Sunday, October 28, 2012

The doppelganger and more

Last Monday morning Colton was going to go back to River Falls for school.

He was packing up the car and giving it a pre-flight check (checking the tires/oil, ect).

When he hears this terrible meowing coming from the wood pile.

He goes to investigate and finds trapped in the wood one of our barn cats Jinxie.

Colton moves all the wood around so he can get the cat and brings her to the house.
I was working and told him to leave her in the entry way.

He leaves and I go back to work.

I can hear her yowling all the way upstairs and since I'm getting ready to get on a conference call I decided to run her out to the barn.

Before I take her out though I check her over for injuries that would explain why she was still yowling and making a fuss. I find nothing, but think maybe it's cuz she's never really been in the house and want's her Mama.

Fast run to the barn to drop her off - no Mama or sibling kittens around.

After my call I have break and put the dogs out. 

Casey can't get up the stairs so I have to go out and lift her up the stairs to let her back in the house. While doing that I hear Jinxie just yowling from the barn.

 I go get her and re-check her out for injuries. 
Still nothing visible, so I bring her back in the house thinking something else must be going on.

A little back story on Jinxie real quick.

Chyann got Cairo, pictured below, when she had her leg lengthening surgery and ended up giving her to Caden since he wanted a cat. 


To make a real long story short,
Cairo ended up being an outside barn cat.

In July she had kittens.
One of those kittens is Jinxie.

******

I went back in the house with Jinxie and put her on the floor thinking I'd watch her walk around to see if I could discover what was making her yowl so much, when I just happened to look out the window towards the back yard and do a double take because much to my surprise I see Cairo and Jinxie playing in the garden!


Who is this cat and where did she come from?
No wonder she was yowling so much tho!
Scared, new place and really is just a baby.

New kitten, who has been named Pumpkin Pie on the left and Jinxie on the right.

See why both Colton and I thought it was Jinxie? 

Pumpkin pie is a doppelganger for Jinxie.
Other than being a bit smaller, the only difference between them is that it appears Pumpkin pie will have a longer coat than Jinxie.


Jinxie looks like she is saying who's your Daddy? or where'd you come from?



We have never discovered where Pumpkin pie came from.
We are quite a bit off the road so if someone dropped her off, I don't know that she'd have made it here.
The neighbors the the west and east of us don't have cats.
Did Cairo find her and thinking it was her baby bring her home?
If that was the case how'd she get in the wood pile?

It's a mystery for sure.

I actually woke up this morning feeling almost normal/good and don't sound so much like a frog anymore. 
YAY
Sick of being sick.

The field next door was harvested yesterday!
Chyann is excited to go ride there today. 

Colton's 20th Birthday is on Wednesday.
First Birthday he wont be home for.

Speaking of Birthday's, today is my niece Amanda's Birthday.
Happy Birthday Amanda!
xoxo


Alright.
I'm going to go bake something.
Maybe some cinnamon rolls.

Happy Sunday to you.





Thursday, October 25, 2012

Well, hmmmm.


It was beautiful here earlier in the week.

I looked out my office window to see Chyann walking up to the bus stop (caden is already there, he will NOT wait till the last minute to head out) and saw the most gorgeous sunrise.

Looking to the West.




To the East.




And back to the West.


Yesterday was crazy humid - very sticky, quite unusual for this time of year.

Early this morning a front rolled through that brought some very spectacular thunder and lightning displays as well as pouring rain.

A few communities lost power and had some serious wind damage from straight line winds that registered over 70 mph. Those winds managed to blow over houses/barns/trees/silos.

All afternoon it's been rainy and windy with temperatures continuing to drop.
The low tonight is going to be about 25* - brrrr.
I'm not ready for winter.

Earlier in the week was teacher conferences.
Caden and Chyann are both doing wonderfully in school.

We signed Caden up for basketball too.
For whatever reason the boys have to sell candy bars as a fundraiser for the organization.

We came home with a little suitcase of 60 candy bars.

They are a buck each.
Milk chocolate, milk chocolate/caramel, milk chocolate/almond, dark chocolate/almond and milk chocolate/crispy rice.

I owe eight bucks already.
THEY ARE DELICIOUS!

They Hubby said he should just write a check for 60 bucks and be done with it LOL

The kids are off from school tomorrow, their first in-service day.
Lucky them, a three day weekend.

That sinus infection I had a few weeks ago?
I had called the doc after I was finished with the meds to see if I could get a refill.
Answer to that was nope, come back in.

So, of course I didn't and am paying for it now.
Rotten unresolved sinus infection and now bacterial laryngitis. 
Lot's of infectious shit in my head and about the worst breath ever.
Damn it.

 Some could say I'm ready for Halloween early:
hair that hasn't been combed in days
pasty white scary skin
deep dark circles around the eyes
breath that would peal paint from walls
holey sweatpants
sloppy shirt
thick socks and flip flops
oh well, I will survive.

Take it easy.








Sunday, October 21, 2012

Weekend news

Yesterday was incredible.
Blue sky's and warm.

I worked 9.5 hours of OT then went out to enjoy the what was left of the day.
While picking up the clothes pins that were scattered when my pin bag was blown off the clothes line I noticed an interesting thing.

Way back when Colton was young he loved to build model's.
He had a special affinity for airplane models.
Course as he grew up he lost interest in them and they mostly were shuttled to the basement or to Caden's room (which just so happens to be the dumping ground for anything either of the two older ones don't want anymore). 

However, the one below was to be thrown away for some reason.
 The Hubby rescued it from the trash and mounted it on my clothes line. 
As kind of a fun novelty thing, since he loves airplanes too.

Anyhow back to my story

I looked up and saw something weird about the plane.



Upon closer inspection, it appears that a bird sometime over the summer made a nest in it.


 The fuselage from rear to front is packed with branches, feathers, horse hair and even some ribbon.
(note in the bottom left of this picture a spot of orange)


The little twigs and sticks are even poking out the cockpit windows.


Pretty cool that the side door still opens eh?


And that spot of orange?
Chyann laying on Jenny.


Because this is so much more fun than cleaning up the porch like she was supposed to be doing.


We did end up going for a short ride just before twilight. 
Which was the absolute highlight of my day.


Caden cruised around on his motorcycle for hours. 
He has gotten brave enough to ride around the corn field next door on his own and since a lot of the weeds have died back it's easier riding for him.


Not much on the agenda for today.

I should go up and work for a few hours since the OT is available.

It's going to be another beautiful day. 
In fact all this next week we are going to be in the upper 60's and low 70's, wonderful weather for mid-October.

 I appear to be loosing my voice again. 
Why? I'm not sure, but twice in one year and never before this year? 
Strange.

Teacher conferences are coming up too.
Along with that is basketball sign up for Caden.

Alright.
I'm off.

Have a wonderful Sunday!




Thursday, October 18, 2012

That wet wedding

Saturday after we packed up six tired boys and drove them home I took a well deserved nap.

Upon waking I, if I don't say so myself, did the most gorgeous up-do hair style to ever grace this head (with the exception of that one time my sister-in law did it for me).
I had hair to die for - pulled back off my face and fluffy/curly as hell in the back
This obviously doesn't happen often, as Chyann even said how great it looked.

The outdoor wedding was for the daughter of some of our close friends, although we don't know her well.

Anyhow. 

It was misting when we arrived at the pond, about a quarter mile from the main house and decided to stay in the van until the wedding chariot (local drunk bus) delivered the wedding party to the ceremony area because do you think I ever replaced that ONE umbrella we owned? Nope, I sure did not, because really how often would I use it? lol

When the drunk bus arrived loaded with the wedding party we dried off our seats and waited for them to disembark, hence the excited expressions pictured below.



Most folks actually stood around the outside of the seating area with their umbrellas. 


Just as the wedding party began making their way out of the bus to line up on either side of the alter it literally began to pour.
(I've heard it's good luck when it rains at your wedding and if that's the case this couple with be doubly blessed)

The ladies all kept their umbrellas and the guys got wet. 
There were seven attendants for each.
Pretty big wedding eh?

 Most of my pictures didn't turn out well, so I wont bore you with the really bad pictures.  

The generator that powered the sound system for the music and vows also quit due to the rain.
After that everything kind of fast forwarded and I heard some shouted I DO'S, then the wedding was done.

Best picture of the bride, can't see the groom though. He was in front of that person dressed in black.

The wedding party loaded up and headed back to the house while the rest of us scurried to our vehicles.


Long line of cars on the way to the reception venue, which thankfully was only about ten miles from home. 

Do you think we went home so I could fix my hair?
 Oh no.
 After about nine coats of hair spray the only thing that was going to "fix" my hair was a shower and three shampoos.

 I ever so gently tried to re-fluff my wet hair so that when it dried it wouldn't look like I slept on wet hair. 
In the end it didn't look too terrible.
Just NOT fabulous like it did. 
Damn.


I'm guessing there were 300 folks at the reception and at every place setting there was a lottery scratch off card. 
Caden won six bucks! 

The food was fantastic.
 Interestingly enough Chyann's BFF's step-dad is the head chef where the reception was held and she said he never cooks at home cuz he does every day. lol
I'm totally craving the cucumber/ranch/dill dressing that he made.
 Guess it is his special recipe.
 Fingers crossed I can get it from him, because I've been googling and trying different recipes all week and nothing has even come close to his.

Caden singing I'm sexy and I know it when the wedding party danced in.  



Chyann and I with the Mother of the Bride and our neighbor, plus her sister.


A guy from Key West was attempting to hump/give bunny ears to the Hubby, which is what prompted the opened mouthed laughing.


Also there was a lady from Hollywood at the wedding.
I have no idea who she was, but I will tell you she was the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen. 
Perfect in every way, like she just walked off a movie set.


We danced and drank till the wee hours of the am.
At which point we were driven home by my personal driver of course. 

I was up at the butt crack of dawn to feed the animals and wash my crusty hair.

No one else managed to rise until noonish. 
At which time it was discovered that Caden had a fever of 102*.
Which climbed to almost 103* accompanied by vomiting.

Poor kid missed three days of school.
Guess this wont be the year of 100% attendance. 
Glad he is feeling better though.
That is one positive thing I can say about working from home, I can work and keep an eye on any sickies that may need it. 

In conclusion: Best wedding I've been to in a long while, even though it was wet.

Nighty, nite :)


Monday, October 15, 2012

My ideal job:





Flying around and laughing like a maniac, right up my alley.
Really :)

Sunday, October 14, 2012

The Incredible 10!

'
It's double digits for Caden from now on!

Friday he had six friends stay the night. 
There were no fights or pouting, but we did have a few interesting moments.
Like when two boys, while holding onto each others arms, kicked the other in the family jewels!
Both went down.
I'm not sure what exactly they thought was going to be the outcome in that situation, other than both of them squirming on the floor trying not to cry. hmm. 

Or when at 530am one boy decided to chase a cat and trampled all the other boys that were laying on the floor, waking them all up and none when back to sleep.
It was a good thing their football game was cancelled due to the rain because all of them were exhausted and ready for a nap when we took them home at 11a.

Below are a few pictures of the fun and we really did have a good time.


He's got the best smile.


Colton and the girlfriend.


Chyann


The reflection off the plastic made a  creepy looking mustache on her. 


and me. 
How do you like my new glasses?
I don't care for them much.
It's never a good idea to select your new glasses, that you will usually have for a minimum of a year, after having just had your eyes dilated.
Things are not quite what they seem.
For instance I was sure the frames were black. Just a basic color that will go with anything, but no.
Imagine my surprise when I got them and the frames were purple.

And I know I ordered the anti-glare coating for the lenses, but every damn picture of me with these glasses on there is some kind of glare and with the glare the lens kinda distorts my eye, making it look all squinty.

I don't take the best pictures anyhow and with this glare/squinty thing going on all are doomed to be ones I'd rather delete than keep. 

Maybe if I had a fancy picture editing program I could figure out how to get rid of the glare and take care of one problem, but I don't.



Anyhow. 

Yesterday we went to an outdoor wedding.
I mentioned that the football game was cancelled due to rain, well the outdoor wedding wasn't.
I'll save that wet experience for another post.

Enjoy your Sunday :) 

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Pumpkin carving and other stuff

Random horse picture,
just because.
Scotch and Casper getting all the good bits in the wheel barrel.


Last Sunday we carved the pumpkins.

My favorite paring knife, that Caden is using in this picture got broken and thrown away.
Come to find out it's a Kershaw and can be replaced - if we can find it.
A cursory dig through the recycling has not found it so that means someone special, me, gets to go through the regular trash to find it. Yuck.



Chyann and her master piece.


Colton


His girlfriend carved too.


We roasted all the seeds and they are going fast since everyone loves them.
Might have to carve a few more pumpkins so the kids can get their fill of seeds.

What else is new?

Caden will be the big 10 on Thursday.
He is planning a sleepover Friday night with six boys.
Too bad it supposed to rain and be cold.
It would be nice to put the tent up for them to sleep in and do a bonfire.
As it is, all fun will be limited to how much noise I can handle in the house.


The antibiotics for my sinus infection are gone, but I still feel a heaviness in my sinus area.
Not quite the roll of quarters I felt before, but definitely pressure yet.
May call and see if I can get some more drugs before it's back in full force.

Kind of fell off the whole exercising wagon after the 5K was done (allergies and sinus infection didn't help either).
Back into doing a 30 min exercise DVD over lunch for strength/cardio and 30 min of elliptical after work.
It's amazing how much better I feel when I exercise.

43 more days until I see my Mother and Gerry!


A friend gave me a fantastic recipe for Pineapple Slush
12 oz can of cream of coconut (not milk)
2 cups white rum
46 oz can pineapple juice
6 oz can frozen lemonade

Mix in a big bowl/pail, put in freezer and stir occasionally.
To serve use 3/4 slush and 1/4 sprite
YUM!

That's all for now.
Have a good night :)




Thursday, October 4, 2012

This and that...

Man this week sure flew by.

A rewind of some happenings around here.

Caden at the game Saturday.
He was the QB in this picture doing a hand off to one of his teammates.
I sure need a camera with a faster shutter speed to get better action shots. 
Most of the pictures I took were a blur - damn.
Threw another two TD's and made one TD this week.
Score was 28 to 14. Another win!


Went to my favorite flower/tree place, Klingers and got 100 pounds of the best Yukon gold taters for a  whopping $16 bucks!
Definitely can't beat the price and they've got lots of cool shit this time of year too.

Like see/buy enormous pumpkins and a corn maze.
Those biggies by Caden were $30 and $35 bucks.
Shoot my biggest pumpkin was about the size of the one on the far right of him and that's big enough for me. Can't imagine paying that much for a pumpkin.


A couple of cute donkeys and


a tiny mini that Chyann loved.


Our colors peaked last weekend too.




Sure didn't get to enjoy them long though.
The wind came and ripped those gorgeous leaves off the trees.


Two Thursday's in a row now that I'm home alone.. 
Actually had a phone conversation with a friend and had no kid interruptions - pretty nice.

Still fighting this stinking sinus infection.
No longer leaking from my eye, but I have a rotten headache that wont go away.
Makes for a long ass day staring at a computer and will require me to take a cat nap after work.

Seems our nice weather is on the way out too.
Gonna get quite cold this weekend "they"say.
Not looking forward to it.

Only went riding a few times this last week and didn't go far.
It's bear hunting and bow dear season.
The neighbors sited in their guns Sunday. 
I'm quite sure all that noise scared off any animals that might have been in the vicinity.
Staying close to home for now anyhow. 

My busy time at work is coming up quick.
I'm hoping for a snot load of OT.

Went to the dentist and was told I had fine choppers.
lol
Our dentist is a riot.

Speaking of teeth.
Chyann's are moving at light speed and she may end up getting her braces off after the first of the year.
fingers crossed

Alright.
I'm off to make delicious potato soup with some Yukon golds.

Have a nice evening :)