Wrapping Up Christmas

I think I found all of Christmas and boxed it up.  No doubt I’ll find a towel in the laundry or a jingle bell hidden in a couch cushion next week. For now though, Christmas is put away.  It’s always bitter-sweet putting away the trappings of the holiday season.  I love decorating everything.

I won’t miss Meap, the Claw Kitten ransacking the Christmas tree or leaving scratch marks on my reindeer.

I won’t miss her derailing the Christmas train either.

But I will miss her sleeping in the manger.

And I’m already planning for next year.  I’ve pulled out my Christmas Planner only to discover the web hosting site where I stored all the pages went down.  I’ll try and find a way to post them again.  I love what Organized Christmas does.  They have a Rudolf Club that works on Christmas on the 25th of every month of the year.  I’d love to do that this year.  So every 25th I’m hoping to get one step closer to a more relaxing season next year.  I’ll probably follow my own schedule.  So far I’m planning on May being my Power Tool Present Fest.

This Christmas was probably my most relaxing so far.  Mainly because I turned it all over to Prince Erik and my Angel Mom.  I’ve been recovering from surgery.  Nothing tramatic, my plumbing just needed upgrading after 6 kids.  So why not have it in the busiest month of the year?  I like doing things that defy reason.  But, it needed to be done and I’m sure blessed to have such a Knight in Shining Armor Guy for my husband.  Double Bonus is that he cooks and he’s good at it too.  I’m a lucky girl.

And special thanks to my Mom who braved a winter blizzard to come stay with me for a week and chase all my wild herd from one Christmas activity to another.  I owe her big time.

So I’m planning away for next year with all the excitement of a child on Christmas Eve.  I’m sure it will be here before I know it.

Step One – Enlist the Masses!

Yesterday I finally had my first meeting with a Professional Organizer.  I think she’s my new best Friend, yet she’s promised that she will be my worst enemy.  Someone that I’ll want to call the cops and put a restraining order on.  You know, the Jillian Michaels (Biggest Loser Trainer) of Cleaning.  So I think that puts her in the Frenemy category right?  For privacy sake – let’s just call her Ms. Passion.  Ms. Passion wants to make me mad, don’t know if she can do that, but she wants too. 

So, Ms. Passion showed up on my porch yesterday and I was expecting her to take me to lunch and tell me about what I should expect through this whole de-hoarding process.  Or at least that’s what she told me on the phone.  Wrong!  She’s deceived me already.  Instead, she wanted a tour of my Hoarding Nest.  And she got the full,normal, unprepared-for guests, treatment.  Which is exactly what she wanted.

Of course, I kept trying to explain, rationalize, excuse my poor cleaning habits, and the general reasoning behind my huge mess, and un-made decisions.  To her credit, she stopped me, and told me she wasn’t there to judge me, she was just there to understand so that she could devise a plan for retraining my brain. 

Her first bit of homework, I did not expect.  It was to…

1. Enlist the help of the family herd.  I know the whole Hoarding/Cleanliness failure is my own and I thought I would learn the steps for treating myself and then, when my brain was okay, then I could teach it to my mini me’s kids.  Wrong!  They are to learn the process right along with me.  Here’s the hardest part – I have to wear a new hat.  So, as Ms. Passion is to me, I will have to become for my kids.  I will have to do something I’ve NEVER been good at doing –  Be Consistent.  Let’s just say that the only thing I’m consistent about, is being inconsistent. 

When Ms. Passion told me this I showed her my ugly face.  The Scrunched up expression where you try and hold back the tears but realize that you’re failing.  I failed and probably made Ms. Passion happy because I cried.  Wow, this is going to be harder than I thought. 

I’m a non-confrontational type of person and my kids know this.   I’ve trained them, well, poorly.   My big fat excuse - I have a special 14 year old that’s been diagnosed (Bi-polar, Depressed, Oppositional Defiant) messed up.  Years ago his counselor told me chore charts would never work with him.  Because, viewing the items he doesn’t accomplish will fuel his depression and spiral his manic side.  And he can’t accomplish much without help.  In a totally unreasonable way, I then took responsibility charts out of the mix for the rest of the kids.  My stupid way of trying to treat them all fairly.  They know he’s different and I know they understand the whole situation, yet still I slacked.  I’m really good at slacking.

But, if I want real change, I can’t slack any more.  And for Heaven’s Sake, I want Change!

Ms. Passion is going to help me one room at a time.  Once the room is perfect, and she’s taught me how to keep it that way.  I have to teach my kids how to keep it that way.  I have to be their Happy Drill Sergeant until these new habits are engrained in their normal behavior.

Maybe I should get one of these?

  

This might not hurt to have as well.

And have stiff consequences for the kids when they muff up. 

Here’s the rub!  I have a consequence too.  Ms. Passion Promises to stop by unannounced, when I least expect her to show up, AND if the room is in any way a mess – she walks out.  She has guaranteed me that she will only come back One Time, after humble groveling.  The second time,  I’ll have to find another person to help me.  Tough Love – I guess.  Motivation, to finally take the steps I’ve been yearning to take since forever.  I’m 100% sure I want this. 

So Step 1:  Enlist family and friends to help.  DONE! 

My sweet friend Ethel has also promised to back Ms. Passion up, chew me up and spit me out if she see’s me slipping.  Had a sit down with the whole herd last night, explained the rules, consequences, and reasons for undertaking this adventure.  I was expecting the typical whining I get when I ask for help.  However, They shocked me with their willingness to be drilled.  They want this dream home and have just been waiting for me to get with it.  My girls are especially excited about not hearing the excuse that the house is too messy to invite friends over. 

I have Hope!  This WILL happen.

Seafair Fun

Once a year Washingtonians put their pasty white bodies in swimsuits and converge on a beautiful lake close to Seattle. There’s pirates, parades, hydroplane races and a whole lake full of scantily clad drunk boaters.  Some go for the one reason or another.  We go for the Angels.

Prince Erik pulled his Pride and Joy out of mothballs and took the kids out for a day of fun.  It’s the first family trip we’ve taken the great white gas sucker on in over a year.  Stupid economic reasons won’t let us go more often.  But for one day we relaxed and had some fun and tried not to think about all the other worries we seem to be focused on.  It was heaven in so many ways because Prince Erik got to spend some good old QUALITY time with the kids after being out of town for over a week.  The icing on the cake was watching all the jet screaming, fly-by maneuvers of the Navy’s Blue Angels from the best seat in the house.  The Lake!  Boaters have the best view of the show.

Ahhrrrr!  Screaming Jet Engines are the perfect rejuvenation needed to slap a silly smile on my Princes Face.  

And when the shows over it’s easy just to toss the kids overboard (in a less drunk populated part of the lake) and watch them swim.  I think Hope’s part fish.

My kids love being thrown overboard.  ‘Do it again Daddy, PLLLeeeaaasssseee!’

 

And when they get tired of swimming put them on the end of a rope and drag them around. 

They’ll smile soooo big, that they’ll be in danger of sucking down a few bugs while zipping along.  Ah, the good life.   Abner can’t resist trying to get some rays as well.  Nothing like a fresh coat of pinkish-red skin to cover up the normal northwest pale skin tone.

 

The crowning glory happens when Mother Nature decided to put on her own show.  I never cease to get a thrill from seeing a majestic Bald Eagle in free flight.

To be honest I’d never seen one that wasn’t in captivity until we moved to the Northwest.  And even though I see them quite regularly, they still fill me with awe!  Love care-free days like this.  I definitely need more of them.

I’m Melting, I’m melting…

Well, I thought I was. We just survived the hottest month of my life.

Resorted to using my Red-neck Swamp Cooler a few times.

It didn’t help. The ice melted too fast. And all the block ice was sold out. UGH!

The Pacific Northwest normally has a very mild climate, not much snow and only a handful of days over 85 degrees. But we just had 5 days of 100 plus degrees with 40 percent humidity thrown in to boot. My car thermometer read 109 on the hottest day. No A.C. and plenty of body flubber of my own meant a grumpy, tired mom. They said it was our warmest streak in 30 years. I resorted to frequent lie downs in our little pool. Didn’t even bother with the swim suit.

The kids stopped rolling their eyes after the third time that I jumped in with all my clothes on. This last time was at 9 P.M, when it was still over 95 degrees.

The first few days I couldn’t even take my kids to the A.C’d shopping malls because they were dealing with a stomach bug picked up from my husbands families R.O.A.R. Reunion. Vomiting and fevers in blistering heat can be torture.

Don’t you just love all the fun things that families share. Loved the Reunion and the family, regardless of what they shared with us. Worth every heave! Do it again any day, just to be by family. The reunion was held in sunny HOT Sacramento, CA. Don’t we all just look smart. Dressed in black, during a heat wave. Those are grimaces, not smiles. (Kidding, they are smiles). Just can’t escape the heat. Tried my darndest though. Even entered a belly flop contest just to cool off in a pool.

I won it too.

You bet my kids are proud of me. How many kiddo’s do you know that can say their mom won a belly flop contest. Hopefully the judges were judging on my style and not the actual flop on my belly. Hum….

If it makes you feel better I didn’t win the flip contest. Kept doing back flops. Oh well. There you have it. I've shamelessly posted pictures of myself in a swimsuit on my blog. I can stoop no lower. Fortunately the motion helps hide the rolls.

The reunion was wonderful. Love the relatives, and we left before we drove them nuts so hopefully they still love us as well.

Even managed to get a semi-decent family picture taken as well. I think it’s impossible to get everyone looking great so this will have to do.

Today’s temp 86 degree’s. Ahhh, FINALLY feels like summer should.

When I grow up...

I want to have the cleaning energy of my Dear Mom-In-Law.  She and Pompa came to visit our family last weekend 'Just Because'.  It was wonderful.  I so dislike living so far away from all our family.  Once a year visits are not enough.  I remember going to my Grandparents every Sunday evening as a child.  Playing with their lego's and fighting my siblings over who got to sit in the child-sized chair hiding in the bathroom.

I've been kicking myself since they left Monday because I neglected to take any real pictures to commemorate their visit.  Not one picture of Pompa playing chess with my kids,  showing them magic card tricks, or teaching them how to memorize any ten things.  NOTHING!  What is wrong with me.  I'm not usually that forgetful.   I can't believe I didn't get pictures!!!

I did get a couple of Mom as she helped with the Tea Party in my red neck kitchen.

I have found some sweet memories of their visit as I stroll around the house.  For instance...

The door Grandma helped Princess clean that's probably only had a rag on it a couple of times in the dozen years we've lived here.

And...

Clean carpet edges.  I don't have a vacuum with an edger and I've lost the attachments to the mini-vac.  That didn't stop Mom from taking a broom to the carpet edges to tidy them up.

After they were gone I found that she had refolded my entire hap-hazard linen closet.

She even tacked down the peeling kitchen floor (Major trip hazard). 

You know, I don't recall her really sitting down the entire time they were here.  I need to know where she get's her energy.  I'm tired just thinking about all the things she helped me with.  But so, so  grateful.

Well, until I find her secret bottled formula for energy I'll bask in the memories as I find her loving touch around our home, and hope that when I grow up I can be more like her.

Hug an Angel

Last year on Thanksgiving weekend our kids participated in the Seattle Children’s Marathon benefitting Children’s Hospital. We ran in a group called ‘Team Mara’. I knew Mara’s grandparents because they were members of my church and the most amazing people you could ever hope to meet. To be honest I’ve never met little Mara but she has made an impact on my life and touched our whole family.


Today heaven became a brighter, happier place because Mara went back home to her Heavenly Father.


You’ll probably remember me mentioning little Sadie on my blog. Sadie and Mara both have the same kind of terminal brain cancer. Mara held on for a little over a year and Sadie putting up a good fight. It’s so hard to see these little princesses and their families going through a parent’s worst nightmare. But both families are so strong in their faith and hope you can’t help but have your own faith strengthened.

This year the kids and I will be at the Seattle Children’s Marathon again running in memory of Mara, and we are still working on our 1000 acts of Service for Sadie. The world is a much better place because these two angels graced our lives with their stories.

So hug your kids, tell them you love them, and send off another prayer for the Adams and Huish’s families.

Time Flies When You're...

BUSY!!!

Time Flies By Especially When Your Busy, On Vacation, and Busy again!!! And of course it flies by when your having fun. Wow, what a week.

My family reunion was a blast! The highlight had to be Grandma Serenading us with her Sweet Mystery of Love song. Oh I was sooooo tempted to upload the video but there would have been a good chance of me being disowned so I’ll just leave a snippet of a verbal picture to give you an idea. Not only can Grandma sew a mean seam, grow a literal Garden of Eden, and survive my kids and myself for an entire week, but she can belt out the songs too. Well, not really, but her trying to belt it out was too funny for words, and what was the best part was that she was game to the whole experience. She put all of us to shame.

Time Fies By When Your in the Garden. It seems like yesterday that I was weeding this same patch of earth and complaining bitterly about it (since I was a kid) but this time around I was enjoying the whole green experiance and having a blast. I think my other favorite part of my family reunion was jumping into my Brother Speedys garden. He was kind enough to host the whole reunion at his home – which was the home I grew up in - many centuries ago – so we thought it fitting to lend him a hand. His garden was great but needed a little weeding. My Bro Arrow, Sis Lyric, Myself and Arrow's wife spent many a wonderful hour visiting and pulling weeds and making plans for future family half-marathons.



So last Friday my Dream-On picture would have to be Speedys garden before…




and Speedys garden after our weed-pulling gab fest. So it's not the Garden of Eden, but now Speedy can irrigate with no excuses.



Of course, I had so much fun pulling the nasty unwanted green growth that I finally caught on as to why my kids are so attracted to dirt. See Cousin and Princess with their mud pie!




Dang – it’s genetics. They have farm blood in them after all.



Princess couldn’t resist Speedys dirt either, and as soon as we got home Hope donned one of her Sunday best dresses and went outside and used the hose to create her own personal mud puddle.




Thank goodness for bleach.

Also in the genetics were the kids swinging from the same willow tree I swung in as a munchkin.

Seems time flies when your also having fun.



And even though P.E. married into my family he has adopted my Dad’s Mad Dutch Oven Skills.



So the reunion was great and by the end everyone was so exhausted with pleasure they were dropping where ever they could find a spot of flat space that wasn’t likely to be stampeded over by the gazillion little cousins running around.

Uncle Cotton-Eyed Joe even zonked with Little Man…




As well as T-rev, Hope and Abner, and...



did you ever in your life see someone take a cap nap on a basketball standard base? Well I have.



So the reunion made the whole trip and kid mishaps worth the time, expense and effort. The trip home was three hours shorter than the trip out which made me ubber grateful.

And the day after we got home...

Whippie, it was Day One of Raspberry U-pick season.




Raspberries are my favorite.




So I took my slave labor army once again...




and made them pick berries until their little fingers ran red with blo…, I mean raspberry juice. Slaves + 1 1/2 hours = 41 lbs. of sweeter than all goodness. Lea and Abner where once again my biggest helpers.



Then it was back home to the sticky insanity of making eight batches of jam, sucking down a couple pounds raw, freezing a dozen bags of berries whole and trying and burn down my own house. Yep, this time it was my turn. I sat the boiling water bath canner on the stove top and didn’t realize that one of my hot pads had stuck to the bottom of the kettle. At least when Hope tried to burn down Grandma and Papa’s home there there no actual flames involved, just a load of smoke.




For my fire, the flames were shooting out from under the canner a good few inches high. So I guess we can add fire accidents to my kid’s genetic make-up as well. Yep! They’re doomed alright!
We got back from our vacation to see the Shasta Daisy's in full glorious bloom. I just love how honking big they grow in our northwest climate.




However, I have to admit the weeds can grow just as tall as those daisys. Especially when time flies and you haven't been out to weed in a few years or so.




Time doesn't fly by when your trying to post a blog however. In the time I've been spending on this post, Hope emptied a bottle of Dawn dishwasher soap on the kitchen floor. It hasn't been this clean in a long time.


That and I'm running on a tired tank. And when you are tired and want to go to bed it takes so long to get the needed things done in order to fall into said bed. I'm hoping that Princess doesn't wake me up at 2 a.m. again this morning by hurling on me like she did last night. Talk about a nightmare. Nothing like being woke up by your six-year-old losing dinner on you. So here's to some good sleep and hoping that time doesn't fly too fast while I'm sleeping.

Back to the Table

I've just posted a good list of mealtime ideas that will help get your family one the right track to health and wellness over at our new group Blog. These steps were instrumental in helping our entire family lose 180 pounds over the last year and a half. So take a peek if you’re interested in some good mealtime habits that you and your family might want to use.

The Danes Have Landed!!!

Prince Erik’s noble family from Denmark has decided to pay us a long awaited visit. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been blessed to be in their presence and we’ve been honored for the last three days of spending a little quality time with them.

Prince Erik’s cousin the Royal Papa Stubbs brought his beautiful Lady Marolle and their sweet Prince One Eye Willy with them. Little One Eye Willy looks just like those little Cupie dolls I played with as a child and my girls couldn’t keep their hands off him – poor tyke. He put up with them marvelously though.

The sun made good on a couple of days while they were here so we actually got to go outside and see a few things.

Nothing like some glacial-cold mist from the beautiful Snoqualmie Falls.

The mist kept our visit short and sweet much to Princess’ delight.

She couldn’t get out of it soon enough.


Neither could Hope. She was shaking like a leaf.

We then got to treat our out of town guest to our local Costco, Target, Michaels, The Cheesecake Factory, as well as Pike’s Place Market, the Monorail, and the Seattle Center in Seattle of all places.

Then we brought them back to our place. They paid for their room and board by indulging our taste buds with my favorite Tom’s Golden Toffee and this…




Toast was never as good as it is with this on it.


Our guests were also condemned to wash our dishes, and try to teach Princess how to ride a bike...

I really like the pole idea and it worked pretty well.

T-rev even found out that Papa Stubbs was a kindred 'Star War's Enthusiast'.


That and Marolle graciously indulged our flavor senses with a Danish Dessert ‘Lagkage’.

Yummy!

They can come visit anytime! And we are now seriously thinking of adding Denmark to our list of places to go before Abner leaves the house in less than two years. So much to do so little time.


Its great having them here and we are desperately going to miss them tomorrow when they leave to continue their state-side visit. Whenever we hang around with the Danes I’m reminded just how hugely we live here in American. Over there everything is much smaller and simpler. Simplicity would be a welcome blessing and it was nice to have them here so that I could remember that I really do want to simplify the way our family lives.

Tak Fætter Papa Stubbs, Marolle and One Eye Willy! Come again soon.