Waiting....

Waiting on Hubby to come home from a training trip. He just left today, it will be a long week.

Waiting on my new Kindle to get here. Finally just ordered the thing. Merry Christmas to me. Happy about it too as the library shelves are quite picked over in winter.

Waiting on my new heated floor mat to come in. Where the bulk of the kitchen standing occurs is crazily cold on the floor. I put a thermometer there and while counter height was 68 it was 45 on the floor. I've insulated the floor from underneath in the basement and searched for cracks etc. The only conculusion we have drawn is that this corner is as far away from the radiator as you can be, on an exterior wall and covered by cabinets that of course we keep closed so when you stand there that chilled air seeps out and onto your feet. I found an industrial rubber warehouse mat that is heated. It won't be pretty but it's so miserable to cook due to cold feet I don't really care. I really don't think I should have to cook in snow boots in an otherwise comfortably heated house. I hope it works.

Waiting on a second opinion on Igor's leg. We are going to go see a pediatric orthopedist from Children's hospital on Tuesday.

Waiting on Dentist, both boys go on Thursday. I'm worried as Sonny Boy is now 7 1/2 and hasn't lost even one baby tooth. I wonder what is going on behind the scenes. Between Igor's crazy high arched palette and Sonny Boy not getting adult teeth I fear the dental bills we might be facing soon.

Otherwise life is crazy busy. Appointments, Cub Scouts, school, wrestling, Igor's impaired mobility (which unfortunately keeps him from preschool) and the usual business of life are moving along. January's calendar is rather full and sure to fill in some more.

Lots of pictures

I've been told I don't post enough pictures and that I gab and get wordy a lot. Well this is my lots of pictures post.

This is today, just before the doctor appointment. I was hoping we'd loose that really big cast in favor of a smaller one, however it wasn't to be. Also note the Razorback jersey - a requirement today since the Hogs are in the Sugar bowl tonight. Woo Pig.

This is the X-ray taken today of Igors foot. I don't think you need a medical degree to see the break. The doc swears it will heal fine due his young age. I'm a little skeptical and have some feelers out about what others in the medical field think. If you happen to have a little knowledge in this area leave a comment.

The church did an original production based from the Chronicles of Narnia. I thought the woman looked like the Snow Maiden so I had the kids pose with her. Her mean charachter explains her lack of smile.

This is Hubby cooking our Christmas dinner. We decided to eat some steaks we had purchased at a discount warehouse food place. Mistake. Horrible. Wish we'd eaten chicken nuggets.

Christmas morning Chaos ensues.....

After Christmas we went north to visit the in-laws. A highlight of the trip was a day spent ice fishing in Father-in-Law's fish house. Igor caught a little perch. He was thrilled, can't you tell?

Sonny Boy caught a little Northern Pike. He's squeezing it a little hard here.

We'd had a trip to a ski hill planned to go inner tubing, however mother nature let her rip and dumped several inches of snow on the area thwarting our plans. Even with the snow it was pretty warm (for northern MN) and everyone went out and played in the snow except Igor.

The adults were busy making a huge snowman after seeing a 13 foot tall one in the paper. This one didn't reach those porportions but he was rather tall - over 5 feet.

The whole snowballed crew minus the little ones who were either bored or lame.

The holidays were nice and included some adventures but things are settling back down. On for the long haul of winter.

Purple

Purple. That is the color of the cast that now encases Igor's leg from his little toes up almost to his hip. So let me back up the story a little bit.

Sunday afternoon the boys were out playing in the yard and periodically begging to go the big sledding hill in the park behind our house. Hubby had taken his car seat out to fix the heated seat element and we were working on it in the kitchen floor. Hubby suggested I be a hero and take the boys over to the hill, I stated I didn't think it was the greatest idea as most of the snow had been worn off and it was too fast. Hubby gets the bun warmer going in his car (let me tell you leather seats in WI without a bun warmer are not fun) puts on his boots and takes the boys to the hill for a couple of runs. I sit down at the computer to surf around and hear Hubby outside yelling my name with a desperate sound of fear and freaking out. I run to the back door he's yelling at me to grab the keys and is cradling a crying Igor. I scatter around putting on shoes, hunting keys, purse and coat and run out the door (later at the ER I wondered if I'd left it standing wide open) poor Hubby is so flustered he's not quite sure what to do with Igor, we've all been so trained with carseats and all he's got all the doors open on the van and I think was planning on riding in the way back with him with all the seats folded. Anyhow I tell him just to get in the passenger seat, run around slam the side doors and pull out. In the meantime Sonny Boy has gotten in his seat and strapped himself in. We go the ER which is only about 3 minutes away while Hubby gives a brief description of what happened. I asked " Are you sure it's broke?" his reply was "Look at it!" Igor's boot had come off in the accident so he was sock-footed on the injured leg. Let's just say it was an amazing feat that I didn't puke right there in the van while I was driving.

The rest of the story progresses how you might figure, ER, lots of meds, an x-ray, set the bone, a splint and an appointment today with an orthopedist. Igor picked out purple, Hubby declares it's Vikings Purple.

To tell a tale second hand Igor had already done one run down the hill and was on his second run. Hubby had held on to the sled as there were quite a few kids on the hill and he waited on them to clear out. When the did he let go - Igor says he pushed!- well there was a kid on a snowboard who cut into his path and then fell down and it sounds like Igor t-boned him in the midsection. Sonny Boy cried "Awesome!" and Hubby went running down the hill. Hubby stopped and asked Igor if he was hurt or scared and Igor replied "scared" and checked on the other kid who was already getting up. It was then that Hubby turns around to see Igor trying to put his boot back on a foot that was flopping at un-natural angles. He then scooped up Igor and started running for the house. Sonny Boy figuring out things were indeed not awesome slid down the hill on his rear (we only have one sled) picked up the sled and caught up to his Dad. A long narrative but Hubby declares all this happened in like 25 seconds.

Igor did as well as you could expect a freaked out four year old with a compound fracture of the leg to do. He was more scared than in actual pain and who could blame him as it must have been a slow afternoon in the ER since he garnered a good share of nurses and techs, was hooked up to heart monitors, oxygen, and an IV. He remembers none of it thanks to drugs and we've quietly agreed to not talk about any of the goings on at the ER. After they set the fracture and splinted it Igor settled quickly and it was just a matter of waiting on all the drugs to diffuse so I sent Hubby and Sonny Boy home to get out of their boots, eat, and gather some PJ's for Igor to change into to go home. An hour later he was on the couch watching cartoons. Today they simply took off the splint and casted his leg. The break is through both bones right above the ankle but the ortho said with little kids they had to cast up past the knee.

The biggest quandry is what to do with him in the car? I'm open for ideas.

Pictures to follow, they gave me a CD of the X-rays but I managed to loose them between the Dr's office and the house. My hunch is they are in the van, but it was already snowing tonight by the time I realized it so they will wait.

...and may all your Christmas's be purple.

Waiting to Chill.

Just a few lines while I wait on the sugar cookie dough to chill and have the burny smell of bleach in my nostrils.

Why you may ask bleach? Well I've had a little visitor of the rodent variety take up residence in my kitchen so before I felt comfortable to cook I thought the kitchen needed a good disinfecting. So I wiped down everything with bleach water and still have it brewing in the sink as I plan a second round of wiping down before I roll out the cookie dough and just didn't want to drain it away. In hindsight I probably have too much bleach in the water, but better safe than sorry.

I did set a trap the first day I saw evidence of the little disease spreader, however it was an old trap and he was sneaky. I just fed him a dab of peanut butter that night. The next day however I purchased myself FOUR traps for whopping $1.98 and set them up last night after supper, turned off the kitchen lights and told the kids to stay out of there. The little booger was smart because even after the kids were in bed, and I was reading in the living room he still didn't spring a trap. Later though, as soon as I turned off the bedroom TV and rolled over to sleep I heard the trap spring. I came downstairs to find my nemesis had met his demise. Good riddance. I hope he was the only one. It does seem we only get one or two mice at a time for some reason here, no plagues like we did when I was a kid living in the Arkansas cotton fields. I'll keep the traps out for a few days or so just to make sure though.

Christmas has crept up too quickly this year. I do think I have finished the shopping though. My list has gotten shorter in the last year or two since Hubby's family has decided to stop the exchange of gifts in lieu of a get-together similar to last year's Dells trip. So with the exception of my mother we only have the kids and each other to buy for. Last year Hubby and I didn't even buy for each other due to the craziness of our life. This year we are because it just seemed wrong not to buy each other at least a little something.

So far the plan is to be home for Christmas and leave the day after for the in-laws. I'll likely spend Christmas day baking my niece a birthday cake since her birthday is the day after Christmas. I've been wanting to make a girly cake. Mom will stay south as it's a pretty certain thing she will loose her job the first of the year. Mom works at the city hall in the little town I grew up in and a new mayor was elected in November. The rumour mill has it that he is going to replace all city workers. Mom's job is not political in the least, and a normal mayoral turnover generally wouldn't effect her job. There is bad blood with the new mayor and the city council and it sounds as if he's half crazy as he thinks he's going to have an inaugural parade. The town doesn't even have a Christmas parade, so my guess is it's gonna be one crazy guy riding around town in the back of a pick-up with another vehicle behind. Good luck with that one Mr. Mayor. However she has to wait it out to be fired so she can draw unemployment. Yay, her prospects in this economy don't look good and she's hoping to move up here to be near us. It may prove to be an interesting new year.

Anyway if I don't get around to posting again, here's wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

UG, Holidays

Well I'm sitting here the day before Thanksgiving really wishing it was just an ordinary Thursday. I have a turkey in the fridge thawing but that is as far as I've gotten with meal planning or prep. Hubby says cook a turkey and do the rest simple, I wish it was. I just can't say "Here's the turkey" without at least some cranberry sauce and deviled eggs, and pumpkin pie. Which that there makes it a huge meal with just two adults and two kids. We decided not to travel for Thanksgiving which is good since a storm is supposed to blow in right through where the majority of our driving would be.

So Thanksgiving will be simple. Hubby had planned with his friend to smoke a couple of turkeys on the big smoker on Friday (we would just do the meal on Sat) however with the huge temperature drop the last few days he has decided against that saying he'll never get the smoker hot enough when it's only 20 degrees outside. So with two days to go Hubby has not called friend who is probably thawing his turkey as we speak. I don't exactly know the plans since the whole idea was for the couple to come over and play cards and hang out while the birds cooked. I don't mind if they still come over of course but it would be nice to have an idea of what kind of groceries to go get, clean the house and the like.

All is well however, I can't complain except about piddling stuff. In an effort to improve my mood and since it is Thanksgiving some things I'm thankful for in random order.

My kids - though they drive me to the brink a lot of days
My Home - not that mold filled, tiny little rent house we lived in last Thanksgiving
My Husband - He's a good guy
Family - who can be counted on in a pinch - though I wish were a little closer to babysit occasionally
Too much to eat
The fact the tornado quiet literally skipped over our town on Monday


I do want to say a goodbye to our neighbor Mr. Elmer. He passed away on Monday morning. Two weeks ago he was out blowing leaves and fell hitting his head hard on the driveway. A neighbor found him upright and talking clinging to the steps. Mr. Elmer's family was called and he was taken to the hospital where he was life flighted into a bigger hospital in Milwaukee with bleeding on the brain. He got better for a few days but then started getting fluid on the brain again. Knowing Mr. Elmer short of dropping dead immediately I'm sure he was happy to go. He was getting on in years, wasn't getting around so good (probably had no business blowing his leaves) and had told us as much. He was a good neighbor and will be missed on our little block.

Nothing.

I'm just writing something out of pure meaness. Life in Winnie's immediate litter has been blessedly busy and quiet. Sonny Boy is quite involved with Cub Scouts and got his "bobcat" badge tonight along with Hiking belt loop and pin. Due to Hubby's crazy work I was trapped in a teacher conference and didn't get to see the honors bestowed. Sonny Boy's teacher had nothing but praise for him. Mrs. D said he's reading several levels above where he is expected to be and is a "model student". Great news and nice to hear. If you'd asked me a few years ago how I thought Sonny Boy would do in school I'd have told you that he'd be in the principal's office at least once a week!

Igor is trucking along being his normal self. Not much gets him out of kilter except being tired. Unfortunately that's every afternoon since he's in the too-big-to-take-a-nap-but-still-kind-of-needs-one stage. I'll be glad when that's grown out of, it makes doing anything after 5:00 a crap shoot of attitude from the little guy. He did pull the funniest stunt last week. Igor and I were grocery shopping and we ran into his pre-school teacher. He wouldn't even look at Mrs. V much less speak to her and then acted like a little toot the rest of the way through the store which is SO not like him - he loves the grocery store. Even when he's being a toot he's still not bad (nothing on Sonny Boy) so it's easy to ignore and other people just see a pouty lip and hear toddler-ese mumbling.

I took the boys to have pictures taken today. Cripes I've raised some hams. Some of them were quite funny, too bad they were so expensive or I'd have purchased them.

The winter around the corner funk is creeping in. I really do dread all the Christmas preparations. I'd love to come home and find that elves came in and put the tree up and decorated. I know that ain't gonna happen though, I can barely get hubby to drag the boxes up from the basement and I'm pretty sure in the 15 years I've known him he's hung exactly two ornaments on the tree. This year I'm inclined to agree to the humbug. I hope it leaves by Thanksgiving.

Well that's my writing to mean update.

NYC was nice

But I wouldn't want to live there. I honestly don't get big city living like that, but it was fun and one of the few places I would really like to go back to and explore some more. Two days was not nearly enough time to cram in all the "must see it's" and I walked so much my bum knee is still awful two days later. Gonna have to get something done soon about that I'm afraid.


Here's Hubby in Times Square, the cliche tourist photograph I suppose. There is one of me as well but basically the same with me and different signs. Times Square was cool but so jammed packed full of people. I didn't really see the big draw to it other than it was central to most of the the transit.

Hubby at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That is King Henry VIII armour from when he got old and fat. Henry was a pretty big man as you can tell that probably would have fit Hubby who would have towered over most men of that era. I thought the armour was cool as I've been reading lots of Henry and his wives books lately. In fact had brought one along for plane reading. The Met is HUGE, I thought we could dart in for a couple of hours and run through it quickly, you know not read all the cards, just take in the big stuff. Not hardly. Three hours later we may have ran (almost literally) through only about half. The stuff I really wanted to see - the costume gallery wasn't on display and was closed. That was a bummer.

A rare picture of me. I couldn't resist reclining on a Swarvoski studded couch with a crystal curtain behind it. Just a little glam. Truth was my feet hurt something terrible. We ended up walking NYC in our dressier clothes on Friday as that was our theatre night and we wouldn't be able to change. We went to see Wicked. It was fun and we both enjoyed the show. I will say the tickets were a little pricey but no more than I really expected. I wish we'd had better seats as we were like two rows from the ceiling but the good seats were over $200 each. If your not into trends - I'm not but I tell you the entire female population of NYC wears a scarf. The fashion must have. Not such a trend here in the midwest. Maybe it's because we are forced to wear a scarf to keep from getting frostbite on our neck six months of the year?

I'll definitely go back to NYC sometime. So many things I'd like to explore more, we didn't get into SOHO, or Greenwich village really, or the fancy shops on Madison Ave (like I could buy something there!) I'd love to see more of The Met as it was neat and the Museum of Natural History sounds intriguing. I will say I never felt intimidated in NYC. I was worried the world of subways, buses, taxis and large crowds would be a little scary to a girl that grew up in a town without a stoplight. It wasn't. It was easy to move around, all I needed was a map and the gumption to get on the subway (while a little dirty not that scary) and I could land just about anywhere.

The boys had fun with Grandma. She took them to every activity I had given her info for. That wasn't really my intention, I just thought she might want something to do with them that was local instead of staring at the walls and watching them bounce around.

Since being home I've been exhausted. I cleaned up the yard from the windstorm last week and blew leaves. I've ripped the zipper out of Sonny Boy's winter coat and intend to replace it today. Went to Sam's Club and stocked up on some stuff, and of course all the other baloney of life. I'm tired. I'm gonna run, have an appointment with PT in 13 min and the roofers should be here soon to start on the porch roof.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Happy Halloween!

Oh my what a busy weekend. The kids Grandma and Great Grandma came and handled Halloween festivities. I flew to NYC to be with Hubby and tour around. Today my knee is sore, I'd REALLY like a nice long nap and the yard is knee deep in leaves. Fun was had by all and we have WAY too much candy around the house now.

I'll write more about the NYC trip soon. I'm thinking I might try sneak a doze on the couch while Igor watches PBS kids.

Jack of all Trades

Master of None

The beautiful fall weather we've been having here inspired me to plan a camping trip. I had one last picture of a maple tree, in all it's wonderful yellow glory, to load and blogger disabled picture upload for two hours. If I was really good I'd come back and add the picture, but face I'm not gonna.

Well about Tuesday last week I got the bug bad. Went and purchased a HUGE tent since our former one had really taken it's last camping trip, and started locating our camping gear which was pretty scattered due to the move. I checked out Wisconsin's DNR site and decided that Wyalusing State Park was going to be our destination. I know all this is a little crazy with two young kids and no adults, what can I say, the thought of spending the weekend in the house without a whole lot to do, had me going a little nuts. Things were a little crazy at times (mostly in the morning, which isn't out of the norm) but for the most part things went swimmingly smooth. The only real issue I had, was an inability to shower -which I REALLY wanted- after hiking and huddling up to a smoky campfire. There were decent shower houses there, and they were open, however I didn't have anywhere to stash the boys while I soaped up, that offered me any privacy. So I went a few days longer than I would have preferred without a shower.

Wyalusing State Park had a lot to do and lots of that was hiking. We hiked, not serious hard, difficult trails but certainly long. We arrived on Friday (Sonny Boy was sick, wink, wink) and set up camp in what was probably the prettiest camp site I've ever had that overlooked the Wisconsin River. We then went on a couple of short jumps to overlooks and a small cave that was only a hundred yard hike from the parking lot.

Igor and Sonny Boy near Treasure Cave

Overlook of the joining of the Wisconsin and Mississippi River
This is also the best I looked all weekend, it went downhill from here!

Sonny Boy is pointing out Wal-Mart, honestly could see it but it was a 20 min drive.

Freight Train Crossing the Wisconsin River

The color in this part of the state wasn't so good. I think we were a little late, but most of the trees seemed to be oak which just turn brown.

Big Sand Cave - this and Little Sand Cave were on the same trail about a mile and half. Ended up piggy backing Igor out the last quarter mile or so. I was exhausted.

This was Picture Rock Cave, about a half mile, done on Sunday morning.

Near Pictured Rock Cave was an eroded sandstone formation with tons of little mice running around in it. Strangle how less disgusting they are when they are out in the woods and not in your basement.

Other wildlife worth mentioning was a bald eagle that was hunting near our campsite the day we arrived and an early morning spotting of a coyote crossing the road on the park's edge. Oddly we saw no deer or waterfowl. Both might have been noteably absent due to hunting seasons. Both mornings we awoke to guns blazing in the valley and the sporting goods guy at the local Wal-Mart said there was an early deer season due to CWD (Chronic Wasting Disease) in the area though I really doubt all that shooting was at deer.

Other activities that have been keeping the kids busy....ever wonder why they say T.V. rots your brain?

This was the cake I made for Mom's visit last week. I think it turned out well but I wish I could have gotten the icing smoother. The flowers were made of gumpaste. I had intended to make them a deep dark red but got this purple instead!

Thinking maybe it would pay me to take a small engine repair course lately. Before Hubby left on his long trip I asked him to look over the leaf blower as it had been acting funny, he did and pronounced it fine. Today it wasn't so fine. I've been on the phone with him tons getting a crash course in engine repair and now I have the blower taken apart to a level I'm not comfortable with and loads of leaves falling as we speak. I. Am. Not. Amused. I will try to tackle it again tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning might prove chilly as the heating contractor came this morning and started installing our new boiler. Not a quick job and gee were they LOUD, not the guys, just their working and pounding. My house also smells terrible from the glue used on the new PVC vents that go out the side my house instead of up the chimney. New fangled high efficency stuff you know. We are also putting in a high efficency hot water heater that is somehow attached to the boiler. I'm not well versed in all this stuff but hopefully it will cut our heating bills down which can be pretty tough in a 120 year old house. My biggest complaint is that the new vents look pretty ugly - might have to do some creative landscaping there, unfortunatly it's on the high side of the house and whatever I plant would need to be about 3 feet tall and tolerate dense shade.

That's all for now, off to tuck in Sonny Boy and wash off the gasoline/oil smell from the leaf blower.

Trudging along...

There's not a whole lot to report right now which honestly is a good thing. All the drama of the last year seems to be put to rest (may it stay in it's grave). We have settled into a new blah normal that is wonderfully BORING.

Sonny Boy is off to school every morning. He's doing quite well but we fear he is bored out of his mind. The homework he brings home is not even remotely challenging for him and he tells us the stuff in class is the same way. Teacher conferences should be coming up soon and I'll discuss with the teacher to at least get him some more challenging reading material. Sonny Boy's math skills are going to soon surpass my own - which sadly are about a third grade level, yes I know Ms. Allen my high school math teacher's ears are burning (she's not dead so she can't spin in her grave) Sonny Boy is enjoying his stint with Cub Scouts. I'm not enjoying Cub Scouts so much, I did not realize the time commitment involved. Ugh. I think kids tend to be overscheduled most of the time now days so we try to be pretty minimal around here. It's hard though when scouts take up one evening a week and then Sonny Boy wants to do wrestiling through the Rec program that starts up in a month or so that will run two evenings a week. That's a lot of time watching 6 and 7 year old boys bounce around.

Igor is doing well and being Igor. He's developed a hilarous gesture of of slapping his forehead in disgust when you tease him. It's quite comical to see the little guy do it so of course we come up with anything we can to elicit this response from him. " Igor your shirt is on backwards" when it is obviously not - that kind of thing. He knows he's funny. A regular Yakov Smirnoff (you younger ones start googling)

Hubby left Sunday for a long sting on the east coast for work training. YUCK, yuck, and double yuck. I'll be single parenting for several weeks now. All the work with none of the fun of dating or being able to ship the kids to the spouse every other weekend. Hubby did send me a lovely picture of his feet in hotel slippers with a view of the football game on the TV between them. Jerk.

Me, I'm trudging along. My mother and a family friend just left this morning after a long weekend stay. It was fun having them around. I do not think I will encourage my mother to drive up anymore. She managed to miss an interstate exchange and was nearly two hours away before she realized it and stopped to asked directions and call me. Then she proceeded to get back on the interstate that she had just gotten off of and go even further away. When I spoke to her I told her to call me when she got to a neighboring town and I would come meet her as there are some tricky detours getting into town due to road construction. When she finally called an hour later she was even further away than the first call. AAAAAK. Anyway by now she finally bought a map (why she was traveling without one I have no idea) so I told her to call me when she reached X. I left the house going toward X and figured I'd be in X about the same time she was. Of course mom didn't call me when she reached X and we passed each other somewhere along the way. I finally had her stop in a bar parking lot and I turned around and went and found her. Well the next morning I sent Hubby to Wal-Mart and guess what mom got for her birthday a couple of weeks late? A GPS. Worrisome. Unfortunately the family friend wasn't much help on the drive as she's in her late 80's and can't see to well currently.

I'm pleased to report I've been headache free for a week now!! You don't know how much better that makes me feel. I went to my TMJ doc last week and she adjustement my mouth gaurd, wrote me a scrip for some medicine and physical therapy. The physical therapy really gets started good tomorrow but I've already been in for the inital evaluation. Mostly the change is due to having a mouth gaurd that is properly fitted and drugs that relieve some of the nightmarish clenching I do at night.

That's it for now, wonderfully busy, sane, boring, and no drama. Yay!