Free at last...

of the cast that is. Ashley's cast came off and the whole hand ordeal is officially over. You can see where the infection was in the palm of her hand in the picture. Her skin pretty much looks like that between her fingers as well. I must admit I feel like I need to retake my high school biology class. The final x-ray made no sense to me. I could still see where the bone was broken. The PA made an attempt to show me where all the new bone growth was and I nodded, smiled, agreed and hopefully pulled off my "I know exactly what you are talking about" look even though I was completely ignorant. We are just glad that it is over with considering it feels like it was a six month ordeal instead of a 4 week ordeal. Oh, and I told her that she better not break anything else for her entire life since we have no idea what she is allergic to--she had hives all over her forearm when the cast came off. How crazy is that!

So I probably shouldn't even be touching my computer right now--in the past 24 hours (actually it is more like 20 hours) I have managed to break my hair dryer (well, it had been on its way out for awhile, but it started shooting sparks today), our hair clippers (not sure what I did to them) and the refrigerator. The refrigerator thing was because I have a Maytag and I was trying to find the serial number to see if it was included in the recall. At first glance on the inside of the 'frig I couldn't find it, so I thought it was probably on the back. So after much grunting and groaning and a call to my husband, I moved the refrigerator. The number wasn't there. It was on the inside afterall. And in all the movement I managed to somehow cause the pipe that runs the water to the ice maker to leak. And I mean leak. And the kicker of the whole thing was that ours was not included in the recall. Fortunately my hubby fixed it without calling the plumber. Yikes, that would have really been bad. I'm thinking all of this is a good reason not to mop today. Who knows what else could happen!

Words you don't think you'd ever say...

The 2nd graders have been studying the brain. Sara got to bring home the plastic version of it yesterday--she was so very, very excited (seriously, she was extremely excited). But it also led to statements I never thought I'd say and always felt a little weird when I did:

John, give Sara back her brain.
No, don't throw the brain.
Sara, can you please take your brain to your room.
And, on the way out the door this morning, "Sara, don't forget your brain!" (Okay, maybe I've said that one before.)

Oh, and I think my training is paying off. I actually had a child say to me yesterday "Mom, my bottom itches. Can I go to the bathroom and stratch it?" Yeah! for politeness! Oh, and yes, I did then take the opportunity to tell said child that he/she does not need to ask the next time. Ahhh, the joys of motherhood. Sometimes they just make you so proud!

Monday mumblings

So I know I'm not alone in being ready for spring. Between facebook and blogs I'm sure I've read at least 20 times how people just can't wait. I'll join that bandwagon. I even pulled out the flip flops for MOPS this morning and had all the elderly women gasping and asking me if my toes were froze off. In all fairness to them it was 35 degrees outside and I was somewhat recognizing my foolishness when I stepped outside. However, at that point it was waaay too late to change shoes let alone put on socks. And in fairness to me the pants I was wearing really wouldn't have looked good with anything but my brown flip flops. For some reason vanity always wins over practicality for me. I've even been known to tell my kids not to wear their hats so that their hair doesn't get messed up--this is in the winter time mind you. You'd think age would cure some of that.

I'll also join the bandwagon of people that don't like daylight savings time (DST). Actually it's not DST that I'm opposed to. It is the changing of the clocks that I highly dislike. In my opinion, if DST is so great why don't we live on it year round? And, while I'm putting in my two sense worth, why not move it to Saturdays so I can at least enjoy sleeping in the one day of the year that my kids do. I've not adjusted to it yet, BTW. I was up until almost 11pm last night--wide awake and 5:15 came way to early--I was not wide awake then.

I felt like I needed to prepare myself better for Easter. We practice advent all December in preparation for Christmas, but I've never done anything for Easter. So I gave up something for lent....coffee. "Yikes! Coffee! Surely not, God!" is what I said when I felt led that direction. So I quit cold turkey on Ash Wednesday and was absolutely sick as a dog by Friday morning. So Joe let me out of my vow (check out your OT--it's allowed) and I've just significantly cut back. I'm down to one "normal" cup of coffee a morning and that's it for the day. You know all of you who have the gigantic mugs like I like are fooling yourselves when you tell the doctor during your check-up that you only drink one to two cups a day. Seriously, drinking out of those at least doubles your intake. Anyway, I'm definitely looking forward to Easter.

The batteries in my camera are dead and I need to see if I have some charged up. We had a big weekend with Grandpa and Grandma Horn--antler hunting and jewelry making and movie watching. Sadly--no pics to deliver. Must add that to my to do list...

Big Thursday coming up for Ashley--gets her hyrax (expander for her mouth) and her cast off all in the same day. Speaking of Ashley, we may have a special surpise for her birthday, but it's a secret. You'll have to wait right along with her.

Joe's home from work, supper needs cooked and so I will sign off for today.

The lengths a girl will go to....

not to mop. Yep, it's the dreaded mopping Thursday. So instead of mopping this morning I cleaned out the hall closet, washed the upstairs walls (most of them--didn't make it into the bedrooms), cleaned the boys' bedroom, cleaned the kitchen windows, cleaned the outside doors and made a vow to myself that I couldn't shower until I had mopped. Weird vow, I know, but it worked and now the floors are mopped. I still haven't showered though...

Making up for lost time (4 posts in one day!)

On any given day this is how you will probably find my youngest--shirtless and vacuuming the rugs. Or he will be dusting, wiping mirrors, carrying laundry or pretty much anything else I ask him to do. He LOVES chores...not sure when this is going to end but certainly going to take advantage of it while it lasts.

The pink is back

Ashley did get her cast put back on last week. She was so pumped that I didn't ever argue too much with the doctor about it. And I figured if we had problems we could always take it off again. Seriously, I hadn't see her this excited since she got her webkinz. We all signed our names and then she took it to school and they all signed it there too. Now it looks like a black cast with a little bit of pink. About another week and a half and this one will hopefully come off and life will be completely back to normal...just in time to officially start her orthodontic work.

You can't make this stuff up....

Out of the mouth of Nathan last week:

"If my feet start talking, I will need to get new feet." Hmmmm...yeah, or join the circus.

"Dad, you have a nice head." Dad's response: "Um, thanks, I think."

Oh, and Nathan has a new friend. His name is "squirrelly" and no one can see him but Nathan. Yep, invisible "friend". Although it's an animal so I'm not really sure if the term friend is appropriate. He comes in handy whenever Nathan wants more gum (his all time favorite treat). "But squirrelly didn't get a piece mom." We haven't "seen" much of squirrelly lately though, so maybe someone got lucky squirrel hunting.

Really? It's been that long?

Okay, I've gotten more than one phone call in the last few days checking on me. I guess I didn't realize it had been that long since I had posted. I'm fine. Been busy. Not sure what I've been doing that has kept me so busy. I'll try to get back to being consistent. (Just so you know, that's typical the excuse I give to why I don't exercise, but this is so much more fun than exercise!)

Instead of blogging I've been....

CLEANING! My house is cleaner than it has ever been and we aren't even expecting company. It's great. Not perfectly clean, but definitely cleaner that it has been. And I now have a plan! I love plans! And with cleaning the plan is much more fun than the actual cleaning--especially mopping Thursdays. I think I'm going to grow to despise Thursdays, so mopping may need to be a rotating day schedule. Here's what else has been happening:

• I got a Webkinz for V-day. It's a monkey and I really like him/her (I can't decide if it's a him or a her).
• Ashley's hand is on the mend (more on that later)
• I love Easter candy--more specifically black jelly beans. Evidently the love for them isn't what I think it should be as Walmart does not sell a bag of exclusively black jelly beans. By the time I had searched for them, I couldn't take it anymore and got a variety pack and picked out all the black ones by the time I got home.
• It snowed again this week and was 11 degrees this morning. I think this winter is the longest one yet and it isn't even March yet.
• I had great fun at a pool (no, it wasn't an outdoor pool--it's still winter remember?) last week with a new friend and her kids.
• I've started using our grocery and drugstore ads more. It's rather addicting.
• My two favorite shows are on...The Amazing Race and American Idol and I get to watch them both due to my fabulous DVR.