Uffda

I feel more accomplished today than I really have all week.

The cold I was experiencing last week ended up with me heading to the ER Sunday evening, coming home with a diagnosis of Bronchitis. Nasty bout of it to tell the truth.

I went into work Monday, 50 miles one way, for my boss to send me home immediately. I knew it was going to happen, but for my absence to be excused, I had to show up at least so she could okay it.

I headed into town as soon as the pharmacy opened at 9:00 and got the rest of my medication. I also picked up some tea and some honey-lemon cough drops for my throat. Afterwards, I came home and rested for most of the day.

Thankfully, since I don't have any more vacation days to use (besides the 3rd of June I already have scheduled), my boss let me make up the 8 hours of work missed by having my go in 2 hours early the remainder of the week. She sent the news home with Corey on Monday, and he was to go in early as well so we could ride together and save gas.

I slowly got momentum and some energy throughout the week, even with only getting 2 hours of sleep each Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and 3 hours Thursday night. The cough was a killer at bedtime. I made that sleep up Friday night, then I even fell asleep way early last night! Guess I needed it.

I was able to mow back by the raspberries on Thursday and Friday nights, then Paige and I weeded them out on Friday night as well. We got around the red ones and made our way through the wild catnip, pulling out all the sticky weeds and burning nettle.

It started getting late, so we left the yellow ones for another day. We were hoping to get to them yesterday, but we had to run to Eau Claire and get a few things, one being Walker's birthday present, a brand new Mongoose Mutant bicycle. We didn't have any luck at the thrift sales this year so far finding a bike for him, and he badly needed one. He was a happy camper! We celebrated his birthday yesterday with Corey's sister and parents, as the girls are with their dad til tomorrow night.

The humidity started getting to me, as the first few times of the year usually do, so I laid down for a few minutes on the bed at about 7:30, and woke up at 11:30 last night. Corey said he tried waking me up a couple times, but then let me sleep. I went back to bed and got up at 8:00 this morning.

Thus started a day of making pancakes, then getting the kids into showers, and washing dishes, laundry, taking care of the cats, helping Paige with a puzzle, more laundry, more laundry, going through clothes, etc...

Now the house is quiet. Too quiet. Corey took the kids back to their mom at 4:30, and then he had to help his sister move something, and now he's at his buddy Jeremy's helping him work on a vehicle. I opted to stay home so I can finish up a couple chores and relax a little bit.

I also finished Fablehaven 4, and I'll be starting the 5th one sometime later today. Very good series, I highly recommend it. I have the fist 2 in paperback (actually, I have the first one, Mom has the 2nd one yet), and the other 3 are on my Kindle (so Mom, when you're ready, we'll have to figure out how to lend them to you). I'm finding myself very anxious to read number 5, but also not so. I hate reaching the end of a series, or saga, as then I must find something new. I guess that's how it must be. I believe I may read some of Brandon Mull's other work, as there is a few books by him that look very interesting.

For now, I guess it's back to my chores, as I'm feeling a little restless, being this close to the end of a Sunday, knowing work looms in the morning for the week. Oh well, a three-day weekend  coming up, then a 3-day work week to follow. Looks promising!

Company

I was burning garbage the other day, and I looked over to see Missy, our black lab, playing with something on the ground. I thought it was just her rawhide bone, but then I saw whatever she was playing with move. I went over to investigate, and what did I see?

 A toad!

 Upon closer inspection, he wasn't as cute as a frog is... Interesting color tho, with the orange instead of green.

 I love my camera for close-up shots.

 Alexis came out to see what I was doing, and we decided to get a picture of the toad with her finger to show the size of it. Remember now, she's 6, so this toad wasn't very big.

Pretty cool though. The dog was running circles around us, but Alexis was worried Missy would start eating it. I don't think she would have though, she just wanted to play.

Then Thursday, Corey and I went outside for a smoke, and we spotted these in the field.

 Eagles! These shots were taken from our deck, with my digital zoom all the way out. Not the best quality, but pretty cool nonetheless.

 After about 10 minutes of pictures, they got tired of being watched and flew away.

Gotta love the stuff I see in my backyard these days. Deer, rabbits, eagles, toads, herons, geese, etc... Such a variety!

Thrifty

We went on the "100-Mile Garage Sale" Friday, and we did pretty good!

In those pictures, are TONS of clothes for the kids and us, plus 3 dressers and a Jenny Lind bed for Kayla! All in all, we spent about $350 that day. The clothes are all in GREAT condition, mostly name brand. And Corey got a drill/driver and circular saw for $25. That was his deal of the day, since new, it would cost about $500. Plus, the ceiling fan box is ACTUALLY A CEILING FAN! New, never opened, for $10 for our bedroom. Yay!

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day actually started on Wednesday when I received this in the mail:

Woohoo! Corey got to the door first and brought it into the house, where, as a funny guy, decided to hide it on me. Grrr... Everyone got a good giggle out of me alternating between whining and demanding it back and laughing. He finally gave it to me and I opened it.

The bottom picture is the skin I ordered for it. I followed the instructions and plugged this bad boy in.

Sweet! Later that night, Corey helped me put the skin on it.

Purty, huh? Mom, I know you'll love it!

I haven't had too much time to play with it, was pretty busy this week, like any other week I guess. I did take it with us on Friday when we went on the 100-mile Thrift Sales, but we were too busy getting in and out of the truck for me to do much with it. And no, I haven't downloaded any books yet, I'm working on it! I did get a couple games tho for free that I played on Friday.

My Mother's Day continued yesterday when we went to Eau Claire to run a couple errands. Corey and the boys went into Best Buy while Paige and I went into TJ Maxx to shop around. We picked up a Mother's Day present from the kids for Corey's Mom, and I also got Paige a new pair of flip flops and some new nail polish for her and the girls to use.

After that excursion, we found the boys in Best Buy yet and got the truck keys from Corey so we didn't have to lug around the stuff from TJ Maxx. He quickly hid his hands behind his back and said it was my Mother's Day present and then gave me the keys.

Paige and I went out to the truck to wait, and the thought crossed my mind to call my mom and see if she had gotten the Mother's Day stuff I mailed on Thursday. She answered and said she had just opened it. Good timing, no? Must be that link that we share, I dunno. Must be psychic abilities? Possible. Luck? Very probable. She said she loved it, which made me happy. She also told me what my dad had gotten her for Mother's Day and how he gave it to her. All I have to say is "Go Dad!" Can't wait to see pictures Mom!

After the boys finally came out, I was given my Mother's Day present. I already knew what it was, but I wasn't sure what it would look like. I will show a picture of that in a minute.

We were all getting hungry so we went to Fazolli's and ate, then headed to Menards for Corey to get a few things for here and there.

When we got back to Eau Galle, we went to Corey's Mom's to he and the kids could give her her Mother's Day present and card. She loved it also, which made us double happy :-) Paige and I did good apparently.

Once we got home, I opened up my Mother's Day present. I love it!

It even has a little light that's operated by the battery on my Kindle. Sweet! I went and put the Kindle in it right away. See?

As I was doing this, Corey came up behind me and said "Don't move." I was a little worried because he kept saying it, I was thinking I had a spider or tick on me or something. I was getting a little edgy because he was taking his sweet time getting it off of me!

Just as I was about to start screaming, he put something around my neck.

Aw! A beautiful Celtic Knot necklace. I almost cried, I swear. I was alternating between relief that there wasn't something creepy on me, agitation because he purposely made me scared, and complete surprise and love for the man who presented me with this beautiful necklace.

He knows me so well :-) <3 you honey!

I was told the Kindle Cover was from all the kids and the necklace was from him. 

This morning I also got to get my girls for Mother's Day. I met Andy in Elmwood as usual and got the girls at 8:00 this morning. Normally he has them Friday thru Monday during the school year, except one weekend a month, but since it's my holiday, I got to have them. Love it.

When we got home, Alexis gave me this that she made in school for me.

So cute, I have the picture on my dresser right now. I love getting handmade stuff like this!

The girls got to see Paige, Brady and Walker for a little bit before their mom came to get them at 8:30. After that, I took a shower, got a couple things done, then the girls and I went off shopping. I got Alexis a pair of flip flops and Kayla got some crocs because we couldn't find any flip flops in her size. Darn it. Oh well, she's happy with her purple crocs and Alexis is happy with her pink camoflauge flip flops.

The girls also got me these at the store, with their own money.

Aren't they pretty? A gal was selling them for $1 a piece by the checkout. It was so sweet of them. I bought myself one also, that's why there's 3 of them. The open red one is the one I bought, the closed red one is the one Lex got, and Kayla got the white one. Here's a closeup of the white one.

Looks yellow, but it's white.

Then the girls went outside to play while I put the groceries away. I got a couple cute shots of them before it started raining.

 Kayla loves to pose pretty.

 Lex my goofball.

 After this, we went inside and watched Looney Tunes until I had to take them back to their dad at 4:00.

I would say my Mother's Day has been pretty eventful. I loved every minute of it, and now it's back to the norm. Got tons of laundry to get put away, including all the stuff we got on Friday, which is currently being washed and there's still a mountain on the floor waiting for an open spot in the machine.

I hope you all had as wonderful of a Mother's Day as I have! Feel free to share it with me in the comments, I love reading about other people's days! :-)

Think Spring!

I think Spring has finally hit our neighborhood. What better way to tell? Baby goats :-)

Bonnie came up to me at the May Day Fest at St. Henry's on the 1st and told me their goat had finally had her babies! She showed me pictures and they were cute! She said there were 3 of them, but one was stillborn. So sad. But the other two have thus survived, but one is a runt so they are watching that one carefully.

We took the kids up Monday afternoon to see them.

The kids anxiously awaiting to see the babies (Lance, Alexis, Walker Brady, Kayla, Paige)

 Here comes Bonnie with the runt, named Miz

 Aw! So cute!

 The Mama tending her babies

 Walker tempting the other goat to come closer (I can't remember the names of the Mama or the other big goat, that's why I'm a member of the C.R.A.F.T. club :-))

 Bonnie with the other baby, Spitfire

 We also got a peek at their cat Mama who had 2 kittens a couple weeks ago.

 Scott and Corey decided while the kids were all there, they'd play some basketball.

 Brady judging his next shot I think

 Corey showing off a trick for the kids

 Scott and Corey decided to get into a little competition and see who could get a 3-point shot off first. I think Corey got one first. It took a while tho!

The kids were all exhausted by the time we got home Monday night. It was bedtime and there was a little arguing over it, but they were so tired from running around and playing, it didn't last long.