Speaking of Rummage Sales

Here's some "info" I got on spending that Economic Stimulus Package we all got/are getting.

As you may have heard, each of us will be getting a tax rebate check to stimulate the economy.

If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China.

If we spend it on gasoline it will go to the Arabs.

If we purchase a computer it will go to India.

If we purchase fruits and vegetables it will go toHonduras, and Guatemala.

If we purchase a good car it will go to Japan.

If we purchase useless stuff it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy.

We need to keep that money here in America.

The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it at yard sales, since those are the only businesses left owned by Americans!!

What did you just Call me?

Well, this past weekend we ushered in the summer with a rummage sale. Its a nice way to meet the neighbors, make a few bucks and clean house! We do one twice a year on our front yard... once as a spur of the moment idea (this one was such an idea) & the 2nd as a neighborhood function (probably July). So, all day I have people stopping by, picking up my stuff, putting it back down, mentally deciding and then handing over hard earned cash for my empty pockets... all in all a very fun two days. I think my house is 250 lbs lighter, at least!

Six kids, of course, adds lots of humorous moments, though & this weekend wasn't without its share. Madigan, commonly referred to as "Bruiser", has always been a no-nonesense, independent, stand up for herself kind of girl. As #4 she comes by it honestly and has no qualms about getting in anyone's face about anything. Which is the prolouge for the rest of this story...

Playing out front, running back and forth, pushing doll strollers & flying plastic bag kites Madigan and our neighbor's boy were having a blast! On one such passing the kids were still a house away when I heard the little boy yell something at Madi... it was something that you think you hear, then shake your head because you MUST have heard something wrong. At the same moment I am shaking my head Madigan stops dead in her tracks, whips around, hand on her hip and yells "What did You Just Call Me?" The neighbor boy repeats his name calling ~ in which, of course, I am highly interested by now. He answers her, my mouth drops open and Madi says back to him "Oh, Yeah, well your a f...face!" AHHHH!!!! I motioned for the dad to come over ~ he took his and I took mine and Madi sat on the stairs wailing that she was innocent (Patsy!), that she was just repeating words. A five minute lecture ensued and another five minutes on the stairs and they were back to pushing strollers and flying plastic bag kites.

Nice gentle reminder that children are listening to EVERYTHING!!! Oh, and don't mess with Madi!

If You Give A Mom A Muffin

One of our favorite books is If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. I highly recommend the audio tape, narrarated by Carol Kane, that we've listened to so many times it's now distorted, but it still plays on... The title song is Cute & so is the "Mouse Cookie" song that you can't help but do a "knee slap" and a "bump bump" to.

I got this in my email today... Very appropriate & humorous!

IF YOU GIVE A MOM A MUFFIN~
If you give a mom a muffin,
She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.
She'll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She'll look for her cookbook('101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger' ).
The cookbook is setting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The check book is in her pursethat is being dumped out by her two-year-old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two-year-old's diaper.
While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.
Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.
She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
And chances are.
If she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.
Author Unknown

Count Your Blessings

* Warning ~ Disturbing Photos *

If ever you think you have too much to handle
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JHPX5eYY9UY

How uplifting and courageous!

I'm Normal

Eight years ago we had a minor scare... my hands and legs would go numb periodically and have pins & needle feeling. They ran the whole gamit on me to check for MS ~ MRI, spinal tap, electroid test, blood test and they found nothing ~ good news, bad news. With a barrage of pregnancies and nursing the symptoms just sort of subsided (or I just ignored) into the background for the past eight years. The past two months, though, the syptoms have reared their ugly head and again a lovely course of blood tests & most recently a MRI followed. This MRI was longer and I got shot up with some dye to see the contrasts better. I had it done on Monday & they handed me my films ~ 15 extra large xrays of my brain and C-Spine ~ and said the results would be in 24 hours. Tuesday came and went with no phone call, so on Wednesday I called them... They'd have to get back to me... They did. The results are ~ "Normal". I'm not sure that anyone has ever used that word to ultimately describe me, but there it is. Normal. I'm still hoping its just a few pinched nerves or big knots that a few deep tissue massages can work out, but for now I'm holding on to the fact that I'm Normal!

Prince Caspian

We took my mom to see Prince Caspian ~ the new NARNIA movie ~ last night. After reading the review in our newspaper http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=751010 I was expecting a laborous 2 hours and 24 minutes in the theater. Mike had already gotten the tickets on Tuesday, though, so the movie was on. The previews were interesting... the kids got all excited about some chihuahua movie that looks AWFUL... oh my! The things Disney comes out with sometimes. On the other hand W.A.L. - E. from Pixar, looks fantastic! So, the movie starts & I'm sitting between Mitchell & Miranda. I've already given out the popcorn & soda, napkins, straws, etc. Within minutes the action has started and its a nonstop (except for the few bathroom breaks with the 2 & 4 year olds and popcorn/soda refills) ride that doesn't end until the subway cars finish passing in the London underground. We clapped when it was over ~ the whole audience did. I thought it was rousing AND inspiring... I covered my mouth twice in an OMG! expression and I saw my mom cover one of the kids (should have probably been rated PG-13 not PG) eyes at least once. There were a few surprises and a few really cool moments. I would have given it the three stars the reviewer also gave it, but not all the backlash. Great Sequel... I think I might even like it better than the first.

Tear Down

On Saturday the long overdue and much needed deconstruction of my mom & dad's house began. They are ripping down their old family room and one car garage to create a much bigger family room, 2 car garage and a mud room (which a few of my kids are convinced will actually have MUD in it!). This first photo is of it largely intact... roof still on, partial walls, etc. I'm in the red, my dad's in the blue & my brother's on the roof. You can see the footings laid out for part of the new construction. On Saturday, ten of us descended on it. Good weather surrounded us and a dumpster stood empty in the driveway just waiting for us to fill it up... and we did! I started out down, but quickly ended up on the roof, running debris from the back to the front for my sister in law, Heidi, to hurl into the dumpster (or at least close). Others were inside and out ripping off walls and siding and gutters and soffits.

The second photo is a better overview & you can tell we had really been working. Heidi and I had been up on the roof, but found ourselves losing ground as the roof quickly came off. Most of the gang had been dismantling the family room, so we helped out with that. After a short break for lunch we were back at it undoing rafters, a rock wall (behind the fireplace), a very reluctant floor (poor David!) and trusses. Oh My!

The third photo is my brother & cousin, saw weilding and crowbar handling. They are on the last little piece of the remaining roof before being done. We kept moving the tarp (see photo 2) further down the line to try to collect most of the debris, while my aunt & uncle kept wheeling wheelbarrows full to the dumpster.

Next is my mom FINALLY getting her chance to whack the wall and take out all her frustrations, she ended up knocking it all the way down! YEAH MOM!

I got to do the back wall & I got it down ~ all by myself! Then we carted more and more to the dumpster and recycle piles and finally stood back to admire our hard work.

This is not the first project our family has all converged on to get done. And it definetely won't be the last. We seem to work well together & have an unspoken understanding of what needs to get done & who is going to do it. My aunt said it like this... "Some families get together & drink or play poker... we do this!"

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

I slept in until 10 ~ I needed it! Even when the door opened and my husband walked in, holding Maverick, balancing a tray and directing the other 5 I could barely open my eyes. Exhausted wasn't even the right word. But, there they were... all smiles and proud of their breakfast in bed. Two pieces of peanut butter toast, chocolate chip waffles, oatmeal, strawberries, a granola bar, and a big glass of juice. So I rearranged the pillows and sat up and rubbed the very reluctant sleep out of my eyes and dug in. They all helped though. Mitchell gave me a cute "MOM" foam shape magnet with his photo in the "O" and all wonderful mom sayings all around on it. He also had a card that he made that was gushy and lovey and I will keep forever. Marina gave me a marigold planted in a milk carton and a homemade card that we giggled over because in one of the many "Happy Mother's Day" she accidentally wrote "Happy Motor Day". We laughed thinking about being nice to your cars for the day. Mike and the kids got me a spa certificate for fingers, toes & a 60 minute massage. "A Day Away" it says. How luxurious. Food eaten, off they went for showers and a clean up run through the house. I love Mother's Day... full of flowery good stuff and making mom's feel like the Queen's they Are. Honestly, I think we should have one a month!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's in this World ~ Without us, life just doesn't run like it should.

The Last Place I Looked

Well I found something this morning in "the last place I looked"... I always find that phrase funny ~~ of course its the last place I looked... I stopped looking after I found it!

I was about to head to CVS to do some damage this morning, but I had misplaced my white envelope full of coupons (this happens often) specifically for CVS. Of course it was compounded because my Free Extra Care Bucks, which is what any self-respecting CVS coupon shopper uses to actually pay for their orders, and thereby earn MORE ECB's, was in that envelope, too. UGH! So I first frisked the car. I found plenty of other things I didn't need yet, but mentally noted, in the front and middle seat including a library book due at the library today. The back of the suburban was full of soccer stuff, rummage items and stuff for the Appleton house (see Next Adventure Blog) so I repacked the soccer bags, took the rummage items to the basement, and while down there found a big box to house the items for Appleton until we go up there. The back now looked presentable, but still no envelope. Back in the house I went & decided to tackle the 3 "hot spots" in my kitchen, or in other words, my paper piles... I weeded through everything & ended up with one bag of trash, one box of kids old school papers to save & a fairly organized kitchen, but no envelope. On to my office, the cabinet under the tv in the living room, the stack of mail on the porch, the back of my bed, on my dresser... all areas where the elusive white envelope could have been, but sadly was not. Garbage bag in hand I kept filling one right after the other with stuff, junk & trash I didn't need. I got the brilliant idea then to call the store I had been at last and ask if anyone had turned in a white envelope... "Just a white envelope?" the clerk asked "anything more descriptive?" she continued. "Yes, just a white envelope, a white envelope SHOVED full of coupons and receipts." No luck. Back to looking. Finally I decided to look under the couch and at this point I need to digress to yesterday...


Yesterday my husband was tidying things up with the kids and Miranda (2) needed a break and asked to watch "Spiderman 2" her favorite movie right now even though "That Doc Ock is Scary". Mike put the DVD in and then asked if I had seen the first movie... he couldn't find it amongst his movies. My husband's vice is movies... he doesn't drink or smoke, but he does have a love affair for his movies. So much so that if a movie is missing he uncanningly knows it and sets out seeking it out until it is returned back at home on the shelf... all discs in their proper spots. "Spiderman" was missing. He looked around for it for a while, but didn't find it and had to go to work, so it remained missing. Which brings us, again, to today...



Today, I was moving the couch and while I found some stray socks, a missing shoe, an almost empty sippy cup and dust bunnies reproducing at will, there still was no envelope. I cleaned it all up and pushed the couch back, when I decided I'd actually look in the couch (by now I'm feeling hopeless). I moved one pillow, then the next and I found "Spiderman" ~ Mike's lost movie. Which, if he had had more time to find it yesterday, he would have found my white envelope hiding underneath it!

Mighty Mom Contest

Hello Everyone! Please take 2 and a half minutes out of your day and go vote for me! The kids have entered me into the "Mighty Mom" contest & its decided by voting. I don't know what the prize is... something to do with a spa and haircut I think... I just want to walk around for the year with the title of Mighty Mom... it makes me sound like a superhero!

http://www.mighty92.com/pages/mightymom.html

We got a Wii!!

For a while now, Mike's best friend, Mike, has been exclaiming, quite loudly I must add, how much we need to get a Wii. I'm never one for buying the latest trend right away, but I had to admit that the Wii really intrigued me. A video game system that gets you up and going ~ how fun! Fun and Intrigue do not pay my bills, though, so the Wii would wait. We really didn't need one anyways. Mike already owns an original Nintendo, a Nintendo 64, Sega, Sega Saturn, Sega Genesis, Playstation, Gamecube and a vintage Atari. The 6 kids also share a Nintendo DS & 2 Gameboys. Mind you... most of this is in the attic stored neatly in boxes with their appropriate controllers and games and every once in a while we have a nostalgic day & set them up & spend some time reliving the past. With everything going on though, everything we do, we didn't really need a Wii.

Nevertheless, best friend Mike showed up at our house last week with a big bag from his job at the shoe store. No shoes were inside... I'm sure you're not surprised it was the Wii. He bought it with the intention that he was "covered" for the year. Struggling with what to get Morgan for her birthday all he kept coming back to was the Wii... obviously too expensive for one child, but for 6, for all their birthdays & Christmas this year, it was doable, so that's what he did. He was smart, too, and got an extra controller, nunchuk and wheel (as well as the Mario Kart Game which came with a wheel) so that there were 2 of everything... no fighting yet!

We set it up finally on Friday night and got introduced to the Wii Mii world, making our Mii's for everyone & having a lot of laughs along the way. We put in Wii Sports & played Tennis and Baseball. After the kids went to bed I tried out the Boxing and found myself jousting around the room yelling "Uppercut, Uppercut, take that, and that!" before KOing my opponent. Three more opponents later my skill had jumped up into the high 300's (1000 is pro apperently) and I was breathing hard. Bowling looked interesting and I scored my highest game ever (I'm lucky to get 100) with a 152... I'm good! Mike got home from seeing a late movie ~ "IronMan" with Mitchell and I listened to them tell me all about the movie while I bowled a 167 & then, feeling optomistic, tried out Baseball... I sucked! Morgan & Marina seemed to have no problems getting singles, double and homeruns, but I kept swinging too early or too late & hitting an eternity of foul balls... not my forte. Mike steps up to the virtual plate and by his third inning hits 7 homeruns in a row. I'll have to practice. I'll definetely have to practice because after going through their 3 part "fitness test" my fitness age is 47! YIKES! Um... It was the first try, okay!?!

All in all I'm imagining lots of fun, plenty of exercise and a few people getting whacked in the head. Oh, and for any would be robbers ~ our Security System Code is.... Wii!!

The Next Adventure

Since I don't have enough to do during the day I started another blog. Crazy, I know! We have a new adventure we are embarking on & I just wanted to share my excitement ~ and what better way to do it!! Over on the side of this blog I have 2 new links. One is for my friend Jenny (we've been friends since kindergarten!) and her family ~ Dan (hubby), Nate (step-son) and little Cassidy. You should watch Dan defy gravity with Cassidy (don't look at the massive amount of laundry ~ folded, mind you~ on the chair! LOL!) in their "Big Top" Video... too funny! The other link is for our next and newest adventure! Thanks for spending your time with us!

Its May... Can't I Turn Off the Heat!!!

I don't remember what day I turn off the heat, usually, but I do have a feeling its long before this! I've had it off a day or two here & there, only to hear "Why is it so cold in here?" and rightly so! It hasn't gotten warm out AT ALL yet! We usually keep our house between 62 and 68 which is extreme since my entire childhood we walked around with coats on inside the house, practically bundled up because my dad (who stands 6'2" & had this issue with the heat registers aimed right at his head) would always keep the house around 55 or a touch more (still does & honestly sometimes he turns the whole furnace off & my mom has to sneak back in the house & turn it back on!!). The kids just make sure they are wearing socks and sometimes a sweater. Miranda, however, is just like her grandpa & ends up stripping and running around in just her pull-up no matter what the temperature.

We have budget billing for our utilities which keeps us at a nice constant, however we also have a house built in 1910, so that nice constant is also expensive. Which leads me to ~IT'S MAY! Can't I turn off the HEAT! There's only 31 days until June, only 45 days until the kids are home for the summer & its still cold! According to the 7 day forecast I'm not thinking it'll be this week that it goes off permanently. With my luck it'll be off just in time to turn on the air conditioning!