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I just wanted to make sure you all know we're still alive. So I'll just put some quotes on here that my mom sent me. She actually sent them to me snail mail, since she can't seem to get used to email yet. LOL I may have to tape a few of these around the house ....
- I'm not deaf, I'm ignoring you.
- Behind every superkid is a supermom.
- Bratty kids will be sold as slaves, some free!
- This house maintained for the benefit of the dog.
- Forget the dog, beware of the kid.
- Supermom lives here.
- I'm the mommy, that's why!
- Because it's my kitchen!
- M is for mother, not maid.
- Thou shalt not whine!
- Today's menu: Take it or leave it.
- Home sweet home. When not, adjust.
- Caution: This room not cleaned by Mom!
- Life is only what you make it, so make it beautiful.
- One of God's greatest miracles is to enable ordinary people to do extraordinary things.
- Do you always want to be right or do you want to be happy?
- What you say tells people what you are.
- Choose friends carefully, you become what they are. (Not sure I personally agree with this one).
- Be brave like Christa McAuliffe, touch the future.
- I can be different fro my friends and still be okay.
Chelle
I know I've been absent. We all know the excuses. But I really wanted to announce something. I lost 4 pounds in 2 and a half weeks! And how I did it is pretty fun, too. It's our early Christmas present - a Wii! It is so dang fun. I can work up quite a sweat with 30 minutes of playing. And I'm consistent because it's something I really enjoy. I think it was quite an amazing investment.
Ok, back to class - I am sure the lecturer thinks I am taking great notes ...
Chelle
This Saturday was to be the great day! The day of painting. Most of the house is primed and ready for a new, fancy, shiny coat of paint. The only draw back? Rain in the forecast, possibly mixed with snow. ::sigh:: It has been beautiful all week long. I guess the universe has bigger and better plans for me that day. I'll see if I can discover what that is.
 Oh well. The house still looks better than it did. And I have Monday and Tuesday off, so I will just prolong my painting days a bit further. I'll post a picture when its all said and done.
-Chel
Since Chelle is a couple of months into the last year of her master's program and working two jobs, it leaves it up to me to try and keep this blog moving in some direction or another. So that's what I'm gonna do.
About 2 months ago or so a friend of ours from PA had about a day layover as she flew from CA back home. So she came and hung out with us. She loves to do yard work, and offered to come back sometime when she could spent some time working on a yard project. At first I considered having her help cut down a very large, and dying, evergreen in my front yard. Then I had this brilliant idea to paint my house instead.
My days are such that I have pretty much two entire days during the week where I can work on getting it ready. So I began the tedious effort of scraping the terribly peeling walls. One side took me about 2 1/2 weeks just to get it scraped. Today I finally finished scraping the main house, and am now working on the car port. Then its time to sand a few areas that are in great need of sanding. And the entire thing still needs to be primed. I have two more days to finish it until our friend flies in. I have been doing this pretty much by myself so its been quite a chore. There are teenagers living here of course, and they would be very capable of helping me in so many ways...ya, like I said, I've been doing this pretty much on my own.
I hope there isn't lead in the paint, because I'm sure I've eaten a few paint flecks.
Maybe I should have stuck with removing the tree.
-Chel
Wow ... we've been silent a long time, haven't we. I apologize. Masters programs and internships and teenagers take a lot of my time. But I do have a funny experience to share.
In one of my classes, our instructor had us introduce ourselves and where we were from. A woman from the back of the room said she was Cynthia (fake name) and she was from Tehachipi CA. This happens to be where I lived until I was 7 years old, so I decided I'd go talk to her after class, not expecting to have anything in common other than Tehachipi.
After class, I went up to her and said I lived in Tehachipi until I was 7. She said, "Didn't you say in another class you're going to be 41 soon?" I said I did. She said, "I am too!"
Then she asked me if I remembered where I lived when I lived there and I named the street. She said, "Me, too!" We compared notes and found that she lived a block away from me.
I called my mom and told her that I found a girl who lived a block away when I was little and told her the last name. She said she remembered Cynthia and that I played with her when we were little. I do have a vague memory of her ... a little girl playing ball in her driveway ... I wonder if that's really her ...
How strange, huh. And when you think about all the little tiny things that needed to be in place for this little coincidence to take place, it's astounding. Is there some meaning to this, or is this just an interesting happening?
Regardless, cool, huh.
The good news. I finally have my official degree. I graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work and Gerontology. I'm happy about that. I also got my first two master's classes done and have grades for those - both are A. I feel pretty good about it.
The bad news. I have to have two root canals on Tuesday. You'd think after the one I had in January of 2006, I would not have put it off for so long. But I apparently learn my lessons quite slowly. And how to come up with the $800 to pay for my share is beyond me.
So we're just going camping. That will solve everything.
Chelle
 Today was free fishing day in Utah. That means lots of people were out fishing today, and I got to help about 85 kids do just that. Fishing was good. Which means only, well, a few things.
1) Kids were having a great time, and some kids caught their first fish today!
2) There were a lot of fish to clean, which I happily got to help with.
3) Fish smell does not come off hands very easily.
So I spent the whole of the morning and afternoon cutting, pulling out fish guts, and covering my hands in fish smell - washing my hands to no avail - and doing it again, and again, and again. Kids loved it! What is it about blood and guts that gets kids all excited? I guess maybe the same things that gets them excited about animal scat.
Kids are fun. And they don't care if they smell like fish guts.
-Chel
This one's even funnier when you add family dynamics to the story. Let's see if I can tell it all without making it too complicated.
Dad calls last night to tell me Mom is in the ICU. Then he does his normal, "Don't worry, she'll be fine" routine. He also tells me nothing. No reason for the visit, no condition is described, nothing the doctor has said is repeated. Any questioning I have leads him to accuse me of being nosy. His words. So somehow, any information I seek brings him to a place of feeling like I doubt his ability to take care of things. He tells me I worry too much and when it's time to worry about something, he'll tell me. I worry anyway.
Last night after I talked to Dad, I called my older sister, thinking maybe she has a secret way to get more information from Dad. She doesn't, and she thinks I worry too much, too. We don't have the best relationship anyway, and I always sense my personality and way of thinking is incredibly foreign and uncomfortable for her.
I worked a grave last night and so slept when I came home. When I woke up, I saw caller ID listed my sister calling once, then my dad, then my sister again. Worried, I called my dad first. He said things were fine, Mom's still in ICU, then he tried to tell me more info, and it seemed quite uncomfortable for him. The info was still quite vague: "Some level is too high, but she'll be fine." But I thought it odd he was making an attempt, even through obvious discomfort.
I then call my sister who says she was worried about me because when we talked last, I didn't seem like myself. I said, "I was fine last night." She said, "No, I mean this morning when I called." I told her I never talked to her and was asleep the whole morning. She said, "I talked to you for 10 minutes this morning. Had a whole conversation with you about mom. You just didn't sound like yourself." I had a hard time convincing her she did not talk to me.
AJ had actually answered the phone when she called. His 13-year old voice apparently sounded just like mine. He talked to my sister for 10-minutes, not once letting her in on the fact that she was not talking to who she thought she was. She even said things like, "You don't sound like my sister" and "Are you sure you're okay, you sound different." Why he didn't let her in on the secret for that amount of time is beyond me.
But the chain reaction was started. My sister was so worried she considered calling 9-1-1. She instead called my dad and told him he needed to call me and give me more info because I wasn't dealing well with things. So then he again thinks I worry too much and am just nosy, and is forced to call me to tell me more so I don't have some nervous breakdown.
Come to find out, AJ was so distracted by his computer game while he was talking to my sister, he had no idea who he was talking to. When she asked to speak to Sarah, he thought it must be my mom. I am not sure when he figured out it was my sister ... but one thing is for sure, she never figured out it was AJ.
But I've called everyone and explained why "I wasn't myself" when Sister called earlier. Apparently I was AJ. And no one needs to worry about me. They're all having a good laugh about it - I hope.
And AJ is banned from answering the phone if he is playing a computer game.
Chelle
I swear I'm going to post something soon. I promise. In fact, right now I'm working on anther "My Dad Should Be Dead" story. And this one also includes me and 2 of my siblings. Should be good. But I don't have time to finish it right now, and tomorrow isn't looking good either...:) But I will get to it. I promise. You'll love it!
Right now I need to go take a shower and wash the smell of pizza and bleach off me. Such a lovely aroma. But tips were pretty good tonight, so it helps pay for the gas it takes to deliver all those pizzas. Such a contradiction. Deliver pizzas to help pay for a few extra things, including gas, and have to use MORE gas to do it.
Ok, I guess that's all for now. I just had to contribute to this blog of ours. Chelle was starting to think I had bailed on her.
-Chel
A few days ago I was visiting with a group of 5 year olds. We were about to embark on a "Nature Exploration" so I wanted to just chit-chat a bit about what nature was. So I asked them, "Can anyone tell me what nature is?"
Blank. No response.
Um..now what? "No body knows what nature is?"
One mom wispers to her daughter "trees" - so she says it.
"Great!" I say, sure the others will catch on with that little hint.
"Be safe" comes another answer. "No pushing" pipes up another (now they are on a roll, but apparently its the wrong one) - "No hitting" says another, "Stay together" shouts yet another.
Well... at least they know how to be nice and stay safe while out in nature.
- Chel
Little kids are cute. I had the lovely opportunity yesterday to tend my little 3 year old niece. She reminds me of me when I was her age - learning and saying new "adult" type things.
A few of her favorite phrases that we find ourselves repeating quite frequently are:
As an affirmative answer to everything, rather than a simple "yes" or "uh hu" she says: "sure" with emphasis in all the right places to make it sound perfectly cute.
When she sees something that is new or odd to her, its: "What the...." only it's all one word, more like "whada...?"
In talking about her "princesses", as she names them, she squats down, and then jumps up as she says each name ("and I saw Cinderella" ::jump:: "and Bell" ::jump:: "and Snow White" ::jump:: etc). So sometimes I find myself listing things the same way.
Some things are just exciting enough to jump about!
-Chel
A week or two ago Chelle, her kids and I, all went camping to one of our favorite places. It's about a 3 1/2 hour drive, and by the time we got there, it was after dark. So we began unloading the car, and getting the tent set up, trying to build a fire, and just getting things organized. The kids would grumble and get upset at one another often as they trudged back and forth from the car to the campsite.
Finally, everything was unloaded, the tent was up, the sleeping bags were arranged, and we were ready to go to bed. Prayer is important to us, and we try to always remember to give thanks for those things we have been given. This night wasn't any different, and so we gathered together for our evening prayer. Sarah was asked to offer the prayer, and so she began.
It started out normally, offering thanks for our safe trip and for the opportunity to be there. Then she said, "we're thankful that we could get up set...I mean (through muffled laughter) set up..." None of us could contain our giggles because that was such an appropriate comment for the evenings happenings. She continued her prayer, though we were all trying, unsuccessfully, to stop laughing.
I'm sure the Lord has a lovely sense of humor, and was glad Sarah was so grateful that night.
-Chel
No, not a Pat Benatar album ... just a story about my life.
The other day I had a grocery shopping experience that made me question my sanity. I'm sure what it really meant was I needed more sleep and less stress.
I had to drive to a town 45 miles away to pick up my two oldest children, but that was going to require me to get fuel in my car. Gas stations around here don't take checks and I had no cash around the house. AJ reminded me we were out of milk. I was really smart and thought I could go get some milk and write the check for more than the amount so I could get gas. So off I went.
As I go into the store, I think I am really too tired to make dinner for everyone tonight. Maybe while I'm in here, I'll pick up something simple for dinner. What a great idea! I get some cheese slices, hamburger buns, and chicken patties. I head to the checkout and proceed to have my items rung up. I ask, "Can I write this for $30 more?" She says I can. I write the check for $30.
Ok, that won't work, I realize. I actually need it for $30 extra. So I write another check. The girl likely thinks I'm not so with it, hands me my reciept and my $30, and off I go. I almost get to the door before I realize I walked off without my groceries. I saunter on back, as if I meant to do that, and get my groceries. The check out girl notices, of course, and says, "I needed those!" I respond, "But I paid for them, so you're out of luck." She laughs, I get even more embarassed, and head out to my car.
As I'm shaking my head at myself, I put the groceries in the car, and suddenly realize I never did buy the milk.
After I get gas in my car, I go by the house to drop off the food, and AJ decides he wants to come with me. On the way to X's house for my other kids, I tell AJ about my grocery escapade. He is quiet a few minutes. Then he says, "Do you remember why we're going to [town]?"
He thinks he's so funny.
Chelle
Chelle and I both love cats. She has one, I have one, we are both convinced they are the prettiest, and cutest little things ever. And they are the bosses, too. When I crawl into bed at night, if one of them is sleeping (ever so soundly and peacefully) on my bed, right in my spot, then I have to jam myself carefully around them, so as not to disturb their peaceful slumber.
They both have a funny thing about their drinking water. My cat likes to jump in the tub right after anyone showers, and paw the faucet to get any last drips and then lick the water off.
Chelle's little Spy, for some reason, likes to drink her water off the edges of things. For example, I have a large container that I keep Anna's water in. Spy will push it, pull it, pat it, in an attempt to get some of the water to splash up on the edge so she can lick it off. Its even better if she can get it to tip over, because then she can lick what ever is left inside.
One of her favorite things to do is put her paw in a cup (anywhere from slightly full of liquid, to nearly full) and pull on it. After it spills all over the place, she has her pick of edge drinking. Just now, as I sat here reading over blogs and getting ready to post something, I hear the familiar sound of a cup about to be pulled over. I jumped up to try and rescue the cup (and surrounding papers) from the inevitable outcome, but I jumped too late. It frustrated me this time. And with the little remaining water left in the cup, I splashed little Spy. Of course she looked at me with indignation, jumped to the floor, and calmly cleaned herself off (then wondered over to the dog's water for her little sip).
 The kitties about to drink out of the fountain until Anna come's over to check things out. - Chel
I was getting to know a resident at the nursing facility where I'm doing my practicum. I love that part of my "job". This resident is quite cute. She's even asked me out on a date - likely not realizng I'm a woman. ??
This time we were talking about her spending some of her growing up years in South Dakota. I'm pretty familiar with South Dakota, so I asked what town. She mentioned one where there is actually some pretty fun water spots. So I asked if she liked to swim there.
"Oh yes!" she replied.
"How often did you get to do that?" I asked.
"Every day, pert near," was her reply.
Not only did I love her response and how cultural it was, but I loved my first thought: "I wonder how to spell 'pert near' for my blog?"
I am not a fan of set ups. You know when someone comes up to you and says, "My cousin's best friend's sister's ex-boyfriend's brother is looking for a date. Are you free on Friday?"
I have no doubt they mean well. Their intentions have always been the best interest of the guy or the girl being asked. I'm sure of it.
But come on. Don't they think we can get dates on our own if we wanted to? Or that we aren't going out otherwise? Or do they think we're not married because we're socially backwards? Or too ugly to be asked by someone else? Or too old? Bottom line: somehow unable to get a date on our own?
And just why can't that guy get a date on his own? If he's old enough to date me, he's either divorced (and I wonder why) or such a geek he can't find someone compatible. Surely that's not going to be me to be the one compatible woman in the universe. I mean, what are the odds?
Ok, luckily I've not been set up in a very long time. I think it's the divorced, 40 years old, 3 teenager thing that stops people. I only have to deal with, "Have you talked to Larry? What do you think of him?" Close enough to a set up that I run from the room screaming.
But Chel ... she's had a few set ups. I feel for her. Then when she comes home and tells me about the date, we laugh. The last one was with the brother of a friend's husband. They went bowling with the friend and her husband. Chel says the conversation would have been dead if the friend hadn't come along. She says this guy and she couldn't maintain more than 2 sentences between each other.
Maybe I should be grateful for them, really. I mean they are good entertainment - for me at least.
Chelle
Look how long it's been! I never thought I'd let "The Dumb Blog" lapse like this! But what a stressful time this has been for me. Let me just say - I have missed you all. Really.
I have been spending a lot of time at my practicum, trying to get up to my required 400 hours. I'm up to 120, I think. I also am working on my final "Senior Capstone" paper. It's up to 87 pages. I have two main parts left to do. By the time I get home from either practicum or work, though, I just don't have the energy to write a proper paper. It's weighing on my mind. I also have two other major papers due, and two presentations. But ... with 1 month, 3 weeks, 1 day left till graduation ... I can do it. I keep telling myself that. Or at least try to. I can do anything for that long, right? Even stay high strung!?
X has been treating AJ a little less nicely than I would myself. It's been hard. X pressed charges against AJ for putting 5 holes in the door of his closet. They are this size:
 Seriously. I know you think I'm kidding here. Pressing charges against a 13-year old for making 5 holes smaller than a dime in his closet door. No kidding, though. So I suggested that X let AJ move here this month, for the rest of the school year and next. He actually thought it was a good idea ... just needs to ask his wife now. I was hopeful for a second, until he said that. I'm trying to maintain hope, regardless of history.
X also told the kids he may move to another state. They have all decided to move with me for the next school year. I can't tell you how happy that makes me! Not that he's moving (really!) but that they're going to live with me. Nothing makes me happier than my kids, I tell ya. But this makes me kind of busy getting kids registered for school, worrying about AJ, arranging things ... It's all worth it to me, tho.
My Social Work project is over. We collected about 130 coats. Fewer than 15 of the other items, but we wanted more coats anyway. I think it's amazing what we got!
I accidentally spent most of my summer tuition money. Chel doesn't know that. Well, I guess she does now. I totally couldn't figure out how I had extra money in my account. I put it there, of course, from my taxes so I could pay for my summer class. The last one required to truly have my degree. So I spent it on our little get away. I have faith, though, that somehow I'll come up with it before tuition time. I can hope. Right?? Money ... another major stressor.
So that's a recap. Hope you all understand why I've been absent. I will likely be intermittent for the next ... 1 month, 3 weeks, and 1 day.
I better go pick up Chel off the floor now.
Chelle
Hey everyone. We've been out of town and having a grand ol' time. It was kind of a last minute thing. We left about 9 p.m. on Friday night, drove 4 hours, found our hotel and played all day Saturday and part of the day Sunday, then made our way back home.
One of the highlights: miniature golf under a black light. I think Chelle got some good pictures...of course its kind of hard to take pictures under a black light. But we'll see what she's got.
We went hiking, ate way too much, played on some lake beaches, staked out some new areas to go camping and didn't think about life back home much at all.
So, I just wanted to let everyone know that we're still here, even though we haven't said much the past few days.
-Chel
The other day, one of my co-workers (who wanted his 15 minutes of fame on our blog, but didn't want his real name used - so I'll just call him Jeff) noticed, as he was looking around our blog that Chelle does the Lions (or in his words, "holds all the carrots") share of work on this blog. He's right. Chelle does more work on here than I do. I just post now and then. She pretty much set the page up, added all the fun stuff, does the Silly Sunday Stuff, Fun Photo Friday, and Favorites on a regular basis, and lots of other things.
Jeff said "that's grounds for divorce in any relationship".
Well, I've been thinking about that. And he's right. But I don't see me doing any more on our blog than adding some entries now and then. But I think Chelle can handle that. After all, there are other "give and take" things in our relationship. Every relationship has them - from good friends, to parent/child, to husband and wife.
So here is a break down of some Chelle & Chel's give and take outside the blogging world.
* I feed and water the Gecko so Chelle doesn't have to touch those worms
* Chelle does the laundry (the majority of the time)
* I sweep and mop the floor - Chelle hates doing floors
* Chelle goes to three jobs and full time school (and who has time for anything after that?)
* I shovel the walks when it snows outside
* Chelle deals with all of her children's needs, which are often many
* I clean up the backyard doggie doo-doo - she is my dog after all
* Chelle does all the research and organizing of both of our family histories (it confuses me)
* I clean up dog and cat barf (Chelle can't handle that)
etc, etc.
So you see, Jeff, (I need to mention his name again, to draw out that 15 minutes) if we just focused on one thing that one person does the majority of the time, it could be quite disastrous. But we must continually strive to look beyond ourselves, and see that we all "give and take".
Just like at work, Jeff. You come to work with a new plumb-colored shirt on, and nobody notices, so you say "hey, nobody noticed my new purple shirt". And what do we do? We walk over to your little corner of the office, look at your new shirt, and say "Hey Jeff, nice new plumb colored shirt". And we mean it.
- Chel
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