Have you ever...

seen such a thing!!

We got the biggest laugh out of this Golden Plump van!

Glad I had my camera.

Colton's operation went well,
however he did have a huge abcess in one of his toncils that was unexpected.
Pain is under controll - so far.
Good thing he is tough.

Dishwasher repair man should be here any time.

Ball game tonight and Caden will be pitching!

Have a great Humpday :)

Memorial Day and the tonsils

The Memorial Day parade yesterday was indeed excellent.

The weather was cool, sprinkily and somewhat blustery, which I think kept away the large crowds we've seen in years past. 

 My lovely children plus Chyann's friend.

Memorial Day has always been a big part of my life.

When I was a kid I spent a lot of summers with my Dad's family in KS and they took care of the local cemetery (the family still does, just a new generation tending it). 

In the week or so leading up to Memorial Day we were at the cemetery mowing and weed-whacking.

Until every blade of grass was groomed to perfection.

The day before the cousins and I would take the flowers from Grandma's shed, clean them up and put them in Grandpa's pickup truck - we'd climb in the back for the short ride down the road to start putting them on the graves. 

My Grandma would come along behind us and make sure we'd done a good job placing them.

Through the rows of headstones we'd move. 

A bunch of sweaty, dirty kids with my Grandma following behind.
She'd tell us stories of the families that were buried there.

A whole family that died back in the 1800's from cholera.

One woman's eight newborn babies.

The tragic buggy accident and a drifters death.

The unique stones that marked a resting place. 

An angel, a petrified tree trunk, a plain wooden cross.

On Memorial Day there would be a huge service.
Folks would come from miles around to stand and be part of this tradition.
Honoring the soldiers who fought for our freedom.
Thanks to all of those who have!
and
Remembering loved ones.

Today is the day.

Tonsillectomy

for my eldest son.

Lots of ice cream and soup in his immediate future. 

Let's hope recovering from this isn't as bad as everyone says it will be.

Fingers crossed.

Later.

I knew it..

Somehow he'd make it happen.

Yes, we went camping.

And boy did we have fun!

First thing Caden did was break out the poles and head for the lake.

A snapshot of childhood.

Will they remember it?

Caden had caught some weeds with his hook and climbed in to untangle it.

Caden hamming it up, which irritated Chyann for some reason. 

Moments after I took this picture they got to goofing around and Chyann threw Caden into the water. 

Nice.

That water was freaking cold.

After changing he moved to another dock to fish.

He never caught anything but sure had fun trying.

A lot of bike riding and fun in general.

None of Chyann's friends were able to come with us, hopefully next time we go she can bring along a friend to hang out with. 

She spent a lot of time loving on this big pup. 

 Daddy-O never made it golfing, but played a lot of bags with the guys.

As for me?

Well I stayed up waaaay too late singing out on the dock in the moonlight.

A good time had by all. 

Thanks for having us up Sherri!

xo

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too :)

Saturday AM coffee

What a week.

I will tell you the BEST part of it first as I drink some coffee.

Caden's ball game was rescheduled and OH MAN was it FANTASTIC!

Caden and his buddies coming out to do some practice swings while the other team gets set up.

He is first up to bat.

The coach says, he puts him out first because he'll get the game started.

I'm always so nervous when he gets up to bat. 

He pounds one out there like it was nothing and books it out to first!

All the boy were anxious about this first game.

The team they played beat them both times last year, but

these boys were determined to change it this year.

They won 8-1!

With Caden hitting three times and coming into home twice!

LOVE BASEBALL!

Triumphant smiles after the game. 

So then the other parts of my week were like this:

Dishwasher parts and repair man show up.

The repair man get all the new stuff installed, starts and stops it a few times seeing that it is filling and draining as it should. 

Pronounces it fixed and leaves.

I'm so excited!

But don't have time to load it and run it because we've got the game to go to.

Next day I'm working and figure I'll start it after work so I can be near as it runs again for the first time, just to make sure all is well. 

I go to start it and the damn thing will NOT WORK!

I am soooo pissed.

Call Sears.

They can't believe after all the money/parts in it that it wont work.

Repair man will be back on freaking Wednesday.

Dishpanhands here we go again.

~~~~~~

The hubby is driving my van on Thursday and the check engine light comes on then it starts chugging

He barely makes it home.

Starts in on it right away.

Diagnosis is a rocker arm in the engine broke somehow.

The fix for this is to tear the top of the engine down and replace rocker arms, do some kind of re-threading into the head and replace a gasket or something.

He has been diligently working on it late into the night both Thur and Fri because for the first time in a long ass while we actually have plans to go camping!!

Camping is today.

It is still not fixed.

FRACKADACKALOUS

Fingers crossed it will come together soonly so we can go camping.

We would have probably cancelled the whole trip, but he actually wants to go.

He is going golfing for the first time.

So since he wants to go, I'm betting somehow he'll make it happen that we DO go.

And did I mention the satellite box took a shit?

No? well of course it did.

Replacement came in yesterday

and it doesn't work either.

WTH is up with that.

Anywho.

I'm off to get some food ready for the potential camping expedition.

Side note:

I'm incredibly thankful for a Husband who knows his shit with vehicles.

Wordless Wednesday?

I think NOT!

Bummer Caden's first ball game was cancelled today due to the rain.

We've sure had a lot of rain lately, coming up from the massive storms down South.

The worst tornado from Monday was only about 30 minutes North East of my Mother and Gerry's place. 

I can't even imagine it. 

The pure devastation that area endured. 

Definitely a reminder for us all to count our lucky stars.

Not a lot going on around here.

I got my garden and two flower beds weeded and cleaned out finally. 

We've made plans to go camping with my friend Sherri and her family this weekend. 

Can't wait!

Hope the weather is relatively nice. 

Colton started his new job and says it's "alright" - whatever that means lol

Have I mentioned before that I'm cheap?

and that I absolutely LOVE thrift sales?

The thrift sale season is upon us!

FINALLY

Mothers Day weekend a nearby town had their annual city wide thrift sale.

I convinced Colton to come with us, we had the best time.

Found some great deals too.

A few clothing items, chain saw (really needed that I'm sure), games, craft type stuff, a beautiful picture that I have no idea where I'll hang, but had to have and my probably my find of the season ------- skis - YES skis!!! remember I was looking for some cross country skis early in the winter and never found any? Well I got a brand new set of skis, poles and BOOTS for 10 bucks!

Now how is that for a smoking deal!

Pictures of this awesomeness to come yet.

Pretty cool dam right in town

We had to break for lunch.

My boys.

Yes Caden has gotten a nice short hair cut since this picture ;)

And when we got home took a little horse ride with my lovely daughter.

Didn't know she ever used a saddle, eh?

Only once in a blue moon that is for sure. 

Anywho, I'm back to cooking dinner. 

Happy Hump day!

Sunday...

A few rumbles of thunder in the distance and a light sprinkle this morning. 

The windows are open.

The birds are singing and a frog/toad is making it's self  known.

I let the horses out to do a little mowing and noticed the plum trees are blooming.

I love this time of year. 

It's like hope renewed. 

Anything can happen.

In the span of 10 days the bleeding hearts emerged, grew huge and already have it's signature hearts set. 

Caden's beloved Shasta must have gotten stung by something.

We were outside most of the afternoon and I saw her nearby doing what dogs do, but never noticed anything wrong with her until we went in for dinner and saw that her whole face was swollen.

I gave her some antihistamine and it went down some immediately.

She is still swollen this morning so I gave her another dose of antihistamine.

 She is acting fine - eating, drinking and playing with the other dogs. 

Strange.

Speaking of strange.

I had a strange dream last night that I hacked all my hair off, it was like an inch long all over.

I was standing in some bathroom wetting it down and then combing it back so I could get it to stand up on top, then slicking it back on the sides.

Looked similar to billy idol's hair back in the 80's, except for gray and brown of course lol

Not a lot going on here today, which is good. 

I'll take a slow day with few pressures to get shit done. 

I don't want to go back to work tomorrow. 

Wishing I won that big lottery jackpot.

Then I could be a lady of leisure.

Have a good day :)

FRACKADACKALOUS!

It's been a hell of a week folks.

Some of the highlights were:

A whirlwind trip to the cities for an appt and stopped in River Falls to see Colton on the way home.

It was fun to see how well liked he is.

We walked around campus and just about everyone we came in contact with said "hey colton".

He is home now, last day was Thursday, with a B average in all his classes.

That's pretty damn excellent if you ask me.

My favorite time of year is also upon us.

BASEBALL

Two practices and a scrimmage this week. 

Caden is short stop again this year and doing more pitching.

He is also first up at bat in the batting rotation.

The kid sure grew in the last year, he had to get new cleats and mitt, 

not to mention those very cool long red socks lol

Spring concerts as the school year winds down. 

Graduation was last night.

Still bumbling through my bathroom remodel.

The new tub fixtures have been an issue.

The Hubby has had to hack a hole in the wall to put the controller knob thing in so he can sweat the pipes.

Now we have to find a panel to put over the hole and get it painted.

You will not believe how amazing the cabinet has turned out. 

Soon as it is all put back together I'll post some pictures. 

Getting close thankfully.

Spring totally exploded around us. 

The leaves on the trees and blooms are here.

The grass is intensely green  and actually needs to be mowed in some areas already.

We haven't even gotten the mower out yet so the horses are out snacking daily.

Still haven't cleaned out my flower beds or gotten the garden tilled. 

I'M SO BEHIND!

Because when it's nice I only want to ride horses or brush them. 

AND

My barely one year old dishwasher took a shit.

Very glad we got the extended warranty.

Called up Sears and two days later the repair man arrived.

He was the strangest bumbling repair man ever.

Get this - we purchased the dishwasher for 700, extended warranty for about 125 and the 

total cost for 3 replacement parts?

1200!

Not even kidding folks. 

The strange repair man will be back on Thursday with my parts.

Until then it's back to dishpan hands.

YUCK

And speaking of money

gas prices are jumping all over the place.

Filled up on Wed and it was 3.99

Thur it was 4.19

and Fri saw that it was 4.24!

Talk about getting ripped off at the pump!

Later folks, I've got to get busy doing something!

This, that and Mothers Day

And the answer to who shot out the window with an arrow?

The ever talented Chyann.

She says you can't think I meant to do that?

I say well yes.

She says she was aiming for the broken window that was NEXT to the unbroken pane.

I say WTH were you doing shooting towards ANY buildings or windows?!?.

She got to clean the cow barn all by her lonesome.

Lucky her.

 Last week fairly flew for me.

Every day was busy and engaging.

A wee bit stressful, but as a whole good.

Friday afternoon Caden and I took a walk around the place checking out the new buds on the trees.

I don't know where this recent fascination with the bow and arrow has came from, but he carries it all over never shooting it except at his designated target in the back yard. 

It has dried out enough that we got the three-wheeler out 

and decided to go on a ride through the back trails.

Felt good to be outside.

It was a beautiful day.

Coming back home the horses were super interested in what we were doing.

You can just see Jenny staring in our direction.

Jenny turned 8 on Friday.

Colton got himself a full time job starting on the 20th at a card board manufacturing plant in Chippewa.

They know about his tonsil surgery and are giving him the necessary time off.  

I'm very proud of him for being proactive on the job front. 

Guess I thought he'd wait till after the surgery to even look for a job.

He has a mission to earn enough money to buy a new car before school starts in Sept.

Happy Mother's day to all you Mothers!

Hope you all have a wonderful day :)

I'm off to enjoy mine!

Oh Mother

Happy Birthday MOM!

If I hadn't gotten this new job I'd be at your house today making you a cake.

Mom.

You are an amazing woman.

I treasure everything about you.

You have always been there for me.

In every way, shape and form.

You are my best friend.

I can tell you anything and everything.

You are the voice of reason.

My guide in uncertain times.

My unwavering champion.

You are everything to me.

Mom, Chyann and I.

Taken when Mom came up and stayed for weeks on end while Chyann had her fixator on.

Having you here during that harrowing ordeal was priceless.

I don't think I could have made it through without you.

We stayed up almost every night watching Golden Girl re-runs.

Mom, Caden and Beegee.

My favorite lost photo.

Mom and Colton - circa 1994

My children think you hung the moon Mom. 

Always "making memories" with them.

I love you Mom.

You are the BEST!

Thank you for everything you do.

XOXOXO

The new job and other randomness

Well.

What can i say.

First few days on the new job are good.

Nice folks,  accommodating new boss, interesting processes and I like learning new programs.

I'm already done with training in-office and worked at home today.

The day flew by.

First actual audit I had to do was for a close friend of mine.

Was very difficult.

But I did what had to be done.

I knew this would happen if I took this job, but that made it no easier.

Spoke with her this evening.

She said don't worry about it. 

Do my job as it needs to be done.

Still. 

Was hard.

Somehow all that damn snow managed to be melted by Sunday.

The grass is green already and the trees are budding out.

The heat feels incredibly good on my tired winter worn bones.

On lunch today, instead of doing the elliptical I walked outside. 

Even saw a small snake!

Have some freckles popping out now.

Slept with the windows open last night too.

The birds and frogs are making themselves known.

Inquiring minds want to know:

In your opinion, what should the punishment be for shooting out a window with a bow and arrow?

Not a house window, but a shed window.

Any guesses who was the culprit?

Aaah sweet music

The High School Spring concert was last week.

Nothing like seeing your kid(s) play wonderful music to make you burst with pride in their accomplishments.

My favorite piece was their musical anthology of Neil Diamond's music.
Love his music and so does my friend Lori who was sitting next to me.
You can hear her singing and humming throughout the piece lol
Was pretty damn funny!

A Woodpecker and band

On Tuesday, before the big storm, it was beautiful out.

I had the windows open while I was working.

A warm sweet breeze was blowing in.

Birds were chirping.

And all the sudden I hear this huge BAM!

What the hell was that?!?!

I leaned over my desk to look out the window and see a red-headed Pileated woodpecker struggling to get off the ground at the base of the maple tree.

I scurried down stairs to get my camera.

By then he'd made it up and was on the tree.

Poor guy must have flown into the house and knocked himself silly as he was kind of weaving back and forth holding onto the tree. 

After a few moments he started climbing the tree so I went back to my office to watch him.

He pecked a time or two on the tree and flew off.

I'd never seen a woodpecker up close before. 

We do hear them quite frequently during the summer though.

Quite annoying when you are trying to sleep lol

The snow is melting again.

Going to be about 65* today.

It is a soupy, sloppy, muddy mess out there. 

In other news.

Baseball was cancelled for today due to the snow.

Imagine that.

Caden signed up for the band program at school for 5th grade.

The teacher has the kids write their three instrument preferences on a paper and he chooses what instruments they play.

What kind of bullshit is that?!?!

Course Caden put drums as his first choice and even told the teacher that he has the drum kit and a drum set at home since both Colton and Chyann play the drums.

Do you think he got drums? 

Nope.

He got the alto saxophone.

 I called the school to ask why.

They said because everyone always wants to play the drums and they all can't.

Two kids out of the whole grade were selected to play them.

If for some reason those two kids don't work out, whoever is doing well with their current instrument will be chosen to also play the drums.

I suppose that makes sense, but still Caden is mighty disappointed. 

Course we don't have a saxophone and will have to rent one or find one to buy.

Alright I'm off to brush some shaggy ponies.

Happy Sunday :)

Unprecedented

Not even kidding.

We got 15.5 inches of snow on Thursday.

A lot of folks in the area lost power for almost 24 hours.

Thankfully we only lost ours for a few minutes.

Kids had another snowday.

I'm pretty sure they'll be going a few days extra at the end of the year because of all these snowdays.

View of the back porch looking west towards the hot tub. 

On my lunch break I took my broom out and whacked snow from the pine trees that were so weighed down with snow the branches were touching the ground. 

The Hubby clearing a path to the garage.

I had an in-house work day yesterday - man were she roads shitty.

Freezing rain/sleet, then rain the rest of the day.

Was an easy/fun last day on my team. 

We had a

baby shower for a gal, wedding shower for another gal, ordered lunch in - oh and we did actually work a little.

Had to do a transfer of work, a little training on what to do and met with the new boss. 

The gals even got me a card wishing me luck.

I'll be working in the office 6-230p Mon - Wed next week.

There is really no formal training for the job apparently.

I'll be paired up with another auditor to go over the ropes and learn the new systems.

Course the areas I'll be working in are the ones I just came from. 

So, yes i'll be auditing my old team mates. 

UGH.

It will be fine damn it!

Also yesterday met Colton at the ENT doc's office.

He has to get his tonsils out.

Poor kid has been fighting reoccurring tonsillitis since last May.

Course over the summer months it wasn't much of an issue, otherwise we'd have had it done before school started.

Made for a miserably long first year at school.

Seemed like he'd be fine, get run down just a little (stress of school, being away from home, staying up till all hours with no mom to tell you to get your ass to bed) and BAM tonsillitis.

He couldn't take off time during the school year to get it done, didn't want to miss any classes.

School is out on the 16th and he is scheduled for the operation on the 28th.

The doc says it a 10 day recovery - and don't even try pushing that recovery time, he'll need every day of it.

Happy Birthday to my lovely Alaskan girlfriend Charity!

Miss you xoxo

Later folks :)