Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Decisions....

So it has been awhile since I have been here. First came the "funk" and then the hard drive died a slow and painful death. It has now been revived with my old laptop hard drive. So I am back and I have made a decision.

I'm going to keep this blog going, but I am starting a new one also. It will strictly be projects, big and small that I am doing. I decided that I want to redo the house. Well, a big majority of it. You will see some of the things that I have done but am keeping revisited. Every project will have a tutorial with it and... a recipe! Hopefully everyone will think you are brilliant with your decorating and culinary skills! Hopefully.....

This blog will be more personal. The trials and tribulations of raising 5 kids, husband, 13 year old, 10 year old, 2 year old and the 100lb furry one. I will post finished rooms and such here, but this one will be more fun.

Speaking of fun....



Look at this little guy! My little Tae Kwon Do Master! He was 7 in this pic.



It's hard to believe this little munchkin is now a teenager one year away from driving DAD'S car!



This one looks so sweet and innocent at 3 days old. How quickly they outgrow that stage! Now she is a 2 year old manicure scissors wielding future hairstylist with a VERY short pageboy haircut.

Enough of memory lane....

The new blog is.....


Tomorrow is the launch date for it, so stop by and say "hi".

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

A Funky Mood

Lately I have been in a funky mood. I don't get them often but it is quite a funk. In fact, I haven't felt like blogging because of it. I haven't felt like doing anything. I don't know if it is the kids going back to school that caused it or what.
First of all, I feel like I just exist. I don't live I exist. I exist to get people up for their busy lives, clean house for them, cook for them, wash clothes for them so they are not naked.... Basically just be readily available for them cause they have lives and I don't. In fact to test this theory, I stayed in my pj's until I had to get dressed to go out in public. Yes, I was going to treat others by being dressed. All week I stayed in my pj's cause I had nowhere to go. No outside obligations, no cutesy lunch dates with friends, nothing. I only went outside to take out the garbage. Why get dressed for that?!
I also feel like a failure. Don't let me touch anything or guaranteed that it will fail. I feel like I have failed my kids the most. I wanted so much for them when they were babies and now it feels like I have not given them it. I can't put a finger on "it" but they don't have "it". I feel bad cause I didn't want them growing up the way me and my sister did and yet it seems they are doomed to. I want them to look back on their growing years and have happy memories. I fear that they won't.
The failure doesn't stop at the kids either. It goes towards everything. This blog, the etsy store, the house.... They all just feel like a failure. I do things in the house and get in my minfd a mental pic of how it will look after, do it and step back and think "that was NOT what I was thinking!" I was proud of the countertops. The husband did like the countertops. Was impressed that they looked that good. But.... there is always a but.... I had streaks when you looked at them so he had to redo them. So I failed again. I drive myself crazy wondering how others make things look so easy and simple. Cause everything is a struggle ending in failure.
I have just felt unimportant. I know I have a tendency to go overboard with things. I get interested in something and go all out for it. It tends to overtake every part of my waking moments. But what else is there to do? My fish are a perfect example. It started out innocently enough. We got a tank. We got fish. I cleaned and fed fish. My husband wanted a certain species of fish. So bored I went online to look for them. We had cichlids. I went to cichlid forums. I learned about the fish and thought they were interesting. I joined forums for the fish. Eventually I became a fish guru. I had people emailing me for advice, I was asked to moderated on quite a few forums, even asked to write articles. It made me feel important. I founded the Michigan chapter of the Betta society. I even won a few competitions with my fish. Mostly I felt respected. I felt like I mattered. Then it became a problem. I got tired of hearing all the complaining about the fish. I would of turned the whole basement into an aquarium given the chance. I knew it was not something that would ever make me rich or anything. It made me feel good. So the fish went. Sadly. It still makes me feel like my interests were unimportant. I was taking time that could be used to oogle over everyone else and that was not good.
I didn't do this post to get sympathy or anything. I just wanted to explain why I was gone. The funk is starting to leave though. Even writing this it seems hard to explain things. Maybe I just needed a little break. I just didn't want to come here as such a Debbie Downer. So for those of you still interested in this blog, things will hopefully be back to normal now.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

He's Home!

The Great Hunter has returned!

And he was victorious! He shot a 260 lb Canadian Black Bear with one shot from his longbow. He said this was the best hunt that he has been on so far. They really enjoyed themselves.

We spent 3 days processing 2 of the bears. I have to say that bear meat is awesome. It is some of the tastiest meat I have ever had. Since he has started his big game hunting it has been so hard to go back to domestic meat. I am glad that he had a good time but even more glad to have him home.

He loves the counters and the new kitchen look!

We also started the big push to get the kids ready for the new school year. They go back on the 8th. Now it is school shopping, dentist appointments for teeth cleanings, checking out their new lockers, the hunt for the perfect jeans, haircuts, manicures, pedicures.... the list goes on....

We did manageto get in a last minute day trip to Cedar Point.

We had such a fun time! The kids rode all the thrill rides from 11 am (opening) to 9 pm (close). Did make for a long day. We only had one incident and of course the source was Boss Hogg.

Dad and the kids were out riding the rides and I took her to go to the kiddy park. On the way we passed a fountain that the kids can play in. Actually it is one of those cement pads that water spurts out of sporadically and kinda dances. I took off her shorts so they would not be totally soaked and started talking to the very nice lady next to me. Then "it" happened. She just started laughing! Why was she laughing? Cause when I was not keeping an eagle eye on the small child, she stripped down butt naked and was running around. I thought about not claiming her as mine and just leaving. I knew they would find me though and return her so I tried to runn after her to dress her.

One shot out and she very craftily dodged it, still naked. Unfortunately she ran into the center where 16 shot up and drenched her. Everywhere she turned she got squirted. She managed to get out of there and was looking back at them. She turned around to look at me and one got her right in the face.

I finally did get her dressed. Everytime we passed the spot she said "Bad water!" Would of been funnier if it had happened to someone else though.

For today we are off to check out lockers. Hopefully without incident, but I doubt it.