The History of My Chest in 6 Parts:

Part 1-Tales of a Fourth Grade Too Much

Nod to Bobo

Warning-I am not an artist, not in any sense that could be appreciated greatly by others.  Plus I am getting used to drawing on my iPad, so improvement should be seen over time.  Truly, though, this sketch is meant to be childish looking.  There IS a story.

Once upon a time, there were 2 sisters,  One was fair and had long super curly hair but was a little insecure.   The other was a general pain the bum little sister who loved to tease her.  Fortunately, as long as said little sister wasn't a total meanie, said fair older sister would be a good sport.  Somehow, I took to calling my sister Bobo (meant as a name of affection but, Bobo?  I don't know what I was thinking, don't ask).  

Well, Bobo and Anna went to church every Sunday but as children sometimes do, I would get restless and one Sunday started coming up with these cartoons of Bobo and her life.  I drew the cartoon version not fair and curly haired and looking a little rough (twisted sense of humors come in all forms).  Bobo had many adventures and she made us laugh until we cried, although very quietly so as not to interrupted anyone else.  I had forgotten about this cartoon until a few years ago my sister pulled out a notebook.  I felt a bit sheepish, but to her those times fond memories, and though reading back I couldn't believe what a tease I was, it makes for a funny, weird, sense of humor bond between us.  Every cartoon had a story behind it-a boy we teased Bobo about, one of her insecurities being amped up-much territory was covered.

Incidentally, lately, when something absurd happens to me or something a little depressing, sometimes I see a cartoon pop up in my head, all laid out.  As I'm not an artist, they look amateur but they help me smile and laugh to myself about something that might otherwise make me eats lots of chocolate.  Therefore, I am going to try to put some of them down.  If Bobo can like the silly cartoons I drew to entertain her many years ago, maybe my children and/or I can find some of my and their adventures in my cartoon mind amusing some day.  

Coming up next week, an amateurish, scribbly cartoon every day to make me laugh.  Plus, don't miss out on:

      MOM'S MANIC MONDAY

      TIPSY TUTORIAL TUESDAY

      WACKY WELLNESS WEDNESDAY

      THOROUGHLY THANKFUL THURSDAY

      FINE DINING FRIDAY

      SIMPLE TRUTHS SATURDAY

Back to Reality

MY REALITY-  Light sabers on the floor.

                        Light sabers banging on my door.

                        Light sabers by the kitchen sink,

                        Every time I get a drink.

And a Millenium Falcon on our dog crate for good measure.  Everyone should have one...a Millenium Falcon that is.

SO, um, earth to Anna, Christmas is....over.  New Year's?  Also over.  Now there is a seriously long-term habit I have--All the time growing up, from my perspective, once school let out for Christmas break (it was never winter break back then), you did nothing but get hyped up about Christmas, enjoy Christmas, get hyped up about New Year's, be lazy, and eat food--for 2 weeks.  Oh, it was a thing of beauty.  I have never gotten over that.  I just feel like it's a time for hunkering down, going out as little as possible and just enjoying your family and recharging for the new year (and the rest of a long, cold winter).  As an adult, it has gotten tricky, but I still hang on to the desire to pull this off every year.  This year (having a 9 year old really helps) I pulled off a lot of sleeping in which is seriously unheard of for me.  I spent a lot of time enjoying (and at times hiding from) my children, and I didn't clean the house quite as much as I should have.  With 4 kids home 24/7 and a bunch of new toys, it's kind of self defeating IMO anyway.  I did have to work my part-time job this whole time (yes, even on the actual holidays-nature of my work), but that wasn't too killer.  This week I've spent half-heartedly trying to get back into the swing of things and really evaluating my personal goals and how I run my household, writing, writing, planning, and trying to simplify and plan baby steps so that I don't expect too much of myself and have mucho success instead, just a little at a time.

At last, though, after 2 insanely late nights working and then another night of sick boys causing me to feel like the Living Dead all week, I think if I have a laid back weekend, I am ready to start taking names and kicking some trash (how's that for an incognito way of saying lazy time is over-Resolutions Attack!)

Hehe, now my secret blogging weapon...more like what sets my blog apart from others I enjoy (aside from my randomness)--TOMORROW I AM BLOGGING.  I love several blogs, but the people don't blog on Saturday-making me a bit sad.  Well, I'm going to blog on Saturday so I have something to read, and I get to introduce the beloved, although haggard Bobo and my plans.  Nothing like putting it out there to the blogosphere, so tomorrow, here it comes.

Out With the Old

Today has been a bit of one of those days.  For work I've had tech issues which the lovely tech guys didn't resolve and didn't resolve, and then, finally, today a blessed FEMALE tech person called and fixed the problem in a snap.  But then, then, I got a call from my supervisor.  I have to switch teams, and though I embrace some forms of change, a new baby, a road trip, change of seasons, I hate work changes.  I always end up adapting before too long, but the part where I feel like I am barely treading water (which coincidentally I haven't managed to figure out how to do) is really aggravating.  Therefore, I feel cranky.  I will have to learn the personality of a new boss, learn all the new protocols and keyboard commands for a different platform, and learn several new accounts, all while managing 2 busy little boys (4 kids on Saturday), and it makes me feel close to tears.  I've done each of those things several times before in this "career" of mine, but I've never had to do all of them at once, thus the crankiness.

In honor of celebrating the old before I embrace the new, just a few more random things to share.  You have no idea how much I am enjoying sharing random.  Too bad I plan on being orderly next week...not too orderly though-I truly excel at random. :)

This here (see how I can sound all intellectual even when I'm down in the dumps) is my 2000 Dodge Caravan.  When YW used to ride in it they marveled at no power windows, the sliding door on 1 side only, no remote entry, and no personal air/temperature controls.  It also has no power locks and no cruise control and a tape deck...oh, and no hubcap on the front passenger side in case you didn't notice.  This puppy has been with us since before The Eldest was born.  In fact, we purchased it because my little Pontiac Le Mans was not going to work as a family car.  It is not a thing of beauty but has been highly functional.  I always tell Luke I will be driving it until I run it into the ground which may be soon but I am dearly hoping a student loan or 2 can go bye-bye before we have to buy a newer car.

This is a new to us but EXTREMELY old piano.  It's had a rough life but can hold a tune, so hurrah for it.  The Eldest has started piano lessons, and I am so happy to have a piano in our home.

This lovely chest is perhaps not super old, but I hope it will stay in my family and become old and cherished by my kids and theirs.  My dad bought each of his kids one of these because a daughter or 2 was being very persistent about him making them a hope chest.  Instead, he saw these on the Oregon Coast, which is a place near and dear to us, and we each got a different 1.  I love it and have filled it with keepsakes.

Yes, an old dress, oldish, not antique, just about 14+ years old.  It was given to me by my sister who looked quite cute in it, but this dress is made for a smallish chested maiden (I very much fit that description), and so it has become mine for many years.  Whenever I am not with child or nursing said child, I like to wear this dress and feel slimmish.  I started to think it was getting too old when I wore it to my dad's wedding this last October, but then my uncle, who I hadn't seen since my wedding, told me, "Well, you've grown into a tall, willowy thing, haven't you?" while I was wearing this dress, so I'm probably keeping it forever because if it can make me (not willowy and only a little tall) look willowy and tall, then it's a keeper.  Best compliment ever!

China.  I'm old fashioned because I love the concept of having china.  It came to me in sad circumstances, but I have many happy memories involving it.  I love it very much and am taking good care of it.

Sad old bear.  This is probably the oldest thing I own, except for 1 or 2 books.  He is a mangy thing with nails or staples or something sticking out of him, obviously no fur left, and stuffed with what appears to be sawdust.  I think he is homemade, maybe by my great grandma.  I really have no idea.  When I was little, we would go visit my Great Uncle Doug, and 1 time I must have looked particularly uncomfortable sitting quietly while my mom visited with him because he went into the dark basement and found this for me to play with and told me to keep it.  When I got it, it looked just the same as now.  I can't get rid of it because it's this random link to the past/my Uncle Doug.  I always feel a little sad when I seem him, but he needs love, not a trip to the dump.

There you have it-my celebration of old stuff before I figure out all the new job stuff and go crazy for a couple of weeks.  There may be wailing and gnashing of teeth, but I will try to handle a load of new all at once with some degree of grace...and to not make my sweet family suffer too much just because I am.

Be It Ever So Humble

I'm calling this my warm up week for the blog, lots of ideas, but as I said consistency is what I am going for here, so I thought I'd talk about our new house (new to us).  

Here she is.  We went from thinking, hmm, maybe in the next year we should think about selling our house to   talking to a realtor and then actually having our house sold all in 3 weeks.  We are used to going along rather slowly in life but having some BAM moments where things go so fast we aren't sure what we were thinking, but normally those moments are for the best (except for the occasional pesky impulse buy).

 I was sadly negligent in taking pictures of our old house, at least the outside of it.  I sometimes loved that house and sometimes hated it (the hate came when the plumber or electrician would tell us how stupidly built our house was or when I could feel the lack of insulation during freezing winters.  However, it was the first home we ever purchased, and it was full of 10 years of memories.  It was old.  It was boxy.  It needed a million updates besides the ones were proudly did ourselves, but we brought home 4 precious children to it, and it kept us safe, relatively protected from the elements, and I can testify that the Lord made a lot of it work way longer than it should have.  Here's a little of the old house's garage and our older than vinyl, vinyl siding:

Here is our lovely former front porch:

And my favorite thing about the old house was for what we paid we had a relatively large yard.  Yes, the sprinkler system needed some repairs and so our lawn suffered between that and doggies, but it was a great yard for running around in and plenty of room on the side for my gardening passion.  Oh, and the old fence-how much fun we had fixing it as it fell apart.  Besides the regular wear and tear, we had 1 drunk lady crash into it one cold January so got a new part, and then 1 August a lovely windstorm allowed us to put new posts in on another section of our fence.  We learned some skills and worked hard, and to have the big yard, I suppose all that work was worth it.  There is where we put in the new posts.

The hustle and bustle of showings, packing, and moving made me not realize until that very last day how heart wrenching it would be to move away from the old, less than stellar place.  We put a fair amount of work into for people raising 4 rambunctious children and on a very limited income, but it still wasn't a whole lot to look at, but that last day, as Luke and I furiously cleaned and then said goodbye to each last room-that was a little hard.  Each room's use had changed and adapted as our lives and hearts grew, and so many memories.  On that last day, all the worst days, all the crying and frustration that life's experiences had brought us were gone.  It just seemed like a hallowed place where miracles had happened and love resided. I still have a hard time driving by, knowing I will never probably go in again and even if I did it would never be the same.

But I love our new house.  Smaller yard, fence yet to be built, but our house is newer, and there is a lot to love about it.  It has a fabuloso deck which doesn't look so inviting in the 20 degrees temps, but we are going to live out here this coming spring/summer/fall:

Luke will be smoking (meat you sillies), and I will be attempting grilled pizzas.  The kids will have all sorts of imaginative options too.  We will have beautiful flowers in hanging baskets.  When money allows, I have an unfulfilled tree house fantasy from childhood which must be fulfilled through my children by that tree to the right of the pictures.  Also right at the bottom of the pic, out of the screen shot, is a lovely circle that had previously had a heap of flowers but which I want to turn into a fire pit.  With 3 boys, you know the playing with fire thing is inevitable, so why not in a moderately controlled environment?  Ooh, and the mystery of our house, to the bottom left of the pic, right out of view, is our bedroom window.  Outside our window, somewhere lurks....a frog...seriously.  A week or so after moving into the house I heard what sounded like a "mechanical frog" in the middle of the night.  It occurred every so often, and then Luke heard it too, meaning I wasn't crazy.  The Eldest, skilled at tall tales, says she saw it the other day, but we can't know for sure.  We do know it seems to be surviving the winter quite well, and I kind of like having a mascot, if you will.  This house was surrounded by hundreds of flowers, which I cursed the day I had to pull them all for winter.  Next spring, I promise, to keep peace with awesome neighbors, to plant a ton of flowers up front, but behind the fence, the true ME will shine with all beds being converted to vegetables and berries and...perhaps grapes, except for a few flowers.  I can't help myself-must have productive plants.  Otherwise, our yard has a useful garden shed, and we am training Enzo to do his dogly duty in just one area so that the beautiful green yard the former owners bestowed us with can stay almost all beautiful and green.  We have 2 quaking aspens, which my sisters assure me will be hellish nightmares with their rooting sucker things, but I like how they look and am hoping it won't be an issue.

Now the big selling point, the main reason we moved, is our family, especially the handsome, intelligent, hard working Lucas, needed some more space.  I was also told that if we were ever to possibly further procreate that a larger house was not optional.  In moving, we got double the house, with a basement which is great for banishing children too but can be hard to find in our area!  Our new home has 5 bedrooms and an real, live master bedroom which I enjoy so much.  We will talk about my sancto-sanctorum another time.  There is plenty of space, but it will all get used.  In our new neighborhood, you could say our home is one of the homelier ones, but it fits us perfectly with room to house the youngins when they become moody, gangly teenagers.  We don't have a mansion, and this is not the dream house we told ourselves we would move into when we left our starter home at last, but a dream house is probably more about what you do with your life and your family than where you live (at least in our income bracket), so I think we are all as happy about it as can be.  Kiddos didn't even have to change schools as it was so close to our previous home.  

Now, in closing just a few more extremely amateur photos of some of my fav places in the new place:

This is the walk-in shower entry, lots of tile and 2 shower heads.  It is a bit spa like, and, most importantly, there are 2 locks between me and the rest of the house when I am in here.  Safety!!!  Peace!!!  Sanity!!!  or, at the very least, Cleanliness!!!  And my favorite, favorite place in the house if I am not sleeping:

See how I'm keeping it real.  I wanted to show you my marvelous tile backsplash but note on the stove The Eldest made eggs for breakfast.  I get so torn between the huge help she is by feeding herself and her brothers and the fact that there is much cleanup FOR ME after the fact.  But, it does clean up easily, and I have a ceramic top so I would be pathetic to complain too much.  Our appliances at Ye Olde Place were pretty much as old as the house and stayed functional mostly from prayers, I do believe.  I love the new kitchen, newer oven, fridge, counters and backsplash.  The oak cabinets, which I was convinced pre move-in I would have to paint, I quite love for now.  Woohoo!  And, as a random but very important new part of my house, note by KitchenAid.  Sure, every cook and their dog gets 1 for Christmas eventually, but mine means a lot to me, and as our friend who is living with us can attest, I spend WAY TOO MUCH time concocting foods in the kitchen, so this baby is going to earn her keep, and I have already run it like 3 times just to hear the motor.  

Well, that will probably be my longest post ever, but I wanted to record a few things for posterity, and seeing as how I flipping need reading glasses now, who knows when the memory will go, need something to jog it if it's sooner rather than later.  

2013-The Year of...Possibilities

OK, I have crazy ideas-not all the time but sometimes.  I started this blog 2-3 years ago and crashed soon thereafter.  I have some blogs I really enjoy reading, though, and I still have that desire to have this kind of connection with family/friends, so I am trying again.  Actually, I feel a little doubtful I will have the time for it, so I am not inviting people to this blog until I've proven to myself that I can actually pull this off, time and energy and desire wise, so if anybody gets notices I posted this, just ignore them until it is actually factually fact that I can be consistent...to some extent.  I don't really know what I should post because I try LOTS of yummy recipes, deadly, naughty ones, healthy ones, cheap ones, you name it.  I can be crafty too, though I doubt I'm cool enough to do any kind of tutorials (except for maybe how to change a diaper, scrub a toilet, how to remain calm and clean up after there have been 5 kitchen "accidents" involving 3 kids in less than 10 minutes, what to do while waiting on hold FOR-EV-ER with customer services of various companies).  I have funny kids, as many people do.  I like to draw silly comics about my life, like I used to draw about my sister when we were teens, so those could be fun to share, though I may be the only 1 laughing.  And pictures-we always are getting in trouble for not sharing pictures, pictures, pictures of our young adorables, so I see a blog as a way to share these more than once a year.  Also, I have been told by a few people who I quite like and think something of that I have a way with the written word that speaks to them.  Admittedly that may only be the case for those 2-3 people, but I would love if what I had to say was interesting or funny or uplifting to somebody, and if not, I also love how a blog can be a great journaling method, documenting in word and picture for yourself and your posterity, and maybe it could save me from being prosecuted some day too. :)  So, as it is the first day of the year and I am desperate to give it a whirl-but I also need to be working right now-here is my humble first post.  If anyone does read this, just love me even though this is a sad little introspective post, and if you don't love me, no reading my posts.  I have blocking powers!!!

Nutshell

OK, it's borderline getting late, and I'm coming down from a workout high, but as I'm not tired enough to go to sleep yet, you get ME.  Apparently at present there is a standoff somewhere near the main intersection near my house, so that's fun.  Haven't heard any sirens, so it must not be that close.  We've had a busy but great few months.  Big L is working some crazy hours, but he is doing well and they think he's a keeper, so what more can I ask.  I have been exhausted but happy.  Christmas was fantastic (except for the coughing, pink eye, vomiting, inability to sleep, muscle and joint aches, etc.)  L is obsessed with her new beta fish and dwarf African Frog.  They are named Blueberry and Freeze, respectively.  It's a soap opera in a 2 gallon tank the way she sees it.  Today, she was very sure Blueberry was going to die, and she was eagerly talking about what new fish she might pick.  I'm a little wary she might start looking up fish poisoning methods, but, alas, she isn't totally internet savvy yet, so we should be okay.  M is honing his expert skills at getting the living daylights beaten out of him by a 23 month old.  Mostly that involves doing the most horrible crying ever.  He is a pacifist, no fighting back, so crying is his only defence.  He had a great fifth birthday, Lightning McQueen all the way baby.  He had some naughty little friends that tried to ruin Santa for him this year, and I'm a little bitter, but this too shall pass.  Seriously people, if you aren't doing the Santa thing with your kids, make sure they can keep their mouths shut about it to other people.  Ruin it for your family...fine.  Ruin it for my family...GRRRR.  B is actually a delightful sick patient.  Now, I'm not a heartless mommy, but as with L, when he is sick he is what I would call a "normal" kid.  He isn't destroying my house.  He likes lots of cuddles, and he just chills.  No, it isn't my dream to parent vegetables...just really calm kids.  They do exist...only with L and B, they have to be sick for it to be a reality.  B got one of those sweet little cars that are yellow and red/orange that you can ride around Flintstone style, and actually all the kids fight over it a bit, but he looks pretty cute in it and says 'car' lots and lots as he pushes it around, which is good since he is not much of a talker yet. 

We got all our Christmas stuff down today, and now I must buck up for New Year's festivities.  In a way, I'm bummed to have the kids go back to school.  The hermit thing is very becoming to me.  I hadn't driven my car for 6 days until tonight.  Sweat pants and wacko hair, baby...that's the life for me.  I will shape up now and take daily showers and be sociable again, but everybody (at least I think almost everybody) deserves some serious cave time every so often.  Well, lest I embarrass myself with anymore of my insights and wisdom, I will say adios for now and hope that my 1 devoted follower reads this, even though i was very, very, very, very naughty and didn't blog FOR-E-VER.  I love my family and friends very much...and I like being healthy again very much also.  Peace out!