Bad Start to the Day...

It has been an interesting day -- let me bullet point the highlights of the day for you ....
- Sleep in about a half hour
- Get kids up and in the tub (Jesse gave them the actual bath)
- Dress all three kids and do their hair and feed them breakfast while Jesse gets ready
- I go to get dressed and I can't find my skirt -- have to settle for a different outfit
- Try to blow dry hair and smoke pours out of blow dryer
- Get everyone loaded in the car 15 minutes later than when we needed to leave
- Get caught behind a slow driver on the way to Church
- Within 200 feet of the Chapel driveway, Aidan gets car sick and throws up all over himself
- Strip Aidan on the side of the road
- Realize I do not have a change of clothes for Aidan
- Finish drive to church -- all 30 seconds of it....
- Put on one of Cora's shirts on Aidan and wash out his pants and then proceed to wave them around for awhile in order to get them to dry
- Finally make it into Sacrament Meeting -- we won't go into any more detail about that - but let's just say it was not one of their better days
- Leave Church and head to Shirley and Ted's camp to pick up some vegetables
- All 3 kids eventually end up in the lake -- in their Sunday clothes!!
- Come home and get everyone changed and cleaned up
- Man I really could have used a nap
- Walk to my parents house and have an enjoyable evening with my family topped off with Blueberry Pie!

So all in all I guess the day evened out -- since it ended on a good note!

Melancholy Morning....

It has been a kind of down morning for me today... I have been spending a lot of time thinking about my family lately -- and mind you I have a great family -- but in some ways it makes me sad because I have lost contact with some members of my extended family.

Lately I have been spending a lot of time thinking about my sisters, Allison and Jessica. I haven't seen or heard from them in about 4 years. I miss them so much! They are 10 years younger than I am, so we are in very different places in life. The girls stayed living with their mother, Sandy, when I moved out and she told them some nasty, untrue things about me. I had hoped that they wouldn't listen, but they were little. Over the years I tried to keep in contact with them when they moved in with their dad. But as they entered high school their lives got busier and I moved to the back burner....

It's a bummer! I miss my relationship with them.... They are missing out on some great times with their nieces and nephews..... I want my kids to know them!

I guess I am in a nesting phase, and no I am not pregnant! What I mean is I am in a stage where I want my family close and I want them in my children's lives. I want all of my family to enjoy this time with us and I want to be involved in their lives. I know we are all busy, and that it could be hard, but I want it. Is this to much to ask!

I have been trying for a few months now to track the girls down, but thus far I have been unsuccessful. I have tried Google, myspace, facebook, old e-mail addresses, I have even asked their dad for contact information and nothing has work thus far.

I know that they still have a relationship with Sandy, which I do not have, so maybe they don't want to have a relationship with me? Maybe I am trying to hard? Maybe the Lord is trying to protect me from getting hurt again? Maybe there are too many maybes!

I miss my sisters!

Counting Down the Days....

I have been reading a lot of blogs lately that talk about how hard it is to watch your children go off on the first day of school -- I don't feel that way! I can't wait for that little yellow school bus to pull up and for Aidan and Cora to get on....

OK, so I having a bad mom moment, can you blame me??? They have been out of a structured school program for a few weeks now and to say it has been rough would be an incredible understatement!! I know they can't help it, I know it is just the Autism, I know it in my head -- but sometimes it just all gets to be too much!! Know what I mean?

I can't wait till school starts in 12 days! At that point the structure will back in place and with any luck the behavior will come back into check also!!

Of course, I am also counting down the days till I am back in class. I start a week from today and I am getting a little nervous! There is going to be so much work and reading and clinical rotations -- that I am not entirely sure how I am going to fit it all in! I'm sure I manage...... somehow!

Canning Excitement!

So I have never been much of a caner. I remember watching my grandmother canning pickles and relishes when I was really little, but the love of canning was never really sparked in me. Well that was until this weekend!

My grandmother gave me about 8 grocery bags of vegetables from the farm near her home -- an me not wanting to waste any of them decided that I should ask for her beloved pickle and relish recipes.... and to my surprise she gave me them!

So today I embarked on my first pickle making adventure! I cannot share the excitement that came from hearing the jars "pop" as they sealed! It was great!

The came out looking like I remember.... lets hope they take like I remember!! The other jar had dehydrated summer squash in it. Again, not wanting to waste the bag of summer squash, way more than my family will eat right now, so I went on a quest to find the best way to preserve it. The best I found was to dehydrate it. And I hydrated some today and put into my taco meat for dinner and I couldn't tell the difference between the fresh and the hydrated! So at least now I feel like I am helping out, in ever the smallest way, with my mom's family food storage.

Tomorrow I am making Piccalilli -- which is like a green tomato relish -- and canning that to add to the food storage as well.

Here's hoping it all tastes good!!

A Boy, A Dad, and A Pole...

Aidan got very upset on Sunday when Jesse went fishing without him....so when Jesse got home from work tonight we had to go buy Aidan his very first fishing pole. And of course you can't buy a fishing pole without going right out and using it!!

Unfortunately it was starting to rain -- so they got some practice casts in on the front lawn! Aidan was VERY excited and ran in the house and said "Momma, I did fishin's!!!"

I guess we have a new obsession to deal with!!

A Whole New Me!!

Let me start by saying that I honestly considered just moving into the sap on Saturday! I LOVE it there so much -- it is peaceful, relaxing, and oh so calm!!! But I promised pictures so here they are!!

So here it is from the front....

From the side.....

A bad shot of the back, but you can kind of tell that it is much shorter in the back!

And let me just say that I absolutely LOVE it!! And it is really easy to style so it is right up my ally!! I am even considering leaving it short for a while! We'll see!

What is new???

I was really skeptical of the Ped Egg when I first saw it a few months ago, I mean come on it just looks dumb! But, man was I wrong!! This sucker actually works! Now mind you, it does NOT, I repeat does NOT replace a wonderfully relaxing pedicure at your favorite spa -- but it will do for those pesky in between callouses that build up! The best thing about it -- it is only $10!

In other news, I have finally finished my Microbiology class. I must saw that this has been one of the longest 8 weeks of my life!! And the hardest class I have ever taken!! Though I have been told that it will probably be the hardest class I ever take, so hopefully it goes up from here. But I worked hard and I earned an 'A'!! From what my instructor e-mailed me I am one of only five who did so out of two classes!! So needless to saw I an relieved that the class is over -- and terribly excited that I did so well!

In fact to celebrate, I am going to the spa tomorrow! YEAH!!! I am going to go get a "Spa Haircut" -- yes I am cutting all of my hair off to donate (I'll post pictures later). And then after that I am having the "Eyes Alive" treatment. I am believe I have a pedicure scheduled after that also! I can't wait!! I am hoping to come home relaxed -- although I am sure that won't last long because Jesse has to work tomorrow night so I will be coming home to caring for the kids, who are out of school by the way! AARRGGG!

Oh, well I will definitely enjoy it while I can!