Watching out the window

P8265121, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Finally have a return of a cat again this week. Nothing close up but Eclipse was enjoying sitting and watching all of the birds outside that were after all of the bugs that were trying to find dry area to hide in.

It is time for Feline and Furball Friday over with Steve and Pickle. If you want to play along just post your own and leave a link in comments. Have a great weekend everyone!

Strange week

This week is going nothing like I was hoping for, but they usually don't so I'm not surprised by that. My only hope for this week was to be able to get out and about to take pictures. No joke it has rained every day this week! Maybe next week will be good week for getting out to try for pictures. Sweetpea livened things up this week with her arm that has been hurting off and on for a couple of weeks, it went to hurting all the time horrible pain, and her not having the ability to use it. What we do know:

• It isn't broken
• It isn't bruised
• We have another follow up Friday morning for blood test results and where we go next with figuring out just what is going on with her arm

In the mean time Sweetpea has been trying to adjust to having no use of her left arm, and a sever pain running through her arm at pretty much all points in time. The only good news for me last night was the pain coming down just a little bit for her and seeing her be able to move her left arm a little bit without passing out from the pain. Which this week is a very huge deal.

For just a little more added fun yesterday the AC unit broke. Now thank goodness because of all the rain we have had the temperatures are staying pretty low for August. Have only hit highs in the mid 80's most of this week, humidity has been up at about 90-100%, but if there isn't going to be a running AC this is a good week for it. The bad side of it is with the rain comes lots of creepy crawling things trying to find a dry place to hide. Well when you have to have windows and doors open for air they love your house! Since discovering the loss of the AC yesterday afternoon and opening up windows to try to keep house as cool as I can, I have killed 4 huge spiders and a countless number of other smaller bugs that found their way into the shelter of the house. By the way every animal that lives in this house is fired! They don't kill, they don't chase, they just don't do anything but sit and stare at the bugs. One even dared to run the oppisite direction from one last night. I think their thoughts are that Mom has shoes and that is just what they are for.

The good news is that someone will be out today to take a look at what is going on with the airconditioner and hopefully will be able to get it fixed today. The scary thought is that last year when this happened it took them two days to get the part in that they needed. Unless I'm just not going to sleep for the next couple of days there is no way I can leave these window open past sunset because of the flow of bugs right now. Ewww bugs!! So join me in hoping that it is something that they have parts for today to fix.

I hope that everyone is having a good week, and I will post more about Sweetpea after her appointment tomorrow or if I should happen to get a call today (so not holding my breath). Enjoy your Thursday!

Monday morning confusion

100_9152, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I'm pretty sure the last thing that anyone really wants to see a picture of is the dirty dishes in my sink, but in my state of early Monday morning confusion it is what is going up. I'm trying to figure out just how in the world between 7:00 last night and 6:00 this morning I can have 8 dirty cups in the sink. One plate, one fork, but 8 dirty cups? Now I know that I can subtract one of the cups because I know Army Guy was using it last night. After years of children and animals my drinks are always in a container with a lid because I'm really not that fond of wearing my drinks. (Whole other confession here...yes I'm 38 years old and need a tippy cup!) Back to the topic at hand here this morning though, 7 cups since last night. Now all of the girls have water bottles that they keep with them, and one has yet to even come out to the kitchen area this morning, so the question is how in the world do I have so many cups laying dirty in the sink already? Oh wait I bet it is those sneaky little fairy again! They sneak in and make messes for us Mom's to clean. You know the one's that I'm talking about...instead of just one towel to dry off with they use three. Instead of throwing their snack trash away they leave it for animals to find and tear up, they spill juice on cabinets or on floors and just leave it. As Mom's we blame it on the children, but oh the error of our ways we should all learn from. It isn't those sweet adorable little babies of ours, it is those sneaky fairies trying to get them in trouble! I'm just glad that those sneaky things only left the confusing amount of dirty cups in the sink here this morning. At least they were not scattered through out the house like usual.
For anyone wondering I am feeling much better now and I'm thinking I'm going to be stuck in smarty pants mode for most of this week. I hope that everyone has a great start to the week, and keep on the look out for those sneaky fairies they will make a huge mess if you don't keep an eye out for them.

Sibling Sunday...Didn't get the memo

Until last night I wasn't aware of the fact that to get my children to do their chores that they had to receive a memo about the chores. Well now that I know I will make sure that there are several memo's sent out about just what chores are expected to be done. Should be really easy for me to get done since I have that list making addiction. I will say this though...I'm pretty sure that none of the girls will ever make the mistake of saying "Well I didn't get the memo about it" ever again. I'm not so sure that Army Guy will get over laughing at me about making the memo up this morning, but every now and then when I Mom feels like screaming it is sometimes best to be a smarty pants instead. Plus there was the look of shock on children's faces as they read it that screamed they got the idea.
I hope that everyone is having a great Sunday, and kids should be on the look out for memo's from their Mother's.

Memo of change:

Do to it being brought to my attention yesterday that a memo of rounding up laundry was never gotten by one child, I’m making a change to the routine. From now on the laundry will be rounded up and ready to go Friday night. Which means once you return home from school Friday afternoon you should get all dirty clothes, and towels picked up and put in their respectful places so that washing of them can begin. Your failure to have all dirty items picked up and in place will result in them not being washed by me and if you want clean clothes for the following week, it may result in you having to wash them yourself. I am not a laundry service that lives for nothing more than to wash your dirty clothes, and is at your beck and call when it is convenient for you to get up and do the chores that are asked of you.

This will be your one and ONLY MEMO on this topic, and I expect each of you to sign and return to my desk showing that each of you have read this by no later than Monday August 25, 2008.

If you should have any questions about this memo please contact management.

Please sign acknowledgement of this memo

Unplanned break

P8155027, originally uploaded by torri_g.

After being Mom for so long to my girls I should know better than to celebrate feeling a little bit better, because there is always a second round coming for me. I tried to keep going this week, and actually made it through more than I thought I could, but blogging just didn't make it on any list. I'm hopeful that the worst of it is really behind me now, and that over the next couple of days I will stop feeling so very drained and get this house back in order.

It has been an emotional week on top of everything else. Binky Sue had an IEP team meeting to plan her transition of her senior year and per our deal I let her take the lead and make her own choices for this. For 14 years it has been my job to fight for the best for her so letting go was not all that easy of a task for me. We of course had to hear about the fact that by law I am the one they look to for everything till she is 18, but Binky Sue smiled as her Mom explained that it is time for her to take the reigns of it. My Binky Sue did a great job of sitting and explaining her point of view about which way she would like to see things go, and listened to each member of the team as they got to weigh in their votes for this year. I found myself sitting listening and watching this young woman and feeling so proud of her. Every word she spoke about her plans for herself, every question she asked of the team. Binky Sue may swear up and down that she isn't ready to grow up yet, but let me tell you something...she is already there. I'm not sure how and I'm not sure when, but it is there. Binky Sue wants final testing done to see where she is standing, if there is need for a 504 or IEP she will go with that, but if not she is ready to say good bye to the years of special education and move forward. No matter what from here on out she is in control of this aspect of her life, Mom is taking the passenger seat from here on out. Of course once all testing is done and time for the next meeting I will advise her and answer questions for her, but Binky Sue will set her next course.

This week also has brought various levels of upsetting news most of which I won't go into here. It is enough to say that my thoughts are with several different people right now. Family though is at the center of my prayers. For my Mom to have the strength to make a difficult decisions, which as a Mom myself I do not envy. I think I have done my job as a daughter and listened to her tears, and hopefully said words that will help to give her strength. I know I did a good job of keeping my opinions to myself because this subjects tends to irritate me beyond belief and I don't always stop myself before I say something that hurts her feelings, but this week I kept it under control. Be strong Mom, like I said I know you know what it is that you have to do, and I hope that you will have the strength to do it. There was news today about Army Guys Uncle Don, which has put us into talk and planning for possibility of him making a trip home. There is always the hope that things will change, but the reality of the news is these may be the last days. I ask for prayers, good thoughts, good wishes, whatever it is that everyone believes in. I know this is short in details but it is all that I really think needs to be shared.

I will try to get back into the swing of things this week here. Who knows maybe I will even have energy to pick up my camera again this week and get out and about for some picture taking. I hope that everyone is having a good weekend spent with those you love. Have a wonderful Sunday and hopefully I will be back with a Sunday Sibling post to catch everyone up on all things here in Arizona.

Look out!

P8155040, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Every now and then I'm lucky when I take my camera out to shot something, tonight was that kind of night. While taking dogs out I realized that I loved the look of the clouds and wanted to grab the camera and shot some quick pictures before the rain rolled in. While doing that I captured a lightning strike! Not blurred, from cloud to ground area and wow am I happy! Click on the picture and it should take you to larger options. I hope the weekend is off to a good start for everyone.

They are all MY toys!

MiaTrinity, originally uploaded by torri_g.

The fun of having more than just one animal is much like the fun of having more than just one child. You reach whole new levels of head in hands wondering what in the world. If you are really lucky though you will get to sit and wonder why, while shaking your head in amazement. It has been that kind of week with the dogs...wait it has been like that with every animal in this house this week, but I'm just going to post about the dogs. Trinity and Mia have toys, lots of chew toys. Try walking through this house in the morning and not hurt yourself on one or more of them, I dare you! They have toys based on their sizes and they seem to understand just what toy is for who in this house. Now there are lots of fun games that get played with the toys in this house, like Mia taking her sisters bones to chew on because she knows how very upset it is going to make her. Trinity will pile up Mia's toys and lay on them while she chews on her own just to frustrate the little dog. The best game though is Trinity hiding all of Mia's toys and then laying down with all of her own toys around her. You wouldn't think that it would take all that long to find toys hidden in this house because it just isn't all that big, but man Trinity can hide those things! When he toys have been hidden by big sister Mia goes into her way cute puppy routine. Rolling around on the floor looking up at her sister, basically begging her to share her toys with her because Mia's are gone and she can't find them. Usually it ends up with a fight because Mia will just start stealing Trinity's toys when she realizes that they are not going to be shared willingly, but before that happened I managed to get a couple pictures of the cute routine. I'm sorry Mia but Trinity just still isn't falling for it, I guess Mommy is going to have to do the grand search for your toys again today.

It is time again for Feline and Furball Friday! So if you want to play along, just post your own entry and leave a link in comments. I will come back later today to post the link over to Steve and Pickle. I hope that everyone has a good day, and a great start to the weekend.

It is a tuff choice

It is a tuff choice here today...sit inside in the cool but have runny nose, sneezing and coughing fits that take my breath away. Or sit outside on the front patio where it is warm and muggy because of all night and all day rain, but be stuffed up with no sneezing and coughing. I've picked to sit outside for right now with the laptop, were for the first time today I'm neither sniffling or having to try and catch my breath from my latest coughing fit. Sweetpea on the other hand can not come out here and join me like she wanted to because housing sent mowers around today to mow the waist high wild grass of the ravine area. Although I'm not so sure just how much they mowed vs flattened down because of the amount of water that I could see standing out there. Oh well though because they messed up and mowed the area right outside our fence line which means less to try to get through this weekend so Army Guy should be happy.

I'm going to be happy when I can finally get rid of this cold. I'm tired of this great big alergy attack feeling that I have going on and would really like to be able to sit in my house in the cool instead of the muggy, but I'm trying not to complain.

I hope that everyone is have a great Thursday and looking forward to the coming weekend.

Trying to rebound this week

100_8884, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I'm not sure what hopes I had for this week, but I can sure say I don't think a cold was anywhere near the top of my list. I know it seems to be a pretty standard thing for when the kids return to school, but geez every tradition can be broken at some point in time right? Alright so maybe this tradition will just have to wait to be broken. The painful soar throat has given way to coughing fits, and the thought of "Is it really possible for one's head feel that stuffed up?" I'm most happy about the fact that the fever part didn't hang around to long, I still have a Little Bug that doesn't like when Mommy puts the kiss and hug ban in effect in this house. Unlike her sisters who get right into the air hugs and blown kisses, she still wants the up close snuggle. Which is a wonderful thing, but during times of colds I don't think so! Sadly enough though the ban didn't do enough to keep Little Bug from coming home yesterday looking about how I have felt this week, and by last night she too was wondering about how is it possible to be so stuffed up? Binky Sue and Sweetpea have made it very clear that they are going to hide till the all clear is sounded, and Army Guy went and stocked up on cold medicines. Of course he made sure to point out all of the stuff that he got with the not so subtle hints of take this now! Ah to feel the love...from across the room right now of course. I wonder if they are making plans to confine me in some small hidden "clean room"? Oh wait, no that isn't going to happen because there are still meals that need to be cooked. Thank goodness for being a good cook or this Mom would be shuffled off into to a hidden spot till the cold was gone.

I hope that everyone is having a good week, and be on the look out for this cold because it comes out of no where and takes you down fast.

Getting back into the flow of things

100b8963, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Still working on posting pictures from the trip out to the canyons before school got started. This is from Middle Garden Canyon area and the wash area of the road that takes you further up the canyon. A couple of months back when I posted pictures of this same area there was tons of algae growing because there was just really a trickle of water coming through the wash.

As for the title of this post...well it is the first Monday morning with everyone either off to school or work and I need to start getting back into the daily flow of a new routine here. If it weren't for workers out upgrading electrical lines causing dogs to bark their heads off, I would have total silence here this morning. I am going to complain a little bit though, I find it totally unfair that the kids head back to school and by Sunday afternoon I'm the one with the sore throat that hurt so very much. I'll complain just a little more about the fact that as of this morning my throat doesn't hurt but now I have no voice. I'm not sure how that works out every year, they head off to school and I'm the one that catches the first cold of the school year?

I hope that everyone has a great start to the new week today.