Five Words

Today I read two blog posts. One was from Camela who does a thing called BYOC (bring your own crazy) every Friday and the questions are always different. One of them today was to have several people (friends, family, etc.) describe you in 5 words.

And then another was a link Camela sent me to a post challenging a person to come up with 5 things you like about yourself.

I knew I’d have a hard time with that but having my friends say nice things to me was a lovely thing to have happen today as I’m mentally not in the best place in the world. Getting used to having Fibromyalgia – it’s a toss up whether that’s harder physically or mentally…

Anyway – this was great fun and I highly recommend it if you need a mental boost. And then ABSOLUTELY go write five nice things about yourself! Above all we should like ourselves!

Drew
I totally told him he had to add more to replace clean because… LAME.

1. Clean (gee. isn’t he romantic?)
2. Motivated (huh?)
3. Sensitive
4. Perfectionist (who is he talking about?)
5. Sexy (awww)
6. Sensual
7. Committed

Leah
(she was so extremely shy about this. It was so sweet!)

1. good cook
2. nice
3. gives lots of kisses (then we had a little talk about what the word affectionate means)

Hannah

Me: Can you describe mommy?
Hannah: Yes.
Me: Well?
Hannah: FUNNY! (with all the glee in the world. I love that girl)

Renee

1. smart
2. funny
3. awesome
4. compassionate
5. honest

Kathy

1. empathetic
2. creative
3. loving
4. patient
5. strong

Leah (my sister)

1. compassionate
2. nurturing
3. intelligent
4. talented
5. sensitive

Camela
who wouldn’t stop at 5 and when I pointed that out said she was doing a 2nd set of 5. She’s a rebel.

1. real
2. loyal
3. trustworthy
4. fun
5. a little crazy
6. intense
7. mother
8. friend
9. creative
10. smart

Jeff

1. Genuine
2. Irreplaceable
3. Witty
4. Vulnerable
5. Loyal

Ann Marie

1. Amazing
2. Brave
3. Fierce Dancer (I've not seen it, but I can imagine)
4. Cool Mom
5. Awesome Friend

Ann Marie said these things to me on FB and then we had the following exchange:

Me: Thanks!! And LOL at Fierce Dancer - In my own mind I am. That's the same thing, right??

Her: I believe that is the DEFINITION of being a fierce dancer. :D

(that made me laugh. hard.)

Jen

1. thoughtful
2. great listener
3. compassionate
4. strong
5. persevering

Becky

1. generous
2. selfless
3. Google-queen
4. genius
5. mathematician

My Mom/Cathy

1. brilliant
2. forgiving
3. absolutely fabulous friend
4. intuitive mother
5. such.a.wonderful.daughter.
6. thoughtful

Me

1. I’m a loyal friend
2. I’m a good mother
3. I am sensitive, emotional AND emotionally strong. (These things can coexist. I think people seem to often not know that.)
4. I am loving and affectionate.
5. I am generous.

That list I made myself took me forever! Sweet glory. I don’t know what that says about me but I don’t feel like analyzing it!

Now go forth and do this exercise. It’s good for you!

Drew for the win!

So yesterday I guess Drew was wandering around downtown Green River, WY and he happens upon a thrift store that is having a “going out of business” sale. He decided to go in a look around.

He found this silver set. And he thought I would love it. He also thought it was probably worth more than the 75 dollars they were selling it for.

The woman told him she didn’t think the silverware was worth much but she new the box itself was worth about 40 bucks. She had a paper that showed the silverware was worth about 500 dollars but she didn’t believe it. Anyway – Drew bought it for me and brought it home because he knew I would love it.

I did some research and found out that it was made in 1921 by Community Plate (which is now Oneida). The pattern is called Grosvenor. It’s silver plated and buying all the pieces I now  have individually… would cost about 800 dollars!

*faint*

http://www.silverpattern.com/Grosvenor.htm – You can see a bunch of pictures there. And if you feel the need to buy me a present… There are some pieces there I would love to have. haha.

Drew wanted to sand and refinish the box and I told him he was out of his mind. I LOVE it just like it is. All vintage and gorgeous.

So here is what it looked like this morning…

So I read all over the internet for awhile about the best ways to clean it. One of them is to induce a chemical reaction. You need aluminum foil, baking soda, salt, and boiling water.

And… then I forgot to take a picture while it was bubbling and doing it’s thing because I was so fascinated. It took most of the tarnish off. I still got a soft old toothbrush (poor Leah. That used to be hers… now it’s in the garbage.) and rubbed off the rest of the tarnish with the toothbrush and a little baking soda. Very gently.

I also cleaned the box inside and out and rubbed it with wood oil cleaner.

These are the after pictures:

LOVE! Yay!

Huh?

I was trying to wake Drew up to ask him something...
Me: Drew, drew...
Drew: You can't have it.
Me: Have what?
He grabs me. Hugs me. Starts rubbing my back and whispers: It's mine. You can't have it.
I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.
He's still muttering in his sleep now...
...
I don't care. I don't care.
Don't touch my car!
I'll pop you.
Don't touch it. Don't do it.
How did that feel?
I'm bigger than you are (totally in a taunting voice)
Your nose is next.
Oh boy. You just don't learn.
Did you like that? I just hit you again.
Stop crying. Stop. Hmmm hm. Tell your friends. I told you I'd hit you.
Tell 'em. Tell all your friends.
You're a sissy... (again with the taunting)
You don't want to do that.
I hope that heals funny.
Stupid. So stupid.
No no no.
Oh? You wanna race me?
(yes. I'm typing as he talks.)
*laughter*
My sister could kick your butt.
No. I wanna race now. Race me.
Don't touch my car!
I've hit you twice now.
Hm. Hmmm.
That's MY wife.
I'll kill you.
Shhhh. Go.
You shouldn't have said that. You're gonna die. You're gonna die.
You're gonna throw up. Then die.
....
Wowzer. I think he's asleep for real now.
....
Later:
Don't put the bacon there. That's nasty.
Don't eat that. Ugh.
Doh. Ohhhh Yummy Yummy!
No! No no no.
Tattle tail. Tattle tail. Tattle tail.
You bad bad bad. No no no.
....
Snoring. Whew.

*Happy Sigh*

Snuggling with Daddy before school

The Hideous Trip

We left Castle Rock, Colorado around noon. This trip - with smooth sailing and minimal stops from the short people in the back - takes about 4.5 hours. We stopped in Aurora to see Hannah's bmom, Amanda. We were gonna hang out but she was feeling crappy to say the least so we took her and Hannah's bdad some lunch and headed home.

As soon as we left her house and got back on the interstate we hit construction. Awesome. That lasted well over an hour just to go about 10 miles.

We had a normal drive to Cheyenne - albeit very windy around Cheyenne. We stopped to see Drew's mom, sister, and nieces. We visited for awhile, checked the road report and realized we need to get going. This was probably around 6? I forget. By the time we got to Laramie (45 miles from Cheyenne), the roads from Laramie to home were closed. Great. Drew has several brothers who live in Laramie. We headed to one their homes. They have a basement with this fantastic huge sectional sofa in it. Leah, Hannah, and I all slept on it and Drew slept on a twin mattress next to us. It was really comfy. Hannah thought we were insane - telling her to lay down and go to sleep on a couch but she handled it really well and then slept all night without any troubles. Yay for her!

(as a sidenote: Hannah has started calling us all with our last name involved. Leah Howe! Mommy Howe! Daddy Howe! So when she woke up Sunday morning her head was right next Leah's and she sits up and with total glee shouts: LOOK! Leah HOWE! - I'm ever so glad I was awake to witness that.)

We all get up. The roads are open. YAY! We pack up, leave, get the girls some breakfast (which before we left the house they both refused but then Leah was starving a few minutes later. I love kids. haha.) We get 20 miles down the road - we're so happy to be heading home. And boom. They reclose the roads. We are forced to turn around, drive the 20 miles back to Laramie to wait. We decided to hit Walmart. I needed things there but I hadn't wanted to go before because I wanted to be HOME.

Oh well. We spend 3 hours in Walmart. I get all the things I was after. The girls are losing it. I think maybe we should go back to his brother's house. So does Drew. Leah does not agree. That's backtracking. I see her point (no. she did not use the word backtracking) We were driving past the theater as we discussed this and see that "Puss in Boots" starts in 15 minutes (in 2D. THANK GOODNESS. I've had it with 3D movies.)

So off we go. We watch the movie and just towards the end I check on my phone and YAY - the roads are open.

We head out. Again. By now it's like 2:30/3 in the afternoon.

100 miles to go from Laramie to Rawlins.

20 miles. We pass the turn around mark. YAY.

30 miles. Dead Stop. Dead stop traffic in the middle of nowhere. Miles and miles of cars. Sometimes we'd get up to 4 mph.

SIX HOURS. 20 more miles. That's how long it took to go the next 20 miles. Six. Hours.

At one point I turned to Drew and said – the pioneers probably did this 20 miles in better time while pulling handcarts.

There were no accidents. It was windy. Very very windy. My sister heard them refer to it on the news as "hurricane force winds". We don't have hurricanes here. We just have wind. A lot of it. Sometimes it's stronger than others. But when you mix that with some dry-ish snow - there is no visibility. It's awful.

There was nothing to do but forge ahead. Did I mention that this 20 mile stretch has no cell phone service?

My poor children. They did so well. Leah never had a fit or freaked. Hannah had one little melt down at about the four hour mark. Seriously? She's one. That's impressive.

At that point (being the stellar law abiding mother that I am...) I let them up. We were staying between 0 mph and 2 mph. I let them get up and walk around the van. Hannah even sat on Drew's lap for awhile. Leah got in my seat and I went to the back of the van and cleaned it so I didn't go stir crazy. When we started to move faster I buckled them back in and they both fell asleep not long after.

Finally about the 60 mile mark traffic got normal. It was glorious. We were home in less than an hour from that point.

I actually cried when we got off the interstate. My babies were sound asleep. It was 10ish. We put them in bed, took a long hot shower, and I was asleep the moment I got in bed. Drew said he was all wound up and watched TV for awhile. He was amazing at the driving. He's so careful with all his girls in the vehicle with him. Gotta love that about him!

And I gotta love that just the day before he'd bought us 4 new tires. If we'd hit those roads on our old tires. Oy. That would not have been good.

There you have it. The hideous trip.

I don't want to leave town again for awhile, okay? Thanks.

For a little happy - Here are some pictures of the girls during our walmart trip. They were both in footie jammies.

Leah said: Let’s pretend to take a nap now…. I’m fooled. How ‘bout you?

Today. 13 Years Ago...

"The life that I have, Is all that I have, And the life that I have, Is yours.
The love that I have, Of the life that I have, Is yours and yours and yours.
A sleep I shall have, A rest I shall have, Yet death will be but a pause,
For the peace of my years, In the long green grass, Will be yours and yours and yours."
~ Leo Marks

I saw it!

I went tonight ALONE to the movie theater and ALONE I watched the newest Harry Potter movie.

ALONE ALONE ALONE.

First, the movie was fantastic. I totally loved it. I laughed, I cried a little, I screamed several times. I even threw my arms and legs into the air at one point.

I'm certain I was a sight to behold.

Second, I did all this alone. I'm so rarely truly alone. Even when it's quiet and I'm 'alone', there are still children in their beds to be watched over, etc.

Anyway, I loved it.

It never totally turns off - the mommy thing. I had my phone on vibrate and every time it would buzz for something I'd grab it to see if it was Drew calling but still... I got to revel in the movie and totally enjoy myself. It was fantastic.

Btw, Drew had the girls. Hannah was already asleep when I left and he just had to put Leah to bed. When I came home the main floor of the house was all clean, dishes done, a big cup of ice water waiting for me and an apple pie candle lit.

That was sure pleasant to arrive home to after a movie alone!

A great evening, indeed.

Tomorrow I have my 8 hour gun class. Eek.

NyQuil Blogging

Drew & I each just took a dose of NyQuil.

Just as it's starting to set in I realize: Crap. I haven't blogged yet.

But now my brain is all fuzzy and every word has a typo.

It's so nice of blogger to underline them and let me know. Isn't that lovely? Only almost every word is underlined.

I'll fix it when I'm done.

When will that be?

Let's see. Leah's birthday party is supposed to be tomorrow. Hannah is sick. Leah is sick. Drew is sick. I am sick. We woke up this way this morning. Nice, right?

Leah's favorite cousin Elaina. Her mom called me a little bit ago to let me know that she and Elaina just tested positive for strep.

Crap.

Now she can't come tomorrow. And who wants to come to our dine of clearly contagious sickness anyway???

My poor child.

What do I do? Delay it? Have it with just a tiny bit of family? I have no idea. My poor baby.

These are my NyQuil thoughts. It's 7:20 pm and I'm going to bed now.

Yee.Haw.

Ordinary Day

There isn't really much going on here right now.

Today Leah is sick. She's had a fever since about 9:30 last night. She's very quiet today. Saturday is our day where she gets to pick several games we play and she wanted to do it in spite of the fact that she doesn't feel good. She got through three before she decided she just couldn't do it anymore and now she's on the couch. Sick kids are the saddest thing ever!

I have backlog of picture/recipe posts I need to do. I think I'll go through those today. Maybe

The Ordinary Day Experience:

I had this funny experience with Leah the other day while I was cooking. I got her an apron for Christmas and she likes to put it on and come cook with me in the kitchen.

Anyway, I was making fresh pasta (I'm on a roll with that lately) and she wanted to help. So she comes in the kitchen and we cooked for 4.5 hours. Just her & I. We made fettuccine, linguini, angel hair, and ravioli. The filling for the ravioli plus 3 different pasta sauces. We just cooked and cooked. And she hung in there and helped the entire time. Then we had them all ready at once, we put 3 forks in each dish and the three of us sat down and just ate fresh pasta dishes until we couldn't eat anymore!

It occurred to me several times to get the camera and take pictures but - I don't know. Some how it felt like it would ruin this moment we were having. It was such a precious happy day. I want to remember it forever but I guess not with pictures. We were all so relaxed. Drew came in and out as we cooked to chat.

Some moments just belong to your memory only.

And all I could think throughout the day was: I love my life.

I love my child. I love my husband. And I love to cook!

Cut again

Drew's turn got cut back off today.

Sigh.

Heaven help me. I'm going to lose my mind.

The Railroad

MY CD.

This will really only be shocking to my sister. Sorry about this folks....

I've been looking for one of my Jewel CDs for forever - like several months.

And today I found it.

In. My. Husband's. Car.

That's right, Leah. My husband stole my JEWEL CD.

Unbelievable.

Sick of Winter Sickness

Leah is still sick. It's been forever. More than 2 weeks. And today her cough sounds worse than ever. No fever or anything. Still clear snot. But I'm going to make a doctor's appt in the morning - just in case.

I've only taken Leah to the doctor once because of sickness. She was 6 months old and had gotten a fever that left little blisters inside her mouth. I thought that's what they were but one of my friend's - her 2 had hand, foot, mouth disease at the time. Thankfully she didn't have it.

Anyway, I hate taking her but I guess it's gonna have to be done.

I'm so tired of her being sick. Poor baby. And I'm sick of missing church! But I can't release my hacking coughing 3 year old on all the other kids, right?

Right. That would be wrong. Sigh.

But it means I'm missing things at church. And I feel bad! :(

And Drew - of course - got called to work last night. Not called BACK to work of course. Sigh. Just called in to cover someone else. Great timing. I had just thought I'd go to church alone.

Alas.

This is a whiny post, eh?

Drew's Card

On Drew's card for tomorrow:

You are the one
whose hand has always
slipped into mine when words just weren't enough...

You are the one
who has been by my side
whenever skies looked dark...

You are the one
who knows me deep down-
who has cried with me
and laughed with me
and shared things with me
that no one else would understand...

You are the one
who loves me...
the only one who could ever be
the other half of my soul.

Drew's Schedule

The Railroad

So. If you read that whole other Railroad post (linked above) heaven bless you. I know it's a bit painful. I'm just trying to get through this so I don't have to edit myself so much! lol

Drew's Schedule - and I use the word Schedule VERY loosely...

He rides trains from Point A (home) to Point B. Back and forth. Right?

So we're home. He can check a website and watch a train list and a list for his board and watch when it'll be his turn to go out.

Now you'd think this could be regulated but there are so many trains, and so many people, and so just... MUCH involved that it's a miracle they estimate as well as they do. So sometimes that site is fairly accurate and sometimes he'll get called way early or way late.

On the site next to the train time it says "tentative" - when it is closer it says "prompted" and that's when you know for sure what time but generally that is just minutes for your "call" comes.

From the moment his phone rings he has 90 minutes until he has to be on his train. So generally he leaves the house an hour after his phone rings & that gives him time to do his paperwork, etc before he gets on the train.

Taking the train from Point A to Point B takes anywhere from 3-12 hours.

At Point B they have to rest for 8 hours (they get a hotel room for each trip). After the 8 hours watching the website begins again. They rarely get called out right after 8 hours. Normally it's 10-15. If they are there longer than 16 hours than they get paid a certain amount of money per hour. So the railroad tries to get them out of there before that.

Then they get on a train to go from Point B back to Point A. Again - 3-12 hours.

And once they are home they are only required to give them 10 hours rest - but generally it's 20-24 hours.

So if you add that up he is gone anywhere from 16 hours (rarely is it that short) to a couple days.

But in general he is home every other day.

Thus is my life. So if you know me and say "Will you be at ______?" and it's two weeks away. Forgive me if I can't give you a definite answer. I'll know if I'm coming the day before or that day! LOL

Actually, I still keep something scheduled for Leah. We have:

Monday: Movie Monday
Tuesday: Preschool (Homeschool)
Wednesday: Dance Class
Thursday: Preschool (Homeschool)
Friday: Library Day (We get books. Attend story hour and do a craft)
Saturday: Play games (just some undivided "Yes, I'll play Candyland with you." time)
Sunday: Church (which she LOVES)

This way she has some very regular things about her life even though daddy comes and goes so much.

And sometime he's with us and sometimes he's not!

Luckily I'm also a spontaneous person so this Railroad life is not a big deal to me. I know a few very scheduled people who think it sounds like a nightmare! lol

That's my life!

Edited to add - okay. That's SUPPOSED to be my life. This last year he has worked with such irregularity it hasn't been . But it looks like it's back this way again now! And honestly I miss having my best friend around all the time. Sigh.

Happy Sigh

Edited to add.... June 2006

My Husband. Again.

C: Did something happen in your childhood that made you like this?

D: Well... There was this one time I was abducted by a clown.

C: That explains a lot.

D: I never have looked at cheesecake the same way. That's for sure!

C: I just don't know what to say now.

He's nuts, ya?

Love

IMing with my husband tonight...

Camille: I love you with every fiber of my being. Did you know?
Drew: yes i did. it is never unclear.

I really, really like him.

Happy New Year!

I wish I had a brilliant New Year's post. But alas. ;)

Looking back? This year has been a happy one. I'm content with my life. And then I start to think why? Why was it so happy?

A lot of hard things have been going on the whole time. Drew has only worked half of this year. Financially that... well, it sucks. But we've survived. I am praying mightily that this year will be better for the railroad but I'm - of course - concerned given the current state of our economy.

I have a post in my drafts about the railroad. It's hard to talk about it because so much vernacular is involved and it's hard to explain. Some day I'll get it finished and then I can always link to it when I want to talk about Drew's job.

Anyway!

It's been a good year even with these things. I want money too but I love having my husband around so much. I am SO SO grateful he is my husband and my friend.

And Leah. I'm sure that's a lot of the reason everything still seems so happy. Living life with her is a treat beyond measure!

This is her saying, "Happy New Year!" (I swear - even though she's wearing her Christmas jammies and sitting in front of a Christmas tree! lol)



And let's not forget the great end to the year! The birth of Baby John!! This is him last night contemplating the New Year. It's going to be a busy year of growth and change for him!


Life is good!

Today

Today was not a great day. And since I don't feel like writing it all out I will focus on a couple good things that happened today.

Drew is at work. Since he hasn't worked in weeks, that's good.

Connie & her daughter Jaycey brought a plate of christmas yummy things to my door this evening. Heaven bless them.

And this was my two favorite people this morning because Leah said "Can I put on snow clothes and play in the snow?"

I love my family:

Happy Anniversary!

Today is mine & Drew's 11th anniversary!

I am still madly, deeply in love with my husband. I love that man!

It's been kind of an emotional day. This morning 10 minutes before he was supposed to leave for work he got laid off! (Laid off means something different in railroad terms - it moves him from a regular working conductor, to a conductor who is "on call" 2 days out of the week. It's about a 1/4 of the pay - be we still keep insurance, etc. Anyway!) We couldn't believe it. 10 minutes before work!

So he came to the store with me. We were both feeling down but I still had work to be done & we were trying to focus on the fact we got to spend our anniversary together & we thought we weren't. After we finally got home & got Leah down for a nap, I called my bioDad and asked if he would watch Leah tonight while we went to a movie. That set of parents has never babysat her before but she actually asked for them to watch her (so cute!). Then we made plans for him to come over so I could work on his new laptop at 3.

Right after that Drew went to check the railroad boards online & and came running back in the room DANCING (actually the Dora dance "We did it. We did it." and swinging his hips around... don't tell me I told you! hehe). He was back on already!! PLUS they added two guys below him!! He was cut off for 7.5 hours!

Not only that but he was now going to have to go to work around 8 and our movie date was shot! lol

Luckily Dad came at 3 and then Leah wanted to leave with him so we went to the 4:10 movie and Leah hung out with some grandparents. Then Drew went and got me some to go Chinese & then left for work.

It just feels like I've been on an emotional rollercoaster.

30 minutes before we were making a list of house projects he could work on to keep busy! And then suddenly he's going to work again.

I need to sleep. lol