Ready for Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's Day. It's hard not to love it, with all the cutesy rosey shades of red and peptobismal. The hearts, chocolates, flowers, fuzzy bears, balloons, and flirty underthingys. It's so cool that there is a day devoted totally to romance and LOVE. Makes me happy. And it's a reason to make it a fun day for my girls as well.

I am prepared with the usual goodies:

Chocolate hearts



Champagne for us



Something special for the kids



Bags-O-Fun for the kids



Festive table decorations



Valentine's Day wouldn't be complete without a heart shaped cake



Chocolate to dip our strawberries



White chocolate for our tuxedo wearing strawberries



Candles



More candles



Heck, I even have some red dishes in my Fiesta collection



More red things: I really love these jar candle holders I got in Denmark




In fact, since they were so cheap and I liked them so much, I bought a bunch of them (they came in all different colors, I choose clear and red). Then, because I am sort of an idiot sometimes, a good lot of them broke. Story for another time.

Santa?!?! What's he still doing hanging around? Doesn't he know Christmas is over?



Hey look, more red! I love this tin!



And of course, window decor



See, we're all set. Now if you have ANY ideas what I should be getting my love for Valentine's day, I'm up for suggestions. (Also birthday ideas would be great...it's less than a month away....and I'm stumped)

Internet troubles

We were experiencing Internet troubles last night and this morning. Despite resetting the modem and restarting our computers, we still couldn't get online. Even after sleeping, and dreaming about surfing on the world wide web, the morning didn't bring about any changes to our situation.

Now, this is where the panic sets in.

I imagine my day, roaming the house, staring at the walls, biting my nails, talking to myself, feeling lost. WHAT am I going to do with myself?

What is to become of my crops in Farmville? What about my crab bisque that I've prepared in Cafe World? What about setting my status in Facebook and blogging?? And then there is all the junk mail to sort through in my inbox. What about that, huh?

OK, I have a problem. I'm an addict. I admit it. Fine, I'll just start smoking....or drinking. You're right, I won't.

Longer story shorter, I called our ISP and we got it figured out. Incidentally, I needed to reset the modem AND the router. That's all.

And now, I'm off to do the hard work of a farmer's life...harvesting those crops.

There, aren't you glad I've resolved my Internet issues, so you could read this exciting post??!! ;)

pass the green bread!

This morning, my 12 year old, Hanna, was belly up to our kitchen island, NOT eating breakfast as usual. She is always complaining that there is never anything she likes to eat in the house (because I refuse to deep fry everything). So, 30 minutes go by, like always, without so much as an effort to look and see what there is to eat.

I said to her, "If you aren't going to eat, why don't you just go upstairs and get dressed instead of just sitting down here doing nothing?".

Well, she didn't like that idea either. So she got up, found a half loaf of bread that I had baked a while ago and asked me to cut a slice for her. I did. She sat down to eat it and something miraculous happened.

Hanna said, "Mom, I like this bread!".

I almost fainted. Not only has she just said she liked something, but the bread was wheat bread. Evil, terrible, oh so good for you, wheat.

Later on, when the girls were upstairs getting dressed, I went to put the bread back in the plastic when I saw that the loaf was ALL MOLDY! I mean, it was like a green, furry science experiment. I expected it to crawl out of my hands at any moment.

So, she likes moldy bread eh? This has opened so many doors. Moldy cheese, chunky milk, fish that's been underground for months....the list could go on.

Shhhh, don't tell her!!

Monsters and babies, the things that nightmares are made of

I had a nightmare last night! I was walking around the mall, I looked down and suddenly realized I was pregnant! My stomach wasn't full blown, nine months pregnant, but there was a significant bulge. Way different than a post carb inhaling bulge. I could feel a baby wriggling around inside me. I could see the imprint of a foot through my skin.

I suddenly felt very VERY sad and scared. I was crying to my mother that I didn't want another child. I felt overwhelmed by the three I already had and wasn't sure how I could cope with another small person to depend on me for everything.

I thought of how it was slowly becoming easier to do things now that Emma was getting older. I don't have to worry about diapers and bottles. She can walk and carry things by herself, feed herself, keep herself entertained. The thought of losing that freedom was devastating to me, in my dream.

If I was ever unsure before on whether or not I would eventually want another baby, I think this was the deal sealer. The answer is a big fat NO.

While most women probably dream of cute cuddly babies to huff, I'm crying and screaming and trying to run away from the mere thought! How backwards am I??

I love babies, don't get me wrong. I ooh and ahh over them when I spot one on a rare day that Andreas lets me out of the house ;) But having one of your own and raising it is work. Work that I'm obviously to lazy for right now.

Phew, next time maybe I'll dream about vampires or serial killers and get some sleep!

Ballerinas

7 years ago today

...was a sad day. It was the day my father passed away.

I remember the day so vividly, like it was just yesterday. He had been in and out of hospitals a lot during his last years. This time, he had been a patient for about a week. In the beginning, he was talking about how he would make my niece, Amanda, jambalaya when he got home. And he was cracking jokes with the nurses, like always, about how he never bought green bananas anymore (because he didn't think he'd be around long enough to eat them). My sister and her husband snuck in a quarter pounder with cheese in for him to eat while he watched the super bowl.

Then, as the week went on, I had a bad feeling. I knew he was really sick. The family had a meeting with one of his doctors who showed us an x-ray of his chest. It was nearly full of liquid and his heart was so big. He told us that he was a very sick man. That was the first time I realized, he might not come home this time.

They tried dialysis, and at first it looked promising. But it didn't help. By the end of the week, he was wearing a big mask that covered his entire face, forcing air into him because he struggled so hard to breathe. My parents' pastor came in and gave us all communion and we prayed for him by his hospital bed. After that, his blood pressure was on a steady decline. Mom says she thinks that he heard us pray that night and finally decided that it was OK to go back home to God.

Amanda and I and my two girls went back to my parents' apartment, just a few blocks from the hospital to try and get some sleep. The phone rang really early the next morning and I just knew it wasn't going to be good. Jeff said that we better come to the hospital because he was fading fast.

We got there in a flash. It didn't take long. With everyone by his side, holding his hands, stroking his skin and saying our goodbyes....he left us.

When I walked out of the hospital that morning, there was the most enormous and most beautiful sun dog I had ever seen. And whenever I see a sun dog I remember that day, and I think how wonderful it must be for my father to be in heaven where he can finally breathe easy.

I love you dad and miss you every day. You would have loved my husband and my daughter you never got a chance to meet. I think you would be very happy if you saw my life today. Eden was exactly 4 months old the day you died. One of your last days on earth, we put baby Eden in your arms. We didn't think you would notice, but your thumb was gently stroking her foot. What a tender moment that was. I'll never forget it. I'll never forget you. Despite your tough exterior, you were a kind and giving man. One who would do anything for his family. You were strong and smart, sometimes intimidating. But you loved us, and we loved you.

RIP - James T. Olson 1927-2003

Bowling

We took the kids bowling on Sunday afternoon. We were going to take them on Saturday but after checking online to make sure there were no leagues, we discovered that kids bowl FREE on Sunday. Whoo hoo! Just a little info fer ya.


This is Andreas (the man who allegedly can't bowl good) getting a strike on his first throw.








Above you will see Eden in action. She is looking great for a 7 year old with almost no bowling experience. Nice form, good ball control. But this is seconds before the ball lands about a foot before the foul line, bounces off the corner of the gutter and continues to bounce back and forth between the bumpers like a pin ball and then coming to a dead stop half way down the lane.


Hanna, on the other hand, has no real form going for her, unless you can call the funky little maneuver above "form". Ah, I'm just kidding. That was just one bad throw. She never bowls either so she did rather well considering. It was a good thing for her the bumpers were up!



See, she isn't half bad.

It's really fun to take the kids to do fun stuff like this. I wish we did it more often. I LOVE bowling. I just never thought Andreas enjoyed it much, with his back and knee problems. But he did good. Until both of our ramps pretty much got taken over. LOL

We borrowed a ramp for Eden and Emma to use. Eventually a woman and small child started playing on the lane next to us, and we let them borrow our ramp. Turns out, it ended up taking too much time sharing so we just let her have it and got another one. Later, another woman and her 3 kids moved to the lane on our other side. And apparently she was supposed to share our ramp because there were no more left for her kids to have one of their own. And since we had 2 kids using it and she had 3, Andreas figured it would be painfully slow and we just decided to go after one game.

Still, it was a great time.