Fine-a-frickin-ly

So yeah its been real Little Dude, but after 20 days of wall to wall you time.  Plus the 2 weeks before that of late starts or no school (27 in all) your arse is back in school.  All be it two hours late.  I think you and I both did the happy dance.

I get a whole 4.5 hours to myself.  You had your hommies waiting for you at the door as we got to school..  BTW, why the hell were they all 5th and 6th graders when your in Kindergarten?  Plus where was my kiss and hug?   Not only that I get stuck hanging up your backpack!  Prick REALLY?  Too bad it was so cold, no visibility, or the 8 foot drifts and the only road into our subdivision was closed down for most of vacation so you couldn't hang out with others other then me.

But lets be honest, I'm pretty damn awesome or so your have been brain washed to believe you tell me.  Not many mothers will play Super Mario on the Wii for hours turn around and play it tell stories about it and let you watch dvd's staring those plumbers.  And don't even get me started on the Harry Potter-a-thon you have had. We cooked, baked, and exploded that pork loin in the oven I had flashbacks to chemistry we'll talk about that when you get older.  Oh admit it, I wore you out once or twice.  I have it on film home-skillet.

It's true you and I do better as a two-some you throw the Weatherman into it and you become a royal asshole pain. The butting of heads I can live without, but I hear it will come in handy as you get older it better or heads are gonna roll, I'm just sayin' 

I digress, You are now back at school, I get an entire couple hours to myself.  Sully likely doesn't miss you almost stepping on him misses you, I'm heart sick missing my co-conspirator in driving The Weatherman insane.  I'll just be here crying, counting the seconds till you are home for another 2 fricking days.  It'll look a lil' somethin' like this:

At least we have the Museum play date tomorrow morning.  I'll be hitting the coffee shop before I go there fo sho!  Let's hope this extended family time doesn't occur again for a while I think we have both had our fill.  We managed sure, it's because well, we rock damn it.  But really summer is a whole new ball of waz, you can get locked play outside for more then a minute.  I just know if something like this happens again anytime soon you will be an unhappy camper, and I well I may just need a padded room.

So What Would You Do?

Color us lucky ducky.  So what would you do if you got a phone call and you were told you HAD to spend $1000 for Christmas?  No putting into savings, or spending it directly on little dude, just us.  The person(s) who gave this to us knows us too well!  For me it was quite simple.  Corey wanted a new recliner, one fit logically nowhere in the shatty layout.  So we need two recliners. To make this gel we have to put the couch to go upstairs where I am sporting lawn furniture.  Yep, you read right lawn furniture.  Since I am in denial that I am not in a cabin up north, I decided to delusionally live with them in the house with the layout from hell. 

I cannot fathom what the hell the builder was smoking thinking as he designed this 3 story disaster home.  This area is to be a dining room but it is the only place in the level you see other than the kitchen. IT logically doesn't make sense.  Oh and the weather man just HAD to have this house we unanimously agreed to buy this house this house for the acreage, and the school district.  The area I want the couch in has a buffet we are babysitting till further notice for my MIL, so that needs to go to the spare junk room we lovingly call the "guitar room."  Since that is where the weatherman keeps all his guitars, amps, and shat.  So what will go in the place of the buffet?  Well the 42inch TV from the family room of course!  We would wire it up to Dish and put the Wii up there.  So Little dude can play Wii and we can watch TV or vice verse (doesn't matter he has a 32inch plasma in his own damn room).  The chairs will come from NE Furniture Mart as that is where the Sofa and love seats came from.  It will match the other Ashley items we have with the faux suede dark green color. 

And the prices can't be beat @289 a pop and 55 total for shipping!  Score!  So now do we use the excess money for assistance on the $1600 for the downstairs?  Or a new mini-laptop computer?  I am guessing the mini laptop will come first and once the taxes are all done.  But who knows maybe the weather man will get into the spirit and pay for both. Financially we could do it flat out and easily, but fiscally we are cheap arses.  We are grateful for the pay the weather man gets for sure.  But, when we splurge we do it well, take for examples the Mother/Fathers day gifts last year.  Amazing how much access money you have when you are not buying a new vehical everytime the new car smell is gone!  You know like a new college edumcation for the lady of the house.

So what would you do, if you could only spend it on you, your hubby, BF, ect?  Remember not directly on the demons offspring, or any into savings.

Wednesday already?

Tuesday flew by in a way I wasn't expecting at all. I did get to the gym, but hot damn I couldn't jog. I started and body said HELL NO! SO I went on to the Cardio Wave. It is like an inline skating machine. Your feet will start to fall asleep about 15 minutes into it. Blood pools to your feet fast on that machine for some reason. Every time I go there I fear I am going to pick up some sort of viral infection or something from lack of cleaning the equipment. I was all ready to bring Logan to Eileen's Colossal Cookies (yea Kristi it was awesome too!) and decided I would be nice and call Amber and see if Gabe and Drew would like to see Logan before he starts school. I had 1.5 hours aprox till we were to meet there. Yea, it didn't work out that way. One nice thing about 24 Hour Fitness is I won't have to turn on the "Public Krimsin" and stop my workout to talk to 50 people. So I got to Eileen's almost 10 minutes late (no speeding..really..I would NEVER do that). The Johnson's beat me. I came in apologizing profusely, Aaron was like, don't sweat it we are always late and just got here. Made me feel a little better but punctuality is a hangup of mine. The boys were rowdy, I knew it would happen. I talked as usual more to Aaron than Amber. I just have more in common with him. WE agreed to meet again later in the evenng at a local park so the boys could go play. I came home to clean, fell asleep for about 35 blissful minutes. I am cleaning everything today. Took a shower off to Quizno's and to the park. 2 hours at the park, for about 45 minutes I held the newest Johnson baby, Luke. Cute kid. It did reaffirm the idea that I just don't need another kid not now maybe not ever. My hat goes off to those who have more than one kid, new babies etc, but it is NOT for me. I am through the baby stuff. It was a lot of work with Logan, and I love him, but don't foresee myself wanting to have another. I can admit my limitation, don't judge. If we were surprised by a another, I would take on the baby with the same love and voracity as I did with Logan. I just hope it doesn't happen.

Yawn. We got Logan home and he was "not sleepy." Though was asleep by 7:45 go figure. I fell asleep by 8:30, and reawaken as Corey left for work at 10:15. So I decided to read. It was great I was going to be asleep by 1:30. OF course 1:25am Logan woke up screaming of leg pain. Yep go figure, growing again. Flashbacks to how bad it hurt for me made me feel helpless. I gave him some Motrin, muscle rub and massaged it till he was asleep again. 2am I was in bed, and awoke bright and early (6:15) by my early bird. I am dragging this morning because of everything. I am not going to make it to the gym today unless I can sneak it in when Corey gets up...sigh. I can however do a Crunch yoga tonight.

Fathers Day

I am not going to write about the Father's Day Corey had, it was great. He had his N4 since before Mother's Day so no huge surprise there. We spent over 20 bucks on smoothies, coffees, and slushies throughout the day. Bike ride, NASCAR race, and polishing off Wizard of OZ for little dude capped it off for him.

Most of you know I am not overly close with any member of my immediate family. Mom is a nut, and adopted Dad Jerry always has been and likely will be at arms length. He just can't be more, I accept that. Now I sent out a Father's Day card to him and he called me in the am, because he had things to do. Of course, total time in talking about 3 minutes. Usual amount of time he has to talk to me, it's constant time going through the motions I guess. Do I think he doesn't love me? No, I just don't think he knows how. But he knows me I get pissed when Logan is treated that way.

Here is the freaky bright spot. Logan is intrigued with my biological father Tom. Don't know why, again Tom isn't father material. But something about him has radiated in Logan. Perhaps it is the blood. Logan insisted I send Grampa Tom a card too this year. So, I did and called my Grandmother whom he lives with and asked if he got the card. She handed me off to him. I thought it would be an tense quick phone call, we talked till my phone died. It was wonderful, politics and state of society today were main topics. He is so intelligent, it was just nice. I told him flat out, the card was from Logan. I know I will never be anyones little girl, I don't expect it. But knowing he was touched by the fact Logan accknowledges him as his grandfather was a big surprise to him. My little dude with his huge heart touched something in Tom, I never could in almost 30 years. I am so proud right now to say I am Logan's Mother. He wanted to make sure he could be home when we visited next time to be sure he would see his grandson. WOW! Thank you Logan, and thank you Tom for taking the time to talk last night. I was smiling the rest of the night, even though our call got chopped short by my cell dying!

I will never say he is a bad person he protected me when Jerry refuesd to help when my mom kicked me out of the house when I was 17, someone who severed all legal ties way earlier in my life gave me a place to stay.

Nights of the Twisters

MONDAY NIGHT

Monday and Wednesday night there was severe weather extremely close to us, so like most (ir)responsible people we went out and spotted/chased the weather. Mind you Corey is a 17 year employee of the weather service, and I have been trained spotter for over 10 years now. Never were we either night in any danger, we flanked the storms. Packing Logan in the truck, and Sully just in case the tor hit the house, we took off!

The first night, a tor dropped within 5 miles of our home. Here is a pick of the wall cloud that the "Roseland" tor came from. WE would have been spot on in catching it, but the we hit the hail core as we were passing into Juniata proper. From light rain to hail to seeing nothing, we turned around to go double check the radar.

Here it is on the ground pick by Arnie Sommer III submitted to KHAS TV in Hastings

We figured there was no way to catch this tor, so we looked to the cell out just East of Kearney. Caught the lowering and funnel. No way to tell in my pics if it touched down. So to be respectable, I will say it was at LEAST 75% of the way down at it's peak. Pardon the next set of pics, as we were moving in the truck to get the most safe and best possible places.



And what chase would be complete without showing Logan all enthused about being out past his bedtime...Look at his commitment to meteorology!



WEDNESDAY NIGHT

This was an interesting storm, we picked it up outside of Shelton, NE. Right as we came out of Shelton proper, we saw a big 'ol funnel off in the distance. Too bad my camera picked that time to not take pics with the sun right behind the pic. It was awesome looking! And it wouldn't give up trying to spin tors till past Aurora, NE. Here is as far as we followed it. Outside Shelton's:


Outside WoodRiver:

Which by the way, most of the town was OUTSIDE while the warning was going on. Stupid!

Lastly, just outside of Alda (by Grand Island).


This time we were really wondering where it was headed as there apperaed to be more then one funnel (3 one not pictured). It was beautiful almost hypnotic watching the clouds dance. In the back of your mind you wondered and calculated the dangers of the storm shifting just a bit and you would be stuck out in the middle of nowhere in the tor. We waited till it was in GI before we took the Alda exit home! Freaky, but fun too!


All the pics from the 2 nights can be seen HERE

Excited over nothing????

Well I debated on posting this at all, but yesterday Corey got an email from one of his old bosses basically saying, don't forget to put out for the LaCrosse jobs that are coming out within the next year. Now, I neglected to tell you all Corey didn't put out for the one that came out a couple months back. This would be a lateral, and competitive as hell. LaX is a crown in the states due to its beauty. The fact there is the turn over they are is due to promotions and possible retirement. Will he put out when they come? God I hope so, I would LOVE to go home. My friends are there, it is home. I can see family only when I want too, but I do miss many of them. My grandmothers are getting older, Logan hardly knows my side. I haven't seen most my friends since '98, everytime we go its for about 48 housr and wall to wall "family time." I want Logan to know, hiking, camping, fishing, all the things I had growing up. I want him to be able to see the beauty and serientiy of going up north in Iron River. I want the beauty to put a mark on him as it did to me. I miss the forests like crazy, corn feilds, and the smell of cow shit are just not cutting it for me. Let him get to know the Tabbert's and Zeiment's, I will still keep him at arms length from Mom's side though. He doesn't need to be put in with that train wreak.

I stated before, this would be a lateral for Corey. The only place he was willing to Lat before was Reno, 'cause Ang is there already. He would be in rotating shifts still, but somewhere where there is recreation year round. It is more noticed then Hastings that is like the red-headed step child. Cool people in the office, just no real attention paid to it.

We would go to either Holmen, whenre I started school, or West Salem, I think. Sparta is not out of the question either. I don't think we would go right into LaX. Don't want my kid ending up at Central. <----Yea I said it!!! Logan @ Logan I think would just be to weird. Holemen when I was there was more than happy to assist the accelerated kids, so that would be my first choice. They took darn good care of me!

I am likely getting a head of myself, getting too excited over what could turn out to be nothing at all. Within the next year, I have hope. A lot of things would have to happen, I hope it does.
We could get our cabin with bluffs, and I could still stay in classes @ CCC!

Some of my best writing happens in LaX so I bet my stories would flow. The area is just awesome! Octoberfest, need I say more?

What a day

I started off hitting the ground running knowing I had to go get food for the Sr's party at the Y. Was I going to all the effort to just get reimbursed? Nope. Didn't even submit the time. So, my boss pulled me aside in the evening and told me they were going to see if Logan can just go into day camps this summer for free! Like I am going to say, "No, don't save me 100 bucks!" For 3 hours and 20 bucks? I think it is more than a fair trade. I got the extra food, prepped and set, and took pictures (gratuitous use of my new Nikon, I know!). Sweet! I have to get the pictures developed in the morning and will get them bound for Judy since this was her last Active Older Adults party as Aquatic Director.

Then left ran to collect the boys who were at Menards, off to the bakery to get some fresh foccachia (sp?) and sour dough. Next to cook some yummy angel hair marinara to eat with the bread. It was just a super busy and did I mention it was 85 today? OMG it was great! Bike rides, ice cream, and fun in the sun!

The only downer was the fact that I brought Sully in for an emergency grooming, his anal gland was surprisingly full...damn you Taste of the Wild! LaDaun is on medical leave, so it was a different groomer. Picture the lady who made all the outfits on the movie The Increadables! She oiled my dog and told me he was graying because his hair was dry and on cheap dog food. K, first off: You don't oil a Havanese you moron! Second: He has the silvering gene and is a charcoal/blue in transition, you would know that if you looked at the paper I gave you stating his color. I am not a moron, I forgot more about Havanese then she obviously knows about them. Last: He is on Evo Big Bites (which are ironically only about 1/2 inch sq. they are TINY-ish). And it is super high quality and NOT cheap! She can suck it! I spent almost two hours grooming him out tonight two days after the bathing, there were matts from not being brushed out while drying. I could wait a week and lightly brush him out w/ LaDaun. Of course she's never oiled him either! I also see scissor marks after the grooming...grrrr The moral of the rant is I miss you LaDaun, and can't wait till you are better. No one else is getting their hands on Sully. You are worth every penny, always get us in when you can and are just all around awesome!!!

I should go to bed, morning for some reason, isn't going to wait for me to drag my ass out of bed in the morning. Though I think it should! Till later!

Thank you Auntie Cheryl!

AMAZINGLY SIMPLE HOME REMEDIES Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop. Avoid arguments with the Mrs. About lifting the toilet seat by using the sink. For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins. Remember to use a timer. A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives; then you'll be afraid to cough. You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD -40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.. Remember: Everyone seems normal until you get to know them. If you can't fix it with a hammer, you've got an electrical problem