What a Wonderful Week

I don't remember why I complained about Austin being home for the week. That's right. I remember it is because he is a pain in the butt. Even more so when he is sick. Austin is very rarely sick. I think he has only been sick maybe twice in the seven years we have been married. Last night his temp got to 103.5. Way too high. I had to threaten him with the emergency room to get him to take some Tylenol. I will take healthy Austin over sick Austin any time.
We are still planning on having people over for new years eve. I just told him that if he didn't feel better he could hide out upstairs. That is when he gave in for me today and took some Tylenol. In the middle of the night I can get Austin to do about anything that I want so getting him to take Tylenol at night isn't hard. I know I'm so mean. I prefer the term resourceful.
Between him and Mason I didn't get anything done today. Before I go to bed I have to tidy my kitchen and wash all (ALL) the bottles. Last night I shampooed the living room carpet. I had to wait for Mason to go to sleep. I did get my bathroom cleaned today. It took me 8 tries but I did get it done.
Mason has been a crabby butt the last couple of days. I think it is because he wants to go places but doesn't know how. I really can't wait until he can crawl.
4 days until Caucasus. Well 3 if you really want to get technical. I can't wait until those stupid political commercials get off of my TV. I don't care if it is just for a little while.

Christmas Vacation

Only 4 more days and Austin goes back to work. I don't have enough projects to keep him busy. That means for a couple of those days he will be annoying me.
Today I got lucky and he is helping a friend cut down some trees. He should be bringing back a good truck load or two. That would be nice. Otherwise I will find myself out in the grove making sure that he doesn't kill himself cutting down some of our trees. I know that this spring we will have to cut some down but it will about 50 degrees not 10.
I know that you get two guy friends together with chain saws and some bad stuff can happen but Austin and Sterling don't drink. They should be relatively safe. Sterling is experienced at cutting down trees. I am too but I don't count for advise because I am a girl and therefore don't know anything useful about stuff like that. Yeah, Right. Maybe I can use my power of persuasion and get them to come to my house tomorrow to cut down some. Anyways. Today he is occupied. Tomorrow he is probably going to be my headache, no, no I meant handful. I swear. . . Anyone want to trade for the day.
I am sure we will spend half the day arguing. I love to argue. I call it my hobby. It is just that I am sure he will want to do something that I think is dangerous and will try to talk me into letting him. Like working on the corn crib. I won this argument last weekend because of the ice.
What does he think I am? Stupid. There is no way I am going to let him work on the corn crib. The thing is leaning and creaks and pops really bad when the wind blows and he wants to get in it and take out a beam. No way. His life insurance policy doesn't cover stupidity.
I don't know why he can't be the type of husband who moves a recliner and a TV to the garage to avoid his wife. Sometimes that would be great. To know that he is just in the garage watching TV instead of doing something idiotic. I have even suggested it and he said. "Why, I like to keep busy."

Christmas

Christmas was good.The weather cooperated beautifully. We left home Christmas Eve to go to my parents for my dad's side of the family. Last head count we had 33. We ended up staying at my parents house this year which was new. Nice but new. Christmas day we went to my grandmas house. At last head count there was 32. Christmas evening we went to Austin's Grandma's where there was a much smaller crowd. I think there was 12. A much smaller group.

We had a good time everywhere we went. Mason was passed around quite a bit but that is good for him.

Mason got a lot of annoying toys. I know it isn't going to get any better. Not after all the horribly annoying toys we gave for gifts over the years. As my siblings put it "Pay back is a bitch." I highly doubt that Marianne and Jesse are going to find something to surpass the annoyingness of the "Stink Blaster". If they ever do I have some refills for the Stink Blaster.

Mason opening gifts at his Great-Grandma Fishers

I caught them all unaware with this photo.

7 little boys ages 7 to 7 months. Left to right. Jamison, Isaac, Hunter, Daniel holding Mason, Major and Jacob. Jacob is just a grandson not a great grandson but anyways. Darin's little boy Qwentyn isn't pictured because he had to leave early. Next year we will have 9 little boys 8 and under. We really need some more little girls. We only have 3. Morgan, Emily and Breanna.

Anyway I think everyone can just imagine how noisy it was with that many little boys running around. Who knows what we are going to do when they get to be around 16 and get cars.

Mason opening gifts at Great-Grandma Shirley's.
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Two

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Four

Five

Mason got a monkey that you can record something on his left hand and play it back on the right. Austin put on there Mimi Aucky. Marianne's boys call Cameron Mimi and Cameron's boys call Marianne Mimi. Well Jesse taught Hunter to say Mimi Aucky whenever someone said Mimi. We all have had great fun with that over the last couple of years. We are going to run into problems with Mason though because both Cammie and Marianne are Mimi. Should be fun.

Mason and Morgan on Christmas Eve. They look more like brother and sister than cousins.

My brother-in-law Jesse.

Hunter being naughty.

Austin is rather quick with that middle finger.

Marianne holding Mason. Mason really wanted her glasses.

Hunter was jealous of his mom holding Mason. Amazing he didn't get jealous of his dad holding him. He just didn't want to share his mom.


Cameron holding Mason sitting beside Ricky. Mason was just fascinated with the ceiling fan.

Finally

Well we finally finished the kitchen. Now I don't have to worry about Mason crawling in there. Not to mention we got rid of the horrible green color. We chose a dark reddish brown for the trim and a slightly lighter color for the wainscoting. The new color combination makes the kitchen feel warm and inviting.

I am pleased with the results. Austin, I am afraid is still getting used to it. He did ask what room was next for paint and I told him the living room. He thinks that next time we should buy a little can and do a test spot. I have already decided though that the living room and office are going to be country white. He wants the trim in the office to be a dark navy blue. I have a feeling I will have to do some fast talking to get my way. Should be fun.

Before

After

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After

Strep Throat and other yucky stuff

Well I have gotten strep throat from my sister, Cameron. I swear I didn't hug, kiss pinch or even slap her when I saw her on Saturday. I don't get it. She gets it and then I get it. There have been some years that I have gotten just by talking to her on the phone. O'well I am finally getting over it. I actually went to the doctor yesterday. She gave me some stuff that has kicked it in the butt.

Now Mason is getting sick. That has been the hardest part. I haven't got to hold or kiss my baby. I don't think he is Strep Throat because his eating hasn't slowed down, so he isn't afraid to swallow. His nose is really disgusting but that is about all. Hopefully it stays that way.

Austin is taking the day off. That means I will be around him for 12 to 13 days. I thought a weekend was hard. We should have some interesting fights. Who knows might be fun now that Mason is taking 2 hour naps mid-morning. Incidentally that is about the time Austin likes to get out of bed. Lucky for me.

Commercials

The other night Austin and I were watching t.v. and in 2 hours we only say one commercial that wasn't a political diatride. I will give it to them this election the commercials haven't been as nasty. They are sticking to their own accompishments and ignoring everyone elses downfalls. It doesn't mean that I'm not tired of seeing Hilary and Obama though. They have the most money so of course I would see them the most. I just can't wait until the caucuses are done in Iowa. I call it a late Christmas present. I can't even listen to the radio without being bombarded by the political ads. It is a good thing we have a big dvd collection.

Not As Planned But Good None The Less

Before

After

Well my weekend plans didn't go as I wanted. Saturday Mason and I went to Marianne's for Jesse's birthday. We ended up staying the night and coming home on Sunday. I dropped Mason off at Grandma Robin's right at one. I got home at 1:30 ready to get to work on the basement. Austin didn't want to work on the basement so while I was in the basement he was tearing out the carpet in the kitchen. It looks totally different in there now. Hopefully we can decide on a paint color today or tomorrow. We have quite a few to choose from. I cannot wait until it is done.

We want a paint color that won't clash with or blend into the color of the cabinets.

I like the middle green. The light one is just too light.

I like the middle one. It doesn't blend in like the darker one but it doesn't shock you like the light one.

I liked these in the store but when I got them up on my cabinet they tend to look too pink.

I grew up in a country blue kitchen so these were way too close for my comfort.

This is Austin's pick. I personally think it is too greeny blue and will clash with all my apple stuff and the grass on the other cabinets. I had to pull out the veto on this.

I love the dark brown but Austin pulled out the veto on this. I think he did it more in retaliation.

Weekend Plans

Austin's mom is going to watch Mason tonight so we can go to the birthday dinner. She is excited, she just finished her classes on Tuesday, so, she is available. She also gets to watch on him Sunday because I am making Austin help me clean out the basement. I want everything put away or thrown away. I am tired of walking around his boxes. If it has been in a box for over 2 years we evidently don't need it. I don't even remember what all is down there. I found a tote with empty boxes for things we don't even own anymore. Stuff like that can find its way to the burn barrel.

If we have time I am going to make help me finish cleaning out the closet in the bathroom. He said if I could live without that closet then he would seriously consider moving my washer and dryer. He is afraid that the bathroom will be really messy if we move them because of all the dirty clothes that will be in there. I had to remind him that that is where the dirty clothes sit now until I am ready to wash them. I don't know if he thought I was running them downstairs every night, or what. Sometimes I think he is crazy. So anyways he wants me to prove that I can live without that closet. Not a problem. Even though there will storage space beside the w&d. I can do it. I think he is afraid of losing the closet. He keeps more in it than me.

Another Reminder- Like We NEED One

One of our good friends is celebrating a birthday so we are all getting together, sans kids, for dinner. I remember when we could get together with just a 10 min notice. Now a week sometimes more. Everyone has to have time to get a babysitter. I remember when people would call me so that they could go on a Friday night. Then I remember that was over 10 years ago. Where does the time go?

It will be nice to be able to go out and eat without having to tell one to sit and stop pestering the people in the next booth. We won't be able to stay out as late because of said babysitter and their extortionist like prices. You would think they were part of the mob. The only jobs I know of that pay that good you have to have a 4 year degree, or more. Julie said they have to pay their babysitter $40. I don't know what Jess and Joe are pitching in.

We have found that it is easier to just get together at one of our houses. The kids go to bed about 8 and then we play cards until around 10. Now between us we are evenly matched 6 kids 6 adults. Hopefully in the next couple of years it will get easier. Every birthday we celebrate together as a group is just a reminder that we are getting older. We don't like to stay out as late, no alcohol, no loud noise. Every year we need to plan farther in advance because it is hard to find babysitters willing to watch that many little ones on a Friday night. Or even a weeknight. It is like well how far into the retirement fund are we willing to go for one night without the kids. Truthfully we aren't willing to go that far. We get lucky with November and December birthdays because the teenagers are always looking for extra money this time of year.

Julie and Sterling found twin 17 year olds willing to watch all six on a Friday night for this time. We don't have to worry about them not doing a good job because Hannah, who is 3, loves to tell on people. She doesn't see it as tattling. At least we know that we get our moneys worth out of them.

Oh the Joy

Oh the Joy of being a SAHM. I'm sure it wouldn't be so bad if I had more than 1 kid. Mason isn't too much work now that we have the walker. Getting him to do tummy time is still a pain. He just screams, goes stiff and throws his arms about. Really who needs to crawl when you can roll to wherever you want to go.

Everything is clean. I know sometimes in photos the floor looks a mess. Trust me that is all picked up before I go to bed. Well at least in the living room. The office is a different story. If it is on the floor it is there for a reason. I call it organized clutter. So, I have nothing left to do. I went through my cabinets earlier this week. I deep cleaned the bathroom yesterday. I love being able to get out my Comet cleaner. Today I think I will clean out the closet in the bathroom.

Austin and I have been arguing about the washer and dryer getting moved up from the basement. I have the LG front load washer and dryer and they are stackable. Austin says they won't fit in the bathroom closet. I say they will because we have to take out the closet anyway because of the shower/tub combo we are going to put in. It is too long and so we have to take out the one wall of the closet so the whole thing will be coming down. If they won't fit in the empty half of the bathroom then there is a problem. I WILL WIN, or die trying.

He should really learn that the house is my domain and the garage is his. He wants to build a shop where the barn is. I am all for it, but I told him that if he wants that I want my washer and dryer in the bathroom. I don't know why he finds this so hard to understand. I am confident he will give in way before me. Maybe if I keep telling myself that it will come true.

Last night for supper I made chicken and noodles with home made noodles. It was the first time I have cooked, in what feels like forever, that he hasn't complained. I even cheated and used finger noodles. Finger noodles are the same as cut noodles just so much quicker and easier. Unfortuantly my receipe is for like 10 people and there are only 2 of us. That means I will be eating chicken and noodles for lunch for the next week. Well it is about that time. Today is day one of leftovers and it actually still sounds good. Tomorrow will be a different story.

Mobile

Mason is becoming more mobile thanks to the walker. He can now get to about anywhere he wants to go. Unfortunately that means cornering the dog. He loves to play with Hyde's kennel beside the fridge. Hyde doesn't like this. He will go into his kennel and growl at Mason. Mason will laugh and Hyde will come out and lick his hand. Thankfully this has just turned into a game for them and they do it over and over again. Keeps them entertained for quite a while every evening while I am cooking supper. Once in a while though Mason will get a hold of Hyde's chain when he walks by. That is never good. It usually ends up with a whimpering dog and a crying child. Thankfully, Hyde is not a biter. He will lick and bare teeth but never bite.
Hyde loves to hide his pig ear treat under the walker. So while Mason is getting into everything he can reach he is dragging around this dog treat under him. Hyde can be seen going in and out from underneath Mason. He has learned to be quick because Mason kicks. I don't know what the poor dog is going to do when Mason starts crawling and walking. Should be interesting. I am afraid I will never have a moments peace with the dog sitting between my feet or worse yet jumping on my counters. Yes, he can jump that high. I have seen the evidence of it.

Stupid Snow. Stupid Roads.

So we are having more bad weather. I'm getting tired of snow. One day of it is okay. It comes looks pretty and then goes away. Great, love it. What I do not love is this every other day crap. At least we aren't expecting ice like other parts of the country. My husband actually went to work today. He will do anything to get out of the house. I do mean anything. He hates to be cooped up. Never fails, the weather will be bad and he will dream up an excuse to go to town. Everytime. At least him going to work won't cost me money. Last year during the ice storm it cost me a chain saw and a cold. There I was 5/6 months pregnant outside in the cold crappy weather making sure my husband didn't kill himself with his new "toy".
They finally came and plowed our gravel road. I wonder if the plow guy misread his map. They never do our road. The neighbor usually ends up getting us a path to the main gravel road with his tractor and bucket.
I might have pd'off the county road guy. We wouldn't have such issues if he did his job and got us a load of gravel for between our house and the stop sign after we thawed out last spring. The county doesn't want to spend money on our mile of the road because we are the only house on our stretch and it isn't frequented by more than 5 other people. Mostly farmers that have land on this road. Guaranteed, they aren't complaining about the condition. The road is usually fine during the times of year that they use it. Supposedly they only have so many miles of gravel they can do. I don't want the whole mile. Just my 1/8 mile. That is it. I could care less about the rest of the road.
Last spring when we started to thaw out we had about 3 inches of mud. They use river rock up in this area of the state. River rock is not good for use on gravel roads. It belongs in the bottom of the river. That is why it is called 'river rock'. I grew up in the southwestern part of the state where they use limestone. Limestone is hard and angular so it packs really well and doesn't tend to move that much. After awhile it becomes really hard almost like dusty pavement. Well river rock is round and smooth, never packs and shifts all the time.
Then you have the idiot road graders who drive way fast while grading and make the whole road a rumble strip. They move the "gravel" from one side of the road to the other, leaving exposed dirt to drive on.
Me being me might get annoyed once in a while and call the county engineer, who is the one that is to decide where the money gets spent on the road maintence, and bitch. During last spring I called him everyday. I do mean everyday. He started to avoid me. So I started to call more than once a day. I wish it wouldn't have to come to that. Hopefully he doesn't run again. I don't know what the road department spends their money on because all the gravel roads suck here. I had to warn him that my road wasn't a level b "enter at your own risk" road and that if I ever got stuck on it, in mud, that the county would not be able to afford the lawsuit. That it would just be cheaper to keep my road well maintained and that didn't mean to grade it every week. Since then the road has been alot better. I've only had to call maybe 5 times in the last 5 months. Much improved from where we were.

The Bathroom

I don't use the toilet paper holder for the toilet paper because you have to reach so far behind you. I put a wal-mart sack on it and use it for the trash. I know it is tacky but who cares. For crying out loud I have farm animals on my kitchen cabinets.

The floor is bad. That is all the cleaner I can get it. They put the tile down themselves so it isn't level or spaced evenly. There are some tiles that they painted to appear darker and random. I hate this floor worse than the kitchen.

I don't like the window behind the toilet either. We are in the country though so it isn't as though anyone can just peek in.

The wall paper drives me nuts and I would take it down but I am truly afraid at what we would find behind it. I know there used to be a tub surround there because I have seen photos. If you rub your hand over the wall paper it is really bumpy. I think they just tore off the surround and put up the wallpaper instead of fixing the wall. We will get to find out though because we need a bath tub. Mason is getting to big to bathe in the kitchen sink. That and I want to be able to take a hot bath sometimes.

I actually like the sink. I cannot stand the counter though.

I don't know what the counter looked like before but I do know that they used spray granite to get it to what it is now. They were nice and left us the can in case we ever wanted to do touch ups. The stupid stuff comes off all the time all over everything. I can't even use a washclothe to wipe the counter down because that stuff comes off all over the towel.

I like the mirror and lights. I wish it was more of a medicine cabinet though. The cabinet down below isn't really set up for smaller items that you would keep in a medicine cabinet. Therefore I have taken over a part of the closet for those items.
I cannot think of a worse layout for this room. Don't get me wrong it is a fairly big room. 9*6. Unfortunatly everything is in the last4 feet of the room. On the other half is a closet.
When we take the shower out to put in a tub I am going to get Austin to bring my washer and dryer up from the basement. I hate not having my laundry on the main level. We already have to take out the closet to get a tub in so it shouldn't be that much work to get the washer hooked up. Austin does the electrical and I do most of the plumbing. Not that Austin isn't smart enough to do it he just doesn't have the patience. He has to have patience to do the electrical because that is life or death while you are working on it. Plumbing isn't.

My gross kitchen

I hate the position of the stove. I have been begging for some cabinets to be by it on both sides.

This is the table Austin made for me while we lived in Indiana. He put the shelf in as decoration. I couldn't believe it. He didn't want me to put anything on it. He threw a huge fit the day he caught me using it as a foot rest while I was peeling potatoes. Now it holds Mason's formula, cereal and water.

My welcome wall. Everything hanging down either says WELCOME or GREETINGS. Austin's contribution was the 3 meat grinders. I didn't think I would them at first but they have grown on me.

My last kitchen was done in apples so I have a lot of leftover stuff. This is one that I still like. It only took us 3 tries to get them straight.

My cabinets.

The people that lived there before had a different definition of 'country' than I do. They do make the kitchen feel warm and inviting. Lets just say noone has ever asked if they need to take their shoes off.

My sink. It really finishes the kitchen. I like it but it is a pain in the butt to keep clean. Hopefully one day I will talk him into putting in a dishwasher.

The pig cabinet freaks me out a little. It has no legs and it feels like the eyes follow you. I could really do without that cabinet. This picture also shows the blue carpet I wrote about yesterday. I cannot wait until it is gone.

I don't mind the cabinets above the counter. Plain and serviceable. I wish the shelves were adjustable. That and that the inside wasn't painted a pukish red color. I guess it could be worse the inside could be the same color as the paneling.

I actually like the little shelves beside the window with the mirror behind them. I have found good cow and chicken figurines. I have yet to find a good pig one, so if anyone finds one let me know.

Another view of the stove. There is probably a good 4 feet beside the trashcan before you get to the door. Plenty of room for cabinets and maybe even the fridge. I told Austin that he could even put the dishwasher over there. He said we would want a sink beside the dishwasher and I said. "What you couldn't put another one over there. The sink wouldn't have to be very big." He looked at me like I was crazy.

The view from my kitchen window. Austin recently put up a platform bird feeder right under the window and didn't tell me. So all the birds would fly to it and it looked like they were flying into the window. I could have killed him, he thought it was funny when he caught me off guard ducking because of the stupid birds.

This house has a lot of little updates we would like to do to it. We have painted almost every room but the kitchen paneling, the dining room and bathroom. I can live with the dining room. I am counting down the days until I get to paint the kitchen paneling. We already painted the walls. The people before us smoked so there was the smokers shadow on the walls. They said they had painted everything the year before. There is no way, you could tell right where the pictures were hanging. It was really bad. It was years of shadow, I know my dad is over a pack a day. So glad I quit.

The Hormonal Red

This is the view you see starting up the stairs it isn't until you get up in the landing that you realize all the trim is red.

You can see Hyde's bed under the window. He likes to lay in the sunshine.

Our door. Thankfully he didn't talk me into painting the doors red also.

I have no idea how he got me to agree to a RED railing.

Our door. No need for a baby monitor with us being that close. When the doors are open we can hear Mason breathing.

Mason's door. I know someday I'll have to take the hearts off. Until he learns that boys shouldn't have hearts on their door though they are staying.

I asked if he would mind if I painted the trim to something a little more subdued and Austin got mad. Something about it taking him 3 days to get it red and that no I couldn't do it over. Then he suggested that I paint the bathroom.