whoa…..job, marriage, kids..

well, that job I wanted, I got. I am a Asst. Controller for a hotel. and loving every minute. Lots of changes have happened lately. We lost our stepdaughter out of our house. Which ended up being good b/c she still keeps contact and comes over. Our life was a bit too normal, although lately it’s not. Ron and I are having some problems. and some major ones. I grew up with parents that fought and fought and hated it. I just don’t want to do that with him anymore. and ALL we do is fight. I have decided to hang in the basement for awhile. let the wave blow over and then decide what to do. Either way, he is a good dad, we just don’t mesh. and I think, this time, I am okay with that. I think we have just lost our passion. oh well, my work keeps me busy and I work with a bunch of goofs so it helps.

the strangest moth…

appeared on my dining room tablecloth last night. Ryan thought he was a leaf until he moved.

We, after jumping to catch him, let him out to be in the trees.

Time reaally flies……

Okay, so it’s been forever since I have posted….things have been VERY hectic with Sara moving in.  Not bad, just getting used to a third body and getting her into a normal life is hard.  It’s amazes me on how she has lived in 9 homes in 16 months.  She’s taken her placement for college and we get the schedule next week.  The kids don’t mind either.  We left her with Jena last week while we went to Ohio to visit Ron’s friends and the house still stands.  It just has been such a tornado this last few weeks.

Ohio Trip…..I keep reminding myself why I DONT visit as soon as I get down there.  I am too Chicagoian…not enough rural.  We did go to a vineyard for dinner. Very nice. I had some of the best wine I have seen in awhile.  It was great, no kids, great food, and probably one of my most favorite of my husband’s friends.  It was called Valley Vineyards in Morrow.  www.valley-vineyards.com

School…okay, from all of you who are going to remind me, again, yes, I am taking 2 classes.  I remember how overwhelmed I was, but 1 is in the elgin site and the other online.  They are both meshing together nicely this time.  I have Managerial Finance and Managerial Accounting.  Real fun reading…..But I want to be done in Feb. so I can take the CPA in October…go ahead, laugh……

My real kids……yeah, there still here.  BUT, they are going to VBS next week with Sara.  YIPPEEEEEE!!!  A whole week with no kids home.  What will I do?  Who will I see?  I am sure I will be confused and lost…but, YIPEEEEEEE!  That’s okay, school starts in 36 days.

Where have I been?

It has been a rough couple of weeks.  School is done and restarted and like an idiot, I am going to take two classes again – on the advice of the adviser.  I really want to be done in Febuary next year and I will suck it up for now until I HAVE to get a job…..

Ron’s birthday came and went and things were alright.  We have been having issues due to him working 14-16 hour days and not being here for us.  Salary sucks. It depends on the day if I like him anymore.

 And then our step-daughter finally moved in.  She called this weekend with nowhere to go and took us up on the offer.  What a change to own a teenager.  Let me tell you…Ron laid her straight on our PG home and we will see.   I will write more later.  thank you – all my fellow friends – for being patient.  It’s been a real change.

Priceless Quality Time

I have been gripping to my classes in the last few days and today is T-Day.  I have 2 3.5 hour tests to take and if anyone catches me surfing, remind my ADD brain I have until Midnight to get them done.  I am sick over them and have come to the “to hell with it” attitude.  How sad. I am about 6 classes from a CPA.  So as a friend said the other day, I could use a prayer, a woo-woo or whatever…and then I am off of school for 10 days.  Next time I am taking only 1 class..and when it is all done, I am going down to the coast in Savannah or Flagler Beach in Florida and taking a 2 week vacation alone -and would love every minute of it.

                                                              

The main purpose for this blog is last night, on very rare occasion, Ron put the kids to bed.  It could be because I was in tears and studying and I think he felt bad.  He is working 14 hour days and I hate to say it, but I wish he did travel and come home on weekends.  He is so stressed with work and irritable, having him home at night, even at 9-10 pm, then leaving @ 5:30 to get into Chicago is too much.    I know we, being married,  have suffered.  The kids feel his stress and if he was home on weekends, we would definately see him more.  BUT…he read to Ryan and Jena last night a book called Bartholomew and The Bug by Neal Layton and the kids just loved it.

It’s Mulberry Time!

We have a neighbor that I am begging not to cut her tree down.  This year we put down a 30×40 tarp to catch the mulberries.  Yesterday resulted in 10 pints of jelly and a real nice batch of ice cream

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 Needless to say, my fingers are purple, my feet are worse, and Jena has purple spots in her hair…..But all worth it.  She doesn’t spray or use chemicals, so it is really ALL natural. yummm. 

 

my daughter…the weekend…my #$^^*$%^$#@ yard

this is Jena’s last day of school. 

 I didn’t get teary eyed this time.  I cannot believe how time flies.  In this last weekend, I have seen Jena get through her first year of school, go to a wedding for a 50 year old, and bury my husband’s best friend’s dad.  they say God doesn’t give you too much, but come on. thank god we leave for vacation on Saturday.  I hear the fish are biting, the water is warm, and they still haven’t put up a cell tower in town, so no service…yipee.

 On my gardening note, whoever has a garden should know that when a addict, you always buy too many seeds and never get to plant them all.  I have so much to get in the ground in 3 days (& do homework).  The corn is up and doing rather better than planned.  I will end up with 40-50 plants.  My lettuce is not so good.  I have had to totally dig it up where it was and put it on my porch for now.  Too hot.  I have my sprinkler system timed to every day, but it isn’t helping.  Word of advice to everyone, lettuce likes total shade!!!!  I don’t have too much hope, but my sister’s rabbits will love it.  My carrots came up and I am going to give them another good week or so before I thin them out.  The hound dog seems to be thinning things out for me with his digging. 

I did get some swap things and will take pic’s of them tomorrow.  I have 2 to send out and will get them done tomorrow.  I think we will need to get some Starbucks on the way out….

what a week…..

Next time I take 2 classes at the same time, someone shoot me.  After being sick myself this week and school, I have never been so overwhelmed.  I promised my 2 new blog friends pics, but let me tell you…..not even funny…..

And who the hell gets married on Memorial Day weekend?  Weddings should have black out days…Against my will, I am going to the “wedding of the century”.  for the purpose of anomymouty, I will refrain, but if you ever had a person that was considered a Bridezilla, I have a topper that tops any other I have seen on TV.  My sister says to go for the free meal and leave nicely.  So I dragging my adopted daughter.  Sorry Sara, but we go as a team with your brother and sister.   

On a better note, my carrots are starting to sprout….Yippee….let’s see if the rabbits take my other bait I put out and stay away.  My peonies bloomed and th front of the house smells so nice.  What else, oh, I bought some speciality pepper plants online that are hotter than scotch bonnet habaneros.  We make salsa, called Sphincter-burnin’ Sauce, that is so good and hot.  This year I can claim to be organic due to following the regulations followed by certified organic gardeners.   What will come of our sphincter sauce, who knows…Maybe Martha will give me 15.

 I want to say that children are so great at germ passing there should be some sort of spray you douse your kids in when they get home to kill germs.  I have laryngitis.  How fun.  I have been sleeping feet-head with my husband and just about sick of that.  So thanks, Ryan….love you son. 

Next week will be better, and I promise guys, I will get the pic’s on before vacation

kids…..

Yesterday, Ryan woke up with a fever of 101.7.  I don’t know what was his problem, but we were home with a very sick little boy… I felt bad because it was his Field Day @ school, but every time he got up, he was dizzy. I couldn’t give him his normal meds because I was afraid he would throw them up, so we’d played it by ear. And  he slept all day on the couch. And the dog had one of his “coming to Jesus” episodes yesterday.  Each day gets harder with him.  The vet says that he’s okay and if I can live with him, don’t put him down, but it is hard.  Max is recovering from Heartworm disease from the fall.  The side effect of the disease is a collapsed trachea.  The problem is he won’t make it through the anesthetic to fix the trachea so he collapses and looks like he’s in respiratory arrest all the time he drinks water.  I’ll give it to the dog, he makes it though, even when I don’t think he will.  I have done all I can do for the dog, I know and have been told by Dr., so we just give him time and let him enjoy the time left.  He’s okay for a 14 year old Shepard mix….

Since my day was shot, I got some housework done, took a nap, and even gave the kitties some quiet time.  I don’t know what’s up with this weather either. I ended up closing all the windows and lighting our wood-stove.  God, how I love the thing.   It is our primary heat source in the winter and yesterday, it took the chill out of the air.  It is a Dutch West and everyone said not to buy a true wood stove, but a pellet one.  Now, the whole point of the wood stove is for the wood.  The kids love it; putting their feet on the hearth, backing up to it until you have to move because your back end is on fire.  The smell of woodsmoke (my favorite).

I have been researching organic farms in better detail this year. That is what has prompted me to blog for a change.  I like to hear what others are doing and learn from them…  My friend has an organic farm in Durand and gave me this god awful recipe for keeping bugs out of my lettuce this year.   It contains Listerine, cola, tobacco, among the one’s I remember.  Can’t be good for he bug so we’ll see how they do.  I changed our gardens around this year.  Since I didn’t get to plant my clover for my green mulch, I worry about dryness in the soil so I bought soaker hoses for a quick fix in addition to mulching the crap out of them.  I had to stop composting last year because our foster nut lab was digging through it and eating the compost – Yuck….So my friend has some not so hot manure I have to go get.  My husband is just tickled pink about crap in the truck….We decided since we will go into the suburbs this year and sell to do carrots, tomatoes (20 plants), peppers (32 plants) 100 red onions, muskmelon, roly-poly squash (don’t have a lot of faith since grubs are huge in the bed), some gourds, sunflowers, corn, and 2 different pumpkin.  My dilemma is that I ran out of room since my cold-frame takes up one of the raised beds now, so this weekend Ron is building 3 more raised beds to move the pumpkins to so they don’t get mowed over and have room.  This winter was murder on my herbs too.  My thyme is coming back somuch I will have to move some to another herb garden.  I had to replant my sage, but the lavender is okay. I also found Texas Tarragon, which has a beautiful yellow flower and Jena loves it.  So we have chives, sage, basil, cilantro, tarragon, St. John’s Wort, Rosemary,mint, and parsley in the cold frame.  I am sure I will be thinning by July.  I would love to have more, but I can barely keep up with what I have now.  The last few winters have really done their fill on my herbs, but the kids love them.  I asked Ryan to bring in some chives the other day and he snipped some grass. How funny. I told him to rub it and it would smell like onions and then he got it…..He’s gotten pretty good.  We have a diagram in the small shed of what is in each bed…

I have a accounting quiz and a paper due this weekend and 2 BBQ’s to go to in Chicago, but I will post some pic’s of the yard. 

Things that drive me nuts…..

I started this the other day and finally have finished my list

Things about my husband

1. Leaving the roll of paper towels on the counter and not hanging it up and refilling it…..
2. Doesn’t know what is aluminum foil when cooking chicken…grrrrr
3. not soaking the pan when not using aluminum foil
4. not sorting mail and throwing junk away
5. leaving dirty laundry on the floor in the bathroom
6. spilling a few drops of coffee and not wiping them
7. hanging clothes the wrong way – okay this is a bit o.c.
8. snoring on the couch and not going to bed, then complaining he’s tired because he slept on the couch
9. not putting his tools away and then blaming me for losing them or using them and breaking them
10. the fact he loves Nascar and it keeps me from getting his help in the yard or house on Sundays (Damn that Nascar!!!!)

Things about Rockfordians….

1. slow driving
2. way slow comprehension
3. stupid people
4. ignorant people

I just had to add the last bit because my poor husband would think I hate him…..which I don’t, but he thinks I need extra to do since I am home and I have plenty with 2 kids, 5 dogs (including my fosters), 4 fostered cats, and him….Thanks Honey….