Our harrowing day

 Don't let this little guy fool you.  He may look all sweet, but he's a vicious little creature.  One little chipmunk (not to wrongly accuse the above critter) caused us a very stressful day that we'll not soon forget, and it taught Preston a hard lesson in why you NEVER, EVER pick up a wild animal.

After picking Preston up from basketball camp, we came home to plant some plants out back.  I was on the patio and the kids walked out to the pond.  Less than a minute later Preston comes running with his eyes as wide as could be, "Look mom!  He fell in the pond and I saved him!"  I shout, "Put that down, he'll bite you," and no sooner than I got the word "bite" out, that chipmunk bit his finger.  I immediately think rabies and my heart is racing like mad.  We raced inside and I made him scrub his hand really well and we slapped some triple antibiotic on it while I called the dr.  Of course, they had to check with Dr. B. and call me back.  I asked if chipmunks were a rabies risk and the nurse didn't know, but they didn't carry the rabies vaccine- that was the health department's domain.  An hour later the phone rings and I see the health dept. on the caller id and my stomach sank.  The lady basically wanted to know what happened and if the bite was provoked or if it just ran up and bit him.  She said she had to call the State health dept. and would get back to me.

I was a nervous wreck.  I couldn't sit still while I waited and I paced around the house.  Christopher had me call his mom who works at the health dept here in town and she called the State and talked to someone who told her that it's nearly impossible to infect small rodents with rabies in a laboratory setting, and it was even less likely for them to catch it in the wild, so not to worry.  Funny how she could call and get some answer in 10 minutes and the other didn't...  At 1:30 I still hadn't heard from the dr. or the other health dept. so I called Dr. B.  Apparently his chart said that they had called me to say that they had transferred his "case" (yes, it turned into a case) over to the health dept.  They must have called someone else's house because they didn't talk to me!  Again, the nurse didn't know much, but I asked about a preventative antibiotic, especially since we leave next week for vacation, and she said she'd call me back...  Finally, around 3:45, I get a call from the dr. who had heard back from the State who had talked to a veterinarian and said that there was no risk for rabies and no treatment was needed.  She also said I'd have to watch his bite for signs of infection and then they'd have him come in to see if he needed an antibiotic. 

So here is my little guy sporting his Angry Birds bandaid on his sore finger.  Luckily, he was only bit on one side of his finger since the other side hit his nail.  We're so thankful that everything was OK.  He's still not out of the woods in terms of infection, but Kate sees Dr. B. Friday for a well check, so I'll have her look at it then unless it gets bad before then.  I can't tell you how many times I have told him today to never ever pick up a wild animal, ever again- no matter what.  I think he learned his lesson.  At least I hope so!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a long, busy and fun weekend, and it was really nice!  Hot, but nice!

Saturday Christopher and his dad were able to install our new sump pump and emergency backup pump.  Of course, nothing ever goes without bumps in the road, and this was no exception.  They spent all morning getting this all hooked up only to discover around 12:30 that the new pump we got did NOT work.  Nice...  So the guys went to town and bought a new one and got them both installed.  The upside?  No more worrying about power outages and making a mad dash to the garage to get the generator so that we don't have a flood in our basement.  Hallelujah!  The downside?  Having to look at this ugly mess in our basement.  Total time to install- 5.5 hours.  Afterward, we went out to Keith and Dee's to swim for a while.  The kids swam, we watched!

 Sunday we went out to Ramsey to the cabin for Zoe's birthday party.  It was HOT- near 97 with no breeze.  The kids had a good time and it was nice to visit with Christopher's family, but we didn't stay long.  We headed to Granny and Pa's after that for dinner and an evening of fun.  It had cooled off enough by that time that the kids were able to run and play and not die of heat stroke!  I came home with a bag of carrots, zucchini, cabbage and an onion from our garden and can't wait to eat them!  Something ate my lettuce, roots and all, so no more of that.

One of our favorite things to do on Memorial Day is to drive through the cemetery and see the avenue of flags.  I don't know how many hundreds of flags they have, but it's amazing.  This year we remembered to take the camera along.

Even the State House was decked out.


We headed out to Pa's property up in Ramsey early this morning to do some fishing and relaxing.  We had to do it early since it was supposed to be another record-breaking heat day.  It was SO windy, and it really helped it to feel nice.  We rode the Titanic again, but it was really too windy and we had to fight to get it where we wanted, so we only rode for a short time.  Preston spent a good deal of time fishing again and managed to catch 2 good sized catfish and some bluegill.  He didn't catch the whopper he caught last weekend, but still had a great time.  There was a good hour we didn't hear or see him or Pa as they sat and fished.  I know they both enjoyed that time together.

  By 2:00, we were hot and tired, so we headed home, with the kids begging to swim the whole way, so we went back to Keith and Dee's and let them swim some more.  My children are little fish and would live in the water if we let them! 

I'm glad to be getting back to a more normal week tomorrow.  Preston has basketball camp each morning, but it's over by 9:30, so we'll be able to have pretty much the whole day to do whatever we want.

Summer so far

We're 3 days into summer break so far and it's already been a roller coaster.  I've been trying to tie up some Etsy orders, so we haven't had as much free time as we'd like, but we've made the best of it.  We've played outside, spent the morning at the park, and spent the morning at Granny and Pa's playing with the hose (well, they did- I bought groceries).  They've gotten along well, and gotten into fights- possibly more of the latter.  I'm hoping next week works out better since Preston has basketball camp each morning, so they'll be apart and Kate and I will get some one-on-one time.  We'll also be packing for vacation, so we'll see how that goes!

Tonight we went to Gracie's preschool graduation party.  The kids had a blast playing with a frog they found and building it a house out of sand.  They also had fun playing with a puppy that someone brought along, that was pretty cute.  Of course, they beg for one, but they always get the standard answer- "I'd rather have another baby than get a dog- they live longer and eventually take care of themselves!"  And I would!  Can you tell I'm not a dog person?

I'm not sure what the rest of our weekend will bring.  We're installing our emergency sump pump tomorrow so we don't have to worry about power outages while we're gone.  Whoo!  It's supposed to be 97 with heat indexes in the hundreds tomorrow and Sunday, so that kind of puts a damper on outdoor activities.  We are supposed to go to a birthday party at the cabin Sunday and I think it will just be too hot.  Hopefully we can head up to Ramsey Monday instead of Sunday since it's supposed to be much cooler.  Late July heat in May is pretty rough!

Weekend round-up

Phew!  The garage sale is over and done and really, I'm glad!  My heart just wasn't totally into it this year, which isn't like me at all.  I enjoyed seeing stuff go, but we didn't have the turn-out we usually have, and a good regular who buys tons of the kids' clothes, didn't show, so we didn't do as well as we'd hoped.  I didn't at least, but then again, I didn't have the riding lawn mower or the living room set to get rid of, either!  Now all of the leftovers are at Habitat and my attic is free of a lot of junk!

Saturday evening we went down to dad's to celebrate Me-maw's 79th birthday.  It was a lot of fun and the kids had a good time playing with Liam and Kullen outside.  And the food...  it's always to die for, and this was no exception.  I really wanted to fix myself another heaping plate, but everyone else was done, so I skipped it.

 Yesterday mom and Granny were both out of town, so we joined Pa up at his pond in Ramsey for some fishing.  You can see that he's just as happy as can be because he caught the biggest fish that Pa has EVER seen come out of that pond!  Pa couldn't even keep a grip on him because he was so strong!  At Preston's request, he threw him back so he could "get bigger!"  Just a few minutes before he landed that one, he caught one that was a good 18 inches long.  He was really on a roll!  Kate and I paddled around the pond all afternoon in the canoe and eventually the canoe turned into the Titanic as we dodged the many stumps sticking out of the water- they were the icebergs.  Preston has always disliked boats, but once we told him it was the Titanic, he joined us as we attempted to dodge icebergs.  We hit most of them, and even got stuck on one, but we didn't sink!  Now the kids want to paint the canoe like the Titanic!  We've got big plans to go out there for Memorial Day this weekend, so I'll take my camera and get some better pictures than from my phone.

We went to Granny and Pa's today and picked over a gallon of cherries that took me 2 1/2 hours to pit.  I'm a bit spoiled.  I will only eat pies made with their cherries, and they MUST have a homemade crust.  They are the world's best tart cherries, and make some pukery pies!  Tomorrow is the last day of school for this year.  It's went by too fast, but I'm glad to have them home for the summer!

Too busy to stop

Life has been so busy here lately.  I haven't touched the camera in who knows when- OK, I did take a picture of the hummingbird nest in our front bush yesterday, but that's it.  I haven't touched my sewing machine in 3 weeks.  We're having a HUGE garage sale tomorrow and Saturday.  You should see my garage...  I was out there all day today and literally didn't sit down once in the time between taking the kids to school and picking them up.  I even ate my lunch standing up in the garage.  So I'm very tired, and will be glad when this thing is over and I can take everything to Habitat and be free of it!

There are only 3 more days of school left.  I didn't get the scrapbooks caught up on like I'd intended.  I did finish an old one of Kate's, but their current books are done through last 4th of July- and that will be here before we know it!  I have 2 apron dresses cut out, but haven't had time to sew them.  Be sure to stay tuned for them- I'm really excited about them!  There will be a chevron/polka dot dress, and a gorgeous floral/funky dress.  The last few days of school are always the busiest with DQ trips to plan for (which requires calling them to make sure Preston's newest treat request contains no nuts), reward parties, award ceremonies, etc.  Homework is officially DONE, and I can't tell you how HAPPY I am to not have to help with Kate's math anymore! 

We have a graduation Tuesday and a party on Friday, but that's Memorial Day weekend and I'm sure we'll be busy then.  Then Preston starts basketball camp the next 4 days.  The next week will be spent preparing for our trip.  Yes, the trip to Gatlinburg for the wedding that was called off- the one I swore I was NOT going to since we didn't get to go to Savannah for my cousin's wedding that DID take place.  Sigh.  I won the battle of not going like I won the battle to go to GA.  Not very pleased, but I've got to buck up and make the best of it for the kids- and Christopher's ENTIRE family.  Yeah...

So maybe, just maybe, I'll get to settle down sometime in the near future.  I'm just glad we will have some down time each day once school's out, even if for a short while.

Happy Mother's Day!

In honor of mother's day, I'd like to share a little link with you that all of you moms might appreciate.  You can visit ACFLR to see how much your children owe you for giving birth to them.  It reminds me of tax forms, and each item either adds or subtracts from the amount owed.  It's kind of fun!  My children both owe me roughly $250, although I think Preston might owe me some more for the 5 months of modified bed rest, 2 bouts of pre-term labor and the day we couldn't get him to move for the world- until the second they hooked me up to monitors...  Of course, it's all just for fun, and maybe a little blackmail down the road!  Unlike my mom, who could always say, "Do you know how many hours I labored with you?" when she needed a little extra ammunition to our teenage arguments, I don't think telling my kids that I "suffered" for an hour and a half/two hours, would impact them too much!  I guess I could always use the "no epidural, I felt EVERY contraction" schpiel with them!  They were worth it though, and I'd do it all over again in a second if I had to!

My camera spent mother's day in the cabinet.  It got a break.  We started off enjoying church and a funny skit they showed during collection.  I need to see if I can find a link to it.  After that we went to Christopher's Grandma Shirley's for lunch and spent the afternoon and evening at Granny and Pa's.  It was such a nice day and we spent pretty much all of it outside.  It was fun!  Mom had just made it back from Uncle Jeff's last night after heading down to his house after the wedding last weekend, so we hadn't seen her in almost 2 weeks.  It's nice to have her back home- although I'm sure she'd rather be back on the beach than back at work!

Things you don't do yourself

We're do it yourselfers.  We've taken two houses so far and turned them into gems with our own hands (and my handy father-in-law's).  I've always got a project in mind, and then there's the infamous binder of all of my ideas, projects and house plans (yes, house plans).

But there are some things in life that you just don't do yourself.  They are things that require the expertise of professionals.  But unfortunately, we're stubborn, and we have to learn the hard way- like when we had to live in our basement for 3 weeks along with everything from our living and dining rooms and everything else that was already in the basement when we tried to lay oak floors.  Laying hardwood floors is easy.  Sanding them and varnishing them is easy.  Using polyurethane is best left to professionals!  Who knew they'd still be wet 3 weeks later?

Anyway, back to my story...  When we bought this house, we gutted the bathroom except for the bathtub.  It was pretty rough, but we thought it would come clean, and besides, salvaging the original tub saved money!  Well, even muratic acid wouldn't clean that tub, and after 2 years, we decided it needed refinishing.  We tried to find a professional, but none are in our area, so we got the bright idea to try an at-home kit and if that didn't work, we'd only be out $30, and then we could call a pro.  Fast forward another 2 years and we finally decided to do it (yeah, that paint was here for 2 years before we used it).  Well, this turned out to be another one of those projects for professionals...

You may have to click the picture to enlarge it to see just how bad it turned out.  The inside turned out nicely, although it could have used another coat.  The outside however, ran.  It looks like waves on a pond, all over the entire front of the tub.  It really looks terrible.  We're not sure what we're going to do at this point other than to keep the shower curtain closed when people come over.  We've had a few good laughs over it, so we know it's not the end of the world, but we're certainly wishing now that we'd just gotten a new tub when we had the bathroom torn apart.  Getting a new tub now would mean new tile on the floor and walls.  We're not up for a bathroom makeover 4 years into the first one.

We learned.  We're not experts, but we try.  At least we still have a tub, and it's nice to be able to use it again after having to stay out of the house one night and then go to my mom's to bathe another night because Preston picked the caulking in Christopher's shower and it had to be re-caulked, leaving us with NO tub or shower for a day.  At least it will be easy to clean now! 

Fun weekend

So Preston survived the field trip unscathed!  My friend Ann was actually his chaperone, and she's both familiar with his allergies and a nurse, so I felt much better after knowing that.  He had a good time, and they did get stormed on while at the zoo, but it was quick and they were back out enjoying their day.

Since we didn't get to Savannah this weekend, I knew we had to do something to keep us busy.  My mother-in-law invited us to lunch Saturday to take Grandma Lou out for Mother's Day, so the kids and I went and had some Mexican food.  Yum!  After that, we stopped back home because Christopher was getting ready to refinish our bathtub.  Stay tuned for the post on that one...  I took the kids up to Granny and Pa's to work on the garden, but it was just too hot- nearly 90, so we jumped on the trampoline, played with water guns, and watched a little tv.  We went back home to figure out something for dinner and I immediately knew we were not going to be able to stay there that night.  The fumes were HORRIBLE!  Their rooms smelled really bad so I knew it wouldn't be smart to sleep there, so I packed us a suitcase and we headed back to Granny and Pa's.  Christopher stayed behind since he was still doing some touch-ups and because he didn't mind the smell.

We had a pretty fun night at Granny and Pa's.  It would've been more fun if they had been there, but they were off partying in Savannah.  We attempted to light us a fire out at the burn pile, but with 2 inches of rain, we mostly burned their recycling pile and a few dry twigs.  But that was enough to make s'mores and that's all we cared about!  After showers, we popped popcorn and watched Harry Potter while I went through a box of old photos.  We stayed up WAY too late, but it was worth the fun. 

We headed back home this morning and the house smelled much better.  We usually spend our Sunday afternoons/evenings with Granny and Pa at their house, so it kind of threw our day off and we had to find something else to do.  Luckily, Keith and Dee had opened their pool, and even though the water was only 78 degrees, the kids didn't care and spent the afternoon swimming!  It's usually Memorial Day before it's warm enough, but a week of 90 degree temps gets you ready early!

I'm glad we had a fun weekend and kept pretty busy.  It's the down times when the kids fight and get in trouble!  Only 2 more weeks of school left, so I have little time to do a lot before they're home for the summer!  Be sure to stay tuned for our DIY post.  You've got to see it...

What's a mom to do?

Today, my baby is off on a field trip to the St. Louis Zoo.  His first field trip without me.  I'm sure he's just fine, but I've been a nervous wreck.

I've been on all of his field trips so far.  He LOVES it, in fact he's been disappointed that I wasn't going.  I got picked to chaperone the apple orchard trip back in September, so I wasn't asked to go to the zoo.  They do it this way so each parent gets a chance to go.  I liked it better in kindergarten when they wanted any parents that were willing to go along.

So why am I nervous?  Well, mostly because of the unknown and the hour-long bus ride.  This morning when I dropped him off, it was raining freakishly hard, flooding the roads in just minutes, I couldn't see, and lightning was everywhere.  I can't imagine driving a bus in that.  Luckily, the St. Louis forecast was supposed to be dry, and now, it's sunny here.  But the whole peanut butter sandwiches for lunch deal doesn't set well with me.  When I'm there, I can make sure my group washes up well after eating, doesn't touch Preston or his food, and can better control everything.  All I could do today was arm him with his Medic Alert necklace and pray that they didn't forget his Epipen.  I just hope he got a good mom with him that is well aware of his allergies and makes sure to keep him safe.  I'll be on pins and needles until 2:45 when I have him back.

Where we should be

So obviously, we're not in Savannah.  And unfortunately, we won't be up and on the road at 4 a.m. tomorrow, either.  Disappointed?  Extremely- especially the kids.  But that's life, and strangely enough, I feel kind of at peace about it at the moment.  That's not to say that I don't think about it constantly, though.  Or get lovely pictures sent to me via email of my mom's feet on the beach!

But God has his plans, and they never fail to amaze me!  I went up to Granny and Pa's to tend to the garden this morning and before I left, went next door to return mom's pan.  I did a quick walk-through to make sure everything was in order (there have been burglaries in our area again), and noticed dresses hanging on the bathroom door that looked like the ones she'd shown me that she'd gotten for the wedding.  I thought to myself that I hoped she hadn't forgotten them.  Well, around 2:00 I get a phone call.  She had forgotten her dresses.  She asked me to take the to the post office tomorrow and overnight them so they'd be in Tybee Friday when they got there (they're in Hilton Head now).  Luckily, I had a brainstorm around 7:00 tonight and texted Greta to see if they'd left yet.  Thankfully, they aren't leaving until tomorrow morning and she said she'd take mom's dresses down with them!  So I ran up to mom's, grabbed the dresses and dropped them off at Greta's.  THANK HEAVEN!  Saved us a ton of money shipping 3 dresses and a jacket overnight and they're guaranteed to make it there on time!

So we won't be spending the weekend on the beach, and I won't be taking a fun, 13 hour road trip with my children, which would probably been akin to a Griswold family trip minus Aunt Edna dying int he backseat.  Not totally sure what our weekend entails, but I think I have Christopher talked into resurfacing our bath tub and the kids and I either camping up in Granny and Pa's backyard, or simply staying at their house to avoid the fumes.  Depends on the ever-changing weather and the severe storms we've been having.  We've got to do something out of the ordinary to keep our minds off of what we're not doing.