Snow? Already?

Yep, you read that correctly. We had our first snow of the season this week. It hasn't stuck yet and won't for a little while to come, but it's looking like we'll definitely have a white Thanksgiving, let alone Christmas. I enjoy snow actually; I like shoveling it because it gives me a guilt-free chance to get out in the fresh air, I like how much the kids enjoy it, and I love how fresh and beautiful a new fallen snow is. I don't, however, like the mud and slush that gets tracked in and how long it can take to get people bundled up and out the door. Oh well, there's trade-off's for everything.

Ughh, flu season.

Wow, what a fun week. Last week, week before last?, my niece came down with H1N1. She recovered quickly and easily, but then her sister caught it. Then Joseph caught it.... Now it's my turn. The kids recovered in 2 days and I am currently on day 3 and I think the fever has broken for good, so tomorrow I should be a lot better. I usually get sick twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. This spring I missed it (and the seasonal allergies I have at that time as well), so I guess I'm making up for it all at once. I'm praying that Jasmine doesn't get it for several reasons, one of those being I know how miserable she would be (from first hand experience) and I am dreading the thought of dealing with a baby that miserable. Especially on top of my own recovery. I'm just grateful no one else has gotten it so far. John is currently working 60 or so hr weeks again and truly can't afford to miss out on any work time. The kids don't have school next week because of conference, so if Joseph gets sick again or James becomes ill it won't matter too much. And with Jordan and Jared homeschooling it won't matter for them at all.

Foot in my mouth.

Chjsdfklio. Whay dsfih? Nofakseiugas? Oh, you said you can't understand what I am saying? That's because my foot is in my mouth. Thank you Kimberly for pointing out that my last post could have been misconstrued. When stating that I occasionally think about the scary black breast scenario, I wasn't referrring to John as the person I wanted to scare away. Frankly, I wouldn't mind if he had more boobie time but Jasmine's head is always in the way!

Just paint them black.

Some of you know that my youngest, 19mth old Jasmine, is still nursing a limited number of times a day. Some of you also know that I'm not so thrilled about it. Truth to be told, this got old for me a long time ago but Jasmine is very attached and since I don't have a pregnancy looming on the horizon I've just let her keep going (to a point). My mother is one of those people that knows I'd rather Jasmine be weaned right now and has been subject to some of the screaming that can happen when Jasmine gets tired or crabby and wants to nurse to pacify. The last time this happened while she was on the phone, my mother told me I should paint them black. What? Paint what black, and with what? "You know, with the paint that you use for kids faces on Halloween. Paint them black and it will scare her out of nursing." And then what? Pay for her therapy bills for the next 30yrs? "No, it won't scare her that way. It will just look strange and different to her and she'll decide she doesn't want it anymore." I'm like, you don't know my daughter. This is the child that will nurse through a shirt and has even given my hickies because she has latched onto the wrong body part and didn't care enough to stop nursing and had to be forcibly disengaged and relatched. Now John on the other hand, painting them black just might scare him off the breast for good. The saddest thing of all? There are some times when I even consider it.

Open house anyone?

Yesterday was our turn to put on the dreaded open house. Leaving your home for hours, letting total strangers (possibly a LOT of total strangers) traipse through your home, the cleaning and air freshener spraying, and decluttering. It's a lot of work and at the end of the day, it may have all been for nothing. Ours yesterday wasn't quite as successful as we had hoped. Two couples did come by and view the house, but both were looking for larger places. I will say, however, it was unbelievably nice to wake up and know that there was nothing for me to do. No dishes waiting or bathrooms desperately needing to be scrubbed. Of course my kids have been up for the last few hours and that means the cleanliness will quickly disappear, but I at least got to savor it for a little while.

Call me crazy but..

Has anyone seen the trailers for the new Drew Barrymore/Ellen Page movie Whip It? Got to say, I love Ellen Page. Juno is definitely on my high list of movies. But back to Whip It, or more accurately, roller derby. I've been interested in roller derby off and on, not a card carrying member mind you, but I used to love roller skating as a kid (still do, no matter how uncool that makes me) and the thought of getting to roller skate AND legally hit people at the same time appeals to the inner mean kid in me. I mean, c'mon, what better way to burn off steam than moving fast and participating in a contact sport? That's what football and hockey are all about, right? So, just out of curiosity, I looked up roller derby for Montana and found a league right there in Billings. I even went so far as to email one of the league owners for info. Nothing will probably come of it, at least one team practices on Sundays and that's a no go for me, but it doesn't hurt to check it out right? Right????

Picture Trouble

While looking at my blog, I have come to the conclusion that I need to stick a photo up. Makes it more personal, etc, etc. Problem is, I can't find almost a single picture of me on my computer. Yeah there is the occasional one where I'm in the background, but pictures meant to be of me? Not so much. Apparently I've been avoiding the camera for so many years it has become second nature. For those of you that have seen our Christmas photos, you may have noticed that John and I haven't been in them for the last 3 yrs or so. This yr a client is taking professional photos for us as partial payment for my fee; I can't say as how I'm looking forward to the thought but I suppose years from now my kids would like to be able to show their grandkids what their parents looked like. As it is now they're stuck with photos where I couldn't manage to get out of the shot in time. "Oh look, here's one with the back of great-grandma's head, and in this one you can actually see a bit of her profile." I vowed to never allow myself to send out a family photo with me in it until I've gotten down to my prepregnancy weight (not Jasmine's prepregnancy weight, I've already made that, I'd like to be at my preneverhadababy weight) and it looks like I'll be breaking that vow this year. I wonder if they have all over body slimming control top suits?