I saw this thing on pintrest.....

So, firstly to Kim and Jeane, thank you for getting me hooked on Pintrest. And to the rest of the family, I'm sorry about the addiction.
My aunt mentioned the other day in a conversation that there should be some way to mark off what you followed through in creating with instructions on Pintrest.
Well, I thought that my blog would be a great place for me to do this.
So, we'll start with the first item.



This was a link to a blog with ideas for traveling with kids. Most of them were a little outdated for the monkeybutt. But this cover image was great. I just so happened to have a basket like this in the attic. I dug it out when we were going on a road trip. It was perfect for her. Kept it all neat and contained.

I used this idea for a party we had. Word of advice..... don't used water balloons. They popped too easily. Also, you may want to do this a week ahead as they didn't freeze real well.

This was also from the party. Mom took it a step further and put papercup liners in each spot. It made for really easy clean up.

I've tried this chip fold over and over. But I have not gotten it to work. Oh, well.

This one did work like a charm. I will admit that my burners were too big for the bags. So, next time I'm thinking I'll grab a few extra produce bags from the grocery store and voila!

This one was perfect. It worked like a charm and my headphones do not tangle as often in my purse. Plus I know which ones are mine.

I think that's enough to start with.
Let me know what you have done and what you want to try.

The Money Pit

I've heard a million times over that no matter how you bought your house it's never done. Well, isn't that the truth. After about a year, we are most of the way done with the front porch. I have about 3 hours worth of painting to do on the outside of the house and that is done.
But.... the next project was going to be either the living room or dining room. The only two rooms we really haven't done much to other than throw up some paint.
But wait.... you didn't think it was going to be that easy now did you? Of course not. We had the parents and the in laws over this weekend for just a get together. As I am washing dishes that won't fit in my dishwasher, the part of the sink that goes from the drain to the bottom of the sink let's go.... flooding the kitchen. AS I am taking out the things under the sink to soak up the water I realize the cabinet is not just wet, but done. Can't hold up a box of pasta done. I have another one that has gotten wet from leaking plumbing that is on it's last legs too.
So...... we have to work on the kitchen.
Brian can't handle this. He grew up in a tract house that was brand new and there was never more work than a repair to a hole in the wall or a paint job. Not the way I grew up. With sawdust in my hair and sheet rock dust in my nose..... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
So, who is coming to help us? Donations from the money tree are always nice.

By the way.... my baby? You know the little peanut I gave birth too? She went to the doctor today for her annual physical. She's 5'1'', 118lbs at 11 years old. Where did my baby go?

Hormones Suck!!

Okay, so I can be an emotional person. But not really in the sense that I cry all the time. But since May when I lost the "girl parts" my hormones have been funky to say the least. I am a mess. I want to cry all the time. What really sucks is that my hormone levels have always been a bit messed up, so where most women would cry once a month at the Hallmark commercial, I didn't. It seemed fairly natural to me. But now...
I was just watching TV and the required commercial for Christmas where some child just makes it home for the holidays after a long absence... you know the one. But now I need the Kleenex...
This sucks!

Wow... it's sucks to be a woman

Okay, so here it is. It sucks to be a woman. There are some cool things, granted. Changing your hair color without getting weird looks, heels, make up, jewlery.... but there is a lot that sucks.
A little over two weeks ago I had a hysterecotmy. Yeah, there are a lot of things that sucks about it. For sure, I will never bear another child. My body is changing... again... but more on that in a moment. But when I got sick 7 years ago I knew that I was never going to have another child. I dealt with that then. I have been worried up until now that I could have an egtopic pregancy. But that's not something to worry about now. But it's really weird to think that everything is over for me as a virile woman. It's all gone. Just as Emily is beginning her "journey" into womanhood.
7 years ago I got sick. I had a 9 month period. That's right. 9 months almost straight. It sucked. I had an ablation (scarring or the uterine lining). No more period. There was a 20% chance I would get one back.... but never. So as far as Emily can remember, she's never been in a house where mommy had to deal with a monthly "gift". So this is not only something we haven't even begun to discuss, but it's going to be hard to explain why mommy doesn't have to deal with it.
So, the up side to this hysterectomy is that for sure, no more periods. No more worry about egtopic pregancies. The down sides have started. After my ablation, I had a few short weeks of dealing with night sweats. Nothing really. But now.... well,.... the night sweats are back with vengence. Then there is the emotions. Okay, so I have mood swings. Women do. Deal with it. But I was never one to cry at the Hallmark commercial. Never did. But now... a happy ending on House and I'm reaching for the Kleneex. Combine this with the fact I have no patience.... and Emily's newly surging hormones and 9 year old additute.... bad combo.
But we haven't even begun to talk about the hot flashes. I go from goose bump freezing from the anesthsia to oh my dear God, who opened the door to hell!? It's terrible. I have a couple of really lovely hand fans like Scarelet used in my desk at work my boss brought back from his honeymoon in Bali. They're great. I use them all the time.
So this weekend, I decided I needed some from home. I searched all over and I found one at the local "oriental" dollar store. I bought 2 for me and 1 for Em. I know better. So, she had over heard me saying I was having a hot flash. She now gets "sweaty flashes". It was so funny.
But, the funniest thing with all this was Em and I were standing in line at the pharmacy. There was a box of tampons on the end cap. It was box with drawings of athlectic women on it. Em turns to me and says "Mom, I need these. It shows women who exercise. I exercise. I need them" (mean while she can't read the box and doesn't know what they are).
I gently explain that she doesn't need them, they are for teenagers and mommies and that we will talk about it when she is a teenager. Of course it then comes to well, what are they.... something you need when you are teenager. We will talk about it again when you are 16. Not in the pharmacy and not again. Then I changed the subject.
It was funny.

Wow, it's been a while

I have to be the first to admit, that it's been a while since I blogged. Since joining Crackbook, I mean Facebook, there doesn't seem to be as much need to blog anymore, as I can publish a lot faster and a few little things here and there.
Things have been busy with us. Working on the house, I know, I know who isn't. Spring has sprung and well, Em's starting to turn into a big girl. She's growing on me with leaps and bounds.
She's doing very very well in school. Every moment of fighting to get her into The Center for Spectrum Services. She can read when she wants too. Her focus has improved dramatically. It's been a rough road and there is starting to be a light at the end of the tunnel. I know it will be a long long road still to travel, but.....
It's also been a bitch to get old. My knees are getting worse and it might be worse now rather than when I was 100lbs heavier because of all the hormones we are trying. No we are not trying to get pregnant. I've been sick again and we tried hormone therapy... which didn't work. I have to go see the doc in a few weeks to see and talk about possible removal of all the defective parts.
Other than that, nothing is really all that exciting to talk about. We work/school, eat and sleep, although the weather is finally nice enought to talk about pulling out the camper and hitting the road! Yeah! Can't wait for that!
So, I'll sign off for now with a story. Last week was Spring Break. Emily spent most of the week with my father. They were driving down a road that we never go down. We have no reason too. She saw a sign that read Golden Hill Health Care Center. She said "Golden Hill. That's where Mrs. B's mommy lives". My father asks her how she knew that. "I read it." "Then why don't you read books with Mommy or Nana?" "I'll read when I damn well want too!" (Little snot... huh?)

Christmas Eve

Well, here it is. Christmas Eve already. Hard to believe it's been a year already. It's been a hard day so far and I still am at work.
I have this philosophy. Christmas really is for the children and it will be what you make it. I really miss George and there have been several moments through out the year that I have said or almost said George would like this or I need to tell George. I know that George looks down on us and has sent us a few messages from the beyond.
But it's also been a good year in other respects. Brian has flown past his one year marker and is still cancer free! Even though we lost Grandfather this summer, it brought all us kids together for the first time about 11 years! All of us in the same room! It was wonderful. Emily finally got into the school that I have been fighting to get her into since she was ready for Kindergarten and is doing so well!
Work is busy, as we are still growing by leaps and bounds and there is always so much to do!
But there are other things this year that haven't been so good. Things that I don't want to dwell on, but I have to remember to take the bad with the good.
I wish every one a very Merry Christmas and have a very Happy New Year full of blessings!

Update

I haven't posted in forever. I know... I've been slacking. But in my defense, Em went back to school and I have been dealing with a lot getting the house ready for her first communion. It was a great day.... What the hell was I thinking? Having 40 people here was great but it was crazy. It was busy. We hadn't done some of the little things around the house in years, painting the woodwork, etc. We redid the bathroom. That took 2 weekends. Plus the yard. Getting everything picked up and planning the food. Cooking. And of course it was the day after Halloween!
I'll send some pics soon.

Huh?

About four months ago, Brian and I got a new cell phone plan. It has been fine, however, at the time I never thought about how much I would be using my new phone for texting. I have texted before, but this time around I seem to be texting more and more. So, we just went for the free phones.
Yesterday was my birthday and I have been telling Brian I really wanted a new phone for my birthday. So, last night, before dinner, we went out to look at new phones. We are not eliagble for an upgrade, so anything we looked at would be full price. My dream would have been the new my touch from Tmobile, but at $500... well you get the idea.
So, we went to the Tmobile store... well ... booth in the mall. It turns out the phone I was willing to get was no longer carried there and the new version is a bit different and I don't like it. I was talking to the guy and he kept telling me the phone was the same. I was telling him it was different. The new version is sleaker, smaller, thinner and the qwerty keyboard is smaller. Not what I wanted. So, we walked down to Radio Shack.
The sales man there and I talked for a bit and I was going to settle on another phone. He informed me that you didn't need to buy just a regular Tmobile phone, but you could get one of their pre-paid phones and it would work. The savings was astonishing. So, while I am looking at the phone, he took another customer. Brian than runs into someone he knows and we are talking.
The guy never came back to me... stupid sales person. Bri's friend suggests I go to Best Buy. So, I do. There is the phone I want in prepaid for less than half of what I could buy it with out it being prepaid! No brainer in my opinion!!! Brian and Emily went to get the car and meet me. I called him and told him I was ready and that I had bought my cell. It's pretty cool. It has a full qwerty keyboard and some other cool features. The only thing I can't figure out is how to get my music from the memory card to the ring tone section. The manual reads like greek. I'll figure it out at some point.
I will have to post something soon about my experince with the DSL company. It's utterly crazy! But maybe when I am less astonished and upset.

Without Technology

I am finally back online. Not that I was completely off line, as I have some internet on my cell phone and I have a 13 year old computer to check my email and stuff. But being able to blog, check facebook regularly, etc, was not something I could do.
I bought a computer back around Black Friday after my Dell died. I had the Dell for five or so years and after that the port where you plug in to charge to computer died. Since the Dell was more than five years old, and Best Buy couldn't fix it. It would have cost me more to send it back to Dell to see if they could even fix it at all. But at that time, I decided to just get another computer. So, Best Buy had a sale on something called an Emachine.
All in all, I got what I paid for.
I've been thinking about a new one and I picked it up today. I am very pleased with it. The only down side is that I have Windows Vista again. I hat Vista. I wish there was something else.
So, lots of catching up to do!!! Yeah!!!

Waste of time?

Well, it's all over. We came from the hospital yesterday afternoon. The doctor said that what ever was going on is gone now. We had to do a sleep depervation study the first night there. Basically we had to keep Em up until 2 am and then they woke us up at 6 am. Then we had to keep her up for a while. It was worse on me. At least she could take a nap at some point during the day. So, we slept for a long time last night!!!
It feels good to get home and be here.
But, there is nothing wrong with her EEG!!! Everything is now normal. Well, as normal as Emily will ever be!LOL

Anticipation....

Okay, so writing this title gave me the song in my head. Emily started to see a new neurologist last summer. He wanted us then to go for a video EEG in his hospital. We were getting it all set when my loving husband decided that I wasn't paying enough attention to him and he grew a tumor.
So, now, we are scheduled to go into the hospital on Monday. She's all wound up about it. We have to be there a minimum of three days and as many as five. We won't know until we get there.
Em has done this before and she's not too thrilled about it. Neither, am I to tell you the truth. But, at least this time we will be closer to home and I can let my mother or husband stay with her for a while and go home each night for a while. At least to get a hot shower and check the mail and so on. I will be bringing my computer and I am thinking about my scanner too so that I can work on some history things. I guess I need to call and find out if I can do that. Plus, it's so much to carry. At least the scanner is light!
I'm hoping this will be a better experience than the last one. We were in Albany and even though my mother and husband took turns staying, it was rough on all of us. And we were there a week. I hope we won't be this time.
I'm thinking that I'm going to buy her the Hannah Montana movie to watch.... over and over again while we are there.
Boom boom clap. boom de clap de clap.

The Family Co- Historian

I have, partly by volunteering and partly by nomination, have been elected family historian of the Richter Family. It's kinda cool.
So, check out the new blog I created and send emails to the address I created.

Blog: www.richterfamilyhistoryproject.blogspot.com

Email : richterfamilyhistoryproject@gmail.com

Please send me stories, comments, pictures, whatever to these places.

Thanks! Lets make this fun!

Internet will let you find anything, my foot!

Since Grandfather passed away, my mother has been going through paper after paper in trying to sort it all out. We came across some cool things. One of which was my grandmother's original birth certificate and adoption papers.

I have known most of my life that she was adopted. I think it's kinda cool. But this paper work has the names of her birth parents. As I was told, her mother either died at or right after child birth. But we are still trying to find out information about her father. We would love to know if there is more family out there. So, off to Google I go. I have very limited information to go with. But I have something.

I've been working with Ancestory.com and not finding too much. It's becoming very frustrating. I want the answers but unless I take a crash course in Danish and learn where the family was living prior to coming to the US......

Anyone who has time to kill on the computer and wants to help should email me and I will share the information.

My Family

I guess in the modern days, I come from a big family. Not quite as big as my brother in law who is the oldest of 8 or his mother who is one of something like 14 kids, but we are big enough.

We lost my grandfather a week ago. After a very sudden and tragic heart attack and car accident, he went to be with my Nana. Of course the entire family gathered here for the funeral.

My husband and I were married almost 11 years ago. ( and yes sometimes it feels longer). We were married on New Year's Eve and Grandfather celebrated his 75th birthday a few days later. It was great that as long as we were all together, that we celebrated his milestone. That was the last time all my aunts, uncles and cousins were in the same room together. Well, all of us that there were at the time.

We have grown a bit since then. Marriages and kids have swelled our numbers.

So, since we were altogether, this past week it was kind of exciting, even if the circumstances were sad.

Yes, I am the oldest grandchild. Have been all my life. Even my husband is younger than me. I keep thinking that having us all in the same room would have made Gradfather swell with pride and love. All of his grandkids, spouses and great grandchildren together. He is smiling now. I know that he is.

So, for the fact that there are 31 of us, including the parents, we are a motly crew. We love each other.

So, I will end this with a message to each of them...

Aunt Chris and Uncle Mark... Wonderful to see you again. Don't melt in AZ!!!

Aunt Gail and Uncle Rick... Too long since we last saw each other! Miss you!

Uncle Steve... remember that you are considered the "cool" uncle!

Aunt Debi... Thank you for everything. You were a rock for the siblings at the hospital!

Wendy, Tom and Ali... Thank you for being there. It was great having you be part of everything!

Josh... Miss you! Hope you didn't torture Jeane too much in the car.

Brandon and Gabe... Damn it! Stop growning! You are not allowed to be taller than me!

Court, Jim, Caden and Zane... I'm glad we got to spend so much time together! The boys are just too damn cute!

Karen, Steve, Nathaniel and Gabe... It was wonderful having you with us for all that time! Don't be strangers! Come again!

Jeremy and Jeane... You guys need to come east again! We will take you anywhere you want to go!

Kat... Thanks for the chocolate! I am so jelious of you being in England. Stay out for a while so that I can save my pennies and come see you!

Cody... Happy Birthday! I can't believe that you are over 21!

Brett.. my youngest cousin... rememeber to enjoy your last year in high school. After this you will be expected to think about the rest of your life and begin to plan it out. Choose wisely and I know you will.

Mom and Dad... thanks for all the help this week. I hope that you know everything we did was for you and what we thought Grandfather would have wanted.

I have one last thought.

Besides, my aunts, uncles and parents... I am the one who got to spend the most time with grandfather.... the privelge of being the oldest... There were times I really hated him. Things he said, things he did. I know why he did or said them. However, even though we had a falling out and I had told him that sometimes he needed that filter on his mouth, I still loved the man. I may have seemed to have a "good handle" on my emotions this week. I really don't. I know what it's like to loose a parent... especially under tragic circumstances. I just knew what needed to be done and was able to push it aside a bit and get it done.

I cried almost all the way home from the train station the other night. I cried when I read Jeane and Court's blogs. I can't even go near my father's blog. I get misty when my residents, many of whom knew Grandfather come to me and express their condolences. I get weepy when I meet friends and neighbors... almost all who have a story to tell about the judge. I well up everytime I turn on my computer. My desktop background is now the pictures of the cousins.

I love you all. Thank you for all being here. Let's not let it be 11 years again!!! Promise!

It's been a week

I haven't blogged in a while, even though there is a lot of things going on.

Tuesday the family got a phone call that my grandfather was in the hospital following a cardiac event and a resulting car accident. I rushed to be with my mother and help with her family. We have had one day of viewing and there is a second one today, the funeral tomorrow. All and I mean all of my family is here. There are 30 of us all together. It's been wondeful and quite tiring at the same time.

I'll write more after everything is settled.

My money pit

When Em was about 6 months old, Brian and I started to look at houses. We talked a lot and worked around and around on a lot of ideas. We talked about building, renivating and just buying. We looked at a lot of options and long story short we ended up renting a house that we bought. It belonged at the time to some old family friends and as much work as they had done, it still needed a bit more.
After looking and looking on line, we decided that the closet thing about our style of house was an American 4 square. Essentally, 4 rooms downstairs and 4 rooms upstairs. We have a full attic and a partially finished basement. I hate the house. Really hate it.
Now, think about your house. Think about the house that you grew up in. I mean, like my parent's house. Three bedrooms. How many windows are there? My parents, not including sky lights have 19 windows. That' including the attic and the old sun porch that has tons of windows. My house, including the basement and attic has 25 windows!!! and 4 doors. That doesn't leave a lot of wall space.
Well, it was right for the price. It needs a lot of work for it to be my dream, well not dream house, but better than it is now.
We have been working on the kitchen. Brian and I decided to get rid of the never used breakfast nook and a few other things. Yesterday we finally put the floor down. That was the last piece that needed to be done.
We also built a patio in the back yard and a few other things.

Kids say the damnst things

This past weekend we were away camping with some really good friends. We went up to Cantine Field for the fireworks and the carnival. Our friends have a four year old little boy and Em loves him.
Now, neither Brian nor I have ever really censored our mouths around Emily. We would rather that she know when saying bad words are appropriate and when they are not. She for the most part understands that they are grown up words and that she shouldn't use them.
Well, Em was anxious to get to the rides and she had no desire to stop and look at all the junk booths full of over priced glow sticks and other crap. But our little friend thought it was all soooo cool he wanted to see it all.
At one point we were well in front of our party and we stopped. Em turned to me and said "They are being a pain in the ass. What the hell is taking them so long?"
Okay. I needed to remind her that she was using grown up words, and that it wasn't okay. But it was all I could do not to laugh. I scolded her, agreed that they were being a pain in the ass and taking too long for her. Then I sent her to hold Daddy's hand so that I could turn around and release the laugh that I was holding in, well bearly.
Em's speech therapist wrote a note on her report card that Em's vocabulary was well above her peers, even though she still has issues with tense and grammar. She says things like I sleep good last night. But the best part is that she understands what a lot of words mean and uses them correctly.
It's really funny to listen to her say things like she was jelious or that something was rediculous. She's right. She knows what it means.
Em started with her new sitter this week, a lovely woman named Jenae. Emily is not a few hundred feet from my office and I have been picking her up. I get there and she doesn't say Hi Mom! or Let's go home. It's why are you here so quick? That's a great sign!!!

Fourth of July

One of the things in the last year or so, is that Emily has really begun understand that holidays are more than about gifts or parades. We have found that we need to start explaining more than it's a day off from school. She gets that Christmas is really Jesus' birthday celebration. The up coming 4th is no exception. I explained it's the day we celebrate the birth of America. That concept was hard. How does a county get born? Who is it's Mommy and Daddy. So, I tried, It's the day we celebrate when America became a grown up country and no other country had to help it or run it. That was better.
But with the up coming holiday weekend, marks the end of Em's summer vaca.
We decided to find a new sitter. I found one through an internet sitter service. I called, left a message. The woman called back.
Her name is Jenae. Irish. Her husband is Patrick. Son Liam. Son Gabe.... see the pattern? Daughter, Shannon. There is a family member in our family with the same names... good sign. I think this will work out well.
Still working on the house. We are finished a patio over the weekend. We will be away this weekend so, no projects. Maybe Monday!

Father's Day

There was a time that Father's DAy was worse for me than Mother's Day. Between Brian, his father, mine, my grandfather, and Em's Godfather, I was buying a LOT of cards and gifts. But this year is a little sad.
Tomorrow, Emily will get her Bible from church, the first step in her First Communion for Nov. Brian is then going to meet up with his mother and sisters and go to his Father's grave. Then we are invited to dinner at my mother's.
Brian really hasn't talked about it much, but this is the first year without his father.
Well Happy Father's Day to all the dad's and make sure you give your father a hug and a kiss. You never know when he won't be there.

IEP

IEP.... the three most horrible letters and at the same time the three best letters in my world. For those of you who don't know, the IEP stands for Individual Education Plan. This is Emily's plan of action for the next school year. It's all the things that will tell us what's going to happen next. It's the set up for her PT, OT, Speech and other therapies.
Well, this year I hired someone to help review the information and help advocate for me to get Em the best possible services. It was worth every penny. This past Wednesday was IEP day.
Pat, the advocate and I show up at the school about 10 minutes early. We get down to the room on time and find out that the 9:00 meeting has just gone through the door and we are the 10:00 meeting. Okay. So, we are waiting a bit. We finally get to go in around 11:15.
Sit in the room with the meeting for almost 2 hours. The half an hour that they scheduled for Em was not enough. And the only thing we resolved was that we need more meetings to set up for September and that summer school is in place for now. It was exhausting.
I'm glad that it was so intensive though. At least I think that I was finally heard. That my daughter at 8 can't even read the word Pizza or Mommy. That kills me. Oh! We also decided and I put my foot down so hard that I thought I would break the floor, Emily will not be going on to 3rd grade. At this time she's functioning at a high kindergarten level. Wow, right?!
I hope and I pray that all the wonderful readers of this blog never have to go through this. Remember that when your child asks you, yet again what the letters for Mommy are... you could have a child like mine. She can't spell Mommy.