The new website is up and running but I have LOTS of tweaks to make over the next few weeks. Just wanted to let you know the name of the new site…. www.simplytreasured.net Stop on by and take a peek, it isn’t “home” yet but I will make it cozy soon. I promise.
Posted in Uncategorized
Some of you know I did something crazy this year, I decided to run two blogs! What was I thinking? Well if you are as exhausted as I have been (at least mentally) keeping up with both blogs, I have a treat in store for you soon! I have a new website in the works that will combine both of my blogs. Yippee Skippee! It isn’t ready for its unveiling just quite yet, but soon, very soon!
In the meantime here are a couple of pictures with one of my “models” I snapped this morning. She claimed she was being held hostage and HAD to participate in this impromptu photo shoot. In the end she was all smiles.
Have a great Valentine’s day. Check back soon for additional details on the new site.
Last night I called Rodi to see if he like me, was feeling like some take-out for dinner. I am not sure if he really cared but he could tell I didn’t feel like cooking and agreed that would be fine.
I had to return some movies to that very convenient, little, red, dvd vending machine, so I grabbed the dvd’s and headed out the door. Rodi was on his way home from work and if I timed it right I could get home with the food right before he walked through the door.
First I stopped at our neighborhood Chinese restaurant and placed our order. Then I strolled down to return my dvd’s in the kiosk near the grocery store. I remembered we were out of sandwich bags and that Koen needed 100 toothpicks for a 100 day project at school, so into the store I went.
While I wandered around the store trying to make the best of my time waiting for our order to be ready next door I remembered the girls needed more hair pins. That my friends is when I fell in love all over again. No, not with the hair pins, or a shiny new brush. It was him, he found me, sought me out, and approached me with that smile that exaggerates his dimples, in the best way. It was Rodi! He knew where I was getting dinner, and that I had to return the movies. When I wasn’t in the restaurant he went looking for me. I love that man. He didn’t have any reason to search me out, he was just passing by on his way home, knew I was there and wanted to say hi.
It was something simple, there were no flowers or gifts involved, just a man who wanted to see his wife, and I loved it.
I guess it goes to prove that sometimes it is the little things in life that can bring us great joy.
THE FLU STINKS!
It can’t be said much simpler than that. It seems the Germ Fairy has it out for our household this year. Just when I started to feel better, Kate was taken down by the flu bug. That little Germ Fairy and her crew of various bugs are very tricky. They seemingly creep in at night when you are least expecting them.
Monday was a day like no other, the kind only written about in movies. Seriously, I could not have imagined a day like that even in my wildest dreams. There was nothing simple about it, NOTHING!
I awoke to Kate, pale, sad, feverish Kate. There would be no school for Kate. This sent Koen into a meltdown. Going right into super-mommy mode, I started to bargain with the kid. I made promises on top of promises to get him dressed and ready for school. I even promised to take him to school so he wouldn’t have to ride the bus by himself.
*note to other super-mommies this is a BAD idea*
After tons of kicking and screaming I was able to convince the lil’ man to put down the teddy bear, grab his lunch, backpack, and head out the door. The ride to school was quiet but okay. I parked the vehicle and like a good mom, I walked him into the school.
COMMENCE BEAR HUG AND LARGE AMOUNTS OF TEARS
He latched onto me like a python going in for the kill. So many wonderful teachers and aids tried to help, but ended up walking away knowing they had been defeated by a 5 year old. They left me standing there, looking like bad, evil- mommy instead of the super-mommy I had been striving to be.
*Run away, leave me here, I am his mom, of course I know how to make this all better.
On second thought, maybe I don’t…. HELP*
Finally like a true super hero, the super fabulous Mrs B. came floating around the corner to save the day!
We love Mrs. B.!!!
She even came armed with weapons… carrots for K-man to feed the class rabbit.
FAIL!
Things were looking bleak at this point. No words from me or Mrs. B. were going to make this ultra determined kid to budge.
Finally she firmly took hold of his hand and told me to just go. She promised he would be fine once I was out of sight. I wasn’t loving this, but I figured she had been through this a few times, maybe I should trust her.
I pried his tiny little arm from my waist, knowing there were going to be screams of displeasure from my little guy. I turned, and with a tear in my eye I walked away.
“Moooommmmm DON’T LEEEEAVE MEEEEEE HERE!”
Yes that’s my boy screaming, and this is me walking away – once again looking like bad, evil-mom. I had to duck and take cover once outside to make sure he didn’t coming bolting out the doors chasing after me.
I finally returned to my vehicle, took a deep breath, and then promptly called a friend. I needed that reassurance that I was not a bad mom. I sure felt like one.
As I approached the house, thankful to be back home, my phone rang. I looked and it was the school’s number on the caller i.d.. Oh, how I hoped they were calling to tell me how great Koen was doing now. How he had wiped his tears away and happy skipped his way to class. Yes that was what I had hoped for.
Instead I was greeted with….
“Mrs. R….. this is Mrs. J…. at the middle school.”
*Uhhhh, what did she just say?*
” I don’t want to alarm you, but your son has just passed out and the rescue squad is on its way”
ALARM BELLS GOING OFF LIKE CRAZY!
“We were just wondering if you were able to come up to the school”
“YES, I’ll be right there”
I ran into the house to let the girls know what was going on and then flew to the middle school. Thankfully Carley is still homeschooling and could help tend her sister or this day could have been much worse with Kate and her fever!
*All of this before 9 am. I told you…. this is stuff for the movies!*
I arrived just as they were wheeling my boy out on a stretcher! He was being transported to the hospital and he was ghostly pale. Not a sight any mom wants to see.
To quote the medic… “You’re the whitest white boy I’ve seen”
I followed the ambulance to the hospital. It seemed to be the longest ride ever!
They hydrated him well at the hospital, ran several tests, and once he had pinked back up they sent us on our way back home. Thankfully he was going to be okay.
It was now approaching noon. I could not believe the day we were having. It about did me in.
Somehow I survived and lived to tell the tale. It is now Thursday, Kate is still home with a fever (officially she has the flu), Koen happily rode the bus this morning with the promise of a Wii game against his dad tonight, and KC is back at school feeling much better.
It seemed Monday tried to take any idea of simple and throw it out the window -the penthouse window!
Going shopping with the little people in my world can lead an endless chorus of “Can I’s”.
Can I have this?
Can I have that?
Can I go there?
It is pretty much a given that this song will be heard from start to finish.
This past Saturday we went to the mall. I know, the mall, what were we thinking? The older two kids went in search of… stuff. Apparently that’s what teens look for, just stuff. The hubby and I took the younger two and wandered around a bit giving the teens ample time to look for their “stuff”. While my better half and our youngest son made their way to the sporting goods store Kate and I hung out in tween town, er…I mean Justice looking at “things” (she is too young to be looking for stuff). She was making me dizzy as she went from rack to rack and shelf to shelf amazed by things like mood polish. Yes that’s right- move over mood rings, mood polish is here.
And then she saw it….
I think she fell in love with this hat at first glance, from the far side of the store. I was prepared for the choir to start singing. Actually I was prepared for a flash mob to break out in song, lifting me high in the air as they danced me to the register where I would find the hat wrapped neatly in a box with a pretty bow and the store employee ready to accept my payment.
Imagine the shock when the only thing I heard was “Mom, could you take my picture with the hat on?”
Yes, this falls into the “Can I” category but only as a technicality. She wasn’t asking to take it home, she just wanted a brief fashion model moment. Of course I happily took out the phone and took a picture or two, okay maybe even three.
When her photo shoot was over she simply took the hat off, looked at it another minute or two and then went on to look at more “things”.
I was really impressed. I know it had to be very hard for her not to ask for that hat. She didn’t even sulk or whine about how great it would be to have a hat like that. She just continued to wander with her dad and I as we waited for the older two kids to be done looking at …. yep, “stuff”.
Fast forward to yesterday. Okay that might be a fast forward and then rewind to yesterday. *Smile* Carley J and I headed back to the mall with this coupon in hand and returned with “the hat”. We placed the bright pink bag on her bed and waited for the bus to return Kate safely home from school. Once she was home Carley J and I were trying to come up with reason after reason why Kate might need to go to her room for a minute before working on her homework. Kate thought we were nuts. Finally I was able to convince her to take her book bag in her room. She did, but she didn’t even notice the pink bag on her bed. Ahhhh!
I finally had to just say “Why don’t you go and see if there is something on your bed.” Can you say it any simpler?
She went.
She looked.
She saw.
She found.
She Smiled.
As a mom it felt WONDERFUL to be able to surprise her. It was also a great lesson for the kids that sometimes parents really do pay attention to what our kids want. It is just sometimes nicer not having to listen to verse 1 “the begging” and verse 2 “the pleading” of the “Can I…?” song. It is appreciated so much that they are more likely to end up with “things” or “stuff” that would have otherwise been stomped out with a sigh and a “NO” when they finished their song.
*Thanks to the coupon I was able to buy the hat and more, and still stay within our monthly clothing budget. To see what else I came home with make sure to read tomorrow’s post. I scored big, and at the mall of all places.*
My blogging of recent has been as sad as a wet rooster! If you have never seen such a thing you will have to trust me, it is a sad, sad sight. I could give you the long detailed story to answer the “Why?”, but this blog is about being simple. Here we go, the simple version to my wet rooster blogging:
*Flu
*ER visit
*Mom in hospital making a nervous mess
*Flu (same house different person)
*Kitchen and Bathroom remodel (still not done)
There you have it folks, nothing earth shattering. It is just life. I probably could have fit in a post or two but that would have just complicated things on those days. I am trying to keep things as simple as possible. No more staying up until 2 am just to fit it all in. I can still be a good (probably better) person, mom, wife, and friend if I go to bed at 10pm.
Here is to no more flu, simpler days, and blogging like Husker running free through a very large field.
Posted in Review
It may not be perfect, but I love it. The picture doesn’t seem to do it justice. I am excited to find the perfect baskets to put on the bottom shelf. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to working with wood, but I am up for the challenge. I have a few more projects lined up for 2011. Sadly those will have to wait a bit as I have to have priorities, and as you can see in the picture one of those priorities is finishing our floors and putting up the baseboards. It really isn’t a great time to be finding new hobbies, not when most of our home is under some type of renovation.
When I can sneak in some more playtime this coffee table is next on my “to-build” list.
By the end of the year I hope I can build this kitchen table. I drool just a bit when I imagine it sitting in my dining room.
What I really love about this whole woodworking thing is that you get to put your own personality into what you build. After building this bench I think I have a better understanding of my dad and his love for carpentry. Not a total understanding, but a better idea. If nothing else this project allowed me to re-connect with my dad. I treasure any thing that gives me that kind of opportunity.
Posted in Build-it
Tagged bench, carpentry, home decor, tools, treasures, wood, woodworking
