Slow News Week

So, things have been fairly dull around here.  Which really, is not so bad.  Lord knows we've had enough excitement around here the last few years.  And there's sure to be more where that came from.  I've become so accustomed to living with a certain level crisis that I almost don't know what to do with myself when things are calm.  So, in order to reliever the stress of not having enough stress, I'm making up new problems for myself.  Like fixing up the house to get ready to sell.  Yesterday I spent all day finishing up some painting I had started about a year ago.  This morning I'll be dragging all the kids down to Home Depot right after breakfast for more paint, and later I'll re-grout the bathroom floor tile.  I also have to bake a cake and clean up for company tonight, look after the dumb puppy, and maybe educate my children a little bit, so that should be enough stress for today.  

This is yesterday's picture of Elena.  The kids decided to put on a circus, so they all dressed up in as many funky clothes as they could find for their circus costumes.  Big plans were made to train our dog to be a circus dog and do tricks.  This excitement lasted about 20 minutes, till the TV came on and the circus dog went to take a nap.  The outfits stayed on for the remainder of the afternoon.

Hey, Stupid!

I have five children, and apparently all five are named Stupid.  At  least, that's what you'd think if you hung around outside my house and listened to them interact with one another.  It sounds something like this:

"Get out of my room, Stupid!"

"Hey, Stupid, that's my pencil."

"Mom, Stupid spilled juice all over the floor."

And so on and so forth.  They really do all love each other and generally work very well together; I honestly don't think I could ever have imagined such a tight-knit group of siblings.  It's just that somehow, the word "stupid" has come to be their go-to pronoun in casual conversation.  I've been teaching them grammar for a number of years now, and I'm sure the pronoun list does NOT go he-she-him-her-it-stupid-they-them-their.  So we'll work on it.  I was planning to add some Emily Post etiquette training to our curriculum anyhow.  

In other news, Fly had her first visit to the vet yesterday.  I took the 3 oldest children along to help.  All went well, until the drive home.  The vet had plied the puppy with a steady supply of dog biscuits to keep her happy while she was doing all the vet-stuff.  Can you guess where this is going?  Paul, as the oldest and bossiest, was holding the puppy on his lap in the van.  The puppy's front end was aimed directly at Joe, who got the full load of barfed-up dog treats deposited directly into his lap.  This was heralded with loud cries of, "Eeeewwww, Mom, the dog barfed!  All over Joe!" closely followed by gurgling gagging noises from Joe.  Fortunately, we were almost home, and the kids managed a tuck-and-roll evac from the van before anyone else joined the barf party.  Another tale for the Treasury of Becker Family Barfing In the Van stories.

It's gonna be a two-pot day

Mondays, it's just tough to get moving.  I've been meaning to put away the laundry since Friday.  With a family as big as ours, the washer and dryer run almost constantly.  At the end of the week, I dump all the clean laundry out on my bed to sort into baskets according to each items' owner.  Bigger children and adults put away their own clothes in their respective closets/dressers, and the I put the little girls clothes away.  Every week, I dump the big laundry pile on the bed fully intending to sort it that day.  Every week, I spend another two days dumping the pile on the floor at night and re-piling it on the be the next day.  

We have a lot of clothes, let me tell you.  For reference, that is a king-sized bed supporting the pile, and a standard-sized two year old in front of it.  There are two more loads down in the basement being washed and dried, and two more loads directly behind me in the hamper, plus plenty of stuff still clean in closets.

Also for your consideration is our permanent sock basket.  The intention is to get all the clothes put away, and then come back and match the socks later.  Later, however, rarely comes, and most mornings there is a pack of small children rummaging through the basket looking for socks.  

Pancakes!

Yesterday we got up early for the long drive down to the Maple Tree Inn.  We've been going there every year for the pat few years for all-you-can-eat pancakes with real, homemade maple syrup.  Yum!  It's always a beautiful drive, and always freezing cold outside!  Later this year we'll go on a tour of some of the other maple farms, which we have done in the past and is always very interesting!  http://www.cartwrightsmapletreeinn.com/  http://www.mapleweekend.com/

We Eat A Lot

We now have a dog who eats a lot, also.

The children seem to be eating all the time.  Before I even have the breakfast dishes washed, some child is wandering back into the kitchen to see what's for lunch.  Consequently, I spent a large part of my day today procuring food to feed my ever-hungry family.

I spent most of the rest of the day organizing our food storage areas so that I would be able to 1. fit all that food in our house and 2. find the food I want when I want it.

Paul volunteered to come shopping with me; he's old enough to realize that coming with me means he'll have some influence over the choice of cereals and snacks, and might even score some kind of extra treat like a pack of gum or a candy bar.  We filled our cart to overflowing at Aldi; we only stopped shopping because we had no more room in the cart.  Next time I'll have to remember to grab two carts.  We filled up another cart at Wegmans, and by this time, we had filled p our van.

This is our pantry, where most of our food lives.  There's no where near enough room in my tiny kitchen to keep most of it in there.  The freezer is down here also.

Needless to say, I cook A LOT.  I could really, really use a second oven and another refrigerator.  And I dare not even dream about ever having enough room to store all my pots, pans, trays, dishes, appliances, and other cooking gear.

cold

When I took the dog out this morning, it was quite a bit colder than it has been the last few days.  It was also very windy and raining ice pellets.  Fly looked up at me as if to say, "Are you nuts, lady?  You go potty out here, I'm going in the house."  Paul had taken her out earlier this morning already, and after shivering in his shorts for about 30 seconds, decided that the dog must not have to go (even after being in her crate the last 5 hours) and boy and dog hightailed it back in to the house, where the little puddle factory did her work under the dining room table.

All in all, this puppy has been a good thing for our family.  So far the kids have shown a great deal of responsibility.  It makes me yearn all the more to move out to the country and start our little farm.  Having real work and responsibility is good for kids.

mid-winter thaw

We are still a long ways from spring time, but the last few days we have been enjoying a nice winter thaw.  Most of the snow from the yard and fields has melted.  The picture is of the snowpile that gets shoved into the center of the cul-de-sac.  It's a lot like the huge piles that form at the back of parking lots and at the corners of intersections around here every winter.   It becomes a lot like a glacier; there's not enough time for the old snow to completely melt before the new snow piles on top.  While nothing beats the clean-ness and crispness of a fresh fluffy white snow fall, thawing is a much uglier process.  Big dirty piles of black snow mixed with salt and dirt and chunks of lawn kicked up by the plows, all surrounded by virtual rivers of flowing sticky mud.  It's always funny to see the kids riding their bikes around the snow pile wearing shorts and sandals in the springtime.

whodunnit

I was minding my own business on the computer the other night when I heard a grumbly groan come from Matt upstairs.  "Nise," he says, "I think somebody peed on the floor."  Which begs two questions-  1.  Can we establish for a fact that the puddle is, indeed, pee? and 2. Who do you think peed on the floor?  The culprit was quickly identified and brought outside to tend to any other unfinished business she may have had.  

Birdsong Trail

Lots of pictures today!  We took the kids to the Birdsong Trail at Mendon Ponds this morning.  With the unseasonably warm weather today, lots of other people had the same idea, so the place was much more crowded than we generally like.  The birds were plenty hungry nonetheless, and all the kids had great success getting them to land on their hands, as you can see.  It was almost like something from out of a Disney movie, with all the happy little animals scampering around.  Even Bambi strolled right on through.

Now for the "kids say the darndest things"  category.  I was changing the sheets on me & Matt's bed last night, and Naomi came in and said, "Oh, Mommy, did you pee your bed last night, too?"  I had to explain that it is necessary to change bed sheets periodically even when one has not peed the bed.  

Back on the Wagon

I took almost an entire month off from running- from New Year's Day until just this week.  January is just sooooo cold and dark, it was very hard to drum up any motivation.  I failed, however, to adjust my eating habits to sync up with my less-active state, and now have a price to pay for it.  I should know by now, after many trips up and down the weight loss ladder, that it is much easier to maintain a good weight than it is to have to lose weight.  Ah, oh well. 

 So, I'm dusting off the treadmill  and dragging myself out to the gym.  I really, really miss running outside.  I really got to love my long runs, especially my regular route around town.  The treadmill will have to do for now, as all the sidewalks are deep under solid ice; it will take a good week of melting for most of them to become passable.  Some people really hate

 the treadmill; while I'd much rather be outside most of the time, it can be nice to be able to crank up my iPod and just pound out some miles without having to think or pay attention to my surroundings.  I can put the baby for her nap and set my big kids up with some independent work or a video and spend 45 minutes pounding out the day's stress.  It's not the most scenic of venues, as you can see.  The treadmill is in the basement with the washer & dryer and furnace and water heater and all the junk that doesn't have a better place to live, so I mostly either watch the clothes go round in the dryer or stare at the brick wall in front of me.  Hey, running in place in a dank basement is better than not running at all.

And here's todays cute puppy picture.  So much for 'no dogs on my furniture'.  Her training is coming along quite well; she really is a smart pup.  So far she only listens to my commands.  I'm just happy that *someone* in this house listens to my commands.

New Puppy

     Since not having a new baby this year has left us with vast stretches of free time, we finally cracked and got a puppy.

     This is Fly (name sound familiar? that was the border collie from the movie "Babe").  She is a purebred border collie.  This is not a breed for the faint of heart; border collies need a tremendous amount of exercise and stimulation.  They are the most intelligent breed of dog and need to have a job to do or they get into trouble.  So far she is fitting right in to our busy family.  By 7 p.m. last night she was collapsed into an exhausted puppy heap on the floor, worn out from trying to keep up with her new litter mates.