We were at the zoo today. The weather was glorious for mid-March. When we got there and parked the van our thermometer read 46 degrees, when we left a little after 2:00, it read 68! While at the zoo we saw people bundled in their winter coats, sportin' their hats . . . we also saw flip flops, tank tops and shorts! Only in Minnesota is there such a wide spectrum of acceptable clothing! I found it a little crazy.
I think we landed nicely in the middle of the spectrum with our long pants, shirts and lighter jackets/sweatshirts. Oh, and socks with our shoes still . . . at least for a little while longer . . . you know, like until the snow is gone or something crazy like that!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Well, maybe . . .
Lydia just said to me:
"Maybe I got sick from daylight savings time."Hmmm, I've never heard that one before, but the timing lines up pretty good so I guess we shouldn't rule it out. Anyone else get sick from daylight savings time?
Friday, March 13, 2009
SUPER fun new thing!
So, I'm pretty sure none of us really needs a new thing to suck up our time . . . there's already plenty: facebook, blog reading {mine is worth reading, but there are some . . . }, laundry, shelfari, cleaning, YouTube, paying bills, online games {can you say Scramble??} . . . I could go on and on! But, I found a new, very fun, seemingly worthwhile website. Picnik. At Picnik you can do super fun and cool edits to your pictures. Now, you could {and I VERY easily could get completely sucked in, but I'm trying to exhibit a little restraint here} go way overboard and edit every single picture you take to make it absolutely cool and fabulous . . . but really, you don't need to and you know it! Plus that would take you about 25 years and you would miss out on lots of fun life {that you could be photographing} during that time. I almost want to be selfish and not tell anyone else about this cool site because then I could mess around with my pictures and make them uber-wonderful and people would think I was cool and ultra talented and would ask me how I did that and stuff. But I think you would have fun too, so I gave in and decided to be generous and share my newly found wealth of fun and information with you, my friends!
So, here you go. A quick Picnik overview. I took my favorite picture {ok, that sounds a little too decisive for me . . . scratch that and let's say "one of" my favorite picture(s)} of Anna and played with it. I took this picture of Anna in her diaper pail {that diaper there in the bottom is clean . . . NOT dirty, so don't fret} last July. She was about 4 months old. Isn't she just the cutest thing?
Here's what I started with:
And here's some of the fun things you can do to your pictures at Picnik:
Add snow {which would be extra funny if you were outside, say, in the desert}:
Sepia:
Pencil sketch:
Duo tone {you can pick any 2 colors you want . . . I thought these were fun and girly}:
Stickers {all manner of fun stuff you can add to your picture . . . there were TONS of these, I just picked a few!}:
This is called "60's" and it basically just makes your picture look like it is from the 60's {duh} by changing the color and rounding the corners . . . love it! {and since ALL people used cloth diapers in the 60's, I thought it was extra appropriate for this particular shot}:
The possibilities are really infinite, so these are but a few {very few} examples of the range of fun stuff they've got. You can do all the normal stuff like make it black and white and erase redeye and add captions to the pictures and that kinda stuff too. A few other features I like TONS, but didn't really do much for this particular picture are: focal b&w and focal soften where you can focus in on one part of the picture (say, your kid in a group shot) and make the rest of the picture either black and white or out of focus and fuzzy . . . since Anna's face is pretty much the only thing in this particular shot it would not have been a good example! If you scroll down in the blog {or just click here}, I DID do "focal soften" to the picture of Lydia's missing teeth. You can kinda see {if you look closely} that the papers on the desk and Kirbs' arm are a little blurry. Fun, huh?
You can also become a premium member of Picnik for $25/year and do even more cool stuff. But really, there's plenty to do for free, so I don't think that's nesa. Sorry, if you're confused . . . that's a little joke you might not get if you're not from my family. Our favorite movie of all time is "High Anxiety" a 1977 Mel Brooks film. One of our favorite {although there are MANY} lines from that movie is "You don't tell me what's nesa, I tell you what's nesa!" Phonetically, I'm not sure how to spell "nesa", but it's short for necessary, so just start to say "necessary" and interrupt yourself and that's the word I'm going for . . . but I digress . . . You can do a million and one things without spending $25 for the extra premium stuff. So, check it out. But set a timer or something to limit yourself or the next thing you know it might be 2011! Enjoy!
So, here you go. A quick Picnik overview. I took my favorite picture {ok, that sounds a little too decisive for me . . . scratch that and let's say "one of" my favorite picture(s)} of Anna and played with it. I took this picture of Anna in her diaper pail {that diaper there in the bottom is clean . . . NOT dirty, so don't fret} last July. She was about 4 months old. Isn't she just the cutest thing?
Here's what I started with:
And here's some of the fun things you can do to your pictures at Picnik:
Posterize:
Add snow {which would be extra funny if you were outside, say, in the desert}:
Sepia:
Pencil sketch:
Duo tone {you can pick any 2 colors you want . . . I thought these were fun and girly}:
Stickers {all manner of fun stuff you can add to your picture . . . there were TONS of these, I just picked a few!}:
This is called "60's" and it basically just makes your picture look like it is from the 60's {duh} by changing the color and rounding the corners . . . love it! {and since ALL people used cloth diapers in the 60's, I thought it was extra appropriate for this particular shot}:
The possibilities are really infinite, so these are but a few {very few} examples of the range of fun stuff they've got. You can do all the normal stuff like make it black and white and erase redeye and add captions to the pictures and that kinda stuff too. A few other features I like TONS, but didn't really do much for this particular picture are: focal b&w and focal soften where you can focus in on one part of the picture (say, your kid in a group shot) and make the rest of the picture either black and white or out of focus and fuzzy . . . since Anna's face is pretty much the only thing in this particular shot it would not have been a good example! If you scroll down in the blog {or just click here}, I DID do "focal soften" to the picture of Lydia's missing teeth. You can kinda see {if you look closely} that the papers on the desk and Kirbs' arm are a little blurry. Fun, huh?
You can also become a premium member of Picnik for $25/year and do even more cool stuff. But really, there's plenty to do for free, so I don't think that's nesa. Sorry, if you're confused . . . that's a little joke you might not get if you're not from my family. Our favorite movie of all time is "High Anxiety" a 1977 Mel Brooks film. One of our favorite {although there are MANY} lines from that movie is "You don't tell me what's nesa, I tell you what's nesa!" Phonetically, I'm not sure how to spell "nesa", but it's short for necessary, so just start to say "necessary" and interrupt yourself and that's the word I'm going for . . . but I digress . . . You can do a million and one things without spending $25 for the extra premium stuff. So, check it out. But set a timer or something to limit yourself or the next thing you know it might be 2011! Enjoy!
Please pray!
I got up this morning before any of the kiddos (they start spring break today, so I hope everyone will be sleeping in for quite a while more!) and came down to get a little work done to find a terribly tragic email from my very good friend Carol, who lives in Colorado . . . she also grew up in our house . . . we bought it from her parents. There were 2 emails actually, written less than an hour apart, late last night/early this morning!
Anyway, the first email asked for prayer. Carol's friend, Shelley, was hospitalized yesterday with influenza B and was very, very sick and was not doing well. The second email said that just a few minutes after sending the first email Carol had gotten a call that Shelley had died. Shelley has a husband {Scott} and 4 kids who range in age from 2 to 10 . . . wow, that hits close to home! I did not know Shelley or ever meet her, but I just started crying and praying as I read through Carol's email.
Please, if you have a minute and care to join me in prayer for this family, I would appreciate it. The children went to bed last night knowing their mom was in the hospital, but when they wake up this morning . . . I can't even begin to imagine how you tell your children that their mom, who they were just with yesterday and who they need so much, is dead. I just can hardly even think about it. Please pray for them. I know many of you will and I appreciate it so much, even though I don't know her or her family . . . but I do know Carol and how deeply she loves her friends and can't imagine how much she must be hurting too!
Anyway, the first email asked for prayer. Carol's friend, Shelley, was hospitalized yesterday with influenza B and was very, very sick and was not doing well. The second email said that just a few minutes after sending the first email Carol had gotten a call that Shelley had died. Shelley has a husband {Scott} and 4 kids who range in age from 2 to 10 . . . wow, that hits close to home! I did not know Shelley or ever meet her, but I just started crying and praying as I read through Carol's email.
Please, if you have a minute and care to join me in prayer for this family, I would appreciate it. The children went to bed last night knowing their mom was in the hospital, but when they wake up this morning . . . I can't even begin to imagine how you tell your children that their mom, who they were just with yesterday and who they need so much, is dead. I just can hardly even think about it. Please pray for them. I know many of you will and I appreciate it so much, even though I don't know her or her family . . . but I do know Carol and how deeply she loves her friends and can't imagine how much she must be hurting too!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Here she is!
Here's LJ with her big new gap in her mouth . . . and some of her normal sparkle returning to her face! She's is not quite all better yet, but she's SO much better than she was even just 12 hours ago! You think you'll be able to capture that toothless grin forever in your memory. Sadly, though, without pictures to fall back on I can't even picture Jacob and Rebekah with that big gap there anymore . . . I just picture them with those big teeth they've got now. So, this time around, I'm going to try and savor every toothless grin that she flashes. Anyway, both of those toofers are already starting to poke through, so I know this cute gap in her mouth won't be around for long.
Isn't that somethin'? Oh Lydi!
I took this picture in Kirbs' office where she went to hang out for a while in the morning since I was scheduled to be the parent helper at preschool. It was a little extra-special treat for her to go to work with daddy, even if she did mostly just lay on the floor with a pillow and blanket feeling miserable!
Isn't that somethin'? Oh Lydi!
I took this picture in Kirbs' office where she went to hang out for a while in the morning since I was scheduled to be the parent helper at preschool. It was a little extra-special treat for her to go to work with daddy, even if she did mostly just lay on the floor with a pillow and blanket feeling miserable!
Preschool Parent Helper Day!
I had tons of fun at my parent helper day at Joe's preschool today! You sign up to volunteer in the classroom 3 times during the year and today was my day! It was super fun to be there, even though it was extra work to figure out how I'd pull it off with Lydia home sick . . . but it all came together just fine and Joe and I enjoyed our morning together.
Free play when we first arrived:
Circle time: welcome song, counting how many friends are at school today (no one was sick . . . all 20 kids present and accounted for!), surprise bucket (a.k.a. "show & tell") . . . all while sitting on a cute little mat with your name on it!
Nice job paying attention, bud! That's impressive!
Playdough . . . need I say more?
Getting ready to go home. They all have "magic glue" on their bottoms and can't get off their chair until their grown up taps their head . . . how sweet is that? Amazingly, 98% of the time everyone is cooperative! Those preschool teachers are like miracle workers, I tell ya!
Free play when we first arrived:
Circle time: welcome song, counting how many friends are at school today (no one was sick . . . all 20 kids present and accounted for!), surprise bucket (a.k.a. "show & tell") . . . all while sitting on a cute little mat with your name on it!
Nice job paying attention, bud! That's impressive!
Playdough . . . need I say more?
Getting ready to go home. They all have "magic glue" on their bottoms and can't get off their chair until their grown up taps their head . . . how sweet is that? Amazingly, 98% of the time everyone is cooperative! Those preschool teachers are like miracle workers, I tell ya!
Thankful Thursday
Today I'm thankful for the 2 minutes to write this post. It's been a busy week of doctor trips and sick kiddos. Next week I'll have lots of FUN things to be thankful for . . . so stay tuned!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Celebrating Sam!
Sam {my best friend Allison's little guy . . . and our godson} turned 5 on the 1st. I can't believe he's getting so big so fast! That's how it goes, I guess. Anyway on Saturday my mom and I took the 5 kiddos to Sam's party at "Pump it Up". A fun time was had by all. Happy Birthday Sam, we love you!
Sickies
Sick kids . . . what a bummer! 4 out of 5 Stoll kiddos have been sick in the past week.
Jacob came home last Thursday with a temp and is still not quite over his viral crud . . . I took him in last night to the doctor after he ASKED me if I would take him in. Now any nearly-10-year-old who asks to go to the doctor has got to be feeling pretty rough. As it turns out they couldn't do anything for him. Although they suggested that a spoonful of honey does as good on job on helping a cough as any cough stuff you can buy at the pharmacy . . . we tried and it seems to have helped . . . go figure!
Rebekah is the one holdout who is still in relatively good health . . . although still relatively grumpy more often than I would like!
Lydia stayed home today after laying in my lap at supper last night with a very warm forehead. When I took her temp it was 101. We were guessing if it would land on any of our favorite radio frequencies . . . we were really hoping for 98.5 . . . you know, for a few reasons not the least of which that would mean she wasn't sick and since Kirb works at Northwestern (the official owner of KTIS) I guess that counts a little too! We were really hoping we didn't get up to 104.1, JACK FM . . . also for more than one reason. Here is how I found her on the couch this morning. Sound asleep. It doesn't look comfy to me, what do you think?
Joe has an ear infection. He came home in the middle of the night from his not-so-fun sleepover last Saturday because he had developed a fever too and was feeling really crummy . . . and not sleeping . . . and wanting his momma {isn't that sweet?} He was fine when my mom picked him up in the afternoon, but went downhill kinda quick about 1am! He'll have to get re-entered into the rotation a little early since I don't think that one should count! {If you don't know it, one of our 4 big kids sleeps over at my parent's house most every Saturday night. They get picked up sometime on Saturday afternoon and since we go to the same church as my parents they just go back home with us when church is done. It is a beautiful arrangement for everyone!}
Anna is teething. Poor girl. Her poop (which is quite frequent these days) is kinda white-ish in color. Weird! But I asked our pediatrician when I was in for Joe's ears and she said it's not as weird as you might think. It's a combination of the teething and Anna's version of the bug that is going around at our house.
On a more fun note Lydia lost her other front tooth . . . I'll post a picture when she's looks a little less "near-death". She's not a real pretty girl when she's sick: pale and pasty doesn't become her too well!
Jacob came home last Thursday with a temp and is still not quite over his viral crud . . . I took him in last night to the doctor after he ASKED me if I would take him in. Now any nearly-10-year-old who asks to go to the doctor has got to be feeling pretty rough. As it turns out they couldn't do anything for him. Although they suggested that a spoonful of honey does as good on job on helping a cough as any cough stuff you can buy at the pharmacy . . . we tried and it seems to have helped . . . go figure!
Rebekah is the one holdout who is still in relatively good health . . . although still relatively grumpy more often than I would like!
Lydia stayed home today after laying in my lap at supper last night with a very warm forehead. When I took her temp it was 101. We were guessing if it would land on any of our favorite radio frequencies . . . we were really hoping for 98.5 . . . you know, for a few reasons not the least of which that would mean she wasn't sick and since Kirb works at Northwestern (the official owner of KTIS) I guess that counts a little too! We were really hoping we didn't get up to 104.1, JACK FM . . . also for more than one reason. Here is how I found her on the couch this morning. Sound asleep. It doesn't look comfy to me, what do you think?
Joe has an ear infection. He came home in the middle of the night from his not-so-fun sleepover last Saturday because he had developed a fever too and was feeling really crummy . . . and not sleeping . . . and wanting his momma {isn't that sweet?} He was fine when my mom picked him up in the afternoon, but went downhill kinda quick about 1am! He'll have to get re-entered into the rotation a little early since I don't think that one should count! {If you don't know it, one of our 4 big kids sleeps over at my parent's house most every Saturday night. They get picked up sometime on Saturday afternoon and since we go to the same church as my parents they just go back home with us when church is done. It is a beautiful arrangement for everyone!}
Anna is teething. Poor girl. Her poop (which is quite frequent these days) is kinda white-ish in color. Weird! But I asked our pediatrician when I was in for Joe's ears and she said it's not as weird as you might think. It's a combination of the teething and Anna's version of the bug that is going around at our house.
On a more fun note Lydia lost her other front tooth . . . I'll post a picture when she's looks a little less "near-death". She's not a real pretty girl when she's sick: pale and pasty doesn't become her too well!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Apologies!
So sorry to leave you hanging after Flashback Friday last week. I've had sick kiddos and an abundance of other stuff keeping me busy, but here you go . . . the answer you've all been waiting for . . . it's Lydia! The picture was taken in September of 2002. How, you ask, should you have known it was Lydia? What were those hints I was referring to? The first one that I spotted was the little bump that you might have noticed {or maybe you didn't} next to the mysterious Stoll baby's left temple. It's a dermoid cyst that appeared there when Lydia was about a month old {I still can flashback to the exact moment I first noticed it . . . I was sitting in church . . . back when we used to sit on the right about 3 or 4 rows back. You know, before we moved to the left in front of the McGettrick's where we sit now!} and was surgically removed in January of 2003, when she was 7 months old. Now it's but a distant memory . . . no scar even! The second hint that I noticed later was that there is carpet on the floor . . . it's not there anymore, so that was a little hint that it wasn't Anna in the photo. The carpet got ripped out and thrown in the garbage sometime in 2005, if I remember right.
Have another look now that you know it's her? Is it any more obvious now? Can you see her little cyst? Isn't she a cutie?
And just for fun, here's the whole picture . . . in color:
So, good job if you guessed it was Lydia and if you looked but didn't guess . . . get some guts next time and just give it a shot. No one will hold it against you if you're wrong. If it weren't for the date stamp in the corner, I'm not 100% positive I could always identify pictures of my kiddos as infants without some hints {like if there are older siblings holding them in the picture that is always helpful!} So just give it a shot net time, ok?
Have another look now that you know it's her? Is it any more obvious now? Can you see her little cyst? Isn't she a cutie?
And just for fun, here's the whole picture . . . in color:
So, good job if you guessed it was Lydia and if you looked but didn't guess . . . get some guts next time and just give it a shot. No one will hold it against you if you're wrong. If it weren't for the date stamp in the corner, I'm not 100% positive I could always identify pictures of my kiddos as infants without some hints {like if there are older siblings holding them in the picture that is always helpful!} So just give it a shot net time, ok?
Friday, March 6, 2009
The week in review . . .
WOW! I can't believe it's Friday afternoon . . . and at the same time I feel like this week has been at least 2 weeks long.
Let's review, shall we? I'll go backwards and see how well my memory is working.
Today Jacob is home from school sick. A big bummer . . . his class went on a field trip today and he was sad to miss it. He came home from school yesterday not feeling too hot . . . actually that's all wrong, he was feeling quite hot! He laid down and almost instantly fell asleep. He got up for a while in the evening and watched a movie with the family and then went back to bed and slept all night. He woke up in the middle of the night and I checked on him and took his temp . . . 102, poor bud. So today he read for an hour or so this morning, had lunch and then took a nap (unheard of, he must really be sick). He seems pretty perky now and isn't feeling too warm, though I haven't taken his temp again. Joey loves having him here to play with, though, so it's been an ok day anyway. Wait, I took a little blogging break and now he is napping again and feels pretty toasty. He's got some more Advil in him and is snoozing!
Kirby is a workshop speaker at the Set Apart Women's Conference this weekend. He had 3 groups today and will have another 3 tomorrow. I know he'll do a great job! I forget the exact title of his workshop, but it's something about faith and finances. Maybe next year they'll ask him to be the keynote speaker . . . :)
On night this week . . . I don't remember which one . . . I woke up about 2 when Anna was fussin' and you'll never guess who was laying next to me! . . . Ready? It was my husband! This is amazing because the usual answer would be Joe, but he was still in his own bed! Amazing, I tell you! Being the light sleeper that Joe is, though, he woke up when Kirb was leaving for work about 5:15 . . . actually, he doesn't go to work at that hour, he goes to the Y. He tries to get there when they open at 5:30 and get his workout for the day in before getting to work by about 7ish. So, Kirbs' leaving woke Joe up, so he came and joined me then. But, basically we were Joe-less all night. Maybe it will even happen again once or twice before he goes off tocollege kindergarten. Actually, in the cold Minnesota winter it doesn't even bother me too much. He's like sleeping with a little space heater . . . it's kinda nice!
Yesterday {Anna and} I went with a couple of my friends to check out a new little shop on Grand Ave. We had a fun morning together! Anna was a great trooper and I think she had a little fun shoppin' with the girls too!
Speaking of the banana-boo, she's walking up a storm these days. She still crawls is she's going for speed and is in a hurry, but she is more than capable of walking all the way across the room and can even recover from being knocked around a little by a stray sibling who isn't watching where they are going. Here she is walking along and then stopping to ponder a little something . . . she is quite an intellectual, you see!
My good friend, Shawna, had pretty major surgery on Wednesday so I've been busy praying for and thinking about her this week. She had some cysts on her ovaries that they suspected might be cancerous and were otherwise giving her TONS of trouble and pain. Well, praise God! there was no cancer. There was, however, "one of the worst cases" of endometriosis that her OB had ever seen. The surgeon said it was amazing that she could even walk. The pain should have been debilitating. So, she has a major incision to heal from, but in a month or two she should be as good as new. What a relief, an answer to prayer and a reason to celebrate! Here we are together with our sweet babies just a couple months ago:
On Wednesday morning my dad left for Connecticut for about a month . . . he decided on Tuesday that he wanted to go. That's so like him! Anyway, we were thankful that he arrived safely yesterday after spending lots of hours in his little car with no heat. Thankfully he had his bike (of course!) and his tools to keep him company on the trip. He will be doing some work on a barn that my uncle, Den, is building!
The birthday excitement is in the air around here, no doubt. Now that it's March things start to ramp up since all 5 of our kids have their birthdays in about a 10-week span of time . . . beginning on March 23rd when we have 2 birthdays (Jacob & Rebekah!) and ending with LJ's birthday on June 6th. There are plans being made constantly . . . we'll see how many of them come to fruition and how many are more dreams than reality. There are wish lists that need constant editing and re-thinking. Oh, the excitement!!
Then there was the "technical difficulty" that sucked up most of my Monday, but that's in a whole different post!
I went to the library the other day (surprise!) and it just makes me sad. Only a couple more weeks and my library will close for a year! Yikes, I'm not quite sure what I'll do. I mean, they'll have a temporary location and all, but it's not as close to our house and I just feel like crabbing about it a little. Our library (within walking distance from our house where I am at least twice most weeks!) is the busiest library in the whole state of Minnesota and is planning an expansion project. Really people . . . don't you have a library by your house too? I don't quite get it! But, as I say, I lived without my Target for a year and survived, I can survive this too I imagine! So, here's to bigger and better libraries in 2010! I'll be there as many times as I can between now and the end of the month, but it's already not the same place. Shelves are missing and it looks different . . . emptier. And one of the very sweet librarian there just died. She also happens to be the sister of Jacob's {4th grade} teacher. So, I'm sad for more than one reason when I go there these final weeks.
I hope your week was good and I hope this one to come holds a little more normalcy, at least for me!
Let's review, shall we? I'll go backwards and see how well my memory is working.
Today Jacob is home from school sick. A big bummer . . . his class went on a field trip today and he was sad to miss it. He came home from school yesterday not feeling too hot . . . actually that's all wrong, he was feeling quite hot! He laid down and almost instantly fell asleep. He got up for a while in the evening and watched a movie with the family and then went back to bed and slept all night. He woke up in the middle of the night and I checked on him and took his temp . . . 102, poor bud. So today he read for an hour or so this morning, had lunch and then took a nap (unheard of, he must really be sick). He seems pretty perky now and isn't feeling too warm, though I haven't taken his temp again. Joey loves having him here to play with, though, so it's been an ok day anyway. Wait, I took a little blogging break and now he is napping again and feels pretty toasty. He's got some more Advil in him and is snoozing!
Kirby is a workshop speaker at the Set Apart Women's Conference this weekend. He had 3 groups today and will have another 3 tomorrow. I know he'll do a great job! I forget the exact title of his workshop, but it's something about faith and finances. Maybe next year they'll ask him to be the keynote speaker . . . :)
On night this week . . . I don't remember which one . . . I woke up about 2 when Anna was fussin' and you'll never guess who was laying next to me! . . . Ready? It was my husband! This is amazing because the usual answer would be Joe, but he was still in his own bed! Amazing, I tell you! Being the light sleeper that Joe is, though, he woke up when Kirb was leaving for work about 5:15 . . . actually, he doesn't go to work at that hour, he goes to the Y. He tries to get there when they open at 5:30 and get his workout for the day in before getting to work by about 7ish. So, Kirbs' leaving woke Joe up, so he came and joined me then. But, basically we were Joe-less all night. Maybe it will even happen again once or twice before he goes off to
Yesterday {Anna and} I went with a couple of my friends to check out a new little shop on Grand Ave. We had a fun morning together! Anna was a great trooper and I think she had a little fun shoppin' with the girls too!
Speaking of the banana-boo, she's walking up a storm these days. She still crawls is she's going for speed and is in a hurry, but she is more than capable of walking all the way across the room and can even recover from being knocked around a little by a stray sibling who isn't watching where they are going. Here she is walking along and then stopping to ponder a little something . . . she is quite an intellectual, you see!
My good friend, Shawna, had pretty major surgery on Wednesday so I've been busy praying for and thinking about her this week. She had some cysts on her ovaries that they suspected might be cancerous and were otherwise giving her TONS of trouble and pain. Well, praise God! there was no cancer. There was, however, "one of the worst cases" of endometriosis that her OB had ever seen. The surgeon said it was amazing that she could even walk. The pain should have been debilitating. So, she has a major incision to heal from, but in a month or two she should be as good as new. What a relief, an answer to prayer and a reason to celebrate! Here we are together with our sweet babies just a couple months ago:
On Wednesday morning my dad left for Connecticut for about a month . . . he decided on Tuesday that he wanted to go. That's so like him! Anyway, we were thankful that he arrived safely yesterday after spending lots of hours in his little car with no heat. Thankfully he had his bike (of course!) and his tools to keep him company on the trip. He will be doing some work on a barn that my uncle, Den, is building!
The birthday excitement is in the air around here, no doubt. Now that it's March things start to ramp up since all 5 of our kids have their birthdays in about a 10-week span of time . . . beginning on March 23rd when we have 2 birthdays (Jacob & Rebekah!) and ending with LJ's birthday on June 6th. There are plans being made constantly . . . we'll see how many of them come to fruition and how many are more dreams than reality. There are wish lists that need constant editing and re-thinking. Oh, the excitement!!
Then there was the "technical difficulty" that sucked up most of my Monday, but that's in a whole different post!
I went to the library the other day (surprise!) and it just makes me sad. Only a couple more weeks and my library will close for a year! Yikes, I'm not quite sure what I'll do. I mean, they'll have a temporary location and all, but it's not as close to our house and I just feel like crabbing about it a little. Our library (within walking distance from our house where I am at least twice most weeks!) is the busiest library in the whole state of Minnesota and is planning an expansion project. Really people . . . don't you have a library by your house too? I don't quite get it! But, as I say, I lived without my Target for a year and survived, I can survive this too I imagine! So, here's to bigger and better libraries in 2010! I'll be there as many times as I can between now and the end of the month, but it's already not the same place. Shelves are missing and it looks different . . . emptier. And one of the very sweet librarian there just died. She also happens to be the sister of Jacob's {4th grade} teacher. So, I'm sad for more than one reason when I go there these final weeks.
I hope your week was good and I hope this one to come holds a little more normalcy, at least for me!
Flashback Friday
I'll give you another chance:
Ready?
Ready?
Guess who . . . aka: Name that Stoll baby
There is a tell-tale giveaway on this one . . . if you know what to look for, that is! (wait, now that I look closer there are 2 things that give it away. For a bonus, name the two hints as to which Stoll baby this is!)
Ready. Set. Go!
There is a tell-tale giveaway on this one . . . if you know what to look for, that is! (wait, now that I look closer there are 2 things that give it away. For a bonus, name the two hints as to which Stoll baby this is!)
Ready. Set. Go!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Technical difficulties
On Sunday night we had some power-issues and one wall of our house was without power. Kirb checked the breaker box downstairs and everything seemed ok. It was a mystery. We had some friends over for dinner and had a great time with them -- we just had to relocated the coffee maker, since its outlet was one of the one's not working, and run an extension cord so the kids could watch Kung Fu Panda, otherwise things went on as planned and a good time was had by all! Then we thought maybe it was a fuse. Our house was built in the 20's and most of the electricity has been upgraded {although I use that term loosely since it's still REALLY old stuff!} but some of it is still run by fuses. We've lived here for 11 years now and have never blown a fuse {electrically speaking, that is!}. We checked and checked and that didn't seem to be the problem as far as we could tell.
I asked my dad to come over Monday morning to see if he had any thoughts on the matter. He didn't see any problems with the fuses either . . . after twisting all 8 of them out and back in again and listening to Joe yell reports of what went off and on we moved on to the breaker box.
The breakers all looked like they were in the "on" position, but on further examination my dad found that one of them was not working. It was kind of "wiggly" and wouldn't "click" into the on or off position, so he decided it was broken and had blown out or something. This hadn't ever happened at our house before. He went across the street to our little, local hardware store that stocks everything and can help you with ANY problem! No luck . . . they didn't carry that part . . . too old! They sent him to an electrical supply place not too far away who had what we needed. Not the exact same part, but they said it would do the job. So my dad tripped off the {big} main breaker at the top of the box so he would be safe while trying to replace the faulty one. He's never done this particular task before, but he's not scared to just try stuff and see how it turns out (which sometimes makes me a little nervous. Shouldn't we have a professional do this, or at least be certain that it's the right thing to do?) Now, you need to understand that initially the electricity in our house was about 85% working fine and normal. But, we wanted to fix the 15% that wasn't working. (2 kitchen outlets, the outlet on the opposite side of the kitchen wall where we plug in the TV and stereo and that stuff, and the girls main bedroom light and 1 (but NOT both) of their outlets). We could live without this power, but we'd rather not.
My dad gets the broken breaker {do you find that funny too . . . "broken breaker", or is it just me?} fixed and then goes to turn the main power back on. Nothin'. Yup, nothing! The main breaker won't click back into the ON position.
So now we have basically NO power in our house . . . well, that's not entirely true. Somehow the 15% stuff that wasn't working before was now working just fine even though the main breaker box was off {mysterious and a little scary!} but the rest of the power was not working. So . . . no heat, no stove, no microwave, food warmin' up in the fridge and freezer. No laundry {which REALLY needed to get done}, no phone {since they are cordless and plug into the wall!}. Ahhh, but we COULD make coffee! And did I mention it was lunch time for my 2 kiddos that were home and had pretty much been ignored all morning as we worked on this mystery! So we call the electrical place and ask if they have the main breaker switch part that seems to be having the exact same problem that the little one was having just a little while ago. Well, they stock that part but they don't have one on hand right now. They do, however have one in Duluth that could be here by "tomorrow!". Umm, let's see no power until tomorrow. No thanks. I hang up and tell my dad and pray and call Kirb and tell him and pray some more and try to figure out what to do.
My dad has an appointment to meet a man about a job . . . I know, it sounds a little illegal, but it's the truth. So he has to go.
I pray a little more and wonder what we can do. We can't really afford to call in a real electrician to fix us . . . I imagine that will not be cheap. Hindsight is always so much clearer and I keep thinking to myself, we would have been totally fine without power on that one wall. Now it's all messed up! I prayed some more and tried not to get all worked up. Kirb cancelled a meeting and said he'd come home and see what he could do. Now, I love him like crazy but he's not a handyman usually. He is good at tons of stuff, but is also aware of areas that he is not an expert in. He lets professionals change his oil and fix his car and install his new toilet and stuff . . . and he also tries to stay away from major electrical work! Miraculously {in all seriousness, it WAS a miracle, following lots of prayer} when he gets down to the breaker box he pushes it up in to the on position {which both my dad and I had done} and it stays. Praise God. The power is back! There are, obviously, a few missing details but you've read my ramblings quite long enough already {thank you!} and they aren't important so, basically, that's that!
Here come the deep thoughts . . .
It didn't end up being a fuse problem in the end, but it got me thinking a little about fuses. I know the phrase "blew a fuse", and have for a long time, but hadn't really ever thought about it before, in the literal sense. Our fuses are designed to take so much. They can actually handle quite a bit, but if every single thing that depends on them all is suckin' energy out of them at the same time, they can't take it . . . they blow and need to be replaced. Yikes! That's a good reminder, I think, for every day life. I {and you too} am designed to be able to take quite a bit. But there is a point where I can't take any more and I need to know when I am approaching that point and unplug some stuff before it's too late.
How about you?
I asked my dad to come over Monday morning to see if he had any thoughts on the matter. He didn't see any problems with the fuses either . . . after twisting all 8 of them out and back in again and listening to Joe yell reports of what went off and on we moved on to the breaker box.
The breakers all looked like they were in the "on" position, but on further examination my dad found that one of them was not working. It was kind of "wiggly" and wouldn't "click" into the on or off position, so he decided it was broken and had blown out or something. This hadn't ever happened at our house before. He went across the street to our little, local hardware store that stocks everything and can help you with ANY problem! No luck . . . they didn't carry that part . . . too old! They sent him to an electrical supply place not too far away who had what we needed. Not the exact same part, but they said it would do the job. So my dad tripped off the {big} main breaker at the top of the box so he would be safe while trying to replace the faulty one. He's never done this particular task before, but he's not scared to just try stuff and see how it turns out (which sometimes makes me a little nervous. Shouldn't we have a professional do this, or at least be certain that it's the right thing to do?) Now, you need to understand that initially the electricity in our house was about 85% working fine and normal. But, we wanted to fix the 15% that wasn't working. (2 kitchen outlets, the outlet on the opposite side of the kitchen wall where we plug in the TV and stereo and that stuff, and the girls main bedroom light and 1 (but NOT both) of their outlets). We could live without this power, but we'd rather not.
My dad gets the broken breaker {do you find that funny too . . . "broken breaker", or is it just me?} fixed and then goes to turn the main power back on. Nothin'. Yup, nothing! The main breaker won't click back into the ON position.
So now we have basically NO power in our house . . . well, that's not entirely true. Somehow the 15% stuff that wasn't working before was now working just fine even though the main breaker box was off {mysterious and a little scary!} but the rest of the power was not working. So . . . no heat, no stove, no microwave, food warmin' up in the fridge and freezer. No laundry {which REALLY needed to get done}, no phone {since they are cordless and plug into the wall!}. Ahhh, but we COULD make coffee! And did I mention it was lunch time for my 2 kiddos that were home and had pretty much been ignored all morning as we worked on this mystery! So we call the electrical place and ask if they have the main breaker switch part that seems to be having the exact same problem that the little one was having just a little while ago. Well, they stock that part but they don't have one on hand right now. They do, however have one in Duluth that could be here by "tomorrow!". Umm, let's see no power until tomorrow. No thanks. I hang up and tell my dad and pray and call Kirb and tell him and pray some more and try to figure out what to do.
My dad has an appointment to meet a man about a job . . . I know, it sounds a little illegal, but it's the truth. So he has to go.
I pray a little more and wonder what we can do. We can't really afford to call in a real electrician to fix us . . . I imagine that will not be cheap. Hindsight is always so much clearer and I keep thinking to myself, we would have been totally fine without power on that one wall. Now it's all messed up! I prayed some more and tried not to get all worked up. Kirb cancelled a meeting and said he'd come home and see what he could do. Now, I love him like crazy but he's not a handyman usually. He is good at tons of stuff, but is also aware of areas that he is not an expert in. He lets professionals change his oil and fix his car and install his new toilet and stuff . . . and he also tries to stay away from major electrical work! Miraculously {in all seriousness, it WAS a miracle, following lots of prayer} when he gets down to the breaker box he pushes it up in to the on position {which both my dad and I had done} and it stays. Praise God. The power is back! There are, obviously, a few missing details but you've read my ramblings quite long enough already {thank you!} and they aren't important so, basically, that's that!
Here come the deep thoughts . . .
It didn't end up being a fuse problem in the end, but it got me thinking a little about fuses. I know the phrase "blew a fuse", and have for a long time, but hadn't really ever thought about it before, in the literal sense. Our fuses are designed to take so much. They can actually handle quite a bit, but if every single thing that depends on them all is suckin' energy out of them at the same time, they can't take it . . . they blow and need to be replaced. Yikes! That's a good reminder, I think, for every day life. I {and you too} am designed to be able to take quite a bit. But there is a point where I can't take any more and I need to know when I am approaching that point and unplug some stuff before it's too late.
How about you?
Fun thing
I just found out about this woman, Mary, who has 10 kids (from 3 different countries . . . 4 biological kids -- from the US, 2 kids adopted from Korea and 4 adopted from Ethiopia) and she just wrote a book that, I imagine, will be a hoot . . . pun intended since her blog is called Owlhaven. So, blogging about this book gives me a chance to win a copy of the book . . . and I would love to win a copy! And if I don't, then I'll have to find a way to get my hands on a copy some other way because it's one I would love to read. So, check it out yourself. She makes me look like I like a pretty boring life with my 5 kiddos . . . half as many as she's got! Yikes!
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