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Monday, July 31, 2006
Poncho Party





Good thing we all had poncho's with us. Of course as soon as we got them out the rain stopped. It only rained about 2 hours on Friday night. Saturday night it started raining about 7:00 and didn't stop until early early Sunday morning.


Camping Pictures





Well, the bathrooms are as clean and shiny as they are going to get! I even made our bed. Crazy I tell ya. Maybe we should have company more often. 2 of my mom's sister came to visit and came over to check out the Bug Shack this afternoon. Enough about all that though, here are some camping pictures, if Blah ger wants to post them. Its nice that I took loads of pictures this weekend. As you can see.... all of them seem to be of my 4 legged children rather than the 2 legged varity.


Still Waiting
Yup. Still waiting for the t.v. to work again. Yes, a new (to us) tivo box arrived. It looked like the Fed Ex guy drove over it with his truck. The hubs spent almost an hour on the phone with the crappy satalite provider Thursday night when it came. Long story short... another new box is on its way. I sure hope it gets here today.

Camping was well, WET! It rained and rained and even rained some more. It was fun while it wasn't raining! Here are just a few pictures until I get back from cleaning the bathrooms to tell you all about the trip.


Oops, no pictures. Blah ger is being slow again.


Thursday, July 27, 2006
48 hours and Counting....
Its been a long 2 days at the Bug Shack. You see, our Tivo/ Satalite box, she has died. It was a short and unexpected event, had we know we would have called in sick to work for 2 days to watch all the shows we had saved that are now lost. The worse part isn't really the lost shows, I mean I can just stay up until 11:00 pm and watch the Young & The Restless on the Soap Opera channel in the bedroom. Thank Goodness that box (non-tivo) didn't follow suite and take a dump as well. It really isn't so bad (Ha) having the 3 of us cram onto our bed to watch the wimpy 19" tv, except we all then have to agree on The. Same. Show. GULP! The worse part? Other than the fact that the BIG tv in the family room doesn't have an antenea, because then we could at least watch boring local channels.... The worse part is having to watch commercials. Yup. The commercials. I don't know what we ever did before!!!

When I tell our friends what happened they gasp in the air around them and become lightheaded and take a step away. I am sure they are hoping that we aren't contagious because really they can't fathom the thought of it either, having to suffer through commercials.... Our new box is *supposed* to arrive today. The good news is we will be camping this weekend so that means we really don't have time to watch the boob tube tonight anyway and this will help keep me on track to get stuff done. It had better be here come Sunday afternoon when we get home though or I don't know what we will do.

I wonder if this is God's way of getting me back for using a slightly naughty word the other day at church when I dropped Katie off for VBS. I mean if you can't drop the F-Bomb there, where can you? (Kidding)

(Yes, I cuss like a drunken sailor, No, I don't make a habit of doing it at church. I was talking to a friend about something that was really getting to me, and well it just slipped out. If we weren't camping this weekend, I would be the first in line for confession. No, really I would. Great, now I have to go for the F-Bomb and for lying!).


Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Purty



I guess I didn't upload these in the right order. Oh well, guess I should be happy they uploaded at all:).

You can see the finished window, the before window and the somewhere in bewteen window. I bought the valances when we were on vacation and wasn't smart enough to think about the patterns matching up. So, now we are waiting for 4 more valances to come hoping the lines "line up". I had them mixed up last night and didn't notice that one had a green line half way through and the other an orange line. Don't worry, the girl noticed right away and let us know! I think I did a good job matching the greens in the fabric with the green walls being 1500 miles away with a paint swatch the size of a tic tac.


Monday, July 24, 2006
Brothers
The hubs and I each have one brother. Mine is older, his is younger. I would say neither of us have great relationship with either of our brothers. I see mine occasionally, if he happens to be at my parents house when I am, the hubs doesn't see his much at all. Mine is extremely smart and could be so much more than he is. This absolutely frustrates me to no end. He chooses to do just enough to get by, when he has been given opportunity after opportunity to achieve above and beyond, again he chooses not to. When it is not enough to get by, he knows that he can always find someone to help him out.

The hubs brother had a rough start. Some I do blame him for, some I do not. Regardless, he says he is trying to turn his life around. I hope that he can. He also does just enough to get by, and when its not enough, it becomes someone elses problem, just like it does with my brother.

The hubs and I have worked very hard to have what we have, live where we do, drive what we drive, and do the things we want to do. In the beginning? Boy howdy was it ever hard. We didn't have money, we struggled. I stayed home with Katie and babysat another little boy during the week and then worked weekends on top on that. Hubs worked extremely hard trying to show the people where he worked that he wanted to move up in the company. ( He has come a long way and still works very hard at what he does, and is good at it). In the beginning, we took a calculator with us to the grocery store so we didn't spend more than we had, we would have rather had our eyes poked out with sharp swords than to not have enough money for what was in our cart. We didn't eat out, we didn't go to movies, we didn't do anything because we just didn't have the money to do those kind of things.

Our brothers on the other hand? They don't always have money to pay rent or to pay other bills, but they (mine) is also going to the movies, eating out and going out with friends. I assume Hubs brother does the same thing, as he also likes to share stories about how much beer he drinks on any given weekend.

This past weekend, the hubs brother called needing money. I pretty much said no flat out. My attitude to start with was, no one ever helped us, why should we help them. Sound pissy? Well it is. We have not seen the BIL since Thanksgiving, he called Christmas morning upset that his girlfriends kids weren't going to have any gifts (kids who we have never met) etc... Hubs stopped what he was doing i.e. spending time with his own child, went to the only place that was open and bought what he could for these kids. Did we get a thank you? I don't care (much) about getting one for the stuff, I care that we didn't get one for the effort, because it took time away from our child's day. My brother does the same type of thing, waiting until the very last second and then asks for (demands) help. I am tired of playing the game with both of them.

Still though, they continue to be the "golden children" in our parents eyes. All I ever hear about is how nice it is that my brother comes over all the time. Um, its because he is looking for a free meal or a handout. MIL thinks her "baby" walks on water and that everything that has happened to him had to be someone else's fault.

I wish that just once when I saw their numbers on the caller I.D. my stomach wouldn't get twisted in knots. I sent my brother a text this morning asking him a question he called back right away histerically upset that he didn't know what I was talking about. He says no one told him. I find that very hard to believe. Do you think I could have pulled that card from the deck and said Oh I am sorry I didn't know? When pigs fly maybe.

I feel like there are different expectations for each of us kids, which are all different and all unequal. Should the hubs and I continue to be the ones to help the other ones out because we choose to work harder than they? Why shouldn't they be expected to work harder so we can have a slack day here and there? Neither of our brothers have children, we do, we have someone to support that isn't old enough to have a job or take care of herself. You dear brothers are plenty old enough to do just that. Would you please start soon?


Sunday, July 23, 2006
Happiness

Because they make my heart happy!


Dog Days of Summer

Because Blogger is being nice today I am going to jump on the picture bandwagon.


The rocket scientist dog! I know if I were covered in black hair and it was 115 outside this is exactly what I would be doing.


The Girl, She Is Growing Up



Here are a few pictures of Katie riding her Dad's quad last weekend at the Cinders. The girl is not at all scared when it comes to riding. Her mom on the other hand? She just can't watch :).


Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Take 3

These pictures are from our trip. H is in the middle in both photos. I talked to her mom yesterday (if you can call it talking). All I could get out was "I know you are at work and I don't want you to be upset (I was fine until this point), "but I just have to know for myself that H is ok". She bewteen tears herself assurend me that yes, H will be fine but is going to be vey sore for a few days. I have not heard how the BIL did in his surgery. As soon as I find out, I will share. Katie and I went shopping yesterday afternoon for some fun little stuff to put in a box for H. Just need a few more things and will send it out tomorrow hopefully.

*Third times a charm trying to get Blogger to post pictures. I am starting to wonder if its me doing something wrong??


Monday, July 17, 2006
Accident
Last night about 9:00 the phone rang. Katie was still up and went to check the caller I.D. to see who it was. She said "It's Grammy, I wonder what she wants". I thought the exact same thing. It was rather late for her to be calling. Katie answered and almost immediately passed the phone to me, which is also unusual as she and Grammy usually talk for a good 15-20 mins before I can even think about getting the phone away from her. My mom said "Hi, I thought you were going to call when you got home". I told her "Yeah, I was going to, we got home, unpacked sat on the couch and all pretty much crashed". Then she said (Oh hell, lets just forget the quotes, hopefully my English teacher isn't reading this anyway) well the S. family had an exciting vacation, and just so you know everyone is ok but.....

*The S family is my mom's youngest sister, her husband, E the 18 year old boy and H the 15 year old girl. The S family spends a week very summer with the husbands family at a lake in Northern Minnesota. J my mom's sister is more like my sister, my mom is the oldest and J is the youngest with 8 kids, this puts quite a few years bewteen them. J lived with us a few years when I was about 10. I spend the first 3 summers of E's life babysitting him and there was that summer 13 years ago when D, the husband, was in the hospital for 3 months and I went and stayed with the kids so they would have some stability during such an uncertain time. I tell people all the time, I love E and H just like they are my own because, well its really like they are. So to hear everyone is ok but....

BUT WHAT I screamed into the phone? Well they were coming home Saturday and were only on the road about 30 mins guessing from the town they were by and a car (not sure what kind) crossed the center line and side swipped the Yukon. D was driving, J and E were in the Yukon along with D's mom. This caused the boat hitched to the back to flip and as they turned to watch the boat flip they saw what I can only imagine was a nightmare in slow motion. D's sister, her husband and H were in the pick-up behind them and the car that had side swipped them hit the truck head on. J said she isn't sure but thinks all she could do was scream as they watched the truck roll several times. H had been laying down in the back seat sleeping and had a blanket over her, which was a good thing as it prevented some of the glass from cutting her. She was able to somehow climb out of the truck, which landed upside down. Thank God the accident happened where they could see 2 farm houses. D and E went running to the houses to call 9*1*1*. J dialed her cell phone and right as the operator answered, it dropped the call. Scary stuff. H was able to climb out on her own, they were able to help D's sister out, D's BIL had to wait and be cut out of the truck with the jaws of life. BIL was hurt the worse, he is having surgery today to try and repair his shattered wrist, D's sister has several bruises and a burn to her face from the airbag. H has a fractured pelvis and a broken rib. The driver of the other car was air-evac to I assume the closest hospital. They believe he was impared. I didn't sleep last night as all I could do was think what if? We were just there and everyone was fine. It only takes a second. I haven't talked to J yet but will call her in just a bit. What do you say though? How many times can you tell someone you love them just to never know you may never get to again? Katie starts VBS today and after I pick her up, we are going to run to Cost*Co to get our pictures from Po-Dunk printed and then off to fill up a care package for H. I love those kids just as much as my own.


Sunday, July 16, 2006
To Whom It May Concern...
Dear Richard's Dad,
From the moment you came into the store I could tell you have your hands full. It took Richard all of about .03 seconds to let us know his mom is in jail. I commend you for doing your best with the little guy, but if you choose to come back into the store? Please don't let him touch everything, and if you do? Don't look at me like I have 3 heads when I ask him to not touch something that may hurt him.
Thanks,
Buh-Bye

_____________________________________________________________________
Dear Mother of The Shaggy Haired Boy,
I think it is wonderful that you, as you ever so nicely explained to me as if I were 6, that you had your son with you to share your passion with him. Just to let you know, you may want to educate yourself a little more about your "passion" as the information you were passing on to him was well, wrong! Um K? One other little note? Shaggy was quite embrassed that you didn't have $2.14 for your big purchase and had to use a debit card. You may want to pick up some cash next time you take him shopping.
Regards,
The One You Called "Hon" over and over again.....


_________________________________________________________________

Dear People Camping Next to us this weekend,

I am sorry that you had to listen to a certain little boy cry most of the weekend (I am even more sorry that I also had to listen to it and that my I-Pod couldn't be turned up any louder),
this was not my child so I really don't know what to say. I am as equally as sorry that the cute little skinny girl who rode a quad around and around in circles for hours on end kept stirring up so much dust. This was my child, but with the screaming and all I was hoping it would help drown out some of his screaming.
As for the time you drove by and there were several grown men standing by the fire with no shirts on? I can only blame the tequilla and offer no apologizes for their actions. They are adults and well they were trying to decide who had the biggest "man-boobs". I know you were wondering and well now you know.

__________________________________________________________________

I know, I know.... Pictures from Po-Dunk and all that other good stuff I promised. I am hoping for tomorrow in bewteen loads of laundry. Who knew having a day off would be so much fun.


Monday, July 10, 2006
BITTER... Party of One?
Your table is ready! That would be my table and don't try to sit with me 'cause I am in a pissy mood. This is going to sound really shallow on my part but I don't know what else to do about it except complain here because complaining any place else won't do any good, and well it will look like I am being shallow and bitter.

My birthday day was last Friday. We were still on vacation but I received phone calls from the hubs, Carrie, Cari, Ang, Meag, Em, and LeRoy. All those people? Friends. Do you see that my mom or dad or the child who does no wrong, my brother called? You don't? Really? Even if you look close? Don't bother because they didn't bother to call. But you were on vacation you say? We were at my grandma's house, my mom's mom so I am thinking they knew the number. We came home on Saturday, Sunday afternoon my mom finally called. I really don't expect much from them, its not like I am 12, so a phone call? The least I think they could do. Had I not called on one of their birthdays? The shit would have hit the fan. Really like I said I don't expect much but it would have been nice to be remembered. (They didn't call last year until the next day either for the record.)

Anyway, I am trying to not let it bother me (apparently I am not doing so well with that one but I am trying) and maybe I will feel better now that I vented about it a bit.

And because I am in such a great mood I am going back out to the 140 degree garage to finish cleaning an entire pack of Tri-Dent gum out of my dryer..... Funny thing, Katie says it wasn't her but with half the pack being melted in the pocket of her shorts its lookin kinda like it was maybe, just maybe, her.


Sunday, July 09, 2006
Home Sweet Home
We have made it home safe and sound. We had a great trip and have lots of fun stuff to blog about. For now though, I need to clean out the suitcases and go to the grocery store. Maybe I should change the title of this post because those two things really don't sound all that fun and the list just goes on and on from there.....

Back later this afternoon with pictures, fun stories, pictures, a list of the things I missed the most, pictures, and the birthday present I got that rocks, and maybe a few more pictures (you can never have to many!!).


Lilypie 6th to 18th Ticker
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