big sky stories

video of Christmas 2009

2009-12-27T12:59:00.002-06:00

christmas 2009

2009-12-27T12:36:00.007-06:00

2009-03-12T17:14:00.003-05:00

1. I actually posted something on my blog!
2. I slept when I needed to- this past week was a tired one for me. But, I listened to my body and went to bed early and slept later than usual.
3. Because of #2, our house was a wreck. So, on Wednesday morning, I was able to get up early and straighten up/clean a bit. To keep me focused, I just cleaned anything I thought DCFS would deem unacceptable. By lowering my standards and laughing while I did it, the house was whipped into pretty good shape in 2 hours. So, now I'm sitting here with lots of energy in a pretty clean house. Wow- when you follow God's priorities, things have a way of working out, don't they?

Divas

2009-02-27T17:50:00.004-06:00

Here I am with my teacher buddies at the annual Taco and Talent night. We had a complete blast practicing and performing. I kept saying that my only talent is that I don't mind making a fool out of myself!

Rise and Shine with Alex

2009-01-25T07:33:00.005-06:00

He did it. In front of 250 people. Every day for three weeks. Okay, I paid him 5 bucks to do it. It was worth 500.

Can you wait til next year Lily?

2008-06-20T09:54:00.006-05:00

We are thinking about adopting a hypo-allergenic dog next spring. Alex likes Bisquit.

If it were up to me, I'd be driving to Huntley right now to pick up Lily. She's a Wheaten terrier/Havanese mix.

our blue heaven in spring

2008-05-17T10:03:00.000-05:00

February

2008-02-23T16:17:00.000-06:00

Bad things about February

1. Hearing that that there was a shooting and people were hurting less than two miles away.

2. Walking out of Brooks school with a 6 year old boy only to see 5 helicopters hovering over Cole Hall. I love walking out of school each day and looking across the farmland and up to the sky. The view will never be the same.

3. Getting used to going to the doctor and hearing your mother referred to as a cancer patient.

4. Hearing your dad say "brain" and "cancer" in the same sentence.

5. The Flu

6. Sinus infections

7. Getting a text from your husband that the shooter is a former student.

Good things about February

1. A friend's baby is born.

2. Good friends buy a dream house.

3. Your husband wasn't teaching at the university this semester.

4. DeKalb passes a great referendum (4th times a charm!)

5. Unlimited sick leave.

6. Friend upon friend offering food, babysitting, cards, phonecalls, love.

7. DeKalb's response to the tragedy- signs, cookies, ribbons, shirts, prayers, memorial funds.

Life is beautiful even if it sucks.

why we are cameraless

2007-12-12T18:54:00.000-06:00

I don't own many super nice things. It's not that I don't like nice stuff, it's just that I don't agree with nice stuff. Anytime I buy pants costing more than $30, they get ruined somehow. Let's just say I am in hourly contact with a variety of markers including, but not limited to, Vis-a-vis, permanent and dry erase. But, the hand-me-down Target pants never get stained or shrunk or bleached.

Two of the nicest things I've ever owned were my digital cameras. Sadly, the plural and the past tense are not mistakes. I have lost two digital cameras. Two, very nice, digital cameras.

Camera #1- Lost at Ikea

I thought it would be a great idea to take pictures of bathroom vanities on a shopping trip with several stops. I put the camera down on a table to look at a brochure. Never picked it back up. I called Ikea weekly for months hoping someone would turn it in. Then, Ed bought me....

Camera #2- Lost at Sullivan's

This is what I get for engaging in corporate espionage. A friend I was visiting in Wisconsin needed a brand of sausage for her company's taste test. Sullivan's was supposed to carry it. How did I lose the camera, you ask? On our way in to the store, Alex had a bloody nose so I put my purse in a cart and unloaded the purse onto the seat of the cart to get a tissue at the bottom. Obviously, I never loaded my camera back into my bag. What sucks even more was that someone turned the camera into Sullivan's and Sullivan's put up a found sign. Then, a blond woman claimed my camera. We know this because the people at Sullivan's know Ed and there were pictures of him golfing in the flood on the camera. When he went to the store, they told him his blond wife claimed the camera. I would be pissed at Sullivan's for their stupidity, but that doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense since this was the SECOND camera I left in a store.

The only, and I mean only, good thing to come of this debacle is how Ed reacted after we found out about the second camera. I was on the phone with him crying hysterically saying what an idiot I was. I couldn't remember the last time I felt that bad about myself. Ed didn't lecture me, make fun of me or get angry. He spoke in the kindest voice anyone could ever hear. He told me to just come home. And that I did.

Top 4 Reasons Why You Should call DCFS right now

2007-09-09T12:38:00.000-05:00

1. In February, I accidentally gave Alex my adult cough medicine instead of his kid cough medicine. No wonder he slept through the night.

2. I put Alex's bike helmet on backwards all summer. In August, my sister came to visit and she pointed out the fact that his helmet was on backwards. Oh, I was wearing mine backwards too. All summer.

3. Alex was locked out of the school while I was in a meeting. In the winter. With snow on the ground. Temperature in the teens. In his stocking feet.

4. During a party, I forgot to feed my kid. We (the adults) were going to order pizza but the appetizers filled us (the adults) up so we (the adults) decided not to order food. At about 8, the kids started arguing and whining. We (the adults) realized the kids were starving.

This post was a Draft for 2 months

2007-01-19T15:43:00.000-06:00

If you know Ed and I, you know that we are radically different. We fail every compatibility test in every bad woman's magazine. We also did pretty crappy on the test our Church gave us when we had our marriage blessed. I tried to cheat. Ed wouldn't let me. Hey- they left us alone in the room with the test! I have a bad track record with Church tests: I was stupid enough to get caught cheating on my confirmation test and had to pray in front of the tabernacle as penance.

When I met Ed, I was 19, depressed, confused and just coming out of a bad relationship. He was just recovering from living the hardest part of his life. Really, it was the worst time in both of our lives. Not a good time to start a serious relationship.

As the years went on, our differences became more apparent. We fought a lot. But, we always made up, learned something about ourselves and our relationship, and went on laughing. Most importantly, he loved me unconditionally. I didn't always return the favor.

When it came time to get married (the first time), I started questioning the reasons why I was choosing to marry Ed. I knew I loved him and that he loved me. But, I was scared. I knew he didn't want kids as much as I did. He hadn't finished his degree and started his career. My life wouldn't be like the comfortable one I had in the suburbs with the predictable routine and the safe future. Ed and I had all the heart stuff. We didn't have the practical stuff ironed out though.

Then it hit me. It instantly hit me as I was opening up the door to my apartment. I knew from the bottom of my soul to the most practical part of my middle class brain that my life would be filled with regret and longing if I didn't marry this man. It wasn't a feeling or a thought. It was as if I could see the path of my life laid out plainly in front of me and I just KNEW.

This road hasn't been easy: a surprise baby, working motherhood, checking account balances below $10.00, 4 jobs between the two of us, messy rooms, empty cupboards, panic attacks, cancer in two parents, exhaustion and just plain hard days. Every once in a while, I am blessed to relive the soul stirring I had before I married Ed. Last week, it happened in church. I was sitting next to Ed with Alex on the other side of him. What a miracle it is that we are both going to church and that we have a kid. Ed gives me credit for bringing him back to the faith. However, I wouldn't have started going to church or kept going if he hadn't encouraged me. Then, of course, we have Alex because we had our marriage blessed in the Catholic faith (that's another post in and of itself).

I am completely thankful for the peace that settles over me during these times. It reminds me to open my heart to the man who gives himself freely to me. It reminds me that it's okay to be loved so much by somebody. It reminds me to cherish and protect the gift God has given me.

I love you Ed.

organic is not shmorganic afterall

2006-10-29T14:20:00.000-06:00

Ok. It wasn't the organic laundry soap clogging up our pipes. It was tree roots. When we moved to our house five years ago, the same thing kept happening everytime we used the washing machine. I shoulda known. However, we spent $4,000 fixing the tree root problem by getting a whole new pipe out to the street. Actually, the city of DeKalb spent $4,000 because, sadly (or happily, depending how you look at it), we qualified for a low-income grant from the city. Apparently, the new pipe has a crack in it from when we had the tree cut down and its stump dug out this summer. Yes, it happens to be the same tree whose roots were growing in the sewer to begin with. And apparently, tree roots grow for like five years after a tree is cut down.

Prairie Dawg did a whole blog on how to poop at work. Well I want to ask him something. What do you do when 3 plumbers are in your basement cleaning up your poop? I tried to watch T.V. But, I could hear and smell the whole debacle. If it was only one plumber I think it would've been ok. But, three? I had this thought that maybe it was my fault the sewer was clogging up. I imagined them coming up and asking, "Maam, how many organic vegetables do you eat a day?" Plus, our basement was a mess so I was embarassed. I decided to vacuum the upstairs. I didn't just vacuum- I heavy duty vacuumed. The kind of vacumming that works up a sweat. I couldn't hear any plumbing work and I faked like I was a good housekeeper. After the plumbers left, I cleaned the basement. Nothing like spending $600 for a clean pipe, clean floors and a clean basement.

Thanks Lady Di and Queenie for linking me! It got me off my ass. This story is from about 2 months ago!

oh hell

2006-09-10T14:09:00.000-05:00

I wasn't going to write this story because it seems all the posts I've done (they number in the thousands) are about Alex. Plus, the last one about Alex was about the fall of man and original sin and stuff like that. I didn't really want to follow it up with this story.

This one's for you edp. It's for Steener, too.

No, Alex didn't bring a Viking in his Superman backpack. He brought a rosary. Yes. A rosary. He was scared of kindergarten: He spent the better part of the kindergarten teacher conference under the table. The night before kindergarten, we were in bed reading stories and talking. We fell silent for a while. Then Alex asked for the rosary. I got it down from the nail it hangs on and gave it to him. He said that Mary was like a good ghost and would fly out of the rosary and into his heart. He slept with it and the next morning he put it in his backpack to take to school. The first day of kindergarten was a breeze for him and for us.

We've been calling him Pope Alex ever since.

the lady in the garden

2006-08-22T23:34:00.000-05:00

Alex needed to get one last immunization before Kindergarten and since we are shopping for a new pediatrician, I made an appointment with a new doctor. Today was the day. Alex was nervous all afternoon. He wouldn' t talk much at our lunch date with Steener: usually Steener gets him a-jabbering. About a half hour before leaving, he called to me from the next room. He asks, "Mom, if the lady in the garden listened to God, would I have to go to the doctor?" Any suggestions P-Dawg? I said that we didn't believe doctors were in God's original plan. He said, "So, if she listened, there wouldn't be any germs or sickness?" I said, "Probably not." He said, "Don't you wish she would have listened to God?" Theology from a 5 year old. Questions I ask all the time, too.

Superman in San Francisco

2006-08-10T13:46:00.000-05:00

We relished all the moments on our west coast vacation. Seattle was mellow and relaxing hanging with my sis and her daughter. Our days were filled with walks, hikes, swims, and good food. sigh. Oh, there were the whiny moments a la Alex. And, then there was his first outwardly defiant action. It was time to get out of the pool and, of course, he wanted to stay. After a few warnings, he got out and I thought we were on our way. He walked over to the other side of the pool to get his towel and on the way back, dropped the towel in the water. As he dropped the towel in the pool, he looked at me. Then, he jumped in, grabbed the towel and got out. As we walked back to my sister's townhouse, he screamed because he had to carry the sopping wet towel. Also, a big black fly kept flying around his head and landing on him. Sweet justice.

We had a great time in San Fran with my aunt, uncle and cousins. They are crazy funny and we laughed for 2 days straight. Even though I loved seeing the fam, I missed my hubby and my home and my life. Vacation made me remember how much I love my life- warts and all. I forget all too easily.

Organic, Shmorganic

2006-07-17T07:45:00.000-05:00

My poor husband has been cleaning out our sewer on and off for a long time now. The problem happened when the washing machine would empty: the water would just come right back out and flood the laundry room. It happened randomly and we were perplexed. The plumber was perplexed. Last week when the plumber was out snooping around, I said, "Well, at least, I have the best smelling laundry room in the south side of DeKalb." He said, "The suds are coming back?." I said, "Yeah." He said, "It's your laundry soap." Oh my gosh!!! My Trader Joe's, organic, cruelty-free, environmentally friendly laundry soap is causing this!! Needless to say, you will be seeing boxes and bottles labeled Cheer, Fab, All and Purex in my laundry room from now on.

I hope the plumber's right because everytime this happens, edp unhooks the machine, opens the sewer (even though there isn't a back up, it's still a shitty job), cleans it out and runs the garden hose through. It messes up the laundry room, smells up the house and gets me behind with the laundry. Poor edp. This isn't the first time he's had to pay for my hippie ways: I buy Tom's of Maine toothpaste. I think as a treat, it'll be Colgate next time I'm at the grocery store.

goin' home

2006-06-30T08:09:00.000-05:00

Many of you already know that my mom is fighting a recurrence of breast cancer. We just found out this week that she is still cancer-free. Yeah!! Her cancer is super aggressive so everytime she gets this state-of-the-art roaming tumor cell blood test, we hold our breath and say lots of prayers. The chemo she gets is specifically made to fight this little protein that makes the cancer so aggressive. That's cool.

Over the past 2 years, I've spent a lot of time in the south suburb where I grew up. After this ordeal was juxtaposed with the experience of having a kid of my own, I have fallen in love with my hometown- a town I've never been in love with.

I took Alex to the park down the street from our first house in the OF (yes, my parents bought two houses in Oak Forest). This park happens to be at the elementary school I first attended-the same park I played at as a young child. So there I am with Alex, watching him play with tons of kids surrounded by homes that look like the Brady Bunch house (but, not as nice). I was finally thankful for the place my parents chose to raise us. It's a place full of working class, family oriented people. No pretensions. I'm glad we are raising Alex in a town with the same qualities- minus the Brady Bunch looking houses (forgive me, there are a few in DeKalb).

On the way to the park I told Alex we could buy a toy because he did such a great job helping Gooey at the doctors and keeping her company during chemo. He wanted gloves from the hardware store. Then, when we got there, they had vinyl gloves like the doctor. So, there we were, driving around the OF with doctor gloves on- yes, I was wearing them, too. I did refuse to wear them into the restaurant. He didn't. My little OCD son. As Steener will atest, he even wore them the next day out at lunch. And, thanks to old dog's ocular surgery, Alex received another pair while visiting Uncle Ogy. We love Aunt Steener and Uncle Old Dog!

I don't know how ot use spell check on this thing- sorry.

second

2006-06-19T00:01:00.000-05:00

I picked the worst time of year to start a blog. Oh well. Part of the reason why I started the blog was to take a break from the craziness that is my life in May/June. It gave me a bit of a break during the most difficult tasks of the school year. I love the day to day stuff of being a teacher. I love the kids, the lessons, moving around the classroom helping solve problems- it's a very physical job. I even love the end of the year organizing and cleaning up. It's the paperwork that gets me. I have files upon files to check, recheck, staple, sort etc. I literally go berserk trying to get these things done. I have to take lots of breaks and play lots of mind games to get through it. Now that it's all done (when is it ever all done, really), I will hopefully have some time to blog.

On our first official day of summer, Alex and I went to the library to sign up for the summer reading program. Before we left though, we had to burn his underwear in the grill. Potty training was rough for the little guy and we decided to burn the training pants. After the ceremony, we hustled on over to the library. The summer reading program has some sort of pirate theme like "Ships Ahoy" or "Reading Adventures." That worked well because Alex happened to have a sword tucked into his boxers. Since he had shorts on, the sword came out the bottom of his shorts. To top it off, he was wearing his "i-pod." It's this yellow clay pumpkin necklace (teacher gift) that Alex uses as his pretend i-pod. As I was thinking about my day, I realized that I burned underwear in a grill and then went to the library with a sword weilding, pumpkin-i-pod wearing kid. What a great way to start out the summer.

first

2006-06-03T22:56:00.000-05:00

I read the HH dress code yesterday. I shouldn't have. As I was standing on the altar today waiting to give out communion I kept wondering if my outfit was appropriate. The HH dress code said that if you wondered if your outfit was appropriate, it probably wasn't. Oops.