Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Click Through

Hey, you feed readin' folks-click on over and check out the updated playlist. I just totally stole some from Vicki's list...and added more. Enjoy!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Being Real

Shane's cousin and his girlfriend brought their newborn baby over to see us a week or so ago. As we were talking, the girlfriend mentioned as an aside, "Yeah, they all say 'What a perfect family' but I knew that wasn't exactly right." I was a little baffled-not sure who sees us as perfect nor exactly what impression she has of us...

However, we are very real. Today was just one of those days. Nothing is really wrong, but the frustrations of life kinda piled up today. You know, just the junk. And it's hot. One of those digital thermometers in town said it was 109 degrees at 1:30 this afternoon.

So, being on the edge of tears all day, and for no real good reason, this play list was very soothing to my soul. Thanks Vicki :)

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Hi y'all. Have you missed me?

I love this new shift. Shane works Monday 6:30-4:30, then he's gone all day (6:00am-11:30pm) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. These two days he works at the Sheriff's Office, then when his shift is over, he changes clothes and goes to the security guard job, so it's a LONG couple of days for him. However, he then only works from 6:30-4:30 again on Thursday and he's done for the week. Before, Shane had to sleep a bit on Saturday to recover from his Friday night shift, we'd go to church on Sunday and then Monday evening he'd go back to bed to prepare for his 12am shift. Now we have three full days with him-it's so nice. Here's a random summing up of our lives the last few weeks.

~Shane and Ashlyn played a 10 hour game of Horseopoly (off and on through a weekend).
~My internet time used to be after I got up but before Shane got home around 9am each day. Now I get up and feel I need to get busy, work all day around the house, then be with Shane in the evenings. I've not found a new slot in my day for regular blogging time. But I'll get there.
~I took four of the girls and myself to two different dentists in two different towns (different insurance). Then a well baby checkup and we stopped in several times to check in on a good friend giving birth to her first son yesterday. Welcome to the world Judah!
~This running left me so tired I left Shane and some of the girls up and went to bed early.
~Our van has been in the shop twice-once for a cracked flywheel and then for a repair the mechanic accidentally made (broke off something important that left a hole in the radiator, which made the engine overheat). God totally poured out grace on us as we drove the car for several days, even many miles on Sunday without any problem.
~The mechanic was great-it was ready in less time than he estimated and cost less than he originally said. Once we told him about the overheating yesterday morning, it was fixed for free by noon.
~In the meantime, my mom loaned me her nice new Yukon. The girls wanted the mecanic to break something else.
~Shane loves his job. Said it's too good to be true. There's no room to move up, but he's basically his own boss, gets to be outside, travels to all parts of the county he works in, seeing some pretty countyside, and he's losing weight (13lbs in 3 weeks).
~Even though the girls are home just as much as before school was "out" the house is harder to keep up with. Not sure why...maybe it's Jaika's new hobby of dumping out toy boxes in record time, lol.
~Audrey is a whopping 15 lbs at almost 8 months old. She's a total flirt and is racing to be just as big as her sisters. She's crawling, pulling up, and sometimes cruising and even letting go. She even got mad at me yesterday and chewed me out saying, "ga gi ga gi!" with some anger!
~She's still our favorite baby-the girls even say it. She's so easy!
~The big girls just decided they would go to a birthday party after all-one that starts in less than 2 hours. Originally they were tired of going and wanted to just be home. Guess they're re-energized...or they don't want to clean. Regardless I gotta run to get them there-I'll be back here soon!

Friday, June 5, 2009

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I thrive on systems at my house. My kids, on the other hand, don't so my systems often try to crash & burn. Even if I don't have systems, I do have rhythm. Not real rhythm, no, I can't clap in time at church one bit. But I love to make it through the week coasting on the unique cycle of our family.

This week our unique cycle became somewhat normal and I just about fell apart.

Not really, I love the idea of Shane being on day shift and really, really love the idea of four ten hour days with long weekends. But this week has been a challenge since our rhythm is about as "on" as mine is every Sunday about 10:30.

Here's our week in a recap:

The Good:
~Having Shane at most ball games, home for dinner, and next to me in bed at night.
~There was a storm one night this week and I slept peacefully knowing I wasn't the only adult in the house. I left the "monitoring" of the storm up to him and it was soooo nice!
~Unlike when he works in the jail, Shane can use his cell as he's working his new job.
~The new job-Shane is a supervisor to the inmate work crew. He has two inmates he takes all over the county to fill in pot holes. Yesterday took him to a rock crusher plant (for asphalt) and to two towns for road repair, then they cleaned the precinct workshop where he's stationed and cleaned out "his" truck. Much more variety than the gray walls of the jail. Bonus: No drunk guys professing their innocence to deal with.
~Audrey is sitting up, pulling up, and crawling! She's 7 months old today.
~Our 14th wedding anniversary was this week. Celebrating Saturday with a trip to "the city" together.

The Bad:
~The allgirlhomeschool-mobile had to go to the shop for repairs. Yours Truly got to handle all that and it's really not my forte. Still more to deal with as we have to find a different mechanic who deals with transmissions.
~Getting up at 5:40am to make Shane's lunch and get him out the door intact. This one may not last too long!
~I have a guilt complex. If Shane is at work, then I need to work hard with no slacking. Main problem with this is that I keep working once he gets home...and I get up at night with Audrey so I am a little tiny bit tired.
~Pot holes aren't glamorous. We need to work on a new job description, lol.

The Ugly:
~Shane's side job as a security guard for a major gas plant still takes up two evenings a week. We're thankful for the job, but it's hard for the girls to not see him from bedtime Monday night until he gets home on Thursday (they're in bed before he gets home on Tues & Wed nights).
~Finally, a shock from the ball park last night. I sat near a little girl still in her uniform. The team name in bold letters: Ball Busters. Nice.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Small Break

I had planned a Food Class post for today, but it'll have to be put on hold. Our world is a little backwards from our usual schedule, so as we adjust I'm not sure how my blogging will all fall into place. The Food Class posts take more work than others, so just be patient with me :)

I'll throw out a few prayer requests though:
~Shane as he adjusts to a new position that's totally opposite his regular job (days instead of nights, working outdoors instead of inside...)
~Audrey's having a tough time teething. She's pretty miserable with a nonstop runny nose & fever.
~Hope's having a killer allergy attack, her eyes look terrible!
~We're still petitioning God daily for our land to sell, and for the right house for us to be available when it sells.

Finally, if you have some ideas on lunch box items that don't have to be heated up, I would really love you forever. Shane always takes a lunch, but he usually has access to a microwave but won't now. I can send items in a thermos if needed...save my man from a summer of endless sandwiches! Come on, send me your best lunch box menus!