Travelogue

"Where have you been?!" seems to be a question I get a lot lately. Especially in regards to my li'l  ol' blog over her. Seems some people just need their dose of wry humor in the form of poorly formed sentences with the occasional tear jerker and not to mention miserably flopped recipe. And because I am a people pleaser, I am here to offer just that. Hold your applause until the end. 

So, where have I been? Travel along with me over the last 6 months, will you? It's been quite the journey. Keep your seat belts fastened at all times and the flight attendant will be around soon with your snacks. Or not. 

First we travel to the sandy beaches of Maui. We know you may all be a little puffy from that water retention of a 10 hour flight, but lets go snorkeling anyways. 

Some of the local exotic beauties of the Islands... 

 On this tropical tour we will spend 8 hours- count them EIGHT hours- in a slowly rocking boat not catching one single fish. Contrary to the claim, it was NOT his Lucky Fishing shirt. Unless it's lucky I didn't fall in while hanging over the side. Then yes, I was very lucky. Although by hour 4, the thought did occur to just fall overboard so they would end the tour early.

Some may wonder how one can look so crabby and one so pale while in Hawaii...
But he's holding me up, as is that pole, and I am trying to not hang over the side for the last 20 minutes 

 After a week of water, we decided it was time to go to a less wet and wavy climate. So, off to Egypt where we took in the magnificent pyramids and of course, the local beauties. And they are beauties. But that's just my opinion.

Yes, I always though the pyramids would be larger in real life as well. 

In need of some good old USA again we decided to visit some Presidents. Here is a snapshot of our visit with Ulysses S. Grant. He's shorter than I imagined, but quite a jolly fellow. 

 And then it was time to travel again! Ready? Fasten those seatbelts tight, we are heading to Mars!

Please, do not speak or come to close to the locals... they bite. 

Somewhere between Mars and Iowa, we land in WhoVille! Oh Thing 1 and Thing 2, what did you do? What did you do?!

 Here you will also find the LORAX. Yes, you may think you saw that back at home, but this is the REAL filming of the real deal!

 And then we land. Safely back at home. But wait. It's not mine anymore. So, we say good-bye.

Probably the toughest journey I have had, and am still about to take, is saying goodbye to my home. The home we designed and built ourselves. The home that my kids spent most of their years in. The home that hosted Christmases and Thanksgivings and Easters and birthday parties galore. The home where I dropped to my knees and cried out to my God that I needed Him and Him alone as there was just too much that I couldn't take on my own. The place where tears were shed and laughter was heard often.
We sold it in December. Moved to a rental- aka the Waiting Room- in January. In June, we move across the river to Nebraska. It's been 6 months of good byes. Be sure to follow me as we move on to the Hello's.

So it's been a journey as you can see! It's been scary and fun and it's only just the beginning!

De Klompen and the Tulips

Last week it was the wonderous time of year again where the entire town seems to shut down and we all swap our Nikes for wooden clogs and long dresses. Except for the boys- they switch to short pants. Knickers.

We eat too much, we laugh, we get grumpy and impatient and snap at each other  tired and worn down but still treat each other with love and kindess.



"smile or you won't get to eat a funnel cake! "



This week I am worn out and the crazy hasn't quit yet, so this will most likely be the only blogging I do.

In the mean time, just enjoy some pics of our crazy Dutch traditions and please, head on over to my friend Diane Estrella who is using my poor boy's picture of misery as a MicroFiction muse. I can't wait to see what creativity she comes up with :)



Hockey teams in the parade!



My girl is the tall one... of course :)



Blowing off some steam at the carnival..




Benefits of a cold spring- perfect Tulips everywhere!




Jackson is having SO much fun!




Attempting to dodge a kiss from Aunties...



Sinterklaas, Suzie Snowflake, SundaySchool, Sleep

Those pretty much some up my weekend. Well, except hockey- but that didn't work into and S.
I have lived in our little Dutch town for over 13 years and have donned my wooden shoes and scrubbed streets every May for the annual Tulip Festival for the last 6 years. Yet I have never taken my kids (or myself to the SinterKlaas parade downtown on the first Saturday of the month. It may have something to do with the 10 degree days that we usually have, but one can never be sure about the reasons.

So this year,since we already had a jam-packed Saturday, I promised my daughter we would squeeze that in too. After all, if you can only be home for 45 minutes, what's the point in being home at all right? That's what I figured. So after hockey, after delivering packages around town, after stopping at our school's cookie walk to purchase too many goodies and after a quick dance recital where we listened to "Susie Snowflake" 3 times, not once, not twice, but 3 times, we bundled up and awaited for the Dutch hero to arrive on his white horse. You can read all about the history of Sinterklaas here. Then we strolled down to City Hall where the kids listened to the history and then played games. For approximately 10 minutes because after all, we had to head to Sunday School Christmas program practice.

 My point in this post isn't to let you all know how busy I am, because I know that everyone is busy. That's called life. My point is, after all of the hustle and bustle. The sweat of hockey, the fun at dance, the excitement of seeing Sinterklaas... my favorite moment of the weekend was this:

 She was bound and determined to fall asleep in the chair with her daddy. And she did. And they stayed there...

until we woke at 4am with one heckuva kink in his neck. :) So he moved to the couch.

And I had the whoooolllleee king sized bed to myself.

aaahhhh..... sweet sleep....

(speaking of sleep, does anyone know how Nebraska faired?! I fell asleep as it was tied at 20. Yeah. I was shot too. I'm kind of afraid to look at the scores, so I haven't checked!)

Recap and Revived!

It feels like it has been forever since I have been here! It feels like weeks since I've wanted to be here. I know, it sounds terrible, but sometimes you just need a break. It was a great blogging break. Steve was home for almost 2 weeks, just a few one nighters away scattered in there. We loved having him around although on our way to church my first born did look at him and say  "When exactly are you heading back to Nebraska?!" Made me laugh out loud, not my hubby so much. ;) Although I think he was ready to head back for the week also. You would think that with all that time together I would have managed to get our family picture done for Christmas cards, but no. Still not. I don't know why we just can't get it together this year! Oh well, we have time... right?! Maybe we will just photoshop him into a picture.


What did happen this week? Well, we had a much missed family game night- we are used to a few a week and now its been many weeks or months. I still hold the trophy, so I consider it a success.


During the game I decided to try out some new rollers on Miss Maicy. This is what happened...

 It is impossible to take a picture of curlers and not make a silly face. It just is. (She also said that I canNOT use this for Christmas cards. She ruins all my best plans. )

This was the result- umm... we weren't going for a Shirley Temple look.... not that they knew who that was anyways...

Again, silly face is required.

( pics take on my cell phone simply for convenience purposes, just in case you are worried that my camera is broken again.)

Another exciting part of the week was dog sitting. The kids (and I) have very much enjoyed opening our home up to a super well behaved Shi-Tzu named Tucker for a few days. At least, I think they're coming back for him... We'd be quite content to keep him though.

So yes, we are not only a foster home to children, but also to dogs. We seem to have better luck with the dogs.

We had a great time with FAMILY this past week. A long day of Thanksgiving eating and laughing and game playing. Plenty of shopping and more eating. We don't do Black Friday, but we do do the local small town businesses. Some great deals are to be found!

One of the most enjoyable moments was getting to read my Grandma's diary from 1981. We had some of her things to look through the other night and, while Grandma still resides on this earth, her mind isn't always residing as we'd like. So this was a special treat to read her days activities in her hand writing. It was made even more special when she announced in her book, not once, but twice, that her dear Alicia had diarrhea. Remember, 1981 folks, I was just a babe. And I got dumped on Grandma lots. Evidently she got dumped on also. Sorry, I had to do it.

So, this was a random recap of my week off, kudos to you if you made it through!

Now I feel so energized and ready to get back to this world. I need to make the time, yet limit my computer time. I'm working on that balance.

What did you do with your Thanksgiving holiday?

Are you moving on to the advent season?

Watcha Readin'?

Thanks to the existance of my Nook, friends loaning out great books, and my hubby being in another state most weeks, I have had plenty of opportunity to catch up on reading. Last week I decided to head over to our local library which I looovee because it really does have a great selection of Christian Fiction which is mostly what I read. And its free. So after I finished up Healing Waters by Nancy Rue (great book by the way. Read Healing Stones first though) I then picked up my other library book. Only to realize it was awfully familiar. So I did a quick skim of the book jacket ( I refuse to do that before actually reading a book, it spoils too much for me) and realized that yes indeed, I had already read this book. Sigh. So here I sit without another book to read. And clearly a shrinking selection left unread at our library.

Which leads me to my question. Whatcha readin'? What books can you recommend?
Any of you out there fellow Nook owners?! I would love to swap books with y'all!

A little bit of whining...

I really had good intentions of having a post up for today... A real post.

But I had my wisdom teeth out (yes all 4 of them thankyouverymuch) this morning and I am not as perky as I had hoped to be. I did great most of the day (unless you count me texting pics of my beautiful and pathetic swollen face to a certain friend)  and then by evening (after a hockey parent's meeting which honestly I could have probably passed on but didn't realize that until I had sucked it up and sat through it) the headaches came on and I could no longer form a coherant thought.

And Blogger is acting weird lately and has taken away all the blogs I follow from my dashboard and rarely letting me sign in. So, I have tried to make the rounds, I just don't have the energy right now to put forth that much effort. So, I'm sorry for not visiting my friends blogs. I promise I'll return later on.

In the mean time, I want you sweet readers to all know that my camera has been sent off to the Nikon repair center and I pray that I won't regret not purchasing that extended warranty. I may have just bought myself an early Christmas present. :(  Honestly though, the fact that you all GOT it when I was so broken hearted over my camera breakup just warmed my heart. You're such sweet friends.

Now, I'm off to find an icepack and a pillow...

Complete Randomness

Because it's Friday and my head is full or random thoughts from the week.
So, here it goes.

1. My bedside lamp burned out. I have no bulbs to replace it. So I did what every wife of the year would do... stole my husband's light bulb. He'll never know... shhh....

2. That little insignificant bug that I mentioned Wednesday is continuing to bless my life... Hunh. Maybe he wasn't so insignificant after all.

3. That new show on CBS, Mike and Molly- cracks me up. It just does.

4. It is fall. It is not raining. It's beautiful.

5. We might get frost this weekend.... I'm trying really hard not to mention pumpkins, as it seems that I have the last few Fridays...but I'm a little worried about the pumpkin supply... just sayin'

6. I wonder if anyone will show up to Bible study this week? Wanna join me? Anyone? Ironic that our topic is Identity and purpose. Perhaps I misunderstood a calling?

7. The most disturbing thing from my week... my 7 year old daughter has a more active social life than I do. 3 Friday nights in a row she has had plans... I don't have plans for ANY Friday nights! Except next week. Which I'll tell you about next week. Or the week after that.

Y'all have a great weekend!!

This just in...

Did you hear?!

I had no clue.

It was a total shock.

Evidently I live under a rock.

There has been a pumpkin shortage.
Yes, folks, that is right. Pumpkins are just not ripening in these wet summers.

I went to my local grocery store yesterday because I was making some yummy pumpkin bars for Bible study and to sell on my garage sale- everyone needs to keep up their energy level whether discussing Biblical views of cremation or backing over innocent children's easels that their mothers are using for a garage sale sign, right?

Anyway, I digress. As I was at the check out with my supplies which included canned pumpkin, my favorite checker exclaimed "We have pumpkin again?!" and I thought she was going to run off to go stash some away for herself. She then explained to me that there has been a shortage and just a few short days prior to this they had none and didn't know when it would be coming in. Everyone's been talking about it I'm told. I must come out from under this rock in which I live and turn on the TV I guess. I then told her I still had a giant can in my pantry from last year and just wanted extra in case I made more bars. The look on her face... it was like it was war time and I told her I had extra sugar rations.  Or so I imagine, because being 31 and all I really don't know anything about WWII or how people reacted to that situation. But I imagine it was close. 

This alleged pumpkin shortage was then confirmed as I served my bars at Bible study that night and one lady exclaimed "Are those PUMPKIN bars?! I wanted those last week and couldn't find pumpkin anywhere!"
That was all the proof I needed to know that this was a legitimate problem. And now I am stocking up and hoarding my pumpkin. October is just around the corner and I know those pumpkin lovers will be coming to me like an addict in need of a fix. And I will help them out. For a price of course. Just kidding, the sheer delight in their eyes will be enough for me.

Now, go out and get some pumpkin... we'd hate to have a pumpkin pie-less Thanksgiving.

For Sale

So here it is, that time of year once again. City Wide Garage Sales! Are you ready?

Time to watch out as you innocently go out on your errands, there may be mom in a mini-van inching her way down the road, not sure if she wants to commit to stopping at that garage sale.

Then there's the other mom in her giant SUV who decides at the last minute- or even beyond the last minute- that she DOES want to stop at that one a half a block away.

The moms driving while holding up their garage sale map talking on the cell phone to their friend on the other end of town.

Did I mention the tug of war over the stroller or perhaps that pack 'n' play? Oh, my personal favorite.... the mob at my garage ready to strike anything that makes a sudden move in front of them patiently waiting for me to open the door.

You should know that I am mean and stubborn... and easily entertained. I refuse to open the doors even a minute early, no matter how restless the mob is or how bottlenecked the cul-de-sac gets. I enjoy watching from my windows laughing and even on occasion snapping pictures. I know, I'm sick. I started my stubborn streak for valid reason-I didn't like showing up to garage sales with items I hoped for at the time they were set to open, only to find out they decided to open an hour earlier because they just did. See, so I really am doing the people a service. Ummm... yeah. Something like that.

Are you a garage saler? Do you enjoy the thrill of the hunt? Do you pitch and purge your own garbage in hopes of it becoming someone elses treasure? Or do you save and hold on to your own treasures and never want to give them up?

If you're in my neck of Iowa this week, be sure to stop by, I have plenty of treasures to give away! ;)

Because I'm too tired to think of something else...

....and my family is still trying to get over the shock that I willingly added two feline creatures to our home, I thought I'd share a different place with you while they recover. For a few months now I have been getting my daily dose of chuckle over at Catalog Living. I felt that it was only right to share that daily smile with all of you. If you are like me- I'm sorry if you are- a little sarcastic and confused when looking at Pottery Barn and other decorating catalogs, you will love this. They have an imaginary couple named Gary & Elaine living in these pristine homes with strangely staged photos. Of course, PB thinks this is a well designed room and well, I prefer Gary & Elaines sarcastic humor instead. So, here's one for you today, and if you want to see more, click on over every day for your smile at Catalog Living.




Table for one…

Gary hated mornings when Elaine went to her early Zumba class, but at least it gave him the chance to reflect on his early sketches and pray to his lucky number.



Seriously though, go check there site for awhile, you'll laugh til you cry. Unless you don't. It's all good.

A Whole Lot of Not Much

Okay, so I took a little more time off than I really had planned to from blogging. I am sorry, for all 2 of you that noticed, but it was a welcome break. I am just trying to soak up these last few moments of summer before the kids start school again this week.

A part of me is ready for the routine and they are ready to see their friends again. But the other part of me is wondering what on earth I am going to do with them gone all day! I will go back to talking to myself I am sure. Don't fear, I'm sure you all will get in on some of my random thoughts more often because of that. I know, try to hold back your excitement.

Of course I have decided to go for mom of the year and schedule my son's dentist appointment for the afternoon of the first day of school. I know, I'm the best, he told me so. I really couldn't help it, with us being gone all summer it just didn't work to get those appointments in when necessary.

It also dawned on me a couple weeks back that my kids never did swimming lessons this summer. I know I had intentions of scheduling those... but again.. mother of the year. Oh well, I don't really believe that they are in danger for not completing them for one summer when they both swim just fine.

Our mail had been forwarded all summer, which of course led the 3rd class mail piling up at the post office. Friday I went to pick that giant bag of very important mail. Good thing I did. Who knows what I would have done without all of those expired coupons and learning that JC Penney was having the biggest sale ever that weekend.
In this stash of junk mail was a new kids clothing catalog called Tea. The fall collection? "Old World Hungary" My first reaction was of course relief as Maicy had just been lamenting over how she wished there was a store that carried clothes that reminded her of the peasant villages in a European country.The sheer joy in this discovery will ease our distress over clothes immediately.
I will however, admit that some of its pretty cute and if I want to spend $45 on a shirt that my daughter will stain in 2 hours, I will be sure to look further into it. Okay, it is actually more reasonably priced than that, and now that I bashed it, I am sure I will order from it and fall in love with their clothing. Of course, despite the exciting breaking news that they have women's clothing as well I do assure you that I will not be spending $168 on a sweater. That was no exaggeration.

In other mind numbing boring news, that no one cares about, I can't tell you how excited I am that I am now the owner of a Nook! For those who don't know, a Nook is the Barnes & Noble equivalent (or supreme) to the Kindle. I just got it Saturday and got it working yesterday, so I can't give a concrete review, but so far I LOVE it. I went back and forth for awhile on the whole e-book vs written word debate and well, convenience won out when the dear hubby of mine was stumped as to what to get me for a birthday gift and we walked into Barnes and Noble Saturday and my face lit up. So, no, I wasn't surprised by my gift, but that's who cares! Now I can spend my birthday reading whatever I want on my gift.

In the interest of keeping this post as completely random as possible, I have more non-essential information for you. My kids are plotting planning to make me breakfast in bed today. Should be interesting. By the time most of you read this, I'll know how it turned out. Thankfully they had the foresite to call in grandma to assist them with this, so it should work out okay. They have also been busy making me homemade birthday gifts. Should prove to be an interesting and fabulous birthday! I'll try to have my camera handy to capture the breakfast moment. ;)

Well, that is about all of the miscellaneous catching up I can do for now. If you're still here, you're a saint!

So, when do your kids go back to school? Are you celebrating or mourning this time?
 

We interrupt this regularly scheduled inspirational blog for a rant about TV cable

Okay, first off, stop laughing that I used the word "inspirational" to describe my blog. Yes, okay, a chuckle, but really, pick yourself up off the floor. Thank you.

I would like to say that in reality I don't spend a ton of time watching TV. And there are very few shows that I get to watch enough to be hooked on them. After supper the whole homework, backpack packing, baths, bedtime, etc kind of gets in the way. So the TV won't come on before 9:00 during the school year. And in the summer we're to busy outside to care. Except of course with Wipeout as the exception to that rule. Because, really whats not to love about a bunch of people in spandex and life jackets getting punched in the face and flying mercilessly off of giant red balls into a vat of mud?!

But I need to admit that I do have a guilty TV watching pleasure. The Real Housewives. I don't care if its New York, Atlanta, OC, New Jersey (totally my favorite one!) I watch them all. And DC starts soon. I have missed most of the summer season of New Jersey which is breaking my heart, but thank goodness for TV online, due to not having cable on our acreage.

Where the problem comes in is, I am home again. Ready to catch up. Check out all the crazy drama that's been going on and will start again. Last week I flipped through the channels to find my loyal Bravo station.... I couldn't find it. Premier Cable changed our lineup. Well, surely its in here somewhere, so like any desperate sensible woman, I flipped feverishly trying to find Bravo- my other show I love, Top Chef. Two shows people, that's all I need to watch in my life. I finally give up and look up online to see where they could have tucked that beloved channel of mine.

They didn't.

It's gone.

Not completely.

They moved it up to the next bracket. Because I don't give them enough of my money already, if I want that ONE stinking channel, I have to get 50 more worthless channels. For a dandy price increase.

How can you do this to me Premier?! What does Premier even mean?! Premier at frustrating housewives? Premier at disappointing innocent people? Premier at taking more of my money? This may be the end of our relationship, Cable. Its been a nice run.

That is all. I thank you for listening to this very shallow rant about a show that I am sure I have no business watching. I realize I lost many of you back at inspiring. If you're still here, you're good people. Will you send me a copy of this season?

Dog? What Dog?!

Well, good news. We were able to briefly take her mind off of wanting a dog.

This is now the top of her list. Four of them acutally.

Thanks to friends, Chris and Lisa, a horse is trumping dog.

This boy thinks that would be fine too.

Maicy throroughly enjoyed taking the reigns from Chris and showing us what she could do.

Of course bare back was fun too...

So, the new plan? These two beg dad for a horse...

we're thinking he'll go find a dog pretty quickly!

Is Type A a better way to be?

I have noticed a trend while blog-hopping recently. When reading people's bio's a number of women start by saying "I'm a typical Type A personality and am organizer, multi-tasking, exercising enthusiastic, happiest when juggling 50 things in the air". If its not in their bio, it ends up sometime in their blog posts. The other thing I noticed is that I have yet to see anyone say "I'm your typical Type B personality and I'm a slow sloth when it comes to deadlines, have a horribly unorganized home, and really just kind of let things go. I will exercise, but don't make it a schedule as little in my life is scheduled."

So, today I started to wonder if Type A is better. Is it something that is so great that we should tell everyone that this is what we've achieved? Should it be the goal of all type B's to become more of an A? Or is it simply that A's are just more driven and goal oriented therefore giving themselves a label helps add to their sense of accomplishment? Or is it that the general nature of B's is so laid back that they really never thought to analyze their own personality, much less broadcast it. They simply don't care.

In case you think I am knocking one or the other, I will tell you that I see both personalities in myself and therefore can't label myself one or the other. I like the thought of organization, but rarely execute it regularly. I have oodles and oodles of baskets for organizing, yet they are all just junk collectors and when one fill, I move on to another. If I am put on a committee of some sort, I would generally rather just run it, because I lack patience to watch people do it the hard way. And at those moments, the B's can make me insane! If you are going to do something, just do it! Yet A's just seem so... I don't know... busy. I do like to relax and read a book and not feel the need to work all the time.

I decided to look up on Wikipedia what their opinion is of Type A vs Type B and I have to be honest, they were a little rough on the A's!

Type A individuals can be described as impatient, time-conscious, controlling, concerned about their status, highly competitive, ambitious, business-like, aggressive, having difficulty relaxing; and are sometimes disliked by individuals with Type B personalities for the way that they're always rushing.They are often high-achieving workaholics who multi-task, drive themselves with deadlines, and are unhappy about delays. Because of these characteristics, Type A individuals are often described as "stress junkies."



Type B individuals, in contrast, are described as patient, relaxed, and easy-going, generally lacking an overriding sense of urgency. Because of these characteristics, Type B individuals are often described by Type As as apathetic. There is also a Type AB mixed profile for people who cannot be clearly categorized.


I guess I am Type AB. There you have it, I'm now labeled. Hunh.
I better change my profile.

So, Type A's, Type B's and those AB's out there, I ask you? Is one better than the other? Is it better to be an A who loves deadlines gets things done, keeps life organized, and does it with grace? Or is it better to be laid back, happy go lucky, go with the flow kind of people? Is it a Mary verses Martha argument?

Dog days of summer

This summer life has brought us to an acreage in the middle of nowhere. Well close to that anyways.
We left our cul-de-sac full of friends for a life far from civilization. Or at least 7 miles from the nearest town, and lets face it, it may as well be further.

We now have 5 acres of land that we call home. Coming from our small lot- thats a good amount. Naturally our kids thought this would be the perfect time to get a dog that would romp through the grass with them. Playing fetch and chasing butterflies- or flies.
But my dear hubby, whom I love with all my heart, is anti-dog. He never owned a dog or any other pet growing up and I believe that this has damaged him fully in being able to love a furry creature.
Somethime during our married life I did just ignore him and get a dog. It was the dumbest dog ever. And we didn't have time to train her or take proper care of her. Then I became pregnant and very, very sick. Very. I couldn't take care of me, much less the dog. And then I was in the hospital for a short stint and the dog went crazy making the neighbors less than friendly. Bye- bye puppy.

So, my one chance and I seemed to have blown it.
All this to say, are you, my readers, dog owners?

Do you love your furballs more than your ungrateful children?
Are dogs right up there with rats in your opinion?
Do you prefer cats to dogs? Cuz if so, I do have one you  may have....my husband told me if our cat (which we didn't get, it came to us, we didn't ask for her, I didn't want her, I am allergic to it.) would accidentally get into the pesticide which bathes our house to attempt to kill the millipedes, he would consider replacing it with a dog to mend his princess's broken heart. He shouldn't mention that to a past life cat murderer. I'm just saying. NO, I am not going to kill my daughter's kitty so please don't call DHS or PETA or anything like that... I'm just stating facts is all.  Perhaps I should find a millipede eating dog... then he'd be sold?

What breed of dog do you recommend for those who have one?
Small lap dog, or big brave dog?

Here is Miss Maicy with her late buddy, Lucky. This was my aunt and uncle's dog and Maicy loved this lucky puppy to bits. Now tell me... how can you say no to this face?!

(Lucky died a few weeks ago and this little girl cried harder and longer than I've seen her cry for a long time. My husband of course felt this was a good reason to skip the dog ownership)

Okay, lay your opinions on me!

Its a Plague... and I've had enough

First off, I hope y'all had a fabulous 4th of July! We had some great times with friends who drove down to Nebraska to see us, and had some firework action too.

And then we also had to deal with the plague that hit our home.

Millipedes.

Millions of them.

My husband had this looked at by "professionals"

They say there isn't much we can do. They are on a migratory pattern and therefore have invaded every inch of our lawn, landscape, and even,

My house. Oh be still my heart.

They crunch.

On a postive note, they are mostly contained to the basement.

But, pessimists, don't fear, I have a down side. This is where our bedrooms are. And bathroom.

Did I mention they crunch?

I no longer go downstairs without flipflops.

I do believe that we are gaining despite being told nothing will kill them.

We vacuum 5 times a day.

We have used up more than what is humanly natural in pesticides.

I have discovered that even room deodorizer will do the trick. Albeit a slow death with that, its still a death- and lets face it, that's my goal. Don't judge me. You sit on the toilet with one of those things coming towards your bare toes and tell me you wouldn't do the same thing. And enjoy it.

Have any of you faced these miserable creatures?

What are your suggestions?

HELP ME!!!

** I'm not exactly sure what's going on with Blogger today, but the comments aren't all showing up. I am receiving them via email, so I did get to read them, even if they don't show up on here.

Sorry about that!

Caffeinated (which evidently isn't a word) Randomness

  I have read others Caffeinated Randomness Posts for quite awhile now, and while I'll admit, I usually am quite random, being deliberately random intrigues me!So I'm linking up to  Under Grace and Over Coffee and have fun being random this Friday! The rules- just be random. I can handle that. 

1. I not only own a Turbie Twist, I LOVE my Turbie Twist. Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about either. Its the towel made just for sticking on your hair fresh out of the shower. Before you shake your heads and walk away, think about it. One towel specifically designated for my hair. Not accidentally swiped with toothpaste or stolen by anyone else to dry off body parts that I would rather not come in contact with my head. Its just mine. And I don't have to feel like a giant bobble head with a full sized towel on my head. That's right. Yes, I'll wait while you run out and get your own. Best $2.99 I've ever spent.

2. I tried to sell my daughter on eBay last week. Then she said something sweet, so I kept her. God love her.

3. I feel the need to schedule a bus tour to the Ozarks with some old people now that I'm retired. Think they'll notice the 30 year old?

4. I don't like the LA Lakers. Boston disappointed me. And I really don't see the point in mic-ing the players... they just have to cut it all out anyway.

5. I had the best dinner last night with my bestest friend. And as a disclaimer I have to add that that was my best friend living here in Iowa with me, not that one that abandoned me for MN.... keep the peace girls. Keep the peace. I have room for both of you in my heart. Yes I do.

6. Every time I tried to write "peace' I was writing 'piece' instead.

7. I had lunch at Quizno's yesterday - in honor of my retirement and all. Then I went to Blue Mountain and our waiter was the same guy who helped me at Quizno's. And he remembered me. Busted. No, no I didn't cook today, would you like to make something of it? And the day before that,  I ate out twice also.... okay fine. 3 times. I have no food in my house okay? Stop judging me! We are only home for 3 days this week and 2 of those were spent at work and the kids were gone. I feel your judgement. Therefore this seems like an awesome time to end this ridiculously long and random post.

Y'all have a great and fantastic weekend!!!