MOPS Christmas Brunch

Yesterday was my MOPS Christmas Brunch. I was afraid I was going to have to miss it because of the horrible roads but I decided that since Mason was staying home with dad anyways that I may as well go. It took me around an hour to get there but I didn't care because I was by myself and had given myself plenty of time. Well that and my window wasn't frozen shut.

It was nice, the food and conversation were wonderful. Afterwards I went to the store to get my guys some lunch and do a little grocery shopping.

The roads were much better on the way home which was good. Winter in Iowa is bad enough but to add bad roads on top of the windchill 3 days after the snow stopped is really unacceptable. It isn't like our county guys don't have the resources. I figure they should be able to at least keep the roads in better condition but they are probably hording the said resources for 'in case' we get a bigger storm.

I was a little glad to see that Austin was frazzled when I got home. Evidently Mason was a little naughty. Something about the computer and losing the whole mornings work. I don't know. I can't say that I cared too much. I figure if Mason was alone long enough with his laptop to do that then he wasn't watching him that great and probably deserved it.

I know another 'good wife' moment.

Well I hear Big, Big World coming on tv so I'd better get lunch made before he gets too grumpy. I am really hoping he takes more than a 30 minute nap today.

Well...

I finally got my MOPS newsletter emailed off to be printed. It took forever. I just couldn't get into it. Then my fingers didn't want to work. It is a little chilly in here and my fingers get stiff and start to just type junk. Anyways, it is done and now I don't have to worry about it. Yay!!
Now all I have to do for MOPS tomorrow is cooked my hamburger and chicken. We are doing a Pampered Chef party at MOPS. Should be fun. I have to take 1 lb of hamburger cooked and 2-3 cups of cooked diced chicken for the casseroles we are making. I already know what we are having for supper tomorrow and breakfast Friday. I just don't have room in my freezer.
My husband thinks he has to keep a supply of frozen treats like twin pops, fudge pops, bomb pops, ice cream sandwiches, sundae cones and ice cream over anything healthy like frozen hamburger, chicken, pork or veggies. I know, Paul, the Schwans guy, loves coming to our house. Especially when Austin is home. Last time Austin spent $50 on his frozen stuff.
Anyways... I am off subject... So my newsletter is off and should be printed by now. Yay!!

Where?

Where did my year go? It just vanished. Poof! Gone!
Well it is 2 in the morning and I just got done writing the MOPS newsletter. Again I am sitting here asking myself how in the world I got roped into doing it this year. I know some of you are thinking 'well, how hard can it really be you write this blog'. Well this blog is different. I don't have to look you in the eye and wonder if your judging me. Why because I don't care. I like to think I have at least grown as a person that much. But this newsletter is read by around 30 women in the same room. I actually had a nightmare that I went to MOPS and instead of the normal lovely ladies it was a room with 30 Mrs. Malcoms nit picking and dissecting my newsletter.
Yes I realize most won't understand this analogy but for those that went to Fremont-Mills you understand. It isn't that I dislike Mrs. Malcom because I really do like her she was one of my favorite teachers. It is just that I can only handle one English teacher at a time so 30 was kind of overwhelming and I woke up in a cold sweat. Now that I reminded myself of that I get to go and try to go to sleep. Yep like that is going to happen.

Bubba

A good last photo of Bubba. Wednesday was a hard day. Bubba might have been my dog but he was someone else's baby. I had to respect her wishes and have him cremated. It was hard. A lot harder than I thought it would be.
The neighbors now think that I am really weird. Olive wanted prints of his feet so after we got him loaded up in the pickup I trimmed his nails and made prints of his feet. I don't know what they expected me to do. They are all friends with Olive and I am sure they would have been upset if I had just told her no.

I had MOPS today and when I drove in the driveway it was just quiet. It still seems strange. I know I won't get used to it. I'm not sure I even want to.

Procrastinating....

We have been really busy lately. I made it to the freak show family reunion. It was just beautiful out. Seventy and sunny with just the slightest breeze. Mason was cute and as well behaved as can be expected of a one-year-old. He positively charmed everyone as he was eating off of everyones plate. Even though the little stinker had his own.
Austin left for Germany on Tuesday. He drove himself to work in the horrid awesome green truck of his. We debated on whether or not I should drive him in and finally decided that I wouldn't be needing the truck so he took it...it really is true what they say about hindsight being 20/20. I ended up needing the truck and he had the keys in his pocket sitting in a meeting in Germany. Great place for them...
Our adopted dog, Bubba, passed away Tuesday evening as I was leaving for my MOPS steer team meeting. Bubba was close to 18 and it was his time. He passed peacefully and will be greatly missed. Bubba came with the house because he wouldn't stay away and we didn't really want him to leave anyways. The previous owners, Mel and Olive, have said all along that they would like to have him cremated and the cremains mailed to them. I respected their wishes and had to take him to be cremated today. To do this I had to go borrow my father-in-laws truck and then I had to get one of the neighbors to help me load him. I am not sure who was crying harder, me or the neighbor. Have I mentioned that I love my little corner of the world. I have the absolute best neighbors.
My father-in-law had to have his appendix out Friday so he is still recovering from surgery. Otherwise he would have come over and helped me load him. Jeff is recovering nicely. He still can't lift Mason even though he tries. I am afraid he will hurt himself but he won't listen to me.
I have told Austin that he can no longer out of the country. Every time he leaves something happens to make me feel completely helpless. Every time he has gone to Germany something has died. I told him that we only have Mason and Hyde here and I couldn't bear to loose either of them so once he gets home he is home for good. (Some of this might have been said through some hysterical tears and raging hormones although I can't be entirely certain.)
So... that is what has been going on here. Now instead of blogging I need to get my newsletter finished for MOPS tomorrow. It is amazing that even on my weakest days I feel strong being surrounded by other breathtakingly genuine mothers. I do not know what I would do without this wonderful group of women to lean on and complain to laugh with. Our theme this year is Adventures in Mothering. It truly has been that. From the moment we found out about Mason it has been an adventure. My mother upon hearing the theme for this year said there needed to be a group with a theme called Adventures in Marriage. I suggested to her that she needed to write a book about her Adventure in Marriage. It would certainly be a comedy about a tragedy.
Well I have procrastinated long enough. If only I could write the newsletter like I do this blog....

MOPS!!

MOPS starts today and I'm so excited. I don't know what I'm looking forward to most: the 2 hours away from Mason, the fellowship, 2 hours babyfree, friendships, did I mention a whole 2 hours away from Mason, food. I think it is a toss up. I have waited patiently all summer. A big feat for me.
This year I am doing the newsletter. I have a feeling this will get to be more of a chore than anything. I have made my template so all I have to do is change the articles out... maybe... I mean really how many people actually read the newsletter.
After MOPS Mason and I are going to make a quick pit stop at home and then we are going to my mom and dad's. We have a very busy weekend planned. Hopefully We will be home by Tuesday.
Austin asked if I was going to drag it out another day and I could honestly tell him no this time. See... I ordered a new camera and it should be here tomorrow... so I want to get home and play with it. Since he refuses to put it in his backpack when he drives the motorcycle to go to grandma and grandpa's this weekend.
I know! What a brat. Even though I am taking his clothes with me. Good thing I love him or this could be a grievous offense. I think I will forget his underwear. That should show him. I mean really I made his lunch today ,without the spit mind you, the least he could do is bring my camera down with him.
Anyways... so I off to go switch my clothes over. Somehow in the bathroom renovations laundry has gotten messed up and I'm of schedule and ran out of underwear for me. Let me rephrase that. I cannot find almost all my underwear. Out of 30 pairs I can find exactly 4. That's right 4. So instead of being able to do my laundry once a week it feels like I am doing my laundry everyday. Not good when you have snakes in your basement. I have no clue where they went but I have my suspicions that Austin does. He has found this oh so hilarious.
I just keep telling myself that 2 weeks and my washer and dryer will be upstairs. I know I live in a dream world.

It's Tuesday!!

How did that happen? Where did my weekend go? That's right. It was spent working on the bathroom and other stuff.
So it is Tuesday and I am not done with the newsletter for MOPS on Thursday. I really should be finishing that instead of what I am doing but who really cares.
Mason has made it impossible to do anything. I have caught him licking the dog 4 times today. 4 times!! I have no clue why he would want to lick the dog. Totally gross!!
Tomorrow I will be posting the paint color we I decided on. Austin may not like it but I LOVE it.
So for now I am off to finish my newsletter. Any MOPS members in the North Central division of Iowa should come to the North Central Conference held in Webster City at Asbury Methodist. I know I'll be there. There was even some talk of us steer team leaders wearing some kind of crazy hat but I think I will put an ax to that. It should be a fun time anyways.

Busy, Busy!

We have been very busy since last Wednesday. Cleaning and getting stuff ready for spring. Wednesday Mason and I reorganized my kitchen cabinets. They needed it. Nothing fit where it belonged anymore. I felt a lot better when it was done. I received no phone calls on Wednesday. Very unusual. Cameron and mom have off Wednesdays so I usually get calls from both of them. Well they forgot about me so I had to give them a bad time.
Thursday we went to MOPS. Then we stopped at a friends house on the way home and the store to buy the turkey for Saturday. Mason flirted all day. Smiled and laughed for every lady he saw. We get home and I wasn't too sure someone hadn't switched kids on me. He wouldn't be good for at all. Sadly we lost a plant due to tantrum. Austin was more upset about this than me. I truly hated the plant. It was an elephant ear plant that has always always looked sick. I was glad to see it go.
Friday, Austin took off from work at noon so that I could go and help out at the MOPS garage and bake sale. I took advantage of this. I left home at 1:00 and got home at 8:00. Mason was already in bed and my husband was sitting in his recliner and looked like he had been run over by a steam roller. Evidently Mason was his usual self and was hyper and naughty the whole time. I was so glad. I actually asked Austin if they had gone over to his parents house because it looked like they hadn't been home. He looked at me real pitiful like and said "NO! All I did all day was follow Mason around and get him out of things. He wouldn't leave my stuff alone and didn't even play with any of his own toys." Me being the good wife that I am said all innocent like "WELCOME TO MY WORLD!! Get over it. What is for supper?" I thought he was going to beat me. I have never laughed so hard. I did take pity on him and cook supper. Well I don't know if it would qualify as cooking. I heat up some leftover goulash. Don't matter, he ate it and didn't complain.
Saturday was a very busy day. We had some friends coming over for supper and we had planned on turkey. Well my fridge doesn't get warm enough to actually thaw anything so we had to thaw it in the sink. Austin must have been feeling bad about not helping me very much because I didn't have to touch anything but the kitchen. It was wonderful!! He even cleaned the bathroom.
So we get the turkey thawed and cooked and everything else ready and it was perfect. I went to get the turkey drippings to make gravy, I lifted the turkey legs and they just fell off the bird. It was juicy and flavorful. I regret not taking a photo. I doubt my next attempt will be as good. I do have witnesses though which can vouche for me. After dinner we sat the older kids in front of a movie and we girls washed dishes and cleaned up the kitchen while the guys drank some Slovakian brandy. Then we looked at Austin's trip photos by hooking the camera up to the TV. Everyone went home about 10:30. It was nice being able to just go to bed without having to clean the kitchen first.
Sunday we went to a brunch to celebrate the baptismal of two of the little that were over on Saturday. We stayed longer than we planned. It was nice out so the kids were outside playing. Then we had to make the weekly trip to Wal-Mart. I usually make this trip alone because Austin is such a whiner when it comes to shopping. When we got home it was too nice to be inside so we worked outside cleaning up around the corncrib so that the lawn mower doesn't pick up things. I'll post those pictures next.
So that brings us to today. I am exhausted and would like to be looking forward to an uneventful week but that is not to be the case. Austin has to go to Pennsylvania Tuesday and will get home on Thursday. Then we have a day trip to my sister's house on Saturday for my nephews birthday. Hopefully next week we can slow down and have some normalcy.

MOPS

This morning was my Christmas brunch for MOPS (Mothers Of Preschoolers). Every other Thursday we get together and have a great time. We have a devotional and do a craft. Not to mention the food. I do not know what I did before this group.
Any Stay At Home Mom can tell you just how little adult conversation they get in a day. There have been days I have gotten excited about telemarketers. I especially love the campaign surveys. Those have to be my favorite. Especially when I get someone with a southern accent. "Um, what was that?" They expect to get some old person on the phone. I love how they give option A, B, C or D. It is fun to come up with my own answer. I am afraid I am in the margin of error + or - 5%.