the week ahead

We had a nice weekend. Saturday we went to Fuddruckers and then stopped in to see the inlaws. Sunday I made turkey, mashed potatoes and rolls for lunch during the Packer game. My mom came over to watch the game with us. The dog finally settled down around the fourth quarter.(I am not kidding).

This week is busy...tonight Luke tested for his brown belt but we won't know if he passed until Friday. Tomorrow night we are taking the neighbors out for dinner because they gave us a ride to and from the hospital when Pete had his surgery. Bree also has stage crew meeting after school. Wed. Luke has a bible class...he really likes the bible he received from our church. I also have a doctor appt. that day. Thursday I am going to see a friend who lives in Fond du Lac. We have been friends since the sixth grade..almost thirty years now. By the time Friday comes, I will be exhausted but in a good way.

I helped Bree with her math tonight but she knows more than me. I don't like it when my kids know more than me but I am proud of her. Apparently intelligence skips a generation.

luke ism

The other night Luke and I were getting ready for bed. My daughter does not want to walk to school because she does not want to cross a very busy street. My son still won't sleep in his room and my husband comes to bed after midnight. I said to Luke, "What am I going to do? I have a daughter who won't cross the street, a son who won't sleep in his own room and a daddy who won't come to bed at a decent time!"

Luke said, "Mom, we all have our thing."

He is a mini Dr. Phil.

Finally Spring Cleaning

My daughter is being confirmed this weekend. We want to have people to the house after but as usual, my house is so messy and dirty even I cannot stand it. In the past I would start cleaning but get distracted and never finish a room. So, my new rule is do one room at a time and get it done no matter what it takes. If that means piling stuff in the basement, so be it, at least the one room will be clean. So far that way of thinking has worked well. I have cleaned the living room, washed the windows and am now finishing the dining room. I cleared out everything that was not supposed to be in those two rooms. I broke a candle holder which set me back an hour cleaning but that's ok...expect delays.

My daughter offered to help so I had her dust the curio cabinet thinking she would have fun handling each object and putting it back any way she wanted (she did). We talked about our favorite pieces. Hers is the white rose and mine is an AVON perfume bottle I had when I was a little girl but all the items are precious.

Next up is vacuuming the stairs, cleaning the loft, mowing the lawn and then working on the kitchen and main bath. I have two days to get all that done. If it doesn't, oh well, at least some of the rooms will be done and I am actually pretty happy about that! Whoo-hoo!

Back scratchers

The last two days I have been in the mood for going through the many boxes from my dad's home office. I tried several times before, but would get discouraged quickly and go back into the house. But, this time I was successful.

Most of the things I found so far fell into two catergories, files or textbooks. Dad was a university instructor. I went through and reboxed three boxes of books that were either in sports psychology, first aid, human development or sports in general. I did recycle certain manuals. For instance, he had about ten books on the rules of officiating for softball, ten on high school footbal, and several on track. All in mint condition but out it went. They all had his name on them in the upper right hand corner.

Then came the files...they were in binders or folders. All have about 50 paper clips which I had to remove before putting the papers in recycle. I hope my tetanus shot has been updated. I saved the three ring binders and so far I have 20.They are going to Goodwill along with some other office supplies.If anyone out there wants about three checkbook boxes of rusty paperclips, let me know or they will go in the garbage next week. I think I have gone through about a third of his boxes including several more of which are only files.

I did find something I have been looking for...a backscratcher! I have been wanting to get one for Pete for years but they do not seem to make them anymore. In fact, I found two, one must be a deluxe model because it has rollers on one end.

I also found a letter to dad signed by Bart Starr when he was a coach for the Packers. I will see if my brother wants it, and if not, we will display it with our Packer stuff. I started a box for all the electronics stuff for my brother since he was left that in the will.

We went and donated all the books,a chair, and some clothes when I cleaned out the closet last week. It felt good to get it out of the house. Then we went to Sears to buy a snowblower. After what we went through last year without one, there was no way I wanted to go through that again! Pete seems happy with it and it should be easy on his back since it is an electric start and has a cool turnaround feature. The snow would not have been so bad last year if it had not been for the snowplow making the huge piles at the end of our driveway after we had just shoveled!

Came home to find the kids did a great job cleaning the family room...all I have to do is vacuum.

Kids had a good first couple of days at school, Pete goes back to work tomorrow. I finally called the phone company because we had such bad static on our phone I was using my cell phone to call people which is only for emergencies. Turns out we needed a new modem so now it works fine.

I was talking to my mom when my brother called which showed up on caller ID. He was calling to tell me to stop talking to mom because he was trying to get ahold of her...so even when he calls me it is not to talk to me!