Thursday, January 29, 2009

Awesome Laundry Spot Remover


I do a LOT of laundry and there are a lot of spots to get out. I have tried about everything on the market and this is the BEST one that I have every used! Click on this link to get a coupon for $.75 off. http://www.spraynwash.com/product.html#top

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Savoring the LITTLE things...

Time spent with family that only comes around once in a very long time. This last weekend I went away, without my kids for the first time, to Spokane for my Uncle John's funeral. Not only was this my time away from my kids but it was also the first time that I had stayed with my 3 Aunts. Now most would probably not think much about that but my family is quite loud and obnoxious and friendly. There are hugs and kisses all the time. You definately feel loved in my family. We love to give each other a hard time and have lots of laughs. It was quite a time staying with my Aunts. I loved it! We shared things that you would not normally share when you see each other at a family gathering. We laughed and laughed, I learned maybe A BIT TO MUCH....NAH! To have that one on one time was very special.
There was a slight mix up on the hotel arrangements for my Uncle and Cousins. They were supposed to stay at the same hotel as we were but when we got into town we passed a hotel with the same name as the one that we were staying at. My Aunt Di says "That's the hotel, you just passed it." I said "No that isn't our hotel, it is up furhter on this street." I had stayed at this hotel last summer with the kids on our way back from Montana so I knew where it was and what it looked like. She saw the address and says "Well, that is the hotel that I made reservations at for Dan and the boys." Oh, that's not good....well it wasn't. That is the hotel they were at and it wasn't a very nice hotel. And boy did we hear about it. Aunt Di from them and me from her, since I gave her the phone number to call and make the reservation. I didn't know that there were 2 hotels with by the same company on the same street in the same town!!! AGH, best laid plans... Uncle Dan, Jason, Daniel, Aunt Di, Aunt Donna, Aunt Dede, my mom and dad and me all got together inour little room and talked and had a good time. We had some appetizers and chatted. It was nice to spend some family time together. I did miss mine back home though. We picked a restaurant, Uncle John's favorite, China Dragon and off we all went. It was a good time and great food. Uncle John would have loved it! (Aunt Phyllis & my mom) The next day was the funeral. Lots of tear proof mascara later we were all ready. I learned a lot about my Uncle John over the weekend and am even more proud of him than I was before. He was an absolutely brave missionary. The things that he and Aunt Jo went through were beyond words. All the cousins on the Newman side. We met our family that we had never met before and others that we hadn't seen in many years. This was the first time since 1995 that my dad and his 4 siblings were together.
Aunt Di, Aunt Dede, Aunt Donna, dad, Uncle Larry, youngest (left) to oldest After the funeral we went to my Cousin Kelly's home. I got to meet his two kids. Luke & Neely. I got some loves from Luke so I felt right at home. Everyone was there. We had food, wine and lots of reminiscing and laughs.
We all had a great time and enjoyed the LITTLE things in life...FAMILY.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

UNCLE JOHN PASSED AWAY

Uncle John Passed away yesterday afternoon at 3pm. He was 94.

This is photo, from our wedding, of my Aunt Dorothy (Uncle John's sister (far right)), my Uncle John at 77 years old, and his wife Aunt Jo (far left).

Uncle John has always had a special place in my heart ever since I was little. He had this voice that was like nothing you ever heard. He was a missionary all over the world for his whole career spanning 50 plus years. He had his own radio show that was broadcast in multiple countries for many many years. He would preach at our church whenever he and Aunt Jo would visit. He never needed a microphone to be heard all they way out side. His voice was very very deep and volumous, just like Hudson's. Hudson will sound just like Uncle John eventually. Everytime he called you instantly knew who it was from "Hello". He called my sister and I Nickel & Dime.


Up until about 10 years ago he used to play basketball after church with the teenage boys. His energy and stamina were just amazing. He had the great sense of humor. That doesn't even describe it though. He was definately someone that you NEVER forget!


Aunt Jo passed away 9 1/2 years ago now and his sister, Dorothy, just passed right before Thanksgiving. Uncle John was the last of his generation.


I am overwhelmed with sorrow by his passing.
I am skipping my PTA meeting tonight because I am to upset to try to pretend to be happy.
He will have people attending his funeral from across the world and will greatly missed!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Don't be scared!

So the kids and I are home now. Very nice to be back in our own environment. We had fun at my mother in-laws but it is always nice to go home. And she is excited to get some additional sleep. My kids are early risers and she is not.

Some of you may have seen Mike the last couple days at school and been a bit taken back by his appearance. He broke his nose in his fall and he is actually starting to look a bit better. His eye isn't so puffy and the colors are vanishing slowly. Hudson wasn't so sure about him yesterday when he showed up at school. He hadn't seen the picture of Mike the night before and didn't know that he got hurt.

When Mike called and told us what had happened I had to laugh. When Chloe saw the picture she was a bit taken back by it then we laughed at it. Yes we laugh at our families fumbles sometimes. You just can't help but laugh when you hear some stories about how clumsy we can be.

One time I was taking our Great Dane, Astro, for his nightly walk around the lake with my sister in law and the neighbor came down with his Dane so they could play. Well, anyone who has seen a Dane get up to speed can attest to the fact that it takes them just as long to slow down. Well, we were talking at the edge of the lakeour backs to the dogs, when the dogs were coming toward us. We heard them and turned around just in time for me to see those two making a B-line for me! I was hit full speed by those two and pushed in the air who knows how high and landed in the lake about 3 feet out with them both on me! They didn't know what to do for the first few seconds then they ran over and got the dogs off me and asked if I needed help. I couldn't even talk because I was laughing so hard!! They were laughing so hard that they couldn't hardly help me up. How can you not laugh sometimes at other people or ourselves for that matter.
This picture is Astro as a pup!

This is If you know Mike you know that he was good on his feet until his accident now he is a bit of a claud. His foot just doesn't work right. He struggles with his physical limitations every day.

Over WHAT??? Not protective but...

I don't know what you would even call it....????

Why do I always feel the need to make sure that my kids clothes are laid out the night before school?

In case I am not taking them, I like them to match and I don't trust my husband to do that? Yes but why is such a big deal to me? In the grand scheme of things does it matter if they don't match one day?

Why do I like their backpacks to be packed and ready the night before?

I hate the late departure from the house because Chloe is frantically looking for one more item that she thinks she needs and might squeak into her bag! Do your kids take 4-5 books to school with them everyday? I don't like to be the mom that says "Hurry up we are going to be late!"

Why do I stress about the items that don't get done each day that I want done more than anything? Why can't I let them go and just try tomorrow?

I do try to do that but I am not that good at it. I just keep going over everything that is on my list that still needs completed. It always seems to be the stuff that I enjoy that never get done. Even if they are work, like pruning my acre of tress, shrubs plants etc, weeding my beds, getting my seeds for the veggie garden started early enough in the green house, scrap booking, blogging, cleaning out the kids' closets...UGH! Tomorrow never seems to come!!!

Why do I not want to say the things that my parents said to me, and now being a parent I understand them, but I still say them anyways?

There were some phrases that my parents would says to my sister and I that I just hated! And here I am hearing myself say them sometimes and then thinking how much I hated to hear that when I was growing up. Why do all kids have the same fundamental ability to get our goat?

Monday, January 12, 2009

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Do men survive when the women and kids are gone?

This is what happened to Mike yesterday afteroon. He was running back to the house with the mail when he stepped on one of the round rocks with his bad foot and it just gave out under him. He face planted on the gravel and this is the result.
He can't be left home alone with out getting hurt! And no mommy to take of it.

This will be ugly for a while. May as well cancel the family photo shoot....

The flooding is unbelievable!

A view from the bridge going into Duvall looking toward Monroe.
On Friday night after picking Chloe up from school we waited in the flood ing traffic for an hour to get home. While we were going across the valley in to Duvall I saw where the water was and said to the kids we are packing our bags and heading out tonight. Hopefully my mother-in-law will let us stay with her. I knew that the valley would flood that night and if we waited we would be waiting a long time for the waters to recede.
I called Leanne and she graciously said that we could come over and stay for however long we needed to. That includes Hickory our Guinea Pig. So we packed up and off we went. We have been at her house since Friday night. Mike got stranded at home. He didn't think that the valley would flood that quickly but he was wrong this time. So he is at home by himself and getting a bit lonely now. We have been having a good time while we are flooded out. It is kind of like being on vacation.
Last night, Saturday, Chloe got really sick from something that she ate. She was throwing up all night and finally stopped around midnight. She is still not really very good today and is taking it wasy today. My poor baby! There is just not much that you can do to help them with that illness.
The valley is still flooded in but you can get through via Preston & on the other side in Monroe. That is a long way around to school in themornings if we go home. I think we will stay put until at least until either 124th opens or Woodinville Duvall Road. Photo below.
Woodinville Duvall Road in the Valley in Duvall. I have lived in the Valley for 30 years, and no I'm not telling how old that makes me, but sufice it to say it is quite a while ANYWAY....I have never seen this much damage by a flood. I have seen the valley cut off and become and island before a few times but not to this extent.
I went to highschool with a boy who's family owns this farm right outside Duvall. This picture is looking down from the ridge at their farm. I can't imagine the devistation for the families businesses from all of this flooding. How do you begin to start to clean up feet of mud and icky stuff that is stuck to everything. The funds that it takes to do that must be daunting and then there are the funds that you can't earn due to the flooding.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

New Year's Resolution....

Well, I don't really do the whole resolution thing. But after the year that our family has had there are some changes that we have made that I hope to keep going no matter what new things happen. We as a family have cut way, WAY back on the amount of "STUFF" that we buy that isn't an essential need for living. I think that this is a good thing and helps the kids to really see what the world is like and how to appreciate what they have. It seems that our countries way of living is if it makes you feel good then you NEED it. Well, we all know that isn't necessarily true. More is sometimes just more. While it is fun to get something new every once in a while, it isn't a requirement. This is hard for me as much or more than it is for the kids but we are doing good and I hope to keep up this way of thinking. And remembering to be thankful for the little things, like a warm bed and a clean water to drink. And really try not to have good intentions but really do them!

Christmas Scarf from the heart

This year Chloe & I made some gifts instead of buying them. The scarf that I am wearing is the one that Chloe knit for me. I loved this yarn so much and wanted to make one for myself but I didn't have enough yarn after I made everyone else's. Chloe was so sweet and made it for me all by herself. It is a stitch that I had just taught her and she did an absolutely beautiful job! I love the from the heart gifts!
For you knitters this is the Brioche rib stitch. It is very stretch and reversible. The stitch looks the same from both sides.
Photo by Hudson, 4 years old.