tidbits

• Shaylee is done with volleyball club.  Her last tournament was last weekend.
• Shawndra is out for track.  Took some pictures at her meet on Thursday and hope to post them on here.
• Things are still tough.  And confidential.  And that makes things all the harder.
• Joseph has an eye appointment on Tuesday.  His glasses are being held together with tape. 
• School is out on the 21st, but there is a school near here that is done on the 9th.  That is way too early!
• Jayden has a huge goose egg on his forehead.  I earned Mother of the Year award for it.
• Devin is doing well with no major issues to report. 
• My mom had knee replacement surgery, so I've been busy helping her this weekend since Craig is out of town.

This week has been one of the most difficult weeks to go through pertaining to my job.  I have come face to face with the biggest challenge and most heart breaking situation anyone could even imagine.  Due to confidentiality, I cannot disclose on a public blog what is going on.  Just know that I would deeply appreciate your thoughts and prayers as this week (and following weeks) continues.

blogger changes

Blogger has yet again changed how it works and I dislike it.  I used to be able to make nice, symmetrical posts and now the changes they made are so difficult.  I tried for 2 days to get these pictures up of the fence.  The picture loading is a pain and then trying to find places for text is just as bad.  Now I see the final post has weird frames around some and some sentences are centered and whatnot. 

Be patient as I try to figure this out. 

finished fence



The north side of the fence.  Very long and never ending, or so it seems.

The fence goes along side the trees.  We cut the branches up high on the fence side and left them low on the street side.

This is the view from the street.  The trees are large and help hide the fence.

This is the east side of the garage.  There is a walk-in gate on the left and a drive-in gate on the right.

This is another view of the outside on the west side of the house.

tired

After working on the fence for 10 hours yesterday, I am so tired today.  So tired that I woke up at 7am.  Haha.  It rained again last night and we still have one side to finish up.  Maybe 2 hours and we'll be done.  I'm so excited!  Probably head outside after a bit.  Once the fence is done we have lots of mud piles to clean up.  Either way, I think we will be totally completed today.

fence

I haven't had time to post pictures of the fence, but have had time to rant about Lowe's. Again, that's another story which isn't finished yet. The posts finally arrived on Monday evening. We've been going to town put them up...one...by...one. It's very time consuming, but we're hoping to be completed by this weekend sometime.

This is where we were at on Tuesday night when we quit. Last night we did another couple of hours, so we are much farther down the long stretch.

I cannot wait until this fence is done!!

Lowe's

I have been royally frustrated with Lowe's. They have screwed us over and over with this fence. It all started when we went in and ordered all the supplies and lumber, then paid for it. All items were on hand and paid for. So that means they were ours, right? Well, they called us the day before delivery and said they only had 11 of 45 posts. Mike was upset because his brother was coming up on Friday to help with the posts. He went to Lowe's and talked to them and they said this shouldn't have happened. They arranged to get the posts from Sioux Falls.

The next day, the delivery truck called 15 minutes before leaving the store and said they only had about 200 of 750 pickets. Again, we were upset, made several phone calls and were told that there was nothing that could be done and hopefully the pickets would be in on Tuesday of the next week, or Thursday at the latest. They said they would call. Well Thursday night came and we still hadn't heard anything from them so Mike called them. The employee knew nothing and couldn't find the pallets of pickets. When the pickets came in they were supposed to set them aside with Mike's name on them. After the employee couldn't find them he asked to speak to the manager. With a little digging, they found the purchase order and looked up the order to learn the truck never showed up.

Several more phone calls and no luck. The truck with the pickets never delivered. The next day Lowe's called us and said they had found about 200 pickets. Mike went in and got them (even though we had already paid for delivery). This morning we went out to start putting the pickets up, but quickly realized the pickets were bad. They were really rough, too short, or very knotted. The entire load was bad. Mike and I think they were pickets that someone else had already returned as "bad" because when we ordered pickets, they said they would suggest ordering 1/3 more because there will be bad ones. So of course we had to load up the trailer again with the bad pickets and take them in.

Dropped them off at Lowe's this afternoon and we wanted the bad quantity to be added to our order. We got to the truck and realized they had refunded us the money versus putting them back on our order. So we had to turn around and repurchase the pickets. As I'm watching this I'm realizing that it's more expensive because we had a coupon for 10% off our entire order originally and now we had full price. I pointed that out and complained about how everything that is happening is really inconvenient, etc... They ended up giving us 10% off.

Lowe's is apologizing for everything and say our names are at the top of their priority list, yet they have offered nothing to us. I think they owe us something, whether they give us some money back, or a gift card or something. I mean we paid for this stuff and they turned around and sold it before they delivered it to us. Ugh, this is so frustrating!

Right now, Lowe's does not get good reviews from us.

volleyball champions

10 hours of volleyball, 2 hours of travel, 14 games played consumed our Saturday. But it was well worth it because they won the championship!

The full team with their medals.

Miss Shaylee who played a major role in the winning of the games. Her serving streak was phenomenal.

The games were so intense. Point by point and very close. I thought I was going to have a heart attack!

tidbits

• I think lately I do more tidbits posts that anything. I'm busy, what can I say?!
• I survived the interview in Madison and got complimented on a job well done. Also got told the reason I was chosen is because I am that good. That was nice to hear.
• We're building a fence. A 6 foot privacy fence. And it's taking tons of time.
• Bob is peeing and pooping in the house on a daily basis. I cannot wait for this fence to be done, so we can just open the door to let him out, not to mention, train him to go to a door when he needs to be let out.
• I'm thankful for a carpet cleaner.
• Easter was low key, but good. More work on the fence.
• Shaylee sprained her ankle in volleyball practice last night. I'm hoping it is better by Saturday since there is a tournament, but considering she can hardly walk on it today, it's not looking good.

nerves

My nerves are going to be the death of me. Our Head Start program is going through a federal review this week, which happens every 3 years. I was told yesterday to come to Madison today for a meeting at 1pm. There will be 5 of us within this area answering questions to a review team member. I'm seriously about to puke.

tidbits

• I went to Walmart today for a quick visit and within 5 minutes, I had 3 different people compliment me on my weight loss. It feels so good to hear those positive things because it helps me to see the hard work is paying off.
• I haven't been able to walk/run for 5 days now. I think I pushed myself too hard the last time and now my knee is hurting me. The knee that I have had surgery on two other times. And the pain isn't getting better, so I'm really hoping I didn't screw it up again.
• Tonight we took the bikes out and let the dogs run beside us as a test to see how they do off the leash. They did great. Bob felt the need to run in the middle of the road for awhile, but at least they didn't stop in other people's yards.
• We have typical teen hormones raging in our house, with both girls. And of course, no other kids do chores. Ahem.
• The locates for the fence have been called in. We will start the fence project on Friday. Actually, Mike will start the project on Friday and I will be painting the outside of the house.
• This weekend I pressure washed the whole outside of the house and focused on the paint that is flaking off. I have to paint the window frames, door and garage frames and all the cement blocks on the bottom side of the house. It will be a lengthy project, but needs to be done because the paint was flaking off badly.
• On Saturday, Mike's brother will be coming to help with the fence. It will be a 6 foot privacy fence and will be wonderful for the dogs and for us.
• Lots going on lately and just staying super busy with outside house stuff with all this beautiful weather we are having.

ouch my legs

My husband has started joining me in my efforts of getting into shape. It's only
taken 6 months for him to jump on the bandwagon. He's been walking or jogging with me and even without me and I have to say, it's been nice to have the support. Even the days where I don't feel like getting up to go walk, I still go.

I never regret finishing a workout, but I do regret skipping them.

Tonight we went for a 2.77 mile run and my legs are killing me. We got about half way through and all of a sudden I had sharp pains shooting through my shins. If I can guess, and not being a runner, I'm guessing it's shin splints. So we altered the walking and the jogging. I still pushed myself, even through the pain. As I sit here now, my shins are aching or throbbing. I sure hope I didn't set myself back tonight. Tomorrow nights workout will probably be something different, to give my legs a break. I'm thinking about biking instead.

losing weight

The best thing about losing weight is when people start to notice. My dad stopped over today and one of the first things he asked me was if I had lost weight. I said I had and he told me he could tell. It feels great. I love feeling the desire to workout and the love to push myself harder. And jogging, who would have thunk it? I love it! Now to keep losing, so my knees don't hurt after I jog. Perseverance!

Shaylee SDVC

After several months of hard practice, today was the first tournament for South Dakota Volleyball Club (SDVC). And what a long day it was! We hit the road at 6:45am and got home at 4:30pm! Shaylee's team played 11 games and took 2nd overall. It came right down to the last point, which they lost. I'm positive they would have won had they not been so tired. They played ball for 8 hours.

Watching Shaylee in volleyball is one of my favorite things to do. She is so strong and can jump so high.

She's ready and waiting. Shaylee plays the front and serves.
When I look at her face when she's getting ready to serve, I can see her face when she was a baby, but shhhhh, don't tell her I said that. She has such dedication.

As the day went on, it got really hot and stuffy inside and then their jersey's are long sleeves so that made them all the more miserable. I would love to know who made the decision to get long sleeves because there were only 2 teams like that; the rest had tank sleeves.

This one is blurry, but I still love it because it shows her in mid jump.

Shaylee is an excellent server. So consistent.

They have another tournament next weekend on Saturday in Madison. Shaylee was so tired when she came home today that she went straight to her room to sleep. She came up to eat and is back there again. She's completely exhausted. And even though I was not the one physically playing, I found myself getting equally tired because of the long day sitting on the bleachers, chairs, and the temp of the gym.

ice storm

A few weeks ago we got lots of precipitation in the form of very heavy, wet, snow, which later turned to ice. The weight of many branches caused them to break off. Even though the trees were beautifully majestic, they looked sad. These are a few of the pictures I took around the yard with our trees.

This happens to be in Brookings driving down a residential road. Like I said, the branches hung so low they scraped the roof of the truck. Some spots were unable to pass.

As the temps warmed, more ice accumulated on the branches.

This is one of our trees that didn't suffer much. Lots of icicles hanging from it.

This poor tree is directly in front of our house and did suffer from so many days of heavy ice on it. The branches hung low and eventually cracked or broke.

We have since cut out a few of the branches and we're hoping that the others that are still split and hanging low might pop out of it as the temps warm up. If not, we will have to cut more branches out and it will likely look ridiculous. We'll see what happens. In the back of my head, I'm thinking if it looks too awkward, we may have to cut the tree down. Time will tell.

tidbits

• Life is busy, which leads to less blogging.
• I promise to update with pictures of my girls room sometime soon. We haven't done anything more than put the beds in there. Nothing on the walls and no curtains yet, so I'd like to wait for that before I post pictures.
• This weather is fantastic. Lots of time outside and lots of walks. Jayden now rides his bike and removes his hands from the handle bars for a split second, which is followed by me telling him to keep his hands on the handle bars.
• Jayden got a big boy haircut. No buzz cut by dad.
• Shaylee and Shawndra are at a sleepover tonight. Not at the same house, obviously. They have different friends.
• The other kids are at their mom's house. Mike is not back from dropping them off in Watertown yet.
• Dalton lied to me about something major, but I found out the truth. He stole 21 free coupons for donuts from the director's desk. Ugh. He had to return them today when we picked him up and now his backpack has to be kept by her and searched before he leaves the school.
• I'm on track and doing great with my weight loss. Exercising in this weather is so much easier. Shaylee and I even jogged together the other night.
• Shaylee and I are closer than ever and I love that.
• The girls picked up frozen food from the school and delivered it yesterday. They got 30% of the proceeds to help with a band trip in the future.
• Devin got a cute haircut too. It's short and frames her face so she can't eat her hair anymore. Oh and we found her eyes after they cut her bangs!
• Shaylee has her first club volleyball tournament on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it.

girls room update

We finished putting the beds together at 11:30 last night. They look really good in there and they are happy with how they look. Today we got the shelf and hanging rack back up in the closet. And now tonight we put another dresser back inside until we can buy some totes and cubbies. I'm really happy with the room and am happy we got rid of the bright teal and purple paint. Did I tell you they chose gray paint? They did. Looks great. Once we are more put together, I will get pictures up.

productive weekend

We were so busy yesterday emptying Shaylee and Shawndra's room getting it ready for the makeover yesterday. We got everything out, everything painted (with several issues) and then today, I got the final touch ups done and the carpet shampooed. It was a lot of work.

I have also stayed on top of cleaning and laundry while doing the above. I just swept and mopped the floor in the kitchen. It was becoming unidentifiable from dirt! The fan is blowing in the bedroom waiting for the floors to dry.

Mike is working. Since it snowed. :)

I have to get to town to buy another mattress for the new beds. And I've already sold the bunk beds. They sold within a couple hours of listing them. So that was nice. Hopefully tonight we can get the beds put together and within the next couple of days have the finishing touches done. Then I will post before and after pictures!

pissy

At the risk of being brutally honest and writing while I'm upset and having a terrible day, consider yourself warned as to what you will read. It's been one of those days.

Principal calls and says Dalton peed on the baseball field at school during recess. He had to call and tell Mike about it.

I come home from work and see Devin sitting in the window. Except Devin isn't supposed to be in the window, she's supposed to be at BASE, which is the after school program. So I call Mike and ask why she's home and he was shocked and had no idea. I walk in and then see Dalton. He too is supposed to be at BASE. So I asked Dalton what he is doing home and he said the teacher told him his dad called and he was supposed to go home. I call Mike back and he did not call. Next, I tried calling the school, but couldn't get a hold of the teacher, so I called her at home and left a message. I'm still waiting to hear from her.

In the meantime, I figure I should call BASE and find out how they knew the kids wouldn't be there. The director tells me that Dalton came over and told Devin and 2 teachers they were supposed to ride the bus home. While I'm still on the phone with her, I ask Dalton if he told Devin and the teachers this and he said no. So I verify with the director one more time that 2 teachers were told. Dalton lied. I was livid.

I hang up the phone and ask him what the truth is. He just stares at me. Again, I ask for the truth. He said his teacher told him to put his chair on the desk and then he left the classroom and he heard something about "home" or "house". He doesn't remember exactly what she said and also mentioned he may have heard her incorrectly. Hmmmmmm, ya think?

I call Mike because I'm fuming mad over everything. I was already stressed out from trying to find paint colors for the girls room when they picked black and white bedding and of course won't pick a color themselves. I decided Dalton needed to go to his room and sit there until I could calm down or until Mike got home.

Then, I deal with the next issue. Shaylee was supposed to go to a friend's house today to finish up science fair stuff, but when I get home from work, there is Shaylee sitting. Nope, she never went. She said she has to go tomorrow or Sunday. I told her we are working on their room Saturday and Sunday and that won't work. Well her friend decided to send her a text stating she would do all the work if she couldn't come, but she would tell the teacher and her science grade wouldn't look to pretty. That infuriated me! I sent the friend a few texts and finally decided we were going out to her house.

Shaylee and I get to the house and the garage door opens. The dad is standing there. We get out to go get things straightened out, so that neither girl loses points. The dad was smug and cocky. The best part of this, is the older sister came out to fight the battle with the dad, but the actual friend who is involved in this project never came out. Had to have daddy fight her battle I guess.

To have a 13 year old threaten my daughter's grade because she has a project and is threatening to do all the work without Shaylee and then not come out in the garage to figure out a time to work on it was so irritating and immature! If Shaylee had to stand there and work through it, then why didn't the friend. At one point I snapped at the dad, "don't you tell me how to communicate with my family". I was pissed.

Things settled and we had to change our plans to convenience them. Shaylee will be working on it on Sunday at their house. Even typing this I am so upset at how this all went down.

So while we're on our way home, I get a text from the friend who took our cats last night. They found a couple of fleas on them and just wanted us to know. Are you serious!!?? So ya, now we get to treat for fleas on top of everything else.

And now I have kids asking what's for supper, and if they are going to their mom's house, and a husband who is working late, and dogs that are growling, a house that is messy, and a shit ton of work to get done over the next couple of days.

sad day

So the other day was a bad day, now today is a sad day. After many months of conversations about this, we finally decided to surrender 2 of our cats to the humane society. Our decision was hard to make and selfless on our parts and was for the better of the cats. You see, they are scared to death of dogs and have been living in the rafters of our laundry room. They come down to eat, drink, and use the litter box and sometimes to spend time with the kids, but they are always on alert.

Things got worse when we adopted Bob. Bob doesn't understand it's not ok to terrorize, chase the cats, and trap them in a corner. The poor cats get so scared and fluffy because they are trapped.

I spoke to a friend at the humane society about it and they were willing to take them on. They need to have a home where there are no dogs. Even then, I think it is going to take some time for them to destress.

When we dropped them off tonight, they had peed themselves in the kennel we transported them in. And we literally had to pull and stretch them to get them to come out. It was incredibly sad. And I cried.

I love these cats, but they deserve live in a home free from stress. I hope and pray they are able to go to the same home, so they can stay together, as sisters, like they are.