Well over Thanksgiving Carolyn & Dan came and visited us with their children. While they were here she bought a fabulous houseplant, it sat on my kitchen table for a couple days while they were here. I liked it so much, I wanted one too. Now we gave up on house plants years ago because of 2 reasons. 1 - the cats eat them; 2 - i can't keep them alive (I didn't get my dad's green thumb). But, I did buy the first house plant in about 11 years, at costco. It is beautiful, but after 2 weeks the tips of the leaves are going brown and just a minute ago, James caught Moses (the cat) on the counter chewing on the leaves.
ARGH!@#$
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
End of January Update
Well, CPA's are really good at doing certain things, generally it is taxes, cost accounting, financial accounting, small business anaylsis, that sort of thing. Haircutting is NOT in that list you will note. However, accountants are usually good at finding new ways to save money too. So, when James looked like a badly groomed, just grown out from a bad buzz, scottie dog (that plug is chosen for you Nancy)...and...Carl had mandatory furlows announced...I got creative with James' horrible looking hair. I got out the cutting scissors. Now, I know you will be dissapointed that I have not taken a picture, but maybe tomorrow. I started out, just trying to trim off the sides a little bit, but then I took it too short and it was all downhill from there. After it had looked like (now I wasn't done yet) Anna had tried to cut his hair Carl said, "Just stop, just stop now" and I told him I couldn't I wasn't done yet...he walked away. Now after a lot of hair came off, more than I originally anticipated, I think, all in all, it looks pretty good. Carl calls it "high and tight" but will not admit that the CPA didn't do a completely disasterous job.
Oh the furlow thing...Carl has 1 week per month starting in March of UNPAID time off, until further notice. So, our income will be dropping by 25% starting in a month. Scary! We are going to test out all of our food storage, tonight we had brown rice, with rehydrated chicken pieces and beans.
This week has been interesting, it has been nothing but snow days. Now for you folks out of the East, when it snows 1 inch, EVERYTHING shuts down here, they just don't plow, neither has the idea of tar and gravel ever come to mind. I think they don't have the resouces for it. So, the kids have been out of school all week, yes all 5 days. This is tax season not the most convenient time to be out of school. Carl picked them up some sleds at the play it again sports store and they have been having fun with those. We now have about 8-10 inches on the ground. It is funny to watch Fritz go outside on the hill to go potty, because we got about 6 inches of snow, freezing rain, and then another 4 inches. So, he just kinda slides his front feet on the snow/ice and trys to catch some traction with his back feet. It just makes me roll with laughter.
James turned 10 this week, he had a great birthday, he got to spend it in his jammies and play video games. He did go outside for a little while to play in the snow with Emma and that was good. We gave him a little shelf stero system for his room, so he can listen to his Ipod. He seems to really be liking it. We got this before the furlow news. I made him a 3 layer lemon and chocolate cake, he really liked it. I also taught he and Emma how to play Rummikub, a favorite game with my family growing up. It is nice that Emma understands now and can play more of the grown up games. I like the princess games and all, but they are only so entertaining. James and Emma both like the Rummikub game. Other than that, the pinewood derby was supposed to be that night, however with the ice storm it got canceled.
Next Monday I fly out to Utah to do taxes...other than that nothing is new.
Oh the furlow thing...Carl has 1 week per month starting in March of UNPAID time off, until further notice. So, our income will be dropping by 25% starting in a month. Scary! We are going to test out all of our food storage, tonight we had brown rice, with rehydrated chicken pieces and beans.
This week has been interesting, it has been nothing but snow days. Now for you folks out of the East, when it snows 1 inch, EVERYTHING shuts down here, they just don't plow, neither has the idea of tar and gravel ever come to mind. I think they don't have the resouces for it. So, the kids have been out of school all week, yes all 5 days. This is tax season not the most convenient time to be out of school. Carl picked them up some sleds at the play it again sports store and they have been having fun with those. We now have about 8-10 inches on the ground. It is funny to watch Fritz go outside on the hill to go potty, because we got about 6 inches of snow, freezing rain, and then another 4 inches. So, he just kinda slides his front feet on the snow/ice and trys to catch some traction with his back feet. It just makes me roll with laughter.
James turned 10 this week, he had a great birthday, he got to spend it in his jammies and play video games. He did go outside for a little while to play in the snow with Emma and that was good. We gave him a little shelf stero system for his room, so he can listen to his Ipod. He seems to really be liking it. We got this before the furlow news. I made him a 3 layer lemon and chocolate cake, he really liked it. I also taught he and Emma how to play Rummikub, a favorite game with my family growing up. It is nice that Emma understands now and can play more of the grown up games. I like the princess games and all, but they are only so entertaining. James and Emma both like the Rummikub game. Other than that, the pinewood derby was supposed to be that night, however with the ice storm it got canceled.
Next Monday I fly out to Utah to do taxes...other than that nothing is new.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sledding in Kentucky
Today we had our 2nd snow day in a row. Yesterday we got about 1.5 inches, and so they cancelled school, today we got about 6 inches, so they again cancelled school. I sure wish it wasn’t tax season and I could play with the kids on these days, the mommy guilt steps in here. But, we did get the kids 2 sleds today for them to go down our hill. They had a great time and got really cold. Fritz loved being outside in all the deep snow, he just ran around and around bounding in it. Anna even went down our “sledding hill” one time. She doesn’t have any snow gear and refuses to wear gloves, so one time was enough.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Well, we are approved for adoption again! We are really excited to open up this chapter of our lives. We have left it open for either boy or girl, either way it will be wonderful. Right now I am trying to work on our photo pages for the birth mothers to look at. I hope to get those to the counselor by the end of the week!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Skiing at Snowbasin...Missy, Emma, Grma Frost, James
Well, you know that you haven't done a blog post for a REALLY long time when you forget your password, have to have it reset, and your friends remember the last time you posted, but you have forgotten.
In looking back at this, I think that I got really depressed after little Otto died. It was really tragic for the entire family. Surprisingly the kids have bounced back from it, however Carl and I are still deeply saddened. We are considering getting another Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, from the same breeder. She artificially inseminates (sp?) her females and always delivers by c-section. She "bred" her female Riggs on Sunday the 18th of January again. So, we will find out if Riggs is pregnant at the end of February, she will be due on March 18th and the puppies will be able to go home about May 18th. So, we'll see. Riggs could have not taken, could have all girls, who knows. We will keep you updated on that. No puppy can replace Otto, however going back to the same mom, will get us close.
Now, we had a great first Kentucky Christmas, in Utah. Carl ended up with 16 consecutive days off, gas was only 1.50 per gallon, so off we went. It is 1700 miles, and we drove straight. It took us 28 1/2 hours to get there and only 24 1/4 hours to get home. On the way home, we didn't even turn the car off once. The kids were amazing, and so was Fritz. Fritz sat on the seat next to Emma, and that helped her because she needed to keep track of him and make sure he was always sitting or laying down. It is a good thing that Fritz will go potty on demand.
Over Christmas break, I taught Emma how to snow ski on the same mountain I learned and the same one I taught James on. That was really wonderful! She is going to be a great skiier, she still has to have her edgie-wedgie on, but that is okay. James got to go skiing twice as well and had a great time. The last time we went skiing with my parents and that was a great day. We even all skiied down the face of Middle Bowl.
Also over Christmas break in Utah we went to Salt Lake City and saw the lights at temple square, it was beautiful. James got to go snow shoeing with Poppa, and other than that we just visited with family, trying to fit them all in. It is amazing how fast two weeks can go by when you are on vacation.
In looking back at this, I think that I got really depressed after little Otto died. It was really tragic for the entire family. Surprisingly the kids have bounced back from it, however Carl and I are still deeply saddened. We are considering getting another Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, from the same breeder. She artificially inseminates (sp?) her females and always delivers by c-section. She "bred" her female Riggs on Sunday the 18th of January again. So, we will find out if Riggs is pregnant at the end of February, she will be due on March 18th and the puppies will be able to go home about May 18th. So, we'll see. Riggs could have not taken, could have all girls, who knows. We will keep you updated on that. No puppy can replace Otto, however going back to the same mom, will get us close.
Now, we had a great first Kentucky Christmas, in Utah. Carl ended up with 16 consecutive days off, gas was only 1.50 per gallon, so off we went. It is 1700 miles, and we drove straight. It took us 28 1/2 hours to get there and only 24 1/4 hours to get home. On the way home, we didn't even turn the car off once. The kids were amazing, and so was Fritz. Fritz sat on the seat next to Emma, and that helped her because she needed to keep track of him and make sure he was always sitting or laying down. It is a good thing that Fritz will go potty on demand.
Over Christmas break, I taught Emma how to snow ski on the same mountain I learned and the same one I taught James on. That was really wonderful! She is going to be a great skiier, she still has to have her edgie-wedgie on, but that is okay. James got to go skiing twice as well and had a great time. The last time we went skiing with my parents and that was a great day. We even all skiied down the face of Middle Bowl.
Also over Christmas break in Utah we went to Salt Lake City and saw the lights at temple square, it was beautiful. James got to go snow shoeing with Poppa, and other than that we just visited with family, trying to fit them all in. It is amazing how fast two weeks can go by when you are on vacation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
