rd Mason and I went to Adventure Land with Mare, Major, Hunter, Cammie, Ricky, Daniel, Isaac, Jesse, Jake (Jesse's brother), and Justin (Jesse's nephew). We didn't get home till around midnight. I might be an adrenaline junkie and am naturally a roller coaster fanatic.

The 27th Mason learned "Tickle Tickle".


September- The 2nd I had my first Steer team meeting of the year for MOPS.

The 4th was the first MOPS meeting of the year. Yay!! Afterwards Mason and I drove down to SW Iowa for a wedding that weekend.

The 5th Mason got his first haircut. I also got 8 inches taken off my hair that I donated to Pantene ProV. Mason also went to daycare for the first time while I helped get the reception area ready for the wedding. Austin drove down on the bike and brought my new camera with him. It arrived while he was on the way out the door.

The 6th was the wedding; I was in charge of the reception. Fun fun!!

The 7th Austin went home. Mason and I went to my Grandma Shirley's. We stayed the night there.

The 8th Mason and I went home.

The 12th Mason and I drove down to mom and dads for the Vanatta family reunion.

The 13th Mason and I went to the Vanatta family reunion. Mason was cute and well behaved. He had his first taste of sweet tea and Mt. Dew.

The 14th Mason and I went home with a pit stop at the grocery store.

The 16th Austin left for Germany. This is also the day that Bubba passed away.

The 17th I had to borrow my f-i-l truck to take Bubba to be cremated. The neighbors thought I was crazy for taking molds of his feet for Olive.

The 18th was MOPS.

The 21st Austin got home.

The 23rd Mason decided that the fish tank made a good playhouse.

The 30th Mason threw one of his first 'real' tantrums.


October- The 3rd Joe and Jess dropped the kids off so they could go to see their new little one on ultrasound. Princess Hateful Raquel became a grandma. Her stepdaughter Amanda had a little boy named Ke`Vion.

The 4th I went to a craft fair in Clear Lake with my friend Lisa.

The 5th I went to the hospital to see Amanda, Kevin and Ke`Vion.

The 7th Mason slept in till 10:30. A truly wonderful surprise.

The 8th Mason and I went to town for groceries and on the way home stopped to get pumpkins.

The 12th I caught Mason running with his arms straight out behind his back. Just like on his favorite kids show 'Sid The Science Kid'.

The 16th we had Pampered Chef at our MOPS meeting. We also moved the Washer and Dryer this night. After much teamwork and relationship building.

The 17th Mason had his first sleep over at Grandma Robin's. I had a dinner for MOPS convention.

The 18th was MOPS convention.

The 21st I had my 200th post. Where was I for the first 100. It feels like yesterday that I started this thing.

The 25th Mason and I drove down to Mom's for my cousin Cassie's baby shower. Austin grouted the tile and drove down later. This night we went to the Tabor Fire Departments Halloween Party. Austin and his grandparents went home around 10:30 and I drug myself home around 3.

The 26th Austin went home after lunch and Mason and I went over to mom's for a little bit then we went to Marianne's for supper because she is halfway home and I don't like to feed Mason McDonalds. We got home around 10. I think Austin was just surprised it was before midnight.

The 31st was Halloween and Mason and I drove to Grandma Shirley's for trick or treating with my siblings.



November- The 1st Mason and I were at my parents. Mason played outside with his cousins.

The 2nd Mason and I were still at my parents.

The 3rd and 4th we were still in SW Iowa. For the bulk of the days we were over at Mason's Great Grandparents. After all my family all works.

The 5th Mason and I headed up to my grandma Shirley's to go to my cousin Jessica's home interior party. The weather was horrible so Mom didn't go, Cameron was sick with sinus infection and Marianne didn't want to drive 45 miles into town. After the party Jessica and I went and ate Chinese and rented a movie.

The 6th my aunt Cheryl came over for breakfast and after she finally left Grandma, Mason and I went to JCPenny to buy my bath mats that I got for a steal. Mason and I actually beat Austin home.

The 9th Austin put up some shelves that I have been asking for for a really long time.

The 11th my son decided that the corn plant in the kitchen would make a wonderful indoor dirt pit. Perfect for playing trucks in.

Around the 18th Mason started call Hyde 'Sid', me Momma Raura and Austin Papa Oney (Honey). I have gotten a good laugh out of the Papa Oney.

The 20th was my birthday. We went into town and bought a Wii as combo B-day/Christmas to each other. Afterwards we went and ate.

The 27th we had Thanksgiving at our house. All our friends came and even Austin's parents.



December- The 2nd Mason had a well baby visit. He was 29 lbs 14 oz and 33 inches tall. The doctor called him a tank. Said the word Ouch for the first time while in with the doctor.

The 5th I realized that my kitchen is huge I just don't utilize the space very well.

The 7th was my PartyLite party and afterwards we all went out to eat at LaCarretas in Boone.

The 8th we got a big storm.

The 9th Austin worked from home. yeah I could have done without that.

The 11th I went to the MOPS Christmas brunch alone. Mason stayed home with dad... we moved the baby gate up an inch so that Mason will no longer be able to get his leg stuck on the top. I only tripped over it 4 times.

The 16th and 17th we got a ton of snow. The 18th Mason and I went sledding. Okay well... I pulled Mason around the yard on his sled. Same thing right? We also got more snow this night. So much snow that it rubbed Hyde's belly and came up about 10 inches on the door.

The 20th Mason and I spent with the in-laws due to weather conditions.

The 21st was Christmas over at the Hansell's. Princess Hateful Raquel and her husband Dan showed up but thankfully didn't stay for long. Mason and I stayed the night again. Mason only threw 4 tantrums while opening gifts.

The 22nd Robin and I took Mason to see Santa. We were finally able to get out of the driveway.

The 23rd we left for SW Iowa before the next storm system could come through.

The 24th we went to the Vanatta Christmas at my parent's house. Austin actually took his coat off and talked to people this year. I would think so he has only been part of this family for 8 and a half years.

The 25th Christmas. We went to my grandma Shirley's for lunch. Austin, Mason and Hyde went home with his parents. I hotfooted it back to Council Bluffs to play cards until 2 in the morning with my family.

The 26th I slept in till 11 and then did absolutely nothing.

The 27th was Marianne's b-day party. We went bar hopping in Kimbalton and Harlan. I stayed sober because I just go to the bar to smoke but it was too damn cold to stand outside.

The 28th I went home.

The 29th was Marianne's 30th Birthday. Austin and I went and picked up our car from his parents house.

The 31st was New Years Eve. We went to Sterling and Julie's for supper and to play cards. We made it way past midnight.

At 3 I called a halt to the festivities and made Austin go home. Thus ending 2008 and starting 2009.

I think I touched on everything that happened during the year. If I forgot some things thats alright. I am sure most of the same stuff will come up again in 2009.

Happy New Year!!