057 ~ Unexpected

Wednesday - Dec 14th -

It was going to be a day for work - but ran into an unexpected problem that tied me up from 9am until 2pm... and at 2:30 I had to meet with Sis b/c she had an MRI scheduled for 3pm... plus I needed to drop off Mack's car to him before getting Sis to the hospital... and right after getting her squared away I had to go get Dany.  Fortunately Becca was able to stay with Dany while I returned to the hospital for Sis.  We got her home about 4:30... and Becca & I headed to our place soon after.  I was going to spend some time on work then... but had to go back to Sis' about 5:30 because Dany had run off and was refusing to listen to her mom who was in no condition to be running all around outside chasing after her!  I ended up having to stay there with them until Mack got off work - by which time both were pretty much ready for bed, and Dany was under strict orders from me not to cause anymore problems tonight or she'd have to deal with me tomorrow!  Mack & I got home about 9pm... by 10:30 I had tended to various things needing my attention and was ready to get some sleep!

No work today. :(

But...

Tomorrow's another day!!!

We continue with the blizzard effects....

City crews will be working for weeks clearing all this snow off roads!

046 ~ Haircut

Miss Dany Gets A Haircut!

At first it's her OWN cutting!!!

it wasn't just her bangs either...

she cut pieces from this side...

and here...

now you see how short her bangs are...

and she cut this side too...

and pieces back here...

and here...

so she had to get dressed for the snow...

(we got 8" last night!)

because we're taking her to get it styled right!

So here she is, at Wild Hair...

about to find out what can be done...

does she look a little worried to you?

The stylist is busy evening out the top...

and the sides...

this is the result... before styling

(Dany doesn't look too happy)

playing around with some spiking...

a little gel and....

some blow drying...

and explaining a few ideas to Dany...

looking in the mirror...

some spray to keep the style in place...

some finishing touches...

and we're done!

What do you think?

Does she look like she likes it?

Now, we're off to show mom at work!

045 ~ First Snow

Friday, December 3, 2010

(catching up...)

First Snow 2010-11

Began a little after 8pm Friday

Continued thru the night

started out light...

but had lots of periods of heavy snow

covering everything before too long

giving us about 8" to play in Saturday

Lake Tomah is now frozen over w/8" of snow on it

About midday Saturday the clouds returned,

the sun tried to keep shining,

but more snow came.

The first snow is always something!

Many people forget what it's like to drive in it!

(which accounts for the many accidents

that happened Friday night and Saturday)

Most years it comes on gradually...

we'll get a dusting...

then a few days later, an inch or so...

a few days to a week later, maybe 3 inches...

and somewhere close to a month of 

gradually increasing snowfalls,

we'll get a good storm that will 

leave us with over 6 inches

to as much as a foot of snow!

This year, we got dusted a few days ago,

and then slammed hard Friday and Saturday!

I know, this is Friday's blog - so we'll stick to Friday

as much as possible.

Everyone must head to the store 

just before the storm

to get those things we always need

during a storm.

When I'm there I tell myself to be sure

to plan better in the future so

I don't have to go out like this!

Then another storm approaches and

I find myself

once again

heading to the store

for those "gotta have"

last-minute things!!!

The first snow was due near 6pm,

then 7pm,

then 8pm,

then 9!!!

It's so frustrating when these storms don't do

what the weathermen say they're going to do!

I had one of my daughter's coming quite a distance

to visit us...

and she had to cut short her visit

so she could get ahead of storm

on her way back home. :(

Another daughter was doing OPENING NIGHT for

her latest play at school; 

"Twelfth Night"

WXOW's Live @ 5 segment with my daughter about the play

I hope they had a great Opening Night!

And to finish out the night...

something (we're not sure what yet)

caused a power outage in our neighborhood

starting about 10:15pm!

It lasted until 1am Saturday morning!!!

To bad I couldn't sleep in...

I had to run my son to work @ 5am

~ in 8" of unplowed, snowy roads ~

and then stay up because my niece, Dany

would be getting dropped off early

because her mom had to work.

And so it goes...

On to Saturday!

044 ~ O*R*E*O!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

(almost caught up again!)

Little Miss O*R*E*O!

(our very dear friend Michelle)

(the jacket & hand to the right belong to my son Mack)

OK, well, now we got Mack in good,

but Little Miss O*R*E*O 

is a leaning a lot...  ;-)

This was an unexpected surprise for the day!

I needed 2 or 3 things at Burnstad's

(our locally owned grocery store, 

Amish store, European Restaurant,

and unique shopping mall)

so after picking up Mack from work on 

Thursday I gave him the choice of being dropped off

at home or coming with me to Burnstad's.

HE chose to go with me to Burnstad's!

LOL

Neither of us realized until it was too late

that Thursday, from 3pm to 7pm,

(we went at 3:30pm)

was Burnstad's Annual Open House!

My, oh my!!!

The parking lot was packed

so we switched places and he dropped me off

and then went in search of a parking spot

before coming in to help me out.

An hour later...

we picked up more than 2 or 3 items,

sampled dozens of great foods,

ran into a number of people we knew,

and bumped into

Little Miss O*R*E*O,

handing out little packets of 

Oreo cookies!

While I'm not so fond of really crowded places,

things like are one of the reasons I love living in 

a small town, like Tomah!

Growing up in big cities makes it possible to always

have things to do and places to go,

but there's no comparing that to the many relationships

one develops when you get to know...

the cashiers at the grocery store,

the pharmacist at the drug store,

the clerks in most of the local shops,

plus, teachers & school administrators,

local doctors & nurses & other medical assistants,

people serving you in local restaurants

and fast food places,

and pretty much anywhere you go.

And if you don't actually know them in person,

then you know one another by way of a

parent, sibling, cousin, or neighbor!

In other words,

everyone knows everybody!

Which also means almost everyone

knows what's going on in everyone's lives.

Ahhhh...

the small town life...

it's a love-hate sort of thing.

:-)

040 ~ Treats

Sunday, November 28, 2010

(almost made it...)

Saturday Becca made her first batch of....

Rice Krispies Treats!

And also on Saturday...

Jessi made her first batch...

and second batch of...

Good Old Fashioned Fudge!

Here are close-ups of the fudge, above - 

and the Rice Krispies Treats, below.

It was quite the day for both of them!

They both have been wanting to make some sort of simple dessert for quite some time now.  CJ however, has been doing lots of baking, so there have been more than enough treats around here lately!  For first-timers, on their own, more or less, the goodies turned out fairly well.  As the girls gain confidence I'm sure we'll see more of this.  Most of their experiences in the kitchen thus far have been related to meal-making rather than snacks and treats.  We had a few minor snafus... Becca's mixture was cooling faster than she could get it all mixed together - but we fixed that.  Jessi's first batch of fudge was burnt so we set it aside and started over.  Later she used the slightly burnt batch to create a very rich hot chocolate for everyone playing Monopoly - Then and Now version - that night. :)

I think I've had more than enough sweets for quite awhile now!  ;-)

It is quite a treat for me to see these two maturing more each day!  They are my babies!  The very last kids I gave birth to... identical girls from a set of quadruplets, the other two being identical boys of which only one survived.  As much as any of my surviving babies, these three owe their lives to Jehovah God.  So many things went wrong during the pregnancy that doctors were amazed we had any survivors at all!

They are not unscathed: both girls had holes in their hearts at birth (fortunately they closed on their own without surgery) and both girls have congenital Arnold Chiari Malformations (an issue with how their brain stems and spinal cords are formed).  Their early childhood was filled with doctor visits, hospital stays, and numerous therapies!  For the first six years, right up until my injuries (related to domestic violence) left me unable to do so, I learned and applied many therapies upon both girls.  Without me doing that we would have had to travel an hour one way, daily, in order to do all that was needed for each of them.  With four other children and their special needs it just wasn't possible to spend 2 hours on the road and 2 hours in therapy sessions plus do all that was needed for the other four kids!  Even with homeschooling most of them, which I did for a number of years ~ until forced to put them in public school during and after our acrimonious custody battle in court ~ there were so many hours of therapies needed by all the kids it just wasn't practical to spend 4 hours away from home every single day!  Most of their therapists were very willing to teach me what they needed.  We would go in once a month to check on progress and make a few changes to what I was doing with them at home.  It worked quite well until things with their dad got way out of control. :(  To this day he still doesn't accept that any of our kids had or still have any special needs... even after the judge ordered full medical evaluations on each of them and the results not only proved they did have all that I had said they had, it found MORE issues for us to deal with (some of those really should have been caught long before this!).  I still remember the judge telling him that he needed to make time to get to know his kids' health conditions better if he was going to be a good parent to them.  Too bad it didn't make any difference as far as he was concerned. :(  But, you know, even with all they had to struggle with I'm very proud of how far these two girls have come!  They may start off slow but once they get going...

look out!!!

It is such a treat to see how far they've come...

and to watch how far they'll go!!!

020 ~ Show Choir Day for Dany

Today - well, yesterday technically - was no school for Dany.  I'm not sure of the exact reason the Tomah School District gave the students the day off but for some, like my niece Dany, it was a day to spend with the Middle School and High School SHOW CHOIRS!  For someone as musically inclined as Miss Dany it was a day of pure fun and joy!  I can't get the video of her songs to load and the only pics I have don't have her in them. :(  But at least you can see what her "show choir" t-shirt looks like!  It looks like all the kids had a lot of fun!