The paint fumes are so thick I may go join the chickens for the nite

Dad: "Sometimes I wonder how much longer I can take this",
as Tia is chattering nonstop at about 100mph.
Tia: "Who, me? You'll make it, you only have four years left. And plus ...
Mom says she wants to keep me forever!"

Last night I hit the chair with a blanket at 8:10 pm and then I moved to my bed at 10ish.
Guess that sums up yesterday!

Today I was off and did a little something around here.
I also came up with several plans.
From now on (remind me, would you please?) when we paint a room, I am going to save and label a small container of paint for patching up things. The tan in the living room and dining room is gone. What was left has been mixed with other stuff and used elsewhere. Ugh. I managed the rest of the color patching today. Now I need to peel off a piece of paint and go color match it this weekend.
And, no, we are not going to use the color match app on the iphone. I fear it might be off.
That would spell disaster.

The mud room floor got a fresh coat of color today. I just love red.
The smell? It wasn't the same stuff we used before. Who knows where this stuff came from.
It is so bad that I'm surprised Duke isn't walking around in circles howling.
Really bad.

The other plan.
I need to quit worrying.
I was even looking online for things to help in that department last night.
I did find one thing and am going to try it.
A notebook or journal to write down the worries.
If a person writes them down with the intention of addressing them later, the brain is faked out into thinking you will actually go back to them. Whether you do or not doesn't matter. The brain thinks you will. Hence, you stop worrying about that particular thing because you've already taken care of it.
Consciously I know that I am worrying about things I have no control over. They aren't anything that is in my hands.
My worry seems centered around my kids lately.
Although I know that never ends until the day I die, it really doesn't need to be consuming quite so much of my energy .. especially when I can't do anything about it!
If you have any hints or tips ... I'd love to hear them.
And, Mom, please don't tell me it is a genetic predisposition. I already know that. :)

Blayde is winging his way ...

through the friendly skies and currently stopped in Salt Lake City on a layover.

Phoenix is his destination this morning.

Long time pals are waiting for him to arrive.

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

We'll miss you ... and see you soon.

You learn something new every day.

Somedays I figure my day is done when I've learned that one thing.

Usually it isn't.

Yesterday Tia was working on a project while I was doing Saturday like things.

The project included a piece of wood and a hand held cordless small power tool.

She found that ....

if you have long hair that is not tied back ....

and you have a handy little Dremel tool with a slightly larger circular apparatus on the end of it than this picture shows ...

and you have the tool set on high ....

if it should come in contact with your hair, it whips it up in no time flat.

I have another blurrier picture that may show it better, but trust me.

Sort of mix between afro and berber carpet.

I thought for sure we were going to chop off a hunk of it, but we didn't.

Once the corded knot was out she headed right back to her project.

This time with a hair tie.

Homework got done .. at least in Tia's department.

Rather than doing it pool side while vacationing, we watched snow angels out the front window while working angles.

Anna is working, working, working. I fear for her homework which is due tomorrow.

As for Saturdays. Why is it that when a working mom has hours on Saturday in which she accomplishes things like shining the sink and scrubbing the foors, she feels that she has accomplished much. Let her get the house vacuumed and dusted and you may as well have given her roses. Laundry done (and laundry room neat and organized) equates to hours on the beach in the Caribbean. That is a stretch, but not my much. Add grocery shopping and library hopping ... and she's ready for nearly anything. Bills paid, mail sorted, book finished. All topped with a strawberry shortcake at the Valley Hotel last night while watching the full moon rise with a mighty handsome hubby.

We were celebrating more new paint.

Yes, we're readying a house for the market.

Promise to share more on that in the next week or two.

This morning ...

my eyeballs really didn't want to open.

I've had this problem with sleeping in since we got home.

The kids are on spring break and I know that I don't have to be up at the crack of predawn ... so I sleep in. It is getting frustrating. I lose valuable internet time sleeping in.

Last night I told Jari that I really needed help getting up this morning ... early.

He tried. 7:23 a.m. my eyelids flew open.

I work at 8:00.

I made it.

Even if our world was covered with white this morning and the roads slow going.

Dear Hubby climbed out of bed and shoveled off my car right quick.

While I was gone today, he spent some precious time out moving snow.

I absolutely love fresh snow.

I was starting to feel like I needed to get out the pick and chisel.

The dog doodoo around the yard was starting to get to me.

Now I can't see it. Perfect!

What I could see (even if the picture is a bit off) is that no one had made a track to the chicken coop today.

They are seriously loving the warm weather and laying a few more eggs for us. 

While all that white snow is beautiful, I'm guessing it won't be lasting long.

Not if you watch the stuff coming out of the gutters.

Bummer. Might have to get to that dog stuff after all! 

One of my frustrations that I vented about in AZ was the fact that somehow all my scrapbooking digital papers had disappeared off my computer.

Gone.

I have no clue where they went or how they got there, but I sure couldn't find them.

Someone suggested that the site I downloaded them from originally would have my previous downloads.

Thank you so much!

I might be missing some of the paper, but I got most of it back.

I am dreadfully behind in the scrapbooking department. The morning scrapping hasn't worked out this school year with my jaunts to the bus stops and the school ... and blog hopping.

I usually load my pages with photos and am not one for many doodads, rather for journaling instead. This photo courtesy of my dear SIL Jenny is a serious keeper.

The gusto department was busy for the past hour and a half.

I think I just pitched about 20 pair of shoes and 2 winter jackets.

On a roll!

You know you're happy to be home ...

when you find yourself puttering in the kitchen.

I have an addiction. Okay. Maybe more than one.

This one happens to be one high in calories and is called the Morning Bun from the Northstar Bakery. If you live anywhere near Palmer/Wasilla, it is certainly worth the trip to get one. I've been wanting to try make some myself, so I did. Try, that is.

I started with the Puff Pastry sheets and rolled them out a bit to make them just a wee bit bigger. Then I covered it with butter. No cheating either. You have to use the real thing. (I'm telling you. Those Morning Buns are floating in it!) Next I slathered sugar over the whole thing and then I rolled and cut them. Placed them in a greased pan and baked until the bottoms were golden brown.

And they didn't look or taste anything like the the Morning Bun.

Highly disappointing.

My family did inhale them rather quickly.

That's because I've not introduced them to the real thing. And I don't intend to.

Instead ... I'll feed them things like Stovetop Stuffing Casserole. Full of healthy things like chicken and broccoli.

At least until they get into the other goodies. I had the great fortune to win a raffle basket Saturday evening that is full of butter and sugar.

Katrina does some mighty fine baking ... and we are thoroughly enjoying it over here!

I really am not hungry as I'm posting this late evening. Tia made dinner tonite. It was rather fun. A mix of pasta, potatoes, ground beef, corn, celery, soup ... and although I would have never combined them ... it did taste good!

Will see what she comes up with tomorrow. Maybe I'll help a little and have her work on some chicken enchiladas.

Made it through the first day back to work today. I remembered my locker combination. Why do I always worry that I'll forget that?! Although it feels delicious to be a sloth once in a while, it really feels good to be back up and running again. In new shoes. In new shoes that squeak. That could very well be the reason I found them at Last Chance. At least they look nice.

Day off tomorrow. That almost feels wrong. Jari has the basement looking so tip top that I nearly want to run out and buy a ping pong or pool table! He is in serious need of a hot tub at the moment. I have a feeling that tomorrow will be full of cleaning ... downstairs.

I think I might just need some sugar to make it through the day. (I sort of feel like the author of If You Give a Moose a Muffin right now.) All it took was the word day. Reminded me that I need to tell you that my world was daylight when I went to work this morning ... and the sun was still up when I left. Simply amazing what 2 weeks does for the amount of daylight here.

One of many treats ...

our Arizona vacation gave us was the chance to visit with both sets of parents/grandparents. Both of them live in Minnesota now and both were visiting

in Arizona. This is one of the bigger bummers of having moved so far away.

Missing spending precious time with our parents.

Had to give Mom a hard time about hauling out her handwork in the church bench.

She was busy showing her latest project to the neighboring gal pals.

The car that has carried them many miles and been quite faithful on their journeys.

After Arizona, they were off to Texas to visit before heading back home.

We also got to spend time with Pappa and Mummu. If you're reading this and don't know what Pappa and Mummu mean ... grandpa and grandma in Finnish. Our children have always called their maternal grandparents by Grandpa and Grandma, their paternal grandparents by Pappa and Mummu. I grew up doing just the opposite.

This is the first winter they have spent in Minnesota in many years. The winter has been a bit on the chilly side and they headed to Arizona to warm up. As luck would have it, the temps dropped in Arizona as well. We're glad they were there and we were able to see them as well!

In the past few weeks I have shared with many people our wish to move back to Arizona. To be honest, I've not made a big secret of that.

If you scroll back up this page, start at the top and scroll back down to this point,

you might be able to appreciate part of what is tugging at my heart strings and calling me home.

* I did find a small part of my gusto yesterday.

After vacation blahs

I need the magic cure to snap me out of it. I am usually quite capable of going with gusto. Right now the gusto has gone up and went somewhere else.

Today. Is. The. Day.
I will get something done.

Maybe the gusto got left at Ronda's poolside ...

at Desert Ridge, Kierland, Paradise Valley Mall or Goodwill. We do have quite the range of places we frequented! I became quite a fan of Thursdays at Goodwill, although I only made it there once on a Thursday.

It may have flown out the window on our drive to Prescott.

Let's hope the windmill didn't get it. Maybe not. The air was still and it wasn't even moving.

It was probably caught in this little straw blowing war. My gusto is probably sitting in midst the gumbo at the Golden Corral in Prescott.

In the meantime, while the gusto is missing, I'll continue to watch coverage of the tragedy in Japan and pray for their people.

I'll keep an eye on the Iditarod, whose start we missed this year.

I'll also keep wishing I could snuggle our newest family members: twins in a NICU in Anchorage (both of who are doing very well) and a newborn little farm girl in northern Minnesota.

Gusto or not ... the dust layer is thick around here.