few of my favorites

Took a lot of pictures yesterday and today. Here are a few of my favorites from yesterday. I didn't realize what this cow was doing until I uploaded my pictures. I was too busy focusing on the cow's face to notice!

Doesn't this little cow look like he woke up on the wrong side of the pasture?

It's no secret that I love cows. I've always loved cows. I collect cows. In fact, when I was 18 my mom was worried my first tattoo was of a cow!

from the mouths of babes

Today I go on a home visit for my job to see a little boy who is two years old. We painted and it ended up all over us, including my arm, which eventually ended up on my shirt. So at the end of this home visit I'm getting ready to leave and the little boy says, "Teacher you have something on your boob!" His mom and I cracked up. Funnier yet, his mom and I were talking earlier about how many body parts he knew. She looks at me and says, "well he does know some parts!" The paint had ended up right where he said it was. We laughed about it for sure.

Lets back up to my drive out to their house. I had gone once that day and then had to make another trip out there to drop some stuff off. Well the second trip needed to be a quick trip as it was almost the end of the day. Low and behold, I run across this in the road traveling at 15 mph in a 65 mph area.

Finally after an eternity 7-8 minutes, they pulled over and let oncoming traffic pass, then we got to pass. They had quite the process to get this big house down the road. There were several trucks that drove ahead a few miles and parked to block traffic until the house could move aside. Then they let traffic by.

Of course on the way back to Madison, the house was coming my direction again, so I got to sit and wait again. Wasn't I just lucky today?

crazy day at the store

I had the most awful, hair-pulling stressful shopping trip today at Hy-Vee. Well, the shopping part wasn't so much the problem unless you call trying to maneuver a gigantic shopping cart through masses of people at 5pm. OK, so really, shopping wasn't that bad.

The fun actually started when I got to the checkout. I had a few of my own things to pay for and then I had some tax exempt stuff for work. I was in one line when the manager said someone could help me over here right away. Great! So I mosey on over to another aisle and proceed to dump my stuff onto the belt.

He rings the stuff up. I pay. He rings my stuff up for work and I pull out my PO Book. I don't have a credit card for work. Instead, I have a paper charge book. Well, before I came shopping someone at work gave me the account number I would need at Hy-Vee. After the cashier finishes ringing up my stuff he has no clue what to do, so he calls the manager over. The next guy didn't know how to do a store charge, so another gal comes over. The first guy calls someone else. It ends up being that I cannot do a store charge that I need a credit card instead.

So I call a co-worker who has a card because I don't have my freaking work phone with me to call my boss. She reads me the number and thank goodness, it works! It took me 15 minutes to get that straightened out. In the meantime, I have fudge bars that are melting in my cart.

At this point, I am ready to leave the store. Of course I get stuck behind some lady going 0 miles per hour who is not in a hurry what so ever.

Just a question...who isn't in a hurry at 5pm after working all day, spending quality time at the grocery store? OK, never mind.

Ahem....

I follow her, fairly close because I really want to get out of the store, but not close enough to hit the back of her feet. I was watching that closely. We get out the first doors. All is good! Then we hang a right and go out the next doors. She stops. Yep, right there, she stops, pulls out her rain bonnet for her hair and starts to put it on.

I did not have patience for this, so I push my cart around her while she is stopped. Did I mention there were about 3 separate people behind me, also? As I get around her and start turning to go out the last set of doors to the parking lot, she rams into the side of my cart! Can you believe that!!??

I was beyond speechless. Apparently she thought everyone should wait for her instead of going around her and was going to push her way back to the front. I turned around and looked at her like "you've got to be kidding me". You know that look, right?

So out the door I go. Now she's on the move, right on my heels! I feel like I'm being chased by grandma! I get to my car and then she goes to her car and that was that.

Until I spent the next 12 minutes trying to get out onto 22nd Avenue from the exit....

creepy crawlies

While at the lake this past weekend, my children decided to bring me all the creepy crawlies they could find, dead or alive. I seen my share of fish bones, crawdad (is that what they're called) skeletons, snails, grubs and toads. Eeeeeek. Here is Shaylee's snail.

Shawndra's toad. She really wanted to keep it. She was begging and pleading with her dad to keep it. I'm glad I wasn't a big part of that conversation. I think they knew when mom says "no" then mom means NO. Ha!
Just another view of the clever toad. I think Jayden ended up letting him go...I hope.

And last, but certainly not least the most disgusting is Joseph's grub. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.

Are you a follower of MckMama's blogs and Tweets, like I am. If you are, then you already know the good news. If you aren't, the good news follows. Stellan is out of immediate danger according to MckMama. He is still very, very sick and awaiting his trip to Boston yet. They are currently at Children's Hospital in Minnesota. Hopefully they can get him there tomorrow. Stellan has already had one ablation in Boston. He needs another one, which could possibly lead to open heart surgery and a pacemaker. He still needs prayers.

all about Stellan

If you are here, looking for a happy post, you may as well turn back, because what I offer today is definitely not happy, but a plea for prayers, thoughts, well wishes, or whatever you can offer.

www.mycharmingkids.net

This sweet little boy, who was never supposed to live out of his mama's womb, has almost approached his 9 month birthday, but is now in terrible health. It is extremely bad. Earlier today his temperature was 94, he wasn't peeing, he was swollen, he had cold extremities. He has been in SVT for over 3 days with his small heart pounding at over 220 bpm. He is (again) being air ambulanced across the USA to Boston, where he spent a month in April.

Sweet Stellan has touched thousands upon thousands of people. MckMama writes with amazing style to make everyone feel like we are really a part of the entire MckFamily.

Today I have cried, prayed, and refreshed my computer hundreds of times. I pray God will work a miracle on this little baby and heal his Earthly body. Please stop, and say a prayer as well.

tubing and boating

We spent most of yesterday at Lake Poinset with the boat and at grandpa and grandmas. However, due to the wind, we only took the boat out for a short time and then loaded it again.

Jayden did not move from this spot. And this was after he threw a tantrum about having to wear a life jacket.

I'm not sure if he was having fun here or not. He did sit the whole time. Anytime I asked him if he wanted me to hold him he responded with a grunt.

And then I looked down to see Dalton meditating. We sure laughed over that one. No clue where he learned that.

The kids watched the water. I think the realization that they actually had to get wet hit home when it was time to get in the tube.
Devin spent part of the day feeling a bit "cheeky"!

The girls went first. Shawndra was a bit scared and started crying when her leg got stuck. She said that was enough. Shaylee stayed on and Joseph joined her.

I love the expression on her face!

They definitely had fun. Can you tell?

Shaylee

These two had fun sitting on the tube in the boat. Devin was obviously too little and Dalton had no desire to go.

Once we got back to the house, they turned into fish and swam almost the rest of the day. They did come out occassionally for some food or to play beanbags or ladderball.

Pray For Stellan

Please say a prayer for Stellan. He is not doing well. MckMama is his mom. Click here to go to their site. You can also follow MckMama on Twitter to get more frequent updates.

fun wedding

Check out this video. How fun! We're preparing for a day at the lake tomorrow with the boat and tubing and whatnot. Not sure if I will post tomorrow or not. Have to see how tired I am first.

dear Mr. Gardner

Dear Mr. Gardner,

Hello sir. Let me tell you that I do not appreciate you moving about on my property without my permission. I also find it very rude that you cut me off today when I was in the middle of doing some very important work.

The fact that you think you rule my lawn and can slither about wherever and whenever you please is not OK with me.

I do not like you Mr. Gardner, nor do I like any of your close and distant relatives and friends. I do not care that you supposedly eat bugs.

I'm sorry that I gave in to you and let out a scream. That only boosted your ego, I'm sure. As you propped your head up high to look back and mimic me, I decided to put a stop to this.

After deciding to kick you out of my life, I do not feel bad that you got ran over by a lawn mower. That will teach you to never ever mimic someone who is in charge of such a life changing machine.

Good bye, Mr. Gardner. It was not so nice to see you again. I hope your friends and family learn a lesson and choose to stay away from my property.

Sincerely,
Me

hysterically near death

I was really wanting to do a different type of post tonight, but blogger is not loading any pictures, so I sit here trying to decide what to write.

My mind was on a one track mission towards a totally different post. Now it's here. With a case of writer's block. Except I think back to some strange occurrences recently this summer.

One....maybe two tonight. One several months ago.

Driving home on the highway earlier this summer, I was cruising slightly fast, but very legal. I promise. I had my cruise set, sun was behind me, it was a great drive home. I found myself between two beautiful lakes weed infested sloughs, with small shoulders that are labeled as soft, when I looked ahead and noticed a car coming straight at me.

As I drive closer, I notice this car is not moving into their own lane and is coming at me head-on. My mind begins to race as I wonder what will I do, where will I go, and why is this car not moving over? More questions spill onto my lap as I pee my pants seriously wonder what will happen if I splash into the sloughs in a last effort to avoid this car.

Finally, the car speeds frantically into the other lane, their own lane and I proceed on down the highway thinking that person had to be crazy! Why would they pass when there was a car coming.

But then it dawned on me. I think I knew that person. It really looked like my step-mom, Mary. So I call her. The phone rings.

Mary: "Hello?"
Val: "Hi. Are you driving on highway 14?"
Mary: "Yes, was that you I just about killed?"
Val: "Ummm, ya, what the heck?" (as we are laughing)
Mary: "Well I couldn't see you, you didn't have your lights on."
Val: "It's sunny out, I didn't need my lights on."

That's the just of that. Of all the places in the world to be at that exact moment in time, it was her, and it was me.

Ahem. Let's move on to today. At the girls softball game.

I'm standing there talking to Mary. Remember, my step-mom? We we're looking down at one of my kids talking about how adorable she is. I look up in time to see my ex-husband tossing a softball back over the fence. We we're behind the face. Safe right?

It's then, that he tells me he caught it, or it would have hit my head. He said it was headed straight for my head, but he reached up and caught it.

Can you see where this is going?

Yep, I must say, I think my step-mom brings a near death aura with her when she's by me. Because it certainly would explain the car incident and the softball almost hitting me in the head, while we looked at one of my kids, while we talked about how cute she is. Of course!

So I guess today, I am lucky. I am lucky to be alive. Maybe next time when I am near my step-mom, I will have all protective gear in place.

Whew! With that being said, I will attempt again tomorrow to post my original post from today tomorrow. Make sense?

atypical tuesday

The roof to my office.

A plant.

Growing.

In.

The.

Gutter.

Strange? I'd say.

But really?

A plant growing in the gutter?

I think I've seen everything.

all clean

We've been busy working on the deck this weekend. Yesterday we spent all day cleaning it. I don't think either one of us realized how much work was involved in cleaning it. Not that it was a lot of work, it was just time consuming. We had to replace some rotten boards, the hinges on the gate, and then deck wash it, along with pressure washing. Wow, an all day project.

BEFORE

Here is the result of power washing and new boards. We still have to paint it, but we think the color we got is going to be too dark. When we took the board into Lowes, it was a rotten uncleaned board. So we found a brown color deck paint. Well now that it's clean, it almost went back to the new cedar look. So we might be taking out paint back and getting a different color. Staining is not an option because the new boards would shine through compared to the old boards.

AFTER

77%

It's been a quiet evening tonight after a very busy day. Mike and I have been hard at work on a project we needed to start in early spring, but have procrastinated on it. Shaylee is with her dad and Shawndra is spending the night at a friends. As of right now, we just have one more to get to bed. Yay!

I do believe I have gotten myself a bit sunburned today, which shouldn't surprise anyone who really knows me. After being outside for over three hours without sunscreen, I guess I can't complain too loudly. It is my own fault.

Tomorrow, assuming the weather cooperates, we will try to complete this project and then post the before and after pictures. There are some unbelievable pictures to prove this. But I cannot tell you too much now because I don't want to spoil the fun. However, if you follow me on Twitter, you probably have figured out what we are up to.

I took a quiz today online about "how addicted to blogging are you" and was slightly impressed by the results. It said I am 77% addicted to blogging. Nooooo, really? Not only do I love to write, but I also love to read about others on their blogs. So I guess I'll agree with that quiz. On that note, it's time for a little boy to go to bed.

Have a good rest of the night!

running like an egg

Feeling a bit spontaneous when I got home, I made something for the kids to play with.

It feels solid,
but turns to liquid when you pick it up.

And makes certain boys

feel like a zombie!

While other boys aren't too sure...

Of course, we wondered what would happen if it was put in someones hair.

It oozed and slobbered, and darn near

slithered away on its own.

When we started putting it in the hair, it looked like a solid ball,

until it started running like an egg.

But he couldn't see it...and really wanted to, so....

we added more until he could!

Then...

it was time for a shower for the kids and time for mom to clean up the mess! And what fun they had!

what are sisters for

To share suckers with their brother of course!!

And boy oh boy does he like it.


Right down to the last little taste.

Sure was nice of Shaylee to share!

On a bit of a sidenote, I will be testifying in court tomorrow at 9am. Will you say a prayer? It's job related, so I can't say anything, except, the State's Attorney never contacted me to go over questions, so I feel like I'm walking into a blind situation.

yellow and black

Yellow and black are my two least favorite colors when you put them in the context of a bug. More specifically bugs that fly that are yellow and black. And I will freak out or go postal literally get really really scared and strange sounds will come out of my mouth.

It's a phobia. And a very real one. I've had so many people tell me to "calm down" or to "quit acting like that and they will leave you alone". Well it doesn't register in my head that way. My response is to do the complete opposite.

However....I was able to use my zoom lens and take a picture of this nasty bug on my shutters right before,

my husband came to the rescue with a can of spray!

Again, thanks to the zoom lens, I was able to take a picture of the dead product. But in my head, even being as close as I was, and assuming it was dead, I still pictured some awful horror movie and this dumb bug would jump up, or fly, or even move a leg.

Because a simple leg movement, would have caused me to faint. Surely.

We tend to have a few more of these dumb bugs around my deck than I care to enjoy. We have searched and searched and cannot find a nest. Who knows, they probably know how much I love their company.

Wordless Wednesday