Money Talks

But all mine ever says is good-bye!

Oh well, I’m used to it. 

Remember when I tempted fate last fall by saying, ‘Because if I’m really curse then the  repairs will pile up faster than the savings.’   Only to discover how cursed I really was because  within a month me, myself and I: 1.)  put my foot through the roof…

2.) listened to the clothes dryer die a screechy death,

3.) discovered a $22,000 slow leak in the kitchen cause by a stupid dishwasher…

4.) lost the keys to the truck and had another vehicle break down, and

5.)  lost 5 years worth of family photos due to computer fussiness.

6.) Lost a freezer full of food and discovered a mongo leak beneath the master bath.

We guesstimated that we had over $42,000  worth of fix-up’s hit us in one month.  And since then hardly anything has been resolved.

Well guess what?

No nothing new broke down.  Thank goodness.  And yes I’m still washing dishes by hand in our Redneck sink.

However.  Today is a good day.

The work to repair the roof has started.  Only eight months later.  But it has started.

Nasty Rotted excuse for a roof isn’t it.

Can’t wait until it’s done.  Wa-hoo!

Bless Him

In the past three days I’ve done absolutely nothing around the house.  Haven’t picked up one thing off the floor, washed one load of dishes, or laundry for that matter.  Had my drinks delivered too me in bed while reading to my hearts content. 

Why so spoiled?

Maybe because I’m the queen of this house.

Our family has been attacked by the phlegm/fever monster to the Nth degree.

First Hope and Princess succumbed to it’s nastiness.  Gaining double ear infections, pink eye, rampant fever’s and juicy spewing coughs.  It wasn’t long before their chief nurse (Me) caught up with them.  

Does anyone know where we could purchase these here hats?

Prince Erik has been wonderful – taking care of the kids and house.  I’m afraid that he may shortly follow my footsteps because he’s starting to show signs of stuffiness in the head.  Poor Guy!

I pray I’ll feel better soon because there’s an unpleasant aroma leaking out of the laundry room.  And if I can smell it through my stuffy nose it must be bad. 

That and the tender seedling in my garden are  pitifully crying for relief from and slugs and snails that ravage their tender shoots nightly.  And the weeds are threatening to strangle what life is left in their little munched on bodies.

Until then I’ll continue to be a good girl and relax as Dr. Prince Erik has suggested I do.  Hopefully speeding my recovery.

I know, in between wiping my nose and making frequent visits to the master throne room I can relax by visiting a wonderfully soothing blog that Beth at Road To Joy turned me onto called

Button Willow Cottage.

I go there often when I want to connect with my inner Anne-girl.

Another place I love to  take extended brain vacations at is with Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist…

In fact I’m fully intending on joining Vanessa at her upcoming Mad  Tea Party on June 27th.  You should come too.

As you know I’m quite mad already and any excuse to dress wild and crazy with my kids is just too much fun to resist.

And while relaxing with my tissue’s and books in bed I can still dream of someday getting a real spa day.  Until then I be happy if Jodi of Beacon of Hope could get her secret wish.  She wants to win a year of spa days and be Sego Lily Day Spa’s Blogger.  Vote for her to win and at least I can get a vicarious spa day every now and then.  Go HERE and leave a comment for her to win.

O.K. now that I’m feeling totally relaxed except for the stuffy hot-head fit to burst I think I'll find another book to read.  And plan on how to pamper my husband when he falls prey to this vicious illness.

Beware the Trolls.

I’ve discovered the magic of keeping my wandering 3 year old Hope at home. Finally! No amount of time-0uts, stern talks from mom about stranger danger, pleading or railing could keep my little one from inviting herself into Nearly all of our neighbors homes.

And then I figured it out. She’s deathly afraid of Trolls. Thanks to a horrible ‘Earnest Scared Stupid’ movie my boys downloaded on Netflix just for laughs.

I was desperate to keep her in the yard… so with my Young and Gorgeous Counselors blessing … I proceeded to warn her about the horrible trolls that patrol the neighborhood

Opps! No not these kind of hair-raising trolls … but the scary kind – the kind that snatch up young wandering children and chew on their bones.

Well o.k. I left out the bone chewing part. But I did warn her that she must not leave the safety of our yard. I might have mentioned something about Trolls having special magical powers so that sometimes they can look like nice people…yada, yada, yada.

I guess Hope has both feet firmly planted in the wild and crazy land of Imagination because she hasn’t taken off for three weeks. Halleluiah!!!

So… some parents tell their kids about the Easter Bunny, Santa, and Leprechauns. Me – I’m all about Trolls! Fairies too!

The reason our yard is safe – well it’s a Fairy Sanctuary! Like in the Book ‘FableHaven’ (Which I love by the Way – and have read to my kids) by Brandon Mull.

None of the dangerous mythical creatures are allowed in our yard and that includes Trolls. Occasionally I'll let the Twilight vampires and werewolves roam around. Regardless, Hope is safe as long as she sticks close to home.

It appears the tiny fairies can give trolls quite a little zing so they stay clear of the yard. And to keep the fairies happy we are setting up little houses and flower gardens for them all over the yard.

I know I’m getting carried away. But it’s important that she’s safe and this seems to be the one thing that’s keeping her home.

That and I’m having a blast – I love imagination! I’ve not got both feet planted there but I do take an occasional vacation to that magical place. I’m sure when she’s a bit older and understands safety a bit more I’ll fill her in on all the gory details. But until then I’ll let the Trolls live in her imagination too.

And if she does wander off – I may be tempted to get Abner’s friend with a Gilly suit to hide out in the field across the street. Long enough for her to get an eye-full.

Of course I’d scare him off by singing silly songs, waving my magic wand and tossing glitter fairy dust in his direction. On second thought that may put her over the edge, and then I’d have company in my counseling sessions.

Until then I’m rejoicing in the fact that I found a way other than padlocks and GPS locaters to keep Hope at Home.

Music Video Debut

Vote for Abner.  It’s worth it – Trust me.

So my son Abner is at the movie making thing again.  He made his first ever music video for a contest by the musician Matt Brouwer and, like his mom, he waited until the last second to do it.  He used our ancient video camera and dinosaur of a computer to make this little here ditty.  Now comes the mom part.  I want him to win the contest.  Not because I’m his mom (although that may make me biased), but because I think it’s the more creative of the two videos.  And of course I’d love it if he could get the money – you know- less out of my empty pocket to pay for college and all.  So check out his first ever music video and if you feel so inclined vote for him or rate him by picking how many stars you feel he deserves. 

Click on the picture then select the video ‘Come Back Around Music Video’, by abner.

Yep that’s Prince Erik and Hope.  Abner used them as his little actors because that’s all he had available since he waited until the last minute to film.  I think Hope’s awesome.  Makes me want to go play at the park with her. 

Regardless he made this video, recording, editing, special effects and all in around 8 hours.  The boys a genius (mom’s opinion again).  I can’t imagine how awesome his movies could be if he actually put more time in them.

I think my blog slump is about over.  I’ve got oodles and fun posts waiting to pop out for you.  Just have to charge my camera batteries first.  See you soon.

Toodles,

Fawndear

Lest We Forget…

Memorial Day. 

Yeah, our family might have a picnic, and work in the yard, buy something on sale, but we are not going to forget what today is really about. 

Mud Monster Mayhem

Mayhem might be an appropriate description of the month of May in our home. Lots of good mayhem and some bad as well. I apologize for being so absent (in more ways than one) over the past 18 days.

Tonight I’m breathing a huge sigh of relief because the garden is Planted! All of it! Done! Whippee! Just in time for the rain. It’s nearly triple the size it was at it’s largest. I promise some before and after pictures soon. I realize the work isn’t done because no sooner have the plants started poking their tender shoots out of the ground then the the weeds start rearing their ugly tops as well. So I know it will be a long haul but I’m totally invigorated by the thoughts of constant dirt under my nails. Maybe the farm girl in me is awakening after all.

My girls loved working in the garden with me, boys - not so much. Little Hope took every opportunity she could to play in the dirt, and when lucky, the mud puddle as well.

Some of the other frantic stuff that’s been happening in our neck of the woods is, well, rather frantic. A little over a week ago (in the middle of the night) I had a proper scare when I discovered my sleeping Hope not breathing. I snatched her up and she immediately started breathing again, but it nearly put me into shock. I couldn’t sleep the rest of the night as I was hyper sensitive to her every breath. She would stop breathing for periods of 5-8 seconds (an eternity to a worried mom), twitch, then start breathing again. Who ever heard of a three year old with sleep apnea. I took her to the clinic the next day and we’ve now got her scheduled for appointments, sleep studies and possible tonsillectomy. The doctor said she had some big-uns that could be obstructing her airways while sleeping but we won’t know for sure until after the studies. Oh, and he told me not to worry – that’s been hard to do. I must check on her 4-5 times a night I’m so paranoid.

Princess flunked her well child eye exam with the doctor and so today we visited the eye doctor and lo and behold the darling needs glasses. Far-sighted little sweetie might actually be able to read now. She’s tickled pink that she’s the first kid in our family to get glasses.

I finished my six week Helga workout and survived. Completed every challenge.

Good news – I lost 10 lbs of fat!!!

Bad news – I gained 8 lbs of muscle :(

Only 2 lbs for six grueling weeks. T-rev did it with me and won one of the prize drawings. Get this – Exercise your kiester off and they put your name in a drawing to win fabulous prizes. He won tickets to a movie theater and a Domino Pizza certificate. I think they want him to enjoy those certificates so that he will have to continue to come in to lose the weight he’ll gain participating in those yummy activities. Smart marketing?

I got a plaque saying I survived the fitness challenge – All umpteen categories of the challenge.

So much more happened - maybe I'll come up for air and tell you about it sometime. Right now I'm just going to sit back and listen to the rain patter on the roof and windows, and envision all those juicy veggies popping up out of the ground.

May Day Fun

‘…sometimes on a sunny day it began even to be pleasant and genial, and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which freshening daily, suggested that Hope traversed them at night and left each morning brighter traces of her steps.’

from Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’

I love May Day. Gardening, Spring Flowers, going outside after a long wet winter. This is only the second year our family has really celebrated May Day, but I can only see the tradition getting stronger.

This year we did everything we did last year. From the flower crowns, to taking around May baskets to our neighbors.

You know to thank them for putting up with us, the screaming kids, and our messy yard for yet another year.

Who cares if they were delivered barefoot. It was a gorgeous day.

I really wanted a May Pole but I wasn’t willing to cut a live tree down. I’m still waiting for one to fall naturally that I can save and decorate. Next year – maybe.

This year I added a bit of whimsy that I found in this fun book.

The writer talks about knowing two old ladies that collected the first morning dew of may and used it to keep their skin flawless.

Yeah, I know it’s a bit Looney, but I’ve found the best way to encourage my darlings to do something drab and boring, like washing with soap, is to add a bit of the fantastical to the chore.

So bright and early this morning I set out to collect some May dew.

Just got a tiny bit.

Found my sweeties some bud vases at Target, bought some cork tops at the local craft store. I let the girls decorate the tops with glue, gems and flowers. Each vase held a couple of drops of May dew to which I added some body wash.

What better way to get them to wash often than to add some whimsical magic to their routine.

I Love Spring! and cherry blossoms, and flowery scents.

I have to admit it’s finally here. I even got some peas finally planted in my garden. I know I’m a couple of weeks late but considering spring was a few months late I’m hoping I’ll be o.k.